Author: David Penn

Ohpen Migrates More than 400k Accounts in Partnership with Aegon

Ohpen Migrates More than 400k Accounts in Partnership with Aegon
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ohpen

Ohpen is making tech progress as it has migrated over 400,000 Dutch savings and investment accounts from Aegon to its core banking engine, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

As reported in April last year, financial services provider Aegon was partnering with Ohpen to develop a new platform for its Dutch services.

The firms said they are merging their domain knowledge within pensions and technology. Aegon will plug into Ohpen’s singular platform via a 100% API-based interface.

In the latest phase, Ohpen said this migration is in line with their previously communicated ambition to “build the infrastructure and architecture of the future”.

Chris Zadeh, founder and CEO of Ohpen, said it developed its cloud-based core banking engine “from scratch to ensure that the technology and processes actually work, all the time.”

After the completion of this migration, all accounts of clients with investment and (fiscal) savings products of Aegon Bank will be administered by Ohpen.

In other Ohpen news, last month it unveiled its Ohpen API Portal (OAP) in beta mode. In its view, IT and re-platforming projects in financial services have a “reputation of running over time and budget”.

The firm stays true to its name because when asked about wealthtech woes in the U.K. it was very transparent. In that exclusive report in November, it responded quickly and said it had made 19 staff redundant at its U.K. office due to the lack of action in the asset management space.

Ohpen’s Dutch operations appear to be unaffected by these U.K. job losses. As reported in an exclusive in July, LeasePlan Bank, the online savings bank based in the Netherlands, chose it to upgrade its whole core cloud banking engine.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Ohpen demonstrated its core banking platform at FinovateFall 2012. The firm has raised €40 million in funding and includes Amerborgh among its investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Bankjoy, Bill.com, BioCatch, Interactions, iSignthis, Klarna, Launchfire, Passport, PayNearMe, Payoneer, Token, TransferWise, TrueAccord

On Finovate.com

  • Interactions Partners with Next Caller for Phone-Based Threat Assessment.
  • BioCatch Brings Behavioral Biometrics to ACI Worldwide.

Around the web

  • Token to support PSD2 compliance and open banking capabilities for U.K.’s thinkmoney.
  • SafeAmericaCU’s switch to AI-powered technology from Bankjoy helps the $433 million asset FI to earn “Best Practices” honors from CU Journal.
  • TransferWise secures £65 million syndicated debt facility with NatWest, JP Morgan, and LHV Bank.
  • iSignthis plans for Australian neobanking license in 2019.
  • PayNearMe’s electronic payment volume grew by more than 25% month-over-month in the past year.
  • Klarna joins Shopify Plus Partner program to power merchants.
  • TrueAccord wins a Healthy Mothers Workplace Award.
  • Passport recognized as one of Charlotte’s fastest growing companies.
  • Launchfire wins gold Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Award.
  • Bill.com selects Comdata as Virtual Credit Card Provider for B2B Payments.
  • TopTracker partners with Payoneer to allows free payments between companies and freelancers.

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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Fighting Financial Crime with Feedzai’s Risk Ledger

Fighting Financial Crime with Feedzai’s Risk Ledger
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Feedzai

Leveraging machine learning and secure, federated data from its customer base and third-party vendors, Feedzai announced this week the release of its latest financial crime prevention solution, Risk Ledger.

Feedzai’s Risk Ledger uses the 30 million transactions processed by its system every day – including more than 100 different payment methods – to deliver a more accurate and comprehensive anti-fraud solution compared to siloed data offerings.  By processing such a wide range and number of data elements (i.e., cards, IPs, merchants, emails) along the full cycle of the customer journey (from onboarding to compliance), Risk Ledger provides anti-fraud and anti-money laundering defense for all members of the payment process from issuers and acquirers to merchants and networks.

“Our goal has always been to make it harder and harder for fraudsters to hide, while making it easier for businesses to serve their loyal customers without friction,” Feedzai Head of Product Saurabh Bajaj explained. “As our customer base across the world continues to grow, the network effect of all of that data will only make Risk Ledger stronger.”

Risk Ledger is the latest solution from Feedzai designed to help fight financial crime. In October, the company unveiled Feedzai Genome, which enables financial fraud investigators to use link analysis graph technology to visualize and identify complex financial crime patterns and take action in real time. Powered by Feedzai’s advanced AI, Feedzai Genome learns over time, keeping pace with evolving AML and fraud typologies.

“Fraud patterns are getting more complex as criminals continue to get more sophisticated to avoid detection,” Feedzai CTO and co-founder Paulo Marques said when the technology was introduced. “Feedzai Genome gives our customers a full picture of financial crime so that they can fight it more effectively.”

With $5 billion in transactions scored daily, Feedzai serves ten of the largest 25 banks in the world, protecting 200 million people against cyberfraud. The company has raised $82 million in funding and includes Data Collective DCVC, Sapphire Ventures, Citi Ventures, and Oak HC/FT among its investors.

Earlier this year, Feedzai introduced its AutoML technology, leveraging machine learning to automate many of the most time-consuming processes for data scientists fighting cybercrime. In July, the company teamed up with Credorax, an e-commerce focused commercial bank, to help merchants better defend themselves against fraud.

Named to the Inc. 5,000 Europe roster for 2018 this summer and honored with a spot on the Forbes Fintech 50 at the beginning of the year, Feedzai demonstrated its fraud prevention technology at FinovateEurope 2014. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in San Mateo, California.

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Finicity Automates Asset Verification for Princeton Mortgage’s SnapApp

Finicity Automates Asset Verification for Princeton Mortgage’s SnapApp
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finicity

Princeton Mortgage will leverage Finicity’s Verification of Assets solution to improve the loan origination experience for lenders and borrowers. The asset verification technology will be integrated into Princeton Mortgage’s digital mortgage platform, SnapApp, automating the asset verification process, reducing mortgage fraud, and speeding time to close.

“We’re thrilled to work with Princeton Mortgage and provide its customers with an innovative, paper-free and hassle-free experience,” Finicity CEO Steve Smith said. “As the leading financial data aggregator in the mortgage lending industry, we are always looking for partners who share our goal of transforming outdated loan origination processes into seamless digital experiences.”

Finicity demonstrated its credit decisioning solutions, including both its Verification of Income (VoI) and Verification of Assets (VoA) reports, at FinovateFall 2017. The Verification of Assets solution enables lenders to leverage bank validated insights to identify underwriting factors that can shave as many as six days off the mortgage origination process. VoA and VoI are part of the company’s innovations to help digitize the lending experience and bring the quality of information available via real-time bank data to the mortgage industry.

Princeton Mortgage’s SnapApp enables borrowers to apply, verify income and assets, access their credit information, run an automated approval and generate a pre-approval letter at any time, according to the company’s Sales Enablement Manager Nicole Gordon. “Borrowers want an effortless mortgage experience, and with our new SnapApp they get just that,” she said.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and founded in 1999, Finicity partnered with fellow Finovate alums Experian and FICO to launch the new UltraFICO credit score earlier this fall. The new solution is designed to help provide financing to borrowers with credit scores in the so-called gray area of the upper 500s and lower 600s. UltraFICO leverages the account aggregation capabilities of Finicity and Experian’s consumer credit data to give lenders a broader view of a borrower’s financial behavior – especially for those new to credit or with limited credit history.

Finicity has been busy making friends and forging partnerships this year. The company teamed up with Freddie Mac in October, Fidelity Investments and Capsilon in September, Capital One in August, and both SimpleNexus and Cre8tech Labs’ Lender Price in July. The deals ranged from credit decisioning integrations to secure data exchange and customer data security agreements.

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Avaloq and Cyber Infrastructure Firm Metaco Team Up with Gazprombank

Avaloq and Cyber Infrastructure Firm Metaco Team Up with Gazprombank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq

Banking technology supplier Avaloq and crypto infrastructure firm Metaco have partnered with Gazprombank, a Swiss bank, to implement their integrated crypto asset solution, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The aim of this project is to provide banks and wealth managers with a solution for the management of client portfolios across all asset classes including cryptocurrencies.

Gazprombank, which is already an Avaloq client, aims to offer a cryptocurrency service to its clients in mid-2019.

The solution will integrate SILO, Metaco’s crypto-wallet management solution, within the Avaloq Banking Suite. The two firms are already familiar with each other as Avaloq has a 10% stake in Metaco.

It will also allow banking and wealth management clients to buy, sell and transfer crypto assets and currencies, without any need for a crypto-wallet or private key management.

Adrien Treccani, founder and CEO of Metaco, said: “We know that security and secure custody are of paramount importance and Metaco’s multi-signature support will make the solution fully capable for institutional use.”

Metaco’s HSM (hardware security module) ensures a “military security” solution for storing private keys and managing wallets and operations. The new solution will support a multi-signature system for transaction approval.

Avaloq demonstrated its double marketplace at FinovateAsia 2018 last month. The double marketplace is a new feature of the company’s ecosystem that brings the app store concept to banking. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, Avaloq was founded in 1985.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Avoka, Feedzai, Finastra, Finicity, InfoCorp, Outsystems, Sberbank

On Finovate.com

  • Fighting Financial Crime with Feedzai’s Risk Ledger.
  • Finicity Automates Asset Verification for Princeton Mortgage’s SnapApp.

Around the web

  • Sberbank joins BC Region and NSD in three-way repo deal using blockchain technology.
  • Avoka accepted into Symitar Vendor Integration Program, will integrate its Transact platform with Symitar Episys.
  • Infocorp spinoff Bankingly raises $5.25 million in Series A funding in round led by Elevar Equity.
  • Avaloq and cyber infrastucture firm Metaco team up with Gazprombank.
  • thinkmoney leverages Outsystems’ low-code platform to deliver new applications and features for its innovative current account offering.
  • Finastra opens new offices in Romania.

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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FinovateAfrica Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateAfrica Best of Show Winners Announced
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bambu, Best of Show, FinovateAfrica 2018, OUTvest

The votes have been cast and tallied – and the winners of FinovateAfrica’s Best of Show awards have been named. Congratulations to Bambu and OUTvest!

Finovate’s first foray into the African fintech scene has been a huge success. The companies that demonstrated their technologies live on stage this week showed us innovations in everything from automated regtech and small business lending, to customer engagement and AI-enabled credit assessment.

Yet the two companies whose live demos made the greatest impressions on our FinovateAfrica audience were firms focused on one of fintech’s earliest – and most persistent – disruptions: the rise of the robo-advisor. For these companies, wealthtech is still fertile ground for fintech innovation. And improving the way individual investors and their advisors build and manage personalized, investment portfolios is as important today as it has ever been.

Bambu for its goal-based, white label robo-advisor offering that gives investors a natural and effortless experience in finding the right investment strategy for their client’s needs.

 

 

OUTvest for its hybrid robo-advisor that uses an evidence-based approach to help everyone build and mange their own investment strategy.

 

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 two 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

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Asseco SEE Joins NISP to Support PSD2 Implementation

Asseco SEE Joins NISP to Support PSD2 Implementation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Asseco

Banking technology vendor Asseco South Eastern Europe (Asseco SEE) has joined the NextGenPSD2 Implementation Support Programme (NISP), which supports banks and interbank processors throughout Europe in implementing the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

With this move, Asseco SEE aims to deliver assistance to banks regarding implementation and achieving compliance with all relevant requirements of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2).

Asseco SEE described the Berlin Group as “a widely respected, pan-European payments interoperability standards and harmonization initiative”. Its NISP initiative was formed with “a goal to help implementers achieve fallback exemption and reduce interoperability issues,” the vendor added.

It now has over 20 member organisations, with Asseco SEE being the first vendor to join. “Having Asseco SEE as a solution vendor and NISP member will significantly contribute to the diversity and bring added value to the support we can provide to help resolve any interoperability issues,” stated Dr. Ortwin Scheja, project lead of NISP.

Predrag Popović, Asseco SEE’s group product director, said the membership is a “great honor” for the company.

“With our know-how incorporated in the PSD2 Enabler solution, which fits the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework and enables full PSD2 compliance out-of-the-box, we are sure our participation will be of immense assistance to all NISP members enabling them to optimize their implementations, deliver maximum quality and have their questions answered,” he said.

The Asseco SEE Group is one of the biggest IT companies that develops and implements its own software solutions and services across South Eastern Europe and Turkey. It employs over 1,550 people and operates in 13 countries, covering a market of 176 million people and eight languages. The company’s offerings serve a number of industry verticals, including financial services, payments, public administration and telecoms.

Among its subsidiaries are Eastern European paytech firm Payten and Portuguese core banking software vendor Exictos (now known as Asseco PST).

Listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Asseco SEE shared the Finovate stage with Telenor banka at FinovateEurope 2015. The first fully mobile online bank in the SEE region, Telenor banka demonstrated its mobile device loan offering powered by Asseco SEE’s ASEBA Multichannel Hub.

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FinovateAfrica Arrives in Cape Town

FinovateAfrica Arrives in Cape Town
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAfrica 2018

With our first conference in Africa starting tomorrow, today is a day for final plans and preparations for our demoing companies. FinovateAfrica 2018, which kicks off Tuesday morning and runs through Wednesday, will feature more than a dozen innovative fintech companies from Africa and beyond who will demonstrate their latest technologies live on stage before our audience of industry leaders and professionals.

And while our demoing companies are busy practicing their pitches, remember that FinovateAfrica is more than just live fintech demonstrations. Both days of the conference will feature keynotes, panel discussions, and presentations on some of the most pressing issues in fintech such as open banking and digital transformation. FinovateAfrica will also feature several sessions and tracks on topics like social payments and leveraging technology to serve rural communities that are especially relevant to developing economies.

Find out more detailed information about our agenda at our FinovateAfrica event page.

FinovateAfrica will be held at the Westin Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. The venue is located at Convention Square on Lower Long Street, and is readily accessible by public transportation. The conference itself will take place on the Old Harbour Level, and begins promptly with registration, breakfast, and networking at 8:15am on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Please remember that FinovateAfrica runs on a tight schedule, so be sure to give yourself a little extra time to make sure you arrive promptly and don’t miss a thing.

And once you’ve arrived, join our FinovateAfrica community on our Knect365 event app. Search for “FinovateAfrica” once you are in the app to access our audience participation feature Sli.do, our Best of Show voting tool, our networking platform Brella, our attendee list and conference agenda, a floorplan of the venue, and more. If you have any challenges with the app, please reach out to us at info@finovate.com for help.

Tickets are still available. If you are planning to attend FinovateAfrica, but have not yet saved your spot, run – don’t walk – to our FinovateAfrica registration page and pick up your ticket today. We look forward to seeing you here in Cape Town!

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Exate, Experian, iProov, Xero, Yoyo

Around the web

  • Xero announces API integration partnerships with OCBC and NETS.
  • Exate Technology named “One to Watch” for data privacy technology at the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2018.
  • Yoyo Wallet inks deal with coffee chain, easyCoffee.
  • Experian launches a pair of new advanced Open Banking services: Affordability Check and Tennant Vetting Service.
  • New biometric capabilities powered by iProov enable secure enrollment onto U.K. Home Office services via smartphone app.

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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FinovateAfrica Starts Next Week

FinovateAfrica Starts Next Week
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAfrica 2018

Finovate’s first fintech conference in Africa is only days away. We’re excited to make our debut in Cape Town, South Africa on November 27 and 28, and look forward to what we expect to be a great two days of live technology demonstrations and insightful keynotes from our knowledgable line-up of speakers.

There’s still time to pick up your ticket and join us. Visit our registration page today and save your spot at the show.

Find out more about our demoing companies via our Sneak Peek series. To learn more about our expert speakers, check out our agendas for Day One and Day Two.

Here are a few last minute details and need-to-knows to help you plan your visit.

Who

FinovateAfrica will feature more than a dozen innovative fintech companies from Africa as well as around the world, all demoing their latest solutions live on stage. The conference will also host a variety of keynote addresses, panel discussions, debates, and presentations on some of the most critical topics in fintech today. We will have a special emphasis on those issues relevant to developing fintech markets as well as financial inclusion.

A look at the companies that will be demoing their latest fintech innovations at FinovateAfrica next week.

Where

FinovateAfrica will be held at the Westin Cape Town, Old Harbour Level, Convention Square, on Lower Long Street in Cape Town, South Africa. The venue is readily accessible via public transportation and features compelling views of both the V&A Waterfront and Table Mountain.

When

With two days of live demos and discussions on Tuesday, November 27 and Wednesday, November 28, FinovateAfrica runs on a tight schedule. Please give yourself extra time to ensure that you arrive at the venue promptly so that you don’t miss a thing!

Registration opens at 8:15am on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and will feature a continental breakfast and refreshments. Opening remarks from our keynote speaker begin at 8:45am on Tuesday and at 8:55am on Wednesday. Both Tuesday and Wednesday will conclude with a reception and networking opportunity for attendees to meet and mingle with our demoing companies, our speakers, and each other.

We are looking forward to FinovateAfrica and hope you will be able to join us in Cape Town next week. If you have any questions about FinovateAfrica, please email us at africa@finovate.com and we’ll be happy to help.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Braintri, Clover Network, FICO, Finastra, Finovate Global, Hydrogen, iProov, James Finance, Ocrolus, Sberbank, 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.

Central and South Asia

  • Visa takes minority stake in Indian payment gateway BillDesk.
  • Swift India partners with MonetaGo to pilot blockchain-based banking.
  • India FinTech Forum (IFF) announced the 20 companies recognized at its India FinTech Awards (IFTA), including Finovate alums Hydrogen, iProov, Ocrolus, and James Finance.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Elevar Equity leads $5.25 million investment round for Uruguayan fintech, Bankingly.
  • Banco Original, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based FI, to deploy FICO Origination Manager and FICO Application Fraud Manager.
  • First Data launches Clover Mini and Clover Flex in Argentina.

Asia-Pacific

  • Finastra gives Singapore banks top marks in its inaugural Open Banking Readiness Index.
  • FinLab accelerator introduces its smart business transformation program for Thailand small businesses.
  • SmartPesa brings its softPOS contactless card acceptance via NFC phone running Android – to Singapore and South East Asia.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • South African financial services company, Discovery, to launch “behavioral bank.”
  • Nigeria’s central bank proposes fintech licensing regime to help manage cyber risk, capital adequacy, and operational oversight issues.
  • A “hands-off” attitude toward regulation is credited for helping boost Uganda’s emergent fintech sector.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Poland’s Braintri merges with iCompass.
  • The Polish Financial Supervision Authority names the Heart as one of operators for its regulatory sandbox for companies developing fintech solutions.
  • Ingenico Group teams up with Russia’s Sberbank to enable MOIR card payments for online purchases.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Study from Mena Research Partners calls for major gains in fintech funding in the MENA region over the next ten years.
  • Egypt Innovate features ten Egyptian startups “following the world’s fintech trend.”
  • The Tehran Times looks at the “challenges and opportunities” of fintech innovation in Iran.

Top image designed by Freepik

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