Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown, Sumsub

This week marks both the one-year anniversary of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and St. Patrick’s Day. Let’s see if this week’s news projects a luckier year for fintechs. Check back for real-time updates on how the fintech landscape evolves this week.

Payments

Ryft announces new digital payments partnership with American Express.

Visa and Western Union expand their partnership to enable cross-border fund transfer to more than 40 countries.

Texas-based Jefferson Bank expands its partnership with Finastra, deploys payments-as-a-service solution, Finastra Payments To Go.

Mastercard and South African fintech SAVA team up to bring innovative payment options to SMMEs.

Receipt data fintech Banyan welcomes Vish Shastry as CPO.

NatWest to get rid of its Buy Now, Pay Later payment tool.

India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is now live in Nepal.

Nicolet Bank selects NCR Voyix to enhance and improve its customer experience for digital banking.

Web3-powered B2B payments platform Zeebu exceeds $1 billion.

Basware launches touchless invoice tool.

VoPay partners with Cross River Bank to fuel U.S. expansion.

Scale Bank partners with Corserv to launch comprehensive credit card program.

Elavon to provide its payment solutions platform to the BMO’s U.S. clients.

Savings tools

Cash deposit platform Flagstone receives £108 million investment from Estancia Capital Partners.

Banking-as-a-Service

BaaS player Griffin launches as fully operational bank, lands $24 million.

Green Dot adds neobanks and fintechs to its network to enable cash transactions for customers.

Lending

Fundica and Visa team up to help SMEs secure working capital.

Baker Hill nominated for Tech Company of the Year in TechPoint’s 25th Annual Mira Awards.

WorkWave parters with Wisetack and YouLend.

Regtech

Governance risk and compliance consultancy fscom acquires risk and compliance solutions provider FMConsult.

eCommerce

Skipify enters strategic partnership with consumer finance company Synchrony to enhance the online checkout experience.

Cash advance platform Wayflyer unveils new Wholesale Financing product.

Cybersecurity

Eye Security raises $39.3 million (€36 million) in Series B funding in a round led by J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners.

MDT partners with Allure Security to help credit unions defend against fraud.

Oliu digital identity verification platform achieves certification from the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC).

Jack Henry’s Financial Crimes Defender named Best Fraud Prevention Platform in 2024 FinTech Breakthrough Awards Program.

Insurtech

CNB Bank and Trust partners with Insuritas to launch its embedded full service insurance agency.

Loyalty & rewards

American Express selects point.me to help cardholders search reward flight options using points.

SheerID announces SheerID for WooCommerce, allowing WooCommerce merchants to verify consumer eligibility for community-based offers and discounts.

Wealth Management

TradingHub appoints its first Chief Financial Officer Stephen Bergin.

Digital banking

N26 launches its Instant Savings accounts in 13 new markets in Europe.

Backbase and West Monroe team up to combine Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform with West Monroe’s financial services advisory and digital experience capabilities.

Cryptocurrency

Blockchain data platform Chainalysis integrates with verification provider Sumsub to enhance regulatory compliance, and provide automated transaction monitoring for its clients.

Embedded finance

Treasury Prime announced that OMB Bank has joined its network.

Photo by Glambeau Design

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BaaS Player Griffin Launches as Fully Operational Bank, Lands $24 Million

BaaS Player Griffin Launches as Fully Operational Bank, Lands $24 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Griffin was granted approval from the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to offer banking services in the region.
  • Along with announcing the banking approval, Griffin also unveiled it has secured a $24 million (£19 million) Series A extension round to fuel the launch of banking services.
  • Initially, Griffin does not plan to offer direct-to-consumer banking accounts, but will offer business bank accounts to help organizations manage their own finances and hold client funds.

U.K.-based BaaS fintech Griffin has been granted approval to launch as a fully operational bank. The company announced yesterday that the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) granted Griffin approval to offer bank services in the U.K.

Fueling the launch is a $24 million (£19 million) Series A extension round. Crunchbase reports that the investment will boost Griffin’s total funding to $66.7 million (£52.1 million), while TechCrunch stated the total as $52 million (£40.6). The new round was led by MassMutual Ventures, NordicNinja, and Breega. Existing investors Notion Capital and EQT Ventures also participated. Griffin will use the funds to scale the bank and enhance its infrastructure.

With the proper approvals in place, Griffin can now offer banking, payments, and wealth management accounts to third party organizations. Interestingly, Griffin is not launching direct-to-consumer bank accounts, but will offer business bank accounts to help organizations manage their own finances and hold client funds.

The authorization comes after Griffin’s year-long mobilization period during which it was allowed to test and refine its products, build banking integrations, and develop its systems in preparation for the debut as a full bank.

“Today’s announcement is a culmination of years of hard work by the incredible team at Griffin,” said company CEO David Jarvis. “I’m particularly grateful to our pilot customers for placing their trust in us, and look forward to helping them continue to scale innovative products at the intersection of technology and finance.”

Founded in 2017, Griffin offers BaaS tools that include client onboarding, regulatory compliance safeguards, client money accounts, and payments. The company plans to launch branded debit, prepaid, and digital cards soon. Griffin’s direct banking tools, launched this week, include operational accounts, credit, and lending.

“As the UK’s first full-stack BaaS platform with a banking license, Griffin is the partner of choice for fintechs and brands to build innovative financial products with a seamless client experience,” said MassMutual Ventures Managing Partner Ryan Collins.

Photo by Asim Raza Khan

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Sila Teams Up with Trice to Enhance Real Time Payments

Sila Teams Up with Trice to Enhance Real Time Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Sila has partnered with Trice to leverage the company’s safeguards for instant payments.
  • Trice will help Sila’s customers eliminate insufficient funds and unauthorized debit for ACH transactions.
  • Sila combines FedNow and The Clearinghouse’s RTP to allow ACH transactions to be settled in seconds.

There has been some movement in the instant payments world this week. Banking and payment infrastructure-as-a-service company Sila has partnered with instant payments platform Trice.

Under the agreement, Sila will leverage Trice’s built-in safeguards for instant payments. Founded in 2022, Trice offers the ability to eliminate ACH return codes R1 and R5. For those unfamiliar with ACH return codes, R1 typically refers to “insufficient funds,” while R5 refers to “unauthorized debit to consumer account using corporate SEC code,” meaning the accountholder did not authorize the transaction. By eliminating these return codes, Trice will help Sila lower costs, reduce losses, decrease fines, and ultimately improve the customer experience.

“This partnership reflects our dedication to simplifying financial transactions and making money movement more accessible, reliable, and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes,” said Sila Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Shamir Karkal. “Trice’s innovative instant payment solutions align perfectly with our mission, and together, we aim to set new industry standards for secure and efficient money transfer services.”

Oregon-based Sila launched its ACHNow product in 2018. The tool combines The Clearing House’s RTP, the U.S. Federal Government’s FedNow, and Sila’s own instant settlement product that allows all ACH transactions to be settled in seconds. When businesses submit a standard NACHA file, ACHNow routes each transaction to either RTP or FedNow. In the event the transaction cannot be routed on either of those rails, Sila uses its own instant settlement product to clear the transaction. 

“With new faster payment systems becoming available, Sila is currently in a great position to create excellent payment experiences to surprise and delight their customers,” said Trice Co-Founder and CEO Doug Yeager. “Together with Sila, we’re excited to bring these groundbreaking solutions to businesses and financial institutions, further enhancing the financial ecosystem with the promise of smarter, faster, and more secure money movement.”

Photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash

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Singapore Offers Visa’s Currencycloud In-Principle Approval for MPI License

Singapore Offers Visa’s Currencycloud In-Principle Approval for MPI License
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Currency Cloud, Daily news
  • Currencycloud was offered In-Principle Approval to serve as a Major Payment Institution license holder in Singapore.
  • If granted the license, Currencycloud will be able to offer its full suite of intra-regional and international money movement services to Singapore businesses.
  • “Having the license would allow us to integrate with the robust financial network in Singapore and collaborate with valuable industry players,” said the company’s Managing Director of APAC Rohit Narang.

B2B cross-border payments fintech Currencycloud announced this week that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) offered the company In-Principle Approval (IPA) to serve as a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license holder in the region.

If the MAS grants Currencycloud the MPI license, the company will be able to offer its full suite of intra-regional and international money movement services to Singapore businesses. These additional capabilities will allow the U.K.-based company to process intra-Asia and east-to-west payments more quickly, efficiently, and seamlessly.

The MPI license will also impact Singapore-based businesses, which will be able to leverage Currencycloud to help their customers make conversions and payouts in their own time zones and local currencies. Ultimately, the license will help these local businesses launch new financial services quickly by leveraging local networks combined with its multi-currency account capabilities.

“The IPA for a Major Payment Institution License is testament to the strength of the Currencycloud brand,” said Currencycloud Managing Director of APAC Rohit Narang. “Having the license would allow us to integrate with the robust financial network in Singapore and collaborate with valuable industry players. The payments opportunity in Asia-Pacific is significant, and Singapore’s excellent infrastructure, world-class regulatory system, and strategic geographical location serve as an ideal base for accelerating future payments innovation across the region.”

Founded in 2012, Currencycloud facilitates cross-border, multi-currency transactions.  In addition to offering virtual wallets, the company also enables banks, fintechs, and FX brokers to offer their users the ability to send, receive, and manage their multi-currency payments. Among the company’s clients are Starling Bank, Revolut, Penta, and Lunar. 

Currencycloud was acquired by Visa in 2021. Mike Laven is CEO.

Photo by Guo Xin Goh on Unsplash

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A Demo of Our Own: 3 Ways Finovate Invests in Women

A Demo of Our Own: 3 Ways Finovate Invests in Women
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Women in Fintech

At Finovate, we are known for having companies demo their solution. Anyone can talk about their product, but showing how it works (especially in front of 1,000+ people) is difficult. Today, as we celebrate International Women’s Day– a day assigned by the United Nations— we wanted to do a demo of our own by showing three ways we are taking action on the theme for International Women’s Day, Invest in Women.

Here are three ways Finovate invests in women:

Scholarship program

We launched our scholarship program to spotlight underrepresented founders and startups tackling climate change, diversity, and financial inclusion through sustainable and equitable practices to support social and environmental change. Scholarship opportunities are available at all three Finovate events. In order to qualify for the women in fintech scholarship, the company must be either women-founded or women-owned and have less than $7 million in funding.

Equal representation on stage

Finovate’s speaker curator, Katie Gwyn-Williams, is committed to diversity, ensuring that each show features a balanced mix of male and female speakers, with at least 50% representation from each gender. As part of that she also makes a huge effort to ensure female representation on all panel discussions.

This is no small feat. Katie spends a lot of time and research to recruit the most knowledgeable females in the industry. That said, if you are a woman looking to represent your financial institution in a panel discussion, feel free to send a note her way; she’s currently recruiting for FinovateFall!

Women-centric events

Finovate is proud to feature a Women in Fintech gathering at every show. To be honest, I used to avoid sessions like these because they sounded too fluffy (who wants to talk about women when you can talk about fintech?). However, once I got over myself and began attending, I’ve found valuable discussions with actionable tips on how to uplift myself, my female colleagues, and even my daughter. Not only that, I’ve made meaningful connections with other women in the industry.

Why it matters

It is so easy to fall into discussions about the financial services industry’s insufficient efforts to invest in women. While many of the discussions are valid, let’s spend today promoting awareness about the change being made. Take action and talk about it to inspire others to make similar changes.

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Who Needs Open Banking When You Have Apple FinanceKit?

Who Needs Open Banking When You Have Apple FinanceKit?
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Apple, Daily news
  • Apple began offering an API called FinanceKit in its latest iOS 17.4 update.
  • The new update allows developers to fetch users’ transactions and balance data from users’ Apple Card, Apple Cash, and Apple Savings accounts.
  • Online budgeting platforms Monarch, YNAB, and Copilot are the launch partners for FinanceKit.

In its latest iOS 17.4 update, Apple is offering an API called FinanceKit that allows developers to fetch users’ transactions and balance data from users’ Apple Card, Apple Cash, and Apple Savings accounts. The company made a similar move in the U.K. in November 2023.

Launch partners in the new update are online budgeting platforms Monarch, YNAB, and Copilot. Apple’s update will help users more easily aggregate their accounts. Instead of uploading spreadsheets of their transaction data, users will be able to see data from their Apple Card, Apple Cash, and Apple Savings in real time on the third party platforms.

“This new feature means that as you spend and save with your favorite Apple products, your transactions will appear in YNAB almost instantaneously. No manual entry required,” the company said in its blog announcement. “Imagine: when you open YNAB on your device (running iOS 17.4 or higher), all of your Apple transactions are there, ready to categorize.”

Overall, the more free flow of data will help achieve a bit of what open banking is supposed to help accomplish by allowing users to access their data how and where they want. Today’s action from Apple shows that the company believes users should own their transaction data, and it is encouraging to see the tech giant granting access to third parties.

As with most account aggregation efforts, however, bringing users’ transaction and account balance data into third party platforms will not be without friction. As PFM platform Monarch Money explained on its blog post, “For those with existing Apple Card accounts in Monarch, we recommend you sync your Apple Card again as a new account, and remove or hide the old accounts. You can also merge your history from your old Apple Card account to the new one using our merge account flows on desktop, which lets you choose whether you want to move over your old transactions and/or balances.”

What might some of the impacts be from Apple’s more open approach to users’ financial data? First, it may result in consumers increasing their usage of Apple’s financial products, such as Apple Card, as they become more integrated into users’ financial management habits. The launch of FinanceKit is also a win for PFM platforms. As more platforms are able to leverage Apple’s API to fetch consumer data, they will reduce friction and minimize consumer complaints regarding manual processes. Finally, end consumers will benefit from the launch because, not only will they enjoy decreased friction, but they will also be able to make more informed financial decisions by having their transaction and account data more readily available.

Photo by blocks on Unsplash

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Envestnet | Yodlee Taps Ocrolus for Financial Document Automation

Envestnet | Yodlee Taps Ocrolus for Financial Document Automation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Envestnet, Ocrolus, Yodlee

Document automation platform Ocrolus announced it has teamed up with financial data aggregation and account verification expert Envestnet | Yodlee this week.

Under the agreement, Envestnet | Yodlee will leverage Ocrolus’ technology to enhance digital document capabilities for its clients. Specifically, Envestnet | Yodlee’s 47 million customers will be able to improve their user experiences by offering their end-users the option to either submit documents or digitally connect bank accounts. Customers will also be able to automate the extraction of financial data from the documents that the end consumer uploads.

“While the financial services industry has undergone significant digital transformation, documents are still a critical source of data,” said Ocrolus Co-founder and CEO Sam Bobley. “We are thrilled to partner with Envestnet | Yodlee to provide a more comprehensive and smoother customer experience across a variety of financial services use cases.”

New York-based Ocrolus leverages AI to capture and analyze data from 1,000 different types of documents and digital forms and boasts an accuracy rate of more than 99%. The company counts more than 400 clients, including Enova, PayPal, Brex, CrossCountry Mortgage, Plaid, and SoFi, who use the solution to detect fraud, analyze cash flows and income, and streamline decisions.

With these capabilities Envestnet | Yodlee anticipates its clients will benefit from more efficient and confident decision-making. “With added document automation capabilities, Envestnet | Yodlee will improve and streamline the onboarding process for credit and lending use cases,” explained company Chief Operating Officer Arun Anur.

Envestnet | Yodlee’s client list includes more than 1,300 financial services and fintech companies, including 17 of the top 20 U.S. banks. The company was founded in 1999 as Yodlee, and changed its name to Envestnet | Yodlee after Envestnet acquired Yodlee for $660 million.

In a digital world, sharing documents can be a huge headache. However, automation platforms such as Ocrolus, this process has become much smoother. Today’s collaboration between Envestnet | Yodlee and Ocrolus marks a significant step forward in enhancing the customer experience.

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Monzo Raises $430 Million with a $5 Billion Valuation

Monzo Raises $430 Million with a $5 Billion Valuation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • U.K.-based digital bank Monzo has raised $430 million (£340 million) in a round led by Alphabet-owned CapitalG.
  • The funds come about a year after Monzo achieved profitability, having reached nine million customers.
  • Monzo’s post-money valuation is now $5 billion, up from $4.5 billion in 2022.

U.K.-based digital banking platform Monzo has raised $430 million (£340 million) in a round led by Alphabet-owned CapitalG.

Also participating in the round, which was first rumored last week,  were new investors, Google Ventures and HongShan Capital, along with existing contributors Passion Capital and Tencent. The new round boosts Monzo’s post-money valuation to $5 billion (£4 billion), which is up from the $4.5 billion valuation it received in 2022. According to Crunchbase, Monzo’s total investment amount now stands at $1.5 billion.

“With backing from global investors, we have the rocket fuel to go after our ambitions harder and faster, building Monzo into the one app that sits at the centre of our customers’ financial lives,” said company CEO TS Anil. “Each milestone we’ve reached to this point has given us more strength and speed to make strides towards our mission – now we’ll scale to even greater heights and seize the huge opportunity ahead.”

Monzo plans to use the funds to fuel expansion and to help the company improve its product roadmap. The timing of the funds, combined with the company’s expansion ambitions, come at a good time. That’s because, since it was founded in 2015, Monzo has acquired nine million users– two million of which were brought on just last year. This growth, combined with higher interest rates, pushed Monzo to achieve profitability in March of last year.

Monzo originally launched in 2015, the early days of digital challenger banks. In the U.K., the company offers both personal and business accounts that feature current and savings accounts, unsecured personal loans, and investment funds powered by BlackRock. U.S. users are limited to personal and joint checking accounts, but have the option to aggregate data from other financial services providers in order to get a holistic picture of their overall financial standing.

According to Monzo’s public roadmap, the company is currently working on budgeting improvements, paying interest on savings balances, and a faster onboarding experience. For the future, the company plans to develop digital billpay, capabilities and the ability to send checks, and also has stretch goals to launch a check depositing feature, subscription management, and merchant spending rules.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

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SoFi’s Galileo Extends Partnership with The Bancorp to Offer Real-Time Payments

SoFi’s Galileo Extends Partnership with The Bancorp to Offer Real-Time Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, SoFi, The Bancorp Bank
  • Galileo Financial Technologies has expanded its partnership with The Bancorp Bank.
  • Though The Bancorp Bank, Galileo will leverage The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network to offer real-time payments to help its retail and commercial clients transfer money in real time, 24-hours a day.
  • The Clearing House reported record usage of its RTP network in the third quarter of last year, when it reached 64 million transactions valued at $34 billion.

SoFi-owned Galileo Financial Technologies has expanded its relationship with The Bancorp Bank this week in an effort to enable real-time payments.

Under the scaled up agreement, Galileo and The Bancorp will leverage The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments (RTP) network to fuel real-time payments services. By offering instant money movement between bank accounts, the two will enable Galileo’s fintech clients to help their retail and commercial customers solve cash flow challenges by gaining fast access to their funds.

With the RTP network, real time money movement is available on any day of the year, 24-hours a day. This availability and speed not only solves cashflow issues, it also helps businesses deal with time sensitive transaction and ultimately enhances customer satisfaction.

“Consumers and businesses expect payments to be available instantly, and offering real-time payment capabilities ensures Galileo’s clients can deliver on that expectation,” said Galileo Financial Technologies Chief Product Officer David Feuer. “With this integration between The Bancorp and Galileo, we can offer a swift, efficient way to ensure faster money movement today.”

The Clearing House, which launched its RTP network in 2017, has seen growth in demand for real-time payments. In the third quarter of last year, the company reported that usage of its RTP network hit a record high, reaching 64 million transactions valued at $34 billion. The Clearing House competes directly with the U.S. government’s real-time money service, FedNow, which launched in July of 2023. Currently, more than 350 financial institutions enable their retail customers and 150,000+ business clients to send payments over the RTP network. 

Founded in 2001, Galileo is a payment processing platform that allows third party fintechs and businesses to build and scale their own financial services offerings. The company’s client list includes DailyPay, Bluevine, Dave, MoneyLion, Monzo, and others. Galileo was acquired by SoFi in 2020 in a $1.2 billion deal.

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, The Bancorp Bank provides fintechs with the people, processes, and technology to meet their banking needs. The bank is the third-largest bank by assets, has more than 75 million prepaid cards in distribution and processes 1.1 billion transactions each year. Damian Kozlowski is President and CEO.

Photo by Thomas Brenac

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

We’ve entered the first full week of March. Layoff activity has cooled slightly (but has not stopped), and fintech news is heating up. Here’s your weekly news rundown. Check back for real-time updates on how the fintech landscape evolves this week.

Payments

Kiwibank goes live with ACI Worldwide’s Enterprise Payments Platform.

Indian payments and API banking company Cashfree Payments launches embedded payments for software platforms.

TrueNorth selects Brim to help it bring small business and commercial credit card-as-a-service technology to banks, fintechs, and others in its professional services organization.

Xero to embed a billpay solution from BILL into the Xero platform.

wagely has secured $23 million in new funding.

allpay partners with automation expert Voicescape.

PayNearMe introduces Smart Switch, a new capability that enables card processing redundancy for billers and iGaming operators.

Allianz Trade launches Allianz Trade pay.

Digital Banking

Capstack Technologies secures strategic investment from Citi Ventures for its bank-to-bank loan marketplace.

Synctera raises $18.6 million in a Series A extension round to fuel international expansion.

Pocketbook selects Grasshopper to provide its customers with white-labeled FDIC insured commercial checking accounts.

Fraud and Security

G2 Risk Solutions and Mastercard join forces to help merchant acquirers reduce transaction fraud.

Airbase partners with Sardine to combat payment and vendor fraud

Lending

Embedded lending platform ChargeAfter launches The Lending Hub to help banks deliver lending solutions for merchants and their customers.

AKUVO launches Virtual Collector, a digital collections portal that helps borrowers to correct their past due accounts online without a live agent. 

Clearwater Credit Union partners with Cotribute to streamline digital account onboarding, automated loan origination.  

Credit Unions

Reseda Group invests $6.2 million in 8 fintechs: CU LIFT Fund, CURevl, Debbie, Origence, Members Mobile, Ranqx, Ascent and Changed.

Wealth management

AdvicePay launches new integrations with eMoney Advisor to offer efficiencies for joint customers navigating between the two platforms.

SmartAsset launches SmartAsset AMP, an Advisor Marketing Platform to help advisors acquire new clients.

Business banking

Bill launches cash flow forecasting and insights capabilities for SMBs.

Corcentric enhances AP invoice processing.

Velmie launches Business Banking Core Platform.

Open banking / Open finance

Colorado-based High Plains Bank leverages open banking infrastructure from Jack Henry to offer new services to its Spanish-speaking customers.

Photo by Leeloo The First

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Microsoft Launches Microsoft Copilot for Finance

Microsoft Launches Microsoft Copilot for Finance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Microsoft has launched a public preview of Copilot for Finance, an AI-powered, role-based workflow automation tool.
  • Copilot for Finance can help finance professionals automate time-consuming aspects of their jobs, such as data entry and review.
  • Microsoft’s Copilot for Finance is part of the company’s Copilot Studio, which also includes a sales tool as well as a tool for contact centers.

This week, Microsoft launched a public preview of Copilot for Finance, a new offering that extends Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help finance teams work more efficiently.

Copilot for Finance offers an AI-powered, role-based workflow automation that offers recommendations and guided actions. The new tool streamlines financial tasks, automates previously manual workflows, and offers insights into the flow of work.

The launch comes after a 2023 Microsoft study revealed that 80% of finance leaders and teams face challenges to take on more strategic work outside the scope of their roles. And another study found that 62% of finance professionals say they are stuck in data entry and review cycles. Offering an AI-powered workflow, Copilot for Finance can save finance professionals time and allow them to focus more on strategy.

Here are some of the specific tasks the new tool can help finance professionals accomplish:

  • Helps financial analysts conduct a variance analysis in Excel using natural language prompts, allowing them to quickly review data sets for anomalies, risks, and unmatched values.
  • Simplifies the reconciliation process in Excel with automated data structure comparisons. The tool also offers guided troubleshooting to help users know where to take action.
  • Helps expedite the collections process by summarizing relevant customer account details in Outlook, such as balance statements and invoices.
  • Enables customers to turn raw data in Excel into visuals and reports that they can share across Outlook and Teams.

Copilot for Finance is part of Microsoft’s Copilot Studio, a suite of services that also includes Copilot for Service (for contact centers) and Copilot for Sales, which already counts more than 30,000 clients, including Northern Trust, Schneider Electric, and Visa.

Microsoft has been testing Copilot for Finance inside its own organization. “Our finance organization is just like any other – looking for technology to help us do our work in a more efficient and impactful way – and we’re excited to track our journey as customer zero of Microsoft Copilot for Finance” said Microsoft Modern Finance Lead Cory Hrncirik.

Photo by Ed Hardie on Unsplash

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3 Things Beyoncé and Her New Country Song Can Teach Banks & Fintechs

3 Things Beyoncé and Her New Country Song Can Teach Banks & Fintechs
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

Here’s an interesting way to celebrate the last day of Black History Month. Let’s talk about what banks and fintechs can learn from Beyoncé.

Affectionately known as Queen Bey, the black music and entertainment icon released a single this month called Texas Hold ‘Em, the pop singer’s first ever country music song.

The song, which you can listen to on Spotify (beware of the NSFW album cover image), has sparked a flurry of debate among die-hard country music lovers and pop music fans. Some country music enthusiasts perceive the lyrics of the song as inauthentic and the beat too poppy to be considered country. Others really enjoy the song and are offended that some country radio stations have refused to play the song. The new beat has even caused some pop music fans to start listening to country music. On both sides, however, Beyoncé’s new hit has divided people. Listeners either love it or hate it.

I’m far from a music critic, but I like Beyoncé and because I live in rural Montana, I listen to a lot of country music. However, I can’t stand the lyrics of the new song. I love the beat, but I feel like she used ChatGPT to gather a handful of “country” words– dive bar, tornado, liquor, slow dance, hoedown, whiskey– and poured them all into the song. Has Beyoncé really ever been to a true dive bar? I digress.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the hit single, there are a few hidden lessons in the controversy and conversation surrounding Texas Hold ‘Em. So what can it teach banks and fintechs?

Embrace change

Beyoncé showcased an impressive ability to convert serious pop music fans into country music enthusiasts. Listeners who would have previously never even considered playing a country music song on purpose have gained a new appreciation for the genre. This power to open consumers’ minds highlights the importance of embracing change and adapting to new trends. Despite the challenge of staying on top of trends, fintechs and banks should be open to evolving technologies and customer preferences.

Authenticity matters

Just like how listeners of all music genres value the authentic beat and genuine lyrics of their favorite type of music, so do customers appreciate a genuine experience from their financial services provider. It is easy for consumers to tell when a brand is trying to be something that they are not. Fintechs and banks should strive to be transparent and true to their brand values.

Don’t limit your audience

The song’s polarizing effect shows the power of how music (or products) resonate differently with various audiences. Financial services companies should occasionally revisit their offerings to see how they can expand and fulfill needs of a wider audience range. As long as it is authentic to the brand, banks and fintechs should consider offering a more diverse range of products and services that cater to more audiences, serving their varied needs.

Photo by Emily Bauman on Unsplash

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