IBS Journal May 2016
17
For that reason, the first version of the Atom app is only available to customers who have already pre-registered and, even then, they’ll need an activation code to open an account. “I know, this seems ultra-cautious, but I also know that this isn’t a demo, it isn’t a Beta, it’s not a sandbox. It’s real data and it’s real money so we’re treading cautiously.”
It has taken the venture two years to get to this point. “Two years building a team. Six months developing a business plan and a credible banking licence application. Another six months working with our regulators before our restricted licence was granted. A year working with our technology partners and with our suppliers. Nine months mobilising the bank to the point where the regulatory restrictions on our licence have just been lifted. Six months testing, testing, testing and more – bloody – testing. Two years might seem a lot of time but it’s the blink of an eye considering that most of the big banks have had a 150 year head start.”
Customers’ money is now protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. It has been granted access to the Bank of England Reserve Account. The bank’s technologies run on servers in geographically separate datacentres. It has fully tested its emergency operating procedures to make sure that it can continue to provide services if its business is disrupted. It has also tested the
production of its Single Customer View (SCV) files to cover the possibility that customers’ information might need to be transferred to another bank in the event that it ever got into financial difficulty.
In the coming weeks, Atom will roll-out new versions of its banking app. It has started with term deposits and lending to small businesses. The next version of the app, scheduled for the end of April, will allow it to ramp up access for iOS customers and then in May it will introduce an Android version before adding fingerprint bio at the end of the month. By then, it will be available to all comers.
In the summer, Atom will introduce residential mortgages, to be distributed through intermediaries. It will also start a public Beta of its current accounts, set to go live by the third quarter of this year. “We’ll round off 2016 with our credit card and then in the first quarter of 2017, we’ll add personal loans and ISAs (just in time for the new tax year),” adds Mullen. “Along the way we have a million and one tweaks and enhancements to our app, including integrated video calling and a bunch of other stuff, but I’m not in a hurry to tell the competition too much about these just yet. They say that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery – I think it just plain smells.”
Scott Thompson
www.ibsintelligence.com
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