PayPal in Argentina; Temenos Backs African Challenger Bank

Finovate Global is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PayPal invests $750 million in Argentina-based e-commerce company MercadoLibre.
  • First Data to acquire Brazilian electronic funds transfer (EFT) solution provider Software Express.
  • NCR, Bluefin, and Powertranz team up to support POS card processing for Caribbean quick serve restaurants.
  • BlueRush deploys its Individeo platform with a large Colombian bank courtesy of a partnership with Bee Concept.
  • The Wall Street Journal looks at how global FIs are gaining interest in the Latin American alternative lending market.

Asia-Pacific

  • Experian launches Singapore-based incubator, Experian X Labs.
  • South Korean crypto company Kakao raises $90 million via private coin offering.
  • Thai Stock Exchange to launch a digital asset exchange next year.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Front office and core banking technology from Temenos to drive digital revamp for African challenger bank, Vista Bank.
  • Financial Software and Systems takes 46% stake in South Africa’s Ecentric Payment Systems.
  • South Africa’s second largest retail bank, Capitec, extends its partnership with ACI Worldwide.
  • ThreatMetrix teams up with Blue Turtle Technologies to help market its fraud prevention solution to customers in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank reports 2018 highlights including launch of new mortgage app, a joint P2P money transfer offering with Sberbank, and more than 2.7 million new active credit customers.
  • iSignthis Inks Banking and Payments Deal with Ibanera.
  • Bulgaria-based Software Group scores €18 million loan from Europe Investment Bank.
  • EU Startups features lending platform Inlock its look at 10 Hungarian startups to look out for in 2019.
  • Bulgaria’s Municipal Bank to deploy new core and payments solutions from Oracle.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) launches $10 million fund for fintech startups in the MENA region.
  • Commercial Bank of Qatar joins R3.
  • Credit scoring solution provider Creditinfo opens regional hub in Muscat following new strategic partnership with the Central Bank of Oman.

Central and South Asia

  • ArthaYantra wins Fintech of the Year (India) at The Asset Triple A Digital Awards.
  • Africa’s Naspers plans to spend $1 billion on investments in Indian fintechs.
  • Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures division to launch digital platform for Indian SMEs.

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Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Stash Scores $65 Million; Launches Stock-Back Rewards.
  • TickSmith Teams Up with CanDeal to Power DataVault Innovations.
  • First Wave of Demoing Companies for FinovateSpring Revealed.

Around the web

  • Aerospike launches suite of add-on modules, Aerospike Connect, to make it easier for businesses to integrate the company’s database.
  • Identitii renews its partnership with HSBC Global Services (UK).
  • Onfido appointed to the FIDO Alliance Board of Directors.
  • ACI Worldwide announces the extension of its partnership with South Africa’s Capitec Bank.
  • IdentityMind Global to support Koi Trading’s AML Compliance-as-a-Service offering.
  • Gusto appoints Square’s former Head of Information Security Fredrick Lee as its new Chief Security Officer.
  • PayPal adds instant transfer feature for bank accounts.
  • Insuritas and ReliaQuote partner to offer ID theft protection to 10 million consumers.
  • Fenergo enables financial firms to digitally visualize risk in fight against financial crime.
  • GroundFloor partners with Dwolla to make payments more efficient for borrowers and investors.

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

ACI Worldwide Buys Speedpay in $750 Million Deal

ACI Worldwide Buys Speedpay in $750 Million Deal

ACI Worldwide has signed an agreement to acquire Speedpay, Western Union’s U.S. bill pay business, for $750 million in an all-cash transaction, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

This news follows ACI’s acquisition of technology assets from RevChip and TranSend, both developers of terminal payment apps and management platforms.

The ACI and Speedpay bill pay solutions aim to serve more than 4,000 customers across the US, and targets such sectors as consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utilities, government and mortgages.

ACI will bring together the Speedpay and UP Bill Payment platforms into a unified bill payment platform.

“Divesting the Speedpay business allows us to concentrate our resources on our cross-border money movement strategies and monetise a non-core asset for our shareholders,” said Hikmet Ersek, president and CEO of Western Union. “Our strategy remains focused on expanding our digital services, leveraging our platform to unlock new cross-border, cross-currency payments opportunities, and generating additional operating efficiencies.”

With more than 15 billion transactions in 2018, ACI reckons the US bill pay market continues to grow at steady mid-single digit rates. This growth is driven by factors such as increased consumer adoption of digital and mobile payments, the move to real-time payments and digital subscription billing.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2019.

In separate news, ACI has released its results from the year closing on 31 December 2018. To sum up, the year’s new bookings are up 22% from 2017, the total bookings are up 15% from 2017, and its cash flow from operations are up 26% from 2017. Good times.

ACI Worldwide demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2011, partnering with mShift to offer ACI’s Enterprise Banker solution via mobile. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next Generation API at FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • NDGIT Credits License Revenue, New Bank Clients for Growth.
  • ACI Worldwide Buys Speedway in $750 Million Deal.
  • Identity Verification Specialist Socure Raises $30 Million.
  • Finastra Brings its Total Payments Solution to Silvergate Bank.

Around the web

  • D3 Banking Technology joins Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN).
  • Tradeshift introduces new app integration from Transfermate Global Payments.
  • HackerOne opens official APAC headquarters in Singapore.
  • Healthcare information technology services provider Allscripts partners with ID.me.

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

Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide enhances its UP Merchant Payments solution with the purchase of technology assets from RevChip and TranSend.
  • Onfido to provide identity verification for P2P RV rental marketplace, RVshare.
  • Coinbase enables transactions via PayPal to 32 countries in Europe courtesy of new collaboration.

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

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mexican fintech Albo raises $7.4 million in Series A round led by Mountain Nazca.
  • Mobile digital wallet BPP Pay goes live in Brazil.
  • The Inter-American Development Bank and Finnovista publish their Fintech in Latin America 2018: Growth and Consolidation report.

Asia-Pacific

  • R3 and SBI Holdings launch joint venture to boost use of Corda in Japan and East Asia more broadly.
  • Mizuho inks memorandum of understanding for business cooperation with Zhongguancun Development Group (ZDG) in quest for Chinese fintech startups.
  • Phillippine “fintech city” Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) unveils new regulations for trading cryptocurrency assets.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Standard Chartered begins the second phase of its digital-only, retail bank rollout in four African markets.
  • The Standard reflects on Kenya’s progress in promoting financial inclusion via financial technology.
  • Modern Ghana considers Five Ways Fintech Will Change E-Commerce.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Fintech Futures takes a look at the growth of Lithuania’s fintech sector.
  • ACI Worldwide to drive real-time payments for 17 banks in Hungary.
  • Belarus turns to the example of Lithuania as the country considers how to regulate fintech.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Sharia’h compliant insurance solution provider Solidarity Bahrain opts for core insurance system from TCS Bancs.
  • Al Bawaba looks at how Egyptian banks are moving toward digitization and embracing fintech.
  • Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and United Arab Emirates Central Bank announce plans for a blockchain-based digital currency to improve financial settlements between the two countries.

Central and South Asia

  • Indian alternative credit scoring startup CreditVidya raises $3 million in funding.
  • A partnership between 11 banks in India has led to the country’s first blockchain-linked funding for SMEs.
  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launches Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions to improve response to complaints regarding digital transactions.

Top image designed by Freepik

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • New Funding Helps Featurespace Fight Fraud in Financial Services.

Around the web

  • WeInvest announces North Asia expansion with appointment of new Head of Sales, Thomas Tse.
  • Yoyo Wallet partners with artisan coffee chain, SOHO Coffee.
  • TAG includes DefenseStorm and FeatureSpace in its list of the top 40 most innovative companies in Georgia.
  • ACI Worldwide brings its real-time payments solution to 17 Hungarian banks courtesy of partnership with T-Systems and Takarékinfo.
  • Dwolla powers AutoInvest, a new automatic investing feature from OneGold.
  • MaxMyInterest boosts top rate available on its platform to 2.46%, the highest rate in the country.

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

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • De Novo for the New Year: Mi BANK Teams Up with Fiserv.

Around the web

  • Sberbank enables users of its Sberbank Online app for Android to apply for loans without visiting a bank office.
  • National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) unveils SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (gpi) services courtesy of partnership with ACI Worldwide.
  • PayPal chooses Temenos T24 core banking in the cloud to support its operations in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Australia.
  • Russian MVNO Tinkoff Mobile now covers 43 regions.
  • Ping Identity reports that the top 12 U.S. banks by assets use its Ping Intelligent Identity Platform.

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

BioCatch Brings Behavioral Biometrics to ACI Worldwide

BioCatch Brings Behavioral Biometrics to ACI Worldwide

A new partnership between real-time electronic payment and banking solutions provider, ACI Worldwide, and behavioral biometrics specialist, BioCatch, will deliver better online and mobile fraud prevention to banking customers. Along with the advanced analytic capabilities of ACI Worldwide’s UP Payments Risk Management, BioCatch’s behavior assessment technology will help institutions better defend themselves and their customers from a growing variety of cyberthreats.

“As online and mobile banking proliferates, fraudsters are consistently finding new ways to infiltrate banks’ systems, creating havoc for consumers and businesses alike,” BioCatch CTO and founder Avi Turgeman said. “By using behavioral data to distinguish between a genuine customer and a fraudster – whether human or non-human – we are able to detect fraudulent activity in real-time and protect consumers.”

ACI Worldwide global director for Payments Intelligence & Risk Solutions Cleber Martins pointed to threats like account takeover, social engineering, and bots as the main obstacles for institutions that are attempting to provide “enriched customer experience(s).” He praised the way BioCatch offers “cost-efficient access to behavioral biometrics” solutions to enable banks to “further promote safety and loyalty through the online relationship with their clients.”

BioCatch demonstrated the Passive Biometrics/Invisible Challenges mechanism of its cognitive behavioral biometrics technology at FinovateFall 2014. The mechanism injects a dynamic, cognitive challenge during the user’s interaction with an app. The challenge is so subtle that the user responds to it without being aware that the challenge has occurred. This response helps define the user’s relationship with the app, providing a unique user profile that reduces vulnerability to a variety of cyber threats.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Israel, BioCatch has raised $41.6 million in funding, and includes Blumberg Capital, OurCrowd, and Maverick Ventures Israel among its investors. In October, the company announced that it was partnering with seven, tier-one Latin American banks in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Earlier this year, BioCatch teamed up with ForgeRock, offering its behavioral biometrics solution as an integrated module to ForgeRock’s platform.

ACI Worldwide powers electronic payments for more than 5,000 institutions globally, including more than 1,000 of the world’s largest financial institutions and service providers. The company participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, presenting Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next-Generation API. The discussion focused on the technical challenges of payments integration and the value of using an end-to-end solution with integrated real-time fraud prevention.

Founded in 1975 and based in Naples, Florida, ACI Worldwide trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker ACIW, and has a market capitalization of $3 billion.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Interactions Partners with Next Caller for Phone-Based Threat Assessment.
  • BioCatch Brings Behavioral Biometrics to ACI Worldwide.

Around the web

  • Token to support PSD2 compliance and open banking capabilities for U.K.’s thinkmoney.
  • SafeAmericaCU’s switch to AI-powered technology from Bankjoy helps the $433 million asset FI to earn “Best Practices” honors from CU Journal.
  • TransferWise secures £65 million syndicated debt facility with NatWest, JP Morgan, and LHV Bank.
  • iSignthis plans for Australian neobanking license in 2019.
  • PayNearMe’s electronic payment volume grew by more than 25% month-over-month in the past year.
  • Klarna joins Shopify Plus Partner program to power merchants.
  • TrueAccord wins a Healthy Mothers Workplace Award.
  • Passport recognized as one of Charlotte’s fastest growing companies.
  • Launchfire wins gold Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Award.
  • Bill.com selects Comdata as Virtual Credit Card Provider for B2B Payments.
  • TopTracker partners with Payoneer to allows free payments between companies and freelancers.

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

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian online accounting services specialist Accounteer announces plans to open new office in Nairobi, Kenya.
  • First Bank of Nigeria awards more than $14,000 in cash prizes to winners of its hackathon competition.
  • Absa Group of South Africa adds new functionality to its mobile app.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Tinkoff Bank launches Tinkoff Junior mobile app for children and teenagers.
  • Sberbank unveils its new Payment Schedules solution, enabling users to configure the interface of Sberbank Business Online into an event feed format.
  • Top ten Ukrainian bank, First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) to offer banking services via messaging apps Viber and Telegram – with Facebook Messenger to be added by the end of the year.
  • Emerging Europe features Lithuania as “China’s fintech gateway to Europe.”
  • Polish vendor finance specialist LeaseLink joins loan syndication platform, Mintos.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • The UAE’s Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank, a digitally-enabled trade bank, is announced, with operations to begin in early 2019.
  • TradeArabia looks at how fintech can help enhance trade in the Middle East.
  • Bahrain Fintech Bay launches Global Islamic & Sustainable Fintech Center (GISFC).

Central and South Asia

  • Bengaluru-based ClearTax India raises $54.6 million ($4 billion INR) in new funding.
  • Tez Financial Services, Pakistan’s first fully digital non-bank microfinance company, announces picking up $1.1 million in seed funding in a round led by Omidyar Network.
  • India’s Utkarsh Small Finance Bank (USFB) goes live with UP Retail Payments from ACI Worldwide.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • PayStand expands operations to Mexico, forms regional partnership with StartupGDL.
  • Fidor and GFT extend partnership to the Americas markets.
  • Argentine fintech Ualá picks up $34 million investment from Goldman Sachs.

Asia-Pacific

  • Hong Kong-based mobile current account solution for the underbanked, Neat, raises $3 million in funding.
  • Accenture partners with Siam Commercial Bank’s fintech subsidiary, Digital Ventures, to co-launch blockchain trade solution. See Siam Commercial Bank at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong next week.
  • Indonesia’s OnlinePajak, a tax app provider, announced a $25 million investment in a round led by Warburg Pincus.
  • Fintech Futures takes a look at the “fintech battle” between China and the West.

Top image designed by Freepik

BMO Financial Unveils New Payments Hub Powered by ACI Worldwide

BMO Financial Unveils New Payments Hub Powered by ACI Worldwide

BMO is rolling out new payments hub, reports Tanya Andreasyan of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Canada’s BMO Financial Group has implemented a new payments hub based on the ACI Worldwide UP solution. The project was completed in nine months.

BMO is involved in the modernization of national payment ecosystems in Canada and the US.

“The launch of our payment hub is a cornerstone of our payment modernisation strategy and a very exciting step forward for BMO and our clients,” said Sharon Haward-Laird, head, North American treasury and payment solutions at BMO.

“Our speed-to-market differentiates BMO and has been a significant win that has positioned us well to adapt quickly to shifting demands and enable the new payment rails we are working toward in the coming months.

“It’s all about delivering faster and more efficient payment experiences for clients and with the hub, we’re well positioned to do that.”

ACI said its UP Real-Time Payments solution is “the only global solution that allows financial institutions to address their real-time gross settlement (RTGS), Swift messaging, ACH and real-time payments needs with a single, universal offering”.

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Naples, Florida, ACI Worldwide participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, in 2016. The company’s Wolfgang Berner and Grit Ruehling led a presentation titled Simple, Global, and Secure eCommerce Payments with ACI Worldwide’s Next-Generation API that showcased ACI Worldwide’ s SAQ-A compliant JavaScript payment-form solution. The technology enables merchants to readily add dozens of alternative payment methods to their checkout page.

A publicly-traded company on the Nasdaq, ACI Worldwide trades under the ticker “ACIW”. The company has a market capitalization of $3 billion. More than 5,100 organizations around the world, as well as more than 1,000 of the world’s largest FIs use ACI’s technology to process $14 trillion in payments and securities every day.