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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
UK-based, multinational insurance company Aviva has teamed up with automated reconciliations solution provider AutoRek.
Aviva will deploy AutoRek’s platform to provide a fully audited, rules-based reconciliation process that reduces the risks associated with manual processing.
AutoRek made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. The company is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland.
UK-based insurer Aviva announced a collaboration with automated reconciliation solutions provider AutoRek to enhance efficiency and compliance. Aviva will deploy AutoRek’s end-to-end platform in order to provide a fully audited, rules-based reconciliation process that ensures complete transparency for Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS) auditors, as well as internal stakeholders. The platform will enable Aviva to offer an enhanced automated solution for client money and regulatory reporting. The solution also means less manual processing and its associated risks.
“We’re thrilled to onboard Aviva as a client to the AutoRek platform, empowering them to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in their operations,” AutoRek VP of Sales Jack Niven said. “Together, we’re driving innovation and setting new benchmarks for financial excellence.”
Glasgow, Scotland-based AutoRek partners with institutions in asset management, payments, banking, and insurance to provide a scalable, automated reconciliation software that delivers both cost reduction and data confidence. Solutions such as those offered by AutoRek are expected to be in high demand as financial regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are slated to bring greater clarity to policies relating to payments, digital assets, lending, data privacy, and more.
This was underscored by AutoRek Chief Product, Technology, and Operations Officer Jim Sadler in a recent Insider UK look at Scottish sector trends to watch for in 2025. “We can expect heightened regulatory oversight to start to bleed into the supply chains of regulated firms to ensure that compliance standards are met at every level,” Sadler said. “Companies that fail to uphold their duties can lead to serious consequences such as substantial penalties.”
Founded in 1696 as the Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, Aviva today is a multinational insurance, wealth, and retirement business headquartered in London. The firm is the leading diversified insurer across these markets, boasting more than 19 million customers in the UK, Ireland, and Canada as of August 2024. The largest general insurer in the UK, Aviva is also the second largest general insurer in Canada. Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange, Aviva is a member of the FTSE 100, and has a market capitalization of more than $16 billion (£13 billion).
“Aviva is dedicated to investing in technology to further our own growth strategy,” Aviva Head of CASS and Middle Office, Chris Golland, said. “Following an extensive tender process, we were highly impressed with the quality of the AutoRek tool. The implementation of the AutoRek solution will streamline our processes and allow us to confidently address future scalability and volume requirements.”
Founded in 1994, AutoRek made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. At the conference, the Glasgow, Scotland-based company demonstrated how its reconciliation platform helps organizations manage some of the biggest pain points in the process, providing key management information (MI) to better monitor the performance of reconciliations. Last year, AutoRek announced partnerships with JP Morgan Payments, global funds network Calastone, and technology services provider Capgemini. Gordon McHarg is CEO.
Premium creator content platform Viffy announced a strategic alliance with rewards and engagement company Finfare.
The alliance comes as Viffy goes live with its solution that enables users to support their favorite creators and influencers through their everyday shopping at participating retailers.
Founded in 2022, Viffy made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.
Premium creator content platform Viffywent live this week, announcing the launch of its platform as well as a new strategic alliance with loyalty and rewards platform Finfare.
“Today is a milestone day for Viffy: We are thrilled to announce that our platform is officially live!” the company reported from its LinkedIn page. “For the first time ever, Viffy makes it possible for creators to offer Premium Channels to their audiences, for audiences to support their favorite creators via their everyday shopping, and for brick-and-mortar merchants to leverage their loyalty and sales powered by creator partnerships.”
Viffy’s premium creator content platform empowers users to drive creator subscriptions by shopping with participating merchants throughout the United States. Viffy sets itself apart from other premium creator content platforms that rely on monthly payments for access by giving users the ability to drive subscriptions through their everyday spending. Dollars spent at participating merchants earn participants credits that fuel their subscriptions to their favorite creators. Viffy notes that $50 spent enables a month’s worth of access to a creator’s page on the Viffy platform. This approach, the company says, makes premium content more accessible and enables merchants to build loyalty and engagement.
Courtesy of the alliance, Finfare will give Viffy and its users access to deals at hundreds of popular brands. Finfare will also provide the underlying payment linking technology to power the program by way of its Finfare Connect offering. Finfare Connect is Finfare’s rewards platform that enables businesses to engage customers through highly personalized offers and rewards.
“This collaboration provides a meaningful revenue stream to Viffy, as well as its content creators, through our payment-linked offers, and offers exclusive deals from well-known brands that are valued by their followers,” Sadman Shakib, Director of Loyalty Solutions and Partnerships at Finfare Connect, said.
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Irvine, California, Finfare helps businesses better manage expenses, use credit, boost revenue, and effectively engage their customers. The company’s flagship products also include Finfare Money, which provides business charge cards and expense management. Finfare’s strategic alliance with Viffy comes in the wake of Finfare’s new branding, announced in November.
“We are thrilled to partner with Finfare and leverage the tremendous capabilities of their Connect platform,” Viffy CEO and Co-founder Sam Winslow said. “At Viffy, we are creating a meaningful connection between online creator influence and real-world consumer spending. Together, we see a bright future ahead, redefining how loyalty and engagement are fostered.”
Viffy made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023, demonstrating a mobile app for its premium creator content platform. Founded in 2022, the company is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.
In a newly announced strategic collaboration, KYC Portal has teamed up with PwC UK and PwC Channel Islands. PwC UK and PwC Channel Islands will deploy KYC Portal CLM, the company’s client lifecycle management platform that features AML technology, including risk assessment tools and advanced due diligence (CDD) capabilities. For its part, PwC — with its international expertise in financial crime prevention, process management, and regulatory landscapes — will offer its services to KYC Portal customers.
“KYC Portal CLM is revolutionizing the way organizations manage compliance, risk, and client lifecycle processes,” KYC Portal Founder and CEO Kristoff Zammit Ciantar said. “Through this collaboration with PwC, we are empowering companies with an unparalleled combination of technical excellence and strategic insight. We are extremely proud to have been selected by PwC for such a collaboration and are very excited to start presenting our combined service playbook to both existing and new customers.”
An advanced collation CLM platform for CDD and AML data collection, KYC Portal CLM centralizes and simplifies the customer due diligence process. KYC Portal CLM lowers costs, customer touch points, and overall duration, boosting efficiencies by over 60% across the board. The no-code, real-time solution features dynamic configuration capabilities enabling users to change processes, requirements, outreach, risk, workflow, and more with a click of a button. KYC Portal CLM also features real-time counterparty risk assessment (CRA) via an automated risk engine with user-defined parameters, weights, combined risks, categories, and more.
“With KYC Portal CLM, we are well-positioned to help organizations navigate the complexities of compliance with confidence,” said Mark Loring, Partner, Financial Crime Managed Services Lead, London PwC UK. “Our collaboration allows us to offer a seamless blend of strategic consulting and technical capability to support organizations in achieving their compliance and operational goals.”
Founded in 2008, KYC Portal made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2019 in London. At the event, the company demoed its KYCP — Know Your Customer Portal — solution, which allows organizations to quickly collate all data relating to all kinds of subjects being assessed in a single, centralized, secure repository. This repository features fully customizable parameters, fields, rules, user permissions, and collaborative practices.
KYC Portal is headquartered in Malta, with offices in Spain. The company includes RBS International, Loomis, and Arie Finance among its customers. Last fall, KYC Portal launched a SaaS model of its on-premises CLM solution.
Austin, Texas-based regtech Abrigo has acquired Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition will make IFS’s end-to-end lease and loan origination and management automation platform, IFSLeaseWorks, available to more organizations and institutions.
Abrigo made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2024 in New York.
Abrigo, a compliance, credit risk, and lending solutions provider for financial institutions, has acquired Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS). Terms were not disclosed.
Integrated Financial Solutions is the provider of IFSLeaseWorks, an end-to-end lease and loan origination and management automation platform. Abrigo’s acquisition will enable the firm to help financial institutions become more efficient via front- and back-office automation.
“Financial institutions are eager to grow while keeping an eye on profitability. That’s why the automation provided by the IFS solution is a great complement to the lending automation that Abrigo provides to our 2,400 financial institutions today,” said Jay Blandford, Abrigo Chief Executive Officer.
IFSLeaseWorks brings segments of equipment and vehicular financing to Abrigo’s existing loan origination and management platform. The solution also adds to Abrigo’s set of automation tools and boosts its asset management capabilities. This will help financial institutions both diversify their portfolios and potentially earn additional interest income. IFSLeaseWorks enhances efficiency and digitalization throughout the entire lease and loan transaction lifecycle. This includes transaction structuring and pricing through application processing, credit decisioning, documentation, billing, collection, and remarketing.
The acquisition comes at a time when the market for equipment leasing and software in the U.S. is growing. Based on research from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, the market grew at an annualized rate of 7% in the second quarter of 2024. The IFS/Abrigo combination will help meet this demand with solutions that bring digitalization and greater efficiency.
“The IFS team has built a powerful application for leasing companies,” IFS founder and CEO Mitch Kaufman said. “By joining with Abrigo, we see a bigger opportunity to share these capabilities with the market and continue innovating for our clients.”
Founded in 2000, Abrigo made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2024 in New York. At the conference, the Austin, Texas-based company demonstrated its fraud detection technology that combines AI/ML check image analysis, a nationwide fraud data consortium, and a configurable rules engine to spot altered items, forgeries, and fraudulent checks. Abrigo’s “targeted efficiency” approach reduces fraud losses and protects customers while saving time for financial institution personnel.
Brokerage-as-a-Service innovator DriveWealth has forged a partnership with fixed-income specialist Moment Technology.
The partnership will make fixed-income more accessible to investors by reducing minimum investment requirements that can be as much as $200,000.
New Jersey-based DriveWealth won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.
Brokerage-as-a-Service innovator DriveWealth has teamed up with Moment Technology to make fixed-income investing more accessible to a broader range of investors. Together, the two companies seek to redefine fixed-income investing, reducing the minimum investment threshold of $200,000 on many international fixed income products.
“At DriveWealth, we’re committed to empowering our partners with innovative, seamless solutions that make investing simpler and more accessible,” DriveWealth CEO Michael Blaugrund said. “Our partnership with Moment is a major milestone in expanding access to fixed-income markets, enabling us to offer a consolidated API that integrates equities, bonds, and other asset classes. DriveWealth has pioneered eliminating investment barriers from day one — like with fractional equities in 2015 — and this partnership is a natural extension of that legacy.”
Investing in fixed income products like bonds traditionally has been very difficult for retail investors due to high minimum investment requirements and fragmented liquidity. Most U.S. bonds, for example, have a $10,000 or even $100,000 minimum investment requirement, even as most of these instruments carry a $1,000 par value. Bonds sold under Regulation S — which enables companies to raise capital from non-U.S. investors — typically feature investment minimums of $200,000 or more.
Given this challenge, DriveWealth consolidates bond liquidity sources to make bond investing more accessible and offers an API suite that simplifies and accelerates the onboarding process for its partners. This enables them to add new bond investment capabilities quickly and seamlessly to their offering. Along with DriveWealth’s strong relationships with bond dealers, liquidity providers, and liquidity marketplaces, Moment Technology’s platform serves as a streamlined, cost-effective solution that enables users to access these resources efficiently and transparently.
“Moment’s platform simplifies bond liquidity access, operating collaboratively to support DriveWealth’s efforts to break down traditional barriers and help investors to engage more easily with this previously underserved market,” Moment Technology CEO Dylan Parker said.
New York-based Moment Technology provides fixed income trading technology, market data, and portfolio management to wealth platforms. Moment’s partners benefit from a sophisticated Order & Execution Management System (OEMS), Risk Management System (RMS), Portfolio Management System (PMS), and Data & Analytics platform. Founded in 2022, the company includes Andreessen Horowitz among its investors; the firm led a $17 million Series A round for Moment back in 2023.
Founded in 2012, DriveWealth won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2016 in London. In the years since, the New Jersey-based company has brought its Brokerage-as-a-Service technology to banks, broker dealers, asset managers, digital wallet providers, and consumer brands throughout the U.S., Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. The company’s platform supports trading and investing in U.S. equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, options, and fixed income products. A pioneer of fractional share investing, DriveWealth leverages its platform, APIs, and innovative pricing to provide significant flexibility for investors regardless of their net worth.
Reports of a major breakthrough in Chinese AI technology sent stocks reeling in the U.S. to begin the week. Here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown, we’ve got one eye on the latest from DeepSeek and another eye on the latest developments in fintech.
As Monday begins, we share news of a partnership in the open banking space, an expansion into the APAC, and both new funding and new tools for business banking.
Open banking
Tink and Adyenteam up with prepaid platform Recharge to offer its German customers Pay by Bank services.
Payments
Visa and South Korean fintech DealMeteam up to offer cross-border card installment payments.
Canadian paytech Nuveiexpands into the APAC region on the completion of its acquisition of Paywiser Japan and granting of its acquiring license from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
Skipifypartners with Retail Realm to launch identity-powered payments for Microsoft Dynamics 365 merchants.
Cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions, Alkami Technologylaunches its Business Banking Digital Maturity Assessment tool.
Shanghai Commercial Bank partners with Hong Kong-based digital banking solutions provider Planto.
Alliant credit union selectsBackbase to accelerate banking innovation.
The regulatory landscape for fintechs and financial services companies operating in the European Union is expected to undergo significant changes this year, with new standards, guidelines, and rules governing payments, data privacy, digital assets, and more.
In this week’s edition of Finovate Global, we caught up with Maya Shabi, Senior Risk Strategist with EverC, a firm that provides tech-driven risk management solutions for ecommerce companies. In our extended conversation, Shabi discusses the policy and regulatory changes that are expected in the EU in 2025, what these changes are designed to achieve, and how they will impact fintechs, financial services companies, and their customers.
Founded in 2015, EverC offers a fully-automated, AI-driven, cross-channel risk management platform that helps drive growth for innovators in the online seller ecosystem. With domain expertise in risk intelligence, data science, and payments, EverC scans 30 million items a day — more than 10 billion products since inception — helping businesses detect and remove high-risk merchants, products, and services so they can safely grow and expand into new verticals and new markets.
In your opinion, did the regulatory environment of 2024 help or hinder innovation in fintech and financial services in the EU?
Maya Shabi: The EU’s regulatory push has been a double-edged sword for innovation in fintech and financial services. On the one hand, clear and consistent rules across member states have lowered barriers to entry, making it easier for fintech companies to collaborate, innovate, and scale across the EU. On the other hand, tighter regulations come with higher compliance costs and can limit the flexibility that’s often critical for driving rapid innovation. Given how quickly crime risks evolve in the financial sector, especially with the advent of AI, I see the overall impact of EU regulations as balanced — supporting innovation in some areas while slowing it down in others.
One early issue will be compliance with the Instant Payments Regulation (IPR). What is this policy about? What are the implementation challenges and what are the opportunities for those that get it right?
Shabi: The Instant Payment Regulation (IPR) is designed to make instant euro payments secure and accessible across the EU. Its goal is to modernize the region’s payments landscape by improving the speed and efficiency of transactions within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). SEPA is a broad payment integration initiative that allows consumers and businesses to make cross-border euro payments under the same conditions as domestic transactions, simplifying and unifying payments across EU member states and a few neighboring countries.
With the IPR in place, PSPs must offer instant payment services that process transactions within 10 seconds and are available 24/7 for all euro payments. For European consumers, this means faster, more reliable payments without delays —even during weekends or holidays. It enhances convenience, supports smoother online shopping experiences, and improves cash flow for businesses by eliminating waiting times for fund transfers.
Implementing the IPR presents several challenges for PSPs and other financial institutions. Many FIs need to significantly upgrade their payment processing systems to handle real-time transactions, which also need to uphold fraud detection and AML/CTF rules in real time. The cost of upgrading systems alone is huge, not to mention the added technical challenge of ensuring interoperability between different PSPs and banks across borders. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that not all FIs have the same level of digital maturity, leaving many to play catch-up.
That said, there are several opportunities for those who comply with the IPR sooner rather than later. Early adopters of IPR-compliant systems can position themselves as leaders in innovation and customer service. Offering seamless, instant payments can attract more customers and build trust. Additionally, faster cross-border payments lower barriers for businesses to expand across the EU.
Another policy that will kick in early in 2025 is DORA, the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act. What does this policy call for and why is it important?
Shabi: The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a pivotal regulation aimed at strengthening the financial sector’s ability to withstand digital disruptions and cyber threats. It sets clear IT security standards, focusing on managing information and communication technology (ICT) risks, improving incident reporting, and overseeing third-party ICT service providers. Financial institutions will be required to assess “concentration risk” when outsourcing critical or significant operations to external vendors.
For some added context, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) emphasizes protecting personally identifiable information (PIII) through consent and data security, whereas DORA shifts the focus to the digital supply chains of financial institutions. This introduces a new and potentially more challenging regulatory environment that pushes firms to strengthen their defenses against IT disruptions. It is designed to prevent major outages, like the devastating CrowdStrike software update last summer, from crippling banking, payment, and investment services. Under DORA, similar service interruptions will be met with stricter oversight and accountability, driving firms to prioritize digital resilience. Otherwise, non-compliance could lead to fines of up to 2% of a firm’s annual global revenue, and individual managers could face personal penalties of up to €1 million for breaches.
In terms of new open banking regulations, what are your expectations?
Shabi: Open banking regulations opened the door for greater innovation and competition, but they also brought meaningful friction as FIs worked to keep up with rising fraud risks. Under the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), banks are required to share customer data with third-party providers through APIs — a move that, while promoting transparency and choice, also widens the attack surface for cybercriminals. It increases the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and payment fraud.
To counter these threats, PSD2 and its upcoming successor, the Third Payment Services Directive (PSD3), mandate stronger security measures like enhanced customer authentication and tighter oversight of third-party access. While these safeguards are critical, they can slow down user experiences and complicate partnerships. Still, this added friction is necessary to strike a balance between the advantages of open banking and the growing need to protect consumers and the broader financial system. Given that the PSD3 is expected to take hold in late 2025 or early 2026, FIs must prepare to ensure they remain compliant.
The EU AI Act passed in 2024. What kind of impact will this regulation have in 2025 and what should companies in financial services be doing now?
Shabi: Governments worldwide are racing to regulate the perceived risks of artificial intelligence. The US issued an AI Executive Order, the UK released a non-binding Declaration of Principles, and China introduced what appears to be a business-friendly AI framework. The EU’s AI Act marks the most significant step yet toward bringing structure to an industry that has largely operated like the Wild West, at least for now.
What makes the EU AI Act stand out is its risk-based approach. Instead of applying blanket regulations to all AI technologies, it scales oversight based on the potential for societal harm — the greater the risk, the stricter the rules. This method strikes a crucial balance between fostering innovation and protecting fundamental rights. In the payments industry, we’re no strangers to how effective a risk-based framework can be when navigating the fine line between managing risk and driving innovation.
Notably, over 100 companies – from global corporations to smaller financial institutions – have already pledged to comply with the AI Act ahead of its full enforcement. This early buy-in signals broad industry support or, at the very least, an interest in collaboration. Even critics who argue the law is either too sweeping or too narrow recognize that engaging with regulators and key stakeholders is often the smarter path. By collaborating early, companies can help shape the conversation surrounding AI instead of being sidelined and forced to comply without having a voice.
Other areas that are likely to receive regulatory scrutiny in 2025 in the EU are crypto and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). What developments are most likely for businesses in these spaces?
Shabi: Complying with the MiCA framework is the first thing that comes to mind when cryptocurrency and the EU are mentioned in the same sentence. MiCA is the EU’s first comprehensive legal framework for crypto assets that introduces clear and consistent rules across member states. Although it’s been in development for several years, key compliance deadlines took effect in 2024 and will continue through 2025. We’re already seeing major crypto firms like Coinbase adjusting their operations to meet MiCA’s requirements, while others are reassessing their market strategies — some even shifting focus to countries with more relaxed crypto regulations. For any crypto business operating in the EU, heavy compliance standards are becoming the norm, much like other industries that come with significant AML/CTF risks.
BNPL, however, presents a different regulatory challenge. In many ways, BNPL is just a modern spin on subprime lending — a long-standing issue in financial services when it comes to consumer protection. The explosive growth of BNPL services has raised concerns about rising consumer debt, as the lack of transparency about fees, terms, and penalties leaves consumers exposed to hidden costs. Additionally, weak credit checks and poor due diligence practices heighten the risk of users falling into financial overextension. These issues harm individual financial stability and pose systemic risks, especially since BNPL providers often operate across borders with inconsistent oversight.
To address these concerns, regulators across the globe are scrambling to regulate BNPL providers similarly to traditional credit frameworks. EU regulators updated the Consumer Credit Directive to strengthen consumer protections in the credit market, explicitly covering BNPL services. For businesses operating in this space, this means significant regulatory changes are on the horizon. EU member states must implement the directive into national law by November 20, 2025, with full enforcement beginning on November 20, 2026.
By this time next year, what areas of fintech/financial services do you think will have benefitted the most from greater regulatory clarity? Where do you anticipate that more work will be needed?
Shabi: By this time next year, crypto-assets, payments, and RegTech will likely be the biggest winners from greater regulatory clarity in the EU. The full rollout of the MiCA will finally bring consistency across member states, giving crypto firms the green light to develop secure, consumer-friendly products without second-guessing compliance. Likewise, updates to the Payment Services Directives are set to streamline open banking, tightening data security while making it easier for fintechs to access and use consumer data — fueling innovation in payments.
Simultaneously, the growing complexity of EU compliance is driving up demand for RegTech solutions. Fintech companies offering tools to automate compliance, manage risk, and strengthen cybersecurity will be well-positioned for growth as firms scramble to meet evolving requirements under regulations like DORA as well as AML/CTF directives. Ideally, this regulatory progress will create a more stable, trustworthy environment that supports responsible innovation across the financial sector.
However, several areas still need more attention. The EU AI Act doesn’t fully address how AI is used in financial services — especially in critical areas like credit scoring and fraud detection — leaving gaps around transparency, data use, and risk management. Cross-border payments and digital identity systems also remain fragmented, making it harder to streamline transactions and verify users across the EU.
Emerging asset classes like NFTs and tokenized assets are another blind spot, lacking comprehensive oversight and leaving both consumers and markets exposed to risk. Smaller fintechs, too, may struggle to keep up with strict cybersecurity and operational resilience requirements under DORA, highlighting the need for more scalable compliance pathways. Closing these gaps will be key to ensuring the EU can balance innovation with long-term financial stability and consumer protection.
How will this evolving regulatory landscape impact your customers and the work EverC does for them?
Shabi: As platforms and payments continue to evolve, bringing more of our finances (and our lives) online, fraudsters will continue to exploit these opportunities, and regulators will continue to create structures to protect consumers. The evolving regulatory landscape is a challenge that marketplaces and payment providers must meet to continue doing business successfully.
The cost of noncompliance — in terms of enforcement actions and fines, lawsuits, decreased revenue, and loss of reputation and consumer trust — will always outweigh the cost of creating and maintaining a solid risk and compliance strategy. With technology, we can fight fraud and make ecommerce and digital finance safer while allowing our customers to benefit from operational efficiencies and more effective resource allocation.
EverC enables payment providers, ecommerce players, and financial institutions to meet these challenges with customer-centric innovation. That innovation is accelerated with the power of GenAI for scalable, tech-forward solutions. Our experts stay current with regulatory trends so we can anticipate and meet our customers’ needs as they navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
German fintech 21X partnered with AllUnity, a joint venture between DWS, Flow Traders, and Galaxy Digital.
Lithuania-based Urbo Bank (formerly Medicinos Bankas) announced a collaboration with certified payment technology company DECTA to go live with Visa card issuing services.
Dubai-based cybersecurity firm CyberHive inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with business planning and operations smart solutions provider Meerana.
Israel-based conversational AI innovator and Finovate Best of Show winner eSelf.ai raised $4.5 in seed funding.
Egyptian financial services company Paymob secured a Retail Payment Services (RPS) license from the Central Bank of the UAE.
Brazilian fintech Nubank partnered with Mexican convenience store chain Oxxo to expand its cash deposit and withdrawal network.
El Salvador bought twelve Bitcoin this week despite an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce its activity in the cryptocurrency market.
Philippines-based Netbank partnered with Discovery Credit Solutions Corporation (DCSC) to launch a new solution to optimize loan management.
South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined KakaoPay and ApplePay $5.8 million for violations of the country’s Personal Information Protection Act.
Revolutlaunched its robo-advisor service in Singapore.
Face-to-face conversational AI innovator eSelf has raised $4.5 million in seed funding.
The round was led by Explorer Investments, and featured participation from Ridge Ventures, as well as strategic angel investors.
Based in Israel, eSelf won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York.
Here’s some alumni funding news that slipped beneath our radar: eSelf, which offers a platform that enables businesses to build face-to-face conversational AI agents, has secured $4.5 million in seed funding. eSelf won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. The company announced its successful seed round in December.
The funding was led by Explorer Investments with participation from Ridge Ventures and strategic angel investors, including Eyal Manor, former VP of Engineering at YouTube and current Chief Product & Engineering Officer at Twilio.
Along with its funding announcement, eSelf unveiled its platform for building conversational AI agents. These customized AI agents can have face-to-face video conversations with customers, and seamlessly integrate with existing business systems and processes. eSelf provides a self-service studio in which businesses can configure their virtual agents’ personality, knowledge base, and capabilities — without needing any specialized skills or technical expertise.
“We’ve developed a unified engine that processes speech, understanding, and visual elements simultaneously, allowing us to achieve response times of under one second which is crucial for natural conversation,” eSelf Co-Founder and CEO Alan Bekker explained. “Unlike other solutions that simply animate faces for voice responses, our platform is a complete visual comprehension engine. This means (that) our AI agents can actively engage with visuals in real-time — showcasing property tours, educational content, or presentation slides during conversations. By enabling businesses to create sophisticated, customized agents through our self-service studio, we aim to transform how they engage with customers at scale.”
Use cases for eSelf’s virtual agents have been diverse. Christie’s uses the agents as a first point of contact for potential buyers at its real estate brokerage firm in Portugal. Brazilian digital bank, AGI Bank, deploys the agents to help its 10 million customers access the institution’s digital banking services. Hong Kong-based financial services company DL Holdings leverages eSelf’s technology to provide financial advice to its customers in both English and Mandarin. eSelf reports that its technology currently powers “millions of real-time conversations.”
eSelf made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, the company won Best of Show for a demonstration of its virtual agent technology that serves as an additional workforce for sales and customer success teams. eSelf’s virtual agents bring face-to-face communications to large language models, providing a human-like experience and a positive user journey that enhances the sales process and minimizes human involvement.
eSelf recently announced that its face-to-face conversational engine produces responses faster than ChatGPT Voice as well as other conversational AI technologies. “Shorter latency means smoother, more natural interactions — no awkward pauses, just real-time conversations that feel human,” Bekker wrote on the eSelf LinkedIn page last month. “This is just the beginning. We’re building toward instant replies with immersive, visually rich outputs that redefine human-machine interaction.”
Headquartered in Israel, eSelf was founded in 2022.
This year, FinovateEurope will host a trio of quick-fire keynote addresses covering topics in fintech that have been gaining traction in recent years. Presented on Day Two of the conference, these three speeches will help inform attendees about recent developments — and future opportunities — for banks and financial services companies in fields such as quantum computing, wealth management, and B2B fintech.
How quantum computing could transform banking; it can process data 10 million times faster than supercomputers — what are the use cases for banks? Could quantum computing break the encryption keys used in current security protocols and leave sensitive data vulnerable to attack?
Syed Hasan Jafar, Associate Dean at the School of Business, Woxsen University
Jafar is the Area Chair/HOD of Finance at Woxsen University. He has 14 years of experience in finance and worked as a Deputy Research Head and corporate trainer before joining academia. Jafar’s areas of expertise include security analysis, equity and derivative research, technical analysis, and valuation.
Disruption in the direct to consumer wealth market. The great wealth transfer has started and new heirs are demanding faster digitization and more personalized offerings. Will AI be the catalyst to transform wealth management?
Vandenbroucke is Managing Director at everyoneINVESTED, the wealthtech spin-off of KBC Group. He is also expert general manager at KBC and former head of innovation at KBC Asset Managment, Belgium. Further, Vandenbroucke is a lecturer in financial engineering at University of Antwerp, digital household finance at KU Leuven, and financial securities at Ehsal Management School.
Moving beyond B2C fintech to B2B fintech — is this a bright new future for the fintech industry & will it be transformative for the banking industry?
Michael Salmony, CEO of Payments Innovation
Salmony is an internationally recognized leader on the strategy of business innovation in digital and financial services with a focus on payments, open finance, fintech, digital identity, e-invoicing/SCF, fraud/cybercrime, AI for financial services, and electronic money/CBDC. Salmony is also a board-level advisor to major international banks, industry associations, regulators, and finance bodies across the world.
FinovateEurope is only a month away — 25 and 26 February! Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and take advantage of early-bird savings of up to £400.00 on your ticket price if you register by 24 January.
Customer verification specialist Sikoia announced a strategic partnership with Tandem Bank.
The partnership will enable the digital bank to automate key parts of its income verification and document handling processes for mortgage brokers.
Founded in 2021, Sikoia made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateEurope 2024.
London-based customer verification specialist Sikoia has sealed a strategic partnership deal with Tandem Bank. The partnership will enable the financial institution to automate specific parts of its income verification and document handling processes to boost efficiency for mortgage brokers.
“Our partnership with Tandem Bank marks a key milestone in transforming income verification and document processing for the mortgage industry,” Sikoia Founder and CEO Alexis Rog said. “This collaboration aims to eliminate administrative burdens, ensure consistent and auditable decision-making, and ultimately enhance the customer experience.”
Sikoia’s AI-powered Income and Employer Verification solution helps financial institutions avoid a typically manual, error-prone process that takes lenders an average of 30 minutes per application. Instead, Sikoia’s automated technology offers rigorous document integrity checks in seconds which enable companies like Tandem to provide mortgage brokers with faster, more accurate responses. Sikoia’s solution combines AI, traditional data extraction methods, and advanced business logic and categorization to automate key aspects of the verification process — such as income, affordability assessments, and application completeness. The solution provides 100% coverage; works seamlessly with broker-submitted documents such as payslips, bank statements, and tax returns; and delivers enhanced accuracy and auditability. A user-friendly portal and an API ensure easy and scalable integration into institutions’ current systems.
“Tandem is starting the new year on a strong note, and our partnership with Sikoia underscores this commitment,” Tandem Bank Director of Second Charge Sales and Distribution – Mortgage Division, Nigel Brookes, said. “By harnessing their AI-driven technology, we’re transforming a traditionally time-consuming process into a streamlined, efficient workflow — enabling faster and more accurate service for our customers. This partnership reflects our dedication to driving innovation and setting new benchmarks for efficiency and customer satisfaction for second charges.”
Among the U.K.’s oldest digital challenger banks, Tandem Bank was launched in 2014. The bank established itself by providing fair mortgages and savings products, and by acquiring Harrods Bank in 2018. Tandem Bank’s mission to build “the U.K.’s greener digital bank” became evident in its 2020 acquisition of green home improvement loan specialist Allium Lending Group and, further, with its 2022 merger with Oplo. Today, Tandem Bank offers savings accounts, mortgages, home and automobile financing, home improvement loans, and green home funding. Since inception, the institution has provided more than $644 million (£523 million) in green home improvement lending.
Headquartered in London and founded in 2021, Sikoia made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope last year. At the conference, the fintech demonstrated its AI-powered application document processing technology that provides instant customer feedback; automated verification for income, employment, affordability, and more; and a reduction in document handling costs and time of 75%.
Sikoia’s partnership with Tandem Bank comes days after the company announced that it was working with U.K.-based specialist loan brokerage Y3S. Sikoia will help the firm streamline its customer verification processes for brokers and borrowers.
“At Y3S, safeguarding our brokers and their clients is a top priority,” Y3S CEO Barney Drake said. “Our partnership with Sikoia demonstrates our dedication to staying ahead of the curve in fraud prevention and compliance, giving brokers greater confidence in the solutions we offer.”
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As European financial services companies and fintechs brace for a wave of new regulations, their counterparts in the U.S. are anticipating a strong trend in the opposite direction as President Trump and the Republicans take control of the government.
Right now, with 2025 barely underway, U.S. regulators in a number of instances are still in crack-the-whip mode with regard to fintechs and financial services companies.
Last week, we learned that Digital Currency Group will pay a combined $28.5 million in civil penalties for misleading investors about the financial condition of its subsidiary, Genesis Global Capital. Also last week, American Express agreed to pay $230 million to settle charges of alleged deceptive sales charges for credit card and wire transfer products to small businesses. Mastercard will have to pay $26 million to settle a gender and race bias-based class action lawsuit.
A little earlier this month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) announced that it was suing Capital One for allegedly cheating millions of consumers out of more than $2 billion in interest. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission convinced a U.S. District Court to enter a consent order against Gemini Trust Company with a $5 million civil monetary penalty. Also this month, the SEC reported charges against nine investment advisers and three broker-dealers for recordkeeping failures and issued fines totaling more than $63 million. Speaking of the SEC, it has ordered popular brokerage Robinhood to pay $45 million in penalties over a variety of compliance failures.
You get the picture. The question is, with the arrival of the Trump team, how much of this regulatory oversight is likely to go dark?
In the U.S., the focus will be on agencies like the SEC and the CPFB. On his first day in office, President Trump issued a regulatory freeze. This will prevent agencies from implementing proposed rules until an agency appointed by the Trump administration reviews the specific regulation. The Trump administration has not spoken directly about the CPFB, though it is widely believed that the current director Rohit Chopra will be fired if he does not resign.
What proposed rules from the CPFB might find themselves in the freezer? There are a few worth highlighting. These include the CPFB’s rule limiting the ability of financial institutions to charge overdraft fees, which is slated to go into effect in October, as well as a rule banning the listing of medical debt on credit reports that was issued just last month. Another key ruling relates to aspects of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and its requirements for Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) transactions.
The CPFB is sufficiently concerned about the changes likely to come from the Trump administration that it has issued a report called “Strengthening State-Level Consumer Protections.” The report, which states the case for consumer financial protection laws going all the way back to the Woodrow Wilson administration at the beginning of the 20th century, speaks loftily about the importance of federal-state partnership when it comes to protecting consumers. It even praises state-level legislation for providing “an important source of information” to Congress and federal regulators, enabling them to better “adjust standards over time.”
Nevertheless, analysts have suggested that the report appears to be an attempt to encourage state legislatures to adopt their own consumer protection laws in the event that consumer financial protection laws at the federal level are weakened or removed entirely. Given the intensity and eagerness with which the Trump team is taking to its task, that might not be such a bad idea.
Business communications innovator LeapXpert has raised $20 million in new funding this week. The Series B round was led by Portage, and featured participation from existing investors, including Rockefeller Asset Management, Uncorrelated Ventures, and the Partnership Fund for New York City.
“At LeapXpert, we’re seeing greater and greater demand for our platform, driven in part by the three-year crackdown by global regulators on off-channel communications,” LeapXpert Founder and CEO Dima Gutzeit said. “This is now expanding beyond regulated enterprises into non-regulated sectors, as the DOJ in the U.S. enforces stringent requirements for preserving and governing business-related communications taking place on digital channels.”
The funding will enable the company to scale its footprint to address essential governance needs in the financial sector as well as in other industries. The proliferation and popularity of modern communications technology has put a new strain on companies that need to balance engagement and relationship-building on the one hand, and governance, compliance, and security on the other. LeapXpert’s cloud-based solution supports seamless and governed communications across modern communications channels, maintaining enterprise control while meeting the organization’s data retention, security, and regulatory needs. LeapXpert integrates with popular messaging solutions including iMessage, WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram, and WeChat on the customer side, and with enterprise platforms including Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Salesforce.
“Looking ahead, customers are also excited about the unfolding potential of communication intelligence and its contribution to workforce productivity,” Gutzeit added. “By unlocking actionable insights from governed conversations, our platform is set to drive new levels of efficiency and innovation in the way teams collaborate and operate.”
LeapXpert’s funding news comes in the wake of its recognition as a Visionary in Gartner’s new Magic Quadrant for Digital Communications Governance and Archiving (DCGA). A member of Deloitte Fast 500 list of America’s fastest-growing tech companies for 2024, LeapXpert recently announced partnerships with financial markets compliant communications solutions provider IPC and with Hong Kong-based media and telecommunications firm HKT. Last fall, the company unveiled its messaging security suite which is equipped with AI-powered impersonation detection — an industry first. Part of LeapXpert’s new Messaging Security Package, the additional functionality leverages AI to spot impersonation attempts over channels such as WhatsApp, WeChat, iMessage, and SMS in real-time.
“As organizations increasingly rely on platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage, and other messaging applications to conduct critical business communications, safeguarding these channels from threats becomes essential,” Gutzeit said. “With our AI-driven Messaging Impersonation Detection, antivirus, anti-malware, and CDR solutions, enterprises now have a comprehensive toolkit to ensure data governance and security across these channels.”
Founded in 2017, LeapXpert most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2022 in New York. At the conference, the company demonstrated its new app for Microsoft Teams that provides a comprehensive digital record of company conversations.
