Tink Secures Strategic Investment from PayPal

Tink Secures Strategic Investment from PayPal

PayPal has joined Team Tink.

Swedish open banking solution provider Tink announced today that PayPal is its latest investor and customer. In a blog post sharing the news, the Swedish company called the investment and partnership a “major vote of confidence in our tech and an indicator of the strength of the open banking movement in Europe.”

Today’s investment from PayPal adds $11.2 million (€10 million) to Tink’s capital, boosting the fintech’s funding total to more than $105 million. As Tink’s newest partner, the payments giant plans to leverage Tink’s account aggregation technology to enable its European customers to connect their bank accounts to their PayPal accounts.

“It’s a testament to the versatility of our technology,” the company wrote on its blog on Tuesday, “it can be implemented to improve a range of use cases for businesses big and small.”

Offering account aggregation and payment initiation services via a single, API integration – as well as data enrichment and categorization and PFM services – Tink empowers fintechs to maximize the opportunities of open banking. More than 1,400 developers are using Tink’s API platform to access financial data from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in markets across Europe. This access is paving the way for what the company called “the next generation of financial services.”

VP of global markets and partnerships for PayPal, Jennifer Marriner echoed Tink’s enthusiasm for the transformative potential of open banking. “Tink has developed the infrastructure and data services for this new financial world – and we’re excited to work together to continue to democratize financial services,” she said.

Today’s funding will help drive Tink’s continued expansion across Europe. In recent months, the fintech has partnered with NatWest in the U.K., Mash in Finland, and Lunar Way in Denmark. The company began the year with both a big funding – picking up $63 million (€56 million) in a round led by Insight Venture Partners – and a big expansion, going live in five new European markets. Tink demonstrated its API platform at FinovateEurope earlier this year. Founded in 2012, the company has 150 employees and 500,000 users of its PFM app.

PayPal and Braintree presented Making Payments Fun at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2014. PayPal also demonstrated its Instant Account Creation solution at FinovateEurope 2012. Trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol PYPL, PayPal has a market capitalization of $127 billion. The San Jose, California-based company was founded in 1998.

InComm Buys Hallmark Cards Subsidiary

InComm Buys Hallmark Cards Subsidiary

Prepaid payments company InComm has purchased Hallmark Business Connections, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards that provides employee incentive programs. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Hallmark built Hallmark Business Connections as its business relationships unit. The subsidiary offers physical and digital greeting cards to promote employee engagement to celebrate career milestones, company achievements, workplace excellence, and personal growth. Hallmark Business Connections also sells customer engagement cards such as those for direct marketing, customer care, and member outreach.

Hallmark Business Connections customers, which include Wells Fargo, State Farm, and Zappos, span a range of industries. The company is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with offices in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota.

“Hallmark Business Connections has built on the iconic Hallmark greeting card brand to empower companies with the means to create personalized incentive programs that recognize employees for dedication to their organization,” said Brooks Smith, CEO of InComm. “By combining this business with InComm’s existing loyalty and incentives solutions, we are able to offer an unprecedented level of technology and expertise that will help companies create the most engaging incentive programs possible.”

This is InComm’s ninth acquisition after buying digital lottery company Linq3 Technologies in March. The purchase helps solidify the Atlanta-based company’s expansion from stored value reward cards into more comprehensive incentives programs.

InComm offers more than 500,000 points of retail distribution with 1,000+ brand partners in more than 30 countries. The company debuted CorFire Mobile Commerce at FinovateFall 2011. More recently, InComm showed off the Cashtie API at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. In May, the company expanded into wearables by making its MyVanilla Prepaid Mastercard compatible with Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Tink Secures Strategic Investment from PayPal.
  • InComm Buys Hallmark Cards Subsidiary.

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide makes strategic investment in Indian digital payments company Mindgate Solutions.
  • Currencycloud and VISA forge partnership to fuel innovation in cross-border and travel payments.
  • Trulioo partners with Refinitiv to improve access to digital identity solutions.
  • German open digital identity scheme yes.com to integrate into Signicat’s Digital Identity Platform.
  • Splitit appoints former Intuit and PayPal Exec to lead North American operations.

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.

Webinar: Don’t Disrupt – Avoiding the Dangers of Transformation

Webinar: Don’t Disrupt – Avoiding the Dangers of Transformation

Challenger banks shouldn’t stand a chance. Incumbent banks have tens of millions of customer relationships, decades of risk-management experience, and petabytes of data.


Yet incumbent banks struggle to adapt to rising customer expectations quickly enough. This has encouraged well-funded, design-led, new market entrants to pose serious competitive threats. Incumbents struggle with rapid change because of the legacy systems, silos, and data volumes that exceed human capacity to analyze them.


In pursuit of disruptive innovations, banks have embarked on digital transformation programs and big data projects. But the low odds for success for these initiatives make them dangerous. Seventy percent of digital transformations fail, according to McKinsey. And 60% of big data projects fail, according to Gartner. These are investments with high risks and mostly uncertain return.


Watch this webinar, to learn about a new approach. You will learn how to:
• Leverage legacy systems and understand data across systems and silos
• Turn inhuman amounts of data into information for human decision-makers
• Reduce the cognitive burden on employees so they can use their unique skills
• Increase revenue and cost productivity while reducing risk
• Scale solutions with natural language processing and machine learning

Featuring:

John Finneran
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Financial Services
Sinequa

Finneran is the Senior Product Marketing Manager, Financial Services at Sinequa. He is responsible for go-to-market strategy and designing industry-specific use cases and solutions. Sinequa helps financial institutions become information driven. The platform extracts real-time relevant information and insights from large amounts of data across all formats. R

BeSmartee Unveils New Mortgage TPO Platform

BeSmartee Unveils New Mortgage TPO Platform

Mortgagetech innovator BeSmartee, which demonstrated its Smart Mortgage advanced origination technology at FinovateSpring 2017, announced late last week that its new automated loan submission offering is now available for wholesale lenders and their third-party originators (TPO).

The BeSmartee Wholesale Mortgage TPO Platform provides an automated, centralized submission portal originators can use to submit borrower applications and related documentation. Once this simple, guided process is completed, the third-party originator will be automatically directed to the MLO Command Center where they can work with borrowers in real-time to ensure loan requirements are met. This includes tasks such as editing files and running pricing to lock or float the interest rates.

“We’ve worked side by side with our wholesale lender clients for over two years to create the BeSmartee Wholesale Mortgage TPO platform,” BeSmartee co-founder Arvin Sahakian explained. “(The solution is) a truly ideal loan submission portal (that) not only meets the needs of our respective wholesale lender clients, but also their valued TPO network of brokers.”

BeSmartee’s new offering can also be paired with the company’s mortgage POS technology. This provides an even more seamless, fully-automated application, collection, and submission process that removes the need for the third-party originator to be involved in file submission. The TPO platform also gives loan originators the ability to access more than 165 partner software integrations including mortgage pricing engine tools, automated underwriting systems (AUS), and electronic signature solutions.

Founded in 2008 and based in Huntington Beach, California, BeSmartee made its Finovate debut two years ago at FinovateSpring 2017. Last fall, the company announced that it had integrated with Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter system to further automate and streamline loan originations. With more than 25,000 applications a month processed via its platforms, BeSmartee announced both an integration with fellow Finovate alum Equifax and a partnership with mobile platform designer LoanFuel last summer.

Temenos Teams Up with Eurobank, Bank of Khyber

Temenos Teams Up with Eurobank, Bank of Khyber

Eurobank Group is to overhaul its core and digital banking with Temenos’ T24 Transact and T24 Infinity, reports Martin Whybrow of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The project will cover the group’s international operations. It will start in Cyprus, with the intention of swiftly moving on to Eurobank Private Bank Luxemburg, with Eurobank Bulgaria AD (Postbank) and Eurobank AD Beograd (Serbia) also on the roadmap.

The project comprises a full IT renovation program. The bank has also taken Temenos’ WealthSuite for Cyprus and Luxembourg, with the aim of reducing time-to-market for new products and services and improving automation of its private banking operations.

Also in the mix is Temenos Analytics to support Eurobank’s marketing campaigns. Development tools, which will use the T24 APIs, are intended to speed up building and deploying applications around the core.

In terms of the initial project in Cyprus, Stavros Ioannou, deputy CEO and group COO, Eurobank, said: “We look forward to this cooperation, as this is the first stage in the wider implementation of Temenos banking software across the group.” He described the project as supporting the bank’s “vital digital transformation journey” which is intended to shape “advanced relationships” and provide customers with “high quality service and a vast variety of innovative and tailor made products.”

The bank currently uses a range of legacy international and Greek packages, including Oracle FSS’s Flexcube in Serbia and CSoft’s VCSBank++ in Bulgaria, FinTech Futures understands. The holding group is Greece-based EFG Eurobank Ergasias.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Temenos participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2015. The company is also an alum of our Finovate conferences, demonstrating its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope – also in 2015.

In other Temenos news, the company announced a partnership with Pakistan-based Bank of Khyber, which will also deploy Temenos’ T24 Transact and Infinity solutions.

National Data Consultants (NDC), Temenos’ partner in the region, was selected as the system integrator for the project.

Government-owned Bank of Khyber embarked on new core banking software search in 2018, as reported by FinTech Futures, looking for new tech to support its network of 166 domestic branches (including 84 Islamic banking branches).

Temenos and NDC were selected “after a thorough due diligence process,” according to Muhammad Azfar Latif, CIO, Bank of Khyber.

“We hope to turn this bank as a model for other industry players locally and internationally,” he said.

Saif Ul Islam, MD and CEO, Bank of Khyber, believes the new technology will enable the bank “to have a strong footing on the digital platforms.” It also meets “the bank’s strategic long-term plans in increasing operational efficiency,” he added.

Jean-Paul Mergeai, MD, Temenos Middle East and Africa, said Bank of Khyber has become the thirteenth bank in Pakistan to join the vendor’s client list. Other T24 Transact users in the country include Khushhali Bank, State Bank of Pakistan, Silkbank, Soneri Bank, and Meezan Bank.

Analyst All-Stars – Global Fintech: What’s Hot & What’s Not…

At every Finovate, we welcome four leading fintech research analysts to take the stage for seven minutes each to present key opportunities for the future. Take a look back on our most recent set from FinovateSpring 2019 featuring Michelle Evans, Global Head of Digital Consumer Research at Euromonitor International; Jacob Jegher, Senior Vice President, Banking Head of Strategy, Javelin Strategy and Research; Dan Latimore, Senior Vice President, Banking Group, Celent; and Paul Berg, Senior Managing Consultant, Gallup.

Early booking for FinovateSpring 2020 is also now open! Book your tickets now at the lowest possible price!

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BeSmartee Unveils New Mortgage TPO Platform.

Around the web

  • Identitii is now a ‘Co-Sell Ready’ partner for Microsoft.
  • Feedzai launches tools to help banks offer account opening solutions with fraud prevention.
  • Bankingblocks leverages Five Degrees’ Matrix solution as its digital core banking platform.
  • Eurobank Group selects TemenosT24 Transact for its subsidiaries.
  • Insuritas Launches Tucson Federal Insurance Agency for Tucson FCU.
  • Former Mastercard executive David Yates joins Yoyo as chairman.
  • AlphaPoint names co-founder Igor Telyatnikov as its new CEO.

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.

Qatar Backs SoFi; Ripple Powers Cross-Border Payments in Brazil

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.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • SoFi announces $500 million investment led by Qatar.
  • Emirates NBD to leverage technology from Amazon Web Services to build an AI-enabled “bank of the future”.
  • New partnership between Turkey’s Isbank and Yandex.Checkout to support transactions in rubles for Russians shopping online in Turkey.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Strands strikes digital banking deal with India’s Tech Mahindra.
  • BankBazaar to offer financing options for customers of furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry.
  • Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, a premier think tank of the Indian government, sees a $31 billion Indian fintech market by 2020.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian exchange brokerage, Frente Corretora de Cambio, goes live with cross-border remittance solution powered by Ripple technology.
  • World Finance features Sao Paulo among its Top 5 Emerging Fintech Hubs.
  • IMFBlog looks at how fintech can lower remittance costs in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • The central bank of Indonesia, Bank Indonesia, unveils its Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS), a new QR code system.
  • Mastercard and UOB partner to introduce the UOB Retail Business Metal Card designed for APAC SMEs.
  • B2B cross border payments company TransferMate picks up payment license in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ghana’s ARB Apex Bank reups with Temenos.
  • Titan Trust Bank of Nigeria chooses Oracle FSS for its core and digital banking technology.
  • CNBCAfrica profiles South African payments and merchant acquiring solutions provider Crossfin.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuania fintech Paysera goes live in Romania.
  • Polish “credit of fintech-as-a-service” innovator Symmetrical.ai raises $1.5 million (€1.3m) in funding.
  • Billon Solutions and Microsoft announce partnership with the University of Warsaw to develop academic use cases for DLT technology.

Top image designed by Freepik

Biometrics Tech Firm ID R&D Receives $5.7 Million in Funding

Biometrics Tech Firm ID R&D Receives $5.7 Million in Funding

New York biometrics technology provider ID R&D has raised $5.7 million in Series A funding, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures, Fintech’s sister publication.

The round was led by a new investor, GSR Ventures, with participation from an existing investor, Gagarin Capital. This is the New York-based company’s second investment; the first being a Seed round of an undisclosed amount raised in December of 2017.

The investment will be used to meet the increasing demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) based voice and behavioral solutions, along with voice and face anti-spoofing technologies. ID R&D will also be using it to add engineering staff and drive international sales.

“What we’ve consistently heard from our customers is that ID R&D’s technologies and solutions stand alone in offering a vastly simplified user experience that doesn’t sacrifice the security of authentication,” said ID R&D CEO, Alexey Khitrov.

The biometric tech provider aims to meet the demand from businesses for conversational interface (CI) and replace existing password and security question-based authentication processes with quicker, simpler voice and facial recognition solutions that require little or no involvement from the user.

The firm’s passive, anti-spoofing capabilities are designed to thwart fraudsters who attempt to access accounts using synthesized or recorded voices; or with photos, videos, or models of the real user’s face.

“With Grand View Research forecasting the speech and voice recognition market size to reach nearly $32 billion by 2025, businesses are racing to keep up with demand for authentication that works across multiple platforms and is as convenient as it is secure,” added Khitrov.

At FinovateFall 2018, Khitrov demoed SafeChat 2.0, an application that passively verifies a user’s identity throughout the conversation (typing or speaking) without asking a them to do anything special to authenticate themselves. In addition to SafeChat 2.0, the company offers IDVoice, a standalone version of ID R&D’s core voice biometric capability; IDSquared, a tool that validates the user by how they type their login credentials and by capturing their face at the same time; and IDBehave, a behavioral biometrics solution that creates a unique biometric template for each user.

ID R&D has seen rapid growth, doubling its sales contracts last year, growing its customer base by 25% in Q1 2019, doubling its staff, and opening a West Coast headquarters. The firm also added a major biometric integrator and a semiconductor company.

Bento for Business Hires on Two C-Level Appointees

Bento for Business Hires on Two C-Level Appointees

B2B payment solutions provider Bento for Business is boosting its leadership team this week. The company has appointed Paula Bachman as Chief Financial Officer and Tracy Hansen as Chief Marketing Officer.

The two will be the first to serve in these capacities, as both roles have been newly created to aid the company during its recent time of growth. Last year, the company’s year-over-year gross dollar volume increased by 3x.

“Paula and Tracy are experienced leaders and critical hires for Bento during this pivotal time in our growth trajectory. They each bring the knowledge and insights needed to progress Bento’s evolution,” said Farhan Ahmad, Bento CEO. “With the right team in place, we are now focused on making further innovations to our financial operating platform to deliver a full-stack payment solution with flexible funding options, built-in compliance, APIs, third-party integrations and more to meet the evolving needs of modern businesses.”

Paula Bachman

In her new role, Bachman (pictured right) will help Bento define new strategies, implement scalable business processes and systems, execute transactions with Bento’s investors and business partners, and lead the human resources group. Prior to Bento, Bachman worked at Networked Insights, a data analytics SaaS firm.

Tracy Hansen

As CMO, Hansen (pictured right) is charged with overseeing and managing Bento’s growth. She has worked at B2B companies including Tealium, NetApp, and CA Technologies, and was most recently CMO of Renaissance Learning, an education software company.

Bento offers an all-in-one platform to help small businesses manage their spending. The company also provides a variety of payment cards to offer businesses more control and visibility over their employees’ spending.

Founded in 2014, Bento demoed its platform at FinovateSpring 2015. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and Chicago. Last month, Bento formed a deal with Visa to include the company as an additional payment card in the Bento for Business platform.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Biometrics Tech Firm ID R&D Receives $5.7m Funding.
  • Bento for Business Hires on Two C-Level Appointees.

Around the web

  • Gusto opens office in New York City.
  • PayActiv adds Dan Quan to advisory board.
  • Citrix Analytics and Ping Identity partner to enable contextual access.

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.