How serious is IBM about making an impact in fintech? The company, which demonstrated its wealth management technology at FinovateSpring in 2016, launched its first financial services-ready public cloud today and revealed Bank of America as its initial partner. The two companies have been working together on the project for more than a year, and the bank said it plans to host key applications and workloads on the platform to better serve its 66 million banking customers. According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, Bank of America currently has 80% of its IT workload on a private cloud and has been planning a move to a public cloud since 2012.

The IBM financial services public cloud will help banks and other financial services companies more effectively engage with qualified technology vendors. In its statement, IBM highlighted the fact that the cloud will also help financial services firms meet regulatory, security, and resiliency requirements for working with fintechs. The company added that the solution is the only industry-specific, public cloud platform to provide preventative and compensatory controls for financial services regulatory workloads, multi-architecture support, and proactive and automated security.

Bank of America helped IBM develop the platform’s control requirements which, for example, will help both ISVs and SaaS providers of all sizes focus on their businesses rather than security, infrastructure, and compliance issues once platform controls are established.

Calling the pact, “one of the most important collaborations in the financial services industry cloud space,” Bank of America Chief Operations and Technology Officer Cathy Bessant explained that the bank expects to give as much as it gets from the relationship. “This industry-first platform will allow Bank of America to use the public cloud, putting data security, resiliency, privacy, and customer information safety needs at the forefront of decision-making,” Bessant said. “By setting a standard that addresses the concern of hosting highly-confidential information, we aim to drive the public cloud to a safety level that is unmatched.”

The IBM financial services-ready cloud will run on IBM’s public cloud. IBM’s public cloud leverages open source technologies, including a managed Red Hat OpenShift environment, to support more than 1,000 enterprise clients. The platform leverages more than 16,000 production clusters, provides industry-leading compliance for data encryption, and relies on integration with IBM Security to deliver threat monitoring and management from a centralized security dashboard.

“The financial services-ready public cloud represents an ongoing focus from Bank of America, IBM, and Promontory to help develop a technology ecosystem where regulations can be addressed,” IBM SVP for Global Industries, Clients, Platforms & Blockchain Bridget van Kralingen said. “Together we plan to help our customers address their ongoing compliance requirements, coupled with highly scalable, standardized capabilities that will be built to help serve today’s modern financial services industry.” Promontory is an IBM business unit focused on financial services regulatory compliance consulting that was brought in to ensure an environment that was compliant with relevant regulations.

In addition to its FinovateSpring appearance in 2016, IBM also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVrNewYork 2017. The presentation by CTO Tom Eck discussed how thousands of developers were successfully building and monetizing “cognitive-enabled” financial services apps quickly and at scale.

Founded in 1911, IBM is based in Armonk, New York. The company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker IBM, and has a market capitalization of $122 billion.

Early-stage, next generation fintechs are the target of the new accelerator program launched by IBM this week: The IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator Powered by IBM LinxuOne. Selected companies will collaborate with IBM and its partners, IBM Alpha Zone, Queen City Fintech, and MEDICI as they work to turn their startups into “sustainable and scalable companies.”

A total of fifteen early-stage, pre-Series A startups from both fintech and healthtech will be selected for the program. The application window closes at the end of July, and companies are expected to be selected in September. Later that fall, startups will participate in an in-person workshop event where they will have the opportunity to demo their solutions before an audience of IBM partners, customers, and investors.

IBM will provide the companies with a virtual mentorship of monthly one-on-one and quarterly all-hands check-ins for two years after completing the program. The startups will also benefit from a one-year business mentorship, with monthly and quarterly consultations, and the opportunity for the startup to participate in a second in-person demo day.

Companies in the program will be able to access technical workshops from IBM, and take advantage of a 300+ member network of business mentors and technical support. Startups will also have access to up to $10,000 a month in IBM cloud technology credits that can be applied each month to access IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services. Up to $120,000 in credit can be earned by startups by the end of the program.

IBM will leverage its LinuxONE server platform to power IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services and provide the kind of highly secure environment necessary for fintech and healthtech companies that need to protect sensitive data in cloud native apps. The highly scalable platform will also ensure that program participants will enjoy maximum uptime and availability.

IBM has been a Finovate alum since 2016 when it demonstrated its Client Insight for Wealth Management solution. The company has also been a participant in our developers conferences, presenting the Implementation of the Hyperledger Project at IBM with Blockchain as a Service at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. Most recently, IBM Security demonstrated its IBM Trusteer New Account Fraud solution at FinovateEurope 2018.

IBM has unveiled a global blockchain network, Blockchain World Wire, that will offer near real-time cross-border payment exchange and international settlement. Blockchain World Wire can transfer funds in 47 currencies to locations in 72 countries, and the company is calling it the first blockchain network of its kind to integrate payment messaging, clearing and settlement in a single unified network.

“We’ve created a new type of payment network designed to accelerate remittances and transform cross-border payments to facilitate the movement of money in countries that need it most,” General Manager of IBM Blockchain Marie Wieck said. “By creating a network where financial institutions support multiple digital assets, we expect to spur innovation and improve financial inclusion worldwide.”

Blockchain World Wire leverages the Stellar protocol to support point-to-point money transfers, cutting out the intermediaries of conventional correspondent banking. World Wire also shortens settlement time by transmitting value via digital assets (i.e., cryptocurrencies or stable coins).

The network currently supports settlement with Stellar Lumens and a U.S. dollar-based stable coin. Six global banks have signed letters of intent to issue their own stable coins on the network, which will add the Euro, the Indonesian Rupiah, the Philippine Peso, the Korean Won, and the Brazilian Real to the mix.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) of the Philippines and Banco Bradesco of Brazil are among the banks that have announced their participation in IBM’s new initiative. Representatives from both institutions highlighted “innovation” and the need to “enhance” or “add value” to the customer experience as key factors in the decision to join the network. Also believed to have signed a letter of intent is South Korea’s Banco Busan.

IBM participated in our developers conference, FinDEVrNewYork 2017, discussing the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. The company’s security division, IBM Trusteer, demonstrated its latest technology to fight new account fraud at FinovateEurope earlier this year. A leader in open source blockchain technology solutions for the enterprise, IBM has a market capitalization of $124 billion, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “IBM.”