Success Story
It started in Bern, on a winter night. Sandipan Chakraborty, the future founder and CEO of Sonect, had no money to pay the babysitter. So, he had to go out into the cold again, to the next ATM. On the corner Sandipan saw an Italian restaurant. "If only I could get money there," he thought.
It was the hour of birth of the idea to transform shops, shops or restaurants into virtual ATMs. Thought done: In May 2017 Sonect went live with the app of the same name. Since then, cash has been available in a constantly growing number of partner stores in the Sonect network.
The Hypothekarbank Lenzburg was also inspired by this idea. In summer 2017, the bank equipped its core banking system Finstar with an open Application Programming Interface - short Open API. Sonect was one of selected Fintech companies that tested the interface. In January 2018, the bank announced that the interface would go live with the Sonect service.
"The cooperation with Sonect makes us especially happy, as it proves that Fintech and classical banking can achieve meaningful synergies: The digital cash withdrawal system fills a gap, especially in areas where conventional ATMs are missing and there is a need for cash services," said Marianne Wildi, CEO of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, in the media release.
At the beginning of the cooperation, the Sonect reference network consisted of around 100 shops. In November 2018, Sonect succeeded in making its first coup with the Valora partnership: more than 900 outlets from k kiosk and Press&Books stores joined the Sonect network. The second stroke followed in March 2019: Sonect brought the Volg Group on board and with it over 580 stores throughout Switzerland.
"Hypi"-customers, who agree to the data exchange between the Sonect and Finstar systems in their e-banking application and connect the Sonect app to their "Hypi"-account so that cash withdrawals can be automatically debited from the Sonect app, now have access to a network of more than 2100 shops in Switzerland (as of April 2019). By way of comparison, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg itself operates 25 ATMs. The cooperation thus brought the bank and its customers a significant expansion in cash withdrawals.
Thanks to the Finstar Open Banking API, Sonect was able to connect its service to Finstar in a very short time. It took a quarter of a year from signing the contract to going live. In November 2018, the smartphone account provider neon joined the Finstar Open Banking Ecosystem as another partner in the Sonect network. Since then, neon customers have been able to connect their accounts directly to Sonect.
Success Story
It started in Bern, on a winter night. Sandipan Chakraborty, the future founder and CEO of Sonect, had no money to pay the babysitter. So, he had to go out into the cold again, to the next ATM. On the corner Sandipan saw an Italian restaurant. "If only I could get money there," he thought.
It was the hour of birth of the idea to transform shops, shops or restaurants into virtual ATMs. Thought done: In May 2017 Sonect went live with the app of the same name. Since then, cash has been available in a constantly growing number of partner stores in the Sonect network.
The Hypothekarbank Lenzburg was also inspired by this idea. In summer 2017, the bank equipped its core banking system Finstar with an open Application Programming Interface - short Open API. Sonect was one of selected Fintech companies that tested the interface. In January 2018, the bank announced that the interface would go live with the Sonect service.
"The cooperation with Sonect makes us especially happy, as it proves that Fintech and classical banking can achieve meaningful synergies: The digital cash withdrawal system fills a gap, especially in areas where conventional ATMs are missing and there is a need for cash services," said Marianne Wildi, CEO of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, in the media release.
At the beginning of the cooperation, the Sonect reference network consisted of around 100 shops. In November 2018, Sonect succeeded in making its first coup with the Valora partnership: more than 900 outlets from k kiosk and Press&Books stores joined the Sonect network. The second stroke followed in March 2019: Sonect brought the Volg Group on board and with it over 580 stores throughout Switzerland.
"Hypi"-customers, who agree to the data exchange between the Sonect and Finstar systems in their e-banking application and connect the Sonect app to their "Hypi"-account so that cash withdrawals can be automatically debited from the Sonect app, now have access to a network of more than 2100 shops in Switzerland (as of April 2019). By way of comparison, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg itself operates 25 ATMs. The cooperation thus brought the bank and its customers a significant expansion in cash withdrawals.
Thanks to the Finstar Open Banking API, Sonect was able to connect its service to Finstar in a very short time. It took a quarter of a year from signing the contract to going live. In November 2018, the smartphone account provider neon joined the Finstar Open Banking Ecosystem as another partner in the Sonect network. Since then, neon customers have been able to connect their accounts directly to Sonect.
