Finastra announced today that its technology is powering ORO Bank. The new cloud-first institution serves individuals and businesses in Bhutan, and around the world, with a specific focus on providing safe, innovative and sustainable banking.

The bank is part of a visionary strategic initiative – the Gelephu Mindfulness City Special Administrative Region (SAR), as announced by His Majesty the King of Bhutan recently. The development envisions a thriving economic center, integrating the core principles of Bhutan’s philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) – equitable economic growth, cultural preservation, environmental sustainability and good governance.

Mike Kayamori, CEO at ORO Bank said, “We are Asia’s first full reserve digital bank, and we believe in safe and sustainable banking, providing peace of mind for our customers with our full reserve banking ethos, avoiding pitfalls of the fractional reserve system. Aligned with the principles of the Gross National Happiness philosophy we’re bringing financial infrastructure to enable personal, corporate and financial growth in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner. In addition to serving the Mindfulness City, we aspire to become the preferred bank for global startups and innovative emerging businesses.”

He added, “Finastra’s expertise in cloud-first deployments and supporting new digital banks in this region is second to none. We knew working together would result in a wonderful partnership that has helped us bring our vision for a different kind of bank to life.”

Using Finastra Essence in the cloud, ORO Bank has been able to tap into a SaaS core banking solution and launch to global markets within six months. Finastra’s combination of rich, broad and deep banking functionality with advanced technology provided a compelling proposition which gives the bank a competitive edge and contributes to its sustainability goals through the cloud.

Siobhan Byron, EVP, Universal Banking at Finastra said, “This is a bank that thrives in bringing innovators and entrepreneurs around the world together to collaborate – a reflection of the same open finance ideals we hold at Finastra. It is a pleasure to have helped kick start ORO Bank’s journey. Our platform is ideally placed to enable the bank to focus on its inspiring vision and customer service, while we take care of the core banking operations.”