Author: David Penn

Mortgage Cadence Integrates with DataVerify

Mortgage Cadence Integrates with DataVerify
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mortgage Cadence

Mortgage Cadence’s new integration with DataVerify, announced this week, will enable the Denver, Colorado-based mortgage tech company to enhance its loan origination system, boost data verification and fraud prevention, and provide compliance assistance.

The combination of DataVerify’s functionality and Mortgage Cadence’s Enterprise Lending Center (ELC) will improve the customer experience by streamlining authentication and automating the data verification process for borrowers. Lenders benefit, as well. The integration will enable them to avoid the cumbersome process of extracting data from institutions like the IRS, and instead request and access the necessary information without leaving the ELC platform.

“Optimized workflows and increased automation are essential to reducing time and cost to close,” EVP and MD of Product Management at Mortgage Cadence Paul Wetzel said. “This latest integration between our Enterprise Lending Center and Data Verify is yet another example of how we help lenders improve operating performance.”

DataVerify leverages advanced analytics to provide risk mitigation, data validation, and workflow management solutions for the mortgage industry. The company’s platform helps lenders make better decisions by recognizing data integrity errors and misrepresentations, as well as identity theft, and property and application risk. DataVerify was named to the 2018 Ellie Mae Hall of Fame after winning the Lenders’ Choice for Best Service Provider award that year. The Chesterfield, Missouri-based company was founded in 1948.

“(O)ur mission is to deliver flexible solutions tailored to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers,” DataVerify president Brad Bogel said. “Our integration with Mortgage Cadence furthers this mission by providing convenient access to secure verification processes that address industry compliance regulations all within the lender’s origination platform, Enterprise Lending Center.”

Founded in 1999, Mortgage Cadence demonstrated its Collaboration Center at FinovateFall 2017. The solution offers financial institutions a secure, multi-channel communication portal that brings all the participants, workflow, and data for a loan into a single location for greater efficiency and security.

Last month, Bank of the West announced that it had teamed up with Mortgage Cadence to improve its loan origination operations. The bank also deployed Mortgage Cadence’s Borrower Center to enhance the experience for both borrowers and loan officers. Named to the 2019 HousingWire Tech 100 this spring, Mortgage Cadence includes partnerships with Radian Mortgage Insurance and MGIC among its more recent integrations, both of which enabled the companies to streamline the mortgage insurance process during loan origination.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Accenture, Mortgage Cadence has processed more than 17 million loans from point-of-sale through post-closing. Trevor Gauthier is President and COO.

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Brazil’s NuBank Scores $400M; Poland Launches $737M Co-Investment Project

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Experian, Finovate Global, Strands

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia-Pacific

  • CompareAsiaGroup picks up $20 million in Series B1 funding in round led by Experian.
  • Standard Chartered Bank’s eXcelerator innovation lab goes live in Shanghai.
  • Finish fintech PearlPay announces partnership with the Philippines’ Rural Bank.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ghana’s Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia declares his country to be “the undisputed leader in Africa” in terms of innovation in payment services.
  • Oromia International Bank of Ethiopia goes live with core banking software from ICS Financial Systems.
  • Fintech Futures examines the challenger bank scene in South Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Piotr Jan Pietrzak of ING Bank Slaski looks at the fintech scene in Poland.
  • Romania open banking solution provider Finqware raises €180,000 in seed funding.
  • Poland introduces $737 million co-investment plan to attract private equity firms.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Bahrain-based cryptocurrency exchange Rain earns its license from the nation’s central bank, and announces a fundraising of $2.5 million.
  • Egypt’s MoneyFellows raises more than $1 million in pre Series A funding.
  • African payment gateway Innovate 1 Pay opens office in Dubai.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian SME lender Indifi raises $21 million in Series C funding.
  • Mashreq Global Services, a subsidiary of Mashreq Bank, teams up with Indian fintechs.
  • India’s biggest mobile payments company Paytm now boasts 10 million customers in Japan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil’s Nubank raises $400 million in funding in round led by TCV.
  • Argentina’s largest national private bank Banco Galicia integrates PFM technology from Strands.
  • Stripe opens office in Mexico City.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Enveil, ID R&D, Mambu, Meniga, Mortgage Cadence, NuData Security, On Deck Capital, The ID Co.

On Finovate.com

  • ID R&D Unveils Passive Facial Liveness Detection.
  • Finovate Global: Brazil’s NuBank Scores $400M; Poland Launches $737M Co-Investment Project.

Around the web

  • On Deck earns spot in Selling Power’s 50 Best Companies to Sell for in 2019 roster.
  • Mambu named a “Challenger” in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Global Retail Core Banking.
  • Data-in-use security specialist Enveil is honored at the FCA Global AML and Financial Crime TechSprints showcase.
  • The IDCo. makes the finalist list in the Affordability Assessment Solutions category of the Credit & Collections Technology Awards.
  • NuData Security wins Gold and Silver in the 14th Annual 2019 IT World Award in CIO of the Year, Company of the Year, and Women in Technology.

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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Ondot’s Transaction Intelligence Deciphers Purchase Data

Ondot’s Transaction Intelligence Deciphers Purchase Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ondot

By making it easier for cardholders to recognize and read merchant names, logos, and contact information on purchases, Transaction Intelligence from Ondot Systems, unveiled this week, helps firms reduce call center volumes and dispute costs while boosting customer satisfaction.

Ondot Systems General Manager for the Americas Gary Singh credited the recent launch of the Apple Card for raising awareness of the problem of incomplete or indecipherable transaction data. “We’ve seen huge interest in Transaction Intelligence from both consumers and card issuers,” Singh said, “particularly after enriched transactions were featured so prominently during the Apple Card launch.”

The company’s own investigation into the demand for enriched transactions makes the point, as well. A research finding sponsored by Ondot showed that 99% of mobile banking users were interested in better transaction data, with more than 80% indicating they were “very interested.” Singh noted, “It’s not that often that you find a product that both increases customer satisfaction and lowers cost.”

Ondot’s Transaction Intelligence provides real-time merchant and transaction data enrichment, including clarified merchant names, logos, location maps, advanced tags, memos, receipt captures, and more. This enriched data helps consumers identify their purchases, and turns transaction data into insights consumers can use to make smarter spending decisions.

“Ondot believes we have the best transaction and merchant data enrichment solution in the market right now, and we have won proof-of-concepts against other big names to prove it,” Singh said. “We are the only service available on any device to bring together all of these data sources for an accurate picture of where a purchase was made, and do it in real-time.”

The company noted that it initially will launch Transaction Intelligence this month with “one of the top 10 largest banks in the world,” but added that the solution will be available to FIs regardless of size.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Ondot demonstrated its Digital Card Mobile App at FinovateSpring 2018. The company is a Best of Show winner, as well, having picked up top honors at our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference last year.

Ondot has raised $51 million in funding from investors including Citi Ventures. Bharghavan Vaduvur is CEO.

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Trade Finance Specialist IIG Bank Goes Live with Temenos Infinity, Transact

Trade Finance Specialist IIG Bank Goes Live with Temenos Infinity, Transact
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Temenos

IIG Bank, a specialist trade finance bank based in Malta, will leverage a pair of solutions from Temenos to offer its clients a wider variety of differentiated services from treasury cash management and deposit accounts to documentary credit and trade financing. The bank has gone live with Temenos Infinity, a digital front office platform, as well as Temenos T24 Transact, the firm’s next generation core banking solution.

“Temenos has given us much more flexibility to be able to tailor deposit and trade finance products to specific customer needs,” IIG Bank Managing Director and CEO Raymond Busuttil said. “Temenos banking software is providing us with cutting-edge technology combined with the most complete functionality in private and corporate banking.”

The new technologies will replace legacy systems that IIG Bank said had become both highly restrictive and unable to support new business initiatives. In the context of the country’s anticipated GDP growth of more than 5% this year, IIG Bank believes Temenos’ technology will help it compete in a financial services sector that is becoming more competitive.

Praising the speed of the Temenos implementation, Busuttil added that the partnership will help the bank respond to current demand as well as better prepare for the challenges of the future. “We are already seeing significant improvement which will enable further growth for IIG Bank,” he said. “Corporate customers are demanding more from their banking experience and expect a seamless customer journey. We selected Temenos to future-proof our operations, enabling us to deliver a great customer experience going forward.”

The partnership with IIG Bank is the second big fintech announcement from Temenos this week. The Geneva, Switzerland-based banking software provider teamed up with Mizrahi-Tefahot, the third largest bank in Israel, to replace its capital market systems with Temenos T24 Transact.

Recognized last month by Gartner Magic Quadrant as a Leader in Global Retail Core Banking, and at the Finnovex Awards for Excellence in Digital Banking, Temenos demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015.

Temenos was founded in 1993. Max Chuard, who joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2012, was appointed CEO in February.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: EdgeVerve Systems, Flywire, iSignthis, Ondot, Onfido, Ping Identity, Signifyd, Temenos

On Finovate.com

  • Trade Finance Specialist IIG Bank Goes Live with Temenos Infinity, Transact.
  • Signifyd Offers Ecommerce Protection for Trellis Customers.
  • Ondot’s Transaction Intelligence Deciphers Payment Data.

Around the web

  • Onfido to provide identity verification for blockchain identity and payment solution provider Civic.
  • Ping Identity successfully completes financial grade API (FAPI) conformance testing.
  • EdgeVerve Systems unveils AssistEdge RPA 18.0 to help organizations reach broader automation coverage of their processes.
  • iSignthis inks Australian Principal Member licensing agreement with Visa.
  • Business Insider highlights Flywire CEO’s unique way of attracting investment.

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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Dynamic Hedging Specialist Kantox Teams Up with Silicon Valley Bank

Dynamic Hedging Specialist Kantox Teams Up with Silicon Valley Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Kantox

Kantox’s Dynamic Hedging solution is the latest FX risk management option for U.K.-based corporate clients of Silicon Valley Bank. The deal with SVB, announced this week, is Kantox’s first bank partnership.

“By offering our Dynamic Hedging software to their corporate clients,” Kantox co-founder and CEO Philippe Gelis said, “we are providing a sophisticated solution which makes the treasurer’s job easier, while providing added value to SVB’s existing FX services.”

Kantox’s Dynamic Hedging technology makes treasury operations more efficient by automating FX risk management. The solution automatically hedges transactions in real-time to mitigate risk and improve competitiveness. Treasurers also gain greater visibility into FX exposure.

Kantox and SVB are no strangers. Silicon Valley Bank was behind the $5.6 million (€5 million) venture debt financing Kantox picked up in April. This marked the second such arrangement between the two parties, having previously inked a financing agreement in December 2017.

Calling Kantox “a technology partner that understands the innovation economy and the sectors in which they operate,” Erin Platts, Head of EMEA and President of SVB’s U.K. branch, explained the importance of efficiently managing FX operations for many of the bank’s corporate clients. “Through this partnership with Kantox, we aim to create genuine value for our clients by bringing automation and efficiency to their transactional FX management activities.”

Founded in 1983, Silicon Valley Bank provides financial services and expertise to companies in innovation centers around the world. More than 30,000 startups have benefitted from the bank’s funding.

Kantox’s first bank partnership announcement comes just over a month after CEO Gelis discussed the challenges of fintech/bank partnerships in a candid post at Kantox’s LinkedIn page.

“One of my key lessons learned is that navigating banks is very complex,” he wrote. “There are many people there whose jobs are basically to spend time speaking with fintechs about innovation – and not much else.” His takeaway? Among other insights, Gelis urged fellow fintechs: “Do not look for partnerships, instead engage with banks that are approaching you proactively.”

Kantox demonstrated its Peer FX solution at FinovateEurope 2013. The London, U.K.-based firm, founded in 2011, works with both top tier companies and SMEs to help them save money when exchanging foreign currencies. Kantox estimates that for every $100,000 transaction, it is able to save clients an average of $1,500. Offering spot and forward transactions in more than 20 international currencies, Kantox serves businesses in a wide variety of verticals ranging from e-commerce to travel to digital advertising.

In June, Kantox announced that clients have exchanged more than $10 billion on its platform. Last fall, the company was named to CB Insights Fintech 250 roster of the fastest growing fintech startups in the world. Kantox has raised more than $35 million in funding, and includes Partech and Idinvest Partners among its equity investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AI Foundry, Arkose Labs, Bpm'online, Digital Onboarding, Experian, EZBOB, InComm, Jack Henry, P2BInvestor, Signifyd

On Finovate.com

  • Dynamic Hedging Specialist Kantox Teams Up with Silicon Valley Bank.
  • What’s Trending Across Fintech Verticals.

Around the web

  • Arkose Labs announces updates to the dynamic risk engine and adaptive step-up of its anti-fraud platform.
  • Experian leads $20 million funding for Hong Kong-based CompareAsiaGroup.
  • EZBOB earns Best Fintech Partnership honors at The Banker’s Tech Project Awards 2019 for its Smart Onboarding Engine.
  • AI Foundry one of 15 companies selected to present in VentureBeat’s AI Showcase Tech Showcase.
  • Noble Credit Union selects Digital Onboarding to engage new members.
  • Signifyd launches Signifyd Seamless SCA to help businesses meet PSD2 requirements.
  • InComm partners with LA Metro to expand locations where customers can purchase and reload TAP cards.
  • Jack Henry & Associates named one of the best places to work in Alabama by Business Alabama.
  • Bpm’online CEO and Managing Partner Katherine Kostereva recognized in The Software Report’s Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2019 feature.

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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King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion

King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Klarna

An investment of $460 million in Swedish e-commerce payments innovator Klarna takes the company’s valuation to $5.5 billion, and makes it the largest private fintech firm in Europe. The funding will help fuel Klarna’s international growth, especially in the United States, where it has been gaining new customers at a rate of six million a year.

Dragoneer Investment Group led the round. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital LLC, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, Första AP-Fonden (AP1), IPGL, IVP, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock also participated. Combined with the financing from a round this spring, the investment gives Klarna more than $1.2 billion in total capital.

For company CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the funding comes at a moment of great opportunity for fintechs like Klarna that are innovating in the area of consumer finance. “This is a decisive time in the history of retail banking,” he said. “Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of ones customers.”

Klarna’s Shop Now Pay Later approach to e-commerce enables consumers to pay for purchases at leading, brick and mortar retailers as well as with online merchants, with a variety of interest-free, no-fee financing offerings. These include a four installment payment option that charged every other week to the customer’s credit or debit card, and 30-day payment period that begins once the item is shipped or received.

Klarna has more than 60 million shoppers using its offerings, and 130,000 retailer partners around the world. Richard Watts of Merian Chrysalis Investment Company credited Klarna with providing its merchant partners with “considerable improvement in customer engagement and sales.” In fact, Klarna reports that merchants that are offering its four installment payment plan have experienced a 68% increase in average order value, a 44% increase in conversion v.s. cards, and a 21% higher purchase frequency.

“Klarna is one of Europe’s great fintech success stories and the company continues to develop truly innovative payment solutions,” Watts said.

The funding news for Klarna arrives amid a flurry of new service offerings, such as making its Shop Now Pay Later option available in-store, as well. It has also been a big year for products, from the launch of its global customer authentication platform to unveiling of its open banking platform. 2019 has also been a busy year in terms of partnerships: Klarna joined global fashion retailer ASOS in an expansion to the U.S., teamed up with U.K. fashion brand Superdry, and partnered with Canadian e-commerce and in-store point-of-sale financing company PayBright.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2012.

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LendingClub Unveils Select Plus for Sophisticated Investors

LendingClub Unveils Select Plus for Sophisticated Investors
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Lending Club

Months after LendingClub announced that it was closing its small business lending division, the online P2P credit marketplace is back in the fintech headlines with the launch of the Select Plus Platform. The solution enables sophisticated investors to participate in the financing of borrowers “who fall outside current criteria” of bank lenders.

Select Plus provides these borrowers with the opportunity to get the access to credit they need, while giving investors the ability to pursue potentially attractive risk adjusted returns. The solution will also boost LendingClub’s customer base, and help the company facilitate the more than 14 million applications for loans it received in 2018 alone.

Growing from inception to execution in less than a year, Select Plus is a testament to LendingClub’s product-building ability, according to company Chief Capital Officer Valerie Kay. In addition to getting to market quickly, Select Plus shows how the company is uncovering new ways to leverage its platform.

“This is a huge step forward in our evolution as we continue to unlock the power of the marketplace model to generate access and ultimately savings for borrowers by finding and matching the right capital sources with the right borrowers,” Kay said.

Select Plus already has its first investor. Theorem Partners, a firm that leverages data science and machine learning to invest in marketplace loans, will integrate its Theorem Score credit investment model with LendingClub’s new solution.

One of Finovate’s oldest alums, LendingClub demonstrated its “online lending community” at the very first Finovate conference in 2007. In the years since, the company has grown into the largest P2P lending marketplace in the world with more than three million customers and more than $50 billion in loans facilitated on its platform. In June, the company celebrated its three millionth member by paying off the borrower’s 6% APR, $40,000 debt consolidation loan in full.

Last month, LendingClub introduced Levered Certificates, a new financial product that combines an equity certificate based on a pool of unsecured personal loans with a fixed rate note to provide consistent financing over the term of the certificate. The company began the year partnering with U.K. data vendor Brismo to provide standardized performance metrics for lending.

Publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LC, Lending Club has a market capitalization of $1 billion. The company was founded in 2006, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Scott Sanborn is President and CEO.

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Switzerland’s CREALOGIX Gets SaaS-y

Switzerland’s CREALOGIX Gets SaaS-y
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CREALOGIX

Swiss digital banking software provider, CREALOGIX, is moving from its traditional initial license to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Although the intended transition has resulted in a drop in profitability of just over $5 million (CHF 5 million), sales have increased by 17% to exceed $101.5 million (CHF 100 million) for the first time.

Reporting preliminary results for the 2018/19 financial year, CREALOGIX states that the move to a SaaS-based, multi-year subscription model will result in greater revenue stability and sustained profitability increases in the long term.

The company believes that it will see solid cashflow levels and double-digit EBITDA margins from 2020/21 onwards. CREALOGIX notes that the continuing uncertainty around Brexit has had a pronounced negative impact on the UK business.

Recent new deals for the company have included agreements with Hampden & Co, LGT Vestra and MeDirect.

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, CREALOGIX demonstrated its TimeWarp solution at FinovateEurope 2019, winning Best of Show. TimeWarp enables banking customers to run simulations of various scenarios in their financial lives to better understand how today’s decisions are mostly likely to affect financial outcomes.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CREALOGIX, Experian, HackerOne, Jumio, Klarna, LeapXpert, Lending Club, Lendio, Mortgage Cadence, Ondot, Temenos, Tinkoff Bank

On Finovate.com

  • Switzerland’s CREALOGIX Gets SaaSy.
  • King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion.
  • LendingClub Unveils Select Plus for Sophisticated Investors.

Around the web

  • Israel’s third largest bank Mizrahi-Tefahot to deploy core banking technology from Temenos.
  • Experian reports surging interest in Open Banking, with the number of API requests made in the U.K. growing by more than 2x since February.
  • Russia’s Tinkoff Bank to sell the speech recognition technology behind its Oleg chatbot to corporate customers.
  • LeapXpert earns spot in 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.
  • Mortgage Cadence enhances data verification, fraud prevention and compliance with integration of DataVerify to its Enterprise Lending Center.
  • AT&T launches new bug bounty program in partnership with HackerOne.
  • Jumio takes gold in the Security Software category of the 2019 IT World Awards.
  • Lendio tops $1.5 billion in small business loans financed.
  • Ondot introduces Transaction Intelligence to make it easier for consumers to recognize purchases.

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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