Knab, a Dutch subsidiary of AEGON Netherlands, was initially set up in 2012 as a consumer bank offering an affordable online checking account with smart tools to save money backed up by excellent customer service.
Since 2014, the focus has been on business banking, servicing the needs of the self-employed. And their ‘Knab Zakelijk’ has consistently been voted the most advantageous business account by MoneyView.
Background and challenges
With a customer base actively engaged with different third-party providers from across Europe, offering innovative accounting and book-keeping solutions, Knab was aware of the security provisions that needed to be put in place to provide a trusted and safe ecosystem, protecting their customers from the risk of open banking fraud.
As a specialist online bank, Knab needed to provide its Open Banking service without the support of a large development project team or investment in additional infrastructure. In addition, their existing Core Banking System (CBS) presented challenges and building their PSD2 APIs was far from straight forward. They therefore needed to find a solution that would meet their security requirements whilst being easy to implement.
When they approached Konsentus, they were also conscious that their PSD2 project was late off the starting blocks and so were looking for a trusted, secure, quick, and effective way to validate TPPs (third party providers) as part of their overall Open Banking solution.
The Integration Project
The team at Knab chose to build their PSD2 service in a phased approach. They initially built an interim solution within the constraints of their existing Core Banking Solution (CBS) with the pragmatic approach to quickly getting a service into market.
This initial phase did not have an optimal customer journey or registration process, although it did allow their customers to use the services of TPPs and was seen as a viable short-term solution whilst the full service was being developed.
The planned refresh of the CBS to provide a more open architecture, is readily supported by the ‘plug and play’ Konsentus Verify solution and will allow them to focus their efforts on driving significant improvements to the customer experience and other value add features.
Implementing the Konsentus Verify API to perform TPP identity and checking services saved the team considerable time, technical know-how, legal knowledge and of course on-going support and maintenance, whilst providing a future-proofed solution for a key business line.
The service is now fully operational with transactions being checked by the Konsentus Verify platform from across the EEA. The Knab account holders can be confident that no matter which TPP services are being used, or authority the TPP is regulated by – be that Isabel in Belgium or Neo Finance in Lithuania - their data and funds are being protected.
Learnings from the Project team
The decision to adopt a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach to creating the initial PSD2 service meant that Knab was able to deploy APIs quicky without having to re-engineer a CBS that was due to be replaced.
This also gave Knab the added benefit of a first-hand experience in running a live platform while finalising the design of the eventual solution. This provided the confidence and knowledge to develop a sophisticated and optimal product which would not have been the case otherwise.
Outcome
Knab’s attractive customer demographic has generated a lot of interest from many TPPs. To date there are active integrations with over 30 TPPs from across the EEA.
While the business accounts of the self-employed drive significant AIS transactions to support accounting packages, Knab is also seeing a large number of cross-border PIS transitions to the big gaming companies. With gambling being a potential target for fraud and bad actors, Knab`s customers can rest assured that their account data and funds are being protected by the TPP checking services Konsentus Verify provides.
Summary
The number of connected TPPs and the transaction flows that are already being seen through the platform across multiple markets has justified Knab’s two-phased approach. Their customers are taking advantage of the latest products and solutions from across the EEA to better manage their financial data and information and, shows open banking at its best.
We take pride knowing that Konsentus Verify was key to both this early delivery and the migration to the new architecture. Knab’s customers can now have confidence and trust when transacting in the Open Banking ecosystem, knowing that their data and funds are being protected from the risk of fraud.
Ronald van der Horst, Product Owner online payments, Knab
About Ronald van der Horst
About Konsentus
The Konsentus Group comprises Konsentus Limited and Open Banking Europe S.A.S. Konsentus Limited provides identity and regulatory checking services protecting organisations against the risk of open banking fraud. Open Banking Europe S.A.S. fosters innovation, competition, and efficiency to increase consumer choice and enhance security for online payments. Headquartered in the UK with a European base in France, Konsentus also has extensive operations across the rest of Europe. ISO 27001 certified.
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