What is WB21 for those who do not know? Could you name some partners, some clients, some numbers?
WB21 is a digital bank that offers real-time, online account opening for private and business customers in 180 countries. The bank’s solutions enable the customers to set up their account in 18 different currencies, in real-time. The WB21 platform was rolled out in December 2015, enjoying since its launch a huge traction. By the end of June 2016, WB21 has reached more than 750,000 customers and a monthly payment volume of more than USD 700 million.
Recently, the bank has started accepting Bitcoin as a depositing method, therefore customers can instantly transfer funds to their WB21 account from any country in the world.
What are the challenges WB21 faces with onboarding clients?
Onboarding clients from 180 countries is a complex process as you need to have a KYC system cable of identifying all these customers, and understand what the risks are in each country. We have spent 18 months to develop our KYC solution that is cable of identifying private and business individuals. We can perform this task in 10 different languages, in real-time.
The digital landscape always deals with trust issues, focusing on compliance, security, and data protection, how do you secure that trust with your customers?
WB21 is a fully licensed financial institution, in various countries, therefore we are legally allowed to do the services. Moreover, our business model is to work with local banks in countries across the globe where we are currently offering banking infrastructure.
Regarding data security, WB21 is PCI certified, having one of the highest standards in the industry in terms of securitization. When it comes to securing customers’ funds our bank works with local banks that are holding funds for us. Therefore, the risk of a customer’s working with WB21 is less than working with a local bank, because the funds are diversified over 48 different banks, in 48 different countries. These banks are ensured with the local governments, and customer funds are fully protected.
There are lots of discussions around digital banks vs. traditional banks, what is your opinion about this? Why should anyone work with WB21 instead of a traditional bank?
Traditional banks are not necessarily competitors for digital banks; WB21 sees them more as partners. Still, traditional banks tend to work mostly with local businesses, entities, customers, and the difficulty with the customers begins when they need internationally accounts in different countries.
A customer doing business with WB21 would not only get one account but technically can get access to 48 accounts, in 48 different countries. This our unique selling proposition, that traditional banks do not usually offer.
About Michael Gastauer
Michael Gastauer is the Founder and CEO of WB21. Michael founded his first business in 1998, an asset management company he would go on to sell and later found the German online payment processing company Apax Global Payments. He has also founded the Gastauer Family Office(GFO), a single family office with over USD 500 million in assets under management. He has recently appeared in Forbes, Tech.co, and a few other outlets.
About WB21
WB21 is a group of companies operating financial institutions in various countries. The Group is headquartered in London, with offices in Zurich and Hong Kong. WB21 offers services including online account opening and real time Cross-Border payments. WB21 is a provider of services in 180 countries. The company uses proprietary technology IRTP that allows global payments to third party bank accounts and GlobalKYC that allows real time identification of 3rd parties in 180 countries.
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