Created in partnership with GFT and Engine by Starling, Salt reshapes Romanian banking
LONDON, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Salt Bank, Romania's first cloud-native digital bank, has won the 2025 Celent Model Bank Award for its Digital Bank Launch. The honour recognises Salt Bank's rapid growth and bold approach to digital banking, built by GFT and powered by Engine by Starling.
Salt Bank launched in April 2024, just one year after project kick-off. It reached 100,000 customers in ten days. Within a year, it passed half a million - placing it among Romania's top 10 banks. With mobile-first features, seamless onboarding, and strong customer support, Salt delivered a banking experience that matched Romania's tech-savvy market.
"Salt Bank redefined what's possible in digital banking," said Gabriela Nistor, CEO of Salt Bank. "GFT's team brought the skills and speed we needed to launch something bold and fully digital - on time and with impact."
Salt began with a blank slate. The mission was to build Romania's first digital-only bank. GFT led technical delivery, integrating over 30 services into a secure, scalable platform. Salt used Engine by Starling to go beyond a typical MVP - offering multi-currency cards, savings tools, investment features, and fraud protections from day one.
A standout marketing effort drove pre-launch buzz. The 'Founders Campaign' drew over 80,000 early users and helped the bank scale quickly. Meanwhile, the tech infrastructure kept pace, maintaining 99.99% uptime and pushing over 400 app updates without service disruption.
Chris Ortiz, Regional CEO & UK Country Manager at GFT, said: "Salt Bank set out to disrupt the Romanian banking market, and it delivered. Together, we built a next-gen digital bank in under a year, proving that bold vision and the right tech can reshape a market dominated by legacy systems. It's great to see all that hard work recognised in these awards."
Salt Bank's digital DNA now fuels a continuous release cycle and a strong roadmap ahead. It aims to hit one million users and expand its offering, while remaining focused on Romania in the short term.
About the Celent Model Awards
The Celent Model Bank Awards recognize financial institutions that demonstrate exemplary use of technology across various areas, often setting best practice standards and illustrating what it means to execute effectively in today's digital landscape.
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