How Antler and IBM are collaborating to enable fintechs to innovate at a rapid pace while addressing security and compliance.

From unknown disruptor to enabling partner, fintechs are reshaping the way traditional financial institutions around the world operate. Building accessible apps to ensure you can complete transactions and access funds instantly? Check. Democratizing finance to bring more of the world’s population into the financial system? Check. Establishing digital currencies that have revolutionized the very way we think of money? Check.

We are seeing fintechs increasingly become a powerful arm in helping firms maneuver through a business climate of rapid disruption and growth.

With all eyes on them, it is essential that fintechs establish best practices and not introduce systemic risk into the financial system. How will fintechs that are bred by breaking new grounds comply with complex regulatory and compliance standards without becoming so overwhelmed by risk requirements that innovation suffers? How do they protect their business identity and reputation—which is deeply rooted in innovation, speed, and agility—while learning to navigate an evolving digital world? And lastly, how do they accomplish the above if there is a skills gap shortage in the financial services industry? This is where fintechs leverage the power of ecosystems.

Now is the time for fintechs to look for the right partners and tools that can help them be successful in both realms, without sacrificing their identity. Antler (a global investment firm focused on venture and innovation) and IBM are working together to help fintechs do just that—innovate at a rapid pace while addressing security and compliance.  

We believe Antler represents a new asset class: “day zero investing.” Antler backs a founder’s journey from the very beginning and continues the commitment to invest in them as they launch and scale startups. Through its residencies in 23 cities across 6 continents, Antler backs company founders from the beginning with co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support and follow-on funding up to Series C. As part of its commitment to help founders from the pre-idea stage scale faster and more efficiently, Antler is collaborating with IBM to give its fintech founders access to technology experts and cloud platforms, including IBM Cloud.  

Leveraging the power of ecosystems to balance innovation with security and compliance needs

As fintechs strive to drive innovation quickly, they should harness the power of ecosystems to collaborate with technology partners and successfully accelerate digital transformation. However, it is important for them to remember that third- and fourth-party dependencies can open the door to additional levels of risk that must be managed. To help both fintechs and financial institutions overcome this, industry cloud platforms can help them mitigate risk and address their compliance requirements—all while driving innovation. 

IBM has long been on a mission to mitigate risk in the industry—helping financial services organizations keep critical data secured with resiliency, performance, security, compliance capabilities and total cost of ownership at the forefront. With IBM Cloud for Financial Services, IBM is positioned to help fintechs become compliance-prepared from the onset. With security and controls built into the cloud platform and designed by the industry, we aim to help financial services institutions mitigate risk, address evolving regulations and accelerate cloud adoption.

Antler and IBM collaborate to deliver key technology and tools to fintechs

Our collaboration with Antler allows fintechs to gain the vital tools and technology skills needed to create rapid innovation for their customers, while helping them adhere to industry requirements.

Antler enables thousands of founders every year to launch and scale companies that are solving some of the most pressing issues of our time, including Yayzy, a UK-based fintech whose mission is to redefine sustainability innovation. The fintech developed its Carbon Footprint Calculation technology for banks and other fintechs to integrate within their mobile apps, allowing customers to track, reduce and offset the carbon footprint of their purchases in real-time.

Harnessing the power of collaboration with Antler and IBM allowed Yayzy to further accelerate its digital transformation by moving to IBM Cloud, which delivers the high levels of security that financial institutions need to help comply with stringent regulatory and compliance standards. The collaboration with Antler and IBM also allows Yayzy to scale globally in line with demand and leverage other advanced software capabilities, from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to cybersecurity solutions.

Additionally, company founders that are working with Antler can accelerate secured innovation with Intel and IBM Cloud. Building on its mission to help reduce risk for highly regulated industries, IBM Cloud is one of the first cloud providers to deliver 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors. [1] With these advancements, fintech founders can take advantage of high performance, enhanced security and fast memory—all of which are especially important for the financial sector and other high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.

IBM Cloud and Intel continue to work together to deliver innovative cloud solutions designed to offer performance and security benefits that can help fintechs address their industry regulatory requirements, mitigate risk against cybersecurity threats and create faster, seamless customer experiences. Together, IBM Cloud and Intel technologies aim to help clients deliver better business results through innovative hardware and software solutions.

As the financial services industry continues to evolve, fintechs must continue to maintain their edge as they become recognized as a critical part of the global financial system, while keeping up with evolving regulatory requirements. With a strong ecosystem of partners, fintechs can better drive innovation to meet the demands of today’s customers while addressing the needs of the industry.

Learn more about how IBM and Antler are working together.

Get started with IBM Cloud for Financial Services.

[1] Available on 1/10/2023 on IBM Classic with expansion to MZRs February 2023. Expanded product availability expected throughout 2023. Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.