Alumni News Archives - Page 22 of 85

Onfido Unveils Compliance Suite to Enhance Customer Onboarding for Growing Businesses

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Onfido

Automated identity verification specialist Onfido announced the launch of its Compliance Suite.
The Compliance Suite features qualified electronic signatures, one-time passwords, and no-code compliance workflows.
Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018.

Automated identity verification specialist Onfido unveiled its Compliance Suite this week. The new offering helps companies meet the regulatory requirements for customer onboarding as they expand into new markets.

Compliance Suite brings qualified electronic signature (QES) and One-time Password (OTP) functionality, as well as no-code compliance workflows, to Onfido’s Real Identity Platform. QES offers a digital signature solution that relies on signals unique to the signer. The technology is also backed by a qualified digital certificate that provides a reliable way to confirm the identity of the individual associated with the signature.

Along with the company’s AI for fraud prevention and global document coverage, the result is a fully customizable identity verification solution that enables businesses to manage both local and global compliance needs under a single provider and control center. Compliance Suite has successfully passed its conformity assessment board checks and will be deployed by Onfido customers across Europe.

“Onfido’s Compliance Suite eases the regional compliance headache and delivers a one-stop-shop compliance offering that allows leaders to focus on their expansion, register customers faster, and remain agile to future regulatory demands,” Onfido Chief Product Officer Yuelin Li said. “With Compliance Suite, we now have the most comprehensive verification offering in the market, making Onfido the go-to scaling partner for globally trusted institutions.”

Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018 and returned to the Finovate stage later that year for FinovateFall. The announcement of Compliance Suite follows news last month that Onfido had teamed up with digital investment platform InbestMe. The partnership made InbestMe the first roboadvisor in Spain to integrate identity verification technology as part of its onboarding process.

Headquartered in London, Onfido has raised more than $182 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Crane Venture Partners and TPG Growth are among the firm’s most recent investors. Mike Tuchen is CEO.

Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

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Digital Conversations Platform Eltropy Enhances In-Branch Experience with Lobby Management

By David Penn Posted on January 22, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Eltropy

Digital conversations platform Eltropy has unveiled its Lobby Management solution.
The offering will help community financial institutions (CFIs) create better branch lobby experiences for customers and members.
Eltropy made its Finovate debut in 2017. The company most recently demoed at FinovateFall in 2022.

Digital conversations platform Eltropy launched its Lobby Management solution last week. The new capability will enable community financial institutions (CFIs) to offer a better branch lobby experience for their customers.

“The branch remains an essential member and customer touchpoint in community banks and credit unions, yet inefficient queues and resource allocation often undermine the experience for both visitors and employees,” Eltropy co-founder and CEO Ashish Garg said. “With Lobby Management, we can make every visit effortless while unlocking many operational efficiencies and equipping staff to serve members better.”

Lobby Management is a part of Eltropy’s Branch Management solution portfolio within its Unified Digital Conversations Platform. The new offering gives branch managers the ability to manage walk-in customer flow, and to enhance convenience with tools such as virtual queuing. Integrated with Eltropy’s Appointment Management, Lobby Management also enables members and customers to use a check-in kiosk to check-in for scheduled appointments or to book new ones. Lobby Management also provides lobby traffic analytics to help branch managers best allocate staff and service offerings.

“Lobby Management, powered by the Eltropy Unified Platform, allows CFIs to tie their branch operations with digital operations, thereby holistically serving their members and customers in physical and digital channels seamlessly and simultaneously,” Eltropy VP of Products Jack Chawla said. “With our unique approach to resource management in physical and digital channels, we can help CFIs efficiently service the members in the channel of their choice, including the branch lobby.”

Eltropy made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2017. In its most recent appearance on the Finovate stage two years ago, the company demoed its Eltropy One solution. Eltropy One is the company’s all-in-one omni-channel solution that enables FIs to manage both in- and outbound communications from a universal console. With Eltropy One, FIs can leverage text, secure chat, video, audio, cobrowsing, and conversational bots to handle both simple and complex customer communication.

Founded in 2014, Eltropy is headquartered in Milpitas, California. The company began the year surpassing the 600th customer milestone. In a statement, Eltropy noted that it was the fastest CFI-focused fintech to achieve this accomplishment. The new milestone announcement came with news that the company was increasing its investment in Generative AI and product R&D by 36% this year.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

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Crédit Agricole Acquires 7% Stake in Worldline

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Credit Agricole, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Worldline

Credit Agricole is taking a 7% minority stake in Worldline.
The announcement comes six months after the two initiated their partnership in July of 2023.
Credit Agricole is making the move to “reaffirm confidence” in Worldline, which was hit with scrutiny over its AML practices last year.

French bank Credit Agricole announced this morning it has taken a 7% minority interest in payments services company Worldline.

Today’s agreement comes six months after the two first partnered in July of last year. According to Credit Agricole, today’s move to deepen this relationship will help strengthen the partnership to create “a major player” in the French merchant payment services market.

“Through this transaction,” the bank said in its press release, “Crédit Agricole Group is reaffirming confidence in its partner: a strong franchise, leading-edge technologies, and proven innovation capabilities, at the service of its customers.”

Credit Agricole’s other aim in taking a minority interest is to demonstrate its intention to not only support Worldline’s development, but also to implement its strategy as a player in the European payments sector. In the long-term, Credit Agricole seeks to remain a minority shareholder in Worldline.

France-based Worldline, which faced scrutiny over its AML practices last year, saw its shares cut in half after the allegations arose regarding its AML safeguards. After today’s announcement, Worldline’s shares jumped 5%.

Worldline began facilitating card transactions in 1973 and currently has 18,000 employees in more than 50 countries and counts annual revenue of around $4.4 billion. Gilles Grapinet is CEO.

Photo by Anna Shvets

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Digital Onboarding Raises $58 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 18, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Digital Onboarding, Funding

Digital Onboarding announced a $58 million growth round, boosting its total funding to $62.6 million.
Today’s funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital.
Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, drive awareness in new markets, and increase its headcount.

Digital Onboarding, a financial services onboarding service provider, announced a $58 million growth investment today. The funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital and boost Digital Onboarding’s total funding to $62.6 million.

Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, and drive awareness in new markets. The company also notes it plans to double its headcount by the end of this year.

Digital Onboarding offers a SaaS tool to help banks remove friction during the onboarding process. The company’s digital engagement platform helps financial services companies deliver compelling services that keep customers around for the long-term. The company is especially effective in helping motivate accountholders to take action because it aggregates data across banks with similar business objectives.

“Banks and credit unions are pushing further into digital maturity, with many providing online banking and developing robust campaigns for customer acquisition. However, digital transformation often stalls at the onboarding stage of the new customer or member lifecycle,” said Digital Onboarding CEO Ted Brown. “Financial institutions have a significant opportunity to make enrolling in and setting up deposit, payment, and other services simple and seamless. Making these as accessible and easy to complete as possible has a measurable positive impact on customer retention and loyalty.”

Brown founded Digital Onboarding, originally known as SalesBrief, in 2015, along with his co-founder Jonathan Crossman. The company pivoted to the financial services realm in 2017 after participating in a credit union’s fintech accelerator.

Last November, East Cambridge Savings Bank selected Digital Onboarding to increase its checking account activation rates, and Buckeye State CU tapped the Boston-based company to better inform its members and cross-sell product offers. Earlier in 2023, Digital Onboarding also signed Jack Henry, Legacy CU, and others.

Today’s announcement is part of a wave of fintech funding that has surged in the past couple of weeks.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

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Dynamic Planner Offers Risk Profile Mapping for Single Strategy Funds

By David Penn Posted on January 18, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Dynamic Planner

U.K.-based financial planning software company for advisors, Dynamic Planner, launched its new risk profile mapping service this week.
The service brings greater clarity on potential risks when building diversified investment portfolios with single strategy funds.
Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateEurope in London.

Dynamic Planner, a financial planning software company for advisors, unveiled its new risk profile mapping service for single strategy funds this week. The new service will help advisors create diversified portfolios with greater accuracy and insight on potential risks. This will ensure that portfolios are suitable to their specific investors and their goals.

“The new service will provide them with a level of granularity not previously possible, greater efficiency and accuracy, and all within one system with a consistent level of risk throughout,” company Chief Proposition Officer Chris Jones said. “However you organize your business and decide to meet the needs of your clients, Dynamic Planner can support you.”

The Single Strategy Mapped Service precisely maps instrument-level holdings data against Dynamic Planner’s risk factors and asset risk model. By sourcing single strategy fund holding data directly from fund providers, Dynamic Planner achieves a higher than usual level of granularity. This enables the service to provide the same accuracy and efficiency in the deployment of single strategy funds that advisors have when using multi-asset solutions.

The new service will also help fund managers better deal with compliance requirements. These include new regulations such as Consumer Duty, as well as the Product Intervention and Product Governance source book (PROD) rules that came into effect in 2018. “From a PROD and Consumer Duty perspective, the Single Strategy Mapped Service also enables the fund manager to more simply and clearly communicate whether a fund is intended to be distributed as a solution or part of a portfolio,” Jones said.

Headquartered in the U.K., and founded in 2003, Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the event, CEO Ben Goss and his team showed how the platform combined intuitive technology with an independent asset risk model to match the right investment strategy with the right investor. Geared toward asset managers that risk profile, target, or manage more than £250 billion in investments, Dynamic Planner leverages 2,400+ covariance correlations to help ensure investment suitability.

Dynamic Planner began 2024 with the launch of its new low code integration platform. The solution enables advisors to integrate Dynamic Planner with other CRM systems they currently use to better manage client relationships.

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Supply Wisdom Unveils Self-Service Real-Time Risk Intelligence Platform

By David Penn Posted on January 17, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Supply Wisdom

Supply Wisdom unveiled its self-service, SaaS-based model that gives organizations the ability to conduct real-time risk monitoring.
The new capabilities come in the wake of the firm inking partnerships with three Fortune 100 companies.
Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateFall in New York.

Today, Supply Wisdom launched a self-service, SaaS-based model that delivers real-time risk monitoring capability to organizations. The company noted that its new offering will help organizations operationalize location-specific risk in their decision making.

Tom Thimot, Supply Wisdom CEO, explained the challenges organizations face in terms of both new regulations and growing geopolitical risk. “Firms are starting to recognize that geographic concentration is a common risk indicator raised by DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and many other recently introduced regulations, yet they lack adequate risk intelligence and the tooling needed to operationalize risk management,” Thimot said. To this end, the new model will help organizations deal with the growing incidence of geopolitcal disruptions to business activity.

The launch news comes in the wake of Supply Wisdom adding three new customers – all members of the Fortune 100 – to its roster. Although unnamed in the company’s statement, the new clients include one of the four largest banks in the U.S., one of the top three shipping companies in the world, and a leading U.S. financial services and insurance company. These firms have used Supply Wisdom’s platform to monitor 150+ metrics across eight location risk subdomains – including ratings and event alerts – in weeks.

“The days of hiring and training scores of staff to compile and aggregate data reporting manually are over,” Thimot said this week. “As a result, we are seeing more Fortune 100 companies across industries turn to Supply Wisdom for real-time risk intelligence. Through immediate insights, businesses can respond more quickly to minimize or avoid the potential impact of global threats.”

With more than 30 years of experience in scaling SaaS-based technology companies, Thimot joined Supply Wisdom as CEO in December. Previously, he was CEO of enterprise identity authentication firm authID. Thimot also served as CEO of Finovate alum Socure. During his tenure, Socure earned a valuation of $1.3 billion. The company also became known as a leader in day zero identity verification.

Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company showed how it leverages real-time risk intelligence and alerting help organizations modernize their risk management beyond point-in-time practices. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in New York, Supply Wisdom has raised $11.5 million funding, according to Crunchbase. The firm counts Fulcrum Equity Partners and Florida Funders among its investors.

Photo by Wallace Chuck

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By David Penn Posted on January 16, 2024
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news, Finzly, Revolut, Socure

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 Boku introduces 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 Shift4 teams up with mobile payment provider MobilePay.

Worldline forges strategic partnership with Google to leverage the cloud to enhance global payments orchestration.

Canadian payment solutions provider Chimoney announces a partnership with Corpay.

DailyPay closes $175 million in funding, boosts valuation by 75%.

Netherlands-based BNPL fintech Billink raises €29.5 million.

Brightwell collaborates with Visa to enable payouts to bank accounts and wallets.

Latin American payments fintech Pomelo raises $40 million.

Banking-as-a-Service

Allied Banking Corporation turns to Finastra as it migrates its core banking operations to the cloud.

High Circle, Treasury Prime, and First Bank forge strategic partnership.

Finzly announces 2023 revenue growth was double that of 2022.

Crypto

Franklin Templeton introduces its Franklin Bitcoin ETF, EZBC.

Challenger Banking

German digital bank N26 introduces in-app stock trading.

Panacea Financial raises $24.5 million in Series B funding.

Revolut and Jabil team up to scale development of Revolut’s mobile payment POS solution, Revolut Reader.

Identity Management

U.K.-based fintech ZORRZ teams up with identity verification platform provider IDnow.

KYC profiles provider Encompass Corporation acquires CoorpID and Blacksmith KYC from ING.

Socure launches its integrated, identity fraud solutions suite, Sigma Identity Fraud V4.

U.K.-based rent data company CreditLadder adds 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.

Tandem unveils Goals feature set, announces $3.7 million in seed funding.

Pinwheel collaborates with Jack Henry to streamline access to direct deposit switching solution

Mortgagetech

Obligo teams 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

Qover launches its automobile insurance solution in the U.K.

Trust & Will announces strategic investment from Erie Strategic Ventures

Regtech

UK-based Regtech eflow Global announces global expansion plans, appoints senior hires in the U.S.

Lending

Nav introduces next best option to help SMBs that are declined for funding.

DMI acquires ZestMoney platform and will be a preferred lender on the Zest platform.

Photo by Obsahovka Obsahovka

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TreviPay Launches Universal Acceptance Solution in Partnership with Mastercard

By David Penn Posted on January 16, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, TreviPay

B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution.
The technology will enable suppliers to offer trade credit financing to qualified buyers.
TreviPay made its Finovate debut two years ago at FinovateFall.

Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution this week. The new offering will enable suppliers who accept Mastercard to extend net terms, or trade credit financing, as well as provide SKU-level invoicing to business customers.

TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear called the launch of the Universal Acceptance solution “an industry milestone.” According to Spear, the solution eliminates much of the complexity of B2B purchasing by taking a “consumer-like” approach to the buying experience. Research commissioned by the company revealed inefficient processes, incorrect invoicing, and slow onboarding as three key pain points for international business buyers. This research also indicated that trade credit was a leading payment option among these same buyers.

To this end, TreviPay’s Universal Acceptance solution enables suppliers who accept credit cards to offer net-terms financing to qualified buyers. TreviPay automates onboarding, financing, and accounts receivable to enhance efficiency and streamline the process. The platform also automatically sends invoices to the merchant’s buyer. This means that suppliers don’t have to worry about the cost and time spent pursuing outstanding or late payments. TreviPay assumes all risks relating to collection and guaranteeing settlement to merchants upfront.

TreviPay’s platform can be implemented in its original API integration directly into the seller’s point of acceptance. Users can also deploy the platform without API integration, relying on Mastercard’s global acceptance network instead.

Rebecca Meeker, SVP, Global Partnerships and Segments, Mastercard, praised TreviPay and Mastercard’s “shared vision to bring consumer-grade convenience to B2B transactions.” Meeker underscored the “seamless invoice reconciliation and faster settlement” made possible via the partnership.

Founded in 1980, TreviPay is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, TreviPay’s Rissi Lovern and Max Almerico demoed TreviPay’s Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). The network enables banks to offer a wide range of products to their small business customers via access to the small business B2B trade credit market.

Last fall, TreviPay launched its Financial Partner Gateway. A new suite of APIs, the Financial Partner Gateway enables banks to deliver solutions including automated accounts receivable, underwriting, and trade credit management. The Gateway gives banks new revenue opportunities while helping TreviPay expand internationally. In August, the company introduced its support for cross-currency, B2B sales.

Photo by Luciann Photography

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 12, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news

There was a lot of news week in the payments world, where we saw announcements from large firms such as Visa and PhonePe, as well as smaller players like Cleva.

Across the board, there also seem to be a fair number of C-level job shifts, which makes sense for the start of the year.

Challenger Banking

Nubank’s Nu Colombia receives formal approval to operate a financing company in Colombia.

Payments

Cleva raises $1.5 million pre-seed funding to help non-U.S. residents open a U.S.-based account to receive USD payments.

PhonePe appoints Ritesh Pai as CEO – International Payments.

Allied Payment Network receives undisclosed amount of funding from RF Investment Partners.

Optty’s merchant clients and partners to leverage Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.

Finix launches Payouts for fast and secure money movement.

Bluefin launches new ShieldConex capability with enterprise security proxy service.

Visa Direct adds more digital wallets through Simplii and CIBC.

Currencycloud inks partnership with cashflow management platform multi.

Andaria partners with Mastercard to empower its embedded finance initiatives.

Rivero raises $7 million in Series A funding to supercharge growth.

ACI Worldwide forges payments technology partnership with U.K. retailer Co-op.

Financial management

MSU Federal Credit Union’s Reseda Group launches Ever Green Financial Wellness Center to help credit unions promote financial literacy and education.

Brazil-based expense management and corporate card company Conta Simples raises $41.5 million in Series B funding.

Intuit integrates TurboTax into Credit Karma and QuickBooks.

Wealth Management

Kinecta Federal Credit Union announces an integration with cloud-based wealth management solutions provider FusionIQ.

Bits of Stock’s Stock Rewards Checking Account is now accessible through Jack Henry’s Banno digital banking platform.

InvestCloud appoints Jeff Yabuki as Chairman and CEO.

DeFi

E-commerce company Mercari to allow Bitcoin payments.

NoahArk Tech Group secures $2.4 million in a strategic investment from EOS Network Ventures (ENV).

USDC stablecoin issuer Circle files confidentially for an IPO.

Nayms Launches an Institutional Tokenized (Re)insurance marketplace on Base.

Lending

Qashio and CredibleX launch Qashio Financing.

Owners Bank expands partnership with Biz2X to include partner origination oprtal.

Identity Management

Digital signature firm Videosign partners with digital identity verification company OneID.

Socure’s Socure ID+ platform earns authorization from the State Risk and Authorization Management Program (StateRAMP).

Digital Banking

Redwood Capital Bank taps Apiture for digital banking platform.

KlariVis reaches 100-customer milestone, secures $11 million in Series B funding.

Compliance and Regtech

Inspire Legal selects First AML to increase confidence and autonomy in AML compliance.

Photo by Viridiana Rivera

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Danske Bank Taps Backbase to Enhance Digital CX

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 12, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Daily news

Danske Bank has signed a deal with engagement banking solutions provider Backbase.
Danske Bank will tap Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to help tailor its digital experience to suit its users’ needs and preferences.
Among Backbase’s most recent partnerships are FrankieOne and SavvyMoney.

Engagement banking solutions provider Backbase inked a deal with Denmark-based Danske Bank this week.

“This engagement is a testament to our customer focus and our commitment to ensuring the best digital banking experience for the future,” said Danske Bank Chief Operating Officer Frans Woelders. “A new platform that works across the web, mobile apps, and our adviser tools is one of the ambitions in Danske Bank’s Forward ’28 strategy, and the agreement with Backbase is the next step towards achieving that ambition.”

Under today’s deal, Danske Bank will leverage to Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, allowing the bank to enhance the customer experience by tailoring the digital experience to suit the user’s needs and preferences.

Specifically, Backbase cites four aspects of digital banking that its Engagement Banking Platform can enhance, including:

A mobile-first model that guides customers between automated and expert advice.
A modernized and simplified IT landscape that reduces the number of siloed applications.
A unified platform that consolidates data, business logic, and workflows into a single platform for customers and bank employees.
More agility, thanks to enhanced flexibility that allows for swift implementation of business capabilities.

Expounding on the last point, Danske Bank Head of Personal Customers and Financial Crime Risk and Prevention Christian Bornfeld said, “This platform will allow us to take our interaction with customers through our digital solutions to the next level and to introduce enhancements at greater speed than ever before. It will thus enable us to provide market-leading convenience and personalization for our customers with great insights, increased proactivity, and easy access to assistance and advice.”

Backbase, which is on a self-described mission “to re-architect banking around the customer,” was an early entrant to the fintech space. Founded in 2003, the Amsterdam-based company offers a range of digital banking solutions, including onboarding, lending, investing, and customer support. Among Backbase’s existing partnerships are FrankieOne, which signed with the fintech last September, and SavvyMoney, which initiated its partnership last August.

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Mastercard Taps 4thWave’s Supply Chain Finance Platform

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 10, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard

Mastercard is partnering with 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform for its commercial clients based in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA).
Mastercard will integrate 4thWave’s technology into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments solution that uses virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure.
The payments technology aims to help the 72% of organizations that experience strained vendor relationships.

Payments technology giant Mastercard is partnering with BaaS digital platform provider 4thWave to leverage its supply chain financing and collections platform. Mastercard will use 4thWave’s technology for managing B2B payments to facilitate cashflow for corporate buyers and suppliers in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.

More specifically, the technology will be integrated into Mastercard’s InControl for Commercial Payments (ICCP), a B2B payments solution that streamlines payments using virtual account numbers to make supplier payments more flexible and secure. Further increasing virtual card account acceptance, Mastercard’s straight through processing (STP) will help deliver funds for approved transactions to suppliers’ bank accounts.

“In line with our commitment to helping businesses worldwide transform the way they pay and get paid, we are investing in enhanced capabilities in the commercial B2B payments space,” said Mastercard Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, EEMEA Clyde Rosanowski. “Our partnership with 4thWave, a result of our continued focus on solving for B2B accounts payable and receivables, will allow us to jointly provide enhanced value to all participants in the supply chain.”

Mastercard is pouring its efforts into the supply chain finance sector because of the difficulties that often arise over vendor-supplier relationships. In fact, IBM found that around 72% of organizations experience strained vendor relationships due to inefficient invoice and payment processing, leading to sub-optimal supplier relationships. Offering a supply chain financing and collections tool to its commercial clients may smooth some of these issues and allow companies to focus on their core business.

“The B2B businesses, especially in the SME & MSME segment, have been severely impacted by the slowness in collections of receivables,” explained 4thWave Chairman Dan Mishra. “This has led to severe liquidity crunch that has negative consequences for the survival of these businesses. Our combined solution with Mastercard addresses this need by providing an easy and innovative financing platform that will rekindle and spur the much-needed growth in the economies.”

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Thought Machine Taps Debt Resolution Innovator Flexys

By David Penn Posted on January 10, 2024
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine

Thought Machine and Flexys announced a new partnership this week.
The partnership wil integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s core banking solution, Vault Core.
UK-based Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018.

Core banking platform Thought Machine and debt management and collections company Flexys announced a new partnership this week. The partnership will integrate Flexys Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s Vault Core.

Rising consumer debt levels and legacy technology in debt management have created processes that are labor-intensive, expensive, and inefficient. To this end, the real-time integration between platforms will enable banks to enhance their debt management capabilities and modernize their banking operations with a new core. Thought Machine’s Vault Core is a cloud-native, cloud-agnostic, API-first core banking platform. It features a Universal Product Engine that gives users a great deal of flexibility in the design of new financial products created by smart contracts. This is in addition to a sizable number of pre-built financial solutions. These range from savings accounts and credit cards to Islamic banking solutions and buy now pay later (BNPL) products.

“Banks can now benefit from a seamless cloud-native ecosystem, leaving behind the constraints of legacy systems to improve efficiency, minimize friction, and vastly improve the experience for customers in arrears,” Flexys CEO James Hill said.

For its part, Control+ automates and digitizes customer engagement. This improves efficiency. But it also makes it possible for agents to offer personalized, positive experiences for customers. Emphasizing engagement over confrontation, Control+’s “intelligent debt resolution” approach empowers collections agents while protecting businesses from reputational and regulatory risk.

“Thought Machine and Flexys are removing unnecessary burden and human error,” Flexys Global Head of Partnerships Randolph McFarlane said. “In turn, this enables banks to better serve their customers, providing a superior experience in a time when customer expectations are higher than ever.”

Bristol-based Flexys was founded in 2016. In recent months, the company has forged partnerships with TSB Bank and Virgin Money. In both instances, Flexys helped the institutions manage Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) repayments and Pay As You Grow (PAYG) options.

Thought Machine finished 2023 with a partnership with Mexico-based fintech Trafalgar. The partnership marked Thought Machine’s first collaboration in Mexico, and is designed to help Trafalgar better serve its SME customers. Additionally, the company plans to launch its new Thought Machine-powered platform in Q2 of this year. Trafalgar will also leverage Thought Machine’s technology to develop and offer additional financial services ranging from virtual cards to point-of-sale (POS) systems.

Founded in 2014, Thought Machine made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2018. The company has raised more than $562 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Thought Machine includes Temasek Holdings and Intesa Sanpaolo among its investors. Paul Taylor is CEO.

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