Author: David Penn

Lloyds Banking, Legal & General Take Minority Stake in Open Data Innovator Moneyhub

Lloyds Banking, Legal & General Take Minority Stake in Open Data Innovator Moneyhub
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Moneyhub
  • Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group have invested $40 million (£35 million) in open data and payments platform Moneyhub.
  • Along with the equity capital, Moneyhub received an additional $5.7 million (£5 million) debt facility courtesy of Shawbrook.
  • Moneyhub made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2015 in London. Samantha Seaton is CEO.

The $40 million (£35 million) in funding raised by open finance and payments platform Moneyhub will give minority stakes to investors Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group. The two backers will leverage their relationship with Moneyhub to enhance their own offerings with Moneyhub’s open data technology. At the same time, the capital, along with an additional $5.7 million (£5 million) debt facility courtesy of Shawbrook, will enable Moneyhub to speed development of its products in areas ranging from pensions and payments to affordability and Data-as-a-Service. The funding will also support Moneyhub’s plans to further international expansion.

“(The) new investment helps us signal a step change in the way the financial services industry thinks about Open Data and the possibilities it presents,” Moneyhub CEO Samantha Seaton said. “Understanding and utilizing customer transaction data for the benefit of the customer’s financial wellbeing not only helps businesses fulfill their Consumer Duty regulatory obligations, but also empowers them to create further opportunities.”

Moneyhub enables companies to transform data into personalized digital experiences and initiate payments. Offering both APIs and its customizable Open Data Platform, Moneyhub serves businesses in industries from pension companies and wealth managers to banks, lenders, and insurance companies. Moneyhub boasts seamless, single source connectivity to thousands of financial institutions in 37 countries, helping ensure its clients can build a comprehensive portrait of their customers’ financial needs, habits, and goals.

Moneyhub’s largest funding round to date, this week’s capital infusion is part of a larger fundraising effort and follows a 2021 investment of $18 million led by Peter Wood, founder of Direct Line and Esure. At the time, the funding was the largest secured by a female fintech CEO in Europe that year. Moneyhub currently has more than $63 million in capital raised, according to Crunchbase.

Moneyhub made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinovateEurope in London. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Bristol, the company also announced this week that it was teaming up with SME health and wellness care provider MorganAsh. The support services provider will use Moneyhub’s technology to access customer financial data to enhance their ability to provide real-time consumer vulnerability assessments. The partnership will also help MorganAsh fulfill its obligations for Consumer Duty, a requirement issued by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority in July that governs implementation of open finance/open data products.

“Consumer Duty and Open Finance herald a new era of customer-focused firms and financial resilience,” Moneyhub Business Development Director Vaughan Jenkins said. “Smart, forward-looking businesses will seize this moment and benefit from it.”

Photo by Laura Tancredi

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5 Tales from the Crypto: MoneyGram Partners with Coinme, Paxos Earns License in Singapore

5 Tales from the Crypto: MoneyGram Partners with Coinme, Paxos Earns License in Singapore
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Coinme, Cryptocurrency, MoneyGram

MoneyGram Lets U.S. Customers Go Crypto

MoneyGram is enabling its customers in (nearly all of) the U.S. to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies via their MoneyGram apps. Three cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) – are the digital assets available courtesy of the new service. MoneyGram expected to offer other cryptocurrencies in 2023.

“Cryptocurrencies are additive to everything we’re doing at MoneyGram,” Chairman and CEO Alex Holmes said. “From dollars to euros to yen and so on, MoneyGram enables instant access to over 120 currencies around the globe, and we see crypto and digital currencies as another input and output option.”

The new service is made possible thanks to MoneyGram’s partnership with licensed crypto exchange, crypto-as-a-service provider, and new Finovate alum Coinme. The company’s alliance with Coinme extends back to 2021, when the two firms teamed up to expand access to cryptocurrencies by establishing thousands of U.S. locations where consumers can use cash to buy and sell bitcoin.

Coinme demoed its crypto-as-a-service solution at FinovateSpring earlier this year. MoneyGram made a “strategic investment” in the Seattle, Washington-based company in January. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Revolut Enables Crypto Spending for Debit Card Holders

MoneyGram isn’t the only company busy making it easier for its customers to participate in the cryptocurrency market. Revolut debit card customers in both the U.K. and Switzerland will now be able to alternate between crypto and fiat purchases both online and offline.

“This year we have not only increased the number of cryptocurrencies available in the Revolut app to close to 100 tokens and launched Crypto Learn & Earn education courses enjoyed by millions of our customers,” Revolut crypto general manager Emil Urmanshin said. “Now we are making crypto even more mainstream by empowering people to use crypto-enabled cards to spend their tokens for everyday purchases.”

To enable the capability in the Revolut app, customers open the Cards section and select one of their existing physical or virtual cards. Customers then enter the card’s settings function and changes the setting from fiat to one of the nearly 100 supported cryptocurrencies. Once linked, a crypto-enabled card will process the transaction using the preferred digital asset. Revolut’s crypto-enabled cards will offer a 1% cashback on all purchases for a promotional period. Customers are also able to order a dedicated virtual or physical card specifically for crypto payments.

About That Blockchain … Lex Fridman Interviews Balaji Srinivasan

If you’re looking for something to listen to while on your drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco (and halfway back), then this 7+ hour discussion between Lex Fridman and former Coinbase CTO – and current angel investor – Balaji Srinivasan may be just what you’re looking for!

Failing that, skip ahead to 6:40:42 or so in this extended interview to listen to Srinivasan talk about the present and future of cryptocurrencies, AI, AR, and VR.

Blockchain Platform Paxos Gets Green Light in Singapore

Blockchain infrastructure platform Paxos secured a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore this week. The license will enable the company to offer digital payment token services to companies based in Singapore. The license – made possible courtesy of the Payment Services Act of 2019 – also makes Paxos the first U.S.-based blockchain infrastructure platform to earn regulatory approval in both New York and Singapore.

Paxos Asia CEO and co-founder Rich Teo underscored the company’s commitment to “innovating within regulatory frameworks”. Teo said, “We believe blockchain and digital assets will revolutionize finance for everyone around the world, but development of this technology must have clear oversight and consumer protections.”

Paxos offers tokenization, custody, trading, and settlement of digital assets. The company builds enterprise blockchain solutions for financial institutions such as PayPal, Nubank, and Bank of America. Paxos launched the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange, itBit, in 2012. The company issued the world’s first regulated stablecoin, PAX (now known as USDP) in 2018.

Eswatini’s Central Bank to Explore CBDCs

Did you know that the country formerly called Swaziland is now “Eswatini”? If not, then consider this news that the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) has teamed up with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to research development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), a twofer.

Located in southern Africa and bordered by Mozambique and South Africa, the Kingdom of Eswatini is one of a number of developing economies that has expressed interest in CBDCs in recent years. The country’s central bank inked an agreement with G+D this week that calls for research into the practicality of developing and implementing a CBDC in the country. The CBE will also explore the possibility of issuing digital Lilangeni to complement the country’s banknotes and coins, the dominant forms of payment among the nation of 1.2 million people.

The relationship between the bank and Munich, Germany-based G+D extends back to a time before cryptocurrencies were a significant part of the fintech conversation. G+D Currency Technology CEO Dr. Wolfram Seidemann highlighted the “long history of trusted collaboration” – of more than 40 years – between the Central Bank of Eswatini and Giesecke+Devrient. “The Kingdom of Eswatini is among the first African countries to take the step towards a retail CBDC and we are honored to support this journey towards digital public currency with our expertise,” Seidemann said.

Photo by Garrett Morrow

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U.S. Bank Unveils Embedded Payments Solution Courtesy of Microsoft Collaboration

U.S. Bank Unveils Embedded Payments Solution Courtesy of Microsoft Collaboration
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, US Bank
  • U.S. Bank launched a new suite of embedded payments solutions within Microsoft Dynamics 365.
  • The collaboration embeds U.S. Bank payment capabilities across Microsoft platforms.
  • U.S. Bank said it plans to embed additional payment capabilities within platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Power Platform.

U.S. Bank’s collaboration with Microsoft announced earlier this year has borne fruit: the bank has introduced a new suite of embedded payments solutions within Microsoft Dynamics 365. The integration embeds U.S. Bank payment capabilities across Microsoft platforms. It also makes U.S. Bank among the first financial institutions to take advantage of the opportunity of directly integrating into the popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) and finance solution.

Among the solutions available to businesses using Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the U.S. Bank AP Optimizer. Available directly from their business application, the technology gives treasury management teams the ability to automate invoice processing for both business and consumer payment disbursement within Microsoft Dynamics 365. This will facilitate automated accounts payable workflows, including matching and reconciliation.

“We are committed to meeting clients wherever they are in their digital journey, bringing payments to businesses in a way that’s instant, embedded and connected to the technology they use every day,” U.S. Bank vice chair and head of Payment Services Shailesh Kotwal said. “Our integration with Microsoft – which businesses rely on daily to serve their customers – opens new possibilities for U.S. Bank clients to improve efficiencies and enable faster payments.”

According to U.S. Bank, this week’s news is only the beginning. The bank announced that it has plans to embed additional payment tools within Microsoft platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Power Platform.

“Embedded payments can deliver powerful, new ways for businesses to streamline processes, enhance visibility, deliver better experiences, and reduce risk,” Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Worldwide Financial Services Bill Borden said. “We are excited to build on our work with U.S. Bank, delivering integrated, easy-to-use digital payments capabilities to our customers through Microsoft Dynamics 365 with additional embedded solutions to come.”

The two companies have been working together closely since February, when U.S. Bank announced a “substantial investment” in the modernization of its technology by choosing Microsoft Azure at its primary cloud provider for applications. The move will give customers more tools and more options when it comes to accessing banking services and provides U.S. Bank with opportunities to grow via new partnerships and what the bank sees as an “ever-evolving financial services marketplace.”

U.S. Bank’s collaboration news comes just one month after the bank introduced a new cash flow prediction tool for small businesses. The solution gives SME owners a 90-day forecast of cash flow and enables them to factor in external client data along with data from their own U.S. Bank accounts to provide more comprehensive cash flow insights.

U.S. Bank most recently demoed its technology last September at FinovateFall 2021. At the conference, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based bank demoed its Card-as-a-Service (CaaS) solution. The offering enables fintechs, partners, and clients to digitally extend corporate credit, and to leverage API integration to create a custom virtual payment experience in their own ecosystem. Spending limits, tokenization, and encryption are all features of U.S. Bank’s CaaS solution.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs

nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, nCino
  • FinovateEurope alum nCino announced a partnership with U.K.-based Ashman Bank.
  • The alliance will enable Ashman Bank to deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to better serve its small businss customers in the U.K. property market.
  • nCino is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker NCNO. The company has a market capitalization of $3.5 billion.

A new partnership between cloud banking innovator nCino and U.K.-based Ashman Bank is designed to “transform the banking experience” for small and medium-sized businesses in the country’s property market. Ashman Bank, which was awarded its banking license earlier this year, will deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to support its life cycle property finance solution.

“Partnering with nCino takes us one step closer to being able to transform the banking experience for property SMEs,” Ashman Bank Chief Commercial Officer Caroline Luxmore said. “nCino gives us the best and most efficient platform for us to realize our ambitions as a digital-first bank, and we believe that together we can create a meaningful change in the U.K. real estate market.”

Implementing nCino’s technology will enable Ashman Bank to offer a variety of products and services that will allow SMEs to access the financing they need to support their growth. The bank is scheduled to launch early next year and focuses on providing real estate lending solutions – ranging from commercial mortgages and buy-to-let to development and bridging finance – to “conscientious businesses”. Ashman Bank has made a point of helping businesses become more sustainable by providing them with proprietary digital tools to enable them to understand their environmental and societal impacts.

Ashman Bank is an ambitious new entrant that will provide real estate lending for conscientious businesses in the U.K.,” nCino Managing Director of EMEA, Charlie McIver said. “It is bringing an innovative approach to commercial real estate, and nCino can help the Ashman team execute, grow, and adapt as the bank expands.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017. At the conference, the company introduced its Bank Operating System, which leverages the Salesforce platform to provide financial institutions with an end-to-end digital banking solution.

nCino began October with news that Pennsylvania-based independent community financial institution PeoplesBank went live with its Small Business Banking Solution. The bank had previously deployed nCino’s Commercial Banking Solution, and recognizes the new technology as a way to better serve its small business clients. “Our industry is rapidly changing and we’re very proud of our ability to better support small business owners in our community with premier technology offerings,” PeoplesBank SVP and Chief Commercial Banking and Lending Officer Amy Doll said. “Their success relies on being agile and able to scale and, with nCino, we now provide tailored experiences that evolve with our clients as their businesses grow.”

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite

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Finovate Global Pakistan: Embedded Finance, Digital Wallets, and Payment Apps

Finovate Global Pakistan: Embedded Finance, Digital Wallets, and Payment Apps
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global

Pakistan-based embedded finance platform Neem forged a strategic partnership with BPC this week. The first Pakistan fintech to be enabled by BPC, Neem will use the company’s SmartVista platform to power its embedded finance infrastructure.

Neem is targeting the more than 200 million consumers and 3.3 million micro, small, and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are un- or underbanked in Pakistan. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Karachi, Neem offers both a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform and a lending platform.

“In BPC, we have a strong technology partner with a deep understanding of the global trends and local market dynamics,” Neem co-founder Nadeem Shaikh said. “We are building our infrastructure together, firstly for Pakistan and then for the emerging markets.”

Neem’s partnership news comes a month after the company announced a strategic partnership with JS Bank. The alliance will enable Neem to leverage JS Bank’s Open Banking platform to enable Neem’s embedded finance community partners to embed payment services into their platforms. Shaikh said that the partnership takes advantage of the “core strengths” of both companies and will lower the time to market for its financial solutions as well as give un- and underbanked consumers “the trust and credibility of a Tier 1 Bank.”

Also in September, Neem announced that it had secured $2.5 million in seed funding. The investment came from local and international backers including Korean SparkLabs Fintech, Taarah Ventures, My Asia VC, Concept Vines, and Building Capital, among others. The funding will help Neem scale its operations as it pursues a license from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to operate as a non-banking financial company. This would enable Neem to pursue its lending businesses on its own. The company is currently running its lending operations via licensed partners.

In addition to fintech and MSMEs, Neem’s products and services are used in businesses in agriculture, e-commerce, logistics, and healthcare.

Elsewhere in Pakistan’s fintech ecosystem, payment app SadaPay announced that it was partnering with Verimatrix. The company will deploy Verimatrix XTD (Extended Threat Defense) technologies to help ensure secure transactions for its customers

“SadaPay aims to eliminate the complexity of banking and simplify money through modern technologies and an unmatched, delightful customer experience,” SadaPay CEO and founder Brandon Timinsky said. “We are excited to deploy Verimatrix’s award-winning cybersecurity solutions to safeguard our mobile apps as well as monitor and defend our endpoints against potential attacks.”

SadaPay offers payment apps that enable customers to shop online, send money, pay bills, and withdraw cash for free at any ATM in Pakistan. The company also offers a free, numberless, Mastercard debit card with in-app card controls. With Verimatrix XTD, SadaPay will be able to provide comprehensive mobile app protection including continuous monitoring of apps to identify and stop cyberthreats.

“SadaPay’s mission to help serve the unbanked through distinctly simple and fee-free services is also accompanied by a commitment to protect user information, as well as their money,” Verimatrix VP of Cybersecurity Juha Högmander said.

An American, Timinsky launched SadaPay during a visit to Asia following the acquisition of his previous U.S.-based startup. Upon traveling to Pakistan, Timinsky was struck by the opportunity he saw in the country’s sizable population of smartphone-equipped young people, a relatively unsophisticated legacy banking industry, high cellular and broadband penetration, and a government that was increasingly emphasizing the values of digitization.

SadaPay has raised $20 million in funding, including $10.7 million in seed extension funding secured this spring. The company received the funding news just one day after SadaPay won approval from the State Bank of Pakistan to offer financial services via its app.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican-based digital payments platform Clip earned a spot in Fast Company’s 2022 Brands That Matter roster in the international category.
  • The Chilean Congress has approved the Fintech Bill. The legislation – which includes the establishment of an open banking system to exchange customer data – awaits the president’s signature in order to become law.
  • Mattilda, a Mexican fintech that helps private schools manage payment collections, raised $10 million in seed funding.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Uganda-based small business credit and asset financing platform Tugende secured $10 million in combined debt and equity funding.
  • African payments company Cellulant teamed up with Mastercard to enable e-commerce payments.
  • The Ecobank Fintech Challenge presented its six African fintech finalists, representing Senegal, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Nigeria.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Schufa, a private credit bureau based in Germany, launched its score simulator to support credit rating transparency.
  • Latvian open banking platform Nordigen teamed up with enterprise resource planning solution myCorazon ERP.
  • Worldline acquired a majority stake in Polish fintech SoftPoS.

Photo by Aa Dil

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InComm Acquires Australian Gift Card Innovator The Card Network

InComm Acquires Australian Gift Card Innovator The Card Network
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, InComm, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Incomm Payments acquired Australian gift card provider The Card Network (TCN). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • The Card Network, founded in 2019, offers a wide range of multi-brand gift cards that aggregate popular consumer brands on a single card.
  • Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Incomm Payments made its Finovate debut in 2011 at FinovateFall in New York.

International paytech InComm Payments has acquired Australia-based gift card provider The Card Network (TCN). The acquisition will help InComm create and offer personalized gift card solutions, as well as support the growth of its brand and retail partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Available in-store at leading retailers in Australia as well as online, TCN’s multi-brand gift cards aggregate consumer brands onto a single card, giving card recipients greater choice and flexibility. Examples of TCN’s multi-brand gift card products are the company’s The Active Card, which includes athletic and recreational brands such as Nike, Adidas, and New Balance; The Shop
Card, which features retail brands like Calvin Klein, H&M, and peteralexander; and The Baby Card, which aggregates brands like Toyworld, Kidstuff, and BabyBunting.

“TCN is a pioneer of the multi-brand gift card category with a proven record of delivering reliable products to both the gift giver and the recipient,” InComm SVP of Financial Services and Asia-Pacific Adam Brault said. “We could not be more excited to welcome TCN’s expertise and creativity to our global team.”

Founded in 2019 by Nick Sims and Richard Hewitt, TCN also provides Australian companies with gift solutions for loyalty and rewards programs, as well as B2B gifting opportunities. This week, the company announced the availability of new special edition gift cards “for the MATE that always has your back, for the STAR in your workplace, for the CHAMP that’s always up for a yarn, for the CUTIE that makes you smile, or the BESTIE you can’d do life without.” Unveiled for the winter holiday gift giving season, the new cards enable recipients to choose from more than 30 retailers on a single card. The new offering is available courtesy of a partnership with Coles Group Supermarkets, where the special edition cards can be purchased.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, InComm has been a Finovate alum since its first appearance on the Finovate stage in 2011. In the years since, the company has grown into an international payments technology provider with more than 525,000 points of retail and online distribution, and a presence in more than 30 countries. InComm has been active in both Australia and New Zealand since 2010, helping bring international brands to the region’s gift card market. Brooks Smith is CEO.

Photo by Karen Laårk Boshoff

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Experian and Prove Team Up to Boost Financial Inclusion Worldwide

Experian and Prove Team Up to Boost Financial Inclusion Worldwide
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian
  • Experian announced a partnership with digital identity company Prove.
  • The partnership will integrate up to four Prove solutions into Experian’s digital identity and fraud risk mitigation platform, CrossCore.
  • Experian has been a Finovate alum since 2011. Earlier this month, the company announced a collaboration with U.K.-based NewDay.

A global partnership between information services company Experian and digital identity company Prove Identity is designed to help drive financial inclusion around the world via innovations in identity verification technology. The alliance, announced this week, will help companies bring their financial services to a wider range of customers, including members of un- and underbanked communities. The partnership will also enhance access to “faster, easier, and more secure experiences” for consumers.

As part of the deal, Prove will integrate a number of solutions into Experian’s digital identity and fraud risk mitigation platform, CrossCore. The specific integrations will vary by region, but include:

  • Prove Pre-Fill – enables auto-fill of application forms with verified data from authoritative sources
  • Prove Identity – validates consumer-provided personal identity information (PII)
  • Trust Score – provides a real-time assessment of phone number reputation for identity verification and authentication
  • Mobile Auth – provides real-time authentication of a consumer’s status on a mobile network

“At Prove, we believe that all consumers should have access to the digital economy, regardless of whether you already have a credit file or not,” Prove co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Rodger Desai said. “We’re proud to be partnering with Experian, which shares our vision for a more financially inclusive digital world. Together, we are giving more companies across the globe access to advanced identity technology, such as cryptographic authentication, that they can use to verify more consumers in a quick and secure manner.”

Prove specializes in verifying identities for members of un- and underbanked communities, many of whom have little or no traditional credit history. The company’s approach to verification leverages mobile phone-centric identity tokenization and passive cryptographic authentication to ensure security and privacy across digital channels while at the same time keeping friction low. More than 1,000 enterprises use Prove’s platform, processing 20 billion customer requests a year in industries ranging from banking and lending to crypto and payments.

“The rapid surge in demand for digital services and the growth of online accounts has accelerated the need for robust, real-time identity verification solutions with the broadest coverage and greatest inclusion,” Experian SVP of Global Identity & Fraud Marika Vilen said. “Integrating Prove’s industry-leading identity solutions with CrossCore and offering them as part of the CrossCore partner program strengthens our state-of-the-art cloud platform, identity verification, and fraud defense while also enabling our customers to verify more customers.”

A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2018. The company’s partnership announcement with Prove comes less than a week after Experian reported that it was working with U.K.-based unsecured credit provider NewDay. That partnership is geared toward helping Experian Boost customers access a broader array of credit options.

Be sure to join Experian next month for our webinar presentation, Digital Identity: Fintech’s Key to Unlocking Growth, featuring Chief Innovation Officer for Decision Analytics Kathleen Peters.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

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PayPal Offers Passkey Authentication to Apple Users and Venmo Payments to Amazon Shoppers

PayPal Offers Passkey Authentication to Apple Users and Venmo Payments to Amazon Shoppers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, PayPal, Venmo
  • PayPal will enable Apple users to log in to their accounts with passkeys rather than passwords.
  • PayPal also announced that Amazon had authorized Venmo as a payment option.
  • PayPal made its Finovate debut more than a decade ago at FinovateSpring 2011.

Two days in and it’s already been a pretty good week for PayPal.

On Monday, the payments innovator announced that it had teamed up with Apple. The partnership will enable Apple users to log in to their accounts using a passkey rather than a password. Developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium – along with Apple, Google, and Microsoft – passkeys use cryptographic key pairs. These key pairs consist of a public key that is stored in the cloud and a private key that is stored on the users’ device.

This authentication method has a number of advantages. The fact that the keys are separated means that if a cyberattack compromises a given server, the attacker will not be able to access account credentials. It also makes it harder for individuals to share authentication data between different platforms – a significant challenge for password-based systems, as companies like Netflix have learned.

The passkeys are available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users. PayPal says that it will bring passkeys to other platforms as support is available. U.S. customers will be able to use the passkeys this week. Other markets likely will be able to access the technology early next year.

Today, PayPal added to its roster of Big Tech partners with news that Amazon will enable its customers in the U.S. to pay with Venmo on both Amazon.com and on its mobile app. Available to “select Amazon customers” today, the ability to pay with Venmo will be available to all customers in the U.S. by Black Friday – November 25th, the notorious shopping day after Thanksgiving.

Launched as a free service in 2009 and owned by PayPal since 2013, Venmo traditionally has been a convenient way for friends and family to transfer funds to each other. Last year, Venmo facilitated $230 billion in transactions. But increasingly, merchants ranging from Shopify to Lululemon have embraced the popular payment solution as a way to pay for retail goods and services. With today’s announcement, Amazon users will be able to add their Venmo accounts as an Amazon payment option and to select Venmo as their payment preference at checkout.

“We want to offer customers payment options that are convenient, easy to use, and secure – and there’s no better time for that than the busy holiday season,” Amazon Worldwide Payments VP Max Bardon said. “Whether it’s paying with cash, buying now and paying later, or now paying via Venmo, our goal is to meet the needs and preferences of every Amazon customer.”

Venmo Purchase Protection is available on all eligible transactions. Amazon’s A-to-Z Guarantee applies as well in the event of an issue with an order. Nearly 90 million consumers in the U.S. actively use Venmo.

Finovate audiences were introduced to Venmo in 2013 by Braintree. The company bought Venmo the previous year for $26 million, and demoed its Venmo Touch solution at FinovateSpring 2013. Braintree was acquired by PayPal later that year for $800 million. PayPal made its own Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2011.

Photo by Brett Jordan

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SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding

SKU Data Network Company Banyan Secures $43 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, BANYAN, Daily news, Funding
  • SKU data network company Banyan raised $43 million in Series A funding.
  • The round consisted of $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, and gives the company a total of $53 million in equity funding.
  • Banyan made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 in New York, and returned to the Finovate stage this year for FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

In a round led by Fin Capital and M13, SKU data network company Banyan has raised $43 million in funding. The Series A round includes $28 million in equity and $15 million in venture debt, taking the total equity capital raised by Banyan to $53 million. In addition to Fin Capital and M13, the round featured participation from FIS Impact Ventures, Bridge Bank, Interplay, and TTV Capital.

The financing will be used to help accelerate Banyan’s technology and infrastructure growth. Banyan enables retailers and financial institutions to leverage enriched, item-level data capabilities to boost consumer engagement and financial wellness, as well as improve business expense management. The company offers the world’s largest SKU data network, which helps “unlock a new world of valuable information in the form of item-level receipt data,” according to Banyan founder and CEO Jehan Luth. Luth added that the funding was “evidence of market validation for Banyan as the first to deliver the next level of Precise Commerce applications to merchants and financial services.”

Banyan’s network is used by both Fortune 150 corporations as well as convenience stores. The company’s solution suite enables dramatic reductions in the time spent on expense reports by integrating item-level purchase data into banking and expense management apps. Banyan’s technology also provides shopping and loyalty offers that help merchants and their partners better target the offering of incentives, keying on the specific item, category, and aisle-level categories they want to reward. Fin Capital founder and managing partner Logan Allin said that Banyan’s solutions help businesses “re-imagine the experiences they can bring to consumers.”

Banyan demonstrated its Enrich solution at FinovateSpring earlier this year. At the conference, Banyan showed how its technology enables banks, fintechs, and their retail partners to use item level data to drive both everyday spending and top of wallet behavior. Relying on both API calls for individual transactions and batch calls for unlimited records, Banyan’s at-scale network lets retailers share receipt data with banks and fintechs to make financial apps more impactful for the digitally-oriented financial services customer.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, Banyan has processed more than $400 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), more than 10.3 billion in bank and fintech partner transactions, and more than 10.4 billion in purchase receipts from network retailers. The company also has more than four million UPCs catalogued in its network.

Earlier this year, Banyan introduced new Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Gilman, formerly SVP with Mastercard. This spring, Banyan announced a rebrand – including a new logo and a website refresh – to reflect what Luth called the company’s “defined path to disrupt and change the retail landscape while bringing new benefits to consumers.”

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast with FV Bank, Daylight, Microsoft and More!

The Conversation Continues: Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast with FV Bank, Daylight, Microsoft and More!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: David's column, Podcasting

In addition to hosting the biggest FinovateFall to date, Finovate VP Greg Palmer has spent the month of September talking with some of the most interesting achievers in fintech. From CEOs of digital banks to entrepreneurs working to bring about greater financial inclusion, Greg Palmer’s Finovate Podcast is a great way to meet the people who are driving innovation in our industry.

Below is a rundown of recent episodes from late August through September.

Find the Finovate podcast at Soundcloud and follow Greg Palmer on Twitter for the latest in programming news and updates.

Miles Paschini, Chief Executive Officer, FV Bank

Finovate Podcast host Greg Palmer sits down with Miles Paschini to discuss FV Bank’s mission to serve fintechs and bring new technologies to the mainstream. Episode 147.

“The regulated segment of the industry was not matching up to the creator side of the industry … FV stands for Fintech Ventures Bank and the purpose of developing FV Bank was so that we could create a regulated banking environment where fintech creators would have a place to work with people who were really there to help them grow their business as opposed to keep(ing) them out.”

Suneera Madhani, CEO and Founder, Stax Payments

Suneera Madhani of Stax Payments and Greg Palmer talk about the challenges of building a more inclusive fintech ecosystem. Episode 146.

“I learned very quickly that men are actually given investment for their potential, while women are given investment for what they’ve done. That’s definitely been one of my biggest lessons. And the stats are also horrendous. You know, we’re in 2022 and less than 3% of the venture capital still just goes to women in general, less than 1% to minorities.”

Roman Chwyl, Managing Director Fintech Unicorns, Microsoft; Paul Walker, SVP, Revenue and Partnerships, Helix

Greg Palmer talks about the power of partnerships to help bring financial services to the unbanked and underbanked with Microsoft’s Roman Chwyl and Helix’s Paul Walker. Episode 145.

“Currently we’re helping several brands together, like Acorns, Credit Karma, Gusto … These are all brands that have real scale and are focused on (underserved) segments. One of my key goals today is just to make real impact and change, and (talk about) how Helix and Microsoft can share our partnership story and work with other companies out there looking to do the same.”

Brad Oberwager, Executive Chair, Linden Lab

Brad Oberwager of Linden Lab discusses virtual worlds and virtual economies with podcast host Greg Palmer. Episode 144.

“Linden Lab was started a long time ago, and is actually the parent company of Second Life, which is the sort of OG metaverse. You’ve heard a lot of talk about the metaverse and virtual worlds. Second Life was the first one that really created an economy … A guy named Philip Rosedale, who happens to be one of my closest friends, came up with the idea. Building a virtual world.”

Billie Simmons, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Daylight

Billie Simmons of LGBTQ-supporting digital bank Daylight and Finovate podcast host Greg Palmer talk about supporting customers and enabling them to live their best lives. Episode 143.

“It’s an incredibly expensive, time-consuming, potentially dangerous process to get your name and gender updated across all of your banking services. You have to go to court. You have to get documents notarized. You have to out yourself multiple times as trans … I just realized through talking about these things that we can do so much better. That’s really how Daylight was born.”

Photo by SplitShire

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Mitek Launches Biometric ID Technology Combining Face and Voice Authentication

Mitek Launches Biometric ID Technology Combining Face and Voice Authentication
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mitek
  • Mitek launched its new biometric authentication solution, MiPass, that leverages both voice and facial recognition.
  • The new technology provides advantages over both passwords and solutions that rely on on-device stored biometrics.
  • Mitek’s MiPass can be deployed in a range of use cases ranging from simple password resets to high-value transactions.

Could the end of passwords finally be at hand?

Identity verification innovator Mitek has launched a new solution designed to enable individuals to access digital accounts easily and securely by leveraging facial and voice recognition technology together. MiPass, unveiled today, offers a passwordless identity authentication solution that only requires a selfie and a recorded phrase to provide a level of convenience and security greater than that provided by authentication solutions based on face- or voice-recognition alone.

“MiPass provides the highest level of digital security available today,” Mitek CTO Steve Ritter said. “MiPass combines voice and face recognition using sophisticated liveness detection technology to defend against digital and deepfake attacks in real time.”

Using MiPass to authenticate digital identity also poses less risk than other solutions that rely on on-device stored biometrics, which Mitek states can be compromised, shared, or even overwritten. Additionally, MiPass’ algorithms have been tested against balanced and representative data sets to avoid bias. As such, the technology accurately authenticates users regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity. Mitek also offers a developer-friendly SDK to make it easy for companies to embed MiPass for use cases ranging from account information updates and password resets to high-risk financial transactions.

“Companies care about their customers’ trust and security more than anything,” Mitek Head of Product Chris Briggs said. “Mitek understands this. That’s why we focus all our attention on bringing products to market that enable trusted online access. People are most loyal to companies that offer both convenience and security. That’s where MiPass excels.”

A Finovate alum for more than a decade, Mitek most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2017. In the years since then, the company has grown into a digital access leader trusted by 99% of U.S. banks for mobile check deposits and 7,500 of the world’s largest organizations.

Earlier this year, Mitek acquired fellow Finovate alum HooYu for $110 million (£‎98 million). The acquisition came a year after Mitek had purchased another fellow Finovate alum, ID R&D, for $49 million. This summer, the company reported record revenues for the fiscal third quarter, with a 24% year over year gain, and announced the launch of its Mitek Verified Identity Platform (MiVIP).

Headquartered in San Diego, California, and founded in 1985, Mitek is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker MITK. The firm has a market capitalization of $456 million.

Photo by Nita

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Transparency, Governance, and Credit Scoring: A Conversation with VantageScore’s Rikard Bandebo

Transparency, Governance, and Credit Scoring: A Conversation with VantageScore’s Rikard Bandebo
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Interview, Speaker series

We are all familiar with the challenge businesses have when it comes to new customers. On the one hand, there is an urge to onboard as many new customers as possible. On the other hand, great care must be taken to block bad actors or, in the case of the lending business, to avoid borrowers who are unlikely to repay their loans.

To help companies manage this tug-of-war, innovators in the credit scoring space have developed new strategies for determining credit-worthiness. These new approaches have moved beyond traditional credit scoring to help lenders reach reliable borrowers who may have thin credit histories – or even no significant, traditional credit history at all.

VantageScore is one such innovator. This year at FinovateFall, we caught up with Rikard Bandebo, VantageScore Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer to talk about the company’s approach to credit scoring, how it differs from traditional credit scoring methods, and how fintechs can leverage VantageScore’s technology discover more “newly lendable” customers.

Below are a few excerpts from our conversation:

On making credit scoring more accurate and more inclusive

We went back to the drawing board in a way to look at what we could do to make these models much more accurate and inclusive. In doing so we started looking at ways we could look at the data on the credit file. We began using what’s called trended data and found, in doing so, we were able to improve the accuracy of the model significantly. It’s probably one of the most accurate, if not the most accurate, generic model that’s been widely adopted.

Secondly, we also found that by using this type of data we got much more consistent scores for consumers over time. There’s nothing quite as frustrating for consumers and lenders (than) when their scores go up and down a lot over time. So this provides a much smoother transition throughout a consumer’s history.

And the third piece is that we were able to massively improve our inclusion with this latest model. We score about 37 million more consumers than traditional generic models that are out there – out of which more than 10 million are above 620.

On transitioning to VantageScore from other credit scoring providers.

First and foremost, we are a very transparent credit scoring company. We provide a lot of transparency into how our models work (and) what impacts different activities have on our models. We also have built out great support services around migration and also around governance. We do a lot to make it as easy as possible for both fintechs and lenders to make a transition.

On VantageScore’s reputation in the capital markets and among ratings agencies.

We recently had FTI Consulting conduct a study where they went out and interviewed and tried to understand what the appetite was like in the broader market, what they were looking for. One of the common feedbacks they found was that, like other markets, they’re looking for more competition, and they’re looking for the best models that they can use to understand the impact of different types of consumers on risk.

We’ve actually seen a big uptake in VantageScore being used in general, and we’re seeing now a growing appetite in the securitization markets. We’ve seen some very large lenders transition to now offering their securities based on VantageScore.

Watch the full interview on Finovate TV.

Photo by Pixabay

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