Daily news

Australia’s Summerland Bank Partners with Cloud Banking Company nCino

Australia’s Summerland Bank Partners with Cloud Banking Company nCino
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, nCino
  • Australia-based regional mutual bank Summerland Bank announced a partnership with cloud banking company nCino.
  • The financial institution will deploy nCino’s Cloud Banking Platform to modernize its technology stack.
  • Headquartered in North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017.

Customer-owned regional mutual bank Summerland Bank has partnered with cloud banking innovator nCino. The institution will leverage nCino’s Cloud Banking Platform to enhance its loan origination operations for mortgages, personal loans, overdrafts, credit cards, car loans, and business loans.

“This partnership embodies what we stand for at Summerland Bank: innovation, better banking and an unwavering commitment to our customers and communities, and we’re thrilled to be working with nCino to help us bring these values to life,” Summerland Bank CEO John Williams said.

Summerland Bank will take advantage of intelligent process automation and integration with data sources to enhance the customer experience in various ways, including faster response times. The bank also will benefit from lowering the amount of manual work in its lending operations, reducing error rates and, instead, accelerating time to approval and fund disbursement. nCino’s platform will provide the institution with a single system of interaction for the bank’s originations team – for both consumer and business lending alike.

“Through our single platform, nCino is committed to providing cutting-edge solutions that enable financial institutions to succeed in today’s competitive landscape, and we are thrilled that Summerland has made the strategic decision to partner with us,” nCino Managing Director, APAC, Mark Bernhardi said. “This partnership underscores their commitment to harnessing technology to deliver superior experiences.”

Founded in 1964, Summerland Bank has more than $1 billion in assets and achieved net profit of $7.2 million last year. The institution changed its name from Summerland Credit Union in November, and is currently a B corp certified bank with more than 27,000 customers. Summerland serves the Northern Rivers community of New South Wales and maintains 10 branches in the area.

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017. In the years since, more than 1,850 financial institutions have selected nCino’s cloud banking platform to achieve commercial loan origination rates of more than 54% and increases of more than 12% in account opening rates.

The partnership with Summerland Bank is nCino’s fourth collaboration this year. The company began 2024 with the news that Camden National Bank was deploying solutions from nCino’s Mortgage Suite in order to transition from its legacy mortgage point-of-sale (POS) technology. Also in January, The Bank of Bennington announced that it was expanding its partnership with nCino, adopting the North Carolina-based fintech’s Consumer Banking Solution after realizing significant efficiency gains with nCino’s Mortgage Suite. Earlier this month, nCino announced that Mechanics and Farmers (M&F) Bank went live on its cloud banking platform. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, M&F Bank is the second oldest and eighth-largest African-American-owned bank in the U.S.

Photo by Marcus Ireland

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Kani Payments Teams up with Core Banking Platform Pismo

Kani Payments Teams up with Core Banking Platform Pismo
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Kani Payments
  • Reconciliation and reporting platform Kani Payments has forged a strategic partnership with core banking platform Pismo.
  • The partnership will make Kani’s SaaS platform available to Pismo’s bank, marketplace, and fintech clients.
  • Kani Payments made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

U.K.-based reconciliation and reporting platform Kani has forged a strategic partnership with Pismo, an issuer processor and core banking platform headquartered in Brazil. The pact will make Kani’s SaaS platform available to Pismo’s clientele of banks, marketplaces, and fintechs. Kani’s technology automates back office processes, enabling financial institutions and financial services companies to more easily fulfill their compliance reporting obligations.

Kani reports that firms ranging from electronic money institutions and BIN sponsors to challenger banks and fintechs have used its technology to complete weeks’ worth of often complex transaction reporting and reconciliation in less than 30 seconds. In a statement, the company noted that it has experienced significant growth since its founding in 2018. The strategic partnership with Pismo is a big part of that, insofar as the Brazilian fintech is Kani’s largest client win to date.

“Having Kani Payments join our partners’ network will help financial institutions to turbocharge report generations and submissions,” Pismo CEO for North America, EMEA, and APAC Vishal Dalal said. “It will unlock useful insights to help them make better, more informed decisions, shaping a new era for banking and payments.”

Founded in Brazil in 2016, Pismo counts domestic banking firms Itaú and BTG among its clients. The company works with the world’s largest card networks, and processes $208 billion in transactions a year across 97 million accounts and 53+ million issued cards worldwide. Visa International acquired Pismo at the beginning of 2024 in a deal valued at $1 billion. We reported on the pending deal in our Finovate Global column back in the summer of 2023.

“Pismo’s cloud-based platform empowers teams to build fast and companies to launch rapidly, and as such, it shares many of our values and a core aim of helping businesses drive efficiency,” Kani Payments founder and CEO Aaron Holmes said. “As a global business, Pismo is the perfect partner to help us realize the next phase of our growth strategy, and we’re looking forward to making our solution available to a much wider market.”

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Newcastle, U.K., Kani made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023. At the conference, the company demoed how its automated reconciliation and reporting platform conducts fully automated reconciliations, and automates legal, regulatory, and scheme reporting requirements. The platform also gives users the ability to explore and investigate data to better understand consumer and product behavior.

Photo by Mike Bird

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Bits of Stock Now Available in Q2’s Digital Banking Platform

Bits of Stock Now Available in Q2’s Digital Banking Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Bits of Stock, Daily news, Q2
  • Q2 is leveraging Bits of Stock’s technology to help its financial institution clients reward their customers with fractional shares of stock.
  • The partnership was made possible through the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program, which makes it easy for fintechs to reach Q2’s financial institution clients.
  • Bits of Stock showcased its rewards platform alongside its client OMB Bank at FinovateFall last year.

Q2’s financial services clients have a new way to reward their consumers. That’s because fractional stock rewards platform Bits of Stock has teamed up with the digital banking and lending solutions company.

With Q2’s Digital Banking Platform, Q2’s financial services clients can offer their customers fractional stock when they redeem loyalty points or as a reward for certain activities like making a transaction with their debit or credit card, opening an account, applying for a loan, or making a deposit.

“We are pleased to welcome Bits of Stock to the Q2 Partner Accelerator program,” said Q2 Innovation Studio Managing Director Johnny Ola. “Financial Institutions now can offer fractional stocks as rewards on account spend and activity.”

Bits of Stock aims to help community financial institutions and credit unions engage their accountholders by rewarding them with fractional shares of their choice of stock. This enables younger users to build up their stock portfolios by microinvesting. In addition to today’s partnership with Q2, the New York-based company also has partnerships with Jack Henry, OMB Bank, Strata Credit Union, Gravy Stack, and others.

“This partnership is a value multiplier for customers, Q2, and Bits of Stock,” said Bits of Stock CEO Arash Asady. “Both companies are committed to finding innovative ways to empower financial services for consumers at scale.”

The partnership was made possible through the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program, an initiative within the Q2 Innovation Studio that allows financial services companies like Bits of Stock to leverage Q2’s SDK to integrate their technology into the Q2 Digital Banking Platform. The program not only creates an easy way for third party fintechs to integrate into Q2’s platform, but it also helps Q2’s bank clients leverage a wide range of new solutions that they can quickly deploy to their customers.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 claims more than 40% of the top 10 banks in the U.S. as customers. The company’s platform reaches one out of 10 digital banking customers in America. Q2 went public in 2014 and is now traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker QTWO, and has a market capitalization of more than $2.43 billion.

Bits of Stock showcased its rewards platform alongside its client OMB Bank at FinovateFall last year. The two demoed OMB Bank’s Stock Rewards Checking Account that rewards cardholders in the fractional stock of their choice every time they swipe their card. Bits of Stock was founded in 2016 and has received $5.9 million in funding.

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Rasa Raises $30 Million for its Generative AI Solution in a Round Co-Led by PayPal Ventures

Rasa Raises $30 Million for its Generative AI Solution in a Round Co-Led by PayPal Ventures
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Rasa has raised $30 million in Series C funding for its generative AI for financial services solution.
  • The round was co-led by StepStone Group and PayPal Ventures.
  • Rasa was the first AI-related investment for PayPal Ventures’ new AI Fund.

With two of the world’s top three banks, two of the largest U.S. banks, and American Express among its customers, PayPal Ventures’ first AI-based investment, a company called Rasa, is well on its way toward making a name for itself in the “Generative AI for financial services” space.

“This investment accelerates our lead in the market, and fuels our drive to redefine what is possible for businesses using generative AI-powered chat and voice platforms at scale,” Rasa CEO Melissa Gordon explained. “With our technology, we’re well-positioned to transform how businesses interact with their customers, making every conversation impactful and personal. We will use the funding to advance our technological leadership and strengthen our market presence.”

Founded in 2016, and boasting a remote-first presence in San Francisco, London, Paris, Berlin, and Belgrade, Rasa secured $30 million in Series C funding for its conversational AI platform last week. StepStone Group and PayPal Ventures co-led the round, which featured participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Accel, and Basis Set Ventures. At this time, updated valuation information was not available. The fresh capital will enable Rasa to grow its team, the company noted in a statement. Rasa is looking to add talent across both North America and Europe in a variety of roles, including marketing and engineering.

Rasa’s technology powers sophisticated and robust AI assistants that support user engagement. Additionally, the company leverages Conversational AI with Language Models (CALM) to offer solutions that combine the flexibility and nuance of Large Language Models (LLMs) with the control and certainty of traditional, NLU-based chatbots. Currently deployed in a pair of solutions, Rasa Pro and Rasa Studio, the CALM-based technology keeps interactions coherent and natural.

“At Rasa we’ve reinvented how conversational AI works,” Rasa co-founder and CTO Dr. Alan Nichol said. “While many in the industry claim to incorporate generative AI, often it’s merely an addition of LLMs onto their existing platforms.”

Rasa is the first investment from PayPal Ventures’ new AI fund. Launched with the mission of investing in early stage AI startups from multiple industries and verticals, the fund is a recognition of opportunities for real-world applications of AI in fields from customer success and compliance to risk and personalization.

“We are thrilled to mark the launch of our AI Fund with our investment in Rasa,” PayPal Ventures partner Alan Du said. “We believe Rasa offers a best-in-class platform for enterprises to develop robust, conversational AI, and we have seen how its concierge solutions improve customer engagement and business performance.”

Rasa is competing in a crowded space as more financial institutions and businesses embrace AI as a tool for enhancing the customer experience. Among Finovate alums alone, companies such as Kore.ai and boost.ai, as well as Best of Show winners like Finn.ai and Voca.ai, have demonstrated the capacity of AI-based solutions to transform the way financial services companies engage their customers. Other alums – ranging from SESAMm to ForwardLane to Kognitos – have demonstrated a variety of applications using Generative AI specifically.

Photo by ThisIsEngineering

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CRIF Unveils its ESG Analytics Solution to Help FIs Access Sustainability Data

CRIF Unveils its ESG Analytics Solution to Help FIs Access Sustainability Data
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, CRIF, Daily news

European consumer and business credit data provider CRIF launched its ESG Analytics solution this week. The technology will give banks and financial institutions in the U.K. the ability to quickly and accurately assess the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) profiles of their U.K. and Europe-based suppliers, partners, and customers.

ESG Analytics draws on more than 130 key indicators from data sources in the U.K. and Europe. The technology analyzes information on issues such as water usage, waste production, emissions, and health and safety records, as well as modern slavery and inclusiveness. Financial institutions and banks will only need the U.K. or Europe-based business’ VAT or registration number in order to obtain an ESG score on the company. ESG Analytics also provides granular environmental, social and governance indicators – all available without requiring direct interaction with the company being reviewed.

“Considering the growing attention of the regulatory bodies toward ESG compliance in the EU but also in the U.K., ESG Analytics enables banks, insurers and corporates to understand the impact of businesses they work with today and helps to inform their decision-making in this ever-more important area of work,” CRIF Regional Director for the U.K. and Ireland Sara Costantini said. “And by working with regulatory bodies all around the world, we ensure that we remain at the forefront of regulation so we can pass this knowledge onto U.K. financial institutions.”

ESG Analytics will complement CRIF’s current ESG service, Synesgy, launched last fall. The solution enables businesses in the U.K. to assess the sustainability of their supply chains. Synesgy also helps companies enhance decision-making during the procurement process, avoid operational and reputational risk, and provide greater transparency with regard to ESG.

“Climate change is the defining issue of our time and every one of us has to play our part in protecting the planet for future generations,” Costantini said when Synesgy was launched in September. “For businesses this is no exception. As customers look to companies that are a force for good, it’s crucial that businesses understand both their own ESG performance and that of their entire supply chain.”

Headquartered in Bologna, Italy, CRIF made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2014. In the years since, the company has grown into a major international credit bureau and business information provider with more than 10,500 FIs; 1,000+ insurance companies; 90,000+ business customers; and 1,000,000+ consumers in 50 countries using its services.

Photo by Jack Carey

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Xalts Buys Contour Network to Fuel Trade Finance Solutions

Xalts Buys Contour Network to Fuel Trade Finance Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Financial infrastructure platform Xalts is acquiring Contour Network.
  • Xalts will leverage the purchase to create embedded solutions for trade and supply chain finance.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Singapore-based financial infrastructure platform Xalts announced this week it is buying Contour Network with an aim to enhance global trade finance. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Contour Network was built in 2017 by a consortium of eight global banks to create an open trade finance network. Today, more than 22 banks and 100+ global businesses use Contour’s network for digital trade finance.

Xalts helps banks streamline global trade, receivables, and supply chain financing operations with tools that facilitate everything from origination to multiparty workflows. The company will leverage Contour’s processes and integrations to facilitate communication and transactions between businesses and financial institutions in its network. Once the deal is complete, Xalts will initially focus on creating solutions that banks, logistics companies, and fintechs can embed within their own applications for their business customers.

Xalts CEO Ashutosh Goel said the company aims to create a “Plaid for Trade.” He explained, “Our vision is to expand the scope of Contour’s network which is trusted by banks and corporates, and build it into a rail that enables businesses to access digital solutions for trade and supply chain finance offered by banks, fintechs and technology partners. Combining our platform with Contour’s Network will allow participants to develop and deploy customized solutions quickly.”

Xalts, which leverages the blockchain to help its clients build tokenization applications, was founded in 2022 and currently has a team of more than 50 employees spread across offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, the U.A.E., and U.K.

“Citi has long been a leader in driving innovation in financial services. We invested in Contour in 2020 and led the seed round for Xalts in 2022,” said Citi Ventures Director Everett Leonidas. “The combination of these two companies into one firm with an expanded vision and a great leadership team will accelerate innovation in global trade finance.”

With Xalts aiming to become the “Plaid for Trade,” the partnership opens up new potential for businesses to access digital solutions for trade and supply chain finance. This move, combined with the company’s use of the blockchain, offers the potential to create more accessible and efficient solutions to a wider range of businesses.

Photo by Kurt Cotoaga on Unsplash

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Pagaya Uses AI to Help U.S. Bank Customers Qualify for Unsecured Loans

Pagaya Uses AI to Help U.S. Bank Customers Qualify for Unsecured Loans
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, US Bank
  • U.S. Bank is using technology from Pagaya to help underwrite unsecured personal loans.
  • Pagaya’s AI model generates underwriting recommendations and completes a secondary credit decisioning review of borrowers who were originally rejected.
  • The partnership, which has the potential to expand U.S. Bank’s borrower pool, has already led to the approval of more than 2,000 personal loans over the past few months.

U.S. Bank announced today it has tapped alternative underwriting solutions company Pagaya to help more borrowers qualify for loans.

U.S. Bank initiated the partnership to help more clients access personal loans, which often pose more risk for lenders because they are unsecured. Pagaya leverages AI to complete a secondary credit decisioning review of borrowers who are initially rejected. If Pagaya approves the borrower, U.S. Bank will originate and service the loan.

Key to the solution is Pagaya’s AI model that analyzes thousands of data points to generate tailored underwriting recommendations. Because the model uses more data than a traditional regression model, U.S. Bank can more efficiently find applicants who are responsible borrowers, but who don’t fit into the bank’s FICO score cutoff.

As interest rates remain high, banks will continue to face challenges in managing their lending operations. When higher interest rates lead to increased borrowing costs, some customers are unable to afford previously attainable loans. Also contributing to the smaller borrower pool, banks have become more selective in their lending practices by focusing on borrowers with strong credit profiles and stable financial histories.

“We know that we have many clients who don’t fall within our traditional credit parameters,” said U.S. Bank Head of Consumer Lending Partnerships Mike Shepard. “By expanding access to responsible credit solutions, we are giving clients access to funds when they need it the most, through their existing and trusted banking relationship with us.”

Ultimately, using Pagaya helps U.S. Bank extend loans to more clients by delivering credit to individuals who would otherwise be rejected. Since U.S. Bank began working with Pagaya for underwriting a few months ago, the bank has been able to approve more than 2,000 clients for personal loans.

New York-based Pagaya was founded in 2016 and has raised $1.6 billion in combined debt and equity across ten funding rounds. The company went public via a SPAC merger in 2021 and currently trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker PGY with a market capitalization of $8.95 million.

“We share U.S. Bank’s commitment to increasing access to life-changing financial products and services,” said Pagaya Chief Growth Officer Leslie Gillin. “With Pagaya’s integrated and seamlessly embedded lending technology, our lending partners can expand and deepen their client relationships to a more diverse group of borrowers.”

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

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Fordefi Raises $10 Million for its Crypto Wallet-as-a-Service

Fordefi Raises $10 Million for its Crypto Wallet-as-a-Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Fordefi has raised $10 million, bringing its total funding to $28 million.
  • The company will use the funds to launch a crypto Wallet-as-a-Service offering.
  • Fordefi leverages Multi-Party Computation (MPC), a technology that performs cryptographic operations across multiple devices without offering any single device access to the complete information.

After last year’s regulatory missteps in the crypto world froze activity in the decentralized finance space for months, the crypto winter is slowly beginning to thaw. In today’s move toward a crypto spring, Multi-Party Computation (MPC) digital wallet company Fordefi has raised $10 million in a Seed Extension round.

When added to the $18 million Fordefi raised in 2022, today’s round boosts the company’s total funding to $28 million. The round was led by Electric Capital and saw participation from both new and existing investors, including Paxos and Alchemy.

“Our mission at Fordefi has always been to facilitate secure management of digital assets,” said Fordefi CEO and Cofounder Josh Schwartz. “We’re proud to continue building on this mission and provide both web3 and web2 businesses with a crucial tool to enable safe crypto adoption for all participants. We are committed to strengthening the Web3 ecosystem and ensuring its accessibility while maintaining a strong focus on security and transparency.”

Founded in 2021, Fordefi’s MPC wallet platform is a cryptocurrency wallet that boasts higher security by leveraging MPC, a technology that performs cryptographic operations across multiple devices without offering any single device access to the complete information. When compared with single-key wallets, which risk a single point of compromise, MPC wallets offer relatively high security.

The New York-based company plans to use today’s funds to facilitate their launch of its wallet-as-a-service (WaaS) offering. Fordefi’s WaaS enables exchanges, fintechs, and web3 businesses to embed a user-owned wallet within their existing applications.

Electric Capital Cofounder and General Partner Curtis Spencer said that the WaaS offering “extends [Fordefi’s] industry leading technology to any business wanting their customers to have the best mix of security and user experience to get on-chain.”

By using the “as-a-Service” model, Fordefi is helping organizations take advantage of increased consumer interest in digital assets and decentralized finance while maintaining a high level of security.

As interest in decentralized finance grows, so has increased regulatory scrutiny in the space. In many cases, however, the promise of cost savings and increase efficiencies from decentralized finance and blockchain technology has surpassed the fear of repercussions. Because of this, we’ve seen a flurry of news activity in the Web3 finance so far this year. Some of the top news headlines in 2024 include cryptocurrency payments app Oobit raising $25 million, digital asset embedded finance solution Mesh raising an undisclosed amount from PayPal Ventures, Franklin Templeton launching its Bitcoin ETF, and Circle filing for an IPO.

Over the course of the next 11 months, movement in the crypto world will continue to be slow and adoption will still be cautious. However, we can expect to see the fear of decentralized finance begin to melt away as organizations begin to realize the cost savings and efficiencies in the space.

Photo by pratik prasad

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Ripple to Acquire Digital Asset Platform Standard Custody

Ripple to Acquire Digital Asset Platform Standard Custody
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Ripple
  • Decentralized finance company Ripple acquired Standard Custody & Trust Company, a firm that offers institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets.
  • The California-based company says the purchase not only underscores its commitment to regulatory compliance, but that it will also help bolster its existing product offerings.
  • Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple announced its fourth acquisition today. The company bought Standard Custody & Trust Company for an undisclosed amount.

Ripple said the move serves two purposes. First, it underscores the company’s “commitment to regulatory compliance,” and second, it will enable Ripple to strengthen its existing offerings and add new products to its lineup. Specifically, the California-based company has its eye on Standard Custody’s limited purpose trust charter and its money transmitter licenses. Both will complement Ripple’s existing portfolio of regulatory licenses.

“Ripple and Standard Custody are dedicated to enabling enterprises to reap the benefits of blockchain across a host of financial use cases building institutional-grade solutions to tokenize, store, move, and exchange value. By expanding our licenses portfolio and making smart acquisitions, Ripple is well-positioned to take advantage of the current market opportunities and further strengthen our crypto infrastructure solutions,” said Ripple President Monica Long. “We will continue to leverage our strong financial standing to expand our product offerings, support new initiatives on the product roadmap and serve a broader segment of customers.”

Owned by blockchain infrastructure company PolySign, Standard Custody was founded to create an institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets. “Together with Ripple, we will further innovate and extend our leadership position in providing crypto infrastructure,” said Standard Custody CEO Jack McDonald.

Amid an environment of increased scrutiny of decentralized finance tools and digital assets, Ripple is looking to conduct its operations in the most transparent, regulatory compliant way. The company and its subsidiaries have acquired a New York BitLicense, nearly 40 U.S. money transmitter licenses, a Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a Virtual Asset Service Provider registration with the Central Bank of Ireland.

Ripple was founded in 2012 and offers tools for global money transfers, CBDCs, and digital assets. Last year, the company acquired digital asset management solutions company Metaco for $250 million. Additionally, Ripple has recently partnered with HSBC, BBVA, and Zodia Custody, and launched its payments offering in Africa. The company supports live commercial custody offerings in 20 regulatory jurisdictions, and facilitates payments to 70 countries worldwide.

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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Envestnet, Fintech Rundown, FIS, Marqeta, MoneyHub, MX, Plaid, Weekly Alumni News, Zafin

We’re already well into the second month of 2024, and while funding has slowed down a bit, news in the decentralized finance world has picked up. Take a look at some of the top headlines in fintech and banking this week.

Digital Banking

Israel-based digital bank oneZero unveils its new GenAI-powered assistant, Ella.

HighRadius acquires Cforia.

Payments

Tuition payments solution for trade and technical school students Mia Share raises $6.5 million in funding.

Fiserv expands in-person bill payment network to NCR Atleos ATMs.

Airbase appoints Mathew Schulz from Forrester as its new Vice President of Procurement Strategy. 

Blackhawk Network launches Select Codes to allow quick distribution of rewards.

NMI launches NMI Payments, a comprehensive embedded payments solution.

Tradeshift appoints Iain Balchin as Chief Financial Officer.

i2c Inc. adds new clients in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico.

Banking-as-a-Service

Nordic Capital inks agreement to acquire majority stake in SaaS core modernization provider Zafin.

Crypto

Crypto wallet app COCA introduces virtual cards.

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX expands to Argentina.

Crypto custodian BitGo acquires private securities and alternative investment infrastructure provider Brassica.

Open banking / Open finance

Moneyhub named supplier of Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System framework for the U.K. government.

Akoya, Envestnet | Yodlee, MX, and Plaid to integrate into FIS’ Open Access platform.

FIS and Banked partner to create new pay-by-bank solutions.

Wealth management & Investing

Swedish investment platform Kameo secures $1.3 million (£1.1million) investment from Incore Invest.

Attune Solutions launches Attune WealthData powered by BridgeFT.

Clearwater Analytics launches Clearwater MLx, mortgage loan investment solution.

Blue Ocean Technologies and DriveWealth partner to expand geographic reach and trading services.

Exponential Markets receives strategic investment from Citi.

Card Issuance/Management

Card issuing platform Marqeta inks travel management software company, Internet Travel Solutions (ITS).

ConnexPay launches ConnexPay Flex, a new variable-rate virtual card.

Mastercard and the Bank of Punjab expand their partnership to cover the commercial segment.

Lending

Yardline and AMZ Pathfinder partner on ecommerce funding.

Traditional finance

Barclays to acquire Tesco Bank’s retail banking business.

AtlasClear combines with SPAC and acquires Wilson-Davis & Co.

NCR Atleos to bring surcharge-free cash access to American Express checking customers.

Clearwater Analytics extends support for accounting with fund accounting and pooled participant interaction.

Fraud & security

Signzy launches one-touch KYC for seamless digital onboarding.

TruShield Insurance collaborates with Visa to help address cybersecurity risks facing small businesses.

Tina Stewart joins Utimaco as Chief Marketing Officer.

Data Zoo names former London Stock Exchange Group executive Charlie Minutella as new CEO.

Canada’s EQ Bank partners with Trulioo for identity document and biometric verification.

Armilla AI lands $4.5 million in Seed funding to help de-risk AI adoption for enterprises.

Mortgagetech

Better launches digital VA loans powered by Tinman.

Photo by AbsolutVision on Unsplash

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Revolut to Add New Telecom Service

Revolut to Add New Telecom Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Revolution Money
  • Revolut has partnered with 1Global to offer telecom services to its users.
  • Starting this week, Revolut will offer eSIMs to customers in all five membership tiers.
  • Users in Revolut’s Ultra membership tier will benefit from 3GB of data they can use across international borders. Members in other tiers can pay to top up their data.

In an exclusive announcement with CNBC, global financial services innovator Revolut revealed it plans to begin offering telecom services in the U.K. The move, which is made possible via a partnership with 1Global, will make Revolut one of the only fintechs to offer telecom services.

Starting this week, Revolut will begin rolling out eSIMs, which are small, programmable chips embedded directly into a smartphone, tablet, or wearable device. While eSIMs serve the same purpose as a traditional, physical SIM card, the eSIM is permanently embedded into the device and cannot be removed or swapped out.

While the new eSIM service is available to Revolut members under any of the company’s five plans, customers that pay for the Ultra membership tier will receive 3GB of data they can use across the globe, with no roaming charges. The company launched the Ultra membership option last year. For $69.47 (£55) per month, users will benefit from a platinum-plated payment card and “top-of-the-line experiences” such as airport lounge access, up to 10% cashback on travel accommodations, and more.

Users that fall into the other four Revolut membership categories will receive the standard eSIM plan, which allows them to access the Revolut app at any time and top up their Revolut phone plan if they run out of data with their current provider. The company is offering its non-Ultra members 100MB of free data if they sign up before May 1.

Adding telecom services will bolster the company’s robust travel benefit offerings. Revolut’s Premium, Metal, and Ultra subscribers receive cashback on accommodations, global medical insurance, winter sports insurance, fee-free currency exchange, and more. Adding a benefit as essential as communication is a logical next step, and may convince the company’s Standard and Plus members to pay the extra money to level up their memberships.

The London-based company made it clear that the eSIM benefit is about more than just an added travel reward. As Revolut GM of Premium Products Tara Massoudi explained to CNBC, “Our ambition is very much to be the financial super app. This is really in that direction.”

Since the company was founded in 2015 it has received $1.7 billion in funding and has expanded to serve 35+ million personal customers and more than 500,000 business customers.

Interestingly, not many fintechs have made similar moves into the telecom space. India-based credit card fintech Zolve began offering eSIM and SIM services last August in packages ranging from $30 per month to $60 per month.

Photo by Andrey Matveev

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Finastra and Tesselate Team Up to Power Trade Finance Digitization

Finastra and Tesselate Team Up to Power Trade Finance Digitization
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finastra
  • Finastra and Tesselate announced a partnership to facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization.
  • The two companies launched Tegula Trade Finance as a Service which enables banks to automate manual processes, increase efficiencies, and reduce processing times.
  • Finastra was formed in 2017 from a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H.

A partnership between Finastra and digital transformation consultancy Tesselate will facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization courtesy of a new end-to-end pre-packaged service. Launched today, Tegula Trade Finance as a Service empowers banks in the U.S. to automate manual processes and adapt to emerging events with a faster time to market and value. Banks can also leverage Finastra FusionFabric.cloud to integrate fintech applications and take advantage of enabling technologies such as AI and the blockchain.

“Our combined service with Tesselate delivers the automation and intelligence needed to increase efficiencies and decrease processing times, risk, errors, and total cost of ownership,” Finastra Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Sales and Strategic Partnerships, Americas, Jim McMahon said. “Importantly, the all-in-one solution promotes interoperability of trade finance processes to reduce friction and complexity, while giving banks the agility to enhance existing or launch new services.”

The new offering is powered by Finastra Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels. Finastra Trade Innovation is an end-to-end solution that facilitates frictionless trade and supply chain finance via straight-through processing, digitization, and data analytics to support growth and agility. Corporate Channels is a digital banking platform that gives banks a unified portal for trade, cash, supply-chain finance, lending, and treasury services for corporates. These technologies, and easy integration, help make Tegula Trade Finance as a Service a tool banks can use in order to boost revenue, take advantage of new market opportunities, enhance security, and future-proof their business.

“By delivering our all-in-one joint solution as a highly secure managed service, banks do not need to invest in significant amounts of additional resources or take them away from their core business to pursue digitization,” Tesselate Chief Revenue Officer and Managing Partner Alexandre Arnoux said. “Banks can take a modular approach to implementation for better cost and resource control, and we provide the ongoing updates, enhancements, and new capabilities at speed.”

A digital transformation consultancy and integrator headquartered in Paris, France, Tesselate advises FIs on digital strategy and supports them in their digital transformation journeys. This includes helping them implement and integrate enabling technologies and software solutions from Tesselate’s partners to improve operational efficiency and support growth. Founded in 2010, the company last month announced a partnership with Swiss fintech MITech.

Formed via a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra serves financial institutions of all sizes with a wide variety of solutions and services across lending, payments, treasury and capital markets, as well as universal banking. The company’s offerings help FIs develop and grow banking relationships via channels such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. More than 8,000 institutions – including 45 of the top 50 banks in the world – use Finastra’s technology to support open banking and fuel collaboration.

Headquartered in London, Finastra began the year announcing an upgraded partnership with Allied Banking Corporation and a new collaboration with Vietnam-based LPBank. The company also announced last month that it has teamed up with data and AI company Databricks. The partnership will enable Finastra to further leverage its data and to deliver value-added solutions with Generative AI capabilities. Finastra has also used Databricks to set up a data platform, Secure Zone, for its developers. Simon Paris is Finastra’s CEO.

Photo by Pixabay

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