Modernizing Financial Systems: A Strategic Approach to Legacy Transformation and Fraud Prevention

Modernizing Financial Systems: A Strategic Approach to Legacy Transformation and Fraud Prevention

For financial institutions deciding on their modernization strategy, what are the options? Does legacy technology need to be abandoned immediately or entirely? Or are there ways that financial institutions can leverage the infrastructure they have while embracing areas where digital and other modern solutions can bring real efficiency gains?

In this interview, I talk with Casey Ferguson, VP of Marketing at Zoot Enterprises, about the company’s phased approach to modernizing financial systems, integrating legacy technology, and enhancing fraud prevention strategies. Ferguson explains why incremental progress, cross-functional collaboration, and layered fraud defenses are key to effective digital transformation.

“At Zoot we look at modernization this way: It’s not about tearing everything down. When you look at this kind of rip and replace mentality you’ve got to remember that it can be pretty risky, it can be very expensive, and it can be kind of slow, as well. When you think about the pace of change, architecting the perfect environment, the world may have changed by the time you have a perfect picture of all this. So working on things incrementally and in phases can really make a difference.”

Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, and founded in 1990, Zoot Enterprises provides acquisition, origination, and decision management solutions that help financial institutions streamline processes, increase flexibility, and accelerate growth. Zoot offers comprehensive and flexible platforms for numerous specific business operations—from loan origination and data acquisition to fraud detection and prevention.


Photo by Charles Moll on Unsplash

Making Small Business Lending Faster and Fairer: Our Q&A with Adlon Adams of Casca

Making Small Business Lending Faster and Fairer: Our Q&A with Adlon Adams of Casca

The business of helping small businesses secure the capital they need in order to grow is one of the areas in finance where fintech innovation has been most constructive.

In this Women in Fintech interview, conducted in partnership with William Mills Agency, we hear from Adlon Adams, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at business lending innovator Casca. Adams talks about the importance of making financing easier to access for small businesses, and why developing real relationships with customers is key to understanding how to best help them solve their problems and overcome pain points.

Adams also talks about being a woman in leadership in a male-dominated industry and shares her advice for women who are building their careers in similar spaces.

Founded in 2023 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Casca won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024 in San Francisco, and returned to the Finovate stage the following year for FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego. The company’s loan origination platform is used by leading SBA lenders and FDIC-insured banks across the US, including institutions like Live Oak Bank and Huntington Bank.

In August, Casca secured $29 million in Series A funding in a round led by Canapi Ventures. The investment raised the company’s total capital to $33 million.


Tell us about your role at Casca. What drew you to the fintech space, and what excites you about this industry?

Adlon Adams: I serve as both COO and CRO at Casca, which means I support operations, sales, and strategy. It’s the vision of the founders and potential of this company that drew me into fintech.

The U.S. has seen a 45% jump in small business formation over the last decade, but capital access hasn’t kept pace. Casca’s mission is to help fix a broken system—to make business lending faster, fairer, and more accessible. Thanks to the work we’ve done with some of the nation’s leading SBA lenders, small businesses can access capital in a matter of days instead of months. This means businesses can go to their local bank and get what they need from a trusted source and avoid predatory rates and daily payments. I’m motivated by work that makes a tangible difference. 

On a personal note, I’m also proud to work alongside a team of fellow alumni and Stanford graduates. Our AI engineers and banking technology experts have built the first AI-native loan origination system that automates more than 100 manual steps out of old, dated processes.  We get to reimagine financial services in ways that change lives and build dreams.

What has it been like joining a startup in a new industry as one of the first executive hires, especially as a female now holding two leadership roles? What advice would you give to others stepping into executive roles at early-stage startups or in unfamiliar industries?

Adams: As one of Casca’s founding executive members, I’ve worn many hats, and have been stretched in ways I never expected. I’ve felt the weight of being one of the few female voices in leadership conversations. That can be daunting, but it’s also an opportunity to set an example for others and contribute fresh perspectives.

I constantly prioritize and reprioritize business needs, and must be comfortable making decisions with incomplete information. My advice: focus on what truly moves the needle each day, lean into curiosity, and trust that you deserve to be in the room—even if you’re new to an industry. Ask the right questions, surround yourself with people who help you learn, and stay focused on making an impact.

It’s both a challenging and incredibly rewarding experience. Pushing myself outside of my comfort zone is exhilarating; it ensures growth both for me personally and the company.

I understand you’ve spent a lot of time working on-site with banks, seeing their processes and challenges up close. As someone new to fintech, has that hands-on experience helped you learn the space more quickly? Would you recommend that approach to others entering the space?

Adams: That’s a resounding “yes!” I recommend anyone entering fintech get as close as possible to their end users on all levels, including those in the weeds of the day-to-day processes. Immerse yourself in their world, listen, and ask questions. Understanding their processes will enhance your technical knowledge and instill empathy for the people who use your product. The best solutions are built with close partnerships and collaborations like this.

For me, that means working alongside bankers, underwriters, credit analysts, and small business owners. It is invaluable to sit alongside loan officers, watching their workflows, and hearing their frustrations. Working hand-in-hand with banks like Live Oak Bank, the nation’s #1 SBA lender, gave me a front-row seat to how SBA lending works in practice. The experience also shaped Casca’s approach. By sharing in the frustrations of bankers, we designed a system that directly addresses their challenges. When you see how legacy systems force long timelines and delays to capital access, you understand the urgency of enabling same-week approvals and faster closings.

Why did Casca choose to focus on SBA lending? What gaps are you aiming to fill, and where do you see the greatest opportunities and challenges for financial institutions in this space?

Adams: SBA lending is a lifeline for small businesses, but it’s also one of the most complex and underserved segments of financial services. Traditional loan origination systems weren’t designed for SBA programs, leaving banks with slow, manual processes that limit their ability to serve this market. Alternative lenders saw this and built faster options, but often at the cost of predatory interest rates, burdening entrepreneurs with unsustainable debt. It is time to disrupt this market. Our AI-driven platform automates the hundreds of manual steps in SBA workflows and enables banks to serve entrepreneurs with fair, community-based rates at fintech-level speed.

The opportunity for financial institutions is enormous—commercial lending demand has grown 65% in the past decade. By streamlining SBA lending for traditional institutions, entrepreneurs can rely on their trusted financial partners for long-term success. Strengthening these local businesses helps the banks and their local communities in the process.

In your conversations with small business owners and entrepreneurs, what pain points or unmet needs are coming up most often?

Adams: The themes I hear most often are speed and simplicity. Business owners frequently feel forced into high-interest loans because they can’t wait months for a traditional bank process to finish. Start-ups often win new business because of their agility and grit, and they need access to capital to execute at the speed with which they do business. Others describe the SBA application process as overwhelming, with documentation and compliance requirements that take focus away from running their business. They simply don’t have the capacity to tackle such a challenging process.

Thankfully, we can alleviate these pain points, providing small business owners a sustainable path to growth. The impact is evident—banks using Casca are closing loans in days, which simply wasn’t possible with legacy systems.

How do you see small business lending evolving over the next few years, especially as AI continues to advance and gain traction?

Adams: We’re at a pivotal moment. AI is shifting small business lending from being manual and reactive to intelligent and proactive. In the coming years, I expect banks to use AI not just for faster loan processing, but also to better assess risk, personalize offerings, and expand access to credit for underserved groups.

Casca is already showing what’s possible: analyzing thousands of pages of financials in minutes and enabling banks to launch new products in weeks instead of years. With a pace of change this fast, we’ll soon begin to see a growing divide between institutions that embrace modern, AI-driven infrastructure and those still tied to legacy systems.

The winners will be the ones who use AI thoughtfully—enhancing transparency and fairness rather than replacing human judgment. My hope is that this evolution will give small business owners the fast, reliable access to capital they need to focus on building their businesses, rather than financing them. This has the potential to bring a new wave of innovation to the world.

Looking ahead, what’s next for Casca? Are there plans to expand beyond SBA lending? How do verticals like nonprofits and other underserved markets factor into the broader vision?

Adams: Looking ahead, Casca is focused on significant expansion across multiple dimensions. On the product side, the company plans to extend well beyond small business and commercial lending into additional loan categories and products. This expansion will be supported by continued platform enhancements, particularly around automation capabilities with deeper integrations into banking core systems. To support this growth, Casca is scaling its engineering, product, and customer success teams to accelerate product development and improve onboarding capabilities for financial institutions.

Any final advice for women entering fintech or stepping into leadership roles in male-dominated industries?

Adams: Trust your expertise and speak up confidently. You earned your seat at the table—own it. Don’t diminish your contributions or wait for permission to share your insights. Your perspective is valuable precisely because it may differ from the majority voice in the room.

Build genuine relationships, not just networks. Focus on creating authentic connections. The best advocates for change are often those who actively use their influence to amplify others.

Don’t do it alone. Seek out other women in fintech and adjacent industries. These relationships provide not just support, but strategic insight into navigating challenges that may be unique to your experience.

Lead with your values, but be strategic. You can push for change while being pragmatic about how you do it. Pick your battles, but don’t compromise on what matters most to you and your team.

Celebrate your wins—and help others celebrate theirs. In male-dominated spaces, women’s achievements are often overlooked. Make it a point to recognize your own successes and spotlight other women rising in the industry.

Finally, bring others up with you. As you advance, actively mentor, sponsor, and advocate for the next generation of women in fintech. Real change happens when we create pathways for those who follow.


Photo by Kampus Production

Redefining the Small Business Banking Experience: Insights from U.S. Bank’s Shruti Patel

Redefining the Small Business Banking Experience: Insights from U.S. Bank’s Shruti Patel

This article is brought to you in collaboration with Gregory FCA.

AI and personalization are redefining the rules of engagement in business banking. As Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer for Business Banking at U.S. Bank, Shruti Patel (pictured) brings a unique lens to the discussion, drawing from her deep experience in banking, payments, and fintech.

Following her appearance at FinovateFall 2025, we sat down with Shruti to discuss the evolving needs of business customers, the transformative role of AI, and the growing importance of partnerships between banks and fintech.


Tell us a little bit more about your role at U.S. Bank, your title, and what you’re responsible for.

Shruti Patel: I am the Executive Vice President, Chief Product Officer for Business Banking at U.S. Bank. In this role, I oversee services for our small business customers, ranging from $100,000 to up to $50 million in annual revenues, across banking, payments and our full suite of digital capabilities. 

You spoke on the panel about the customer experience revolution. In your view, what do today’s business banking customers expect from their financial partners that they didn’t expect five or ten years ago?

Patel: We consistently hear two key expectations from our small business customers. First, they want banks to deliver best-in-class, highly sophisticated digital capabilities. Nearly 80% of small business customers, including U.S. Bank customers, have time and again told us that they’re expecting their banks to give them a one-stop shop. Many are already banking with us across our deposit products. They engage a lot with our payment products, whether this is small dollar loans, large dollar loans, or credit card solutions, or operating lines of credit. 

But beyond these core services, they increasingly expect seamless, integrated digital experiences. By that, I mean not just dashboards that track transactions, but robust features like money moment insights, best-in-class accounts payable and receivable tools, and embedded payroll capabilities. To address these needs, we recently announced two exciting developments: our new accounts payable solution in partnership with Melio and Fiserv, and embedded payroll capabilities in partnership with Gusto. Both are part of our broader commitment to delivering integrated, end-to-end experiences for small business customers.

AI is everywhere in the conversation this year. Beyond the hype, how are you seeing AI deliver real value to business banking customers, whether through engagement, personalization, or entirely new experiences?

Patel: We are still in the early stages of deploying AI, but we’re already seeing strong impact across several use cases. The first is fraud monitoring and detection—security is top of mind for our business banking customers, and AI has proven valuable for fraud monitoring early detection.

The second area is customer service. While not a new application for AI, we’re using it to transcribe interactions, synthesize information, and provide our service teams with a complete view of the customer relationship. Because business owners are pressed for time, they expect seamless, efficient support from us, and AI helps ensure our teams can respond quickly and effectively. 

We’ve seen a wave of innovation in areas like billpay and payroll, often driven through partnerships between banks and fintechs. Why are these types of collaborations becoming so important for small business banking?

Patel: As I mentioned earlier, small business customers are navigating an unprecedented macroeconomic environment. They’re dealing with tariff pressures and uncertainty, persistent inflation, supply chain disruptions lingering from the pandemic, and ongoing challenges in accessing capital. In this context, anything financial institutions can do to help small businesses operate more efficiently and cost-effectively is critical—not only for their success but also for deepening engagement and trust.

That’s where fintech partnerships have become so important. Business owners often tell us they feel overwhelmed by the number of software options available. They’re looking for simple, integrated solutions that support core needs like cash flow management, accounts payable and receivable, and payroll. For example, if you’re a small business with fewer than 10 employees, you want easy-to-use payroll software that just works.

With this in mind, we’ve anchored our strategy on fintech partnerships and selective acquisitions to create a one-stop shop. We launched embedded payroll capabilities with Gusto, accounts payable solutions with Fiserv in partnership with Melio, and made strategic acquisitions such as talech, a point-of-sale solution, Bento for spend management, and TravelBank, which complements our corporate card offering. Together, these investments strengthen our ability to support small businesses end-to-end.

As you reflect on FinovateFall, what are the biggest themes or innovations you heard about that excite you about the future of business banking?

Patel: For me, the most exciting theme is personalization. I participated in a session on AI and personalization, and it reinforced that while banks and financial institutions have access to strong data, we still have a long way to go in harnessing it effectively. Accompanying customers through their end-to-end journeys and across different stages of the business lifecycle is critical.

For example, the needs of a startup are very different from those of a mature, established business. A startup might be focused on accessing small-dollar loans, while established businesses may require large operating lines to scale and expand. Small businesses need a very simple operating account with some benefits around digital transactions and money movement, but our large customers are looking for robust money movement capabilities and Treasury solutions.

The key is building personalization into these core jobs. Customers frequently ask us: “Should I be using Faster Payments or ACH?” That’s where AI can help, by serving as a product recommender that guides business owners to the right solution based on their specific needs.


Photo by Chris F

Streamly Snapshot: From Data to Dollars—Cash Management and Liquidity Insights

Streamly Snapshot: From Data to Dollars—Cash Management and Liquidity Insights

High-growth companies like those involved in cutting-edge technologies face a wide range of challenges. Effective cash management is one of them. From the appearance of cash flow gaps between cash collection and realizing revenues to the necessity of making significant initial capital outlays for operations, infrastructure, and talent before revenues catch up, high-growth companies often have banking needs that many financial institutions struggle to respond to.

This week, our Streamly Series interview features Christopher Hollins, Global Head of Product Sales and Design at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank. Hollins outlines some of the tactics high-growth companies can rely on in order to better manage cash and make the most of technologies like automation. Hollins also explains how solutions like SVB Go offer these businesses essential insights and streamline cash forecasting and management.

“The challenge is that innovators, entrepreneurs want to do what makes them passionate. And for most people, just like in high school and college, accounting, cash management, managing finances … not exactly the oversubscribed classes. In all seriousness, what companies need to do as they are growing very fast, they’re very focused on revenue-generation, satisfying clients, etc. But in doing that, two other things are happening: cash is moving in and out, and some of that cash could be better used in a number of different circumstances, maybe it could be invested in a different way. There is a lot of ‘lack of discipline,’ but I wouldn’t say that’s because people are purposely trying to do that. They are focused on running their businesses.”

Silicon Valley Bank brings more than 40 years of experience as a financial partner for the innovation economy. The company serves innovation economy companies and investors with business banking, liquidity management, global business solutions, and fund banking. With deep sector expertise in enterprise software, frontier tech, cleantech and sustainability, as well as fintech, SVB counts 60% of all fintechs on the 2025 Forbes fintech list and 40% of the Forbes 2025 AI list among its clients.

Head of Global Product Sales and Delivery at Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, Christopher Hollins has played a key role in transforming the platform’s solution delivery model to ensure that SVB’s Commercial Bank Innovation economy clients have access to the best partners and solutions to solve business challenges and have optimal banking relationships along their journey. Hollins has been a part of SVB since 2021.


Photo by Will Francis on Unsplash

Streamly Snapshot: From Experimentation to Execution—AI Deployment in the Financial Sector

Streamly Snapshot: From Experimentation to Execution—AI Deployment in the Financial Sector

What does it take for financial institutions interested in AI technology to move from the point of experimentation to actual execution?

In this Streamly Snapshot interview, conducted at FinovateSpring in San Diego, California earlier this year, Global Director of VASS Financial Services Javier Pérez García talks about what financial institutions need to know in order to make the most of their investments in AI and how VASS is leveraging AI to transform and enhance financial services. García also talks about the value of execution relative to experimentation and shares his thoughts on real-world AI technology deployment in fields such as fraud prevention and compliance.

“You only get to that space where you are jumping from experimentation to execution if you align three major skills: one, deep knowledge of the technology … the second is knowledge of financial services, something the financial entities already have covered. But they don’t have enough experience, this is the third skill, of deploying AI. Why is this important? You might decide the right use case, but maybe you don’t have enough data, maybe the expectations that have been generated inside the organization are too high … You need the experience of someone else to help you … to define and identify if that investment is going to come in the first weeks of the project.”

VASS is an international digital transformation company that helps people, organizations, and businesses around the world provide best-in-class digital solutions to customers in banking, insurance, telecommunications, retail, media, public administration, and more. Founded in 1999, the company is based in Madrid, Spain.

Javier Pérez García is Global Director at VASS Financial Services, a team of experienced professionals with track records in helping fintechs, banks, and insurers modernize and reach their technological transformation goals. García has deep expertise in financial services IT architecture, AI deployment, and compliance-driven digital transformation strategies. He leads global modernization programs for banks and fintechs, aligning complex tech initiatives with regulatory requirements and helping institutions scale AI from pilot to production.


Photo by Michal Czyz on Unsplash

Talking Fintech: A Preview of Interviews, Q&As and Conversations from FinovateSpring

Talking Fintech: A Preview of Interviews, Q&As and Conversations from FinovateSpring

Over the three days of FinovateSpring earlier this month, Finovate analysts and their partners hosted a number of off-stage interviews with CEOs of demoing companies, keynote speakers, event sponsors, and more. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll begin rolling out these conversations here on the Finovate blog as part of our Streamly Speaker Series interviews.

For now, here’s a quick preview of what we’ve got in store for you:


Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn in conversation with:

John Iannarelli, The Voice of Cyber & Security, FBI John

Rob Thatcher, Founder and CEO, BankShift

Yamini Sagar, CEO and Founder, Instarails

Javier Pérez García, Global Director, VASS Financial Services


Research Analyst David Penn in conversation with:

Bhoomika Ghosh, Senior Tech Product Lead, Amazon Prime

Jim McCarthy, Founder and Chairman, McCarthy Hatch

Jackie Wylie, Head of Marketing, Middesk

Brandon Min, Founder and CEO, Herd Security

Will Dolan, President, TAPP Engine

Aman Kaur, Corporate Sales Manager, Americas, DataSniper

Mohammad Rashid, SVP, Head of Fintech Innovation, Tavant


William Mills, CEO and Creative Director, William Mills Agency, in conversation with:

Adrian Nazari, CEO, Sesame

Christy Wong and Michael Larson, VP of Business Development and COO, covet.life

Sharon Gai, Author, Culture Fluid


Steven Ramirez, CEO of Beyond the Arc, in conversation with:

Christopher Hollins, Global Head of Product Sales and Design, SVB, a division of First Citizens Bank

Alisa Rusanoff, Head of Credit / Trade Finance, Crescendo Asset Management

Streamly Snapshot: Recognizing the Signs of a Financial Crash

Streamly Snapshot: Recognizing the Signs of a Financial Crash

If financial crashes are inevitable, then is there any way to anticipate them and mitigate their negative impacts—to say nothing of preventing them from happening in the first place?

Answering this question is Linda Yueh, Fellow in Economics at Oxford University and author of The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns and How to Prevent Them. In this interview, conducted earlier this year at FinovateEurope, Yueh provides a three-step framework for identifying and mitigating financial crises. She also discusses the relationship between Big Tech, decentralized finance, and traditional finance, and how competition between these forces will foster innovation and economic growth.

Every crisis starts with a bubble, and bubbles repeat themselves mostly because of FOMO, “fear of missing out” … (T)he real danger is if you pile in because of FOMO, and you do it with debt. Because then, when the bubble bursts, that’s the second phase, the resolution. And that’s really challenging because it depends on having credible policies and credible policymakers.

A fellow in Economics at the University of Oxford and an Adjunct Professor of Economics at the London Business School, Linda Yueh is an economist, writer, and broadcaster. Her latest book, The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns and How to Prevent Them, was named to the Financial Times’ “The Best New Books in Economics” roster. Her previous book, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today, was named one of The Times’s Best Business Books of the Year.


Photo by Alexandre Bringer

AI, Empathy, and Leadership: 5 Questions for Tech Product Manager Bhoomika Ghosh

AI, Empathy, and Leadership: 5 Questions for Tech Product Manager Bhoomika Ghosh

AI is reshaping not just products but the very way product teams operate. To explore how the rise of AI is changing the role of the product manager, we sat down with Senior Tech Product Lead Bhoomika Ghosh. to get a better idea of the necessary balance between data and human intuition, and what ethical leadership looks like in the AI era.

A passionate technologist with a background spanning engineering, consulting, and product management, Ghosh has led product innovation at the intersection of AI/ML and customer experience. Her fascination with technology’s ability to solve human challenges began early in her career, wherein as an undergraduate, she developed an application that transformed 2D MRI slices into 3D models, helping doctors accurately identify tumor locations and volumes. This early venture sparked Ghosh’s passion for building technology that creates meaningful impact efficiently, and at scale.

We’re thrilled to feature her insights ahead of her appearance at FinovateSpring, where she will speak on the panel exploring gender diversity and responsible AI leadership.

AI is changing how products are built, but how is it changing how product managers operate? 

Bhoomika Ghosh: The evolution of product management in this AI era has been nothing short of transformative. While our north star as a product manager (PM) remains unchanged—i.e., solving customer problems and delivering utmost value to customers—what has shifted is how we navigate towards that vision with AI. I see two dimensions of AI transformation within the product management space: first, we see a rise in product managers who leverage AI as a productivity accelerator. Tools like Bolt and Cursor are revolutionizing our prototyping capabilities, reducing prototype development cycles from weeks to mere hours, and initial design times by 35%. This efficiency gain allows PMs to invest more time in understanding deeper emotional user needs and ensuring our products create genuine value. Second, we see AI-enhanced PMs, who are using AI to fundamentally transform customer experiences in ways we never imagined. For example, Microsoft’s 365 Copilot leverages AI to revolutionize customer service interactions, which resulted in a 40% reduction in resolution time through AI-powered insights and recommendations. Looking ahead, I see AI enhancing our ability to make better quality and higher quantity decisions faster and evolve with customers in real time to deliver what matters the most to them.

What role does human intuition play in AI product management? 

Ghosh: In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, AI adoption has surged from 33% to 65% in just the past year—making the role of human intuition in product management more crucial than ever. While AI excels at processing vast amounts of data and automating routine tasks, our uniquely human capabilities of judgment, critical thinking, and empathy remain irreplaceable. Take the evolution of customer service chatbots, for instance. While AI can handle >50% of routine inquiries, it’s the human product managers who recognize that customers need occasional human intervention for complex emotional situations, leading to hybrid human and AI solutions. This exemplifies what I call the “PM’s AI Trilogy of Responsibility,” where product managers in the AI world are now responsible to safeguard customer trust, ensure scalable efficiency, and measure genuine success beyond just automation metrics. The irony isn’t lost on me that in pursuing “artificial” intelligence, we’ve heightened the importance of “human” intelligence.

Let’s talk leadership. How do you think the rise of AI is reshaping what good leadership looks like in product and technology teams? 

Ghosh: In the AI era, product and technical leadership demand a fundamental reimagining of how we guide teams and build products. What’s fascinating is that while 92% of global business leaders report positive ROI from their AI investments, success isn’t purely about technological implementation—it’s about creating an environment where both innovation and ethical considerations flourish. We see that the most successful AI products emerge from teams where leaders have mastered the delicate balance between data-driven decision-making and human empathy. Take Netflix’s AI-powered recommendation system, which generates $1 billion in annual value not just through algorithmic excellence, but through leaders who understood the critical intersection of technical capability and user psychology. This exemplifies how modern tech leadership requires a dual focus: pushing technological boundaries while staying deeply anchored in customer impact and responsible AI practices. As we navigate this transformation, I also see good leadership exuded in a way where teams are taught to watch over their shoulders and think beyond the happy path scenarios. For instance, what happens if AI was to fail? What would be your contingency plans? These tenets will help leaders foster an environment where teams feel empowered to innovate responsibly, ensuring our products genuinely enhance human experiences.

Many industries beyond big tech are leveraging AI. What advice would you give to product teams in a traditional industry like finance who are building their first AI-driven solutions? 

Ghosh: The financial sector’s AI transformation offers powerful lessons for product teams embarking on their AI journey. While our brains might be the most sophisticated decision-making system, AI serves as a powerful amplifier of human capabilities, particularly in areas like fraud detection, personalized banking experiences, and risk assessment. In my experience, the key to approaching AI implementation is to solve specific customer pain points, and not solely use it as a technological showcase or a competitive advantage. I suggest AI implementation using a three-pronged approach. First, start with well-defined, high-impact use cases where AI can demonstrably improve customer experience rather than implementing AI for its own sake. Second, build cross-functional teams that blend domain expertise with AI capabilities. For instance, when developing AI-powered fraud detection systems, its combination with financial security expertise and machine learning capabilities enables real-time transaction monitoring and anomaly detection, protecting both customers and institutional integrity. Finally, and most crucially, establish robust feedback loops with your customers early in the development process. I often challenge teams to consider, “How would this feature feel to a user having their worst day?” This perspective is particularly vital in finance, where AI decisions can significantly impact people’s lives. I’ve seen the most successful AI adoption use cases aren’t simply using the technology, but rather building trust through it using transparent, ethical, and user-centric solutions.

Finally, what aspect of FinovateSpring are you most looking forward to? 

Ghosh: I’m particularly excited about participating in the gender diversity panel at FinovateSpring, where we’ll explore the crucial intersection of diverse leadership and responsible AI development across industries. As a woman leader in tech, I advocate that diverse voices in product development aren’t just about equity or quotas, but rather about building better, more comprehensive solutions that serve entire customer bases. Beyond the panel, I’m looking forward to engaging with fellow industry leaders about responsible AI implementation in fintech. As we see AI adoption in financial services growing at an unprecedented rate, the conversations around ethical AI development and secure deployment become increasingly critical. I’m eager to both share insights from successful AI implementations I’ve seen and learn from other organizations’ experiences in navigating this complex landscape.


Don’t miss your chance to hear Bhoomika Ghosh, along with a wide range of other thought leaders and experts, on the FinovateSpring stage next month on May 7 through 9. Tickets are now available!

Managing Third-Party Risk in Financial Services with Jenna Wells of Supply Wisdom

Managing Third-Party Risk in Financial Services with Jenna Wells of Supply Wisdom

The challenge of third-party risk in financial services was one of the biggest stories in 2024. From the fallout from the Synapse bankruptcy to the data breaches at firms such as Fidelity and Finastra, banks, fintechs, and financial services alike have been put on notice to put greater scrutiny on whom and how they forge partnerships.

These challenges have only become more intense this year. While regulations are tightening in Europe and the UK, a more permissive regulatory environment is developing in the US. How can banks, fintechs, and financial services companies navigate this emerging landscape to bring new products and services to customers while ensuring that their data and finances are safe?

We interviewed Jenna Wells, Chief Operating Officer with Supply Wisdom, to talk about the issue of third-party risk management in financial services in 2025. Wells talks about how third-party risk in financial services is evolving, and what companies need to do in order to better manage it.

Headquartered in New York and founded in 2017, Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. The company helps businesses better manage risk and build operational resilience. Supply Wisdom provide continuous full-spectrum third-party and location risk intelligence and risk actions in real-time to prevent disruptions, enhance risk management efficiency, and lower costs. Tom Thimot is CEO.

Our conversation with Jenna Wells is also the final installment of Finovate’s commemoration of Women’s History Month for 2025. Previous interviews include our Q&As with Tracy Moore of Fenergo and with Stav Levi-Neumark of Alta.


What are the current challenges your customers are facing?

Jenna Wells: The biggest challenge our customers face today is the sheer complexity and speed at which third-party risks are evolving. As a whole, companies are under immense pressure to monitor their vendors, suppliers, and other third parties more effectively across financial, cyber, ESG, geopolitical, and operational risk domains without adding significant costs or delays to their business processes. Traditional risk assessment methods, which rely on periodic reviews and self-reported questionnaires, are no longer sufficient in an era where threats emerge in real time and rarely any warning.

Additionally, companies are struggling with regulatory compliance, particularly with new frameworks like DORA in the EU, new AI risks and regulations, and emerging cyber risk mandates. Many organizations simply lack the tools, resources, or expertise to stay ahead of these challenges.

Lastly, the evolving geopolitical landscape and regulatory environment require companies to keep an eye out for location-specific risks on top of the traditional domains. Monitoring third parties alone is no longer sufficient—you must monitor the locations that they are operating from!

Can you talk about the challenge of third-party risk specifically, which became a major concern in 2024?

Wells: Third-party risk became a critical concern in 2024, exposing just how fragile global supply chains can be. This was starkly evident in global events like the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and earthquakes in Taiwan, which disrupted key transportation routes and severely impacted businesses dependent on the affected port. Companies with suppliers, logistics partners, and critical infrastructure tied to these regions faced massive operational slowdowns, financial losses, and regulatory challenges. These disruptions reinforced a key lesson: risks stemming from a single geographic point of failure can have widespread consequences across all industries.

Static, periodic risk assessments are no longer enough. The new standard is continuous, real-time risk monitoring that provides visibility into financial stability, cybersecurity, compliance, and operational resilience—not just for direct suppliers, but across the entire supply network.

This shift is particularly crucial in industries reliant on complex, geographically dispersed supply chains, where a localized disaster—whether infrastructure failure, geopolitical instability, or extreme weather—can ripple outward, affecting entire markets. The challenge is no longer just about assessing third parties. It’s about identifying vulnerabilities deep in the supply chain.

How does Supply Wisdom help companies manage these risks?

Wells: Supply Wisdom provides real-time, AI-driven continuous monitoring across seven critical risk domains: financial, operational, compliance, cyber, sustainability, Nth party, and location-based risks. Instead of relying on outdated, self-reported assessments, or the need to use multiple tools to monitor single domains, we aggregate and analyze data from hundreds of thousands of open sources, giving our customers a live, always-on view of their third-party supplier and critical ecosystem.

By leveraging AI to turn massive amounts of data into actionable intelligence, we enable organizations to identify emerging risks early, mitigate issues proactively, and avoid costly disruptions. Our platform reduces the manual burden of risk management, allowing teams to focus on strategic decision-making rather than chasing data.

Supply Wisdom recently published its top 10 predictions for third-party risk management in 2025. Of those predictions, which do you think is the least conventional?

Wells: One of the more unconventional predictions is the rise of “Nth-party accountability” as a regulatory and business priority. Until now, companies have focused primarily on direct third-party risks, but regulators and stakeholders are increasingly scrutinizing deeper layers of the supply chain. This includes fourth, fifth, and even sixth-party risks.

As supply chains become more interconnected and reliant on subcontractors, understanding who your third parties depend on and where they are located has become just as critical as assessing the vendors themselves. Geographical risks like political instability, natural disasters, regulatory changes, and ESG concerns can have cascading impacts throughout the supply chain, even if they originate at the Nth-party level.

We anticipate that in 2025, organizations will be expected to not only monitor but also take responsibility for the risk posture of their vendors’ vendors. This requires real-time visibility into where these extended third parties operate and the regional risks that may affect them. This shift demands an entirely new approach to risk visibility, and Supply Wisdom is already helping companies address this challenge with location-based monitoring, real-time risk intelligence, and deep Nth-party insights.

What role do technologies like AI and strategies like predictive risk modeling play in Supply Wisdom’s approach to risk management and intelligence?

Wells: AI and predictive risk modeling are foundational to how we help companies stay ahead of emerging threats. Our AI-powered platform continuously scans and analyzes millions of risk signals across financial, cyber, ESG, geopolitical, and operational domains, detecting anomalies and trends that may indicate potential threats before they materialize into full-blown crises.

Predictive risk modeling and trend analysis takes this further by using historical data, machine learning algorithms, and real-time signals to forecast risks before they impact business operations. For example, we can predict financial distress in a vendor before it becomes public knowledge or identify early signs of operational instability in a supplier’s key locations.

In short, Supply Wisdom stands for proactive risk management and innovation. We’re known in the industry as the only full-stack risk intelligence platform that provides real-time, continuous monitoring with actionable insights.

A wave of new regulatory policies is coming, particularly in the EU. Are you optimistic about the new policies? Do you feel as if organizations are ready to comply?

Wells: I am optimistic about these policies because they are pushing organizations towards a higher standard of operational resilience and risk management. Regulations like DORA in the EU are reinforcing the idea that businesses cannot afford to be passive when it comes to third-party risk—they need real-time, continuous oversight. However, I don’t think most organizations are fully prepared for these changes.

 A majority of organizations do not have a complete inventory of their third parties or outsourced services and, without this, they cannot ensure compliance with these regulations. Unfortunately, it’s most likely that these companies still rely on outdated, static assessment models that won’t meet compliance requirements.

The good news is that regulatory clarity is driving investment in solutions like Supply Wisdom, which help organizations not only meet compliance mandates but also improve their overall risk posture in the process.

In the US, there is more uncertainty about which direction regulations are likely to go. What do you see happening with financial services and fintech regulation in the US this year?

Wells: If US firms want to compete and do business in Europe; they need to comply with those specific mandates. But unlike the EU—which has taken a structured approach with DORA—the US regulatory landscape is evolving in a more fragmented manner. However, we expect to see increased scrutiny from agencies like the SEC, OCC, and CFPB on third-party risk, particularly in areas like cyber resilience and AI disclosures.

The financial services and fintech sectors will likely see more pressure around vendor risk management, with a greater emphasis on continuous monitoring, and incident reporting requirements. As regulatory guidance increases, companies will need to be proactive in adopting best practices that align with global compliance trends, rather than waiting for enforcement actions to dictate their next steps.

What are your near-term goals for Supply Wisdom?

Wells: My immediate focus is on accelerating customer adoption of continuous risk monitoring. We want to ensure that organizations not only understand the importance of real-time risk intelligence through continuous monitoring, but also have the tools to integrate it seamlessly into their existing workflows.

Additionally, I’m prioritizing scaling our operations to meet the growing demand for proactive risk management solutions. That means enhancing our AI capabilities, monitoring for AI as an emerging risk, expanding our risk intelligence coverage, and strengthening our partnerships with other industry leaders.

What can we expect from Supply Wisdom in 2025?

Wells: 2025 will be a transformational year for Supply Wisdom and the third-party risk management industry as a whole. We are investing heavily in AI-driven risk prediction, enhanced regulatory compliance automation, and planning ways to go deeper and wider into Nth-party risk visibility.

You can also expect to see more partnerships with technology and service providers to create a more integrated risk management ecosystem. Our goal is to make continuous risk monitoring the new standard, so that businesses can operate with greater confidence, resilience, and agility in an increasingly complex world.


Photo by FlyD on Unsplash

Women in Fintech: Talking Innovation, Compliance, and Mentorship with Fenergo’s Tracy Moore

Women in Fintech: Talking Innovation, Compliance, and Mentorship with Fenergo’s Tracy Moore

The rage over regtech is real. In response to growing customer demands, emerging financial crime threats, and attempts by regulatory bodies to manage both of these developments, the field of regulatory compliance has never been more topical in financial services.

To this end, we interviewed banking and financial services compliance veteran Tracy Moore. Director of Thought Leadership & Regulatory Affairs at Fenergo, Moore joins the Finovate blog to provide her perspective on the regulatory environment for banks, fintechs, and financial services companies in 2025.

As part of Finovate’s commemoration of Women’s History Month, we also discuss issues of gender diversity in banking and financial services, and the role of mentorship in helping foster future leaders in the industry.


Can you tell us a little about yourself and the work you do at Fenergo?

Tracy Moore: I began my career in corporate legal training, specializing in finance and treasury transactions. My journey took me to Europe, where I transitioned into banking, spending much of my career in legal and compliance roles at global financial institutions. Upon returning to the U.S., I continued this path at a super-regional bank, gaining extensive experience in regulatory compliance and financial crime risk management.

Today, I serve as the Director of Thought Leadership & Regulatory Affairs at Fenergo, the global leader in Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) technology for financial institutions. In this role, I focus on financial crime risk management, regulatory change, and digital transformation, helping institutions solve for complex regulatory environments while enhancing operational efficiency.

I am deeply passionate about influencing industry change and driving technological advancements that make the financial sector safer and more resilient. My work involves collaborating with global regulators, financial institutions, and technology providers to develop innovative solutions that protect the industry against financial crime. I help connect regulation and technology to shape the future of compliance and risk management in today’s financial landscape.

What is it about the field of banking compliance that you find most interesting professionally?

Moore: I find it fascinating how geopolitical events shape the global financial industry, influencing not just regulatory frameworks but also presenting new challenges, such as financial crime and evolving risk landscapes. Today’s economy is so interconnected, and this means that financial institutions must constantly shift to address challenges such as sanctions, emerging threats, and evolving compliance requirements.

What truly interests me is the delicate balance financial institutions must strike meeting regulatory expectations, staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated bad actors, driving revenue growth, and ensuring safe financial services for their clients. Achieving this balance requires a combination of strategic foresight, innovation, and collaboration across the industry. Everyday has a new perspective and new challenges.

How has banking compliance changed over the course of your career in the industry?

Moore: Looking back over the past 25 years, the evolution of banking compliance has been nothing short of dramatic. When I started my career, compliance was often seen as a back-office function, more about checking boxes than driving change. Fast forward to today, and compliance has become a core pillar of financial institutions, shaping everything from risk management to customer experience.

One of the biggest shifts of course has been technology advancements. Alongside this, the sheer pace and complexity of regulatory change. Events like 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, and major geopolitical shifts have completely reshaped the regulatory landscape. We’ve moved from more localized, paper-based processes to a hyper-digital, data-driven, and globally interconnected approach to compliance.

As a woman in this industry, I’ve also witnessed the growing role of diverse leadership in compliance and risk management. The field has evolved beyond traditional legal and audit backgrounds to welcome technologists, data analysts, and strategic thinkers, many of whom are women bringing fresh perspectives to a historically male-dominated space.

Issues (and innovation) in banking compliance have never been more top of mind. How have we arrived at this point, and is it a good thing for banks and their customers?

Moore: We’re here because the stakes have never been higher. Over the past two decades, a mix of financial crises, evolving threats, digital disruption, and geopolitical shifts has pushed compliance to the forefront. Regulators have responded with increasingly complex expectations, bringing the role of compliance into strategic planning for financial institutions.

This pressure has fuelled innovation.

AI, automation, and data analytics are transforming compliance, reducing manual processes, improving risk detection, and enhancing the customer experiences. Banks are now able to onboard clients faster, monitor activity in real time, and anticipate threats before they escalate.

For banks, it’s both a challenge and an opportunity. Compliance is tougher than ever, but those who embrace technology can gain a competitive edge. And for customers stronger compliance means better security, smoother transactions, and more trust in the system.

Seeing this shift firsthand is what lead me to make the decision to leave the traditional compliance role in banking and join Fenergo because I knew technology would be the driving force behind the future of compliance, and I wanted to be part of this transformation.

How do AI and automation create new compliance challenges for banks? In what ways can firms use these technologies to address compliance issues?

Moore: AI and automation can streamline compliance, but they also raise concerns both from regulators and banks themselves. Many institutions are skeptical, worrying about black-box decision-making, regulatory scrutiny, and potential biases.

The key challenge is explainability. Regulators need to understand how AI-driven decisions are made, so firms must prioritize transparency, clear documentation, and strong oversight.

That said, when used responsibly, AI can enhance risk detection, automate manual tasks, and improve compliance efficiency. The solution lies in communication by working with regulators to ensure AI models are interpretable, auditable, and aligned with compliance standards.

What areas of banking compliance do you think deserve more attention than they are getting?

Moore: Emerging digital assets and global regulatory alignment are two areas that need far more attention in banking compliance. The rapid rise of crypto, tokenization, and digital payments has outpaced regulatory frameworks, leaving financial institutions in a tough spot. How do you innovate while staying compliant in an environment where the rules are still being written? Without clear, consistent guidelines, banks are hesitant to fully engage, creating uncertainty for the entire industry.

At the same time, jurisdictional differences make compliance incredibly burdensome in today’s global economy. Financial crime doesn’t stop at borders, but regulations do, forcing banks to navigate a patchwork of requirements that slow down operations and increase costs. More global alignment and collaboration between regulators could ease this burden, ensuring that compliance is both effective and practical in a world where money moves faster than ever.

And lastly, the evolving nature of financial crime. Criminals are getting more sophisticated, using everything from deepfake identities to crypto mixing services to evade detection. Compliance programs need to move beyond traditional rule-based approaches and embrace real-time, predictive intelligence to stay ahead.

What are your thoughts on the progress made—or not made—toward greater gender diversity in banking in recent years? Are you optimistic about the future of women in banking, particularly in areas like compliance?

Moore: Women in banking, especially in compliance, have made progress, but not nearly enough. Too often, diversity is overlooked as a business advantage instead of recognized for the value it brings. In today’s geopolitical and financial environment, organizations need diverse perspectives to navigate risk and drive innovation, yet those perspectives are still dismissed.

Despite this, I am optimistic. Women are smart, resilient, and persistent. We continue to prove our expertise in ways that cannot be ignored. Compliance is an area where women thrive because it demands strategic thinking, problem-solving, and leadership under pressure.

Real change will happen when companies move beyond surface-level efforts and embrace diversity as a competitive advantage. Women will keep breaking barriers, whether the industry is ready or not.

Mentorship can play a key role in helping women entering financial services or launching fintechs. Did mentorship play a significant role in your early career? What message would you give to banking and financial services professionals when it comes to sharing their insights and experience as mentors?

Moore: Mentorship has been invaluable in my career. I have always sought out mentors and sponsors—both men and women—who could guide my development and challenge me to grow. Beyond that, I have chosen a personal board of directors: female professional leaders across various industries who have provided insight, support, and perspective at every stage of my journey.

For those in banking and financial services, mentorship is more than just giving advice or sharing a coffee. It is about opening doors, advocating for talent, and sharing real, honest experiences. The next generation of female leaders is watching and learning. It is up to us to make sure they feel supported, empowered, and ready to step forward.


Photo by Scott Webb

Finovate Global: Boku’s Stuart Neal Talks About Local Payment Methods, EPI, and More!

Finovate Global: Boku’s Stuart Neal Talks About Local Payment Methods, EPI, and More!

What happens when an ongoing revolution in payment innovation meets a regulatory regime determined to ensure secure and safe transactions for individual consumers, business entities, and even governments? This is the payments landscape in the UK and EU in 2025. As a proliferation of payment options promises to streamline banking and commerce, regulators, fintechs, and financial services companies are looking for ways to make sure that the challenges to these new payment options—from technical complexity to new forms of fraud and financial crime—are met.

To discuss these and other issues involving payments and the emerging regulatory environment, we caught up with Stuart Neal, Chief Executive Officer of Boku. Appointed CEO in January of 2024, Neal previously served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer of Boku’s Identity Division. A champion of payment choice, Boku supports a global network of localized payment solutions, including Direct Carrier Billing (DCB), digital wallets, and account-to-account connections. Founded in 2008, Boku is headquartered in London.


Local Payment Methods (LPMs) have proliferated around the world over the past decade. Socially and technologically, what has powered this growth?

Stuart Neal: Local Payment Methods (LPMs) have had a meteoric rise over the past decade. It’s hard to overstate what a significant and rapid change we’ve seen, and behind it are two main driving forces: changing consumer preferences and rapid technological innovation.

Payments as an industry is finally beginning to reflect the diversity of people’s preferences around the world. And that’s a really positive development. It’s fair to say that traditional financial systems left many people and communities underserved, but LPMs—from mobile wallets in Africa to RTP schemes like UPI in India—bridge this gap, and they’re empowering billions of consumers to participate in the digital economy. This financial inclusion is great for society, for merchants and for the payments industry as a whole. 

At Boku, we want to be at the heart of this transformation. People just want convenience, and we’re here to help them buy what they want, the way they want. With one of the biggest LPM networks in the world, we’re making it easier than ever for global merchants to meet consumers where they are. 

Looking at Europe specifically, what role has the European Payments Initiative (EPI) played in driving this trend?

Neal: While still in its early stages, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) is playing a crucial role in reshaping the EU payment landscape. Its focus on creating a unified, pan-European payment solution, fostering instant payments, acquiring established players like iDEAL and Payconiq, and advocating for regulatory changes positions it as a future leader in European payments. By competing with global giants, EPI is pushing Europe toward a more integrated, efficient, and competitive payment system. However, full market transformation will likely take a few more years, with real change expected in 2025.

So far the EPI has excelled in laying the groundwork for this payments evolution by clearly articulating its vision and aligning strategically with the key pillars of ecommerce. By fostering strong relationships with merchants, PSPs, and issuing banks, EPI is now in a great position to effect significant change and shape the future of digital payments across Europe.

Part of this was the launch of the real-time payment system Wero last summer. Can you tell us a little about the significance of the Wero launch and how adoption has been so far?

Neal: The Wero Wallet, launched by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), serves as a strong entry into the EU market with the goal of unifying Europe’s fragmented payment landscape. Initially focusing on person-to-person (P2P) payments, Wero will expand to e-commerce in 2025 and in-store payments by 2026, offering various options such as instant payments, installment plans, and subscriptions. With the acquisitions of Dutch payment solution iDEAL and Luxembourg-based Payconiq International or the transition of the former Paylib P2P user base in France to Wero, EPI / Wero is well-positioned for success. However, EPI has opted for a phased market rollout, like what we have seen by other payment schemes in the past, starting with smaller-scale P2P launches in countries like Germany and France, while the true transformation is expected to unfold in 2025. Notably, these acquisitions continue to operate under their original brands, allowing for organic user growth before transitioning fully to Wero.

Has adoption of Wero been uniform across Europe or have some markets remained more reluctant? What distinguishes the eager adopters from the more cautious?

Neal: This is an interesting question, and one that will be clearer by the end of 2025, when we can fully assess the impact of Wero’s initial e-commerce launches. However, what we can say so far is that Wero’s adoption has been strongly shaped by key market dynamics. Starting in July 2024, users of participating German banks were able to sign up for Wero, with Belgium following suit by the end of 2024, also seeing gradual, organic growth. Around the same time, Wero benefited from a significant boost in France, where the transition from Paylib to Wero provided a built-in user base of approximately 35 million registered Paylib users. Looking ahead, the exit of local payment schemes like Giropay in Germany is expected to reshape the competitive landscape, presenting new opportunities for Wero to establish itself as a leading player in the market.

What can be done to encourage broader acceptance of solutions like Wero and less reliance on cards?

Neal: Accessibility is key to the adoption of anything. And if solutions like Wero are to be more broadly adopted, they must become more accessible for consumers and merchants. So to start with we need to integrate these solutions seamlessly into merchant payment ecosystems and do so in a way that matches–or ideally betters–the convenience of cards. You need a frictionless experience for people on both sides of the counter, as it were, if you want to drive adoption.

And then trust.  When it comes to sending and receiving money, trust is non-negotiable. Wero and other solutions like it must be really secure, have robust fraud prevention, and partner with regulators to ensure compliance. When consumers and businesses feel confident, they’ll naturally shift to these modern, local payment methods.

The final piece is education and awareness. A lot of consumers, especially in places like the UK and the US, stick to cards out of habit. If it’s familiar and it works, why change right? That being said, in the last year we’ve seen a huge shift in payment habits and greater awareness and adoption of alternatives. Research by Juniper reveals that 60% of all ecommerce transactions will happen via local payment methods by 2028. To put that into context, it’s equivalent to $7 billion a year flowing through hundreds of different payment methods and away from the legacy card networks. Merchants and payment providers need to highlight the benefits of solutions like Wero—whether it’s lower fees, faster transactions, or better alignment with local preferences.

You have just concluded your first year as CEO of Boku. What are your biggest takeaways from the first year and what are you hoping for in 2025?

Neal: It’s been a whirlwind year for sure. I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made, which has been underpinned by the demand for more convenient payment solutions from consumers. From where we were at the start of 2024, we’ve positioned ourselves as one of the world’s largest and most innovative global networks for Local Payment Methods with significant expansion in key global markets and more significant launches planned for this year.

I think my biggest takeaways would be the size of the opportunity for LPMs and the interwoven nature of the industry. Collaboration is so important, between merchants, PSPs, local payment providers, and indeed consumers. All of these need to be on the same page for digital commerce to flow smoothly, which is why the breadth and depth of our network is so important. 

Looking ahead to 2025, ecommerce is going to continue to grow as you’d expect. Research that we’ve commissioned actually estimates that the industry will reach an astonishing $10.6 trillion in value by 2028 (from $5.75 trillion today). Local payment methods are no longer an alternative, they are mainstream. For my part, and for Boku, our focus will be on continuing to innovate and scale our offering across Europe, APAC, Africa and Middle East, as well as some exciting planned launches for Latin America, all as part of our push and our mission to give people the freedom to buy what they want, the way they want.


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company Perfios acquired financial crime detection and risk management platform Claris5.
  • Pakistan fintech ABHI launched its microfinance bank.
  • Indian insurtech InsuranceDekho raised $70 million in a funding round co-led by existing investors including Beams Fintech Fund and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

  • CTBC Bank Philippines turned to Hitachi Asia to upgrade its digital corporate banking platform.
  • inDrive partnered with Fingular to launch its inDrive.Money solutions for customers in Indonesia.
  • Malaysia’s central bank and finance ministry granted licenses to a pair of new digital banks: KAF Digital Berhad and YTL Digital Bank Berhad.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Flutterwave secured a payment system license from the Bank of Zambia.
  • The Bank of Ghana and the National Bank of Rwanda inked an MoU to provide companies with a license passporting framework and cross-border payment interoperability.
  • Nigerian fintech ProsperaVest EGG introduced eNsc, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Nigerian Naira.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuanian identity verification service iDenfy announced a partnership with Highvibes to help protect artists from fraud.
  • Online payment and checkout solutions provider Montonio expanded its partnership with Inbank to bring BNPL and Hire Purchase options to customers in Latvia and Lithuania.
  • Austrian Reporting Services (AuRep) teamed up with the Nasdaq to provide regulatory reporting technology and support to companies in Austria’s financial services industry.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE fintech Flow48 raised $69 million in combined debt and equity funding.
  • Egyptian fintech Khazna secured $16 million to power its expansion into Saudi Arabia.
  • Sadad teamed up with Mastercard to enhance digital payments in Qatar.

Photo by Peter Spencer

Streamly Snapshot: Overcoming Increased Regulatory Scrutiny on Financial Promotions

Streamly Snapshot: Overcoming Increased Regulatory Scrutiny on Financial Promotions

The regulatory landscape for financial promotions has become increasingly complex as regulators focus on ensuring that promotional materials are fair, transparent, and compliant. Today, both banks and fintechs are having to take a new approach to how they create, approve, and distribute promotional content to avoid regulatory breaches and potential penalties, while still conveying their messaging.

In this exclusive interview recorded at FinovateEurope last week, Sage Franch, CEO of PromoComply, shares her insights into how firms can navigate this increased scrutiny, the importance of real-time compliance monitoring, and how technology is transforming the way financial promotions are managed.

“Regulators are really cracking down on non-compliant financial promotions,” said Franch. “And every financial organization that markets a financial product here in the UK has to comply with these. If they don’t, illegal financial promotion is a criminal offense and so the potential consequences are huge.”

PromoComply offers a comprehensive compliance automation platform designed specifically for the financial services sector, helping firms streamline the review and approval process for financial promotions. The platform uses AI-driven content analysis to automatically flag potential compliance risks, reducing the manual burden on compliance teams while enabling faster marketing campaign approvals. By integrating with existing content management systems, PromoComply ensures that compliance is embedded into every step of the promotional lifecycle.

As CEO and Co-Founder of PromoComply, Sage Franch brings a unique blend of technological expertise and regulatory insight to the world of financial services marketing compliance. With a background in software development and product management, Franch helps banks and fintechs leverage technology to simplify complex regulatory processes.


Photo by Polina Tankilevitch