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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Galileo has expanded its BNPL tool to allow banks and fintechs to offer cardholders post-purchase installment payment options.
The new feature works with firms’ existing debit and credit programs and allows consumers to select up to five historical transactions to move into a BNPL payment plan.
Galileo’s new offering is similar to U.K.-based Curve’s Flex feature that allows customers to move transactions into a installment repayment plans.
Payment processing platform Galileoannounced it is expanding its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offering. The SoFi-owned company launched an API for its bank and fintech clients that will enable them to offer their cardholders post-purchase installment payment options.
The post-purchase repayment options, which work with firms’ existing debit and credit programs, allow consumers to select up to five historical transactions to move into a BNPL payment plan. Once the customer has selected the purchase or purchases they want to move to a BNPL plan, the bank or fintech presents them an offer, along with the terms of agreement. If the customer accepts the terms, Galileo validates that the transactions are settled and not tied to any existing installment loans, and creates the loan for the total transactions.
The post-purchase BNPL plans work differently for purchases made with a debit card than they do with a credit card. For transactions made with a debit card, the bank or fintech disburses the funds to the customer’s Galileo DDA or an external account. And with credit transactions, the payoff amount is shifted to the customer’s credit card payment due date in the agreed upon installments.
“This new offering bridges the gap between cards and loans and allows banks and fintechs to establish and deepen customer relationships with innovative, flexible financing options for both credit and debit customers,” said Galileo Chief Product Officer David Feuer. “By expanding pay over time opportunities, post-purchase financing is ushering in a new era of responsible lending.”
Galileo expects the new offering will help banks and fintechs differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, drive revenue through installment fees, and serve as a jumping off point for firms to enter into the lending space.
This isn’t the first time the fintech world has seen post-purchase BNPL. Curve, a U.K.-based fintech, offers a direct-to-consumer credit card with a feature called Flex that allows customers to select transactions they’ve made in the past year and move them into an installment repayment plan. Curve launched its credit card in the U.S. in 2022, but has since paused new accounts in the region.
Galileo was founded in 2001 as a payment processing platform that allows third party fintechs and businesses to build and scale their own financial services offerings. The company was acquired by SoFi in 2020 in a $1.2 billion deal. Earlier this month, Galileo inked a partnership with The Bancorp Bank to offer real-time payments.
Payment, banking, and investment systems provider FISannounced today that it is partnering with Stratyfy to bolster the capabilities of its SecurLOCK card fraud management solution.
After testing the new SecurLOCK capabilities with customers, FIS anticipates that the updated tool will increase accurately identified card transactions and help prevent fraud. This will reduce friction for end consumers by minimizing fraud and disruption experienced because of false positives.
“With sophisticated fraudsters using new technologies to increase fraud attacks, both businesses and consumers are facing more risk than ever before,” said FIS Head of Fraud Services Eric Kraus. “This new collaboration is a continuation of a commitment to implement new technologies, helping businesses prevent fraudulent behavior to protect the consumers they serve.”
Founded in 2017, Stratyfy provides predictive analytics and decision management solutions for financial institutions. The company demoed one of its solutions, UnBias, at FinovateFall 2022, and won a Best of Show award for its presentation. Among the company’s other solutions are Credit Risk Assessment and Fraud Detection. Stratyfy is one of 80 graduates of FIS’ Fintech Accelerator, having completed the 12-week program in 2020.
“It’s rewarding to see how our unique machine learning approach can enable better outcomes through this solution,” said Stratyfy CEO, and co-founder Laura Kornhauser. “Our relationship with FIS showcases the tremendous value that is possible through partnerships, and we’re thrilled to continue to build upon this important work.”
Banking technology company FIS was founded in 1968, and has a current market capitalization of $40 billion. Earlier this year, the Florida-based company acquired post-trade SaaS platform Torstone Technology to enhance its own capital markets offering. According to Crunchbase, the purchase marks FIS’ 26th acquisition.
FINRA stated that around 1,700 influencers posted content, some of which was unfair and contained exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory, or misleading claims.
The offending posts occurred because M1 Finance did not review or approve the influencers’ content before they posted it.
Investing and banking tools fintech M1 Finance has been hit with a fee this week. FINRA, a U.S. regulatory body overseeing securities law, fined M1 $850,000.
FINRA said it imposed the fine because social media influencers acting on M1’s behalf posted content that FINRA deemed as unfair and containing exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory, or misleading claims. Some of the posts violated FINRA Rules 2210 (Communications with the Public) and 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade). For example, an influencer advertising M1 Finance’s margin lending program said that customers could “pay [margin loans] back at any given time . . . there is no set time period,” when, in fact, M1 can increase the maintenance margin requirement on customer accounts at any time, force a sale of securities in their accounts, and choose which securities to sell, if a margin call occurs.
Between January 2020 and April 2023, around 1,700 influencers posted content that included a unique link to M1’s website where new customers could open and fund an M1 brokerage account. The company paid influencers a flat fee for every new account that was opened and funded. In the end, the influencer content resulted in more than 39,400 new accounts.
“As investors increasingly use social media to inform their financial decisions, FINRA’s rules on communicating with the public are especially critical,” said FINRA EVP and Head of Enforcement Bill St. Louis. “FINRA will continue to consider whether firms are using practices and maintaining supervisory systems that are reasonably designed to address the risks related to social media influencer programs.”
While hindsight is 20/20, it is clear that increased supervision over the influencer posts and a system of procedures for control would have prevented the fine. While M1 Finance provided influencers with a guide that described the company’s services and features, the company did not review or approve the content within the influencers’ posts. This lack of oversight violated more FINRA Rules, including 2210, 2010, and 3110 (Supervision) and 4511 (General Requirements-Books and Records). It also violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Exchange Act Rules.
M1 has consented to FINRA’s findings and has agreed to certify that it has fixed the issues. Ultimately, the $850,000 fine only amounts to just over $20 per new account M1 received as a result of the influencer posts.
Using social media influencers can be a powerful marketing tool, but it comes with risks, as demonstrated by FINRA’s recent fine against M1 Finance. Financial services firms must use caution when using influencers to promote their products, and employ supervisory efforts to ensure that all content is compliant with regulatory standards. This also serves as a reminder that whenever firms leverage third-party services, such as banking-as-a-service providers, there are additional risk factors that firms must carefully manage. When selecting a third party provider, firms should thoroughly evaluate their partners and implement oversight and compliance processes to mitigate potential risks.
Data intelligence business Curinos and mortgage pricing technology provider Lender Price announced a new partnership this week.
The partnership will integrate Curinos’ LendersBenchmark Analyzer and pricing analytics into Lender Price’s Enterprise Pricing Engine.
Curinos made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.
Data intelligence business Curinos and mortgage pricing technology provider Lender Price have announced a strategic partnership this week. Per the agreement, Lender Price will incorporate Curinos’ LendersBenchmark Analyzer solution and pricing analytics into its Enterprise Pricing Engine. This will enable Lender Price to offer actionable insights to mortgage lenders that will positively impact margin management and help them gain market share.
Lender Price CEO Dawar Alimi underscored the competitive challenges of the modern mortgage environment, an environment characterized by, among other things, elevated interest rates. “Partnering with Curinos, known for their intelligent technology, enables lenders to assess their competitive stance accurately and make profitable, data-driven decisions,” Alimi said. “This collaboration will assist lenders in managing their margins effectively, ensuring not a single basis point is overlooked.”
The integration will make it easier for community banks, credit unions, and mortgage lenders to give borrowers accurate rate information and superior pricing. During times of uncertain interest rates, growing competition among lenders, and a shortage of homes, solutions that help financial institutions manage their margins can be crucial. These solutions not only boost business but also attract and retain customers, leading to positive and profitable relationships.
“In today’s landscape, lenders’ focus should be on optimizing margins by using granular pricing strategies,” Curinos Director of Real Estate Lending Rich Martin said. “We’re delighted to secure this partnership with Lender Price, enabling its customers to more effectively price products through use of our data and analytics.”
Founded in 2021, Curinos was born out of the merger of Novantas and Informa’s FBX business. The goal was to bring the two entities’ combined expertise and innovation to deposits, lending, and digital experiences in financial services writ large. Headquartered in New York, the company made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco, California. At the conference, Curinos demoed its Amplero Personalization Optimizer, a solution designed to facilitate high-impact banking use cases. The solution leverages machine learning and patented marketing automation to empower teams to deliver hyper-personalized, omnichannel, digital experiences in minutes rather than months. The company notes that the Amplero Personalization Optimizer has enabled marketing teams to realize thousands of incremental dollars in customer lifetime value.
Curinos’ partnership news with LenderPrice comes just days after Curinos announced that Achieva Credit Union will be the first customer for its Deposit Optimizer Essentials system. This technology helps credit unions and community banks manage member and customer deposits more efficiently by leveraging state of the art analytics to reach funding targets.
Specifically, Curinos’ Deposit Optimizer Essentials gives early warning indicators and alerts to help community banks and credit unions secure higher deposit growth at lower marginal costs by enabling them to diagnose deposit performance and optimize product strategies and pricing levels. “As rates shift, we needed a robust, easy-to-navigate solution, enabling us to react quickly and efficiently to changing market conditions,” Achieva Product Development Manager Veronica Schornheuser said.
Interested in demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco in May? We are happy to read applications from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateSpring hub today to learn more.
Regardless of whether or not you were in attendance at FinovateEurope in London last month, you can now watch videos of all 35 demos from the show for free.
Each of the 35 videos are around seven minutes long, which means we have more than four hours of fresh fintech content available. To offer you an easy place to start, we’ve highlighted the demo videos of the three companies that won Best of Show. Enjoy!
Cloud banking company nCino has agreed to acquire automated onboarding specialist DocFox. Terms were not disclosed.
DocFox’s technology will add advanced document analysis to nCino’s platform, accelerating the onboarding process for nCino’s FI clients.
DocFox made its Finovate debut at FinovateAfrica 2018. nCino has been a Finovate alum since its appearance at FinovateEurope in 2017.
Cloud banking innovator nCino has inked an agreement to acquire fellow Finovate alum DocFox. Miami, Florida-based DocFox specializes in providing automated onboarding solutions for both commercial and business banking. Terms of the transaction were not immediately available. The acquisition is expected to close in March of this year.
The integration of DocFox’s technology will enable nCino’s financial institution clients to manage the entire customer lifecycle – from information intake and document collection to due diligence – on a single platform. Relying on rules set by company compliance teams, DocFox analyzes any document for any financial institution, regardless of size, to automate the process of opening business accounts. DocFox gives business customers an account opening experience that is fast and intuitive. Internal teams benefit from configurable workflows to help them review information more efficiently.
“The acquisition of DocFox extends our existing functionality and will deliver a modern experience to an area of commercial and business banking that has lagged in innovation due to its complexity,” nCino CEO and Chairman of the Board Pierre Naudé. “We are excited to further extend our single platform vision and look forward to delivering this differentiating solution to financial institutions seeking to optimize onboarding and account opening processes.”
Making its Finovate debut at our fintech conference in Cape Town, FinovateAfrica 2018, DocFox last demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. The company has more than 450 customers on three continents, most recently partnering with Pennsylvania-based Customers Bank, a super-community bank with more than $20 billion in assets. DocFox also announced late last year that its account opening solution was now part of Fiserv’s AppMarket. CEO Ryan Canin co-founded DocFox in 2016.
“Our leading onboarding and account opening solution will complement and extend nCino’s single platform to create even greater value for financial institutions seeking to automate and digitize experiences they provide to employees and clients,” Canin said.
Wilmington, North Carolina-based nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017. Founded in 2012, nCino today has more than 1,800 financial institution partners who leverage its SaaS platform to serve corporate, commercial, small business, consumer, and mortgage customers. nCino’s acquisition news follows a handful of partnership announcements including its partnership extension announcement with Vermont-based The Bank of Bennington, and new collaborations with Australia’s Summerland Bank and Japan’s The Saikyo Bank.
GoCardless has agreed to acquire Nuapay for an undisclosed amount.
GoCardless anticipates the move will expand its availability, as well as help it launch new products for additional verticals, including payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming, and gambling.
The agreement has not been finalized and is currently subject to regulatory approvals.
Bank-to-bank payments company GoCardlessannounced it has agreed to acquire Nuapay. The financial terms of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, have not been disclosed.
The Nuapay brand is owned by EML Payments, which was founded in 2003 and headquartered in Australia, where it trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EML. EML Payments acquired Nuapay in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Nuapay itself was originally founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Ireland. The company launched to leverage open banking to power account-to-account payments. In addition to pay-by-bank services, Nuapay also offers credit transfers, direct debits, verified payouts, and more.
“How the world pays and gets paid is being transformed, with account-to-account payments and open banking playing the central role in that shift. Building on that shared vision, this acquisition will result in a combined organization with deep domestic and international payments and open banking expertise plus the scale to harness these opportunities for our clients and partners,” said Nuapay Co-founder and CEO Brian Hanrahan.
GoCardless anticipates that acquiring Nuapay will expand the availability and influence of GoCardless’ services through partners and intermediaries, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs). The company also expects the deal will strengthen GoCardless’ standing as a significant player in the payment industry, potentially increasing market share, enhancing its reputation, and improving its competitive advantage.
As for more concrete benefits, integrating Nuapay’s offering into GoCardless’ bank payment platform will help GoCardless launch new products for additional verticals. Some of the new use cases could include payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming, and gambling.
“Nuapay is an established account-to-account payment provider and open banking specialist with a blue chip customer base,” said GoCardless Co-founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “Its business is perfectly aligned to our growth strategy, and will accelerate our vision to become the world’s bank payment network.”
GoCardless, which describes itself as being “on the path to profitability,” has recently launched Embed, its white-label customer acquisition tool for PSPs, and has signed partner agreements with Plend, Bluefort, Moss, and others.
Shift4partners with Atlante to provide payments solution for electric vehicle charging.
Cryptocurrency / Blockchain
African-based blockchain payments network Zoneraises $8.5 million in seed funding.
Figure TechnologiesunveilsFigure Markets, a single platform where investors can trade a wide range of blockchain-native assets from crypto to stocks to alternative investments.
Financial inclusion
Building society Nationwideintroduces new digital service using British Sign Language (BSL) for deaf and hearing-challenged customers.
Insurtech
iPipeline, a digital solutions provider for the insurance industry, launched its OneView solution that tracks the progress and status of annuity orders in real-time.
Taxation / Accounting
Free Agentexpands its smart tax calculation functionality to all NatWest Group customers via their business banking app.
In the northern hemisphere, springtime is just a few days away. And along with the melting of snow and blooming of flowers, we’ve also seen growth in a previously frozen area of fintech. That’s because there has been a resurgence of interest in digital and decentralized currencies, thanks to the escalating price of Bitcoin, which has seen record highs this week, topping out at over $73,800 yesterday.
There are two major driving factors behind Bitcoin’s surge: the recent launch of the Bitcoin ETF and the upcoming Bitcoin halving event that is expected to take place in April. The effect of these two events have transcended Bitcoin, however, and have not only had a positive impact on other digital currencies, but also on the traditional finance sector.
We recently had the opportunity to interview a few experts in the space to gain a better understanding of the current digital currency landscape. Check out the videos below to see Nordea’s Ville Sointu’s thoughts on the digital Euro, Finthropology’s Anette Broløs’ ideas on CBDCs and the challenges of replacing cash, and Coin Telegraph’s Jillian Godsil’s perception on what it will take to fully melt the previously frozen crypto sector.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech developments and news from Sweden. Over the years, Finovate has been proud to showcase a number of fintechs from Sweden, a country with a population of more than 10.5 million and the twelfth largest economy as measured by GDP.
Last month at FinovateEurope, we introduced Swedish embedded banking and payments company Visualizy to our audiences. Founded in 2022, the company offers a multi-bank platform that helps businesses lower costs, reduce errors, and boost security in their financial and payment operations.
Other recent Finovate alums headquartered in Sweden include StockRepublic (FinovateEurope 2023), Econans (FinovateEurope 2021), Minna Technologies (FinovateEurope 2019), and Trustly (FinovateEurope 2013. This week’s Finovate Global will include news from two older Finovate alums hailing from Sweden: Tink – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014 – and Klarna, a Finovate alum since 2012.
Klarna rolls out open banking-powered settlements in the U.K.
Swedish payments network and shopping assistant Klarnahas begun to introduce open banking-powered settlements in the U.K. This means that consumers in the U.K will be able to pay Klarna directly from their bank account rather than a debit card. It also means that the company is making good on its objective of building a payments network outside the traditional card networks.
“Open banking offers a huge opportunity for Klarna to reduce the cost of payments to society by cutting out the established card payment networks, and using up-to-date bank account data to make ever better lending decisions,” Klarna VP, Open Banking, Wilko Klaassen said. “This new launch builds on the success we have seen in 10 countries across Europe and will give U.K. open banking a major boost.”
Ease of use is one major advantage open banking settlements provide consumers. For example, there is no need to enter personal payment details into the website of retailer that the consumer might not know very well. Instead, all a consumer needs to do is click on the “Pay by bank” option. This delivers the consumer to their mobile banking app where they can complete their transaction quickly and securely.
Launching the service in the U.K. is expected to be a major boon for Klarna; approximately five million U.K. consumers currently use open banking payment each month. Outside of the U.K., Klarna’s “Pay by bank” solution is currently live in 10 countries. More than 20 million consumers each month are taking advantage of the technology.
Tink adds to U.K. leadership team
Speaking of open banking, Swedish open banking platform Tink announced this week that it is bolstering its leadership ranks. The company – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2014 – has appointed Ian Morrin as Head of Payments & Platforms, Andrew Boyajian as Head of Products for Payments & CX, and Jack Spiers as Banking and Lending Director.
Of the three new hires, Jack Spiers may ring a bell with Finovate audiences. Spiers was a recent speaker at FinovateEurope, where he provided a Special Address on “Transforming Lending in the Cost of Living Crisis.” In his presentation, Spiers – whose ten years of fintech experience include tenures at both Klarna and Clearpay – discussed how traditional methods are falling short in their ability to accurately assess creditworthiness. Instead, he pointed to new research from Tink that showed how data-enriched affordability checks can do better.
The new hires come just days after Tink announced a partnership with German railway company Deutsche Bahn. Via the new agreement, Tink will offer Deutsche Bahn customers optimized direct debit setups. This will enable customers to use Deutsche Bahn’s modern mobility-sharing systems, which are run by Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Connect. The railway company will also leverage Tink’s Account Check technology for its car-sharing and bike-sharing networks, Flinkster and Call a Bike.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Tink most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2019. A two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Tink was acquired by Visa in 2022 for $2 billion.
Swedish Central Bank looks to defend cash
If the Swedish Central Bank is for cash, then who can be against it?
That’s one of the questions the nation’s central bank is asking in the wake of 2023 survey that indicated that half of the survey’s respondents had run into circumstances in which they wanted to pay with cash, but merchant would not accept it. According to a report issued by Sweden’s Riksbank that is based on those results, this number was only 37% a year ago.
The report indicates that the supply of cash services in Sweden is decreasing and has been since at least 2016. Cash services refer to those locations for cash withdrawals, deposits of daily takings, as well as over-the-counter payments. This decline has slowed somewhat in the past five years, as new regulations have insisted that banks share the responsibility of providing cash services with other non-bank institutions. But the downward trend is clear.
“Payments must work for everyone, Riksbank governor and chairman of the executive board Erik Thedéen said in a press release. “In the longer term, all payments may be digital – but until then, cash plays an important role. We need legislation to ensure that cash can be used to pay. Banks must also ensure that more customers have access to payment accounts.”
To this end, in addition to calling for further research and study, the Swedish central bank proposed, for example, that banks should ensure that cash can be transferred to and from retail outlets at reasonable prices. At present, only one private company does this. Another proposal suggests that banks be obligated to accept banknote and coin deposits from private individuals. As noted above, there is not a current requirement for banks to do so.
These changes, along with others to help more individuals secure payment accounts, are likely to help Sweden increase financial inclusion as the country continues the rapid digitalization of its payment market. There will be no retreat from this drive for “faster, smoother, and more efficient payments.” But ensuring the availability and utility of cash, at least in the meantime, will both support that transition as well as ensure fewer Swedes are left behind on the way.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Sub-Saharan Africa
U.K.-based fintech Unlimit secured a license from the Bank of Tanzania to do operate as a payments service provider (PSP) in the country.
African fintech PalmPay launched a pair of new products in Nigeria: Unlimited Free Transfer and Target Savings.
Mastercard and South African fintech SAVA teamed up to bring innovative payment options – including digital bank accounts and accounting integration tools – to small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs).
Central and Eastern Europe
Berlin, Germany-based brokerage-as-a-service platform lemon.markets launched this week in partnership with Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and Tradegate.
The Hungarian Ministry of the Economy has suggested new rules to codify the use of digital assets in the country.
German fintech Naro emerged from stealth this week with $3 million in pre-seed funding.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Israel-based fintech Nayaz shared its plans for expansion in Latin America following its acquisition of Brazil’s VMtecnologia.
Dunes Financial, headquartered in the UAE, agreed to acquire the technology assets of Be Mobile Africa.
The Financial Brand profiled former Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach.
Central and Southern Asia
India’s UPI linked with Nepal’s largest payment network, Fonepay.
Writing in IBA.org, Sahar Iqbal assessed the current fintech landscape of Pakistan.
Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, India’s IndusInd Bank will launch an tokenizable wearable solution called Indus PayWear.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Aquis Technologies secured a contract to support the operation of the Central Bank of Colombia, Banco de la República.
Mexican challenger bank Fondeadora turned to MeaWallet for tokenization services.
Banco do Brasil teamed up with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to test offline payments for its CBDC project.
Asia-Pacific
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) forged a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud en route to its transformation into a digital Islamic bank.
Philippines-based Metropolitan Bank & Trust (Metrobank) partnered with Temenos to enhance its wealth management offerings.
Australian regulators are looking to regulate Buy Now Pay Later products under the nation’s Credit Act.
En route to FinovateEurope in London last month, a cab driver asked me what I did for a living. After giving it a few moments of thought (“fintech research analyst” doesn’t always cut it), I told him, “I get to meet interesting people and ask them interesting questions.”
This year at FinovateEurope, I had the opportunity to sit down with more than a baker’s dozen of fintech entrepreneurs, analysts, and authors to talk about some of the top trends in fintech and financial services. Here, as part of our Finovate Speaker Series, I’m looking forward to sharing these conversations with you over the next few weeks.
First up, in commemoration of International Women’s History Month, my interviews with Samantha Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub, and Anette Broløs, founder of Finthropology.
Samantha Seaton is CEO of open banking, open finance, and open data platform Moneyhub. The company’s technology helps transform data into personalized digital experiences and initiate payments. Seaton is also a Non-Executive Director at the Charities Aid Foundation Bank and at The Investing and Savings Alliance (TISA).
In our conversation, Seaton discusses the contemporary “obsession with personalization.” We also talk about the latest trends in financial services, the impact of AI, and what financial services can learn from other sectors when it comes to best leveraging new technologies.
How can the study of human cultures benefit banks? We posed this question to Dr. Anette Broløs, co-founder and Director of Finthropology.
For all the discussion of the power of data in financial services in recent years, Broløs believes that companies in this space have not yet done all they can do in order to take advantage of qualitative research that can help them become more customer-centric. As the co-author of the soon-to-be-released book, Customer-Centric Innovation in Finance, Broløs explains how methods common in anthropology can be effectively applied to financial services, potentially revealing insights that banks have been missing for years.
Payments technology company Icon Solutions has secured a strategic minority investment from NatWest. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
The funding follows a December investment Icon Solutions secured from Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS).
NatWest integrated Icon Solutions’ Icon Payment Framework in September as part of its payments modernization strategy.
Payments technology company Icon Solutions has secured a strategic minority investment from NatWest. The amount of the investment was not immediately disclosed. The funding is the second for Icon Solutions in the past four months; the company announced in December that it had received an investment from Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS), a division of Citi’s Services organization. The amount of that investment was similarly undisclosed.
In both instances, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions and NatWest have integrated or further integrated Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF) as part of their investments. Citi TTS will expand its use of IPF to enhance its micro-services orchestration architecture. NatWest announced its plan to integrate IPF as part of its payments modernization efforts in September.
Icon Payments Framework is a low-code payment framework that enables business payments professionals to build payment workflows and empowers bank software engineering teams to create customizable integrations into their existing systems. Both NatWest and Citi TTS noted that the technology will help them build on current relationships as well as enhance their ability to keep pace with changes in payments technology.
“Overcoming vendor lock in and powering in-house builds with the Icon Payments Framework (IPF), NatWest can now drive change from within,” Icon Solutions co-founder and Director Tom Kelleher said. “Building new revenue streams, anticipating regulatory change, responding to market changes or competitive pressures. Today’s investment is much more than an investment, it’s a commitment to a future where payments are safe, immediate, and flexible.”
Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017. In addition to its partnership announcements, the company in recent months secured “Qualified Software” status from Amazon Web Services (AWS). “Qualified Software” status is granted to technologies validated as meeting AWS cloud infrastructure’s performance, security, and reliability standards.
Icon Solutions also recently launched a FedNow scheme pack for IPF. This will help banks negotiate the balance between “near-term requirements like FedNow compliance and ISO2022” and their “longer-term strategies around driving innovation, improving CX and reducing costs,” Icon Solutions CTO Donal Fleming explained.
