Salt Bank, Romania’s first digitally-native bank, has selected Engine by Starling, the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subsidiary of Starling Bank, to power its new retail bank. The deal is subject to approval by the local regulator (National Bank of Romania). 

Salt Bank, previously known as Idea Bank, is based in Bucharest and is a subsidiary of Banca Transilvania Financial Group, the largest bank in Southeastern Europe.

Salt Bank has ambitions to disrupt banking in Romania by bringing a seamless digital user experience to millions of customers who want to do all their banking on their smartphones. Its app, which is expected to go live in 2024, will be available to individuals and businesses.

Engine’s proprietary, cloud-based banking platform will enable Salt Bank to serve the Romanian market with a wide-range range of digital banking services. The Engine technology was built to power Starling Bank, which has amassed more than 3.6 million customer accounts in the UK as of March 2023.

Using Engine’s SaaS capabilities, the partnership will give Salt Bank the ability to:

• onboard customers digitally, manage accounts and provide savings products.

• process payments and card transactions and manage and grow a portfolio of unsecured lending products.

• manage operations via Engine’s proprietary operational portal, including functionality to support customer services, financial crime monitoring and prevention, payment operations, card operations, loan servicing and collections.

Gabriela Nistor, CEO of Salt Bank, said: “We have strong ambitions to disrupt the banking market in Romania by offering customers simple and seamless digital experiences. 

“Engine provides a best-in-class platform that will fit into our digital strategy. We were impressed by Engine's success with Starling Bank in the UK, which has 3.6 million customer accounts and regularly tops the tables for providing the best customer experience.”

Sam Everington, CEO of Engine by Starling, adds: “With Engine, our goal is to bring our modern banking platform to financial services firms around the world. Our first client, Salt Bank, shares our vision for better banking. Together we plan to create the best user experiences for customers in Romania - just like Starling has done in the UK.”