Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bluefin Buddies Up: Decryptx P2PE Network Grows to 50+ Connected Partners
  • Fiserv Teams with TransUnion to Enhance Automotive Loan Origination System
  • Azimo Brings Faster Money Transfers to Nigeria
  • eToro to Build Blockchain-Based Social Trading Products in Partnership with CoinDash
  • CashStar Launches Digital Gifting Program with Belk Department Store

Around the web

  • Mark Saltzman Interviews Flybits Founder & CEO on TD for Me (video).
  • API Evangelist features Streamdata.io.
  • LearnVest CEO Alexa von Tobel featured on NPR podcast How I Built This.
  • MapD unveils latest release featuring new geo heatmap , custom aliases, faster SQL sorts and more

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Fiserv Teams with TransUnion to Enhance Automotive Loan Origination System

Fiserv Teams with TransUnion to Enhance Automotive Loan Origination System

Financial services company Fiserv and credit reporting agency and risk information provider TransUnion have joined forces today. Under the agreement, Fiserv will integrate TransUnion’s CreditVision Link to increase precision of scoring and risk modeling in its Automotive Loan Origination System.

Specifically, Fiserv will leverage data from TransUnion to identify high-risk and high-potential borrowers, including thin-file applicants, based on an evaluation of their credit application. This addition helps serve the underbanked population, raising Fiserv’s reach to potential underserved borrowers to 60 million. The additional data has also boosted the “super prime” customer base by 23 million.

Shaimaa Elk, Chief Information Officer, Lending Solutions for Fiserv said, “The partnership between Fiserv and TransUnion enables lenders to provide borrower-focused customer service and better optimize profitability, cost reductions, and efficiencies.”

CreditVision Link uses alternative data sources that include 30 months of data on factors such as address stability, checking account history, microloans/ alternative lending, and property ownership. TransUnion made a move to bolster the service last month when it acquired FactorTrust, a company specializing in alternative credit data, analytics, and risk-scoring. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Steve Chaouki, executive vice president and head of TransUnion’s financial services business unit, said that understanding clients is critical not only for decision making, but also for building customer relationships and loyalty. Chaouki added, “Our integration of CreditVision Link trended and alternative data sources into Automotive Loan Origination System enables lenders to score approximately 95 percent of the U.S. adult population.”

Founded in 1984, Fiserv most recently presented at FinDEVr New York 2017, where the company’s Sr. Product Manager, Jon Zimmermann, and VP of Electronic Payments, Paul Diegelman, addressed the audience in a presentation titled Payments Processing: Bank-Grade Standards, Now Available to Anyone. Earlier this year, Fiserv agreed to acquire Monitise for $89 million. The deal was finalized in September.

At FinovateFall 2016, TransUnion debuted Prama Insights, a suite of solutions that leverage data to offer lenders market intelligence. Prior to TransUnion’s acquisition of FactorTrust last month, the company acquired eBureau to enhance its versatile data and analytics capabilities. TransUnion is a publicly-traded company (NYSE: TRU).

TransferTo Adds Digital Wallet to Payments Network via Cellum Partnership

TransferTo Adds Digital Wallet to Payments Network via Cellum Partnership

Courtesy of a new strategic partnership, European mobile wallet provider Cellum will provide its international money transfer services by way of TransferTo’s cross-border mobile payments network. “Cellum is always looking at ways to expand its portfolio with meaningful services that allow us to offer even more value to our partners,” Cellum CEO János Kóka said. “Our strategic partnership with TransferTo strengthens our position as the one-stop mobile wallet provider of choice in Southeast Asia and beyond.”

“We are happy to collaborate with Cellum and open the doors for their partners to reach our global network, and look forward to the opportunity of expansion by adding further digital wallet providers,” TransferTo CEO Peter De Caluwe added.

Founded in 2006, TransferTo enables FIs and digital financial service providers around the world to offer international mobile airtime top-ups and money transfers to and from emerging countries. TransferTo’s real-time network reaches more than 135 countries, connecting mobile money operators, wallet providers, and money transfer operators with banks, FIs, NGOs, and e-commerce merchants.

The company demonstrated its Mobile Money Hub at FinovateFall 2015. Last month, TransferTo and banking software provider Fern Software were awarded a grant from the United Nations Capital Development Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformation (SHIFT) Challenge Fund. The goal of the fund is to use remittances to improve the financial lives of women in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Also in November, TransferTo announced the hire of a new VP for Business Development, Djibril Diallo, to lead operations in West and Central Africa, and added a new Chief Financial Officer, Dan Gardner, who is a former executive at Transfast and Payscout.

This fall, TransferTo reported 8x revenue growth in international money transfer transactions over the past six months with more than six million transactions. The company partnered with South East Asia’s leading mobile ride-hailing platform, Grab, to facilitate real-time earnings payouts for Grab drivers, and teamed up with IN Switch to support international money transfer services in Latin America.

TransferTo has raised $6.5 million in funding and includes STC Ventures and Ingenico Healthcare/e-ID among its investors. Peter De Caluwe, the company’s current CEO, joined the company in May as global Chief Operating Officer and was promoted to chief executive in August when TransferTo founder Eric Barbier transitioned to the role of President and board member. The company is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Dubai, London, and Miami.

TSYS to Acquire Cayan for $1.05 Billion

TSYS to Acquire Cayan for $1.05 Billion

Payments service provider TSYS has boosted its portfolio this week. The Georgia-based company has agreed to acquire Cayan, a payment technology company, for $1.05 billion. TSYS expects the deal to modestly benefit its net revenue growth and adjusted earnings per share.

Cayan’s flagship platform, Genius, provides a scalable, unified commerce experience across channels. The company offers merchant acquiring services to 70,000+ companies and 100+ U.S.-based partners.

M. Troy Woods, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of TSYS, said that this acquisition “strategically complements” the goals TSYS has “to become a leading payment solutions provider to small and medium size businesses.” Woods continued, “The addition of Cayan’s unified commerce solutions puts us in a strong competitive position to jointly offer a broader set of value-add products and services to our partners and merchants.”

The acquisition has been approved by the TSYS Board of Directors and is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

TSYS was founded in 1983 and has 11,500 employees across offices in 13 countries. Last year, the company processed 25.5 billion transactions, generating $4.2 billion in revenue. TSYS demoed its Spend Controls feature at FinovateEurope 2013 in London. Last week, the company extended its agreement with Capital One to continue providing processing services for the bank’s North American clients. This October, TSYS company expanded its ProPay merchant services to Australia and, earlier in the summer, teamed up with behavioral analytics company Featurespace to bolster its fraud prevention capabilities. TSYS is a publicly traded company (NYSE: TSS).

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • TSYS to Acquire Cayan for $1.05 Billion
  • TransferTo Adds Digital Wallet to Payments Network via Cellum Partnership

Around the Web

  • GoodData appoints James Smith as chief marketing officer.
  • Passport and TransLink partner to develop and launch Park&Go, an app for Vancouver Park and Ride payments.
  • Tucson FCU implements NCR’s Interactive Teller software to allow members to bank face-to-face with a live teller from their cars.
  • Azimo introduces near-instant, 24/7 money transfers to Nigeria.
  • ThreatMetrix exceeds 45% Annual Growth.
  • The Real Estate Crowdfunding Review ranks CK Mack, Realty Mogul, & Patch of Land in its list of top 100 real estate crowdfunding sites.
  • Fortune features Pindrop’s AI voice recognition.

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 Teams with Brightstar India

NICE Teams with Brightstar India

Data analytics and insights company NICE announced a strategic partnership this week. The Israel-based company has teamed up with Brightstar India, a subdivision of Brightstar Global that manages mobile devices across the wireless ecosystem.

The partnership will support the launch of NICE Uptivity, a workforce optimization solution for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). Nice Uptivity offers tools such as quality assurance, speech and data analytics, coaching, and customer surveys. The tool’s modular structure allows for custom configurations that are tailored to scale to individual businesses. The companies will launch NICE Uptivity to mid-market organizations in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Darren John Rushworth, President of NICE APAC said the partnership is about “bringing the market leading WFO suite for SMEs to the Indian and South Asian markets.” Rushworth continued, “Our collaboration to introduce the Uptivity WFO Suite will greatly benefit companies which are poised for growth or have multi-location operations…. NICE solutions, provided and supported by Brightstar India, are helping to bridge the gap between the needs of today and the goals of tomorrow.”

NICE’s 6,500 employees work in 35 offices across the globe. Founded in 1986, the company serves 2,500 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 month, NICE earned its status in the Risk Management category of Amazon’s AWS Financial Services Competency Program. In July, the company teamed up with Tableau Software to launch a visual analytics solution.

Fintech News from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

As Finovate prepares for its first conference in the Middle East, here’s a round up of recent fintech news and need-to-knows from the MENA region. Learn more about how to join us in Dubai in February for FinovateMiddleEast.

  • Al Baraka Banking Group partners with Path Solutions to deploy iMAL Islamic core banking system.
  • UAE Exchange to launch gocash card and mobile app courtesy of partnership with online travel firm, Cleartrip
  • Thomson Reuters celebrates 150 years in the Middle East and North Africa at event in Egypt

MENA Fintech Fact In the Middle East and North Africa, nearly three out of every four fintech startups are based in four countries: the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, or Lebanon. Half of all MENA fintechs launched after 2012.

  • Online real estate marketplace and KPMG Global Fintech Top 50 member Wealth Migrate opens office in UAE, announces new country CEO, Lee-Ann Rush.
  • Group Chairman and CEO of Path Solutions, Mohammed Kateeb, named to World’s Top 50 Most Influential Leaders in Islamic Economy for third consecutive year.

Thought Leadership  Fintech is the new oil in the Middle East and North Africa – Forbes looks at how regulators and governments in the MENA region are “thinking more deeply about the impact that fintech companies will have on the broader economy.”

  • Entrepreneur Middle East features investor forecasts for the MENA region in 2018.
  • Alrajih Islamic Bank for Investment and Financing chooses Islamic core banking system iMAL from Path Solutions.
  • Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain (KFH-B), and Bahrain Development Bank (BDB) form fintech consortium, Algo Bahrain, to build Sharia-compliant banking solutions.

Modo Brings on Former CEO of Klarna North America, Brian Billingsley

Modo Brings on Former CEO of Klarna North America, Brian Billingsley

Cloud-based payment services company Modo Payments has given itself an early Christmas present this year, appointing former CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley as Chief Revenue Officer.

Billingsley’s payments background will play an integral role in expanding Modo’s capabilities. “All I wanted for Christmas was for Brian to join the team, and Santa really came through for this lucky #paymentsgeek this year. He’s honestly the best Christmas present I could’ve asked for,” said Modo CEO Bruce Parker.

Parker and Billingsley have worked together before. In October the two companies teamed up to integrate Modo’s Checkout Event payment service to help Klarna accelerate implementation of its checkout solution for merchants.

Billingsley said he was “blown away” by Modo’s tech when Klarna implemented it. “Modo has incredible talent and technology, and I believe Modo will revolutionize payments over the next few years making complex payments function as we experience email today – it just works,” he added. Billingsley will officially join the Modo team next month.

Founded in 2010, Modo exchanges payment data across platforms on behalf of banks, payment networks, and providers, enabling them to store, share, and track payment event data. The company presented at FinovateFall 2016, where it showcased its Modo Digital Payments Hub. In addition to a partnership with Klarna last month, Modo also teamed up with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Alliance Data, FIS, and Verifone to boost user engagement by creating PayoutCheckout, and Loyalty Events for online retailers.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Modo Brings on Former CEO of Klarna North America, Brian Billingsley

Around the web

  • Azimo launches cash pick-up in the Philippines.
  • Ripple’s XRP overtakes bitcoin cash as 3rd largest cryptocurrency.

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.

Net Neutrality: Pay Up for Fast Fintech or Let the Invisible Hand be Your Guide?

Net Neutrality: Pay Up for Fast Fintech or Let the Invisible Hand be Your Guide?

With the FCC voting 3 to 2 to repeal net neutrality today, let’s take a look at the impact a post-net neutrality internet may have on fintech and banking.

Politics and opinions aside, the repeal of net neutrality may have two main effects in our industry:

Pay up for fast fintech

Though Comcast has said it will not offer paid prioritization for websites, many are concerned that lack of regulation for internet service providers (ISPs) will create tiered offerings for fast lanes and slow lanes. In other words, if you want your site to load faster, you’d better have some extra cash. Since consumers have little patience for website loading times, this could be an extra stumbling block for fintechs with a grand idea but limited funding. The players with the bigger pocketbook, not the better innovation, may win out.

While this same principle applies to banks, it is not as large of an issue, since banks are cash flow positive and have income to foot the larger internet bill. Additionally, consumers have a lower elasticity of demand for banking services than fintech services. In other words, because online banking is seen as more of a true need, they are not only willing to pay more but they will also be willing to wait for a longer web page loading time.

The counter-argument is that, if net neutrality remains in place, everyone will end up with a larger internet bill since ISPs will need to find a way to build and maintain faster online networks. “If the rules stay in place… ISPs will have to find other ways to fund these robust networks,” Nicol Turner-Lee, a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution told U.S. News.

An eye on competition

Another area of concern of an unregulated internet is competition. Currently, net neutrality prevents ISPs from discriminating toward competing applications. This argument isn’t generally heard in the banking/ fintech space, since ISPs do not own any competing banking or fintech applications. However, if an ISP was to create or acquire a P2P payment app, it could speed up that service, while potentially throttling performance for Zelle and Square Cash.

The counter-argument here is that we should allow the markets to operate freely and that the Invisible Hand will allow for faster innovation. In this line of thinking, perhaps if our favorite P2P payment apps are too slow we’ll be more likely to begin using the blockchain?

Symbiont Smart Contracts to Simplify Index Data Sharing for Vanguard

Symbiont Smart Contracts to Simplify Index Data Sharing for Vanguard

Smart contracts platform Symbiont announced this week it has teamed up with the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) to help Vanguard improve the distribution of index data.

This partnership will allow index data to move between index providers and market participants in real time over a single, decentralized database. The project, which has been in a testing phase for the last several months, delivers the data over a blockchain and automates the workflows using smart contracts. The result is three-fold: it expedites data delivery, eliminates the need for manual updates, and reduces risks. The groups expect that CRSP index data delivery and intra-day updates over the blockchain will be available in early 2018.

Generally, transmitting index data relies on multiple parties and channels. Explaining the benefits of the improved distribution method, Warren Pennington, a principal in Vanguard’s Investment Management Group said, “Using this platform, investment managers will be able to instantly distribute, receive, and process index data, resulting in better benchmark tracking and significant cost savings that potentially results in better returns for our clients.”

Mark Smith, CEO and co-founder of Symbiont, said he is “pleased” that CRSP and Vanguard were willing to collaborate on the new method. “Through this collaboration we were able to show how Symbiont’s blockchain technology and smart contracts can enhance market data distribution among disparate parties,” Smith said.

Symbiont was founded in 2015 and offers three products, each of which leverages the blockchain. Symbiont Assembly offers a single, global accounting ledger, Symbiont Secure Channels is a mechanism for sharing confidential data, and Symbiont Smart Securities is a platform that models the complex states and interactions for financial instruments. At FinDEVr New York 2016, the company’s CTO and cofounder Adam Krellenstein gave a presentation titled Distributed Ledgers and Smart Contracts.

Last month, Symbiont won the Buy-Side Technology Award for Best Distributed Ledger Technology Project by Waters Technology for the second consecutive year. Earlier this summer, the company closed an undisclosed strategic investment from China’s Hundsun Technologies. Headquartered in New York, Symbiont has a total of $7 million in funding.

Financeit Recapitalizaton Gives Goldman Sachs Majority Stake

Financeit Recapitalizaton Gives Goldman Sachs Majority Stake

Point-of-sale financing provider Financeit completed an investment round today with existing shareholder Goldman Sachs. The round gives the firm a majority stake in the Toronto-based fintech.

Michael Garrity, CEO and President of Financeit, said the investment was a sign of Goldman Sachs’ “continued confidence in our leadership team, our business model, our platform, and the ability to grow our service.” He highlighted the recent integration with Centah, a SaaS workflow and lead management solutions provider, as an opportunity to expand into the home improvement industry “from lead generation to closing the sale.”

Financeit helps merchants increase closing rates and transaction sizes by enabling them to offer customers affordable monthly or bi-weekly payment plans. The cloud-based technology provides a fast and transparent application process for consumers, and helps merchants better manage cashflow, get paid sooner, and offer customers additional payment options. Financeit is free to use, and requires no merchant fees.

But Financeit adds a twist. “We service the transaction on both sides,” Garrity explained during his Finovate demo. “On one side we have a set of merchant partners who rely on us to power sales at the point-of-sale every day with our innovative solutions. On the other side, we have a set of financial institutions who rely on us to originate and to manage these loans on their behalf in their name and within their compliance framework.”

Financeit most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2014, during which the company, in partnership with fellow Finovate alum FIS, launched its U.S.-compliant POS financing platform. Founded in 2011, Financeit was named to CB Insights’ Fintech 250 list in July and in June, the company received new funding capacity of $85 million from a “major Canadian life insurance company.” Since inception, the company has worked with more than 7,000 merchant partners in Canada and processed more than $2.5 billion in loan applications.