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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Automated reconciliation software company AutoRek has announced a partnership with JP Morgan Payments.
The partnership will help insurance companies better manage financial data flows from banking sources.
AutoRek made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London.
Automated reconciliation software provider AutoRek has teamed up with JP Morgan Payments to enhance premium processing for insurance companies. The partnership will help insurance firms better manage financial data flows from banking sources, as well as improve their ability to manage cash allocation, matching, and credit control.
“Working with a specialist company like AutoRek will complement our existing solutions to help deliver an end-to-end solution across the entire insurance value chain,” JP Morgan Payments Head of Insurance, EMEA, Darren Snoxell said. “Together we will deliver tangible benefits to brokers, carriers, reinsurers, multinational insurance programs, captives, and across the London Market. We look forward to working with the team.”
Processing nearly $10 trillion payments a day, JP Morgan Payments operates in more than 160 countries and transacts in 120+ currencies. The firm combines treasury services, trade and working capital solutions, and card and merchant services to facilitate payments to both customers and employees around the world.
“We are proud of this partnership, which presents a powerful combination of proven solutions, and will deliver optimal results for clients in the insurance market,” AutoRek Global Insurance Lead Piers Williams said. “By working together, we will unlock many opportunities for insurance firms to streamline the premium receivables process. This will help them to increase efficiency, accelerate cash flow, reduce write-offs and enhance controls.”
Headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, AutoRek made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. At the conference, the company showed how its automated reconciliation technology helps banks, insurance firms, building societies, and other financial services companies overcome high-volume reconciliation challenges, improve auditability, and keep operating costs low.
Earlier this month, AutoRek was named “Best CASS Solution” at the Systems in the City Fintech Awards 2024. The recognition marked AutoRek’s fifth consecutive win in this category. In May, the company announced that insurance broker Howden had selected AutoRek to drive digital transformation and boost efficiency for a number of key back-office processes using intelligent automation.
“Insurer statement reconciliations are especially onerous on our resources and we expect AutoRek to significantly reduce the expenditure of effort in this area, which in turn will not only enhance our service to our markets, but will also release our staff to concentrate on more value-added tasks,” Howden Head of IBA UK Operations Guy Turner said. “We are very much looking forward to deploying the solution in this regard.”
AutoRek was founded in 1994. Gordon McHarg is CEO.
The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) has selected Coinbase Prime to hold and trade the agency’s “Class 1” (large cap) digital assets.
The agency will use Coinbase Prime for asset seizure and forfeiture, evidence management, and to support in financial investigations.
Coinbase Prime launched in 2021 and currently safeguards $330 billion worth of digital assets.
The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) announced it has selected Coinbase to hold and trade the agency’s “Class 1” (large cap) digital assets. The USMS will use Coinbase Prime to centrally manage these Class 1 digital assets to facilitate various law enforcement activities.
The USMS, a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Justice, holds multiple roles within the U.S. judicial system. The agency may be able to use Coinbase Prime the following instances:
Asset seizure and forfeiture: The USMS often seizes digital assets from criminals as part of legal proceedings. Coinbase will help the agency manage the assets in a way that they are preserved, can be liquidated, and that the proceeds can be used to fund law enforcement activities or be returned to victims.
Evidence management: Digital assets often serve as evidence in investigations or court cases. Coinbase will help to ensure the assets are properly managed to maintain their integrity and will ensure they are easily accessible for legal processes.
Supporting financial investigations: By handling large cap digital assets in a central location, Coinbase can help the USMS track and analyze transactions related to criminal activities to aid law enforcement in combating financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud, and cybercrime.
Launched in 2021, Coinbase Prime is a full-service prime brokerage platform with everything that institutions need to execute trades and custody assets at scale. Coinbase Prime currently has $171 billion in institutional assets under custody and safeguards $330 billion worth of digital assets.
Coinbase began supporting law enforcement agencies in 2014 when it founded its law enforcement program. The California-based company currently works with every major U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agency, as well as multiple international agencies.
“Growing the cryptoeconomy means promoting safe and efficient markets,” the company said in its blog post announcement, “and these partnerships are critical to our mission.”
Coinbase was founded in 2012 and is currently under fire from another U.S. governmental agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, for allegedly operating as an unregistered securities exchange. Earlier this week, Coinbase sued the SEC and FDIC, demanding more transparency when it comes to crypto regulations.
Core banking platform provider Tuum announced a partnership with debt management specialist Flexys.
The partnership will help banks improve their debt collection workflows.
Tuum won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope earlier this year.
U.K.-based core banking platform Tuum has teamed up with debt management specialist Flexys. The partnership will help banks streamline and enhance their debt collection processes at a time when legacy core systems are limiting financial institutions’ ability to better serve their customers. These “old cores” also make it more difficult for FIs to keep up with stricter regulations surrounding credit and debt management.
“Flexys and Tuum are tackling debt management pain points head-on,” Tuum VP of Global Partnerships Jean Souto said. “Our partnership gives banks high-tech tools to streamline collections from end-to-end, reducing hassles through automation – a win for everyone involved.”
The partnership will help banks deal with the dual problem of tightening regulations and outdated, cumbersome debt management technology. Not only can legacy core systems inhibit the ability of financial institutions to readily meet compliance requirements, they can also fall short when it comes to providing more personalized service to customers. Integrating the two platforms enables FIs to swap out their old core systems in favor of cloud-based, debt collection workflows, and benefit from real-time data to help personalize the experience for each customer.
“We’re thrilled to team up with Tuum and help banks break out of the legacy debt management rut,” Flexys CEO James Hill said. “With our integrated platforms, lenders can ditch inefficient processes in favor of frictionless digital experiences that genuinely support customers when they need it most.”
U.K.-based Flexys offers state-of-the-art debt management solutions that enable financial institutions to automate and digitize their customer interactions. The company’s flagship offering, Control+, is a cloud-native, real-time, “intelligent debt resolution” platform that provides enterprise-grade collections functionality from digital self-serve to agent management and recoveries. Founded in 2016, Flexys began this year partnering with another Finovate alum, Thought Machine, which integrated Flexys’ Control+ platform into its core banking solution, Vault Core.
Tuum made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2024, winning Best of Show in its demonstration of its modular, cloud-native, API-first banking platform. In the months since then, the company has forged partnerships with Islamic fintech solution provider DDCAP Group, digital banking and wealth management firm CREALOGIX, and KYB/KYC automation solutions company TransactionLink. In June, Tuum announced a strategic partnership with open banking company Ozone API. The union will help Tuum’s bank and financial institution customers comply with open banking regulations.
“Our collaboration with Tuum marks a new chapter for open banking and finance globally,” said James Bushby, Ozone API GM for Europe and Global Partnership Lead. “Our combined strengths will enable financial institutions to tackle compliance challenges while harnessing the immense opportunities of open banking.”
Founded in 2019, Tuum has raised more than $48 million in funding according to Crunchbase. In March, the company announced that Citi Ventures has become a strategic investor in the firm as a follow-on to its Series B round.
Earnix and digital business and IT services company NTT DATA announced a new collaboration.
The partnership will help property and casualty insurers enhance the pricing, rating, and underwriting process, as well as increase policy personalization.
Israel-based Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.
Financial services solutions provider Earnix has announced a collaboration with digital business and IT services company NTT DATA. The partnership will enable Earnix to give property and casualty insurance carriers intelligent solutions for pricing, rating, underwriting, and policy personalization. The integration, combined with NTT DATA’s pedigree in data migration, will accelerate insurers’ time to market and enhance their ability to put data to work in fostering innovation.
“We take pride in driving transformative change in the insurance industry with AI-powered solutions,” said SVP of Insurance Services at NTT DATA North America Rob Baughman. “By integrating our products and services, we help clients achieve long-term success and identify opportunities for growth.”
Earnix and NTT DATA are joining forces at a time when the international insurance analytics market is expected to grow from $11 billion, where it stood in 2022, to $35 billion by 2030, an annual rate of more than 15%. Accompanying this growth is an expectation from insurance consumers for products that are more relevant and tailored to their needs. Earnix has leveraged AI to address these preferences, enhancing the rate-making process and creating personalized experiences by incorporating real-time feedback.
“Our partnership with NTT DATA is a game changer for insurers,” Earnix Head of Business Development Ruth Fisk said. “Bringing together their powerhouse expertise in data management and pricing modernization with the strength of the Earnix platform, we can equip insurers with the insight and flexibility to respond quickly to shifting market needs.”
NTT DATA first demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2018, and returned the following year to demo its latest innovation at FinovateFall in New York. The Tokyo, Japan-based company serves 75% of the Fortune Global 100 with business and technology services including consulting, data and AI, and industry solutions. NTT DATA also assists in the development, implementation, and management of applications, infrastructure, and connectivity.
Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2001, Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. In the years since, Earnix has grown into a major provider of cloud-based intelligent solutions for analytical underwriting, dynamic pricing, product personalization, and customer engagement. The company’s solution for insurers inserts a new SaaS layer into the firm’s existing tech stack, adding both intelligence and agility to the pricing, rating, and underwriting process. For banks and lenders, Earnix offers a digital decisioning solution that enables lenders to manage portfolio risk, loan profitability, origination volume, speed to market, and regulatory compliance.
With customers in more than 35 countries across six continents, Earnix has raised more than $100 million in funding from investors including Vintage Investment Partners and Israel Growth Partners. Insurance and fintech industry veteran Robin Gilthorpe joined the company as CEO in February of last year.
Payments company Tyro has announced a new partnership with StoreConnect
The partnership adds integrated payments to StoreConnect POS, the first POS solution build on Salesforce for SMEs.
Australia-based Tyro Payments made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017.
A new partnership between paytech Tyro and StoreConnect will launch integrated payments on the first point-of-sale solution built on Salesforce. The solution, StoreConnect POS, is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and offers an e-commerce website, POS terminal, cash drawer, and receipt printer. Built on Sales Cloud, all components of StoreConnect POS fully integrate with Tyro to enable merchants to accept payments natively from within StoreConnect’s Salesforce POS.
“At Tyro, we believe nothing should get in the way of success for Australian businesses,” Tyro Payments Chief Growth Officer Deanne Bannatyne said. “We’re so thrilled to be able to work with StoreConnect to power this Australian-first innovation, to help more merchants take payments seamlessly with an exciting all-in-one POS solution.”
Bannatye noted that the integration also will enable Australian business owners who use Salesforce for CRM to benefit from deeper insights into their customers and streamlined operations. StoreConnect is available as a self-install SaaS package on the Salesforce AppExchange and is suitable for mid-market firms and non-profit organizations, as well as SMEs.
“We’ve been on a mission to build StoreConnect to be a powerful tool to help SMEs around the world to remain competitive,” StoreConnect founder and CEO Mikel Lindsaar said, “and we’ve delivered on that mission with our Point-of-Sale release here in Australia.”
Tyro made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2017. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, and founded in 2003, the company today is Australia’s largest EFTPOS provider of all Authorized Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) – aside from the country’s big four banks. With more than 68,000 customers throughout Australia, Tyro processed more than $34 billion in transaction value in fiscal year 2022.
The company’s partnership news with StoreConnect comes just days after the paytech announced that it has teamed up with real-time payments and loyalty platform Hello Clever. The partnership enables shoppers at more than 70,000 merchants on Tyro’s network to redeem instant cashback rewards in person and online via Hello Clever.
Tyro has raised more than $103 million from investors including Ellerston Capital and TDM Asset Management. Jonathan Davey is CEO.
In partnership with Avaloq, Liechtenstein-based international private bank LGT has implemented a new standard to give financial intermediaries real-time access to investment positions and transaction data.
The new standard, OpenWealth API, was implemented in collaboration with Synpulse8, the integration specialist of Synpulse.
Based in Switzerland, Avaloq won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2018.
In collaboration with Avaloq and Synpulse8, Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT has implemented a new standard that will make it easier to provide financial intermediaries with real-time access to LGT’s investment positions and transaction data. The new standard is called OpenWealth API and will help the custodian bank better serve its customer base of independent asset managers, multi-family offices, and fund companies with customized investment solutions, personal advice, and fast order processing.
“With this latest joint innovation, LGT is taking a leading role in helping to create a more interconnected financial marketplace while enhancing the value that financial intermediaries deliver for their investors,” Avaloq Chief Technology Officer Martin Büchi explained.
The partnership between Avaloq and LGT extends back nearly 20 years, when the bank first adopted Avaloq’s core banking solution, Avaloq Core. The OpenWealth implementation was conducted in partnership with technology and integration specialist Synpulse8, a division of Synpulse. Synpulse is the founder and orchestrator of the OpenWealth Association, the standardization body for OpenWealth. The standardized connectivity made possible by OpenWealth will lower operational risks for financials and empowers intermediaries to keep their platforms updated with more timely and accurate data than can be provided via daily batch processing.
“The standardized solution will ensure that our partners have access to the latest data to better serve their clients,” LGT Bank AG Executive Board member Markus Werner said. “We look forward to strengthening our long-term partnership with Avaloq in the coming years and to continuing our joint development activities for enhanced connectivity with financial intermediaries globally.”
Founded in 1985, Avaloq provides technology solutions to private banks and wealth managers, investment managers, retail and commercial banks, as well as challenger and neobanks. The Switzerland-based company won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2018, and has since grown into an international financial services solutions provider with more than 160 clients in 35 countries and $4.4 trillion (CHF 4 trillion) in client assets managed by Avaloq software.
The company’s signature solution is Avaloq Core, a core banking solution for private banks and wealth managers. Avaloq also offers three standalone digital products lines: Avaloq Engage, Avaloq Wealth, and Avaloq Insight. Avaloq Engage helps institutions boost client engagement. Avaloq Wealth supports the entire client journey in wealth management from prospect to trusted relationship. Avaloq Insight offers technical and business users access to insightful data from their banking systems. Avaloq was acquired by Japan-based NEC Corporation in the fall of 2020.
This spring, Avaloq announced the retirement of Co-CEO Thomas Beck, with Martin Greweldinger taking over the role of Avaloq Group CEO. Beck had served as Co-CEO with Greweldinger since the spring of 2021, having joined the company in 2012.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Mexico.
Mexican digital payments and commerce enablement platform Clipannounced a major investment this week. The company, which offers a suite of payments and other financial services solutions to small and medium-sized businesses in Mexico, has raised $100 million in new funding. The capital came courtesy of investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value and an unnamed West Coast mutual fund manager.
In a statement, the company noted that the funds raised value the company “in line” with the company’s Series D round from 2021. That round, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund and Viking Global Investors, added $250 million to Clip’s coffers and gave the Mexican fintech a valuation of “nearly $2 billion.”
Clip Founder and CEO Adolfo Babatz praised this week’s investment as “a testament to Clip’s opportunity to continue to lead the digital transformation of Mexico’s commerce ecosystem.” Babatz continued, “More broadly, (the investment) provides even further validation of our mission to open access to digital payments, financial services, and technology solutions to SMBs in the country. We are excited to leverage this financing round to continue to expand and strengthen our offerings to empower more stakeholders across Mexico’s economy.”
With offices in both Mexico City and Buenos Aires, Argentina, Clip offers a range of solutions to enable SMBs to accept digital payments, sell goods and services online, secure financing, and streamline their operations. The company will use the new capital to accelerate product development and support its efforts to leverage technology to enhance financial inclusion in Mexico. Clip was founded in 2012.
Speaking of financial inclusion in Mexico, Latin American open finance platform Belvo and Citibanamex, the second largest bank in the country, have forged a new partnership designed to put open finance to work in bringing credit access to the unbanked.
Via the collaboration, Citibanamex will extend credit and credit card options to applicants without credit histories. Instead of traditional underwriting, the bank will review factors such as outstanding debt levels and the number of credit applications outstanding, as well as leverage Belvo’s open finance technology to secure income verification for applicants whose data is otherwise difficult to retrieve.
“At Citibanamex, we are continuously seeking financial inclusion solutions to facilitate access to banking products for individuals who have not been able to benefit from current solutions,” Citibanamex Director of Digital Business Development Miguel Lavalle said. “With this new functionality, it will be easier for our customers to verify their income, making credit opening processes more agile.”
Belvo’s open finance and payments platform helps financial institutions and their customers benefit from user-permissioned, secure data sharing. The platform validates employment histories, as recorded by employers, to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS). This enables banks, fintechs, and financial services companies to process financial data and initiate payments directly from users’s accounts.
“This is pioneering and exciting work, aligned with our mission to help financial innovators create new, more efficient, and inclusive experiences for their users,” Belvo General Director, Mexico, Federica Gregorini said. “We are excited to see how financial entities in Mexico are betting on open finance models due to their positive impact on reducing the gap in access to financial services.”
Headquartered in Mexico City, Belvo was founded in 2019. Last month, the company launched its employment data aggregation solution in Colombia. The launch followed Belvo’s partnership with Colombian digital wallet Nequi, a move considered to be a significant advance for the cause of user-permissioned, secure data sharing.
“This connection via API is just the first of many other integrations that will come soon, which portends a promising future in the development of Open Finance in Colombia and in the region,” Belvo’s General Director in Colombia, David Ballesteros, said.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal forged a partnership with Lithuanian gaming marketplace Eneba.
Brazil-based fintech Celcoin raised $125 million in funding in a round led by Summit Partners.
PayGoal, a fintech based in Argentina, teamed up with Paraguayan acquirer Bancard to launch contactless payments solution Tokefon in Paraguay.
Asia-Pacific
Open finance technology provider Brankas and Global Finteq forged a strategic partnership to launch Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) platforms in the Philippines.
South Korean fintech Travel Wallet secured $10 million in funding from U.S.-based VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
SumUp and Adyen have joined forces to bring faster payouts to small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The partnership will help SumUp offer more of its SME clients access to funds within minutes of a sale.
Faster access to funds will help reduce SMEs’ reliance on large working capital reserves and will improve their cash flow.
Payment acceptance company SumUp and payments technology company Adyen have joined forces this week to offer near-instant settlements to more small and micro merchants in Europe and the U.K.
The partnership will help SumUp bring same day settlements to even more of SumUp’s small-to-medium sized enterprise (SME) clients, offering them the access to funds within minutes of a sale. The companies anticipate that the faster access to funds will help reduce SMEs’ reliance on large working capital reserves and will improve their cash flow.
“This partnership is one of a kind as we join forces as major payments players to give SMEs the ability to settle at incredible speeds,” said Adyen President EMEA Alexa von Bismarck. “Cash flow is of the utmost importance for small business owners, and we are proud of being selected by SumUp as their partner on this mission.”
Adyen was founded in 2006 and brings end-to-end payment capabilities, data enhancements, and financial products in a single solution. The company, which processed $820 billion (€767.5 billion) in volume in 2022, serves a range of businesses across the globe, including Facebook, Uber, H&M, eBay, and Microsoft.
SumUp’s platform includes many of the business financial management tools and services that small businesses need to manage and run their businesses, including in-person and remote payment acceptance, card terminals, point-of-sale registers, a business account and card, online store hosting, and invoicing tools. Founded in 2012, SumUp serves 4 million merchants in 36 markets.
“Over the last 10 years, we established the de facto market standard for card acceptance and financial technology for merchants in 36 markets,” said SumUp Co-founder and COO Marc-Alexander Christ. “This partnership will allow us to keep pushing boundaries and continue providing our merchants with the best solutions to manage their business, be it payments, software or financial services. We are excited to amplify our ecosystem of tools and services for small, medium and even enterprise merchants.”
Refine Intelligence has introduced its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution.
The technology automatically contacts customers whose checks have been flagged as suspicious, and provides a user-friendly digital inquiry process to help customers resolve issues in seconds.
Refine Intelligence made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London.
Refine Intelligencelaunched its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution this week. The technology, which works with all existing check fraud detection systems, will help banks and other financial institutions deal with an increase in check fraud due to both mail theft and the development of advanced counterfeiting techniques.
Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention automatically contacts customers whose checks have been deemed suspicious. A user-friendly digital inquiry process that takes a few seconds to complete enables customers to review the flagged check and immediately verify key issues such as the amount and the payeee.
“Fraud teams are under time pressure to deal with a tidal wave of alerts about potentially fraudulent checks,” Refine Intelligence CEO and co-founder Uri Rivner said. “In an ideal world, they’d ask the customer about each alerted check, but chasing customers over the phone is expensive and irritating for everyone involved. This new solution closes the gap between detection and prevention by enabling customers to resolve alerts themselves. It works with any detection system, maximizing the current workflow and reducing fraud losses and operational costs for dealing with fraud claims.”
Refine Intelligence’s Digital Customer Outreach platform helps financial crime and compliance teams tackle a range of fraud and financial crime issues. The platform gives banks the ability to automatically contact customers to resolve both AML and check fraud alerts, as well as to automate enhanced due diligence (EDD). The technology leverages proprietary AI to glean insights into anomalous transactions, enabling fraud and compliance teams to learn the context in which the anomaly occurred and to determine whether the transaction is legitimate or not.
NCR Voyix has teamed up with customer interactive technology company Glia.
Glia will integrate its unified interaction capabilities into the mobile version of NCR Voyix’s digital banking platform.
Glia has won Finovate’s Best of Show award 10 times, including in the company’s debut (as SaleMove) at FinovateFall 2015.
NCR Voyix’s mobile banking app just got a lot more interactive.
Courtesy of a partnership with Glia, NCR Voyix will enhance the mobile version of its Digital Banking platform with unified interaction capabilities. Glia’s ChannelLess Architecture enables seamless transitions between multiple interaction channels: from phone calls and digital messaging to chatbots, video chats, and SMS. Now a part of NCR Voyix’s mobile solution, the technology will help banks and credit unions boost customer and member engagement and loyalty.
Glia Chief Product Officer Jay Choi talked about the importance of the mobile channel for a younger, generation of financial services customers. “Forcing customers to exit the mobile app experience to receive guidance or support results in inefficiencies, delays in resolutions, and frustration for all involved,” Choi explained. “With the integration of our digital-first tools into the NCR Voyix mobile app, we are empowering banks and credit unions to overcome this challenge, instead providing instant, personalized and seamless engagement where customers and members already are.”
Among the FIs to deploy the technology are Texas-based 5 Point Credit Union, which has credited Glia’s solution for increasing staff efficiency, simplifying processes, and reducing fraud. The credit union also underscored how the technology enhanced its ability to communicate and engage with its members, improving in-app support.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Glia won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015 (as SaleMove). The company has gone on to win a total of 10 Finovate Best of Show awards, including in its most recent appearance on Finovate’s digital stage in 2021.
Last month, Glia unveiled its responsible AI platform purpose-built for financial services companies called Glia Cortex. The technology provides personalized self-service experiences at scale, helps agents become more productive, and gives managers new insights into agent/customer interactions. Among the solution’s early adopters is Service 1st Federal Credit Union, a Danville, Pennsylvania-based institution founded in 1975.
NCR Voyix was formed in October 2023 when NCR Corporation split into two entities. The company’s ATM business was spun-off as NCR Atleos. NCR Voyix is the successor to NCR Corporation, which demoed its technology at FinovateSpring in 2016 and again in 2017.
Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has partnered with issuer processor CLOWD9.
CLOWD9 will leverage Kani Payments’ platform to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities.
Kani Payments made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023.
Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has inked a partnership with CLOWD9. The cloud-native issuer processor selected Kani Payments to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities and help the company manage the unique data standardization requirements faced by banks and fintechs alike.
CLOWD9 will use Kani Payments’ SaaS platform to collect and standardize transaction data, including both authorization and settlement data from payment schemes. The platform will enable CLOWD9 to report to clients across the payment value chain faster, as well as provide enhanced and easy-to-understand data customization and visualization via the Kani Payments’ portal dashboard. This will empower clients with the flexibility to configure data as they choose.
“The sweet spot is taking standard data, formatting it for the individual needs of our mutual clients, and accelerating reconciliations with it,” CLOWD9 Chief Product Officer Richard Wray explained. “Kani Payments are the experts in that area and their understanding of the depth, detail, and specializations within the payment data value chain is unsurpassed.”
Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., Kani Payments made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demoed how its automated reconciliation and reporting platform provides fully automated reconciliations, as well as automated legal, regulatory, and scheme reporting. Kani CCO Marc McCarthy used the example of a simple transaction at a coffee shop to explain the myriad actors – issuing bank, network, processor – that play a role in managing the data of even an everyday purchase. “Each one of those organizations has a different version of that event,” McCarthy said. “We here at Kani Payments provide a reconciliation and reporting platform that helps each one of those actors to have compliance, to have validation of their data, and to have insightful reports of what they can see with their information.”
Earlier this year, Kani Payments announced a partnership with core banking platform Pismo. The collaboration makes Kani’s platform available to Pismo’s bank, marketplace, and fintech clients. Vishal Dalal, Pismo CEO for North America, EMEA, and APAC said that the partnership “will unlock useful insights to help (financial institutions) make better, more informed decisions, shaping a new era for banking and payments.”
Kani Payments was founded in 2018. Aaron Holmes is CEO. Holmes co-founded the company following tenures at Flex-e-card, Global Processing Services, and NBS Card Solutions (now Wirecard).
In this latest venture, the two companies are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions. Mastercard is integrating its network and digital solutions with Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking platform to help banks transition from their legacy core banking and payment technologies to cloud-native ones. Ultimately, the two hope the move will increase their efficiency, reduce costs, and create more integrated, personalized, and customer-centric experiences.
“As we expand our partnership with Mastercard, we plan to leverage their global presence and payment expertise to deliver our core banking and payment platforms to banks worldwide,” said Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor. “We are excited to simplify and enhance the modernization experience for complex banks worldwide and make it even easier for them to deliver sophisticated customer experiences.”
Today’s partnership also focuses on pay-now solutions. Specifically, the two will help financial institutions digitize debit cards linked to current accounts.
“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with Thought Machine, and they’re now our first strategic, end-to-end partner in the core banking space,” said Mastercard Europe President Mark Barnett. “We’re providing leading banks and financial institutions with a comprehensive core banking and card issuing solution that meets tomorrow’s payment needs, and we look forward to scaling our joint capabilities.”
Mastercard and Thought Machine first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program. In 2022, the two teamed up to develop Vault Payments, an issuer processing solution that leverages Mastercard’s cloud technology. Vault Payments supports various card and non-card use cases, tapping Mastercard’s extensive payment network with Thought Machine’s banking technology.
U.K.-based Thought Machine has raised $563 million in funding since it was founded in 2014. The company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. Among Thought Machine’s clients are Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Curve.
