Author: David Penn

Best of Show Winner Finn AI Partners with IDaaS Firm Auth0

Best of Show Winner Finn AI Partners with IDaaS Firm Auth0
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finn.ai

Conversational AI innovator – and multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner – Finn AI announced a new partnership this week. The Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based company is working with Identity-as-a-Service specialist Auth0 to speed the process through which banks are able to deploy its conversational AI technology.

As the company noted in a statement, many FIs have out of date or little authentication infrastructure to speak of. This is an additional hurdle for banks and credit unions looking to provide their customers with the latest in financial technologies – such as the virtual assistant solutions offered by innovators like Finn AI.

To help its clients modernize their authentication infrastructures, Finn AI is recommending Auth0. The IDaaS company provides a universal identity platform that enables a single sign-on across multiple applications, and a single source of truth for all digital identities. Auth0 authenticates and secures more than 2.5 billion logins each month, and supports customers in more than 70 countries.

“Finn AI customers who are looking to implement or upgrade their authentication technology will benefit from a seamless integration between both platforms,” Finn AI Director of Engineering Robin Monks explained. He added that the company’s experience with AuthO’s technology internally was a major influence in the decision to form the partnership. “As thought leaders, they align perfectly with the high quality and standard of work we produce at Finn AI,” Monks said.

Auth0 VP of Sales for the Americas, Ghazi Masood called the partnership an option for FIs “that need a better, faster, and more secure way” to engage with their customers. He also highlighted Auth0’s participation in what he saw as a significant trend in fintech. “The adoption of conversational AI within the consumer banking sector is growing at an astronomical rate and we are excited to partner with Finn AI in the application of such innovative technology,” Masood said.

Finn Ai demonstrated its Virtual Banking Assistant at FinovateFall 2017, winning Best of Show honors for a second time. Founded in 2014, the company announced earlier this month that fellow Finovate alum Fidor Bank was launching a chatbot powered by Finn AI. Last fall, the company closed an $11 million Series A round led by Yaletown Partners and Flying Fish Partners.

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ZagTrader and BeQuant Team Up to Help Institutions Go Crypto

ZagTrader and BeQuant Team Up to Help Institutions Go Crypto
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ZagTrader

Institutional order management platform ZagTrader has inked a deal with cryptocurrency trading company BeQuant. The partnership builds on the current relationship between the two companies to enable institutional investors – including market makers, quant desks and active traders – to access cryptocurrencies using the Financial Information Exchange (FIX) and robust APIs.

“Over the years, ZagTrader focused on delivering an end-to-end regulatory compliant platform to clients in the traditional market space,” company CEO Shihab Khalil said. “As regulators become more involved in the crypto space, ZagTrader is ready to deploy with all the bells and whistles to keep the client’s business running smoothly and the regulators satisfied.”

ZagTrader demonstrated its technology at FinovateMiddleEast last year. A specialized fintech that serves clients in the brokerage, investment banking, capital markets, and asset management industries, ZagTrader provides a platform that supports front, middle, and back office operations; global feeds; order management; as well as mobile and online trading. Advanced real-time analytics, market intelligence insights, and algorithmic trading  are among the platform features that help users get the best possible trade execution and performance.

BeQuant CEO George Zarya pointed to a growing interest in cryptocurrencies from institutions despite recent price pressures in the digital asset market, and said that working with ZagTrader will help them make the most of this reality. “This partnership will allow us to further engage with the institutional investment market, providing an increased quality of service for ZagTrader’s community and improved access to the numerous crypto assets available,” Zarya said.

Headquartered in Dubai, UAE, ZagTrader was founded in 2009. Last fall, the company reported that the number of crypto exchange destinations covered by its platform had climbed to more than 130. ZagTrader also announced last fall that investment solution provider Bitbloxx would go live with its cryptocurrency order management solution.

Other partnerships forged in the second half of 2018 included a deal with Digital Gamma that expanded the company’s reach into the U.S., market, and a partnership with TickerChart announced in September.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinbase, Fenergo, Finn.ai, Insuritas, nCino, NCR Corporation, Payoneer, ZagTrader

On Finovate.com

  • ZagTrader and BeQuant Team Up to Help Institutions Go Crypto.
  • Best of Show Winner Finn AI Partners with IDaaS Firm AuthO.

Around the web

  • Accenture and nCino partner to better serve FIs in the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions.
  • Insuritas teams up with Iowa’s Peoples Bank ($332 million in assets) to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency.
  • NCR selects former FIS executive Douglas Brown as its new General Manager for Digital Banking in its Banking Business unit.
  • Payoneer launches expansion of its Capital Advance working capital offering for online merchants.
  • Fenergo introduces James Follette as new Global Head of Commercial and Retail Banking.

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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Dwolla Helps Status Streamline Cash Rewards for Savings

Dwolla Helps Status Streamline Cash Rewards for Savings
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Dwolla, Status Money

Status Money, the personal finance app that leverages peer comparisons and cash incentives to encourage users to make better financial decisions, announced a payments partnership with fellow Finovate alum, Dwolla, earlier this month. Status Money will leverage its new relationship with Dwolla to access the ACH network, so it can send earned cash rewards to members more efficiently.

Dwolla will also be a major part of the company’s referral program, which offers cash rewards for referring non-members to the app. Status members earn $1 for each referral who signs up, with the new referred member earning a $7 reward. After a member accumulates $10 or more in total rewards, they can redeem them for cash by way of a Dwolla-enabled, free ACH bank transfer.

Status Money CEO and co-founder Majd Maksad praised cash rewards as a new way to incentivize savings in the PFM industry, and said that working with Dwolla would enable the company to get cash rewards to members quicker. Status offers users powerful financial insights based on peer comparisons, national averages, and more than one million custom groups. This data, combined with personal finance algorithms, helps users better manage spending, savings, debts, and investments, and connects them with partnering FIs that offer relevant financial services.

Status Money demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018. With more than 200,000 members, the company has raised $4 million in seed funding from Altpoint Ventures. Earlier this month, Status announced adding its first $100 reward. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in New York City.

Dwolla demonstrated its FiSync technology at FinovateSpring 2015. Earlier this year, the company announced that it was powering AutoInvest, a new automatic investing feature from OneGold. Late last year, Dwolla announced a pivot to focus on its white-label API, discontinuing its final branded solution, Transfer. The Des Moines, Iowa-based company was founded in 2008, and has raised more than $54 million in funding.

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AI Foundry and Ellie Mae Leverage AI to Accelerate Lending

AI Foundry and Ellie Mae Leverage AI to Accelerate Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AI Foundry, Ellie Mae

The partnership between AI Foundry and Ellie Mae announced today is the latest sign of how digital transformation is sweeping through the mortgage industry.

The two companies – a provider of advanced AI solutions to streamline business processes and a residential mortgage software specialist – will integrate their technologies to help reduce the most labor-intensive aspects of the mortgage origination process. Together, AI Foundry and Ellie Mae seek to bring greater efficiency and easier compliance for the thousands of lenders who rely on Ellie Mae’s Encompass digital mortgage solution.

“By integrating our technology with an innovative industry leader such as Ellie Mae, we can dramatically expand AI Foundry’s reach into lenders, and help them speed mortgage originations through increased productivity and accuracy,” VP of Business Development for AI Foundry Clark Brett said. “For their customers, this translates into mortgage application approvals in hours rather than weeks.”

Lenders using Ellie Mae’s Encompass will be able to leverage AI-powered automation to lower the amount of time it takes to identify, collect, and organize borrower documents; proactively spot and act on missing and/or incomplete documentation; and conduct real-time validation and verification of data extracted from the documents.

The new capabilities, including AI Foundry’s visual cognitive document automation technology, will give users of the Encompass platform better processing efficiency, as well as improved risk and quality management.

“Our technology integration will provide the 3,000 mortgage lenders who use Ellie Mae solutions an onramp to Encompass that will significantly improve their productivity and drive their lending business forward,” founder and General Manager of AI Foundry Steve Butler said.

AI Foundry demonstrated its Agile Mortgages solution at FinovateFall 2018. The technology uses both AI and machine learning to help FIs automate and streamline manual processes, improving efficiency and transforming the customer experience. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, AI Foundry was named to CIOReview’s 20 Most Promising Banking Technology Solution Providers last summer.

Ellie Mae made headlines earlier this month when it announced that the company had agreed to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $3.7 billion. The Pleasanton, California-based company was founded in 1997, and demonstrated its Encompass Consumer Connect and Developer Connect solutions at FinovateSpring 2017.

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Live from London: Breaking Banks Power Hour Rocks FinovateEurope

Live from London: Breaking Banks Power Hour Rocks FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019

The Breaking Banks PowerHour – a live feed of Brett King’s Breaking Banks podcast – returned to FinovateEurope last week.

In case you missed it, here’s your chance to join Brett, J.P. Nichols, Jim Marous, and Greg Palmer as they discuss the latest trends in fintech innovation, the rise of TechFin competitors around the world, the impact of Brexit on U.K. fintech, and their favorite demos from our conference.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AI Foundry, Alkami Technology, BLUERUSH, Dwolla, Ellie Mae, Finicity, Fiserv, iSignthis, Jack Henry, Jumio, Kasasa, LendKey, MX, nCino, Prosper, Ripple, Status Money, Turnkey Lender

On Finovate.com

  • AI Foundry and Ellie Mae Leverage AI to Accelerate Lending.
  • Dwolla Helps Status Streamline Cash Rewards for Savings.
  • Live from London: Breaking Banks Power Hour Rocks FinovateEurope.

Around the web

  • Marketing Technology Insights interviews BlueRush CEO, Steve Taylor.
  • PaymentsSource features nCino, Jumio, MX, LendKey, Kasasa, Jack Henry & Associates, Alkami, Finicity, and Prosper Marketplace in its list of the Best Fintechs to Work For.
  • Fiserv joins Financial Data Exchange as a sustaining member.
  • Partnership with Mercury FX brings Ripple to the Middle East and Canada.
  • TurnKey Lender highlighted as a top auto loan origination platform by HCCResearch.
  • European CFD/FX firm Windsor Brokers goes live with iSignthis‘ ISXPay and Paydentity solutions.

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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ID.me Teams Up with VA to Bring Identity Proofing Option to Vets

ID.me Teams Up with VA to Bring Identity Proofing Option to Vets
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ID.me

After a successful four-month pilot with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the government agency will launch its Virtual In-Person Identity Proofing offering – powered by identity verification platform ID.me.

“Using Virtual In-Person Identity Proofing, we can serve the 19 year-old active duty service member with a thin credit file, the 82 year-old veteran who struggles with technology, and the 35 year-old military spouse living internationally,” explained ID.me CEO and founder Blake Hall. “As a former soldier, I can say that no man left behind is one of the most important promises service members make to one another. This collaboration between VA and ID.me ensures that no identity is left behind. We are proud to lead the way.”

The new program enables eligible users to access VA services and benefits at VA.gov regardless of circumstances – such as a lack of an address. With Virtual In-Person Identity Proofing, veterans will have the option to complete the identity verification process via a consultation with one of ID.me’s “Trusted Referees” via video chat.

“As part of the digital modernization of the VA, it is important that all veterans can securely access their benefits and services online,” Department of Veteran Affairs CTO Charles Worthington said. “Adding Virtual In-Person Identity Proofing is a critical step towards making sure that no veteran is left behind while keeping VA in compliance with the latest NIST standards.”

The VA is the first federal agency to comply with new NIST 800-63-3 Assurance Level 2 standards. These guidelines apply to all federal agencies with citizen-facing applications that require “a high degree of trust.” With Virtual In-Person Identity Proofing, the VA will be able to reach veterans with few financial records, who live overseas, or find the online process challenging and require assistance – all without having to require the veteran to travel to a government facility.

ID.me demonstrated its ID.me Identity Gateway at FinovateSpring 2017. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia and founded in 2010, ID.me has provided identity verification services for a wide range of public and private entities – from NASA and the U.S. Treasury Department to USAA and Under Armour.

Earlier this year, ID.me announced surpassing the 10 million user milestone. Last fall, the company unveiled its KYC/AML identity verification and ID document solutions, and expanded its offering to enable retailers to readily and accurately verify their customers for a variety of discounts and rewards.

ID.me has raised $46.9 million in funding, and includes FTV Capital, the National Institute of Skilled Training (NIST), and USAA among its investors.

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OmniSci Reports Wide-Ranging Growth in Wake of Rebrand

OmniSci Reports Wide-Ranging Growth in Wake of Rebrand
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: MapD, OmniSci

Three months into its rebrand, GPU-accelerated analytics innovator OmniSci (formerly MapD) is reporting “wide-ranging growth” including significant increases in revenue run rate and the size of its customer base. The company credits its growth to the success of its technology that enables organizations to conduct advanced big data analytics “at extreme speed.”

“OmniSci’s customers are increasingly battling against the limitations of mainstream analytics tools in the age of big data,” OmniSci CEO Todd Mostak explained. He pointed to the processing challenges that are common in high-frequency decision-making – interactive queries and visualization of large datasets – as beyond the capabilities of CPU-based solutions. “Our momentum, especially in the past 12 months, has proven the value of our technology for querying and visualizing big data at the speed of curiosity.”

In a statement, the company announced a set of expansion plans for 2019, including doubling its workforce by the end of the year, and a move into new San Francisco headquarters in the first half of 2019.

2018 featured the launch of OmniSci’s MapD Cloud, the first SaaS-based, GPU-accelerated analytics solution. The company announced partnerships with NVIDIA and Pure Storage in the fall, ahead of its corporate rebrand announcement in October. Also in October, the company finished a $55 million Series C round that brought the company’s total capital to $92 million. Tiger Global Management, New Enterprise Associates, Vanedge Capital, In-Q-Tel, Verizon, Google Ventures and NVIDIA are among the company’s investors.

As MapD, the company demonstrated its MapD Core and MapD Immerse solutions at FinovateSpring 2018. MapD Core represents the platform’s GPU-powered database and MapD Immerse is the platform visualization engine. The database runs across multiple GPIs, supporting analysis of multi-billion row datasets by multiple users. The company’s visualization engine uses GPUs to render billions of points on the front end without the network bottlenecks common to other systems.

GPU-based systems promise to enable more companies to take advantage of big data. “The sheer volume of data is often an impediment to processing information and completing analyses in a timely way,” Constellation Research VP and analyst Doug Henschen said. “GPU acceleration is a cutting-edge method that leaders and fast-followers are embracing to quickly gain insight without sacrificing in-depth analysis.”

Curious about which companies will be demonstrating their latest technologies at FinovateSpring this year? Stay tuned to our FinovateSpring page to find out!

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Finovate Global: Braintri Wins App Prize; Featurespace in Singapore

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Braintri, Featurespace, Finastra, Finovate Global, Fiserv, Temenos

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.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Austrian division of private banking and asset management group, LGT, partners with Avaloq.
  • Bank of Lithuania announces updates to its position on virtual assets and ICOs.
  • IKO, the mobile app co-developed by Braintri for PKO Bank Polski, wins first place in worldwide ranking of mobile apps published by British Retail Banker International for second consecutive year.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Finastra brings its core banking technology to Saudi Arabia.
  • Cryptocurrency brokerage based in Kuwait, YallaBit, raises $925,000 in Series A.
  • Arabian Gazette highlights Bahrain’s Manama, Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh, as well as both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE in its look at Four Arabian Gulf Cities Where Fintech is Thriving.

Central and South Asia

  • Temenos acquires Bangalore-based big data and analytics firm, hTrunk.
  • National Bank of Pakistan introduces its first contactless debit card.
  • Anirban Mukherjee appointed CEO of PayU India.
  • QR code-based payment app BharatPe raises $17 million in round led by Sequoia Capital India.
  • Pan Asia Bank and TerraPay partner to provide instant cross-border payment access to bank accounts in Sri Lanka.
  • Halyk Bank teams up with Fiserv to centralize its cash management process.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Digital challenger bank C6 goes live in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • Mexico looks at the possibility of forming a digital payments system, run by the central bank, to help make financial services more accessible for the underbanked.
  • PYMNTS.com features Argentine digital challenger bank, Wilobank.

Asia-Pacific

  • Ping An’s fintech subsidiary OneConnect sets up shop in Indonesia.
  • Hong Kong Exchange acquires minority stake in Shenzhen-based fintech.
  • Featurespace goes live in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African digital lender Payabill announces equity stake investment from Johannesburg-based business challenger bank, Sasfin.
  • Kenyan Capital Markets Authority Chief Executive Paul Muthaura speaks about the need for a “conducive environment” for fintech innovation in the country.
  • Nigerian Lagos state government to launch e-procurement platform within the next three weeks.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Entrust Datacard to Acquire nCipher Security from Thales

Entrust Datacard to Acquire nCipher Security from Thales
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Entrust Datacard

Entrust Datacard, a provider of identity and secure issuance technology, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Thales’ general purpose hardware security module (GP HSM) business, nCipher Security, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

NCipher Security has been operating as a separate stand-alone business within Thales since January 2019.

The acquisition is expected to be finalized during the second quarter of 2019. Financial terms of the acquisition will not be disclosed.

Thales is divesting its nCipher GP HSM business, in accordance with regulatory clearances necessary to complete Thales’ acquisition of Gemalto.

“This acquisition is an excellent complement to our expertise in both cryptography and hardware,” said Todd Wilkinson, president and CEO of Entrust Datacard.

“There is a powerful synergy between our solutions and the combination of our organizations will accelerate innovation for our customers as they embark on initiatives such as mobility, cloud and IoT to grow their businesses and simultaneously strive to protect data and manage ever-growing cyber risk,” added Cindy Provin, CEO of nCipher Security.

Entrust Datacard said GP HSMs are a core component of its solutions, and an underlying part of the security infrastructure of the company’s public key infrastructure (PKI) and secure socket layer (SSL) offerings.

The acquisition will allow the company to address the increased demand for data security stemming from regulations such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) regulation.

The transaction is subject to the successful completion of the acquisition of Gemalto by Thales, the approval of Entrust as a suitable purchaser by the European Commission, US Department of Justice, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and New Zealand Commerce Commission, and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Entrust Datacard is a two-time alum of our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley. The company presented Securing the Omni Channel Experience with a Trusted Identity in 2015, and returned the following year with Safeguarding Your Banking Applications, a look at the value of integrating second factor authentication into banking apps.

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Avaloq Banking Suite Goes Live with LGT

Avaloq Banking Suite Goes Live with LGT
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq

The Austrian unit of LGT, the international private banking and asset management group owned by the Princely House of Liechtenstein, has gone live with the Avaloq Banking Suite, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The roll-out complements similar activation projects for LGT with Avaloq in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong, meaning that all of the group’s core markets now use the same banking system.

The LGT deal with Avaloq dates back to 2006 – the company has been rolling out the core banking system across LGT locations over the years, and Austria is the last site to join. The project in Austria started in 2016.

Jürg Hunziker, CEO of Avaloq, said: “Avaloq is now able to support Austrian banks as the sector increasingly looks to digitise its infrastructure.”

Dietmar Baumgartner, co-CEO of LGT in Austria, added: “The integration of Austria into LGT’s group-wide core banking system makes it possible to benefit from synergies and further simplifies internal processes.”

LGT is a financial services group that has been controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family for over 80 years. With Avaloq’s adoption, it aims to strengthen its client-centric sales and service model.

The solution addresses market needs specific to Austria, such as the local tax system and current and future financial regulations. This means that the bank’s advisers automatically meet regulatory requirements.

The going live marks the market entry of Avaloq in Austria. Its scalable solution is now also available to other private as well as retail banks.

Back in 2017, FinTech Futures reported that LGT was implementing the vendor’s OneSumX platform for the regulatory reporting and risk management of its Asian operations – in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Avaloq demonstrated its “double marketplace” that brings the app store concept to banking, at FinovateAsia 2018, winning Best of Show. The Zurich, Switzerland based firm was founded in 1985.

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