Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week

Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

Rehearsal day is underway here at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai. With FinovateAsia 2018 starting Monday morning, our demoing companies are busy practicing their pitches in preparation for two days of live fintech demonstrations.

That said, FinovateAsia is more than just fintech demos. As part of Hong Kong FinTech Week, FinovateAsia will also host a variety of in-depth presentations – from keynote addresses and expert briefings to breakout tracks on topics such as AI and blockchain technology, open banking, insurtech, payments, digital transformation, lending, and more.

And in addition to Analyst All-Star panels and our Accelerator/Incubator Showcase, FinovateAsia will also feature an “off the record” session with global regulators, a conversation among VCs on where the smart money is investing in fintech, and a special breakout track focusing on fintech opportunities on mainland China.

More detailed information about our agenda is available on our FinovateAsia event page.

We’re looking forward to seeing you this week. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center is located at 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Once you arrive at the venue, please follow the signs to rooms S221s on Level 2. The Center is readily accessible by Mass Transit Railway (MTR), bus, train, tram, ferry, and taxi.

The conference begins Monday, October 29th, and continues through Tuesday, October 30th. Registration opens at 8am, with continental breakfast and networking, and our program begins with Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am and our Keynote Address at 8:50am. Live demos on Monday will take place between 9:35am and 10:25am, and between 11:15am and 12:05pm. Monday will also feature two Analyst All-Star panels – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – as well as breakout tracks on AI and blockchain technology, open banking and the API economy, and insurance and payments.

Tuesday will run similarly to Monday, with registration at 8am, Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am, and our Keynote at 8:50am. Tuesday will also feature morning and afternoon Analyst All-Star panels, and our two live demo sessions are scheduled to start at 9:25am and 11:10am, respectively. As on Monday, our breakout tracks on Tuesday will begin after lunch and will focus on digital transformation, lending, and fintech innovation on mainland China. Tuesday will also feature our investors debate, our Best of Show awards, and our accelerator/incubator showcase.

As you can see, this year’s FinovateAsia is an action-packed affair. Be sure to check out our agenda for more details on our demoing companies, our speakers and panelists, and our breakout tracks, summits, and expert briefings.

And once you’re here, be sure to join the FinovateAsia community on our Knect365 event app. Search for “FinovateAsia 2018” once you are in the app to access Sli.do, Best of Show voting, our networking platform Brella, our attendee list, agenda, floorplan, and more. If you have any difficulty with the app, please contact us at [email protected] for assistance.

Remember that tickets to FinovateAsia are still available. If you are interested in attending, please visit our FinovateAsia registration page and save your spot. We’ll see you in Wan Chai!

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service

Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Swych

Digital gifting platform Swych partnered with WeChat and Travelex this week, announcing that its blockchain-based gift card technology will power Travelex’s Travelex Pay, a cashless spending tool hosted within messaging app WeChat.

Travelex Pay will enable Chinese travelers visiting the U.S. to use digital gift cards on the Swych platform to make purchases at U.S. retailers within the WeChat app using funds in their WeChat Pay account. To make a purchase at one of the 700 retailers participating with Swych, WeChat’s 800 million WeChat Pay users can use Travelex Pay to generate an electronic gift card close to the purchase amount, and WeChat automatically deducts the amount in their home currency in real time. To complete the purchase, the cashier either scans a barcode or enters a payment code and receives payment in USD.

The gift cards are fee-free and help users avoid foreign exchange fees which could add up to 3% to 5% of their purchase. However, as a potential added cost to users (and potential benefit to retailers), users can only purchase gift cards in increments of $10.

“Chinese tourism in the U.S. is increasing – both in number of people and the amount of money spent,” CEO and Founder of Swych, Deepak Jain, said. “With more than 90 percent of Chinese tourists expressing interest in using mobile payments overseas if given the choice, Swych, Travelex, with WeChat Pay, have combined service offerings to fill the demand for a frictionless and zero-fee payment option. This is yet another innovation aimed at furthering cross border commerce and making Swych the most advanced digital gifting platform in the market.”

According to Jing Travel, Swych not only plans to add retailers to the platform, it also hopes to launch Travelex Pay in geographies other than the U.S. that are popular with Chinese tourists. There are no plans in place currently, however, to expand Travelex Pay outside of the WeChat ecosystem.

At FinovateSpring earlier this year, Swych demonstrated how it facilitates cross-border money transfers using its digital gifting platform in a presentation that won the company Best of Show. With 50+ employees, Swych boasts 50,000 registered users in the U.S., 100,000 users in India, and more than 50 corporate customers. Earlier this year, the Texas-based company announced it is leveraging its recent acquisition of GiftCardsIndia to facilitate cross-border gifting between the U.S. and India.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Bento for Business, Blockchain, Expensify, Ledger, PayActiv, Swych

On Finovate.com

  • Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service.

Around the web

  • Bento for Business partners with payroll and HR company Cast & Crew
  • PayActiv announces Walmart as Destination to Pick Up Cash-Based Earned Wages.
  • TechCrunch: Blockchain startup Blockchain to launch hardware wallet in partnership with Ledger.
  • Monetate and Bazaarvoice partner on product recommendation strategies.
  • CLA selects Expensify for its clients’ receipt tracking and expense reporting app.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Yoyo Lands $30 Million Partnership Agreement

Yoyo Lands $30 Million Partnership Agreement
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Yoyo

U.K. payment and loyalty app startup Yoyo Wallet entered into a major partnership agreement this week. The deal, worth $30 million, is with Greg Kidd’s investment firm Hard Yaka. Well-known in the fintech industry, Kidd was an early investor in Ripple, Square, Twitter, and Coinbase.

For its end of the deal, Yoyo will integrate its commerce API with Hard Yaka’s Global ID, a global user identification platform. Global ID helps users prove their identity via their electronic footprint. The tool’s identity token is a key feature to help users make purchases online and in-store; this commerce element is where Global ID will leverage Yoyo’s loyalty and purchasing app.

“Yoyo is the cornerstone to the global delivery of the Hard Yaka vision. We know about data – and our collaboration together will generate a boost to the Global ID movement that will shape the future of the global consumer market and disrupt the status quo,” said Yoyo chairman Alain Falys.

In praise of Yoyo’s secure and scalable platform, Hard Yaka founder and CEO Greg Kidd said, “Yoyo has a very sophisticated technology that includes a nimble application programming interface that makes it easy to integrate into the Yoyo Platform. This will enable users to pay for goods and services and receive loyalty rewards and other benefits through a mobile device – without compromising the security of the consumer or giving up more private details than necessary.”

Yoyo was founded in 2013 and processes more than two million transactions per month for its more than 800,000 users. The company recently demoed retailer-specific bank card loyalty solution at FinovateEurope 2018. Yoyo has raised $30.3 million from Metro Group, Touchstone Innovations, Woodford, and Firestarter. This summer, the company launched a new feature that allows users to order ahead. Weeks later, Yoyo announced it exceeded one million users on its platform.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

OnDeck Partners with PNC Bank to Streamline SME Financing

OnDeck Partners with PNC Bank to Streamline SME Financing
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: On Deck Capital

Starting in 2019, PNC Bank will offer digital business lines of credit up to $100,000 within one to three business days. This expansion of its current online lending business comes courtesy of a partnership with OnDeck, whose OnDeck Platform-as-a-Service (ODX) solution – launched earlier this month – will simplify and speed up the loan origination process for PNC Bank’s SME customers.

“Small and medium-sized business owners are continually searching for simpler, easier and quicker means to apply for and receive funding and to that end, PNC is investing in this new avenue to find solutions that work for them,” Head of Retail Lending at PNC Bank Lakhbir Lamba said. “Our relationship with OnDeck is PNC’s first opportunity to leverage the services of a fintech company in a platform-as-a-service model that will make it easier for businesses to borrow from us in order to support their growth.”

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the U.S. PNC Bank has more than eight million retail and small business customers who use its deposit, lending, credit card, cash management, and investment services. With branches and ATMs in 19 states plus the District of Columbia, PNC Bank provides a variety of asset management and corporate/institutional banking services, and is a minority owner in investment management firm, BlackRock.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founded more than 160 years ago, PNC Bank has $293 billion of assets under administration.

Since inception in 2006, OnDeck has delivered more than $10 billion in loans to small business borrowers in 700 different industries throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The company leverages its advanced technology and underwriting platform to help SMEs get the “responsibly-priced and right-sized” short-term financing they need to grow. OnDeck estimates that its support of small businesses has helped create 74,000 jobs across the U.S. And via its newly-launched subsidiary, ODX, OnDeck offers banks a new way to better service their SME customers and encourage even more economic activity

“ODX is the next generation service provider for the digital lending era,” OnDeck chairman and CEO Noah Breslow said earlier this month when ODX launched. He added, “(ODX offers) a bank-ready origination platform, analytic support, and implementation services that speed product and process transformation to help banks better meet the evolving needs of their customers.”

One of Finovate’s earliest alums, OnDeck most recently participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2016. At the event, OnDeck SVP for Technology Pamela Rice discussed how the company’s engineering team and engineering-driven culture were “key differentiators” in OnDeck’s ability to innovate.

This summer, OnDeck announced closing two revolving credit facilities totaling $93 million to help fund small businesses in both Australia and Canada. This spring, the company appointed Kenneth Brause as its new CFO, replacing long-time financial chief Howard Katzenberg. Brause was previously EVP and treasurer at CIT Group.

OnDeck is a publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ONDK.” The company has a market capitalization of $500 million. Noah Breslow is CEO.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateAsia is Days Away

FinovateAsia is Days Away
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

It’s time for last-minute preparations for FinovateAsia, which will be held next week on October 29 and 30 in Hong Kong. And it’s not just the presenters and speakers who need to be prepared, it’s also you, our audience. Still don’t have your ticket? Register today to be part of the crowd.

To help you get ready for all of the newest themes and trends that will be presented next week, we’ve created this word cloud that offers a visual on the hottest topics of this year’s show:

As for logistical details, here is all you need to know:

Who

We’ve gathered dozens of innovative fintech companies to demo their latest technology on stage. Check out our full list of demoing companies and read through our Sneak Peek blog series for an inside look at what the companies will demo on stage.

We’ll also be joined by industry experts and thought leaders to discuss the latest trends impacting banks and fintechs today. Preview our full list of speakers and take a look at our agenda for more information on session topics.

Where

We’ll be at the Hong Kong Convention Centre located at 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Please use the Harbour Road entrance at the Harbour Road Cafe when entering the venue and proceed to rooms S221s on level two.

When

Registration opens at 8 am on October 29 and the opening keynote presentation will begin at 8:45 am. Plan to come early and enjoy some tea and a continental breakfast before the session begins.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: DigiByte Holdings Limited, Emailage, On Deck Capital, Ping Identity, Tinkoff Bank, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

  • OnDeck Partners with PNC Bank to Streamline SME Financing.
  • Yoyo Lands $30 Million Partnership Agreement.

Around the web

  • Ping Identity makes YubiKey experience packs available for PingID customers
  • Emailage launches RapidRisk Score fraud detection solution for risk analysis.
  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Mortgage mobile application for its mortgage customers and partners.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

DoubleNet Pay Acquired by Benefits Provider Purchasing Power

DoubleNet Pay Acquired by Benefits Provider Purchasing Power
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: DoubleNet Pay, Mergers & Acquisitions

Financial wellness platform DoubleNet Pay announced this week it has agreed to be acquired by Purchasing Power, an Atlanta-based voluntary benefit provider for employers. The financial terms of the deal, which closed on September 28, were not disclosed.

DoubleNet Pay was founded in 2013 on the principle of paying yourself first. The company’s platform helped users account for bills and savings goals before using their income on discretionary spending. Every time its users received a paycheck, DoubleNet Pay automatically separated the funds into three different accounts– savings, bills, and spending– to help users achieve financial freedom.

Purchasing Power, however, was most interested in DoubleNet Pay’s Workplace offering, a feature for businesses to help their employees gain financial security. As Richard Carrano, Purchasing Power CEO, explained, “This investment enables us to take a significant next step in our mission to provide expanded financial wellness products and services that will fill gaps not addressed by traditional employee benefit providers.” Purchasing Power will rebrand the service to fit into its existing offerings.

“We are excited that the DoubleNet Pay platform will be able to help Purchasing Power’s millions of eligible employees set proactive short-term savings goals and take care of monthly bill obligations automatically,” said Brian Cosgray, founder and CEO of DoubleNet Pay. “We have known the Purchasing Power leadership team for many years and are impressed with its passion for helping to improve the financial well-being of their customers.”

At FinovateSpring 2015, DoubleNetPay showed off how it takes the stress out of personal financial management. Last year, the Georgia-based company partnered with T. Rowe Price to integrate its online cash flow management tool into T. Rowe Price’s Retire With Confidence Program. Before its exit, the company had raised $4 million from Fuqua Investments and TTV Capital.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Fidor Bank, Finovate Global, PayStand, Sberbank, Siam Commercial Bank, Tinkoff Bank

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.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian online accounting services specialist Accounteer announces plans to open new office in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • First Bank of Nigeria awards more than $14,000 in cash prizes to winners of its hackathon competition.
  • Absa Group of South Africa adds new functionality to its mobile app.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Top ten Ukrainian bank, First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) to offer banking services via messaging apps Viber and Telegram – with Facebook Messenger to be added by the end of the year.
  • Emerging Europe features Lithuania as “China’s fintech gateway to Europe.”
  • Polish vendor finance specialist LeaseLink joins loan syndication platform, Mintos.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • The UAE’s Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, a digitally-enabled trade bank, is announced, with operations to begin in early 2019.
  • TradeArabia looks at how fintech can help enhance trade in the Middle East.
  • Bahrain Fintech Bay launches Global Islamic & Sustainable Fintech Center (GISFC).

Central and South Asia

  • Bengaluru-based ClearTax India raises $54.6 million ($4 billion INR) in new funding.
  • Tez Financial Services, Pakistan’s first fully digital non-bank microfinance company, announces picking up $1.1 million in seed funding in a round led by Omidyar Network.
  • India’s Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (USFB) goes live with UP Retail Payments from ACI Worldwide.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PayStand expands operations to Mexico, forms regional partnership with StartupGDL.
  • Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Argentine fintech Ualá picks up $34 million investment from Goldman Sachs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Hong Kong-based mobile current account solution for the underbanked, Neat, raises $3 million in funding.
  • Accenture partners with Siam Commercial Bank’s fintech subsidiary, Digital Ventures, to co-launch blockchain trade solution. See Siam Commercial Bank at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong next week.
  • Indonesia’s OnlinePajak, a tax app provider, announced a $25 million investment in a round led by Warburg Pincus.
  • Fintech Futures takes a look at the “fintech battle” between China and the West.

Top image designed by Freepik

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Wealthfront’s New Freemium Model

Wealthfront’s New Freemium Model
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Wealthfront

Wealthtech innovator Wealthfront unveiled this week its plans to launch a freemium version of its online roboadvisory service. The California-based company will open its Path financial planning tool for free to U.S. users.

Users new to Wealthfront can sync their existing financial accounts with Path, an automated financial planning solution launched in 2017, that offers an interactive experience for users to explore different scenarios that may help them reach their goals. By syncing their own accounts with Path, users can gain a better understanding of their current wealth management habits and create a personalized retirement plan for the future. Wealthfront will allow freemium users to sync not only traditional bank account information but also brokerage account and home value data. As is the case with most freemium services, Wealthfront’s goal with the new offering is to transition clients of the free service to its managed plans.

In an interview with Reuters, Wealthfront Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Dan Carroll said, “We don’t believe that financial advice should be for the ultra wealthy and it should be behind the paywall.” The company’s management fees are on the low end of the industry, however. Wealthfront charges a transparent advisory fee of 0.25% and a fund fee that ranges from 0.07% to 0.16%. “We were gratified when we looked at the data, that clients that engage with the engine do save more,” Carroll added.

The freemium service is slated to launch by the end of this year.

Wealthfront stands a little taller now in comparison to competitor Betterment, which is still limited to paid, managed plans. To its benefit, however, Betterment offers optional access to licensed financial experts who provide a human touch to an otherwise strictly algorithmic investing approach. Personal Capital, which offers both a freemium model and access to a team of financial advisors, remains a step above both.

Wealthfront debuted as KaChing at FinovateSpring 2009. The company started 2018 with a capital raise of $75 million and the launch of its home ownership planning tool. Earlier this week, Wealthfront announced it teamed up with Intuit to leverage data from account holders’ TurboTax returns to create a smoother onboarding experience for new clients and offer more personalized services to existing clients, based on their detailed tax return data.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

What’s Driving the Fintech Ecosystem?

By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, Kabbage, TransferWise

The fintech space is filled with new players bringing to market new innovations and solutions to old business and consumer problems, as well as traditional businesses looking to develop in-house innovation teams and partner with start-ups. But what they both have in common is a desire to meet and exceed changing customer demands, make financial services more accessible and user-friendly, and keep up with the fast-paced technological advances. During FinovateFall, we sat down with the experts on the ground to ask them about what’s driving the fintech ecosystem where they work.

Andrew Boyajian, Head of Banking, North America, Transferwise on overcoming regulatory challenges to launch a global product.

Neeraj Arora, Global Head of Decision Science and Data Automation – Personal Insurance at AIG on the importance of an innovation branch in the business and why they should work hand-in-hand with start-ups.

David Snitkof, Head of Data Integration & Insights at Kabbage discusses leveraging data and why it should be more than just plugging in some numbers to get an output.

Christian Zimmerman, Co-founder & CEO, Qoins on the pain points which lead him to Qoins and what the future has in-store for crowd-funding to pay back loans.

Alyson Clarke, Principal Analyst, Forrester on the three components for a quality customer experience.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Azimo, Clover Network, Coinbase, Crypterium, Daon, DoubleNet Pay, Envestnet, Featurespace, Insuritas, Kabbage, Moxtra, Temenos, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

  • DoubleNet Pay Acquired by Benefits Provider Purchasing Power.

Around the web

  • Moxtra partners with Virtusa to help banks with client engagement.
  • Daon announces partnership with Avtex to improve contact center experience.
  • Envestnet | Yodlee launches risk insight for pre-qualification.
  • Benzinga features Kabbage growth stats.
  • CNBC: Coinbase and Circle form joint venture to boost adoption of dollar-backed digital coins
  • City A.M. reports Azimo and CurrencyCloud to open offices in Amsterdam.
  • Temenos announces new Hybrid Pooling cash management solution for corporate banking.
  • ClearBank selects Featurespace for real-time fraud and AML detection.
  • Insuritas partners with Northwest Bank to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency 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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook