Klarpay Launches Swiss Transactional Banking for Online Businesses Using AWS

Klarpay chose to build its infrastructure using Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company wanted its infrastructure in the cloud so its technical staff could focus on improving its banking product by developing new features such as scalable and API enabled transactional capabilities, instead of having to maintain a data center. In addition, Klarpay wanted to maximize staff productivity and minimize costs by automating as many routine tasks as possible.

The company’s founders chose AWS as they were already familiar with its services. “We had used AWS in different projects for over 10 years, so it made sense to use AWS for Klarpay,” says Christos Alatzidis, Klarpay founder and chief technology officer (CTO).

Today, Klarpay’s cloud-based infrastructure uses around 20 different AWS services. These include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which offers secure and resizable compute capacity for virtually any workload, and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS), the most trusted way to start, run, and scale Kubernetes. It also uses serverless compute service AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway.

The platform is flexible and can easily scale to meet growing demand as its customer base expands. Since launching the online platform in early 2022, the number of customers it serves has increased by around 200 percent per month. It has signed up hundreds of online businesses in various verticals such as advertising, marketplaces, and other FinTechs, including a leading global crypto exchange.

Setting up a bank is a complicated process that requires compliance with many financial and data protection regulations. Klarpay started working with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in 2019 to get authorization under the Swiss Federal Banking Act Art. 1b in early 2022.

Bieliauskas says compliance is made easier on AWS because of the granular security and encryption services. He explains that regulations demand that specific access controls and security practices are followed. “There is a legal and technical requirement for everything—much of it is maintaining strict access controls,” says Bieliauskas. “AWS provided help specific to FINMA, as well as providing auditors and regulators the audit rights they require.”

Klarpay has a growing team, half of whom are tech-focused. Automating tasks wherever possible helps to keep the small team efficient, and enables them to focus on high-value tasks such as product design. “We automate all aspects of creating and delivering our product,” says Bieliauskas. “This includes how we build the product, ship it, scale it, monitor it, and test it—all using AWS.”

The company’s infrastructure automatically scales to match variable demand. This avoids bottlenecks, and means that its customers can reliably conduct transactions, regardless of any unexpected traffic spikes.

Automating product development means Klarpay developers can quickly launch new environments to test and deploy features. “We have automated almost every step in our development pipeline,” says Alatzidis. “Usually, our developers can push just one button and ship to any environment.”

Klarpay has built a solid foundation that allows it to grow quickly and focus on creating products that meet customer needs. “Our infrastructure is easy to maintain, secure, and scalable,” says Bieliauskas. “And we have peace of mind that, if there is a fire, we don’t have to put it out with buckets of water. AWS will be there to help us.”