Celent recognises Fidor for new E-commerce inspired Marketplace, Efficient Scale

Fidor has been recognised by Celent as a winner of a “Model Bank of the Year” for its novel marketplace, Efficient Scale. The award was presented at a formal awards ceremony during the annual Innovation and Insight Day in New York on Friday 12th April.

Celent, the global research and advisory firm for the financial services industry, was tasked with recognising nominations across 22 different initiatives at this year’s awards. Efficient Scale was awarded as the outstanding ‘Marketplace Banking Award’ initiative of the year for demonstrating its clear business benefits, innovation and implementation excellence.

Fidor launched Efficient Scale in late 2018 as a response to the growing influence of marketplace banking within retail financial services, by providing an online marketplace for Fidor Bank and its community to buy, sell and compare third-party products and services. It combines the approach of a flexible operating platform with that of a modular aggregator approach, providing a one-stop shop for a holistic financial experience across insurance, finance, trading, mobile and many other convenient products and services.

Operated on Fidor’s in-house digital platform, fidorOS, partners and users can connect to the marketplace via an application programme interface (API) and be offered products and services that a hyper-tailored towards their individual preferences. Customers benefit from a marketplace that aligns intuitively with their financial interests and benefits, and constantly collates their feedback so that they offered the right products and services for them.

Nick Riegger, CEO at Efficient Scale said: “The progress that we’ve made since starting as a subsidiary of Fidor in 2018 indicates the appetite there is for data-driven partner marketing in financial services. So far we’ve seen a considerable 10% of Fidor’s customer base sign up to Efficient Scale in just six months; a huge validation of the need to create marketplaces that tailor to every individual’s preferences. We are thrilled that Celent has recognised Efficient Scale for its innovation in this way.”

According to Patricia Hines, Head of Corporate Banking Research at Celent: “The Model Bank Awards recognize how banks are using technology to change the face of banking. These banks should serve as an inspiration to others looking for strong examples of best practice implementation that will have a truly meaningful impact on business results and the industry overall. The entry from Fidor for the ‘Marketplace Banking Award clearly demonstrated this.”

Celent’s annual Model Bank Awards recognize the best practices of technology usage in different areas critical to success in banking. Nominations are submitted by financial institutions and undergo a rigorous evaluation process by Celent analysts. Celent judges submissions on three core criteria: demonstrable business benefits of live initiatives; the degree of innovation relative to the industry; and the technology or implementation excellence.

About Efficient Scale

Efficient Scale GmbH is a provider of a data-driven partner marketplace platform which represents a new type of consumer-oriented model for e-commerce partner marketing. Established in late 2018 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidor Bank, this platform enables product and service providers to boost their sales through product and/or audience partnerships and thus efficiently increase their turnover volumes. Efficient Scale delivers this solution, including all of the necessary business processes, to bank and non-bank clients seeking to establish their own marketplace and to achieve growth on the basis of a secure and independent partner network while addressing their customers’ needs.

Its marketplace ecosystem concept had already received international recognition, as the “Best Banking Platform” at the 2018 Juniper Awards and “Best New Business Ecosystem” at the 2017 Efma Accenture Awards.

For further information on Efficient Scale, please visit: www.efficientscale.com