Efma and SAP partner for SME AppsBank Portal
Have SME apps to build or share? Efma & SAP are interested
Efma, an association of 3,300 retail financial services companies in more than 130 countries, and SAP have launched a new online portal to help banks’ SME-related business.
The portal – (unsurprisingly) hailed as “innovative” and “disruptive” by its creators – supports banks in developing new apps for their SME clients and also holds competitions to find the best apps worldwide.
The portal was unveiled on 17th March in Berlin, Germany. Essentially, it is an app-store and a development environment. It is powered by SAP HANA Cloud Platform.
Its award for the best app – SME Banking Award – encourages banks to share their existing apps or develop new ones. The deadline for submitting these is 31st December 2016.
Vincent Bastid, CEO of Efma, says the participants will be able to “benchmark themselves against their peers for financial services such as cash flow management, business finance management and payments”.
Laurence Leyden, EMEA head of financial services industries at SAP, emphasises the importance of SME banking. “By rewarding the best in SME banking,” he says, “we can help support a critical service that plays a major role in job creation, economic growth and social stability for those in developing and emerging markets.”
SME AppsBank Portal is based on three main pillars:
1. A library of SME apps:
Banks and financial institutions are encouraged to post their apps using the online form and they will have free access to apps in areas such as microfinance, investment, business and financial management, cash management, payments etc.
2. A development environment to assist bank IT teams build their apps
This is based on SAP HANA Cloud Platform and utilises SAP’s tools and technologies. There is also a “special” SAP award for banks developing on its cloud platform.
3. Awards for the best SME apps
In addition to the main award, there will be two “special” prizes – the aforementioned recognition from SAP and one picked by Efma.
The winners will be selected in January 2017 and the awards ceremony will take place on 17th March 2017.
