The Rise of AI and the Role of the Customer in Fintech

The Rise of AI and the Role of the Customer in Fintech
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2019

This year, FinovateSpring will feature a special day dedicated to two critical issues in fintech: the rise of AI and the importance of the customer journey.

On May 7th, the day before the conference begins, we’ll host an AI Summit and a Customer Experience Summit that will provide both a broad overview and a deep dive into both timely topics.

Join us Tuesday morning at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for a day of insightful keynote addresses, fireside chats, strategy roundtables, case studies, and debates.

AI  Summit

In addition to opening and closing remarks from our chair, Ron Shevlin, Head of Research, Cornerstone Advisors, here’s a look at the sessions available in our AI Summit:

  • What Can Artificial Intelligence Do for Your Business? – read more
  • Making AI Walk the Talk – It’s All About the Data – read more
  • Transforming Legacy Businesses with AI – Machine Learning is King Now, But Image, Voice, and Natural Language Processing are Coming Up Fast. What are the Internal Challenges? The Ethical Challenges? And the Business Opportunities? – read more
  • The Rise of Natural Language Processing & How it is Reshaping
    Financial Services – read more
  • AI for Fraud Detection and Risk Management – read more
  • Let’s Chat About Chatbots – read more
  • Six Business Applications Within Investing, Compliance, Credit Scoring, Marketing, and Customer Support – read more
  • Oxygen for AI, How Data Management and Data Governance Can Make or Break Your AI Journey – read more
  • Using AI to Transform Customer Experience – read more
  • Building a Cognitive Bank from the Inside Out – read more
  • AI to Streamline Operational Processes – read more
  • Fintechs and Financial Institutions on the Journey Towards a Productive Partnership in AI – read more

Customer Experience

With opening and closing remarks from Beyond the Arc CEO Steven Ramirez, who will serve as Chair, here’s a look at the sessions being offered in our Customer Experience Summit.

  • The Evolution of Innovation: Build, Buy or Partner? – read more
  • Return on CX – 80% of the Potential ROI is Typically Left Untapped – read more
  • How Can Financial Institutions Transform Customer Experience through Deep Customer Insights? Why Powerful Data Analytics Will Be Critical for Success – read more
  • How to Innovate on Behalf of the Customer and Build a Business Around Customer Needs to Drive Loyalty and Sustained Growth – read more
  • Bridging the Gap Between the Customer Experience Promise and the Customer Experience Reality to Deliver Outstanding CX at Scale – read more
  • How to Align Your Whole Organization to a Common Customer. Purpose and Harness Future Technology to Redraw the Customer Experience Landscape – read more
  • Creating a Seamless Digital Customer Experience – read more
  • How We Are Creating a Seamless Customer Experience – read more
  • Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Maximize Customer Experience and Loyalty – read more
  • Delivering Outstanding Customer Experience by Harnessing Open APIs – read more
  • Transforming the B2B Customer Experience – read more
  • Fintechs and Financial Institutions On the Journey Towards a Productive Partnership in CX – read more

Tickets to FinovateSpring are available now. Visit our registration page today and save your spot.

Note that registration for Tuesday’s Summit’s is separate from registration to attend the main, three-day FinovateSpring conference beginning on Wednesday, May 8.

Take advantage of our special discount when purchasing your ticket before April 26, or when packaging a Summit Day registration with a registration for the main conference.

Questions about FinovateSpring? Send us an email for more information.

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Germany’s aixigo Forges Strategic Partnership with Synpulse

Germany’s aixigo Forges Strategic Partnership with Synpulse
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: aixigo

A strategic partnership that combines the digital wealth management and investment advisory platform of aixigo and the implementation expertise of Swiss consulting firm Synpulse is the latest big development on the European wealth management scene.

The two companies announced a strategic partnership this week that will provide financial service providers in Switzerland and beyond with a digital API platform that is fast, flexible, and has what the company called “mass suitability.” aixigo’s platform offers more than 100 API-based services, delivering value-added digital services to branches as well as via mobile devices. The solution can provide large volumes of raw data for legacy systems, and then refine the data quickly at scale without regard for the client’s underlying core banking system.

Left to right: Marcus Grundler (Head of Portfolio Management Systems) and Mario Alves (Head of Sales & Partner Management) demonstrating aixigo’s Digital Financial Portfolio Management Back Office solution at FinovateFall 2018.

aixigo CEO Erich Borsch underscored the need for speed when it comes to providing services in wealth management. “(The) attention span of clients in the digital age continues to decline,” he said. “So the goal must be to get at least two minutes of attention a day from the client. And you can only do that if you can offer relevant information extremely quickly, digitally, and attractively.”

Banks are as much a beneficiary of faster, more flexible solutions as customers are, Borsch added. And by meeting customer expectations in the digital realm, he said, it is easier “for the bank to become an integral part of daily digital habits.”

Synpulse Managing Partner Raphael Jung explained the importance of aixigo’s technology in a world of open banking and open APIs. He said, “In order to be able to use this potential for digital offers in asset management and investment advisory as well, a system is needed that records all relevant data at high speed and makes it available again in a redefined form – an API platform.”

Headquartered in Aachen, Germany, and founded in 1999, aixigo demonstrated its Digital Financial Portfolio Management Back Office solution at FinovateFall 2018. The technology enables wealth managers to leverage relatively small staffs to manage hundreds of thousands of investment portfolios quickly and efficiently.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: aixigo, Bento for Business, Biometric Signature ID, Fintech OS, Klarna, Kony, Temenos, Tradeshift, Trunomi, Voleo

On Finovate.com

  • Germany’s aixigo Forges Strategic Partnership with Synpulse.
  • The Rise of AI and the Role of the Customer in Fintech.

Around the web

  • Payment service provider Truevo to deploy front office and core banking solutions from Temenos.
  • Klarna launches global customer authentication platform for multinational businesses.
  • Fintech OS announces new Chief Revenue Officer Leon Stevens.
  • Best of Show winner Voleo takes home the 2019 Best Stock Trading App award in the Investment category of the FinTech Breakthrough Awards.
  • Trunomi unveils new website, branding.
  • Kony teams up with Okta to provide ID management and MFA.
  • FindBiometrics interviews Jeff Maynard, CEO and Founder of Biometric Signature ID.
  • Tradeshift to power supplier solutions for Axfood.

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.

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Salt Edge Earns Account Information Service Provider License from FCA

Salt Edge Earns Account Information Service Provider License from FCA
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Salt Edge

Open banking enabler Salt Edge announced it has received the green light from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Salt Edge’s registration as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP) will allow the company to access financial data in compliance with PSD2 across Europe.

“Receiving an AISP license will help us take better advantage of the Open Banking opportunities on the European landscape as we strive for excellence in everything we do. This process required some serious investment and preparation, but it was worth implementing,” commented Dmitrii Barbasura, Salt Edge CEO.

Salt Edge’s Open Banking API was updated at the beginning of this month to version five. Lenders using the recently updated API will be able to leverage Salt Edge’s AISP license to access consumers’ financial account data (with their consent) to enhance the underwriting process for credit decisioning.

Dmitry Tsap, Head of Infrastructure and Security Department at Salt Edge, said the company underwent “a very strict evaluation process” that assessed the company’s security and data protection measures. “Being approved by the FCA is proof of quality and recognition of our efforts in this direction,” Tsap added.

Salt Edge recently showcased its Open Banking platform at FinovateEurope 2019 in February. Early last month, the Canada-based company teamed up with money management app Emma for account aggregation. Salt Edge was founded in 2013 and connects to 3,100+ banks in 61 countries.

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Checkbook.io Launches InstantPay

Checkbook.io Launches InstantPay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Checkbook.io

Digital check innovator Checkbook.io unveiled Instant Pay today. The new offering streamlines the funds transfer process for businesses that want to send money to individual and business bank accounts.

Instant Pay works by circumventing the need for payment recipients to go through a sign up process to receive their funds. Instead, Instant Pay requests information directly from the recipient’s Mastercard or Visa branded debit card. This eliminates the requirement of other sensitive information such as their personal details, account number, or routing number.

The technology works because Checkbook.io doesn’t use the antiquated ACH infrastructure, which requires recipient onboarding and takes three to five business days to move funds from one account to another. Instead of running the payment on ACH rails, the funds are transferred using VISA Direct rails, enabling the recipient to see the money in their account within 18 seconds (though the company discloses that the process could take up to 15 minutes).

Businesses can integrate the solution using Checkbook.io’s RESTful API. Along with Checkbook.io’s other tools, the API is publicly available and can easily be integrated into a business’ existing payment process. The company charges a flat, $1 fee per transaction, regardless of the check amount, and allows a maximum of $10,000 per transaction.

Checkbook.io most recently presented at FinovateSpring 2017, where company CEO and founder PJ Gupta showcased the company’s Digital Checks solution. Founded in 2015, Checkbook.io has raised an undisclosed amount of funds from investors such as Tim Draper, AngelList, and more. For more on Checkbook.io, check out our recent feature of the company’s accomplishments.

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Onfido Raises $50 Million in New Capital

Onfido Raises $50 Million in New Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Onfido

A new round of funding led by SBI Investment and Salesforce Ventures has driven identity verification specialist Onfido’s total capital to more than $100 million.

“With this new funding, we can protect more businesses, in more countries – and in more ways – from the effects of fraud,” Onfido co-founder and CEO Husayn Kassai said. “We’ll also be able to expand the reach of our technology, so that people without a credit history can finally access the online services they badly need.”

This week’s $50 million financing, which featured participation from M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures), FinVC, and other investors, will help Onfido fulfill its goal of leveraging AI to standardize how businesses verify identity. In a statement, the company said the funding would also help it “consolidate its core market in the U.S.” as well as support growth in areas like Europe and Southeast Asia.

As part of the investment, former Chief Sales Officer and Vice Chairman of Salesforce Frank van Veenendaal (pictured right with Onfido CEO Kassai) will join Onfido’s board of directors. “There has never been a more important time for companies to build trust with their customers by showing they are one step ahead of fraudsters,” Veenendaal said.

“I believe Onfido has the unique opportunity to transform the digital identity market and deliver robust and scalable authentication-as-a-service,” he added, “similar to how Salesforce transformed customer relationship management.”

Onfido demonstrated its Facial Check with Video solution at FinovateFall 2018. The technology offers enhanced security during new user onboarding by having users video themselves performing specific actions such as repeating random numbers to ensure liveness. Onfido’s solution then leverages machine learning to compare the facial image in the video to the image on the user’s identity document.

Appointed to the FIDO Alliance Board of Directors in March, Onfido also last month announced a project to help train officials at INTERPOL to better identify fraudulent ID documents. The company has made a number a partnerships in the first few months of the year including teaming up with PensionBee, collaborating with P2P RV rental firm, RVshare, and providing verification services for extended stay marketplace, 2nd Address.

Most recently, Onfido partnered with IDValidation to fight the growing problem synthetic identity fraud in which only a single element of an individual’s identity – rather than the users’s complete identity – is stolen and used to make transactions.

With more than 1,500 customers around the world – including industry leaders like DraftKings, Remitly, and Zipcar – Onfido was founded in 2012. The company is headquartered in London, U.K.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Capsilon, Checkbook.io, EVRY, Insuritas, NestReady, Onfido, PayPal, ProfitStars, Salt Edge, SocietyOne, Tinkoff Bank, Tyfone

On Finovate.com

  • Onfido Raises $50 Million in New Capital.
  • Salt Edge Earns Account Information Service Provider License from FCA.

Around the web

  • Tinkoff Group of Russia builds supercomputer dubbed the most powerful in financial sector.
  • PayPal joins Series A round for Cambridge Blockchain.
  • EVRY partners with ACI Worldwide to enhance its mobile payment service in the Nordics and Europe.
  • ProfitStars wins 2019 FinTech Breakthrough Award for Best Business Lending Platform
  • Capsilon expands executive team, forms new product organization to drive mortgage innovation. Check out Capsilon’s newest tech at FinovateSpring in May.
  • SocietyOne launches new investor trust.
  • Portland Business Journal: Tyfone brings credit unions the digital tools members want.
  • Insuritas partners with Nymeo FCU to launch digital insurance agency.
  • NestReady to power integrated homebuying experience for Resource Financial Services.

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.

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OnDeck Acquires Evolocity

OnDeck Acquires Evolocity
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, On Deck Capital

Alternative small business lending platform OnDeck finalized its purchase of Canada-based small business lender Evolocity Financial Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The closing of this transaction signals a new era of online lending innovation on behalf of Canada’s small businesses,” said Noah Breslow, CEO of OnDeck. “As one of Canada’s leading online lenders to the crucial small business sector, we are well-positioned to provide financing options that will benefit Canadian small business owners from coast to coast.”

Evolocity brings expertise in Canadian underwriting practices, as well as local business relationships and knowledge to the table. Combined with OnDeck’s marketing and international online lending experience, the two businesses will offer small businesses across Canada access to working capital finance solutions.

The combined companies will operate under the name and branding of OnDeck Canada, with Evolocity CEO Neil Wechsler serving as CEO of OnDeck Canada. Evolocity co-founders David Souaid and Harley Greenspoon will serve as chief revenue officer and chief operating officer, respectively.

OnDeck was founded in 2007 and has loaned more than $10 billion to small businesses in 700 different industries across the United States, Canada, and Australia since launch. The company leverages its OnDeck Score to underwrite loans and deliver funds to small businesses in as little as 24 hours.

OnDeck most recently demoed at FinovateSpring 2012. The publicly traded company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ONDK and has a market capitalization of $418 million.

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Fintech’s Newest Unicorn Bill.com Raises $88 Million in New Funding

Fintech’s Newest Unicorn Bill.com Raises $88 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bill.com, Funding

In a round led by Franklin Templeton, business payments innovator Bill.com has raised $88 million in new funding. The investment, which also featured participation from Mastercard, Fidelity Canada, FLEETCOR, Tamasek, and others, takes Bill.com’s total funding to $275 million, and gives the company a valuation of more than $1 billion.

“Bill.com is changing how payments are made in the SMB market by defining an industry leading payment and software platform for SMBs,” company founder and CEO René Lacerte said. “Businesses struggle with conventional payment processes which are complex, manual, paper-based and not always secure. Our cloud payment platform is changing all that. We automate payments and back office business processes resulting in significant efficiencies and cost savings.”

In addition to the funding announcement, Bill.com revealed that it has teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Mastercard to offer its virtual cards as part of Bill.com’s automated AP solution for SMEs. The move is part of Bill.com’s effort to further digitize the payment process, leveraging virtual card technology to make funds more readily available to cardholders and to ensure accurate matches between payments and receivables.

Mastercard Small Business Lead for North America Ginger Siegel highlighted the advantages of virtual cards, and praised the collaboration with Bill.com as a way to increase adoption of the technology. “Virtual cards are more secure and provide transparency into cash in-flows and out-flows, which is critical to the growth of all small businesses,” Siegel said. “With the partnership with Bill.com, we can bring the benefits of virtual cards to hundreds of thousands of smaller enterprises in the United States.”

Bill.com demonstrated the Cashview feature of its platform at FinovateSpring 2012. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company made fintech headlines recently when it announced that it was ending wire transfer fees for small businesses using its International Payments technology. Earlier this year, Bill.com announced a partnership with American Express to offer a new solution to streamline vendor payments, Vendor Pay.

Founded in 2006, Bill.com manages $60+ billion in annual payment volume in its three million member network, and includes more than 70 of the top 100 accounting firms in the U.S. among its clients. Bill.com is also partnered with major accounting software providers like QuickBooks and Xero, and is the preferred digital payment solutions provider for CPA.com.

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TradeIt To Be Acquired by TradingView

TradeIt To Be Acquired by TradingView
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, TradeIt

Trading API and app developer TradeIt has agreed to be acquired by long-time partner TradingView. The company will leverage TradeIt’s technology to bring mobile trading to the more than 10 million monthly active retail users in 150+ countries who use its social trading platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition is the latest evolution in a relationship that extends back “several years,” according to TradeIt CEO and founder Nathan Richardson. “TradingView’s vision aligns strongly with our view of the distributed financial networks of the future,” he said. “(We’ve) always felt our complimentary products and shared retail investing users makes us stronger together.”

TradeIt’s API infrastructure connects to more than $70 billion in actively traded assets at top U.S. brokerages. Its technology enables financial publishers and app developers to link users’ brokerage and investment accounts, and provides support for transactions in most asset classes, including stocks, ETFs, options, and currencies. TradeIt’s solutions include Trading Ticket,  an order management tool; PortfolioView, which links and provides access to account balances and positions; and Account Opening, which enables customers to open new brokerage accounts in less than two minutes.

TradeIt noted in its statement that brokers have seen a 10x increase in activity among active traders and a 5x gain in account funding when linked to TradeIt’s platform. The company’s partners include Bloomberg, Business Insider, as well as fellow Finovate alums TipRanks and Divy.

In the announcement, TradeIt and TradingView quoted Insight Venture Partners’ Paul Szurek who express optimism about the new, combined entity. “The product pipeline of account opening and messaging services being delivered by TradeIt makes TradingView an essential retail investors service,” he said. Insight Venture Partners led a Series B round for TradingView last year.

TradingView CEO and founder Denis Globa added the combination will help make his company “part of the backbone of the investing ecosystem.” He said that TradingView also will add to TradeIt’s ecosystem with new account opening and messaging solutions. TradeIt users will gain access to TradingView’s charting and quoting functionality.

TradeIt demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2015. Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in New York City.

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A Primer for Fintech’s Biggest Event this Spring

A Primer for Fintech’s Biggest Event this Spring
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2019

In just over a month we’ll be on the ground in San Francisco making last minute preparations for one of the year’s biggest events in the fintech sector, FinovateSpring. The main event will take place May 8 through 10 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. This year, there is an option to add to your ticket an exclusive Summit Day, which takes place on May 7. Book now to take part.

Your sneak peek into the demos

Between our full (and growing!) roster of demo companies and our content day where top-name analysts discuss the hottest industry trends, there’s a lot to prepare for. That’s why, starting next week, we’ll launch our Sneak Peek blog series so that you can get ahead with an insider’s look into what each demoing company will debut on stage.

But wait, there’s more

After the demos are complete and the Best of Show honors have been awarded, the third day of FinovateSpring will bring an entire day of discussions and keynotes to explore. So stay tuned on the blog for exclusive interviews with presenters, an analysis of the fintech trends we can expect to see during the show, and a look at the star-studded speaker lineup that’s loaded with fintech celebrities.

For more details on FinovateSpring, view the list of demoing companies, take a look at the agenda, check out the full speaker lineup, and plan your visit. Have questions? Send us your inquiry and we’ll respond as soon as possible.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BehavioSec, Bill.com, CoverHound, D3 Banking, Jack Henry, On Deck Capital, TradeIt

On Finovate.com

  • TradeIt To Be Acquired by TradingView.
  • Fintech’s Newest Unicorn Bill.com Raises $88 Million in New Funding.

Around the web

  • BehavioSec listed among Enterprise Management Associates’ Top 3 Report Ten Priorities for Enabling Identity Management in 2019.
  • Zions Bancorporation selects D3 Banking’s Digital Banking Platform.
  • Commonwealth Bank & Trust selects Jack Henry to improve efficiency, attract business with modern services.
  • CoverHound to open an East Coast office in Charlotte.

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.

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