[Exclusive Interview] This Indian Fintech Startup Is Connecting Banks, Customers & Businesses Using APIs; Find Out How?

A unique Indian startup from fintech domain: M2PFintech is connecting banks, customers and businesses using APIs.

How can this empower the financial sector? How this idea came through?

We did an exclusive interview with M2PFintech co-founder: Mr. Muthukumar A to find out more.

Here are the highlights..

Question: Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers. 

• It started as a casual tea conversation between two friends, me and Madhu, which evolved into M2P Fintech. We often discussed and debated the recurring trends and identified white spaces in B2B payments solutions. After many discussions, in late 2014, we began M2P Fintech, and Prabhu R joined us as a co-founder. We started as a Payments Infrastructure business in 2015 and are now evolving into a thriving two-sided fintech marketplace with banks and regulated financial institutions on one side and Fintech businesses looking to solve a myriad of fintech opportunities on the other side.

• We are an API infrastructure company that enables businesses of any scale to embed financial products in their customer journeys. Our platform allows corporations to quickly create and deploy fintech products by simplifying the partnerships with Banks, PPIs, FIs, and other regulated entities. 

• We see ourselves becoming the fintech factory for the world and being the platform where innovators can come and express themselves without worrying about the complexities of building a regulated product like financial services.

Question: How are disruptive technologies like IoT/Big Data analytics/AI/Machine Learning/Cloud Computing impacting the fintech innovation?  

• The IoT/Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain represent an unprecedented financial and technological opportunity. Every institution leveraging these technologies can reinvent processes and create business possibilities that addresses the needs of the new generation of consumers. These advances in technology are fuelling the rapid growth of the fintech ecosystem globally. 

• With the deployment of new-age technologies, Fintech enables faster data processing with applications that break down complex data into usable insights to improve financial decision-making.

• Thanks to Blockchain, AI, and ML, companies can provide better security frameworks with algorithms to identify dubious activities.   The use of AI and machine learning in digital payments offers a seamless experience at the point of sale. 

• At M2P Fintech, we leverage machine learning, especially in cross-border transactions, and it is helping us in disrupting the legacy banking infrastructure 

Question: Please brief us about the products/services/solutions you provide to your customers and how do they get value out of it?

• M2P Fintech is an API infrastructure company that enables businesses of any scale to become digital financial services providers. We are well-positioned with a secure and highly customizable tech stack that helps companies launch their products with efficacy and speed at its core. In addition, our tech stack has passed numerous regulatory audits and is backed by industry-leading certifications. 
• On one end, our platform allows businesses to quickly create and deploy fintech products by customizing all relevant workflows through our plug-and-play solutions. On the other end, our platform simplifies the ability of banks/PPI license/ regulated entities to support these products in the back end by facilitating technology integration as well as settlement and operational support.

Question: How are API platforms reinventing the wheel – a paradigm shift? 

• Over the last few years, APIs have become particularly significant to banks and fintech companies. APIs help share data, integrate with systems, and personalize services, making financial services quick and efficient. 

• The API platform has brought about a paradigm shift in how banks and businesses offer payment and transaction services to their customers. Through the API platform, any business can transform into Fintech or enable any technology company to provide financial products directly to their end customers through embedded Fintech. 

Question: Would like to throw some light on how Banks and Fintechs are moving towards Containerized Computing. The rise of Docker/Kubernetes?

• Container computing allows you to plug and play the template of a system in seconds, with all infrastructure-as-code, libraries, configs, and internal dependencies in a single package.

• Therefore, many banks are restructuring the processes and technologies of their IT departments and fintechs are helping them do it. A containerized infrastructure helps financial institutions achieve their goals in terms of speed, scalability, and security.  The business models and processes can be digitized faster to meet IT requirements for reliable and scalable applications, leading to a better customer experience.

• M2P Fintech’s container “Bank-in-Box’ API is a popular product in the industry. It allows companies to build rapidly, test, iterate, launch financial products.  Our innovative Bank-in-box container can transform any business into a fintech. 

Question: What are some of the challenges faced by the industry today?

• The banking API infrastructure implementation comes with established frameworks and regulations that vary based on their needs including tech stack integration, data field matching, and the country’s regulations. Regulatory changes are often too quick or sudden to allow changes in the solutions within the given timeframe. One of the significant challenges is data security. The threat of cyber theft, data breaches, phishing, and digital identity theft has increased significantly in the past decade. The onus of protecting consumer data lies with all the stakeholders namely the banks, Fintech, and the regulatory body to build a resilient digital infrastructure.