ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara

ION Commodities Announces Strategic Partnership with Avalara
  • ION Commodities and tax compliance automation company Avalara have forged a strategic partnership.
  • The partnership will integrate ION Commodities’ commodity management platform with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.
  • Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Avalara made its Finovate debut in 2015 at FinDEVr Silicon Valley.

Energy and commodity management solutions provider ION Commodities and tax compliance automation innovator Avalara announced a strategic partnership this week. ION Commodities has joined Avalara’s Partner Program to standardize integration of its technology with Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution.

“Tax compliance is one of the most onerous factors impacting energy and commodities enterprises, and their ability to scale and operate efficiently,” Avalara Vice President and General Manager Steve Lacoff said. “Our partnership with ION gives mutual customers in these sectors a greatly simplified path to compliance automation, with reduced compliance risk, and greater operational efficiency.”

Avalara’s AvaTax for Energy tax engine solution helps firms manage the complexities of tax compliance in energy trading and logistics. The energy markets typically feature complex and dynamic tax rates and rules across multiple jurisdictions. Keeping pace with regulatory requirements — including monthly filing requirements — is operationally costly. What’s worse is that attempts to shortcut these costs “can lead to tax errors and risk significant fines and penalties,” Avalara noted in a recent whitepaper, Fuel Tax Compliance Best Practices.

AvaTax for Energy calculates energy excise taxes for firms ranging from the smallest fuel distributors, energy traders, and mobile refuelers to the largest oil, gas, and chemical companies. The integration between Avalara’s compliance automation and ION Commodities’ commodity management platform will give energy companies an automated, scalable tax compliance solution that improves accuracy, reduces reliance on manual processes, and enables real-time tax calculation.

“Collaborating with Avalara aligns with our mission to deliver comprehensive, integrated solutions for the energy and commodities industry,” ION Corporates CEO Sunil Biswas said. “This partnership enhances our offering with advanced tax compliance capabilities, empowering our community to navigate the complexities of tax regulations with confidence.”

With more than 1,200 clients, ION Commodities provides data-driven energy and commodities trading and risk management solutions across the supply chain. The company’s Energy Trade and Risk Management (ETRM) and Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) solutions give customers real-time risk analytics and reporting and automate critical business processes to enable faster, more informed decisions. Headquartered in New York, ION Commodities is a division of London-based financial data and software company ION Group.

Avalara introduced itself to Finovate audiences in 2015 as part of Finovate’s developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and founded in 2004, Avalara offers automated tax compliance solutions that boost efficiency and accuracy, streamlining the experience for customers and simplifying tax management for businesses. According to a study by Forrester Consulting, Avalara customers have benefitted from a 90% increase in tax research efficiency, a 50% reduction in time spent on exemption certificate management, an 85% increase in audit preparation efficiency, and an 85% reduction in time spent managing tax returns. Scott McFarlane is co-founder and CEO.


Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

Finovate Webinar: Secrets of Successful Financial Services CFOs

Finovate Webinar: Secrets of Successful Financial Services CFOs

Discover the best practices top financial leaders use to become more impactful in their firms.

Financial services Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are navigating a complex landscape of rapid technological advancements, increasing regulatory demands, and the necessity for agile financial strategies.

As their roles evolve into Chief Financial Growth Officers (CFGOs), leveraging cutting-edge technology to drive innovation and efficiency has never been more important.

Watch this webinar with Kirsty Scotland and Ruhul Moksud to learn about:

  • The impact of AI and machine learning on financial leadership specifically in financial services firms
  • Driving efficiency through automation and process improvements
  • Making data-driven decisions with confidence

Full House: Finovate Announces 32-Company Demo Roster for FinovateEurope

Full House: Finovate Announces 32-Company Demo Roster for FinovateEurope

If you are a subscriber to Finovate Weekly, our LinkedIn-based newsletter of top stories from the Finovate blog, then you’ve already heard the news. But if not, then we’re thrilled to share it with you right here today: FinovateEurope 2025 will feature a full, 32-company roster at our upcoming fintech conference in London, on 25-26 February.

“Our FinovateEurope conference will feature a diverse lineup of startup companies,” Finovate VP and Demo Director Heather Stowell said. “A key commonality among them is AI. But expect to see a number of different AI and automation use cases nested within core banking, wealth management, payments, fraud, and compliance.”

Finovate’s signature, live fintech demonstrations continue to be a much-imitated hallmark of Finovate conferences. With only seven minutes at their disposal and a hard and fast “no videos, no slides” rule, Finovate’s live demos are a unique opportunity for innovative fintechs and financial services companies to show — not tell — our audience of professionals exactly how their innovations help banks and other businesses solve critical problems, grow revenues, and access new markets and customers.

“This is an exciting year for demos at Finovate,” Stowell added. “Over 80% of the FinovateEurope demoing companies are less than five years old and are demoing at Finovate for the first time. We’re looking forward to seeing their latest innovations live on stage.”

To learn more about the companies that will be demoing at FinovateEurope this month, Finovate’s Sneak Peek series is a great place to start. Find out about the challenges being solved, key features, what businesses stand to benefit from their innovations, and more.

This Friday is your last chance to take advantage of early-bird savings of up to £200.00 when you register to attend FinovateEurope. Don’t delay! Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your spot!

FinovateEurope 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 6

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 25. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Dimply

Dimply is an intelligent customer experience and personalization solution for financial institutions.

Features

  • Provides an intelligent customer experience
  • Offers a UX/UI solution
  • Delivers personalization

Who’s it for?

Banks and wealth managers.

Intuitech

Intuitech’s GenAI agents automate 95% of the most complex banking and insurance workflows, cutting loan origination time from weeks to minutes.

Features

  • Process and create any unstructured documents
  • Route and draft emails autonomously
  • Automatically validate information, taking necessary actions while providing full transparency

Who’s it for?

All banks, insurance providers, financial institutions seeking ROI on digital investments in 2025, using Agentic AI to reduce OPEX and boost customer satisfaction.

Primer

Primer is an AI platform that provides superhuman analysis of earnings calls and filings with unbiased, contextualized insights at speed, helping investment professionals make better decisions.

Features

  • Delivers earnings call/filing analysis to analysts within minutes of release
  • Generates key insights at depth and speed that human teams cannot replicate
  • Provides more accurate and relevant peer analysis

Who’s it for?

Investment banks (especially equity research and sales teams), asset managers, wealth managers, and hedge funds.

Stack AI

Stack AI delivers proven, enterprise-grade AI solutions that streamline operations, enhance decision-making, and deliver measurable outcomes for sustainable, scalable growth.

Features

  • Accelerates secure data analysis for faster decisions
  • Automates workflows for consistent, accurate results
  • Scales seamlessly with expanding enterprise requirements

Who’s it for?

Established enterprises.

Experian Selects ValidMind to Help Banks Manage AI Compliance

Experian Selects ValidMind to Help Banks Manage AI Compliance
  • Experian is integrating ValidMind’s AI governance and risk management tools into its Ascend Platform to help banks automate and streamline AI compliance.
  • The collaboration enables financial institutions to automate model validation, risk tracking, and audit readiness.
  • The combined solution will not only simplify AI adoption in financial services, but will also ensure compliance with key regulations like SR 11-7, E-23, SS1/23, and the EU AI Act.

Today’s environment of ever-changing regulations and technological developments in AI is making it difficult for banks to stay on top of AI compliance. To help banks manage these challenges, Experian is integrating its Ascend Platform with AI governance and risk management platform ValidMind.

Experian Ascend helps organizations make better decisions by providing them with access to extensive data and advanced analytics tools. The tool combines information from various sources, including credit and market data, and leverages AI and machine learning to offer insights to help firms better understand their customers, manage risks, and identify new opportunities.

Integrating ValidMind will help Experian automate model development and validation documentation using customizable, pre-built templates for credit, fraud, and other models. It will also enhance risk governance with robust racking, monitoring, and audit readiness features, ultimately enhancing regulatory compliance.

“Our collaboration with ValidMind complements our Ascend Platform and offers our customers innovative technology to automate and accelerate their model risk management processes,” said Experian Software Solutions President Keith Little. “This partnership empowers financial institutions, insurance companies, and fintech organizations to meet regulatory challenges with confidence and agility.”

The new combined solution, which meets compliance requirements including SR 11-7, E-23, SS1/23, and the EU AI Act, integrates AI into templates to ensure that banks generate consistent, high-quality documentation organized to streamline regulatory submissions.

“This partnership is poised to establish a new industry standard for scalable, automated model risk management,” said ValidMind CEO Jonas Jacobi. “Together, we can help financial institutions reduce risk, improve efficiency, and accelerate the adoption and implementation of AI, Gen AI and statistical models.”

California-based ValidMind was founded in 2022. The company’s enterprise platform helps organizations document, validate, and govern models at scale. ValidMind also offers statistical models, AI models, and GenAI models to streamline documentation, simplify compliance, future-proof existing models, and unlock new business models in a transparent way. The company raised just over $8 million in its first funding round last year.


Photo by RDNE Stock project

Navigating the Shift: Four Key Financial Policy Changes Under the New Administration

Navigating the Shift: Four Key Financial Policy Changes Under the New Administration

Is anyone else having difficulty keeping up with all of the changes that have taken place since the new administration took office last month? Over the course of the last 18 days, sweeping shifts have reshaped regulations, agency leadership, and key financial policies— creating both uncertainty and opportunity for businesses navigating this evolving landscape.

While many of these changes will have broad implications for U.S. citizens and organizations operating in the country, I’ve distilled the most significant updates on the White House’s website impacting financial services. Below, I break down the four most critical developments that banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions need to watch closely.

Imposing a regulatory freeze

On January 20, President Trump signed an executive order to halt new rulemaking and review pending regulations across federal agencies. It also calls for the withdrawal of any rules that have been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but not published yet. The administration plans to use the pause to reassess both existing and proposed regulations so that they align with its policy objectives.

For banks and fintechs, this makes it challenging to prepare for future regulatory requirements. It may impact firms’ compliance timelines and will likely confuse financial services companies’ strategic planning efforts.

Strengthening hold on digital assets

On January 23, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” The order prohibits the establishment of US central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). It also establishes a working group to propose a regulatory framework for digital assets within 180 days and allows individuals and entities to access and use open public blockchain networks.

This may present opportunities for banks and fintechs to engage in the stablecoin economy, especially when it comes to cross-border transactions and digital payments. Additionally, governmental protection of an open blockchain may spark the creation of new blockchain-based products and services.

Removing barriers to AI

Also on January 23, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence that aims to enhance the US’s position in AI. The order removes existing AI policies and directives that are considered barriers to innovation. Within 180 days, officials are tasked with creating a plan to sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance.

This emphasis on reducing regulatory barriers may lead to both banks and third party fintechs adopting AI technologies at a faster rate. However, as AI is a double-edged sword, the relaxed regulatory environment may create uncertainty as organizations wait for new guidelines to develop.

Implementing the DOGE workforce optimization initiative

On February 11, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled Implementing The President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative, which intends to streamline the federal workforce and enhance operational efficiency. Controversially, the order gives Elon Musk and his team direct access to data held at the US Treasury Department. As a result, a coalition of more than a dozen US states is planning to file a lawsuit to block access in order to protect the personal data of US citizens.

By reducing staffing at federal agencies that oversee financial institutions, the order may impact the efficiency and thoroughness of regulatory examinations and compliance enforcement. The instability could also cause uncertainty for banks, disrupting strategic planning and compliance efforts.

Other actions

There are two other actions not yet listed on the White House’s official news release page, but each is significant.

Earlier this week, the Associated Press unveiled that the Trump administration ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to suspend all of its activities. Finovate Analyst David Penn reported on the details of the situation, including what the CFPB can still do and who may take over the agency if it continues to exist.

Today, the Wall Street Journal exclusively reported that the Trump administration is also considering folding the FDIC into the Treasury Department. Experts cited that this is unlikely to transpire, however, as Congress is unlikely to pass such a measure. “This idea would pose an enormous risk of terrifying Americans about the safety of their deposits and triggering bank runs,” Former Federal Regulator Patricia McCoy told CNN.


Photo by René DeAnda on Unsplash

Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions

Fenergo Partners with PwC to Bring AI-Powered CLM and KYC to More Financial Institutions
  • Financial compliance software company Fenergo has teamed up with PwC.
  • The partnership is designed to bring AI-powered CLM and KYC solutions to more financial institutions around the world.
  • Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. PwC won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021.

Fenergo and PwC have announced a new partnership that will help put Fenergo’s AI-powered Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions in the hands of more financial institutions. The combination of PwC’s financial crime expertise with Fenergo’s AI-powered CLM technology into a single offering will make it easier for financial institutions to digitally transform their financial crime operations.

Fenergo’s Global VP for Partnerships and Alliances Matt Edwards said that the collaboration between the two firms will “deliver an optimum target operating model for CLM.” Edwards added that the solution “empowers financial institutions to efficiently mitigate financial crime risk while driving growth and efficiency gains.”

Fenergo’s CLM helps ensure that financial services firms realize tangible benefits and return on investment from the digital transformation of their client management and compliance processes. The platform provides faster client onboarding, including streamlined onboarding for low-to-medium risk clients; improved operational efficiencies with fewer touchpoints; policy-driven accurate risk assessments aligned with regulatory requirements; and a reduced total cost of ownership thanks to advanced API integrations.

Complementing Fenergo’s CLM technology are PwC’s Target Operating Model design, end-to-end customer experience journey mapping, operational readiness, data migration, systems integration, and business change management.

PwC Partner Mark Hunter highlighted Fenergo’s technology as “uniquely positioned to serve mid-market to large multinational organizations.” Hunter praised the company’s platform for its “scale, flexibility, and advanced capabilities” that help institutions better manage complex regulatory environments and large volumes of transactions.

A UK-based multinational assurance, advisory, and tax services provider, PwC counts more than 85% of the Global Fortune 500 companies as its clients. PwC maintains offices in 152 countries and reported gross revenues of more than $55 billion for the year ending 30 June 2024. The company participated in Finovate’s developer conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley 2016, and won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 for a demonstration of Customer Link, its customer data platform that helps institutions build better, more personalized experiences.

Dublin, Ireland-based Fenergo made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2012. The company offers simplified client and product onboarding, automated AML and KYC due diligence, and a centralized CLM platform that helps financial institutions, asset management, and fintechs manage customers throughout the entire client lifecycle.

Fenergo’s partnership news with PwC comes a few days after the company announced the launch of its all-in-one KYC, onboarding, and trade request management platform for businesses in the energy and commodities sector. The new Trader Request Portal combines KYC, onboarding, and trade request management capabilities.


Photo by Mark Dalton

Trump Demands Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Stop Financially Protecting Consumers

Trump Demands Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Stop Financially Protecting Consumers
  • The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to suspend nearly all activities.
  • The demand came in the form of an email from newly appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought.
  • The CFPB was launched in 2011 as part of a sweeping set of reforms enacted in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2008.

The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to immediately suspend nearly all activities, according to a report from the Associated Press. The demand comes one week after President Trump removed the director of the CFPB, Rohit Chopra. The bureau, founded in the summer of 2011 via Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act, has been a target of conservatives for years. Even Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, has weighed in on the CFPB, claiming that the goal of the administration is to fully “delete” the bureau.

This is not the first time the CFPB has been told to stand down since President Trump was inaugurated. Within days of being named acting director of the bureau, Scott Bessent ordered employees to stop all bureau activities, settlement enforcement actions, and involvement in legal cases.

The latest directive to the CFPB came from newly appointed director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought late last week. The order demands that the CFPB cease work on proposed regulations and suspend the effective dates of rules that have been finalized but are not yet fully in force. Vought also ordered the bureau to stop any investigative activity — including new probes — and to end its supervision and examination efforts. The new director has even pursued the bureau’s funding, stating that the CFPB cannot withdraw its next round of funding from the Federal Reserve, which Vought referred to as “excessive.”

Further, the CFPB’s headquarters in Washington will be closed from February 10 through February 14, with workers and contractors expected to “work remotely unless instructed otherwise,” Vought indicated in an email to employees over the weekend.

So, what can the CFPB do, if anything? At this point, the bureau can still hear consumer complaints, even if it is no longer empowered to examine issues or launch investigations. Additionally, Vought’s order has been interpreted as forbidding the CFPB from engaging with companies it regulates, as well as with consumer advocates and similar outside organizations.

The CFPB has sued Capital One as recently as last month, claiming that the company had misled customers about its high-interest savings accounts, resulting in more than $2 billion in lost interest payments. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren — who first conceived of the idea of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — decried the decision to suspend the CFPB’s activities, saying that Vought was “giving big banks and giant corporations the green light to scam families.” Of late Warren has suggested that there might be common ground between the CFPB’s mission and the concern that many conservatives and Republicans have about the phenomenon of “de-banking” — even if they disagree on which entities are being unfairly “de-banked.”

If Vought’s name sounds familiar, then it may have to do with his connection to Project 2025, a policy blueprint that was touted by many conservatives and Trump supporters during the presidential election in 2024, but was never fully embraced by Trump as part of the campaign. Many observers see the current moves in Washington to reduce headcount, control spending, and realign various agencies as part of the mission of Project 2025.

Interestingly, there remains some uncertainty about who will take over the CFPB on a permanent basis if the bureau does survive — as most observers view likely. At least two senior CFPB officials have announced their resignations in the wake of Vought’s email: Lorelai Salas, supervision director, and Eric Halperin, enforcement director. The Dodd-Frank Update reported that there are indications that the Trump administration has struggled to find someone interested in the job. In the first Trump administration, the CFPB was run by Mick Mulvaney, who served as acting director from November 2017 to December 2018, and Kathleen Kraninger, who took over from Mulvaney and served until Joe Biden assumed the Presidency in January 2021.

For more thoughts on how the Trump administration is likely to deal with the financial services sector, check out our January column, Will 2025 Be the Year of the Regulator or “Liberation Day” for Financial Services in the US?


Photo by Mathias Reding

FIS Taps Affirm to Give Bank Clients BNPL Tools for Debit Cardholders

FIS Taps Affirm to Give Bank Clients BNPL Tools for Debit Cardholders
  • FIS is partnering with Affirm to enable banks using its debit processing services to integrate Affirm’s BNPL payment options.
  • FIS clients can now offer consumers pay-over-time solutions including both biweekly interest-free installments and longer-term financing plans.
  • Offering BNPL tools can help smaller financial institutions stay competitive, improve their digital offerings, and meet evolving consumer demands.

Payment, banking, and investment systems provider FIS and buy now, pay later (BNPL) player Affirm have teamed up this week. The partnership will allow FIS to enable its debit processing bank clients to integrate Affirm’s BNPL solution into their existing debit card program.

Affirm offers two different payment products, Pay in 4 and Monthly Installments. With Pay in 4, shoppers can split up purchases ranging from $50 to $1,000+ into four interest-free installments paid every two weeks. The Monthly Installments tool is a more traditional borrowing product that allows consumers to finance purchases ranging from $50 to $5,000+ over the course of three to 60 months with a rate of 0% to 36% APR.

FIS anticipates that integrating Affirm’s tools into banking products will help its clients meet evolving consumer demands, ultimately fostering customer loyalty and boosting growth. The company’s debit processing clients can offer their eligible customers biweekly and monthly payment plans via the bank’s existing debit card programs. Banks can also leverage Affirm’s traditional financing offers, funded by Affirm’s 335,000+ merchant partners.

“Customer conversion and retention have become major priorities for card-issuing banks in our increasingly digitized economy, where consumers have endless options,” said FIS Co-president of Banking Solutions Jim Johnson. “Consumers today are looking for innovative and user-friendly experiences that give them flexibility and control over their money and optimize how their money is put to work. That’s why so many of them choose to pay with Affirm. This new program will deliver Affirm’s leading-edge technology, flexible and transparent payment options, and extensive merchant network to our banking clients, enabling them to continue meeting these needs and offer more competitive, differentiated services through their own banking channels.”

This move is particularly significant for FIS’ smaller financial institution clients, such as credit unions and community banks, as it provides a straightforward way to offer BNPL tools to their customers. By integrating these options, institutions can enhance the customer experience with greater payment flexibility while positioning themselves as more tech-savvy and innovative. This distinction can be crucial in attracting and retaining customers in a competitive landscape.

“Millions of consumers prefer using a debit card from their trusted financial institution, and we believe they should have easy access to exceptional credit options through their preferred payment method. That’s why, for the first time, we’re bringing Affirm’s proprietary underwriting technology and full suite of pay-over-time solutions to third party issuers in partnership with FIS,” said Affirm Chief Revenue Officer Wayne Pommen. “This new program will expand access to Affirm’s wide range of payment options, giving more consumers a responsible way to pay over time. It will also connect them directly to Affirm’s vast and growing merchant network – delivering an even more valuable and differentiated experience.”

Established in 1968 and based in Florida, FIS serves 15,000 clients across the globe. The company’s product suite includes payment solutions, risk management services, and customer communication tools. Its technology supports the processing of $50 trillion in transactions annually and oversees assets totaling $16 trillion.


Photo By: Kaboompics.com

Zeta Secures $50 Million Strategic Investment

Zeta Secures $50 Million Strategic Investment

Banking technology provider Zeta has raised $50 million in new funding. The investment — from an unnamed strategic investor — boosts the company’s valuation to $2 billion, a significant increase from the firm’s most recent pre-money valuation of $1.45 billion. That valuation followed a capital infusion of $250 million from Softbank Vision Fund 2 and other investors in 2021.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Zeta enables financial institutions and fintechs to launch a wide variety of financial products via its modern, microservices-based, API-first, cloud-native, and Headless (MACH) platform. These products include credit cards, checking accounts, savings accounts, unsecured loans, and more. Zeta’s SaaS suite provides solutions for the entire lifecycle of a banking product: core banking and issuer payments; merchant acquiring and payment services; digital banking and AI applications; issuer operations and servicing; customer engagement and rewards; as well as commercial cards and benefits.

“We are incredibly excited at the pace at which clients are embracing our modern stack,” Zeta Global CEO and Co-Founder Bhavin Turakhia said. “Over the past few years, we have supported over 25 million accounts on our cloud-native processing platform Tachyon and are on track to add 25 million more with contracts already in flight. Our clients are breaking away from decades of legacy systems to deliver amazing digital experiences, thereby increasing their customer satisfaction and accelerating new user acquisition.”

Founded in 2015, Zeta won Best of Show in its debut at our all-digital Finovate conference in 2020. The company returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateFall 2021 in New York. More recently, Zeta has collaborated with fellow Finovate alum Mastercard as part of a five-year partnership and teamed up with Featurespace to combine credit card processing and fraud detection. Last August, Zeta announced that India’s HDFC Bank was leveraging its technology to power its new Credit Line on UPI (CLOU) solutions.

“Zeta’s mission to be a trusted partner to financial institutions is possible through the patient efforts of the best team ever assembled in banking technology,” Zeta Co-Founder Ramki Gaddipati said. “While the past few years have been challenging for the banking-tech industry, our organization has delivered multiple winning programs for our clients in record time.”

To date, Zeta customers around the world have issued more than 25 million cards on Zeta’s platform. The firm’s card processing capabilities were recognized by Celent in its 2023 Next-Gen Card Issuer Processors in the US report, which noted that, in the words of Celent Head of Retail Banking and Payments Research Zil Bareisis, “Zeta is among the likeliest partners for banks considering a shift to next-gen processing.”


Photo by Zyanya BMO on Unsplash

FinovateEurope 2025 Sneak Peek Series: Part 5

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 25. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Byne

Byne is a secure, on-premise platform that lets teams build AI agents to automate document-heavy workflows while keeping sensitive data protected within company walls.

Features

  • Build AI agents without code for document workflows
  • Deploy anywhere – on-premise or cloud
  • Deliver enterprise-grade security with sensitive data protection

Who’s it for?

Regulated enterprises.

EKAI

EKAI’s AI Compliance Co-Pilot applies automation, speed, and a unified customer view to regulation workflows.

Features

  • Provides scenario testing for operational resilience compliance
  • Offers a unified customer view
  • Delivers modularized compliance program management

Who’s it for?

Banks, insurers, fintechs (including payments), investment managers, private markets, and the health, energy, and logistics industries.

PromoComply

PromoComply is the fastest and most comprehensive platform for ensuring compliance of financial promotions, throughout the entire promotion lifecycle.

Features

  • Ensures financial promotions comply with all regulations
  • Streamlines collaboration between all stakeholders, partners, and regulators
  • Saves time and money – shortens process from weeks to minutes

Who’s it for?

All businesses promoting financial products in the U.K. market.

RE-ViVE

RE-ViVE is a process intelligence platform revolutionizing how businesses optimize, monitor, and transform their workflows, with a particular focus on the BFSI and fintech sectors.

Features

  • Map and analyze hundreds of workflows from raw data within minutes
  • Offer agentic AI functionality
  • Deliver actionable insights across diverse systems and workflows

Who’s it for?

Banks, credit unions, community banks, payment providers, insurance companies, BFSI system integrators, fintech companies (partnership), and any SMB with complex processes.

Torus

Torus is an award-winning SaaS intelligence platform for banks and fintechs that aims to enhance profits on card transactions by up to 50%.

Features

  • Understands transaction-level costs and revenues daily allocation with 98% accuracy
  • Provides profit-based pricing for fintech partners
  • Offers agentic AI support

Who’s it for?

Banks, BaaS providers, credit unions, card issuers, merchant acquirers, and payment providers.

India’s Perfios to Acquire Clari5 (CustomerXPs)

India’s Perfios to Acquire Clari5 (CustomerXPs)
  • Financial data company Perfios has acquired Clari5 to enhance its fraud prevention and risk management capabilities using Clari5’s real-time financial crime management platform.
  • Clari5 offers AI-driven fraud detection tools, including customer-looped alerts, identity resolution, trade-based AML, and real-time transaction monitoring across multiple channels.
  • Perfios anticipates that the acquisition will strengthen its presence in India, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Financial data analysis company Perfios has agreed to acquire Clari5 (also known as CustomerXPs). India-based Perfios will use Clari5 to strengthen its own fraud and risk management capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Clari5 was founded in 2006 to help protect banks against fraud and money laundering. Among the company’s tools for fighting fraud are a customer-looped alert management service, payments fraud reporting, identity resolution, trade-based anti-money laundering, an inbound scam detection solution, and more. Additionally, Clari5 uses AI-driven analytics and machine learning to improve the detection of fraud patterns. The company monitors transactions in real-time across multiple channels to ensure that financial services organizations can quickly detect and prevent fraud.

“Joining forces with Perfios marks a new chapter of growth and innovation for Clari5,” said Clari5 CEO Rivi Varghese. “With Perfios’ deep expertise in the financial technology ecosystem and our advanced real-time financial crime management platform, we are creating a powerful synergy to redefine fraud prevention, risk intelligence, and AML compliance at scale. This partnership enables us to expand our reach, accelerate product innovation, and strengthen our ability to help financial institutions combat evolving financial crime with unmatched speed and precision. Perfios’ scale, global presence, and stability position us to serve the largest banks worldwide, enabling us to deliver impactful solutions to financial institutions of all sizes and complexities.”

Founded in 2008, Perfios builds customized solutions for financial services firms to make data-based, real-time decisions in lending, wealth management, embedded finance, insurance, and KYC. The company serves over 1,000 lenders in India, including each of the top 10 banks.

Perfios anticipates that adding Clari5 will help it build its leadership in the financial sector in India. The company also plans to use the move to strengthen its presence across its key geographies, including the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and Southeast Asia (SEA).

“The acquisition of Clari5, a leader in EFRM and AML, marks a significant milestone in our journey to build the most comprehensive fraud and risk management ecosystem,” said Perfios CEO Sabyasachi Goswami. “Clari5’s real-time financial crime management platform, trusted by marquee financial institutions worldwide, perfectly complements Perfios’ mission to deliver secure, scalable, and tech-first solutions. Together, we are set to redefine fraud prevention, risk intelligence, and AML compliance, empowering financial institutions to stay ahead of evolving threats while powering financial security to billions across the globe.”


Photo by Christina Morillo