FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ING Bank Slaski

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ING Bank Slaski

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 11 through 14 in New York. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

ING Bank Slaski provides a full range of services to business clients. They aim to make banking easier by offering products and services that clients can use without leaving the office.

Features

  • A fully online process – available any time, any place
  • Time saving – all you need is 5 minutes to apply
  • Immediate access to the business bank account

Why its great
A fully online account opening process for SMEs, available in a few quick steps, without leaving the office. Safe, simple and convenient.

Presenters

Oscar Swan, VP ING Lease

 

Izabela Gawron, Director – Cash Management Department, ING Bank Slaski

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Wave

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Wave

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 11 through 14 in New York. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Wave helps small business owners get paid and manage their money. Now Wave also helps financial institutions engage and understand their small business customers better, with elegantly and deeply integrated online tools.

Features

  • Offers unprecedented 360° insights into small business finances
  • Boosts loyalty and engagement
  • Provides easy and fast integration

Why its great
Embedding Wave in online banking or similar services makes those services the daily, must-visit touchpoint for small business owners, and provides essential data for product recommendations.

Presenter

Kirk Simpson, CEO and Co-founder
An engaging speaker, Simpson co-founded Wave and has led the company to 2.7 million registered business customers.
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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Endor

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Endor

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 11 through 14 in New York. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Endor is the first predictive software platform that lets business users ask any question and get high-quality results in minutes instead of months.

Features

  • Designed to overcome traditional machine learning challenges
  • Helps organizations become predictive in minutes, not months
  • Requires no coding, no data cleaning, nor a team of PhDs

Why it’s great
Endor is based on Social Physics: a new science, originating at MIT, that uses big data to build a predictive, computational theory of human behavior.

Presenters

Doron Alter, Co-Founder and CEO
Alter’s background of identifying emerging technology trends and working with innovative startups forms the perfect backdrop for his passion in helping banks and financial institutes become predictive.
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Inbal Tirosh, VP Product Management
Tirosh’s vast experience working in senior product and strategy roles in innovative startups fuels her drive to perfect a product that helps finance organizations use their data and become predictive.
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Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bambu Wins Strategic Investment from Franklin Templeton.

Around the web

  • NBKC Taps Gro Solutions for Consumer Account Opening; Partners In Development of Business Account Opening Solution.
  • Pymnts: ShopKeep Enters Small Business Lending Market.
  • CSI globalVCard Partners with Mutual of Omaha Bank.
  • Mastercard partners with Garmin to offer customers a contactless payment watch.
  • American Banker looks at the partnership between D3 Banking and First Tennessee Bank.
  • Ping Identity to provide hub for UK Open Banking framework.
  • Braintree introduces support for Apple Pay and Android Pay in Australia.
  • MyChoiceTech reviews Eversafe, an anti-fraud solution geared toward seniors.

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.

Temenos to Power Cloud-Based Lifecycle Management Suite for Baxter Credit Union

Temenos to Power Cloud-Based Lifecycle Management Suite for Baxter Credit Union

Banking software provider Temenos announced this week that Baxter Credit Union implemented Temenos’ Lifecycle Management Suite in Microsoft Azure. This makes the $2.8 billion credit union the first financial institution to take the Lifecycle Management Suite into the cloud.

This week’s launch includes the Collection, Service, and Loan Origination modules and comes after nine months of testing to ensure the functionality and security of the new technology. Because the implementation has reduced Baxter CU’s IT overhead, the credit union “will be able to focus their time and effort on optimizing and providing the best products and services.”

Jeff Johnson, the credit union’s CIO, said that because Baxter CU uses the Lifecycle Management Suite on a daily basis, they wanted to begin hosting it on Microsoft Azure. Johnson added that this will offer the credit union “the ability to scale more efficiently, reduce system response time, enhance disaster recovery abilities and run on optimally-sized hardware.” The move also aligns with Baxter CU’s “strategic initiative” to move all of its technology into the cloud. You can check out the detailed case study for further information on the implementation.

At FinovateEurope 2015, Temenos demoed its Connect Mobile Banking suite. The platform focuses on user experience and uses native and web technologies to optimize the performance of hybrid mobile apps. Temenos has recently signed Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito, Al Masraf, and Aktia as clients. The company added open banking, PSD2-based services to its MarketPlace initiative to its platform in May.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Temenos employs 4,300+ people in 63 offices to serve clients in 145+ countries. David Arnott is CEO.

Voice Banking: What’s Old is New Again

Voice Banking: What’s Old is New Again
Capital One was the first U.S. bank to integrate with Amazon’s Alexa platform.

I am as excited about Alexa/Cortana/Siri/Google as the next geek (except maybe for this guy) and look forward to seeing many examples at Finovate in 2 weeks. We already own a pair of Amazon Echos and we’ll probably get more. Our biggest uses: music, the grocery shopping list (which still requires a visual to use when shopping), and as a kitchen timer. We love it. But is it a great interface for financial services? I’m not sure.

1987 AT&T advertisement

Roll back the clock three decades. Voice banking was the newest thing. It offered 24/7 access to bank balances and transactions. No more waiting for a paper statement, queuing up at an ATM or even going to a branch.

However, when the Internet arrived in the late 1990s, routine automated queries began migrating from the phone, where it was tedious and time consuming to “listen” to data, to the wonderful new visual medium. Users could comprehend a series of numbers much, much faster visually than orally.

So when I see the hype around voice banking, it’s hard not to think that we’ve just gone backwards in UX by two decades. I don’t think the current crop of voice products are all that compelling for day-to-day banking. Sure, “Alexa, what’s my balance?” is easier and faster than calling a toll-free number or even logging in to mobile banking. But most customers looking for their balance also need to understand the transactions that created it. And for that a visual aid is much better than a recital of a bunch of figures.

To add value, voice interfaces must handle requests AND deliver results that are not better served with visuals. (Note: We are not talking about voice commands for mobile or desktop banking which do add value for almost any task.) What might those use cases be?

  • Annotating transactions:
    Trigger: “Alexa ask me what my recent purchases were for?”
    Alexa: “$12.77 at Pizza Press yesterday?”
    User: “Lunch with Charlie at school”
    Alexa: “$64.12 at Office Depot on Monday?”
    User: “Business expense for office supplies”
  • Second factor for online/mobile banking
  • Alerts (assuming Alex could proactively start a conversation with you)
  • Routine customer service questions (such as Capital One example above)

Bottom line: For marketing and convenience reasons, financial institutions will Alexa-enable a wide variety of tasks such as transaction queries, transferring funds, authorizing payments, and so on. But few of those tasks are handled more effectively by two-way voice communications. Sometimes, it may prove more convenient (e.g., think of a busy parent trying to avoid an overdraft while making dinner for their 3-year old). But even if they can use Alexa, I think most people will pull out their mobile phone for the majority of banking tasks, very likely using voice commands to simplify the input process.

Author: Jim Bruene (@netbanker) is Founder & Senior Advisor to Finovate as well as Principal of BUX Advisors, a financial services user-experience consultancy. 


Photo credit

Blackhawk Network Acquires CashStar in $175 Million Deal

Blackhawk Network Acquires CashStar in $175 Million Deal

With Blackhawk Networks’ $175 million acquisition of fellow Finovate alum CashStar, we may soon learn just how good digital gifting is going to get.

Talbott Roche, CEO and president of Blackhawk Network, said the deal “strategically enhances Blackhawk’s ability to provide the right digital solutions to our partners to meet the changing needs of business customers and consumers.” She added that the acquisition made Blackhawk “a leading provider in the fast growing, first-party digital (gift card) market.” CEO and president of CashStar Ben Kaplan added that the combination of CashStar’s platform and Blackhawk’s “product breadth and global reach” would deliver “more powerful capabilities and new revenue opportunities for our clients and partners.” The acquisition will make CashStar a part of Blackhawk’s digital and incentives business, with Kaplan remaining on board to manage the business.

The acquisition is an all-cash deal which Blackhawk CFO Jerry Ulrich said would be “at least earnings neutral in fiscal 2017 and meaningfully accretive after synergies in 2018.” Ulrich also anticipates the acquisition will “generate positive cash flow in 2018” as well as boost topline growth.

CashStar’s platform gives retailers the ability to market, sell, and distribute both plastic and digital gift cards. The company offers a Commerce platform for merchants and an Exchange platform for gift card distributors and loyalty program managers. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, CashStar demonstrated its Digital Gifting and Incentives platform at FinovateFall 2011. The company added real-time card activation, security improvements, and streamlined ordering in its last platform upgrade in July, and in May, CashStar’s Velocity B2B division helped global prestige retailer Sephora to introduce a B2B gift card program.

This spring, the company partnered with discount gift card marketplace Raise in a deal that will give the Chicago-based startup access to more than 250 merchants and 40 payment processors. CashStar had raised $44 million in funding previous to this week’s acquisition, most recently completing a $15 million Series D in 2015. The company’s customers include Starbucks, The Home Depot, and Uber.

Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, Blackhawk Network demonstrated its GoWallet solution at FinovateFall 2012. Last month, the company partnered with fellow Finovate alum PayNearMe, giving the cash transaction network access to Blackhawk’s retail partners. In May, the San Francisco Business Times recognized Blackhawk’s Roche with its Inspire Award as part of its annual “Most Influential Women in Business” initiative. Also honored by the Times was the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Teri Llach. Blackhawk Network trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker “HAWK” and has a market capitalization of $2.5 billion.

Avoka Reports Record Growth for Second Consecutive Year

Avoka Reports Record Growth for Second Consecutive Year

Avoka is celebrating its second year in a row of topping expectations. The company has experienced big gains in order numbers (79% overall, 67% new business), opened a new office in Frankfurt, Germany, and launched a new solution to help FIs build and implement their visions for an omni-channel experience.

“Large banks across Europe, North America, and Australia are continuing to recognize the benefits we provide and this has spurred our growth,” Avoka CEO Phil Copeland said. He credited investments in talent and technology for a system that he said is reducing abandonment rates “by more than 40%,” while reducing implementation time to “as little as three months” and onboarding “from 40 days to three.”

Avoka’s success in Europe, North America, and Australia over the years has resulted in turning four out of Australia’s top 10 banks, four out of Europe’s top 50 banks, and eight out of North America’s top 50 banks into Avoka clients. Avoka’s investments in talent include appointing former KPMG executive Matt Lewis as Chief Financial Officer in February, and hiring former CA Technologies VP Steve Demchuk as Chief Product Officer in March.

Pictured: Avoka Director of Business Development, Hali Khan, demonstrating Transact Insights at FinovateEurope 2017.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Avoka demonstrated its Transact Insights solution at FinovateEurope 2017. Just a few weeks ago, the company announced that its partner, Bankwest, had been honored at the Australian Business Banking Awards for Best Omni-Channel Service and Best Digital Platform. In June, Avoka launched its CX Design for Banking solution, which combines human design experts and analytic tools to enable financial institutions to configure their application processes in what CX Design Practice Director Adam Miller called a “customer-centric” way instead of “around their own internal processes.”

Earlier this year, the company presented its 2017 State of Digital Sales in Banking report, looked at how quickly banks were embracing digital financial technologies. Concluding that there is a significant lag between adoption of consumer-based digital banking technologies compared to corporate banking offerings, the report noted that this meant substantial opportunity for fintech solutions exists in the corporate banking space, particularly in historically profitable business lines such as business banking and wealth management.

A multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Avoka has raised $12 million in funding, and includes Moelis Australia Asset Management and Regal Funds Management among its investors.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Avoka Reports Record Growth for Second Consecutive Year.
  • Blackhawk Network Acquires CashStar in $175 Million Deal.
  • Temenos to Power Cloud-Based Lifecycle Management Suite for Baxter Credit Union

Around the web

  • Jumio partners with Plynk to bring instant verification to Europe’s first money messaging app.
  • Alaska USA FCU chooses Ignite platform from banking solutions provider Jwaala.
  • Ondot Systems joins Symitar Vendor Integration Program (VIP).
  • Tavant Selected by Newfi Lending To Provide Next-Generation Digital Platform.
  • Plaid delivers bank account integration to enterprise developers.
  • Personal Capital Reaches $5 Billion in Assets Under Management.
  • PayPal launches Mastercard– it’s first cashback credit card offering.

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.

Accenture Acquires Verax to Boost Canadian Operations

Accenture Acquires Verax to Boost Canadian Operations

Consulting and technology services company Accenture acquired VERAX solutions last week. Terms of the deal with the Toronto-based company were not disclosed.

The acquisition is expected to enhance Accenture’s business services in Canada. Specifically, VERAX will bring its IT consulting initiatives across wealth management, brokerage and mutual funds, mobile and online banking, retail and commercial banking, and insurance and capital markets for a range of financial institutions.

Robert Vokes, managing director of Accenture’s Financial Services practice in Canada, said VERAX consultants will “greatly complement and enhance the breadth and depth of our financial services capabilities in Canada.” Vokes continued by saying that the merger will help clients “to react even more quickly and with even more confidence.”

Founded in 1951, Accenture serves clients in more than 120 countries across 40 industries. The company has made 15 consecutive appearances in Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list and has 5,000 patents and patents pending in 44 countries.

At FinovateFall 2013, Accenture joined mBank on stage to showcase the Bank 3.0 revolution. The redesigned bank platform offers a modern user interface and user experience coupled with video banking, social channels, and gamification. Recently, Accenture launched a Fintech 71 accelerator program in Ohio, and formed a partnership with Apple to launch iOS-based business solutions.

Responsive Tiles from Geezeo Help Banks Build Personalized Digital Experiences

Responsive Tiles from Geezeo Help Banks Build Personalized Digital Experiences

Personalization and customization are the watchwords when it comes to designing a top quality digital banking experience. Unfortunately, for banks and credit unions lacking the technological know-how, the task of building a banking UI/UX that meets increasingly tough consumer standards can be a Herculean one.

The good news is that financial management solutions provider Geezeo has developed and released a new set of tools to enable FIs to create the same kind of seamless, personalized consumer experiences that people have come to expect with every other digital interaction in life. Responsive Tiles give banks and credit unions the ability to mix and combine core personal financial management features and content into both mobile and online platforms.

Pictured (left to right): Geezeo CEO Shawn Ward and President Peter Glyman demonstrating the TrueBusiness – Business Financial Management platform at FinovateFall 2014.

Providing more options by removing artificial barriers was front of mind for Geezeo in developing the new technology. “Consumers want simple money management tools that support daily and long-term financial needs, and banks are recognizing that they need to blur the lines between traditional digital banking features and PFM,” Geezeo President and co-founder Peter Glyman said. Matt Tollerton, VP and Director of Digital Banking at Central Bancompany praised the way the platform “incorporates simplicity and contextual relevance” and said Responsive Tiles would support the bank’s goal of being seen as a responsible and trusted partner for customers. “We’re putting the tools where the customer will use them, at a place and point where they’ll need them,” Tollerton said.

Responsive Tiles leverage Geezeo’s API to give FIs ready access to a suite of solutions that can be incorporated into existing online and mobile banking channels. The solution supports all display types, and tiles can be configured to match the colors and sizes designated by the bank or credit union. Geezeo can also build 100% custom tiles for clients. “We want to help make their digital banking experience unique and representative of their mission and brand,” Glyman said. “A Responsive Tile strategy is likely the best model for most our clients to see this idea come to fruition.”

Among the solutions included in the Responsive Tile library are:

  • Account Sync (aggregation)
  • Categorical Expense Tracker
  • Daily Spending Calculator
  • Net Worth Analyzer
  • Recent Cashflow Analyzer
  • Spending Analysis Tool

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts, Geezeo demonstrated its TruBusiness – Business Financial Management platform at FinovateFall 2014. In April, the company announced a partnership with Liberty Bank, the oldest mutual bank in Connecticut, with $4.5 billion in assets and 55 banking offices throughout the state. Other partnerships forged this spring include an agreement with digital banking platform provider, Computer Service Professionals, and a deal with fellow Finovate alum Jack Henry & Associates. In May, the company’s marketing arm, Geezeo Interactive, introduced its digital reputation management solution. The service is geared toward credit unions and community banks and is designed to help smaller FIs establish a positive presence and share their message online.

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: GreatHorn

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: GreatHorn

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 11 through 14 in New York. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Targeting phishing is the most successful cyberattack type in the world – and the fintech industry is a high-value target. GreatHorn will present Inbound Email Security: automated attack protection.

Features

  • Stops damaging and difficult-to-detect targeted email attacks
  • Built with a cloud-native architecture that deploys in less than five minutes
  • Continuously monitors all mailboxes (unlike single-point-in-time gateway solutions)

Why it’s a must-see
GreatHorn protects email users from targeted attacks by automatically detecting and stopping spear phishing attacks, malware/ransomware, and other types of malicious email that targets employees.

Presenters

Chris Fraser, VP, Strategic Accounts
Fraser is a founding member of GreatHorn and serves as its VP of Strategic Accounts, where he helps enterprises create cybersecurity strategies related to their cloud communication ecosystems.
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Sean Varga, Senior Account Executive
Varga has a decade of experience in enterprise software, specializing in cybersecurity. Prior to joining GreatHorn, he held positions at RSA Security and Veracode (acquired by CA Technologies).
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