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China and Ghana Reflect Rise of QR Codes as Cash Alternative

By David Penn Posted on May 15, 2020
Categories: Finovate Global

QR code payments may not inherit the earth. But they may be one of the key technologies developing countries can leverage in order to bring both untaxed merchants and underbanked consumers into their formal national economies.

These are some of the top level conclusions reached in the report – QR Code Developments May Disrupt the Disrupters – from Mercator Advisory Group published late last year. The author, Brian Riley, credited three factors: better authentication, centralized clearance, and improvements to the payments network as giving QR codes renewed viability as a payment acceptance option in some markets.

The convenience of QR (Quick Response) codes as a payment option is clear. They are a fast, easy-to-use compliment to mobile commerce that requires little to no equipment. Armed with a QR code scanning app, their ubiquitous mobile devices and their cameras, consumers can make in-person purchases without relying on cash or physical cards. QR codes also have shown promise as an option for ecommerce, as well.

Adoption of QR code based mobile payments has been modest in markets in the West, such as the U.S. and the U.K. However in regions like the Asia-Pacific, QR code usage has soared. Greg Geng, VP of Tencent’s WeChat Business Group told CNBC last fall that in China, “payment methods using QR codes have replaced cash and cards in just five years.” In fact, the country is now making headlines for the way it is leveraging its affection for QR codes to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

The news from Ghana this week is further evidence that QR codes continue to prove their mettle. A subsidiary of Ghana’s national bank, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has partnered with global payments solution provider HPS to launch its Universal QR Code and Proxy Pay platform. The solution will enable consumers to make instant payments from mobile wallets, cards, and bank accounts by scanning QR codes with their mobile devices.

Ghana is a pioneer in this regard, being the first country in Africa to introduce a national, QR code payment system. The initiative is believed to be a part of the country’s attempt to transition toward significantly less reliance on cash. “At this time, our quest toward a modern, cashless society is more important than ever and we are proud to be the first African country to implement this universal QR code solution,” GhIPSS CEO Archie Hesse said. “HPS has delivered an agile, comprehensive solution during a time of global crisis and we can foresee incredible benefits.”

Abdeslam Alaoui Smaili, HPS CEO, echoed Hesse’s sentiments about the power of QR codes to support a move away from paper currency, calling the initiative “an important part to a long-term goal of a cashless society.”

HPS offers a comprehensive suite of solutions, PowerCARD, that covers the entire payment value chain and enables its partners to process payments regardless of channel or initiated means-of-payment. With more than 400 institutions in 90+ countries using HPS’ technology, the company was founded in 1995 and maintains offices in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Billon announced blockchain-based proof of concept with Polish electric company Tauron.
Euromoney looks at how finechs in the CEE region are benefitting as consumers opt for digital payments rather than cash.
Silicon Canals features Ukrainian fintech startups that are “taking the industry to the next level.”

Middle East and Northern Africa

Dubai-based Spotii goes live in UAE with its Shop Now Pay Later platform.
Egyptian digital lender Shahry locks in $650,000 in pre-seed funding.
Securrency forges strategic partnership with investment management and banking company, Musharaka Capital, to develop digital asset issuance platform in Saudi Arabia.

Central and Southern Asia

Partnership between MoneyGram and India’s Federal Bank to bring a direct-to-bank-account credit solution to Indian consumers.
Uzbekistan president pledges reform of banking system, including the privatization of six bank.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange Shiftal to leverage digital identity verification technology from Yoti to support compliant customer onboarding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Mexico’s Flux partners with Bonnuscard, Moneypool, and Cuando Volvamos to enable businesses to offer pre-paid digital gift cards.
Financial inclusion-based accelerator makes its Latin American debut with a launch in Mexico.
SME payments company Kushki goes live in Mexico, having already expanded to Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru.

Asia-Pacific

Validus, a Singapore-based P2P lending platform, raises another $20 million in Series B+ funding ahead of its expansion into Thailand.
Indonesia’s Pintek, which helps students and educational institutions alike access credit, raises an undisclosed amount of funding from Accion Ventures Lab.
Fintech News Singapore features the top ten fintech companies in the Philippines.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Voyance, a data science startup based in Nigeria, launches fintech fraud tracking database, Sigma.
South African cryptocurrency exchange Altcoin Trader enables instant EFT withdrawals from any bank account.
WeeTracker looks at the strength of the wealthtech component of Kenya’s fintech industry.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Protecting your Data Whilst your Employees Work from Home

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 15, 2020
Categories: Guest Post

The following is a guest post written by Josephine Jacobs, writer at Academicbrits.com and PhdKingdom.com and an executive coach and organizational consultant.

As we move into an unprecedented era of remote working (or rather, working from home!), companies and employees need to consider how to protect sensitive data. Several security considerations must be explored. Employees working from home will have access to work systems without the protections an office brings – they will be using different IT infrastructure, bandwidths and Wi-Fi connections that may not be secure. This all brings an element of danger to your company’s data – as your employees access your database or databases remotely, the risk to that data grows. Usually the risk is only between the server, internal network and end user machine. External working adds the risks of public internet connections, local networks and consumer-grade security systems.

Here are some of the best ways to protect your data whilst your employees work from home.

Tutor your Employees in Data Protection and Computer Security

“It’s worth giving your employees a basic training on how to stay safe online and digitally,” says Joey Garcia, a tech writer at 1Day2Write and NextCoursework. “This can include warning them about phishing emails, avoiding public Wi-Fi, securing home Wi-Fi routers and verifying the security of devices they use for work. Remind employees not to click links in emails from people they don’t know, not to install third-party apps, and to be aware that hacking and phishing attacks will increase during the quarantine period.”

Create an Emergency Response Team

Whilst teaching your employees some basic computer security is a useful preventative measure, you need an emergency response team for the unfortunate event of your data being compromised. Ensure this team can be contacted by everyone in the company and everyone knows exactly what to do in the event of a cyber-attack.

Provide your Employees a VPN

Using a VPN (virtual private network) is a good way to ensure data remains secure. A VPN provides more security by hiding the user’s IP address, encrypting data as it is transferred, and masking the user’s location. Most companies use some sort of VPN already – all you need to do is expand it to all of your employees as they work from home and allow them to use it for all business-related activity.

Security Software

Provide your employees with the best security protection on all of their devices – this can be anti-virus software, firewalls, and device encryption.

“Have a look at the best security software for Macs or Windows, depending on what devices your company employees use,” says Melisa Cueva, data analyst at Australia2Write and Britstudent. “Norton Anti-Virus consistently ranks highly, but there are many other options out there.”

Password Audits

It’s a good idea to have your employees regularly change their passwords, and to teach them how to make the best passwords. Perform an audit and ensure all passwords meet a strict security police: alphanumeric codes are much better than names or dates that are easily guessed. Two-factor authentication should be put in place as a mandatory procedure.

Update all Software

Windows and Apple Mac’s have their own useful security measures in place to protect devices from attacks. Ensuring all updates are completed and software is at its latest version can also prevent devices from attacks. Ask your employees to check their computers and phones are up to date and activate automatic updating on all devices.

Don’t Store Information Locally

You can instead store information on the cloud, using services like Google Drive or Microsoft Office 365 Online. This also includes avoiding the use of USB sticks, as these devices can be infested with malware. Content should be stored on cloud-based software wherever possible, and employees should use cloud-based apps, too. Locally stored information means it is stored on a physical disk, like the hard drive of a computer. Cloud software is great because you can backup all data here, too.

Backups

In case of any need to reset and wipe devices of viruses, encourage your employees to back up all their data – whether that’s on the cloud, or to local storage (but this isn’t recommended for reasons mentioned above!).

Josephine Jacobs is a writer at Academicbrits.com and PhdKingdom.com, an executive coach and organizational consultant with more than 10 years of experience enhancing the performance of individual executives, teams and organizations. Her background encompasses a wide range of programs and initiatives for individual development, team building, organization design, and facilitation. She also writes for Essay Help Service.

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Big Bank Meets Big Bitcoin: JPMorgan Partners with Gemini and Coinbase

By David Penn Posted on May 14, 2020
Categories: Daily news

Blame it on the halving?

This week the Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan had established an official banking relationship with two cryptocurrency exchanges: Gemini and long-time Finovate alum Coinbase. JPMorgan is not going all-in on crypto; the agreement calls for the bank to process only the exchange’s fiat-based transactions. Nevertheless, the partnership is a notable milestone in the relationship between big banks and the bitcoin business.

The news is interesting for a variety of reasons. For one, JPMorgan CEO and Jamie Dimon has been a notorious critic of, if not all cryptocurrencies, then at least bitcoin. In 2017, Dimon called bitcoin “a fraud,” adding that bitcoin is “worse than tulip bulbs. It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed.” He has since moderated his critique, and his bank, like most other major financial institutions, are piloting various initiatives that use bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology – even if not embracing bitcoin itself. That said, last year the bank announced the creation of a JPM Coin that can be used as a digital token to instantly settle transactions. The initiative was the first real-world use of a digital coin by a major bank in the U.S.

The partnership news also comes just after the bitcoin halving, in which the reward for mining BTC transactions is reduced by 50% in order to manage supply. This week’s process is the third in the cryptocurrency’s history; bitcoin was halved first in 2012 and again in 2016. After the most recent halving four years ago, bitcoin saw significant price appreciation, climbing from approximately $650 that July to nearly $20,000 a year and a half later. And while the halving has helped draw renewed attention to cryptocurrencies as alternative stores of value, few anticipate bitcoin making the same kind of post-halving run this time around as it did in 2016.

Whether or not JP Morgan will seek out other customers in the cryptocurrency industry remains to be seen. One advantage both Gemini and Coinbase have is that they are among the most heavily regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. Both have earned BitLicenses from the New York State Department of Financial Services, and are registered as money services with FinCEN. These may prove to be high hurdles for many other crypto businesses.

Coinbase made its Finovate debut in 2014 at our west coast conference. Founded two years earlier, the company has raised more than $547 million in funding, and had an estimated global revenue of approximately $520 million in 2018 according to Reuters. Since inception, Coinbase has facilitated the exchange of $150 billion in cryptocurrencies, and served more than 30 million customers in 102 countries.

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eToro Reaches 13 Million Users, Spurred by COVID-19

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 14, 2020
Categories: Daily news, eToro

Across the globe, many people have shifted their attention to focus on two things: their health and their finances. Fintech companies have stepped up in recent weeks to help citizens with the latter. In fact, many are seeing record app downloads, usage, logins, and a surge of new users.

eToro is one such fintech. In fact, the U.K.-based company recently announced it has now reached 13 million active users. This milestone comes in part thanks to the comparatively large number of new users that have registered in the first quarter of this year. eToro saw more than a fourfold increase in the number of new users in the first quarter of 2020 than it saw in the first quarter of 2019.

“Coronavirus induced market volatility has been a focus for media globally and has brought the topic of investing increasingly onto people’s radars,” said eToro CEO Yoni Assia. “We have seen a large increase in trading volumes on eToro since the start of 2020 from both new and existing users.”

Activity on the stock-trading platform has also ramped up this year, with stock trading transactions increasing by 3x since January 1. Much of this activity can be attributed to the fact that eToro launched commission-free stock investing for its Europe-based users in May.

As for what’s next, eToro said it plans to expand its commission-free stock investing to users in the U.S. and Asia Pacific regions later this year. The company also noted that it plans to ramp up its acquisitions to keep up with customer demand.

EToro is, by all accounts, in the middle of a growth spurt. In addition to its boosted user numbers and acquisition plans, the company is also in the middle of a hiring spree. It is currently seeking to fill 60+ job vacancies at a time when many fintechs are laying off or furloughing their staff.

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Tools for Digital Transformation in the COVID-19 Era

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 13, 2020
Categories: Speaker series

With ongoing stay-at-home orders in place due to COVID-19, companies of all sizes across many industries have had to find a way to take their operations into the digital realm. So while digital transformation had previously been on financial services firms’ radars, it has quickly evolved into a priority.

Bajaj Allianz has experienced particular success with its digital transformation efforts. To get some insight into best practices, we caught up with KV Dipu, President – Head Operations, Customer Service & Communities of Bajaj Allianz.

Many firms have recently had to fast-track their digital transformation efforts. What is your advice to ensure a smooth transition?

KV Dipu: The key is to move from the classic two-speed approach to a big bang approach. Since the accelerator (CEO, CXO or COVID-19 – no prizes for guessing!) for digital transformation is obvious, the most effective starting point is the touch point which generates maximum friction in terms of process performance vs. customer feedback. Secondly, transformation efforts follow use cases, not the other way around. Only when business owners own use cases do transformation efforts bear fruit! Thirdly, look for early wins to create competitive fervor across departments.

Disproportionate awards for early birds can help propel the lagging units forward. Fourthly, since deployment and adoption are entirely different buckets of fish, a strong reward program for fast adoption helps. Lastly, agility – defined here as the ability to recalibrate one’s approach with amoebic speed- in an era when the situation is changing by the day is important to carry the transformation through!

Bajaj Allianz has success in collecting and digitizing data with IoT-based devices. Talk to us about this initiative.

KV Dipu: Charles Darwin said, “It is the long history of humankind that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

At Bajaj Allianz, we strongly focus on collaboration and 100% adherence to regulatory compliance when initiating IoT projects. DriveSmart, our IoT-based telematics program, offers five unique benefits to customers: driving optimization, geofencing, 24/7 road assistance, social integration, and gamification. Some of these benefits are possible only through IoT. For instance, geofencing lets you know if the car strays off the beaten path! Similarly, social integration lets you know if a friend is on the route to your weekend destination!

Likewise, when we launched our “connected school” initiative which included an IoT-enabled solution combining safety, security, as well as insurance coverage for school students, we addressed parents’ worries around school travel. We tracked children using RFID cards and geofenced their travel routes to ensure maximum safety.

Do you have other IoT device projects in the works?

KV Dipu: We have also leveraged IoT to digitize our health insurance medical check-up process. It is now automated and paperless end–to-end; we even won the Celent Model Insurer 2020 Award for the same!

What other tools have you relied on to enhance digital operations?

KV Dipu: We have deployed an array of tools to enhance digital operations. For starters, we walked the talk on blockchain when we deployed it in the area of claim settlement for international travel insurance. In case your flight is delayed beyond the terms and conditions in the policy, you don’t even need to notify us of the claim! Once you submit your documents, we get to know of the flight delay and can send you the amount even when you are still in the airport. Similarly, our bot leverages AI to offer 24/7 assistance via the website, Whatsapp, and even Alexa! We have also deployed robotic process automation (RPA) to automate a range of activities in the back office.

One of the most difficult aspects to digitize can be tools that rely heavily on collaboration and communication. What was your experience in making communication digital?

KV Dipu: We have had a wonderful experience making our communication digital! Our motto during the current phase of social distancing was to stay digitally connected with our employees, customers, and partners while being physically distanced. With our employees and partners, work from home became an opportunity to bond from home by celebrating virtual birthday parties and organizing painting, cooking, and singing team activities using digital collaboration tools. With customers, digitizing communication involved a shift from the call centre to digital servicing tools such as Whatsapp, bots, website, app, and portal.

We also leveraged social media to connect with customers. The highlight was digital launches of new products! In fact, based on recent engagement levels, we scored the highest brand engagement rate in the insurance industry! Since we continuously engaged our customers using email, SMS, and digital platforms and enabled transactions on digital assets, our customer satisfaction scores actually improved!

How are you balancing the need to keep things as stable as possible for customers and employees during an uncertain time with the need to drive digital change?

KV Dipu: Communication is the key when trying to perform a balancing act between stability for the present and digital change for the future. We embarked on a multi-modal communication exercise, informing customers that we are just a call or click away. With employees, we propelled our home-grown engagement program christened “Celebrating You” with a strong focus on four fulcrums: fun at work, digital learning, virtual town halls, and videos and podcasts for mental health and physical workout tips.

Digital change gets established as customers experience the ease and convenience of digital assets. Work from home, for instance, given the win-win for both – employees save on commutes to work, firms save on expensive real estate – is likely to be a permanent feature. Similarly bots, Whatsapp, portals, and websites with 1-click features are here to stay. Tomorrow’s organization chart may well show a manager leading a team of both humans and machines!

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Featurespace to Grow Behavioral Analytics with Fresh $37.4 Million Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 13, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Featurespace, Funding

Behavioral analytics technology provider Featurespace announced today that it closed a $37.4 million (£30 million) round of funding.

The round, which brings Featurespace’s total funding to $108.6 million, was led by Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited with additional contributions from existing investors.

“During these challenging times, our machine learning models have automatically adapted to the shift in consumer, business and criminal behavior,” said Featurespace CEO Martina King. “It is our continued focus to deliver industry-leading, fraud and anti-money laundering solutions to our customers and partners.”

Featurespace will use the funding to “support continued growth” of its financial crime detection technology. The company launched its adaptive behavioral analytics platform, the ARIC Risk Hub, in 2008. The ARIC Risk Hub helps organizations fight financial crime by leveraging machine learning and anomaly detection to flag suspicious activity in real time.

The company has more than 30 major bank clients including four of the five largest banks in the U.K. Among Featurespaces customers are HSBC, TSYS, Worldpay, RBS NatWest Group, Danske Bank, ClearBank, and more.

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FIS Unveils Portal to Help SMEs Access PPP Loan Forgiveness

By David Penn Posted on May 12, 2020
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, FIS

Photo by **Andrea Piacquadio** from **Pexels**

There may be no second acts in politics. But with the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) rolling out the next phase in its loan forgiveness initiative for SMEs, it’s good to see that the economic rescue plan has another shot at getting it right.

We chronicled some of the challenges that PPP 1.0 faced. Fortunately, this time around, many of the cooperating financial institutions, financial services companies, and fintechs are in a better, more informed position to help make sure the businesses that need the help actually get the help.

One example of this is the new portal powered by the FIS Real-time Lending Platform. This portal, available to FIs and merchants participating in the SBA’s PPP, automates and streamlines the process of applying for loan forgiveness under the provisions of the new program.

“As a critical infrastructure provider, FIS is focused on making it as easy as possible for small businesses and merchants to complete the loan forgiveness process and help them get back to business as soon as possible,” FIS Head of Global Core Banking and Channels Rob Lee said. “Our new portal uses advanced automation technology to handle the entire process, reducing the time and complexity for businesses in getting forgiveness of the essential loans that are critical to their business.”

Using pre-filled applications and documentation uploads for efficiency, the portal figures loan forgiveness amounts, and allows FIs to review and e-sign the requests. The document packages are sent to the borrower and bank for e-signing and then, via the portal, the materials are submitted to the SBA for validation. The portal is 100% digital and can be easily deployed by banks who can get started by uploading a file of eligible loans from their current PPP customers. FIS notes that via its Real-Time Lending Platform, it has facilitated “billions” in PPP loan funds through lenders to SMEs whose businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

A Finovate alum since 2013, FIS made fintech headlines last month when the company unveiled a new venture arm and a plan to invest $150 million in fintech startups. Last year, FIS was part of fintech’s biggest transactions of 2019 with its $34 billion acquisition of fellow Finovate alum Worldpay.

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Ephesoft Brings Power of Context to Accounts Payable with Semantik Invoice

By David Penn Posted on May 12, 2020
Categories: Alumni News, Ephesoft

The new data acquisition solution from Ephesoft will bring 97% accuracy and 30% cost-savings to companies looking for ways to enhance their accounts payable processes.

“With more than half of invoices still processed manually and taking on average 8.5 days, AP processing is ripe for innovation,” Ephesoft founder and CEO Ike Kavas explained. “(T)here is a market need for solutions that are highly scalable and have a quick time to value.”

Semantik Invoice, unveiled today, is an out-of-the-box, cloud-based platform that leverages AI and automation to extract critical information from invoices – regardless of format. The solution imports the data into the user’s existing workflow and business systems – Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), or other tools – for processing. Semantik Invoice recognizes and analyzes critical data fields including dates, rates, IDs, amounts due, and more, providing businesses with a low-code, no-code option that can be quickly set up and started in a production capacity.

Kavas added that the technology also helps businesses future-proof their AP processes. “During times of uncertainty and budget tightening, companies should be asking themselves if the products they are investing in will integrate with future products and solutions,” he said. “Ephesoft has designed this SaaS-based solution to leverage the power of context in accounts payable with scalability and agility for future innovations.”

Ephesoft most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring (now FinovateWest) in 2018. The company showed how its technology uncovers business intelligence for mortgage document processing by leveraging data mining and analytics.

Ephesoft began this year partnering with Toyota Finance New Zealand to accelerate loan application and settlement processing. In the months since, the company has launched a new protocol, Context Driven Productivity, that transforms flat data – information that is stored in traditional formats like PDFs, emails, and spreadsheets – into contextually enriched semantic data. This discipline was implemented in the company’s Ephesoft Transact 2020 platform.

Ephesoft also bolstered its executive ranks this spring, appointing Doug Lee to the post of Chief Revenue Officer. Lee arrived at the company after holding executive sales positions as SaaS companies such as Puppet, PatientPop, and Smarsh.

Founded in 2010 and based in Irvine, California, Ephesoft has raised $15 million in funding from investors including Mercato Partners.

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Eltropy and Prisma Campaigns Help Credit Unions Better Engage Members

By David Penn Posted on May 11, 2020
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Eltropy, Prisma Campaigns

Text messaging platform Eltropy and omnichannel marketing innovator Prisma Campaigns have teamed up to help credit unions communicate more effectively with their customers. The new solution, which integrates technologies from both companies, will enable credit unions to leverage online banking, mobile banking, text, and SMS channels to launch targeted marketing campaigns.

“Increasingly, credit unions are hearing from members that they want (to use) text messaging to communicate,” Global Solution Manager at Prisma Campaigns Gastón Vizziano said. “Prisma Campaign’s omnichannel approach and ease-of-use of Eltropy’s platform make this new partnership a powerful value proposition for credit unions.”

Eltropy offers financial services companies a secure and compliant way to engage with their customers on the messaging platforms they prefer such as iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat. Demonstrating its technology at FinovateSpring (now FinovateWest) in 2018, Eltropy leverages AI to analyze 24 data points within message conversations in order to provide behavioral analytics that can guide institutions when marketing products and services to their customers.

Prisma Campaigns CEO Felipe Gil praised Eltropy’s ability to “give credit unions exactly what they want – personalized communications capabilities, in a way that is uncomplicated, secure, and compliant.” Founded in 2017, Prisma Campaigns leverages customer data to enable financial services companies to build and launch targeted, personalized marketing campaigns on both digital and non-digital channels. The Boston, Massachusetts-based company, which made its Finovate debut in 2018, partnered with fellow Finovate alum Jumio last month to empower credit unions to adopt automated digital ID verification technology.

Eltropy was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California. Last month, the company announced that it had inked agreements with 12 credit unions ranging in size from $11 million Paducah Teachers Federal Credit Union to $3.92 billion BCU. Company CEO and co-founder Ashish Garg credited Eltropy’s relationship with the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) for its ability to secure the trust of these smaller, community-oriented financial institutions.

“We have been signing an average of two credit unions a week for the last seven weeks,” Garg said. “Team Eltropy is thankful for its partnership with CUNA and state leagues across the country who have helped accelerate our business by spreading awareness of our product throughout the industry.”

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UBS Report Forecasts Fintech Industry Revenues of $500 Billion in 2030

By David Penn Posted on May 11, 2020
Categories: Report series

Driven by the preferences of millennial consumers, the fintech industry is expected to generate revenues of $500 billion in ten years based on research just published by UBS. This represents a growth of more than 3x over the $150 billion in revenues the industry generated in 2018, and shows fintech outpacing the revenue growth expectations of the overall financial sector.

The projections from UBS rely on more than just millennials – who represent 27% of the world’s population and own an estimated $24 trillion in wealth. The UBS report also suggested that blockchain technology will generate economic value of between $300 and $400 billion in multiple industries, with fintech and financial services being the biggest beneficiaries. In addition to automation, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies were recognized as playing key roles in enhancing areas ranging from trade finance and compliance to foreign exchange and insurance.

AI also will play a role in generating significant economic value for the fintech industry over the next decade, according to UBS. In addition to enhancing processes in fields like roboadvisory, insurance, and compliance, AI will help develop a growing array of ever-more-sophisticated, customer-facing applications such as virtual assistants and chatbots. Increased consumer interaction with these AI-enabled technologies could drive a customer experience/innovation loop that would keep adoption rates of these kinds of solutions high and growing. UBS featured data from its Semi-annual Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide (in collaboration with IDC) which indicated that spending on AI technology worldwide this year would reach $47 billion. Ten years ago, that spending total was less than a quarter of that amount at $11 billion.

The report also underscored the growth of the e-wallet industry, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where the area’s millennials have helped create a 66% penetration rate for the technology. This is double the rate in North America and an even more significant margin over trends in EMEA. Other areas in fintech highlighted in the UBS report were payments, insurtech, wealthtech, capital markets tech, and online lending.

Positive moves from regulators were cited as one of the more surprising sources of optimism for fintech revenues over the next ten years. The reasons vary widely, but include the public-private partnerships that characterize fintech development in the MENA regions, as well as pro-consumer compliance laws in Europe, the U.K, and North America that are driving innovation in often overlooked subsectors of fintech like regulatory technology (“regtech”). The rise of open banking and the proliferation of neo- and challenger banks are also ways that governments have and are likely to continue to create space for growth in fintech.

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Core Banking, Data Security Startups Join Mastercard’s Start Path Virtual Accelerator

By David Penn Posted on May 10, 2020
Categories: Weekly Alumni News

Photo by **Mateusz Dach** from **Pexels**

Two Finovate alums will be among the 12 startups selected to participate in Mastercard’s Start Path program. Thought Machine, a core banking technology provider, and Enveil, a data security firm specializing in protecting Data-in-Use, will join 10 fellow tech startups for the six-month virtual accelerator program.

Amy Neal, SVP, Start Path and Fintech, Mastercard, suggested that the current public health crisis will have an impact on the environment in which these startups compete. “This global pandemic has strengthened collaboration between corporates and startups,” Neal said, “and we look forward to co-creating with our newest Start Path members and providing them access to a powerful network and tailored programming on their mission to scale.”

Joining Thought Machine and Enveil are:

Hoolah
mx51
ryd
SmartPesa
Ukheshe
Worldcoo
Goalsetteris
Zinobe
ConnexPay
Mylo

The goal of the program is to help companies scale their business with the support of a Mastercard sponsor. Startups are able to develop relationships with a curated, global network of established financial services and e-commerce firms, as well as with technology and marketing professionals within Mastercard’s network. Since its inception in 2014, the program has worked with 230 startups.

“We’re delighted to announce we’ve joined @MAstartpath! An industry-wide collaboration of banks, merchants and startups building the future of commerce,” Thought Machine’s Twitter feed read when the news was announced. The company demonstrated its core banking solution, Vault, and FinovateEurope 2018. The U.K.-based company made fintech headlines this spring when it announced receiving an investment of $83 million to fuel the company’s growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Enveil made its Finovate debut one year earlier, demonstrating its point-to-point, Data-in-Use security solution at FinovateFall. Picking up $10 million in funding in February, Enveil was highlighted in an Alumni Profile in March.

“Proud to be selected to join Mastercard Start Path!” the company’s Twitter feed read late last week. “Of the more than 1,500 applications evaluated per year, Start Path selects about 40 companies that offer the most promising technologies and demonstrate a readiness to scale.”

Finovate Podcast Interviews Amber Labs’ Aleks Svetski

This week on the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer talks with writer, researcher, and keynote speaker Aleks Svetski on Bitcoin in 2020, the halving event, and the importance of understanding the root of money’s functionality.

Svetski is the founder of Amber, an app designed to make it easier for individuals to invest in Bitcoin. He also launched one of the world’s premier publications on Bitcoin, The Bitcoin Times.

Amber Labs demonstrated its technology at FinovateMiddleEast in Dubai last year. The company won Best of Show for its all-in-one Bitcoin exchange, wallet, and micro-investment app.

Here is our weekly roundup of news from our Finovate alums.

Fiserv details CEO succession plan, electing Frank Bisignano to succeed Jeffery Yabuki as Chief Executive Officer effective July 1.
Samsung to launch new Samsung Pay debit card courtesy of new partnership with SoFi.
linked2pay launches CustomerConnect to help businesses eliminate late B2B invoice payments.
Tradeshift teams up with the Danish Export Credit Agency to launch a program to free up liquidity for businesses.
Taulia now offering customers 3 cash analytics solutions for free.

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Samsung and SoFi Team Up to Offer Debit Card

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 8, 2020
Categories: Daily news, Samsung, SoFi

Alternative finance solutions provider SoFi and Samsung’s Samsung Pay joined forces this week to launch a debit card.

The two have spent the last year collaborating to make a mobile-first money management platform with its own debit card and cash management account.

The initiative is part of Samsung’s broader Samsung Pay mobile payments platform that the company launched in 2015. Samsung’s mobile payments platform uses built-in magnetic secure transmission technology (MST) and NFC functionality to enable users to make contactless payments.

“Our vision is to help consumers better manage their money so that they can achieve their dreams and goals,” said Sang Ahn, Vice President and GM of Samsung Pay, North America Service Business, Samsung Electronics in a blog post. “Now more than ever, mobile financial services and money management tools will play an even bigger role in our daily lives while also opening up new possibilities.”

Specific details about the card are still pending.

The new debit card offering will provide Samsung with a unique way to compete with Apple’s Apple credit card. Compared to Apple’s credit card, however, Samsung’s debit card product sounds more sticky. That’s because budgeting and cash management features built into the app will encourage users to spend more time in Samsung’s app and will keep the company’s debit card– along with its mobile payments service– top-of-mind for consumers.

Samsung’s announcement also comes shortly after news leaked that Google has its own debit card in the works. The debit card will work in conjunction with the Google Pay app.

Samsung’s timing on the launch is fairly ideal, despite the global economic crisis. The coronavirus has turned consumers’ attention toward their finances. Because of this, many banks are seeing record downloads of and engagement with their mobile banking tools. This shift to digital, combined with the new low-touch economy when it comes to everyday payments, provides an ideal environment to launch a contactless payment option.

Despite these conditions, the challenger banking space is becoming increasingly crowded in the U.S. However, Samsung’s choice to partner with an existing player instead of creating a product from scratch is a favorable one.

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