TESOBE’s Open Bank Project Powers API for Banking Startup

TESOBE’s Open Bank Project Powers API for Banking Startup

The Open Bank Project, an open source API solution, announced this week it will power an API for a London-based banking startup.

This week, the bank, who requested to be unnamed, released the first version of its API to give developers access to its infrastructure. This allows developers to take advantage of the bank’s compliance, risk management, and customer service offerings. The bank currently has 24 new apps eligible for its internal app store.

Thanks to the Open Bank Project, the bank’s API is PSD2 compliant– a key to taking advantage of financial services opportunities in Europe.

Headquartered in Germany, the Open Bank Project was founded in 2005. The company’s CEO Simon Redfern, along with COO Ismail Chaib, demoed the API engine at FinovateEurope a few weeks ago in London. In late January, The Open Bank Project announced it was powering Santander’s first hackathon and in May of last year, the company partnered with Societe Generale to launch the bank’s internal hackathon.

Endor Raises $45 Million in ICO

Endor Raises $45 Million in ICO

Predictive analytics specialist Endor has raised $45 million in an initial coin offering that was launched just last month. This fast funding is a reminder that ICOs as a funding source for startups will be one of the big fintech stories of 2018.

“During the pre-sale we received a staggering amount of participation requests,” the company’s homepage reads. “Our motivation was to allow as many contributors as possible to participate, which was achieved by significantly limiting the individual contribution amounts, This torrent of support allowed us to reach our pre-defined cap of $45 million.”

More than a funding source, Endor’s ICO will also be the key to accessing the company’s predictive analytics platform. Known as “Google for predictive analytics,” Endor combines massive computing and MIT-developed proprietary social physics technology to create a predictive analytics platform that responds to questions asked in plain language with automated accurate predictions. This is accomplished without requiring coding experience or expertise in data science. And after the company’s successful ICO, all that businesses will need in order to take advantage of the new technology is a pocket full of EDR, the company’s cryptocurrency tokens.

Left to right: Endor Chairman Doron Alter and COO Inbal Tirosh demonstrating the company’s predictive analytics platform at FinovateFall 2017.

The company has developed the ENDOR.coin protocol to help “democratize data science,” specifically by making predictive analytics more accessible to SMEs. Endor issued 1.5 billion EDR tokens, with 20% of the total available as part of the ICO. The company says that 40% of the tokens generated will be used to finance R&D efforts. The tokens were initially priced at $0.27 USD. In his review of the offering at CryptoCompare, Ricardo Bago points out that companies will pay in tokens for prediction analysis of their data and are compensated with EDR token “when insights derived from their data are being used for predictions.” This, Bago suggests, helps “incentivize the contribution and maintenance of high-quality data streams.”

For a deep dive into the data science behind, social physics and the Endor protocol, check out the white paper from Altshuler and Pentland published earlier this year. The technology promises:

  • Constantly-expanding catalogue of predictions
  • Do-it-yourself API for advanced users
  • Automatic fusion of private and public data
  • Guaranteed data privacy
  • “Predictions by the people for the people”

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Endor demonstrated the company’s predictive analytics platform at FinovateFall 2017. Endor was named a Cool Vendor in 2017 by Gartner, and a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. The company was featured earlier this month in a profile on UTB (Use the Bitcoin). Yaniv Altshuler is co-founder and CEO, having taken the helm from Doron Alter who transitioned to the position of company Chairman at the beginning of the year. Endor includes Coca-Cola, Twitter, and Mastercard among its clients and is partnered with fellow Finovate alum, Market Prophit.

TD Bank to Deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System

TD Bank to Deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System

Chalk up another big win for nCino. The Wilmington, North Carolina-based fintech has signed a deal with TD Bank that will put nCino’s Bank Operating System to work for the bank’s corporate and commercial lending divisions.

The technology, demonstrated at FinovateEurope 2017 last year, is already live with employees in TD Bank’s TD Equipment Finance department. nCino’s platform will give prospective business borrowers faster decisions on their loan requests, as well as add transparency to the loan process. The Bank Operating System will also enable the bank’s credit risk management, sales, and underwriting professionals to benefit from insights into TD Bank’s commercial lending portfolio and better collaborate on deals. Built on top of Salesforce.com, nCino’s Bank Operating system features CRM, loan origination, account opening, workflow, content management, business process management, customer engagement, and instant reporting all on a single platform.

“It’s great to see employees at TD Bank already experiencing many of the benefits of the nCino Bank Operating System – from greater efficiency to increased productivity to an elevated customer experience,” nCino CEO Pierre Naudé said. “We see this collaboration between our organizations as a natural fit and are very excited to continue strengthening and expanding our partnership with this innovative top 10 U.S. bank.”

Anthony Sasso, president of TD Equipment Finance, added, “As the bank continues to deliver on its vision to transform commercial lending, it’s essential that we have the best tools and technology to help our customers achieve their financial objectives.” TD Bank has more than nine million customers and 1,200+ locations in the American northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, as well as in metropolitan D.C., the Carolinas, and Florida. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, TD Bank is a member of TD Bank Group and is a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada.

News of nCino’s partnership with TD Bank is the company’s second major announcement in March. Earlier this month, the fintech partnered with the Yorkshire Building Society in the U.K., which will use nCino’s Bank Operating System to enhance its corporate lending efforts. Also this month, nCino announced that it was teaming up with consulting firm, Enforce, to help community-based FIs adopt cloud-based solutions. The company began 2018 with a pair of big headlines: an investment round led by Salesforce Ventures that took nCino’s total capital to more than $81 million, and a deal with the world’s largest credit union, Navy CU, with more than $87 billion in assets.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • TESOBE’s Open Bank Project Powers API for Forty Seven Bank.
  • TD Bank to Deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System.
  • Malauzai to Power Mobile Banking Tech for Axiom.
  • Endor Raises $45 Million in ICO.

Around the web

  • ayondo celebrates being the first fintech to list in Singapore.
  • TD Bank leverages nCino’s Bank Operating System across corporate and commercial lending divisions.
  • CustomerXPs‘ Clari5 to power real-time AML solution for Bank of Ceylon.
  • PayActiv appoints COO.

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.

FinovateMiddleEast Demo Videos Now Live

FinovateMiddleEast Demo Videos Now Live

Just a few weeks after returning from FinovateMiddleEast in Dubai, we’re ready to reveal the demo videos from the 14 presenting companies at the inaugural event in the Middle East region.

So if you are looking to re-live the action from your experience at the show, or see what you missed out on, now is a great opportunity to check out the demos to see what’s hot in fintech in the Middle East.

To get started, here’s a look at the demos from the three Best of Show winners from the event.

APPICS


Electronic IDentification


Ondot Systems


And, because FinovateMiddleEast was more than just demoes, check out this as bonus content of Jim Marous’ keynote presentation at the event:

As always, thanks to all the companies that demonstrated their technologies live on stage at FinovateMiddleEast 2018. We’ll see you next year!

NetGuardians Bolsters Cybersecurity for Steward Bank

NetGuardians Bolsters Cybersecurity for Steward Bank

Swiss cybersecurity specialist NetGuardians will bring its fraud fighting solutions to Zimbabwe’s Steward Bank.

“By signing up with NetGuardians, Steward Bank will not only benefit from our real-time fraud mitigation solution, but will also become part of the NetGuardians’ global community, sharing fraud mitigation best practice(s),” NetGuardians CEO Joël Winteregg said. “Together, they put Steward Bank at the forefront of fraud prevention, helping to keep its customers’ balances safe and its reputation sound.”

With NetGuardians’ technology Steward Bank will be able to monitor all user behavior in real-time for both its ebanking and mobile banking channels. The platform blocks atypical and suspicious behavior and sends alerts to the appropriate monitoring personnel. NetGuardians says their technology reduces the number of false positives by 80% and reduces fraud management time by 93%.

Steward Bank CEO Lance Mambondini pointed to the integration of Netguardians’ technology as an example of the promise and challenge for banks undergoing digital transformation. “Digitization opened up new channels for the bank and helped us grow. We needed a more effective and proactive system to monitor the subsequent increase in transactions and complexiy of the bank to prevent fraud,” Steward Bank CEO Lance Mambondiani said. “We picked NetGuardians because it is a solution made specifically for banks and is proven to cut fraud across all channels.” Steward Bank will integrate NetGuardians’ platform into its core banking system, T24, from Temenos.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Yverdon-les-bains, Vaud, Switzerland, NetGuardians demonstrated its FraudGuardian solution at FinovateAsia 2016. FraudGuardian helps banks and FIs spot and identify fraudsters, and is especially effective in helping FIs limit the 70% of fraud that is internal. The solution monitors user activity across all channels, IT layers, and transactions and uses dynamic profiling, pattern-based intelligence, and predictive analytics to detect anomalous behavior and provide banks with the opportunity to take proactive steps.

Last month, NetGuardians announced an agreement with FirstOntario CU, integrating its anti-fraud solution with the credit union’s Temenos T24 core banking system. Back in December, NetGuardians kicked off a partnership with Masaref Business & Systems Consulting. This deal will make NetGuardian’s cybersecurity solutions more accessible to financial institutions in the Middle East.

Named to the Chartis RiskTech 100, NetGuardians has raised more than $14 million in funding (CHF 13.5 million) and includes Freemont Management, Swissom Ventures, Polytech Ecosystem Ventures, and MoneyTime Ventures among its investors.

Finovate Global: Fintech News from the Periphery

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from the Periphery is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia

  • Singapore Business Review names Turnkey Lender and Bambu among Singapore’s hottest startups.
  • Citi introduces Facebook Messenger bot in Singapore as initial stage of wider worldwide rollout. (link)
  • Revolut founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky discusses plans for APAC expansion with TechWireAsia.

Africa

  • Flywire and Flutterwave partner on cross-border payments & receivables in Nigeria.
  • Africa-based fintechs picked up almost one third of all Venture funding in Africa in 2017, according to a report from Disrupt Africa.
  • Village Capital Fintech Africa Cohort 2018 lists its incoming class of 12 startups.

MENA

  • Fintech Circle and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to launch fintech education courses.
  • Gulf News Banking takes a look at the digitization of the fintech sector in the Middle East.
  • Bahrain-based security startup, Eazy Financial Services, launches first biometric payment network in MENA.

LATAM

  • Neener Analytics Completes Proof-of-Concept with Jamaican Payday Lender.
  • Alipay partners with Openpay to connect Chinese consumers with merchants in Mexico. (link)
  • Amazon.com unveils first debit card in Mexico as part of e-commerce initiative.

CEE

  • Personetics Brings Cognitive Banking to Romania’s Banca Transilvania.
  • Sberbank to host the first International Cybersecurity Conference in July.
  • CEE Fintech Survey for 2017 cites Poland’s fintech industry as the region’s most vibrant.

Top image designed by Freepik

Bankjoy Signs Credit Union of Ohio

Bankjoy Signs Credit Union of Ohio

Digital banking services company Bankjoy may bring a bit of joy this week to the members of Credit Union of Ohio. That’s because Credit Union of Ohio is now leveraging the Michigan-based startup’s online and mobile banking technology to bring its members a new, omnichannel banking experience.

The move is strategic for Credit Union of Ohio. The credit union’s VP of Marketing & Strategic Planning Jill Gerschutz said that the implementation is an “ideal way” to retain members because it shows that Credit Union of Ohio is adapting and evolving with new trends. Gerschutz also hopes the move will boost the number of members who use the credit union’s mobile app. “We see the importance of constant movement to enhance our services – especially when it comes to technology and their online banking needs,” Gerschutz said.

After Credit Union of Ohio’s previous online banking provider announced it was discontinuing its product and would no longer provide updates, the credit union reached out to Bankjoy. “With an ever-changing technology environment,” Gerschutz said, “we knew this was crucial to finding a new product.” And since Bankjoy has already worked with all of Credit Union of Ohio’s third-party vendors, the transition will be an easier one. Other factors swaying Credit Union of Ohio toward Bankjoy include the number of customization options, as well as the startup’s innovative nature, such as offering facial recognition and TouchID login options.

At FinovateFall 2016, Bankjoy Founder and CEO Mike Duncan showcased the company’s API. It is a REST API that offers real-time transaction data and features such as card management, check deposit, money transfer, bill payment features, and loan applications. It has been a busy deal-making season for Bankjoy. The Y-Combinator alum inked a deal with SafeAmerica Credit Union last month to provide the credit union’s 35,000+ members a better online and mobile banking experience.

Finovate Alumni News

On the web

  • Bankjoy Signs Credit Union of Ohio.

Around the web

  • Digital Signage Pulse interviews Neustar’s Kathleen Dundas about the company’s expansion to the digital-out-of-home (DOOH) market.
  • Lendio franchise announced in Seattle Central region.
  • PYMNTS talks to Modo CEO Bruce Parker about payments in the cloud.

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.

NICE Actimize Launches AI-Powered Financial Crime Investigation System

NICE Actimize Launches AI-Powered Financial Crime Investigation System

Data analytics and insights company NICE announced the launch of an AI-enabled investigation management system today.

The new tool, Actimize ACTone, is an alert and case management platform for financial services. The overall aim of the new offering is to provide financial services companies with one platform (hence the name ACTone) to manage alerts and cases from a wide ecosystem of financial crime solutions.

ACTone leverages AI combined with analytics and automation to aid in financial crime detection, investigations, and operations process. This approach relies on NICE’s Autonomous Financial Crime Management product, which enables financial services companies to deploy robots to collaborate with human investigators to more efficiently tackle financial crime investigations.

The new investigation manager tool suite includes:

  • Entity Insights: Offers visual relationships across entities and helps uncover risks and reveal deeper insights
  • Virtual Workforce: Eliminates manual data gathering and reduces costs and errors with robotics process automation
  • Entity Risk: Assigns a dynamic risk score to every entity using machine learning to make faster decisions
  • Activity Center: Provides instant notifications on changes made to cases or work items
  • Visual Storytelling and Modern User Experience: Offers intuitive navigation with graphical data representations to provide instant insights.

In the press release, Joe Friscia, President of NICE Actimize said, “In an autonomous world, instead of machines assisting humans to complete work, humans will assist the machines. With financial criminals getting smarter every day, it’s time for us to do the same. This is why we are so committed to our vision of Autonomous Financial Crime management which provides these benefits and more as we attack all aspects of financial crime.”

Actimize ACTone will be included in NICE Actimize’s Suspicious Activity Monitoring (SAM) anti-money laundering solution, as well as within its enterprise fraud and financial markets compliance solutions.

Founded in 1986, the company serves 25,000 customers, 85% of which are Fortune 100 companies. Among NICE’s clients are Alliance Data, Walgreens, and Capital One. At FinovateEurope 2015, the company showcased Real-Time Authentication, a passive, phone-based authentication offering that leverages voice biometrics. Earlier this year, Gartner recognized NICE in the Leaders quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Workforce Engagement ‎Management for the second year in a row.

Basisbank to Deploy FICO’s Rules Management System, Blade Advisor

Basisbank to Deploy FICO’s Rules Management System, Blade Advisor

Denmark-based online lender Basisbank is implementing FICO’s Blade Advisor rules management system to “control credit risk and accelerate its digital transformation”, according to the vendor, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Banking Technology (Finovate’s sister publication).

“As a fintech, we need to be fast and responsive to customer demands, while maintaining strong risk management,” said Morten Larsen, head of business development at Basisbank. “We need to give our risk analysts the maximum flexibility to make changes quickly, not wait in a queue for IT to make changes. In our review of the market, FICO provided the most powerful and flexible solution, and also has the greatest expertise in financial services.”

Basisbank was founded in 2000. It offers simple banking and finance products consumers direct to market and at point of sale at retail partners and car dealers. Today, it has over 90,000 customers and partners with 700+ retail shops and automotive dealers. It says that more than 75% of its credit applications come from mobile devices.

FICO’s Shalini Raghavan (Senior Director, Product Management) and Tom Traughber (VP, Chief Architect, Product Development). presented “Rapidly Deliver Contextually-Powered Stream Processing” at our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2016. The discussion focused on how FICO’s Decision Management Platform Streaming supports high volume, latency analytics for batch and stream sources.

Founded in 1956 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. FICO leverages predictive analytics and data science to improve operations ranging from risk management and fighting fraud to customer service. The company’s solutions are used by businesses in more than 100 countries.

eToro Raises $100 Million in Series E

eToro Raises $100 Million in Series E

In a round led by China Minsheng Financial, social trading network eToro has raised $100 million in new funding. The Series E, which featured participation from SBI Group, Korea Investment Partners, and World Wide Invest, as well, will help the company expand into new markets. The new capital will also help eToro build on its R&D efforts in blockchain technology and asset digitization. eToro’s total capital is now $162 million.

“This round of investment will be critical in helping us to further develop our technology infrastructure to support the rapid growth that we’ve recently experienced,” eToro founder and CEO Yoni Assia said. “It will also help us to enter new markets, enabling us to bring our social approach to investing to more people around the world, and providing more people with safe and secure access to the markets.”

Assia added that the funding would enable eToro to remain as innovative technically as it is in the field of social trading and investing. “As new technology continues to change finance,” he said, “we want to remain at the forefront of that change. So today’s announcement will help us to continue our market leading work in blockchain research and the development of digital assets.”

Digital assets and blockchain have proven to be significant opportunities for growth for eToro. In February, the company added XLM (Stellar Lumens) to its offerings. Back in December, eToro teamed up with CoinDash to build blockchain-based social trading products. The company enabled direct trading of five major cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, and Ripple – back in September, shortly after earning a spot on the European Fintech 100.

Named a company to watch by Disruptor Daily, eToro has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and New York City. The company demonstrated its CopyFunds for Partners solution at FinovateEurope 2017. With a trading and investing community of more than nine million users, eToro’s network gives users the opportunity to automatically copy the buying and selling of the network’s most successful traders and investors. Those traders and investors can earn income when their trades are copied by members of the community as part of eToro’s Popular Investor program. Stocks, exchange-traded funds, currency pairs, indices, and commodities, as well as cryptocurrencies can be traded on eToro’s platform.