Published on the 14/08/2014 | Written by Newsdesk
The financial technology company is setting up to profit from the next wave of digital disruption in banking with the acquisition of Sush Mobile…
Kiwi company Sush Mobile is set to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Auckland-based financial technology company Finzsoft in a deal reportedly worth $1.9 million. Sush Mobile, responsible for creating the Kiwibank Home Hunter app and The Warehouse mobile apps to name a few. It specialises in using emerging and disruptive technologies and has built a Google Glass app for Craigs Investment Partners and used of augmented reality in the award-winning Kiwibank Home Hunter app.
The acquisition by Finzsoft, which provides the mission critical software that runs banks and financial institutions, followed a previous partnership with Sush to develop its Seal the Deal app and mobile banking apps that Finzsoft has sold into local building society and credit union clients, as well as St George Bank in Australia as part of the company’s latest material work orders.
Finzsoft managing director Andrew Holliday said the Sush Mobile deal is part of a planned approach for Finzsoft to build next generation capabilities to help it lead the development of transformational products for the banking and finance sector.
“Sush Mobile is a proven, successful and profitable mobile provider. The acquisition of Sush Mobile will provide a diversified income stream for Finzsoft along with access to comprehensive in-house enterprise mobility solutions that will give us a competitive, innovative edge, and a positive material impact both on revenue and bottom-line.”
According to Deloitte’s updated Digital Disruption report the financial sector has been one of the quickest to respond to the effects of digital disruption, turning to online and mobile technologies to provide innovative solutions for customer.
Innumerable research papers show a fast-increasing willingness of customers to bank online, while predictions from Juniper Research say 200 million customers will make banking transactions via tablet by 2017. The financial institutions aren’t just competing with each other however, as start-ups, accounting software companies and even telcos all scramble for their piece of the pie.
Holliday believes that Sush Mobile is a true leader in its field and that together Sush Mobile and Finzsoft can leverage ‘m-bank’ solutions to respond to the key current disruptive trends in banking – O2O (online-to-offline), IoT (the internet of things) and customer centricity.
Sheenu Chawla and Sulabh Sharma, who co-founded Sush Mobile in 2009, which is still in essence a tech start-up, are pleased with the deal. “To complete every innovation story there has to be an integrated, connected system at the back-end. This is Finzsoft’s strength, which combined with our mobile innovations will provide better servicing for customers with more innovative channels for clients,” said Sharma.
Finzsoft said it intends to preserve Sush Mobile’s unique culture and identity.
