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Tales from the Crypto: Base Backup, Blockchain Payments Secure Funding, Crypto-Friendly Alums

Tales from the Crypto: Base Backup, Blockchain Payments Secure Funding, Crypto-Friendly Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Cryptocurrency, Daily news

This week in Tales from the Crypto we look at the boom-induced traffic jam in crypto coin trading, new funding for a blockchain payment network in the developing world, and a pair of new crypto-friendly alums that demoed at FinovateEurope last month.

Base Backup as Bitcoin Booms

The renewed boom in bitcoin is not without its discontents. A spike in network activity on Coinbase’s layer-2 blockchain Base has resulted in service disruptions ranging from transaction fee increases leading to “stuck” transactions to the inability to cancel transactions.

Why does this matter? For crypto traders and investors, Base – launched in August 2023 – offers a way to transact on Ethereum at a lower cost, among other attractive features. But even more critically, the third largest layer-2 network on Ethereum has also seen its transaction volume surge by 3x over the past few weeks due something called “Base season.” This occurs as crypto influencers and traders promote a variety of Base tokens to their followers.

Most of these tokens are meme coins, but the volumes have been significant enough to serve as “stress tests” for a number of these systems – and for their users who have complained of transaction fees 5x normal levels. It should be pointed out that Base has not been the only network to have felt the impact of rising trading volumes for all forms of crypto – including the current meme coin mania. Layer-1 blockchain Solana has experienced service issues as well.

The traffic tie-ups are likely to be temporary, the company noted. It also encouraged users cancel and resubmit transactions where possible and to wait for the traffic to subside if cancellation was not possible. Most importantly, Coinbase assured customers that their funds are safe. There’s a saying that if you are sitting in your car complaining about traffic, it is worth remembering that you, too, are traffic. A new round of cryptocurrency traders and investors is learning that lesson as crypto winter turns toward crypto spring.

In other Coinbase news, the company announced the launch of its Prime Sweeper solution this week. Prime Sweeper is a reference app that automates digital asset transfer between trading balances and vault wallets in Coinbase Prime. The no-code solution is designed for institutional clients and provides robust logging and status updates at every stage of the transfer process.

African blockchain payment network raises seed funding

In an oversubscribed seed funding round, African blockchain payment network Zone has secured $8.5 million. VC firms Flourish Ventures and TLcom Capital led the investment. Other firms participating in the fundraising were blockchain-focused outfits Digital Currency Group, Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, and Alter Global.

Zone is the first regulated blockchain network for payments in Africa. The company has already signed agreements with 15 of the largest banks and fintechs on the continent, and Zone CEO and co-founder Obi Emetarom said that funding will fuel expansion of the company’s network domestically. Zone will also leverage the new capital to support a cross-border payments pilot program scheduled for 2025.

“As we step into this new phase at Zone, we are re-energized and our commitment to transforming Africa’s payment infrastructure is renewed,” Emetarom said. He praised the firm’s new and existing investors not only for their financial support, but also for their “deep expertise.” Flourish Ventures, for example, will bring both a global perspective as well as a network of industry influencers and Africa fintech expertise to help Zone reach new markets. For its part, TLcom Capital will provide “essential local credibility” and an “understanding of the African tech space.”

Founded in 2022, Zone is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

FinovateEurope: Bringing Compliance to Crypto and Web3 Gamification

FinovateEurope last month showcased two companies, FRNZX (pronounced “forensics”) and Tradelite Solutions, that are innovating in the crypto space.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel and founded by experts in cryptocurrencies, AML, and intelligence, FRNZX offers a way to achive AML compliance in cryptocurrency transactions. The company offers a holistic AML navigator that makes it easier to integrate cryptocurrency transactions into the bank’s existing AML framework. At FinovateEurope, FRNZX co-founder and CEO Nevo Lapidot demonstrated how the technology streamlines AML operations from onboarding to monitoring, reporting suspicious activity and helping ensure that financial institutions meet regulatory requirements. FRNZX was founded in 2022.

The other crypto-friendly demoing company from FinovateEurope this year was Tradelite Solutions. Dedicated to promoting financial inclusion, Tradelite Solutions offers a web3 financial education game called Mogaland. In addition to gamification, Mogaland leverages a token economy and data-driven financial behavioral IDs in order to make financial literacy accessible, enjoyable, and – courtesy of web3 – monetizable for all, as well. Founded in 2020 by Tracy Chang (CEO) and Matthias Kröner (CFO), Tradelite Solutions is headquartered in Munich, Germany.

ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood on Crypto in 2024

One of the biggest defenders of cryptocurrencies in mainstream finance is ARK Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood. In addition to her advocacy for emergent and disruptive technologies, Wood has also advocated on behalf of cryptocurrencies. Just six months ago, she explained why she believed that bitcoin is the currency for AI.

Above is a more recent interview with Cathie Wood, conducted by Schwab Network’s Oliver Renick. In this conversation, Wood discusses recent price gains for Bitcoin, the debut of spot Bitcoin ETFs, and more.

Figure Technologies launches crypto exchange

An “everything marketplace”? A sole platform where traders and investors can buy and sell a variety of blockchain-native assets including cryptocurrencies, alternative investments, and stocks? Figure Technologies is on it.

This week, the San Francisco, California-based company announced the launch of Figure Markets. The new entity will introduce a new decentralized custody crypto exchange and blockchain-native security marketplace. Importantly, the marketplace will incorporate Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology. The use of MPC-based wallets, the company noted in a statement, will help avoid the single-point-of-failure risks common to centralized exchanges. MPC wallets use private keys that are distributed across a decentralized network and must be multi-party approved for each movement.

Figure Markets also announced raising more than $60 million in Series A funding. Jump Crypto, Pantera Capital, and Lightspeed Faction led the oversubscribed round. Distributed Global, Ribbit Capital, CMT Digital, among others, also participated.

“This funding validates our vision to redefine capital markets with blockchain technology,” Figure Markets CEO Mike Cagney said. “Figure Technologies is capturing real benefits by employing blockchain in its lending and capital markets operations. Our goal is to extend the benefits of blockchain to a broader range of assets – including crypto and securities. It’s ironic that the largest crypto exchanges aren’t on blockchain – we aim to change that.”

Photo by fabio on Unsplash

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BioCatch and Google Cloud Bring Fraud Prevention Solutions to Expanding Markets

BioCatch and Google Cloud Bring Fraud Prevention Solutions to Expanding Markets
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BioCatch, Daily news, Google Cloud Platform
  • Digital fraud detection innovator BioCatch has forged a partnership with Google Cloud.
  • The two companies will leverage their new relationship to bring fraud prevention solutions to expanding markets, starting in Southeast Asia.
  • Israel-based BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2014.

A new partnership between financial crime prevention specialist BioCatch and Google Cloud will help extend fraud prevention solutions into emerging markets, starting with markets in Southeast Asia. The move comes in the wake of a report from the digital fraud detection innovator that noted rapidly growing incidents of financial cybercrime in the APAC region. BioCatch’s 2023 APAC Digital Banking Fraud Trends Report underscored one threat in particular: authorized push payment (APP) attacks – which the report noted accounted for 54% of all confirmed fraud cases.

APP fraud occurs when a fraudster fools a victim into transferring money to an account controlled by the fraudster. Social engineering-based fraud such as APP has grown in recent years. This is due to both the rise in popularity of peer-to-peer payment networks, as well as successful efforts to defeat previously dominant forms of fraud such as remote takeover of victim devices.

“The APAC market has seen a massive rise in advanced financial cybercrime, with criminals adopting sophisticated social engineering tactics that have proved difficult to foil in real-time with legacy security controls,” BioCatch’s head of the APAC market Richard Booth explained. “Pre-crime logistics visibility and criminal network intelligence are vital to combatting these threats.”

BioCatch helps companies deal with this shifting landscape of digital fraud threats. The company leverages behavioral biometric intelligence and machine learning to deliver real-time threat detection and prevention. Its signature solution, BioCatch Connect, offers integrated digital fraud, AML, and impersonation detection to help banks and financial services companies detect and identify both traditional and emerging fraud threats.

BioCatch Connect works on three levels. First, the solution’s fraud telemetry collection includes thousands of app, behavioral, device, network, and transactional signals from more than eight billion individual user sessions. Second, continuous behavioral sequencing applies advanced cognitive behavioral science, data modeling, and deep learning algorithms to analyze and score data from the solution’s fraud telemetry collection. Third, BioCatch Connect leverages predictive intelligence using AI models to validate user motivation and identify the risk of potentially fraudulent activity.

Headquartered in Israel, BioCatch made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2014. In the years since, the company has grown into a leader in digital fraud detection and a pioneer in applying behavioral biometric intelligence, cognitive science, and machine learning to the challenge of fighting financial crime. More than 30 of the world’s biggest 100 banks and 180+ of the biggest 500 banks use BioCatch’s technology to manage fraud risks, facilitate digital transformation, and better engage their customers. Gadi Mazor is CEO.

Photo by Haley Black

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Galileo Launches Post-Purchase Installment Payment Offering

Galileo Launches Post-Purchase Installment Payment Offering
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Galileo has expanded its BNPL tool to allow banks and fintechs to offer cardholders post-purchase installment payment options.
  • The new feature works with firms’ existing debit and credit programs and allows consumers to select up to five historical transactions to move into a BNPL payment plan.
  • Galileo’s new offering is similar to U.K.-based Curve’s Flex feature that allows customers to move transactions into a installment repayment plans.

Payment processing platform Galileo announced it is expanding its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offering. The SoFi-owned company launched an API for its bank and fintech clients that will enable them to offer their cardholders post-purchase installment payment options.

The post-purchase repayment options, which work with firms’ existing debit and credit programs, allow consumers to select up to five historical transactions to move into a BNPL payment plan. Once the customer has selected the purchase or purchases they want to move to a BNPL plan, the bank or fintech presents them an offer, along with the terms of agreement. If the customer accepts the terms, Galileo validates that the transactions are settled and not tied to any existing installment loans, and creates the loan for the total transactions.

The post-purchase BNPL plans work differently for purchases made with a debit card than they do with a credit card. For transactions made with a debit card, the bank or fintech disburses the funds to the customer’s Galileo DDA or an external account. And with credit transactions, the payoff amount is shifted to the customer’s credit card payment due date in the agreed upon installments.

“This new offering bridges the gap between cards and loans and allows banks and fintechs to establish and deepen customer relationships with innovative, flexible financing options for both credit and debit customers,” said Galileo Chief Product Officer David Feuer. “By expanding pay over time opportunities, post-purchase financing is ushering in a new era of responsible lending.”

Galileo expects the new offering will help banks and fintechs differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, drive revenue through installment fees, and serve as a jumping off point for firms to enter into the lending space.

This isn’t the first time the fintech world has seen post-purchase BNPL. Curve, a U.K.-based fintech, offers a direct-to-consumer credit card with a feature called Flex that allows customers to select transactions they’ve made in the past year and move them into an installment repayment plan. Curve launched its credit card in the U.S. in 2022, but has since paused new accounts in the region.

Galileo was founded in 2001 as a payment processing platform that allows third party fintechs and businesses to build and scale their own financial services offerings. The company was acquired by SoFi in 2020 in a $1.2 billion deal. Earlier this month, Galileo inked a partnership with The Bancorp Bank to offer real-time payments.

Photo by Kindel Media

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M1 Finance Receives FINRA Fine for Misleading Social Posts

M1 Finance Receives FINRA Fine for Misleading Social Posts
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, M1 Finance
  • M1 Finance received an $850,000 fine from FINRA.
  • FINRA stated that around 1,700 influencers posted content, some of which was unfair and contained exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory, or misleading claims.
  • The offending posts occurred because M1 Finance did not review or approve the influencers’ content before they posted it.

Investing and banking tools fintech M1 Finance has been hit with a fee this week. FINRA, a U.S. regulatory body overseeing securities law, fined M1 $850,000.

FINRA said it imposed the fine because social media influencers acting on M1’s behalf posted content that FINRA deemed as unfair and containing exaggerated, unwarranted, promissory, or misleading claims. Some of the posts violated FINRA Rules 2210 (Communications with the Public) and 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Principles of Trade). For example, an influencer advertising M1 Finance’s margin lending program said that customers could “pay [margin loans] back at any given time . . .  there is no set time period,” when, in fact, M1 can increase the maintenance margin requirement on customer accounts at any time, force a sale of securities in their accounts, and choose which securities to sell, if a margin call occurs.

Between January 2020 and April 2023, around 1,700 influencers posted content that included a unique link to M1’s website where new customers could open and fund an M1 brokerage account. The company paid influencers a flat fee for every new account that was opened and funded. In the end, the influencer content resulted in more than 39,400 new accounts.

“As investors increasingly use social media to inform their financial decisions, FINRA’s rules on communicating with the public are especially critical,” said FINRA EVP and Head of Enforcement Bill St. Louis. “FINRA will continue to consider whether firms are using practices and maintaining supervisory systems that are reasonably designed to address the risks related to social media influencer programs.”

While hindsight is 20/20, it is clear that increased supervision over the influencer posts and a system of procedures for control would have prevented the fine. While M1 Finance provided influencers with a guide that described the company’s services and features, the company did not review or approve the content within the influencers’ posts. This lack of oversight violated more FINRA Rules, including 2210, 2010, and 3110 (Supervision) and 4511 (General Requirements-Books and Records). It also violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Exchange Act Rules.

M1 has consented to FINRA’s findings and has agreed to certify that it has fixed the issues. Ultimately, the $850,000 fine only amounts to just over $20 per new account M1 received as a result of the influencer posts.

Using social media influencers can be a powerful marketing tool, but it comes with risks, as demonstrated by FINRA’s recent fine against M1 Finance. Financial services firms must use caution when using influencers to promote their products, and employ supervisory efforts to ensure that all content is compliant with regulatory standards. This also serves as a reminder that whenever firms leverage third-party services, such as banking-as-a-service providers, there are additional risk factors that firms must carefully manage. When selecting a third party provider, firms should thoroughly evaluate their partners and implement oversight and compliance processes to mitigate potential risks.

Photo by Ivan Samkov

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Data Intelligence Innovator Curinos and Lender Price Forge New Strategic Partnership

Data Intelligence Innovator Curinos and Lender Price Forge New Strategic Partnership
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Curinos, Daily news
  • Data intelligence business Curinos and mortgage pricing technology provider Lender Price announced a new partnership this week.
  • The partnership will integrate Curinos’ LendersBenchmark Analyzer and pricing analytics into Lender Price’s Enterprise Pricing Engine.
  • Curinos made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.

Data intelligence business Curinos and mortgage pricing technology provider Lender Price have announced a strategic partnership this week. Per the agreement, Lender Price will incorporate Curinos’ LendersBenchmark Analyzer solution and pricing analytics into its Enterprise Pricing Engine. This will enable Lender Price to offer actionable insights to mortgage lenders that will positively impact margin management and help them gain market share.

Lender Price CEO Dawar Alimi underscored the competitive challenges of the modern mortgage environment, an environment characterized by, among other things, elevated interest rates. “Partnering with Curinos, known for their intelligent technology, enables lenders to assess their competitive stance accurately and make profitable, data-driven decisions,” Alimi said. “This collaboration will assist lenders in managing their margins effectively, ensuring not a single basis point is overlooked.”

The integration will make it easier for community banks, credit unions, and mortgage lenders to give borrowers accurate rate information and superior pricing. During times of uncertain interest rates, growing competition among lenders, and a shortage of homes, solutions that help financial institutions manage their margins can be crucial. These solutions not only boost business but also attract and retain customers, leading to positive and profitable relationships.

“In today’s landscape, lenders’ focus should be on optimizing margins by using granular pricing strategies,” Curinos Director of Real Estate Lending Rich Martin said. “We’re delighted to secure this partnership with Lender Price, enabling its customers to more effectively price products through use of our data and analytics.”

Founded in 2021, Curinos was born out of the merger of Novantas and Informa’s FBX business. The goal was to bring the two entities’ combined expertise and innovation to deposits, lending, and digital experiences in financial services writ large. Headquartered in New York, the company made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco, California. At the conference, Curinos demoed its Amplero Personalization Optimizer, a solution designed to facilitate high-impact banking use cases. The solution leverages machine learning and patented marketing automation to empower teams to deliver hyper-personalized, omnichannel, digital experiences in minutes rather than months. The company notes that the Amplero Personalization Optimizer has enabled marketing teams to realize thousands of incremental dollars in customer lifetime value.

Curinos’ partnership news with LenderPrice comes just days after Curinos announced that Achieva Credit Union will be the first customer for its Deposit Optimizer Essentials system. This technology helps credit unions and community banks manage member and customer deposits more efficiently by leveraging state of the art analytics to reach funding targets.

Specifically, Curinos’ Deposit Optimizer Essentials gives early warning indicators and alerts to help community banks and credit unions secure higher deposit growth at lower marginal costs by enabling them to diagnose deposit performance and optimize product strategies and pricing levels. “As rates shift, we needed a robust, easy-to-navigate solution, enabling us to react quickly and efficiently to changing market conditions,” Achieva Product Development Manager Veronica Schornheuser said.

Interested in demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco in May? We are happy to read applications from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateSpring hub today to learn more.

Photo by Pixabay

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nCino Inks Agreement to Acquire DocFox

nCino Inks Agreement to Acquire DocFox
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DocFox, Mergers & Acquisitions, nCino
  • Cloud banking company nCino has agreed to acquire automated onboarding specialist DocFox. Terms were not disclosed.
  • DocFox’s technology will add advanced document analysis to nCino’s platform, accelerating the onboarding process for nCino’s FI clients.
  • DocFox made its Finovate debut at FinovateAfrica 2018. nCino has been a Finovate alum since its appearance at FinovateEurope in 2017.

Cloud banking innovator nCino has inked an agreement to acquire fellow Finovate alum DocFox. Miami, Florida-based DocFox specializes in providing automated onboarding solutions for both commercial and business banking. Terms of the transaction were not immediately available. The acquisition is expected to close in March of this year.

The integration of DocFox’s technology will enable nCino’s financial institution clients to manage the entire customer lifecycle – from information intake and document collection to due diligence – on a single platform. Relying on rules set by company compliance teams, DocFox analyzes any document for any financial institution, regardless of size, to automate the process of opening business accounts. DocFox gives business customers an account opening experience that is fast and intuitive. Internal teams benefit from configurable workflows to help them review information more efficiently.

“The acquisition of DocFox extends our existing functionality and will deliver a modern experience to an area of commercial and business banking that has lagged in innovation due to its complexity,” nCino CEO and Chairman of the Board Pierre Naudé. “We are excited to further extend our single platform vision and look forward to delivering this differentiating solution to financial institutions seeking to optimize onboarding and account opening processes.”

Making its Finovate debut at our fintech conference in Cape Town, FinovateAfrica 2018, DocFox last demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2022 in San Francisco. The company has more than 450 customers on three continents, most recently partnering with Pennsylvania-based Customers Bank, a super-community bank with more than $20 billion in assets. DocFox also announced late last year that its account opening solution was now part of Fiserv’s AppMarket. CEO Ryan Canin co-founded DocFox in 2016.

“Our leading onboarding and account opening solution will complement and extend nCino’s single platform to create even greater value for financial institutions seeking to automate and digitize experiences they provide to employees and clients,” Canin said.

Wilmington, North Carolina-based nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017. Founded in 2012, nCino today has more than 1,800 financial institution partners who leverage its SaaS platform to serve corporate, commercial, small business, consumer, and mortgage customers. nCino’s acquisition news follows a handful of partnership announcements including its partnership extension announcement with Vermont-based The Bank of Bennington, and new collaborations with Australia’s Summerland Bank and Japan’s The Saikyo Bank.

Photo by Pixabay

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GoCardless to Acquire Account-to-Account Payments Fintech Nuapay

GoCardless to Acquire Account-to-Account Payments Fintech Nuapay
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • GoCardless has agreed to acquire Nuapay for an undisclosed amount.
  • GoCardless anticipates the move will expand its availability, as well as help it launch new products for additional verticals, including payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming, and gambling.
  • The agreement has not been finalized and is currently subject to regulatory approvals.

Bank-to-bank payments company GoCardless announced it has agreed to acquire Nuapay. The financial terms of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, have not been disclosed.

The Nuapay brand is owned by EML Payments, which was founded in 2003 and headquartered in Australia, where it trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker EML. EML Payments acquired Nuapay in 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Nuapay itself was originally founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Ireland. The company launched to leverage open banking to power account-to-account payments. In addition to pay-by-bank services, Nuapay also offers credit transfers, direct debits, verified payouts, and more.

“How the world pays and gets paid is being transformed, with account-to-account payments and open banking playing the central role in that shift. Building on that shared vision, this acquisition will result in a combined organization with deep domestic and international payments and open banking expertise plus the scale to harness these opportunities for our clients and partners,” said Nuapay Co-founder and CEO Brian Hanrahan.

GoCardless anticipates that acquiring Nuapay will expand the availability and influence of GoCardless’ services through partners and intermediaries, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs). The company also expects the deal will strengthen GoCardless’ standing as a significant player in the payment industry, potentially increasing market share, enhancing its reputation, and improving its competitive advantage.

As for more concrete benefits, integrating Nuapay’s offering into GoCardless’ bank payment platform will help GoCardless launch new products for additional verticals. Some of the new use cases could include payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming, and gambling.

“Nuapay is an established account-to-account payment provider and open banking specialist with a blue chip customer base,” said GoCardless Co-founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “Its business is perfectly aligned to our growth strategy, and will accelerate our vision to become the world’s bank payment network.”

GoCardless, which describes itself as being “on the path to profitability,” has recently launched Embed, its white-label customer acquisition tool for PSPs, and has signed partner agreements with Plend, Bluefort, Moss, and others.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Rundown of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Rundown of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, DocFox, Equifax, Fintech Rundown, FIS, nCino, Stratyfy, TransUnion, Weekly Alumni News, Weekly News

The week begins with acquisition news in the digital banking space and confirmation that a major Canadian fintech may be going private.

Fraud Prevention

FIS announces release of card fraud management solution SecurLOCK in collaboration with Stratyfy.

Equifax and commerce platform VTEX partner to enhance fraud prevention capabilities for merchants.

Digital banking

Alkami launches its free, digital maturity assessment survey for banks and credit unions.

Bankjoy wins “Best Digital Banking Platform” at the 8th annual FinTech Breakthrough Awards.

nCino inks agreement to acquire onboarding automation specialist DocFox.

Varo Bank appoints Allen Parker as Chief Financial Officer, promotes Raktim Mitra to Chief Lending Officer.

NWSB selects Apiture digital banking platform to fuel growth.

Pioneer FCU expands partnership with Tyfone, adds business banking and payments solutions.

Credit monitoring

TransUnion goes live with its AI-powered data analytics platform.

Payments

Payments processor Thredd enters U.S. debit and prepaid card market.

Mexican fintech Prometeo launches account-to-account payments.

GoCardless purchases Nuapay from EML Payments.

Canadian fintech Nuvei confirms speculation that it is considering going private.

Cross border payments company Clear Junction earns recognition from the 2024 FT1000, ranking the firm among Europe’s fastest growing company.

Duck Creek Technologies launches Duck Creek Payments to offer a payment experience for insurers.

Shift4 partners with Atlante to provide payments solution for electric vehicle charging.

Cryptocurrency / Blockchain

African-based blockchain payments network Zone raises $8.5 million in seed funding.

Figure Technologies unveils Figure Markets, a single platform where investors can trade a wide range of blockchain-native assets from crypto to stocks to alternative investments.

Financial inclusion

Building society Nationwide introduces new digital service using British Sign Language (BSL) for deaf and hearing-challenged customers.

Insurtech

iPipeline, a digital solutions provider for the insurance industry, launched its OneView solution that tracks the progress and status of annuity orders in real-time.

Taxation / Accounting

Free Agent expands its smart tax calculation functionality to all NatWest Group customers via their business banking app.

Wealth management & Investing

Aegon Asset Management implements Clearwater Analytics‘ PRISM to facilitate global client reporting. 

Yieldstreet partners with Wilshire Advisors to deliver a holistic solution for investors seeking diversified, passive exposure to private markets.

Identity management & verification

Truiloo achieves best-in-class match rate performance across 75 countries.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood

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Finovate Global Sweden: Open Banking, New Leadership, and A Defense of Cash

Finovate Global Sweden: Open Banking, New Leadership, and A Defense of Cash
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global, Temenos

This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech developments and news from Sweden. Over the years, Finovate has been proud to showcase a number of fintechs from Sweden, a country with a population of more than 10.5 million and the twelfth largest economy as measured by GDP.

Last month at FinovateEurope, we introduced Swedish embedded banking and payments company Visualizy to our audiences. Founded in 2022, the company offers a multi-bank platform that helps businesses lower costs, reduce errors, and boost security in their financial and payment operations.

Other recent Finovate alums headquartered in Sweden include StockRepublic (FinovateEurope 2023), Econans (FinovateEurope 2021), Minna Technologies (FinovateEurope 2019), and Trustly (FinovateEurope 2013. This week’s Finovate Global will include news from two older Finovate alums hailing from Sweden: Tink – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014 – and Klarna, a Finovate alum since 2012.

Klarna rolls out open banking-powered settlements in the U.K.

Swedish payments network and shopping assistant Klarna has begun to introduce open banking-powered settlements in the U.K. This means that consumers in the U.K will be able to pay Klarna directly from their bank account rather than a debit card. It also means that the company is making good on its objective of building a payments network outside the traditional card networks.

“Open banking offers a huge opportunity for Klarna to reduce the cost of payments to society by cutting out the established card payment networks, and using up-to-date bank account data to make ever better lending decisions,” Klarna VP, Open Banking, Wilko Klaassen said. “This new launch builds on the success we have seen in 10 countries across Europe and will give U.K. open banking a major boost.”

Ease of use is one major advantage open banking settlements provide consumers. For example, there is no need to enter personal payment details into the website of retailer that the consumer might not know very well. Instead, all a consumer needs to do is click on the “Pay by bank” option. This delivers the consumer to their mobile banking app where they can complete their transaction quickly and securely.

Launching the service in the U.K. is expected to be a major boon for Klarna; approximately five million U.K. consumers currently use open banking payment each month. Outside of the U.K., Klarna’s “Pay by bank” solution is currently live in 10 countries. More than 20 million consumers each month are taking advantage of the technology.

Tink adds to U.K. leadership team

Speaking of open banking, Swedish open banking platform Tink announced this week that it is bolstering its leadership ranks. The company – which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2014 – has appointed Ian Morrin as Head of Payments & Platforms, Andrew Boyajian as Head of Products for Payments & CX, and Jack Spiers as Banking and Lending Director.

Of the three new hires, Jack Spiers may ring a bell with Finovate audiences. Spiers was a recent speaker at FinovateEurope, where he provided a Special Address on “Transforming Lending in the Cost of Living Crisis.” In his presentation, Spiers – whose ten years of fintech experience include tenures at both Klarna and Clearpay – discussed how traditional methods are falling short in their ability to accurately assess creditworthiness. Instead, he pointed to new research from Tink that showed how data-enriched affordability checks can do better.

The new hires come just days after Tink announced a partnership with German railway company Deutsche Bahn. Via the new agreement, Tink will offer Deutsche Bahn customers optimized direct debit setups. This will enable customers to use Deutsche Bahn’s modern mobility-sharing systems, which are run by Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Connect. The railway company will also leverage Tink’s Account Check technology for its car-sharing and bike-sharing networks, Flinkster and Call a Bike.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Tink most recently demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2019. A two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Tink was acquired by Visa in 2022 for $2 billion.

Swedish Central Bank looks to defend cash

If the Swedish Central Bank is for cash, then who can be against it?

That’s one of the questions the nation’s central bank is asking in the wake of 2023 survey that indicated that half of the survey’s respondents had run into circumstances in which they wanted to pay with cash, but merchant would not accept it. According to a report issued by Sweden’s Riksbank that is based on those results, this number was only 37% a year ago.

The report indicates that the supply of cash services in Sweden is decreasing and has been since at least 2016. Cash services refer to those locations for cash withdrawals, deposits of daily takings, as well as over-the-counter payments. This decline has slowed somewhat in the past five years, as new regulations have insisted that banks share the responsibility of providing cash services with other non-bank institutions. But the downward trend is clear.

“Payments must work for everyone, Riksbank governor and chairman of the executive board Erik Thedéen said in a press release. “In the longer term, all payments may be digital – but until then, cash plays an important role. We need legislation to ensure that cash can be used to pay. Banks must also ensure that more customers have access to payment accounts.”

To this end, in addition to calling for further research and study, the Swedish central bank proposed, for example, that banks should ensure that cash can be transferred to and from retail outlets at reasonable prices. At present, only one private company does this. Another proposal suggests that banks be obligated to accept banknote and coin deposits from private individuals. As noted above, there is not a current requirement for banks to do so.

These changes, along with others to help more individuals secure payment accounts, are likely to help Sweden increase financial inclusion as the country continues the rapid digitalization of its payment market. There will be no retreat from this drive for “faster, smoother, and more efficient payments.” But ensuring the availability and utility of cash, at least in the meantime, will both support that transition as well as ensure fewer Swedes are left behind on the way.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • U.K.-based fintech Unlimit secured a license from the Bank of Tanzania to do operate as a payments service provider (PSP) in the country.
  • African fintech PalmPay launched a pair of new products in Nigeria: Unlimited Free Transfer and Target Savings.
  • Mastercard and South African fintech SAVA teamed up to bring innovative payment options – including digital bank accounts and accounting integration tools – to small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Berlin, Germany-based brokerage-as-a-service platform lemon.markets launched this week in partnership with Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and Tradegate.
  • The Hungarian Ministry of the Economy has suggested new rules to codify the use of digital assets in the country.
  • German fintech Naro emerged from stealth this week with $3 million in pre-seed funding.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Israel-based fintech Nayaz shared its plans for expansion in Latin America following its acquisition of Brazil’s VMtecnologia.
  • Dunes Financial, headquartered in the UAE, agreed to acquire the technology assets of Be Mobile Africa.
  • The Financial Brand profiled former Bank Leumi CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach.

Central and Southern Asia

  • India’s UPI linked with Nepal’s largest payment network, Fonepay.
  • Writing in IBA.org, Sahar Iqbal assessed the current fintech landscape of Pakistan.
  • Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, India’s IndusInd Bank will launch an tokenizable wearable solution called Indus PayWear.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Aquis Technologies secured a contract to support the operation of the Central Bank of Colombia, Banco de la República.
  • Mexican challenger bank Fondeadora turned to MeaWallet for tokenization services.
  • Banco do Brasil teamed up with Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) to test offline payments for its CBDC project.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) forged a multi-year collaboration with Google Cloud en route to its transformation into a digital Islamic bank.
  • Philippines-based Metropolitan Bank & Trust (Metrobank) partnered with Temenos to enhance its wealth management offerings.
  • Australian regulators are looking to regulate Buy Now Pay Later products under the nation’s Credit Act.

Photo by Shvets Anna

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Icon Solutions Secures New Investment from NatWest Group

Icon Solutions Secures New Investment from NatWest Group
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Icon Solutions
  • Payments technology company Icon Solutions has secured a strategic minority investment from NatWest. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.
  • The funding follows a December investment Icon Solutions secured from Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS).
  • NatWest integrated Icon Solutions’ Icon Payment Framework in September as part of its payments modernization strategy.

Payments technology company Icon Solutions has secured a strategic minority investment from NatWest. The amount of the investment was not immediately disclosed. The funding is the second for Icon Solutions in the past four months; the company announced in December that it had received an investment from Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS), a division of Citi’s Services organization. The amount of that investment was similarly undisclosed.

In both instances, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions and NatWest have integrated or further integrated Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF) as part of their investments. Citi TTS will expand its use of IPF to enhance its micro-services orchestration architecture. NatWest announced its plan to integrate IPF as part of its payments modernization efforts in September.

Icon Payments Framework is a low-code payment framework that enables business payments professionals to build payment workflows and empowers bank software engineering teams to create customizable integrations into their existing systems. Both NatWest and Citi TTS noted that the technology will help them build on current relationships as well as enhance their ability to keep pace with changes in payments technology.

“Overcoming vendor lock in and powering in-house builds with the Icon Payments Framework (IPF), NatWest can now drive change from within,” Icon Solutions co-founder and Director Tom Kelleher said. “Building new revenue streams, anticipating regulatory change, responding to market changes or competitive pressures. Today’s investment is much more than an investment, it’s a commitment to a future where payments are safe, immediate, and flexible.”

Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017. In addition to its partnership announcements, the company in recent months secured “Qualified Software” status from Amazon Web Services (AWS). “Qualified Software” status is granted to technologies validated as meeting AWS cloud infrastructure’s performance, security, and reliability standards.

Icon Solutions also recently launched a FedNow scheme pack for IPF. This will help banks negotiate the balance between “near-term requirements like FedNow compliance and ISO2022” and their “longer-term strategies around driving innovation, improving CX and reducing costs,” Icon Solutions CTO Donal Fleming explained.

Photo by Pixabay

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Tuum Raises Funds for its API-First Core Banking Tech

Tuum Raises Funds for its API-First Core Banking Tech
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Tuum
  • Tuum received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures in a Series B follow-on round.
  • The amount of today’s installment was undisclosed, and boosts the company’s total funds to more than $49 million (€45 million).
  • Citi Ventures plans to introduce Tuum to key stakeholders within Citibank and gauge interest in commercialization opportunities.

API-based core banking provider Tuum announced today that it has secured additional funding as part of its Series B round. This strategic investment from Citi Ventures, the amount of which was undisclosed, brings the company’s total funding to over $49 million (€45 million).

Tuum, which won Best of Show honors at last month’s FinovateEurope event, received $27 million (€25 million) in funding at the start of February in a Series B round led by CommerzVentures. Tuum plans to use the funds to fuel product and market development and to expand its international presence into the DACH region, Southern Europe, and the Middle East.

As part of Citi Ventures’ role as strategic investor, the firm plans to introduce Tuum to key stakeholders within Citibank and gauge interest in commercialization opportunities.

“At Citi Ventures, we have been tracking the modernization of core banking tech stacks for years,” said the firm’s Managing Director responsible for fintech investments globally Luis Valdich. “After exploring numerous opportunities to invest in next-gen core banking providers, we are excited to invest in Tuum, whose API-first, cloud-agnostic and modular platform promises to strike an optimal balance between no-code hyper-configurability and total cost of ownership that can help accelerate this long overdue transformation across the industry.”

Estonia-based Tuum was launched under the name Modularbank in 2019. With 100 employees, the company aims to help banks replace their legacy systems, reduce spending on maintenance, and quickly adapt to changing trends. Tuum’s technology extends beyond core replacement to help banks add accounts, lending, payments, and card offerings. In addition, the company offers customers access to range of third-party tools through its partner marketplace, which includes solutions from AMLYZE, Salt Edge, NTT Data, Entersekt, and others .

Tuum’s clients come from a range of 10 countries, but primarily hail from the U.K. and the Nordic region. The company launched just in time to leverage the digital transformation frenzy that took place in 2020. Since that time, Tuum’s revenue has more than doubled each year on average over a three-year period, resulting in an overall revenue increase of more than 2.5 times.

The video of Tuum’s demo from FinovateEurope will be available in the coming days.

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Taulia Brings Visa’s Digital Payments into Virtual Cards Offering

Taulia Brings Visa’s Digital Payments into Virtual Cards Offering
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Taulia, VISA
  • Taulia has partnered with Visa to embed Visa’s digital payments technology into its Virtual Cards offering.
  • Taulia will leverage Visa’s APIs to embed business’ virtual payment credentials, acceptance, and enablement solutions to work natively across SAP business applications.
  • Integrating Visa’s digital payments technology into Taulia’s Virtual Cards will simplify the business-to-business payments process, especially for organizations using SAP’s ERP solutions.

SAP-owned supply chain finance fintech Taulia has partnered with Visa this week to embed Visa’s digital payments technology into Taulia’s Virtual Cards offering.

The partnership will leverage Visa’s APIs to embed business’ virtual payment credentials, acceptance, and enablement solutions to work natively across SAP business applications. Embedding finance
capabilities within SAP’s applications reinforce the bank’s role as an issuer and solidify the ERP relationship to the corporate client.

“By partnering with Taulia, we create synergies in working capital management and the enablement of a world class ERP provider,” said Visa SVP, Global Head of Large, Middle Market Segments and Working Capital Solutions Alan Koenigsberg. “We believe that we are creating a best-in-class payments automation experience for buyers and suppliers alike, while removing cumbersome processes that take time away from the most strategic work that drives growth.”

The companies anticipate that the solution will help CFOs, procurement, and accounts payable teams automate payments to suppliers. This can be useful for businesses who pay one-time suppliers because it eliminates the need to create full master data in the system. Embedded virtual payments will also improve cash flow for businesses, offer enhanced payments visibility, and reduce friction in B2B transactions.

Overall, the partnership represents a step towards a more accessible digital payments ecosystem for businesses worldwide. Integrating Visa’s digital payments technology into Taulia’s Virtual Cards will simplify the business-to-business payments process, especially for corporate buyers and suppliers using SAP’s ERP solutions.

Taulia was founded in 2009 to help companies make use of cash tied up in their payables, receivables, and inventory. The company maintains a network of 3+ million businesses to fuel its clients with more working capital. In fact, Taulia has provided more than $250 billion in accelerated early payments to clients, including Airbus, AstraZeneca, and Nissan.

SAP acquired Taulia in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.

Photo by Jopwell

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