Conversations Platform Provider Eltropy Unveils Voice+

Conversations Platform Provider Eltropy Unveils Voice+
  • Unified Conversations Platform company Eltropy has introduced a range of new enhancements to its offering.
  • The enhancements include Skill-Based Routing, new Lobby Management features, and a voice and contact center solution, Voice+
  • A Finovate alum for more than seven years, Eltropy most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2022.

Unified Conversations platform provider Eltropy recently unveiled a set of new enhancements to its offering. The upgrades include Skill-Based Routing (SBR 2.0), new Lobby Management features, and a modern voice and contact center solution, Voice+.

“These enhancements reaffirm our commitment to quality and mark one of our most significant engineering efforts to date,” Eltropy CEO and Co-founder Ashish Garg said. “We’re excited about the opportunities these improvements will create for credit unions and community banks to elevate their overall member, customer, and employee experience in banking.”

Eltropy Voice+ brings voice functionality to digital channels such as text, video, and chat. Enhanced by an AI layer, Voice+ provides a unified contact center solution for voice, digital, and AI interactions, and gives agents a single interface to support greater efficiency. Skill-Based Routing (SBR 2.0) provides users with several features including the ability to prioritize high-value interactions, match agent proficiency based on language skills, and identify simultaneous channel handling via cross-channel concurrency. Lobby Management, first introduced earlier this year, now combines the best of digital banking with traditional branch services with efficient check-ins, queue management, branch traffic analytics, and resource planning tools.

Howie Meller, President and CEO of People First Federal Credit Union — which was among the early adopters of Eltropy’s Voice+ — praised the enhancements as a benefit for members and credit union employees alike. “Voice+ will make a big difference in how we serve our members,” Meller said. “Our agents can now use voice alongside text, video, co-browsing, and AI help. This means we can solve problems faster and better, all in one place. It’s a real improvement for our members.”

Eltropy made its first Finovate appearance in 2017, and most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2022. In the years since then, the company has partnered with several community financial institutions such as Cyprus Credit Union, InRoads Credit Union, and Magnifi Financial, as well as fellow Finovate alums Jack Henry, Fiserv, and Alkami. In fact, Eltropy began the year celebrating its 600 customer milestone. The company opened the doors to its new headquarters in Santa Clara, California, in May.


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Anodot Inks Strategic Partnership with YäRKEN

Anodot Inks Strategic Partnership with YäRKEN
  • Cost management platform Anodot has inked a strategic partnership with FinOps and TBM platform.
  • The partnership will integrate technology from both firms to help clients better manage cloud costs.
  • Virginia-based Anodot made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022.

Cloud-based cost management platform Anodot has forged a strategic partnership with FinOps and TBM platform YäRKEN. The partnership will integrate technology from both firms to enable clients to manage cloud costs – both on-premises and in the private cloud – from a single interface.

“Anodot and YäRKEN are a perfect strategic match,” Anodot CEO and Co-founder David Drai said. “Our technology uses AI to help enterprises discover inefficiencies in their cloud spend, and YäRKEN’s platform helps those same organizations manage cloud spend across on-prem and cloud deployments.”

YäRKEN offers a tech cost management platform that gives users comprehensive cost optimization across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments to enhance profitability and reduce tech spend. YäRKEN’s platform features legacy platform TCO, Application TCO, IT planning, and Showback/Chargeback. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, YäRKEN announced earlier this year that the company’s solutions were now available on the AWS Marketplace. This news followed confirmation that YäRKEN had secured FinOps platform certification from the FinOps Foundation, underscoring the firm’s commitment to excellence and industry best practices. Ravi Kuppan is YäRKEN CEO and Co-founder.

For its part, Anodot is a cost management platform that identifies waste, tracks savings, and gives users transparency into both current and future costs. The platform enables users to facilitate strategic financial planning and management of multi-cloud, Kubernetes pods and SaaS tools. The solution also features a multi-tenant, multi-billing platform that optimizes costs across departments, teams, products, and unit economics.

“Anodot’s AI capabilities in cost optimization are a perfect match for YäRKEN, enabling us to cover the full spectrum for Anodot’s and YäRKEN’s existing client base,” Kuppan said. “Together, we extend the power of FinOps to include on-prem tech spend.”

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, Anodot made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the conference, Anodot demoed its payments monitoring tool that leverages AI to constantly monitor and correlate payments activity and business performance to identify revenue-critical issues and provide real-time actionable alerts.


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Curinos and Adrenaline Forge Strategic Partnership

Curinos and Adrenaline Forge Strategic Partnership

A partnership between data intelligence business Curinos and brand experience company Adrenaline will help banks and credit unions leverage data to make better decisions. The integration of Curinos’ Distribution Optimizer data solution into Adrenaline’s Connected Intelligence offering will also help financial institutions maximize the growth potential of their retail networks.

“We’re excited about incorporating Curinos’ leading-edge data into our already robust analytics offering and making more decision-making tools available to our clients, particularly smaller community banks and credit unions,” Adrenaline Managing Director of Retail Strategy Ben Hopper said. “Now, we’ll be able to quickly and efficiently gather the same data that big banks get and focus our team’s efforts more on translating the information into meaningful insights to drive strategy, for expansion and growth – something that all financial institutions need.”

Curinos’ Distribution Optimizer data tool integrates large volumes of both public bank and proprietary data into a consistent analytical framework that banks and credit unions can use to evaluate their networks and spot potential future opportunities. Adrenaline’s Connected Intelligence is an online platform that supports the access, analysis, visualization, storage, management, receipt, and distribution of market analysis and research. Integrating the technologies will help level the playing field between smaller and mid-market financial institutions and their larger rivals.

“The retail network in banking is undergoing massive transformation as traditional banking institutions are losing share to digital competitors,” Curinos Managing Director of Distribution and Sales Performance Andrew Hovet said. “No matter what their size or service area, these providers are looking for ways to amplify their impact through their branch networks. To maximize growth, they need to leverage analytics and smart strategies to make the best decisions for their networks. This partnership provides them with exactly that.”

Founded in 2021, Curinos made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco. At the conference, the New York-based company demoed its Amplero Personalization Optimizer, which uses machine learning and AI to enable bank marketing teams to deliver hyper-personalized, omnichannel experiences in minutes rather than months.

Earlier this month, Curinos introduced new Chief Technology and AI Officer Olly Downs. Downs joined the company as Chief Data Scientist in 2023. In April, the company announced a partnership with mortgage pricing technology firm Lender Price and reported that Achieva Credit Union ($2.8 billion in assets; 194,000+ members) had become the first customer to integrate Curinos’ Deposit Optimizer Essentials system. Deposit Optimizer Essentials enables credit unions and community banks to leverage data analytics to better manage member deposits and reach funding targets.

“As rates shift, we needed a robust, easy-to-navigate solution, enabling us to reach quickly and efficiently to changing market conditions,” Achieva Product Development Manager Veronica Schornheuser said, “We chose Curinos for the exceptional level of service we have received from them in the past and the intuitive nature of the Deposit Optimizer Essentials platform.”

Craig Woodward is Curinos’ CEO.


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AutoRek Teams Up with JP Morgan Payments

AutoRek Teams Up with JP Morgan Payments
  • 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.


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U.S. Marshals Service Selects Coinbase to Hold & Trade Digital Assets

U.S. Marshals Service Selects Coinbase to Hold & Trade Digital Assets
  • 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.


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Tuum Teams Up with Debt Management Specialist Flexys

Tuum Teams Up with Debt Management Specialist Flexys
  • 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.


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Earnix Enters Strategic Collaboration with NTT DATA

Earnix Enters Strategic Collaboration with NTT DATA
  • 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.


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Paytech Tyro Teams Up with StoreConnect

Paytech Tyro Teams Up with StoreConnect
  • 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.


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Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking

Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking
  • 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.


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Finovate Global Mexico: A Fundraising Unicorn and Open Finance’s Contribution to Financial Inclusion

Finovate Global Mexico: A Fundraising Unicorn and Open Finance’s Contribution to Financial Inclusion

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Mexico.


Mexican digital payments and commerce enablement platform Clip announced 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.
  • Japan’s Softbank entered a strategic partnership with Gen AI search startup Perplexity.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • African paytech Flutterwave announced plans to build a cyber crime research center in Nigeria.
  • South African fintech Ukheshe rebranded as EFT Corporation.
  • Ethiopia’s cabinet approved a legal framework for CBDCs.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • German corporate card platform Pliant inked a partnership with Commerzbank
  • Lithuanian regtech iDenfy launched its AI-enabled Customer Risk Assessment solution.
  • Tietoevry Banking expanded its card personalization services in Riga, Latvia.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Courtesy of a partnership with Revolut, UAE-based fintech GTN will offer bond trading to EEA customers via the Revolut app.
  • Israel-based Refine Intelligence unveiled its new check fraud prevention solution.
  • Innovation Village profiled Egyptian wealth management fintech Bokra.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India’s Pine Labs is considering a $1 billion IPO.
  • The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) profiled women-founded Nepal-based fintech Aloi.
  • TBC Bank Uzbekistan announces a $10 million line of credit from Switzerland’s responsAbility Investments AG.

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Adyen Brings Near-Instant Settlements to SumUp Clients

Adyen Brings Near-Instant Settlements to SumUp Clients
  • 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.”


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Refine Intelligence Unveils New Check Fraud Prevention Solution

Refine Intelligence Unveils New Check Fraud Prevention Solution
  • 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 Intelligence launched 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.

Refine Intelligence made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023. With headquarters in both Israel and New York, the company this year has been named to the FinCrimeTech 50 for 2024 by AML & FinCrime TechForum, and Chartis Research’s Financial Crime and Compliance 50 for 2024. Refine Intelligence has raised $13 million in funding courtesy of an investment from Glilot Capital Partners and Fin Capital.

Learn more about Refine Intelligence in our spring 2023 Finovate Global interview with Uri Rivner!


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