Startup financial services provider Volt bank has negotiated a strategic hook up with global online payments player, PayPal.Volt is the first Australian bank to enter a distribution and information sharing deal with the US-based payments giant, emulating similar arrangements PayPal has overseas with the likes of Bank of America and Barclays.The deal could prove an important customer acquisition play because it allows for PayPal's seven million Australian users to sign up for a Volt bank account using only their PayPal credentials.Volt founder and deputy CEO Luke Bunbury said an account application from PayPal users would instantly result in customer information being transferred to Volt's banking platform.The elegant process would remove much of the complexity involved in verifying a customer's identity and eligibility for a deposit account."Our Open API backend makes it relatively simple for us to share information with partners such as PayPal compared to banking competitors using legacy technology," he said."Volt's arrangement with PayPal will assist with the seamless onboarding of customers."Apart from simplifying the customer application and verification process, Volt customers will be able to automatically link their bank accounts to a PayPal wallet.Bunbury says this will simplify the online transaction experience of Volt customers who regularly use PayPal.The bank's customers will also be able to see a live record of their PayPal wallet by accessing the Volt mobile app.Volt is in the final stages of securing a full banking authority from APRA after it became the first local startup to win a restricted licence from the prudential regulator.If it secures regulatory approvals before the end of the year, Volt plans to launch its offerings to Australian customers early in 2019.While the PayPal deal will help support the bank's early customer acquisition campaigns, Volt will not hold exclusive data sharing rights with the payments company.PayPal Australia's managing director Libby Roy said she hoped the strategic arrangement with volt would be pave the way for similar partnerships with other financial organisations."The Volt partnership is our first bank partnership in the Australian market allowing us to give the millions of existing PayPal customers across Australia more convenient ways to transact," she said."Moving forward we hope to partner with more Australian organisations to continue to deliver choice and flexibility for joint customers."Volt's senior management is in talks with other potential partners to add a menu of third party services to its mobile financial services platform.Bunbury said Volt's business case would be built around the new bank providing its own banking products to customers and acting as an introducer of other products offered by partners."We are all about helping customers make their most difficult financial purchases," he said."That means we will not only offer them a home loan but help them shop for a house to buy."It also means we will look to guide them to the best-in-market offers for telephony, insurance and utilities."As reported last week in Banking Day, Volt is in the midst of raising fresh capital to support its claim for a full banking authority.The bank has already raised