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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
By making it easier for cardholders to recognize and read merchant names, logos, and contact information on purchases, Transaction Intelligence from Ondot Systems, unveiled this week, helps firms reduce call center volumes and dispute costs while boosting customer satisfaction.
Ondot Systems General Manager for the Americas Gary Singh credited the recent launch of the Apple Card for raising awareness of the problem of incomplete or indecipherable transaction data. “We’ve seen huge interest in Transaction Intelligence from both consumers and card issuers,” Singh said, “particularly after enriched transactions were featured so prominently during the Apple Card launch.”
The company’s own investigation into the demand for enriched transactions makes the point, as well. A research finding sponsored by Ondot showed that 99% of mobile banking users were interested in better transaction data, with more than 80% indicating they were “very interested.” Singh noted, “It’s not that often that you find a product that both increases customer satisfaction and lowers cost.”
Ondot’s Transaction Intelligence provides real-time merchant and transaction data enrichment, including clarified merchant names, logos, location maps, advanced tags, memos, receipt captures, and more. This enriched data helps consumers identify their purchases, and turns transaction data into insights consumers can use to make smarter spending decisions.
“Ondot believes we have the best transaction and merchant data enrichment solution in the market right now, and we have won proof-of-concepts against other big names to prove it,” Singh said. “We are the only service available on any device to bring together all of these data sources for an accurate picture of where a purchase was made, and do it in real-time.”
The company noted that it initially will launch Transaction Intelligence this month with “one of the top 10 largest banks in the world,” but added that the solution will be available to FIs regardless of size.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Jose, California, Ondot demonstrated its Digital Card Mobile App at FinovateSpring 2018. The company is a Best of Show winner, as well, having picked up top honors at our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference last year.
Ondot has raised $51 million in funding from investors including Citi Ventures. Bharghavan Vaduvur is CEO.
Ecommerce fraud prevention company Signifyd has partnered with Trellis this week to help the company offer its merchant clients a way to provide a safer purchasing process for customers.
Together with Trellis, which offers digital strategy, web design, web development, digital marketing, and integration services for ecommerce merchants, Signifyd will offer Trellis’ merchant clients confidence that their card-not-present transactions are from real customers.
Signifyd’s technology identifies fraudulent product orders using machine learning algorithms that sift through big data, including user behavior patterns, to reduce merchant chargebacks on fraudulent charges and save money on shipping goods on declined orders. And Signifyd stands behind its technology. If an order turns out to be fraudulent, Signifyd reimburses the merchant for the chargeback.
“The Signifyd – Trellis partnership holds significant value for our clients and customers. Protecting transactions is an integral piece of any ecommerce business and integrating Signifyd ensures your bases are covered,” said Justin Whitaker, Director of Marketing at Trellis. “Signifyd has proven their efficacy time and time again by giving brands an extra layer of security. The relationships Trellis has forged are built on communication, trust, and results which align directly with the values of Signifyd.”
Signifyd demoed its chargeback mitigation solution at FinovateSpring 2013. Headquartered in San Jose, CA., with locations in Barcelona, Belfast, Denver, and London, Signifyd has been named on the Forbes FinTech 50 and was listed among Bloomberg’s 50 Most Promising Startups. Additionally, it has been named a top place to work by Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, San Francisco Business Times, and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
The company has 10,000 merchants in its network which count 250 million customers across the globe. Last May, Signifyd closed a $100 million Series D round, bringing its total funding to $187 million. Rajesh Ramanand is CEO and cofounder.
IIG Bank, a specialist trade finance bank based in Malta, will leverage a pair of solutions from Temenos to offer its clients a wider variety of differentiated services from treasury cash management and deposit accounts to documentary credit and trade financing. The bank has gone live with Temenos Infinity, a digital front office platform, as well as Temenos T24 Transact, the firm’s next generation core banking solution.
“Temenos has given us much more flexibility to be able to tailor deposit and trade finance products to specific customer needs,” IIG Bank Managing Director and CEO Raymond Busuttil said. “Temenos banking software is providing us with cutting-edge technology combined with the most complete functionality in private and corporate banking.”
The new technologies will replace legacy systems that IIG Bank said had become both highly restrictive and unable to support new business initiatives. In the context of the country’s anticipated GDP growth of more than 5% this year, IIG Bank believes Temenos’ technology will help it compete in a financial services sector that is becoming more competitive.
Praising the speed of the Temenos implementation, Busuttil added that the partnership will help the bank respond to current demand as well as better prepare for the challenges of the future. “We are already seeing significant improvement which will enable further growth for IIG Bank,” he said. “Corporate customers are demanding more from their banking experience and expect a seamless customer journey. We selected Temenos to future-proof our operations, enabling us to deliver a great customer experience going forward.”
The partnership with IIG Bank is the second big fintech announcement from Temenos this week. The Geneva, Switzerland-based banking software provider teamed up with Mizrahi-Tefahot, the third largest bank in Israel, to replace its capital market systems with Temenos T24 Transact.
Recognized last month by Gartner Magic Quadrant as a Leader in Global Retail Core Banking, and at the Finnovex Awards for Excellence in Digital Banking, Temenos demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015.
Temenos was founded in 1993. Max Chuard, who joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2012, was appointed CEO in February.
Onfido to provide identity verification for blockchain identity and payment solution provider Civic.
Ping Identity successfully completes financial grade API (FAPI) conformance testing.
EdgeVerve SystemsunveilsAssistEdge RPA 18.0 to help organizations reach broader automation coverage of their processes.
iSignthisinks Australian Principal Member licensing agreement with Visa.
Business Insider highlightsFlywire CEO’s unique way of attracting investment.
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.
Kantox’sDynamic Hedging solution is the latest FX risk management option for U.K.-based corporate clients of Silicon Valley Bank. The deal with SVB, announced this week, is Kantox’s first bank partnership.
“By offering our Dynamic Hedging software to their corporate clients,” Kantox co-founder and CEO Philippe Gelis said, “we are providing a sophisticated solution which makes the treasurer’s job easier, while providing added value to SVB’s existing FX services.”
Kantox’s Dynamic Hedging technology makes treasury operations more efficient by automating FX risk management. The solution automatically hedges transactions in real-time to mitigate risk and improve competitiveness. Treasurers also gain greater visibility into FX exposure.
Kantox and SVB are no strangers. Silicon Valley Bank was behind the $5.6 million (€5 million) venture debt financing Kantox picked up in April. This marked the second such arrangement between the two parties, having previously inked a financing agreement in December 2017.
Calling Kantox “a technology partner that understands the innovation economy and the sectors in which they operate,” Erin Platts, Head of EMEA and President of SVB’s U.K. branch, explained the importance of efficiently managing FX operations for many of the bank’s corporate clients. “Through this partnership with Kantox, we aim to create genuine value for our clients by bringing automation and efficiency to their transactional FX management activities.”
Founded in 1983, Silicon Valley Bank provides financial services and expertise to companies in innovation centers around the world. More than 30,000 startups have benefitted from the bank’s funding.
Kantox’s first bank partnership announcement comes just over a month after CEO Gelis discussed the challenges of fintech/bank partnerships in a candid post at Kantox’s LinkedIn page.
“One of my key lessons learned is that navigating banks is very complex,” he wrote. “There are many people there whose jobs are basically to spend time speaking with fintechs about innovation – and not much else.” His takeaway? Among other insights, Gelis urged fellow fintechs: “Do not look for partnerships, instead engage with banks that are approaching you proactively.”
Kantox demonstrated its Peer FX solution at FinovateEurope 2013. The London, U.K.-based firm, founded in 2011, works with both top tier companies and SMEs to help them save money when exchanging foreign currencies. Kantox estimates that for every $100,000 transaction, it is able to save clients an average of $1,500. Offering spot and forward transactions in more than 20 international currencies, Kantox serves businesses in a wide variety of verticals ranging from e-commerce to travel to digital advertising.
In June, Kantox announced that clients have exchanged more than $10 billion on its platform. Last fall, the company was named to CB Insights Fintech 250 roster of the fastest growing fintech startups in the world. Kantox has raised more than $35 million in funding, and includes Partech and Idinvest Partners among its equity investors.
With such a fast news cycle in fintech, sometimes it’s helpful to dissect the news based on verticals; looking at them each independently. And we’ve done just that. Here’s a quick synopsis of what’s trending among six fintech verticals.
We’ll be taking a closer look at each of these topics at FinovateFall (September 23 through 25 in New York), where the brightest minds in fintech will discuss what you need to know about the latest news during our breakout streams. Register today to save your seat.
Challenger banks got their start during the 2008 financial crisis after consumers lost trust with mega banks and began looking for an alternative. Recently in this space, we’ve started seeing U.K. banks make inroads into the U.S., where there is less competition for non-traditional banking providers. After amassing a waitlist of 100,000 U.S. consumers, German challenger bank N26 launched in the U.S. this July. A few weeks earlier, Monzo also announced a U.S. expansion after amassing a user base of 2.2 million customers in the U.K.
These non-traditional banks are also experiencing a funding boom. Last month alone brought major funding rounds to three challenger banks. U.K.-based Atom raised $60 million at a $644 million valuation, N26 raised an additional $170 million investment at a $3.5 billion valuation, and MoneyLion raised $100 million at a valuation of almost $1 billion. And in June U.K.’s Monzo raised $144 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.
Geographical expansion and strong investor confidence in this space indicate it is ramping up, and we can expect more competing challenger banks to enter the arena soon. The influx of funds also brings the likelihood that, as the startups continue development efforts, new products and features may be on the horizon.
In the past, regtech has been looked at as the ugly cousin within fintech sub sectors. While not as sexy as investing technology, this vertical has seen increased popularity as of late. With the API economy making bank-fintech partnerships the new norm, regulators are begging for oversight and regulation-as-a-service companies have stepped in with the solutions banks need to stay compliant.
Similarly, as enabling technology expands, so does the need for regulation. Fortunately, along with this need comes the advances in technology for the regtech sector itself, which has benefitted from increased automation and scalability as AI and machine learning gain traction and become more accessible for firms.
The final deadline for PSD2 is looming. September 14 is the final deadline by which all EU companies must comply with PSD2’s regulatory technical standards and impose strong customer authentication methods. This has sparked a lot of recent conversation as it has been reported that 41% of EU banks missed the original deadline. And the stakes are high– not only can regulators impose fines, they can also revoke payment providers’ licenses.
Last fall the hot button topic was customer experience. Since then, there have been endless debates on Twitter and the blogosphere on the necessity of bank branches. Some argue that online and mobile channels are the best avenues to serve consumers whereas others contend that physical bank branches are essential to maintain a personal connection with customers. The biggest voice in this debate, however, are the numbers. According to the Financial Brand, 81% of banks and credit unions do not plan to close any branches this year.
It’s hard to talk about the customer experience without bringing up chatbots. The AI-powered technology can be used to scale and humanize the online experience. Not only have we seen an increase in chatbot technology providers, we’ve also been seeing more companies build chatbot capabilities into their own apps.
It’s true that banking and payments is almost too broad to be considered a vertical of its own. And with such a big category, it can be difficult to narrow down current trends. One topic that has been bubbling up lately, however, is the need for real-time payments in the U.S. Just a couple of days ago, the Federal Reserve announced it will develop a real-time payment and settlement service, called FedNow, that will support faster payments in the U.S.
Voice banking technology has been another widely discussed topic among banks, fintechs, and analysts in the past few months. With voice assistants such as the Amazon Echo, Google home, and Apple’s Siri becoming commonplace in homes, consumers are getting used to asking their AI assistants for answers to quick questions. However, the possibility of using the technology to conduct day-to-day banking activity hasn’t been on consumers’ radar– that is, until recently. On July 1, the classic game of Monopoly released a voice banking version that eschews paper currency. Instead, Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly man) manages the players’ money. When consumers get used to using voice technology in a game, they will soon be looking for it in their real bank.
Wealth management and roboadvisory technologies haven’t changed dramatically since 2015, the height of the roboadvisor boom. However, in the past few months some wealthtech companies have been broadening their offerings to compete with traditional banks. Betterment, Wealthfront, and SoFi, for example, have all launched checking accounts. Many firms have also unveiled additional capabilities, as well, such as tools for trusts, donation features, 529 plan options, and more.
And as AIs get smarter and work harder, there will be a backpedaling of pure roboadvisory plays. Many wealthtech companies already offer a hybrid option that combines roboadvisor tools with advice and guidance from human advisors. The human touch will rise to the top as a must-have option as consumers manage their nest egg.
We’re delighted to announce the finalists for the first ever Finovate Awards! We were amazed by the number of quality entries, and paring the field down to the short list in each category was no easy feat. And of course it doesn’t get any easier for our impressive team of judges, who now have the challenging task of selecting a single winner in each category.
We’ll be announcing the winners at a gala dinner taking place on September 24 (the middle night of FinovateFall) at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. In the meantime, please join us in celebrating the individuals and companies who have made it to this stage.
Don’t miss out on the chance see which individuals, companies, and technologies take top honors. Individual seats, half-tables, and full tables are all available for purchase. If you’d like to learn more about how to attend click here for more information or email India.Thomas@knect365.com to reserve your table.
InCommpartners with LA Metro to expand locations where customers can purchase and reload TAP cards.
Jack Henry & Associatesnamed one of the best places to work in Alabama by Business Alabama.
Bpm’online CEO and Managing Partner Katherine Kostereva recognized in The Software Report’s Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2019 feature.
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.
An investment of $460 million in Swedish e-commerce payments innovator Klarna takes the company’s valuation to $5.5 billion, and makes it the largest private fintech firm in Europe. The funding will help fuel Klarna’s international growth, especially in the United States, where it has been gaining new customers at a rate of six million a year.
Dragoneer Investment Group led the round. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI Capital LLC, Merian Chrysalis Investment Company Limited, Första AP-Fonden (AP1), IPGL, IVP, and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock also participated. Combined with the financing from a round this spring, the investment gives Klarna more than $1.2 billion in total capital.
For company CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the funding comes at a moment of great opportunity for fintechs like Klarna that are innovating in the area of consumer finance. “This is a decisive time in the history of retail banking,” he said. “Finally, transparency, technology and creativity will serve the consumer, and there will be no more room for unimaginative products, non-transparent terms of use or lack of genuine care of ones customers.”
Klarna’s Shop Now Pay Later approach to e-commerce enables consumers to pay for purchases at leading, brick and mortar retailers as well as with online merchants, with a variety of interest-free, no-fee financing offerings. These include a four installment payment option that charged every other week to the customer’s credit or debit card, and 30-day payment period that begins once the item is shipped or received.
Klarna has more than 60 million shoppers using its offerings, and 130,000 retailer partners around the world. Richard Watts of Merian Chrysalis Investment Company credited Klarna with providing its merchant partners with “considerable improvement in customer engagement and sales.” In fact, Klarna reports that merchants that are offering its four installment payment plan have experienced a 68% increase in average order value, a 44% increase in conversion v.s. cards, and a 21% higher purchase frequency.
“Klarna is one of Europe’s great fintech success stories and the company continues to develop truly innovative payment solutions,” Watts said.
The funding news for Klarna arrives amid a flurry of new service offerings, such as making its Shop Now Pay Later option available in-store, as well. It has also been a big year for products, from the launch of its global customer authentication platform to unveiling of its open banking platform. 2019 has also been a busy year in terms of partnerships: Klarna joined global fashion retailer ASOS in an expansion to the U.S., teamed up with U.K. fashion brand Superdry, and partnered with Canadian e-commerce and in-store point-of-sale financing company PayBright.
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2012.
Months after LendingClubannounced that it was closing its small business lending division, the online P2P credit marketplace is back in the fintech headlines with the launch of the Select Plus Platform. The solution enables sophisticated investors to participate in the financing of borrowers “who fall outside current criteria” of bank lenders.
Select Plus provides these borrowers with the opportunity to get the access to credit they need, while giving investors the ability to pursue potentially attractive risk adjusted returns. The solution will also boost LendingClub’s customer base, and help the company facilitate the more than 14 million applications for loans it received in 2018 alone.
Growing from inception to execution in less than a year, Select Plus is a testament to LendingClub’s product-building ability, according to company Chief Capital Officer Valerie Kay. In addition to getting to market quickly, Select Plus shows how the company is uncovering new ways to leverage its platform.
“This is a huge step forward in our evolution as we continue to unlock the power of the marketplace model to generate access and ultimately savings for borrowers by finding and matching the right capital sources with the right borrowers,” Kay said.
Select Plus already has its first investor. Theorem Partners, a firm that leverages data science and machine learning to invest in marketplace loans, will integrate its Theorem Score credit investment model with LendingClub’s new solution.
One of Finovate’s oldest alums, LendingClub demonstrated its “online lending community” at the very first Finovate conference in 2007. In the years since, the company has grown into the largest P2P lending marketplace in the world with more than three million customers and more than $50 billion in loans facilitated on its platform. In June, the company celebrated its three millionth member by paying off the borrower’s 6% APR, $40,000 debt consolidation loan in full.
Last month, LendingClub introducedLevered Certificates, a new financial product that combines an equity certificate based on a pool of unsecured personal loans with a fixed rate note to provide consistent financing over the term of the certificate. The company began the year partnering with U.K. data vendor Brismo to provide standardized performance metrics for lending.
Publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LC, Lending Club has a market capitalization of $1 billion. The company was founded in 2006, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Scott Sanborn is President and CEO.
Swiss digital banking software provider, CREALOGIX, is moving from its traditional initial license to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Although the intended transition has resulted in a drop in profitability of just over $5 million (CHF 5 million), sales have increased by 17% to exceed $101.5 million (CHF 100 million) for the first time.
Reporting preliminary results for the 2018/19 financial year, CREALOGIX states that the move to a SaaS-based, multi-year subscription model will result in greater revenue stability and sustained profitability increases in the long term.
The company believes that it will see solid cashflow levels and double-digit EBITDA margins from 2020/21 onwards. CREALOGIX notes that the continuing uncertainty around Brexit has had a pronounced negative impact on the UK business.
Recent new deals for the company have included agreements with Hampden & Co, LGT Vestra and MeDirect.
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, CREALOGIX demonstrated its TimeWarp solution at FinovateEurope 2019, winning Best of Show. TimeWarp enables banking customers to run simulations of various scenarios in their financial lives to better understand how today’s decisions are mostly likely to affect financial outcomes.
King Klarna: New Investment Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion.
LendingClubUnveilsSelect Plus for Sophisticated Investors.
Around the web
Israel’s third largest bank Mizrahi-Tefahot to deploy core banking technology from Temenos.
Experianreports surging interest in Open Banking, with the number of API requests made in the U.K. growing by more than 2x since February.
Russia’s Tinkoff Bank to sell the speech recognition technology behind its Oleg chatbot to corporate customers.
LeapXpertearns spot in 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.
Mortgage Cadenceenhances data verification, fraud prevention and compliance with integration of DataVerify to its Enterprise Lending Center.
AT&T launches new bug bounty program in partnership with HackerOne.
Jumiotakes gold in the Security Software category of the 2019 IT World Awards.
Lendiotops $1.5 billion in small business loans financed.
OndotintroducesTransaction Intelligence to make it easier for consumers to recognize purchases.
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.
