TxB’s UK Launch: Embracing Fintech Innovation and Open Banking

By: Adil Rehman, Head of EMEA Product, Transaction Banking

At Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking (TxB), we have a number of reasons we’re excited to be arriving in the U.K., just a year after our initial launch in the U.S.

To start with, we recognize that London is one of the most important banking hubs for multinationals, and our presence in the U.K. bolsters our commitment to serve all the global needs of our treasury clients.

We will bring the full array of services that we offer in the U.S.—payments, deposits, escrow, Virtual Integrated Accounts (VIA), and more—to the U.K. market. We believe some of the unique capabilities of our modern, API-enabled, cloud-based platform will be particularly relevant here. Cash concentration and notional pooling seamlessly integrated into our platform and our multicurrency account capabilities will serve European treasury clients that have to operate in a greater number of currencies than some of their U.S.-based counterparts.

The financial cloud

We also see the importance of London as a fintech capital, a point that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has emphasized post-Brexit with proposals such as fast-track visas for financial technology workers. Some of the most influential fintech startups in the world are here, along with an extraordinary pool of engineering and financial sector talent, and we’re glad to be here too.

At TxB, we deliberately foster a startup culture and strive to think innovatively. Because the TxB system makes possible seamless connectivity with our cutting edge APIs, we enable fintechs to deliver greater value to their customers—in a way that’s scalable and future-proof. With our platform, developed from a clean slate, we are free of legacy technology that may limit some other financial institutions, and we bring a deep understanding of our fintech partners’ requirements. We believe all this, taken together, will position us as a partner of choice for fintechs pursuing the promise of banking-as-a-service (BaaS).

Several fintechs in the U.K. have been looking for—and not finding—the virtual account technology that they need in a bank. With the end-to-end connectivity that our platform features, our VIA offering will underpin new services that fintechs want to offer to their customers, and it may relieve them of the task of building their own ledger technology. 

To come to the U.K., we of course had to be ready to work with the open banking rules that are in place here and in Europe. While such rules don’t come into play in the U.S. market, our platform is built around the real-time functionality and data transparency at the heart of the open banking concept. Where open banking regulations prevail, there is a mindset of greater inclusion and the importance of a level playing field where everyone has access to the underlying data that is essential to provide financial services. From our founding, TxB has been built around such a mindset. 

What’s more, we made our APIs available in a simulated “sandbox” environment as required by open banking rules. As in prior situations where third-party developers have examined our APIs, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. 

The fintech future

We are pleased to be in the U.K., where we will now be positioned to work with global corporations and fintechs. And we are more than ready to be in markets where open banking rules are leveling the playing field and pushing fintech innovation forward.

We believe that open and free access to banking capabilities holds great promise for both corporate clients and consumers. While work remains to fully develop the new API-based technology ecosystem that is going to help banks and fintechs advance this new vision for financial services, we are excited to see where it leads.