Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Bank of America Leverages Interac to Offer Digital Disbursements in Canada

Bank of America Leverages Interac to Offer Digital Disbursements in Canada
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Bank of America is launching Global Digital Disbursements for commercial clients in Canada.
  • The launch in the Canadian market is facilitated via a partnership with Canadian interbank network Interac.
  • Global Digital Disbursements enables fast mobile B2C payments, helping businesses replace cash or check payments.

Bank of America has teamed up with Canadian interbank network Interac today. The bank announced today it is launching its Global Digital Disbursements product for commercial clients in Canada.

Global Digital Disbursements enables fast mobile B2C payments for users in multiple industries, such as insurance, healthcare, and education. The solution, which uses a person’s email address or mobile phone number as their identifier, works for companies seeking to replace cash or check payments.

“This is a milestone for Bank of America in Canada, as we continue to meet the evolving digital needs of our multinational clients, providing them with enhanced speed, flexibility and transparency to manage their payment and receipt flows,” said Bank of America Head of Product for Global Transaction Services, Canada Leslie Konecny.

The solution, which is available to Bank of America’s commercial clients that hold deposit accounts at the bank’s branch in Canada, uses Interac’s e-Transfer service, a solution that moves money across Canada to more than 300 other banks.

Unique to the Canadian market, Bank of America is making the Request for Pay feature available with Global Digital Disbursements. This feature enables businesses to text or email customers an invoice that contains a link to pay the required amount, which ultimately results in faster payments.

“The launch of Global Digital Disbursements in Canada follows the bank’s 75th anniversary in the country,” said Bank of America head of GTS Canada Maureen Jarvis. “This much anticipated launch speaks to our commitment to local innovations in financial services that help our clients realize cost savings and a competitive edge.”

Bank of America serves 68 million retail and small business clients through operations across the United States, its territories, and more than 35 countries. The bank is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BAC and has a current market capitalization of $232 billion.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

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Lighter Capital Raises $130 Million for Revenue-Based Financing

Lighter Capital Raises $130 Million for Revenue-Based Financing
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Funding, Lighter Capital
  • Lighter Capital raised a $130 million credit facility.
  • The company will use the facility to continue funding early-stage companies.
  • Lighter Capital recently surpassed the milestone of distributing $350 million in growth capital via more than 1,000 rounds of financing.

Revenue-based financing fintech Lighter Capital has closed a $130 million credit facility this week. Today’s funds come from ATLAS SP Partners, i80, the Victorian Government, and iPartners.

The credit facility will be used to fund early-stage companies, something Lighter Capital has been doing since its launch in 2010. In fact, the company recently surpassed the milestone of having distributed $350 million in growth capital to more than 500 startups across the U.S., Canada, and Australia through more than 1,000 rounds of financing.

Lighter Capital’s revenue-based financing model helps startups that offer SaaS, technology services, subscription services, and digital media to access up to $4 million in growth capital without selling equity.

“Lighter Capital’s model is so innovative — a debt provider that’s essentially a VC partner,” said Qnary Founder and Chairman Bant Breen. “We get the financial rigor, network, and strategic guidance that a VC would give us, and that’s been incredibly helpful.”

Recently, the Seattle-based company has opened new offices in Australia, unveiled more non-dilutive funding options, and launched an online networking community for startup CEOs.

“After more than a decade in business, 2022 was our best year in the company’s history,” said company CEO Melissa Widner. “It’s a great privilege to help founders achieve their dreams on their terms by providing funding that doesn’t require selling equity or giving up control.”

Lighter Capital and other alternative financing startups are experiencing a moment in the fintech spotlight. That can be attributed to two factors. First, because VC funding is in decline, it is difficult to obtain equity financing. Additionally, banks have started to tighten their lending standards because of economic uncertainty and decreased collateral values.

An early Finovate alum, Lighter Capital’s most recent Finovate demo was at FinovateFall 2013, where then-CEO BJ Lackland demonstrated how the company’s small business lending platform leveraged CRM data to predict a borrower’s future performance.

Photo by Justin

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FICO and LigaData Bring Decision-as-a-Service to Telcos

FICO and LigaData Bring Decision-as-a-Service to Telcos
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, FICO
  • FICO and LigaData have partnered on a decision-as-a-service tool.
  • The two will make the new capabilities available to telecommunications firms in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
  • The decision-as-a-service solutions suite includes mobile lending, price optimization, collections optimization, subscriber segmentation, and fraud detection for communications service providers.

Data and analytics firm FICO and big data analytics company LigaData have come together in a move to bring decision-as-a-service capabilities to telecommunications firms in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The two California-based companies will offer solutions that leverage data to help telcos increase revenues, decrease costs, and expand their offerings. Tools included in the decision-as-a-service solutions suite are mobile lending, price optimization, collections optimization, subscriber segmentation, and fraud detection for communications service providers.

“Together we plan to also help communications service providers grant loans in emerging markets, making it easier for consumers while increasing the digitization of the economy,” said FICO Vice President of Global Partners & Alliances Alexandre Graff.

FICO and LigaData envision that the tool will help telcos add new revenue streams and ultimately expand financial inclusion in emerging markets. “Our partnership with FICO will give communications service providers new tools to expand and compete in a data-driven marketplace,” explained LigaData CEO Bassel Ojjeh. “In addition, we will be bringing to market new solutions that can help communications service providers serve the large number of unbanked and underbanked communities in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.”

LigaData’s name follows the naming convention of major soccer teams such as Bundesliga, La Liga, and Liga MX and is a reference to the company’s league of data experts. LigaData offers two main products, Data Fabric, which helps telcos leverage data better understand their customers by breaking down silos, and Flare, which serves as a decisioning engine that breaks down the data to provide operational and subscriber insights. These solutions are used by over 30 mobile network operators, supporting over 350 million subscribers around the world.

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in California, FICO offers decisioning tools used by more than 650 clients, including nine of the top 10 U.S. banks and eight of the top 10 EMEA banks. The company was recently named Best Technology Provider for Data Analytics at the 2022 Credit Awards, and was identified as a leader in The Forrester Wave: AI Decisioning Platforms, Q2 2023 report.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

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Getting in Gear by Asking the Right Questions

Getting in Gear by Asking the Right Questions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Marketing

Fall is coming, and with the changing of the season comes an increase in activity in the fintech world as organizations work to launch their latest initiatives before the end of the year.

Fortunately, our friends at FintechFutures have asked all the right questions in their latest video interview series. The clips below cover the current economic climate, fintech trends, and future industry technologies. These are all worth watching as you prepare your fourth quarter initiatives.

Photo by Shane Aldendorff

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Fiserv and Akoya Team Up for Consumer-Permissioned Data

Fiserv and Akoya Team Up for Consumer-Permissioned Data
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fiserv
  • Fiserv and Akoya announced a partnership this week.
  • Fiserv will have API access to consumer data from Akoya’s network of financial organizations.
  • Akoya will utilize Fiserv’s AllData Connect to access consumer data held at financial institutions.

Digital banking and payments solutions company Fiserv has partnered with consumer-permissioned data company Akoya this week. Under the agreement, the two will facilitate financial data sharing among banks, their end customers, and the third party apps the customers engage with.

Fiserv will have API access to consumer data from Akoya’s network of financial institutions and brokerage firms, while Akoya will utilize Fiserv’s AllData Connect to access consumer data from more than 2,800 financial institutions.

“Fiserv and Akoya are empowering consumers to share their data by creating a broader and more secure data access network,” said Fiserv President of Digital Payments Matt Wilcox. “Direct access to data facilitates more integrated digital experiences for consumers and improves the security of the financial ecosystem.”

Akoya’s APIs can create secure, permissioned access to consumers’ account data across Fiserv’s client base of banks, fintechs, and merchants. This free flow of information across the network can help reduce risk related to account opening, funding, and account-to-account transfers. On the merchant side, consumers can opt to transact using a Pay by Bank option in which consumers link their bank account to the merchant’s wallet or app to make direct payments to the merchant.

Ultimately, the partnership will help consumers choose what financial data from their bank they want to share with third party providers.

“This will help consumers manage exactly who they give their data to and understand how their data will be accessed and used,” said Akoya CEO Paul LaRusso. “100% of Akoya’s traffic to financial institutions goes through APIs. Akoya doesn’t ask for consumers’ passwords, and it doesn’t screen-scrape. All consumers deserve this protection and control.”

In the U.S., where open banking regulations do not exist, partnerships like these are key to empowering consumers with control over their financial data. In addition to helping end customers, this open structure also creates efficiencies by empowering organizations with more data, reduces fraud by eliminating screen scraping, and reduces errors that come with manual data entry.

Founded in 1984, Fiserv’s solutions are used in nearly six million merchant locations and almost 10,000 financial insitution clients. The company powers 12,000 financial transactions each second. Fiserv is listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker FI and has a market capitalization of $73.6 billion.

Photo by Google DeepMind

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7 Things to Know about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Novel Activities Supervision Program

7 Things to Know about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Novel Activities Supervision Program
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve (Fed) rather quietly released a letter that addresses what it is calling the “creation of novel activities.” Signed by Michael S. Gibson, the Board’s Director of the Division of Supervision and Regulation, the letter is titled, Creation of Novel Activities Supervision Program.

If you’re a fintech or a bank, the contents of the letter will likely apply to you. Here are 7 highlights of the newly created program.

Who is impacted

The letter applies to all banking organizations supervised by the Fed, including those with $10 billion or less in consolidated assets. Organizations will receive a written notice from the Fed if their activities will be subject to examination. Those who are still in the exploration phase will be “routinely monitored” for active engagement.

What is it for

The program will focus on activities related to crypto-assets, distributed ledger technology (DLT), and what the Fed is calling “complex, technology-driven partnerships with nonbanks” that deliver financial services to end customers.

The target

The letter explains that the Fed will “enhance supervision” over the following categories:

  • Partnerships where a non-bank provides banking products and services to end customers via APIs that provide automated access to the bank’s infrastructure.
  • Activities such as crypto-asset custody, crypto-collateralized lending, facilitating crypto-asset trading, and stablecoin issuance and distribution.
  • The exploration or use of DLT for issuing tokens or tokenizing securities or other assets.
  • Organizations that provide traditional banking services to crypto-related companies.

How will it supervise?

The program will leverage existing supervisory processes and will use the Fed’s existing supervisory teams instead of creating a new portfolio to monitor activity. The supervision will be risk-based, meaning that the intensity of the scrutiny will vary based on each firm’s engagement in novel activities mentioned above.

Why

The Fed is seeking to strengthen its existing oversight of banks’ third party fintech partnerships. In the letter, Gibson reasons that innovation can lead to rapid change in banks and in the financial system in general, and that it has the potential to generate risks that can impact banks’ safety and soundness. “Given the novelty of these activities,” he states, “they may create unique questions around their permissibility, may not be sufficiently addressed by existing supervisory approaches, and may raise concerns for the broader financial system.”

Future plans

The Fed explained that it will continue to “build upon and enhance” its technical expertise to stay abreast of fintech trends, the risk associated with the trends, and appropriate controls to manage risk. In addition to increased supervision, the letter explains that the program will help shape supervisory approaches and create guidance for banking organizations engaging in the use of these “novel” technologies.

So what?

The Fed is making it clear that the lack of regulation for fintechs and the Wild West environment of the crypto realm is a thing of the past. This means that fintechs– especially those engaged in crypto– will need to be ready to answer not only to banks, but also to the Federal Reserve. On the flip side, banks will need to be ready to ask a lot more questions before engaging with fintechs, formalize partnership processes, and document all that they can regarding potential risk.

Questions about the letter can be sent via the Federal Reserve’s website..

Photo by Jewel Tolentino

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Koverly Launches BNPL Solution for FX Payments

Koverly Launches BNPL Solution for FX Payments
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Koverly is launching KoverlyPay, a new B2B BNPL tool.
  • KoverlyPay offers businesses a 30-day extension on FX payments.
  • Clients can use KoverlyPay to extend payments over four, eight, or 12 fixed weekly installments.

B2B payment tool Koverly is jumping on the buy now, pay later (BNPL) trend this week with the launch of its newest tool. The Massachusetts-based company unveiled KoverlyPay, a new B2B BNPL tool that offers a free, 30-day extension on FX payments.

Koverly clients can use KoverlyPay to extend payments over four, eight, or 12 fixed weekly installments. Businesses can apply for the financing using KoverlyPay, which is integrated into the point-of-sale, at checkout and receive a decision within 24 hours. Once a business is approved, they do not have to repay their purchase for the first 30 days. After the initial 30 days, for both FX and local payments, businesses pay as low as 1.5% interest per month.

“Inventory is the lifeblood for importing businesses, and it is directly impacted by cash flow,” said Koverly CEO Igor Ostrovsky. “Our KoverlyPay offering for FX transactions is designed to give businesses enough extra working capital to unlock at least one additional inventory turn per year. For a typical importing business, this can boost annual profitability by 50% to 100%. This is a game changer for global trade.”

As growth in the B2C BNPL space begins to slow, interest in B2B BNPL has seen growth. Melio, Allianz Trade, Yapily, and others have recently launched B2B BNPL tools. Banks have started implementing stricter small business lending practices, and we can expect to see small businesses pursue working capital via alternatives channels such as BNPL expand.

Koverly combines foreign exchange and credit into its invoicing, billpay, and accounting tools. The company, which currently processes $200 million a year in both domestic and international payments, launched global payment capabilities last summer. Today, global payments account for 50% of the company’s volume. 

Since it was founded in 2021, Koverly has received $7.6 million in Seed funding from Vinyl Capital, One Way Ventures, and Accomplice.

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich

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Ramp Raises $300 Million at a $5.8 Billion Valuation

Ramp Raises $300 Million at a $5.8 Billion Valuation
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Ramp landed $300 million in Series D funding today, bringing its total funding to $1.7 billion.
  • Today’s funds come from new investor Sands Capital, along with existing investors Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund.
  • At $5.8 billion, the company’s current valuation is 28% lower than its 2022 valuation of $8.1 billion.

Late-stage VC funding has been down in 2023, but business finance automation platform Ramp is bucking that trend today. The New York-based company has announced the closure of a $300 million round of Series D funding.

The investment boosts the company’s total funding to $1.7 billion. With the increase in capital, however, comes a decrease in valuation. The company’s current valuation now sits at $5.8 billion, 28% lower than the company’s $8.1 billion valuation reported last year.

Today’s Series D round comes from new investor Sands Capital, along with existing investors Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, and Founders Fund. Ramp will use the funds to fuel product development and accelerate its expansion into adjacent categories.

“In the last year alone, we’ve expanded Ramp’s offerings to become the only platform in the market that’s designed to save businesses time and money,” said Ramp CEO Eric Glyman. “Our mission is to help our customers build healthier businesses and this funding will help us execute against our goal to continue expanding the Ramp platform to better serve customers. At Ramp, we succeed when our customers can run their business more efficiently.”

Ramp offers its 15,000 clients access to its suite of payment cards, expense management tools, accounts payable offerings, procurement solutions, working capital, and more. Among Ramp’s recent client wins are Anduril, Poshmark, and Virgin Voyages.

Next month, Ramp plans to debut Ramp Plus, a new set of procurement tools to help finance teams with procurement-related tasks. To support this growth, the company also plans to boost its hiring efforts “significantly” and “across all functions.”

Photo by Anna Shvets

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FinovateFall 2023 by the Numbers

FinovateFall 2023 by the Numbers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2023, Marketing

If you’re in fintech, then you’re most likely a numbers person. You like to see the metrics, the data, and the quantitative side of things. So we’ve assembled the data surrounding this year’s FinovateFall event to offer a numerical picture of what you can expect at the show, which is taking place September 11 through 13 in New York City. Tickets are still available at a discounted rate.

14th 

This year marks the 14th FinovateFall we’ve held in New York City. Time flies when you’re having fun!

15

We’ll offer 15 networking sessions across the three-day event to ensure you have time to mingle and make meaningful connections.

59

Finovate is known for live demos. This year, we’ll feature 59 (and counting) companies demo their technology live on stage.

27

27 of our demoing companies are new-to-Finovate.

177

We’re hosting 177 speakers on stage. Those 177 fintech experts will discuss a wide range of fintech topics in demos, keynote presentations, panels, and more.

37

37 investor organizations are taking part in our Startup Booster Program.

40

40 of the top 50 banks in the U.S. are attending.

350+

More than 350 banks and financial institutions will be represented.

15

The number of miles from JFK International Airport to Marriott Marquis Times Square. We’ll see you there!

78

It only takes 78 seconds to watch a clip highlighting everything you need to succeed at this year’s event:

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

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Dock Taps Feedzai to Expand Fraud Prevention

Dock Taps Feedzai to Expand Fraud Prevention
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Feedzai
  • Brazil-based Dock selected Feedzai to provide fraud prevention tools for its customers.
  • Dock will primarily leverage Feedzai’s RiskOps Platform, and will also use the company’s AML and behavioral biometrics tools.
  • Dock counts 70 million active accounts and powers over seven billion transactions each year.

Brazil-based payments technology player Dock announced this week it has selected risk management tool provider Feedzai to provide new fraud prevention tools for Dock customers.

Founded in 2014, Dock offers card issuing and core banking services to help organizations bring new card digital payments and banking services to their existing operations. The company’s microservices architecture can be tailored to suit a multitude of rules, and can operate in any country, currency and banking system. The company counts 70 million active accounts and powers over seven billion transactions each year.

By partnering with Feedzai, Dock is giving its clients access to Feedzai’s RiskOps Platform, a tool that helps uncover criminal activity by standardizing processes. Feedzai launched RiskOps in 2021 to tackle fraud, money laundering, compliance, and enhance risk policies. The platform’s Financial Intelligence Network (FIN) database contains over one trillion data points, sessions, and profiles of good and bad actors. Dock also plans to integrate Feedzai’s behavioral biometrics module as well as money laundering prevention tools to offer customers a view of risks in real-time.

“We are providing our customers with another cloud-first technology solution that delivers a personalized approach to cyber threat detection and assessment, based on machine learning models and supported by Dock’s expertise,” said Dock Risk Director Armando Junior. “This partnership is aligned with our Latin American expansion strategy. The new feature makes it possible for us to understand even better the needs of our customers throughout the region.”

Feedzai was founded in 2011. The company offers tools ranging from KYC, AML, watchlist screening, transaction fraud monitoring, and more to help companies fight fraud in more than 190 countries. In 2021, Feedzai was valued at more than one billion dollars after receiving a $200 million funding round that boosted its total funding to $277 million. There is no word on an updated valuation.

Photo by Leigh Patrick

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Micronotes Adds $2 Million Extension to its Series C Round

Micronotes Adds $2 Million Extension to its Series C Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Funding, Micronotes
  • Micronotes announced a $2 million extension to its $5.5 million Series C funding round.
  • Today’s funds come from BankTech Ventures.
  • The extension brings Micronotes’ total funding to $23.3 million.

In an industry focused on the customer, engagement solutions providers are poised for growth. Perhaps that’s why digital engagement solutions provider Micronotes received a $2 million extension to its Series C round today.

Today’s funds come from BankTech Ventures and add to Micronotes’ $5.5 million investment led by Experian Ventures with participation from existing investors. Closing the Series C round brings The Massachusetts-based company’s total funding to $23.3 million.

“We’re thrilled to partner with BankTech Ventures,” said Micronotes Founder and CEO Devon Kinkead. “This strategic investment will help us accelerate our growth in the community banking sector and help more communities get a lot more out of their banking relationships.”

Micronotes was founded in 2008 and is privately held. The company leverages AI, big data, and machine learning technologies to help financial institutions use their data to better engage their customers, foster involvement, and ultimately build new revenue.

Photo by Soginoto

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Bridge the Advice Gap by Embracing Opportunities in Financial Advisory Technology

Bridge the Advice Gap by Embracing Opportunities in Financial Advisory Technology
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series

In the dynamic realm of financial advisory, the voice of experience is vital in understanding the present landscape. We recently spoke with intelliflo Vice President of Customer Management Lisa Jacobs on the challenges, opportunities, and trends in the advisory space.

Jacobs brings her 15+ years of experience to our conversation that sheds light on how firms can overcome labor shortages, resource constraints, constantly changing technology, and volatile regulations in the financial advice space. She also addresses how advisors can balance and manage the ongoing high-tech vs. high-touch approach.

What are some of the top challenges and opportunities currently facing the financial advisory space?

Lisa Jacobs: We recently surveyed over 400 financial advisors and found that 80% of them believe more people are seeking advice and can’t find or access that help. This is both an enormous challenge and opportunity. Even though more people are seeking professional guidance, advisors across the board are stretched thin, making it nearly impossible to take on new clients without additional support. This prohibits advisors from growing their revenue and supporting more people, leaving many without the help they need. intelliflo was formed to bridge the advice gap; we’re committed to providing the tools and solutions to help advisors widen access to financial advice.

How can technology be leveraged to overcome these challenges and support financial advisors?

Jacobs: Modern technology has the power to help advisors address these resource restraints. In just about every industry, technology yields efficiencies, but the best tech also increases your customer’s satisfaction, too. In our industry, this is becoming known as a hybrid advice strategy – a flexible model in which clients in earlier stages of the financial advice journey are primarily served via digital channels and tools, and technology adds more to the customer experience for top clients with better outcomes.

To effectively embrace more digital tools, advisors are increasingly moving away from stand-along software tools that can’t integrate with other parts of their tech stack to avoid having to learn and log on to multiple systems. Many are seeking an all-in-one advisor experience to increase efficiencies and, in turn, provide a more unified client experience. If approached the right way, technology has the power to enable advisors to accomplish more with existing resources while simultaneously strengthening client relationships.

What advice do you have for financial advisors that are evaluating the many different technology providers out there?

Jacobs: Technology can only be effective if it is easy to use and manage. Otherwise, it might act as more of a hindrance than a benefit. That same survey of advisors underpinned this idea, revealing that the top three biggest barriers to adopting new technology for advisors are integration challenges (57%), time to install (41%), and employee time and resources to manage the technology (38%).

When vetting the many providers and solutions available in the market, advisors should consider these common areas of friction, prioritizing technology that is open and easily integrated, is flexible (which often means cloud-based), and has proven, responsive service and support teams.

Changing regulation seems to be a pressing topic this year for the fintech industry at large. What is the best way for wealth management companies to stay ahead?

A strong way to stay on top of changing regulations and compliance mandates is to collaborate with resources such as peer groups, associations, and technology partners to discuss these issues and what needs to be altered in response. We also increasingly see firms rely on partnership models with third party vendors, looking to outsource key functions and support such as compliance. However, advisors must be sure their partners are thoroughly vetted and monitored on an ongoing basis; not all partners are created equal.

What are the top trends in the advisory space to watch for the second half of the year?

Jacobs: In addition to the continued rise of the hybrid advice model, the evolving role of the advisor is an important trend to watch. A wider skill set is increasingly expected from advisors, including the ability to provide comprehensive guidance around critical life events and situations that fall outside of the traditional financial advisory relationship. For instance, clients are more frequently asking which insurance plans and options are best for their unique scenarios. And as their parents age, Millennials are seeking guidance from advisors on long-term care and arrangement options. These conversations can be emotionally charged, and empathy will become a key trait for the modern advisor. This is another reason why advisors must determine how to strategically leverage technology to make time for higher-value conversations and plans.

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

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