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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Digital banking firms Backbase and Payveris have signed a partnership deal which will see the creation of an integrated digital payments solution, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.
According to the two firms, their combined offering will enable financial institutions “of all sizes” to deliver “next generation” payment and money movement services.
“The banking industry’s legacy payment infrastructures are increasingly fragmented, inflexible, costly, and difficult to integrate with,” the companies write in a press release.
“Backbase’s raison d’être is clear: to develop and deliver efficient, effective tools that help financial institutions accelerate their digital transformation and provide superior digital experiences for customers,” said Jouk Pleiter, Backbase CEO. “By integrating the Payveris solution into our own, we are solving yet another pain point for the industry. Banks and credit unions have been crying out for a way to modernize and simplify their payments operating environments.”
Marcell King, chief innovation officer at Payveris, added, “By combining the power of Backbase’s progressive digital banking platform with the flexibility of Payveris’ open API MoveMoney Platform, you end up with a real wow-factor for a user interface, with functionality that delivers low friction digital money movement and management.”
At FinovateEurope 2018, Backbase unveiled the Customer OS in a demo that won the Amsterdam-based company Best of Show honors for the fourth time. Last July, the company teamed up with Jumio to deliver online ID verification services and in December the company partnered with Polish bank BGŻ BNP Paribas Bank.
This week’s Finovate Podcast episodes are both focused on small and medium sized businesses, and the opportunities that fintech is creating for bankers, innovators, and small business owners themselves.
Our first guest is Karen Mills, former Small Business Administrator for the Obama Administration, and author of the book Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream. Greg caught up with Karen to talk about how the Great Recession hurt small businesses in particular, and how fintech has been able to step in and help.
Our second episode features Jeremy Berger of Arival Bank, a Best of Show winning demoer from FinovateAsia 2018. Arival is a challenger bank reaching out to unbanked/underbanked small businesses all over the world. The company is expanding from Asia into the United States and Europe, and Greg spoke with Jeremy about the company’s fintech-first solution to the challenges facing SMB banking.
Next week Greg will be speaking with Wayne Miller of The Venture Center, a fintech accelerator with ties to FIS and the ICBA.
JumiolaunchesJumio Go, a real-time, automated identity verification solution powered by AI.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Digital challenger bank Revolut has chosen Singapore as its first entry into the Asian market. And now, after a successful beta period during which the company gained 30,000 new members and learned valuable lessons about the Singapore market and culture, Revolut is ready for business in Asia.
As of this week, Revolut Singapore customers will be able to instantly send and receive funds to and from fellow Revolut customers in Singapore, the U.K., Europe, and Australia for free. Revolut Singapore customers will also benefit from instant spending notifications, access to the real exchange rate in 150+ countries for fairer overseas spending, free international ATM withdrawals, and in-app currency exchange. PFM features like bill-splitting, round up payments, and budgeting and analytics will also be included.
“The journey to Singapore so far has been both exciting and challenging,” Revolut Head of Marketing and Communications Chad West wrote at the company blog. “For every new market into which we expand, there are different rules and regulations. The challenge for us is to build things that work as we, and our customers, want them to, while adhering to official guidelines. Not always easy, as you might imagine.”
The company’s expansion to Asia comes as Revolut fortifies its U.S. business via a partnership with Mastercard that will bring Revolut cards to the U.S. by year’s end. Other big deals for Revolut of late feature the company collaborating with Xero to enable real-time expense monitoring, teaming up with DriveWealth to offer commission-free trades to its cardholders, and working with financial API provider TrueLayer to support secure access of financial data via open banking.
This month Revolut announced that it had hired JP Morgan to manage its $500 million funding round, as well as issue the company a convertible loan for $1 billion. The company currently has more than $336 million in capital from investors including Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, DST Global, TriplePoint Capital, and Mastercard Start Path.
Founded in 2015 by Vlad Yatsenko (CTO) and Nikolay Storonsky (CEO), Revolut demonstrated its platform that same year at FinovateEurope. Since inception, the company has served more than eight million customers, and processed 350+ million transactions valued at more than $44 billion (€40 billion).
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Fresh off a successful return to Singapore for FinovateAsia, we are happy to announce that FinovateMiddleEast will be back in Dubai next month, November 20 and 21. For more information about our upcoming fintech conference in the UAE, visit our FinovateMiddleEast page today.
Central and Eastern Europe
Berlin-based, pan-European digital debt marketplace, CrossLend, picks up €34 million in round led by Santander.
Bank of Lithuania namesIBM and Tieto as finalists in its LBChain technology initiative.
Islamic, mobile-only, challenger bank insha goes live in Berlin, Germany.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Partnership with Diebold Nixdorfhelps Lebanese Bankmed become first bank in country to introduce cash recycling.
Bloomberg Intelligence recognizes the UAE as the world’s top Islamic fintech hub, with Bahrain as a rising challenger.
MAGNiTT and ADGM launch new publication focusing on fintech and venture capital funding in the MENA region.
Central and Southern Asia
Pakistan’s JS Bank launches chat banking via WhatsApp.
Western Union enables real-time payments and money transfers to India.
Paytm president Madhur Deora encourages Indian fintechs to appreciate the differences between Indian and Chinese markets “and adapt accordingly.”
Brazilian fintech Nubank reaches 15 million customer mark.
Posnet, a First Data/Fiserv company, helps Argentine consumers make purchases using digital wallets and QR codes.
Asia-Pacific
Revolutlaunches in Singapore after successful 30,000 customer beta.
CIMB Bank Singapore completes first structured trade finance transaction on blockchain.
In partnership with Compass Plus, Mongolia’s largest bank, Trade and Development Bank (TDB) introduces the nation’s first instant card issuance project.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigerian digital SME lender Lidyaexpands to Poland and the Czech Republic.
Fintech Futures features Absa’s Thabo Makoko on the challenges and opportunities in the African payment industry.
Ghana government makes plans for a cashless future.
Danish challenger bank Lunar has chosen financial services software provider Temenos to tackle financial crime on its platform, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Ticking boxes such as watch-list screening and fraud prevention, as well as covering anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) services, Temenos will deliver on its comprehensive security promise by integrating with Lunar’s core banking and payments technology.
The mobile-only banking app bought the product, which is called ‘Financial Crime Mitigation’ (FCM) and runs on the cloud, in a bid to “address stringent regulatory demands” and to safeguard its customers and reputation, said Temenos in a statement.
“As a challenger bank it is crucial for us to be in full control and create a scalable and agile setup in the Nordics,” said Lunar’s COO Morten Sønderskov, who says the bank’s choice to go with Temenos will get it “ahead of the curve in financial crime prevention”.
“We are building a Nordic bank from scratch and realizing our vision of becoming a financial Super App,” Sønderskov added.
Founded in 2015, Lunar now has more than 100,000 users and recently secured its European banking license from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. The fintech now has plans to extend its offering even further throughout the Nordics.
Temenos said more than 200 banks depend upon its FCM product now. “[We] proudly support the momentum of challenger banks around the world,” said Temenos’ MD for Europe Steen Jensen.
Temenos was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The company demoed its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. Temenos is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting a discussion on its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace at FinDEVRSiliconValley 2015.
Email delivery and analytics specialist SparkPostappoints Sam Holding as Head of International.
RightCapitalforges strategic partnership with Advyzon.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
The fintech venture capital fund of Santander Group, Santander InnoVentures, is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to its support of mortgagetech. The VC fund is leading an expansion round for digital mortgage lending platform Roostify, following up on its initial investment in the company back in February 2018.
The amount of the round was not disclosed. Before this week’s announcement, Roostify’s total funding was estimated by Crunchbase at $33 million. The capital raised in this latest round will be used to support the company’s expansion into overseas markets in the U.K. and Europe, as well as a continued build-out of Roostify’s cloud-based lending platform. This includes enhanced decision-making and fulfillment capabilities, new data and machine learning tools, and more consumer lending solutions.
This latest funding for Roostify comes as the company announces monthly loan volume that has doubled over the past twelve months to nearly $20 million a month. The company notes that its bank customers have reported reductions in mortgage lending process time by an average of 20%.
“Digital transformation is a key strategic priority for banks worldwide, and industry-leading lenders are focused on delivering the best customer experience while managing costs,” Roostify CEO and co-founder Rajesh Bhat said. “The Roostify lending platform enables lenders to realize up to 300% growth in loan applications and a significant reduction (in) origination costs. The future is frictionless, everyone benefits when you optimize the lending process.”
Roostify demonstrated its lending platform at FinovateSpring 2018. The San Francisco, California-based company, founded in 2012, has forged a number of partnerships this year, teaming up with Glacier Bancorp in January, partnering with MORTECH and Docutech over the spring, and collaborating with HSBC Bank this summer. Earlier this month, Roostify’s Bhat was recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of its Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at the investment bank’s Builders + Innovators Summit.
With the launch of Kabbage Payments, SME cash flow management solution provider Kabbage is ready to help small businesses get paid, as well as get funded.
“Since 2011, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of small businesses access over $8 billion in funding,” Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein said. “We know first-hand a primary need is to cover cash-flow gaps while waiting to be paid.”
Currently available to Kabbage customers and scheduled for public availability “soon,” the new payment solution from Kabbage will feature no-fee, unlimited, online invoicing; next-day deposits; low costs for card payments (cash and check payments free); and a dashboard that provides a view of all payments activity in a single location.
One standout feature of the new solution is a custom pay link that is especially geared toward SMEs that rely on invoice payments. Customers using Kabbage Payments will be able to create a unique URL for their business that enables them to send payment requests by text, email, or the web to collect card payments. With this secure, fast, and flexible option, there is no need to create new accounts manually or open new payment orders, and avoids having to do duplicate work for recurring invoices.
“Kabbage Payments not only expands our suite of products, but the very definition of our company. We deeply believe in the mission of small businesses and understand what they need to succeed – namely, more time building their businesses and less time worrying about cash flow,” Frohwein said.
Businesses interested in the solution can reach out to Kabbage Payments and request early access.
Kabbage demonstrated its Kabbage Card offering at FinovateSpring 2015. Part of the company’s “Kabbage Everywhere” product expansion, the Kabbage Card makes it more convenient for small business owners to use their Kabbage line of credit while on the go. More recently, the company has launched an interactive index analyzing U.S. SME revenue trends, acquired small business insights firm Radius Intelligence, and closed a new, four-year, $200 million revolving credit facility. This transaction followed Kabbage’s massive $700 million securitization – the largest ever by a small business online lending platform – announced this spring.
Earlier this month, Kabbage announced that its customers had accessed more than $715 million in funding via its platform in Q3, and that 42,000+ unique customers were added year-to-date, which tops 2018’s 37,000 total customer gain. At the same time, the company noted that the core of its funding activity comes from repeat customers, who represent more than 75% of all funding activity on the platform and more than $6 billion of the $8+ billion accessed to date.
“It’s essential to have a business model that’s built on scalable long-term growth, and repeat business is a critical metric,” Frohwein said. He praised the platform’s ability to “re-underwrite customers daily,” providing SMEs with a 24/7 source of funding. “Thanks to the speed at which our technology allows us to serve them, we’ve seen record highs,” Frohwein said, “serving nearly 1,900 small businesses who have accessed over $13 million in a single day.”
Founded in 2009, Kabbage is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Personalized advice, more automation, and “unmatched connectivity” are among the attractions of the new billpay service unveiled by Fiserv today. The new solution, CheckFree Next, enters a competitive billpay space with the backing of Fiserv’s extensive biller network, which includes direct connections with more than 600 billers. With nearly 4,0000 FIs currently using Fiserv’s electronic billpay technology – representing 29 million active billpay users – Fiserv expects its latest offering will provide customers with innovations in billpay not experienced with other solutions.
“Electronic bill payment has become an intrinsic part of many people’s daily lives, however, features that were once cutting edge are now status quo,” Fiserv Enterprise Payment Solutions division president Tom Allanson said. “Knowing that people have higher expectations that never before, we stepped back and challenged ourselves to make paying bills at a financial institution as easy and smart as the best digital experiences people have every day.”
CheckFree Next, which has already been piloted by a pair of “top 10 U.S. financial institutions,” automates a range of basic tasks, and leverages a new Bill Discovery feature that automatically identifies and connects customer billers to their accounts and then establishes the biller as a payee once a match is made. Both payment and data entry are automated to help save bill payers time and reduce the potential for manual errors, and customers can set up billpay reminders and alerts to help them keep better track of upcoming expenses and recent payments. CheckFree Next also features a Withdraw Now capability that gives bill payers control over exactly when a bill payment will be debited from their account.
Fiserv also announced upcoming features to the technology, including real-time money movement, to be added in 2020. This functionality will eventually enable bill payers to make real-time payments – via enhanced notifications – that are reflected instantly in their accounts. These and other features, such as Bill Discovery, will be made available as premium add-ons to Fiserv’s other CheckFree solutions such as CheckFree RXP and CheckFree Builder.
Fiserv demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018, partnering with Samsung SDS to present its Commercial Center: Security digital banking experience. The company made a huge splash at the beginning of the year with news that it was merging with fellow Finovate alum First Data in a deal valued at $22 billion. Fiserv has been on a busy partner-making pace ever since. In October alone, the company has forged deals with North Carolina-based Uwharrie Bank, Portuguese bank NOVO BANCO, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s DUCA Financial Services Credit Union.
Founded in 1984, Fiserv is headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The NASDAQ listed company (FISV) has a market capitalization of $70 billion. Jeff Yabuki is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
