"To generate each report, a team of independent researchers analyze, examine and reverse-engineer the most sophisticated malicious software running on computer systems worldwide."

I love this time of year. The days are getting longer. Spring is just around the corner. And, at FinovateHQ, we've begun the fascinating process of choosing the new fintech innovations that we will showcase at FinovateSpring (May 8th and 9th in San Francisco). This year's selection process is particularly challenging however as the volume and quality of new ideas is unprecedentedly high.

While the high-quality pool of applicants makes our job harder, it is great news for the 2012 FinovateSpring audience who will get to witness the best new fintech innovations debut via our signature format that blends fast-paced demos with high-quality networking.

If you're interested in where trends like mobile, NFC, biometrics, offers, big data, social, tablets, p2p, apps, the cloud and more will take the financial world in 2012 then I hope you'll consider joining us in San Francisco in early May.

Tickets for the event are selling quickly and we're on pace to beat last year's record attendance of 850. The already long list of registered attendees includes executives from leading organizations like: American Express, Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Mint.com, Charles Schwab, Citi, CNNMoney, Aite Group, H&R Block, BBVA, Capital One, Battery Ventures, Celent Research, SunTrust, PayPal, Wired Magazine, Visa, FIS, E*Trade, BNY Mellon and USAA (to name just a few).

Please get your ticket before this Wednesday to lock in your spot at the very early-bird discount of $200 off. If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@finovate.com. We hope to see you in May!

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel, Intuit, & TxVia

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

"The BOKU Accounts platform allows MNOs to issue their subscribers an MNO-branded mobile payment account accessible via both mobile device and the Web. The account allows subscribers to make payments online, in-app, and in-store. In-store purchases via BOKU accounts will be enabled anywhere MasterCard is accepted."

Earlier this week, On Deck Capital launched a new way for small businesses to quickly access loans up to $25,000.

Here's how it works:

"Business owners set up their online profile at www.ondeckcapital.com and immediately get free insights into their credit profile and cash position. The On Deck Express application and approval process is completely automated, and once approved the business owner is empowered to select from available term and loan options that best meet their business needs. From there, On Deck's funding process enables a business owner who is approved Monday morning to have their funds deposited in their account by Tuesday."

For small businesses that need more funding, On Deck provides loans up to  $150,000 in up to seven days.

Yesterday, California-based Credit Sesame launched a mortgage comparison tool to help consumers identify their best loan options.

How it works:

At FinovateEurope earlier this month, identity verification service miiCard polled 14 audience members to discover their take on what the top trends in financial services will be in 2012.

Some of the major themes included:

• Harnessing big data
• Mobile
• Social
• PFM
• Security & authentication

To learn more about miiCard, check out its FinovateFall 2010 demo and watch for its FinovateEurope 2012 demo coming soon to the Finovate website.

Information services company Lead411 published its list of 80 Hottest San Francisco companies yesterday. The companies were selected from a list of 2600 fast growing, privately held companies in the San Francisco area. 

Three out of 80 companies listed are Finovate alumni:

• Expensify
  FinovateSpring 2011 demo

• mFoundry
  FinovateFall 2010 demo

• Prosper
  FinovateStartup 09 demo

To be selected, companies needed a 100% increase in revenues over the past two years or $5 million+ in funding in the past two years.

In the past week, doxo, an online file organization and bill pay platform, launched new features and added billers to its system.

Features

1) Added a digital drawer feature to help users organize files. The simple drag and drop functionality allows users to easily categorize companies into the file cabinet drawers.

Yesterday, online financial communication platform StockTwits launched a new capability called Conversations:

"StockTwits Conversations group new contributions made in response to any piece of content together, creating another way to share and consume messages beyond real-time StockTwits streams."

The new feature should bring the communication from Twitter to the StockTwits platform and help users find and contribute to conversations.

To learn more about StockTwits, watch its FinovateEurope 2011 demo.

The New York Times Bucks blog recently featured BillFloat, a startup that provides short-term loans to help consumers pay bills. 

The metrics cited in the article: 

• Registered190,000 users in the past year
• Provided 80,000 loans in past year
• Total originations were nearly $13 million in past year
• Average loan amount was $160
• Works with over 2,500 companies across the U.S.
• Loan default rate around 10%

Consumer costs: 

• Maximum interest rate is 36% APR (not including service fee)
• Service fee ranges from $9 to $18 per loan

To learn more about BillFloat, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Kabbage, a startup that provides financing to online merchants, announced yesterday that it has partnered with UPS to use customer shipping data to make better underwriting decisions.

"Effective today, small businesses will be able to direct UPS to share their shipping history with Kabbage via the Kabbage.com website, making it possible for them to potentially obtain more capital at lower rates."

A video on Kabbage's blog states that UPS is also providing Kabbage an undisclosed amount of capital to grow its customer base and fund more small businesses.

To learn more about Kabbage, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

In the week after FinovateEurope, I've been keeping track of press coverage from the conference. The media has generated a lot of buzz* about ETRONIKA's use of Microsoft Kinect for online banking.

ETRONIKA, a Lithuanian startup, uses Kinect technology to provide users access to their online bank account via face and voice recognition, followed by a PIN number. After logging in, clients can navigate the system using voice commands and sweeping hand gestures.

Because this was the first time the Finovate team had ever seen this type of unique financial technology, we eagerly awaited seeing the demo. On the rehearsal day before the show, the microphones interfered with the voice recognition feature**. We sweated it out as the audio/visual team adjusted their equipment to minimize the echo caused by the large auditorium.

When ETRONIKA stepped up to the stage on the day of the conference, all fingers were crossed. Fortunately, the technology worked (almost) flawlessly, and the startup was able to share its unique technology with the audience.

ETRONIKA's demo video will be posted on the Finovate website in a few weeks.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Press coverage includes:

Earlier this month, online accounting software Xero announced a $16.6 million round of financing, funded partially by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures. This is not this first time the famed investor has funded Xero.

TechCrunch reports:

"Thiel first invested $3 million in New Zealand-founded Xero back in 2010, with the aim of fueling expansion in the United States. The company says that's also the reason for the latest round."

MYOB co-founder Craig Winkler and Sam Morgan also participated in the round.

To learn more about Xero, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Last week, MasterCard announced the formation of a relationship with Silver Tail Systems, an online security and intelligence startup.

"By combining Silver Tail Systems' technology with MasterCard's extensive payments experience and insights, merchants will be better equipped to spot malware or robotic ("bots") activity originating from personal computers or smart phones attacking their online payments systems."

The two will help U.S.-based online merchants by providing fraud solutions.

To learn more about Silver Tail Solutions, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Earlier this month, payment network Dwolla announced that it raised $5 million in Series B funding from Union Square Ventures. In addition, Village Ventures, Thrive Capital, Artists & Instigators  and angel investor Paige Craig also participated in the round.

Silicon Prairie News reports:

"With the new funds, which bring Dwolla's total amount raised to date to around $6.3 million, the company plans to bolster its product development and support and aggressively expand its API offerings..."

• Users grew 25x
• Merchants grew 37x
• Millions have been saved in fees
• 16 jobs were added to the Des Moines economy

To learn more about Dwolla, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Fast Company recently published a list of most innovative companies that contained multiple Finovate alumni. Here's the breakdown:

Overall top 50 most innovative companies:

Google
Rank: 3
FinovateFall 2011 demo

PayPal
Rank: 43
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

Top 10* in finance category:

PayPal
Rank: 4
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

SecondMarket
Rank: 6
FinovateStarup09 demo

Dwolla
Rank: 8
FinovateSpring 2011 demo

Simple (formerly BankSimple)
Rank: 9
FinovateFall 2011 demo

StockTwits
Rank: 10
FinovateEurope 2011 demo

Late last month, IBM announced plans to purchase mobile app management company, Worklight:

"With this acquisition, IBM's mobile offerings will span mobile application development, integration, security and management. Worklight will become an important piece of IBM's mobility strategy, offering clients an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems"

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. The financial terms were not disclosed.

To learn more, watch Worklight's FinovateFall 2010 demo.

Last week, New Orleans-based Rebirth Financial was featured in Forbes. The article highlights multiple case studies in which small businesses were unable to secure financing for future projects and turned to Rebirth Financial for help. 

Founded in 2008, the startup assists these borrowers by providing community-funded, peer-to-peer small business loans that average $80,000. CEO Chonchul Gupta describes it as a local stock exchange.

The contributor illustrates the service by describing a brewery owner's situation:

"In the case of one New Orleans Brewery trying to raise the money to build a canning operation, local lenders could see something national banks couldn't: people loved their beer, and were going to buy it in droves once it got into cans (they did)."

Capital Access Network, the startup that aims to provide working capital to small businesses, announced last Tuesday that it raised $30 million from Accel Partners. 

CAN seeks to use the investment to further company growth and create a new category of small business finance.

Capital Access Network CEO, Glenn Goldman states:

"While we had no need for capital, the Accel relationship came along in the midst of our total reengineering of our online merchant experience which by April 2012 will feature new user interfaces, merchant portals and online approvals. Working with Accel will turbocharge those efforts,"

To learn more about Capital Access Network, watch its FinovateEurope 2011 and FinovateFall 2010 demos.

At Tuesday's second annual FinovateEurope, 35 companies laid it on the line within the grueling 7-minute demo format plus a day of networking in the old London fish market on the Thames.

For the first time ever, and much to our astonishment, every demo finished at or under the time limit. Thankfully, we never had to hear the bell signifying that time is up.

At the end of the last demo, eligible audience members (note 1) voted for their three favorite demos (note 2). All 35 companies received votes (employees of presenting companies cannot vote), but four stood out in the vote tally (alphabetic order):   

• Cardlytics (with Aimia) showed its in-statement ad platform and management tools (demo recap)
  
  
• Dynamics which launched its "chip and choice" card for
  the chip & pin world (demo recap)
  
  
• eToro which launched its crowd-sourced "guru finder"
  to help locate traders to follow/copy (demo recap)
  
  
• Nutmeg launched an investment service focused around the needs
  of the everyday investor (demo recap)

Dynamics and eToro are previous Best of Show winners. You can read our live blog posts on each demo now. And in two or three weeks we'll have the full demos available at Finovate.com.

Thanks to everyone who attended and presented. We are truly humbled by the support from the European financial community, and we are already making plans for the 2013.

------------------------------

Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.   
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites as the day went on and choose three favorites only from the demos of that day. Ballots were turned in at the end of the last demo session each day. 
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: "Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed. Note: Ballots with more than three companies circled will not be counted." 
4. The four companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.

Concluding FinovateEurope 2012, IND Group's Banking-Front Office took the stage: 

"IND gamified its white-label Internet Banking and Personal Finance Manager. Gamification is the concept that you can apply the basic elements of fun, reward, and social connections to almost all industries. 

IND Group added these methods to its new Banking-Front Office. Our solution is based on the fact that customers love to do almost anything if they are rewarded for it. With the two-level point system, banks can give points for various things, like function use, transactions (depending on amount, currency, frequency, etc.), product, or service purchases. Customers can collect points and badges for dedicated actions. 

The system is closely connected with Facebook, where users can post their results and badges. Banks can even create campaigns in the system where customers - in order to accomplish the challenges - have to bring non-banking friends into the game to get rewards. Customers can track their progress in time charts, where both their net worth and point progress are displayed. 

With its strong visualization features (point systems, badges, leaderboards, etc.) and real rewards, the gamified IND Internet Banking and Personal Finance Manager creates a compelling, engaging user experience and prompts users to live a financially healthy life."

Product Launched: New version of products are launching in February 2012

HQ Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Company Founded: 1997
Metrics: 200 employees, €12 million in revenue
Website: indgroup.eu

Ixaris unveiled Opn Cardworks, a solution that allows businesses to set up their own prepaid card:

"Opn Cardworks is the latest and most powerful solution available through Ixaris Opn. Cardworks provides everything a business needs to set up and run its own prepaid card programme: virtual and/or plastic cards, technology, banking relationships, and risk and compliance oversight. We like to think of it as a customizable card programme in a box. 

With Opn Cardworks, companies can bring a card programme to market in just weeks instead of several months. Without Opn Cardworks, businesses would need to identify, develop, and execute each facet of the programme on their own, which can be daunting, time consuming, and expensive."

Product Launched: February 2012

HQ Location: London, United Kingdom
Company Founded: September 2003
Metrics: Over 1 million registered users, over 2.2 million transactions totaling $200 million in volume and generating $13.6 million in revenue, 85 employees, headquartered in London
Website: ixaris.com

Later today, Figlo demonstrated how its widget-based platform helps financial institutions engage customers:

"A complete solution to gain insight in financial matters on a consumer level. The Figlo consumer portal makes financial planning accessible for everyone on any device. The portal increases customer engagement and can be used as an onboarding tool. It is based on widgets and exposes the Figlo functionalities using a system in which content is displayed onscreen during editing (WYSIWYG editor). The drag and drop system enables a quick time to market. By integrating these widgets into social media, the fun factor of financial planning is guaranteed. Get engaged with your customer using this portal."

Product Launched: Beginning Q2 2012

Today, AcceptEmail demonstrated a feature that enables mobile bill pay:

"Recently we have added a Short Invoice Service, which creates an electronic bill, including payment capability for mobile phones using SMS, WhatsApp or Twitter. This new feature of AcceptEmail adds the mobile space to the service and enables fully automated credit management. AcceptEmail has also expanded their set of payments methods that can be used via PSP's with the availability of many new international online payment methods, debit, and credit cards."

Product Launched: July 2007

HQ Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Company Founded: December 2006
Metrics: Triple digit growth last 2 years, 120 customers (billers), 4 million+ registered users, 10 employees
Website: acceptemail.com

Afterwards, Kabbage showed how its ScoreKard can inform online merchants about their store's health:

"Kabbage is introducing the Kabbage ScoreKard, which enables online merchants to:

a) view a comprehensive dashboard of their online store health

b) generate a score corresponding to both the breadth and depth of their merchant health

c) obtain this information in a portable format to share with a third party with whom they may conduct business."

Product Launched: February 2012

Presenting Robert Frohwein (CEO) & Kathryn Petralia (COO)

Next, Sandstone showed how even small financial institutions can have a presence in the app store:

"Sandstone will be showcasing its next generation mobile banking app that contains sophisticated money management/ OFM tools, the latest anti-fraud and security measures, and advanced user experience capabilities. 

Using the latest html5 technology, the app can be developed once and then delivered seamlessly across many of the popular smart phone app stores to run on nearly all smart phone devices. The registration process for the app locks the user to the device while page-fingerprinting technology ensures that fraudulent users will not be able to connect to the secure server."

Product Launched: February 2012

HQ Location: Sydney, Australia

Company Founded: June 1996

Metrics: Privately owned, offices in Australia, Asia and Europe The company grew from 40 employees in 2007 to over 200 employees in 2011. 

Website: sandstone.com.au

Presenting Dom Monty (General Manager, Direct Banking Solutions) & Timmy Alassad (Product Manager, Direct Banking Solutions)

Starting off the final session, Striata launched eConsent:

"Striata will demonstrate its paperless adoption technology, which moves the control of paperless conversion into the hands of the biller - no longer relying on the customer to proactively enroll and switch off paper. This results in optimal adoption and faster ROI.

Banks and financial institutions invest heavily in online initiatives aimed at reducing paper, but struggle to get customers to adopt their technology. To achieve ROI on paperless solutions, innovation at the adoption point is crucial. Our innovative adoption techniques not only completely eliminate the registration barrier but also enable customers to switch off paper in just one click."

Product Launched: February 2012

HQ Location: New York, NY
Company Founded: February 1999
Metrics: Privately owned/investment trust, 13 years of revenue growth and profitable for the past 11 years, 100+ employees
Website: striata.com

Wrapping up the third session, Meniga demonstrated its enhanced PFM:

"Meniga is expanding its PFM Solution so that it completely merges with the traditional online/mobile bank, adding highly user-centric interfaces for several key online banking functions, such as bill-pay, alerts, and account presentation.

The interface de-emphasizes real accounts and actual balances and instead shows 'uncommitted balance' and virtual accounts that are better aligned with how people think about their money. It allows users to automate routine tasks and includes an alert framework designed to bring peace of mind by alerting users before bills go unpaid or before any account's balance becomes too low to meet commitments and forecasted expenses."

Product Launched: December 2009

HQ Location: Reykjavik, IcelandCompany
Founded: March 2009
Metrics: $1.3 million raised, 18 employees, 5 implementations with retail banks in Sweden, Norway, and Iceland
Website: meniga.com

Then, Luup demonstrated how it can ease the pains of internal travel authorization and budget management:

"Luup is redefining payments with its universal mobile payment platform and solutions. At FinovateEurope, Luup is launching a service that revolutionises corporate & government travel authorisation and budget management.

Enabled by Luup's successful Remote Authorisation & Mobile Wallet products, the new service optimises processes, creating huge efficiency and productivity gains. Gone are the days when employees have to chase managers for budget and trip approvals while costs rise exponentially by the hour. With Luup's latest service, travel budgets are managed in Luup's wallet system that enables travel requests, authorisations and payments within minutes from anywhere, on any mobile device."

Product Launched: March 2012

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: 2002
Metrics: 50+ employees, 3 core locations, 3 award recognitions in 2011
Website: luup.com

Presenting Martin Wilson (CEO) & Georg Fasching (VP of Products) 

Today, Wipro showed off its banking sales and service app for tablets:

"One of the primary tools the Direct Sales Agents need is a tablet variant of unified desktop. The banking sales and service tablet application which Wipro is developing is essentially a step in this direction. As a first step, Wipro has developed a customer acquisition framework on a tablet-based device. This solution leverages mobile, analytics, and intelligent processes for on-the-go personalized offers and application capture. The solution is also relevant in next generation bank branches wherein a differentiated environment is created for HNI customers. In fact, boutique bank branches have been received well with the digital generations."

Product Launched: February 2012

HQ Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Company Founded: 1945
Website: wipro.com/industries/banking

Afterwards, Handpoint launched its Headstart Technology:

"Handpoint Headstart is the first totally secure mobile Chip & PIN payment solution for tablets and smartphones. With our Platform-as-a-Service solution, acquiring banks and MNOs can offer small/micro merchants card payments on smartphones and tablets under their own brand name. The Handpoint Headstart solution supports magstripe (MSR), Chip & PIN, Chip & signature, and contactless NFC payments (2012).

Handpoint Headstart payment solution is not only a mobile solution, it is also a Full-Commerce solution meaning that it works on many different devices, for example smartphones, tablets, mobile terminals, and PCs (tills) in an online and an offline world."

Then, Finsphere demonstrated its security services:

"A suite of solutions that includes fraud management services for financial institutions and online merchants, access management services for enterprise and cloud computing environments, and PinPoint, a consumer-focused fraud protection service for financial services providers. Finsphere's Identity Security Services platform provides the basis for expanding the solution sets to monetize wireless data across industry segments worldwide."

Product Launched: Commercially available

HQ Location: Bellevue, WA
Company Founded: 2007
Website: finsphere.com

Next, Tradeshift showed off its Instant Payments technology that will be released in April of this year:

"Instant Payments will allow businesses - and particularly SMEs - to receive instant payment for invoices approved through the platform. Companies will benefit from interest rates significantly lower than alternative funding options and will no longer see cash flow impacted by long payment terms or late payers. This new service integrates seamlessly with Tradeshift's existing e-invoicing solution which is free to suppliers, providing the financial flexibility small businesses need to succeed."

Product Launched: April 2012

HQ Location: San Francisco, CA
Company Founded: May 2010
Metrics: 60 employees, 60,000 signups across 190 countries, $30 million USD (YTD) in funding
Website: tradeshift.com

Presenting Christian Lanng (CEO) & Jeppe Rindom (CFO)

Second up this afternoon, Serverside showed how its technology leverages Facebook to engage customers of financial institutions:

"A Card Customization Facebook app. The app uses card customization as a new and unique way to leverage Facebook in an exciting and engaging way that can drive real brand value, loyalty, and engagement from a bank's customers. Customers can design a card using an image from one of their Facebook photo galleries. Once the design is approved, it is posted to the user's wall where all their friends can view it and click on the link to design their own card and thus creating a viral marketing effect!"

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: February 2003
Metrics:

• Partly owned and controlled by Gemalto NV

• Approximately 50 employees

• 2010 Revenue: £4.61 million

• 2009 Revenue: £4.35 million

• Has worked with 200 financial issuers in 27 countries, issued over 2,000 customized card programs.

• Over 45 million cards have been designed using Serverside software

Presenting Connor Kinnear (Global Head of Marketing) 

To start the afternoon session, eToro showed us Guru Finder that allows investors to quickly create and implement trading strategies:

"eToro's newest innovation on its social trading platform OpenBook is the Guru Finder, which allows users to create personalized and detailed trading strategies that they can easily implement in minutes. It supports copy trading with a very detailed analysis/filter tool to enable users to create their own customized, people-based portfolio. Investors can filter and dissect the largest trading community by different dimensions such as Activity, Risk, Performance and Instruments traded and pick a personalized trader line-up for their people-based portfolio. The visual implementation resembles e-commerce filtering mechanisms, ensuring seamless and intuitive dissection of large data sets to achieve fast and meaningful results."

Product Launched: February 7, 2012

HQ Location: Limassol, Cyprus
Company Founded: January 2007
Metrics: 190 employees, offices in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, $16.6 million raised, over 1.75 million registered users
Website: etoro.com

In the last presentation before lunch, Dynamics demonstrated its secure, battery powered credit card:

"Chip & Choice is intended for the EU and other markets that utilize EMV (~85% penetration in EU). The battery-powered card has multiple "chips" including a central processing chip and a secondary "EMV" chip. The applications are loaded in a central "chip." Based on what button a user pressed on the card, the appropriate application is provided to the secondary "chip." Thus, the POS reader believes the card is a single-application card when, in fact, the card is a multiple application card."

Product Launched: Currently in trials

Presenting Jeff Mullen (CEO)

ValidSoft took the stage next to demonstrate its voice-based authentication technology:

"Our product can protect M-banking transactions from all of the attacks that affect Internet banking today, while using out-of-band, real-time voice based authentication, and transaction verification. A smart phone contains multiple channels, both voice and data. Therefore the concept of channel separation, critical for the detection of manipulated transactions caused by Man-in-the-Mobile-Browser or phone resident Trojans, is fully supported.

Our product as used for Online Banking, with all the same visible and invisible protection, including Pseudo Device Theft, is configured specifically for mobile banking usage. This means no keying of OTPs into the phone, and even a completely hands-free model using speech recognition if required. Biometric voice verification can also be layered for even greater security. Our product combines usability, portability, and security that will drive the adoption of M-banking."

Product Launched: September 2011

Then, DCisions showed how InvestorBee helps users make better investment decisions:

"For the first time, InvestorBee puts data at consumers' fingertips so they can make smart, confident investments.

• It's fact, not opinion. Users can tap into the database to learn from the experiences of over a million UK investors.
• It's an investment health check. Users can compare themselves to their peers to set realistic saving targets and investment goals.
• It's simple investing without guesswork. Users can choose an objective risk-based strategy that's right for them in a few easy steps.

Our users extract wisdom from the crowd to make better, simpler investment decisions - all for free at InvestorBee."

Afterwards, Liqpay debuted its new website:

"Zip.liqpay.com allows recipients of a payment (companies and/or individuals) to shorten payment details transforming them into a short code. As a result, the short digital code is easy to dictate or pass to a payer over SMS or e-mail.

Zip.liqpay.com has an API, which can be integrated to billing systems of other companies. For example, mobile operators, utility companies, banks, etc.

Privatbank (the largest bank in Ukraine) has already integrated the zip.liqpay.com API into its online banking. Privatbank customers are able both to shorten payment details and use a short code to make a payment via online banking."

Product Launched: February 2012

Then, Aimia and Cardlytics demonstrated a solution that will help merchants keep track of offers and revenue:

"Aimia will be demonstrating the merchant-facing portal, powered by Cardlytics, that is used by merchants to track offers served, activated, and revenue earned. All bank-facing channels and capability are pointless elements if the merchants aren't engaged. The Aimia solution enables that merchant engagement."

Product Launched: October 2011

HQ Location: Atlanta, GA, U.S.A. and London, U.K.
Company Founded: February 2008
Metrics: Raised $60 million, 100 employees, 70 million U.S. households (Q1-12)
Website: aimia.com 
              cardlytics.com

Next, Fiserv unveiled Mobiliti M-Cash:

"Mobiliti M-Cash is a complete bank-driven personal payments platform. It allows leading financial institutions to set up their own mobile-centric P2P brand and enable:

a) Consumer to consumer payments

b) Consumer to business payments

c) Consumer payments to online retailers"

Actiance, a company that gives advisors better control of social media, is up next:

"Socialite Engage empowers distributed teams to share pre-approved content, engage with clients and prospects, and analyze the impact of the content on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Socialite Engage has been designed specifically to enable investment and insurance professionals to manage social media securely and comply with FINRA and FSA regulations."

Product launched: January 2012

Later this morning, Mootwin demonstrated how its technology helps clients create and manage mobile apps:

"Mootwin's patented technology offers a "one stop shop" value-added solution for all customer-centric mobile needs. It consists of one tier of native application on a mobile device and two tiers of transactional data access on the middleware platform (the Mootwin Foundation). No sensitive data is stored in the device.

The value proposition is based on the ability to: 

• Easily connect devices to enterprise information system 

• Manage and guarantee secured, resilient and reliable links 

• Complete any transaction 

• Manage scalability

• Push real-time content."

Presenting Claude Lemardeley (CEO) & Nicolas Gruet (VP of Channels)

Next, miiCard launched an online identity verification service to help consumers prove that they are who they say they are:

"miiCard uses information only a user would know, accesses details to their online bank account, and creates a secure, encrypted link to this account which has already approved a primary identity check to meet AML/KYC regulations. 

miiCard utilizes Yodlee's global account aggregation to provide validation weightings and traceability of source required by finance industry guidelines. Each point of validation is rechecked daily for accuracy and suitability. Vendors establish appropriate level of assurance requirements for their product/service. miiCard then allows those vendors to identify an individual with enough assurance to support the transaction, like the sale of a regulated financial product."

Beginning the second session this morning, ETRONIKA showed how users can interact with their online bank in a new way:

"We often hear that we live in a world full of impossible. Trapped inside little boxes, filled with needless habits that aren't necessary anymore. It doesn't have to be that way. Technology has advanced so much, so when we can speak with our PCs, why do we bother to type? Yes, financial institutions and online banking solutions refer to a serious, unshakable, respectable realm, but we want to challenge this point of view by introducing a new UX approach to financial online services. ETRONIKA introduces a financial application that recognizes your face, congratulates you, analyzes your voice to identify you, and navigates you into online banking. You choose what is most convenient for you at that time: using your voice, motion-activated user interface, or keyboard - if you feel old-fashioned."

Product Launched: 2Q, 2012

Presenting Kestutis Gardziulis (CEO) & Jelena Kravcenko (Analyst)

To finish up the first session this morning, Holvi launched an account built for group activities:

"The Holvi.com group account is a merchant account, accounting software and a group current account, all rolled into one. With the Holvi account, our customers have an online banking service specifically targeted for their needs. The core technology innovation is automated bookkeeping and meaningful, social connectivity through rich metadata associated with payment transactions. Using Holvi, our customers have radically better tools for managing their money and raising funds online."

This morning, CurrencyFair showed off its upgraded interface:

"CurrencyFair has completely upgraded its interface, further streamlining the process of peer-to-peer foreign exchange transfers. This includes a new QuickTrade feature, which quotes an 'instant exchange rate' for any given amount, calculated based on the weighted average of the best rates of all opposing customer orders combined with CurrencyFair's own liquidity. This allows any amount, large or small, to be exchanged immediately at exchange rates close to, and in some cases even better than, the interbank rate."

Product Launched: January 2012

HQ Location: Dublin, Ireland
Company Founded: April 2009
Metrics: €1.65 million raised, 6 employees, over €80 million exchanged to date
Website: currencyfair.com

 Presenting Brett Meyers (Managing Director) & Jonathan Potter (Sales & Marketing Director)

Today, Service2Media showed how the payment method iDEAL supports mobile payments:

"Service2Media and Rabobank introduce mobile payments via banking app for all webshops, starting with bol.com. Customers of Rabobank that installed the Rabobank Mobile Banking app can now pay their mobile purchases as easily as their online purchases, using a mobile version of internet payment method iDEAL. The new mobile payment is facilitated by starting the Rabobank Banking app on an iPhone once a payment request is issued on the merchant mobile site. The transaction is then authorized by the user in the app with his account number and access code before being redirected to the merchant's mobile site. Mobile banking is now possible without an e-reader (up to €1000)."

Product Launched: 2010

HQ Location: Enschede, Netherlands
Company Founded: 2005
Metrics: 140 employees, offices in Netherlands, UK, Spain, UAE and USA, $10 million (US) investment from Prime Ventures
Website: service2media.com

Then, Fenergo shared how its Deal Manager can assist with the client on-boarding process:

"Deal Manager (DM) offers financial institutions a unique and full-featured application for client on-boarding and account opening. By systemizing highly complex KYC, Client Due Diligence and credit processes, Deal Manager delivers efficiency, transparency and control across new business processing, and ensures ongoing requirements are managed. 

It ticks the box for compliance with flexible on-boarding and account opening models that integrate policy, document and regulatory requirements for all major markets. With Deal Manager, institutions can manage all KYC and on-boarding requirements for individual and institutional clients, as well as credit, legal documentation processes for new products and services."

Next, Backbase showed off its newly improved Bank 2.0 Portal Manager:

"Backbase is presenting major new features in its Bank 2.0 Portal Manager at FinovateEurope 2012, focusing on the following key points:

• Improved editor for page composition on regular browsers and mobile devices
• Advanced segmentation and targeting for different customer groups
• Fully integrated forms editor for enrollment and BPM
• Advanced analytical and performance tools

Backbase's Portal Manager is an easy to use, graphical interface for the e-business and marketing teams at banks to manage online and mobile customer interactions and to bring power to the business by giving them complete control of the online customer journey."

HQ Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands & New York, NY
Company Founded: April 2003
Metrics: 150 employees
Website: backbase.com

Presenting Jouk Pleiter (CEO & Co-Founder) & Jelmer de Jong (Head of Marketing)

Afterward, Business Centric Services Group launched a one-stop shop for small businesses to access customer risk data:

"CreditHQ provides small businesses with unlimited access to a database of customers, outlining their risk profile and payment performance in a simple and easy-to-use format. The platform allows small businesses to develop monitoring plans for each customer/supplier, which sends e-mail alerts directly to the business owner when there is a material change in the credit/risk profile. The platform also allows businesses to create best practice credit terms letters to issue to customers to ensure all parties understand their relationship at the outset of any relationship. 

Should there be any delays in payments from customers, the platform allows the user to create a 10-day final demand letter free of charge, which will be issued directly to the customer. Should this not deliver payment, then the user can issue debt instructions directly through the platform to be collected for a market leading 20% no win, no fee payment by one of the leading business to business debt collectors in the market."

Product Launched: February 2012

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: April 2008
Metrics: 63 employees,135,000 small business customers
Website: bcsg.com

Presenting John Davis (Managing Director) & Alan Marsh (Product & Marketing Director)

Then, iBrokr AG shared Brokertainment, its fast-paced version of betting on stock market indices:

"StockBattle allows social betting on stocks or capital markets indices. StockBattle could be also described as "user created risk". Example: Person A thinks oil will decrease in its value today between 12:00 and 12:30 and bets €2 on that. Person B thinks the opposite and counters that battle also with €2. At 12:30, we know who gets €4 (minus the transaction fee)."

Product Launched: Beta: October 2011

HQ Location: Munich, Germany
Company Founded: January 2010
Metrics: 100% subsidiary of Fidor Bank AG, 4 employees (including IT), roughly 30,000 registered members generated revenues in 2011 (the first full year of testing the trading applications) above €100k less than €10k in Marketing/Sales.
Website: brokertainment.de

Third, PayPal came on stage with la Caixa to show off instant account creation technology:

"You can open a PayPal account in 30 seconds from the secure environment of la Caixa's home banking. We use our combined APIs to leverage the verified customer information that la Caixa has from its clients to speed customers through the PayPal account creation flow. All you need to do is choose your email address and decide on a password and with a couple of clicks, you can have your PayPal account up and running with a verified card linked to it."

Product Launched: November 2011

HQ Location: San Jose, CA
Company Founded: 1998
Metrics: 

Second up, Ping Identity demonstrated how PingFederate and Cloud Identity Connectors integrate with third party products:

"Ping Identity will show how it is possible to use social networking logins to increase customer conversion rates, reduce and simplify risk management, reuse existing infrastructures and technology investments, and increase business agility."

Product Launched: July 2011

HQ Location: Denver, Colorado
Company Founded: 2003
Metrics: $21 million in recent funding; 200 employees; over 700 worldwide customers
Website: pingidentity.com

Presenting Travis Spencer (Senior Technical Architect)

To start off FinovateEurope 2012, Nutmeg shared its platform that allows the average user to invest wisely:

"Nutmeg makes saving and investing simple. Simply choose your investing goals, when you will need your money and how much you can invest. Nutmeg then assesses your personal circumstances, checking affordability and suitability, before implementing and actively managing a personalised investment portfolio that is diversified across geographies and asset classes. Crucially, the user has control over the target level of volatility by considering probable outcomes on illustrations that demonstrate expected returns. Nutmeg offers a high class saving and investing experience and comprehensive user support, even for users with limited wealth. 

Regular portfolio rebalancing, a rewards scheme that improves returns by lowering fees, and intuitive data providing a clear portfolio breakdown allows anyone from the most experienced to the novice investor to take control. No longer will personal investing solely be the domain of the rich. Nutmeg offers a true alternative to expensive trading or being forced into a low-interest bearing bank account."

Product Launched: December 2011

HQ Location: London, UK
Company Founded: January 2011
Website: nutmeg.co.uk

Presenting Nick Hungerford (CEO & Co-Founder) & Jono Hey (Head of User Experience)

Today, Mitek Systems announced a partnership with Progressive Insurance, who will use Mitek's Mobile Photo Quoting technology to automate insurance purchases:

"Using the Progressive mobile application... the consumer simply enters their zip code and takes a picture of their driver's license, Vehicle Identification Number or existing insurance ID card. Mitek's patented mobile imaging technology automatically extracts relevant information from the documents and auto-populates the fields in Progressive's mobile quoting app... Moments later, they receive an auto insurance quote with the option to buy."

Mitek also has Photo Payment, Photo Claims, and Document Capture and Send technology included in its insurance solutions suite.

To learn more about Mitek, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

Jemstep, an online investment guidance startup that tracks over $170 million in investments, announced today it received $6 million in funding. 

This installment from private investors completes Jemstep's Series A funding, bringing the total up to $10.5 million.

The California-based startup plans to use the funding for product development, growth, and corporate recruitment.

To learn more about Jemstep, watch its FinovateSpring 2010 demo.

Iowa-based SmartyPig, a social savings innovator, made two announcements today:

• Changed its corporate name to Social Money Systems
• Launched GoalSaver, a bank-branded social savings and transaction platform

GoalSaver features include:

• Customizable user interface
• Financial education 
• A Dashboard to view goal details (see screenshot 1)
• Shared goal page (see screenshot 2)

In addition to benefitting banks, GoalSaver is also available to industries such as insurance, prepaid cards, and merchants who need layaway solutions.

To learn more about SmartyPig, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.