See Tomorrow’s Fintech Today at FinovateAsia 2017

See Tomorrow’s Fintech Today at FinovateAsia 2017

FinovateAsia 2017 is almost here! And we can’t wait to show you the new features we’ve added to this year’s event.

In addition to our signature, 7-minute live technology demonstrations on Tuesday and Wednesday, FinovateAsia will also include keynote addresses and panel discussions. Topics covered range broadly from P2P lending and payments, mobile banking, wealth management, and the rise of artificial intelligence. We will also take a look at some of the leading fintech accelerators and incubators in Asia in a special showcase on Wednesday.

So if that sounds like a great opportunity to learn more about fintech in the Far East, here are a few last minute details to ensure you are able to make the most of your time at FinovateAsia this year.

First, know that FinovateAsia 2017 is a two-day fintech conference featuring some of the most innovative companies and technologies developing and marketing solutions for the Asia-Pacific market. With more than 450 attendees and more than 30 presenting companies, each day will feature a combination of both live fintech demonstrations as well as keynotes and panel discussions. Our single track format means you will be able to see every minute of every presentation. Check out our agenda for more information on what’s coming.

Second, this year FinovateAsia will be held at the JW Marriott, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong. Easily accessible via public transportation, including rail, the JW Marriott is a world-class venue located in the heart of Hong Kong.

The conference takes place on Tuesday, November 7 and continues through Wednesday, November 8. Registration begins at 8:00 on Tuesday, and the program begins at 9:00 with Welcome Remarks. There are two live demo sessions on Day One – the first beginning at 10:40 and the second at 13:30 – two keynote addresses and four panel discussions.

On Wednesday, Day Two, registration begins at 8:00, with Welcome Remarks at 8:45. The accelerator showcase starts the program at 9:10, followed by our first keynote of the day. The first live demo session on Wednesday begins at 11:10 and the second at 13:30. Day Two will feature a total of three panel discussions. See our agenda for more details.

Last but not least, be sure to join our FinovateAsia community on our event app. Search for “Finovate” at your preferred app store, download the app, and use the same email address you used to register for the conference to login. The FinovateAsia app provides access to the agenda, more information about our demoing companies, as well as our speakers, sponsors, and partners. You can also use the app to reach out to your fellow attendees, make connections, and schedule meetings. If you have any trouble with the app, please email us at [email protected] or ask one of our Finovate staffers at the registration desk at the venue.

Remember FinovateAsia tickets are still available. If you’re interested in learning how innovative fintech companies are leveraging exciting technologies like artificial intelligence, the blockchain, machine learning and more, then FinovateAsia is the place to be this week. So be sure to pick up your ticket and save your spot. We’re looking forward to seeing you here in Hong Kong!


FinovateAsia 2017 is sponsored by: Invest Hong KongCeleritiFintechLleida.net, and Barlings Capital.

FinovateAsia 2017 is partners with: 500 StartupsAgorizeAite GroupAsia Cloud Computing AssociationBankersHubBayPayBanking TechnologyBeFast.TVBigData-MadeSimple.comBlockExplorerBreaking BanksByte AcademyCB InsightsCelentConventus LawEbankingNewsFemTechFinancial ITFINOLABFintech Association of Hong KongFintech FinanceFintech News Hong KongFinTechTimeForresterHeadcountHolland FintechHong Kong Economic TimesThe Hong Kong Foreign Financial Institutions AssociationIBS IntelligenceInnovate FinanceInsight AlphaLexisNexis Risk SolutionsMercator Advisory GroupNexChangeThe Nilson ReportOvumThe PaypersPlug and PlayPR NewswireRegulation AsiaRFi GroupSingapore FinTech AssociationSME Finance ForumSwiss Finance + Technology AssociationWHub, and World Fintech Association.

FinovateAsia Begins This Week– Are You Ready?

FinovateAsia Begins This Week– Are You Ready?

Fintech in Asia is hotter than ever, with Asian fintech startups seeing record funding this year. This week is your chance to see which new technologies are shaping the region. FinovateAsia launches on Tuesday, November 7 and extends through Wednesday, November 8 (tickets still available). The two-day conference will host demos showcasing the newest ideas in fintech, plenty of networking, and lots of interactive discussions with industry experts to answer your questions about the latest trends.

To keep you organized, here’s everything you need to know at-a-glance:

When
On Tuesday, November 7, registration opens at 8 a.m. and opening remarks will begin at 9 a.m. We will have refreshments and a continental breakfast available, so be sure to come early to save your seat.

Where
The show will take place at the J.W. Marriott Hong Kong. Check out our website to plan your visit.

Presenting companies
You can find a full list of presenting companies on the Finovate blog. And be sure to take a look at our Sneak Peek blog series which offers an inside view into the new technologies companies will demo on stage.

Full agenda
We’ve added keynote speakers, panel discussions, and more this year. Visit the agenda to catch the highlights.

And don’t forget to download our mobile app (search Finovate in the app store of your choice).  In case you missed it, check out which regional trends will rise to the top at FinovateAsia. For specific enquiries or customer service needs, please visit our website for contact information.


FinovateAsia 2017 is sponsored by: Invest Hong KongCeleritiFintechLleida.net, and Barlings Capital.

FinovateAsia 2017 is partners with: 500 StartupsAgorizeAite GroupAsia Cloud Computing AssociationBankersHubBayPayBanking TechnologyBeFast.TVBigData-MadeSimple.comBlockExplorerBreaking BanksByte AcademyCB InsightsCelentConventus LawEbankingNewsFemTechFinancial ITFINOLABFintech Association of Hong KongFintech FinanceFintech News Hong KongFinTechTimeForresterHeadcountHolland FintechHong Kong Economic TimesThe Hong Kong Foreign Financial Institutions AssociationIBS IntelligenceInnovate FinanceInsight AlphaLexisNexis Risk SolutionsMercator Advisory GroupNexChangeThe Nilson ReportOvumThe PaypersPlug and PlayPR NewswireRegulation AsiaRFi GroupSingapore FinTech AssociationSME Finance ForumSwiss Finance + Technology AssociationWHub, and World Fintech Association.

Symbiont Wins Distributed Ledger Technology Award for Second Year in a Row

Symbiont Wins Distributed Ledger Technology Award for Second Year in a Row

When it comes to award-winning, buy-side, distributed ledger technologies, the smart contract solutions from Symbiont are apparently pretty hard to beat.

For the second consecutive year, the New York-based company has won the Buy-Side Technology Award for Best Distributed Ledger Technology Project by Waters Technology. In accepting the award, Symbiont CEO and co-founder Mark Smith emphasized the technology’s applicability to the buy-side, calling it a “founding principle” to help “upgrade settlement processes in capital markets via blockchain and smart contracts.” Smith highlighted the decentralized nature of Symbiont’s platform, with each network node being equal, as another advantage. “Because there are no gatekeepers in Symbiont networks,” Smith said, “the balance of power is fair to everyone and we appreciate the buy-side recognizing the value of this.”

Adam Krellenstein, Symbiont CTO and co-founder, during his presentation, “Distributed Ledgers and Smart Contracts” at FinDEVr New York 2016.

Symbiont Chairman and President Caitlin Long was even more specific, adding that the “long-only buy-side” is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of blockchain technology. This is because many of the costs increasingly borne by the buy-side – latency, capital requirements, counterparty risk – can be reduced with blockchain-based solutions, Long explained.

Founded in 2015, Symbiont has supported a number of major blockchain projects including its joint venture with Ipreo – a 19-party pilot for syndicated loans – and its work with the Delaware Blockchain Initiative. Last month, the company joined the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance as a corporate member, and this summer, Symbiont announced a strategic investment from Medici Ventures. A partnership with Privatemarket.io to build an alternative investment marketplace for closed-end funds announced in June and an investment from China’s Hundsun Technologies in May further characterize a busy year for Symbiont.

Company CTO and co-founder Adam Krellenstein presented “Distributed Ledgers and Smart Contracts” at FinDEVr New York 2016 where he explained the differences between Symbiont’s Smart Securities system and traditional distributed databases.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Symbiont Wins Distributed Ledger Technology Award for a Second Year in a Row.

Around the web

  • FinTech Insider News interviews Revolut founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky.
  • Diebold Nixdorf SVP of Software Alan Kerr talks omnichannel ecommerce with PYMNTS.com.
  • Betterment’s Nick Holeman discusses spotting bull markets on CNBC.
  • CardFlight to power mobile POS offering from Beyond.
  • Quotatis Pro highlights Xero in its list of top apps to help you run your business.
  • Neustar joins Visa ID Intelligence as a digital identity partner.
  • PayNearMe teams up with New York City Department of Finance to enable parking ticket fines at more than 100 area 7-Elevens.

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.

TransferWise Raises $280 Million in Series E

TransferWise Raises $280 Million in Series E

In a round led by Old Mutual Global Investors and venture capital firm IVP, TransferWise has raised $280 million in new funding. The new capital, which takes the London-based fintech’s total financing to more than $396 million, will be used to help the money transfer innovator grow its services and expand its global presence – particularly in Asia. The Series D also will enable TransferWise to build on its newly-launched service that helps SMEs reduce or even avoid conversion fees by letting them hold money in different currencies.

Also participating in the round were new investors Sapphire Ventures and World Innovation Lab, as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Ballie Gifford, and Richard Branson. TransferWise now has an estimated valuation of $1.6 billion.

Quoted in Reuters, TransferWise finance director Matthew Briers noted that the company was “moving significant amounts of money on a monthly basis,” but there is still room for growth. “There are still many trillions of dollars that are moving cross-border,” he said. In addition to plans to expand into the Asia-Pacific region, TransferWise added that it will launch in India “within the next year.” An API that will enable financial institutions to readily access Transferwise’s platform is also in the cards, the company said. Bloomberg’s coverage of the news also featured company chairman and former CEO Taavet Hinrikus hinting at the “very high likelihood” of TransferWise becoming a public company, though Hinrikus added it was “still quite a number of years away.”

TransferWise demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2013. Founded in 2010, the company has more than two million customers and more than 750 currency routes. Last month, TransferWise unveiled new fees for GBP transfers, a month after the company was named to the European Fintech Awards & Conference’s European Fintech 100. Bringing its Borderless Accounts solution to Canada in August, TransferWise announced in July that its customers could use ApplePay to send money globally via its platform – the same month co-founder Kristo Käärmann took over as CEO of the company. With more than $1 billion in transferred funds each month, TransferWise reached profitability in May of this year.

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Chekk

FinovateAsia Sneak Peek: Chekk

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on November 7 and 8 in Hong Kong. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

Chekk is a B2B2C digital identity ecosystem. For consumers, it offers a mobile app to own, manage, and share personal data. For businesses, it provides a web portal and API to request access to data at on-boarding and during periodic refreshes.

Features

  • Is easy, secure, and reusable consumer data wallet
  • Offers a business portal to manage customers, send new data requests, and refreshes
  • Has more coming including OCR, data and document verification, and secure messaging

Why it’s great
It enables the shift of personal data ownership from the businesses to the individuals, to the benefits of both, simplifying KYC cross-businesses, cross-industry (banks, insurers, etc.) and cross-borders.

Presenter

Benjamin Petit, Hong Kong Country Manager
After having co-founded a boutique M&A in Paris supporting SMEs and start-ups, Petit came to Asia and gained 13 years of experience in large scale, private-public utilities projects.

Trends Rise to the Top at FinovateAsia

Trends Rise to the Top at FinovateAsia

FinovateAsia, our showcase of the newest technology from the Asia Pacific region, is coming to Hong Kong next week on November 7 and 8 (and there’s still time to register). Each of the 32 presenting companies will bring a unique set of technologies, focusing on a range of fintech trends.

So what’s hot in Asia Pacific in 2017? Here’s a look at the themes that will dominate the stage next week:

Top three trends:

  • Data analytics
    Many fintechs are leveraging big data about user behavior, transactions, and their online footprint in order to underwrite loans, provide a more personalized customer experience, or monitor app usage to authenticate the user even after they’ve logged into a session.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning
    These two trends go hand-in-hand and have proven to be the hottest ideas in fintech this year. Companies are leveraging these technologies to engage with customers via chatbots, to automate investing algorithms that learn over time to optimize returns, and to prevent fraudulent activity.
  • Personalization
    With so much consumer data already online, plus all the information created from daily transactions, banks have the opportunity to assist and engage consumers in new ways. Banks can help clients understand their spending habits, anticipate what’s next, and find new ways to save or pay down debt. In addition, banks can leverage customer information to assess their needs and offer them relevant products in the exact place and time they’ll need it.

Get a sneak peek of the specific technologies the companies will showcase and be sure to take a look at the extended agenda. We’re intermixing the company demos with keynote speakers, panel discussions, and an exhibition of fintech accelerators. We’ll see you next week at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong!


FinovateAsia 2017 is sponsored by: Invest Hong KongCeleritiFintechLleida.net, and Barlings Capital.

FinovateAsia 2017 is partners with: 500 StartupsAgorizeAite GroupAsia Cloud Computing AssociationBankersHubBayPayBanking TechnologyBeFast.TVBigData-MadeSimple.comBlockExplorerBreaking BanksByte AcademyCB InsightsCelentConventus LawEbankingNewsFemTechFinancial ITFINOLABFintech Association of Hong KongFintech FinanceFintech News Hong KongFinTechTimeForresterHeadcountHolland FintechHong Kong Economic TimesThe Hong Kong Foreign Financial Institutions AssociationIBS IntelligenceInnovate FinanceInsight AlphaLexisNexis Risk SolutionsMercator Advisory GroupNexChangeThe Nilson ReportOvumThe PaypersPlug and PlayPR NewswireRegulation AsiaRFi GroupSingapore FinTech AssociationSME Finance ForumSwiss Finance + Technology AssociationWHub, and World Fintech Association.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Trends Rise to the Top at FinovateAsia.
  • TransferWise Raises $280 Million in Series D.

Around the web

  • Bar Harbor Bank & Trust converts to Jack Henry Banking’s SilverLake system.
  • Dime Community Bank ($6.44 billion in assets) to deploy real-time core banking platform and digital banking solutions from Fiserv.
  • iSignthis wraps up $6.5 million private placement.
  • BizEquity bolsters executive team, adding two new VPs in product management and engineering, Amir Tahvildaran and Eric May.
  • Dwolla’s Access API helps mobile debt repayment and savings app Qoins grow margins by 10%.

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.

Clinc Goes Global With Deployments in Six Countries, Signs Deal with Turkey’s Biggest Private Bank

Clinc Goes Global With Deployments in Six Countries, Signs Deal with Turkey’s Biggest Private Bank

Conversational AI innovator Clinc has partnered with Işbank, the largest private bank in Turkey, which will deploy the Finovate Best of Show winner’s technology within its two mobile banking apps. The bank’s mobile banking app will provide users with a voice-activated intelligent personal assistant, while the bank’s mobile wallet payments app will feature Clinc’s AI brain and enable in-store payments and money transfers.

The announcement makes Işbank the first global FI to offer conversational AI with multi-language support. It also means that Clinc’s natural language platform, Finie, is now deployed in six countries and in 80 different languages. The partnership with Isbank alone will put Clinc’s technology in the hands of more than 4.5 million app users.

Clinc CEO and co-founder Dr. Jason Mars demonstrating Finie, a conversational AI platform, at FinovateSpring 2016.

“In contrast to the rule-based, bot-approach taken by all other vendors in the market, the fundamentals of our deep neural-network architecture enable us to break down the barriers to global adoption of conversational A.I.,” Clinc CEO Dr. Jason Mars said. “We can deploy to a bank in Istanbul or Singapore just as quickly and easily as we can deploy to a bank in Chicago or New York.”

Leveraging advanced natural language processing, machine learning, and deep neural networks, Clinc’s conversational AI platform is able to comprehend, recall, and respond to unstructured, everyday human speech. The technology understands speech patterns, word and sentence structure, and sentiment, surpassing other solutions that merely convert speech to text and rely on a set of pre-coded responses. This is also key to the multi-language capabilities of Clinc’s technology. “We’re miles ahead because the only other way to do multi-language is to start from scratch, and to code new rules and new grammar for every new language,” Mars explained.

Clinc demonstrated its Finie conversational AI technology at FinovateFall 2016, winning Best of Show. Last month, the company announced a partnership with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Enacomm that will make it easier for smaller banks and credit unions to adopt AI chatbot technology. In August, Clinc integrated its technology with the Alexa skill for members of USAA.

Founded in 2015 and based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Clinc has raised $7.75 million in funding and includes Drive Capital, Cahoots Holdings, Hyde Park Venture Partners, and individual investor Stuart Porter among its investors. Company co-founder and CEO Mars was named one of the Top 10 Most Innovative CEOs in Banking 2017 by Bank Innovation. Check out his thoughts on what it takes to become a successful fintech start-up in our roundtable conversation from earlier this year.

Credit Karma Launches Online Vehicle Center

Credit Karma Launches Online Vehicle Center

Until now, the best way to gauge whether you’re paying too much for auto insurance was to call around to a variety of auto insurance companies. And in order to gain information on your car’s safety recalls, you had to visit the manufacturer’s website. Figuring out what your car is worth was yet another task– usually a visit to KBB.com (or to the library, for luddites).

Consumer credit monitoring and financial health startup Credit Karma has launched a new offering today that changes those routines. The company’s new automotive information center is a one-stop shop for helping consumers to manage and organize their vehicle-related finances and information. Included among the capabilities are an overview of the user’s DMV profile, with vehicle and drivers license information, vehicle value estimations, and manufacturer recall notices.

The two most notable capabilities are the auto insurance score and comparison tool and the vehicle refinancing decision tool. The insurance tool offers up information about consumer’s auto insurance score (see image, right) and enables them to shop around for a better deal on car insurance. Highlighting the value of the refinancing feature, Rory Joyce, director of product for CreditKarma told CNBC, “We started to notice that many of our members have auto loans that were effectively mispriced. We found just bringing awareness of what the calculated APR is, versus what we think they deserve, is eye opening.” In order to keep drivers up-to-date, Credit Karma sends alerts to customers when their credit score makes them eligible for a better car insurance or refinancing rate.

Above: the tool offers vehicle value information and recall notices

Earlier this summer, Credit Karma launched Credit Karma Mortgage, a tool that helps homeowners discover savings opportunities available through refinancing. That same month, the company unveiled Unclaimed Money, a feature that monitors government databases in seven states to notify consumers if they are owed money. Founded in 2007, Credit Karma debuted one of its largest product expansions in 2016 when it launched a free tax filing service. The company’s CEO and founder Ken Lin demonstrated Credit Karma’s technology at FinovateSpring 2009.

Vera for Mail Delivers Enterprise-Grade Encryption for Email

Vera for Mail Delivers Enterprise-Grade Encryption for Email

Security specialist Vera unveiled its latest solution for sharing and securing enterprise data today: Vera for Mail. Now generally available, the new technology protects confidential correspondence, classifies messages, and dynamically changes access rights in real-time. Vera for Mail enables automatic encryption of email messages and attachments, providing better control over sensitive information.

“The significant rise in data breaches from compromised email is changing how companies think about protecting their critical communications,” Vera CTO and co-founder Prakash Linga said in a statement. Warning that a lack of control over sensitive correspondence means “losing the battle” against cybercrime, Linga added “by leveraging the same encryption, classification, rights management, and tracking that powers our file security products, we can achieve what other solutions can’t: simple, data-centric security for email that just works.”

Vera CEO and co-founder Ajay Arora demonstrating the company’s data protection technology at FinovateSpring 2016.

Launched as a private beta this spring, Vera for Mail gives workers, contractors, partners, and third parties the ability to control sensitive information after it leaves the organization. The technology provides complete visibility into all email access attempts and enables the user to manage and track access and sharing. Additionally, the solution allows users to dynamically watermark emails, restrict ability to take screenshots, and limit or prevent email forwarding. Vera for Mail can also be automated to provide security, manage access, and track sharing for both internal and external email correspondence in complex enterprises.

Announcing the general availability of the technology at the Vera blog, VP of Marketing Grant Shirk underscored the importance of a security solution that does not compromise the user experience – “Truly, this is where prior attempts at making email security work in the enterprise have failed,” he noted. Instead, Vera for Mail enables “securing an email … as easy as pressing send” through a combination of dynamic data protection and “an experience purpose-built for collaboration,” Shirk wrote. Vera for Mail works with popular email clients such as Outlook and Apple Mail, and can also be deployed with browser-based email clients like Gmail.

Vera made its Finovate debut last year, demonstrating its security platform at FinovateSpring 2016. Last month, the company announced that it would provide data security services for General Electric. In May, Vera reported that it would provide support for multi-factor authentication solutions from a trio of companies including fellow Finovate alum, Twilio. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Vera has raised $50 million in funding, including a $15 million strategic investment earlier this year. Hasso Plattner Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, and Battery Ventures are among the company’s investors.

Iberiabank to Deploy Bank Operating System from nCino

Iberiabank to Deploy Bank Operating System from nCino

nCino’s Bank Operating System just gained another partner, reports Calum Parry of Banking Technology (Finovate’s sister publication).

Iberiabank has selected nCino’s cloud-based Bank Operating System to process services across several lines of business, including commercial and SME lending and treasury management.

After an evaluation of its current technologies, the bank identified the need for a partner that would help optimize its processes to enable “efficient and profitable growth”, explained Iberiabank.

According to nCino, its Bank Operating System allows for a single, secure cloud-based platform, built on Salesforce, that combines customer relationship management (CRM), loan origination, deposit account opening, workflow, enterprise content management, business process management, digital engagement and instant reporting.

Mike Boyd, Director of Strategic Risk Initiatives at Iberiabank, said “nCino will deliver a holistic view of our client relationships from the convenience of one platform, allowing us to present more timely, personalized offerings and better meet clients’ financial needs”.

Headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, Iberiabank has a branch network of 228 locations in ten southeastern states of the US.

Other recent deals for nCino include ConnectOne in New Jersey, Gulf Coast Bank & Trust in Louisiana, Pacific Western Bank in California (the 100th implementation of Bank Operating System), Great Southern Bank in Missouri, Valley National Bank in New Jersey, North State Bank in North Carolina and CrossFirst Bank in Kansas. Previously, nCino gained its first client outside the U.S, U.K.-based OakNorth Bank.

nCino demonstrated its Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017 in February. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino has raised more than $81 million in funding. The company’s investors include Insight Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Wellington Management.