New Investment Helps Power Canadian Expansion for Financial Data Platform Quovo

New Investment Helps Power Canadian Expansion for Financial Data Platform Quovo
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Quovo

Quovo will enter the Canadian market thanks in part to an investment from Portag3 Ventures. The new investment takes the data platform provider’s total funding to $20 million.

Quovo CEO and co-founder Lowell Putnam said Canada was a source of “immense growth potential” for the company given the country’s “thriving fintech ecosystem and financial institutions hungry to adopt innovative technologies.” Putnam also highlighted a strategic element in Quovo’s relationship with Portag3 Ventures. “The decision to raise funding from Portag3 was about much more than capital,” he said. “Portag3 is well connected in the Canadian financial services industry and is helping us to hit the ground running as we work to establish ourselves in the market.”

Portag3 Ventures is a Canadian-based venture capital firm sponsored by Power Financial Corporation, IGM Financial Inc., and Great West-Lifeco Inc.

As part of the expansion, Quovo announced plans to partner with Canadian fintechs and incumbent financial services companies. The company’s Director of Quovo in Canada, Brad Joudrie, pointed out that the company had already added to its Canadian institutional coverage, and included Canadian financial account types into its data model. “We’re fully committed to building a sustainable business to support the country’s growing financial services sector,” Joudrie said. “The investment from Portag3 will enable us to build out a regional team, deliver on Canadian consumer requirements, and fuel innovation in Canadian financial services.”

The investment and expansion news comes on the heels of Quovo’s launch of two new data solutions to streamline ACH transactions and payment management. ACH Verification uses instant account verification or Quovo’s Autoverified Microdeposits to authenticate key account and account owner details and ensure frictionless ACH transactions. Payment Management enables monitoring of customer accounts to accurately determine the best time to debit accounts for steady payment flow and lower NSF fees.

“Our movement into payments demonstrates the utility of Quovo’s technology across a breadth of industries, and we’re excited to deliver solutions to some of the major obstacles faced by payment originators,” Putnam said. Both solutions were developed using Quovo’s Income + Expense and Balance Estimator products, introduced last month.

Quovo’s technology offers companies connectivity and insights for millions of consumer financial accounts across more than 14,000 different institutions. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York City, Quovo partnered with SoFi to present How Quovo & SoFi Perfected Bank Authentication at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2017. The previous year, the company teamed up with Betterment at FinDEVr New York 2016 to demonstrate the integration of Quovo’s account aggregation services with Betterment’s investment platform.

Last month, Quovo introduced a pair of solutions geared to enhancing critical processes in the lending value chain for loan originators and servicers. Back in December, the company launched Quovo PFM, a suite of embeddable personal finance management modules for FIs that complements the fintech’s account aggregation offering.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Digital Onboarding, NICE Systems, Quadient, Quovo, Salt Edge, Sensibill, Token

On Finovate.com

  • New Investment Helps Power Canadian Expansion for Financial Data Platform Quovo.

Around the web

  • HTC Global Services joins Quadient Partner Advantage Program.
  • Token Granted FCA Authorisation For Open Banking Payment & Information Services.
  • Erste Bank Hungary Readies for Immediate Payments and Open Banking Era with ACI Worldwide.
  • NICE’s Cognitive Robotic Automation Platform allows Amazon Lex’s conversational chatbot to fulfill more customer requests in real-time.
  • Salt Edge supports Account Information Services flows authorized under PSD2 Third Party Providers.
  • Sensibill powers receipt management for Quontic Bank.
  • Digital Onboarding to enhance Belmont Savings Bank’s customer engagement by increasing new checking account activation rates.

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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Are We Seeing the “Platformication” of Banking?

Are We Seeing the “Platformication” of Banking?
By finovate Posted on
Categories: FinovateSpring 2018

ALEX JIMENEZ_FinovateSpring 2018

The future [of banking] depends on the customer’s needs, says Alex Jimenez, Vice President Senior Strategist at Zions Bancorporation. Jimenez gives us a snapshot of his views on where the US banking industry is heading ahead of his session at FinovateSpring 2018 about “The platformification of banking, providing customers more choices“.

A couple of years ago, Ron Shevlin predicted that banking would move to become banking platforms “much like how Amazon is a platform in retail.” Usually, it takes a few years for banking executives to latch on to Ron’s ideas.  It’s no surprise then that the idea peppers many strategy documents throughout the US banking industry today.

There are some early signs that the US banking industry is moving towards this future state. While we can point to open banking and PSD2 in Europe, there are significant differences in the regulatory environment between markets that makes such a jump merely speculative. Instead, I point to two separate trends: banks publicly publishing their APIs, and early examples of banking platforms.

Publicly publishing APIs isn’t a new practice, but it is in banking. Without getting into the possible impact of the recent Facebook API controversy, some of the more forward-looking banks in the US have public pages where developers can access their APIs. This practice doesn’t constitute open banking, but a permissioned extension to the banks’ model. A developer applies for inclusion, downloads the API standards, builds experiences around the APIs, tests it in a sandbox, applies for certification, and then deploys with the bank. Some of the US banks that have published their APIs are doing it because they are international, like Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase. However, there are others that have some international business but are focusing on building a US platform, like CapitalOne and Silicon Valley Bank.

Beyond the banks, companies that form the technology backbone of many community banks and credit unions have also begun to publish their APIs. FIS offers CodeConnect “a centralized fintech hub that gives developers access to the FIS product catalog in one central marketplace.” Similarly, Fiserv offers their DNAappstore “a collaborative community and online marketplace for trying, buying and selling custom DNAapps that enhance and extend the robust functionality of” their DNA® account processing platform.

Further, APIs are a topic of discussion for most bank CIOs, and increasingly throughout the executive suite.

Early adopter US banks and fintech firms have begun to build out partnerships that extend their initial capabilities.  For example, Radius Bank have extended their usual community banking offerings, as they pivot to be a true digital bank, to include services such as Aspiration’s “pay as you wish” checking accounts, Mantl’s account opening, and Prosper’s online personal loans.  Recently, PayPal announced an extension into traditional banking services through partnerships with “a Delaware bank handles debit cards, a bank in Georgia deposits checks that users take pictures of, and banks in Utah offer loans to customers and small businesses.” Other smaller fintech firms, like MoneyLion, have also announced entry into traditional banking products through similar partnerships with banks.

We will see banking-as-a-platform as a regular banking model alongside the laggards in the industry with a traditional model. Ultimately, where the future lies will depend on what resonates with banking customers.

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ACH Alert Unveils Anti Fraud Solutions for Real-Time Payments and ACH Credits

ACH Alert Unveils Anti Fraud Solutions for Real-Time Payments and ACH Credits
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACH Alert

Antifraud specialist and FinovateSpring veteran ACH Alert launched a pair of new services this week designed to enable account holders to safely accept (or reject) incoming real-time payments and incoming ACH credits. The new solutions for payments and ACH credits, PRO-TECH RT and PRO-TECH CR, respectively, work for both large and small financial institutions to provide account holders with more visibility and control over their finances.

“Making sure that financial institutions are comfortable with the risk of receiving real-time payments is crucial to achieve widespread adoption,” ACH Alert CEO Deborah Peace said. “Beyond offering heightened visibility, PRO-TECH RT and PRO-TECH CR ensure that incoming payments are processed according to account holders’ preferences, which is vital for certain industry verticals like mortgage originators, insurance providers, and property management companies.” Peace provided the example of enabling a company to reject incoming payments in the event that cancellation, eviction or foreclosure proceeding are taking place.

ACH Alert’s technology gives top tier FIs and community banks alike the ability to detect fraud and mitigate risks associated with electronic payments. PRO-TECH RT lets account holders set parameters for incoming real-time payments that set specific conditions that will trigger an alert, which is sent to the account holder by text, email, or both. Banks can also set up approved or blocked lists based on payments amount, frequency, sender, or timeframe. PRO-TECH CR provides the same functionality as PRO-TECH RT, only for incoming ACH credits.

In addition to PRO-TECH RT and PRO-TECH CR, ACH Alert offers a variety of anti-fraud solutions as part of its Fraud Prevention HQ product suite. These include PRO-TECH for incoming ACH transactions; Bio-Wire, a voice biometric solution for outgoing wire transfers; C.O.P.S. for outgoing ACH credit transactions, and PRO-CHEX, for checks. As a modular, exception decisioning portal accessible via a single sign-on with most online banking systems, ACH Alert’s Fraud Prevention HQ gives FIs the ability to empower their own customers with the ability to not only police their own accounts, but to turn the process of fraud prevention into a new fee-based revenue opportunity.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Ooltewah, Tennessee, ACH Alert demonstrated its Fraud Prevention HQ multi-payment channel fraud monitoring systems at FinovateSpring 2017. Winner of the Innovative Solutions Award in Authentication/Fraud/Cybersecurity Solutions from BankNews, and the recipient of the Kevin O’Brien ACH Quality Award, ACH Alert announced in 2016 that it had stopped $615 million in fraudulent transactions in the previous year. Check out our profile of ACH Alert from last fall: ACH Alert’s Fraud Prevention HQ Empowers Account Holders to Stop Suspicious Transactions.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACH Alert, Avoka, CUCollaborate, eToro, Fenergo, Kabbage

On Finovate.com

  • ACH Alert Unveils Anti-Fraud Solutions for Real-Time Payments and ACH Credits.

Around the web

  • Fenergo appoints new global heads of marketing and sales, Conor Coughlan and Greg Watson, respectively.
  • RACQ Bank of Australia partners with Avoka to enhance account opening and onboarding.
  • CUCollaborate & Montana’s Credit Unions announce partnership to help consumers join CUs without friction. Check out CUCollaborate next week at FinovateSpring.
  • Kabbage appoints James Chou as its chief technology officer.
  • eToro powers The Next Web’s initial crowd offering project.

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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Quantopian Partners with FactSet to Launch Quantopian Enterprise

Quantopian Partners with FactSet to Launch Quantopian Enterprise
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Quantopian

Courtesy of a new partnership with FactSet, cloud-based algorithmic trading platform Quantopian is launching a new service, Quantopian Enterprise. The new paid offering gives quantitative finance professionals a flexible data science platform that combines Quantopian’s Python-based research environment with FactSet’s expertise in data aggregation and integration.

“We believe you can be more successful with more markets and more data,” Quantopian CEO and founder John Fawcett wrote on the company blog about the announcement. “By partnering with FactSet, we are doubling down on our commitment to crowdsourcing and making allocations to the community.”

The decision to partner with FactSet also will help Quantopian respond to demand for enterprise sales and support from investment management companies. “We’ve always declined because we didn’t have a global team that could scale sales and support to make a successful SaaS business,” Fawcett wrote. “FactSet has that scale today, and as part of our partnership will also begin selling a new service to their clients: Quantopian Enterprise.”

SVP and Global Head of Content and Technology Solutions for FactSet, Rich Newman pointed out that having both data and tools to take advantage of that data were a necessary combination for today’s financial professionals to maximize the advantages of new technology. “New data sources are growing rapidly, but the tools needed to capitalize on them are not coming to market at the same pace,” Newman said. “Our work with Quantopian will give clients a powerful platform that addresses the need for better quantitative resources. Access to data alone is simply not enough.”

With FactSet, Quantopian will be able to provide quant analysts worldwide with the ability to test their trading and investment ideas, evaluate a wide range of alpha factors, simulate market behavior, and optimize portfolio building. Its comprehensive global coverage will add to Quantopian’s current coverage of U.S. equities since 2002. Quantopian will continue to provide its free service, now known as Quantopian Community, whose users will gain access to the new functionality and data including international market coverage, supply chain relationships, RBICS (Revere Business Industry Classification System), detailed estimates, ownership, and geographic revenue exposure. And while there are some distinctions between the free and paid services, Fawcett pledged to “maintain parity” between the two offerings, calling the Quantopian community the “north star for our product and for our company.”

Quantopian demonstrated its live trading platform at FinovateSpring 2013. The company enables quant traders and analysts to develop and write trading and investment algorithms. Algorithm authors can license their code to Quantopian and get paid based on the algorithm’s performance. Named to CB Insights Fintech 250 list last summer, the company announced in October that its community had grown to more than 160,000 members from more than 190 countries.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Quantopian has raised more than $48 million in funding and includes Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Spark Capital among its investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACH Alert, BBVA, Dwolla, Fortytwo Data, NCR Corporation, Quantopian, Radius, Tinkoff Credit Systems, Tuition.io

On Finovate.com

  • Quantopian Partners with FactSet to Launch Quantopian Enterprise.

Around the web

  • Dwolla partners with Cryptanite Blockchain Technologies to enable the firm’s ChargaCard payment app to process online payments.
  • The Paypers interviews Maxim Yevdokimov, Head of Mobile and Digital Strategy at Tinkoff Bank Maxim.
  • Fortytwo Data appoints machine learning expert Luca Primerano as Chief AI Officer.
  • Radius partners with Leadspace to deliver a go-to-market platform with data, artificial intelligence and integrations at its core.
  • NCR names Michael Hayford Chief Executive Officer, Frank Martire Executive Chairman, and Bill Nuti Chairman Emeritus.
  • BBVA issues loan using the blockchain.
  • ACH Alert launches PRO-TECH RT and PRO-TECH CR.

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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Uniken Wins Temenos Innovation Jam Miami; Heads to Dublin, Ireland for Finals

Uniken Wins Temenos Innovation Jam Miami; Heads to Dublin, Ireland for Finals
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Uniken

Cybersecurity specialist Uniken took home top honors at the Temenos Innovation Jam in Miami. The win sends the company to the finals to be held in Dublin, Ireland in May where Uniken will compete against regional winners from competitions in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, London, Geneva, Amsterdam, and Luxembourg. Fellow Finovate alum Pushfor, one of the winners of the Dublin competition, will also participate in the finals.

“We are delighted to win the Miami Innovation Jam,” Uniken CEO Bimal Gandhi said. “Our solution is what I call ‘Customer First Security.’ The REL-ID mobile-first security platform was designed for today’s world and today’s consumer. No more passwords, no more worry about stolen credentials, the need to divulge PII or answer bizarre questions about my favorite foods or songs when someone calls in, and most importantly customers can interact with their bank the way they want – email, chat, voicemail.”

Uniken offers a unified defense-in-depth cybersecurity platform developed specifically to secure digital channels. The company’s technology combines security and transaction verification without adding friction to the user experience, and leverages biometrics, cryptographic split keys and device intelligence to provide secure channel and endpoint threat detection. Uniken’s platform has secured more than $500 billion in transaction value, and boosted customer engagement for its clients by as much as 3x, helping them gain wallet share.

This year marked the third year Temenos has brought its Innovation Jam event to Miami, Florida.  The competition was hosted in partnership with Cognizant, Celent, and Information Technology Solutions & Services (ITSS). A total of ten companies competed at the Miami event. Coming in second place behind Uniken was Quantaverse.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Chatham, New Jersey, Uniken demonstrated its REL-IDverify solution at FinovateAsia 2017. Earlier this year, the company’s CEO was recognized by Insights Success as one of the 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Watch in 2018. Also this year, Uniken’s CTO, Nishant Kaushik, was honored by One World Identity as one of its Top 100 Influencers in Identity. A graduate of Wells Fargo’s startup accelerator program, Uniken has raised more than $8 million in funding. Check out our feature on the company: Uniken Introduces Relationship-Based Authentication.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Nubank, Temenos

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.

CEE

  • Lithuania to allow entrepreneurs to register and manage startups remotely as Virtual Limited Liability companies (VLLC) using blockchain technology.
  • Latvia considers tax on cryptocurrency transactions.
  • Trend News Agency takes a look at the regulatory challenges to the fintech industry in Azerbaijan.

Asia

  • Indonesia’s first invoicing platform Paper.id makes the case for modernizing financial management in developing countries.
  • Myanmar Citizens Bank and Construction and Housing Development Bank to deploy core banking technology from Temenos.
  • Filipino tech entrepreneur Gary Viray shares his thoughts on 4 things fintech startups can learn from the mobile payments boom in Cambodia.

MENA

  • DIFC FinTech Hive expands accelerator program to include insurance, Islamic finance, and regtech services.
  • Travelex and UAE Exchange to be combined under single holding company, Finablr, in advance of potential IPO.
  • Gulf International opens Shariah-compliant, digital-0nly bank in Bahrain.

Africa

  • Vio Digital, a South African startup that leverages blockchain technology for worldwide P2P money transfers, to go live in May.
  • The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Digital Financial Services Lab (DFS Lab) has announced investment in four African startups: Cherehani Africa, NALA, Nobuntu, and a digital lender from Kenya still in stealth.
  • Report on fintech funding in East Africa shows Kenya receiving 99% of financing with neighbors Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania making up 1% combined.

LATAM

  • Nubank Adds Facial Biometrics to Fight Fraud.
  • Argentine fintech supermarket iKiwi expands in Latin America.
  • Chile and U.K. to increase financial and professional sector trade links in areas including fintech, asset management, and green fintech.

Top image designed by Freepik

 

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Revolut Raises $250 Million in New Funding; Earns Unicorn Valuation of $1.7 Billion

Revolut Raises $250 Million in New Funding; Earns Unicorn Valuation of $1.7 Billion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Revolut

Revolut is fintech’s latest unicorn. An investment round of $250 million led by DST Global has boosted the company’s valuation to $1.7 billion and made Revolut the first U.K. digital bank to gain the lofty status among fintech’s most richly-financed startups.

“Three years ago, Revolut was nothing more than a few coders with a crazy ambition to disrupt financial services forever,” Revolut’s Chief Blogging Officer Rob Braileanu wrote. “In the beginning, our vision was laughed at and we were told that the big banks were too powerful.”

“Fast forward to today.”

Revolut said the Series C investment will be used to drive international expansion and to add talent. The company plans to be live in the U.S., China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia by the end of 2018, with a goal of 100 million customers around the world within five years. Revolut also expects major increases in its workforce, more than doubling headcount from 350 to 800 employees.

“Revolut is developing and delivering technology that reduces the complexity and cost of financial services for consumers and small businesses,” DST Global’s Tom Stafford said. “We are delighted to support Nik and the Revolut team as they continue to innovate, roll out new services, and expand geographically.”

Nikolay Stronosky, Revolut CEO, added, “Our focus, since we launched, has been to do everything completely opposite to traditional banks. We build world-class tech that puts people back in control of their finances, we speak to our customers like humans and we’re never afraid to challenge old thinking in order to innovate.”

In a blog post discussing the news, Revolut shared an advance look at some of the new features the company has in store. Revolut Crypto will gain two new currencies: Ripple (XRP) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) alongside current listings Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Ether (ETH). Revolut Platinum will provider cardholders with a bespoke contactless stainless steel metal card coated in a “custom shade of metallic black paint for a truly unique look,” and Revolut Wealth, an expansion of Revolut’s services that will allow the platform’s users to invest their funds in stocks, index, ETFs, and other financial instruments.

And while Revolut’s fundraising news is hard to beat, the company has been making fintech headlines all year. Earlier this month, Revolut launched a new solution called Vaults that helps users save more by rounding up their transactions to the nearest whole number and setting aside the difference. Also in April, the company unveiled an update to its business accounts to expand their cross-currency transfer functionality. Revolut introduced both its new disposable virtual cards for online payments and its Euro Direct Debits in March, and began the year with a new insurtech offering, providing travel insurance for its users.

Headquartered in London, Revolut demonstrated its Personal Money Cloud at FinovateEurope 2015.  Storonsky discussed Revolut’s plans for expansion in APAC with TechWireAsia last month and more recently talked about the company’s planned entry to the Romanian market with Business Review.

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SmartLaunch from NYMBUS Digitizes Your Bank in Under 90 Days

SmartLaunch from NYMBUS Digitizes Your Bank in Under 90 Days
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: NYMBUS

Core banking innovator NYMBUS has always helped banks chase their digital dreams. Starting today, the Florida-based company is continuing that mission, but making it even faster with SmartLaunch.

Built on NYMBUS’ SmartCore platform, SmartLaunch allows banks to set up a turnkey digital banking solution in as few as 90 days. The new offering grants banks access to technical resources, targeted digital marketing, website services, AML/BSA compliance, debit card issuance and management, and workflow management.

“The race is on to capture today’s digital banking customers, but legacy technology, operational risk, and a lack of resources and expertise make it difficult for financial institutions to deliver the exceptional Amazon-like experience consumers have come to expect,” said NYMBUS President David Mitchell. “SmartLaunch accelerates the goal by removing those barriers, while also leveraging a largely untapped brand approach for engaging loyal new customers and revenue opportunities.”

Banks can choose to launch the digital banking capabilities under their own brand or create a standalone, digital-only brand that targets a specific customer segment. In creating digital services, SmartLaunch helps banks expand consumer reach and increase cross-selling opportunities. “Digital banks are a profitable strategy, but NYMBUS recognized that a new model was needed to eliminate operational risk while also attracting more of today’s digital-savvy consumers,” Mitchell said. He described SmartLaunch as a “sign and recline” alternative to a core conversion that doesn’t require hiring additional staff.

NYMBUS offers four products in addition to SmartLaunch, including SmartCore, a digital-first core data processing platform; SmartDigital, a core agnostic digital integration platform launched last fall; SmartPayments, an integrated real-time payments suite, and SmartServices, a service that allows banks to tap into the knowledge of the NYMBUS team. Since it was founded in 2015, the company has made three acquisitions, including R.C. Olmstead, KMR, and Sharp BancSystems. Most recently, NYMBUS completed its SOC 2 Type 1 Certification, an audit of the company’s security protocol. NYMBUS has raised $28 million.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: MasterCard, Mint, NYMBUS, Pushfor, Quantopian, Temenos, WorldPay

On the web

  • Smart Launch from NYMBUS Digitizes Your Bank in Under 90 Days.

Around the web

  • IFC and Mastercard expand partnership to drive financial inclusion in emerging markets.
  • Pushfor goes live on the Temenos MarketPlace.
  • Smart Technology Solutions (STS), a U.K.-based payments acceptance software provider, teams with Worldpay to offer enhanced payment capabilities.
  • FactSet and Quantopian to launch financial data analysis platform to help investors capitalize on rapid data growth.

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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