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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Ritholtz Wealth turns toBetterment’sBetterment for Advisors, a white label online investing solution, to power its Liftoff automated investment platform.
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.
ClickSWITCH, which made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring, has unveiled its partnership with Current, a digital bank launched in 2016. Current has used the ClickSWITCH API to build and design a customized UX that makes it easy for members to switch direct deposits to their checking accounts.
“We are excited to be providing direct deposit technology to Current’s banking solution,” Founder and CEO of ClickSWITCH Cale Johnston said. “Current is on the leading edge of an industry that is evolving at a rapid pace. They are adding new users at a very impressive rate, and we believe our solution will increase user adoption for their growing platform.”
ClickSWITCH offers banks and other financial institutions a turn-key solution that automates the switch of direct deposits and recurring payments for account holders. The company’s automated account holder acquisition technology makes onboarding easier and faster, enabling FIs to improve customer acquisition and account activation rates, ease the funding of new accounts, and increase the number of primary account holders.
Current bills itself as “a bank built for modern life.” The institution, launched in 2016, provides an iOS/Android banking app, and a Visa debit card with no minimum balance or overdraft fees. With more than 400,000 active accounts, Current offers a variety of innovative options for customers such as its Teen Checking Accounts and Early Direct Deposits. Current founder and CEO Stuart Sopp highlighted the bank’s Early Direct Deposit program, which allows customers to access their paychecks up to two days in advance, as a major beneficiary of ClickSWITCH’s technology.
“For more Americans, changing where their paychecks are deposited is the best measure of truly switching banks,” Sopp said. “By partnering with ClickSWITCH, we’re able to make that process far more seamless and offer a better customer experience for our account holders – which is always our top priority at Current.”
Founded in 2014, ClickSWITCH is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company demonstrated its automated direct deposit switch technology at FinovateSpring 2019. ClickSWITCH has raised $17.1 million in funding, and counts Point72 Ventures and Commerce Ventures among its investors.
Earlier this year, the company partnered with fellow Finovate alum Digital Onboarding to enable Old Point National Bank to update and switch direct deposits and recurring payments more efficiently. Last spring, ClickSWITCH worked with virtual branch app provider Mobilearth to add a new direct deposit switching feature to Mobilearth’s roving teller dashboard.
Pan-American Life Insurance Group (PALIG), a provider of insurance and financial services throughout the Americas, has selected Fiserv technology to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of its anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and risk management program in multiple countries, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
PALIG sought a provider with insurance industry expertise, a global footprint, and flexibility to help streamline AML compliance and fraud and risk management processes. The company selected Fiserv to provide a solution that accommodates country-specific regulations and reporting requirements.
The firm hopes this will improve efficiency for PALIG by enabling it to execute and monitor risk management processes in multiple countries through a single platform.
PALIG is initially deploying the Fiserv solution for use in Panama, the Cayman Islands, Colombia and Costa Rica, with plans to expand to more of the 22 countries where it has operations.
“Effective risk management is an important part of how we do business,” said Steven A. Friedman, executive vice president, chief investment officer, corporate development and strategy, Pan-American Life Insurance Group. “Working with Fiserv will optimize our ability to manage risk in an increasingly complex world so we can continue earning our customers’ trust.”
AML Risk Manager from Fiserv incorporates advanced capabilities that address four areas of an AML risk management program: know your customer (KYC) monitoring, detection and alerts, case management, and reporting.
Fiserv was founded in 1984, and is based in Brookfield Wisconsin. The company partnered with Samsung SDS last year at FinovateSpring to demo the Fiserv Commercial Center: Security & Samsung SDS Nexsign. Earlier this year, Fiserv announced plans to merge with First Data.
Standard Bank has cut customer waiting and transaction times since adopting the Infosys FinacleMobile Teller Solution at branches across Africa, reports Jane Connolly of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Since going live with the enterprise level, tablet-based solution at 107 branches in five countries – Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Eswatini – the bank has seen transaction turnaround times reduced by over 40%.
Features such as designated workflows for tellers, relationship managers and agents, offline operation capability, an inbuilt analytics engine and an interactive user interface have improved capacity. Tellers can now offer personalised services on the go and service multiple customer requests from a single window.
Other benefits have included a 50% reduction in paper use, 14% lower branch network costs and staff training time slashed from one week to about two hours.
“Ensuring world class customer experience is a key priority for Standard Bank and ensuring this at non-digital touch points such as branches was a challenge,” said Klaas Kruger, chief information officer of African Regions at Standard Bank.
“The implementation of ‘Moby’, Finacle’s Mobile Teller Solution as we call it, has been a significant step in our journey towards customer centric digitalization and process optimization. ‘Moby’, in combination with our existing Finacle Omnichannel Hub, has been a game changer in helping us provide the best banking experience in Africa.”
The solution is in the implementation stage for Ghana and Tanzania and will be further phased in across the bank’s African Regions countries.
A division of EdgeVerge Systems, a subsidiary of Infosys, Finacle demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2017. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Bangalore, India.
ClickSWITCH to Power Digital Direct Deposit Switch for Current.
Standard Bank Leverages Mobile Teller Tech from Infosys Finacle.
Fiserv to Enhance Risk Management for Pan-American Life.
Around the web
New integration between Revolut and TrueLayer brings Open Banking to money management app Emma.
Via its Mastercard Send push payments solution, Mastercard and Evolve Bank & Trust team up to back Branch and similar companies to ensure prompt payment for gig workers.
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.
Kyndi has boosted its total funding to $28.5 million this week after closing a $20 million Series B round led by Intel Capital. Also participating in the round were UL Ventures, PivotNorth, Pinnacle Peak, and all existing investors.
Kyndi founder and CEO Ryan Welsh said that the round accelerates the company’s growth. “The extra capital allows us to grow our engineering and sales teams. It also allows us to expand our footprint in Washington, D.C., for our government customers,” he said.
Since the company’s last round of funding in 2017, Kyndi has quadrupled in size, revenue, and number of customers, built its executive team, and released its Explainable AI product, which Welsh demoed at FinovateSpring 2018. Explainable AI helps organizations analyze massive amounts of data by unifying probabilistic and logical methods. Additionally, the tool helps minimize human bias that often occurs when information is manually extracted from raw data.
“Enterprises are turning to AI to take advantage of new opportunities and to solve pressing business problems, and we expect AI’s use in business will continue to grow as the technology matures,” said Nick Washburn, Senior Managing Director of Intel Capital. “Solutions like Kyndi’s, which remove some of the mystery of AI technology, will continue to gain importance, and we look forward to helping them accelerate AI adoption and address the need for explainability.” Intel Capital’s Investment Director Sunil M. Sanghavi will join Kyndi’s board of directors.
Manatee County, Florida’s only chartered credit union is teaming up with FinovateFall alum Digital Onboarding to improve new customer engagement. Manatee Community FCU, founded in 1958 and headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, will leverage Digital Onboarding’s fully-automated new account activation technology to boost membership and improve the overall banking experience for new and existing customers.
“Building member engagement is challenging, especially when members live outside of the primary branch service area,” Digital Onboarding CEO Ted Brown explained. “With the Digital Onboarding platform, Manatee Community Federal Credit Union can deliver an exceptional banking experience to all of its members. We’re thrilled to be partnering with the credit union on this important growth initiative.”
Digital Onboarding enables banks and credit unions to move beyond traditional marketing techniques involving phone calls, emails, direct mail, and print brochures when it comes to attracting and engaging new potential customers. Guided journeys help new customers quickly navigate the onboarding and activation process, and institutions can add features such as gamified incentives to customize the process further. The platform can be used to generate automated, intelligent email and text campaigns to keep customers engaged and aware of new service and product offerings. FIs running the platform benefit from summary analytics and reports that provide transparency into the account activation process, enabling community banks and credit unions to optimize their strategies to secure the best responses.
“At Manatee Community Federal Credit Union, we recently expanded our charter to serve members in Sarasota County, various employment groups, and associations,” Manatee Community FCU CEO Sherod Halliburton said. “(We) want to ensure that we deliver a best-in-class banking experience, no matter where our members reside.” He added that his team reviewed a variety of different digital platforms before choosing Digital Onboarding’s solution, which he called “the best option in the market.”
Boston, Massachusetts-based Digital Onboarding demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2018. Last month, the company announced that it would join the Venture Center FinTech Accelerator sponsored by Fidelity Information Services. This spring, we featured Digital Onboarding in a profile on how banks can compete with Apple’s new credit card.
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
RISQTeams Up with Aion Digital to Boost SME Lending in MENA.
ACI Worldwideteams up with Egyptian Banks Company, which will leverage ACI’s UP Retail Payments solution.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has begun issuing digital banking licenses.
Central and Southern Asia
Bangalore-based neobank for workers NiYO raises $35 million in new funding.
WebMoney Transfer goes live with its WMY wallet in Uzbekistan.
India’s Recko, a company that provides AI-powered digital transaction reconciliation, picks up $1 million in seed capital.
Swiss payments technology company BPC opens offices in Pakistan.
Nikkei Asian Review highlightsVymo and its entrance to the Japanese market.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Jumio to power digital identity for Brazil-based BTG Pactual.
Mexico’s Sr.Pago announces partnership with American Express.
Mastercard Brazil partners with Airfox and banQi to bring lower-cost banking options to Brazilian customers.
Asia-Pacific
Bank of Thailand implements SimCorp Dimension to manage its reserve management and monetary policy operations.
Vietnam’s central bank warns against fraud in the P2P lending market.
Regulators in the Philippines introduce new rules governing crowdfunding.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Temenos to power digital transformation for Rwanda’s Bank of Kigali. The company will also replace core and front office legacy systems for South African microfinancier Barko
Ghana to launch universal QR code payment method later this year.
Mobile payments startup OPay raises $50 million in funding in round led by Sequoia China, IDG Capital, and Source Code Capital.
Central and Eastern Europe
Settlelaunches its mobile payments app in Croatia.
Czech-based fintech developer Turing Technology closes second round of funding.
Slovenia’s Telekom Slovenije introduces its mobile wallet.
Promoting financial wellness among some of the economy’s most vulnerable participants is the goal of the new partnership between financial counseling and debt management nonprofit GreenPath and Finovate Best of Show winner Banzai. The collaboration, announced in June, will combine Banzai’s experience-based, personal finance learning solutions with GreenPath’s empathetic, nonjudgemental, one-on-one approach to debt counseling and helping consumer gain financial wellness.
“Lenders love GreenPath because they know they help people make positive, sustainable behavior changes that lead to improved credit and financial health,” Banzai’s Bryce Peterson wrote in a blog post discussing the news. “We are partnering with GreenPath so financial institutions can relieve the pressures experienced by many of their customers,” he said.
The two companies will also work together to present their respective platforms to potential financial institution customers.
A nonprofit organization founded in 1961, GreenPath has 500 employees in 40 locations who help individuals improve their financial awareness and skills, enabling them to make better financial decisions. The company leverages its relationship with creditors to help clients refinance their outstanding debts and secure lower, easier-to-afford, interest rates. Loan denial and delinquency services, CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) support, financial education workshops, and employer programs are among the services GreenPath offers financial institutions. The company currently facilitates debt management programs for 45,000 customers, and repaid more than $200 million on behalf of its clients last year alone.
Banzai demonstrated its turnkey, CRA eligible solution, combining educational content, interactive online simulations and topical resources at FinovateFall 2018. Winning Best of Show for its experience-based learning programs, Banzai has 750 bank and credit union partners, and 45,000 teachers using its technology.
Later this month, Banzai will unveil a pair of new products: Financial Wellness Center and the Coach. These solutions, in the words of company co-founder and CTO Kendall Buchanan, “(are) designed to encourage potential customers to share their goals … think deeply about their finances, and find answers to their stickiest financial questions.”
Founded in 2007, Banzai is headquartered in Provo, Utah. Morgan Vandagriff is co-founder and CEO.
Digital Onboarding to Boost Customer Engagement for Manatee Community FCU.
Finovate Global: Settle Launches Mobile App in Croatia; Sr. Pago Partners with American Express.
Around the web
Mastercardacquires global payments firm Transfast.
Chatbots.Studiopartners with Digital Flex Solution to become their first technical partner and adviser. Check out Chatbots.Studio at FinovateFall in September!
CREALOGIXwinsBest Wealth Management User Interface at the 2019 Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards.
Sports Business Daily interviewsEverfi Head of Global Partnerships Jon Chapman.
Gartner’s 2019 Market Guide for In-App Protection recognizesJscrambler for its client-side security technology.
Ping IdentityearnsBest Identity Management Solution honors at the 2019 SC Awards Europe.
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.
Natural language generation (NLG) technology company YSEOP is boosting its capital by $9.3 million this week, bringing its total investment to $12.6 million. The funds come from existing investor NextStage, an investment platform that shares YSEOP’s Parisian roots.
While previous investments have allowed YSEOP to roll out its NLG platform and enter into the pharmaceutical market, the company plans to use today’s round to accelerate its expansion into the U.S. In fact, by 2022, YSEOP expects to generate almost half of its revenue in the U.S.
“We are proud of NextStage’s confidence in YSEOP and the continuation of our shared adventure. The understanding NextStage shows of the challenges at play on the artificial intelligence and natural language market, as well as their knowledge of the U.S. market, confirm that they are the right partner to support us in our entrepreneurial journey,” said Emmanuel Walckenaer, YSEOP CEO. “Artificial Intelligence is a technology that transforms the approach to markets for companies and their organizations. We intend to continue honing and deepening our expertise in this field on behalf of our key accounts in order to realize the market potential of transforming data into natural language.”
YSEOP, which demoedAugmented Analytics earlier this year at FinovateSpring, leverages AI to deliver analysis using a human-like dialogue. The company’s tools can be used for a range of use cases, including wealth management, automated news briefs, report writing, and adding narrative to visual analytics.
Data-as-a-service firm DemystDataahas partnered with compliance and risk management specialist Kyckr to enhance its offerings for financial services clients.
Under the two-year agreement, DemystData will integrate Kyckr’s API into its platform. The move will allow DemystData customers to use Demyst’s platform to access Kyckr’s network of real-time registry information, allowing them to test the information in a secure sandbox environment.
“Partnering with DemystData brings together deep expertise in the data and automation space, helping us deliver the most up-to-date, legally accurate information to financial institutions globally,” Kyckr CEO Ian Henderson said. “The agreement is in alignment with our strategy to enhance collaborations with strategic partners as an accelerated method of growing our exposure to new clients and revenue.”
Founded in 2007, Kyckr provides APIs and cloud based, automated decision engines for Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, due diligence, and customer onboarding. Kyckr’s company intelligence database offers access to 200 official registries, 120 countries, and 170+ million legal entities. The company showcased at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, our developers conference.
“Know-Your-Customer verification is becoming increasingly critical and we are excited to be embedding our unique registry network onto the DemystData platform, and we look forward to working with our new partner and customers,” Henderson added.
Today’s deal also stipulates that DemystData promote Kyckr’s API to its client base, bringing awareness to Kyckr’s company intelligence tools to a fresh group of potential clients.
DemystData offers a data marketplace that helps banks and businesses protect themselves against fraud using email and address verification, criminal history information, and data on negative online sentiment. The company also offers property information for risk underwriting, as well as commercial marketing segmentation. At FinovateAsia 2012, DemystData debutedCredit-in-a-Box, a suite of tools that help banks leverage big data to make better lending decisions.
