Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

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 joins Emirates Islamic QuickRemit online fund transfer service.
  • The State Bank of Mauritius picks Miles Software’s Moneyware platform for wealth management and banking operations.
  • DBS India joins SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (gpi) to bring better cash flow visibility via real-time cross border payment tracking for the firm’s corporate clients in India.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Payments Journal highlights Boom Credit, a Miami, Florida-based fintech with a focus on the Mexican market.
  • Pequenas Empresas & Grades Negocios interviews Creditas founder Sergio Furio. (In Portuguese).
  • Central banks of Curacao and St. Maarten partner with blockchain company Bitt to investigate the creation of a digital currency.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore’s Association of Banks makes its P2P funds transfer app, PayNow, available for business use.
  • Singapore-based international money transfer startup InstaReM announces new Chief Technical Officer, Niles Pathak.
  • CNBC reports that Ripple is looking to enter the Chinese cross-border payments market.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian digital lending platform Mines picks up $13 million investment.
  • Postbank Kenya launches mobile banking service, M-chama.
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) teams up with the International Financial Corporation and Ant Financial to support digital financial inclusion in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Sberbank sees a cashless payments boom in Russia.
  • Crimea’s largest bank replaces Visa and Mastercard as part of transition to Russia’s MIR payment system.
  • Forbes interviews Olga Feldmeier, CEO of Ukraine-based Smart Valor.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Temenos to collaborate with the Venture Lab at The American University in Cairo.
  • National Bank of Egypt chooses Fusion Treasury and Fusion Risk from Finastra in upgrade of its treasury and risk management operations.
  • Agricultural Bank of Sudan goes live on ICS Banks Islamic from ICS Financial Systems.
  • Attijariwafa Bank to deploy Path Solutions’ Sharia-compliant, iMAL core banking solution.

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Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Personetics Scores Minority Stake Investment from United Overseas Bank.
  • StockViews Announces New Investment from Fuel Ventures.
  • CardFlight Teams with BoomTown.

Around the web

  • Entersekt partners with the GSMA to offer Mobile Connect to institutional clients.
  • Bpm’online earns recognition as a Challenger in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation.
  • Finastra hires former Laing O’Rourke executive Gareth Burton as its new Chief Information Officer.
  • Fintech News Switzerland interviews 3rd-eyes CEO Rodrigo Amandi.
  • Exate Technology and Xero sign on to PwC’s She Can Charter initiative to increase the number of women in technology.
  • ProgrammableWeb features three new APIs from Hydrogen in its Daily API Roundup.
  • Wipro credits its banking financial services and insurance business, as well as its consumer business unit, for strong quarterly revenue growth.
  • Optimove announces new Chief Operating Officer, Yarden Malta, formerly of Earnix.
  • Top Image Systems appoints John London as Interim Chief Financial Officer.
  • Find Biometrics explores BehavioSec’s commitment to PSD2 compliance
  • AlphaPoint powers new exchange platform, matching engine, and real-time settlement exchange for SeACrypto.
  • Ephesoft named one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Orange County.
  • Bloomberg features Crypterium. Come see Crypterium’s demo at FinovateFall this September.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Baker Hill Inks Loan Origination Deal with West Texas State Bank.
  • Finicity and Cre8tech Labs’ Lender Price Partner to Streamline Digital Lending.

Around the web

  • LendInvest partners with Onfido to bring identity verification to LendInvest’s Buy-to-Let digital applications.
  • Malauzai and Somerset Trust Company declare August 20th as National Fintech Day.
  • Thomson Reuters launches Compliance Management solution, an addition to its Connected Risk platform.
  • Ripple announces the transition of David Schwartz from Chief Cryptographer to Chief Technical Officer.
  • Identity verification startup Sedicii earns a finalist spot in BBVA’s Open Talent competition.
  • Barclays to deploy Finastra’s Fusion Loan IQ system.
  • AlphaPoint wins Best Distributed Ledger Technology Provider by the 2018 Water Technology customer survey.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bento for Business Raises $9 Million in New Funding.
  • Sensory’s Biometric Technology Now Powers Security for 24 Banking Apps.
  • DefenseStorm Selected by NAFCU as Preferred Cloud-Based Cybersecurity Partner

Around the web

  • Coventry Building Society to deploy Temenos T24 core banking platform for savings and mortgage servicing.
  • Finastra partners with Indonesian data center to bring IFRS 9 compliance capabilities to regional and medium-sized FIs in the country.
  • Akamai Technologies named a leader in Web Application Firewalls in The Forrester Wave’s Q2 2018 evaluation.
  • Payoneer partners with the Republic of Estonia’s e-Residency program to make cross-border payments easier for e-residents in India.
  • Twilio introduces a new developer-first, API-first partner program, Twilio Build.
  • Ping Identity forges strategic partnership with enterprise identity governance company, SailPoint Technologies.
  • Coinbase CEO follows Ripple’s lead on philanthropy.
  • Quadient teams with Quertum for software distribution in the Nordics and U.K.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BizEquity Brings its Valuation-as-a-Service Solution to TD Bank.

Around the web

  • FICO to offer free cybersecurity ratings to companies via its FICO Enterprise Security Score Portrait solution.
  • NICE Actimize covers P2P payments within its Fraud Essentials Cloud solution.
  • Global Debt Registry launches its loan registry on the IBM Blockchain Platform.
  • Harmonic Fund Services goes live with loan servicing technology, Fusion Loan IQ, from Finastra.
  • Gro Solutions names digital consulting firm Xtensifi as a certified development partner.
  • Kony accepted as a member in Jack Henry’s Symitar Vendor Integration Program.
  • NIIT Technologies ranked number one in ‘Business Understanding’ by clients in the 2018 UK IT Outsourcing Study.
  • 3rd-eyes selected for Swiss National Fintech Team.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • TransferWise Helps Monzo Clients Send Money Abroad.
  • Hydrogen Takes Top Honors at Fintech Awards Luxembourg 2018.
  • Gusto Launches Flexible Pay, Turning Payday into Any Day.

Around the web

  • The Paypers interviews Comarch product development manager Bartłomiej Wójtowicz.
  • ACI Worldwide VP of Merchant Payments for Europe Andy McDonald discusses the future of real-time payments.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at PayPal’s acquisition of Hyperwallet.
  • Quadient announces availability of Quadient Inspire R12.
  • Passport powers mobile parking app for University of Illinois.
  • Finastra to sell its Collateral Management Corporation (CMS) business to Teranet.

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.

Finastra Acquires Malauzai

Finastra Acquires Malauzai

Global financial software provider Finastra, the combination of D+H and Misys that was forged a year ago this month, has added a new major element to its mix. The company announced today that it would acquire fellow Finovate alum Malauzai, a firm that specializes in retail and business banking solutions for community banks and credit unions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Calling these smaller financial institutions “the fabric of American financial services,” Finastra CEO Simon Paris said bringing Malauzai into the Finastra fold will be a major boon for large and small FIs. “Together, our two companies deliver a fully integrated open core platform for payments, lending, and digital, across Finastra’s 4,500-strong U.S.-based community market customers and Malauzai’s non-core U.S.-based customers.” Paris added that Malauzai’s “leadership” and “open approach” are in “perfect alignment with our open platform vision.”

Malauzai co-founder and Chief Product Officer Robb Gaynor during a live demo of the company’s Conversational Banking for Business solution at FinovateFall 2017.

It’s also worth noting that the acquisition was the consumption of a relationship between the two companies that began years ago. Finastra and Malauzai have been collaboration partners with more than 130 shared customers since 2015. As such it was no surprise to hear Malauzai CEO Tom Shen echo Paris’ praise for the synergies between the two companies. “By combining a best-in-class core experience, backed by leading innovative mobile and Internet banking capabilities and our mobile-only design approach, community financial institutions win,” Shen said.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Malauzai has distinguished itself as a major provider of digitally-innovative products and solutions for local and community-based financial institutions. For the company’s FinovateSpring 2015 demo, co-founders Robb Gaynor and Danny Piangerelli were joined on stage by representatives from six different community banks that were offering Malauzai-powered features including P2P payments, picture bill pay, and debit card on/off to their customers and members.

Solutions like MOX Pay and Conversational Banking for Business, both demoed at recent Finovate events, further distinguished Malauzai has a partner for financial institutions looking to provide their retail and business customers with the same level of digital innovation as the larger banks.

“The acquisition creates a compelling proposition for our existing customer base and enables Finastra’s customers to deliver a seamless banking experience with a robust breadth of services, via a single provider,” Shen said. Malauzai serves more than 350 community financial institutions in the U.S. and has more than one million active users of its solutions.

Malauzai has raised more than $24 million in funding from investors including Wellington Management and Live Oak Banking Company. In May, the company teamed up with its future acquirer to help Horicon Bank launch its digital banking platform . InApril, Malauzai partnered with fellow Finovate alum Geezeo to develop a new mobile app for Axiom Bank, the second-largest community bank in Florida.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Baker Hill Brings its Cloud-Based Loan Origination Solution to First Bank.

Around the web

  • Online banking innovator Dollar Bank to upgrade its digital offerings with technology from Fiserv.
  • Brazil’s Nubank reaches milestone of 1.5 million digital account openings in six months.
  • Aire, Onfido, Trunomi, TransferWise, YoYo Wallet and Revolut earn finalist spots in TechCrunch Europas Awards.
  • Emailage announces expansion across APAC and plans to double the size of its Phoenix, Arizona office.

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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Avoka Unveils Springboard Deposit Account Opening Solution.
  • German Banking Software Provider NDGIT Raises $4.7 Million in Series A Round.

Around the web

  • Experian unveils MarketingConnect platform.
  • Tango Card partners with Alvin Healthcare.
  • PayNearMe allows LimeBike riders to pay in cash.
  • Finastra integrates Optimal Blue into its Fusion MortgagebotPOS solution.
  • bpm’online wins Company of the Year award from American Business Awards for third year in a row.
  • Horizn takes top honors at Digital Banking 2018 American Banker conference.
  • Latest version of Quest Diagnostics’ content management solution features Smart Capture technology from Ephesoft.

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.

Conversation.one Among U.S. Fintechs to Join Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud Platform

Conversation.one Among U.S. Fintechs to Join Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud Platform

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Conversation.one is among four U.S.-based fintechs that are joining Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud open platform. Conversation.one, which offers a voice banking and chatbot building solution for banks and credit unions, will leverage FusionFabric.cloud’s developer environment to boost its technology’s deep learning capabilities.

“Accessing Finastra technology and APIs through the FusionFabric.cloud platform is extremely efficient. It brings additional value to our solutions and, importantly, to our clients,” Conversation.one CRO and co-founder Rachel Batish explained. “The platform gives us access to more than 9,000 financial institutions across the globe. Our goal over the next two years is to deliver the capability to build cross-channel conversational solutions in minutes to close to 30% of Finastra’s clients, so they become our customers as well.”

Also among FusionFabric.cloud’s latest round of early adopters this week were Tradle, a blockchain-based KYC solutions provider; Active Allocator, a digital asset allocation platform; and regtech solution provider for banks and insurance companies, GreenPoint Financial.

Chief Cloud Officer for Finastra Natalie Gammon pointed to the “broad financial service spectrum” available to fintechs via FusionFabric.cloud. “It means fintechs and developers can dramatically reduce build time for apps, bringing them to market faster. We see FusionFabric.cloud gathering significant pace, championing a collaborative ecosystem and changing the way the financial services industry develops and deploys software for the better,” Gammon said.

The news comes just days after Conversation.one announced that First Abilene Federal Credit Union, a Texas-based credit union with $71 million in assets and nearly 11,000 members, had leveraged Conversation.one’s technology to launch its Amazon Alexa Skills and Google Home Action offerings.

Conversation.one CEO Chen Levkovich credited First Abilene FCU with recognizing the potential of voice and chat technology to improve customer engagement. “First Abilene can now provide their members with a wider range of services, from multiple digital touch-points,” Levkovich said. “We are extremely excited to work with such an innovative team and we are looking forward to their expansion into additional channels.”

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Conversation.one demonstrated its build-once-deploy-anywhere platform for conversation apps at FinovateSpring 2018, winning Best of Show honors. Conversation.one’s solution enables banks and credit unions to build, deploy, and enhance Alexa Skills, Google Home Actions, FB Messenger Bots, as well as phone and texting intelligent assistants in a single process that takes as little as a few minutes.

Finastra, which formed via a merger between Misys (FinovateEurope 2017) and D+H last summer, has been gaining early adopters to its FusionFabric cloud open architecture since the fall and began 2018 with a trio of new platform users, as well as a partnership with Thomson Reuters as a data provider. A strategic alliance with Microsoft announced in March meant that the company’s enterprise-ready trusted cloud platform, Microsoft Azure, would underpin FusionFabric.cloud. Shortly afterward, Finastra announced another trio of APAC fintech companies that would leverage its solution to develop and deploy their apps.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • eToro Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange, Expands to U.S.
  • Tradeshift’s Tradeshift Pay to Free Up $9 Trillion in Cash Trapped in Accounts Receivable.
  • International Invoicing Platform from Flywire Emerges from Beta.

Around the web

  • Compass Plus adds interchange functionality to its open development payments platform, TranzAxis.
  • Finastra names Jim Fiesel Managing Director of Capital Markets and Lending Sales for the Americas.
  • eToro to incorporate in Gibraltar to take advantage of new DLT regulatory framework.
  • Neener Analytics completes proof of concept with one of Mexico’s largest credit card issuers.
  • Multiple-time Best of Show winner Ondot Systems announces more than  3,000 financial institutions are offering mobile card controls powered by its technology.

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.

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • Business-only Australian bank Tyro forges partnerships to improve connectivity between POS, apps, and merchants.
  • Finastra appoints Elona Ruka-Wright as its new Chief Risk Officer.
  • Australian FinTech Study Loans partners with Cloud Lending Solutions to build new student loan offering.
  • LendingTree to acquire Ovation Credit Services for total consideration of $20.75 million.
  • Socure secures three new ISO certifications for privacy and security controls.
  • Spreedly to integrate Worldpay’s international payment processing API courtesy of new partnership.
  • Hypepotamous profiles South African authentication specialist Entersekt.

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.