Fintech partnerships mean fewer geographical boundaries under which community banks have long been doing business. One such newly minted partnership is between Bankjoy and Panacea Financial, and this partnership is gaining attention.
Bankjoy, a digital banking provider has been named as a 2024 Finovate Awards finalist, alongside Panacea Financial, a nationwide digital neobank providing services to meet the needs of health care professionals. The Finovate Awards recognize companies driving innovation and the individuals bringing these ideas to the marketplace. Finovate is a yearly series of tech conferences that has steadily grown in popularity alongside the new ways banks are partnering with software companies. Its 2024 spring gathering hosted 1,200 attendees.
Neobanks resemble community banks in that they tend to focus on niche markets. Regardless, they are competing for traditional bank customers and are unbounded by geography. However, not all are backed by a charter and FDIC insurance. Neobank also generally means the company likely has no physical branch.
Therefore, neobank customers access their accounts entirely online, and the most common products are checking and savings accounts, although the product offerings can go far beyond that depending on the business model. The lack of physical branches means neobanks have less overhead and, in theory, can attract customers by offering lower fees and higher rates on savings accounts than traditional banks.
Many neobanks seek to differentiate themselves from traditional banks through the digital tools they offer customers, which is the goal of the Panacea and Bankjoy partnership. Panacea Financial is backed by Primis Bank, chartered out of Arlington, Va. To put the lack of geographical boundaries in perspective, Panacea is headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. And Bankjoy calls Royal Oak, Mich., its home base.
This partnership was recently recognized as a finalist in the Finovate Awards’ “Best Fintech Partnership” category. This award is given to a financial institution and fintech company that are collaborating to build something new and groundbreaking, which, according to the award’s judges is “exactly what Panacea and Bankjoy have achieved.”
According to Panacea, when doctors need financial support from a traditional bank, they often hit roadblocks. Additionally, doctors have limited time and atypical working hours, so traditional banking hours do not always work. Hence, Panacea Financial is digital-only and offers access to bankers around the clock, so that even doctors working night-shifts can manage their finances quickly and easily. To facilitate this, Panacea Financial partnered with Bankjoy to provide a full suite of digital features, specifically geared for the needs of all varieties of health care professionals.
Since partnering with Bankjoy in late 2023, Panacea has continued growing its client base of physicians, dentists and veterinarians with the help of Bankjoy’s tech tools. Panacea’s clients have been able to “easily manage their personal and practice finances on their preferred devices at any time,” according to Bankjoy. “Panacea’s product and service offerings, which are accessible via Bankjoy’s online and mobile banking platform, intend to provide financial support to physicians, dentists, and veterinarians throughout their careers: From school, through residency training and into their practice.”
“The medical field has distinct banking needs, which makes them different from other client demographics,” said Dr. Ned Palmer, COO of Panacea Financial. “Doctors typically have long periods of low income and high debt during school and training. Our business model is unique because we aim to serve these clients at the start of their training and foster lifelong relationships,”
Palmer said Panacea looked at other tech firms before landing on Bankjoy. “We wanted tools that were intuitive, easy to use and thoughtfully designed,” Palmer said. “We found that in Bankjoy, whereas other vendors fell short.”
Palmer said Bankjoy’s integrations were also a differentiator. “They make it easy to integrate a variety of third-party solutions that provide even greater value for our clients. Being able to address their needs with different products and services is much easier and more streamlined with Bankjoy as our partner.”
Expect to see more and more hybrid banks of all shapes and sizes like Panacea in the near future. These fintech partnerships are rapidly becoming commonplace. Primis Bank weighs in at $3.3 billion in assets, which isn’t exactly tiny, but well within the community bank realm. Watching how these partnerships compete — and where — is worth keeping on your radar.