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Daon Brings Mobile Biometric Authentication to UnionBank

By David Penn Posted on March 27, 2017
Categories: Daon

EON, the new digital banking platform from UnionBank of the Philippines, will feature mobile biometric authentication technology from Daon. The company’s solution, Identity X, will enable EON mobile app users to login using fingerprint and face authentication initially, with other authentication options including voice recognition to be available later.

“As banks embark on their digital transformation journey they need strong authentication that doesn’t sacrifice the user experience,” Daon CEO Tom Grissen said, “and that is exactly what biometrics provide, a convenient, easy and secure alternative to passwords.” EON Head Advocate Paolo Baltao called Daon a “global leader in large-scale authentication deployments” in financial services. He credited the company for helping “make banking delightful, adding that “with Daon’s Identity X Platform, EON introduced the first ever Selfie Banking in the Philippines.”

Pictured: Daon President of the Americas Conor White demonstrating the biometric authentication platform, Identity X at FinovateFall 2016.

Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Daon demonstrated its Identity X platform at FinovateFall 2016. The company offers a variety of biometric authentication solutions including face, voice, and fingerprint in combination with device binding and geolocation. Daon’s “innovate while you authenticate” approach enables clients to add new biometric authentication technologies to their cyberdefense arsenal as they become available. This helps ensure a modern, state-of-the-art authentication regime over multiple channels for the institution and a seamless verification experience for the end user.

Daon was featured in ABA Banking Journal’s look at biometric authentication in January, and in September, the month of its Finovate debut, the company announced that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) would deploy Daon’s biometric authentication platform. Check out our Finovate Debut profile of Daon from December.

With assets of more than $8 billion USD (440 billion Philippine pesos), UnionBank of the Philippines was founded in Manila in 1982 and is one of the country’s largest banks. UnionBank has been a publicly-traded firms on the Philippine Stock Exchange since 1992, the year it was granted a license to operates as a universal bank. The bank is credited for being an online banking pioneer in the Philippines, having launched the first bank website in the Philippines, as well as the first digital savings account with its EON program. UnionBank was recognized as Commercial Bank of the Year and Best Innovation in Retail Banking by the International Banker.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 27, 2017
Categories: Daon, Dyme, FamZoo, Feedzai, MasterCard, TickSmith, Tradeshift, Worldline

On Finovate.com

Daon Brings Mobile Biometric Authentication to UnionBank.

A Look at the Savings Tech Horizon: Standalone, Automated Savings with Dyme and Digit.

A Look at the Savings Tech Horizon: Gen-Z Targeted with Worldline and FamZoo.

Around the web

TradeShift announces new AI-powered interface for B2B commerce, Tradeshift Ada.

MasterCard introduces new fraud detection solution, Decision Intelligence.

Co-op Financial Services to leverage machine learning-based fraud fighting technology from Feedzai.

TickSmith partners with DataBP to bring integrated financial data solutions to exchanges.

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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Rise of the Robots; Rise of RegTech

By finovate Posted on March 27, 2017
Categories: Regulations

by Husayn Kassai, CEO and Co-Founder of Onfido Background Checks. First published on FinTech Futures.

Robo advisers are democratizing access to financial services by offering expert financial advice, and with it RegTech is growing. We have seen this trend start in the US, and spread to the rest of the world. With Wealthfront and Betterment already household names and companies like Scalable Capital launching in both the UK and Germany, the market for robo advice is growing, and growing fast.

In its simplest form, the technology essentially involves replacing traditional, face-to-face savings and investment advice with automated, online guidance. Its capabilities extend much further than simply offering advice however; based on complex sets of algorithms, robo advisers can also execute on instruction and even invest money on your behalf.

The advantages of the technology are many, not least its democratization of access to investment and subsequent opening up of wealth management to the masses.

In particular, the need for remote, robust identity verification – ensuring a person is who they claim to be – will be paramount. As access to investment advice becomes more widely available, with many more users looking to sign up in a frictionless way in the comfort of their own home, the challenge of identity verification and the risks that come with it increase, as there may be more bad actors entering the system. It’s reduction of this risk that Regtech like Onfido offers.

Unfortunately, there’s often a tension between necessary compliance and fraud measures and a seamless, easy on-boarding process. It’s a difficult issue to resolve – while rigorous KYC & AML processes might put off honest applicants, making the user experience easier could make it easier for fraudsters to cheat the system. At Onfido, we’re evolving with the needs of the FinTech community to increase conversion and reduce fraud at the same time. With our SDK, it’s as easy as holding your ID document up to your smartphone or computer and taking a selfie. You can do it in seconds, and from the comfort of your own home, avoiding the long, complicated and fallible process of going in branch or even sending documents by mail.

Robo advice is growing to rapid prominence, and recent acquisitions of robo advice platforms FutureAdvisor and AnlageFinger by global banking giants BlackRock and Deutsche Bank respectively shows how seriously the new tech is being taken.

There’s still a long way to go, however. Regtech like Onfido’s has gone from improving financial services to opening FinTech to thin-files. The next phase will be to push financial inclusion even further and tackle the world’s 2 billion currently unbanked individuals. The technology already exists to enable this companies like Payjoy, for instance, can safely and seamlessly on-board users within seconds and at just a fraction of the considerable time and cost it would previously have taken.

Beyond that, penetration into other verticals is inevitable. A handful of companies in the UK and the US are already taking aim at the mortgage market, and many more look set to follow suit. The Robo market is undoubtedly on the rise, and Regtech is coming with it.

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A Look at the Savings Tech Horizon: Standalone, Automated Savings

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 26, 2017
Categories: Dyme

This is part two of a six part blog series about savings technology. Yesterday we discussed what savings technology looks like in goals-based PFM platforms. Today, we’re considering a far simpler approach– standalone, automated savings platforms.

Missed the other five savings categories? Check them out:

These types of companies debuted in 2011 with the launch of ImpulseSave*, which was acquired by Betterment in 2013. Since that time, a few other competitors have launched and are beginning to build steam with their Millennial user base.

Standalone, automated savings

These are mobile app-based savings tools that differentiate themselves based on simplicity. The solutions are aimed at millennials and use an algorithmic Screen Shot 2017-03-14 at 1.29.08 PM approach to determine the best dollar amount and frequency to save on behalf of the user, based on their historical spend. They use a chat-based interface for client communication and account management. Two examples in this space are Dyme, which takes a strict B2B approach, and Digit, which offers a B2C app.

Dyme
Dyme’s B2C product is a text message savings solution for 18 to 40 year olds. The AI-driven chat capability is set apart by its unique voice and familiar tone. The app offers users the option to set the voice as standard, 1980’s aerobic instructor, sad high school teacher, or terrible parent (see image right).Dyme launched its consumer-facing app at FinovateFall 2015 and has since pivoted. The company has narrowed its focus to a offer a B2B solution and expanded its products to include text capability for customer service, financial education, account alerts, and bill pay reminders.

Digit
This customer-facing app harks back to text banking of the late 1990’s. In fact, users don’t even need a smartphone to take advantage of it. All they need to do it set up an account with their primary debit card and text the commands. Want to set aside an extra $10? Text, “save $10.” Want to withdraw your entire balance to pay your taxes? Text, “withdraw $1,700 for taxes.” To encourage interaction, Digit texts users their savings balance and checking account balance on a regular basis.Last month, the company expanded its platform with the launch of a Goalmojis feature that encourages users to set up and save for all types of spending goals, ranging from vacations to utility bills, simply by texting an emoji that matches that goal, for example a Christmas Tree emoji (pictured right). If the user assigns a due date for the goal, Digit will set aside money on their behalf to help them achieve it.

That’s a look at the first two types of savings technology. Stay tuned later this week for the final three examples.

*This Massachusetts-based company is not to be confused with U.K.-based ImpulseSave, whose parent company True Potential launched a similar product for the European market at FinovateFall 2014.

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Twitter Talk from FinDEVr 2017 New York

By David Penn Posted on March 24, 2017
Categories: FinDEVr 2017 New York

FinDEVr New York may be done. But with FinDEVr London only a few months away, we’re already looking forward to seeing what the international developer community is doing to drive innovation in financial technology.

This year in New York, our two-day developers conference took user experience to new levels – and we’re not just talking about the state-of-the-art virtual reality sessions available for sampling at our FinDEVr Gaming Zone, either. Our partnership with Slido enabled us to bring the wisdom and curiousity of the crowd to life with a digital, Q&A display that kept everyone in the conversation. And, of course, Twitter continues to be one of our favorite ways to hear from our attending audience on what’s hot, what’s cool, and sometimes simply what’s what.

To celebrate our appreciation for our Tweeting developer community at FinDEVr, we offered a pair of awards: Most Active Tweeter and Best Use of #FinDEVr. Our top tweeters were awarded one of a number of prizes such as a miniature drone or a Chromecast – as well as the admiration of their fellow FinDEVr fans on social media.

Now let’s relive a little of that social media magic from FinDEVr 2017 New York.

We hope you had as much fun at FinDEVr New York as we did. And if our New York event only whetted your appetite for the tech side of fintech, remember that the debut of our developers conference in London is right around the corner in June. Visit our FinDEVr London page to get an early look at the growing line-up of presenting companies.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 24, 2017
Categories: DriveWealth, Fiserv, IBM, Kabbage, On Deck Capital, Personal Capital, SigFig, Stocktwits, TradeKing

On Finovate.com:

Twitter Talk from FinDEVr 2017 New York.

Around the web

FinDEVr New York newcomer Fiserv announces enhancements to its real-time, loan servicing solution, LoanServ.

Credit Donkey lists StockTwits, TradeKing, SigFig, DriveWealth, and Personal Capital among its Best Investing Apps of 2017.

Swiss financial sector infrastructure operator SIX partners with IBM Watson to build cyber-security hub. Video of IBM’s FinDEVr 2017 New York presentation last week will available soon in our video archives.

PYMNTS.com looks at speculation that Kabbage may acquire OnDeck.

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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Women in FinTech: An interview with Samina Rizwan

By finovate Posted on March 24, 2017
Categories: Uncategorized

This article was first published on FinTech Futures on 22 March 2017.

Throughout the year we will be profiling women in FinTech, not simply to celebrate their success but also to hear what has worked for them during the course of their careers. This week, Samina Rizwan, Enterprise Architect, Habib Bank Ltd tells us about her path into FinTech and how she has become a distinguished leader within the industry, making a positive impact in the financial services industry. In 2016, Samina was shortlisted for the Woman In Technology (W.I.T) Award with Banking Technology.

How did you start your career?

I started my career 1995, as a Computer Systems Engineer working for a PCB manufacturing company in San Jose. Being a professional engineer, I was excited about the challenges I used to face each day when I routed and designed multi-layered circuit boards in those days where technology was in its midway especially in a country like mine. Yet it was far from sight as to when that type of technology would become common and a career path for engineers in Pakistan. I then switched to the software technology soon after realizing these facts and proceeded with software development further growing into the project management regime and remained as a vendor for another eight years.

I joined the financial industry after 10 years of my career where I started working as customer rather than a vendor and that really change the way I thought about technology, as I was the end user of it. Being a banking technology person, the need of satisfying the bank’s customers became a pressing need of the day. I was engaged in the IT Portfolio Management at the bank working with internal and external customer and also turned the technology back end to offer more innovative financial products.

“I always believe in ‘change for good’.”

What sparked your interest in FinTech?

The Fintech Rise. As the financial world is shrinking and becoming more personal to customers based on their requirements, lifestyle trends, socio-economical changes around the globe has limited the financial institutions to cover the demand and supply cycle of all the customers at an equal and consistent level. Hence the rise of FinTechs gaining momentum and disrupting the financial industry by their financial inclusion in everyone’s life.

What was your lightbulb moment?

In developing countries like mine, the FinTechs have played a vital role along with other service providers like TELCO companies that are providing simple means of payment services to the unbanked masses.

This disruption created a phenomenal change in the financial institution including my previous and current organization to startup banking for the unbanked. This has not only brought in competition to the local market, but is also now becoming popular in the international markets. The African region is offering similar financial products to their customers using technology.

“Women have proven to be an important and critical part of the technology.”

What inspires you?

After having said all about FinTechs, financial institutions, we all remain human at the end of the day and being a human gives us the leverage to bring change on a faster pace, thus driving the technology owners to bring corresponding changes in their technology stacks. I always believe in “change for good” and so I follow the FinTech models to bring changes in the financial institutions while crafting business and IT strategies, bringing in new technologies to the bank, creating room for innovation and new ideas like digital banking.

“Women are far stronger than they think and can carry on another mile to reach the pinnacle of their professional lives and pick themselves up and move on…”

Why is the #WomenInFinTech movement important?

The other half of the world has always been a part of almost every industry, technology included. We, as females have been consistently assisting, creating, developing, researching, innovating, working by all means in all areas of science, technology and engineering at superior levels rather than mediocre levels. The current C-levels in most technology giants currently are “females” and I am really proud to be a woman too. Women, being patient in nature and having the great capability of multi-tasking, have proven to be an important and critical part of the technology.

What piece of advice would you give women starting their careers in FinTech?

I still consider that many women are still far away from being a mid-level and leading positions, and the main reason for such exclusion might be due to mid-career exits from their professional life and entering into domestic lives. It is also due to upbringing of children most of the time in our part of the world. But I would suggest that they are far stronger than they think and can carry on another mile to reach the pinnacle of their professional lives and pick themselves up and move on…

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A Look at the Savings Tech Horizon: Goals-Based PFM

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 23, 2017
Categories: Meniga, Qapital

It’s no secret that saving money is more difficult than spending it. That’s why, since the dawn of fintech, startups and FIs alike have been working on solutions to get users to keep money in the bank. Changes in these solutions have been subtle but persistent over the decade-plus time that companies have had to refine them.

Missed the other five savings categories? Check them out:

For the next week, we’re going to take a look at six different categorizations of savings technology. We’re kicking the series off by focusing on PFM platforms that use a goals-based approach. Don’t cringe! While PFM and basic budgeting technologies may seem like dinosaurs, they have outlasted many other fintech innovations because they have a stickiness that keeps customers coming back.

Goals-based PFM

This category contains companies that have expanded beyond simple discretionary income budgeting to offer some type of goal-saving feature. Two good examples are Meniga, which launched Personal Finance Challenges at FinovateEurope 2017, and Qapital, which employs an If This, Then That (IFTTT) approach to saving. Qapital debuted at FinovateSpring 2014.

Meniga
When U.K.-based Meniga launched Meniga Challenges at FinovateEurope 2017, the company’s CEO Georg Lúðvíksson referred to the new technology as “a new concept that is designed to motivate people with vastly different personality traits to become more financially fit.” The app-based challenges use behavioral psychology to motivate users to spend less and save more. In one instance, the app may appeal to the user’s competitive side by using social pressure to get them to spend less than their friends on groceries (pictured below on left). In another scenario, a cute Money Monster may appear at random intervals to get users to feed the monster by setting aside a bit of their cash (pictured below on right).

Meniga offers multiple approaches to appeal to diverse users

Qapital
Qapital appeals to Millennials by using an IFTTT approach to saving, which allows users to set up IFTTT rules that set aside money when specified triggers occur. The company has more than 200 prompts, or channels, that pull information from third party apps. These prompts range from user-controlled ones, such as “set aside $5 every time I publish a post on Instagram with the hashtag #blessed”; to more unpredictable events, such as, “save $10 every time the weather calls for snow”; and even, “save $3 every time an astronaut enters orbit.”

Qapital’s IFTTT savings feature

Additionally, Qapital offers a savings feature that rounds up users’ daily purchases to the nearest dollar and deposits the change into their savings account. The Sweden-based company also supplies more traditional savings tools such as savings automation and goal-oriented transfers.

That’s a look at savings technology within PFM and how it applies to advice and goals. Stay tuned over the course of the week– we’ll examine the next five categories and investigate the companies that are pushing forward to encourage users to save.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 23, 2017
Categories: Backbase, Coinbase, Meniga, Moxtra, PaySimple, Qapital, Qumram, Revolut, Scalable Capital, WePay

On FinDEVr.com

Congratulations to The Favorites of FinDEVr 2017 New York.

A Look at the Savings Tech Horizon: Goals-Based PFM with Meniga and Qapital.

Around the web

PaySimple unveils new Service Point of Sale (sPOS) platform.

NY State Department of Financial Services to allow Coinbase to offer Ethereum and Litecoin to customers in New York.

Backbase to locate new R&D center in Cardiff, Wales.

Revolut announces £4 million crowdfunding investment round and launch of subscription service.

Scalable Capital founder and CEO Adam French earns spot on 2017 PAM Top 40 Under 40 roster.

Innovate Finance names Nous Global Markets, Moxtra, and Qumram as finalists in its Pitch360 fintech startup competition.

WePay customers can now use Apple Pay on the Web and Google’s Android Pay on the Web for increased revenue generation.

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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The Favorites of FinDEVr 2017 New York

By David Penn Posted on March 23, 2017
Categories: BlueMetal, HackerOne, MapD, Modelshop, Prevoty, Quovo, SoFi, Vantiv

FinDEVr 2017 New York is in the books. Our second developers conference in New York was a great opportunity to take a look at some of the technologies that continue to drive fintech innovation forward. As always, we asked our attendees to tell us which companies and technologies were best positioned to make the greatest impact on the financial services industry in terms of providing greater security, increased efficiency, and a better user experience for consumers. Here is what our attendees had to say:

Favorite FinDEVr Debut

HackerOne for its bug bounty and vulnerability platform that leverages the talent of trusted hackers to improve the online security of organizations and institutions ranging from Twitter and Uber to Qualcomm and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Favorite FinDEVr Alum

Quovo and SoFi for their partnership that shows how an easy-to-use authentication API provides security to accounts at more than 200+ FIs while improving and streamlining the user experience.

Day One Attendee Favorite

MapD for its database and visualization layer that transforms Big Data into immersive, instantaneous, and actionable analytics.

Day Two Attendee Favorite

Prevoty for its insight into the way embedded, runtime security enables cybersecurity professionals to provide an additional layer of defense against vulnerabilities and fraudulent behavior.

Favorite Established Company

BlueMetal for its virtual agents, natural language processing, and conversational UX that transforms the nature of customer engagement in financial services.

Favorite Startup Company

Modelshop for its analytic decision platform that enhances the loan origination, portfolio optimization, and fraud prevention processes for both FIs and consumers.

Media Favorite

Vantiv for its cloud-based payment app that removes the complexity from financial transactions for both developers and merchants.

Our thanks to our presenting companies, sponsors, partners, and all of you who attended our second developers conference this year in New York. The excitement and enthusiasm for our events only makes us that much more excited for our upcoming FinDEVr debut in London, England in June. If you’re in the U.K. and looking for more insight into the technological side of the fintech ecosystem, then FinDEVr London is the place to be June 12th and 13th. Visit our FinDEVr London 2017 page for more information.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 22, 2017
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Coinbase, Fenergo, On Deck Capital, PayPal

Around the web

Fenergo adds 200 new jobs to support global growth, taking worldwide employee count to 500.

ACI Worldwide to provide AML compliance for bitcoin payments courtesy of new partnership with Payment21.

OnDeck adds former Morgan Stanley exec to its board.

TechCrunch: Coinbase has added margin trading to its bitcoin exchange.

Market Exclusive: Paypal Is Winning Person-to-Person Payments War

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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FinDEVr New York 2017: Welcome to Day Two

By David Penn Posted on March 21, 2017
Categories: FinDEVr 2017 New York

Day One of FinDEVr New York 2017 is in the books – and what a great start to our second developers conference! From APIs, bug bounties, and card-linking to payments, risk management, and smart contracts, the first day of FinDEVr New York was a testament to the technology that continues to drive fintech innovation forward.

And that makes us all the more excited for what we’ll see on Wednesday. Day Two will feature more than a dozen presentations from a diverse array of fintech companies. But we’ll also announce the winners of our FinDEVr Favorite Awards, including Crowd and Media Favorites, Favorite Debut, Startup, Established Company, and Alum. So be sure to join us Wednesday morning at the Metropolitan Pavilion to check out the presentations, meet the presenters, and make your preferences known.

Here’s the agenda for Wednesday.

Session 1: 9:30am – 10:35am

Networking and Coffee Break: 10:35am – 11:00am

Session 2: 11:00am – 12:20pm

Buffet Lunch: 12:20pm – 1:20pm

Session 3: 1:20pm – 2:40pm

Networking and Coffee Break: 2:40pm – 3:05pm

Session 4: 3:05pm – 4:45pm

Networking and Open Bar with Appetizers: 4:45pm – 6:00pm

We hope you had as much fun at Day One of FinDEVr New York as we did. So grab your badge and a handful of business cards and we’ll see you bright and early Wednesday morning for Day Two.

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