SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Synapse Financial Technologies Inc., a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that increases access to best-in-class financial products, today announced a partnership with Utoppia, a global U.S.-based fintech, to offer passport holders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico a suite of cross-border financial services. Based on the Synapse platform, Utoppia offers a borderless account, based in the U.S., designed for non-U.S. residents with global financial needs. Plans are also in place to expand these services to residents in more than 30 countries across five continents by the end of the year.
Through this partnership Utoppia offers access to a 100% mobile and easy-to-use account in the U.S. for non-U.S. residents, which brings benefits and features that include the ability to store money in a stable currency, send and receive domestic and international transfers, and spend globally with a Mastercard® debit card. Applicants can open an account in their home country, with no need to travel to the U.S. All they need is a valid passport from a supported country. It is hoped that providing access to a stable currency and reliable, affordable financial services, will establish a new level of economic stability and freedom for its customers.
“Our world has changed dramatically. Location no longer matters for workers in the digital economy,” said Stefano Angeli, founder and CEO of Utoppia. “You no longer need to travel, commute or live in a big city to improve your life and your economy. For global workers, cross-border families, and consumers, who travel physically or digitally, Utoppia’s borderless account delivers financial mobility and stability.”
“We are excited to announce that Utoppia has joined our growing list of customers launching innovative solutions on the Synapse platform,” said Sankaet Pathak, CEO and co-founder of Synapse. “We are also excited that Utoppia is an early customer benefiting from our new, modular banking strategy.”
Modular banking is an infrastructure developed by Synapse that sources specialized services across multiple bank partners to deliver these services collectively as a complete offering to its fintech and enterprise customers. Through modular banking, not only is Utoppia gaining best-in-class services across Lineage Bank, American Bank and Synapse Brokerage LLC, but they are also able to plug in their bank-of-choice for additional services into the Synapse platform, which they plan to do in the near future.
“Beyond the scale and scope of its platform, we chose Synapse because of their unique abilities to handle identity verification and other regulatory compliance requirements that can get complicated when extending services beyond borders,” said Stefano. “We also chose them because of the flexibility of their platform and in particular, their ability to easily integrate a bank of our choosing.”
About Synapse
Synapse was founded in 2014 with the mission to ensure that everyone around the world has access to best-in-class financial products, regardless of their net worth. Synapse’s banking-as-a-service platform provides payment, card issuance, deposit, lending, compliance, credit and investment products as APIs to more than 15 million end users. It has an annualized transaction volume of $67 billion and $11 billion of assets under management across its platform. With white-labeled APIs for developers and bank-facing APIs for institutions to automate their back-end operations, Synapse customers can quickly build, launch and scale innovative financial products and services. The company is backed by more than $50 million in funding from top venture firms, such as Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Startups, and Trinity Ventures. Global cash management services are provided by Synapse Brokerage LLC, a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. Synapse is not a Bank. Banking and card services are provided by Synapse Financial Technologies Inc.’s partner banks, Members FDIC. For more information, please visit synapsefi.com.
About Utoppia
Utoppia is a U.S.-based company founded in 2021 with the mission to offer a global solution for the new ways of working and living in a borderless world. Leveraging financial technology, its App offers access to a 100% mobile and easy-to-use bank account in the United States for non-U.S. residents, enabling them to store their money in a strong jurisdiction and strong currency, send and receive domestic and international transfers, pay globally with a Mastercard® debit card, and seamlessly trade, transfer and invest in crypto as well. While Utoppia’s global footprint has begun in Latin America, it is on track to offer services in more than 30 countries by the end of 2022. For more information, please visit utoppia.com.
