Author: David Penn

Hydrogen, TD Bank Partnership Drives DIY Financial Planning

Hydrogen, TD Bank Partnership Drives DIY Financial Planning
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Hydrogen, TD Bank

Clients of TD Bank’s TD Direct Investing will have new tools to build their own financial plans and portfolios – thanks to a newly-announced collaboration between the Canadian bank and fintech innovator Hydrogen. The two companies have entered into a licensing agreement that will integrate Hydrogen’s APIs into TD Bank’s WebBroker platform as the first phase of the partnership.

“This is the first of several significant building blocks that will deliver a fully integrated, digital investing experience for TD clients,” Tony Ierullo, VP of Wealth Digital Innovation for TD Bank Group, said. “While our initial focus is on improving the self-directed investor experience, our ultimate goal is to bring best-in-class digital investing solutions to all TD clients, at every stage of their financial journey.” The agreement marks the first instance a Canadian bank has provided customers with the technology to build financial plans and investment portfolios on their own, all of which are integrated into the customer’s online brokerage account.

“Hydrogen has built an interconnected global platform designed to provide access to some of the best financial infrastructure and products currently on the market,” President and CEO of Hydrogen Michael Kane said. “Our agreement with TD is testament to the power of embedding innovative digital solutions into established investment services.”

Additional resources are planned for the platform, including the creation of a direct access digital advisor. Once additional phases of the rollout are underway, clients will have access to a fully-integrated, end-to-end digital investing platform for both self-service and “advice-led” investing – as well as those who want a mix of both.

“Almost every industry has been disrupted due to the pervasiveness of technology and shifting customer preferences,” Kane said, “and the Wealth industry is no exception.”

Hydrogen demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2018, building a European savings solution – including UI/UX, onboarding, backend connectivity, and business intelligence – live on stage in five minutes. The firm’s APIs enable companies to save tens of millions on building and running a variety of financial services apps. The company is also the maker of the Hydro blockchain, the public ledger for financial services, and Ion AI, a machine learning technology for financial apps.

Last month, the company launched the FINDI Consortium to “facilitate a more open, transparent, and decentralized global financial system” powered by public blockchains. In July, Hydrogen introduced the Hydro mobile app, a security and identity management solution that leverages the public blockchain. Winner of the grand prize at the Luxembourg Fintech Awards this summer, the self-described “Stripe for fintech” was founded in 2017 and is based in New York City.

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Ballooning Nest Eggs

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Ballooning Nest Eggs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ballooning Nest Eggs, FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek

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

A patented invention, Ballooning Nest Eggs is the world’s first investment gifting platform for parents to corral family and friends to pitch in and grow their kids’ long-term wealth.

Features

  • Social tools tastefully steer and conveniently enable gifting.
  • Invitations/announcements and social posts linked to beneficiaries’ accounts
  • Entirely new way for financial firms to engage consumers.

Why it’s great
The only app that eliminates parents’ awkward ask for financial gifts – which most prefer – vastly increasing the likelihood such gifting takes place.

Presenters

Amy Moses, Founder and CEO
Moses is a seasoned brand builder specializing in optimizing revenue through innovative, strategic B2B marketing initiatives that simultaneously drive consumer engagement for tech-centric and media brands.
LinkedIn

 

Kent Wallgren, Project Management – App Development
Wallgren has extensive background in delivering complex cross-functional technology projects in wealth management and digital transformation for top-tier global financial services firms and startups.
LinkedIn

 

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Charlie India

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Charlie India
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Partner HUB

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

Partner HUB’s Charlie-India platform offers a white label platform for electronic invoice presentment and payment for banks, payment service providers, and fintechs.

Features

  • White label product retaining the bank’s primary customer contact
  • Solution prevents payment churn and helps realize higher payment margin
  • Value added service for SMEs with invoicing interoperability

Why it’s great
Charlie-India helps banks get primary access to business level transaction data by setting up invoice related services needed to provide more efficient trade finance and payment services.

Presenter

Katalin Kauzli, Business Development Director and Co-founder
Kauzli has significant financial services, business development, corporate finance, and startup experience. She has been involved in the fundraising and business development of several innovative startups.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Systelos

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Systelos
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Systelos

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

Systelos is a discovery and collaboration platform that brings client’s financial lives in one place and empowers human advisors to create value beyond investment returns.

Features

  • Discovery platform that provides a 360 degree view of client’s finances
  • Collaboration tools that communicate real time context
  • Actionable insights that create value beyond investments

Why it’s great
Systelos is more than a technology. It’s a new way of doing business for advisors and their clients.

Presenters

Jad Chehlawi, Founder and CEO
After 15 years developing successful financial advisors, Chehlawi, a Harvard Business School alum, is creating a new way of delivering value to clients.
LinkedIn

 

Arsene Toumani, Co-Founder and CTO
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Tinkoff

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Tinkoff
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Tinkoff Bank

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

Tinkoff is a digital ecosystem of financial and lifestyle products, delivered via its award-winning mobile app and web interface. Tinkoff is fully cloud-based and branchless.

Features

  • First in the world to introduce Stories in mobile app
  • New way of creating and bringing content and offers to over one million active app users
  • Almost all the Stories contain a call to action

Why it’s great

As part of its lifestyle banking approach, Tinkoff was the first bank in the world to launch with a Stories format in its mobile banking app with content ranging from financial literacy tips to lifestyle tips.

Presenter

Max Yevdokimov, Chief Digital Customer Experience Officer
Yevdokimov is responsible for defining and executing Tinkoff’s mobile banking strategy, including managing its award-winning app and other interfaces serving a customer service function.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Crypterium

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Crypterium
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Crypterium, FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek

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

Crypterium is a mobile app that allows instant payments in cryptocurrency.

Features

  • Instant crypto payments with the existing payments infrastructure, like NFC terminals or QR codes
  • Worldwide money transfers in seconds with no fees
  • Solutions for merchants to accept crypto

Why it’s great
Crypterium lets you choose the way and the currency you want to pay with, enabling you to stay in control of your money 24/7. The company also helps merchants expand their customer outreach.

Presenters

Marc O’Brien, CEO
O’Brien is the former CEO of Visa UK, the company’s second most important market. He is a key advisor on some of the most exciting startups in the U.K., including Revolut, Britain’s first digital bank unicorn.
LinkedIn

 

Austin Kimm, COO
Kimm is the former CEO of Renaissance Life and Pensions (Russia & Ukraine) and Renaissance Insurance Group, which was sold for approximately $200 million in 2013.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Paper.id

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Paper.id
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Paper.id

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

Paper.id is the first, free invoicing and payment app in Indonesia that leverages supply chain mapping technology to help FIs provide the right financial products to SMEs.

Features

  • Seamless integration with digital payments
  • Supply chain analysis driven by graph node analysis and machine learning
  • Industry-leading UI/UX for FIs to ease workflow

Why it’s great

Paper.id’s platform enables FIs to identify the invoicing, payment pattern, and supply chain map of an SME, allowing them unprecedented freedom in managing SME-based loan and revenue channel.

Presenters

Jeremy Limman, CEO and Co-founder
Prior to founding Paper.id, Limman was involved in strategic projects and SAP implementation at Accenture, as well as founding and advising other startups.
LinkedIn

 

Yosia Sugialam, CTO and Co-founder
Sugialam has years of technology experience including working for Symantec and co-founding Lakuin, which won an incubator’s competition in 2015.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Banzai

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Banzai
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Banzai, FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek

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

Banzai is a national brand with over 50% of U.S. high schools and millions of students educated. More than 750 banks trust Banzai to educate adult customers, schools, and communities, and change lives.

Features

  • Motivate and retain employees by defining your culture
  • Drive ROI and growth by providing real value to your account holders and community
  • Earn CRA credit and make a huge impact to change lives

Why it’s great

The U.S. Department of Treasury is focused on hands-on experience-based learning. Banzai is your experience-based learning solution.

Presenter

Landon Glenn, President of Business Development
Glenn oversees business development, orchestrates industry partnerships, and is instrumental in Banzai’s strategic product decisions. He has spent his career helping individuals live debt-free.
LinkedIn

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Interactions

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Interactions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Interactions

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

Interactions provides an omnichannel Intelligent Virtual Assistant that seamlessly combines AI and human understanding to enable businesses and consumers to engage in productive conversations.

Features

  • Omnichannel customer care across voice and digital channels
  • Voice biometrics service for ID and authentication
  • Context and persistence across channels
  • Personalized and relevant customer experience

Why it’s great
With Interactions IA, banks can offer more self-service – anytime, anywhere. Interactions utilizes AI and machine learning to deliver personalized experiences and seamless transitions across channels.

Presenter

Dan Fox, Senior Field Marketing Manager
Fox is focused on creating strategic marketing programs to support field sales efforts. He started with Interactions in 2011, and has presented at numerous conferences focusing on customer experience.
LinkedIn

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Anorak, Arxan Technologies, Ballooning Nest Eggs, Banzai, Cortera, Crypterium, Hydrogen, Interactions, NCR Corporation, Outsystems, Paper.id, Partner HUB, Personal Capital, Roostify, SaleMove, Systelos, Temenos, Tinkoff Bank

On Finovate.com

  • Hydrogen, TD Bank Partnership Drives DIY Financial Planning.

Around the web

  • Hackney London Borough Council leverages technology from OutSystems to enhance its digital services.
  • NCR inks partnerships with a trio of credit unions: Parsons FCU of California, Educators Credit Union of Texas, and AERO FCU of Arizona.
  • Anorak to provide life insurance advice to users of money management app, Yolt.
  • SaleMove wins top honors at Orion Advisor Services’ Ascent/FUSE 2018 conference. See SaleMove at FinovateFall in New York September 24-26.
  • Varo Money to deploy Temenos’ T24  core banking platform.
  • Digital lending platform Roostify announces its app is now available on the Salesforce AppExchange.

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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ID.me Offers Retailers Eligibility Verification for Discount Programs

ID.me Offers Retailers Eligibility Verification for Discount Programs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ID.me

Digital identity innovator ID.me is expanding its segment-specific gated offering, giving retailers the opportunity to provide a diverse range of exclusive discounts across more segments and geographies.

ID.me has been known for providing group affiliation verification for active duty military and veterans, first responders and government employees, as well as teachers and students. The company’s new initiative will enable businesses and organizations to offer their customers and workers targeted, exclusive deals while limiting discount fraud.

“ID.me provides a seamless verification solution that empowers retailers to rapidly verify customer eligibility and give back to vital customer segments, all while driving revenue growth,” ID.me CEO Blake Hall explained.

Tyrone Fiegen, Senior Program Manager, Customer Experience & Loyalty program at Lenovo highlighted the importance of accuracy when it comes to gated offerings. “When we give a targeted discount, it is important that it goes to the right customers and access doesn’t get leaked,” Fiegen said. “Using ID.me’s verification technology, we are confident the right customers are taking advantage of the offer, and as a result, we have been able to offer richer, more attractive discounts.”

Lenovo is the first retailer in Canada to go live with ID.me’s solution. The company is leveraging the technology to provide a 10% discount on ThinkPad laptop computers for students as part of back-to-school season. Lenovo plans to offer a similar discount for active duty military and veterans, as well.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in McLean, Virginia, ID.me demonstrated its Identity Gateway at FinovateSpring 2017. By verifying identity and group affiliation against the most comprehensive and authoritative data sources available, ID.me’s platform both simplifies the verification process for customers while increasing conversion rates for companies and organizations. ID.me’s technology is used buy more than seven million customers and by leading brands such as Under Armor, LinkedIn, Lenovo, and Ford.

Last month, ID.me announced that it would provide its digital credentialing service to government agencies and healthcare organizations as a white-label offering starting in 2019. Named to the One World Identity’s top 100 Influencers list in February, ID.me began the year teaming up with Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. (VFW) to enable veterans to access VA benefits via Vets.gov, as well access to military discounts at more than 200 retailers.

ID.me has raised more than $46 million in funding from investors including FTV Capital, USAA, and the National Institute of Skilled Training (NIST).

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The  ABCs of Digital Transformation: B is for Blockchain

The  ABCs of Digital Transformation: B is for Blockchain
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018

Finovate has curated an additional summit day that will take place the day after FinovateFall on September 27. The exclusive summit day kicks off at 8am and will focus on two of the technologies that are driving fintech innovation forward in the 21st century: Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain Technology. Be sure to register if you’re interested in taking part in these conversations.

Here we’ll preview the Blockchain Technology track.

B is for Blockchain Technology

Our blockchain discussion kicks off with a keynote address from Daniel Gorfine, Director of LabCFTC and Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Formerly VP for External Affairs and Associate General Counsel with OnDeck, Gorfine will also participate in our Wednesday panel discussion, Demystifying the Myth: Separating the Blockchain Hype from the Reality – The Good, the Bad, and the Future of Money Supply.

Gorfine made headlines earlier this year when he warned against “hasty regulatory pronouncements” during Congressional testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture. He said:

Indeed, while some may seek the immediate establishment of bright lines, the reality is that hasty regulatory pronouncements are likely to miss the mark, have unintended consequences, or fail to capture important nuance regarding the structure of new products or models.

Finding the balance between regulation and innovation where new technologies like the blockchain are concerned will be a theme our speakers will likely address more than once during our Blockchain track.

As befits a topic as controversial as blockchain technology, our Blockchain summit day also will include a trio of debates and a real applications showcase to introduce interesting use cases involving the blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Our first conversation of the day is a C-Suite Debate moderated by Trustology’s Head of Operations, Boris Spremo, that will consider the ways financial services companies have leveraged distributed ledger technologies to cut costs and improve efficiency. The debate will feature Ian Putter of Standard Bank Group, Joyce Shen of UC Berkeley, Ron Quaranta of Wall Street Blockchain Alliance, and Helen Altshuler of Google/SafeChain.

We will also examine the role of blockchain technology in the enterprise. Our debate, Running Blockchain Projects by Banks, Insurance and Investment Firms, provides a “from the boardroom perspective” on how to make enterprise blockchain projects a success. Hosted by Evolve Capital Partners’ Alex Koles, this debate features Banca Mediolanum’s Demetrio Migliorati, Vanguard’s John Evans, Northern Trust’s Arijit Das, Prudential’s Anindya Sengupta, and Tata Consultancy Services’ Gomathy Subramanian.

Our third debate of the Blockchain Technology summit reviews the role of fintechs in advancing blockchain technology. Fintechs as Enablers of Change: Collaboration and Partnership – How to Do it Right? will feature Goldmoney’s Roy Sebag, Yang Ventures’ David Friedman, and UC Berkeley’s Joyce Shen examining ways that FIs and fintechs can build relationships that are beneficial to both parties. Moderated by Peter Sexton of the International Trade Administration, this discussion will include real world examples and examine journeys taken by financial firms.

We will also take a specific look at cryptocurrencies. Our In the Spotlight panel, moderated by Morgan Polotan of Genacast Ventures, will consider the status of cryptocurrencies as an alternative financial asset, review the rise of ICOs and the current landscape for initial coin offerings, as well as discuss tokenization and token business models. Our panelists for this conversation are Jeff Koyen of 360 Blockchain USA, Rob Nance of CityBlock Capital, Raphael Ouzan of Thrive Capital, and Ron Quaranta of Wall Street Blockchain Alliance.

Our afternoon sessions will focus on successful use cases of blockchain technology. Arijit Das, SVP for FinTech Solutions and Enterprise Messaging at Northern Trust, will discuss leveraging blockchain for private equity fund management. And our real applications showcase will feature Ian Putter of Standard Bank Group, Helen Altshuler of Google/SafeChain, and Finhaven’s Dohyung “DH” Kim looking at identity management, payments, smart contracts and other business operations and processes where blockchain technology can and is being deployed.

Already registered for the main 3-day FinovateFall event but would like to add on the summit for the discounted rate? Please reach out to customer services at [email protected] or +1 (888) 670-8200 to activate the discount. 

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