Zeta 2023: Updates and Year in Review

When we founded Zeta nine years ago, we dreamt of unshackling financial institutions from decades-old technology and freeing them to innovate faster and build beautiful digital experiences to increase Wallet Share. As we enter the new year, we are seeing this future meet reality with many of our clients moving from what was the art-of-the-possible to real, live transformation.

As a well-wisher of Zeta and a banking industry colleague, I’m excited to update you on our progress and some industry perspectives as we work to shape the future of next-gen processing.

The year that was for Zeta

1500+ Zetanauts worked tirelessly throughout the year to create some amazing wins for our clients. Today, Zeta is the only truly Next-gen Banking tech stack worldwide that makes a meaningful difference to the metrics that matter to your business – Cost to Income Ratio, Customer NPS and more.

Zeta expands globally and launches live cards in the US!

• A top-10 global bank, blitz-scaled the launch of their payments app powered by Zeta’s next-gen processing stack and grew to 4 million+ live cards and customers within months of launch. The app is currently at #5 in the Finance section on the iOS app store with a 4.7+ rating. It is driving large volumes of new customer acquisitions and adding a new dimension to the bank’s digital touchpoints demonstrating the power of what new payments experiences can enable.
• The first credit cards powered by Zeta Tachyon went live in the US. The card experience is already winning rave reviews from cardholders for its intuitive digital interface.
• Two industry veterans join our US senior leadership team as we continue to expand in the US and help our clients imagine and build new card programs. Prasanna Narayan brings deep technical and cards expertise from his time leading innovation at Citi and Visa, and Barath Balasubramanian brings both cards and cloud expertise from his time at Gigzter, Amazon and AWS.

Major financial institutions are signing up with Zeta

• A top-20 US credit card issuing bank with 6+ million accounts signed up with Zeta and is gearing for a launch in early 2024. This win is a huge testament to the credibility of our platform to power every single use case needed for major US issuers.
• We demoed our platform to scores of issuers and won or finished in the top two of every single RFP we participated in this year. Our platform and capabilities are clearly generating significant interest!

We aren’t done redefining what’s possible

• Zeta continues to reimagine the usability, the experiences possible & the scale required from the processing stack of the future. In 2023, we redesigned and launched 15+ new web-based applications for card issuers to manage every aspect of their card programs (vs. using green screens). We expanded our API catalog to 400+ APIs to manage every single aspect of a cardholder’s lifecycle and to build any conceivable card product. And, Zeta is close to demonstrating true cloud-scale processing by processing 200M+ ledger postings within 2h in the coming weeks, a milestone we believe no other system can match anywhere globally.
• As the industry grapples with what AI will mean for card issuers, Zeta is already forging ahead by innovating with new AI-led features to reduce costs, drive delightful cardholder experiences, and more. Stay tuned as we unveil these and many more capabilities in 2024.

Looking forward: the payments landscape is (constantly) churning

As business cycles shorten, the pace of changes will undoubtedly accelerate. Our constant endeavor as Zeta is to help our clients understand, respond, and win regardless. Our organization and our technology stack stands ready to help issuers welcome the change with agility and intent.

Emergent regulatory changes continued to dominate the conversation for issuers and banks in 2023. Whether it’s the recent chatter on CFPB 1033 (open banking), the proposal to amend Reg Z (credit card late fees), or the Senate’s 53-44 vote against CFPB 1071 (small business data collection) – we’ve had a busy year. And with 2024 arrayed as an election year, we expect more changes that may significantly impact how banks will need to adapt and implement those mandates that do make it to law.

In 2023, we saw a confluence of factors accelerate the pace of banking tech transformations away from legacy. According to Accenture, a survey of the top 100 banks found that “63% of them are either in the process of moving their core systems to the cloud or getting ready to do so”. Given Zeta’s own conversations with no less than 40+ distinct card issuers in the US in the last 18 months, we can validate that assertion when it comes to card processing. The time to act is here, and we believe that 2024 will see continued acceleration.

Speed and agility matter more than ever. Consider that 60% of Apple’s revenues come from products that did not exist 4 years ago. Or that, as we speak, Microsoft is integrating Generative AI into every part of their stack – and in doing so will transform their entire product and go-to-market approach for the conceivable future. These companies are able to make these pivots because they can move rapidly and embrace change. We spoke with 100s of bankers in the last year, and we can attest to the fact that banks have incredibly talented teams that are waiting to be unleashed so they can deliver winning payment experiences. And, as several of our own clients have shown, the outcomes when you get there are nothing short of magical!

We cherished our time with you over the last 12 months

As we criss-crossed our way across the country from New York to California, we’ve been privileged to have deep conversations with banking industry leaders and participants, and had the opportunity to share perspectives on the challenges and solutions facing the industry.

• Leading banking advisory firm Celent covered Zeta in their report on next-gen processors in the US and named Zeta as “among the likelist partner candidates for banks”.
• Karla Booe, Zeta’s Chief Compliance Officer, spoke frequently to the media and opinion makers highlighting upcoming regulatory imperatives and showcasing the power of technology to help banks comply with all the new proposed regulations. Be sure to read some of her articles on topics like Innovation vs Regulation and an overview of recent and upcoming card regulations.
• We brought together a conclave of senior bankers to discuss banking transformation in a world with AI and constant disruption moderated by thought leader Geoffrey Moore (author of Crossing the Chasm). Watch highlights of the event or access the slides here.
• Our most read white paper of the year spoke about the urgency and benefits of agility for financial institutions. Click here to read it if you missed it.
• We engaged with some of the brightest minds in banking at industry events, workshops, conclaves, fire-side chats, webinars, podcasts, and every other conceivable format! We were grateful to meet with you at CBA Live, Fintech Meetup, Money20/20, DCUC, and at many other venues.

After a monumental 2023, I can’t wait to see what we do together in 2024 and beyond. I would love to hear from you and find time to speak again soon. Please do not hesitate to reach out if I can be of any assistance.

Your support means everything, and I thank you again for your partnership. My warmest wishes for a fulfilling and successful new year!

Bhavin Turakhia,
Co-Founder & CEO, Zeta