KeyBank and Qolo Team to Offer Clients Embedded Banking Solutions

KeyBank has adopted solutions from Qolo to offer its business clients embedded banking solutions.

With this deployment, KeyBank can enable its customers to instantly create virtual accounts and connect to underlying payment modalities like real-time payments (RTP), automated clearing house (ACH) and wire transfer, the companies said in a Tuesday (April 11) press release.

“KeyBank selected Qolo for our shared commitment to delivering new products and services that help businesses innovate and enhance their operations,” KeyBank Head of Commercial Product & Innovation Jon Briggs said in the release. “The integration of Qolo into Keybank’s [application programming interfaces (APIs)] is another proof point in our embedded banking strategy, allowing clients to streamline and scale their strategies by utilizing our digital payment tools to power innovation in their platforms.”

PYMNTS research has found that financial institutions are exploring how they can solve corporate clients’ B2B payments frictions to engage and retain those clients.

While two-thirds of financial institutions said digital payments solutions are “very” or “extremely” important in addressing clients’ B2B payments frictions, only three out of 10 said their current solutions are “very” or “extremely” effective in reducing B2B payments frictions for clients, according to “The New User Experience: Tracking the Consumerization of B2B Payments,” a PYMNTS and FIS collaboration.

Keybank’s new capabilities will be powered by Qolo’s digital-first financial solutions, which will complement the scale and security offered by the financial institution, according to the press release.

“Qolo’s partnership with KeyBank will bring our leading card issuing, omnichannel payments and flexible virtual accounts to more FinTechs and businesses looking to quickly launch and scale revenue-generating digital banking services,” Qolo CEO Patricia Montesi said in the release.

Businesses are pushing banks and financial institutions for innovation in B2B payments, Montesi told PYMNTS in an interview posted in October 2022.

As businesses increasingly demand a consumer-style payment experience, financial institutions are being pushed to up their game to meet those demands while navigating the more complex nature of B2B transactions, Montesi said at the time.

Qolo’s solution is to overlay its own technology on top of the legacy system to equip financial institutions with the modern functionalities they need to effectively serve the B2B market, Montesi said.