Author: David Penn

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Baker Hill, BBVA, Braintri, CardFlight, Finastra, IDology, NetGuardians, Strands

On Finovate

  • UK-based GBG Acquires IDology in $300 Million All-Cash Deal.
  • NetGuardians Teams Up with Swiss Wealthtech Pictet to Fight Fraud.
  • Finastra Brings its Core Banking Technology to Saudi Arabia.

Around the web

  • BBVA unveils first blockchain-supported structured green bond.
  • Strands introduces Engager 2.0, the newest edition of its AI and machine learning powered financial insights generator.
  • Avaloq’s banking suite goes live with the Austrian division of international private banking and asset management group, LGT.
  • 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.
  • Baker Hill earns nomination for The Best Tech in Indiana in TechPoint’s 20th annual Mira Awards.
  • CardFlight’s SwipeSimple now enables more than 50,000 merchants across all 50 states of the U.S.

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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Thoma Bravo to Acquire Ellie Mae in $3.7 Billion Deal

Thoma Bravo to Acquire Ellie Mae in $3.7 Billion Deal
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ellie Mae

Private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo will acquire US-based lendtech Ellie Mae for $3.7 billion, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Ellie Mae provides a cloud-based platform for the mortgage finance industry. The deal is an all-cash transaction.

Holden Spaht, a managing partner at Thoma Bravo, said: “Ellie Mae is leading the digital transformation of the residential mortgage industry and we look forward to building on the company’s successes and to our partnership through this next chapter of growth.”

Ellie Mae’s board of directors unanimously approved the definitive agreement and recommended that stockholders vote their shares in favor of the transaction.

Ellie Mae’s headquarters will remain in Pleasanton, California, with regional offices across the US.

Closing of the transaction is subject to approval by Ellie Mae stockholders and regulatory authorities and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2019 and is not subject to a financial condition.

Some of Ellie Mae’s recent deals include an integration with Roostify, and a partnership with First Data.

Back in June 2018, Thoma Bravo acquired another mortgage software company, California-based MeridianLink.

Founded in 1997, Ellie Mae demonstrated its Encompass Consumer Connect and Encompass Developer Connect solutions at FinovateSpring 2017.

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Finovate Global: Ant Financial’s Big Buy; Neobanks Ready for Takeoff

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: iSignthis, Strands, Tinkoff Bank, VISA

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.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ten African subsidiaries of Societe General to benefit from enhanced payment processing capabilities courtesy of new partnership with HPS.
  • South African challenger bank TymeBank moves toward a formal launch in late February.
  • The IMF blog reviews the prospects for fintech innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Fintech Futures interviews Pavel Novak, CEO of Czech Republic-based P2P lender, Zonky.
  • iSignthis acquires Lithuania-based banking software provider, Baltic Banking Services (BBS).
  • Partnership between Yandex.Checkout and Tinkoff Bank supports direct payments to online stores by way of Tinkoff’s app and online banking offering.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Abu Dhabi Commerical Bank (ADCB) goes live with its PFM app, MoneyBuddy, which uses technology from Strands.
  • Dubai-based neobank Xpence prepares for launch.
  • Saudi Arabia banking regulator opens regulatory sandbox to test fintech solutions.

Central and South Asia

  • State Bank of India to help finance digital invoice discounting marketplace, Invoicemart.
  • The Daily Star considers the “promise of fintech” for Bangladesh.
  • Reliance Realty announces plans for a fintech center in Navi Mumbai, India.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PYMNTS.com looks at the Mexican government’s efforts to leverage fintechs to help make it easier and less expensive for Mexicans living abroad to send money home.
  • Brazilian SME lender Adianta raises $2.18 million ($8 million reals) in round led by DGF Investimentos.
  • Colombian fintech Open Vector signs memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support development of open banking in South America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Ant Financial to acquire UK currency exchange firm, WorldFirst in $700 million deal.
  • Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) to debut its digital bank, TMRW, in Thailand.
  • Visa announces plans for an innovation center in South Korea.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACH Alert, Aire, Ellie Mae, Experian, Fidor Bank, Finastra, Finn.ai, Fiserv, PaySend

On Finovate.com

  • Thoma Bravo to Acquire Ellie Mae in $3.7 Billion Deal.
  • Welcome to Day Four of FinovateEurope.

Around the web

  • ACH Alert unveils its latest Payment Data Xchange (PDX) service module within its flagship Fraud Prevention HQ platform.
  • Fidor Bank launches chatbot powered by Best of Show winner, Finn AI.
  • Paysend to offer money transfers to bank accounts in 34 European countries.
  • Zopa introduces new chairman Gordon McCallum, who will take over from co-founder Giles Andrew.
  • Kentucky-based Forcht Bank partners with Fiserv to upgrade its credit card program.
  • Finastra appoints Siobhan Byron as SVP and Head of Technology Enabled Managed Services (TEMS).
  • Aire inks reseller agreement with Experian.

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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Welcome to Day Four of FinovateEurope

Welcome to Day Four of FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019

Today is our special FinovateEurope Summit Day. For those interested in an especially deep dive into fintech’s most critical topics, Day Four of FinovateEurope is for you. Today we focus on two issues that many believe will define the future of financial technology: the rise of artificial intelligence and the promise and potential of open banking.

Our agenda for Friday will consist of two tracks running simultaneously: our Open Banking Summit in East Mall 2, and our AI Summit – sponsored by Personetics – in East Mall 3. Be sure to check out the Day Four tab on our FinovateEurope page for more information on individual speakers for each session.

0815 Registration, Continental Breakfast, and Networking

Open Banking Summit

  • 0900 Chair’s Opening Remarks
  • 0910 What Lies Ahead for Open Banking, and What Do You Need to Be Thinking About?
  • 0935 Reshaping the Industry: Maximizing the Strategic Opportunities Afforded by Open Banking
  • 1005 Building and Using APIs at Scale: What New Horizons Are Opening?

AI Summit

  • 0900 Chair’s Opening Remarks
  • 0915 Achieving Transformational Outcomes with an AI Strategy: Leading Perspectives on Business Implementation
  • 0950 AI: We Can All Talk the Talk, But Can We Walk the Walk?

1025 Morning Break and Networking

Open Banking Summit

  • 1100 How Open Banking is Changing Financial Systems, and Comparisons with Markets Outside the EU
  • 1120 The Clash: CX In Conflict in Open Banking
  • 1140 Delivering a Better, More Holistic Customer Experience Using Open Banking: Meeting Customers’ Expected Needs

AI Summit

  • 1110 Deep Dive: Harnessing the Power of Small Data in an Era of Social Media – The Future of Personalization
  • 1130 AI in Practice: Personalization of Offerings and Designing New, Tailored Services

1200 Lunch & Networking

Open Banking Summit

  • 1315 Open Wealth Case Study: Looking Beyond Open Banking to the Broader Future of Savings
  • 1330 Working with Fintechs And Non-Banking Institutions: How Partnerships are Being Transformed
  • 1400 The Data Dimension: How Will the Data Generated from Open Banking be Analyzed and Understood?

AI Summit

  • 1315 Case Study: Enterprise-wide Business Transformation Using AI
  • 1345 Real Application Showcase: The Potential of Machine Learning: A Spotlight on Use Cases

1400 Afternoon Break & Networking

Open Banking Summit

  •  1450 Case Study: Leveraging Open APIs for Better Customer Experience
  • 1510 Global Trends: Mapping Out the Context of Open Banking
  • 1530 Early Adoption and Early Advantage: How to Make the Most of Open Banking

AI Summit

  • 1450 Customer Engagement in the AI Age: Attracting and Retaining Customers, and Making Banking More Customer-Oriented
  • 1520 Lessons Learned: Incubating AI and RPA Startups

1550 Closing Remarks and End of Conference

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Welcome to Day Three of FinovateEurope

Welcome to Day Three of FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day to lovers of fintech innovation everywhere!

The demos are done and the Best of Show trophies have been awarded. That means it’s time for our fintech experts to take the stage and help put into context many of the technologies we’ve seen over the past two days of FinovateEurope.

Here’s our agenda for Day Three.

0800 to 0840 Registration, Continental Breakfast, & Networking

0840 to 1045 General Session

  • 0840 Chairman’s Opening Remarks with Dave Birch, Global Ambassadfdor, Consult Hyperion
  • 0845 Opening Keynote: The NeuroGeneration – How a New Era in Brain Augmentation is Revolutionizing the Way You Think, Work, Lead, and Live with Tan Le, founder and CEO, EMOTIV
  • 0915 Easy Come, Easy Go: The Disruption of Loyalty with Russell Pert, U.K. Head of Industry, Financial Services, Facebook
  • 0935 The Evolution of the Third Era of Commerce with Giulio Montemagno, Head of Europe, Amazon Pay
  • 0950 Living and Breathing Agility: How to Emulate Digitally Native Companies
  • 1015 Analyst All-Stars Session
  • 1035 An Update on the FCA Sandbox: Fostering Innovation and Enabling Collaboration

1050 to 1115 Morning Break and Networking

  • 1050 Fireside Chat with Tan Le
  • 1050 Fireside Chat – In Response to the FCA Sandbox Update

1115 to 1235 Streams

  • The Changing Face of Banking
  • Technology in Practice
  • The Future of Regtech
  • Analytics and User Empowerment

1235 to 1330 Lunch and Networking

  • 1300 VC Lunchtime Panel: The Finance and Fintech Trends Getting Investment

1330 to 1435 General Session

  • 1330 Digital Transformation – Culture, Collaboration, and Competition – featuring Benoit Legrand, Chief Innovation Officer, ING
  • 1350 Q&A – Becoming a Unicorn Challenger Bank: OakNorth’s Journey to Profitability
  • 1405 Open Banking, Democratization of Data, And You: The Disruptive New Era of Customer Engagement
  • 1420 The Blurring of Identity Proofing & Authentication

1440 to 1545 Streams

  • The Changing Face of Banking: Challenger Bank Focus
  • Product Innovation and the Customer Experience
  • Innovation in Payments
  • Investech and Wealth Management Innovation

1545 to 1610 Intermission, Refreshments, and Networking

1610 to 1735 General Session

  • 1610 The Final Countdown: Best Practices in Onboarding Innovation
  • 1640 Breaking Banks Power Hour Chat: It’s Happening! Live Podcast – featuring Jim Marous, JP Nichols, and Brett King
  • 1730 Chair’s Remarks and Close of Conference

We’re looking forward to an exciting day of insightful discussion and debate on some of the hottest topics in fintech. Thanks for joining us!

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SumUp Acquires Polish E-Commerce Innovator Shoplo

SumUp Acquires Polish E-Commerce Innovator Shoplo
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, SumUp

London-based payments firm SumUp has bought Polish e-commerce platform Shoplo for an expansion of its product suite, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Financial details were not disclosed.

Marc-Alexander Christ, co-founder of SumUp, said: “From the boutique clothing stores to florists and microbrewers, our platform is constantly looking to the technology solution which helps their business to flourish. By leveraging Shoplo’s technology, SumUp’s merchants will get easy access to creating their very own online stores.”

Today, SumUp said its product suite encompasses accepting payments on-the-go or online, managing business at the point of sale, invoicing and bookkeeping, third-party integrations of payments, and other services via SDKs and APIs.

With the addition of Warsaw-based Shoplo, SumUp wants to expand its services for its one million users.

The idea is to offer online storefronts with multiple templates, features such as international shipping, chat functionality, invoicing and payments, and multi-channel capability which enables merchants to sell on different marketplaces – such as Facebook, eBay or Etsy – from within one central dashboard.

Shoplo has 30 employees and SumUp says their expertise will help it to expand the e-commerce area of its business.

SumUp recently purchased Danish company Debitoor, an invoicing-software platform originally established for freelancers and SMEs which will be integrated within SumUp’s user offering. Debitoor’s team of 45 employees joined SumUp.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, SumUp demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2013. Ranked at the top of the Inc. 5000 Europe last year, SumUp launched its 3G-powered credit card reader back in October. The technology enables merchants to process payments without requiring a mobile app or Wi-Fi connectivity.

SumUp has raised $44.3 million in funding, and includes Life.SREDA and BBVA Ventures among its investors.

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FinovateEurope Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateEurope Best of Show Winners Announced
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Best of Show, CREALOGIX, Dorsum, Glia, iProov, Launchfire, PayKey, Voca.ai, W.UP

The votes have been tallied and the people have spoken! Here are the winners of our Best of Show awards for FinovateEurope 2019.

CREALOGIX for its TimeWarp insights platform that enables banking customers to simulate various scenarios in their financial lives. Video.

Dorsum for its My Wealth solution for hybrid advisory processes in wealth management. Video.

Glia (formerly SaleMove) for its technology that creates digital-first moments that simplify and transform communications between businesses and their customers.  Video.

iProov for its solutions that assure the genuine presence of your user by leveraging controlled illumination with uniquely powerful anti-spoofing. Video.

Launchfire for its leadership in game-based employee and customer engagement for financial institutions. Video.

PayKey for its technology that bridges the gap between banks and social apps with a unique smartphone keyboard that enables frictionless access to key banking services. Video.

Voca.ai for its intelligent virtual assistant for call centers that enables businesses to reach their customers at scale with a personal, human touch. Video.

W.UP for its technology that transforms the way banks generate digital revenue and interact with clients through AI-powered experiences. Video.

Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The eight companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2018 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018

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Fintonic Partners with Unicaja Banco to Support Consumer Lending

Fintonic Partners with Unicaja Banco to Support Consumer Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Fintonic

Spanish personal finance platform Fintonic will offer Unicaja Banco’s consumer loans through its mobile application, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The app is free and currently has more than half a million users in Spain.

It uses a FinScore index, which evaluates the credit profile of both clients and non-clients, and offers them the possibility of obtaining financing, without the need to carry out any further procedure and from any mobile device.

This partnership is Unicaja’s first with a fintech and aims to formalize the entire flow of contracting the loan from an external platform or marketplace.

Fintonic’s loans have processed credits to more than 15,000 users, with a total volume exceeding €60 million.

Just last summer, BBVA joined Fintonic’s lending offering.

Unicaja is the seventh bank by market capitalization in Spain. It is currently working in the implementation of blockchain solutions, within the Niuron Consortium.

Fintonic demonstrated the alert and inbox system of its mobile banking solution – which helps users promptly respond to their financial needs, recommendations or product proposals – at FinovateSpring 2016. Founded in 2012, the company has raised more than $29 million (€26.2 million) in funding from investors including ING Group, Inception Capital, Ideon Financial Solutions, Onza Capital, and All Iron Ventures.

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Welcome to Day Two of FinovateEurope

Welcome to Day Two of FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019

The second day of FinovateEurope is here! After a great kickoff to this year’s annual European conference, we’re back at London’s Tobacco Dock Wednesday morning for what promises to be another great day of live demos of the latest in financial technology.

Here’s what we’ve got planned for Day Two. More information on our demoing companies is available on our FinovateEurope website.

0800 – 0915 Registration, continental breakfast, networking

0915 – 1030 Demo Session #5

1030 – 1115 Intermission with Refreshments & Networking

1115 – 1230 Demo Session #6

1230 – 1345 Lunch & Networking

1345 – 1500 Demo Session #7

1500 – 1545 Intermission with Refreshments & Networking

1545 – 1700 Demo Session #8

1700 – 1830 Reception & Networking – Plus our Best of Show award ceremony!

Registration opens at 0800 tomorrow morning with our Remarks from the Chair beginning at 0840.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Coinbase, Onfido, PayPal

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide enhances its UP Merchant Payments solution with the purchase of technology assets from RevChip and TranSend.
  • Onfido to provide identity verification for P2P RV rental marketplace, RVshare.
  • Coinbase enables transactions via PayPal to 32 countries in Europe courtesy of new collaboration.

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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Welcome to Day One of FinovateEurope

Welcome to Day One of FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2019

FinovateEurope kicks off today at the Tobacco Dock in London, U.K. The Tobacco Dock is located on Wapping Lane, at St. Katharine’s & Wapping, London E1W 2SF.

Registration opens at 0800, and the first demo begins at 0915. If you are hoping to attend FinovateEurope this year, but haven’t yet registered to save your spot, then know that our ticket window is open and we’d love to have you join us.

Here’s what’s on the schedule for Day One. Our detailed agenda for today is available on the FinovateEurope website.

0800 – 0915 Registration, continental breakfast, networking

0915 – 1030 Demo Session #1

1030 – 1115 Intermission with Refreshments & Networking

1115 – 1230 Demo Session #2

1230 – 1345 Lunch & Networking

1345 – 1500 Demo Session #3

1500 – 1545 Intermission with Refreshment & Networking

1545 – 1700 Demo Session #4

1700 – 1830 Reception & Networking

Winners of our Best of Show award will be announced tomorrow.

Door opens at 0800 again tomorrow morning, with the first demo session starting at 0845.

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