Tonik digital bank selects Finastra Fusion Essence

Philippines-based digital bank Tonik has selected Finastra and its Fusion Essence platform to support its core banking operations.

Tonik, which claims to be the first licenced digital-only bank in Southeast Asia, is aiming to launch retail deposit and customer loan services in its home country this year after getting the green light from the central bank.

“Finastra’s Fusion Essence Cloud – powered by Microsoft Azure – will give us the agility to get these services to market quickly and efficiently,” says Greg Krasnov, founder and CEO of Tonik.

Krasnov is the founder of Ukraine’s Platinum Bank and set up Forum, a fintech venture builder based in Southeast Asia.

He adds that Tonik was impressed by the “modern, open and a scalable” properties of the system, particularly Essence’s built-in analytics.

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According to the digital bank, the Philippines is a $140 billion retail deposit market and $100 billion unsecured lending opportunity. The median age of the country is 25.7 years, while it has one of the highest levels of internet usage in the world, with 62 million people regularly logging online.

Anand Subbaraman, general manager for retail banking at Finastra, says that Tonik is “well positioned to replicate the disruption that has taken place in Europe”. Its digital model, he adds, will help it offer customers products and services in a convenient way.

“Fusion Essence Cloud is ideally suited to help Tonik achieve these goals, as well as see a fast return on its investment.”