Meet Thaddée. He’s a Core Banking Expert at Qonto. Are you wondering what a Core Banking Expert does? Let’s explore his missions working on Qonto’s Core Banking system and some of the technical challenges he needs to face in this article.
Summary
Qonto, in the early days
Qonto, in the early days
After a few years at Captain Train (which has since become Trainline), he was attracted by Qonto’s project. He joined the team in 2017, ready to tackle new challenges head-on and to serve one mission: to create the finance solution that energizes SMEs and freelancers.
I wanted to discover new challenges. To me, the banking industry needed to take big steps to offer a modern experience to businesses. Alex, Steve, and Gabriel convinced me that they had a long-term vision, an eye for detail, a strong focus on customers, and were, above all, ready to put the hard work in.
In Qonto’s early days, Thaddée’s roles varied, and he worked on several technical stacks simultaneously.
When I arrived at Qonto, I worked on both developing the front-end (i.e. the part of the website users can see and interact with) and the back-end (i.e, the data stored, the code and processing logic needed to allow the website to operate). For instance, I added a feature allowing our users to select VAT amounts to add to their transactions.
A technical challenge: developing Qonto’s own banking platform
A technical challenge: developing Qonto’s own banking platform
Then in 2018 came the time for Qonto to develop its own banking platform (what you use now).
Thaddée focused his efforts on the back-end side of this huge endeavor. Its technical name is the “Core Banking System”. Simply put, the “Core Banking System” is a back-end system that enables cash flow to move from one account to another.
Let’s hear more from Thaddée about the Core Banking System (Core Banking for short).
Our Core Banking enables us to protect our customers’ accounts while complying with the obligations stemming from our accreditation from the ACPR. We maintain an accounting ledger, which is a database that tracks and lists the origin and destination of all fund movements. This database also scrutinizes accounts to ensure that everything is in order. In addition, it also performs account reconciliation with our partners, and makes transfers, when necessary, to protect our customers’ funds (this is called “ring-fencing” in bank speak or cantonnement in French).
The French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution in French or APCR) is an independent administrative authority in charge of supervising all French banks and insurance. Qonto, being a payment institution, is monitored and subject to regular controls by the APCR.
The Core Banking system also enables us to perform our customers’ and their partners’ transactions. We are connected to the major interbank networks such as the Single Euro Payments Area initiative (SEPA for short), Mastercard, and the French Check network. Each network has its own set of rules. Our servers respond to card payments, process direct debits and transfers, and ensure the proper transmission of the information users view when they log in to their Qonto accounts.”
A strong back-end team
A strong back-end team
Implementing the Core Banking Platform was a huge step for Qonto.
Through this new banking platform we gained more independence, allowing us to offer an experience closer to your entrepreneurial needs and to keep building the service your business deserves.
To address this demanding task, in addition to Thaddée, Qonto brought on more technical gems with varied and complementary profiles. Qonto’s back-end team is truly international with team members hailing from France, Ukraine, the UK, China, Belgium, Tunisia, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, and more.
The team was built throughout 2018 and grew to reach ten people. Recruitment was not easy, but I’m thankful we have a wonderful HR team working relentlessly to help us recruit the best people. We selected people from varied backgrounds, each bringing complementary expertise to the team. We also sought the support of banking professionals to ensure that we had all the assets on our side.
In fact, the product you now know and use is 100% Qonto, built using our banking platform (or Core Banking System). Learn more here.
Interested in helping us meet some of our technical challenges? Check out our open positions, and we’ll be happy to hear from you.
Tech talk
Tech talk
Some of his inspirations
- Fabrice Bellard - “I’m impressed by his genius. He produces very ambitious systems that reach their goals because he’s not afraid to dig deep.”
- Chris Lattner - “A very unique person. I admire his ability to coordinate large-scale open-source efforts despite the complexity of the topics he addresses.”
- Ian Hickson - “He’s incredible: his pragmatic management of standardization processes has enabled the explosion of Web applications over the past ten years.”
A few reading recommendations
- “I enjoy the true classics...” - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
- “...and more recent ones” - Site Reliability Engineering
- Jepsen’s articles “which study the discrepancies between the promises distributed databases make, and the results found when testing them.”
- To see through modern start-ups’ lenses - L’obsession de service client by Jonathan Lefèvre.
- Out of love for yesterday’s visionaries - Mother of all Demos by Douglas Engelbart
- For the subtle details that make all the difference - 99% invisible
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah is an experienced freelance copywriter who writes for Qonto, among other clients. An entrepreneur herself, she’s passionate about making it easier for others to create a company. When she's not writing content or translating, she's working on the Chinese learning app she created.
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