Square Taps Visa for Instant Transfers in Canada

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, VISA

Visa is expanding its integration with Square's instant transfer feature into Canada. Square's Canadian merchant clients can access their funds in real time, instead of waiting for the next business day. Instant transfers are enabled by Visa Direct, a VisaNet processing capability that facilitates real-time delivery of funds.

One of the themes at FinovateFall earlier this month was how organizations can leverage real time data. When it comes to the movement of money, timing is everything. So it's no surprise to see Visa's announcement this week that it will expand its integration with Square's instant transfer feature into Canada.

Under the new integration, Square's Canadian merchant clients can now access their funds faster than the next business day. When they link an eligible debit card, Square's Canada-based merchant clients can transfer funds instantly to an external bank account.

Used for rapid merchant settlement, Square's instant transfers are enabled by Visa…

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Which Fintech Trend Should We Be Paying Attention To?

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2022, Julie's Column, Thought Leadership

Fintech is a broad industry, and with the breadth of its sub-sectors comes a large range of trends that change year after year. But with all of the new, hot trends to follow, it's impossible for banks and fintechs to focus on everything at once.

That's why our team set out at FinovateFall earlier this month to ask people from across the industry what trend we should be paying attention to. We received a large range of answers, but here were the top picks:

Fraud mitigation and security Business intelligence Money movement and payments Consumer-permissioned data Processing data using AI Financial inclusion Embedded payments and embedded banking Detailed transparency in machine learning solutions Customer obsession and customer experience

Check out the full video below, which includes explanations and reasonings behind each of these trends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLOv_YuFp1Y

We have several people to thank for answering this very broad question, including Gregory Wright,…

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Ethoca and ChargebackZero Team Up to Help Merchants Minimize Chargebacks

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Ethoca, MasterCard

Ethoca announced a partnership with India's ChargebackZero to help merchants eliminate chargebacks. The collaboration will integrate Ethoca's chargeback alert technology into ChargebackZero's Intelligent Dispute Prevention & Management Solution (iDPMS). Ethoca made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinovateFall. The company was acquired by Mastercard in 2019 for an undisclosed sum.

Ecommerce fraud and chargeback prevention company Ethoca has teamed up with India-based ChargebackZero to help merchants minimize chargebacks. The partnership will also bring greater transparency to consumer transactions, and make it easier for merchants to share the details of confirmed fraud and dispute incidents.

The collaboration will enable merchants to rely on a chargeback alert system that notifies them in the event of an impending chargeback. Notifications are made via the ChargebackZero dashboard, which combines a variety of alert types from card issuers with ChargebackZero's dispute management tools. The alerts allow merchants to identify and revolve customer disputes with…

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A Look Back at the Biggest and Best FinovateFall Yet!

By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2022

60+ innovative demos. 100+ expert speakers. 1700+ influential attendees. The connections and ideas you need were at FinovateFall this year. Were you there?

Get a taste of the action below, and catch up on some of the unique insights from the experts who took to the stage!

https://youtu.be/i4fik74nw_I

Bill Harris, CEO at Nirvana Money, joins David Penn, Finovate Research Analyst, to discuss the vision and ambition behind starting Nirvana Money, what advice he'd give to new fintech founders, and why he predicts the demise of crypto.

https://youtu.be/b95cKpV6FsE

Gregory Wright, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at Experian, talked with Julie Muhn, Finovate Senior Research Analyst, to discuss the three principles for amplifying your innovation success: innovation with purpose, which helps drive impact for your consumers and their communities; innovation through scale, to get to "yes" faster and more often; and innovation with analytics, bringing together…

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Finovate Global Egypt: Our Conversation with Cartona CEO and Co-Founder Mahmoud Talaat

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CEO Interview, Finovate Global

This week, Finovate Global takes a look at fintech developments in Egypt, specifically the story of Cartona.

The company, just over two years old, is a B2B e-commerce marketplace that helps connect retailers with a curated network of suppliers and wholesalers. Cartona secured $12 million in Series A funding this summer, taking its total capital raised to $16.5 million according to Crunchbase.

Our conversation with co-founder and CEO Mahmoud Talaat includes discussion of the company's role in the Egyptian financial services landscape, the current state of fintech in the country, and his plans for Cartona in the months to come.

Tell us about the founding of Cartona.

Mahmoud Talaat: Founded in August 2020 by Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, Rafik Zaher and myself, Cartona is a B2B e-commerce marketplace. Cartona offers an asset-light marketplace that enables retailers to order their store needs digitally from a curated network of sellers.

Cartona began…

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How to Move from a Product Focus to a Customer Focus: a Conversation with Vivek Bedi

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Speaker series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5DCiRL69Dk

At FinovateFall earlier this month, I sat down with author Vivek Bedi who delivered a keynote presentation later that week, to gain some insights on the customer experience. Specifically, Bedi discussed how organizations can shift from a product focus to a customer focus.

See his answer below and watch the video in its entirety for more on how business leaders can make smart decisions and how the financial services industry can keep up with a continuously changing world.

We always talk about it, right? How do we actually do it? Being in product for 20 years, I've realized, "geez, the customer is so important." And there are a few things I'm going to talk about tomorrow.

The first is how do we become customer obsessed? I know we say that term a lot, but how do we actually make that happen in practicality.... Nine out of ten times, we're…

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Taulia and Standard Chartered Team Up to Collaborate on Working Capital Finance

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Standard Chartered Bank, Taulia

Taulia and Standard Chartered signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on working capital finance solutions. The partnership will initially focus on supply chain finance and dynamic discounting. The agreement will offer Taulia access to Standard Chartered's global client base.

Supply chain finance company Taulia has inked an agreement with Standard Chartered this week. The agreement comes in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate across a range of working capital finance solutions.

The two will begin by focusing on supply chain finance and dynamic discounting, two solutions that Taulia offers to buyers. Taulia will use its expertise in this area, combined with Standard Chartered's global client base, to help clients build a more resilient and sustainable supply chain.

Ultimately, the partnership aims to enable suppliers to access working capital in a more efficient and cost effective manner.

"We are excited to work with Taulia to explore…

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Stash Launches its New Infrastructure Platform, Stash Core

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Stash

Investing and banking services fintech Stash unveiled its new infrastructure platform, Stash Core, this week. Stash's new banking account experience is the first new solution built on Stash Core. Credit, savings, and lending solutions are expected to be launched in the future. Stash Core features integrations from a wide number of partners including fellow Finovate alums Mastercard, Marqeta, Mambu, and Alloy.

With its latest innovation, investing and banking company Stash is bringing to market a new proprietary infrastructure platform, Stash Core. The offering supports Stash's new banking account experience now, and will enable new capabilities in credit, savings, and lending in the future.

"Stash Core gives us flexibility and ownership of every customer touchpoint," Stash co-founder and CEO Brandon Krieg said. "It's the future of inclusive finance and transformative to our business."

Stash's new banking account experience is built on the Stash Core and provides access to…

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Cinchy Launches Credit Union Edition of its Dataware Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Cinchy, Daily news

Data firm Cinchy unveiled the Credit Union Edition of its Cinchy Dataware Platform today. The solution is made specifically to help credit unions easily access and leverage their data without having to replace their core banking system. Cinchy won Best of Show for its demo at FinovateFall 2019.

Data access and control firm Cinchy unveiled a credit union-specific solution today. The company is launching The Credit Union Edition of its Cinchy Dataware Platform to help credit unions extend the life of their core systems, avoiding the need to replace their existing core with a new one.

The new solution enables credit unions that are currently constrained by their core banking systems. Many of the outdated systems result in siloed data, which makes it difficult for the credit union to leverage their data to create better systems, an improved user experience, and cost savings.

Cinchy's calls the capability "liberating data." Today's new launch enables…

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Nordigen to Provide Open Banking Data for Teenit

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Nordigen

Nordigen has been selected by Teenit, an Amsterdam-based PFM tool, to provide open banking services. Nordigen will enable Teenit to securely connect to customers' bank accounts to source transaction and account balance information. "Open banking goes hand-in-hand with personal financial management tools as access to customer information enables PFMs to stay up-to-date with their suggestions and analytics," said Nordigen CEO and Co-Founder Rolands Mesters.

Personal financial management (PFM) tool Teenit has selected Nordigen for open banking. The Amsterdam-based PFM company will offer its users an aggregate view of their finances, complete with insights and analysis on their spending and saving habits.

By integrating with Nordigen's freemium offering, Teenit can securely connect to customers' bank accounts to source real-time data on their transactions and savings account balances. With open connectivity to its users' financial data, Teenit can better fulfill its mission of educating teenagers on money management.

"We wanted to serve…

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Inovatec Partners with Real-Time Risk Decisioning Specialist Provenir

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news

Provenir announced a new partnership with Inovatec Systems. The partnership will enable auto lenders on Inovatec's LOS platform to access Provenir's risk decisioning solutions Headquartered in New Jersey, Provenir has forged partnerships with TransUnion, Kueski, and Provu in recent months.

Real-time risk decisioning software company Provenir announced a new partner today. The Parsippany, New Jersey-based technology company has inked a deal with Canadian lending software firm Inovatec Systems that will give Inovatec's roster of automobile lenders new tools to improve the financing process.

"Inovatec's configurable loan origination and loan management solutions efficiently support third party solutions that improve the speed, reliability, and efficiency of the entire lending process," Inovatec Head of Business Development Bob Metodiev said. Courtesy of the new relationship, auto financing companies working with Inovatec will be able to leverage open APIs to access Provenir's AI-powered decisioning solutions - which are embedded into Inovatec's LOS platform. Combined with…

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Agora Data Receives $100 Million Credit Facility

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding

Agora Data received a $100 million revolving credit facility from Credit Suisse. The company anticipates the funds will help it expand how it delivers capital to loan originators who offer in-house financing. The news comes just under a year after Agora Data unveiled its reducing rate line of credit.

Auto lending technology company Agora Data announced today it received $100 million in financing. The funds come in the form of a revolving credit facility from Credit Suisse.

Agora Data, which helps non-prime borrowers obtain credit, anticipates the funds will help it expand how it delivers capital to loan originators who offer in-house financing solutions. The company offers auto dealers competitive financing and tools such as AI and machine learning modeling. Ultimately, Agora Data helps lenders build loan portfolios with high predictability and improved performance when lending to non-prime customers.

The company also offers AgoraInsights, a product that helps dealers…

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