FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ProActive

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ProActive

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 4.20.28 PM

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on September 8 & 9, 2016. Register today.

ProActive’s patented budgeting technology requires a user to choose a category before the purchase. Users benefit from the control of a cash-like experience, digitally.

Features:

  • Creates the safest account on the planet with no risk of fraud
  • Empowers real change in spending behavior
  • Highest user engagement in the industry

Why it’s great
Online budgeting software has failed to influence real change in users’ spending behavior. ProActive is the first to offer a behavior-first budgeting/banking platform.

Presenters

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 4.27.54 PM

Ryan Clark, Founder and CEO
Clark has 10 years as a personal finance advisor and has ranked in the top 10% of advisors nationwide. After authoring his own book, he remained frustrated with failing budgeting systems.
LinkedIn

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 4.28.08 PMRoss Jardine, Adviser and Investor
Jardine is “America’s Money Mentor” and cofounder of INVESTools acquired by TD Ameritrade. He is a world speaker, has created programs for Nightingale-Connant, Success Magazine, and is the author of four personal finance books.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: CRMNEXT

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: CRMNEXT

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 4.47.03 PM

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on September 8 & 9, 2016. Register today.

CRMNEXT is the only true omnichannel customer-engagement platform redefining the role of CRM as the transformation, automation, and innovation platform for financial services.

Features:

  • Delivers seamless omnichannel financial services customer-engagement
  • Powerfully automates and orchestrates customer interactions
  • Grows NPS, referrals, and conversions for every product and channel

Why it’s great
Half a billion customers and half a million bankers have proven what CRM should do NEXT: Make every customer interaction more efficient and create more opportunities for customer engagement and success.42877403_salesky

Presenters

Joe Salesky, CEO
A Finovate pioneer, Salesky was formerly the founder and CEO of ClairMail, the breakthrough platform for mobile banking and payments. He has led serial visionary successes in software and financial services for 30 years.
LinkedIn  42877409_ponte

Ed Ponte, VP Sales Consulting
Ponte has 20+ years of experience directly supporting the sales efforts of consumer-oriented digital channels solutions, security, and infrastructure products in the financial services market.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Kore

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Kore

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 5.04.03 PM

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on September 8 & 9, 2016. Register today.

Kore serves business leaders in some of the world’s largest enterprises to help bring customer service to life through its bots platform and, most recently, its out-of-the-box Banking Bot Solution.

Features:

  • Turn insights into right-fit, right-time offers for cross-sale
  • 24/7 ‘virtual assistants’ answer and triage requests for lower service costs
  • Legacy systems and workflows elevated for greater ROI

Why it’s great
Bots engage with your customers and use the information to update systems, perform tasks, trigger complex workflows across internal systems and staff, and provide results for ongoing improvement.

Presenters

Amit Aghara, Global Head of Solution Management
LinkedIn

David Schreffler, Executive Vice President of Sales
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Xentral Station

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Xentral Station

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 5.15.07 PM

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 2016. Register today.

Xentral Station offers trade financing for big and small vendors receiving cash in 24 hours.

Features:

  • Plug-and-play cloud solution for banks and vendors for cash in 24 hours
  • Independent global transaction platform
  • Integrated with any supply chain, accounting and bank application

Why it’s great
Making partners rich without doing anything.Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 5.19.41 PM

Presenters

Vilayat William, Strategic Alliance Partner
William is a serial entrepreneur and is building his third cloud-company with global partners.
LinkedIn

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 5.19.55 PMEmily Reijnierse, Community Strategist
Reijnierse writes, “I don’t believe one can be the best in everything. Believe in a connected world where clients could select and combine the best business software of various providers.”
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Strands

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Strands

Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 4.06.08 PM

FF2016-Logo-wdate-largeA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on 8/9 September 2016. Register today.

Strands is the fintech partner for banks, leveraging 10+ years of expertise in big data and machine learning. The company will be presenting Strands BFM, a comprehensive white-label solution designed for SME Banking.

Features:

  • Smarter business decision-making based on contextual and personalized insights
  • Real-time access to all financial accounts powered by Strands Meta-Aggregation engine
  • Flexibility for all SMEs

Why it’s great
SMEs get a simple, intuitive and stunning data visualization of their finances for an unparalleled user experience. Banks get a smart, white-label tool to empower their most lucrative segment.Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 4.11.10 PM

Presenters

Cesar Richardson, VP Sales, Strands Americas
Richardson has 15+ years of experience identifying business opportunities, building companies and generating revenue growth in investment banking (Bloomberg LP), online travel, and educational tech companies.
LinkedIn Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 4.11.20 PM

Sharif Penniman, Director of Sales, North America
With a background in enterprise mobile development and strategy, and having lived abroad in Europe 15 years, Penniman has a passion for everything mobile, specifically for financial institutions.
LinkedIn

Backbase Partners with Entersekt to Deliver Authentication Technology

Backbase Partners with Entersekt to Deliver Authentication Technology

Screen Shot 2016-08-30 at 8.22.36 AM

Digital banking company Backbase and mobile security solutions provider Entersekt have today teamed up in an effort to deliver a frictionless customer experience with cutting-edge authentication technology.

Through the partnership, Backbase will offer Entersekt’s payment-authentication solutions in the Backbase Open Banking Marketplace. This enables Backbase clients to select an authentication solution that works with their Backbase-powered offering. In a press release, the companies note that the integration has already proven successful, and works with multiple implementations, including Swisscard in Switzerland.

Entersekt’s SVP of Partners and Alliances Dewald Nolte said, “With this partnership, we believe we can help banks fast-track their future by enabling digital services that would be considered too risky or unfeasible using a channel other than the branch.”

Backbase CEO and co-founder Jouk Pleiter said that partnerships such as these help Backbase “speed up innovation and deliver to [its] customers the best that’s available in the fast-moving fintech field.” The Amsterdam-based company has been offering digital banking solutions since it was founded in 2003. Backbase last presented at FinovateEurope 2016 where it showed off the wealth management edition of its digital banking platform. The company will debut its newest offering next week at FinovateFall 2016 in New York. Tickets are still available; register soon to secure your spot.

Entersekt, a FinDEVr alum, was founded in 2008. The company’s CTO Christiaan Brand gave a presentation titled Securing Mobile Applications Through Transport Layer Diversity at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. Earlier this year in June, the company partnered with Finovate alum CREALOGIX to secure the company’s online and mobile offerings. Tickets for the upcoming FinDEVr Silicon Valley conference are now available. Check out the agenda and the recently revealed list of presenters.

ID.me Lands $3.7 Million Grant

ID.me Lands $3.7 Million Grant

Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 8.48.04 AM

Last week, digital identity network ID.me received a grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). ID.me was awarded $3.75 million through NIST’s program called the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which focuses on researching new forms of identity management.

ID.me, a Virginia-based company, is one of six grant recipients that received a cut of the total $15 million, which was divided into amounts from a little under $1 million to $3.75 million. ID.me will use the funds to pilot what’s known as federated credentials, a single set of credentials that works on multiple websites.

Mike Garcia, director of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, says the goal of the program is to “foster innovation that can make critical services more convenient and trustworthy for consumers while strengthening online security.”

14109950416_9a0d035b06_kID.me’s Blake Hall, CEO and co-founder, and Ryan Fox, VP of product strategy, presented at FinovateSpring 2014

Founded in 2010, ID.me offers a way for people to prove their special group affiliations online—whether military, student, paramedic—to receive special promotions offered to their group. At FinovateSpring 2014 the company’s CEO and co-founder Blake Hall demonstrated how ID.me captures identity attributes without creating additional friction at checkout.

ID.me has received more than $17 million in funding from investors such as Silicon Valley Bank, USAA, and Scout VC. In 2014 the company acquired student discount platform Perkla.

SafetyPay Launches in Belgium

SafetyPay Launches in Belgium

Screen Shot 2016-08-26 at 8.18.06 AM

Online payment solution SafetyPay began operations in its 21st country this week. The Florida-based company now operates in Belgium, expanding its global footprint which covers the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Latin America.

SafetyPay’s expansion into Europe fulfills one of the company’s strategic objectives and makes good business sense: Half of the country’s population with access to email have a habit of shopping online. “Our main goal is to make SafetyPay well known to the market. Brand perception is an intelligent sales technique for pitching to merchants, who play such a key role in the process,” said Gustavo Ruiz Moya, SafetyPay CEO.

SafetyPay’s ecommerce checkout-solution enables users to pay global merchants in their local currency, directly from their bank account. The company has partnerships with almost 100 banks around the world.

Founded in 2003, SafetyPay’s sales have grown 5X over the past three years. Moya attributes the growth to “investments in technology, innovation in [its] product portfolio and the hard work of [its] devoted and highly qualified team.” The company last presented at FinovateSpring 2010. Earlier this month, SafetyPay partnered with Brazil-based Pamcary to help the company’s truckers make annual Telerisco payments.

Fintech Trending: Look Who’s Chasing Venmo, Student Loan Servicing Falls Short

Fintech Trending: Look Who’s Chasing Venmo, Student Loan Servicing Falls Short

VenmoImage

A look at the trending topics of the past two weeks, co-authored by Finovate’s research analysts David Penn and Julie Schicktanz.

Payments

Venmo competition heats up
We’ve lately noticed more P2P payment app competitors trickle in. They have Braintree-owned Venmo’s (FD2016; F2013) millennial-focused social components stamped all over them:

  1. Founded by former N26 employees, Cookies launched this week to offer Germany-based users a free P2P payment solution. The simple UI has a messaging platform for senders and recipients to engage with, and it allows people to include emojis with their payments (Cookies calls them paymojis). Some paymojis have special powers, for example, a lightning bolt that allows users to send the money faster. Unlike Venmo (more like Square Cash), users do not maintain a balance on Cookies; instead, Cookies connects directly to a user’s bank account.
  2. Tilt originally began as a crowdfunding platform but launched P2P payments functionality this week. While the user interface is very Venmo-esque with emojis, gifs and a social feed, Tilt has a few differences. Aside from being based on a crowdfunding model where users pool money for weekend road trips and pizza nights, Tilt lists fundraising campaigns in its social feed and is available outside the U.S. Tilt has already launched in the U.K., Canada, and Australia.
  3. Our last Fintech Trending post described the growth of P2P payment service clearXchange, which scored Fiserv (F2016) as a distribution partner and added MasterCard Send debit cardholders to its client base. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that clearXchange is rebranding to Zelle in October to step up its competition with Venmo. While there is no word yet on UI and UX specifics such as emojis with special powers, gifs, and social feeds, there have been a few questions about the name Zelle, which Urban Dictionary defines as “a girl who is attractive and intelligent.”

New mobile payments methods are everywhere (and that’s not a good thing)

Last week, CVS joined a group of other retailers, banks, technology providers and payment services companies to launch its own mobile wallet. With the launch, the pharmacy intends to streamline the use of its rewards points with point-of-sale (POS) payments, but what it may actually be doing is adding yet another wet log to the slow-burning, mobile POS-payments fire.

The issue lies in part with low consumer interest and adoption; it’s still faster to swipe (or insert) your credit card than to take out and unlock your phone, open an app, and try to convince the cashier it is a legitimate way to pay. Also at fault is the large, fragmented number of suppliers. We’ve lost count, but here’s a partial list:

  • Apple Pay
  • Android Pay
  • Cake Pay
  • CVS Pay
  • Walmart Pay
  • MasterPass
  • Samsung Pay
  • Wells Fargo Wallet
  • Chase Pay
  • Starbucks
  • Capital One Wallet

Other news in the payments space

  • UnionPay’s mobile payments launched in Canada. The China-based payments network is the third largest in the world (following Visa and Mastercard). The launch enables Canadian cardholders to use UnionPay’s QuickPass EMV cards or app to pay at participating merchants.
  • Visa (FD2014; F2010) is in discussions with Nigerian banks to roll out mVisa, its QR code-based mobile payments service, by the end of this year. Consumers will be able to use their smartphone or feature phone to pay for goods with merchants, send domestic P2P payments, and access cash.
  • Apple expands carrier billing to Taiwan and Switzerland. The Taiwanese carrier is EasTone and while there’s no word yet on the carrier in Switzerland, it is expected to be Swisscom. This expands Apple’s carrier-billing partnerships, already operating in Germany and Russia, to four countries.

A big deal in ATMs gets a second look

Diebold (F2014) finalized its merger with German ATM maker Wincor Nixdorf last week, a deal that combined two of the largest three ATM companies. The deal closed for $1.8 billion and makes Diebold Nixdorf the world’s largest ATM company, claiming a third of the worldwide market.

Days after unveiling the newly formed entity, the ATM giant is facing an “in-depth merger investigation” from the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority. The agency said that it is concerned the deal will reduce the number of companies supplying ATMs in the U.K. The companies have until April 26, 2017, to “offer undertaking to address competition concerns.”

This further highlights the opportunity for disruption in the ATM space, a realm where companies such as Liqpay (F2013) have showed off solutions that allow cardholders to use their smartphones for a contact-less way to withdraw cash from ATMs.

Lending

Making Sense of Student Loan Debt—notwithstanding Bernie Sanders’ promises of free college tuition for all, the challenge of student loan debt isn’t going away anytime soon. Unfortunately, a recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) suggests that loan servicers are a part of the problem, at least when it comes to income-driven repayment plans.

As reported in PYMNTS.com, much of the problem is bureaucratic, with “delays and rejections” that can expose student borrowers to greater interest, penalties, or even lost eligibility. “Student Loan servicers continue to fall short when it comes to helping borrowers address $1.3 trillion in student debt,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. “It’s time servicers focus more effectively on processing applications for income-driven repayment plans properly.”

And the CPFB is focused on more than just the student loan servicers. Wells Fargo was slapped with a $3.6 million fine this week for “illegal fees … and [depriving] others of critical information needed to effectively manage their student loan accounts,” according to Cordray. Wells Fargo said that it has already made changes to the processes criticized by the CPFB in its consent order.

It’s impossible to read about student loan debt in the headlines and not think of Student Loan Genius (F2016), which made its Finovate debut this spring. The company empowers employers to help millennial workers in particular pay off their student loan debts faster. This not only helps reduce what is often an onerous debt load (especially relative to the income of the average recent college graduate), but also enables young workers to start saving better.

Development

Make Room for Dev—Google (FD2016 ; F2011) is the latest major technology company dedicating major square footage to support collaboration between “local and international developers and startups.” Writing in the Google Developers Blog, Global Lead Roy Glasberg revealed that more than 14,000 square feet at 301 Howard Street would be the home of a variety of dev-friendly events ranging from Google Developer Group meetings to Tech Talks. The new facility will also host Google’s equity-free, three-month accelerator for emerging market startups, LaunchPad Accelerator.

Earlier this summer, IBM (F2016) announced the opening of its developer space, Bluemix Garage, in New York City. The New York garage, IBM’s sixth, will be hosted by developer networking and education organization, Galvanize. In the U.K., Allied London announced a new fintech co-work space called “The Vault” that will occupy 20,000 square feet in Manchester’s business neighborhood. Meanwhile in Germany, ING-DiBa announced its sponsorship of the latest fintech hub in Frankfurt.

Meanwhile in Asia, PayPal (FD2014; F2012) announced this week the opening of an innovation lab in Singapore, its first such lab outside the U.S. The lab joins PayPal’s other Indo-Asia Pacific innovation lab in Chennai, India, and will be focused on improving productivity among SMEs in the food and beverage industry. We also learned this week that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is setting up a fintech innovation lab, Looking Glass @ MAS1 in that country.

  • “Google Developers to open a startup space in San Francisco” – Google Developers Blog
  • “IBM Opens Bluemix Garage in New York City” – Finovate
  • Allied London unveils fintech startup “Vault” in Manchester – Manchester Evening News
  • ING-DiBa backs new Frankfurt fintech hub – Finextra
  • PayPal opens Innovation Lab in Singapore for next generation fintech – Deal Street Asia
  • Singapore’s MAS gets in on the fintech innovation lab game – Tech in Asia
  • Fintech Groups Will Unite into Global Hubs – Fortune

Life in the blockchain

Swiss-based UBS announced a year ago its work on a virtual currency—Utility Settlement Coin—to facilitate faster transaction settlement. This week, UBS announced it has joined forces with Deutsche Bank, Santander, BNY Mellon, and ICAP to convince central banks to agree to a commercial launch by 2018. Competition for this digital currency include Citigroup’s Citicoin, Goldman Sachs’ SETLcoin, and a similar, yet-unnamed, offering from JPMorgan.

Meniga’s $8.2 Million to Boost Personalized Digital Banking

Meniga’s $8.2 Million to Boost Personalized Digital Banking

Screen Shot 2016-08-25 at 9.16.09 AM

This week digital banking solutions provider Meniga announced an $8.2 million (€7.3 million) round of funding it had secured earlier this year. The round was led by existing investors Velocity Capital and Frumtak Ventures, based in the Netherlands and Iceland, respectively.

The U.K.-based company has assigned the funds to bolster its personalized digital banking platform, an offering already in use by Santander, Intesa Sanpaolo, mBank, and ING Direct. Meniga’s platform, which reaches 35 million end users in 20 countries, does double-duty. It not only offers PFM capabilities, but also helps banks with PSD2 compliance by aggregating consumers’ spending data. As the company’s CEO and cofounder Georg Ludviksson said, “Now, in addition to supporting banks in helping their customers better understand and manage their finances, we can further help banks engage with merchants and be compliant with upcoming regulations, such as PSD2.”

Willem Willemstein, Velocity Capital chairman and CEO, has joined Meniga’s board of directors.

Founded in 2009 and originally based in Reykjavík, Iceland, Meniga debuted its Personalization Platform at FinovateEurope 2016. The new platform leverages PFM data to facilitate timely, targeted, and relevant communication between a bank and their client. The tool helps banks segment customers based on spending and behavioral factors to more efficiently and effectively deliver campaigns.

Nous Launches New Trading App TIQL for a Safer Way to Trade

Nous Launches New Trading App TIQL for a Safer Way to Trade

Screen Shot 2016-08-24 at 12.07.22 PM

Nous Global Markets continued in its mission to make financial markets globally accessible with today’s launch of TIQL (pronounced tickle), a consumer-friendly way to trade.

Nous is touting its new app as the “safest way to trade.” Some of TIQL’s distinguishing features include:

  • $5 minimum to open an account
  • $0.01 minimum investment per trade
  • Free downside protection makes it impossible to lose more than was invested
  • Receive returns of up to 20x

TIQL launched in beta in April of this year, and has since received an OGRA license to operate by the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission. The app’s early users from “many countries around the world” have invested $280,000 on the platform. The London-based company plans to raise funding to expand the already-growing platform, which is available on PC, iOS, and Android devices.

Screen Shot 2016-08-24 at 12.59.59 PM

At FinovateEurope 2014, the company debuted its flagship product, SparkProfit. The free-to-play, virtual trading game now has 400,000 users from more than 200 countries. In late 2015, Nous closed a $750,000 funding round, bringing the company’s total funding to $1.36 million.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVrSV16-withdateOur FinDEVr New York developer showcase was a success! FinDEVr Silicon Valley will be held 18/19 October in Santa Clara. Early bird tickets expire soon so register today to save your spot!

The latest from FinDEVr New York 2016 presenters

  • PayPal Partners with Xero to Support B2B Invoice Payment

Alumni updates

  • London-based BACB to replace its legacy IT systems with CorporateSuite from Temenos.
  • Kontomatik announces expansion to Portugal, the ninth country where its API is available.
  • PrivatBank’s Partnership with InComm Initiates Launch of Prepaid Products in Ukraine
  • Ghana-based startup, Sovereign Bank, deploys T24 core-banking system from Temenos.
  • CenturyLink to host SatuitCRM and SatuitCRA software as part of new agreement.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter.