Fin-tech startup Open Financial Technologies has announced that it has partnered with ICICI Bank to launch an integrated payments platform for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers.
This will enable ICICI Bank’s current account holders to securely connect their bank account with the ‘Open’ platform and undertake an array of digital transactions like invoicing, online payments, vendor payouts as well as accounting through a single platform.
It also enables businesses to automatically reconcile banking and accounting entries to generate profit & loss statements, balance sheets and expense reports, thereby offering MSMEs with better insights into their financial transactions.
This partnership will enable MSME customers to experience ‘connected banking’ which helps businesses to eliminate the need for manual data entry, automate banking functions like invoicing, payments and reconciliation on a single platform as well as facilitate payments to vendors/suppliers directly through the accounting platform.
Talking about the partnership, Mr. Pankaj Gadgil, General Manager and Head of Business Banking, ICICI Bank said:
This is a testament to our constant effort at promoting the concept of ‘connected banking’ wherein we aim to bring together various banking functions like raising invoices, making payments and reconciliation on a common platform. We believe, this proposition will help businesses to draw deeper insights about their financial transactions, thereby helping them take business decisions in a seamless manner.
As a part of the alliance, Open will create awareness about the integrated platform to prospective SMEs digitally. The service will also be available to existing current account customers of ICICI Bank who can access the platform through their Corporate Internet Banking portal. Businesses can access the platform by registering on the Open website, while existing ICICI Bank users can easily connect their bank account to the Open platform through their internet banking portal.
Open Financial Technologies was founded in 2017 and the startup claims to be processing over 730 crores in transactions and adds about 7500 SMEs every month on the platform. It aims to serve 1 lakh businesses and process USD1 Billion in transactions by 2019.
