Financial news

KeyBank, the regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, has had a busy month solidifying the position of embedded finance in the current market. The bank has published its findings from a report titled ‘U.S. ISV Analysis’ where it uncovered 78 per cent of ISV companies are currently offering embedded banking solutions. Furthermore, the company announced a partnership with EMTransfer, allowing real-time payments to be sent over The Clearing House‘s RTP network.

KeyBank requested TSG to survey 205 ISVs in the fall of 2022 to understand their needs, relationships with their processors, weaknesses in the competitive market, product gaps, and interest in embedded banking solutions.

The survey found that the majority of organisations were already familiar with the term embedded banking. In fact, nearly four in five (78 per cent) of ISV companies surveyed were offering embedded banking solutions. Furthermore, the overwhelming consensus was that ISVs appeared open to cash flow management solutions. Regardless of if they were already offering an embedded finance solution or not.

The major solution for companies already offering embedded finance solutions was cash flow management (20 per cent). Similarly, those not currently offering embedded finance solutions suggested that cash flow management was the most interesting and applicable use of the technology (41 per cent).

Thirty-three per cent of ISVs reported they were seeing high demand from merchants for embedded banking solutions. Funeral homes and crematoriums were the merchants demanding embedded finance the most (60 per cent). They were followed by veterinary merchants (50 per cent) and residential Property management firms (47 per cent).

This demand is likely only going to increase, and there is an opportunity for paytechs to expand their clientele too. KeyBank found 39 per cent of ISV responses signalled a clear intention to continue working with their preferred processor over the next two years. In turn, 61 per cent of software vendors could be open to changing from their current preferred partner.

Furthering embedded finance adoption

KeyBank is further supporting the adoption of embedded finance by partnering with organisations across different sectors. The latest collaboration is with EMTransfer, a provider of a real-estate-specific cash management platform. The cash management platform is offering real-time payments over The Clearing House’s RTP network through new APIs provided by KeyBank.

EMTransfer is one of the first businesses to use KeyBank’s APIs. The APIs enable sending real-time payments over the RTP network. It took less than two weeks to fully integrate RTP functionality into EMTransfer’s systems.

“This is an exciting time for EMTransfer to be teamed up with The Clearing House and KeyBank to truly revolutionise how money moves in real estate transactions,” said Bob Beams, EMTransfer founder and CEO.  “By aligning our platforms to work together, EMTransfer is providing an industry-specific banking solution to settlement companies that will allow them to work both more efficiently and securely.”

Perks of embedded services

The RTP network provides additional features and capabilities that streamline EMTransfer’s real-estate payment process, including:

• Fraud prevention: Immediate confirmation of receipt provides notification to all parties in the real-estate transaction that the funds were received;
• Eliminate paying per diems: the RTP network operates 24/7. Therefore, it eliminates the concern of missing wire cutoff times, and having to pay a per diem fee on the seller’s payoff amount;
• Agent commissions: Disburse agent commissions over the RTP network at any time of the day, or any day of the week. This is in addition to removing the need to send a check;
• Split-closing states: For States that allow for buyers and sellers to use different title & escrow companies, the RTP network will allow the two companies to instantly move money between their trust accounts if their financial institutions are on the RTP network; and
• Request for payment: Utilise the RTP network’s “Request For Payment” functionality to request and receive cash to close.

“We are proud to be part of the revolutionising efforts underway within the real estate industry by empowering developers to seamlessly embed banking services into their applications,” said Jon Briggs, head of commercial product at KeyBank. “The KeyBank Developer Portal and our engineers offer comprehensive resources and guidance. Furthermore, we enable our developers to efficiently integrate and leverage KeyBank’s financial services. This ultimately enhances customer experiences and drives innovation in the fintech sector.”

Providing more options to customers

With APIs from KeyBank’s API Developer portal, EMTransfer provides a cash management experience that is integrated with the customer’s KeyBank trust account. This allows customers to:

• Create and categorise the transfer of funds (i.e, earnest money collection, seller proceeds, and agent commissions disbursements) as needed;
• Electronically and securely collect bank account information/written authorisation/e-signed lien waivers from consumers in a familiar P2P user experience;
• Initiate the transfer of funds directly to and from their trust accounts using the appropriate payment rail (RTP, Wire, ACH). All without requiring a third-party processor to be involved;
• Automatically keep all parties informed about the status of the electronic movement of their funds; and
  Fully document the transfer of funds throughout the real estate transaction with client and bank receipts.