Railsbank Launches in Australia, Plans to Develop Embedded Finance Market Opportunity

Railsbank, a leading global Banking as a Service (BaaS) platform, has launched in Australia via a partnership with the country’s first neobank, Volt.

The partnership enables Railsbank to continue its expansion within the APAC region and it considers Australia a highly strategic market.

The embedded finance market in Australia is in its infancy, but both Railsbank and Volt believe it is set for rapid growth over the coming years.

Volt will also engage with Railsbank’s global network of partners and customers, and enable a broader BaaS solution in Australia that will enable companies to prototype, launch and scale financial products within their own customer experience.

Nigel Verdon, co-founder and CEO of Railsbank, said: “This deal has a personal resonance for me as one of my ancestors, Sir George Verdon, was General Manager and a founding father of the ANZ Bank, so it’s good to be back in Australia again!

“It’s very exciting to see that Australia’s fintech scene is thriving. We are ready to support all Australian business that want to innovate and capitalise on the expected exponential growth of embedded finance.

What we bring new to the table is represented by deconstructed financial components, tools for product managers, and APIs to allow anybody to come into our toolset to access our consumers and customers for distribution.

These can then be reconstructed into financial use cases. This is what Apple did with iTunes. They deconstructed the music industry and changed the economics of the industry.

Collaborating with Volt gives us access to local knowledge and capabilities to help us succeed. This is a significant partnership for Railsbank as we continue our global expansion and strengthen our foothold in Asia Pacific.”

Justin Xiao, COO of Railsbank, Asia Pacific, said: “Australia is strategically important for Railsbank and it’s a real privilege for us to be partnering with Volt in this next phase of our growth. The strength of the Volt brand, balance sheet, and compliance offering makes it the ideal partner to help us launch into the local market and tap the growth opportunity in embedded finance.

“Australia’s fintech scene is vibrant and Railsbank has a lot to offer in terms of bringing innovative solutions and best practices to customers. Collaborating with Volt gives us access to local knowledge and capabilities to help us succeed. This is a significant partnership for Railsbank as we continue our expansion in the Asia Pacific region.”

Volt founder and CEO, Steve Weston, said: “We are proud to be the first and only bank selected to launch Railsbank’s embedded finance offering in Australia.

“Railsbank has a proven track record of servicing millions of customers through partnerships with banks like Volt in global markets. This partnership demonstrates how our prudent and measured approach to market entry, built on the sturdy foundation of our unique BaaS platform and partnership strategy, could help to make Volt a long-term contender for a share of Australia’s highly lucrative banking sector.”

Railsbank is headquartered in the UK and has offices in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the US, Germany, Lithuania. Melbourne and Sydney.

It has relationships with numerous banks and financial institutions across Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific and will continue its expansion across Asia with a view to deepening its footprint in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam later this year.

In November last year, Railsbank raised US$37 million as part of continued equity funding to support its global growth and product expansion. Significant investors include Mastercard and Visa.