Zerobank Design Factory Co., Ltd. (ZDF), a subsidiary of Fukuoka Financial Group, is set to start offering a full-cloud banking system. The system is based on the core system that ZDF and Accenture developed for Minna Bank.
ZDF will provide this system to domestic and overseas financial institutions. Additionally, non-financial businesses seeking to introduce new banking services can use it too. By promoting digital transformation in the global financial industry, ZDF aims to realise its mission: ‘deliver valuable connections to everyone’.
System Overview
The system will enable businesses to build banking systems from scratch on the cloud. In turn this will allow them to expand financial services optimised for each customer. All services can be completed on a smartphone through an intuitive user interface. This interface makes opening accounts, making deposits, transferring money, and applying for loans much easier.
In addition, the system includes an analytics engine that allows the operator to visualise account processes such as deposits and withdrawals, interest accrual, and fees to better personalise offerings for each customer. These innovative digital services and new customer experiences will increase corporate value.
Technical features
The system architecture ensures scalability, fault tolerance, and flexibility by using a public cloud. As a result, the applications built on top can be flexibly developed due to a design that includes loosely coupled microservices and API architecture. For smooth deployment, there are also related assets for efficient development and operation, including pipelines and asset management.
Furthermore, the BaaS platform, an API integration system compliant with the FAPI international security standard, enables easy integration with API providers and partner businesses that are interested in creating new services. This system development initiative won the grand prize at the Japan Financial Innovation Award 2020.
Kenichi Nagayoshi, president and CEO, ZDF and Minna Bank, commented: “Minna Bank, which opened in May 2021 as Japan’s first digital bank, has been extremely popular among the target digital native generation, with one million app downloads and 400,000 accounts opened in the first year.
“During this period, we continued to work with Accenture to expand our knowledge of the systems, functions, and designs required by digital banks and to update our technology accordingly. Consequently, we believe this is the solution to many challenges faced by companies seeking to enter the banking business. We want to share our successful experience with customers in a wide range of industries. In doing so, we hope this contributes to the development of digital banking in Japan and abroad.”
