Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

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

  • Nigerian online accounting services specialist Accounteer announces plans to open new office in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • First Bank of Nigeria awards more than $14,000 in cash prizes to winners of its hackathon competition.
  • Absa Group of South Africa adds new functionality to its mobile app.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Top ten Ukrainian bank, First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) to offer banking services via messaging apps Viber and Telegram – with Facebook Messenger to be added by the end of the year.
  • Emerging Europe features Lithuania as “China’s fintech gateway to Europe.”
  • Polish vendor finance specialist LeaseLink joins loan syndication platform, Mintos.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • The UAE’s Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, a digitally-enabled trade bank, is announced, with operations to begin in early 2019.
  • TradeArabia looks at how fintech can help enhance trade in the Middle East.
  • Bahrain Fintech Bay launches Global Islamic & Sustainable Fintech Center (GISFC).

Central and South Asia

  • Bengaluru-based ClearTax India raises $54.6 million ($4 billion INR) in new funding.
  • Tez Financial Services, Pakistan’s first fully digital non-bank microfinance company, announces picking up $1.1 million in seed funding in a round led by Omidyar Network.
  • India’s Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (USFB) goes live with UP Retail Payments from ACI Worldwide.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PayStand expands operations to Mexico, forms regional partnership with StartupGDL.
  • Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Argentine fintech Ualá picks up $34 million investment from Goldman Sachs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Hong Kong-based mobile current account solution for the underbanked, Neat, raises $3 million in funding.
  • Accenture partners with Siam Commercial Bank’s fintech subsidiary, Digital Ventures, to co-launch blockchain trade solution. See Siam Commercial Bank at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong next week.
  • Indonesia’s OnlinePajak, a tax app provider, announced a $25 million investment in a round led by Warburg Pincus.
  • Fintech Futures takes a look at the “fintech battle” between China and the West.

Top image designed by Freepik

Moven Enterprise Goes Global

Moven Enterprise Goes Global

Smart banking solutions provider Moven Enterprise, a division of Movencorp, is leveraging its success with banks in Canada and New Zealand to help more FIs globally improve customer engagement and build new revenue streams. The company announced this week that it will be bringing its AI-powered digital banking platform to banks in Latin America, APAC, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe – buoyed by a $10 million investment from SBI Group and the establishment of SBI Moven Asia earlier this year.

“Moven has a proven model for success. Several of our client banks’ results tell the story – from significantly reduced attrition rates, positive customer engagement and increased savings behaviors and reduction in spending, Moven is well-positioned to roll-out our enterprise offering to banks around the world,” Moven CEO Marek Forysiak said.

Moven founder Brett King underscored SBI Group’s role in accelerating the company’s opportunities overseas. “SBI’s partnerships with more than 60 banks across Asia give us the opportunity to deploy our solutions quickly and efficiently, offering our Asian customers tailored and localized support and attention,” King said.

Moven Enterprise offers a customizable digital banking platform that enables FIs to boost engagement with solutions to better help their customers manage their spending and savings.  Available as a white-label, software-as-a-service offering, the technology supports instant mobile signup to make new customer acquisition less costly and more efficient, as well as a customer engagement engine that provides real-time spending and savings insights. Moven Enterprise demonstrated new capabilities of the platform – including a wishlist that uses behavioral gamification, a chatbot feature called ChatUI, and a new credit feature – at FinovateAsia 2017.

Founded in 2011, Moven is headquartered in New York City. The company has raised more than $35 million in capital over time, and includes TD Bank and Westpac among its partners.

Finn AI Closes $11 Million Series A

Finn AI Closes $11 Million Series A

One of the big stars of last year’s FinovateAsia, Finn AI, continues to make big headlines. The company, whose AI-powered virtual assistant technology has earned it two Finovate Best of Show awards, has picked up $11 million in new funding (CAD $14 million). The Series A round was led by Yaletown Partners and Flying Fish Partners, and featured participation from BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Fund, 1843 Capital, and angel investors.

“We’ve seen great progress in our business over the last twelve months, doubling our team to over 50 across North America and acquiring a number of major new customers and partners,” co-founder and CEO of Finn AI Jake Tyler said. “As the market moves beyond early experiments into scale production deployments we are seeing greater demand for our proven enterprise-grade Conversational AI platform.”

Tyler added that the funding would support the company’s growth in North America and Europe. The investment will also enable Finn AI to innovate on its enterprise technology and extend its core solution to support additional banking and personal finance capabilities for its current customers.

As part of the investment, Eric Bukovinsky of Yaletown Partners and Frank Chang of Flying Fish Partners will join Finn AI’s board of directors.

At FinovateFall 2017 last September, Finn AI demonstrated how its virtual banking assistant, integrated with Facebook Messenger and Google Assistant, could be used to complete everyday banking and personal finance tasks. Leveraging bot technology and artificial intelligence, Finn AI’s solution supports payments, budgeting, and savings. And while the virtual assistant is capable of answering a wide range of support queries without any human intervention, the technology is also able to bring in human agents to respond to more complex requests.

“Banks around the world are rapidly adopting Conversational AI to deepen relationships with customers, drive sales, and migrate routine, high volume tasks and queries to digital self-serve channels,” Bukovinsky said. “Finn AI has proven it can deliver with major banks across North America, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. We’re excited to support them in this next stage of their growth.”

Finn AI was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Visa Canada, leveraging the Visa Development Platform APIs to enhance its conversational AI technology. This spring, Finn AI teamed up with Bank of Montreal (BMO) to power the bank’s personal banking chatbot, BMO Bolt. The company also collaborated with Nicaragua’s biggest bank, Banpro, in March, to offer the company’s first Spanish-speaking virtual banking assistant.

Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures

Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures

A strategic investment from Citi Ventures announced today will help power international growth for mobile payment services specialist Ondot.

“As we steadily march toward high-frequency, invisible and autonomous payments, consumers increasingly expect detailed information about their transactions,” Ondot CEO Vaduvur Bharghavan said. “Bringing together details such as real-time transaction authorizations, proximity controls, merchant specifications, and applying machine learning on historical data helps consumers have more control over their cards and delivers a premium cardholder experience.”

The amount of the funding was not disclosed. Prior to today’s news, the company reportedly had raised $51 million in equity financing.

Ondot offers banks and credit unions technology that enables them to provide their customers with solutions to better manage and control their card payments. The company’s real-time, API-based platform and mobile app provide an end-to-end digital payment card services experience that ranges from bot-assisted digital acquisition and instant activation to geolocation-based contextual alerts and messaging. Ondot’s technology gives payment cards a “digital voice,” supported by a three-way interaction between the card issuer, the card holder, and the merchant.

“Consumers want to be able to manage their financial lives anywhere and at any time, and their expectations for a seamless experience will continue to evolve,” Citi Ventures’ co-head of venture investing Ramneek Gupta said. “Ondot meets this demand by providing innovative solutions that enable increased access and control of financial information, so we are thrilled to invest.”

Ondot’s strategic investment comes as the company announced a partnership with Mexico’s INVEX. The collaboration will enable INVEX to leverage Ondot’s digital acquisition and instant issuance technology to provide the country’s first “Instant Card.” Integrated with Ondot’s technology, INVEX’s Digital Card Services solution will also feature mobile product presentment and selection, as well as built-in card controls and alerts.

“Nowadays, credit card customers and digitally savvy generations, seek simplicity and immediate financial solutions through 100% digital channels,” Jean Marc Mercier, INVEX’s Managing Director for Consumer Banking and Payments, said. He added that INVEX was “committed to consolidate our position as a player at the forefront of the Mexican consumer and payments market, providing solutions that meet these expectations.”

Santa Clara, California-based Ondot Systems demonstrated its Digital Card mobile app at FinovateSpring 2018. The company also participated in our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference earlier this year, winning Best of Show honors for a live demo of its card control technology. More than 3,000 banks and credit unions around the world use Ondot’s white label apps, including the premier credit union services organization in the U.S., PSCU, which announced a partnership with Ondot in August.

Fiserv Partners with UK-Based Co-operative Bank

Fiserv Partners with UK-Based Co-operative Bank

Fiserv announced that UK-based Co-operative Bank will implement its FinKit for Open Banking, “to provide more flexibility for customers to choose how they conduct their everyday banking in relation to the European Union’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2)”, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The two parties have a long-standing relationship.

The cloud-based managed service delivery model of FinKit for Open Banking appealed to the bank, Fiserv explained, because it will help facilitate the many aspects of open banking compliance, from secure customer authentication to management of trusted third parties (TPPs).

FinKit for Open Banking includes access to pre-built APIs and facilitates ongoing compliance through API version control and publishing. This positions the bank to respond efficiently and effectively to the rapid pace of regulatory and industry change, the vendor explains.

FinKit originates from a UK-based mobile paytech provider, Monitise, which was acquired by Fiserv last year.

“Open banking is an area of continual change, and Co-operative Bank is positioned to move ahead of the curve,” noted Lee Cameron, managing director, EMEA, Fiserv (and formerly CEO of Monitise).

Fiserv was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The company most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018, partnering with Samsung SDS America to show new biometric authentication features for its digital banking experience, Fiserv Commercial Center.

With more than 12,000 clients and more than 24,000 associates around the world, Fiserv trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker “FISV”. The firm has a market capitalization of $32 billion. Jeffery Yabuki is president and CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Open Bank Project Collaborates with Open Source Software Company Red Hat.
  • Ondot Lands Strategic Investment from Citi Ventures.
  • Experian, FICO, and Finicity Launch the UltraFICO Score.

Around the web

  • Bloomberg TV features Best of Show winner Bumped.
  • Envestnet | Yodlee launches new suite of developer tools.
  • ThreatMetrix partners with SAS, bringing digital identity intelligence to machine learning to help creditors fight identity fraud.
  • Finastra introduces its cloud-based instant payments offering for SMEs.
  • Sberbank inks Memorandum of Understanding with SWIFT.
  • Artivest appoints new Chief Compliance Officer, Kamal Jafarnia.
  • Featurespace unveils its ARIC White Label solution for advanced fraud and risk prevention.
  • Finextra: Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Kony acquires innovation subsidiary of Umpqua Bank.
  • Finextra: NTT Data plans pan-Asian federated trade information platform based on blockchain.
  • SuperMoney surpasses $1 billion in financing requests
  • Bluefin and TokenEx partner to strengthen payment security with PCI-validated P2PE and omni-channel tokenization.
  • ID.me launches KYC / AML identity verification solution and ID document verification solution.

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.

Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud

Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud

A partnership between AI-powered identity risk scoring innovator Socure and workflow management specialist Alloy has enabled Radius Bank to decrease online fraud by 50%, increase new account conversions by 30%, and make manual review nearly a process of the past – reducing it by 95%.

The joint solution marries Socure’s predictive analytics with Alloy’s decisioning engine, and adds a variety of on- and offline data sources, predictive fraud tools, and a flexible rules engine to enable real-time decisioning and onboarding for new account openings.

Socure co-founder and SVP Johnny Ayers explained: “Given the extreme difficulty in fighting fraud while onboarding consumers digitally at scale, providing our customers with an end-to-end suite of predictive analytics, decisioning and case management capabilities means speed to market, unparalleled accuracy and technical flexibility that can’t be found when trying (to) work with legacy ‘identity proofing’ platforms.”

“Balancing fraud risk and customer friction are the two leading challenges facing financial institutions when it comes to digital account opening,” co-founder and CEO of Alloy Tommy Nicholas added. “The data and intelligence provided by Socure combined with Alloy’s decision engine and reporting tools make digital onboarding infinitely scalable for the first time.”

Radius Bank is a digitally-focused, community bank based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1987, Radius Bank offers check deposit, billpay, P2P payments, and card management for its personal clients, and provides advanced treasury management and loan payment solutions for business customers. In addition to Socure and Alloy, the bank has partnered with fintechs like LevelUp and Prosper to provide additional innovative services to its customers. Radius Bank has assets of more than $1 billion.

Headquartered in New York City, Socure demonstrated its Socure ID+ solution at FinovateFall 2017. The company’s digital-to-physical identity verification technology features an integrated document authentication service to determine the authenticity of government-issued identification and ensure a match with the PII provided. Socure’s platform provides best-of-breed email, phone, and address risk scores, overall identity risk prediction, KYC and physical document verification on a single, integrated solution.

Socure has raised $31.9 million in funding, and includes ff Venture Capital, Commerce Venture Partners, and Flint Capital among its investors. Sunil Madhu is CEO and President of the company, which was founded in 2012.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Identity Risk Scoring from Socure Helps Radius Bank Reduce Online Fraud.
  • Lending Club and Wealthfront Score Intuit Consumer Data.

Around the web

  • American Express and PayPal announced expanded strategic partnership to enhanced experience for U.S. Amex card members using PayPal and Venmo.
  • NCR to test age detection technology to improve efficiency in self-service checkouts.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.

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.

BMO Financial Unveils New Payments Hub Powered by ACI Worldwide

BMO Financial Unveils New Payments Hub Powered by ACI Worldwide

BMO is rolling out new payments hub, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Canada’s BMO Financial Group has implemented a new payments hub based on the ACI Worldwide UP solution. The project was completed in nine months.

BMO is involved in the modernization of national payment ecosystems in Canada and the US.

“The launch of our payment hub is a cornerstone of our payment modernisation strategy and a very exciting step forward for BMO and our clients,” said Sharon Haward-Laird, head, North American treasury and payment solutions at BMO.

“Our speed-to-market differentiates BMO and has been a significant win that has positioned us well to adapt quickly to shifting demands and enable the new payment rails we are working toward in the coming months.

“It’s all about delivering faster and more efficient payment experiences for clients and with the hub, we’re well positioned to do that.”

ACI said its UP Real-Time Payments solution is “the only global solution that allows financial institutions to address their real-time gross settlement (RTGS), Swift messaging, ACH and real-time payments needs with a single, universal offering”.

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Naples, Florida, ACI Worldwide participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. The company’s Wolfgang Berner and Grit Ruehling led a presentation titled Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next-Generation API that showcased ACI Worldwide’ s SAQ-A compliant JavaScript payment-form solution. The technology enables merchants to readily add dozens of alternative payment methods to their checkout page.

A publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq, ACI Worldwide trades under the ticker “ACIW”. The company has a market capitalization of $3 billion. More than 5,100 organizations around the world, as well as more than 1,000 of the world’s largest FIs use ACI’s technology to process $14 trillion in payments and securities every day.

Ethoca and American Express Partner to Resolve Card Disputes Faster

Ethoca and American Express Partner to Resolve Card Disputes Faster

American Express merchants and card members in the U.S. just won a new ally when it comes to quickly resolving disputes related to card purchases. Ethoca Eliminator, developed by leading  technology solution provider Ethoca, will enable card holders to get more detailed transaction information in real-time, making it easier for them to communicate with AMEX Customer Care professionals during customer service calls.

“American Express is committed to providing merchants and card members (with) a simple process for resolving disputes,” SVP of Global Strategy & Capabilities with AMEX’s Global Merchant & Network Services Group, Priscilla Kam said. “Ethoca’s platforms can help prevent card member disputes before they happen, helping merchants save time and costs associated with disputes and chargebacks.”

The new capability is expected to be available in the first few months of 2019. Ethoca Eliminator serves as a complement to the company’s Ethoca Alerts solution, which American Express uses to alert merchants to possible fraudulent transactions.

“Our suite of collaboration-based solutions is focused increasingly on preventing unnecessary disputes before they ever disrupt a customer purchase journey,” Ethoca CMO and Product Officer Keith Briscoe said. “(This) ultimately help(s) to ensure a better experience for all parties in the ecosystem.”

Ethoca demonstrated its Ethoca Alerts solution at FinovateEurope 2016. The company launched its new Integrated Solution Suite this spring which, in addition to Ethoca Eliminator and Ethoca Alerts, also features Enhance Representments. This third feature makes it easier for merchants to leverage Ethoca’s knowledge of chargeback processing and evidence rules to challenge transaction disputes more effectively.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Ethoca won Most Innovative Online Solution at the Fraud Awards 2018 earlier this month. In August, the company picked up a trio of honors at the Australian Fraud Awards 2018.

Ethoca’s solutions are used by more than 5,400 merchants in more than 40 countries, serving 590+ card issuers in 20+ countries. Eight of the top ten North American ecommerce brands, 14 of the top 20 North American card issuers, and six of the top ten U.K. card issuers use Ethoca’s technology.

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Think Analytics

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Think Analytics

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 29 and 30, 2018 in Hong Kong. Register today and save your spot.

Think Analytics is a five-year old leading analytics startup in India, with the core team having a combined experience of 50+ years. The company works with several non-banking financial companies, leading fintechs, banks, and others.

Features

Algo360 helps digitize and automate processes like underwriting, identity assessment, and seamless digital onboarding. Think Analytics is able to leverage alternative data through digital footprints for the same.

Why it’s great
The solution is already live with several non-banking financial companies and fintechs. It has already processed 10 million applications with turnaround time of less than one minute.

Presenters

Monish Salot, Co-founder and CTO
Salot leads the business development and technology efforts at Think Analytics. Prior to this, he lead teams at 3iInfotech and other organizations.
LinkedIn

 

Abhishek Joshi, Senior Associate
Joshi loves solving technology problems and building solutions for scale. He has already won multiple fintech awards in India for building scalable tech solutions.
LinkedIn

 

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Avaloq

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Avaloq

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 29 and 30, 2018 in Hong Kong. Register today and save your spot.

Avaloq’s ecosystem provides seamless access to an unparalleled number of market-leading fintech solutions on the Avaloq platform via open APIs.

Features

  • Ready-to-bank third party solutions
  • Highest security standards guaranteed
  • Standardized, secure and scalable banking APIs

Why it’s great
Developing a comprehensive digital business ecosystem is one of Avaloq’s strategic priorities. Avaloq offers one platform with the goal of making new fintech innovations accessible to 150+ financial institutions.

Presenters

Stewart Chen, Regional Product Manager
Chen is a digital native and prior to joining Avaloq, he had been building successful startups for over 10 years. He steered his first startup to triple-digit growth for three consecutive years.
LinkedIn

Bodo Grauer, Head of Digital Strategy and Transformation
Grauer is a development lead and drives product innovation for Avaloq’s ecosystem. He brings a wealth of experience and successful track record in managing technology projects in global finance.
LinkedIn