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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Over the weekend we learned that fintech investment in the UK reached $7.2 billion in the first half of 2025. That figure is down slightly from last year’s total of $7.6 billion, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report. Meanwhile, here in the US, President Trump has signed an executive order enabling investors to buy alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies, for their 401(k) retirement savings plans.
Be sure to check back for more fintech news headlines all week long here at Finovate’s Fintech Rundown!
Digital banking
New Zealand-based Co-operative Bank partners with 10x Banking for core replacement.
The news that both eToro and Klarna have put a temporary hold on their separate IPO plans tells you all you need to know about the level of concern over the new Trump Administration trade and tariff policy. Regardless of the next twists and turns in the stock market, Finovate’s Fintech Rundown will be here all week with the latest in fintech news and updates.
Payments
Bluefinboosts security, flexibility with addition of network tokenization to its ShieldConex Tokenization-as-a-Service and Orchestration platforms.
Indian payment orchestration platform Juspayraises $60 million in Series D funding.
Airwallexenables business to receive and hold funds in Israeli Shekels (ILS) via its Global Accounts and multi-currency wallet.
Earnix and digital business and IT services company NTT DATA announced a new collaboration.
The partnership will help property and casualty insurers enhance the pricing, rating, and underwriting process, as well as increase policy personalization.
Israel-based Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016.
Financial services solutions provider Earnix has announced a collaboration with digital business and IT services company NTT DATA. The partnership will enable Earnix to give property and casualty insurance carriers intelligent solutions for pricing, rating, underwriting, and policy personalization. The integration, combined with NTT DATA’s pedigree in data migration, will accelerate insurers’ time to market and enhance their ability to put data to work in fostering innovation.
“We take pride in driving transformative change in the insurance industry with AI-powered solutions,” said SVP of Insurance Services at NTT DATA North America Rob Baughman. “By integrating our products and services, we help clients achieve long-term success and identify opportunities for growth.”
Earnix and NTT DATA are joining forces at a time when the international insurance analytics market is expected to grow from $11 billion, where it stood in 2022, to $35 billion by 2030, an annual rate of more than 15%. Accompanying this growth is an expectation from insurance consumers for products that are more relevant and tailored to their needs. Earnix has leveraged AI to address these preferences, enhancing the rate-making process and creating personalized experiences by incorporating real-time feedback.
“Our partnership with NTT DATA is a game changer for insurers,” Earnix Head of Business Development Ruth Fisk said. “Bringing together their powerhouse expertise in data management and pricing modernization with the strength of the Earnix platform, we can equip insurers with the insight and flexibility to respond quickly to shifting market needs.”
NTT DATA first demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateSpring 2018, and returned the following year to demo its latest innovation at FinovateFall in New York. The Tokyo, Japan-based company serves 75% of the Fortune Global 100 with business and technology services including consulting, data and AI, and industry solutions. NTT DATA also assists in the development, implementation, and management of applications, infrastructure, and connectivity.
Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and founded in 2001, Earnix made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2016. In the years since, Earnix has grown into a major provider of cloud-based intelligent solutions for analytical underwriting, dynamic pricing, product personalization, and customer engagement. The company’s solution for insurers inserts a new SaaS layer into the firm’s existing tech stack, adding both intelligence and agility to the pricing, rating, and underwriting process. For banks and lenders, Earnix offers a digital decisioning solution that enables lenders to manage portfolio risk, loan profitability, origination volume, speed to market, and regulatory compliance.
With customers in more than 35 countries across six continents, Earnix has raised more than $100 million in funding from investors including Vintage Investment Partners and Israel Growth Partners. Insurance and fintech industry veteran Robin Gilthorpe joined the company as CEO in February of last year.
NTT Data’s payments arm, NTT Data Payment Services, announced it has teamed up with risk analytics platform Facctum. The India-based payment company will leverage FacctView, Facctum’s anti-financial crime technology.
FacctView will help NTT Data Payments Services detect and assess sanctions, terrorism financing, and money laundering on its e-commerce platforms. In addition to protecting customers, FacctView’s technology also helps firms stay compliant. Because payment service providers are subject to increased regulation as fraudulent incidents increase, many have invested in risk screening capabilities.
“The payments ecosystem is facing a growing threat from financial criminals,” said Facctum Founder and CEO K.K. Gupta. “This is increasing the need for regulatory and compliance countermeasures. Leaders of PSPs have therefore recognized the vital importance of robust and resilient anti-financial crime technology to meet the challenges of regulatory change and ever-changing risks. I am humbled that NTT Data Payment Services has trusted Facctum technology to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of risk controls.”
Facctum’s FacctView leverages parallel processing technology and relies on a library of risk detection algorithms to detect financial crime risks on a comprehensive scale. FacctView also offers scalable, low-latency batch processing that supports bulk uploads and scheduled batch runs.
“Facctum technology is a great match for the needs of our high-growth and customer-focused PSP business in India,” said NTT Data Payment Services CEO Takeo Ueno. “Its addition to our anti-financial crime defenses shows our commitment to protecting customers and providing the highest standards of compliance effectiveness. This approach extends the capabilities of the business to provide continuous robust compliance whilst also improving the speed of services for customers.”
Facctum was founded in 2021 by former users and architects of financial crime compliance (FCC) technology. The London-based company has operations in Dublin, Johannesburg, Pune, and Bengaluru.
An alum of FinovateFall 2019, NTT Data offers a range of consulting, industry solutions, business process services, IT modernization, and managed services. The Japan-based company has made 26 acquisitions, including NTT Data Payment Services– then known as Atom Technologies. The company is publicly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker TYO:9613.
This week for our Finovate Global Lists feature we congratulate the graduates of Startupbootcamp FinTech Dubai. Eleven startups successfully completed the MENA-based accelerator program in late February, wrapping up the three-month experience with a pitch opportunity before an audience of investors, corporate partners, mentors, and industry analysts.
“As the Demo Day has passed and the 11 startups of our third cohort continue their growth journeys – we are incredibly proud to welcome the 23 amazing founders of these startups as part of our global @sbcFinTech family!” Startupboootcamp Dubai announced via Twitter.
The graduates are:
Finllect: a UAE-based financial wellness app for Gen Zs.
Flaist: a digital transformation platform for banks.
Singular Capital: a digital asset mobile wallet based in Malaysia.
Open CBS: a Hong Kong-based, open and scalable, cloud-based core banking system for smaller FIs.
Absolute Collateral: a digital B2B capital markets trading platform based in the U.K.
Tajjir: a Jordanian startup that offers a stock trading software solution for retail investors.
Aura Technologies: an insurtech firm that enables non-insurance businesses to sell insurance to their customers.
CaaS (Compliance-as-a-Service): a regulatory reporting platform based in the U.K.
Stornest: a UAE-based digital legacy planner to support end of life planning.
Raseed: an investment platform that enables users in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to buy and sell U.S. stocks.
Kilde: a global private debt marketplace headquartered in Singapore.
Startupbootcamp FinTech is conducted in partnership with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Visa, HSBC, and Mashreq Bank. The program is open to fintech startups throughout the MENA region, as well as around the world, and offers expert-led Master Classes, tailored mentorships, as well as coworking space and living expense support for the duration of the program. Participants also benefit from access to corporate partners and an alumni growth program that helps startups remain networked after the program ends.
Since its launch in 2018, more than 30 fintech startups innovating in payments, lending, and Islamic digital banking count themselves as alumni of the accelerator. Startupbootcamp FinTech Dubai is part of an international network with more than 20 industry-focused programs for technology startups. The network boasts 950 startups accelerated – 41% of which were female-led – that have raised a combined $869 million (€ 727 million) in total funding.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Consulting and IT services company NTT Dataannounced the launch of a new digital banking platform today. The new offering, Platea Banking, helps banks with digital transformation while maintaining their legacy technology.
Platea Banking helps retail banks take a platform-based approach to facilitate a customer-centric focus on the banking experience. The new platform offers banks access to NTT Data’s partner ecosystem and modules, including customer onboarding, lending, planning and financial management, card issuing and processing, payments, and others.
The open banking approach allows banks to select the features they need and move quickly through a platform-based approach that doesn’t tie them down to a single vendor.
“Technology plays a central role in helping banks innovate and deliver next-generation banking services to their customers,” said Global Head of NTT DATA’s Open Banking Practice Manuel Romero. “With consumers demanding digital banking experiences, it is imperative that banks act accordingly to respond [to] their needs. Platea Banking has been built to empower banks, providing them with a path to incorporate cloud-native technology to expand their business, as well as the ability to overcome obstacles such as scalability issues, legacy IT and compliance.”
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, NTT Data offers a range of IT services and solutions, including consulting, systems integration, and IT outsourcing, for multiple sectors. A Finovate alum, the company most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2019. Yo Honma is CEO.
IT services provider NTT Data announced today it has acquired NETE, a Virginia-based digital design services firm.
The deal, which marks NTT Data’s 19th acquisition, is set to close for an undisclosed amount later this year. The company will bring on NETE’s 300 employees and will leverage NETE’s expertise in public healthcare to build out its services in that sector. NETE will maintain its branding but will now be known as NETE, an NTT Data Company.
“NETE clients and employees will benefit from access to the vast resources of a top 10 technology and business services provider, including global R&D, infrastructure and investments in digital transformation and innovation,” said Sandeep Somaiya, Managing Director of NETE. “The depth and breadth of NTT DATA’s commercial experience among healthcare providers, health plans and life sciences, as well as its strong reputation in the public sector, will open the door for additional opportunities for NETE customers.”
Somaiya will be a part of the NTT Data public sector leadership team.
A well-established player in the industry, NTT Data was founded in 1988 and has 120,000 employees. At FinovateFall earlier this year, the Japan-based company demoedMirror, a new service that leverages AI to help caregivers make financial, medical, and lifestyle decisions on behalf of their clients.
Temenosintroduces robo-advisor and goal-based investing apps to its Temenos Infinity for Retail Banking.
eTorolaunches the shopping cart portfolio, an investment portfolio with global e-commerce stocks.
Taiwan’s Chailease selectsNICE Actimize for AML compliance program.
Aite Group namesBaker HillNextGen Best-in-Class Commercial Loan Origination System.
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.
Consulting and software development firm NTT Dataannounced it is bolstering its presence in Canada this week with the pending acquisition of IT services and consulting firm Sierra Systems.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed but NTT Data anticipates the acquisition will offer the Tokyo-based company a “significant” presence in Canada. Sierra Systems, which was founded in 1966, also comes with brand reputation and client relationships in addition to new talent in areas such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, and ServiceNow.
“Sierra Systems’ reputation as a trusted advisor in Canada is evidenced by the strength of their client relationships, many of which have spanned decades,” said Bob Pryor, CEO of NTT DATA Services. “With the addition of Sierra Systems’ talented team, we’ll expand our ability to deliver innovation and business outcomes to clients in Canada and extend our North American delivery capabilities. Growth prospects are very strong in Canada, so this is an attractive market as we continue to grow globally.”
Sierra Systems’ 700 Canada-based employees will join the NTT Data team. The transaction is expected to close later this year.
Founded in 1988, NTT Data went public in 1995. The company has 110,000+ employees across Japan, the Americas, EMEA, APAC, and China. Earlier this year, the company acquired DevOps firms MagenTys to complement its existing digital transformation capabilities. At FinovateSpring earlier this year, NTT Data demoed Tready, a social community investment platform.
BioCatchpartners with 7 tier-one Latin American banks.
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.
Kony acquires innovation subsidiary of Umpqua Bank.
Finextra: NTT Dataplans pan-Asian federated trade information platform based on blockchain.
SuperMoney surpasses $1 billion in financing requests
Bluefin and TokenEx partner to strengthen payment security with PCI-validated P2PE and omni-channel tokenization.
ID.melaunches KYC / AML identity verification solution and ID document verification solution.
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.
Tokyo-based consulting and software development firm NTT Data appointed a new CEO this week. The company selected Bob Pryor to take the place of John McCain.
McCain served as CEO since 2010 and was named the company’s new Executive Chairman in April. He will serve on the Board of Directors for NTT Data Corporation.
Pryor, who has been with the company since 2016, steps into the role of CEO after serving most recently as COO. Regarding Pryor’s performance, McCain said, “As COO, Bob played an essential role in setting this strong foundation, including the successful integration of the former Dell Services, and he will do a great job as CEO leading this company and our clients into the future.”
In his new position, Pryor will oversee business operations and is tasked with driving growth. He will also serve on the NTT DATA Services Board of Directors. “We will continue to operate with a client-first approach to advance our clients’ digital agendas, while focusing on operating efficiently and delivering the solutions that drive sustained growth,” Pryor said in the press release.
Founded in 1988, NTT Data has 110,000+ employees across Japan, the Americas, EMEA, APAC, and China. Earlier this month, the company acquired DevOps firms MagenTys to complement its existing digital transformation capabilities. At FinovateSpring earlier this year, NTT Data demoed Tready, a social community investment platform.
