HSBC signs global deal with City fintech startup Bud
HSBC is to ramp up its efforts on Open Banking, following a global partnership agreement signed today with London fintech startup Bud.
The banking giant took a significant stake in Bud earlier this year, after the startup helped HSBC launch mobile banking app Artha through its First Direct challenger brand.
The deal will initially see Bud’s Open Banking technology rolled out inside First Direct, followed by HSBC’s UK bank in 2020 and in other markets.
“By integrating Bud’s technology we will be able to make HSBC’s digital banking even more helpful for our customers,” said Josh Bottomley, HSBC’s global head of digital, retail banking and wealth management.
“Its aggregation, marketplace and AI services will provide the intelligence to underpin a host of exciting new customer features that we will be exploring over the course of 2020 and beyond.”
It follows City PM‘s revelation in October that Bud was to open up its software to businesses outside of banking, as part of a restructuring of the business that included a swathe of lay-offs.
Read more: HSBC-backed fintech Bud to re-focus product stream after restructuring
The startup laid off 20 per cent of its staff last month, as it reorganised its internal structure to skew towards sales and product development.
Bud closed a $20m (£15.3m) funding round in February, bringing on board investors such as HSBC, Goldman Sachs and former Man Group boss Lord Stanley Fink.
Other backers included Investec’s INVC fund, ANZ Bank and 9 Yards, the venture capital firm to which former chancellor George Osborne is an adviser.
Read more: HSBC, Goldman and Lord Fink back City fintech firm Bud
Chief executive Ed Maslaveckas said today: “Both the scale and duration of this deal demonstrate the benefit of Bud’s technology to one of the largest banks in the world. It’s a real testament to the huge amount of work that has gone into delivering Bud’s platform to market.
“We set out four years ago to help people use their data to simplify their relationship with money and achieve their ambitions. Our work at scale with banks like HSBC is absolutely fundamental in achieving that.”
Image credit: Bud