Avaloq

Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking

Avaloq Implements OpenWealth at LGT Private Banking
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avaloq, Daily news
  • 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.

Photo by Ondrej Bocek on Unsplash

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BlackRock Takes Minority Stake in Avaloq

BlackRock Takes Minority Stake in Avaloq
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avaloq, Daily news
  • Avaloq has received a strategic investment from BlackRock.
  • The amount of the investment is undisclosed, but it gives BlackRock a minority stake in Avaloq.
  • BlackRock will integrate Avaloq’s wealth management technology into its Aladdin Wealth product.

BlackRock announced a strategic investment in wealth management technology provider Avaloq this week. The amount of the investment was not disclosed, but BlackRock has taken a minority stake in the Switzerland-based company.

“This partnership will help us empower our clients to streamline processes, enhance risk analytics, and make more informed portfolio decisions, ultimately delivering greater value to their clients,” explained Avaloq Co-CEO Martin Greweldinger.

Their collaboration will combine Avaloq’s core banking, client relationship management, and mobile banking services with the risk analytics and portfolio management capabilities of BlackRock’s Aladdin Wealth. This combination will empower wealth managers and private banks to offer enhanced, more holistic services.

“BlackRock and Avaloq joining forces will help clients reduce the complexity and friction inherent in many of today’s digital transformations,” said Aladdin Wealth Tech’s Global Head Venu Krishnamurthy. “Our combined offering will make it extremely convenient for clients to implement and adopt Aladdin Wealth’s industry leading capabilities as it will be deeply integrated with Avaloq’s core banking solutions.”

Founded in 1991, Avaloq was acquired by Japan-based NEC in late 2020 for $2.2 billion. Prior to the acquisition, Avaloq had raised $392 million in funding.

Originally a core banking provider, Avaloq has narrowed its focus to serve private banks and wealth managers and now counts more than 150 clients across 35 countries. The company has four main product lines: Avaloq Engage increases client engagement, Avaloq Wealth supports the client journey, Avaloq Insight offers access to data, and Avaloq Banking Operations supports the back office.

Photo by Kindel Media

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Scalable Capital Enters Italy, Moojo Secures Pre-Seed Funding; Commerzbank Seeks Crypto Custody License

Scalable Capital Enters Italy, Moojo Secures Pre-Seed Funding; Commerzbank Seeks Crypto Custody License
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Finovate Global

This week on Finovate Global we’re highlighting some of the fintech news from Germany.

Scalable Capital, a digital investment platform based in Germany, announced the launch of its neo-broker and new cryptocurrency offering Scalable Crypto in the Italian market. The new solution, introduced in December, will enable Italian investors to buy stock, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), popular cryptocurrencies, as well as set up savings plans for free. The company’s Scalable Broker offering will give investors access to more than 6,000 international stocks, with all trades routed through regulated European exchanges to avoid FX fees. Scalable Broker also provides access to more than 1,500 ETFs and more than 1,700 mutual funds. Additionally, Scalable Broker is available in different price configurations: a free version with commission-free savings plans and trading for stocks and ETFs that charges a fee of EUR 0.99 for transactions in other instruments, and a “Prime” version with an additional trading flat rate enabling unlimited trades for a monthly fee of EUR 2.99.

Scalable Crypto enables investors to buy and sell common cryptocurrencies, which are held as securities in the client’s brokerage account. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP are among the cryptocurrencies available for trading, each of which is based on exchange-traded crypto products (ETPs) for easy and secure transactions on regulated exchanges.

“The online broker with savings plans and crypto is just the beginning,” Scalable Capital founder and co-CEO Erik Podzuweit said. “Our goal is to introduce our complete investment platform to the Italian market. We will make even more services available to our Italian clients, such as our leading robo-advisor.”

Scalable Capital made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2016 in London.

Moojo, a new startup that helps freelancers, creators, and gig economy workers improve their invoicing process and get paid faster, announced $2 million in seed funding this week. The round included participation from APX, Helvetia Venture Fund, MS&AD, neoteq Ventures, and Red Swan Ventures

In addition to its instant payments and invoicing solutions, Moojo plans to introduce insurance and lending products in the future. The company has partnered with Hiscox to facilitate the development of insurance products.

“The team and their approach to embed insurance into their offering has convinced us,” Markus Niederreiner, CEO of Hiscox Germany, said. “We are delighted to be Moojo’s insurance partner and co-create the next-gen of solutions for the creator and the freelancer economy. We strongly believe in the way Moojo tailors and builds solutions for the community: integrated into their customers’ lives.”

Moojo was founded in 2021 by Amir Djouadi, Christian Engnath, and Utena Treves. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Germany’s second largest listed bank Commerzbank announced late this week that it is looking to enter the cryptocurrency space. The company is the country’s first major financial institution to seek a license that would enable it to offer cryptocurrency safekeeping services, as well as create its own cryptocurrency custody solution.

Germany’s new licensing policy for cryptocurrency services went into effect in 2020 and is designed to encourage more regulated financial firms to enter the cryptocurrency market. Commerzbank’s license application appears a year after the institution formed a partnership with Deutsche Börse and Fintech 360X to develop a digital asset trading platform.

Acknowledging the role of the partnership, Commerzbank spokesperson Bernd Reh added that the bank is “pursuing our own digital asset strategy and are also planning our own offerings for our customers in the coming years.” Reh noted that the planned offering is geared initially toward institutional customers.

BaFin, the Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, has so far approved four of the 25 applications it has received from institutions seeking crypto custodian status.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Photo by Ingo Joseph

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Will 2022 Be the Year Central Bank Digital Currencies Break Out?

Will 2022 Be the Year Central Bank Digital Currencies Break Out?
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Tinkoff Credit Systems

The news is flying a bit under the radar. But from China to Bahrain to Jamaica, central banks are beginning 2022 having made major moves recently in support of digital assets.

We covered China’s CBDC announcement earlier this week. In short, the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, made its digital yuan wallet available via both the Android and Apple app stores. Select Chinese citizens in a wide range of provinces – including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu – will be able to download the e-CNY wallet. The Chinese government hopes that there will be significant use of the technology in the weeks leading up to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which could represent a showcase for the digital currency.

Halfway around the world, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announced that it has successfully completed its test with Onyx by JPMorgan’s JPM Coin System. The test, the first of its kind in the MENA region, enabled Bank ABC to launch real-time payments for Aluminum Bahrain (ALBA) in the U.S. JPM Coin is a permissioned system that provides payment rail and deposit account ledger services that allow participants to transfer U.S. dollars that are held on deposit with JPMorgan.

“We at the Central Bank of Bahrain are extremely pleased to announce the success of this test which aligns with our vision and strategy to continually develop and enrich the capabilities extended to the stakeholders within our financial services sector in the Kingdom using advanced and leading emerging technologies,” Central Bank of Bahrain Governor Rasheed Al Maraj said in a statement.

JPM Coin is the inaugural product offering from JPMorgan’s Onyx, a blockchain-based platform that facilitates the exchange of value, data, and digital assets. Onyx was formed in 2020.

Several hundred miles to Bahrain’s west, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) announced that it also has completed a cryptocurrency pilot. Here, the digital asset is a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which has been undergoing testing in the island nation for the past eight months. The project was conducted in partnership with Irish fintech eCurrency Mint, a company with a 10+ year pedigree in innovation on CBDCs. The stated goal of the initiative was to determine “whether a central bank digital currency along with the attendant technology solution could be successfully implemented in Jamaica.”

Three specific tasks were part of the test: minting of the CBDC, issuing the CBDC to wallet providers, and distributing CBDCs to retail customers. This final component of the test involved wallet provider NCB, and the successful onboarding of 57 customers who conducted person-to-person, cash-in, and cash-out transactions with small businesses as part of an NCB-sponsored event in December called “Market on the Lawn.”

In the wake of the successful test, the Bank of Jamaica has planned a national roll-out of its new CBDC in the first quarter of 2022. The roll-out will feature the continued onboarding of new and existing customers by NCB, the introduction of two additional wallet providers, and a test of transactions between customers of different participating wallet providers to establish interoperability.

Note that Jamaica’s Caribbean neighbor, the Bahamas, launched its CBDC, the Sand Dollar, in October of 2020. The Sand Dollar is the the world’s first official central bank digital currency to reach full circulation.

FinovateEurope 2022 is right around the corner. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22-23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Photo by Jeswin Thomas from Pexels

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Argentina’s Veritran Earns $225 Million Valuation, Joins Finovate’s Largest Latin American Cohort To Date

Argentina’s Veritran Earns $225 Million Valuation, Joins Finovate’s Largest Latin American Cohort To Date
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Finovate Global, Mambu, Nubank, VeriTran

Low-code fintech platform provider Veritran has secured a strategic growth investment from Trivest Partners, a private equity fund based in Miami, Florida. The specific amount of the investment was not disclosed, but the company did report that funding gives the Buenos Aires, Argentina-based firm a valuation of $225 million.

“Today marks a major milestone for Veritran’s team, as we embark upon a new chapter of becoming the next fintech unicorn,” Veritran CEO and co-founder Marcelo Gonzalez said, “while continuing to democratize access to the digital economy.” Gonzalez highlighted Trivest Partners’ successful track record of working with “founder-owned businesses” and said the collaboration would help Veritran expand “into new geographies and reach new customers.”

Founded in 2005 and maintaining offices in the U.S., Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Guatemala, Veritran offers a low-code platform that helps companies integrate new, enabling technologies into their legacy systems. Companies looking to enhance customer engagement via digital channels ranging from mobile banking and digital wallets seek out Veritran’s technology to future-proof their retail and corporate banking operations, as well as digital payments and onboarding processes.

With 50 bank clients and 25 million users, Veritran processes 25 billion transactions a year on its platform. In August, the company announced that it had partnered with Visa to promote push payments, tokenization, and Click to Pay projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. The previous month, Veritran teamed up with behavioral biometric-based online fraud detection platform Revelock to help banks reduce fraud losses and call center costs. The partnership with Revelock – a Feedzai company – followed Veritran’s collaboration with another biometric technology company, FaceTec, which brought its facial recognition technology to the Buenos Aires-based firm’s low code platform.

Veritran’s funding announcement comes less than a month before it makes its return to the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York. The company will join what may be the largest contingent of Latin America-based fintechs ever assembled at a Finovate event (see below).

FinovateFall 2021 takes place at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City, September 13 through 15. For more information, including how to attend our autumn fintech conference live or on-demand, visit our FinovateFall hub today.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Photo by Florencia Potter from Pexels

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Avaloq to Help Banks Deliver ESG Investment Portfolios

Avaloq to Help Banks Deliver ESG Investment Portfolios
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Avaloq, Daily news

ESG investing index funds topped $1,258 billion at the end of September, cementing ESG stock selection into more than just a passing fad.

Taking note, digital banking and wealth management Avaloq launched a new offering today to help banks build ESG portfolios for their clients. The tool also facilitates compliance with the EU’s upcoming MiFID II amendment.

Avaloq’s ESG investment solution includes third party data streams and extra functionality to help wealth managers build portfolios tailored to their individual clients. Some of the tools integrated into the new solution include standardized scorecards, green benchmarks, exclusions, norms-based screening such as the UN Global Compact or the OECD Guidelines, and thematic investments.

The ESG market is expected to grow even more rapidly as investors begin to focus on addressing climate change, environmental damage, social inequality, and discrimination. Also promoting growth is the update to MiFID II which will require wealth managers to account for a client’s ESG preferences when deciding suitable investments.

While Avaloq’s tool will help with MiFID II compliance, it will also assist banks and wealth managers in addressing the lack of standards when it comes to ESG preferences. “One challenge for providers is that there are no rules defined by regulators or standard setters for how the ESG preferences should be collected – it is considered an area of competition between investment companies,” explained Martin Greweldinger, Avaloq Group Chief Product Officer. “As such, we believe that banks and wealth managers that can offer the most comprehensive ESG service will be the ones that see stronger market growth.”

Today’s launch is the latest aspect of Avaloq’s green agenda, which also includes sourcing 100% of its energy from renewable sources, reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 9% in 2019 compared to 2018, and receiving a Climate Neutral Company label.

The new ESG investment solution will be available “starting next year.”

Founded in 1991, Switzerland-based Avaloq agreed to be acquired by NEC Corporation last month. The transaction, which is valued at more than $2.2 billion, is anticipated to close in April of 2021.

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

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NEC Acquires Avaloq in $2.2 Billion Deal

NEC Acquires Avaloq in $2.2 Billion Deal
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Acquisition, Avaloq, Mergers & Acquisitions

After 35 years in operation, Swiss-based digital banking solution provider Avaloq has agreed to be acquired by Japan’s NEC Corporation. The deal, in which NEC will buy 100% of the company’s shares from existing shareholders, valued the Swiss firm at more than $2.2 billion (CHF 2.05 billion), is billed at enabling Avaloq to “accelerate” its “growth, global expansion, and value creation strategy.”

“With NEC, Avaloq found a perfect new home to continue our success story of serving our clients with solutions that make their lives simpler in an ever more complex world,” Avaloq CEO Jürg Hunziker said. Company founder and chairman Francisco Fernandez added that acquisition would help the company continue to “invest heavily in R&D,” and highlighted the two firms’ shared emphasis on the “caring about customers and people.”

The transaction is expected to be completed in April 2021. The company will continue to operate as its own entity, based in Zurich.

First introduced to our audiences at our developers conference, FinDEVr London, in 2017, Avaloq made its Finovate debut a year later at FinovateEurope with a demonstration of its goal-based, wealth management solution. The cloud-based microservice enables wealth managers to provide risk-optimized investment objectives for their clients, which helps ensure that the client and their investment preferences, concerns, and risk tolerance are at the center of the investment advisory experience.

With more than 150 clients in 30 countries and nearly $5 trillion (4.5 trillion CHF) in client assets managed using its software, Avaloq recently announced partnerships with Belgium’s Banque Degroof Petercam in October and integrated with Enterprise Bot, an conversational AI and automation solution provider, in September. Also that month, FintechNews Switzerland featured Avaloq Group Chief Product Officer Martin Greweldinger, author of a report on the need for wealth managers to “democratize” their offerings to a wider audience in order to survive and grow.

“This democratization requires wealth managers to deliver personalized advice at scale while addressing the specific needs of this new affluent clientele through a balance of industrialization, innovation, and individualization,” Greweldinger noted. Read more about Avaloq’s report.

Photo by Bing HAO on Unsplash

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A Look at the Top 50 Fintech Companies in Europe

A Look at the Top 50 Fintech Companies in Europe
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Guest Post, Hydrogen, Klarna, Kreditech, Ledger, Numbrs, Nutmeg, Revolut, SumUp, Tink, TransferWise

The following is a guest post from Scott Raspa, Head of Marketing, Hydrogen.

The European fintech scene has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years. One of the key drivers of this growth is open banking. This is causing financial institutions and fintechs to partner together to provide more innovative, user-friendly solutions for consumers throughout Europe.

European consumers are receptive to the idea of non-financial players offering financial products, according to EY’s Global FinTech Adoption Index 2019. The survey finds that fintech adoption throughout Europe, especially in countries such as the Netherlands, U.K., Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, are well above the global average of 64%, and aren’t showing signs of slowing down any time soon.

Below is a list of the top 50 fintech companies in Europe, based on their valuations.

RankingCompanyFundingValuationCountry
1Adyen$266M$22BNetherlands
2NexiPublic$8.2BItaly
3Klarna$1.4B$5.5BSweden
4Checkout$380M$5.5BU.K.
5Revolut$917M$5.5BU.K.
6Transferwise$1.1B$5BU.K.
7Greensill$1.7B$3.5BU.K.
8N26$782.8M$3.5BGermany
9Oaknorth$1B$2.8BU.K.
10IZettle€273.2M$2.2BSweden
11MetroBankPublic$1.92BU.K.
12Wefox$268.5M$1.65BGermany
13Funding Circle$746.4M$1.5BU.K.
14Monzo£384.7M$1.24BU.K.
15Rapyd$170M$1.2BU.K.
16Ledger$88M$1.2BFrance
17AvaloqCHF350M$1.1BSwitzerland
18Deposit Solutions$198.9M$1.1BGermany
19Ivalua$134.4M<$1.0BFrance
20Sumup$425.6M$1.0BU.K.
21Radius Payment£150M$1.0BU.K.
22Numbrs$78.8M$1.0BSwitzerland
23Monese$80.4M$1.0BU.K.
24Worldremit$407.7M<$900MU.K.
25Ebury$123.5M>$900MU.K.
26Oodle Car Finance£160M>$850MU.K.
27Qonto$151.5M>$770MFrance
28Starling Bank£363M>$600MU.K.
29Atom Bank£429M$590MU.K.
30Raisin$206M<$550MGermany
31Tradeplus24$103.5M>$550MSwitzerland
32Kreditech$347.5M<$500MGermany
33Pleo$78.8M$500MDenmark
34Smava$188.7M$500MGermany
35Tink$205.5M>$500MSweden
36Pagantis€76.2M>$400MSpain
37Gocardless$122.3M>$400MU.K.
38Wynd$123.5M>$400MFrance
39Moneyfarm$127.3M>$400MU.K.
40Soldo$83.2M>$400MU.K.
41Ratesetter£43M$360MU.K.
42solarisBank€155.1M$360MGermany
43Bitstamp$12.4M$350MU.K.
44Tinubu Square€79.3M>$350MFrance
45Nutmeg$153.6M$318MU.K.
46Banking CircleN/A$300MDenmark
47BIMA$170.6M$300MSweden
48LendInvest$1.3B>$300MU.K.
49PayFit$101.1M>$280MFrance
50Curve$74.2M$250MU.K.

These companies have raised over $16.8B (€14.3B) in venture capital funding and are valued, collectively, at over $92B (€78B).

The U.K. fintechs are valued at nearly $40B (€34B). The Netherlands are second, all thanks to Ayden, the most valuable fintech in Europe.

The U.K. has also invested the most money, nearly $11B (€9.4B), almost 65% of the funding of these top 50 fintech companies. After the U.K., Germany and Sweden have invested the most with 12.9% ($2.1B / €1.78B) and 12.4% ($2.0B / €1.7B) of the overall funding, respectively.

Fintech Enablement in Europe

Here at Hydrogen we work with companies all over the world. Our award-winning fintech enablement platform enables organizations to quickly and easily build fintech products and components. Whether you want to offer a PFM app in France, a challenger bank in the U.K., or issue cards in Germany, Hydrogen is here to help. Hydrogen has pre-built integrations, workflows, business logic, and UI already built in and available in white labeled/no-code modules or through our robust API.

It’s free to get started, so start building with Hydrogen today!

*Note: Funding information was provided by Crunchbase.com and the Euro, Pound, and US Dollar conversions were based off of today’s conversion rate. Also, total funding amounts didn’t include public companies or companies where we couldn’t identify the funding received.

Photo by H. Emre from Pexels

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Finovate Alums Earn Top Honors in Wealthtech 100

Finovate Alums Earn Top Honors in Wealthtech 100
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: 3rd-eyes, additiv, aixigo, Alumni News, Avaloq, Award winners, Finantix, Finhorizon, ForwardLane, Moxtra, TelosTouch, Wealth Wizards, Xignite

More than ten Finovate alums have earned spots on Fintech Global’s second annual Wealthtech 100 roster. The collection of companies is meant to represent the most innovative businesses operating in the wealth and asset space worldwide.

Companies were evaluated based on a variety of criteria ranging from industry significance and technological innovation to growth in capital raised and the ability of the company to save clients money, boost revenues, or increase efficiency. More than 1,200 companies were provided by Fintech Global to its judging panel of fintech analysts and industry experts.

Here are our winning Finovate alums:

“We’re thrilled to have made the WealthTech 100 list from Fintech Global,” Wealth Wizards said on Twitter after the news was announced. “There are some brilliant U.K. firms included.” Finantix and additiv also tweeted about the announcement this week.

See the full WealthTech 100 roster.

Headquartered in London, U.K., Fintech Global provides comprehensive data, insights, and analytical tools on fintech around the world.

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Moven Powers KSA-Based Neobank; Nigerian Fintech Scores $10 Million

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Daily news, Finovate Global, Moven

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Dusseldorf, Germany-based apoBank partners with Avaloq.
  • German challenger bank N26 announces withdrawal from the U.K. market.
  • Sifted highlights the “fastest growing fintech startups in Germany.”

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • A partnership between Moven and STC Pay seeks to launch a new challenger bank in Saudi Arabia.
  • The biggest bank in the country by assets, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), has joined the RippleNet payment network.
  • Wamda interviews more than 600 startups as part of its examination of pre-seed startups in the MENA region.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Uber establishes its Uber Money team at India’s Hyderabad Tech Centre.
  • Deal Street Asia looks at how fintechs in India are re-invigorating banking.
  • BusinessWorld reviews ways fintech in India can help “bridge the gap” between banks and the public.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • In a round led by DOMO Invest, Brazilian P2P marketplace IOUU locks in $1.3 million in its latest funding round.
  • Chile-based investment platform Fintual teams up with Invermerica in new foray into Mexican market.
  • Brazilian fintech Bloxs Investimentos raises $690,000 in new funding to build out its collective investment platform.

Asia-Pacific

  • Vietnam’s central bank refuses to cap foreign ownership of e-payment companies at 49%.
  • Fintech News Singapore features “6 Agri-Fintech Startups in Asia to Follow in 2020.”
  • Thailand-based “crowdfunding bonds” fintech PeerPower announces pre-Series A round funding.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech Aella Credit secures $10 million in debt financing.
  • CNBC Africa looks at how fintechs can help South African consumers avoid “credit traps.”
  • VentureBurn highlights the work of South African financial inclusion specialist Meerkat.

Top image designed by Freepik

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SoftBank Showers Latin American Fintechs with Millions in New Capital

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, DriveWealth, Finovate Global, PaySend, SumUp, Temenos, Tinkoff Bank, Vymo

SoftBank Backs Latin America

Last week, the international fintech buzz was all about the booming investment in African startups. As you can see in our sub-Saharan Africa section below, that buzz continues as analysts wonder how African fintechs can best leverage their good financial fortunes of late.

But this week, it’s all about Latin America as fintechs from Mexico to Argentina lock in triple digit investments. What’s especially interesting is that two of the week’s biggest beneficiaries – Konfio and Uala – have the same participating benefactor in SoftBank.

The investment in Argentina’s Uala was the first time the Japanese-based firm had funded a company from Argentina, but not SoftBank’s first funding in the region. The firm invested $1 billion in Colombian delivery app Rappi in April of this year. SoftBank has a deeper history investing in Mexican startups, having funded payments startup Clip and used car buying platform Kavak. SoftBank is also especially active in Brazil; the firm led a $140 million round for the country’s e-commerce solution provider VTEX in November.

FinovateEurope Goes to Berlin!

It’s not too early to start thinking and planning for 2020 – especially with our first conference right around the corner in February.

After six years of basing our annual European fintech conference in London, Finovate is crossing the channel and setting up our stage in Berlin, Germany next year. Our new FinovateEurope location will also feature a new event format designed to ensure attendees maximize their time at the conference. Take a look at our developing agenda to see what we have in store February 11th through the 13th.

Here’s our weekly look at fintech around the world.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore’s FinAccel, maker of Kredivo, raises $90 million in round led by Asia Growth Fund and Square Peg.
  • Maybank Group, the fourth largest bank by assets in Southeast Asia, goes livewith Avaloq’s banking suite.
  • South Korea announces plans to launch opening banking system before year’s end.
  • Vymo brings AI-powered sales coaching to insurance giant Sompo.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Can Africa’s fintech startups learn from the experience of M-Pesa? TechCrunch considers the opportunities now available thanks to recent positive funding trends.
  • A partnership between Smartstream and Union Systems will help African FIs digitize their post-trade environments.
  • QuartzAfrica takes a look at the “niche ecosystems” that are developing amid Africa’s rapidly expanding fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin, Germany-based SME digital banking platform Penta teams up with SumUp.
  • First Investment Bank (Fibank) goes live with the first, PSD2-compliant, open banking platform in Bulgaria.
  • Tinkoff GDRs will be included in MOEX Russia indices next month.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Sudan’s Nile Bank is the latest FI to choose Oracle’s Flexcube core banking solution.
  • Temenos teams up with Egyptian National Post Organization.
  • Dubai Financial Services Authority inks fintech pact with Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.

Central and Southern Asia

  • DriveWealth helps Indian investors access U.S. stocks via new partnership.
  • Indian banking technology provider TCS Financial Solutions migrates three credit unions to a cloud-version of its TCS Bancs system.
  • Paysend introduces worldwide money transfers to Uzbekistan.
  • Sri Lanka’s central bank examines the possibility of applying blockchain technology to streamline KYC processes for FIs.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uala, a money management app from Argentina, raises $150 million in Series C round led by Tencent and SoftBank.
  • Mexican SME credit assessment specialist Konfio closes $100 million investment from SoftBank.
  • MercadoLibre picks up $125 million loan from Goldman Sachs.

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avaloq, Fenergo, Jack Henry, Personetics, SoFi, SumUp, Temenos, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Zopa Raises $182 Million En Route to Full Bank Launch
  • Banks Shift to Automation in 2020

Around the web

  • Fenergo teams up with PwC to provide KYC compliance and client onboarding as managed services.
  • SumUp forges partnership with German fintech Penta which will offer the company’s card reader to its customers.
  • Personetics joins Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) Global Startups Program.
  • Temenos inks partnership with Egyptian National Post Organization.
  • Maybank Group, the fourth largest bank by assets in Southeast Asia, goes live with Avaloq’s banking suite.
  • Installment payment specialist Splitit partners with smart bed solution provider ReST.
  • SoFi scores New York BitLicense, which will permit the company to offer crytocurrency trading services in the state.
  • Jack Henry to provide a comprehensive technology upgrade, including deployment of its SilverLake core system, for Parkside Financial Bank & Trust.

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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