The landscape of commercial banking is undergoing a fundamental shift as financial institutions move away from siloed, product-centric models toward integrated, customer-centric ecosystems. In a significant move to accelerate this transition, banking technology provider Backbase has entered into a strategic partnership with Ninth Wave, a specialist in open finance connectivity. This collaboration is designed to bridge the persistent gap between a bank’s digital infrastructure and the complex internal systems used by corporate clients, specifically Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting software. By integrating Ninth Wave’s connectivity layer into the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform, the two companies aim to provide a seamless, real-time data flow that eliminates the traditional frictions of manual data entry, reconciliation delays, and the security risks associated with legacy data-sharing methods.
The Mechanics of Modern Connectivity
At the heart of this partnership is the integration of Ninth Wave’s Open Finance Hub with Backbase’s AI-native banking operating system. For years, commercial banking clients have struggled with the "last mile" of financial data integration. While banks have modernized their consumer-facing apps, the corporate experience has often remained tethered to batch file uploads and manual "screen scraping"—a process where third-party software logs into a portal as a user to extract data. This partnership effectively renders such unreliable methods obsolete.
Under the new framework, Backbase’s bank customers can offer their corporate clients direct, permissioned access to banking data. Ninth Wave acts as the secure bridge, translating complex banking APIs into formats that ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, and NetSuite, or accounting tools like QuickBooks and Xero, can ingest instantly. This ensures that a company’s "source of truth"—its internal accounting software—is always in sync with its actual bank balances and transaction history. The solution manages the entire lifecycle of this data exchange, including consent management, activity logging, and API governance, all within a single, unified platform.
Addressing the Urgent Demands of the Modern CFO
The timing of this partnership is not accidental. It responds to a dramatic shift in the expectations of corporate treasury departments and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). As global markets become more volatile, the need for real-time visibility into cash positions has moved from a "nice-to-have" to a mission-critical requirement. Ninth Wave’s own research, conducted in late 2024 and early 2025, underscores the stakes for financial institutions. The data revealed that 86% of finance leaders would consider moving their business to a different bank if it offered superior open finance features and direct ERP integration.
Furthermore, the operational benefits for the finance team are quantifiable. Survey respondents who already utilize direct bank-to-ERP connections reported saving an average of more than five hours per week. These hours, previously spent on manual reconciliation and data correction, are now being redirected toward high-value strategic analysis. By providing these efficiencies, banks using the Backbase and Ninth Wave solution can significantly increase customer "stickiness," making it harder for competitors to lure away clients who have become accustomed to a deeply integrated financial workflow.
A Chronology of Innovation and Partnership
The alliance between Backbase and Ninth Wave is the culmination of years of individual growth and a shared history within the fintech ecosystem. Backbase, headquartered in Amsterdam, has been a dominant force in the digital banking space since its founding in 2003. The company made its debut on the Finovate stage in 2009 and has since secured the "Best of Show" award four times, signaling its consistent ability to anticipate and meet market needs. Its Engagement Banking Platform is currently utilized by over 120 financial institutions globally, including major names like Citizens Bank, BRAC Bank, and National Bank of Bahrain.
Ninth Wave, based in New York, entered the market in 2018 with a specific focus on the burgeoning open finance movement. While Backbase focused on the user interface and the "front-to-back" banking experience, Ninth Wave focused on the plumbing—the secure pipes that allow data to move safely between institutions. Ninth Wave’s most recent major public demonstration occurred at FinovateWest 2020, where it showcased its ability to manage complex data permissions for North American financial institutions.
The partnership represents a convergence of these two paths: Backbase provides the engagement layer where the banker and the client interact, while Ninth Wave provides the connectivity layer that ensures those interactions are fueled by accurate, real-time enterprise data.
Technical Governance and Security Standards
In the world of commercial banking, security and compliance are paramount. One of the primary advantages of the Backbase-Ninth Wave partnership is the implementation of a comprehensive audit trail and integrated compliance controls. Unlike traditional data-sharing methods, which often provide "all or nothing" access to account information, the Ninth Wave platform allows for granular, permissioned access. A corporate client can specify exactly which data points are shared with which internal systems, and for what duration.
This level of governance is critical as regulatory bodies around the world, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the United States with its Section 1033 rulings, move toward formalizing open banking standards. The partnership ensures that banks are not just compliant with current regulations but are prepared for a future where data portability is a legal requirement. By centralizing API governance, the solution reduces the "attack surface" for potential cyber threats, replacing fragmented connection points with a single, hardened gateway.
Strategic Perspectives from Leadership
Leadership from both organizations has emphasized that this partnership is about more than just technology; it is about redefining the relationship between a bank and its business clients. Mayank Somaiya, Global VP for Marketplace at Backbase, noted that the modern commercial client views their ERP system as their primary operating environment. "Commercial clients prefer not to log into a portal and re-enter data that their ERP system already has," Somaiya stated. He added that by giving banks a direct integration path into these operating environments, they can transition from being a mere utility to becoming a value-added partner in the client’s daily business operations.
Joe Fiorillo, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Ninth Wave, echoed this sentiment, highlighting the synergy between the two firms. According to Fiorillo, Backbase provides the modern foundation for the bank’s digital presence, while Ninth Wave simplifies the backend complexity of managing dozens of different API connections and security protocols. Together, they offer a "turnkey" solution for banks that might otherwise spend years and millions of dollars trying to build similar connectivity in-house.
Future Roadmap: Beyond Connectivity
The initial rollout of the partnership focuses on ERP and accounting integration, but the roadmap for Backbase and Ninth Wave extends much further. The companies have announced plans to expand their features to support multi-country corporate payments, a significant pain point for international businesses dealing with varying regulatory standards and currency fluctuations.
Furthermore, the partnership aims to develop real-time cash management dashboards that aggregate data from multiple accounts across different geographies. This would allow a global CFO to see their total liquidity in a single view, updated in real-time, directly within the Backbase interface. As AI continues to play a larger role in banking, the "AI-native" aspect of Backbase’s operating system will likely leverage the clean, structured data provided by Ninth Wave to offer predictive analytics, such as cash flow forecasting and automated liquidity management suggestions.
Broader Industry Implications
The collaboration between Backbase and Ninth Wave is a clear indicator of the "platformization" of banking. It signals a move away from the era where banks tried to build every feature themselves. Instead, leading institutions are now building a core digital foundation and "plugging in" specialized fintech partners to provide best-in-class functionality.
For the wider financial services industry, this partnership sets a new benchmark for what "commercial banking" should look like. As mid-tier and regional banks look to compete with global giants like JPMorgan Chase or HSBC—who have massive internal R&D budgets—partnerships like this provide a way to level the playing field. By adopting an off-the-shelf, integrated solution from Backbase and Ninth Wave, smaller institutions can offer the same high-level ERP connectivity and open finance features as their larger counterparts, often with a faster time-to-market.
In conclusion, the Backbase and Ninth Wave partnership addresses a fundamental friction in the global economy: the disconnect between how businesses manage their internal finances and how they interact with their banks. By creating a secure, automated, and real-time bridge between these two worlds, the collaboration is poised to drive significant efficiency gains for corporate clients while helping banks secure their positions in an increasingly competitive and data-driven market. As 2025 progresses, the success of this integration will likely serve as a blueprint for the next generation of commercial banking services.
