Author: David Penn

Risk Tolerance Specialist Tolerisk Integrates with SS&C’s Black Diamond

Risk Tolerance Specialist Tolerisk Integrates with SS&C’s Black Diamond
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Tolerisk

According to Tolerisk founder and CEO Mark Friedenthal, the newly-announced integration between his company and SS&C’s Black Diamond Wealth Platform will make it easier for advisors to help clients reach their financial goals. The integration will bring sophisticated risk assessment technology to the portfolio management platform, and provide advisors with the ability to more objectively and more comprehensively measure client risk appetites.

“Our focus on providing the best analytical solutions for advisors includes seamless delivery that comes from integrations with leading providers of financial planning, portfolio reporting, portfolio analytics, and CRM technologies,” Friedenthal said.

Specific features of the integration include the ability to post custom notes directly to the Black Diamond Relationship Timeline, as well as client import and mapping functionality to help advisors generate risk assessments and send them to clients quickly and more efficiently. Customers using both systems will be able to leverage additional compatibilities, such as the ability to import client account balances into Tolerisk for faster updating and less manual input.

“Our integration with Tolerisk makes it easy to leverage the power of both tools in a unified way,” Head of Partnerships and Integrations for Black Diamond at SS&Cs Justin Wayne said. “Together, we are empowering advisors to have more meaningful conversations with their clients, which deepens the advisor-investor relationship and provides a competitive advantage.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in New Jersey, Tolerisk demonstrated its Tolerisk 401(k) solution at FinovateFall 2018. The feature leverages Tolerisk’s deep analytics and two-dimensional risk tolerance assessment capabilities to offer customized financial planning advice to customers. The company’s technology not only helps identify a client’s risk profile with its Tolerisk Score feature, it also provides critical Probability of Running Out of Money reports to ensure a client’s withdrawal strategy does not diminish available savings at too rapid a rate.

Tolerisk’s Friedenthal was featured this spring in the New York Times article “When Gambling Seems Like a Good Investment Strategy.” Tolerisk began the year with big partnership news, inking deals with Orion Advisor Tech in February and CircleBlack in January.

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IdentityMind Teams Up with Acuant to Boost Identity Proofing

IdentityMind Teams Up with Acuant to Boost Identity Proofing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: IdentityMind Global

A new partnership between trusted digital identities innovator IdentityMind and identity verification specialist Acuant will make the latter’s Acuant AssureID identity solution available via the IdentityMind platform. The technology leverages AI and human assisted machine learning to identify more than 6,000 ID types in real-time to provide superior data verification and risk scoring.

“Acuant and IdentityMind share a common belief that identity is the new currency in today’s digital economy, and it must be protected,” Acuant President and CEO Yossi Zekri said. “Our strength in identity proofing during the onboarding and account origination process is the perfect combination to IdentityMind’s ability to build a digital identity and continue to monitor its use through the lifetime of the user. This partnership enables trusted transactions helping companies to reduce fraud, comply with AML/KYC regulations, and provide better customer experiences.”

The company’s flagship document authentication and identity verification software, Acuant AssureID, pulls biometric and alphanumeric data from identity documents and subjects it to more than 50 forensic document-specific tests in real time. The technology can be used for address and age verification, as well as a check against Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) watch lists. AssureID features components such as Acuant Face, a seamless multi-factor authentication solution, as well as Acuant Review, an expert-driven, manual review of identity documents.

“As part of our goal to create the most agnostic and accurate platform for trusted digital identities addressing compliance and risk, we have built an expansive technology ecosystem that pre-integrates the best of breed solutions across a variety of use cases and geographies,” IdentityMind CEO Garrett Gafke said. “Acuant has an outstanding track record in identity verification as a white label solution for many industry leading partners globally. We are excited to be able to offer their solution to our customer base.”

IdentityMind demonstrated its GDPR-ready, KYC Plug-in at FinovateSpring 2018. The pre-configured, customizable technology helps financial services companies meet global KYC requirements while simplifying GDPR compliance. The solution provides critical reports that auditors and examiners rely on to evaluate both the firm’s regulatory processes as well as its customer PII protection functionality.

Last month, IdentityMind announced that it promoted Cynthia Tham to Vice President of Engineering after more than six years at the company. In August, the company reported that it had been awarded a new patent for digital identity-based automated policy review that will help it better evaluate “risky” data and better protect financial transactions. Over the summer, IdentityMind announced partnerships with a variety of firms including South Korea-based wire transfer company Wirebarley, Latin American crypto-to-fiat exchange platform BITPoint, and U.S. blockchain trading platform Bittrex.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, IdentityMind has raised more than $21 million in funding. The company includes Eastern Link Capital, Benhamou Global Ventures, and Lakewood & Company among its investors.

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Low Code Innovator OutSystems Inks Partnership with Yorkshire Building Society

Low Code Innovator OutSystems Inks Partnership with Yorkshire Building Society
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Outsystems

U.K.-based Yorkshire Building Society has selected OutSystems and its integrated development environment for customer-facing e-commerce and mobile applications, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The project will involve what OutSystems is calling a “significant update” to Yorkshire Building Society’s back office systems.

According to the vendor, a newly installed digital platform will provide a more immersive customer experience, and “vastly” increase security. It estimates that the building society will save £600,000 a year as a result.

“We were looking to address a range of specific requirements when we started working with OutSystems, chiefly how we could better service our customers with additional functionality through our e-commerce platform, which was approaching end-of-life,” said Ant Warrington, director of digital and innovation at Yorkshire Building Society.

“We also wanted to streamline our employees’ internal workflows and processes to improve overall efficiency throughout the business.”

Garry Larner, regional director, financial services and insurance at OutSystems, added: “Extending the self-serve capabilities of Yorkshire Building Society’s technology to alleviate the load on its branches and call centres was a key KPI for the organization.”

“We’re happy to help the society take that digital step forward, helping them to remain a leader in an extremely competitive market.”

Yorkshire Building Society is the third-largest building society in the UK with three million members and 143 branches across the country. It holds assets of £43.3 billion.

OutSystems participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2017, discussing the digital transformation of a European retail bank in its presentation: “Low-Code, The Next Evolution in App Dev Platforms (Oh, and 5X Faster).” Founded in 2001, the company announced earlier this month that it has forged a partnership with Workato and fellow Finovate alum Persistent Systems to help businesses take more advantage of automated business processing solutions including app connectors.

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nCino Inks Deal with CNB Bank

nCino Inks Deal with CNB Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: nCino

Pennsylvania-based CNB Bank has selected nCino and its Bank Operating System for the digitisation of its retail lending processes, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The bank, which holds $3.2 billion in assets, needed a platform which could work with its existing processes and could perform customer onboarding, document management, and retail lending.

According to Ruth Anne Ryan-Catalano, vice president of retail banking at CNB Bank, nCino “can provide us with back-end processing capabilities that will allow our employees to conduct their business with greater speed and visibility.”

Paul Clarkson, senior vice president of community and regional financial institutions at nCino, added: “CNB is not just rolling out new technology by utilizing nCino, they’re implementing a modern way of doing business.”

“We’re glad CNB chose to partner with nCino and look forward to working together closely to ensure the nCino Bank Operating System is a catalyst for enhancing CNB’s operational efficiency and customer-centric procedures and delivery channels.”

nCino demonstrated its Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, the company has raised more than $213 million in funding.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Five Degrees, ProfitStars, Temenos

On Finovate.com

  • nCino Inks Deal with CNB Bank.

Around the web

  • Financial crime solution provider Belleron joins five° degrees’ Open Banking Marketplace.
  • One of the biggest credit institutions in Finland, Municipality Finance (MuniFin), picks Temenos to upgrade its lending technology.
  • ProfitStars teams up with the Independent Community Banks of America.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: bereev, Best of Show, FinovateAsia 2019, The WAAY

Given the diversity of fintech innovation on display this week at FinovateAsia, anticipating which companies would win our coveted Best of Show awards was as much a challenge as ever before.

But with the final votes cast and all the ballots counted, it is clear that two companies stood out from the pack. Here they are – and congratulations to them: the winners of Best of Show for FinovateAsia 2019.

Bereev for its end-of-life planning app that helps individuals and families prepare for the loss of a loved one.

The WAAY for its Lifestyle Assistant that communicates personalized lifesyle content to the bank’s customers based on their deep behavioral profiling.


Thanks to all of the companies that demonstrated their technologies live on stage at FinovateAsia this week – including several fintechs making their Finovate debuts. We had a wonderful time in our return to Singapore, and we are already looking forward to Finovate’s return to southeast Asia next year.

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 during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
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.”
4. The two companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2019 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019

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Onward Innovation! FinovateAsia Returns to Singapore

Onward Innovation! FinovateAsia Returns to Singapore
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2019

We’re back! After seven years Finovate has returned to Singapore for our annual fintech event in Asia. Singapore is where we first launched FinovateAsia, and we are thrilled to be back in the Garden City to showcase and celebrate the latest in fintech innovation.

Here at rehearsal day on Sunday, our demoing companies are busy practicing their pitches and testing their technologies. And from all indications, we are in store for a fascinating day of live fintech demos covering everything from AI and cryptocurrencies to regtech and wealth management.

We hope to see you at the show. Until then, here are a few reminders and need-to-knows to help you make the most of your time at FinovateAsia this year.

What

This year, our fintech demos will be held on Tuesday, October 15th, Day Two of FinovateAsia. Check out our roster of demoing companies, and learn more about them via our Sneak Peek series.

On Monday, October 14th, Day One of FinovateAsia, we will feature a variety of keynote addresses, roundtables, and power panels discussing some of the key trends in fintech. Day One also will offer attendees the opportunity for deep dives into topics like emerging Asian markets, digital lending and payments, investech, insurtech, and more.

FinovateAsia will also host a special Summit Day on Wednesday that will focus on two of the most potentially disruptive technologies in our industry today: artificial intelligence and the blockchain. Visit our registration page to add this special day to your FinovateAsia plans.

When

FinovateAsia begins Monday morning, October 14th, at 8:50am with opening remarks from the chair. The conference continues all day until 6:30pm with our reception and networking Happy Hour. FinovateAsia resumes Tuesday morning, October 15th at 9:30am with the chair’s opening remarks, and concludes that evening with our reception, networking, and Best of Show awards ceremony.

We will also have a third Summit Day on Wednesday, October 16th. Opening remarks will begin at 9am, and the day will conclude with closing remarks from the chair at 4pm.

Where

FinovateAsia will take place at the Marina Mandarin Singapore on 6 Raffles Blvd. The venue located in Singapore’s Central Business District, and easy to reach via Mass Transit Railway (MTR), bus, train, and taxi.

We are excited about our return to Singapore for FinovateAsia and are looking forward to seeing you at the event. If you’ve got any questions about the conference, we’ve got the answers. Visit our FinovateAsia contact page and touch base with one of our conference representatives for more information.

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FinovateAsia: From Digital Transformation to the Evolution of the Customer

FinovateAsia: From Digital Transformation to the Evolution of the Customer
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2019

A few days ago, we featured the Power Panels that will take place in Singapore at FinovateAsia next week. Today, we highlight the fintech analysts, executives, and entrepreneurs who will share their insights and experience at this year’s event.

FinovateAsia is just days away! To join us, visit our registration page today and save your seat as Finovate returns to Singapore! For more details, check out our full ,two-day conference agenda (including information about our additional Summit Day on October 16.)

Main Stage Presentations

  • The Digital Shift – How Can Financial Institutions Embrace Innovation & Harness New Technologies In The New Digital World? – featuring Scott Bales of Innovation Labs, Asia
  • Results Of The First ASEAN FinTech Industry Survey – featuring Shan Luo of FinTechSpace
  • Challenger Banks – How Will The Rise Of Virtual Banks & Open Banking Impact Business For Incumbents? – featuring Louise Beaumont

Emerging Asian Markets stream

  • The Exponential Rise of B2B & B2C FinTech In China – What Next For The World’s Most Progressive Fintech Market? – featuring Melissa Guzy of Arbour Ventures

Digital Lending stream

  • How New Players Are Harnessing New Technologies To Disrupt The Digital Lending Landscape In Asia – featuring Zennon Kapron of Kapronasia
  • How To Link The Customer Story To The Money Story In Financial Services – featuring Tom Mouhsian of Forrester

Digital Payments stream

  • How New Technologies & Changing Consumer Behavior Are Driving The Payments Race – featuring Dimitris Litsikakis
  • Ecosystem Disruptions and Payments Imperatives – featuring Daniel Latimore of Celent

InvesTech stream

  • Design Thinking & Organizational Change Through 21st Century Ways Of Working – featuring John Gist of Fidelity
  • The Retirement Journey In Asia: Building A.I. Powered Engagement With Your Customers – featuring Fahd Fachidy of ABAKA
  • Investment For Good Is Good Investment – Finance 2.0 – featuring Helene Yi of GoImpact

InsurTech stream

  • Digital Brokers: Shaping a New Era in Insurance – featuring Vivien Chua of Shenton Insurance Brokers
  • What Makes An Insurtech Start-up An Attractive Investment Proposition And Why? – featuring William Bao Bean of China Accelerator
  • Vertical Urban Mobility – How To Earn With It & How To Insure It – featuring Michael Wieser of Helvetia Fund

Main Stage Presentation

  • Where Are The Vulnerabilities In Financial Services Mobile Apps & How Can The Industry Safeguard Itself Against The Threat From Attackers? – featuring Alissa Knight of Aite Group

FinovateAsia is right around the corner! For more information about our upcoming conference in Singapore, check out our FinovateAsia page for details on how to pick up your ticket, plan your visit, and more!

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Voleo Teams Up with Software Development Firm Convergence Concepts

Voleo Teams Up with Software Development Firm Convergence Concepts
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Voleo

A new partnership between Best of Show winner Voleo and Convergence Concepts will enable the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based social investing platform to enhance its technology and improve the user experience on its iOS, Android, and online applications.

“This partnership will allow Voleo to focus on its core – growth and scalability in both the B2C and B2B partnerships,” said Voleo CEO Thomas Beattie. “We are hearing the feedback from our customers and we are delivering. Later this year there will be more features and developments introduced into the platform, a direct result of customer interaction.”

A major goal of the partnership is to achieve a unified codebase across all three platforms – iOS, Android, and online. This will make it easier for Voleo to introduce new features, as well as improve its ability to test new marketing and user journeys. Voleo anticipates this will help the company scale its current B2C customer base and provide support for more “nimble, robust integrations” with financial services companies, credit unions, and banks on the B2B side.

“Convergence is thrilled to become Voleo’s partner for product engineering and design, and it is a privilege to work with such a professional and experienced management team,” Convergence CEO Matthew Housser said. “We believe that the Voleo platform has huge potential in both the B2C and B2B fintech spaces, and we’re excited to help evolve and scale Voleo’s core platform and unique user experiences.”

Founded in 2015, Voleo demonstrated its social investing platform at FinovateFall 2017, winning Best of Show for its app that leverages the collective wisdom of investors to pursue higher returns in the market. Earlier this year, the company successfully completed the 2019 FIS Fintech Accelerator program in July, along with fellow Finovate alums Neener Analytics, Gremln Social, and Digital Onboarding.

Voleo also participated in Google’s Digital Strategy program over the summer in a bid to increase user acquisition. This spring, Voleo won the 2019 Best Stock Trading App award in the investment category of the FinTech Breakthrough Awards. In March, the company teamed up with Nasdaq to launch their second Student Equity Trading Competition.

Publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker TRAD, Voleo has a market capitalization of $9 million.

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StreetShares Partners with Farm Bureau Bank

StreetShares Partners with Farm Bureau Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: StreetShares

Lendtech StreetShares, which offers business loans of up to $250,000 to US citizens, announced its partnership with rural US Farm Bureau Bank (FBB) to provide small business lending services to Farm Bureau’s six million members nationwide, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

StreetShares’ small business lending-as-a-service (LaaS) platform will provide the bank’s small business customers with “a decision in minutes and funding within 24 hours.”

FBB is a full-service digital bank in the US. Now able to offer fully-digital business loan applications with StreetShares’ technology, the bank says it chose the partner on account of its “flexibility and commitment to providing stellar service to underserved populations”.

“Since StreetShares is veteran-run, and we cater to rural America, we knew our values and mission would align with rural Americans’ small business lending needs,” said FFB’s director of national accounts Bob Baker.

By using a LaaS solution, FBB can offer unsecured lines of credit, making its loans faster and more competitive. The bank does not even have to integrate StreetShare’s platform with its core banking software.

“Since implementing the business lending platform, we have been able to expand our offerings and provide our members an innovative solution that meets their unique needs and helps them better manage and grow their businesses,” said Baker, who describes the entire loan process with StreetShares as “incredibly easy.”

Bank members can now apply from the comfort of their own home or office with instant replies and funding. Baker said the integration positions the bank “for continued growth” and “long-lasting relationships” with customers.

SteetShares’ CEO Mark L. Rockefeller said the bank’s adoption of its LaaS will “provide a better customer experience and expand its business lines.” Rockefeller hopes the partnership will bring small business lending to more qualified entrepreneurs across the country.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, StreetShares demonstrated its lending-as-a-service platform at FinovateFall 2019. The company has raised more than $261 million in funding, and includes Rotunda Capital Partners, Fenway Summer Ventures, and Accion among its investors.

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Blend Integrates with Mortgage Credit Specialist Avantus

Blend Integrates with Mortgage Credit Specialist Avantus
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Blend

Hot on the heels of the launch of its “one tap” mortgage preappoval solution, mortgagetech innovator Blend is back in the fintech headlines with news of its partnership with Avantus. The integration will enable mortgage borrowers using Blend’s digital lending platform to access Avantus’ Tri-Merge credit reports.

“Blend has helped many Avantus clients create a more streamlined end-to-end lending solution, with impressive results,” Avantus president Louis Capobianco said. “We’re excited to be part of the Blend platform and look forward to working on our shared goal of helping lenders close more loans.”

Headquartered in West Haven, Connecticut, Avantus provides customized mortgage credit reports and related services that enable loan originators, credit unions, banks, and lenders to streamline and accelerate the approval process, as well as keep costs low. With more than 75 years of experience in analyzing consumer data, the company announced a partnership with digital mortgage platform ARIVE earlier this month that will bring its customized credit reports to a broader range of independent mortgage brokers and wholesale lenders.

“We’re pleased to add Avantus to our platform, expanding options for lenders pulling credit within Blend, and further strengthening and optimizing the consumer’s mortgage experience,” Blend’s Head of Business Development Brian Martin said. “Partnering with Avantus will support our mission to continue to deliver a best-in-class lending experience for consumers and lenders.”

Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, California, Blend demonstrated its “Data-Driven Mortgage” solution at FinovateSpring 2016. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting its technology at FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016.

Named one of the best places to work by Inc.com, Blend launched a deposit account in April that enabled its customers to improve the digital account opening experience on both mobile and desktop. Mountain America Credit Union, which deployed the product in one month, now has 53% of its applications arrive via a mobile channel that had not been previously available for deposits. The credit union also reported a 45% decrease in account opening times.

Also this spring, Blend announced a partnership with FGMC’s direct-to-consumer division, Goodmortgage, helping the Plano, Texas-based lender develop a “simpler and more sophisticated online mortgage process.”

In July, Blend locked in an investment of $130 million in a round led by Temasek and General Atlantic. The funding took the company’s total to $290 million.

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Thought Machine Teams Up with Sweden’s SEB

Thought Machine Teams Up with Sweden’s SEB
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Thought Machine

SEB, the Swedish financial group, has partnered with core banking firm Thought Machine in a project which will see the former deploy a new banking platform in its innovation studio, SEBx, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

SEBx is implementing Vault, Thought Machine’s flagship cloud-hosted core banking system.

According to Nicholas Moch, group CIO of SEB, the innovation studio has a “clear mandate for exploring tech to create next generation customer offerings.”

“Having the opportunity to build a bank from the ground up within SEBx, we are determined to work with partners that bring new perspectives to a traditional industry, and the team at Thought Machine does that,” Moch said.

SEB launched its innovation studio in July, and describes it as an initiative for testing new technologies, alternative technology platforms and new services. The studio currently employs 16 people.

The bank’s CEO, Johan Torgeby, told Swedish media at the time that SEBx could become a separate company in the future.

Paul Taylor, CEO and founder of Thought Machine, said of the project: “SEB is one of the most innovative banks in Europe, and it is significant that they have decided to deploy Vault as part of their technology exploration.”

SEB’s activities mainly comprise retail and corporate banking, but it also dabbles in life insurance and pensions. Founded in 1972, it operates subsidiaries in Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia.

Thought Machine demonstrated its core banking solution, Vault, at FinovateEurope 2018. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, U.K., the company has raised $22 million (£18 million) in funding from investors including Lloyds Banking Group, Backed VC, and IQ Capital.

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