Ripple Adds Multi-Sign Functionality to its Consensus Ledger Technology

Ripple Adds Multi-Sign Functionality to its Consensus Ledger Technology

Ripple_homepage_July2016

Is the new multi-sign feature on the Ripple Consensus Ledger (RCL) the answer to preventing security breaches like the cyber-heist that cost the Bangladesh Bank more than $100 million?

That’s how Ripple sees it. Pointing to the problem of “outdated single-signature methods” of legacy payment networks, Ripple has introduced new multi-sign functionality for its RCL. Combined with the inherent transparency of the consensus ledger, the additional layer of control gives financial institutions another tool to combat fraud and unauthorized transactions. Pointedly, Ripple notes, this tool is not available via SWIFT, which is a major problem for FIs and a potential source of opportunity for companies like Ripple.

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CEO Chris Larsen demonstrated the Ripple network at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.

“The new features found in distributed fintech solutions, such as multi-signing, are not available in traditional systems like Swift,” Ripple asserts. “Blockchain technology delivers a more robust and distributed security architecture for banks.” The multi-sign functionality on RCL will enable account holders to require more than one stakeholder to sign off on transactions. These signatures can be required from other users, other institutions, and/or other devices, making it that much more difficult for someone to make an unauthorized or fraudulent transaction.

And because Ripple’s multi-sign is “enforced by the RCL” rather than the FI itself, there is a greater chance of detecting fraud—particularly internal fraud—than with those traditional methods even if they rely on some measure of multi-signing. Ripple adds that multi-sign functionality won’t end with the RCL; the company also plans to make the technology an added feature of its Interledger Protocol (ILP).

Founded as OpenCoin in 2012, and rebranding as Ripple in 2015, the company’s founder and CEO Chris Larsen introduced the Ripple network at FinovateSpring 2013. Ripple announced that it added seven banks to its list of FIs testing cross-border payments using its technology in June, the same month the company received a BitLicense to trade virtual currencies in New York.

 

NICE Unveils New Recording Technology for Skype for Business

NICE Unveils New Recording Technology for Skype for Business

NICE_homepage_July2016

Now your Skype for Business conversations can be recorded for quality assurance purposes, too.

NICE unveiled the new edition of its recording technology for Microsoft’s Skype for Business communications platform. Designed to help financial institutions meet increasingly challenging regulatory and compliance standards, NICE Skype for Business supports dynamic, selective recording that is customizable to specific compliance policies. In addition, the technology features advanced search and monitoring, automated capture and retention, and instant retrieval.

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Left to right: Jade Kahn, marketing strategy manager; Elad Hoffman, director of sales, EMEA; and Audelia Boker, director of demand generation, EMEA, demoed NICE’s real-time authentication at FinovateEurope 2015.

Calling the new recording functionality a “natural extension” of the company’s commitment to helping financial markets meet compliance needs, NICE Executive Vice President Chris Wooten said, “More broadly, we expect Skype for Business to disrupt the enterprise-based unified-communications market across the board in coming years.” The new solution builds upon NICE’s six-year relationship with Skype for Business predecessor Microsoft Lync.

With more than 25,000 organizations in more than 150 countries using its technology, NICE counts more than 80 of the Fortune 100 among its customers. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Raanana, Israel, NICE has made recent headlines as an enabler of smaller tech companies. NICE participated in the $3 million, Liberty Global Ventures-led investment in fellow Finovate alum, CallVU, in June, and acquired customer experience specialist, inContact, for $940 million in May. Also in May 2016, NICE announced that its automation technology was deployed to fight credit card fraud at Italian bank, Banca Popolare di Sondrio.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Jumio to Power KYC & AML Services for Krypto Commerce
  • NICE Unveils New Recording Technology for Skype for Business
  • Ripple Adds Multi-Sign Functionality to Consensus Ledger Technology

Around the web

  • New York Times DealBook looks at new payday options such as PayActiv.
  • ACI Worldwide taps Marco Bravo as VP for Latin America.
  • PYMNTS talks to Token CEO Steve Kirsh about how Token helps banks comply with the EU’s PSD2.
  • Clari5 Enterprise Fraud Management from CustomerXPs named Best Fraud Detection Product Award at Operational Risk Awards held by Operational Risk magazine and Risk.net.
  • David Foss officially appointed new CEO at Jack Henry.
  • ThreatMetrix sees 52% YOY revenue growth, now serves 17 top global FIs.

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.

MaxMyInterest Celebrates Third Anniversary with Support for TD Bank

MaxMyInterest Celebrates Third Anniversary with Support for TD Bank

MaxMyInterest_homepage_July2016

Max, the intelligent cash-management solution for high-net-worth individuals, announced its third anniversary last week with news that the platform now supports TD Bank accounts. This brings the total number of checking and brokerage accounts supported by Max to ten, with more on the way.

In an email, the company reflected on 2015, highlighting some of the year’s biggest highlights: Max built its Common Application, which makes managing multiple accounts easier, and its Advisor Dashboard gives advisers the ability to better work with clients on the platform. 2015 was also the year that Max added support for accounts from FIs including Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and US Bank. “We see an exciting year ahead and look forward to helping our members continue to more effectively manage their cash,” the email read.

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(Left to right): CEO Gary Zimmerman (founder) and Richard Wu, director of engineering, demonstrated MaxMyInterest at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

MaxMyInterest helps to mass affluent and high net worth investors and to make the most of their cash in this low-interest rate environment. The technology dynamically allocates the client-cash to make sure  it is earning the highest possible interest rate as well as ensuring that cash levels per account remain below FDIC limits. The platform also provides investors with other cash-management tools such as a monthly cash sweep and an intelligent funds transfer solution that makes it easier for investors to allocate funds between different accounts. The company says that those using its platform typically earn 0.7 to 0.9% more than they currently earn at traditional banks. Read our Finovate Debuts feature on MaxMyInterest for more.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York City, MaxMyInterest demonstrated its intelligent cash-management solution at FinovateFall 2014. The company launched its client-invitation feature in May, making it easier for advisers to onboard clients, and last fall, MaxMyInterest was honored by UBS, earning a finalist spot in its Future of Finance Challenge.

 

Twilio to Help Amazon Web Services Deliver SMS Messages

Twilio to Help Amazon Web Services Deliver SMS Messages

Twilio_homepage_July2016

Twilio announced this week that it was partnering with Amazon Web Services to help deliver SMS messages via Amazon’s Simple Notification Service (SNS). And while details remain scant, Twilio told TechCrunch that Amazon’s SNS will “leverage the benefits of Twilio’s Super Network.”

“Amazon Web Services truly embodies the spirit of iteration upon which Twilio was built,” Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson said. “With this latest collaboration, we’re strengthening the communications ecosystem with scalable, efficient tools that ensure the best option for delivering a message is available.” AWS VP for Mobile and IoT Marco Argenti pointed to the importance of “efficient, scalable technology solutions” that help developers build great apps instead of simply “managing infrastructure.” He added that the two companies would “continue to work together to help empower developers to communicate with their users seamlessly across devices.”

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Marc Boroditsky, VP and GM of authentication at Twilio, demonstrated Authy OneTouch authentication at FinovateFall 2015 in New York.

This week’s announcement represents a continuation of Twilio’s relationship with Amazon and Amazon Web Services. Twilio has long used AWS to host its platform, and Amazon was one of the investors in Twilio’s $130 million Series E round last summer. Moreover, the news comes just days after Twilio’s successful initial public offering which saw its stock climb by more than 90% on its first day of trading last Thursday. Twilio trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TWLO and closed at $28.79 on its opening day after being initially priced at $15 per share. Twilio’s market capitalization is $2.8 billion.

A specialist in cloud communications, Twilio’s technology enables developers to add voice, messaging, and video functionality to their mobile apps and web sites. Twilio demonstrated Authy One Touch at FinovateFall 2015, and presented its technology at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco later that year. The cloud communications company was founded in 2008, is headquartered in San Francisco, and has offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Germany, Estonia, and Columbia. Last month, Twilio was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for 2016 for its third consecutive year. Read more about the company’s Authy division in our Finovate Debuts feature from earlier this year.

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • MaxMyInterest Celebrates Third Anniversary with Support for TD Bank
  • Twilio to Help Amazon Web Services Deliver SMS Messages

Around the web

  • Trustly processed 14 million transactions in 2015 worth €1.7 billion.
  • efinancialcareers profiles Jonathan Larkin, Quantopian‘s new CIO.
  • Forbes looks at how Intuit QuickBooks is hiring app developers to help it improve the user experience.
  • Tinkoff Bank joins Russian payment-processing companies to form blockchain consortium.
  • Swiss Finance Startups features Qumram as its startup of the month.

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.

CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr Alum, Entersekt

CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr Alum, Entersekt

CREALOGIX_homepage_July2016

CREALOGIX will deploy an authentication solution based on Entersekt’s Transakt. The technology creates an end-to-end, out-of-band channel between the users’ mobile device and the financial institution’s back-end systems to enable transmission of digital signature certificates and other communication between FIs and their customers.

Speaking to the concerns over the authentication challenges with mobile payments, CREALOGIX CEO Thomas Avedik emphasized how important it is for banks to find “a method that is extremely safe, cost-efficient and that is also helping them to offer unrivalled customer experience.” He said Entersekt’s technology would play a role in helping build the “bank of the future.”

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Entersekt CEO Schalk Nolte pointed to interest in his company’s technology from FIs in regions ranging from Africa to Europe. He called CREALOGIX, which is headquartered in Switzerland and has offices in Germany, the U.K., and Singapore, “a strong business partner that understands how strong two-factor authentication helps the industry to protect digital transactions.” Entersekt’s Transakt SDK enables FIs to integrate the company’s multifactor-authentication technology into their mobile apps. (FIs can use an off-the shelf Transaskt mobile app for faster rollout, if needed.) The technology generates a unique device ID, which provides a nonrepudiable record of customer responses, protects against “man in the middle” attacks with public key-pinning, and uses an encrypted channel to enable both out-of-band authentication, as well as to better defend against brute force and malware attacks.

CREALOGIX was founded in 1996 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland. The company demonstrated its digital banking/ API layer at FinovateEurope 2016, shortly after announcing a new digital banking partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise. CREALOGIX raised $25.4 million in new funding last fall (CHF 25 million) in a convertible bond offering, the largest fintech fundraising in Switzerland in 2015.

Interviewed in April by CNBC Africa, and featured this June in Disrupt Africa, Entersekt presented its technology at the inaugural FinDEVr developers conference in San Francisco in 2014. The South Africa-based company discussed “Securing Mobile Applications through Transport Layer Diversity” in a presentation from Entersekt CTO Christiaan Brand. Brand explained the problem of some of the more common authentication strategies, such as SMP one-time passwords, showing how multifactor, out-of-band authentication processes—such as Transakt—are superior. Among other FIs that have adopted the technology are FirstBank, which announced in February that it would deploy Entersekt’s Transakt multifactor-authentication technology, and Equity Bank, which reported in January that it had chosen both Transakt and Interakt to improve the security of its online banking, mobile banking, and payments products.

Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Xpenditure_homepage_June2016

Near the top of the list of expense reporting and reimbursement headaches for international travelers is the value-added tax, or VAT. And courtesy of a new partnership with Luxembourg’s VAT IT, Belgian expense-management solution-provider Xpenditure is here to help.

“Our mission is still to kill the monthly expense report,” says Xpenditure CEO Boris Bogaert, “and this partnership is an important next step in achieving that.”

Xpenditure_stage_FEU2016

(Left to right): Chief Product Officer Koen Christiaens and CCO Wim Derkinderen demoed the Xpenditure platform at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

The new partnership with VAT IT will make it easier for Xpenditure users to reclaim VAT on international and domestic travel expenses, as well as services from international suppliers. For businesses with employees who work and spend internationally, the automated process helps reduce costs and errors. Users scan their receipts with their mobile device and get their expenses approved in real time. VAT IT’s proprietary, cloud-based technology extracts the necessary data from your accounting system and calculates VAT savings, minus a small-percentage transaction-fee. A specialist in cross-border VAT and tax recovery, VAT IT has more than 8,000 clients in 100 countries. In addition to Xpenditure, VAT IT has partnerships with Finovate alums Concur and Mastercard.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium, Xpenditure demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2016. The company has raised more than $9 million in funding, with its most recent investment a $5.7 million Series A in the fall of 2015. Xpenditure board member Jonas Dhaenens was named ICT Personality of the Year by Data News in May and, in April, the company was honored at the 2016 European Fintech Awards.

Check out our FinovateEurope Sneak Peek on Xpenditure for more.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: BaseVenture’s Command Center for Fund Managers & Administrators
  • Temenos to Power Wealth Management Solution for Standard Chartered
  • CREALOGIX Adds Authentication Technology from South African FinDEVr alum, Entersekt
  • Get Your VAT Back: Xpenditure to Help Reclaim International VAT Refunds

Around the web

  • Swiss financial services firm bob Finance to deploy Netverify from Jumio.
  • IBM partners with Credit Mutuel Arkea on blockchain KYC project.
  • Urban FT joins the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI).

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.

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BizFi Lands $20 Million from Metropolitan Equity

On FinDEVr.com

  • Quovo Teams Up with Totum Wealth to Improve Client Account Aggregation for Wealth Managers

Around the web

  • Markit chooses corporate events data from Wall Street Horizon for its research, analysis, and news interface, Markit Hub.
  • IBM joins The Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s leading trade association for the digital asset and blockchain industry.
  • Jack Henry & Associates introduces the ProfitStars Financial Performance suite.
  • Mid-sized European medical device maker agrees to deploy eFLOW AP from Top Image Systems.
  • Digital Insight teams up with PSCU to launch Card Management Services for Digital Banking.
  • Alliance Credit Union ($395 million ) selects Insuritas to open and manage its turnkey insurance agency.

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.

From CEO to Deputy Mayor, Xendpay’s Rajesh Agrawal Heads to City Hall

From CEO to Deputy Mayor, Xendpay’s Rajesh Agrawal Heads to City Hall

Xendpay_homepage_June2016

The new mayor of London isn’t just pro-business. He’s pro-fintech, as well.

To help his city manage the financial ramifications of the vote this week for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, has appointed Xendpay founder and CEO Rajesh Agrawal as deputy mayor.

“I know that Rajesh is the best person for the job of protecting jobs and growth in London as we deal with the fallout of the referendum,” Khan said. The mayor credited Agrawal’s experience in creating “multi-million pound businesses from scratch” as giving the fintech entrepreneur insight into the challenges businesses face in the United Kingdom.

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Xendpay founder and CEO Rajesh Agrawal demonstrated his online money-transfer technology at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Agrawal, who in 2012 founded international money-transfer specialist Xendpay and served as Khan’s business adviser during the mayoral campaign, added that the sense of welcome he experienced as an immigrant to the UK must be maintained even as the country’s relationship with Europe changes. “(I) found a city that welcomed me with open arms and didn’t make me feel like a stranger,” Agrawal said. “This openness to talent and enterprise must not change as a result of the referendum.”

Xendpay’s online money-transfer service allows people to send money either to bank accounts, or to the company’s partnering network of cash-collection points. Geared toward international travelers of all kinds—from tourists to students to migrant workers, and available in English, Spanish, German, French, and Polish—Xendpay offers both cash-to-cash as well as more traditional card-to-bank transfers. All payments are covered by the FSA authorization of RationalFX, the foreign-exchange services firm Agrawal founded in 2005.

Agrawal demonstrated the Xendpay platform at FinovateEurope 2013. Earlier this year, the company announced that its money-transfer service was available in Tanzania and Burkina Faso.

 

 

 

Fenergo Adds Enhanced Rules, Remediation to its CRS Compliance Solution

Fenergo Adds Enhanced Rules, Remediation to its CRS Compliance Solution

Fenergo_homepage_June2016

Client Lifecycle Management solution provider Fenergo is boosting the capabilities of its Tax Compliance suite. The enhanced version of the company’s CRS Compliance Solution is geared toward improving tax-regulation compliance through improvements to the Three Rs: Rules, Remediation, and Reporting.

“Where FATCA was the game changer in tax compliance, the Common Reporting Standard promises to go way beyond FATCA’s remit to ensure global-wide tax compliance,” said Laura Glynn, Fenergo’s global manager for regulatory affairs. This challenge has guided the improvements made to Fenergo’s technology, providing a rules-based process to identify and conduct due diligence on reportable clients and accounts. This process also includes the data-capture and -classification requirements for both CRS and FATCA.

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Fenergo CEO Marc Murphy demonstrated Deal Manager at FinovateEurope 2012 in London.

Glynn highlighted the complexity of the issue for financial institutions in areas such as Asia in particular, which often have to meet the compliance standards of more than 40 different regional regulators. It is also especially relevant for Fenergo, which announced an expansion to Singapore in February. “This is a huge operational undertaking forcing financial institutions to be able to manage each of the rules from every jurisdiction,” Glynn said. Fenergo has not only upgraded its Regulatory Rules Engine, but also enhanced the functionality of its Remediation Master Case Management and Workflow. The streamlined simplification and improved visibility will make it easier for financial professionals to track remediation cases and subcases. The company says that the platform is already being implemented with clients.

Read more about Fenergo’s work on remediation and reporting in the company’s white paper.

Recent headlines for Fenergo include the company’s move into the Middle East market in May, opening an office in Abu Dhabi. ICBC Standard Bank choose Fenergo’s client lifecycle management platform in April. And Kikko Securities America announced in March that it would deploy the company’s AML, KYC, FATCA technology.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Fenergo demonstrated its Deal Manager solution at FinovateSpring 2012. Fenergo has raised more than $80 million in funding; its most recent is a $75 million private equity infusion in July 2015 from Insight Venture Partners. The company was recognized in the European Fintech 100 in April 2016, the same month that FinTechCity featured Fenergo in its FinTech50 2016 list of the hottest fintechs in Europe.