Download the last Finovate eMagazine of the year, wrapping up the end of 2022 and looking forward to provide ideas, inspiration and to lay down the gauntlet for 2023.
Finovate’s End of Year Wrap Up: 2022
Wells Fargo Launches New Digital Banking Platform Vantage for Commercial and Corporate Clients
Wells Fargo launched a new digital banking platform, Vantage, for commercial, corporate, and investment banking.
Vantage leverages AI and machine learning to deliver more personalized recommendations and actionable insights based on clients' unique needs.
The new offering comes as part of Wells Fargo's digital transformation efforts, which include the launch of a new consumer mobile banking app earlier this year.
The new digital banking platform from Wells Fargo, called Vantage, is an upgrade of the bank's Commercial Electronic Office, or CEO Portal. The new offering is designed to give Wells Fargo's commercial, corporate, and investment banking clients a more personalized experience by leveraging AI and machine learning. Vantage uses both enabling technologies to provide recommendations and actionable insights based on the specific needs of clients, and refines and improves its capacity for personalization as clients use the technology.
"Our Commercial and Corporate clients' banking needs evolve…
The Four Ps of Analytics Financial Services Organizations Can’t Do Without
This is a sponsored post by Tim FitzGerald, EMEA Financial Services Sales Manager, InterSystems
The use of analytics within the financial services sector has evolved over the years, with some suggesting that it could be about to evolve even further, moving from a landscape where decisions are “data-dictated”, rather than “data-informed.”
There is a distinct difference between the two concepts and the role, or lack of, that humans play in each scenario. In the case of data-informed, humans remain in the loop to make decisions and take the appropriate actions based on data and analytics, whereas data-dictated refers to applications executing programmatic actions automatically in response to some stimulus or event.
So, are financial services organisations really at a point today where human insight is no longer a vital requirement of the decision-making process and are there really just two types of data-related decision-making at play? In short, no. But…
Finovate Global Canada: Clik2pay Partners with Inovatec; BMO Offers Installments; RBC Buys HSBC’s Canadian Business
There are many countries whose fintech innovations are often overlooked. And Canada, America's legendarily kinder, gentler neighbor to the north, is among them.
This week's edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech headlines emanating from the Great White North this week. The news ranges from big new fundings to new product launches to deal-making in Canada's banking industry.
Clik2pay, a payment service provider based in Toronto, Ontario, has teamed up with lending process automation expert Inovatec. The partnership will enables Inovatec's clients to use Clik2pay's direct-from-account payment platform to request payments from customers. The functionality leverages Interac's e-Transfer money transfer solution to ensure safe and secure fund movement.
"Clik2pay is always looking for ways to make the payments process simpler," Clik2pay Chief Commercial Officer David Robinson said. "Allowing borrowers to make payment directly from their bank account in real-time through an email or text makes paying…
FinovateEurope’s Alumni Alley: Backbase Rebrands, Boku Booms, and SecureKey Finds Opportunity in Acquisition
This week we began our celebration of FinovateEurope's earliest alums. In honor of FinovateEurope's Alumni Alley Showcase - a new feature designed to highlight the innovations of FinovateEurope alums - we're highlighting the companies that introduced their innovations to Finovate's European audience more than a decade ago - and are still among the top innovators in fintech today.
Visit our FinovateEurope Alumni Alley Showcase hub to learn more about this special opportunity for FinovateEurope alums.
Don't Call It A Comeback: Backbase's Big RebrandFounded in 2003, Backbase has been demonstrating its fintech innovations on the Finovate stage for more than a decade. Making its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2011, the company made its most recent on-stage appearance at FinovateFall in 2021, demoing the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform. In that ten years, the Amsterdam-based company was awarded Best of Show on four occasions, including three from the company's demos…
X1 Card Raises $15 Million, Adds In-App Stock Purchasing
Challenger credit card X1 has raised $15 million, bringing its total funding to more than $60 million.
Along with today's announcement, X1 is also unveiling a new in-app stock investing tool that will enable cardholders to purchase stocks using points.
X1 will use the funds to fuel growth and roll out new services for its members.
Challenger credit card X1 has raised $15 million this week. The funds bring the company's Series B round to $40 million and elevate its total funds to more than $60 million. The investment was led by Soma Capital and included contributions from Brian Kelly (The Points Guy) and Kyle Vogt.
While the self-described smart credit card did not provide an exact valuation, the company said that today's round increases X1's total valuation by more than 50% over where it stood four months ago, when the company raised $25 million in Series B funding.
X1…
Canadian Cross Border Payments Innovator Buckzy Raises Series A Funding
Canadian real-time cross border payments company Buckzy has raised $14.5 million in Series A funding.
The investment was led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures, and featured participation from new investors Luge Capital and Blue 9 Capital, as well as existing investor Revel Partners.
Buckzy made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateFall.
In a round led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures, Canada-based real-time, cross border payments company Buckzy has secured $14.5 million in Series A funding. Valuation information was not immediately available. This week's investment takes the company's total equity funding to more than $23 million, according to Crunchbase.
"This round of financing is a validation of Buckzy's vision to create an intelligent and automated international payment system," Buckzy CEO Abdul Naushad said. "We're on a mission to build the plumbing for real-time money movement globally, the same way high-speed internet fundamentally shifted the…
Finastra Integrates Clinc’s Conversational AI into its Digital Banking Platform
Finastra and Clinc have partnered to integrate Clinc's conversational AI technology into Finastra's Fusion Digital Banking platform.
Finastra will offer its 8,600 financial instiution clients access to Clinc's AI virtual assistants to help mitigate the load on call centers while providing quality answers to end users.
Finastra was founded in 2017 as a merger between Misys and D+H.
Financial software company Finastra has tapped conversational AI fintech Clinc this week. The two have partnered to integrate Clinc's Virtual Banking Assistant technology into Finastra's Fusion Digital Banking platform.
The added capabilities will enable Finastra's 8,600 financial institution clients to increase digital engagement with their customers. Clinc's Virtual Banking Assistant helps banks manage common banking requests through different channels, which ultimately helps reduce the volume of calls into the call center.
Clinc was founded in 2015 to build what it calls a "human-in-the-room" level of virtual assistant powered by AI technology and machine…
5 Tales From the Crypto: Fidelity’s New Offering, Ledger’s Card, Kriptomat’s Exchange, and More!
Fidelity Brings the Bitcoin
If you've been crying over your crypto wallet due to all the negative headlines about digital currencies, then now is the time to dry your eyes and thank Fidelity for giving crypto enthusiasts the greatest sign of approval since BTC and ETH peaked last year.
Fidelity announced this week that it has enabled cryptocurrency trading in retail accounts. Fidelity Crypto, as the offering is called, enables retail accountholders to buy and sell both Bitcoin and ethereum with as little as $1. The new functionality will be available in 35 U.S. states initially - California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Texas are among them. Fidelity plans to bring the technology to other states; the company is offering an early-access sign-up to let interested customers know when Fidelity Crypto is approved in their state. Similarly, the company is examining other cryptocurrencies with the potential to "expand…
Greenwood Raises $45 Million to Bring Digital Banking to Black and Latino Communities
Greenwood, a digital banking platform catering to black and Latino communities, raised $45 million in new funding this week.
The funding round was led by Pendulum, an investing and advisory platform for founders of color.
Atlanta, Georgia-based Greenwood was named after the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was known as "Black Wall Street" in the early 20th century due to its high concentration of black-owned businesses.
In a round led by Pendulum, a strategic growth investing and advisory platform for founders of color, digital banking platform Greenwood has secured $45 million in new funding. A digital banking platform designed to meet the needs of members of the African-American and Latino/Hispanic communities, Greenwood will use the funding to advance its goal of closing the wealth gap between ethnic minority and majority populations and enable African-Americans and Latinos to more readily build generational wealth.
"Our vision is to make Greenwood…
Fintech Apps Need These 5 Mobile Features to Attract Gen Z Users
The following is written by Lance Boyer, a recent college graduate and a Gen Z journalist.
Generation Z made up about 40% of active U.S. consumers in 2020, according to Fast Company. It also has more buying power than any of the Generation X, Boomer, or Silent generations. And it’s growing rapidly.
Generation Z is better off than the Millennial generation too. “Core” Millennials graduated high school and college into one of the worst economies in living memory. Despite the pandemic recession, Generation Z’s job and earning prospects have improved.
Financial technology providers can’t ignore Gen Z any longer. If you’re in the business of making budgeting, banking, and investing accessible to mobile users in the United States, you need to tailor your offerings to Gen Z — and now, not in 10 years.
That means designing your mobile app with younger users in mind. Here’s where to start.
…FinovateEurope’s Alumni Alley: Pioneering PFM, French Fintech, and an Investor Social Network
FinovateEurope's Alumni Alley is a great way for our pioneering alums to show that, more than a decade later, they are still driving fintech innovation. Check out our Finovate Alumni Alley hub for more information on how to get involved.
To celebrate the launch of this new opportunity, we're going to highlight alums that demoed their technologies at some of the earliest FinovateEurope events. From Best of Show winners to late blooming breakouts, FinovateEurope has spent the past dozen years showcasing the companies that have become many of fintech's favorites. Over the next few weeks heading into the winter holidays, we will share their stories here.
A Best of Show Winner - MenigaOne of four companies to win Best of Show in our inaugural FinovateEurope in 2011, Meniga introduced itself as a mobile PFM solution provider for retail banks in Europe. Hailing from Reykjavik, Iceland, and founded in 2009,…