SG fintech implements Banking as a Service open source license for the first time

Technology provider OPEN-Finance Brankas Pte. LLC announced the development of a first-of-its-kind public license for next-generation Banking as a Service software and Open Finance software.

According to Brankas Chief Technology Officer Kenneth Shaw, the license allows for digital banking and fintech innovation, as well as lowering financial barriers for startups, neobanks and traditional institutions to rapidly prototype and launch new solutions while retaining their own source code.

According to Shaw, this is beneficial for customers because they have more options and a better user experience, since companies can freely use, modify, distribute and collaborate on the public domain code.

Brankas was inspired to create this after he received a grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore last year to develop his own experimental open source core banking system.

Seeing the need for a streamlined open source framework to address new open finance technologies, the firm turned to existing licenses to develop its open license. According to Shaw, we felt it was necessary to protect the community’s contributions, ensure open access, and comply with financial institutions’ data protection and security requirements.

“Our open license allows our team to build and contribute honestly, equitably, and openly to independent developers, financial institutions, and our partners,” Shaw said.

“With this license, Brancas can continue to invest in the wider open source community and freely share our code with the world,” he added.

Founded in 2016 to provide access to financial services in Southeast Asia, the company provides application programming interface (API) solutions, data sets and payments for banks, lenders, e-wallet providers and online businesses. According to Shaw, Brancas is partnering with banks to build and manage their Open Finance infrastructure, building APIs for real-time payments, identity and data, new account openings, money transfers, and more.

He added that with open banking technology, online companies, fintech companies and digital banks can use its API to create new digital experiences for their users.