Sustainability-as-a-Service: FTS and ecolytiq offer Banks a Comprehensive Solution for Sustainable Banking
Berlin-based FinTech ecolytiq is partnering with FinTecSystems, the leading infrastructure FinTech for Open Banking, to offer banks a direct entry into the application of Sustainable Banking. With its Sustainability-as-a-Service platform, ecolytiq targets banks and financial institutions through an automated analysis of consumers’ environmental impact based on debit card and bank transactions. With FTS’ Open Banking Platform, ecolytiq reaches more than 6,000 banks and 500 million customers. Additionally, FTS provides a precise categorisation of banking data – a basic requirement for the calculation of individual environmental impact.

“Individual spending behaviour reflects peoples’ lifestyles. We want to help consumers become aware of  their individual footprint and change for the better. Our ultimate goal is to enable people to understand their environmental impact and help make their everyday lives more sustainable. We also want to enable financial institutions to use this knowledge by offering their customers sustainable financial products, such as ESG investment funds. Our services help consumers change their consumption behaviour and thereby reduce their impact on the environment. FTS is a crucial partner and multiplier for us, as we receive quality, categorised transaction data that we require for our calculations”, explains Ulrich Pietsch, CEO at ecolytiq.

ecolytiq is directly integrated into several banking apps and connected to users’ bank accounts via FTS. For each transaction, e.g. a grocery purchase or a restaurant visit, the environmental impact is calculated in the form of the CO2 equivalent in kilograms for the respective purchase. In addition to the pure CO2 value, ecolytiq also provides context, through so-called “impact insights’. By empowering customers through education, ecolytiq shows how an individual can reduce their CO2 consumption through simple adjustments in their shopping behaviour. In that vein, ecolytiq’s solution offers consumers the opportunity to invest sustainably and offset their own footprint by donating to certified environmental projects.

“Many consumers, especially Millenials and Digital Natives, strive for a sustainable lifestyle, for the good of the planet. But most of us don’t even realise the impact of our daily behaviour. Banking transactions reflect peoples’ lives, so we are happy to play a part in helping consumers more accurately determine their impact on the environment with the help of our technology,” explains Martin Schmid, Chief Market Officer at FinTecSystems. With the most powerful categorisation engine on the market, FTS analyses the transaction data requested through ecolytiq and assigns it to more than 230 revenue categories.

ecolytiq is member of the Visa Fintech Partner Connect Program and offers its services to leading major financial institutions and challenger banks across Europe.

With the “Open Standard for Consumer Carbon Calculations on the Basis of Standard Payment Transactions” published by Berlin-based NGO Organisation for Sustainable Consumption (OfnK), ecolytiq’s calculations are based on an open and thus transparent standard.

About ecolytiq
ecolytiq’s comprehensive Sustainability-as-a-Service solution analyses payment data in real time to calculate environmental impact at an individual level. ecolytiq’s software goes beyond just calculating CO2. Their work is guided by a “measure, educate, act” framework that aims not only to enable consumers to understand their impact, but to also guide them towards a more sustainable lifestyle through immediate action – which ultimately benefits people, banks and, most importantly, the environment. www.ecolytiq.com

About FinTecSystems
FinTecSystems (FTS) is a B2B FinTech founded in 2014. FTS is BaFin-licensed since 2019 and specialises in Open Banking infrastructure and data analytics. The company is led by experienced founders Stefan Krautkrämer and Dirk Rudolf, who are considered initiators of PSD II and Open Banking due to their previous founding of SOFORT Überweisung. The FTS team has already reliably forecasted industry developments several times and supported customers and supervisory authorities through their knowledge and expertise. FTS is the clear market leader in the DACH region in the area of Open Banking. The company provides access to over 6,000 banks and thus reaches over 500 million end customers. More than 150 companies, including banks such as Santander, DKB or N26 as well as all national comparison portals such as Check24, rely on FTS’ technology and data analysis, which has the most powerful analysis engine on the market with an accuracy in the categorisation of data of over 98%. www.fintecsystems.com

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