ThreatMetrix Teams Up with Gemalto

ThreatMetrix Teams Up with Gemalto
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ThreatMetrix

Authentication and fraud prevention company ThreatMetrix announced a new partnership with digital security company Gemalto. The two fintech players will offer “holistic authentication” to banks, payment services providers, credit card networks, international payment transfer companies, and fintech companies across the globe. Specifically, the companies have joined forces today to combine insights from ThreatMetrix’s Digital Identity Network with Gemalto’s authentication solutions. The user-friendly security solutions help financial institutions expand their online offerings securely.

“Authenticating digital identities has become essential for the financial services industry,” says Pascal Podvin, SVP of field operations for ThreatMetrix. “This allows financial institutions to deliver superior customer experiences while driving online revenue growth. Crucially, this also prevents massive losses from rising fraud attacks, particularly in cases of identity spoofing.” Podvin added that today’s partnership also helps banks “deliver superior customer experiences” and prevent “massive losses from rising fraud attacks.”

ThreatMetrix’s Andreas Baumhof (CTO) and Dean Weinert (Sr. Director Product Management) demo at FinovateSpring 2017

Founded in 2009, the San Jose-based company verifies more than 20 billion annual transactions supporting 30,000 websites and 4,500 customers across the globe through its Digital Identity Network. The network feeds into ThreatMetrix’s Digital Identity Graph. Launched at FinovateSpring 2016, the Digital Identity Graph gathers information on billions of transactions collected from tens of thousands of websites to build a user’s digital identity by analyzing connections between the user, their locations, behaviors, and devices. At FinovateSpring 2017, the company’s CTO, Andreas Baumhof, and Sr. Director Product Management, Dean Weinert, launched SmartAuthentication for banks with multiple authentication methods.

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Be the First to Experience Our Expanded FinovateFall Show and Save $600

Be the First to Experience Our Expanded FinovateFall Show and Save $600
By Tyler Ferst Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2017


Super early-bird ticket pricing ends Friday!
Register before June 9th and save $600

 
Join the fintech elite back in NYC for a brand new, expanded FinovateFall conference.

 

The first two days follow the traditional Finovate format where 70+ innovative fintech companies will have 7 minutes to demo their latest solutions live (no slides or videos allowed).

For the first time in Finovate history, we’ve doubled the content to four days. Stick around for two days of business-altering dialogue, discussion and decision-making about the trends driving fintech. Turn light-bulb moments into real-world action and leave with dozens of new ideas for your 2018 product roadmap and strategic planning.


This is the best deal you’ll see for this event, so register now.
Space is limited – make sure to lock in your spot (and the savings) today!

Raise your profile and showcase your thought leadership
Make the most of the business opportunities available at FinovateFall 2017 by becoming an event sponsor. We can provide flexible and tailored solutions to maximize your time at the event and ensure you meet your business goals. For more information please contact Victor Cruz via email or call: +44 (20) 701 75593.
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FinDEVr Preview: eWise

FinDEVr Preview: eWise
By Tyler Ferst Posted on
Categories: eWise, FinDEVr 2017 London, FinDEVr London 2017 Preview

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr London 2017, 12  & 13 June. Visit our registration page and save your spot today. 


The eWise Aegis platform enables developers to connect with users’ financial accounts. Consumers are empowered to safely aggregate, store, manage and share their sensitive personal information with financial apps, in a safe and secure way, through our patented client-side aggregation technology, ready for PSD2 XS2A.

Why it’s a must-see

Aegis technology allows us to connect both to direct channels like PSD2 APIs and to indirect channels via HTML parsing.

Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr London 2017 presentations. Visit our registration page to save your spot. 

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FinDEVr Preview: CASHOFF

FinDEVr Preview: CASHOFF
By Tyler Ferst Posted on
Categories: CASHOFF, FinDEVr 2017 London, FinDEVr London 2017 Preview

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr London 2017, 12  & 13 June. Visit our registration page and save your spot today. 


CASHOFF’s presentation will center around technologies for collecting information about consumers and small-and-medium-sized enterprises (financial data from banks and receipts with items from shops).  The demo will include examples of using it in scoring systems, loyalty programs and PFM systems inside online and mobile banking applications.

 

Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr London 2017 presentations. Visit our registration page to save your spot. 

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FinDEVr Preview: Kontomatik

FinDEVr Preview: Kontomatik
By Tyler Ferst Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr 2017 London, FinDEVr London 2017 Preview, Kontomatik

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr London 2017, 12  & 13 June. Visit our registration page and save your spot today. 


Learn how to navigate through the fintech bullsh*t.
Hackers from Kontomatik will give you their hard take on the most hyped words and notions, from blockchain to NoSQL to microservices to machine learning. Learn the company’s fintech dictionary. Understand.

Why it’s a must-see

  1. Enterprise blockchains are a huge overpromise.
  2. NoSQL databases are C-of- databases: a low-level tool you will likely never need.
  3. Microservices are not micro.

Check out more previews of upcoming FinDEVr London 2017 presentations. Visit our registration page to save your spot. 

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Zooz Partners with PayU to Help Merchants Reach Customers in High Growth Markets

Zooz Partners with PayU to Help Merchants Reach Customers in High Growth Markets
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Zooz

Payment technology innovator Zooz has inked a deal with PayU that will help merchants reach customers in high growth markets. The partnership combines Zooz’s expertise in facilitating cross-border payments – including the company’s Smart Routing technology – with PayU’s deep presence in emerging markets around the world.

“PayU is clearly aware of the opportunities and barriers faced by international merchants,” Zooz CEO Oren Levy said. “The combination of PayU’s expertise and customer base with Zooz’s advanced technology platform is a natural fit, and we look forward to helping merchants gain access to new global markets and opportunities,” he said. Citing cross-border payment infrastructure as a major challenge for businesses in high growth markets, PayU CCO Matthias Setzer added that Zooz’s technology would “help us solve some of the difficulties facing merchants.” Setzer noted that the high growth markets PayU specializes in make up 85% of the world’s population. “Ambitious merchants are increasingly attracted to the business opportunities this presents,” he said.

The news from Zooz and PayU comes weeks before the two companies are slated to make further partner-related announcements during the Money20/20 Europe conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. We will update this post as soon as the companies make the news public.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Raanana, Israel, Zooz demonstrated its Transforming Checkout technology at FinovateFall 2013. The company has raised more than $39 million in funding, including a $24 million Series C completed in May 2016. The company includes Target Global, Blumberg Capital, XSeed Capital, and lool ventures among its investors. Named to Emerging Stars roster of H2 Ventures and KPMG’s 2016 Fintech 100 in October, we featured Zooz in our look at fintech innovation in Israel.

PayU is an online payment service provider with local operations in 16 high-growth markets around the world including in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The company is the e-payments division of multi-national media corporation Naspers Ltd. which was founded in 1915. Last month, PayU forged a global partnership with Finovate alum, Kreditech, investing more than $124 million (€110 million) in the German-based company. Former PayPal executive Laurent le Moal joined PayU as CEO in January 2016.

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Hack The Core: CeleritiFintech Readies for July Hackathon

Hack The Core: CeleritiFintech Readies for July Hackathon
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: hackathon, Sponsored

There’s a month and a half to go before CeleritiFinTech (CFT) launches its first core banking hackathon, CFT Hack the Core. And if you’re a fintech developer or startup looking to partner with a leading core banking provider in financial services, CFT Hack the Core on July 14 – 16 in San Ramon may be the moment you’ve been waiting for.

Most financial services have a Fintech strategy which involves collaborating with all kinds of Fintechs – disruptive and enabling startups,” CeleritiFintech’s CEO Oded Shoshany said. “CFT is enabling a direct Core API connectivity, as we realize that collaboration with financial services and licensing or white-labeling startup innovation represents a significant market potential for Fintechs and Banks,” he added.

Based on CFT’s high-performance Hogan core banking software and its APIs, events like CFT Hack the Core can be important stepping stones for emerging fintech startups. Faced with the dual challenges of long sales cycles in the financial services industry and the lack of domain expertise and overall knowledge of the environment, even the most innovative startups can struggle to get their technologies seen by the right people in the right places. By contrast, partnering with companies like CeleritiFinTech enables startups to leverage existing CFT relationships with financial services companies as well as take advantage pre-integration measures that save time and cut red tape.

As part of the competition, CeleritiFinTech will offer up to 20 startups access to more than 25 of its banking APIs. These tools will enable competitors to build exciting and innovative solutions for banks and their customers in challenge areas such as API banking, customer service, and payment innovation. Hackathon winners will also earn invitations to work with the iValley Fintech Market Readiness Accelerator run by iValley Innovation Center and powered by CeleritiFinTech. Here they will refine their solutions ahead of a Demo Day event during CeleritFinTech’s Core Banking Innovation Summit in early 2018. The six-month long accelerator program runs from August 2017 through January 2018, and provides mentoring, office space, and other resources to help startups further develop their technology toward minimum viable product status. Accelerator participants will also benefit from monthly workshops with industry experts, and business and go-to market strategy development, as well as fundraising advice and networking with investors.

Applying to CFT Hack the Core is easy. Visit the Hackathon registration page at http://www.celeritift.com/events/hackathon, provide contact information, a description of your idea and how you plan to partner with CeleritiFinTech’s core banking system, your preferred challenge area, your startup stage (early stage, seed or Series A, growth, etc.) and that’s it.

“The CFT Hack the Core provides a unique opportunity for Fintech startups to pre-integrate with Core Banking, Loan or Payment Microservices and showcase their value proposition to leading financial institutions,” said Paddy Ramanathan, Managing Director at iValley Innovation Center. “This type of creative partnerships for FIntechs with innovative providers like CFT has the potential to rapidly accelerate their growth and reduce customer acquisition costs. Embracing this new-core with pre-integrated Fintechs provides financial institutions the much-needed operational agility to compete with disruptive Fintech value proposition. It is a win-win for everyone.”

CeleritiFinTech is a specialist in helping banks, credit unions and other financial services businesses leverage advanced core banking technology to modernize their operations. Launched as a joint venture by global IT giants HCL and DXC Technology (formerly CSC) in 2015, CFT is focused on ensuring FIs are able to maximize the way they use their existing platforms while implementing new solutions and services designed to accelerate growth. CFT leverages software and product development talent from DXC Technology and capital investment, application implementation and more from HCL, to bring cloud-based, advanced core banking services and solutions to a widening group of partners in financial services.

With the Hogan Core Banking System, CeleritiFinTech provides a high-performance core banking software platform that provides real-time, cross channel engagement via an integrated suite of applications. Featuring real-time processing and mobile and online access, the Hogan Core Banking System was used by top tier banks in the United States and globally. 

So if helping banks and credit unions gain “flexibility, efficiency, and value for money” aligns with the mission statement for your fintech startup, then we’ll look forward to seeing your application to CFT Hack the Core, the Hogan Core Banking System Hackathon sponsored by CeleritiFinTech, July 14 through July 16 in San Ramon.

 

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BanQu, Fiserv, Insuritas, Trustly, Zooz

Around the web

  • The largest bank in the Philippines, BDO Unibank, reups with Fiserv.
  • Customers of PayU gain access to payments services from Zooz courtesy of new partnership.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews BanQu co-founder, Ashish Gadnis.
  • Insuritas partners with Constellation to Monetize Online Banking Experience.

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

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Quisk’s Blockchain Buy-in Boosts Security, Improves Access to Transaction Data

Quisk’s Blockchain Buy-in Boosts Security, Improves Access to Transaction Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Quisk

When the going gets tough, the tough go blockchain.

That’s the takeaway from the news that payment network platform Quisk will store its transaction ledgers on a private blockchain. The blockchain layer will work with Quisk’s existing platform and APIs to give banks easy access to transaction data such as merchant settlement and bank reconciliation via their own backend systems.

“We are excited to be leveraging the tremendous power of Blockchain technology to propagate trust among our customer banks,” Quisk CTO Praveen Amancheria said. “This technology eliminates barriers, giving banks the ability to easily and securely access their transaction data.” Amancheria called blockchain “the next internet for the financial industry” and added that “the tools to retrieve data from (the) Blockchain will soon be as ubiquitous as web browsers.”

Pictured (left to right): Quisk CTO Praveen Amancheria and CMO Dan Glessner demonstrating the Quisk digital services platform at FinovateFall 2015.

Quisk has developed a technology, digital cash, that enables banks to take advantage of the 85% of all retail transactions worldwide that are still cash-based. “Banks make nothing when cash is used,” Quisk CMO Dan Glessner explained during the company’s demo at FinovateFall. “We enable banks to create a new type of account, and to monetize the digital cash transactions.” Quisk partners with issuing and acquiring banks to create what Amancheria called an “open interoperable payment network.” He said: “we have a very ambitious goal: we want to do for cash what Visa and Mastercard have done for credit.”

Users of the new accounts can access their money using their smartphone and a PIN. The platform supports 14 different transaction types including P2P and P2M (person-to-merchant), and works with incumbent POS systems. As part of the company’s Finovate demo, Glessner and Amancheria showed how a consumer could make a purchase without cash, debit or credit card, or even the physical smartphone itself simply using his moible phone number and PIN. Moreoever, as Amancheria reminded the banks in the audience, “if Dan had paid with cash, the banks would have made zero. But because Dan used Quisk, banks have the opportunity to make money off of this digital cash transaction.” Amancheria also highlighted the digital loyalty and rewards opportunities available to merchants using the Quisk platform, as well.

Pictured: Quisk CTO Praveen Amancheria during his presentation at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015.

Glessner and Amancheria underscored how the technology was especially beneficial in helping banks work with underserved communities. Because the technology works with both smartphone and feature phones, and on all types of mobile network operator services, Amancheria said, “banks can reach out to the widest possible market segment and acquire new types of customers … those who have mobile phones but no bank accounts.”

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Quisk demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2015. The company also participated in our developers conference, discussing the technology behind its digital services platform at FinDEVr 2015 Silicon Valley. Last year, Quisk deployed its technology at National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) and with Network International in UAE. The company has raised $5 million in funding and includes Acadia Woods Partners and Plug and Play among its investors.

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Expensify Exceeds 35,000 Customers

Expensify Exceeds 35,000 Customers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Concur, Expensify

Travel and expense management company Expensify announced today it has surpassed 35,000 global customers this month. Contributing to this milestone, the San Francisco-based company has added about 15,000 new customers in the U.S. this year alone.

This accomplishment places Expensify as the second most widely used expense management company, positioned just behind fellow Finovate alum, Concur, which demoed at FinovateSpring 2012. And while Expensify has more customers than Concur, Concur’s average customer size is larger than Expensify’s — giving Concur more active users than Expensify.

In the blog post announcement, Expensify also reported it has updated its mobile app. The consumer-facing app has moved the Expenses, Reports, and Trips lists behind the hamburger menu. The company notes that this is significant because it exemplifies Concierge’s AI automation capabilities. The Concierge bot, which we featured after its launch in 2016, automates expense management tasks such as credit card matching, reimbursable/non-reimbursable splits, and expense policy analysis. Writing about the app update in the Expensify blog, the company’s CEO David Barrett said, “if everything is configured correctly, you should almost never need to look at them yourself, because Concierge is looking at them for you.”

Expensify launched in 2008 with its flagship receipt-scanning app and a simple motto, “Expense reports that don’t suck!” In the almost-10 years since then, the company has shipped multiple updates, expansions, and new products that “don’t suck.” Most recently, at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, Expensify presented Bedrock, an open sourced relational database management system. Last month, the company announced it partnered with Finovate alum Xero to provide an in-house expense management system for the New Zealand-based company. Expensify last demoed at FinovateSpring 2013, where the company showed off its integrated invoicing technology.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agreement Express, Expensify, Misys, Moven, NuData Security, OurCrowd, Quisk, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Expensify Exceeds 35,000 Customers.
  • Quisk’s Blockchain Buy-in Boosts Security, Improves Access to Transaction Data.

Around the web

  • Alternative investment intelligence provider Crowdsurfer adds data from P2P innovator, Zopa.
  • Misys introduces FusionCapital Regulatory Reporting to help banks comply with the MiFID II.
  • NuData wins CNP 2017 Customer Choice Award for Best Identity Verification/Authentication Solution
  • Agreement Express opens its new office in the City of London as part of their expansion strategy.
  • Developed in partnership with Moven Enterprise, Westpac New Zealand’s budget-tracking app, CashNav wins CANSTAR 2017 Innovation Excellence Award.
  • Customers of National Australia Bank (NAB) gain direct access to equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd courtesy of new collaboration.

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

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Stop Cyber Attacks Before They Happen: Three Easy Hacks

Stop Cyber Attacks Before They Happen: Three Easy Hacks
By finovate Posted on
Categories: Veridium

Written by James Stickland, CEO of Veridium (FinovateEurope 2017). Originally published in FinTech Futures.

Consider this terrible dichotomy: while the average person’s application count has gone up significantly, corresponding end user cyber-security measures have gone up little, if at all. Between the app store, social channels, and the multitude of devices in use, a person’s threat landscape – the number of points from which a hacker could target them – has increased dramatically. As a result, the end-user is enormously reliant on enterprise and application providers to keep their data secure when they use these apps.

Cifas recently reported that cyber-enabled identity fraud has hit record levels in the U.K. – with younger users amongst the top targets. This seems counter-intuitive, as this demographic is certainly more tech-savvy. However, someone aged 18-21 may not be as protective of their finances as someone in their mid-40s. The younger generation doesn’t have distinguished user behavior (i.e., they haven’t opened or closed credit cards or taken loans) so it’s difficult for banks to determine what’s normal for them.

Banks have an endless amount of sensitive customer data in their possession and are under pressure to generate increased revenue per user, which means multiple touch points with single clients. This is proliferating the problem by creating increasingly complex client maps and insertion points where hackers can find their way in. Companies are working furiously to thwart attacks, but there are some very straight forward approaches that institutions should be taking to stop the attacks before they occur.

Why aren’t banks doing anything about it?

The cybersecurity problems are clear and the news headlines tell the story. In fact, in 2016, the five biggest data breaches all involved compromised, weak or reused passwords. So why isn’t anyone doing anything about this? One of the key drivers is a risk aversion to putting off customers, or complicating employee access. Anytime you require a change in behavior you can expect a backlash. For example, what would you do if suddenly your expectation of what was required to use an online account changed? Institutions think they are making passwords safer by requiring them to be more complex. In the end, this approach is self-defeating and delusional. It’s not making us safer, it’s putting us at a higher risk and defeating the original plan.

What can we do in the finance industry?

Financial companies are filled with high-value assets and have been making the attack landscape more complex through better and more intelligent firewalls, managed rules, and policies. There has also been a segregation of the data, isolating high value content and adding end-point and data-specific security. Yet, security is never a finished project; it is an ever-evolving beast and hackers have an incentive to keep getting smarter. So how can we stay alert and act?

1. Take away the easy entry points

Passwords are an easy entry point. Enterprises set rules and requirements in an attempt to maintain security:  increase the number of times a user needs to change their password, set guidelines that say the password can’t have been used before, or it must include seven characters. Yet, adding rules doesn’t change the issue behind the password.

2. Update security questions

Previously, companies didn’t have to consider the social aspect. It wasn’t a concern that someone could find out your mother’s maiden name or your high school mascot just by checking your Facebook; personal details were less accessible. This is not the case today. Consider how simple it is for hackers to research and uncover those answers.

3. Kill the password

Weak and compromised passwords continue to be a major attack point for hackers, and the costs for maintaining them are high. Even with these issues and if your password policy hasn’t been compromised, passwords don’t prove you are you – they just prove you know something about who you say you are.

Biometric authentication allows you to prove you are who you are through a variety of methods – face recognition, iris recognition, fingerprint scanning, and behavioral authentication. It offers your customers the ability to quickly and conveniently access their accounts, avoid forgotten and misplaced passwords, while increasing security and a fit for the digital age.

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