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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Fintech giant FIS announced that it will sell a majority stake in Worldpay to private equity firm GTCR.
The move comes just over four years after FIS acquired Worldpay in a deal valued at $43 billion.
The transaction is the largest to date for GTCR and the biggest leveraged buyout of 2023.
Four years after acquiring payments company Worldpay, fintech titan FIS has announced plans to sell a majority stake in the firm. Private equity company GTCR is the purchaser, and will gain 55% of Worldpay, which is currently valued at $18.5 billion. Note that when FIS acquired the company in 2019, Worldpay was valued at $43 billion.
The sale is expected to close by the first quarter of 2023. Former Worldpay CEO Charles Drucker will be re-appointed as Chief Executive.
The transaction is the largest to date for the PE firm. The deal is also the largest leveraged buyout of the year. GTCR will finance half of the transaction with equity financing and the other half via borrowed capital. GTCR also has committed to an additional investment of as much as $1.25 billion in Worldpay to facilitate future acquisitions. According to Reuters, GTCR was able to outbid Advent International, a rival firm that was also interested in a major stake in Worldpay.
FIS will use the capital raised from the sale to retire debt and buy back shares from its current shareholders. The sale comes after months of strategic review and pressure from activist investors concerned with what they have referred to as “underinvestment,” “operational missteps,” and an overall “unsuccessful integration” of Worldpay into FIS. The acquisition will help Worldpay reduce its debt from $20 billion at the end of March to $10 billion when the deal closes next year. The strategic review, led by FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris, is designed to help the firm cut costs by $1.25 billion.
Sans Worldpay, FIS will continue to operate its core processing systems business for banks and FIs, as well as its capital markets division for investment firms. FIS’ capital markets business represents just under 25% of the company’s revenues. The company’s banking technology division provides 46% of revenues and its merchants business accounts representing approximately 30%.
Founded in 1968, FIS has been a Finovate alum since 2010. Worldpay is an alum of our developers conference, presenting its technology to FinDEVr audiences in 2015 and again in 2016.
The road to recovery for crypto may be long. And making meaningful headway may require more than a few instances of taking one step back in order to take two steps forward.
Case in point is the latest hurdle faced by BlackRock as the company seeks to launch a spot bitcoin ETF. On Monday, we learned that the Nasdaq refiled the ETF application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the regulator highlighted a number of concerns with regard to the original petition. Among the chief concerns was the fact that the Nasdaq did not indicate which crypto trading platforms would participate in “surveillance-sharing” to help combat fraud in the underlying bitcoin markets.
BlackRock was not the only asset manager to hit this regulatory snag en route to the launch of its bitcoin ETF. The SEC also criticized filings from the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) with regards to a handful of bitcoin ETF petitions from the likes of Fidelity, WisdomTree, VanEck, and a joint project from Invesco and Galaxy – based on similar grounds.
The beneficiary of this hiccup, ironically, appears to be Coinbase, the SEC’s crypto bête noire. In response to the regulator’s concerns, both the Nasdaq and the CBOE indicated in their refilings that they would rely on Coinbase to serve as their “surveillance-sharing” partner. This move both answers one of the primary regulatory concerns vis-a-vis bitcoin ETFs and puts the cryptocurrency innovator back at the center of crypto’s comeback – all this despite the SEC’s antagonistic attitude toward the fintech it filed a lawsuit against in June.
Revolut announced this week that its customers in the U.S. will no longer be able to trade three tokens – Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polygon (MATIC). The decision stems from the SEC’s categorization of the three tokens as unregistered securities and the subsequent move by Revolut’s provider, digital asset platform Bakkt, to delist the assets. The delisting will be effective as of September 18th.
Revolut is not the only platform to announced an end to the availability of these tokens for U.S. crypto traders and investors. Both Robinhood and eToro also have either delisted or restricted access to SOL, ADA, and MATIC for U.S. customers. In the case of eToro, tokens such as Algorand (ALGO), Decentraland (MANA), Filecoin (FIL), and Sandbox (SAND) have also been made off-limits for U.S. customers.
Holders of SOL, ADA, and/or MATIC outside the jurisdiction of the SEC will continue to have access to the tokens.
Speaking of “outside the jurisdiction of the SEC,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced a new set of guidelines designed to help cryptocurrency companies separate customer crypto assets from their own. The new rules insist that digital asset companies that are licensed in Singapore separate customer crypto assets from their own, as well as maintain a separate set of blockchain addresses for customer assets. Companies in the digital payment token business additionally will be required to do daily reconciliation of customers’ digital assets, and maintain accurate records of those assets, as well as access and operational control of customer’s DPTs in Singapore.
The move comes as regulators have become increasingly concerned that cryptocurrency firms have not done enough to “ring-fence” customer crypto assets and keep them segregated from company assets. This problem can be especially acute in the event that a cryptocurrency firm becomes insolvent, making it harder to recover customer funds. The new regulations require cryptocurrency firms to hold customer crypto in trust – though the relative lack of independent, third-party custodians has forced the MAS to offer crypto firms some leniency when it comes to relying on independent custodians at this time. To this end, firms are only required to ensure that crypto custody functions are independent from the firms’ other business operations and divisions.
The new regulations are expected to come online later this year.
A study from Juniper Research from earlier this year indicated that the value of all payment transactions made via stablecoins will top $187 billion by 2028. This represents nearly a 3x gain from 2023 levels. The report, titled CBDCs & Stablecoins: Key Opportunities, Regional Analysis & Market Forecasts 2023-2030, notes the growing use of stablecoins in cross-border transactions, the benefits in terms of speed and traceability that stablecoins offer relative to existing, cross-border rails, and the nature of the competition between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that derive their value from a given fiat currency or commodity. CBDCs are actual digital currencies issued by central banks.
What will it take for stablecoins to reach the transaction levels suggested in the Juniper Research study? Report author Nick Maynard underscored the role of payment platforms and money transfer operators in supporting broader adoption of these digital assets.
“Stablecoins have vast potential to unlock the flow of money across borders, but payment platforms need to roll out acceptance strategies for this to progress,” Maynard observed. “MTOs (Money Transfer Operators) can leverage stablecoins in a wholesale manner, but this will need networks to be built across wide geographic footprints.”
Our last 5 Tales from the Crypto column looked at reasons why the so-called “crypto winter” could see a thaw sooner than many observers think. In a recent column, fintech thought leader and author Chris Skinner shared his thoughts on the resurgent mainstream interest in digital assets.
“Something has changed,” Skinner wrote this week at The Finanser, “and maybe the biggest change is that treasury managers want to use cryptocurrencies. If the customer wants it, then the big banks have to service it and there’s the rub. The big banks have stirred and incorporated digital assets, and specifically cryptocurrencies, into their remit.”
Skinner cited an article at Decrypt.co – Wall Street is coming for crypto, whether early believers like it or not – as well as a June report from S&P Global Ratings titled How DeFi’s Operational Risks Could Influence Credit Quality, that have contributed to his thinking on the topic of late.
“You know that cryptocurrencies are going mainstream when Standard and Poor’s (S&P) start to rate them,” Skinner noted. “They don’t do that today, but they are moving that way.”
Check out the full conversation – as well as the Decrypt.co article and S&P Global Ratings report.
State Employees Credit Union (State ECU) has teamed up with digital banking solutions provider Apiture.
State ECU will leverage Apiture’s Digital Banking Platform to offer its members an enhanced online and mobile banking experience.
Wilmington, North Carolina-based Apiture made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall.
New Mexico-based State Employees Credit Union (State ECU) announced a partnership with digital banking solutions provider Apiture. The 65-year old financial institution will leverage the Apiture Digital Banking Platform to offer its members an enhanced online and mobile banking experience.
Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture offers technology that helps smaller banks and credit unions compete with their larger rivals – as well as launch their own digital-only brands. State ECU will take advantage of both Apiture’s Consumer Banking and Business Banking solutions, as well as the fintech’s Data Intelligence technology. This latter solution is designed to promote digital engagement with both consumers and businesses using highly personalized offers.
“By providing a modern, fully featured consumer and business banking experience, State ECU is poised to deepen member engagement and drive significant growth,” Apiture CEO Chris Babcock said.
Apiture made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2022. At the event, the company demoed an embedded finance solution that enabled users to conduct basic banking tasks from within third-party software. Whether the goal is to open an account, view balances, or transfer funds, Apiture’s embedded finance technology empowers customers without requiring them to visit their bank’s website. The technology gives financial institutions a new revenue stream, and provides customers with greater convenience and an enhanced user experience.
Apiture has more than 300 community and regional financial institution clients. The firm also has partnered with 200+ fintechs. Formed as a joint venture between First Data Corporation and Live Oak Bank in 2017, Apiture has earned recognition from Celent, Javelin, and Juniper for its small business and consumer banking solutions. The company’s API-first strategy gives smaller financial institutions extensive control over the UI, as well as the ability to create unique customer experiences via Apiture’s developer portal.
With more than $1 billion in assets, State ECU is New Mexico’s fifth largest credit union. Founded in 1958, State ECU boasts more than 52,000 members.
London-based open payments gateway Volt has raised $60 million in Series B funding.
IVP led the round, which featured participation from both new and existing investors.
Volt will use the capital to power its expansion into the Asia Pacific region, the Americas, and Australia later this year.
Volt, an open payments gateway based in London, has raised $60 million in Series B funding. IVP led the round, which also featured participation from CommerzVentures, EQT Ventures, Augmentum Fintech, and Fuel Ventures. The investment comes as the company announced plans for an expansion into the Asia Pacific region and the Americas.
The investment also takes Volt’s total equity funding to more than $87 million. New valuation information was not immediately available.
Founded in 2019, Volt currently operates in Europe, the U.K., and Brazil. The company connects more than 5,000 banks, bringing together a generation of account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure to a single point of access. Volt’s aggregation model offers a wide-ranging open payments reach and maximizes the speed, security, and resilience of transactions. Volt’s product suite includes Checkout, a unified ommichannel commerce experience; Circuit Breaker, a dedicated fraud prevention solution, Fuzebox, a real-time payments control center for notifications and reporting; Connect, a cash cycle management solution and real-time orchestration engine; Verify, an account ownership authentication tool; and Transformer, a solution to help consumers transition to account-to-account payments.
IVP Partner Angela Zhu praised Volt as “well positioned to redefine the future of payments on a global scale.” Zhu explained: “as over 70 countries, including the U.S., transition to RTP systems, merchants are experiencing the immense benefits of instant, secure, and cost-effective A2A payments.”
In addition to its expansion plans for Asia Pacific and the Americas, Volt is also planning to enter the Australian market later this year. The company will also use the new capital to build out its acceptance network and global reach, as well as enhance its product suite to include cash management. Volt also announced that it will “significantly” bolster its product and engineering teams.
“Testament to our progress and our vision for real-time payments everywhere, we’re thrilled to be working with our new partners at IVP, joining their portfolio of leading global brands” Volt CEO Tom Greenwood said. “We’re staying focused, and humble, as we embark on this next chapter.”
Financial advisor, author, and CNBC commentator Josh Brown raised a few eyebrows this week when he told viewers that he thought that cryptocurrencies were entering a new phase, a phase that could spell the end of the crypto winter.
“This week, I think, with all of these new developments, really forces you to look back and say, ‘What’s really going on here? Why are these people running into a burning building” Brown asked. He referred to the passion for cryptocurrencies as “unkillable.”
Is Brown right? Let’s take a look at the latest round of reasons why the so-called crypto winter could turn out to deliver a milder season than many suspect.
Bitcoin breaks $30k
Prices for the leading cryptocurrency have been in a bear market since at least the fall of 2021 – though cryptoholders have been experiencing more than a little investment indigestion since the spring of that year. And while BTC has much more to go before it nears its old highs north of $60,000, the cryptocurrency has been on a tear since putting in a low in November 2022 just under $18,000. As of June 21st – the longest day of the year – BTC is up more than 90% from its November low. Ethereum, the other most-widely traded cryptocurrency has also performed well in 2023: ETC is up more than 56% year to date.
Many observers are pointing out that much of the velocity of the moves in these leading cryptocurrencies is due to traders who are now covering their earlier – profitable – bets against the assets. Nevertheless, market turnarounds are often initiated not by new participants coming off the sidelines, but by those already in the game deciding to change direction. And sometimes that’s all a new bull market needs to get going.
The news that some of the heaviest hitters in the exchange-traded fund business have expressed interest in bringing BTC to the ETF party is as strong an indication as any that crypto’s fortunes in the near-term may be brightening.
Last week we learned that BlackRock, a major, $9 trillion asset manager, is seeking to launch a spot bitcoin ETF – the iShares Bitcoin Trust – and has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to do so. Investment management firm Invesco – which previously sought to launch a bitcoin futures ETF in 2021 but was beat to the market by ProShares – is back for a second bite of the apple. The company has teamed up with Galaxy Digital to apply for a spot bitcoin ETF – the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF. And lastly, WisdomTree has applied for approval to launch its WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust on the CBOE BZX Exchange.
The stated objectives for the funds vary. WisdomTree highlighted the value of providing investors with exposure to the price of Bitcoin in traditional investment accounts. Invesco and BlackRock both noted that a Bitcoin ETF would serve as a safer alternative for would-be investors leery of cryptocurrency brokerages and exchanges in the wake of the FTX and related crypto-scandals.
New crypto exchange EDX launches
The launch of a new crypto exchange may not seem like big news. But given the pessimism surrounding the industry (“crypto winter” anyone?), it is especially noteworthy that entrepreneurs in the crypto space continue to forge ahead.
New Jersey-based EDX Markets launched its digital asset market this week. The digital asset marketplace provides investors with a trusted, efficient, and liquidy cryptocurrency trading environment. EDX offers competitive quotes and a non-custodial model designed to manage potential conflicts of interest. The company also provides a retail-only quote for crypto, enabling investors and traders to take advantage of better pricing for retail-originated orders. Participants can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash on the platform.
The launch of EDX comes as the company secures new funding and additional strategic investors. The amount of the funding was not disclosed. The company did say that the capital will help EDX further develop its trading platform.
“We are committed to bringing the best of traditional finance to cryptocurrency markets, with an infrastructure built by market experts to embed key institutional best practices,” EDX CEO Jamil Nazarali said.
Deustche Bank applies for digital asset custody license in Germany
It’s no secret that cryptocurrencies are feeling more love outside the United States than they are inside the country. Another example of this comes from Germany as we learn this week that Deutsche Bank is seeking a digital asset license. The goal of the country’s largest bank is to leverage digital assets to expand its revenue streams, according to reporting in Bloomberg.
Apparently, Deutsche Bank’s announcement is the latest in a series of slow, cautious steps toward embracing digital assets. The firm’s corporate banking division has been considering digital asset-related services as an option for the past few years. But no firm timeline had ever been offered. This week, we have a destination, if not an itinerary. The head of the bank’s commercial banking unit David Lynne confirmed that the financial institution is building a “digital assets and custody business” and has applied to Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in order to receive license to do so.
American crackdown: darkest before dawn?
It may be overly contrarian to suggest that some of the worst news for crypto’s present in recent weeks and months might also be some of the best news from crypto’s future. Many crypto backers lament the SEC’s aggressive policing of Coinbase and the growing share of crypto that is just Bitcoin. But it is possible that this is just the long, arduous process toward eventual regulation. This may mean, at least initially, a time for better, fewer digital assets and better, fewer crypto-related businesses. And while other regions than the U.S. are presently showing more enthusiasm and support for crypto, as with other financial innovations like open banking and instant payments, I’m convinced that once crypto does finally get moving again, the U.S., in its own way, will not hesitate to climb on board.
Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone has inked a strategic partnership with Star One Credit Union.
Tyfone will help Star One CU implement its instant payments solution.
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Tyfone made its Finovate debut in 2008.
Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone has forged a strategic partnership with Silicon Valley-based Star One Credit Union. Tyfone, a Finovate alum since 2008, will help the FedNow certified-credit union implement its new, instant payments solution.
“Today’s consumers and businesses not only want quick, simple, and instant ways to facilitate payments, but they expect a unified, consistent user experience,” Tyfone CEO Dr. Siva Narendra said. “Our partnership with Star One Credit Union allows us to build a solution that aligns with financial institutions’ unique needs and ensures greater accessibility. Our goal is to help scale this service and unlock the tremendous potential instant payments offers financial institutions and account holders.”
Tyfone’s technology helps financial institutions regardless of size connect directly to the FedNow Service for credit transfer send and receive message sets. The new solution developed by Star One Credit Union, in partnership with Tyfone, will integrate the core processing systems of FIs and leverage Tyfone’s open APIs to enable connectivity to payment originators and digital banking providers. The solution, combined with participation in the FedNow Service, will empower account holders to send and receive payments any time, any where, and have full and immediate access to transferred funds.
“Together with Tyfone, we are advancing instant payments adoption in the United States and helping to fulfill the end-to-end instant payment ecosystem,” Star One Credit Union VP of Remote Services Minai Gupta said. “We look forward to working with Tyfone’s team to create a solution for financial institutions of all sizes, regardless of what payment providers or digital banking platform they use.”
To date, more than 100 community financial institutions in the U.S. have adopted Tyfone’s platform and technology. For its part, Star One Credit Union is one of the largest FIs in Silicon Valley with more than 123,000 members. Launched more than 60 years ago, Star One CU today has assets of more than $10.2 billion. The financial institution offers membership to employees of some of Silicon Valley’s most notable companies such as Lockheed Martin and Juniper Networks.
Founded in 2004, Tyfone made its Finovate debut in 2008. This April, the company announced a “significant investment” from Demopolis Equity Partners and a merger with digital banking provider Cubus Solutions. In a statement, Tyfone’s Narendra discussed the transaction in the context of enabling financial institutions of different sizes to provide their customers with equally compelling digital experiences.
“Today success in digital banking – in fact, success in any financial technology – is all about engaged digital experiences and the ability to scale,” Narendra said. “That means scaling up to power digital growth for larger institutions and scaling down to facilitate the smaller one stay relevant.”
Payment consultancy and technology provider Icon Solutions announced a strategic partnership with Virtusa Corporation.
The partnership combines Virtusa’s payments implementation expertise with Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF).
Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017.
U.K.-based Icon Solutions announced a strategic partnership with data strategy, data engineering, and IT services and solutions provider Virtusa Corporation. The collaboration will bring Virtusa’s payments implementation expertise to Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF).
The goal of the partnership is to create an ecosystem in which banks and other financial institutions can achieve their payment transformation objectives. Icon’s IPF offers a low-code, cloud-native, open-source framework that empowers FIs to build their own payment processing solutions. IPF’s software development kit and optional modules give financial institutions the ability to take advantage of Icon’s payment strategy and architecture without the danger of being “locked-in” to a given vendor’s technology.
“Icon is committed to empowering banks to regain control of their payments and transform with confidence,” Icon Solutions Sales Director Liam Jeffs said. “With Virtusa, we are expanding our partner network to provide even more rich, collaborative opportunities to equip global banks with unique infrastructure that both streamlines their payments processing capabilities and helps them grow revenue streams.”
Founded in 2009, Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateEurope. At the conference, the company showed how its technology helped institutions in the U.K. adopt and deploy instant payments. Via its IPF platform and its team of advisors, Icon Solutions enabled financial institutions that did not have the budgets and platforms of their larger rivals to successfully upgrade their payments technology and transition to instant payments.
Since then, the company has grown 20% year-on-year. The firm also has partnered with financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, and HSBC. Tier 1 banks around the world use Icon Solutions’ IPF to accelerate their payment transformations and introduce instant payments to their customers.
Last month, Icon Solutions appointed Donal Fleming as its new Chief Technology Officer. Fleming brings more than 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry to the company. He previously served as CTO for Credit Benchmark and payments company Modulr.
Virtusa was founded in 1996. The company serves businesses in life sciences and health care, as well as in banking and financial services. Virtusa has more than 220 clients, and operates in more than 25 countries. Baring Private Equity Asia acquired the Massachusetts-based firm in 2020 in an all-cash deal valued at $2 billion. Virtusa co-founder Kris Canekeratne is Chairman and CEO.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news from Colombia.
The largest Spanish-speaking country in South America, Colombia is located in the northwest corner of the continent. With a population of more than 52 million, Colombia has the third largest economy in South America and the fourth largest in Latin America. More than 11 million people live in the country’s capital city of Bogota.
Earlier this year, the Colombian government indicated its support for open banking and open finance. Specifically, the government included the establishment of an open banking scheme as part of its National Development Plan. The fact that the current government endorsed an initiative that began with the previous administration was seen as an especially constructive sign for the future of open banking and open finance in Colombia.
One way to keep up with fintech news from Colombia is via Colombia Fintech. With information in both Spanish and English, Colombia Fintech is an association of fintech companies based in Colombia. The association provides news on Colombian fintechs, updates on relevant developments on the government and regulatory front, as well as opportunities for networking. Colombia Fintech counts more than 240 members in its community. The association was formed in 2016.
As for recent Colombian fintech news, Bogota-based payments and data security company Intexusannounced a partnership with security software company Entrust this week. Intexus will use Entrust’s digital card and instant issuance technology to support its card-as-a-service solution. The partnership is designed to enable banks and credit unions in Latin America to benefit from a unified payment card program.
“We have long been in the digital era and today’s consumers are accustomed to having resources at their fingertips instantaneously,” Intexus CEO David Rojas said. “Our partnership with Entrust allows us to simplify payment enablement for our bank and credit union customers throughout Latin America so they can focus on building relationships with their cardholders and members.”
Intexus serves clients in eight Latin American countries and issues more than 100,000 cards a month. The company was founded in 1997. Entrust provides solutions to help businesses offer trusted experiences for identity, payments, and data. Founded in 1969, the company has been a Finovate alum since 2015 when it presented its technology as part of our developers conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley.
Speaking of partnerships between Finovate alums and Colombian financial interests, we also learned this week that Ripple has entered into a new collaboration with the country’s central bank. As reported in CoinDesk, Banco de la República will test the effectiveness of Ripple’s CBDC platform to enhance Colombia’s high-value payments system. The pilot is being conducted in partnership with the country’s Ministry for the Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC). Spanish blockchain company Peersyst Technology is also participating.
The goal of the project is to demonstrate the platform’s ability to improve the speed and reduce costs for large scale, wholesale payments, RTGS systems and similar operations, Joe Vollono, a director of CBDC business development at Ripple indicated. The project is scheduled to continue through the end of the year, and is being conducted in a controlled environment without compromising public resources.
As noted in The Paypers coverage of the announcement, Ripple previously partnered with Colombia last year to put land titles on the blockchain as part of a land redistribution program. Peersyst Technology was also a part of this initiative to permanently store and authenticate property titles on Ripple’s public blockchain.
Founded in 2012, Ripple made its Finovate debut as OpenCoin at FinovateSpring the following year. Rebranded as Ripple in 2015, the company has since grown into an innovative payment protocol and exchange network. Use cases of the company’s technology range from cross-border payments to crypto liquidity to CBDCs. Ripple’s customers include Novatti, Modulr, and Siam Commercial Bank. Chris Larsen is CEO.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
What is the role of Generative AI in financial services? It seems as if every week another fintech or financial services company is announcing that it is integrating ChatGPT – among the most popular Generative AI applications – into its products. This week alone Avalara announced that it is launching a sales tax calculator plugin for ChatGPT, and cryptocurrency exchange Bybit reported that it is integrating ChatGPT into its trading tools.
As part of our Streamly Future of Finance Series, we asked Rocio Wu, Principal at F-Prime Capital and a recent speaker at FinovateSpring, for her thoughts on the role of Generative AI in financial services. What unique services will Generative AI make possible? Are banks ready to take advantage of what Generative AI has to offer? And what are the ethical concerns about the use of Generative AI in financial services? Wu discusses all this and more in her Streamly Future of Finance Q&A: “The three main categories of Generative AI innovation in financial services.”
Canadian wealth-as-a-service platform OneVest raised $12.8 million (CAD $17 million) in Series A funding this week.
The company’s technology provides financial institutions with a modular, scalable solution that enables them to launch new wealth management services in weeks.
The funding takes OneVest’s total capital raised to $18 million (CAD $24 million).
OneVest, a wealth-as-a-service platform for financial institutions, raised $12.8 million (CAD $17 million) in Series A funding this week. The investment takes the Calgary, Canada-based company’s total capital raised to $18 million (CAD $24 million). OneVest will use the funding to accelerate growth and expand into the U.S. market. The capital will also enable the company to add to its team in multiple areas, including enterprise sales, business operations, product, and engineering.
OMERS Ventures led the round. Existing investors Luge Capital, Panache Ventures, AAF Management, and FJ Labs participated, as well. The Series A also featured new investors Fin Capital, Pivot Investment Partners, and Deloitte Ventures.
“We’ve built OneVest as a durable, highly scalable platform that can shape the future of wealth management,” OneVest co-founder and CEO Amar Ahluwalia explained. He underscored the challenge of delivering “exceptional” financial experiences while meeting the expectations of customers, financial advisors, and regulators alike. “The ability to implement a modern service with all the required compliance requirements built in, is compelling,” Ahluwalia said.
Financial institutions can integrate and configure the different components of the platform based on the needs of their customers. The solution provides intuitive interfaces for investors and advisors, data aggregation, a reliable book of record, and a comprehensive portfolio management engine. Institutions can leverage the platform to automate and streamline administrative and middle office operations, as well. The technology is designed to enable banks and other FIs to launch customized, wealth management offerings in weeks, rather than years.
Ahluwalia, Jakob Pizzera (COO), and Nathan Di Lucca (CTO) founded OneVest in 2021. The company provides solutions for fintechs, banks and credit unions, wealth managers, insurance companies, dealers and custodians, and asset managers.
Identity verification innovator Sumsub introduced a new full-cycle identity verification solution this week.
The new offering addresses new trends in identity verification – including the rise of deepfakes and synthetic fraud.
Headquartered in London, Sumsub made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
Identity verification specialist Sumsublaunched a new full-cycle identity verification solution this week. The new offering, according to company co-founder and CEO, Andrew Sever, is designed to address accelerating fraud threats. This includes what Sever indicated was “an alarming 70% of fraud activity” taking place after the KYC stage.
Broadly speaking, the new platform is a response to four trends in identity verification: the increase in global fraud, the trend toward non-document verification and digital IDs, tightening regulations in a number of industries, and the democratization of AI technology and innovation. This latter development has created a new challenge in the form of deepfakes and synthetic fraud.
Sumsub’s new offering combines user and business verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, and case management solutions into a single, unified dashboard. The technology enables users to orchestrate identity verification flows and offers unlimited customization. The AI-enabled platform monitors and analyzes data at every stage to identify potentially suspicious behavior.
“The new platform is the unique solution to an equation with three variables, conversion, anti-fraud, and compliance, many leaders in the verification industry struggled to solve until today,” Sumsub co-founder and CTO Vyacheslav Zholudev explained. Zholudev noted that Sumsub provides the highest pass rates across emerging and developed countries, and is among the few providers to openly share conversion rates. “It’s crucial that Sumsub breaks down borders for businesses by bringing top-notch customer experiences customized to different jurisdictions.”
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, SumSub stands for “Sum & Substance.” The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin, Germany. At the conference, the company demoed its KYC/AML checks and risk management toolkit. The toolkit helps business convert more customers, verify more customers faster, lower costs, and identify fraud.
SumSub prevents more than 50,000 fraud attempts every month, covering 220+ countries and territories. The company raised $30 million in Series B funding in December of last year. The round was led by Flint Capital.
Payments infrastructure company Astra and identity risk management innovator Alloy announced a new partnership this week.
The partnership will combine Astra’s advanced payment transfer technology with Alloy’s identity decisioning platform.
New York-based Alloy introduced itself to Finovate audiences at FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2016.
A newly announced partnership combines identity risk management and advanced payment transfer technology to both streamline onboarding and give businesses new ways to send money to their customers.
Faster payments infrastructure company Astra and identity risk management innovator Alloy shared news of their collaboration today. The two companies will work together to streamline the onboarding process and give customers the ability to deploy Astra’s advanced payment transfer technology in their products.
“With Alloy’s identity risk solutions, businesses can confidently onboard verified customers,” Astra co-founder and CEO Gil Akos said. “Paired with Astra’s best-in-class payment technology, more product owners and consumers can leverage accelerated settlement of funds.”
Astra’s platform helps businesses create and offer debit transfers and Visa Direct payments. Partnering with Alloy will make it easier for businesses to quickly and securely onboard new customers and begin offering debit transfer services, Alloy VP of Strategic Alliances Brian Bender explained, “without taking on additional risk.”
Founded in 2015, Alloy introduced itself to Finovate audiences a year later at FinDEVr SiliconValley. The company’s automated identity decisioning platform provides access to 120+ data sources to enable companies to create automated workflows that verify customer information. The platform monitors transactions among accounts and flags suspicious behavior for further review. The technology also enhances the credit underwriting process, helping businesses make better credit decisions as well as accurate identity and customer information assessments.
Today, Alloy’s platform processes nearly one million identity decisions every day. The company also counts nearly 500 banks and fintechs as its customers. This spring, Alloy teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Kyckr to streamline KYB checks for companies operating outside the United States. In February, the company announced a partnership with loan origination solution provider Baker Hill – also a Finovate alum.
Alloy has raised more than $207 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The New York-based firm includes Lightspeed Venture Partners and Avenir Growth Capital among its most recent investors.
