Oradian Champions Financial Inclusion at Scale in the Philippines

Oradian, a fintech company headquartered in Croatia, has made significant strides in enhancing accessibility in the financial sector, particularly in the Philippines. Recently, they played a prominent role in a panel discussion at the Singapore Fintech Festival, focusing on scalability and its impact on financial inclusion.

Antonio Separovic, Co-Founder and CEO of Oradian, speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival with Lowell Campbell from the IFC

Antonio Separovic, Co-Founder and CEO of Oradian, spoke with Fintech News Philippines about the company’s journey and its focus on the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Strategic Focus on Emerging Markets

Antonio pointed out that Oradian’s involvement in these regions is part of their strategy to address the growing demand for financial services in emerging markets. The company has established a strong presence in the Philippines, alongside other fast-growing economies like Nigeria, Kenya, and Indonesia.

Oradian has developed a cloud-based core banking system designed to help financial institutions enhance their performance and scalability.

Antonio Separovic

Antonio explains,

“In terms of the world of financing, we offer a comprehensive and complex cloud-based core banking system that allows our customers to drive performance at scale.”

Oradian’s approach enables rapid product launches, enhanced transparency in transactions, and standardised institution-wide processes. This, in turn, allows financial institutions to pivot towards innovation and deeper customer engagement.

“We understand that financial institutions have a lot on their plates, from dealing with regulators to customer acquisition, but partnering with Oradian allows them to focus on innovation and engagement with their own customers, while we take care of the back-end of their business, from product set-up to complex loan calculations,”

the Co-Founder and CEO went on.

Technological Innovation at Its Core

One of the key features of Oradian’s platform is its adaptability as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, which Antonio claims is a “true” SaaS platform.

“This means we have one, highly configurable version of the code that allows customers across 12 different countries and 12 different regulatory regimes to adapt it to their operating models,”

says Antonio. This versatility is particularly beneficial for clients operating in multiple countries with varying regulatory environments.

“We also have to deal with some exciting scaling challenges, as we have customers with several million banking clients and 100s of millions of transactions,”

he added.

Empowering Backend Operations

Oradian’s platform is also designed to support the backend operations of financial institutions. This allows clients to scale their businesses, launch new products, and focus on building profitable ventures.

“Our customers can focus on their business while our product supports their back-end operations. This allows them to rapidly scale, launch new products and focus on building a growing and profitable business. We are the complete solution, not just software, but also support,”

Antonio highlighted.

This comprehensive support extends from product assistance to dedicated API integration and account management. With over ten years of experience in emerging markets, Oradian offers customised support through local teams, constantly injecting innovation into their core product to stay ahead of market trends.

Antonio emphasised the importance of innovation in their product development, stating,

“We are constantly innovating, and this innovation is built into the core of our product, therefore making it available to all our customers.”

Flexibility and Customisation: Key Technological Advantages

Flexibility and customisation are also central to Oradian’s offerings.

“We believe in democratising all our innovations, therefore all our customers have access to our core banking and loan management products regardless of their size,”

Antonio stated.

The recent Customer Summit Oradian held in Manila

Antonio mentioned the company’s long-standing relationships with more than 30 financial institutions, including industry trailblazers in the Philippines. Reflecting on these relationships, Antonio notes,

“Some of these relationships have lasted many years, such as with Cantilan Bank, which is the first BSP-regulated institution to use a cloud-based core banking system, and they chose to partner with Oradian to enable this transition.”

Recently, Oradian has also started attracting a growing number of digital lenders and neobanks focused on technology-driven business models. These institutions demand scalable, flexible, and customisable technology solutions, and Antonio mentioned that Oradian continues to evolve its product to meet these emerging needs.

A Commitment to Inclusivity and Growth

In fact, Antonio emphasises the need for ongoing product evolution to keep pace with the increasing global demand for financial services powered by increasingly flexible, scalable technology solutions to deliver for FIs’ expanding customer bases.

He explained that they are working on adding more configurability to their system, allowing customers to customise it according to their needs.

“We’re enabling our customers to configure their core system at the click of a button, but also to introduce their own code to enable processes not usually included in the system,”

he said.

This approach aims to balance next-generational capabilities with the simplicity and flexibility of a system that is ready to use right off the shelf.

Oradian’s approach to financial technology in the Philippines and other emerging markets showcases their commitment to providing flexible, scalable solutions. These efforts are aimed at enhancing financial inclusion and supporting the growth of financial institutions in these rapidly evolving regions.

Antonio summarised their vision by stating,

“We’re increasing the sophistication in terms of what Oradian is capable of, while maintaining the spirit of a simple, usable, flexible system that works straight off the shelf.”

Through their technology and partnerships, Oradian is contributing to the evolving landscape of financial services in these markets, empowering institutions to reach their full potential while bringing financial services to those who need them most.