OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the United States and a multi-year award-winning Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), is leveraging Candescent’s extensible platform to provide personalized digital banking experiences designed to boost financial wellness and adapt to evolving customer needs.
OneUnited Bank is expanding its collaboration with Candescent, adopting its API-first, microservices-based platform. This strategic move aims to scale operations, enable data-driven personalization, and integrate with a growing Marketplace of pre-integrated fintech tools and customizable features. The ongoing partnership supports OneUnited Bank’s mission to serve urban communities by offering adaptable banking experiences that foster financial wellness and economic advancement for underserved populations.
Utilizing Candescent’s open API extensible platform, OneUnited Bank has recently developed and implemented an enhanced money management experience. This initiative has led to a 33% increase in customer adoption of digital banking tools. Key features introduced include resources for financial literacy, expanded digital account opening capabilities, and same-day digital card issuance.
Jim Slocum, Chief Information Officer at OneUnited Bank, commented on the competitive landscape: “As a digital-first bank, we’re no longer just competing with other community institutions – we’re competing with fintech apps in the App Store. It’s not about whether a financial institution can build something; it’s about how quickly and effectively they can deliver it, how naturally it fits into the user experience, and how well it reflects the needs of their community.”
Slocum added that Candescent’s platform “gives us the ability to easily create valuable experiences for our customers while allowing us to compete with modern, sophisticated third parties.”
Candescent Extensibility Solutions offer an API-first platform built on a microservices architecture, providing intuitive developer tools, robust APIs, UI extension frameworks, and an expanding Marketplace of pre-integrated fintech solutions. This platform enables financial institutions to customize their digital banking experience with hundreds of integrated features, efficiently scale operations, personalize interactions using data-driven insights, and integrate with third-party fintech solutions.
Slocum further stated: “Our customers rely on us in critical financial moments, like rebuilding credit, managing cash flow, and accessing short-term funds. Working with Candescent, we can provide a more adaptable, future-ready banking experience. We’re able to build and integrate features that align with our customers’ needs. We’re not just delivering on our digital banking strategy, we’re gaining the speed and flexibility of a fintech – without sacrificing control, compliance, or consistency in the customer experience.”
Gareth Gaston, Chief Product Officer of Candescent, emphasized the platform’s role: “Today’s digital banking platforms need to be flexible, open and extensible in order to enable a differentiated experience. With a truly extensible platform, institutions like OneUnited Bank can move faster, integrate smarter, and deliver digital experiences that grow with their customers. This is about more than technology – it’s about giving banks the tools to lead the next chapter of digital banking on their own terms.”
OneUnited Bank, founded in 1968 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with branches in Los Angeles, California, and Miami, Florida, is a multi-year award-winning Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). It is the nation’s largest Black-owned bank and the first Black-owned internet bank in America. The bank focuses on providing affordable financial services to support economic development in urban communities, using technology like its AI-driven WiseOne™ Insights to promote financial literacy and empower customers.
Atlanta, Ga.-based Candescent is described as the largest independent digital banking platform in the United States. It offers a comprehensive, digital-first product suite designed to provide a seamless experience that integrates digital and physical banking channels for its over 1,300 bank and credit union clients, serving nearly 30 million registered users.
