Vemanti and Finastra team up to build neobank for SMEs in Southeast Asia

By Leandra Monteiro

Vemanti Group, Inc. announced that it has chosen Finastra International Ltd. to help build Southeast Asia’s first SME-focused neobank.

Initially focusing on Vietnam, Vemanti will use Finastra’s next-generation core banking solution, Fusion Essence, as the platform for new products and services aimed at increasing financial inclusion in the underserved SME finance market. Vemanti has also tapped Finastra’s partner ecosystem to select Lendscape’s invoice finance and supply chain finance technology.

“SMEs across the region are being underserved by traditional finance, which generally lacks the ability or desire to accurately assess the creditworthiness of SMEs. These businesses struggle to meet collateral requirements that tend to be designed for large corporations, leaving many unable to access formal financial services,” said Tan Tran, CEO, Vemanti. “Leveraging technology and creativity, we aim to solve these problems by offering innovative finance solutions. We have chosen to work with Finastra not just as a technology vendor, but to leverage their deep, broad experience in banking, as well as their significant footprint in the region. Finastra’s open ecosystem approach has already brought Lendscape’s leading technology to us and we look forward to expanding our offerings quickly with Finastra’s partnership.”

Finastra’s next-generation core banking solution, Fusion Essence, will provide the technology platform for Vemanti’s business and technology team to build and expand on product offerings, as well as the advanced capability for Vemanti to launch a full digital bank at scale.

“Vemanti’s bold strategy aims to solve a clear market need and will connect the best of Vietnam to the world. Choosing a SaaS cloud platform from Finastra means Vemanti can concentrate on its business, customers and product innovation, whilst we take care of their technology,” said John Guest, Managing Director, Universal Banking, APAC, Finastra. “We are also pleased to have this opportunity to demonstrate with Lendscape the enhanced value that technology partnerships can offer the global financial services sector.”

Using embedded advanced analytics and technology to improve credit decisioning and processing, Lendscape’s solution will enable Vemanti to offer personalized SME finance that goes beyond traditional commercial loans, such as small unsecured, short-term loans and invoice finance solutions.

“We are excited to participate in this opportunity to support Vemanti in its efforts to bring finance to SMEs in Vietnam,” said Kevin Day, CEO at Lendscape. “SMEs are the lifeblood of all economies and offering providers in the region access to our specialist invoice and supply chain finance solutions will enable Vemanti to support digitalization and a better customer experience, unlocking the potential of these businesses.”