Mambu takes the Cake with new digital banking deal

Cake, a new Vietnamese digital bank, has selected Mambu as its digital banking services provider.

Cake is the result of a partnership between VP Bank and Be Group

The Vietnamese challenger is the result of a collaboration between VP Bank and ride-hailing app developers Be Group.

Cake arrives on the market with an existing licence through its parent lender. Be Group subsidiary beFinancial is running the show, and it aims to quickly scale the digital bank’s operations.

“In order to provide a superior customer experience, we need to enable the rapid launch of flexible and unique products,” says Nguyen Huu Quang, CEO of beFinancial.

“We wanted to find a technology partner that shares the same understanding of the power and social impact of enabling faster and easier access to financial services.”

Cake claims to be the first digital banking solution attached to a ride-hailing app in Vietnam, and will enable access to financial services for as many as 10 million existing Be customers.

Myles Bertrans, managing director for APAC at Mambu, calls Cake’s offering “completely unique” in the Vietnamese market.

“By tapping into an already established and loyal customer base, Cake is making things like paying for goods and services, saving money, and receiving deposits quick and simple.”

Mambu has a handful of customers in Vietnam, most operating as digital banks. One of its major deals is with legacy lender MSB, formerly known as Maritime Bank.

Other Mambu users in the country include TNEX and Timo, both digital-only banks which picked the vendor to launch products and services from the cloud.

Pham Quang Minh, Mambu’s general manager for Vietnam, says the vendor is “committed” to enabling financial inclusion in the country.