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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
It’s the Monday after FinovateSpring, which means there are plenty of new ideas about the future of banking and fintech to talk about. Meanwhile, the news keeps flowing. Here are the top fintech news highlights from the week. We’ll continue to add more announcements as the week progresses.
AI tools
Nscalesecures $790 million in financing to support AI infrastructure buildout in Norway.
Experianlaunches its “Know Your Agent” service, Experian Agent Trust.
Global Payments unveils AI-first handheld built for the future of commerce.
Loyalty and rewards
UalettlaunchesUalett Rewards to give back to gig workers.
Digital banking
A pair of Finovate Best of Show winners—core banking platform 10x Banking and provider of deterministic AI for legacy system understanding Tweezr—announce a partnership to make core transformation easier.
New Finovate alum Hawk AI announced a collaboration with Diebold Nixdorf.
The partnership will facilitate the distribution and implementation of Hawk AI’s AML Surveillance and Fraud Prevention suite to banks.
Hawk AI made its Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
Hawk AI, a fraud-fighting and AML platform based in Germany, announced a new partnership with fellow Finovate alum Diebold Nixdorf. Together, the two companies will collaborate to distribute and implement Hawk AI’s AML Surveillance and Fraud Prevention suite in banks to enable them to combat financial crime more effectively. The initial focus on the collaboration will be in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and will make it easier for Diebold Nixdorf customers in particular to access Hawk AI’s financial crime fighting technology.
Hawk AI CEO and co-founder Tobias Schweiger said that the willingness of financial institutions to adopt technology like Hawk AI’s AML Surveillance and Fraud Prevention suite is due to both “operational considerations” as well as the demands of regulatory authorities, which are “starting to ask for answers to fast-changing financial crime trends which no longer can be addressed with old technology and too much labor.” Instead, Schweiger said, Hawk AI’s partnership with Diebold Nixdorf helps alleviate one of the critical problems to answering these regulatory queries; namely the challenge of implementing newer, better financial crime fighting technology. Schweiger credited Diebold Nixdorf for having the “strong know-how, and professional services capabilities” to make implementation easier and less risky for customers.
“We’re thrilled to work with Hawk AI, a pioneer in explainable AI-powered AML and modern fraud prevention,” Diebold Nixdorf Director Solutions DACH Walter Gries said. “While combating new fincrime techniques is urgently needed, financial institutions must ensure a transparent process where frontline workers, auditors, and regulators trust the results. Hawk AI’s systems provide this trust, and we look forward to bringing the technology to new financial institutions together.”
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Hawk AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring earlier this year. At the event, the company demoed its technology that combines AI with traditional, rule-based strategies to monitor financial transactions in real-time. When suspicious activity is observed, the platform sends alerts to financial crime specialists for further investigation. This helps limit the amount of false positives that can weigh-down the effectiveness of a financial crime solution and create unwanted friction for customers.
Hawk AI’s partnership with Diebold Nixdorf comes just one month after the German company reported that it was working with KYC and customer onboarding specialist Ondato. Announced last month, Hawk AI and Ondato have teamed up to offer an integrated KYC validation process that features AML transaction monitoring and behavioral analysis. Ondato CEO and co-founder Liudas Kanapienis highlighted this aspect of the partnership in his statement, noting that the collaboration will enable Ondato to “expand client onboarding and compliance management towards behavior monitoring.”
Also in August, Hawk AI teamed up with Aux, a credit union service organization (CUSO) that serves more than 200 credit unions in the U.S. The partnership will make it easier for credit unions to access Hawk AI’s financial fraud and AML solutions. Aux VP of Compliance Services Gaye DeCesare praised Hawk AI’s technology as “easier to use and more cost effective than other legacy products on the market today.” DeCesare also underscored the fact that HAWK AI’s technology is “enhanced with new features and functionality” on a regular basis.
Selling nearly 290 million shares priced at $9 in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange this week, Brazilian digital bank Nubank has raised $2.6 billion, reaching a market value of $41 billion. An alumni of Finovate’s developer’s conference FinDEVr in 2016, Nubank is now the most valuable financial institution in Latin America in addition to being the world’s biggest digital bank. CEO David Vélez, who co-founded the company in 2013 with an initial investment of $2 million from Sequoia Capital and Kaszek Ventures, now owns a stake in the company worth $8.9 billion at the IPO price.
“We don’t think the banking branch will survive the way it is,” Vélez said to CNBC this week. “It is too costly to serve the majority of users, especially in emerging markets where you have a very high cost of operations, so a lot of that physical infrastructure will probably disappear.” Vélez predicted that most financial services providers will transition into digital entities in the next five to ten years because of this, leading to an increased focus on customer service as well as lower costs and interest rates.
With more than 48 million customers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, and onboarding more than two million new customers a month on average, Nubank offers financial products for spending, savings, investments, loans, and insurance. The company claims to have provided more than five million people with their first credit card or bank account as of September 30, and to have saved its customers more than $4 billion (R$27 billion) in bank fees and more than 113 million hours of waiting time since inception.
Vélez said that the capital from the IPO will help fuel Nubank’s expansion in Mexico and Colombia, en route to becoming a truly pan-Latin American banking services provider. “There is a lot of opportunity to build the next generation of financial services, so we will continue to invest and grow for a very long time,” Vélez said an interview with the Financial Times.
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.
CinetPay, a digital finance platform serving merchants in French-speaking Africa secured $2.4 million in seed funding from 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave.
Online fraud prevention company SEON inked an agreement with a pair of African neobanks, Carbon and FairMoney.
South African device identity and authentication solutions provider Entersektannounced a “significant investment” from U.S. private equity firm Accel-KKR.
German biometrics and digital identity verification company Passbase secured $10 million in Series A funding, as well as another $3.5 million in seed-2 investment.
A report earlier this year from PwC highlighted the “changing competitive landscape” for fintech and banking in Nigeria. For those looking to learn more about both the growing impact of technology in financial services in one of the major countries in Africa, as well as the challenge created by COVID-19, PwC’s review provides an comprehensive overview.
The report also concludes with nine recommendations the analysts believe would encourage continued growth in Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem. These recommendations range from making it easier to invest in fintech companies to encouraging partnerships and “strengthen(ing) the synergy between banks and FinTech players” in a mutually beneficial way.
Financial inclusion is a huge part of both the challenge of – and the opportunity for – fintech in Nigeria. The report notes that more than 30 million adult Nigerians do not have or use either formal or informal financial services products or solutions. This represents more than a third of the country’s adult population. And while the report points out that mobile money operators have been among the businesses to help bring more financial services to the underbanked, there are some fintechs that have taken up the cause of financial inclusion, as well. A trio of these companies are highlighted below:
Bankly is a cash digitization and savings platform that caters to Nigeria’s unbanked. The company provides a digital wallet that is secure, convenient, and accessible, and all users require in order to open an account is a phone number. Bankly leverages more than 2,000 agents across 29 of the country’s 36 states to scale the company’s offering.
In operation for just over a year, Bankly has already picked up recognition from the 2019 Innovating Justice Awards sponsored by the Hague Institute for the Innovation of Law. The company has also participated in the GreenHouse Capital accelerator program. Tomilola Adejana (CEO) and Fredrick Adams are co-founders.
Covr Branchless offers banks, insurance companies, and government agencies a suite of applications that enable them to leverage cloud, GPS, and mobile channels to conduct a wide variety of financial processes. Account opening, instant debit card linking, cash withdrawals, fund transfer, billpay, KYC validation and loan origination are among the operations enabled by Covr’s technology.
Covr is owned by Advancio Interactive, a Nigerian technology company focused on sustainable financial access that was founded by Olufisayo Oludare (Managing Director). Covr won Advancio first place at the Startup Istanbul Challenge in the fall of 2017, only the second Africa-based startup to do so.
FairMoney is a online micro lender that provides instant loans from N1,500 to N500,000 (approximately $4 to $1,300), with average loans of about N12,000 ($33-$35). Using the company’s Android mobile app, prospective borrowers apply for financing by answering a few questions and providing some basic financial information. The app analyzes this information – as well as the borrowers geolocation and other factors – to make a loan offer in a matter of minutes.
But what makes the company especially interesting is the fact that it is working to launch a challenger bank. FairMoney raised $11 million in Series A funding last fall for this purpose and plans to expand its offerings to include current and savings accounts.
Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) encourages government to incentivize the use of QR code transactions and promotes the adoption of open, interoperable standards.
Amazon to offer car and motorcycle insurance in India courtesy of partnership with Acko General Insurance.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitates recurring payments with its new UPI AutoPay feature.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazil’s Central Bank reverses course to authorize payments system involving WhatsApp.
Payscout teams up with Brazilian fintech Rede Celer to grow its payments business in the country.
Partnership between FacePhi and Naranja X will help bring biometric recognition technology to digital onboarding processes for firms in Argentina.
Asia-Pacific
Finovate: Ant Group’s Double IPO Listing Shuns U.S. Exchanges.
Trulioobrings its GlobalGateway identity verification technology to customers in Vietnam.
Crowdfund Insider takes a look at the impact of COVID-19 on fintech lending platforms in Indonesia.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Telco Orange and bancassurance company NSIA team up to launch Orange Bank Africa to serve underbanked communities in Abidjan and Cote d’Ivoire.
Vodacom partners with Ant Financial Services Group to bring Alipay services to South Africa.
Uganda-based digital cross-border money transfer startup Eversend raises $1 million via an oversubscribed Seeders crowdfunding campaign.
Central and Eastern Europe
Germany’s Scalable Capitallands $460 million valuation with new $58 million funding round.
Russian bank Tinkoffunveils new functionalities for its financial and lifestyle services voice assistant Oleg.
EstateGuru, a P2P lending platform based in Estonia, launches a new payment service in partnership with Lemonway.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Oman’s BankDhofar extends partnership with Diebold Nixdorf to improve the customer experience of its ATM network. Bank Nizwa, also based in Oman, announced an extension of its digital payments partnership with Mastercard.
Turkey-based online payments platform Mobilexpress secures $2 million in Series A funding.
Spotii, an e-commerce technology provider based in the UAE, unveils new deferred payment option.
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.
GlancePowers Visual Customer Engagement for Axos Bank.
Around the web
Klarnaadded 60,000 new merchants in 2019,a group which now totals 190,000+.
Australia-based Heritage Bank signs 5-year services agreement with Diebold Nixdorf.
FIS integratesIBM’s Safer Payments solution with its P2P services to help prevent fraud.
Onfidopartners with online currency exchange company b-sharpe to provide a better sign up experience using Onfido’s AI-powered identity verification.
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.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Fresh off a successful return to Singapore for FinovateAsia, we are happy to announce that FinovateMiddleEast will be back in Dubai next month, November 20 and 21. For more information about our upcoming fintech conference in the UAE, visit our FinovateMiddleEast page today.
Central and Eastern Europe
Berlin-based, pan-European digital debt marketplace, CrossLend, picks up €34 million in round led by Santander.
Bank of Lithuania namesIBM and Tieto as finalists in its LBChain technology initiative.
Islamic, mobile-only, challenger bank insha goes live in Berlin, Germany.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Partnership with Diebold Nixdorfhelps Lebanese Bankmed become first bank in country to introduce cash recycling.
Bloomberg Intelligence recognizes the UAE as the world’s top Islamic fintech hub, with Bahrain as a rising challenger.
MAGNiTT and ADGM launch new publication focusing on fintech and venture capital funding in the MENA region.
Central and Southern Asia
Pakistan’s JS Bank launches chat banking via WhatsApp.
Western Union enables real-time payments and money transfers to India.
Paytm president Madhur Deora encourages Indian fintechs to appreciate the differences between Indian and Chinese markets “and adapt accordingly.”
Brazilian fintech Nubank reaches 15 million customer mark.
Posnet, a First Data/Fiserv company, helps Argentine consumers make purchases using digital wallets and QR codes.
Asia-Pacific
Revolutlaunches in Singapore after successful 30,000 customer beta.
CIMB Bank Singapore completes first structured trade finance transaction on blockchain.
In partnership with Compass Plus, Mongolia’s largest bank, Trade and Development Bank (TDB) introduces the nation’s first instant card issuance project.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigerian digital SME lender Lidyaexpands to Poland and the Czech Republic.
Fintech Futures features Absa’s Thabo Makoko on the challenges and opportunities in the African payment industry.
Ghana government makes plans for a cashless future.
CREALOGIX to power new digital and mobile capabilities for LGT Vestra’s wealth management app and client portal.
Strands announces achieving ISO 27001 certification in all offices.
Horizon Investments to implementFiserv’sUnified Wealth Platform for core portfolio management.
Personeticsannounces that users of Salesforce and Microsoft CRM platforms will be able to access the company’s data-driven actionable insights via new APIs.
Diebold Nixdorflaunches a new series of self-service, digitally-connected ATMs.
NetGuardiansappoints Swissquote co-founder Paolo Buzzi to its board of directors.
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.
Silicon Canals listsKantox among 10 hottest Barcelona fintech startups to work for in 2019.
PYMNTS interviewsEntersekt’s country manager of Canada Christian Ali.
Tunisian bank selectsTemenos to drive digital transformation and future growth.
Diebold Nixdorfexpands partnership with Belgian-owned Belfius Bank and Insurance to improve the UX for the bank’s 3.5 million consumers.
BlueVine and Nationwide partner to launch Pitch to Win small business contest with $100,000 prize.
Kabbage partners with the Building Trades Employers’ Association to provide members, specifically women and minority-owned business contractors, access to funding.
Micronotessees triple-digit YOY client growth in Q1 2019
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.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World 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 South Asia
Pakistan-based payment system operator and PSP Mobi Direct selects Worldline for its digital infrastructure platform.
State Bank of India partners with Hitachi Payment Services on joint venture to support digital payments in India. SBI also picked Financial Software and Systems to implement its “One Nation, One Card” digital payments program.
Inc42 lists5 Trends in Fintech You Will See in 2019.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Jumioopens office in Brazil and operations center in Barranquilla, Colombia, as part of expansion into Latin America.
Mexico’s central bank turns to Amazon for public mobile payment system.
Banco Bolivariano of Ecuador deploys mobile banking technology from Diebold Nixdorf.
Asia-Pacific
TurnKey Lenderlocks in new investment from OSK Ventures.
United Overseas Bank (UOB) of Singapore launches its Smart Business Transformation Programme for SMEs in Thailand.
Malaysia’s Maybank introduces its e-wallet service for cashless payments.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Veridiumteams up with Blue Turtle Technologies to drive deployment of biometric technology in Africa.
Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA) goes live in the U.K.
People’s Bank of Zanzibar launches new core banking system with technology from ICSFS.
Central and Eastern Europe
Russia’s Alfa-Bankjoins Marco Polo Network to offer blockchain-based trade and supply chain finance services to its clients.
Kontomatikearns license from Bank of Lithuania to operate as an AISP in 11 EU countries.
Palestine Islamic Bank to deployTemenosInfinity and TemenosT24 systems as part of its digital transformation efforts.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Al Taif Islamic Bank to deploy Sharia-compliant, core banking technology from Finastra, Fusion Islamic.
Working group supported by TheCityUK and Turkish stock exchange Borsa Istanbul launch joint effort to promote Islamic fintech solutions.
Scoop Empire looks at the UAE’s role in foster innovation in fintech, especially with AI.
Europe Bets on Bug Bounties, HackerOne to Fight Fraud.
Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World.
Around the web
The Fintech Times reviews identity verification innovator Onfido in the wake of its “strongest year to date.”
Infosys Finacle to partner with Santander U.K., facilitating the integration of cash management solutions into existing ERP systems.
Diebold Nixdorfnames Jeffrey Rutherford as its new permanent Chief Financial Officer, Julian Sparkes as SVP and Chief Digital Officer, and Hermann Wimmer as SVP, Global Retail.
Cloud Wars with Bob Evans interviewsQ2 CIO Lou Senko.
Chesapeake Bank’s alternative lending division, Cash Flow, adds the Commercial Lending Center Suite from Jack Henry & Associates‘ ProfitStars division.
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.
Five DegreesTeams Up with ieDigital to Launch Digital Banking Portfolio.
Sezzle’s $100 Million Line of Credit to Fuel Delayed Payment Tool.
Around the web
LoanScorecard unveilsSimpleCECL, its solution for loan-level analyses for Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL).
Onfidowins 7th place in Deloitte’s 11 fastest growing tech companies in the U.K. roster.
OutSystemsearns recognition in two categories of the 2018 Gartner Peer Insights Customers Choice reviews: Mobile App Development Platforms and Enterprise High-Productivity Application Platform as a Service (HPaPaaS).
Payment Ninjaintroduces new invoice management feature of its platform.
Diebold Nixdorfinks Memorandum of Understanding with Europol to boost cybersecurity knowledge sharing.
Entersektannounces plans to expand to Nordic region.
Onfido, Azimo, TransferWise, and Kantoxearn spots on Deloitte U.K.’s Fast 50.
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.
