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.

Asia-Pacific

  • InComm launches Google Play gift cards in Thailand as it celebrates its 10th anniversary in the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Bank of Thailand announces plans to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
  • Indonesia’s KoinWorks, an online P2P lending marketplace, locks in $16.5 million in funding.
  • Singapore-based crypto payments startup, Terra, raises $32 million in funding.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Azimo forges strategic partnership with African payments business, Interswitch Group.
  • Nigerian payment startup Paystack picks up $8 million Series A investment in round led by Stripe.
  • South Africa-based bitcoin wallet Luno tops two million customer milestone.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Sberbank becomes Founding Partner of World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity.
  • A pair of fintech entrepreneurs from Latvia have bought Colorado National Bank for $8.97 million.
  • Bank of Russia’s Corporate University hosts workshop on functioning of regulatory sandbox.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Modo teams up with Etihad Airways to build loyalty solution for airline industry.
  • Emirates NBD launches DirectRemit service to the U.K.
  • Forbes Middle East profiles the fintech industry in Lebanon.

Central and South Asia

  • India-based startup PaySpoon to provide mobile-first credit options for consumers.
  • ZestMoney, a digital lending startup based in Begaluru, has raised $13.4 million in Series A funding.
  • Entrepreneur India explains why new entrepreneurs should “consider fintech as a sweet spot.”

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Compass Plus migrates Brazilian prepaid card issuer, BPP, to its platform.
  • PYMNTS.com looks at partnerships between fintechs and traditional FIs in Mexico.
  • Wirecard Brazil introduces new financial features for its entrepreneur customers.

Top image designed by Freepik

Kasasa’s MoneyIsland Helps Community Bank Earn ICBA Honors

Kasasa’s MoneyIsland Helps Community Bank Earn ICBA Honors

ESB Financial, a fourth-generation, family-owned community bank based in Kansas, won Honorable Mention recognition at the 2018 National Community Bank Service Awards sponsored by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA). The community bank earned plaudits for its deployment of MoneyIsland, an online game developed by multiple-time Best of Show winner Kasasa that helps teach children the importance of money management.

“It’s never too early to promote good money management habits,” ESB Financial CEO James Wayman said. “Our MoneyIsland game from Kasasa was designed with kids in mind and is an innovative approach to exploring financial concepts that will serve them well throughout their lives.”

The importance of learning healthy financial habits can be challenging enough for adults. But when it comes to youngsters, gamification can play an especially helpful role. “We believe it can be fun,” Kasasa CEO Gabe Krajicek said. “This is why we created MoneyIsland. It’s a great way to teach kids about budgeting, taxes, and credit in a fun and exciting way.”

MoneyIsland combines an online experience with an offline curriculum that focuses on three areas: Saving and Spending, Sharing and Investing, and Using Credit Wisely. Children playing the game learn about important money management concepts and improve their math skills as they play MoneyIsland, which is based on traveling to popular (and imagined) destinations around the world to save down-on-his-financial-luck character, Stone Broke. The game won Kasasa (demoing as BancVue) Best of Show honors at FinovateSpring 2011.

Calling the game a “huge value for financial institutions,” Krajicek added that other community FIs and credit unions should “follow in ESB Financial’s footsteps” when it comes to providing innovative ways to reach out to their customers. He added, “Consumers want to work with institutions that demonstrate a commitment to financial literacy and this game is an ideal way to do so while also providing a means to more deeply engage with customers.”

Kasasa demonstrated its Kasasa Loans solution at FinovateSpring 2018, winning Best of Show. The Austin, Texas-based fintech was founded in 2004 and has more than 800 community financial institution clients. With more than $2 billion in rewards paid out to consumers, and more than $900 million in non-interest income generated for Kasasa clients, the company partnered with MicroStrategy in April, and teamed up with MeridianLink in March.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • SigFig Buys SmartWealth from UBS.

Around the web

  • Compass Plus migrates Brazilian prepaid card issuer, BPP, to its platform.
  • UBS shutters its robo advisor, SmartWealth, selling technology to SigFig.
  • Azimo forges strategic partnership with African payments business, Interswitch Group.
  • BehavioSec unveils its Behavioral Biometrics Platform, which boosts security with invisible, continuous authentication.
  • PayPal’s Xoom partners with Ria Money Transfer to accelerate global expansion in 86 countries.
  • Bluefin and SoftPoint partner for comprehensive PCI-Validated P2PE solution for POS systems.
  • NCR appoints Andre Fernandez as Chief Financial Officer.
  • Kony teams with Payveris to help banks deliver digital money movement services.
  • Cryptoline News: Payfone’s technology now used to prevent SIM swap attacks.

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.

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Saylent

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Saylent

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Saylent, a leading provider of data analytics and marketing automation, enhances customer engagement with data-driven insights and relevant actions that continuously advance and evolve.

Features

  • Automated data analytics across all business lines
  • Actionable insights, predictive ROI, behavioral outcomes, and channel proficiency
  • Adaptive models for smarter targeting and improved customer impact

Why it’s great
The Saylent platform will allow you to finally unlock the power within your data and realize the promise of translating your data into real value.

Presenters

Damien Hayes, Senior Revenue Consultant
Hayes has two decades of experience committing his energy to financial institutions that want to realize the elusive promise of wealth within their data.
LinkedIn

 

Russ Prettitore, Chief Revenue Officer
Prettitore is a 25-year veteran in the fintech industry and leads Saylent’s business development efforts. Prior to Saylent, he worked at Mastercard, First Data, Metavante, and NYCE.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: PasswordPing

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: PasswordPing

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

PasswordPing helps organizations prevent attacks from compromised credentials by checking each login against billions of previously exposed username and password combinations that are on the dark web.

Features
PasswordPing’s compromised credential screening draws from a cloud database of billions of exposed login credentials, which enables our customers to screen employees and customer logins.

Why it’s great
Passwords are the weakest link in cybersecurity and customers rarely know that their credentials have been exposed. Screening for compromised credentials is an easy and safe way to protect them.

Presenters

Michael Wilson, Founder and CTO
Wilson has spent 20+ years in technology roles with an emphasis on security at organizations like Webroot, LogicNow, NASA, and a few other software companies.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Prisma Campaigns

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Prisma Campaigns

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Prisma Campaigns is a marketing automation tool designed for banks that uses machine learning. The demonstration will show how to use it for a 100% digital onboarding experience.

Features

  • Close the gap between marketing and sales by letting the FIs administer everything from a central place
  • Define and deploy required conversion processes with a super-fast time to market

Why it’s great
With Prisma, FIs can effectively and quickly leverage machine learning to build a digital account opening process with customized offers from a central location.

Presenters

Felipe Gil, CEO, Prisma Campaigns
Gil is an executive with 10+ years in payments, ecommerce, and banking. He is focused on innovation and new technologies for financial institutions.
LinkedIn

 

Ana Ines Echavarren, CEO, Infocorp
Echavarren has a solid international background in the development and commercialization of software for the financial sector. She is focused on digital banking transformation.
LinkedIn

 

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: FI.SPAN

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: FI.SPAN

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

FI.SPAN enables banks to provide bank-branded ERP connectors and adapters to their most valuable commercial clients.

Features

  • Opens up the business banking channel of the future
  • Makes banking transactions automated and auditable
  • Manages permissions explicitly and securely

Why it’s great
APIs mean business.

Presenters

Lisa Shields, CEO and Founder
Shields is the founder and Chief Executive Officer at FI.SPAN, where she leads the company with a dual emphasis on people and product. She is an engineer by trade and an entrepreneur at heart.
LinkedIn

 

Clayton Weir, Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Weir is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at FI.SPAN, leading product strategy, partnerships with ERPs, and marketing.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Ak Bars Digital Technologies

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Ak Bars Digital Technologies

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Ak Bars Digital Technologies provides a payments video validation SDK for financial institutions and fintechs to upgrade their level of customer experience.

Features

  • New way to interact with clients
  • Plug & play technology
  • Inexpensive solution

Why it’s great
Ak Bars Digital Technologies’ solution helps FIs develop an unhindered payment environment.

Presenters

Ilya Velder, MBA, Head of Strategy, Managing Director
Velder has more than 10 years of experience in banking (strategy, digital, project financing, direct debt, investments). He is also a lecturer at Innopoilis University in Kazan.
LinkedIn

 

Damir Galiev, MBA, Business Development
Galiev has more than six years in banking experience (digital, business discovery, investments).
LinkedIn

 

 

 

Yaroslav Shuvaev, Head of R&D
Shuvaev has more than 10 years of experience in digital business (product design, UX/UI, AI, fintech). He is also a lecturer at British Higher School Art and Design in Moscow.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Spreedly

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Spreedly

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Spreedly gives you one connection to more transactions. With the Spreedly payments infrastructure, you can use tokenized card data to transact with virtually any payment API or gateway worldwide.

Features

  • Connect payment systems to partners to scale scope of offer
  • Process transactions even when multiple merchants are involved
  • Build innovative payments solutions on a powerful, complete infrastructure

Why it’s great
Spreedly’s PCI-compliant payments infrastructure helps teams build innovative payment solutions that support their unique, growing, and global businesses.

Presenters

Justin Benson, CEO
Benson has helped drive Spreedly’s dramatic growth via a successful pivot, fundraising, and evolution of the company’s go-to-market strategy. He has a strong sales and technical background.
LinkedIn

 

Daniel Wideman, VP of Product
Wideman has two decades of experience in high-tech as a manager and business executive specializing in product strategy, product management, software development, strategic partnerships, and business development for startup and high growth companies.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Diebold Nixdorf Receives $650 Million Capital Commitment.
  • Mint Brings User Interface into 2018.
  • A Framework for Your 2019 Fintech Strategy.

Around the web

  • Mitek announces departure of CEO Jim DeBello.
  • The SaaS Report recognizes bpm’online CEO and managing partner, Katherine Kostereva, as one of its Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2018.
  • ACI Worldwide integrates with tax filing technology firm, SPAN Enterprises.
  • Modo teams up with Etihad Airways to build loyalty solution for airline industry.
  • Vera welcomes Carlos Delatorre as CEO.
  • Temenos launches Temenos Learning Community Engine.

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.

PromonTech Announces Integration with FormFree’s AccountChek

PromonTech Announces Integration with FormFree’s AccountChek

Mortgagetech innovator PromonTech will integrate its point of sale solution Borrower Wallet into AccountChek, the automated asset verification service run by FormFree. Demonstrated live at FinovateFall last year, Borrower Wallet is a shared workspace for mortgage applicants and loan officers that enables them to work collaboratively during the entire lending process. The solution provides a welcoming, digital environment for prospective borrowers, while enabling lenders to close more compliant loans faster by helping improve applicant data quality.

“PromonTech is committed to providing a trusted solution that educates applicants and improves process transparency while also reducing time, cost and risk for lenders,” company CTO Michael Kolbrener said, “Our integration with FormFree furthers both of these goals: it streamlines the borrower experience and delivers accurate asset information, directly from financial institutions.”

AccountCheck leverages augmented intelligence and more than 1,000 proprietary algorithms to provide digital verification of assets, income, and employment. The solution shortens time to close by up to 20 days and has processed more than a million orders for lenders since inception. The technology is also the first asset verification solution accepted by Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty program. With this integration, Borrower Wallet customers will gain Day 1 Certainty in addition to streamlined asset verification and credit decisioning.

“FormFree was designed to streamline the loan origination process and reduce risk by providing better insight into borrowers’ ability to pay,” founder and CEO of FormFree Brent Chandler said in a statement. “Our integration with Borrower Wallet enables PromonTech to instantly complete three verifications – asset, income and employment – in one action that is simple for applicants and more efficient for lenders.”

Part of the Promontory MortgagePath family, PromonTech has had a busy 2018. In March, the company added a number of top executives, including a new chief compliance officer, chief operating officer, and chief product officer. Also this spring, Promontech announced a partnership with Corelogic, which integrated its Instant Merge Credit Reports into PromonTech’s Borrower Wallet.

A member of the HW Tech 100 for 2018 and winner of the Progress in Lending Association’s Innovations Award, PromonTech also partnered with ISGN in May to become the sole POS solution for the company’s MORVision Loan Origination System. Earlier this month, PromonTech’s Chief Business Architect, Susan Tobin, was recognized by HousingWire in its 2018 Women of Influence feature.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • PromonTech Announces Integration with FormFree’s AccountChek.

Around the web

  • Bpm’online wins multiple honors from the CRM Magazine’s 2018 CRM Market Awards.
  • PayPal introduces streamlined, simpler mobile app.
  • Bank Info Security interviews ThetaRay EVP James Heinzman on the role of machine learning in fighting fraud.
  • CryptoGlobe profiles digital asset transfer startup, Crypterium. See the company demo its technology live at FinovateFall next month.
  • NICE inContact launches new embedded analytics and omnichannel social capabilities.
  • Intuit names Marianna Tessel its new CTO.

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.