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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Reports of a major breakthrough in Chinese AI technology sent stocks reeling in the U.S. to begin the week. Here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown, we’ve got one eye on the latest from DeepSeek and another eye on the latest developments in fintech.
As Monday begins, we share news of a partnership in the open banking space, an expansion into the APAC, and both new funding and new tools for business banking.
Open banking
Tink and Adyenteam up with prepaid platform Recharge to offer its German customers Pay by Bank services.
Payments
Visa and South Korean fintech DealMeteam up to offer cross-border card installment payments.
Canadian paytech Nuveiexpands into the APAC region on the completion of its acquisition of Paywiser Japan and granting of its acquiring license from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
Digital banking
Cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions, Alkami Technologylaunches its Business Banking Digital Maturity Assessment tool.
Shanghai Commercial Bank partners with Hong Kong-based digital banking solutions provider Planto.
Texas-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology is bringing Push Provisioning to NASA Federal Credit Union (NASA FCU).
“I truly believe that our card management suite is one of the best,” NASA FCU digital banking manager Liam Petraska said. “Alkami has delivered one of the most cohesive card experiences we’ve seen in the industry. They continue to push the envelope with innovative features, allowing members to start using their cards digitally while the physical card is still in the mail. These cutting-edge features are setting a new standard for what card management can be in the digital banking space.”
The collaboration — Alkami’s latest — has enabled NASA FCU to modernize its digital banking experience for its 200,000+ members with features like push provisioning. Push provisioning enables payment card data to be securely sent or “pushed” from the card issuer or financial institution directly to a digital wallet. Push provisioning facilitates contactless payments and boosts convenience and security by removing the need for the user to manually enter payment card details. This, according to NASA FCU, has led to quantifiable gains in member satisfaction and digital engagement. Additionally, since going live with Alkami’s platform, NASA FCU also has reported faster and more efficient integrations courtesy of Alkami’s API framework.
Alkami’s partnership news comes a month after the fintech announced an enhancement to its Data & Marketing Solutions platform. The enhancement expanded Alkami’s behavioral data tag capabilities to provide financial institutions with deeper account holder intelligence that can be used to provide personalization across marketing and digital banking channels.
Targeted behavioral data tags empower financial institutions to efficiently analyze large datasets and establish accurate categories for accountholder actions and activities. Alkami’s latest behavioral data tags include SavvyMoney data tags to enable banks and credit unions to use data insights from the SavvyMoney offers engine, aggregated account data tags that provide a comprehensive view of account holders’ external accounts, anniversary data tags that track account holders’ anniversaries, and outbound transfer data tags to facilitate tracking of transfers made to other institutions.
“Behavioral data tags allow financial institutions of all sizes to find meaningful insights from large data sets and utilize that information to understand account holder behaviors, make informed business decisions and even find competitive advantages,” Alkami director of product management Mark Leher said. “These insights can be leveraged across digital, mobile, and in-person channels to support a more personalized banking experience.”
As iThryv, Alkami Technology made its Finovate debut in 2009. Today, the fintech reports that customers that have been on its platform for more than five years have outperformed their peers on major financial metrics, based on FI Navigator Data from 2024. This includes 25% higher loan growth, 11% higher core deposit growth, 19% higher revenue growth, and 13% higher average revenue per FTE.
Alkami went public in 2021. The company trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker ALKT and has a market capitalization of $3.5 billion. Alex Shootman is CEO.
Founded in 1949, NASA FCU is headquartered in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The institution has more than $5 billion in assets.
Digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has teamed up with Ohio-based credit union, Kemba Credit Union.
Via the partnership, the financial institution will launch a new digital banking solution for its retail and business members.
One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Texas-based Alkami Technology made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009.
Digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technologyannounced a partnership with Cincinnati, Ohio-based Kemba Credit Union. The institution, founded in 1934, will leverage its relationship with Alkami to launch a new digital banking solution for its retail and business members. The fintech’s digital banking platform will give Kemba Credit Union members intuitive self-service tools, advanced fraud prevention, and a highly personalized experience.
“Kemba’s successful launch and transition to the Alkami Platform is indicative of a strong partnership to come and we look forward to providing their retail and business members with exceptional digital banking resources,” Alkami VP of Client Experience Group Services, Shannon Marshburn said.
The new platform will empower Kemba Credit Union to boost growth in deposit accounts, create new cross-sell opportunities, and foster greater loyalty. In addition to the platform itself, the credit union will benefit from access to Alkami’s software development kit (SDK) and APIs to further customize its digital banking platform to meet member needs and ensure connectivity to functionality throughout the fintech ecosystem.
“We pride ourselves in providing our members with a high-quality, personalized banking experience that will further our mission to enrich their financial lives,” Kemba Credit Union President and CEO Dan Sutton said. “By partnering with Alkami, we are thrilled to expand that experience through a new digital platform. The launch and implementation of Alkami’s Platform exceeded our expectations, and we are impressed with the speed, look, and feel of the mobile application.”
Kemba Credit Union serves more than 130,000 members in Southwest Ohio, Southeast Indiana, and Northern Kentucky. The institution transitioned to a new online and mobile banking platform earlier this year, and recently announced that it was offering the Ohio Homebuyer Plus Program. This program offers a specialized tax-advantaged savings account with above-market interest rates to support Ohioans looking to purchase a home. Named to Cincinnati.com/The Enquirer’s Top Work Places roster for the past six years in a row, Kemba Credit Union has more than $1.7 billion in assets.
Alkami Technology made its Finovate debut in 2009 as iThryv. In the years since then, the Texas-based fintech has helped more than 800 financial institutions transform their digital banking offerings to meet growth goals, optimize the customer and member experience, and ensure regulatory compliance. Firms using Alkami’s banking platform for at least five years have experienced 25% higher loan growth, 19% higher revenue growth, and 11% higher core deposit growth relative to their peers.
Earlier this month, Alkami announced that it had been listed as the top digital banking provider to the credit union market based on the total number of enrolled mobile users. The recognition comes courtesy of FI Navigator, a U.S. banking vertical data and analytics company. The announcement follows news that Alkami was named “Best Banking App” in October in Tearsheet’s The Big Bank Theory Awards.
The battle against fraud is a never-ending one. And recent fintech news headlines have helped remind us all of how broad the frontlines are. From the challenge of AI-powered deepfakes to the sad fact that many of our own bad habits continue to keep fraudsters in business, fintechs are busy developing solutions to help us get and stay at least one step ahead of the bad guys. Here are a trio of stories highlighting the latest efforts by fintechs to combat financial crime.
Digital identity verification innovator Socure has unveiled its Selfie Reverification solution. The new capability provides a way to validate return consumers online in less than two seconds with just a selfie. The technology matches incoming selfies with previously verified ID headshots, and features a true match rate of 99.9%. Built on the company’s Document Verification (DocV) solution, Selfie Reverification also detects signs of deepfaking, and readily identifies age discrepancies between the photo and the credential.
“Identity verification isn’t a one-time event. As consumers interact with an online service over time, their risk profile can change. That’s why it’s important to determine you are still who you say you are, without going through the full verification process again,” explained Socure Chief Product and Analytics Officer Pablo Abreu.
Selfie Reverification prompts the user to take a selfie, and sends real-time feedback on positioning, angle, and lighting. Once taken, the selfie undergoes a Level 2 NIST PAD compliant liveness check to prevent spoofing, as well as Socure’s injection attack detection process which makes sure that a fraudster has not injected a false or altered credential into the session. Lastly, the selfie is compared against a set of hundreds of thousands of curated deepfake samples created by more than 20 different AI generators.
The technology leverages biometric analytics to evaluate more than 80 facial features, from eye distance and nose width to jawline contours and emotional expression, to create a facial map and ensure an accurate match. Use cases for Selfie Reverification include preventing account takeover, securing high-risk transactions, streamlining account recovery and re-verification/re-validation, and more.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Socure most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2017. Today, the company has more than 2,500 customers, including four of the top five banks, the top credit bureau, and 400+ fintechs. Businesses ranging from Capital One and SoFi to DraftKings and the State of California rely on Socure’s technology for accurate identity verification and fraud prevention. Johnny Ayers is Socure’s founder and CEO.
Digital banking solution provider Alkami has added credential stuffing protection to the challenge-response authentication process for its digital banking platform. The new functionality automatically checks for human behavior in the background, but does not require visual puzzles or any additional time spent by the user.
“This enhancement in Alkami’s platform has given us the ability to provide an additional layer of security for our account holders,” Quontic Bank SVP of Digital Banking Grace Pace said. “The secure and seamless login experience has contributed to reducing potential fraudulent activities, offering our customers greater peace of mind without added complexity.”
Credential stuffing refers to a type of cyberattack in which a hacker uses credentials obtained through data breaches or purchased from the dark web in order to attempt to access another service. A typical case of credential stuffing, for example, could involve a hacker using the credentials from a breach at a retail store to attempt to log into a bank’s website.
Credential stuffing is a common attack in part because it takes advantage of the tendency of individuals to reuse usernames and passwords. But its commonality takes nothing away from the damage these attacks do. One estimate determined that credential stuffing costs businesses $6 million a year on average, to say nothing of the negative reputational impact that often accompanies it.
The addition of credential stuffing protection is the latest example of Alkami’s layered approach to fraud detection and prevention in digital banking. “Alkami continues to evolve its platform as the security threats change for our customers, and we’re proud to integrate credential stuffing as part of our standard solution for everyone,” Alkami Director of Product Management Brad Cranford said. “Our goal is to help our customers manage security while providing the best experiences for their account holders.”
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as “IThryv.” Alex Shootman is CEO.
Data and technology company Experian is adding behavioral analytics to its fraud detection capabilities courtesy of a newly announced acquisition of NeuroID.
More specifically, Experian is looking to bolster its defenses against AI-generated fraud threats. With their ability to apply fraud detection strategies to key vulnerabilities such as origination and account management, insights from behavioral analytics can help mitigate fraud in real time and defend users against a range of malevolent actions including identity theft, account takeover, bot attacks, and fraud rings.
“Our acquisition of NeuroID highlights our commitment to provide our clients with world-class data, analytics, and insights to prevent fraud,” said President of Experian’s North American Identity & Fraud business, Robert Boxberger. “Together with NeuroID, we’re excited to build new blended offerings that detect risk but also empower businesses to confidently navigate the online landscape and trust in their transactions.” He added, “In today’s highly competitive and digital-first world, the use of behavioral analytics is now vital for innovating for the future of fighting fraud.”
NeuroID’s solutions are now available via CrossCore on the Experian Ascend Technology platform. The integration will enable platform users to use a single service provider to monitor and analyze real-time digital activity.
“NeuroID unlocks a new view into a user’s riskiness based on behavioral interactions,” NeuroID CEO Jack Alton said. “This view arms companies with a proactive, first line of defense to detect sophisticated fraud rings and bot attacks. By joining forces with Experian, we’re looking forward to helping companies confidently navigate this new era with solutions that enable more secure and frictionless experiences.”
A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in New York in 2018. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company employs more than 22,000 people, including more than 9,000 technologists and product developers, working in 32 countries.
Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.
We’re starting off the newsweek with a bang as Bain Capital announces that it will take wealthtech and Finovate alum Envestnet private in a deal valued at $4.5 billion. Be sure to check back all week long with the latest fintech news and headlines.
Crypto / DeFi / Web3
Payment orchestration platform FinMontpartners with Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment servics firm, BitPay.
Coinbaselaunches new web app to help users better manage their digital assets portfolio.
Blockchain payment network Partiorsecures $60 million in Series B funding.
J.P. Morgan Payments selectsSlope to provide clients access to a short-term financing solution, leads the fintech’s new round of $252 million in combined debt and equity.
9Spokeslaunches automated cashflow tool to help financial organizations elevate financial insights for SMBs.
Digital banking
Digital wealth management solutions company Quantifeed forges partnership with banking technology firm Thought Machine.
Banco Santanderintroduces a new digital service for customers with hearing challenges that translates the bank’s website into British Sign Language (BSL).
Brightfinlaunches healthy spending app to remove anxiety around money.
Insurtech
Digital insurance firm Lemonadelaunches new home insurance offering in the U.K.
Insuritaspartners with Integral Group Solution (IGS) to integrate home services product into its embedded insurance platform.
Lending
Mexican fintech OCNsecures $86 million in Series A funding.
Open banking
Salt Edgelaunches the latest version of its Open Banking Gateway API, API V6.
Goldman Sachs’ alternatives unit is leading a consortium investing $540 million in a continuation vehicle created by VC firm NEA, which includes stakes in 11 of NEA’s companies, including Plaid.
The first week of April begins with a resolution in the Sam Bankman-Fried saga as the former FTX founder and infamous crypto entrepreneur receives a sentence of 25 years in prison.
Crypto
Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for its role in the FTX scandal.
Starting off the holiday-shortened week with more than a few fintech partnership announcements in payments as well as some positive funding news in the challenger bank/neobank space.
Follow this space all week long for more updates on the latest in fintech!
Payments
Localized payment solutions network Bokuintroduces new Chief Executive Officer Stuart Neal.
Mangopay, a payments infrastructure provider for marketplaces and platforms, teams up with Storfund.
Integrated payments and commerce technology company Shift4teams up with mobile payment provider MobilePay.
Worldlineforges strategic partnership with Google to leverage the cloud to enhance global payments orchestration.
U.K.-based rent data company CreditLadderadds new reporting functionality to its digital identity app, Digital ID Connect.
Digital Banking
Colorado-based Elevations Credit Union partners with digital banking platform provider Alkami.
Co-op Credit Union extends its partnership with MDT, a CUSO that hosts the Symitar core processing system from Jack Henry, and adds digital and data capabilities.
TandemunveilsGoals feature set, announces $3.7 million in seed funding.
Pinwheelcollaborates with Jack Henry to streamline access to direct deposit switching solution
Mortgagetech
Obligoteams up with BNY Mellon to digitize the rental process for property managers.
Credit Risk & Analytics
Collections and credit risk specialist Akuvo announces that 21 new financial institutions have signed up for its delinquency management platform.
Insurtech
Qoverlaunches its automobile insurance solution in the U.K.
A pair of Finovate alums – Alkami and Chimney – announced a strategic partnership this week.
The partnership will help banks offer their customers actionable advice on their home’s value, equity, and their borrowing power.
Alkami is one of Finovate’s earliest alums, demoing as “iThryv” in 2009. Chimney has won Finovate Best of Show honors twice since 2021.
A newly announced strategic partnership between digital banking solutions provider Alkami and two-time Finovate Best of Show winner Chimney will help banks better serve their homeowner customers as they seek information about their home’s value, home equity, and their own borrowing power. The partnership will make it easier for financial institutions to leverage digital banking to give homeowners the financial tools, data, and insights they need to understand and manage their home as not just a home, but as a financial asset, as well.
Chimney’s tools and APIs enable users to track home value, borrowing power, and access home equity from within the bank’s app. The combination of Chimney’s property data and Alkali’s financial health data gives financial institutions the resources they need to boost user engagement, cross-sell, personalize offers, and better compete against third-party real estate websites and others.
“Alkami believes innovation unlocks new growth opportunities and enhances account holder experiences” Alkami co-founder and chief strategy and product officer Stephen Bohanon said. “Chimney’s platform exemplifies this and delivers a tool that supports homeowners’ financial journeys and deepens relationships.”
Founded in 2020, Chimney is headquartered in New York. The company won Best of Show last September at FinovateFall with a demo of its Chimney Home solution. Chimney Home gives homeowners actionable advice on their home value, equity, and buying power from within their banking app. The solution offers convenience for homeowners and helps FIs better engage them with relevant, personalized offers.
One of Finovate’s earliest alums, Alkami first demoed on the Finovate stage in 2009 as “iThryv.” Since then, the Plano, Texas-based fintech has become a major digital banking solutions provider for regional banks and credit unions. Last month alone, Alkami announced new partnerships with Credit Union of Texas and New York-based Quontic Bank. In November, Alkami teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Plaid.
Alkami launched a new Engagement Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictive Model.
The new model helps financial institutions identify accountholders whose behaviors are indicative of retention and account growth.
The Engagement AI Model leverages Alkami’s Key Lifestyle Indicators (KLIs) as well as its AI Predictive Modeling technology.
Everyone knows that it is easier (and less expensive) to maintain an existing customer than it is to acquire a new one. So Alkami, which launched a new AI model to help banks retain customers, is likely to garner a lot of attention.
The cloud-based digital banking solutions provider unveiled its Engagement Artificial Intelligence (AI) Predictive Model this week to tackle customer attrition. The solution not only identifies accountholders whose behaviors are indicative of retention and account growth, but it also flags customers who may be at risk of leaving.
The new predictive model leverages Alkami’s Key Lifestyle Indicators (KLIs) as well as its AI Predictive Modeling solution that uses data to identify accountholders’ shifts in spend categories and recognize their financial patterns.
“When we looked at the full spectrum of attrition scoring,” explained Alkami Director of Product Management Mark Leher, “our research showed that attrition is significantly lower among highly engaged account holders, so we developed a model that not only identifies these highly engaged account holders but also layers in Alkami’s KLIs—labels describing the type of transaction or behavior a customer or member engages in—to best predict which behaviors drive incremental engagement.”
The company recently conducted research that found that accountholders who score the highest risk for attrition are, on average, 15 times more likely to leave a financial institution than those who score as highly engaged.
When financial institutions use Alkami’s Engagement AI Model to identify the users that exhibit growth behavior, they can understand where to prioritize spend and what areas they should focus on to grow the customers’ engagement.
“Not only does this save on account acquisition costs, but it also empowers the financial institution to engage with those who are more likely to take action on a targeted campaign,” added Leher.
Alkami was founded in 2009 and went public in 2021. A year later, the company acquired competitor Segmint— and its KLI technology– for $135.5 million. Alkami is currently listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ALKT with a market capitalization of $1.43 billion.
Kennebec Savings Bank, based in Maine, went live with the digital banking platform from Alkami.
The technology will help the $1.6 billion financial institution provide a seamless and consistent user experience for its business, retail, and mobile banking customers.
Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as “iThryv.” The company is headquartered in Plano, Texas.
Kennebec Savings Bank launched the AlkamiDigital Banking Platform this week. The Maine-based financial institution, with $1.6 billion in assets, will leverage the newly integrated solution to provide a seamless digital banking experience for its business, retail, and mobile banking customers. Founded more than 150 years ago, Kennebec Savings Bank has a team of nearly 200 employees and maintains offices in Augusta, Farmingdale, Freeport, Waterville, and Winthrop.
“One of our key goals is to expand support for local businesses,” Kennebec SVP and Chief Information Officer Kevin Dono explained. “Alkami’s platform enables us to provide a seamless and consistent user experience for our business customers by giving them access to all accounts through a common user interface within a single system. Self-service capabilities help them manage multiple accounts and enable functionality options for individuals through permission settings.”
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami made its Finovate debut as “iThryv” in 2009. The company’s digital banking platform offers an intuitive solution for enhancing the onboarding process for new customers, and accelerating deposit and loan growth. The platform also supports digital cards and P2P transfers, offers financial wellness tools, and will enable Kennebec to leverage data to provide customers with greater personalization.
“We are excited to support Kennebec’s efforts to go beyond the traditional banking footprint and further empower and engage with customers,” Alkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “The Alkami Platform, combined with Kennebec’s outstanding service, will position them to deliver even greater value and service benefits to both current and future customers.”
Alkami began the year earning special recognition from AMOCO Federal Credit Union, which named Alkami its “Partner of the Year.” The award is designed to recognize the “outstanding positive impact” that the FCU’s business partners have had on the institution’s member service, growth, and innovation. AMOCO FCU, with 78,000 users — including 56,000 active digital banking users – has relied on Alkami’s Digital Banking Platform since 2019.
“We were very specific about the user experience (UX) and capabilities we needed for our members,” AMOCO SVP of Operations Technology Nate Ashworth said. “Alkami not only brought a best-in-class UX to the table, but also has the extensibility to build in the integrations we require now and into the future.”
Two Finovate alums – Alkami Technology and Array – have teamed up to help financial institutions offer credit and identity solutions to their customers.
The partnership makes three of Array’s signature solutions: My Credit Manager, ID Protect, and Offers Engine, available to a wider range of bank and credit union customers and members.
Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as iThryv. Array won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2021 and again at FinovateSpring 2022.
A new partnership has been forged between digital banking solution provider Alkami Technology and financial enablement platform Array. The collaboration will bring a range of new solutions to Alkami clients that will help their customers and members better monitor their credit, benefit from anti-fraud identity monitoring, and access actionable, credit-based offers.
“Improving the digital-first banking experience is a top priority for banks and credit unions,” Alkami founder, Chief Strategy Officer, and Product Officer Stephen Bohanon said. “Our partnership with Array enables banks and credit unions to provide added-value products to account holders, which increases engagement and potentially revenue as well.”
Among the solutions that will be made available to Alkami’s bank and credit union partners are Array’s My Credit Manager, ID Protect, and Offers Engine. My Credit Manager keeps users updated on changes to their credit score, enables them to explore different credit scenarios with a credit score simulator, allows them to conduct debt analysis, as well as see how different factors impact their credit score. With ID Protect, users can take advantage of a number of anti-fraud protections including identity and Dark Web monitoring, alerts, insurance, and restoration services in the event of identity theft. Array’s Offers Engine empowers banks and credit unions to better market their products and services to customers and members using targeted, actionable offers that are based on the individual’s actual credit circumstances.
“Today’s success formula for personal service includes a mix of in-branch experiences and digital tools that add value to account holders every time they log in,” Array co-founder and CEO Martin Toha explained. “Alkami and Array are making it easier than ever to help banks and credit unions deploy a consistent roadmap of innovative digital products for account holders.”
A Finovate alum since 2009, when it debuted at FinovateSpring as “iThryv,” Alkami has grown into a leading digital banking solution provider. The Plano, Texas-based fintech serves both retail and business customers with onboarding, engagement, and account servicing. Clients can enhance their use of the Alkami platform with upgrades and leverage both Alkami’s product suite, as well as integrated, third-party solutions to enhance and customize their experience. Alkami is a publicly-traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker “ALKT,” and has a market capitalization of $1.3 billion.
Winning Best of Show honors in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September and again in its return to the Finovate stage last month for FinovateSpring, Array is a financial enablement platform that specializes in embeddable and white label solutions. Founded in 2020, the company enables its clients to boost end customer engagement by providing them with innovative credit and identity solutions that enhance the customer experience.
Array raised an undisclosed amount of funding in June 2021 from Operator Partners and the FIS FinTech Accelerator in Partnership with The Venture Center. The company is based in New York City.
While 2021 was a record year for fintech merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, 2022 is off to a great start.
According to FT Partners, there were 1,485 M&A deals in the fintech space totaling $348.5 billion in 2021. As Square’s $29 billion takeover of Afterpay demonstrated, last year’s massive volume is partially thanks to multiple large deals.
This quarter, only eight of the 21 deals initiated disclosed financial details. Of those, the deal volume added up to almost $5 billion.
While experts predict that 2022 M&A activity will likely see momentum from 2021, there are two aspects to watch out for this year. First, we will not see as many SPACs as we saw last year. This may decrease the number of companies choosing to exit this year. Second, fintech valuations are deflating after experiencing huge rises over the course of the past two years. While the loss in value won’t directly impact the number of M&A deals, it will decrease the deal volume.
