Author: David Penn

Finastra Brings its Total Payments Solution to Silvergate Bank

Finastra Brings its Total Payments Solution to Silvergate Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finastra

San Diego-based Silvergate Bank has selected Finastra’s Total Payments to expand its financial infrastructure with an API-enabled solution for payment processing, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

“With more than 500 digital currency and fintech customers using our platform to scale their business, Silvergate understands the importance of providing its clients with robust technology solutions,” said Chris Lane, chief operations officer, Silvergate Bank.

He added: “Finastra’s API-enabled payment platform running in the cloud reinforces our deep-rooted commitment to regulatory compliance while ensuring we are offering the most progressive solutions in the market.”

Total Payments is powered by Microsoft Azure. Finastra says its platform model helps ensure regulatory compliance across the solution with updates around regulations, standards, and clearing connections, all managed by Finastra.

The platform also connects multiple channels, consolidates payment systems, and reduces the number and complexity of back-office interfaces.

Back in March 2017, Silvergate implemented a suite of systems from FIS in a major tech overhaul – from a new core banking system to branch, digital and mobile banking, compliance and risk.

The new core banking platform – Horizon – will let the bank “streamline” its third-party systems, such as account opening and loan servicing.

Privately held, Silvergate has nearly $1 billion in assets. It has operated in the San Diego area since 1988.

Finastra was formed in 2017 via a merger between Misys and D+H. Misys demonstrated its FusionFabric.cloud software development environment, at FinovateEurope 2017.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, D3 Banking, Finastra, HackerOne, ID.me, NDGIT, Socure, Tradeshift

On Finovate.com

  • NDGIT Credits License Revenue, New Bank Clients for Growth.
  • ACI Worldwide Buys Speedway in $750 Million Deal.
  • Identity Verification Specialist Socure Raises $30 Million.
  • Finastra Brings its Total Payments Solution to Silvergate Bank.

Around the web

  • D3 Banking Technology joins Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN).
  • Tradeshift introduces new app integration from Transfermate Global Payments.
  • HackerOne opens official APAC headquarters in Singapore.
  • Healthcare information technology services provider Allscripts partners with ID.me.

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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SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12

SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, SpyCloud

Account takeover (ATO) prevention specialist SpyCloud has raised $21 million in funding in a round led by Microsoft’s venture fund, M12. And if there’s one phrase to describe how the company plans to spend the new capital, it’s “we’re hiring.”

SpyCloud announced in a blog post accompanying the funding announcement that it will be adding to its current security research, development, and sales and marketing teams. The Austin, Texas-based company also said it plans to expand to new markets around the globe.

“We are excited and optimistic about what this new round of funding will do for SpyCloud and the world at large,” the post read. “With this money, we are more confident than ever that as criminals scale their methods to collect and weaponize compromised passwords, SpyCloud will be able to go toe-to-toe with even the most sophisticated of them.”

Existing investors Silverton Partners and March Capital Partners also participated in the Series B round, which boosts SpyCloud’s total capital to more than $28 million.

Left to right: SpyCloud Chris LaConte (Head of Business Development) and Tedd Ross (CEO and co-founder) demonstrating the company’s Exposed Credential Monitoring and Alert Service at FinovateFall 2017.

SpyCloud differentiates its cybersecurity offering in a number of ways, such as featuring human experts at the center of its account takeover prevention capabilities rather than relying on an automated solution. The company deploys what it calls “multi-tiered, underground intelligence gathering techniques” to provide a critical additional step in finding stolen credentials before they are sold on the underground markets of the dark web.

The company’s 60 billion asset database of exposed credentials and personally identifiable information (PII) is also a major asset. Last year, SpyCloud recovered and analyzed 3.5 billion sets of online credentials from nearly 3,000 data breaches and other sources from the dark web – including 2.6 billion credential sets with a password. Adding to its development team, the company noted, would enable it to both enhance its password cracking capabilities, as well as add to its API integrations and Active Directory Protection for automated Windows domain protection.

“Passwords and their reuse across personal and work accounts are the leading cause of ATO, one of the most imminent threats to businesses of all sizes,” SpyCloud co-founder and CEO Ted Ross said. “As criminals use more complex, scalable methods to collect and weaponize compromised passwords, organizations need to take proactive measures to prevent, detect, and remediate exposures. SpyCloud meets that immediate need.”

Founded in 2016, SpyCloud demonstrated its Exposed Credential Monitoring and Alert Service at FinovateFall 2017 – winning Best of Show. Last spring, the company announced that it was partnering with fellow Finovate alum Credit Karma, just one month after announcing a $5 million Series A round led by Silverton Partners and March Capital Partners.

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Tymebank Goes Live with Core Banking Tech from Mambu

Tymebank Goes Live with Core Banking Tech from Mambu
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mambu

South African challenger TymeBank has officially launched and is using Mambu’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) core banking system, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

As reported on 15 February, it went live on a limited basis in preparation for this formal launch.

The bank says customers will be able to open a Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) compliant bank account in Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, and get a Visa debit card.

This follows on from a soft launch in December 2018 when it went live at 20 Pick n Pay and Boxer stores. Since that launch it has got 50,000 customers.

With the bank up and running, it explains that it is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. This links with Mambu’s system, which is used as a ledger for customers’ accounts, and managing the debits and credits.

While not offering specifics, Mambu tells Fintech Futures that this is its “first bank client in the region.”

Chief information officer of TymeBank, Dieter Botha, tells BusinessTech that 180 IT staff worked on creating its digital platform.

The bank offers an Android app and the iOS app is currently in development.

Internal service orchestration, payment flows, and backend services are developed in Java as microservices on the Netflix stack, it explains.

According to Botha, TymeBank embraced Facebook’s React framework in developing the web-based customer channels, while the Android app was developed using Java.

It uses machine data platform Splunk’s cyber incident monitoring capabilities, which means the bank’s cyber-response team “listens” to more than 40GB of network traffic a day.

According to the bank, the kiosks in the Pick n Pay and Boxer stores are equipped with real-time biometric recognition.

Customers don’t require an ID document or any other paperwork to open an account. It takes under five minutes and they will be issued with a personalised, activated Visa debit card that can be used at any Visa merchant in the country.

TymeBank won’t charge monthly fees – meaning no fee for cash withdrawals at ATMs, no account initiation fee, no card issuing fee and no fees for the use of the card for payment.

It does state that cash deposits at Pick n Pay and Boxer stores will cost ZAR 4 ($.028).

On top of all that it offers “high interest on savings” – and says customers can earn up to 10% interest per annum on their savings after three months.

The Johannesburg-based digital bank was officially founded in 2012 under the name of TYME. In 2015, it was acquired by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and became TymeDigital.

Three years later CBA sold it to African Rainbow Capital, which describes itself as a “fully black-owned and controlled investment company”.

The majority shareholding of African Rainbow Capital makes TymeBank – as it is now known – “the first majority black-owned retail bank in South Africa”, the new owner says.

Mambu demonstrated its cloud-native, SaaS banking solution at FinovateAsia 2013. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting a discussion titled Smart Consumer Lending: Platform and Scoring Architecture at FinDEVrNewYork 2016.

Founded in 2011, Mambu is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Eugene Danilkis is CEO and co-founder.

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Temenos Partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank

Temenos Partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Temenos

Al Rajhi Bank in Saudi Arabia has chosen Temenos for a digital overhaul and to improve its Islamic lending and financing products, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Al Rajhi, which is described as the nation’s second largest bank and the world’s largest Islamic bank, has total assets of over $97 billion.

It plans a “complete renovation” using Temenos T24 Transact and additional digital solutions including Temenos Infinity and Temenos Loan Origination product.

Waleed Al Mogbel, deputy CEO, Al Rajhi Bank, said the Temenos platform will “enable us to transform faster, drive out complexity and lower our overall total cost of ownership”.

Jean-Paul Mergeai, managing director Middle East and Africa at Temenos, added that the vendor has 19 clients in Saudi Arabia and this “new signing further cements our presence in the country where we have been operating since the late nineties”.

The bank will use the Temenos Islamic Banking Suite, coupled with its “Saudi Model Bank” application which includes pre-configured local functions, to cater for the specific Saudi regulatory requirements.

Al Rajhi operates in more than 570 branches across Saudi Arabia as well as in Kuwait, Jordan and Malaysia. It was founded in 1957.

As noted above, Temenos is well established in Saudi Arabia. Customers include Alawwal Bank, Amlak International, Alinma Bank, Bank Albilad, Banque Saudi Fransi and Samba Financial Group.

Back in October 2018, treasury and capital markets (TCM) tech specialist Murex signed up Al Rajhi for its flagship MX.3 platform.

Temenos demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting a discussion on its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace at FinDEVrSilicon Valley in 2015.

Founded in 1993, Temenos is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bambu, CredoLab, Finastra, GreatHorn, identitii, Mambu, NICE Systems, SpyCloud, Temenos, Vymo

On Finovate.com

  • SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12.
  • Temenos Partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank.
  • Tymebank Goes Live with Core Banking Tech from Mambu.

Around the web

  • NICE Actimize partners with crypto finance company Circle to deploy its market surveillance technology.
  • Silvergate Bank to deploy Finastra’s Total Payments, leveraging the API-enabled solution to support payment processing.
  • Leading Vietnam-based consumer finance firm, FE Credit, chooses Vymo’s AI-powered personal sales assistant.
  • Bambu and CredoLab earn spots on Fintech News Singapore’s 29 Hottest Fintechs in Singapore 2019 roster.
  • GreatHorn announces capability to detect credential theft involving Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite.
  • Identitii joins the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BAIN).

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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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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