News

UK military challenger bank enlists digital service provider

July 7, 2016

Sopra Steria, a provider of digital transformation solutions, has joined forces with The Services Family, a U.K. military challenger bank under development.

 Sopra Steria will provide the digital expertise and solutions to help build the bank and bring The Services Family to the U.K. market. 

The partnership will extend tailored products to armed forces personnel, veterans and their families — groups with high mobility who have traditionally face difficulties in gaining access to full financial services. 

Sopra Steria will also support The Services Family to help ensure compliance and support them as they work with the regulators to bring the bank toward a full deposit and banking license.  

The Services Family plans to open for business by Q4 and introduce customer services in a phased plan in line with regulatory permissions and platform delivery. The bank's founders hope to turn The Services Family into a fully licensed retail bank in 2017.

"There are big changes taking place across the Financial Services sector in the U.K. and the opportunity to be a part of this —and provide the answer to 'what do you need to do to launch a bank?' — is incredibly exciting," said Sopra Steria managing director of Sopra Steria Financial Services. "I believe that our industry track record, established banking software platforms and emerging modular digital banking solutions put us in a solid position to help bring this important challenger bank to the U.K. market."

"We require extremely sophisticated digital services that can adapt to the changing needs of our target customer base," said Michael Jenkins, founding director and business intelligence and strategy director for The Services Family. "Sopra Steria was the natural choice because of their innovative approach and willingness to support us in developing a phased approach to our banking services, in addition to their proven expertise in this space."