Author: David Penn

Earnix Enters Strategic Collaboration with NTT DATA

Earnix Enters Strategic Collaboration with NTT DATA
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Earnix, NTT Data
  • Earnix and digital business and IT services company NTT DATA announced a new collaboration.
  • The partnership will help property and casualty insurers enhance the pricing, rating, and underwriting process, as well as increase policy personalization.
  • Israel-based Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.

Financial services solutions provider Earnix has announced a collaboration with digital business and IT services company NTT DATA. The partnership will enable Earnix to give property and casualty insurance carriers intelligent solutions for pricing, rating, underwriting, and policy personalization. The integration, combined with NTT DATA’s pedigree in data migration, will accelerate insurers’ time to market and enhance their ability to put data to work in fostering innovation.

“We take pride in driving transformative change in the insurance industry with AI-powered solutions,” said SVP of Insurance Services at NTT DATA North America Rob Baughman. “By integrating our products and services, we help clients achieve long-term success and identify opportunities for growth.”

Earnix and NTT DATA are joining forces at a time when the international insurance analytics market is expected to grow from $11 billion, where it stood in 2022, to $35 billion by 2030, an annual rate of more than 15%. Accompanying this growth is an expectation from insurance consumers for products that are more relevant and tailored to their needs. Earnix has leveraged AI to address these preferences, enhancing the rate-making process and creating personalized experiences by incorporating real-time feedback.

“Our partnership with NTT DATA is a game changer for insurers,” Earnix Head of Business Development Ruth Fisk said. “Bringing together their powerhouse expertise in data management and pricing modernization with the strength of the Earnix platform, we can equip insurers with the insight and flexibility to respond quickly to shifting market needs.”

NTT DATA first demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2018, and returned the following year to demo its latest innovation at FinovateFall in New York. The Tokyo, Japan-based company serves 75% of the Fortune Global 100 with business and technology services including consulting, data and AI, and industry solutions. NTT DATA also assists in the development, implementation, and management of applications, infrastructure, and connectivity.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2001, Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. In the years since, Earnix has grown into a major provider of cloud-based intelligent solutions for analytical underwriting, dynamic pricing, product personalization, and customer engagement. The company’s solution for insurers inserts a new SaaS layer into the firm’s existing tech stack, adding both intelligence and agility to the pricing, rating, and underwriting process. For banks and lenders, Earnix offers a digital decisioning solution that enables lenders to manage portfolio risk, loan profitability, origination volume, speed to market, and regulatory compliance.

With customers in more than 35 countries across six continents, Earnix has raised more than $100 million in funding from investors including Vintage Investment Partners and Israel Growth Partners. Insurance and fintech industry veteran Robin Gilthorpe joined the company as CEO in February of last year.

Photo by Haley Black

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Paytech Tyro Teams Up with StoreConnect

Paytech Tyro Teams Up with StoreConnect
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Tyro
  • Payments company Tyro has announced a new partnership with StoreConnect
  • The partnership adds integrated payments to StoreConnect POS, the first POS solution build on Salesforce for SMEs.
  • Australia-based Tyro Payments made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017.

A new partnership between paytech Tyro and StoreConnect will launch integrated payments on the first point-of-sale solution built on Salesforce. The solution, StoreConnect POS, is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and offers an e-commerce website, POS terminal, cash drawer, and receipt printer. Built on Sales Cloud, all components of StoreConnect POS fully integrate with Tyro to enable merchants to accept payments natively from within StoreConnect’s Salesforce POS.

“At Tyro, we believe nothing should get in the way of success for Australian businesses,” Tyro Payments Chief Growth Officer Deanne Bannatyne said. “We’re so thrilled to be able to work with StoreConnect to power this Australian-first innovation, to help more merchants take payments seamlessly with an exciting all-in-one POS solution.”

Bannatye noted that the integration also will enable Australian business owners who use Salesforce for CRM to benefit from deeper insights into their customers and streamlined operations. StoreConnect is available as a self-install SaaS package on the Salesforce AppExchange and is suitable for mid-market firms and non-profit organizations, as well as SMEs.

“We’ve been on a mission to build StoreConnect to be a powerful tool to help SMEs around the world to remain competitive,” StoreConnect founder and CEO Mikel Lindsaar said, “and we’ve delivered on that mission with our Point-of-Sale release here in Australia.”

Tyro made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and founded in 2003, the company today is Australia’s largest EFTPOS provider of all Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) – aside from the country’s big four banks. With more than 68,000 customers throughout Australia, Tyro processed more than $34 billion in transaction value in fiscal year 2022.

The company’s partnership news with StoreConnect comes just days after the paytech announced that it has teamed up with real-time payments and loyalty platform Hello Clever. The partnership enables shoppers at more than 70,000 merchants on Tyro’s network to redeem instant cashback rewards in person and online via Hello Clever.

Tyro has raised more than $103 million from investors including Ellerston Capital and TDM Asset Management. Jonathan Davey is CEO.

Photo by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash

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Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking

Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avaloq, Daily news
  • In partnership with Avaloq, Liechtenstein-based international private bank LGT has implemented a new standard to give financial intermediaries real-time access to investment positions and transaction data.
  • The new standard, OpenWealth API, was implemented in collaboration with Synpulse8, the integration specialist of Synpulse.
  • Based in Switzerland, Avaloq won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2018.

In collaboration with Avaloq and Synpulse8, Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT has implemented a new standard that will make it easier to provide financial intermediaries with real-time access to LGT’s investment positions and transaction data. The new standard is called OpenWealth API and will help the custodian bank better serve its customer base of independent asset managers, multi-family offices, and fund companies with customized investment solutions, personal advice, and fast order processing.

“With this latest joint innovation, LGT is taking a leading role in helping to create a more interconnected financial marketplace while enhancing the value that financial intermediaries deliver for their investors,” Avaloq Chief Technology Officer Martin Büchi explained.

The partnership between Avaloq and LGT extends back nearly 20 years, when the bank first adopted Avaloq’s core banking solution, Avaloq Core. The OpenWealth implementation was conducted in partnership with technology and integration specialist Synpulse8, a division of Synpulse. Synpulse is the founder and orchestrator of the OpenWealth Association, the standardization body for OpenWealth. The standardized connectivity made possible by OpenWealth will lower operational risks for financials and empowers intermediaries to keep their platforms updated with more timely and accurate data than can be provided via daily batch processing.

“The standardized solution will ensure that our partners have access to the latest data to better serve their clients,” LGT Bank AG Executive Board member Markus Werner said. “We look forward to strengthening our long-term partnership with Avaloq in the coming years and to continuing our joint development activities for enhanced connectivity with financial intermediaries globally.”

Founded in 1985, Avaloq provides technology solutions to private banks and wealth managers, investment managers, retail and commercial banks, as well as challenger and neobanks. The Switzerland-based company won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2018, and has since grown into an international financial services solutions provider with more than 160 clients in 35 countries and $4.4 trillion (CHF 4 trillion) in client assets managed by Avaloq software.

The company’s signature solution is Avaloq Core, a core banking solution for private banks and wealth managers. Avaloq also offers three standalone digital products lines: Avaloq Engage, Avaloq Wealth, and Avaloq Insight. Avaloq Engage helps institutions boost client engagement. Avaloq Wealth supports the entire client journey in wealth management from prospect to trusted relationship. Avaloq Insight offers technical and business users access to insightful data from their banking systems. Avaloq was acquired by Japan-based NEC Corporation in the fall of 2020.

This spring, Avaloq announced the retirement of Co-CEO Thomas Beck, with Martin Greweldinger taking over the role of Avaloq Group CEO. Beck had served as Co-CEO with Greweldinger since the spring of 2021, having joined the company in 2012.

Photo by Ondrej Bocek on Unsplash

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The Finovate Podcast: Best of Show Conversations with Bloom Credit and Kobalt Labs

The Finovate Podcast: Best of Show Conversations with Bloom Credit and Kobalt Labs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bloom Credit, Kobalt Labs, Podcasting

What better way to celebrate the start of summer than with some of the latest conversations from Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast!

The podcast has just kicked off its series of interviews with Best of Show winners from FinovateSpring. First, Greg Palmer talked with Christian Widhalm, CEO of Bloom Credit, about building credit and creating new lending opportunities. Episode 217.

“We are an infrastructure platform that’s really leading the modernization of credit data and credit data transmission,” Widhalm said in his Finovate Podcast conversation earlier this month. “There’s a significant amount of value to be uncovered within the ecosystem right now, specifically around credit data, and that’s what Bloom has set out to do.”

Headquartered in New York City and founded in 2016, Bloom Credit is a B2B credit data infrastructure platform. The company is building the next generation of rails for “all things credit data,” including transmission and compliant storage. Bloom’s technology helps facilitate the extension of affordable credit to the millions of consumers who are either subprime borrowers or have thin/no file with major credit agencies.

Watch Bloom Credit’s Best of Show winning demo from FinovateSpring 2024.

Most recently, Greg Palmer sat down with Kalyani Ramadurgam, CEO of Kobalt Labs, to discuss third-party regulations, the rise of AI, and the broader regulatory environment for fintechs, banks, and financial services companies. Episode 219.

“We automate all things third party diligence,” Ramadurgam explained. “When I say third party diligence that usually includes everything from vendor risk assessment all the way to monitoring, as well as partner and merchant risk assessment – whether you’re a partner bank or a fintech that’s looking to do business with new entities.”

New York City-based Kobalt Labs enables FIs to accelerate and fortify compliance operations. The company’s technology also provides automatic alignment with the latest regulations in privacy, lending, money movement, BSA/AML, ACH, and more. At FinovateSpring this year, Kobalt Labs demoed its AI-powered co-pilot that streamlines this process. The company was founded in 2023.

Watch Kobalt Labs’ Best of Show winning demo from FinovateSpring 2024.

Photo by cottonbro studio

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Daily news, Finastra, Fintech Rundown, Finzly, Klarna, MasterCard, Salt Edge, Trustly, Tyro, Weekly Alumni News, Weekly News

As 2024 works its way toward halftime, we’re seeing an uptick in partnership and collaboration activity from crypto to regtech. Check back all week long for updates on the latest in fintech news.

Payments

Payment orchestration platform Gr4vy extends its partnership with open banking payments company Trustly.

Tyro Payments teams up with StoreConnect to enable integrated payments for a Salesforce-based POS solution.

Intelligent verified payouts solutions provider Verituity closes $18.8 million funding round.

MENA and Africa-based consumer fintech Pyypl to issue prepaid Visa cards from its UAE headquarters as part of a new partnership with Visa.

Clair partners with Check to seamlessly offer on-demand pay. 

Tribe Payments appoints Andrew Hocking as CEO.

Frost Bank taps Finzly to provide FedNow and RTP instant payments to its business clients and consumers.

Digital banking

Mahalo Banking introduces its latest partner: Industrial Credit Union.

Bluevine teams up with Mastercard to launch its new Small Business Cashback Mastercard.

Bank Midwest partners with Finastra to launch its new digital bank, OnePlace.bank.

Tuum expands its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver its next generation core banking platform through the AWS Marketplace.

Quail Creek Bank chooses Jack Henry to stay competitive and enhance customer experience.

MoneyLion appoints Jon Kaplan as Chief Revenue Officer.

Avidia Bank partners with Q2 and Personetics to modernize its digital banking experience and strengthen engagement.

Eltropy announces key enhancements to unified conversations platform.

Fraud and Identity management

Risk-decisioning software provider Provenir launches onboarding fraud solution.

Email address intelligence firm AtData forges strategic partnership with unified identity platform Dodgeball.

DataVisor enhances multi-tenancy capabilities for scalable, secure, and flexible fraud and AML solutions.

E-Commerce

Klarna divests its Klarna Checkout (KCO) division for $520 million.

Regtech

E-document management platform A-Cube API announces collaboration with Salt Edge to facilitate compliant document digitization.

DeFi

Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform 1inch partners with Web3 security provider Blockaid.

Embedded finance

Cotribute, an embedded fintech platform serving credit unions, partners with APCU and Center Parc Credit Union to launch an automated digital account opening solution.

Embedded finance platform for technology purchases Gynger raises $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures.

Banking-as-a-Service

Payments and financial solutions provider Finzly partners with Frost Bank to bring FedNow and RTP Instant Payments to business and retail customers.

Egyptian Banking-as-a-Service startup Connect Money secures $8 million.

Lending

USMI names Enact MI President and CEO Rohit Gupta as Chair of the Board.

Conotoxia makes loan applications and processing available in its mobile app.

Small business finance

Airwallex integrates with Intuit QuickBooks to provide seamless multicurrency reporting.

Photo by Nubia Navarro (nubikini)

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Finovate Global Mexico: A Fundraising Unicorn and Open Finance’s Contribution to Financial Inclusion

Finovate Global Mexico: A Fundraising Unicorn and Open Finance’s Contribution to Financial Inclusion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Finovate Global, Refine Intelligence

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Mexico.

Mexican digital payments and commerce enablement platform Clip announced a major investment this week. The company, which offers a suite of payments and other financial services solutions to small and medium-sized businesses in Mexico, has raised $100 million in new funding. The capital came courtesy of investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value and an unnamed West Coast mutual fund manager.

In a statement, the company noted that the funds raised value the company “in line” with the company’s Series D round from 2021. That round, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors, added $250 million to Clip’s coffers and gave the Mexican fintech a valuation of “nearly $2 billion.”

Clip Founder and CEO Adolfo Babatz praised this week’s investment as “a testament to Clip’s opportunity to continue to lead the digital transformation of Mexico’s commerce ecosystem.” Babatz continued, “More broadly, (the investment) provides even further validation of our mission to open access to digital payments, financial services, and technology solutions to SMBs in the country. We are excited to leverage this financing round to continue to expand and strengthen our offerings to empower more stakeholders across Mexico’s economy.”

With offices in both Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Clip offers a range of solutions to enable SMBs to accept digital payments, sell goods and services online, secure financing, and streamline their operations. The company will use the new capital to accelerate product development and support its efforts to leverage technology to enhance financial inclusion in Mexico. Clip was founded in 2012.

Speaking of financial inclusion in Mexico, Latin American open finance platform Belvo and Citibanamex, the second largest bank in the country, have forged a new partnership designed to put open finance to work in bringing credit access to the unbanked.

Via the collaboration, Citibanamex will extend credit and credit card options to applicants without credit histories. Instead of traditional underwriting, the bank will review factors such as outstanding debt levels and the number of credit applications outstanding, as well as leverage Belvo’s open finance technology to secure income verification for applicants whose data is otherwise difficult to retrieve.

“At Citibanamex, we are continuously seeking financial inclusion solutions to facilitate access to banking products for individuals who have not been able to benefit from current solutions,” Citibanamex Director of Digital Business Development Miguel Lavalle said. “With this new functionality, it will be easier for our customers to verify their income, making credit opening processes more agile.”

Belvo’s open finance and payments platform helps financial institutions and their customers benefit from user-permissioned, secure data sharing. The platform validates employment histories, as recorded by employers, to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). This enables banks, fintechs, and financial services companies to process financial data and initiate payments directly from users’s accounts.

“This is pioneering and exciting work, aligned with our mission to help financial innovators create new, more efficient, and inclusive experiences for their users,” Belvo General Director, Mexico, Federica Gregorini said. “We are excited to see how financial entities in Mexico are betting on open finance models due to their positive impact on reducing the gap in access to financial services.”

Headquartered in Mexico City, Belvo was founded in 2019. Last month, the company launched its employment data aggregation solution in Colombia. The launch followed Belvo’s partnership with Colombian digital wallet Nequi, a move considered to be a significant advance for the cause of user-permissioned, secure data sharing.

“This connection via API is just the first of many other integrations that will come soon, which portends a promising future in the development of Open Finance in Colombia and in the region,” Belvo’s General Director in Colombia, David Ballesteros, said.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal forged a partnership with Lithuanian gaming marketplace Eneba.
  • Brazil-based fintech Celcoin raised $125 million in funding in a round led by Summit Partners.
  • PayGoal, a fintech based in Argentina, teamed up with Paraguayan acquirer Bancard to launch contactless payments solution Tokefon in Paraguay.

Asia-Pacific

  • Open finance technology provider Brankas and Global Finteq forged a strategic partnership to launch Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) platforms in the Philippines.
  • South Korean fintech Travel Wallet secured $10 million in funding from U.S.-based VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
  • Japan’s Softbank entered a strategic partnership with Gen AI search startup Perplexity.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • African paytech Flutterwave announced plans to build a cyber crime research center in Nigeria.
  • South African fintech Ukheshe rebranded as EFT Corporation.
  • Ethiopia’s cabinet approved a legal framework for CBDCs.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • German corporate card platform Pliant inked a partnership with Commerzbank
  • Lithuanian regtech iDenfy launched its AI-enabled Customer Risk Assessment solution.
  • Tietoevry Banking expanded its card personalization services in Riga, Latvia.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Courtesy of a partnership with Revolut, UAE-based fintech GTN will offer bond trading to EEA customers via the Revolut app.
  • Israel-based Refine Intelligence unveiled its new check fraud prevention solution.
  • Innovation Village profiled Egyptian wealth management fintech Bokra.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India’s Pine Labs is considering a $1 billion IPO.
  • The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) profiled women-founded Nepal-based fintech Aloi.
  • TBC Bank Uzbekistan announces a $10 million line of credit from Switzerland’s responsAbility Investments AG.

Photo by Pixabay

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Refine Intelligence Unveils New Check Fraud Prevention Solution

Refine Intelligence Unveils New Check Fraud Prevention Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Refine Intelligence
  • Refine Intelligence has introduced its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution.
  • The technology automatically contacts customers whose checks have been flagged as suspicious, and provides a user-friendly digital inquiry process to help customers resolve issues in seconds.
  • Refine Intelligence made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London.

Refine Intelligence launched its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution this week. The technology, which works with all existing check fraud detection systems, will help banks and other financial institutions deal with an increase in check fraud due to both mail theft and the development of advanced counterfeiting techniques.

Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention automatically contacts customers whose checks have been deemed suspicious. A user-friendly digital inquiry process that takes a few seconds to complete enables customers to review the flagged check and immediately verify key issues such as the amount and the payeee.

“Fraud teams are under time pressure to deal with a tidal wave of alerts about potentially fraudulent checks,” Refine Intelligence CEO and co-founder Uri Rivner said. “In an ideal world, they’d ask the customer about each alerted check, but chasing customers over the phone is expensive and irritating for everyone involved. This new solution closes the gap between detection and prevention by enabling customers to resolve alerts themselves. It works with any detection system, maximizing the current workflow and reducing fraud losses and operational costs for dealing with fraud claims.”

Refine Intelligence’s Digital Customer Outreach platform helps financial crime and compliance teams tackle a range of fraud and financial crime issues. The platform gives banks the ability to automatically contact customers to resolve both AML and check fraud alerts, as well as to automate enhanced due diligence (EDD). The technology leverages proprietary AI to glean insights into anomalous transactions, enabling fraud and compliance teams to learn the context in which the anomaly occurred and to determine whether the transaction is legitimate or not.

Refine Intelligence made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. With headquarters in both Israel and New York, the company this year has been named to the FinCrimeTech 50 for 2024 by AML & FinCrime TechForum, and Chartis Research’s Financial Crime and Compliance 50 for 2024. Refine Intelligence has raised $13 million in funding courtesy of an investment from Glilot Capital Partners and Fin Capital.

Learn more about Refine Intelligence in our spring 2023 Finovate Global interview with Uri Rivner!

Photo by cottonbro studio

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Glia Brings Interactive Technology to NCR Voyix’s Mobile Solution

Glia Brings Interactive Technology to NCR Voyix’s Mobile Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Glia, NCR Corporation
  • NCR Voyix has teamed up with customer interactive technology company Glia.
  • Glia will integrate its unified interaction capabilities into the mobile version of NCR Voyix’s digital banking platform.
  • Glia has won Finovate’s Best of Show award 10 times, including in the company’s debut (as SaleMove) at FinovateFall 2015.

NCR Voyix’s mobile banking app just got a lot more interactive.

Courtesy of a partnership with Glia, NCR Voyix will enhance the mobile version of its Digital Banking platform with unified interaction capabilities. Glia’s ChannelLess Architecture enables seamless transitions between multiple interaction channels: from phone calls and digital messaging to chatbots, video chats, and SMS. Now a part of NCR Voyix’s mobile solution, the technology will help banks and credit unions boost customer and member engagement and loyalty.

Glia Chief Product Officer Jay Choi talked about the importance of the mobile channel for a younger, generation of financial services customers. “Forcing customers to exit the mobile app experience to receive guidance or support results in inefficiencies, delays in resolutions, and frustration for all involved,” Choi explained. “With the integration of our digital-first tools into the NCR Voyix mobile app, we are empowering banks and credit unions to overcome this challenge, instead providing instant, personalized and seamless engagement where customers and members already are.”

Among the FIs to deploy the technology are Texas-based 5 Point Credit Union, which has credited Glia’s solution for increasing staff efficiency, simplifying processes, and reducing fraud. The credit union also underscored how the technology enhanced its ability to communicate and engage with its members, improving in-app support.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Glia won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015 (as SaleMove). The company has gone on to win a total of 10 Finovate Best of Show awards, including in its most recent appearance on Finovate’s digital stage in 2021.

Last month, Glia unveiled its responsible AI platform purpose-built for financial services companies called Glia Cortex. The technology provides personalized self-service experiences at scale, helps agents become more productive, and gives managers new insights into agent/customer interactions. Among the solution’s early adopters is Service 1st Federal Credit Union, a Danville, Pennsylvania-based institution founded in 1975.

NCR Voyix was formed in October 2023 when NCR Corporation split into two entities. The company’s ATM business was spun-off as NCR Atleos. NCR Voyix is the successor to NCR Corporation, which demoed its technology at FinovateSpring in 2016 and again in 2017.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

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Kani Payments Teams Up with CLOWD9

Kani Payments Teams Up with CLOWD9
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Kani Payments
  • Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has partnered with issuer processor CLOWD9.
  • CLOWD9 will leverage Kani Payments’ platform to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities.
  • Kani Payments made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023.

Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has inked a partnership with CLOWD9. The cloud-native issuer processor selected Kani Payments to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities and help the company manage the unique data standardization requirements faced by banks and fintechs alike.

CLOWD9 will use Kani Payments’ SaaS platform to collect and standardize transaction data, including both authorization and settlement data from payment schemes. The platform will enable CLOWD9 to report to clients across the payment value chain faster, as well as provide enhanced and easy-to-understand data customization and visualization via the Kani Payments’ portal dashboard. This will empower clients with the flexibility to configure data as they choose.

“The sweet spot is taking standard data, formatting it for the individual needs of our mutual clients, and accelerating reconciliations with it,” CLOWD9 Chief Product Officer Richard Wray explained. “Kani Payments are the experts in that area and their understanding of the depth, detail, and specializations within the payment data value chain is unsurpassed.”

Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., Kani Payments made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demoed how its automated reconciliation and reporting platform provides fully automated reconciliations, as well as automated legal, regulatory, and scheme reporting. Kani CCO Marc McCarthy used the example of a simple transaction at a coffee shop to explain the myriad actors – issuing bank, network, processor – that play a role in managing the data of even an everyday purchase. “Each one of those organizations has a different version of that event,” McCarthy said. “We here at Kani Payments provide a reconciliation and reporting platform that helps each one of those actors to have compliance, to have validation of their data, and to have insightful reports of what they can see with their information.”

Earlier this year, Kani Payments announced a partnership with core banking platform Pismo. The collaboration makes Kani’s platform available to Pismo’s bank, marketplace, and fintech clients. Vishal Dalal, Pismo CEO for North America, EMEA, and APAC said that the partnership “will unlock useful insights to help (financial institutions) make better, more informed decisions, shaping a new era for banking and payments.”

Kani Payments was founded in 2018. Aaron Holmes is CEO. Holmes co-founded the company following tenures at Flex-e-card, Global Processing Services, and NBS Card Solutions (now Wirecard).

Photo by Daniel Smyth

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MTC FCU Teams Up with Mahalo Banking to Enhance the Member Experience

MTC FCU Teams Up with Mahalo Banking to Enhance the Member Experience
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mahalo Baking
  • Greenville, South Carolina-based MTC Federal Credit Union has turned to Mahalo Banking to enhance its member experience.
  • Mahalo’s technology will bolster MTC FCU’s offerings, including online account opening, Skip-a-Pay, and Savings Jar.
  • Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.

MTC Federal Credit Union (MTC FCU), a credit union based in Greenville, South Carolina with assets of $292 million, has partnered with Mahalo Banking to enhance its member experience. Mahalo’s online and mobile banking solutions will power a range of member-centric features for the credit union, including a number of member-requested tools and services designed to streamline platform navigation and boost engagement.

“Mahalo’s committed member and core-centric focus, alongside their dedication to continuous innovation including security and neurodiversity solutions set them apart from other providers,” MTC FCU President/CEO William H. Love Jr. said. “Mahalo is a true partner in our endeavor to provide a comprehensive digital banking experience for our members while attracting new members looking for a state-of-the-art platform with an outstanding user experience.”

Among the enhanced self-service solutions that will be available to MTC FCU members in addition to online account opening are Skip-a-Pay and Savings Jar. Skip-a-Pay enables borrowers to defer loan payments for 90 days – over November, December, and January – when they make a donation of $36 to the MTC Federal Foundation. The foundation supports health and sustainability initiatives, funding for natural disaster relief, and financial education and scholarship awards. Skip-a-Pay eligible loans include personal, vehicle, recreational vehicle, ATV, motorcycle, and watercraft loans. Savings Jar is a round-up transactions feature that helps make saving an effortless part of everyday shopping.

“Our deep credit union ties enable our team to form strong bonds with the credit unions we serve, and that has been the case throughout our partnership with MTC Federal Credit Union,” Mahalo COO Denny Howell said. “Working with MTC Federal Credit Union allows us to deliver on what we do best, empowering the credit union with a member-centric platform that provides enhanced, user-friendly functionality and meets members where they are.”

Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in New York last year. At the conference, the company demoed its online banking solution that fully integrated comprehensive neurodiverse functionality directly into its platform. This innovation enables credit unions to support members who have unique needs ranging from color-blindness to autism, dyslexia, and epilepsy.

Founded in 2018, Mahalo Banking is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. The company’s June partnership announcement is only the latest deal the fintech has forged of late. Just a few weeks ago, the company reported that Texas-based Memorial Credit Union selected Mahalo as “an ideal partner to help transform and improve our digital offerings,” in the words of Memorial CU President and CEO Thomas Rogers. In May, Mahalo Banking partnered with Affinity Credit Union of Iowa. In April, the company announced that it was working with a pair of Michigan-based FIs: Gerber FCU and The Local CU.

Photo by David Martin Jr.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BBVA, Daily news, DriveWealth, Finastra, Fintech Rundown, Glia, MasterCard, nCino, Signicat

A holiday-filled week that began with Father’s Day, continues through Juneteenth, and brings us the first official day of summer.

Don’t be surprised if this week yields a lower than usual fintech news flow as the temperatures rise and the days stretch long. We’ll keep you posted if you decide to step outside and enjoy the season.

Payments

Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal forged a partnership with Lithuanian gaming marketplace Eneba.

eBay adds Venmo as a new payment option.

Qatar-based Doha Bank and Mastercard enter a long-term strategic partnership.

Digital payments platform CleverCards raises $8.5 million (€8 million).

Shift4 acquires a majority stake in Vectron Systems, one of the largest European suppliers of point-of-sale (POS) systems to the restaurant and hospitality verticals.

Cryptocurrency and DeFi

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit unveils support for Apple Pay on its Bybit Card.

Dennis Winter becomes Chief Technology Officer of Boerse Stuttgart Digital.

Velmie and Bitlocus partner to bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi.

E-commerce

E-commerce accounting platform Finaloop raises $35 million in Series A funding.

Digital banking

Spring Labs launched its AI copilot for fintechs, Raia.

Glia brings unified interaction capabilities to the mobile version of NCR Yoyix’s mobile banking app.

nCino unveils its new AI banking tool, Banking Advisor.

BBVA plans to launch a consumer digital bank in Germany according to a report in Bloomberg.

Personetics recognized by Celent as a Global Leader in Personal Financial Engagement (PFE) for Retail Banking.

3Rivers Federal Credit Union taps MeridianLink to enhance the member experience by offering digital lending and account opening.

Apiture launches Data Portal to enable community financial institutions to provide a personalized banking experience.

Lending

Real-time lending and payments solution provider Momnt introduces new CEO Chris Bracken.

Taktile and Ocrolus partner to unlock real-time underwriting for small business lenders.

Nova Credit partners with Royal Bank of Canada to help newcomers to Canada leverage their international credit history in Canada. 

Gynger secures $20 million in Series A funding to revolutionize corporate technology purchasing.

Investing

Brokerage-as-a-Service platform DriveWealth introduces additions to its senior leadership team.

Investment data management firm Finbourne raised $69.8 million (£55 million) in Series B funding.

French wealth management and financial advisory firm Ramify secures $11.8 million (€11 million) in Series A funding.

Identity and fraud management

Digital identity and identity fraud prevention solutions provider Signicat launches Face Authentication on its flagship MobileID product.

Fideo launches to fight fraud using real-time intelligence.

Capital.com partners with Trulioo to deliver customer onboarding.

Compliance

Sumsub and Finastra partner to strengthen banking industry compliance.

Photo by Jonathan Petersson

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Finovate Global Egypt: Funding Startups and International Partnerships

Finovate Global Egypt: Funding Startups and International Partnerships
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Egypt.

Egyptian fintech Sahl raised $6 million in funding

An investment of $6 million will help Cairo-based fintech Sahl pursue its expansion in Saudi Arabia. The funds – courtesy of a Series A round led by Ayady for Investment and Development and featuring participation from existing investors Egypt Pay, Delta Electronic Systems, and E-Finance – will also help support Sahl’s mobile bill payment platform.

Sahl enables users to pay for more than 50 services, including electricity, water, mobile bill payments, and more via NFC-enabled, rechargeable prepaid cards. The firm also offers B2B solutions: the company’s Services Gateway serves as a central hub to aggregate billpay services for other payment processors and digital apps, while Sahl’s Acceptance solution helps businesses accept online payments. Founded in 2020, Sahl is among the few Egyptian companies to directly integrate with government agencies and telecom operators.

Ultimately, the company plans to grow into a more comprehensive financial services provider. For now, Sahl’s growth strategy involves becoming the dominant force in the payments market for utilities companies – a market worth EGP 250 billion a year.

“At Sahl, we are committed to addressing the challenges faced by consumers in utility payments, starting with electricity and expanding to water, gas, telecom, and various other essential services,” Sahl CEO Abdullah Assal said. “Our innovative use of NFC technology eliminates the need for consumers to leave their homes to charge prepaid cards, saving valuable time and effort.”

Sahl serves more than 12 million customers a month and 15 million households in Egypt.

HSBC Egypt to launch $31.5 million fund for SME-based fintechs

You don’t have to be Sahl to feel as if good funding fortunes are coming your way. HSBC Egypt will launch a new $31.5 million (EGP 1.5 billion) fund dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses in the fintech sector. The fund, which will be managed by EFG Holding, has secured approval from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as well as the backing of financial institutions such as the Suez Canal Bank. The fund is slated to go live in Q3 of 2024.

The focus on fintech is designed to take advantage of the spread of digital banking and payments in the region. But the initiative is part of a grander strategy by HSBC to encourage technological innovation and spur economic growth in Egypt.

Established in 1982, HSBC Bank Egypt supports a network of 100 branches and 20 mini-bank units throughout the country. The largest foreign bank in Egypt, HSBC Bank Egypt has total assets of approximately $7 billion and a market share of 7%.

Banknbox Egypt announced multiple strategic partnerships

Digital services and paytech provider Banknbox Egypt has inked strategic partnerships with banks and fintechs in eight countries so far in 2024. Backed by the Central Bank of Egypt, Banknbox has teamed up with firms and financial institutions in countries ranging from Iraq and Libya to Moldova and a number of African countries.

“We would like to thank the CBE for its continuous support in ensuring that Banknbox achieves its vision of transforming Egypt into a regional hub,” Banknbox Chairperson and Managing Director Bassem Mahmoud said.

Banknbox is a regional payment solutions and processor offering issuing and acquiring services, as well as value-added services such as billpay and fraud management. The company also offers integrated digital banking services, including mobile and internet banking, electronic wallets, eKYC and encoding services, and more. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Cairo, Banknbox began the year partnering with SWFT, a banking and finance platform for SMEs. The strategic partnership will give SMEs a suite of innovative banking solutions and tools for smart cash flow management.

“We believe that by uniting efforts with SWFT, we can revolutionize the way SMEs manage their finances,” Mahmoud said. “It’s a new opportunity for Banknbox to provide more services to the Egyptian market, relying on its regional platform in Egypt to serve companies and banks in the region. This strategic cooperation complements the company’s successes in achieving growth rates in the Egyptian market.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • International e-wallet service provider and payment gateway STICPAY integrated with India’s real-time payments system, UPI.
  • Pakistan-based consultancy Dellsons Associates partnered with UAE-based NymCards to expand into Pakistan and the Middle East.
  • Indian digital lending platform Fibe raised $90 million in Series E funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • Malaysia-based digital challenger Boost Bank launched its banking app.
  • Talino Venture Studios and Chemonics International unveiled an instant payment system, Higala, in the Philippines.
  • Indonesian B2B fintech Paper.id closed a Series B round led by Square Peg.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Telecommunications and mobile money services provider Airtel Africa teamed up with Network International for payment processing.
  • Central Bank of Kenya to issue payment licenses to fintech startups.
  • Is “passporting” the key to helping advance the growth of fintech in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Payment management solutions provider Paytiko announced expansion to Dubai.
  • ICYMI: Check out our Finovate Global interview with Michal Berdugo of Israel-based Citrusx.
  • Oman Arab Bank launched its direct debit service.

Photo by Tamer Soliman

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