With many big banks earmarking substantial sums annually for digital transformation investments, and challengers popping up almost daily, just keeping up can be a struggle. Figuring out which aspects of the business to prioritise, the role partners can play, and where to start can cause analysis paralysis which could be an existential threat.

Legacy core banking systems have kept the lights on – literally and figuratively – but their costliness and lack of flexibility represent obstacles for the future. That’s one of the reasons  Marqeta partners with Mambu, a leading cloud banking platform.

Core processing to the cloud

Mambu is the cloud-native core banking platform where modern financial experiences are built. Financial institutions can mix and match various capabilities to meet their specific needs. By integrating Mambu and its ecosystem of connectors, financial institutions and fintechs can quickly and flexibly design, launch, service and scale their banking and lending portfolios.

Since we first announced our partnership with Mambu in 2019, we’ve helped numerous financial institutions modernise and innovate. One recent example is Western Union, a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. Mambu’s cloud-native platform powers Western Union’s digital banking app, WU+, a next-generation real-time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe. Marqeta’s modern card issuing platform allows Western Union’s entire remittance service to be offered online, with funds disbursed to a physical or virtual Visa card. This enables Western Union to extend its relationship with its customers, creating a new banking experience by connecting cards to its new digital payment platform.

Building blocks

To fully grasp the power of Mambu’s ecosystem of connectors, you might think of Legos. Mambu’s architecture is composable, featuring small, self-contained, and easily interchangeable building blocks. This design enables flexible and seamless integration with vetted third-party services, including Marqeta’s modern card issuing platform.

Using Mambu’s pre-built connectors can drastically reduce time-to-market, especially during the initial implementation phase. It can remove the need to build complex integrations on top of APIs, or worry about hosting. While Marqeta handles card issuing and processing, other Mambu connectors can help with account origination, downstream data, and loan origination. By making it easy to choose the services they need from best-for-purpose partners, Mambu gives customers a big head start.

The Mambu-Marqeta connector

Built around the Marqeta Just-in-Time (JIT) Funding™ solution, the Mambu-Marqeta connector is used to process payment card authorisation requests, accept payment card clearing transactions, and reversal instructions. Card authorisation is managed via Marqeta’s JIT Funding gateway, which automatically funds an account in real-time during the transaction process. When a card is swiped, Marqeta will send an authorisation request, Mambu will accept or deny the transaction, and the funds are moved. This approach supports use cases with multiple combinations of authorisation and settlement business flows.

Using the Mambu-Marqeta connector, financial institutions help eliminate the need to build out their own gateways or deal  with complex messaging standards such as ISO 8583. The close integration between Marqeta and Mambu also ensures swift API interaction, which means cardholders have a positive purchasing experience. Marqeta’s modern card issuing platform is integrated with the Visa, Mastercard and Discover networks, allowing customers to make the best choice of card product.

Mambu and Marqeta offer flexibility and a breadth of options to build products across retail banking, business banking and lending. Learn more about the Mambu-Marqeta connector.