Volt pivoting to BaaS with the help of Microsoft: Volt 2.0

Aussie digital banking startup Volt has announced a partnership with Microsoft to develop its Banking-as-a-Service platform. Volt's initial plan was a launch for individual customers in Australia. Since they're still in "beta", the challenger bank decided to pivot their business for a larger conquering in the neo-banking industry.

Sydney-based Volt was founded in 2017 and granted a full license to operate as an authorized deposit-taking institution (ADI) on 21 January 2019. Since this day, Volt didn't release their banking app, and for a long time, they said they're in beta.

Volt also became the first completely new institution to be licensed as a retail bank in the Australian market since Australian Bank in February 1981. But with this latest move, now Volt will help others to "become a bank" vision.  

Volt announced a partnership with Microsoft and LAB3 engineers in Australia to develop Volt 2.0. This new initiative will allow businesses to offer white-labeled banking products directly to their customers, including secure data storage and analytics capabilities, all based on Microsoft Azure's cloud service.

Steve Weston, founder and CEO of Volt:

Volt’s unique platform technology sets us apart from every other neobank in Australia, and positions us for incredible growth well into the future. Operating in such a highly regulated industry and with the goal of becoming a sector leader means we need to partner with the best technology companies globally. From the perspective of scaling our platform, Microsoft ticks all the boxes. Volt 2.0 will need to have the capability to adapt to the changing market and the evolving needs of our customers and partners, as well as the evolving technologies available in the market. We work with strategic partners that are continuously innovating their products and services, so our industrial-grade banking platform is always cutting-edge.

Also, Steven Worrall, managing director, Microsoft Australia said that their strategic partnership with Volt is unique in the Australian neobank sector, and brings the best of our technology, combined engineering skills, and global banking know-how to bear. There will be advantages of using cloud for this solution and Volt's current core banking partner Temenos  hosting in Azure platform.

Volt, which encompasses the development of Volt 2.0 a BaaS platform slated for release in the coming months, most probably in early 2021.

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