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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
RoamHR, which demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall last year as Vaultz, is offering regional banks and credit unions a mobile platform that will help them better serve the more than 54 million independent workers across the U.S. The platform enables these smaller FIs to compete with their larger rivals, grow deposits by attracting new customers, and fortify their relationships with existing customers and members who are 1099 workers.
“Our company’s pedigree is in retail banking and financial services, and we have leveraged our experience and understanding of the business of banking to provide institutions with a thoughtfully designed platform to better support their strategic goals,” RoamHR founder and CEO Rick Gonzalez explained.
RoamHR makes it easy for independent workers to automatically track and estimate their annual income, and then set aside the necessary amounts required for quarterly tax filings. The open banking friendly technology supports a tax savings account specifically for this purpose that features continuous accounting capabilities to accommodate fluctuations in income as well as multiple revenue streams. Both of these circumstances are common for independent and so-called gig economy workers.
John Gill, Chief Operating Officer for Somerset Trust Company underscored this aspect of RoamHR and its value for a growing number of independent workers. “The income model for Americans is becoming increasingly complex and it is vital that we adapt to these market changes in order to ensure excellent service and experiences for our customers,” Gill said.
Founded in 2018 – as Vaultz – and headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, the company demonstrated its SMRTSVR solution at FinovateFall 2018. The technology, dubbed a “personal payroll for the self-employed worker,” helps independent workers manage their tax liabilities easily and accurately. The technology was highlighted by both Forbes and MarketWatch in their looks at “impressive” and “great” finance apps for people over 50.
RoamHR is available at both the Apple App Store and at Google Play. Users can try the technology for free for 30 days and, after that, continue to use the service for a tax deductible $4.99 a month.
Greg Palmer (@GregPalmer47) is Vice President of Finovate and Master of Ceremonies for FinovateFall 2019. His essay below is featured in the FinovateFall 2019 Supplement available in full here.
One of my favorite aspects of working in fintech is the way that it inadvertently reveals fundamental truths about human beings
As an industry, we have massive piles of hard data documenting human behavior, and we use that data to anticipate what people are likely to do and when they’re likely to do it. We can use this data to help reach customers with a specific message when we think they’re likely to buy a car or a home. We can use it to look for anomalies in customer behavior, which can be early warning signs of fraud. We can even use it to create a user experience that’s statistically likely to please a given user based on the demographic and personal information we have on them.
In many cases, though, this data doesn’t do much beyond proving what we’ve intuitively known (or suspected) for years. For example, the banking industry has known for a long time that people struggle to start saving as early and as often as they should, and that we’re all too lax when it comes to protecting our passwords and account information. We have data that can back this up, but the results are hardly a shock to anyone who’s paying attention. The average financial services customer, much to the annoyance of the high-achievers in the fintech space, usually doesn’t take basic steps to safeguard against fraud, optimize retirement savings, or plan appropriately for future expenses.
The fintech industry responds to this by creating products and innovations that are designed to make it easier for people to engage in responsible behavior. We’ll see this play out on stage at FinovateFall, where wealth management, savings, and security are looking like resurgent themes. I like to group these into a broader category of fintech, though, which I call “grown-up fintech”. Innovations in this larger category essentially boil down to helping end-users act more responsibly and manage aspects of their finances that they’ve ignored until now.
The real challenge with “grown-up fintech” usually has less to do with the technology itself, and more to do with getting people to change their habits. For most users, it takes some sort of shock or anomaly to spur a behavior change. The irony, of course, is that by the time this sort of shift occurs, it’s usually too late. Creating and sticking to a budget is far more valuable if you do it before you’re deep in credit card debt; talking with your parents about their end-of-life plans and their finances is much more fruitful while they’re still vibrant and healthy; and adding security features like two-factor-authentication (or even simply updating your password routinely) is way more effective before you get hacked.
(I don’t mean to imply that these shocks are always negative, either. Positive life events such as getting married, having children, or buying a house all come with unusual financial implications, and it’s way easier to navigate those shifts if you prepare for them ahead of time.)
If you sit in the audience at Finovate, you’ll be surrounded by people who know all of this. They will nod knowingly as presenters on stage talk about banking customers as though they were children who simply can’t be trusted to do their homework when the adults are out of the room.
I don’t have a problem with this at all, for the record. It’s not meant to be malicious (it’s usually coming from more of a parental, protecting place) and it’s not incorrect. After all, we have the data to back it up. What interests me, though, is how those same people who so easily see and understand this behavior in their customers struggle to account for it inside their own organizations. If we continue the parental analogy here, we have a lot of people falling into the classical parenting misstep of “do as I say, not as I do”.
When it comes to financial systems, there are a variety of major threats to the status quo. New, disruptive players entering the financial services space, tech giants launching competing financial products, more frequent (and more powerful) cyberattacks, and the increasing specter of a recession are just a handful of the major ones. On the flip side, new opportunities abound for those who are able to take them – new customer-bases are opening up, new sales and marketing technologies make it easier to access them, and back-end improvements allow for increased efficiency and lower overhead.
Many forward-thinking financial institutions are protecting themselves against those threats and setting themselves up to reap the rewards of those new opportunities. But an alarming number of FIs are falling into the same trap that too many of their customers are: they aren’t making the “responsible” or “grown up” decisions right now that will make their lives easier in the future. Instead, they are waiting for the next big shock to force them to change their behavior.
In reality, this behavior isn’t childlike – it’s human. And it’s something that we’re all guilty of to some extent. Equally “human” is the tendency to recognize behavior in others that we fail to see in ourselves. The financial industry generally, and fintech specifically, puts people in a unique position to see and understand these basic human behaviors, which creates a powerful opportunity for learning and growth. Those that see this behavior, learn from it, and apply those lessons internally will be better prepared for the inevitable shocks to the system that the future will bring. Those that don’t will be left wishing they’d done more.
The time to start budgeting is before you’re deep in debt; the time to secure your accounts is before you get hacked; the time to discuss your parents’ finances is before their health starts to fail; and the time to future-proof your bank is before the next shock to the system hits.
Featurespaceannounces strategic partnership with NatWest to deliver real-time, enterprise-wide fraud prevention, transaction monitoring.
Indiana-based Centier Bank ($4.5 billion in assets) leveragesSmartLaunch from NYMBUS to support the launch of its mobile app, Billinero. See NYMBUS at FinovateFall in New York this week!
Societe Generale teams up with FIS to offer payments-as-a-service to corporate clients in Europe.
Piraeus Bank, the largest bank in Greece, unveils its new PFM tool powered by technology from Strands.
Segmintannounces digital engagement expert Adam Craig as its new president.
Tradeshiftforges partnership with privacy-enhancing technology provider QEDIT.
Kyckrinks reseller and integration agreement with Australian information services provider illion.
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.
While you’re busy scheduling meetings and crafting your schedule for FinovateFall, 75 companies are busy rehearsing their seven minute demos. But don’t worry – if you’ve been procrastinating and still haven’t registered, there is still time to do so either on our event page or at the registration desk on Monday.
In need of last minute details? We’ve got you covered.
Where
The New York Marriott Marquis hotel at 1535 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.
Registration opens at 8:00 am on Monday, September 23. The first demo session begins at 9:00 am sharp so be sure to arrive early, grab a cup of coffee, and settle into a seat.
Be sure to stick around for the Summit day that will take place after FinovateFall. On Thursday, September 26, we’ll take a deep dive into the topics of AI, wealthtech, and investech. It’s simple to add the Summit day onto your existing ticket – just visit the registration desk for more details.
Awards
Speaking of bonus content, the first-ever Finovate Awards ceremony will take place Tuesday evening, September 24, at New York’s Edison Ballroom. We’ve curated a list of nominees for a range of awards and will be revealing and celebrating the winners with a night of champagne, good humor, and great food.
Best of Show
The Finovate Awards event is separate from Finovate’s Best of Show awards, which will be announced at the end of the last demo session on Tuesday. Attendees may cast their vote for the best demo at FinovateFall using the Brella app. Simply download the Brella.io app from the Apple App store or Google Play to get started. You can find the event code on the back of your name badge.
We’ll see you at the event! If you have additional questions, please visit our contact page and reach out one of our representatives.
Cinchyearns finalist spot in 2019 Global Venture Challenge sponsored by Connecticut Innovations. See them demo their technology at FinovateFall 2019 this week!
Digital marketing firm DeepTarget and Access Softekextend partnership.
Warsaw, Poland’s The First News profilesNeontri (formerly Braintri).
ClickSWITCHappoints Eric Edwards as new Chief Revenue Officer.
BusinessCloud featuresExate Technology and Wealthify in its look at 10 U.K. Female-Led Fintech Firms to Watch.
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.
This is a sponsored blog post by Randy Koch, CEO of ARM Insight, a financial data technology company based in Portland, Oregon. Here, he explores what synthetic data is, and why financial institutions should start taking note.
You’ve heard it before – data is invaluable. The more data your company possesses the more innovation and insights you can bring to your customers, partners and solutions. But financial services organizations, which handle extremely sensitive card data and personally identifiable information (PII), face a difficult data management challenge. These organizations have to navigate how to use their data as an asset to increase efficiencies or reduce operational costs, all while maintaining privacy and security protocols necessary to comply with stringent industry regulations like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
It’s a tall order.
We’ve found that by accurately finding and
converting sensitive data into a revolutionary new category – synthetic data –
financial services organizations can finally use sensitive data to maximize
business and cutting-edge technologies, like artificial intelligence and
machine learning solutions, without having to worry about compliance, security
and privacy.
But first, let’s examine the traditional types of data categorizations and dissect why financial services organizations shouldn’t rely on them to make data safe and usable.
Raw and Anonymous Data – High Security and Privacy Risk
The two most traditional types of data
categorization types – raw and anonymous – come with pros and cons. With raw
data, all the personally identifiable information (PII) fields for both the
consumer (name, social security number, email, phone, etc.) and the associated
transaction remain tagged to data. Raw data carries a considerable risk – and
institutional regulations and customer terms and conditions mandate strict
privacy standards for raw data management. If a hacker or an insider threat were
to exfiltrate this type of data, the compliance violations and breach headlines
would be dire. To use raw data widely across your organization borders on
negligence – regardless of the security solutions you have in place.
And with anonymous data, PII is removed, but the real transaction data remains unchanged. It’s lower risk than raw data and used more often for both external and internal data activities. However, if a data breach occurs, it is very possible to reverse engineer anonymous data to reveal PII. The security, compliance and privacy risks still exist.
Enter A New Data Paradigm – Synthetic Data
Synthetic data is fundamentally new to the
financial services industry. Synthetic data is the breakthrough data type that
addresses privacy, compliance, reputational, and breach headline risks head-on.
Synthetic data mimics real data while removing the identifiable characteristics
of the customer, banking institution, and transaction. When properly
synthesized, it cannot be reverse engineered, yet it retains all the
statistical value of the original data set. Minor and random field changes made
to the original data set completely protect the consumer identity and
transaction.
With synthetic data, financial institutions
can freely use sensitive data to bolster product or service development with
virtually zero risks. Organizations that use synthetic data can truly dig down
in analytics, including spending for small business users, customer
segmentation for marketing, fraud detection trends, or customer loan
likelihood, to name just a few applications. Additonally, synthetic data can
safely rev up machine learning and artificial intelligence engines with an
influx of valuable data to innovate new products, reduce operational costs and
produce new business insights.
Most importantly, synthetic data helps fortify internal security in the age of the data breach. Usually, the single largest data security risks for financial institutions is employee misuse or abuse of raw or anonymous data. Organizations can render misuse or abuse moot by using synthetic data.
An Untapped Opportunity
Compared to other industries, financial
institutions haven’t jumped on the business opportunities that synthetic data
enables. Healthcare
technology companies use synthetic data modeled on actual cancer patient
data to facilitate more accurate, comprehensive research. In scientific
applications, volcanologists
use synthetic data to reduce false positives for eruption predictions from
60 percent to 20 percent. And in technology, synthetic data is used for
innovations such as removing
blur in photos depicting motion and building
more robust algorithms to streamline the training of self-driving
automobiles.
Financial institutions should take cues
from other major industries and consider leveraging synthetic data. This new
data categorization type can help organizations effortlessly adhere to the
highest security, privacy and compliance standards when transmitting, tracking
and storing sensitive data. Industry revolutionaries have already started to
recognize how invaluable synthetic data is to their business success, and we’re
looking forward to seeing how this new data paradigm changes the financial
services industry for the better.
In this sponsored blog post, Akshatha Kamath, Content Marketing at MoEngage, breaks down new privacy legislation which could impact financial institutions across the states.
Stronger
privacy protection and greater data transparency online are growing global
trends. The Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the Facebook data of at least
87 million people were misappropriated, and other instances like this have
brought attention to how businesses collect, use, and sell consumer data.
Concern over the use and misuse of this data is widespread.
In many global jurisdictions, the response has been privacy legislation which forces businesses to comply with sometimes onerous regulations regarding consumer data and privacy. One of these pieces of legislation is the California Consumer Privacy Act. In its second section it lays out how pervasive privacy concerns have become and how “it is almost impossible to apply for a job, raise a child, drive a car, or make an appointment without sharing personal information.”
All of this data can be great for marketers, but businesses need to comply with privacy laws in order to avoid fines and stay up to date with consumer demand for privacy and data transparency online.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (AB-375)
The
California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) is by far the strongest privacy
legislation enacted in the United States at this time. Businesses must be in
compliance by January 1, 2020 (the starting date on which the state can bring enforcement actions involving
noncompliance).
For marketers there are three major things to be aware of. First is that wherever personal information is collected businesses must disclose what information they collect and how they will use it. Secondly, businesses have to provide consumers with the ability to “opt out” of having their information sold to third parties. Thirdly, businesses must allow consumers to view and delete the information that has been collected about them.
Is My Company Affected by the CCPA?
If
your business (or for-profit entity) is located in California and meets any of the
following criteria, it has privacy requirements that need to be met under the
law. The criteria are:
Your business’ annual revenue is
over $25 million
Your business receives information
of over 50,000 consumers, households, or devices annually
At least half of your business’
annual revenue comes from selling personal information
The law doesn’t differentiate between brick-and-mortar and online companies. This means that even a company with no physical presence or employees in California could still do business there and therefore has obligations under the law. So your business doesn’t even need to be located in California for the California Consumer Privacy Act to apply to you. Like the GDPR, CCPA will affect businesses outside the law’s jurisdiction.
Consumer’s Rights Under the CCPA
Consumers have new rights under the CCPA that companies need to be aware of. These rights fall into three broad categories:
The Right to Knowledge – Under the CCPA, businesses must allow consumers to obtain, twice per annum at zero cost, all the information that the business has about them, how that information was collected, and who else has been given said information.
The Right to be Forgotten – The CCPA stipulates that consumers must be able to request the deletion of all of their personal information from a company. If the information has been shared with third parties then those parties must also delete said information.
The Right to Control who has Access to their Information -Businesses must allow consumers to be able to opt out of the resale of their information. Consumers under the age of 16 must affirmatively opt in to allow the resale of their data. Consumers under the age of 13 must have written permission from a parent or guardian in order to allow the resale of their data.
What Marketers Need to Do
First of all, marketers need to review their current procedures and understand their policies and procedures regarding the collection, storage and use of subscribers’ data and mailing preferences. They need to know how a user’s preferences about their data can be stored and how documentation would be provided if a user requests it.
Second of all, marketers need to think in the long term about how they set up their systems. For example, even though GDPR only applies to EU visitors, many companies have opted to implement the same higher standards across their entire platform in order to proactively prepare for similar legislations. In the same vein, marketers who prepare for the CCPA will have a leg up if privacy bills that are making their way through the legislature pass in New York, Mississippi, and Massachusetts.
Penalties for Non-Compliance of the CCPA
If,
because of a business’ negligence, a consumer’s information is improperly
disclosed, the CCPA makes it easier for consumers to sue (even if there is no
evidence that the data breach caused the consumer harm!).
What
could be very costly for businesses is the potential for class-action lawsuits
due to a data breach. Companies could be on the hook for between $100 and $750
per incident (or even more if the actual damages exceed $750).
Conclusion
The
California Consumer Privacy Act will go into effect on January 1, 2020.
Marketers should prepare in advance to make changes to comply with the
regulations. At the same time, CCPA presents marketers with an opportunity to
strengthen the relationship between consumers and your business. Educate
consumers on the data you are collecting and how you make use of it. Be sure to
tell them their rights under the CCPA and how you are compliant. This can build
trust with consumers and help you use the CCPA to your advantage.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
UBDI (short for Universal Basic Data Income) is reinventing financial and market research by empowering individuals to monetize aggregated, anonymized insights from their data.
Features
Provides aggregated, anonymized historical and real-time data points combined with qualitative data from paid users
Reaches the perfect audience with PrivateMatch Technology
Represents the gold standard of GDPR/CCPA compliance
Why it’s great Data and privacy can work together for richer insights when you empower the individual with their own data.
Presenters
Dana Budzyn, CEO and Co-Founder Budzyn is an engineer and published researcher with NASA for her work in Optics and Photonics technology. Watch her TEDx “Owning Your Digital Self: Monetizing Your Personal Data.” LinkedIn
Shane Green, Executive Chair and Co-Founder In addition to being Founder/Chair of UBDI, Green is also the U.S. CEO of personal data platform digi.me (following the merger with Personal in 2017 where he was founder/CEO). Green also founded The Map Network, which was acquired by Nokia/NAVTEQ. LinkedIn.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
Buckzy is an enabler of banks and financial institutions. The company is fundamentally transforming the way people move money around the world with its real-time cross-border payments ecosystem.
Features
Real-time cross-border payments ecosystem
Availability 365 days a year
24/7 access even inside of traditional banking hours and holidays
Why it’s great Cross-border P2P payments, bill payments, global trade payments, and international student payments can now be settled in real-time with 365 days, 24×7 accessibility to funds.
Presenter
Lindsay Mulligan, Global Chief Marketing Officer Mulligan is a global marketer, innovator, and digital martech strategist with over 12 years of experience in marketing multinational brands on a global scale for both B2B and B2C initiatives. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
LoanPay from CheckAlt enables financial institutions to accept check, eCheck, and card payments for various loans such as consumer loans, auto loans, mortgages, HELOCs, and credit cards.
Features
Financial institution core agnostic
Fully mobile responsive for consumers
Provides omnichannel experience for consumers and back office
Why it’s great LoanPay enables financial institutions to accept payments across all channels including in-person, through a call center, and online, for all loan types.
Presenters
Bobby Rahmanian, Chief Product and Innovation Officer Rahmanian brings more than 23 years of experience in product, payments, business operations, and technology to CheckAlt. He is spearheading the transformation of LoanPay. LinkedIn
Stacey Bryant, Senior Executive, Credit Unions Bryant brings 15-plus years of operational oversight and business development expertise in the credit union industry to CheckAlt. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
myGini is a customizable, AI-powered, plug-and-play card loyalty and customer engagement solution for financial institutions and retailers to drive incremental volume and sales.
Features
Digital and customizable customer engagement with each card transaction
Ability to create unique and segmented promotions
Point redemption and cash back in real time
Why it’s great myGini is a financial app that brings tangible benefits and interacts with the consumer at the right time.
Presenter
Mehmet Sezgin, Founder and CEO Sezgin is former Global Head of Payments at BBVA and former CEO and founder of Garanti Payments. He has served as a board member for MasterCard Europe for 14 years. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
MX is the leading data platform for banks, credit unions, and fintechs, empowering customers to easily collect, enhance, analyze, present, and act on financial data.
Features
MX Enabled is a centralized data platform that rapidly integrates amazing fintech companies to thousands of banks and credit unions creating faster time to market and reduced costs.
Why it’s great MX Enabled connects fintechs and financial institutions to a world of innovation through enhanced data.
Presenters
Brandon DeWitt, CTOand Co-Founder DeWitt is the co-Founder and CTO of MX. Prior to MX, he co-founded MyJibe, a personal financial management company, acquired by MX in 2012. DeWitt formerly worked at Baker Hill and Experian. LinkedIn.
Cosme Salazar, Product General Manager Salazar is a Product General Manager over APIs and the MX Enabled platform. He has worked in product management for over ten years including time at Instructure and Amazon. LinkedIn.
