All firms need partnerships

Starsky and Hutch, Morecambe and Wise, Del Boy and Rodney Trotter, The Two Ronnies and The Chuckle Brothers are all examples of successful partnerships.

These are not the sort of partnerships I will be discussing in this article, however, they are excellent examples of partnerships that work well. Their characters’ strengths and weaknesses played a huge part in why on screen they collectively were stronger than the sum of their parts.

Clearly, if businesses are to succeed in the current climate, partnerships are paramount. Whether they are formal arrangements, soft handshakes, or joint ventures, all financial institutions have to operate in a broader ecosystem. This is vital to support their own requirements as well as those of the ever evolving customer.

For example, where would a mortgage broker be without a sourcing system? Where would a lender be without an application system and servicing platform? How do lenders conduct a credit check without access to a credit agency? These are very simple examples but the world today, especially financial services, is full of fintechs and companies with new capabilities that can help firms to run their businesses more efficiently.

These collaborations lead to improved productivity, innovation and efficiency and new fintechs and technologies are always joining the market. Cast your mind back five years ago to 2018 when open banking was launched, two years later there were one million active users, today there are 6.5 million users.

Partnership programme

At Phoebus we have a comprehensive partnership programme which allows our clients to tap into the expertise of a variety of technology companies that can enhance their business. Lenders will have their own partnerships but if they are looking to review existing contracts or explore new ventures and technologies, our ecosystem is available if they wish to use it.

Our partnership programme is an ecosystem, a collection of technology solutions that connect with each other to help firms run their business. They are linked via APIs (application programming interface) that allows two applications to talk to each other.

We set up our partnership programme to add value to our clients but they don’t have to use our partners. They may have their own partners they are happy with but it is an add-on service we can provide. Clients and partners can integrate as and when needed and as we have vetted all our partners, we know they are good at what they do.

The partnership ecosystem can also be extremely useful for new firms as they don’t need to scour the market looking for partners. They can use the firms we know and trust and have confidence they will deliver.

In any scenario in the current market, financial institution have options. They can select their own partners, build out their own ecosystem or takes advantage of others. What is important is trusting that their partners play harmoniously and work collegiately to ensure the end-to-end customer journey runs smoothly and efficiently.