Author: David Penn

Special Ops: Open Source, Digital Assets, Leveraging the Cloud, and Adaptive Banking at FinovateEurope

Special Ops: Open Source, Digital Assets, Leveraging the Cloud, and Adaptive Banking at FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2025, List series

Last week, we introduced you to a handful of special addresses taking place at FinovateEurope 2025, 25-26 February in London at the Intercontinental O2. This week, we’re sharing another four special addresses covering a range of topics from open source innovation and the rise of digital assets to leveraging the cloud and the power of process intelligence.

To learn more about what’s coming at FinovateEurope next week, visit our FinovateEurope hub today. And if you haven’t bought your ticket, there’s no time like the present to register and save your seat.

Supercharging financial services with Open Source & MySQL

Featuring Jim Gallagher (LinkedIn), Oracle MySQL Alliances & Channels Manager for UK and Ireland, this special address will discuss how MySQL powers cutting-edge solutions that drive transformation across financial services. Gallagher will show how open source collaboration is fueling new standards, enhancing security, reducing costs, and accelerating growth.

Founded in 1977 and currently headquartered in Austin, Texas, Oracle is a cloud technology company that provides businesses and organizations with the computing infrastructure and software they need to innovate, boost efficiency, and become more effective. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure provides higher performance, security, and cost savings.

Digital assets: Ready for take off

Featuring Nick Kerigan (LinkedIn), Managing Director, Head of Innovation, Swift, this special address will help financial services companies make the most out of the growth in the digital asset market, which is forecast to grow up to $15 trillion by 2030. Kerigan will discuss recent developments in digital assets and currencies worldwide and share insights from Swift’s 2025 live trials that are helping facilitate transaction interchangeability on its network for both current and new forms of value.

A member-owned cooperative, Swift is a leading provider of secure financial messaging services. Swift’s messaging platform, products, and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organizations, market infrastructures, and corporate customers in 200+ countries and territories.

Trends, challenges, and strategic imperatives — is hybrid cloud the way forward for business leaders?

Featuring Waheed Mahmood (LinkedIn), Financial Services Lead, and Matt Armstrong (LinkedIn), Solution Director, Financial Services, with Rackspace Technology, this special address will examine how IT leaders optimize workloads, build resilience, and drive the next wave of digital transformation. The discussion will leverage insights from a Rackspace Technology survey of more than 1,400 global tech leaders on the importance of futureproofing through adaptability and flexibility.

San Antonio, Texas-based Rackspace Technology is an end-to-end, hybrid, multicloud, and AI solutions company. The firm designs, builds, and operates customer cloud environments across all major technology platforms, regardless of both technology stack and deployment model.

Become the adaptive bank – thrive on change with process intelligence

Featuring Joaquim Nogueira (LinkedIn), Industry Principal for Banking, Celonis, this special address will discuss how process intelligence gives companies a living, moving, digital twin of their entire value chain. Nogueira will also explain how, with a decade of process improvement knowledge and AI, process intelligence shows companies where value is hiding, and enables teams and technologies to capture it.

Munich, Germany-based Celonis has helped more than 1,000 of the world’s largest companies realize value across the top, bottom, and green line. The company’s Process Intelligence Platform leverages the data companies already have and use, and presents them with a living digital twin of their end-to-end processes. The platform is system-agnostic, bias-free, and provides all parties with a common language for understanding and enhancing processes.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Women in Fintech: A Conversation About Loyalty Ecosystems in Financial Services with Becky Hill

Women in Fintech: A Conversation About Loyalty Ecosystems in Financial Services with Becky Hill
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Interview, Women in Fintech

How can banks and financial services providers ensure that their loyalty programs are in sync with consumer behaviors and preferences? What is a loyalty ecosystem and how can financial institutions benefit from being a part of one?

We caught up with Becky Hill, President of Vanson Technology Services and former Senior Vice President of Loyalty at U.S. Bank. In our extended conversation – in partnership with William Mills – we discuss the power of loyalty in fostering long-term relationships and better customer engagement in financial services.

We also discuss loyalty when it comes to relationships between companies and their employees, and how engagement and sales incentive programs can help them retain top talent and develop greater organizational resilience.

Founded in 1997, Vanson Technology Services specializes in technology and software solutions for loyalty, channel incentive, and employee engagement programs. The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company offers capabilities in points earning technology, fulfillment catalog management, email communications, site and data management, customer service and support, reporting, and more.

Tell us more about your professional experience. What were some of your major accomplishments and career highlights while working at U.S. Bank?

Becky Hill: Before joining Vanson Technology Services last summer, I spent most of my career in U.S. Bank’s payments division. Initially, I supported the credit card acquisition strategy for the bank’s consumer and small business programs. This gave me a solid understanding of the credit card profit and loss (P&L), which helped me gain insights into what drives consumer behavior and how to capture their interest. I learned that people expect banks to simplify complexities for them and that offers need to clearly show their value and benefits.

Later, my responsibilities included managing all aspects of the bank’s Rewards platform for internal and co-branded credit card programs that included a variety of cards like Cash+, FlexPerks, Fidelity and Harley-Davidson. I would partner with program managers to support acquisition, attrition, benefit, and redemption strategies to keep the bank’s cards top-of-wallet.

Why is it important to shape your loyalty programs around consumer behaviors and preferences?

Hill: Understanding consumer behavior is key to designing effective loyalty programs because people value convenience and consistency. Loyalty programs work best when they’re simple and easy to navigate, especially when it comes to redeeming rewards. Over the years, these programs have become more sophisticated but keeping them clear and straightforward is still the key to success.

How would you define a loyalty ecosystem?

Hill: A loyalty ecosystem brings together programs, technology, and partnerships to engage and reward customers and employees. It’s about simplifying the process while delivering meaningful value. For Vanson, this means offering an easily configurable rewards platform that helps companies transform their incentive programs into formal campaigns that drive employee motivation, enhance performance and longevity, and build brand loyalty. We believe a successful loyalty ecosystem is built on understanding behavior and providing clear, flexible incentives. It’s not just about rewards — it’s about fostering long-term relationships through transparency, simplicity, and thoughtful execution.

How can financial institutions be part of the loyalty ecosystem?

Hill: Financial institutions can play a key role in the loyalty ecosystem by partnering with loyalty platform providers to offer their clients Prepaid Rewards cards. These cards give consumers the flexibility to spend as they choose, while financial institutions can capitalize on revenue opportunities, such as interchange fees.

How is this ecosystem evolving in the near future?

Hill: Technology is always evolving, and loyalty programs will continue to focus on streamlining the end user experience for ease and convenience.  Loyalty platforms will need to be flexible and have the capabilities to provide a variety of offerings from redemptions selection, gamification, educational lessons, experiences, and personalized communication strategy.  Customer-centricity will continue to be a big part of the loyalty program technology evolution, especially as the industry starts to utilize AI-driven analytics to engage members. 

Let’s talk about within companies. What does an effective employee and sales incentive program entail?

Hill: An effective employee engagement and sales incentive program requires the right technology. The technology should be straightforward, flexible, and tailored to support the specific needs of the program. It should be easy to implement, quick to deploy, and designed to drive engagement and performance without unnecessary complexity. Vanson offers a technology platform with configurable tools that provides self-administer options to drive results.

Equally important is having the right partner. A good partner provides valuable support throughout the journey, helping companies configure rewards to fit their unique needs and assisting with add-ons like developing email campaigns and enhancing engagement strategies. Together, the right technology and partnership can create a successful program.

Why should a company consider offering employee engagement and sales incentive programs?

Hill: Offering employee engagement and sales incentive programs is critical for retaining top talent and ensuring the resilience of your organization. People are motivated by more than just salary — they value recognition, work-life balance, and meaningful benefits. Incentive programs don’t have to be complex; even simple, day-to-day recognition can go a long way. It’s about creating a program that works for all employees, not just a select few. However, implementing these programs requires a cultural shift within the organization, combining both a change in mindset and the right technology to support it. Focusing on your employees’ needs and making them feel valued is key to long-term success.

You joined Vanson Technology Services less than a year ago. What tips and guidance can you provide other professionals who are transitioning industries?

Hill: I’ve had the unique opportunity to work on both the client side and now the vendor side of Loyalty programs across multiple industries. Being on this side — with firsthand knowledge of client expectations — has pushed me to think differently about what we deliver and how we meet client expectations. It’s also opened the door to more strategic conversations, like helping other loyalty companies within CORA Group’s portfolio expand into new verticals. At the end of the day, it’s about maintaining strong networks and staying open-minded to new opportunities.

What is your biggest piece of professional advice?

Hill: Always stay true to yourself and uphold your integrity. Take the time to identify the key decision-makers and those who truly understand what’s happening within your organization. Knowing who can make decisions and offer support is crucial — otherwise, you risk getting caught in unnecessary red tape. Building strong relationships and trust with your peers is essential, as effective leadership relies on the two-way flow of information. Above all, remain focused on what will move the business forward.

Photo by Louis Droege on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FICO, Fintech Rundown, InComm, Mambu, MasterCard, OneID, Salt Edge, Token

Partnerships and collaborations in the payments space lead fintech headlines at the beginning of this holiday-shortened week. Be sure to check Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest updates in fintech and financial services.

Payments

Account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider Token.io teams up with payment orchestrator Fabrick.

InComm Payments collaborates with Mastercard to offer Mastercard “Give Hope” gift cards in support of the American Red Cross.

Real-time payments framework Payfinia partners with B2B2C SaaS embedded finance solutions provider TAPP Engine.

Card issuer and processor Paymentology forges strategic partnership with UAE-based fintech Mamo.

Transaction management software company Redpin opens new payments corridor to Brazil.

Open banking

Moldova-based digital wallet and electronic money institution (EMI) Paynet partners with open banking services provider Salt Edge.

Digital identity

OneID and Adobe announce partnership to enhance identity verification for Adobe digital signatures.

Lending, credit, and underwriting

TransUnion Kenya and FICO team up to offer two new risk solutions to help expand access to credit.

Digital banking

SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu announces strategic partnership with Spain’s Ibercaja Banco.

Armalytix unveils its bank statement scanning tool.

Photo by May Guo

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global: Fintechs Representing 13 Countries to Demo at FinovateEurope 2025

Finovate Global: Fintechs Representing 13 Countries to Demo at FinovateEurope 2025
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, FinovateEurope 2025

This year at FinovateEurope 2025, our 32 demoing companies represent a baker’s dozen of countries from around the world. Of the 32 companies, nine are headquartered in the UK, and seven of them are making their Finovate debuts this year.

Last year, FinovateEurope featured companies from 15 different countries. This year, we’re thrilled to see a similarly diverse group. Here’s where the rest of our FinovateEurope 2025 demoing companies are based.

FinovateEurope is right around the corner: 25-26 February at the Intercontinental O2 in London. Friday, 14 February is the last day to take advantage of big, early-bird savings on the price of your ticket. If you haven’t registered yet, visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your seat!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Tabby, a financial services and shopping app in MENA, announced a $160 million Series E funding round that brought the company’s valuation to $3.3 billion.
  • Qatar-based Islamic financial institution Al Rayan Bank partnered with financial software application provider Finastra to launch its new Islamic core banking solution.
  • Israel fintech BitStock raised $400,000 in seed funding.

Central and Southern Asia

  • The Banker featured Golomt Bank and the rise of open banking in Mongolia.
  • Indian digital payments firm ToneTag secured $78 million in new funding.
  • TBC Uzbekistan announced successful deployment of its AI-based, proprietary Uzbek language models.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Ripple teamed up with Portuguese currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to support cross-border payments between Portugal and Brazil.
  • Brazilian payments and banking technology provider Dock introduced new Chief Technology Officer Thiago Teixeira.
  • Latin American global collections firm Takenos launched its Spicy Card, enabled by Pomelo, in Argentina.

Asia-Pacific

  • Malaysian Earned Wage Access (EWA) specialist Payd raised $400,000 in an extension of its seed funding round.
  • New Zealand’s Inland Revenue service issued a Request for Information (RFI) as part of an effort to influence the growth of open banking in the country.
  • Bangladesh-based commercial bank Trust Bank teamed up with TerraPay to help students pay tuition fees.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigeria-based multi-currency accounts platform Raenest secured $11 million in Series A funding in a round led by QED Investors.
  • South African fintech Stitch acquired ExiPay, a company that enables brick-and-mortar stores to securely accept in-person payments via point-of-sale (POS) terminals.
  • Advanced Television looked at the evolution of South African fintech marketing.

Central and Eastern Europe

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara

ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avalara
  • ION Commodities and tax compliance automation company Avalara have forged a strategic partnership.
  • The partnership will integrate ION Commodities’ commodity management platform with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.
  • Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Avalara made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinDEVr Silicon Valley.

Energy and commodity management solutions provider ION Commodities and tax compliance automation innovator Avalara announced a strategic partnership this week. ION Commodities has joined Avalara’s Partner Program to standardize integration of its technology with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.

“Tax compliance is one of the most onerous factors impacting energy and commodities enterprises, and their ability to scale and operate efficiently,” Avalara Vice President and General Manager Steve Lacoff said. “Our partnership with ION gives mutual customers in these sectors a greatly simplified path to compliance automation, with reduced compliance risk, and greater operational efficiency.”

Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution helps firms manage the complexities of tax compliance in energy trading and logistics. The energy markets typically feature complex and dynamic tax rates and rules across multiple jurisdictions. Keeping pace with regulatory requirements — including monthly filing requirements — is operationally costly. What’s worse is that attempts to shortcut these costs “can lead to tax errors and risk significant fines and penalties,” Avalara noted in a recent whitepaper, Fuel Tax Compliance Best Practices.

AvaTax for Energy calculates energy excise taxes for firms ranging from the smallest fuel distributors, energy traders, and mobile refuelers to the largest oil, gas, and chemical companies. The integration between Avalara’s compliance automation and ION Commodities’ commodity management platform will give energy companies an automated, scalable tax compliance solution that improves accuracy, reduces reliance on manual processes, and enables real-time tax calculation.

“Collaborating with Avalara aligns with our mission to deliver comprehensive, integrated solutions for the energy and commodities industry,” ION Corporates CEO Sunil Biswas said. “This partnership enhances our offering with advanced tax compliance capabilities, empowering our community to navigate the complexities of tax regulations with confidence.”

With more than 1,200 clients, ION Commodities provides data-driven energy and commodities trading and risk management solutions across the supply chain. The company’s Energy Trade and Risk Management (ETRM) and Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) solutions give customers real-time risk analytics and reporting and automate critical business processes to enable faster, more informed decisions. Headquartered in New York, ION Commodities is a division of London-based financial data and software company ION Group.

Avalara introduced itself to Finovate audiences in 2015 as part of Finovate’s developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and founded in 2004, Avalara offers automated tax compliance solutions that boost efficiency and accuracy, streamlining the experience for customers and simplifying tax management for businesses. According to a study by Forrester Consulting, Avalara customers have benefitted from a 90% increase in tax research efficiency, a 50% reduction in time spent on exemption certificate management, an 85% increase in audit preparation efficiency, and an 85% reduction in time spent managing tax returns. Scott McFarlane is co-founder and CEO.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Full House: Finovate Announces 32-Company Demo Roster for FinovateEurope

Full House: Finovate Announces 32-Company Demo Roster for FinovateEurope
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2025, Speaker series

If you are a subscriber to Finovate Weekly, our LinkedIn-based newsletter of top stories from the Finovate blog, then you’ve already heard the news. But if not, then we’re thrilled to share it with you right here today: FinovateEurope 2025 will feature a full, 32-company roster at our upcoming fintech conference in London, on 25-26 February.

“Our FinovateEurope conference will feature a diverse lineup of startup companies,” Finovate VP and Demo Director Heather Stowell said. “A key commonality among them is AI. But expect to see a number of different AI and automation use cases nested within core banking, wealth management, payments, fraud, and compliance.”

Finovate’s signature, live fintech demonstrations continue to be a much-imitated hallmark of Finovate conferences. With only seven minutes at their disposal and a hard and fast “no videos, no slides” rule, Finovate’s live demos are a unique opportunity for innovative fintechs and financial services companies to show — not tell — our audience of professionals exactly how their innovations help banks and other businesses solve critical problems, grow revenues, and access new markets and customers.

“This is an exciting year for demos at Finovate,” Stowell added. “Over 80% of the FinovateEurope demoing companies are less than five years old and are demoing at Finovate for the first time. We’re looking forward to seeing their latest innovations live on stage.”

To learn more about the companies that will be demoing at FinovateEurope this month, Finovate’s Sneak Peek series is a great place to start. Find out about the challenges being solved, key features, what businesses stand to benefit from their innovations, and more.

This Friday is your last chance to take advantage of early-bird savings of up to £200.00 when you register to attend FinovateEurope. Don’t delay! Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your spot!

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions

Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Fenergo, PwC
  • Financial compliance software company Fenergo has teamed up with PwC.
  • The partnership is designed to bring AI-powered CLM and KYC solutions to more financial institutions around the world.
  • Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. PwC won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021.

Fenergo and PwC have announced a new partnership that will help put Fenergo’s AI-powered Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions in the hands of more financial institutions. The combination of PwC’s financial crime expertise with Fenergo’s AI-powered CLM technology into a single offering will make it easier for financial institutions to digitally transform their financial crime operations.

Fenergo’s Global VP for Partnerships and Alliances Matt Edwards said that the collaboration between the two firms will “deliver an optimum target operating model for CLM.” Edwards added that the solution “empowers financial institutions to efficiently mitigate financial crime risk while driving growth and efficiency gains.”

Fenergo’s CLM helps ensure that financial services firms realize tangible benefits and return on investment from the digital transformation of their client management and compliance processes. The platform provides faster client onboarding, including streamlined onboarding for low-to-medium risk clients; improved operational efficiencies with fewer touchpoints; policy-driven accurate risk assessments aligned with regulatory requirements; and a reduced total cost of ownership thanks to advanced API integrations.

Complementing Fenergo’s CLM technology are PwC’s Target Operating Model design, end-to-end customer experience journey mapping, operational readiness, data migration, systems integration, and business change management.

PwC Partner Mark Hunter highlighted Fenergo’s technology as “uniquely positioned to serve mid-market to large multinational organizations.” Hunter praised the company’s platform for its “scale, flexibility, and advanced capabilities” that help institutions better manage complex regulatory environments and large volumes of transactions.

A UK-based multinational assurance, advisory, and tax services provider, PwC counts more than 85% of the Global Fortune 500 companies as its clients. PwC maintains offices in 152 countries and reported gross revenues of more than $55 billion for the year ending 30 June 2024. The company participated in Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley 2016, and won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 for a demonstration of Customer Link, its customer data platform that helps institutions build better, more personalized experiences.

Dublin, Ireland-based Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. The company offers simplified client and product onboarding, automated AML and KYC due diligence, and a centralized CLM platform that helps financial institutions, asset management, and fintechs manage customers throughout the entire client lifecycle.

Fenergo’s partnership news with PwC comes a few days after the company announced the launch of its all-in-one KYC, onboarding, and trade request management platform for businesses in the energy and commodities sector. The new Trader Request Portal combines KYC, onboarding, and trade request management capabilities.

Photo by Mark Dalton

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Trump Demands Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Stop Financially Protecting Consumers

Trump Demands Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Stop Financially Protecting Consumers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to suspend nearly all activities.
  • The demand came in the form of an email from newly appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought.
  • The CFPB was launched in 2011 as part of a sweeping set of reforms enacted in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008.

The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to immediately suspend nearly all activities, according to a report from the Associated Press. The demand comes one week after President Trump removed the director of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra. The bureau, founded in the summer of 2011 via Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act, has been a target of conservatives for years. Even Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, has weighed in on the CFPB, claiming that the goal of the administration is to fully “delete” the bureau.

This is not the first time the CFPB has been told to stand down since President Trump was inaugurated. Within days of being named acting director of the bureau, Scott Bessent ordered employees to stop all bureau activities, settlement enforcement actions, and involvement in legal cases.

The latest directive to the CFPB came from newly appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought late last week. The order demands that the CFPB cease work on proposed regulations and suspend the effective dates of rules that have been finalized but are not yet fully in force. Vought also ordered the bureau to stop any investigative activity — including new probes — and to end its supervision and examination efforts. The new director has even pursued the bureau’s funding, stating that the CFPB cannot withdraw its next round of funding from the Federal Reserve, which Vought referred to as “excessive.”

Further, the CFPB’s headquarters in Washington will be closed from February 10 through February 14, with workers and contractors expected to “work remotely unless instructed otherwise,” Vought indicated in an email to employees over the weekend.

So, what can the CFPB do, if anything? At this point, the bureau can still hear consumer complaints, even if it is no longer empowered to examine issues or launch investigations. Additionally, Vought’s order has been interpreted as forbidding the CFPB from engaging with companies it regulates, as well as with consumer advocates and similar outside organizations.

The CFPB has sued Capital One as recently as last month, claiming that the company had misled customers about its high-interest savings accounts, resulting in more than $2 billion in lost interest payments. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren — who first conceived of the idea of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — decried the decision to suspend the CFPB’s activities, saying that Vought was “giving big banks and giant corporations the green light to scam families.” Of late Warren has suggested that there might be common ground between the CFPB’s mission and the concern that many conservatives and Republicans have about the phenomenon of “de-banking” — even if they disagree on which entities are being unfairly “de-banked.”

If Vought’s name sounds familiar, then it may have to do with his connection to Project 2025, a policy blueprint that was touted by many conservatives and Trump supporters during the presidential election in 2024, but was never fully embraced by Trump as part of the campaign. Many observers see the current moves in Washington to reduce headcount, control spending, and realign various agencies as part of the mission of Project 2025.

Interestingly, there remains some uncertainty about who will take over the CFPB on a permanent basis if the bureau does survive — as most observers view likely. At least two senior CFPB officials have announced their resignations in the wake of Vought’s email: Lorelai Salas, supervision director, and Eric Halperin, enforcement director. The Dodd-Frank Update reported that there are indications that the Trump administration has struggled to find someone interested in the job. In the first Trump administration, the CFPB was run by Mick Mulvaney, who served as acting director from November 2017 to December 2018, and Kathleen Kraninger, who took over from Mulvaney and served until Joe Biden assumed the Presidency in January 2021.

For more thoughts on how the Trump administration is likely to deal with the financial services sector, check out our January column, Will 2025 Be the Year of the Regulator or “Liberation Day” for Financial Services in the US?

Photo by Mathias Reding

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Zeta Secures $50 Million Strategic Investment

Zeta Secures $50 Million Strategic Investment
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, Zeta

Banking technology provider Zeta has raised $50 million in new funding. The investment — from an unnamed strategic investor — boosts the company’s valuation to $2 billion, a significant increase from the firm’s most recent pre-money valuation of $1.45 billion. That valuation followed a capital infusion of $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2 and other investors in 2021.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Zeta enables financial institutions and fintechs to launch a wide variety of financial products via its modern, microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and Headless (MACH) platform. These products include credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, unsecured loans, and more. Zeta’s SaaS suite provides solutions for the entire lifecycle of a banking product: core banking and issuer payments; merchant acquiring and payment services; digital banking and AI applications; issuer operations and servicing; customer engagement and rewards; as well as commercial cards and benefits.

“We are incredibly excited at the pace at which clients are embracing our modern stack,” Zeta Global CEO and Co-Founder Bhavin Turakhia said. “Over the past few years, we have supported over 25 million accounts on our cloud-native processing platform Tachyon and are on track to add 25 million more with contracts already in flight. Our clients are breaking away from decades of legacy systems to deliver amazing digital experiences, thereby increasing their customer satisfaction and accelerating new user acquisition.”

Founded in 2015, Zeta won Best of Show in its debut at our all-digital Finovate conference in 2020. The company returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateFall 2021 in New York. More recently, Zeta has collaborated with fellow Finovate alum Mastercard as part of a five-year partnership and teamed up with Featurespace to combine credit card processing and fraud detection. Last August, Zeta announced that India’s HDFC Bank was leveraging its technology to power its new Credit Line on UPI (CLOU) solutions.

“Zeta’s mission to be a trusted partner to financial institutions is possible through the patient efforts of the best team ever assembled in banking technology,” Zeta Co-Founder Ramki Gaddipati said. “While the past few years have been challenging for the banking-tech industry, our organization has delivered multiple winning programs for our clients in record time.”

To date, Zeta customers around the world have issued more than 25 million cards on Zeta’s platform. The firm’s card processing capabilities were recognized by Celent in its 2023 Next-Gen Card Issuer Processors in the US report, which noted that, in the words of Celent Head of Retail Banking and Payments Research Zil Bareisis, “Zeta is among the likeliest partners for banks considering a shift to next-gen processing.”

Photo by Zyanya BMO on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Backbase and Feedzai Integrate Financial Crime Prevention with Engagement Banking

Backbase and Feedzai Integrate Financial Crime Prevention with Engagement Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Feedzai
  • Engagement Banking company Backbase has announced a strategic partnership with financial intelligence solutions provider Feedzai.
  • The partnership will integrated Feedzai’s Digital Trust solutions with Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform.
  • Backbase most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2021. Feedzai made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014 in London.

A newly announced strategic partnership between Backbase and Feedzai aims to bring advanced financial crime prevention technology to engagement banking. The integration of Feedzai’s Digital Trust solutions with Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform will empower financial institutions to fight fraud more effectively while preserving the customer experience.

Feedzai’s Digital Trust platform analyzes user behavior, device health, and potential threats in real-time. The cloud-based solution operates in the background, enabling financial institutions, financial services organizations, and fintechs to detect and counter online identity impersonation and manipulation attacks, while allowing legitimate users to conduct their activities unimpeded. Feedzai’s Digital Trust is effective against account takeover (ATO) attacks as well as new account fraud attempts during onboarding. It combines behavioral biometrics, behavioral analytics, advanced malware detection, and network and device assessment to provide active and preemptive defense against threats. The integration with Backbase’s engagement banking platform will provide banks with real-time, AI-powered, proactive fraud prevention, plus lower operational costs thanks to AI-powered risk assessment that minimizes false positives.

“By combining Backbase’s engagement banking expertise with Feedzai’s advanced security capabilities, we’re giving financial institutions the complete package — superior customer experience and intelligent fraud prevention in one integrated platform,” Backbase CEO and Founder Jouk Pleiter said. “Together, we’re setting a new standard for how banks can build trusted digital relationships with their customers.”

Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Feedzai offers technology that leverages AI to help businesses fight fraud and financial crime. The company’s RiskOps platform uses machine learning and Big Data to detect and defend the world’s largest banks, payment providers, and merchants from malicious online actors. Founded in 2011 and now reaching 900 million people in 190 countries with its technology, Feedzai began 2025 by announcing a partnership with Credibanco to help the Colombian payment processing company strengthen its defenses against fraud.

“As the financial services industry evolves, security can no longer be an afterthought — it must be woven into the very fabric of the customer journey,” Feedzai CEO and Co-Founder Nuno Sebastiao said. “By partnering with Backbase, we’re empowering financial institutions to deliver a unified, seamless journey that not only protects customers from fraud but also ensures they feel valued, understood, and safe.”

Backbase has been a Finovate alum since 2009. The company has won Finovate’s Best of Show award four times, including back-to-back wins at FinovateEurope in 2017 and 2018. Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform is a composable solution that empowers banks to accelerate their digital transformations by progressively modernizing each step of the customer journey, including onboarding, servicing, lending, and investing.

Backbase’s partnership news comes a few weeks after it announced it was teaming up with Alliant Credit Union, a digital-only financial institution with $20 billion in assets and more than 900,000 members. The company also recently partnered with Nordic digital transformation consultancy Knowit. Founded in 2003, Backbase is headquartered in Amsterdam.

Photo by Liene Ratniece

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Apiture, Backbase, Bluefin, Feedzai, Fintech Rundown, FIS, Mitek, Q2, Ripple, Trustly

The week begins with news of investment in insurtech, financial wellness, and risk management. We are also seeing a number of new partnerships in payments and fraud prevention. Check back here all week long at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown for updates on the latest fintech headlines.

Payments

FIS forges strategic partnership with payment network and Buy Now, pay later company Affirm.

Bluefin announces partnership with advanced payment terminal provider Datecs to enhance payment security.

Kivra and Trustly introduce a new generation of Autogiro to make automatic payments easier and more secure.

Trust Bank and TerraPay team up to launch payment solution for Bangladeshi students studying abroad.

StoneX and Fiserv partner to enhance cross-border payment capabilities for financial institutions.

Allied Payment Network signs 84 new financial institutions in 2024, representing an increase of 20% over 2023. 

Digital banking

Wells Fargo partners with Q2 to boost collaboration across commercial banking teams.

Alliant Credit Union turns to Backbase to enhance the digital experience for members.

Digital banking solutions provider Apiture and digital solutions company Omnicommander team up to help banks and credit unions better communicate with their customers and members.

Gold Coast Federal Credit Union enlists Tyfone to accelerate digital transformation.

Crypto / Defi

Ripple partners with currency exchange provider Unicâmbio to bring crypto-enabled cross-border payments to Portugal.

Insurtech

Australian digital-first insurance broking firm UpCover secures $19 million in Series A funding.

Via its brand Polly, European digital insurance broker CLARK launches its first fully digital underwriting solution in the UK.

Financial wellness

Malaysia-based Earned Wage Access (EWA) solutions provider Payd raises $400,000 in seed extension funding.

Mortgage and savings software provider finova launches its mobile-first onboarding app.

Risk management

Financial risk management software provider Validus Risk Management locks in $45 million in growth equity funding.

Risk intelligence platform SRA Watchtower acquires Lumio Insight.

Fraud prevention

Financial software and technology company CSI partners with Mitek Systems to launch its proprietary check fraud detection solution for NuPoint customers.

Backbase and Feedzai team up to integrate advanced security capabilities into Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform.

Regtech and compliance

Sardine AI raises $70 million to make fraud and compliance teams more productive.

Investing / wealth management

Halal investment research platform Musaffa launches new equity crowdfunding round.

Brightwave integrates Quartr’s global database of first-party information from public companies with its document analysis capabilities.

Datalign secures $9 million Seed funding to accelerate AI-powered financial advisory solutions.

Lending and credit

Finastra launches Assist.AI, an AI-powered assistant to enhance the trade finance operations within its Trade Innovation solution.

Eltropy partners with MeridianLink to help advance digital lending for credit unions and community banks.

Mortgagetech and real estate

Agora launches major expansion in Australia.

Photo by Scott Duygun

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global Australia: Opportunities in Private Equity Investing, Regtech Raises Capital, and More

Finovate Global Australia: Opportunities in Private Equity Investing, Regtech Raises Capital, and More
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Fiserv, Sumsub, TransUnion

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech news and headlines from Australia.

Digital private equity manager Moonfare goes live in Australia

Eligible investors in Australia stand to benefit from the arrival of digital private equity investing platform Moonfare. The Berlin-based company announced that it is bringing its wealth management technology to what is now its 23rd country. Moonfare Asia Pacific head Adam Banks, who joined Moonfare in October, noted that the firm’s APAC investor relations team is already “in active discussions with potential clients” in Australia.

Founded in 2016, Moonfare enables eligible investors to access a selection of curated funds from managers such as KKR, EQT, and the Carlyle Group. The company’s proprietary portfolio investments provide diversification and low minimums across a range of strategies, including buyout, growth equity, venture, and infrastructure. Investors on the platform can also participate in secondaries, private credit, and co-investments.

“There is clearly a growing appetite for private equity investing in Australia,” Moonfare Founder and Co-CEO Steffen Pauls said. “But so far access has been limited, especially for people wanting exposure to non-domestic managers and strategies. Moonfare’s digital private equity platform plans to fill that gap by providing seamless access to globally leading top-quartile managers.”

Moonfare boasts more than €3.3 billion ($3.4 billion) in assets under management and access to more than 110 funds. The company began the year with the appointment of Heike Hövekamp as Chief Legal & Compliance Officer. Hövekamp joins Moonfare from Société Générale, where she was Head of Compliance.

Australian regtech Nuj raises $4 million in seed funding

Is there any debate that 2025 is shaping up to be the year of regtech? The fact that regtech increasingly seems to provide fertile ground for new fintech startups may be yet another indication of the growing importance of this subsector.

Australia’s Nuj is another fintech startup that is taking advantage of interest in regtech. The company announced that it has raised $4 million in equity and debt financing to develop its superannuation data platform. A superannuation is Australia’s pension program, created to benefit of employees. They are similar in many respects to an individual retirement account (IRA) or a 401(k) in the US.

Mimecast Co-Founder Peter Bauer led a $2 million seed round as part of an overall $4 million equity and debt package. He praised Nuj’s “powerful data platform that addresses an expensive challenge across the super industry — one of staying ahead in compliance with regulations.” Founded in 2020 by Matthew McKenzie, Nuj is a data platform and insights engine that sits between superannuation funds and the regulator. The technology provides real-time insights to superannuation trustees and executives, enabling them to better manage their risk programs. The company’s platform is used by institutions such as MUFG, AMP, and Equity Trustees.

The investment in Nuj comes as regulatory reporting requirements and calls for increased transparency for superannuation funds are growing. McKenzie noted that funding will help “fuel (the platform’s) capabilities for faster data processing and sharper insights, empowering funds to make informed decisions, and driving better financial outcomes.”

Headquartered in Sydney, Nuj was founded in 2020.

Ozone API and ProductCloud team up to help Australian firms meet open banking regulations

A new partnership between Ozone API and ProductCloud will help companies in Australia comply with Open Banking API regulations, specifically Consumer Data Right legislation. The partnership will provide Australian companies with a technology platform that enables them to quickly and securely deliver open APIs aligned to the most recent version of the Australian Consumer Data Standard.

“Our platform is already helping banks and financial institutions around the world to deliver standards compliant with open banking APIs, including in line with the CDR standard,” Ozone API Co-founder and CEO Huw Davies said. “We’re really excited to combine our global expertise in open finance with ProductCloud’s innovative product management platform. Together, our solutions remove the complexity of achieving and maintaining CDR compliance, allowing organizations to focus on their core business.”

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London, Ozone API is a leading standards-based platform designed to take the complexity out of open banking and help companies meet regulatory and commercial requirements for open APIs. In addition to its partnership with ProductCloud, Ozone API also recently announced its collaboration with FinovateEurope 2024 alum ShareID to, in the words of ShareID CEO and Co-founder Sara Sebti, “enhance the Open Banking ecosystem” and, as Ozone API GM for Europe James Bushby put it, “strengthen trust in open finance.”

Melbourne-based ProductCloud offers a cloud-based, SaaS solution that streamlines product information management for financial institutions. Serving banks, neobanks, mutuals, and non-bank lenders, ProductCloud provides a single tool for both Open Banking Product Reference Data and Design and Distribution Obligation compliance. The company was founded in 2020.

“Since launching ProductCloud back when CDR kicked off, we had our sights on being the go-to Product Information Management and CDR Compliance platform for financial institution product managers,” ProductCloud Co-founder and CEO Mark Evans said. “Partnering with Ozone API is an exciting development because they have also been a pioneer in Open Finance. Collaborating with our respective SaaS platforms and out-of-the-box APIs will provide a unique offering for rapid and cost-effective open banking compliance.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Romanian crowdfunding service provider, Venevo, partnered with regtech solutions hub iDenfy.
  • Lithuanian fintech ArcaPay agreed to be acquired by UK-based financial services provider Ebury.
  • Russia’s Sberbank announced plans to team up with Chinese researchers on joint AI projects.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • In partnership with the AfricaNenda Foundation, the Bank of South Sudan launched its National Instant Payment System (NIPS).
  • Egyptian fintech Khazna secured $16 million in pre-Series B funding as it applies for a digital banking license in the country.
  • International money movement firm TerraPay partnered with airport retailer Dubai Duty Free.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India-based payments and API banking firm, Cashfree Payments, raised $53 million in funding at a valuation of $700 million.
  • Egyptian fintech Halan Microfinance Bank expanded into Pakistan with a pledge to invest $10 million in 2025.
  • Indian fintech Cred became the first fintech platform to provide access to India’s central bank digital currency project.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Payment orchestration provider Yuno to launch Mastercard Payment Passkey Service across Latin America.
  • Kuady teamed up with BridgerPay to enhance payment solutions throughout Latin America.
  • Latin American ecommerce company MercadoLibre now offers transactions using its payment processors in Argentina via Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Access Bank Nigeria integrated with currency technology provider Integral to enhance its FX pricing and distribution abilities.
  • Africa-based bank, FirstRand Group, chose Fiserv to facilitate its digital transformation.
  • B2B cross-border trade payment platform Xtransfer teamed up with pan African bank Ecobank.

Photo by Kellie Jane

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook