Finovate Debuts: Agreement Express Helps Advisers Offer Nonintrusive Onboarding

Finovate Debuts: Agreement Express Helps Advisers Offer Nonintrusive Onboarding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Agreement Express, Finovate Debuts

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Onboarding software provider Agreement Express helps wealth management firms, payments, and insurance companies create and manage a consistent onboarding experience across channels for all of their product offerings.

At FinovateFall 2016, the company demoed the newest version of its wealth management offering, an onboarding solution that helps advisers interact with clients in a nonintrusive, compliant manner. The new release improves the customer experience by helping firms gather and re-use existing client data instead of requesting the same information multiple times, which causes friction and deteriorates the client experience.

In his demo on the FinovateFall stage, Agreement Express CEO Mike Gardner opened by depicting the difficulty advisers have in getting solutions up-and-running quickly, saying, “At Agreement Express, we unite advisers, clients, back office teams, and compliance … in one platform that allows transformation in just two weeks.” He later noted the software is made to work quickly even for large firms.

Company Facts

  • Founded in 2001
  • Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Working with Global Payments and M&T Bank
29615085762_a907570331_kCEO Mike Gardner and Account Exec Andrew Grocholski demoed Agreement Express at FinovateFall 2016

screen-shot-2016-12-19-at-4-10-26-pmAfter his presentation at FinovateFall, we conducted an interview with Mike Gardner, Agreement Express CEO, to gather more information about the company and its future plans.

Finovate: What problem does Agreement Express solve?

Mike Gardner: Agreement Express solves the problem of slow, inefficient, paper-based client onboarding in financial services. Because it’s such a huge problem, FIs usually go one of two routes: reducing the scope and only solving one piece of the project, or trying to solve the whole thing in one go with a massive BPM project that takes a couple of years to go live. Agreement Express is onboarding software that financial institutions can implement in just a few weeks, and gives them the data and flexibility they need to iterate and configure their process on an ongoing basis. It’s essentially building the perfect path as you go, enabling firms to receive immediate value and get in the fast-paced technology race, without the risk of trying to predict the future and get it all right without consulting meaningful data.

agreement-express-product-screenshot-1Agreement Express document management screen

Finovate: Who are your primary customers?

Gardner: We service key financial institution markets globally, primarily wealth management, payments, banking, and insurance. In those markets, we serve Fortune 1000 companies and top industry leaders such as Global Payments, Elavon, M&T Bank, National Bank Correspondent Network, Questrade, and more.

Finovate: How does Agreement Express solve the problem better?

Gardner: Agreement Express does two things that sets it apart from the competition: it solves the entire client onboarding problem from front to back office, and enables firms to go live in weeks, not months or years.

Our platform solves more of the problem in less time, and allows users to configure and iterate on an ongoing basis. This allows firms to realize tremendous value right away, and lowers the risk of trying to get everything perfect in advance and delaying time-to-value for a year or more.

Finovate: Tell us about your favorite implementation of your solution.

Gardner: We are proud of the work we’ve done with all of our clients, but one that comes to mind is Global Payments, one of the largest merchant acquirers in the world. By consolidating all of their merchant onboarding processes into Agreement Express, they were able to increase application return rates from 40% to 100%, and virtually eliminate back-office data entry. It was exciting to watch such a large institution make so much digital progress in a short time.

agreement-express-product-screenshot-3Agreement Express adviser workspace

Finovate: What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?

Gardner: We work with some of the largest global merchant acquirers, which gave us the confidence that we could successfully help Global Payments make a significant digital transformation.

Finovate: Where do you see Agreement Express a year or two from now?

Gardner: On our current trajectory, we’ll be continuing our global expansion, opening new offices around the world. We’ll be continuing to make Agreement Express accessible to the entire financial services enterprise, from the largest firms to the smallest partners in their network. Typically, software is either made for big or small companies, but Agreement Express will be used by the whole ecosystem for a completely integrated client onboarding experience.

Check out the video of Mike Gardner (CEO) and Andrew Grocholski (Account Executive) demoing Agreement Express at FinovateFall 2016.

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Nubank Raises $80 Million in Series D Funding

Nubank Raises $80 Million in Series D Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Nubank

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Financial services innovator Nubank closed on $80 million in Series D funding led by DST Global earlier this month, marking DST’s first investment in a Brazilian company. Other participants in the round include Founders Fund, QED Investors, Redpoint, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia, and Tiger.

This is Nubank’s sixth round of funding and brings its total amount raised to $178 million. While there was no report of the company’s latest valuation, FT Partners reports that after its $52 million Series C round closed in January, Nubank was valued at $500 million. The company will use the funds to accelerate hiring efforts and expand its product offerings. Specifically, Nubank hopes to add a rewards program and add more credit products.

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Founded in 2013, Nubank offers a Mastercard credit card with a companion mobile app that features PFM capabilities, spending alerts, and a card-lock feature. The company has had success in differentiating itself from other financial institutions in Brazil, which offer credit cards with 400% APR. In comparison, Nubank’s APR comes in significantly lower at 145%. This differentiation has led to Nubank receiving 7 million applications for its card, which currently holds a waiting list of 500,000 applicants.

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Nubank Co-founder and CTO Edward Wible, along with Lucas Cavalcanti, lead software engineer, showcased at FinDEVr New York 2016 (pictured above) in a presentation titled Our Money, Our Rulebook. which explored how Nubank deals with real-time, double-entry accounting on a per-customer basis. In October, H2 Ventures and KPMG listed Nubank among 50 leading fintech companies.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Aerospike, Arxan Technologies, Blend, Fidor Bank, FinDEVr APIntelligence, Finicity, FIS, InComm, Nubank, NuData Security, PayPal, Temenos, Token, WorldPay

FDNY17_EventLogo_v1(wdate)FinDEVr Silicon Valley was a success! Tickets for upcoming FinDEVr London and FinDEVr New York are at their lowest prices now. Register today for London or New York to save your spot!

On FinDEVr.com

  • “Nubank Raises $80 Million in Series D Funding”

The latest from FinDEVr Silicon Valley presenters

  • Aerospike announces 100% year-over-year bookings growth.
  • NuData Security partners with Arvato Financial Solutions to combat fraud and enable a smoother customer experience.

Alumni updates

  • InComm partners with MOL Global to launch PlayStation Network prepaid products to be distributed through 7-Eleven stores in Indonesia.
  • Commerce Bank chooses Temenos to upgrade core deposit banking system.
  • Token signs memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fidor Bank for digital payments.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Nick Thomas, cofounder of Finicity, in the wake of his company’s latest funding round.
  • Arxan Technologies wins six industry IoT security awards.
  • Temenos‘ MarketPlace receives the Banking Technology Readers’ Choice Award for “Best emerging/innovative technology product/service” at the Annual Banking Technology Awards.
  • InComm expands partnership with Target Australia to offer gift cards in stores and online.
  • PayPal teams up with Citibank, FIS to expand cross-channel presence.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter.

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Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016

Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: eMoney Advisor

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How did 2016 become the “most successful year to date” for wealth management platform developer, eMoney Advisor? According to CEO Ed O’Brien, it was all about getting back to basics.

“This year we returned to our roots with an innovative product strategy that broadens the availability and quality of advice delivered through advisors,” O’Brien explained. This week O’Brien’s company announced record growth in 2016 including a more than 30% increase in revenue since the end of 2015, and a nearly 59% gain in revenue since eMoney Advisor was acquired by Fidelity Investments in early 2015.

Some of the 2016 highlights for eMoney Advisor include:

  • Released more than 80 updates and enhancements to its emX Suite
  • Unveiled a new advanced analytics product
  • Launched the Fiduciary Framework initiative

“For this past year in particular, we worked hard to implement a strategy that creates more opportunity for advisers to experience the value of eMoney and benefit from the unique and varied ways our technology can set them apart,” said O’Brien.

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From left: Chad Porche, SVP, head of design, and Kyle Wharton, SVP, business development, demonstrated EMX, the eMoney Advisor platform, at FinovateFall 2014.

Recently featured in our look at top trends in Wealth Tech, eMoney Advisor serves wealth management firms who have concluded that it is easier and more efficient to partner with an established specialist rather than “go it alone” when it comes to providing their wealth managers with the technology they need to best serve their clients. “Firms are realizing the cost to build and maintain the type of streamlined, technology-enabled experience required to compete today is prohibitively high,” O’Brien said. Adding that companies must be mindful of technology expenses as well, he points out that the solution “in the long-term” is a balancing act. “It’s about a technology partner, not a technology provider,” he said.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, eMoney Advisor demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2014. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Waddell & Reed Advisors that will make emX Pro platform available to the firm’s network of more than 1,800 financial advisers. A winner at the 2016 Wealth Management Awards this fall, and one of the best places to work in Philadelphia according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, eMoney Advisor also shared a preview of what it has in store for 2017. New products and services from the company include a digital advice platform, developed in partnership with Fidelity, a new lead-generation solution, a “robust API strategy,” and a service for 401(k) plan participants. The company says it plans to add 100 new workers by the end of 2017 to help accommodate growth.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Agreement Express, Backbase, Comarch, DAVO Technologies, eMoney Advisor, InComm, Luxoft, Nostrum Group, Nubank, Qumram, Scalable Capital, True Potential, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Roots Rock: eMoney Advisor Reports Breakout Revenue Metrics for 2016″
  • Check out this week’s “FinDEVr APIntelligence”
  • “Nubank Raises $80 Million in Series D Funding”
  • “Finovate Debuts: Agreement Express Helps Advisers Offer Non-Intrusive Onboarding”

Around the web

  • Nostrum CFO Neil Warman re-elected to Confederation of British Industry (CBI) regional board.
  • Qumram wins 2016 Private Banking International (PBI) award for Outstanding Front-End Digital Solutions Provider.
  • Ovum recognizes Backbase as digital banking platform market leader.
  • Comarch partners with TrustWeaver to make e-invoicing cross-border compliant.
  • True Potential listed in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA for the fourth consecutive year.
  • Fundable profiles DAVO’s funding since its 2011 launch and its milestone of 800 clients.
  • Orca Money interviews Scalable Capital CEO Adam French.
  • Luxoft wins Best Enterprise Systems Integrator in Constellation Research’s 2016 Enterprise Awards.
  • Zopa takes home two awards at the AltFi Awards and wins Best P2P Lending Platform at the F5 Awards.
  • InComm partners with MOL Global to launch PlayStation Network prepaid products to be distributed through 7-Eleven stores in Indonesia.

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

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NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Solutions

NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: NuData Security

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At its FinDEVr Silicon Valley debut this fall, digital authentication specialist NuData demonstrated how its technology, NuDetect, enabled verification using a combination of behavioral biometrics identification and analytics, device location, and entity linking. “[NuDetect] continuously verifies a user’s online identity based upon analyzing the user’s natural interactions,” Robert Capps, VP of business development of NuData, explained from the FinDEVr stage. “These are behaviors that can’t be stolen, replayed, or reused, and so aren’t subject to data breach.”

The technology enables FIs to separate good users from bad with a high degree of accuracy, while still providing “actionable intelligence on interaction risk.” And once a company is able to tell good users from bad, Capps says all the other technological attacks, such as identity theft, account takeover, new account fraud, become “very easy to deal with in this framework.”

It turns out Arvato Financial Solutions (AFS) sought precisely this kind of solution when it announced a partnership with NuData this week. With 7,000 employees working in 22 countries—throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas—Arvato Financial Solutions will leverage NuData’s technology to “stop fraud, prevent attacks, and continuously verify good users,” said Frank Schlein, AFS president of risk management. NuData’s integration of authentication technologies, such as passive biometrics and device fingerprinting, was praised by Schlein, along with the Canadian company’s “specific European market insight, as well as local data protection known-how.” Arvato Financial Solutions is part of the German multinational media giant, Bertelsmann SE & Co, as a subsidiary of Arvato.

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Robert Capps, VP of business development for NuData, during his presentation, “NuDetect: It’s All About Trust” at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016.

NuData Security CEO Michel Giasson referred to Arvato as a “best-in-class partner” and highlighted the ability of technology like NuDetect to help companies defend themselves and their customers against cybercrime. Giasson says fraudulent online behavior can send “ripples through organizations, [and it] directly impacts the bottom line, [as] disgruntled customers could damage the brand image,” Giasson said.

NuData presented “It’s All About Trust,” a demonstration of the company’s behavioral biometric technology and a look at the science behind the solution, at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. In October, NuData announced a strategic alliance with Early Warning to provide security for real-time, P2P money transfers, and in August, the company was noted for its fraud detection technology in Gartner’s Industry Analyst Reports.

NuData, a 2016 MRC METAwards winner, reported this summer that it had more than doubled behavioral transaction volume to 38 billion in 2015 from 18 billion in 2014, adding it was on pace to process 80 billion in 2016. Nudata is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and was founded in 2008.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Aerospike, Arxan Technologies, Blend, Cortera, Dashlane, Experian, Fidor Bank, Finicity, NIIT Technologies, NuData Security, TickSmith, Token, Trustly

On Finovate.com

  • “NuData Security Brings Behavioral Biometrics to Arvato Financial Services”

On FinDEVr.com

Around the web

  • Token signs memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fidor Bank for digital payments.
  • PYMNTS.com interviews Nick Thomas, cofounder of Finicity, in the wake of his company’s latest funding round.
  • Aerospike announces 100% year-over-year bookings growth.
  • Touch Bank to deploy FraudNet, online fraud prevention technology from Experian.
  • More than 100,000 customers of Avanza Bank have used Trustly’s real-time deposit service since the two companies forged a partnership last year.
  • Dashlane joins two-factor authentication awareness campaign, #TurnOn2FA.
  • Cortera Decisions‘ credit scorecard capability is now available through Boost, its self-service tool that gives businesses insights on their customers and prospects.
  • TickSmith’s TickVault Big Data management platform is compatible with Thomson Reuters Tick History.
  • NIIT Technologies partners with a top-ranked retirement plan provider to manage their legacy systems.
  • Arxan Technologies wins six industry IoT security awards.

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

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Akamai Acquires Cyberfend for Bot Detection

Akamai Acquires Cyberfend for Bot Detection
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Akamai, Cyberfend, Mergers & Acquisitions

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Web and mobile security company Akamai added to its expertise today after acquiring Cyberfend, a bot detection company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Massachusetts-based Akamai, which went public on NASDAQ in 1999, aims to help banks and businesses protect their websites, mobile apps, and cloud environments. Akamai launched Bot Manager earlier this year to help thwart automated bots, which use stolen credentials to log into legitimate ecommerce and financial services websites.

Launched in 2014, California-based Cyberfend debuted BotFender, a cyber attack automation detection service, at FinovateSpring 2016. BotFender combines human cognitive science with machine learning algorithms to create a website security layer that is invisible to the end user and detects attacks in real time. Cyberfend is backed by Y-Combinator and protects 1 billion transactions every month.

Stuart Scholly, senior vice president and general manager of Web Security at Akamai, said, “The addition of Cyberfend’s technology is intended to give our customers a better way to spot and stop credential abuse on their sites—benefiting both the online business and its users.”

Cyberfend is Akamai’s third acquisition this year—after acquiring Concord Systems in September and Soha Systems in October—and its 16th acquisition since launching in 1998. As we reported earlier this year, Akamai is bolstering its security capabilities to become more appealing to potential, large acquirers, such as Google or Microsoft.

Akamai most recently presented at FinovateEurope 2015 in London where it debuted Client Reputation Service, designed to help FIs forecast security issues and protect against DDoS attacks, web attackers, screen scrapers, and scanning tools. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Tom Leighton is CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Akamai, Backbase, Cyberfend, Fiserv, i-exceed, Temenos

On Finovate.com

  • “Akamai Acquires Cyberfend for Bot Detection”

Around the web

  • Fiserv Portico to power core account processing and enhanced functionality for commercial lending for Green Country Federal Credit Union.
  • Forbes names Backbase one of 10 European growth businesses to watch in 2017.
  • i-exceed recognized as Samsung’s 2016 Mobile B2B: ISV Partner of the Year.
  • Temenos‘ MarketPlace receives the Banking Technology Readers’ Choice Award for “Best emerging/innovative technology product/service” at the Annual Banking Technology Awards.

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

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Tuition.io Appoints Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson as New CEO

Tuition.io Appoints Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson as New CEO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Tuition.io

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screen-shot-2016-12-16-at-11-47-14-amStudent loan repayment platform Tuition.io will get a fresh start in 2017. The Los Angeles-based company today announced Scott Thompson (pictured) will take the reins from Brendon McQueen as CEO.

Thompson most recently served as CEO for ShopRunner. Prior to that he held a short-lived role as CEO of Yahoo and served as president of PayPal for seven years. He also worked at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa; Barclays Global Investors; and Coopers & Lybrand.

The company’s former CEO Brendon McQueen debuted Tuition.io at FinovateFall 2012. The company has since transitioned into a strict B2B business model in which it helps businesses pay down student loan debt on behalf of their employees. Clients include Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, HP, and Staples.

Since launching in 2012, Tuition.io has experienced a 17x year-over-year increase in participants, helping tens of thousands of borrowers manage $2+ billion in loans. The company hopes to continue expanding to help businesses serve the 44 million Americans dealing with student loan debt. Thompson, who helped build revenues at PayPal from $1 billion to $4.4 billion, was brought on to facilitate growth at Tuition.io.

“Scott has made an incredible career of taking businesses and scaling them to new heights,” said Bryan Stolle, Tuition.io board member and general partner at Wildcat Ventures. “With all our recent momentum, this is a pivotal moment for the company, and we need a strong leader with a clear vision to help us make student loan repayment an employee benefit that is as widely adopted as the 401(k).”

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Behavioral Biometrics Startup Zighra Lands $1 Million in Seed Funding

Behavioral Biometrics Startup Zighra Lands $1 Million in Seed Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Zighra

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Behavioral biometrics and fraud prevention company Zighra closed $1 million in seed funding recently. The round was led by the Investment Accelerator Fund, Export Development Canada, and the Business Development Bank of Canada.

This is the Ottawa-based company’s third round of funding. The amounts of the first two rounds were undisclosed, but Zighra’s funding total is now greater than $1 million. Zighra CEO Deepak Dutt said he plans to use the funds “to go into acceleration mode.” Specifically, he plans to bolster sales and marketing efforts to reach more mobile banking and mobile commerce clients.

Zighra, an Invest Ottawa portfolio company, offers security software that analyzes users’ behavioral patterns to validate their identify and prevent fraud. At FinovateFall 2013, Zighra debuted KineticID, a mobile authentication solution that evaluates the user’s unique, kinetic interaction with their mobile device. Earlier this year, the company graduated from Barclays Techstars Accelerator, which led to Zighra taking on a pilot project for the banking giant. The accelerator program also offered Zighra exposure to the U.K. market, a new geography for the company, which has previously focused on North America, the Middle East, and India.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Canada, Zighra has six employees and anticipates it will double its workforce by the end of 2017. Earlier this month, the company won Best Tech at the C100 48Hrs in the Valley program and last year was featured in the Wall Street Journal for its behavioral authentication efforts.

Behavioral biometrics has been a hot topic in 2016, and we expect it to be a star topic of 2017, as well. Finovate alums such as BehavioSec, BioCatch, NuData Security, and Trusteer (acquired by IBM in 2013) each offer unique solutions to combat fraud using behavioral biometrics.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Betterment, Bizfi, FinanceIt, Green Dot, InComm, Passport, SigFig, SocietyOne, Temenos, ThetaRay, Tuition.io, Wealthfront, Zighra

On Finovate.com

  • Behavioral Biometrics Startup Zighra Lands $1 Million in Seed Funding
  • Tuition.io Appoints Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson as New CEO

Around the web

  • Commerce Bank chooses Temenos to upgrade core deposit banking system.
  • ThetaRay earns recognition from CIO Review as a top 20 financial services provider for 2016.
  • Financeit reports a doubling of its business since acquiring the home improvement financing assets of TD Bank.
  • Green Dot teams with WalMart to encourage Americans to build savings.
  • Bizfi expands its business lending capabilities through a new partnership with InterNex Capital.
  • OnWallStreet recommends advisers keep their eyes on Wealthfront’s Andy Rachleff; SigFig’s Mike Sha; and Betterment’s Jon Stein.
  • Passport acquires Arizona-based mobile parking payment startup ParkX.
  • P2P lender SocietyOne facilitates $126 million in loans in 2016, finishing a record-breaking year.
  • InComm expands partnership with Target Australia to offer gift cards in stores and online.

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

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