American Express

Yapily Ever After: American Express Facilitates Bank Transfers in European Markets

Yapily Ever After: American Express Facilitates Bank Transfers in European Markets
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: American Express, Daily news

Have you ever heard of open-banking-infrastructure-as-a-service? American Express has, and it has tapped U.K.-based Yapily as the provider.

The open banking infrastructure company has signed an agreement with American Express to take the financial service giant’s open banking payment initiation product, Pay with Bank Transfer, to select European markets. Yapily’s API will enable Amex’s end users to complete a payment without being redirected to a different channel or website.

Pay with Bank Transfer is self-explanatory– it leverages open banking to enable users to transact via bank transfer. The payment method uses biometric authentication and instant payment APIs for faster, more simple, and secure payments.

“The partnership is the first real step to bringing open banking payments to everyone across Europe and the U.K.,” said Yapily CEO and founder Stefano Vaccino. “Now, a significant number of international merchants will finally be able to access, and benefit from, an open banking API.”

Yapily was founded in 2017 to help financial service providers leverage the open banking opportunity by connecting them with banks. The company enables its clients to access data in 15 countries across Europe, and at more than 180 financial institutions. Yapily has raised $18.4 million.

Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

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Bill.com Partners with Amex to Offer New AP Solution, Vendor Pay

Bill.com Partners with Amex to Offer New AP Solution, Vendor Pay
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: American Express, Bill.com

A strategic partnership between Bill.com and American Express will enable businesses to automate the AP process to make it easier to pay vendors using their American Express Business or Corporate Cards.

The two companies have announced a new solution, Vendor Pay, that streamlines vendor payments, improves working capital and cash conversion cycles, and gives SMEs better data for payment reconciliation. And by relying on single-use virtual account numbers within their current Business or Corporate cards, Vendor Pay also relieves businesses of the burden of having to establish additional card accounts.

“The Bill.com and American Express partnership is a powerful combination of two innovators and leaders in business payments,” Bill.com CEO and founder Rene Lacerte said. “American Express Business and Corporate Card members will now have a central platform for managing digital business payments via Bill.com, with the added benefits of earning the rewards of their card and automating their manual and time-consuming back office processes.”

The partnership will also enable Amex Business and Corporate Card members to make payments via Bill.com’s easy-to-access ACH and check services, which include real-time status updates. Vendor Pay offers both a basic plan with core functionality and no monthly fee for the first user, as well as advanced plans with monthly fees that include features such as bill approval workflows and synchronization with major accounting software platforms.

Bill.com closed out 2018 with news that it had achieved NACHA certification as an ACH third-party sender. The company also partnered with First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to provide enhanced digital business payment solutions for its SME customers. Last fall, Bill.com announced the general availability of the automated international business payments solution that it had begun piloting over the summer.

Founded in 2006 and based in Palo Alto, California, Bill.com has raised more than $259 million in funding. The company demonstrated the CashView feature of its AP/AR management platform at FinovateSpring 2012.

A veteran of our developers conference, American Express participated in FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2015. At the event, Andres Ricaurte, VP of API and Partnerships, and Sathish Muthukrishnan, VP of Engineering, presented The role of B2B payments in the evolving commerce ecosystem, a look at American Express’ role in commercial payments, as well as rise of the API.

American Express reported net income of $2.7 billion in 2017 and revenues of $33.4 billion. The New York City-based global financial services company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “AXP,” and has a market capitalization of $89 billion.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: American Express, Bpm'online, CoverHound, CUneXus, Enveil, FreeAgent, iSignthis, Kalixa, Onfido, Optimove, Revolut, SWITCH

On Finovate.com

  • Insurtech Innovator CoverHound Fetches $58 Million in New Funding.
  • Bill.com Partners with American Express to Offer New AP Solution, Vendor Pay.

Around the web

  • Revolut and WeWork team up to provide three months of “hot desk space” to Revolut for Business customers.
  • PXP Financial, borne of the merger of PXP and Kalixa, announces its public launch.
  • U.K.-based cloud accounting firm FreeAgent to offer direct data feeds to banks via the Open Banking framework.
  • bpm’online forges partnership with Meritus Business Solutions.
  • Optimove unveils iGaming Pulse, a benchmark solution to enable gaming operators to test the performance of their platforms against industry performance metrics.
  • Onfido appoints former Head of Computer Vision for Robotics at Amazon, Mohan Mahadevan as its new VP of Research.
  • Switch reports that its CardSavr service boosts credit card usage immediately at activation.
  • Enveil announces technology partnership and integration with advanced data security solution and services provider Thales.
  • CuneXus partners with outdoor recreational vehicle buying network, Rollick, to streamline the financing process for RV shoppers.

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

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A Look at the First Week of Nasdaq’s Fintech Index

A Look at the First Week of Nasdaq’s Fintech Index
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, American Express, Blackhawk Network, Envestnet, Equifax, Fair Isaac FICO, Fidelity National Information Services, Fiserv, Green Dot, Jack Henry, Lending Club, Markit, MasterCard, PayPal, Thomson Reuters, Vantiv, VISA

While many of you were busy catching Pikachu last week, you may have missed that Nasdaq, in collaboration with KBW, launched an index to track financial technology. Officially named KBW Nasdaq Financial Technology Index (KFTX), the fund tracks 49 fintech companies, including 17 Finovate and FinDEVr alums.

On Monday, 18 July, the index opened at 1,000 points and closed at almost 1,014 points on Friday, 22 July.

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 2.52.11 PM

Finovate and FinDEVr alums listed in the index include:

According to Nasdaq’s press release, the companies in the index “represent roughly one-fifth (18%) of the investable domestic financial universe and nearly 4% of the investable domestic equity universe to account for approximately $785 billion in total market cap.”

It’s worth noting that the index, which will be rebalanced quarterly, does not consider activity from private companies, startups, or banks. Large, public companies may not be as sprightly as two guys in a garage, but they create their fair share of cutting-edge products and services. When creating the index, KBW and Nasdaq adhered to three guidelines:

  1. The companies mainly sell financial services
  2. Not primarily brick-and-mortar operated
  3. Income is generated from fees, rather than interest

Other companies in the index include (each company in the index is weighted equally):

Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS); Bankrate Inc. (RATE); Black Knight Financial Services Inc. (BKFS); BofI Holding Inc. (BOFI); Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. (BR); Cardtronics Inc. (CATM); CBOE Holdings Inc. (CBOE); CME Group Inc. (CME); CoreLogic Inc. (CLGX); Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB); Euronet Worldwide Inc. (EEFT); EverBank Financial Corp. (EVER); EVERTEC Inc. (EVTC); FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS); First Data Corp. (FDC); FleetCor Technologies Inc. (FLT); Global Payments Inc. (GPN); Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE); MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX); Moody’s Corp. (MCO); MSCI Inc. (MSCI); Nasdaq Inc. (NDAQ); S&P Global Inc. (SPGI); SEI Investments Co. (SEIC); Square Inc. (SQ); SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc. (SSNC); Total System Services (TSS); The Western Union Co. (WU); VeriFone Systems Inc. (PAY); Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK); Virtu Financial Inc. (VIRT); and WEX Inc. (WEX).

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American Express Launching Small Business Loans with Lendio

American Express Launching Small Business Loans with Lendio
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: American Express, Lendio

LendioHomepage2016

Small business loan-marketplace Lendio recently partnered with American Express to power the credit card company’s merchant financing offering.

The loans, which will help Amex expand its customer base, will range from $5,000 to $2 million for up to a 2-year term. To qualify, a business must have been in operation for at least two years and have a minimum of $50,000 in revenue.

The partnership is expected to help Amex make up for the termination of its alliance with Costco, which accounted for 20% of Amex’s outstanding loans.

Lendio works on behalf of small business borrowers to match them with the right loan, helping the 75 lenders on its platform reach qualified borrowers. Last year, the Utah-based company facilitated over $128 million in financing to more than 5,100 businesses. Lendio debuted at FinovateSpring 2011.

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FinDEVr Live: American Express Corporate Payments Offer Solutions for Business Growth

FinDEVr Live: American Express Corporate Payments Offer Solutions for Business Growth
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: American Express, FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco

AmexHomepage

americanexpress.com | linkedin.com/company/american-express-global-corporate-payments

AmericanExpressLogoAmerican Express Global Corporate Payments showed its corporate card programs and supplier payments solutions to help you as you grow your business.

The role of B2B payments in the evolving commerce ecosystem
The rapid growth of digital and cloud technologies, the evolution of fintech and the globalization of business, present exciting opportunities for the B2B commerce space. Learn how American Express is helping shape the future of commercial payments and the role that APIs and partners are playing in this journey.

Key takeaways:

  • How American Express is bringing commercial payments to the cloud
  • About partnership opportunities with American Express
  • See one of our API solutions in action

IMG_0832

Presenters:
Andres Ricaurte, VP, API and Partnerships
LinkedIn | andres.a.ricaurte@aexp.com

Sathish Muthukrishnan, VP Engineering
LinkedIn | sathish.b.muthukrishnan@aexp.com

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: American Express, Coinbase, D3 Banking, Klarna

Around the web

  • Klarna Checkout to accept American Express starting in October. See American Express at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco next week.
  • Coinbase provides support for 3D Secure credit and debit cards, enabling instant bitcoin payments in a total of 26 countries.
  • Silicon Prairie News interviews Mike Carter, D3 Banking CMO, on millennials and the “future of banking.”

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

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Aerospike, American Express, Authy, Avalara, Braintree, Fidor Bank, FinDEVr APIntelligence, Hyperwallet, Interxion, MX, On Deck Capital, PayPal, Personal Capital, Thomson Reuters, Twilio, Xero

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateAre you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusive for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 October (just a few days away!) in San Francisco.

Developer news

  • “Thomson Reuters considers how APIs are changing the fintech narrative”

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 Presenters All Mapped Out.
  • PayPal unveils its chip-card reader in the U.S.
  • Hyperwallet counts down to next week’s FinDEVr developer conference.
  • Munich-based Fidor Bank Launches in the U.K.
  • OnDeck partners with Association for Enterprise Opportunity to facilitate up to $10 million in small-business loans.
  • Aerospike releases version 3.6 of its NoSQL operational database.
  • TechCrunch: Klarna adds American Express as a partner.
  • Emerging Payments Awards selects Hyperwallet as a finalist for the Best Corporate/Government Payments Program award for 2015.
  • Braintree and PayPal reflect on their two-year anniversary.
  • CNET features Personal Capital in a look at investment in robo-advisers.
  • Kaspersky’s blog mentions Twilio’s Authy as a way to protect your ID on a smartphone.
  • Avalara announces the availability of a benefits program exclusively for U.S. QuickBooks ProAdvisors® and their clients.
  • Celent advises banks to be more like Fidor Bank in order to remain relevant.
  • The Neutral Internet Exchange NL-ix will use Interxion Cloud Connect to connect to Microsoft Azure as a part of its new cloud connectivity services.
  • MX Lands $4 Million from CheckFree Founder Pete Kight.

Alumni updates

  • Xero surpasses milestone of 100,000 subscribers in the U.K.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Aerospike, American Express, blooom, Insuritas, Klarna, Kony, On Deck Capital, Stratos, SumUp, Tradeshift

On Finovate.com

  • “Blooom Wins Grant from LaunchKC”
  • “FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 Presenters All Mapped Out“

Around the web

  • SumUp launches mobile payments service in Sweden.
  • Stratos launches EMV Chip Connected Payment Cards in Q4 2015.
  • Ferguson Federal, $57 million in assets, hires Insuritas to launch insurance agency.
  • Kony helps ORNL FCU deliver customized mobile app experiences to its members.
  • OnDeck partners with Association for Enterprise Opportunity to facilitate up to $10 million in small-business loans.
  • Tradeshift unveils new e-procurement solution, Tradeshift Buy.
  • Aerospike releases version 3.6 of its NoSQL operational database. See Aerospike’s presentation at FinDEVr next week.
  • TechCrunch: Klarna adds American Express as a partner. Come watch American Express’ presentation at FinDEVr.

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

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FinDEVr Preview: American Express

FinDEVr Preview: American Express
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: American Express, FinDEVr 2015 Preview, FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateFinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms and integrations at the second annual FinDEVr, 6/7 October.

American Express will focus on the role of B2B payments in the evolving commerce ecosystem.

AmericanExpress_homepage_FinDEVr2015

Why it’s a must-see

The rapid growth of digital and cloud technologies, the evolution of fintech, and the globalization of business present exciting opportunities for the B2B commerce space. Learn how American Express is helping shape the future of commercial payments and the role that APIs and partners are playing in this journey.

Check out more of today’s FinDEVr Previews:

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American Express Now Serves Walmart with Bluebird Prepaid Card

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: American Express, Prepaid/gift cards, Wal-Mart

image Wow, the national press jumped all over the American Express and Walmart partnership to sell/service the Amex-branded Bluebird prepaid card nationwide (882 articles linked from Google news).

Analysts waxed eloquent about how Walmart is building out its “banking” services and how much cheaper the prepaid card is compared to a checking account.

But in fact, there will be little impact on Walmart shoppers, who can already buy a similar Walmart-branded prepaid Visa card in its stores. And that Green Dot-powered Moneycard will continue to be available, though it sounds like Bluebird could get more prominence. But that will depend on which company is paying the highest slotting fees/revenue share. 

But what almost all the press coverage overlooks is that Bluebird is only good at locations that accept American Express (4.5 mil in US), whereas the Green Dot card is good anywhere Visa is accepted (8 mil in US). While most major retailers take both (note 1), that’s still a huge difference in value for many Walmart customers.

Look at the current Walmart financial services menu (pre-Bluebird). It already offers every money-handling service under the sun, including a general purpose reloadable prepaid card with no fees for heavy users (see screenshot below).

Walmart MoneyCenter homepage (9 Oct 2012)

image

imagePricing
Pricing for both the Amex Bluebird (inset) and Visa MoneyCard are low (see below). The main difference is that BlueBird eliminated monthly fees, while MoneyCard charges $3 per month for anyone who loads less than $1000.

Bottom line: Amex got amazing press out of the deal that should help establish it as a leader in prepaid. But it’s a real unknown how many Walmart shoppers want to carry around an Amex card with less merchant acceptance.

I think it may even cause quite a bit of confusion in-store if the BlueBird card is pushed ahead of the Green Dot version.

And while American Express seems to have made important in-roads, it’s not possible to assess the ROI since we do not know how much it is paying Walmart for the distribution deal.

———————————-

Current MoneyCard fees (9 Oct 2012)
Note: Monthly fee is waived for those loading at least $1000 per month to the card

image

————————————

Notes:
1. Costco takes only American Express, so score one for Bluebird.
2. Customers involved in the Bluebird pilot (sold this year at 80 western U.S. Walmarts) must close their old account prior to 8 Dec 2012 and open a new one. The company is offering a $20 bonus to cover the hassle (link).
3. Amex acquired the website Bluebird.com which currently redirects to BlueBirdMoney.com. A greeting card company operates BlueBirdCards.com, which currently ranks high on Google, but will get crushed by BlueBird.com once the product launches nationwide.

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