Author: David Penn

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: CASHOFF

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: CASHOFF
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CASHOFF, FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

CASHOFF provides innovative solutions for banks by collecting and analyzing their consumers’ financial flows.

Features

  • Accurate forecasting of consumer buying behavior through itemization of receipts and predictive models
  • Customized loyalty
  • Data collection from different sources (banks, e-wallets, etc.)

Why it’s great
CASHOFF’s white-label analytical engine inside your e-banking system is a source of deep customer understanding. By integrating it, a variety of options to generate profit will be revealed.

Presenters

Dmitry Gorkov, CEO & Founder

Yulia Clarke, Marketing Director

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FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Harborx

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Harborx
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek, Harborx

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Harborx is a fintech company created with the mission to simplify currency trading (forex), making it fun and accessible to anyone with a mobile.

Features

  • Simplifies FX trading through an intuitive mobile interface
  • Supports beginners with recommendations from Harborx pro traders
  • Provides gaming features like competitions, achievements, and missions to make trading fun

Why it’s great
Harborx is a simplified forex trading app that combines guidance from professionals with fun gamification features, where users have fun while enjoying multiple revenue channels.

Presenters

Cyrus Wen, Director
Wen has over 9 years of experience in investment, merger and acquisition, asset management, corporate finance, and business management and development.
LinkedIn

 

David Sung, Technical Manager
During his years at Harborx, Sung had the privilege of building the tech team which takes leading-edge technology to its extreme.
LinkedIn

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FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: WeInvest

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: WeInvest
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2017, FinovateAsia 2017 Sneak Peek, WeInvest

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

WeInvest is a digital wealth management solutions provider for banks, wealth and asset managers, insurance companies, and independent financial advisors.

Features

  • Drill down to any client’s portfolio with comprehensive analytics across performance, exposures, and risk
  • Generate ideas which could be relevant for the client across products
  • Manage, trade, and advise

Why it’s great
The RM Workbench is a capability built to deliver a holistic picture to the relationship managers about their clients, client communications, product information along with the ability to precision-service clients.

Presenters

Bhaskar Prabhakara, CEO
Prabhakara co-founded WeInvest and TrackWealth with the vision to help everyone take control of their finances, make better investment decisions and gain access to simpler, smarter, and transparent investing.
LinkedIn

 

Aananth Solaiyappan, CTO
Solaiyappan is a passionate technologist and a firm believer in the transformative power of design lead innovation. He is an accomplished executive and a serial entrepreneur.
LinkedIn

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Zafin Unveils New Pricing and Governance Solution for Corporate Banking

Zafin Unveils New Pricing and Governance Solution for Corporate Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Zafin

In the words of Adam Nanjee, SVP for Digital Banking at Zafin, today’s announcement on the launch of Zafin Client Offer Management is the product of “fifteen years of domain expertise and collaboration” with the company’s clients and partners. “We are proud to release another avenue for our corporate banking clients to drive more revenue, create operational efficiencies, and expedite digital deployments,” Nanjee said.

Designed for Relationship Managers at Tier 1 banks, Zafin Client Offer Management enables them to test and analyze “what-if” pricing models in real-time without needing technical expertise or IT involvement. The cloud-based platform automates manual, often spreadsheet-based processes and works seamlessly with legacy banking systems to create efficiencies and reduce costs for banks.

Adam Nanjee, Zafin SVP for Digital Banking, demonstrating miRevenue Enterprise Banking Platform.

“Zafin’s platform is trusted by several Tier 1 corporate banks to enhance revenue and service their clients effectively,” Dinesh Krishnan, MD of Global Product Development at Zafin said, adding that the platform has been designed “from the ground up to suit the needs of our corporate banking clients.” Client Offer Manager, which helps FIs ensure profitability by linking pricing to specific performance metrics, is currently deployed with a Tier 1 bank, according to Zafin’s announcement.

Founded in 2002, Zafin demonstrated its miRevenue Enterprise Banking platform at FinovateFall 2017. Earlier this year, the company was a finalist for PwC’s Vision to Reality Innovator of the Year competition. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and with offices around the world, Zafin’s global banking customers include HSBC, Barclays, Standard Chartered, TD, and National Bank of Abu Dhabi.  The company has raised $30 million in total funding and includes Vistara Capital Partners, Kayne Partners, and Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors among its investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BankBazaar, Entersekt, Feedzai, ICAR, Mitek, Narrative Science, PayPal, Sensibill, TransCard, Venmo, VISA

On Finovate.com

  • BankBazaar Receives $30 Million in Funding Round Led by Experian.
  • Feedzai Secures $50 Million in New Funding.
  • BlueVine Lands $130 Million in Debt Financing.
  • Sensibill Brings Receipt Management to Royal Bank of Scotland’s Business Banking Customers.

Around the web

  • Entersekt hires Sherif Samy as SVP for North American operations.
  • Visa and Billtrust team up to streamline B2B payment reconciliation and support automation of virtual card payments.
  • PayPal announces Vemno is now payment option at more than two million U.S. retailers.
  • Narrative Science wins Microsoft Office 2017 App Award for Best Business Value.
  • TransCard partners with ExpenseAnywhere to Deliver Automated Payment Process Management Solutions.

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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KlickEx and IBM Leverage Blockchain Technology to Improve Cross-Border Payments in the South Pacific

KlickEx and IBM Leverage Blockchain Technology to Improve Cross-Border Payments in the South Pacific
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: IBM, KlickEx

FinovateAsia alum KlickEx is partnering with public blockchain network builder, Stellar, and fellow Finovate alum, IBM, to improve cross-border payments for emerging markets, particularly in the South Pacific. Already processing live transactions in 12 currency corridors in the region, the solution will use IBM Blockchain to accelerate clearing and settlement on a single network in near real-time for consumers and merchants in countries like Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji.

“This is the first time anyone has made blockchain work at an institutionally viable scale,” KlickEx Group founder and CEO Robert Bell said. Underscoring KlickEx’s experience in facilitating inexpensive, real time, multi-currency payments in the area, Bell said, “this project was a natural next step following our work to create seamless and borderless payments across the Pacific.”

More than 12 banks from Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and Thailand are participating in the development and deployment process. Stellar.org’s network enables near real time settlement by issuing digital assets that serve as a foreign exchange bridge. KlickEx is the partnership’s founding financial institution for the area, supporting FIs and retail customers on the network. Planners believe that up to 60% of all cross-border payments in the South Pacific’s retail foreign exchange corridors could be processed by the network by early 2018.

In a post at the KlickEx blog, Bell put this week’s announcement in the context of his company’s long-term focus on bringing better payments processes to regions “outside our major global banking corridors.” He wrote: “In the 90s I saw first-hand the need to help Pacific Island nations including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu improve their financial infrastructure.” He added, “We have pioneered the use of mobile apps and other emerging technologies to provide convenient, low-cost and accessible solutions to help Pacific communities with banking transactions.”

IBM presented its blockchain-based technology at our developer’s conference last year, discussing Implementation of the Hyperledger Project at IBM with Blockchain As A Service at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. The company is also a Finovate alum, having recently demonstrated its Customer Insight for Banking solution at FinovateFall 2016, while the company’s security division introduced its cognitive approach to fraud detection, IBM Trusteer Rapport, at FinovateSpring 2017.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in New Zealand, KlickEx demonstrated Crypto-Currency 2.0, a new global asset-backed currency for central banks, at FinovateAsia 2013. Remember Finovate returns to Asia next month for FinovateAsia 2017. To learn more about joining us in Hong Kong, November 7 and 8, visit our FinovateAsia page today.

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IBM Partners with Dream Payments on mPOS, B2B Payments

IBM Partners with Dream Payments on mPOS, B2B Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Dream Payments, IBM

IBM has teamed up with Toronto-based firm Dream Payments, bringing its cloud and security capabilities to help the firm offer mobile point of sale solutions and business-to-business (B2B) payments, reports Antony Peyton of Banking Technology (Finovate’s sister publication).

Chad Whittaker, CIO Dream Payments, said: “The combination of IBM’s banking and financial services expertise along with the IBM Cloud has allowed Dream Payments to build and scale its cloud infrastructure, right down to bare metal hardware access, maintain bank grade security, PCI compliance, and data sovereignty.”

Dream Payments will also be protected using IBM Managed Security Services, including IBM QRadar on Cloud, a network security intelligence and analytics offering, to detect and take action against cybersecurity attacks and network breaches.

According to IBM, the technology will establish cloud intelligence with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) as a Service to defend the organization’s security infrastructure from threats.

Dream is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and has operations in Stamford, Connecticut. Founded in 2014, the company demonstrated its mPOS solution at FinovateSpring 2015. Dream Payments has raised $15 million in funding – including a $10 million Series A this spring – and counts Fair Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, and Real Ventures among its investors. Learn more about Dream Payments in our Finovate Debut profile.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, IBM, identitii, iSignthis, Jack Henry, KlickEx, TSYS

On Finovate.com

  • KlickEx and IBM Leverage Blockchain Technology to Improve Cross-Border Payments in the South Pacific.
  • Dwolla on Designing a New System for Financial Inclusion: Mojaloop.
  • ACI Launches Payments Risk Management Solution to Boost Fraud Protection.

Around the web

  • TSYS introduces its merchant services company ProPay in Australia.
  • Jack Henry & Associates partners with SAS to bring its cloud-based analytics solution to regional and community banks.
  • iSignthis announces integration of Tradefinancial.com.au into its ISCPay transactional banking platform.
  • Identitii’s Software-as-a-Serice offering goes live on Microsoft Azure cloud.

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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Wave Brings Business Services to Royal Bank of Canada’s Online Banking Platform

Wave Brings Business Services to Royal Bank of Canada’s Online Banking Platform
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Wave

O Canada, indeed! Yesterday we shared the news that National Bank of Canada was joining Toronto-based SecureKey’s Digital Identity Network. Today we learn that Wave – a small, business financial management (BFM) solutions provider also from Toronto – has signed a deal that will integrate its invoicing, accounting, and business financial insights technology into Royal Bank of Canada’s online banking platform.

Pointing to the wide range of responsibilities shouldered by small business owners, Wave CEO and co-founder Kirk Simpson said, “By embedding Wave’s complete small business tools into RBC’s online business banking platform, small business owners now have one single destination to manage their financial life.” Wave’s financial software and services, which include free invoicing, accounting, payment processing, receipt scanning, and more, are currently used by nearly three million businesses worldwide.

Left to right: Wave CEO and co-founder Kirk Simpson and VP of Small Business for RBC Jason Storsley demonstrating Wave embedded financial software for FIs at FinovateFall 2017.

“We’re always exploring how we can use emerging technologies to simplify the complex issues our small business clients face and help them achieve their goals,” VP of Small Business for RBC, Jason Storsley said. “This means a small business owner can spend more time being the CEO of their business and less time being the CFO,” he added. Royal Bank of Canada is the largest bank in the country based on market capitalization ($113 billion). The bank’s 81,000 employees serve more than 16 million retail, business, public sector, and institutional banking clients in Canada, the U.S., and in 35 other countries.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Wave demonstrated its embedded financial software for FIs last month at FinovateFall 2017. The company has raised more than $79 million in total funding, and includes NAB Ventures, BDC IT Ventures, and CRV among its investors. In June, Wave introduced automatic payments for customers living in areas where Payments by Wave credit card processing is supported. This spring the company unveiled a variety of enhancements to its mobile invoicing solution, adding the ability to duplicate invoices, import contacts from your smartphone, and instant address auto-complete.

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Contextual Commerce Platform Omnyway Raises $12.75 Million in Series A

Contextual Commerce Platform Omnyway Raises $12.75 Million in Series A
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Omnyway

In a round led by Nyca, CommerzVentures, and CEFIF, augmented digital commerce platform Omnyway has raised $12.75 million in new funding. The Series A will give Omnyway (formerly Omnypay) the ability to launch new services, expand operations, and add to its customer base both in the U.S. and around the globe.

“To keep up in this fast-moving, mobile-first (and soon, mobile-only) world, retailers need tools that speak to how people want to shop and engage today,” Omnyway CEO Ashok Narasimhan said. He added that the funding would enable the company to “continue innovating on today’s fundamentally different retail experience.”

This retail experience involves putting mobile at the center of the shopping experience. The company’s platform helps retailers leverage in-store, online, and in-app interaction channels, as well as virtual aisles and dynamic media to engage customers in a dynamic, digital, and thoroughly omni-channel way. Available as a white-label solution, the technology integrates readily with both legacy back-end systems and existing mobile apps, and has been used by retailers like Kohls to add payment functionality to their apps.

Amitaabh Malhotra, Chief Marketing Officer for Omnyway, demonstrating the Zapbuy plugin for banking apps at FinovateFall 2017.

More recently the company has earned recognition for its Zapbuy service, which the company demonstrated during its debut at FinovateFall last month. Zapbuy enables shoppers to purchase items directly from an advertisement simply by clicking on the ad itself. “Zapbuy utilizes the latest in contextualization, personalization, and frictionless checkout techniques to offer an uplift in ROI from advertising budgets while also maximizing revenue,” Omnyway CMO Amitaabh Malhotra explained from the Finovate stage.

Malhotra showed how the platform guided the shopper from a digital ad they had clicked on to a pop-up window that featured credentialed payment options featured such as a bank as well as a QR code. After making their payment selection, the shopper simply locates and chooses the “Zapbuy” option, which opens up the camera on the shopper’s mobile phone so they can photograph the item’s QR code. A confirmation page provides the shopper with all the information about the transaction – including applied rewards or discounts, points earned, shipping address, etc. –  before they make the final purchase.

“We are allowing financial institutions to participate in a new revenue stream which is associated with affiliate revenue and advertising revenue that otherwise would not have been available,” Malhotra said. “Secondly we are also making their credentials top of wallet for that particular user. So every time they come back to that particular type of ad or interface, they are able to make the purchase again using the same credential and any other financial benefits you want to offer them.”

Founded in 2014, Omnyway is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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National Bank of Canada Joins SecureKey’s Digital Identity Network

National Bank of Canada Joins SecureKey’s Digital Identity Network
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: SecureKey

At the beginning of the year, SecureKey announced that it had won an $800,000 grant from the U.S., Department of Homeland Security in support of the company’s development of a blockchain-based digital identity network. Today, the Toronto, Ontario-based authentication specialist unveiled the latest institution to join that network: the National Bank of Canada.

“Adding National Bank to our digital identity network is critical to the success of our ecosystem and brings us one step closer to ensuring consumers are able to prove who they say they are, in person, online, and over the phone,” President and CEO of SecureKey Technologies Greg Wolfond said. Speaking for National Bank, Lionel Pimpin, SVP of Digital Channels, Personal and Commercial Strategies called SecureKey’s network “innovative in the online verification process,” adding that the company’s “blockchain technology will ensure people connect conveniently and privately to their trusted online services.”

With $240 billion in assets, National Bank joins a handful of Canadian FIs that have partnered with SecureKey, such as BMO, CIBC, RBC, and Scotiabank. When the network is fully operational, consumers in Canada will be able to opt-in to the service with their mobile device and use their trusted digital identity credentials that users have established with their preferred partner institution. SecureKey’s network uses IBM’s Blockchain service on top of open source Hyperledger Fabric from the Linux Foundation.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, SecureKey demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2012, having won Best of Show two years earlier. The company partnered with IT business and consulting firm Levio last month to add identity authentication services to the latter’s digital transformation projects in Quebec, Canada. Named to Planet Compliance’s RegTech Top 100, SecureKey has raised more than $90 million in total funding and includes Blue Sky Capital and Intel Capital among its investors. Finovate Director of Strategy Lisa Moyle highlighted SecureKey in her look at blockchain and digital identity earlier this year.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, BancPass, Doxo, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, FICO, Finastra, iSignthis, Narrative Science, nCino, Omnyway, P2BInvestor, SecureKey, SpyCloud, Taulia, Trusted Knight

On Finovate.com

  • National Bank of Canada Joins SecureKey’s Digital Identity Network.
  • P2Binvestor Launches Bank Partnership Program.
  • doxo Surpasses 30,000 Payable Billers on its Platform
  • Contextual Commerce Platform Omnyway Raises $12.75 Million in Series A.

Around the web

  • ConnectOne Bank ($4.7 billion in assets) to deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System.
  • ACI Worldwide partners with European clearing and settlement firm, STET, to bring real-time payment solution to PSPs.
  • FICO reports increased accuracy of its Enterprise Security Score when it comes to predicting data breaches.
  • Finastra moves its payments solution to the cloud via Microsoft Azure.
  • Trusted Knight partners with eTECH Channel.
  • CloudTrade and Taulia partner to enable businesses to transition to paperless invoicing.
  • iSignThis’ ISXPay initiates further Australian card acquiring/processing contracts.
  • BancPass announces license agreement with mobile tolling provider PayTollo.
  • EFL a finalist in the 2017 MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge.
  • Datanami article on bot technology features insights from Narrative Science CEO Stuart Frankel.
  • MoneyMarketing highlights SpyCloud in a look at the safety of life and pensions company data.

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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