Optimizing Outcomes: How a Bank Partnership Can Drive Business Success

Bank partnerships are an increasingly popular framework for banks and a variety of other companies to collaborate. The ultimate goal is to expand awareness, reach, and revenue for everyone involved. These non-bank partners are often, but not always, financial technology (fintech) companies.

In the most practical sense, banking partnerships give the non-bank partner opportunities to expand and grow. They may form a partnership to offer additional products and services to their customers, for example. Accessing the capabilities of a bank without founding or purchasing one can be very attractive.

The financial institutions involved in partnerships can also gain some substantial benefits when a bank partnership is successful. They can add more useful technology to their offerings and backend operations, for example. And they can do that without building those tools from scratch.

It’s a situation where each side can benefit from something the other has to offer. The right kind of partnership banking agreement can help every organization involved reach its goals.

Learning about emerging concepts in banking and payments is crucial to making informed decisions. Here’s another type of bank partnership agreement to consider: working with Swipesum to optimize your bank’s merchant services.

Our Bank Partner Program can run your entire merchant services program for you. We can increase merchant services profits. At the same time, we’ll help your clients find the best solutions and rates, increasing their satisfaction.

Or, your bank can license our statement-reading software to enhance your established offering. Book your free consultation to learn more.

What are Bank Partnerships? What Makes Them So Valuable?

A bank partnership depends entirely on what potential partners on both sides of a possible partnership want. 

Banks themselves are increasingly interested in accessing innovative and useful technology. Streamlined digital experiences aren’t just desired by customers, they’re becoming an expectation. Looking beyond internal resources can help to better deliver those experiences to customers.

Partnering with the right fintech company can give those banks access to developed, mature solutions. When those tools can easily integrate into existing systems, banks can, among other benefits:

• Increase operational efficiency
• Deliver more value to customers
• Attract more business and transactions
• Expand their operations

The fintech company involved in a bank partnership can also benefit from the relationship, of course. There are obvious advantages, like revenue from offering additional services and products to customers. However, there’s much more to consider.

Banking is a highly regulated business environment. State and federal laws create a complex network of compliance needs. Partnering with an existing bank means avoiding the years of work needed to directly offer many financial services and products. 

From the fintech company’s perspective, a bank partnership expands capabilities without directly expanding responsibilities. The bank is already organized in a way to manage compliance needs. That means fintech companies can focus on what they do best while accessing new markets.

Bank Partnership Examples

Picture a fintech company that has an efficient system for attracting potential customers and offering them loans. A bank with a less-efficient online loan system could seek out a partnership with that fintech company to:

• Integrate that technology into its own operations
• Leverage a proven solution already developed by the fintech company
• Avoid the costs of building its own solution when a successful one already exists
• Increase customer satisfaction and encourage more revenue

The fintech company, meanwhile, earns revenue from sharing its loan software with the bank.

Our own company, Swipesum, partners with banks to share our technological expertise and tools. As experts in the world of payments, we have digital tools that help businesses save on merchant services fees. We help businesses find the best possible payment solution for their unique and specific needs.

Banks partner with us to leverage our technology and add the value of a fractional chief payment officer for their clients. Crucially, our relationships across the payment industry mean our partners don’t lose deals because functionality doesn’t align with customer needs. And that ultimately means more revenue for banks.

A bank partnership doesn’t have to center on the bank internally implementing useful digital tools, however. Accessing new markets and reaching out to a wider range of customers can be incredibly valuable by itself, for example. 

In this instance, a bank would benefit from the digital infrastructure of a partner. However, it doesn’t require or feature the bank adding a partner’s tools to its own operations.

Chime and its bank partners are one example of this kind of partnership. As Investopedia explains, fintech company Chime partners with two banks to provide financial services to its customers. 

Chime itself benefits from providing customers with debit cards and retail banking services. It also earns money by splitting debit card transaction fees with those two banks. 

The banks themselves benefit from the brand value and high general awareness established by Chime. They can access new markets and customer demographics. Crucially, they can do so without the long process of building brand awareness and robust online banking tools themselves. The banks also earn their share of the transaction fees from debit card transactions.

What is a Bank Partnership Agreement?

Bank partnerships can offer both sides plenty of benefits. However, they need to be carefully structured for success. It’s vital for both partners to have an equitable deal that offers a realistic opportunity to realize those benefits.

A bank partnership agreement, sometimes called a partnership banking agreement, is the tool used to clearly define the partnership. It sets expectations, defines service levels, establishes how costs are shared, and much more.

Without a strong, effective, and balanced partnership agreement, it can be very difficult to realize the benefits of the actual partnership.

Finding a Partnership That Works for Your Bank

If your bank has an established merchant services program or wants to build one, Swipesum can help. Our expertise and proven solutions help your customers while increasing revenue and growing commercial accounts.

Wondering how Swipesum can help you transform your merchant services program? Book your free consultation.