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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
ACI Worldwidemakes strategic investment in Indian digital payments company Mindgate Solutions.
Currencycloud and VISAforge partnership to fuel innovation in cross-border and travel payments.
Trulioopartners with Refinitiv to improve access to digital identity solutions.
German open digital identity scheme yes.com to integrate into Signicat’sDigital Identity Platform.
Splititappoints former Intuit and PayPal Exec to lead North American operations.
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.
Financial services provider FIS and Visaformed an alliance today. Through the partnership, FIS’ commercial bank clients will have access to Visa’s B2B Connect, a tool that offers a fast and transparent way to process high-value corporate, cross-border payments.
“The combination of FIS’ global customer base and leadership in commercial payments and Visa’s extensive experience as a payment processing network, creates a strong partnership for adding value to the multinational commercial value chain,” said Raja Gopalakrishnan, International Head of Banking and Payments for FIS Global Financial Solutions.
Launched earlier this year, Visa B2B Connect is a suite of APIs that leverages the blockchain to offer banks a business-to-business payment solution. The distributed ledger-based tool facilitates faster transaction times for cross-border and cross-currency payments, reducing transaction times from weeks to one-to-two days.
“Innovation in cross-border B2B payments is long overdue. Visa’s core strategy is to help clients and partners drastically improve their customers’ friction-filled experiences,” said Kevin Phalen, global head of Visa Business Solutions. “We are excited to continue building momentum for Visa B2B Connect and to bring speed, efficiency and transparency to our financial institution clients through our partners, like FIS, who help make transacting on our platform more accessible and seamless.”
FIS most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2016. The company debuted its Cardless Cash solution that provides fast, secure options for sending and picking up cash at any ATM. Headquartered in Florida, FIS’ solutions move $9 trillion each year for 20,000 clients in 130 countries.
Visa demoed at FinovateSpring 2010 and also showcased at our developers conference in 2014. The company has 39 APIs that offer developers tools for commercial payments, data and analytics, identity an security, offers and benefits, payments, and more.
Ixarisadds new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Georg von Breven and Commercial Director Sean Ashton.
FICOunveils the latest version of its Decision Management Platform, FICO DMP.
Visalaunches a suite of beta APIs and tools to help developers design and test payment solutions.
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.
Small business financial services tools provider Waveannounced this week it partnered with Visa to help small business owners iron out their cash flow.
The two have teamed up to launch Instant Payouts, a tool that allows businesses to access the money they’ve earned as soon as they’ve earned it. Without having to wait for typical payment processing times, small businesses can use their funds immediately to grow their businesses or pay invoices.
“Small businesses depend on cash flow to survive,” said Les Whiting, Chief Financial Services Officer at Wave. “Often they have to wait two banking days or more for their payments to process through traditional banking methods.”
Instant Payouts integrates Wave’s invoicing and accounting tools with Visa Direct to give small business clients access to funds when they need them– even in the evening, on weekends, and on holidays. With Instant Payouts, customers with Visa and Mastercard debit cards will have access to their funds within 30 minutes.
Wave’s Instant Payouts interface
Businesses that choose to take advantage of Instant Payouts can redeem any amount of pending funds over $25. Wave charges a 1% fee for the service in addition to its standard processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30.
Instant Payouts was launched in beta to a select group of small business owners at the start of 2019. Wave will roll it out to more clients in the U.S. and Canada later this year.
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Canada, Wave demonstrated its financial management software for small businesses in conjunction with Royal Bank of Canada at FinovateFall 2017.
PayActiv and Visa Help Workers Access Earned Wages Earlier.
TemenosDrives Digital Transformation for Africa’s Vista Bank.
iSignthisInks Banking and Payments Deal with Ibanera.
Around the web
BioCatchadds touchscreen pressure as a new behavioral biometric value.
NCR, Bluefin, and Powertranz team up to support POS card processing for Caribbean quick serve restaurants.
Experianlaunches Singapore-based incubator, Experian X Labs.
ETFLogicunveilsETFLogic Pages, a new platform for analyzing exchange-traded funds.
Minna Technologies and Exateearn spots in the fourth edition of ING’s FinTech Village.
BlueRushdeploys its Individeo platform with a large Colombian bank courtesy of a partnership with Bee Concept.
Inspire Federal Credit Union goes live with NYMBUS.
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.
Featurespacebrings its anti-fraud technology to Singapore.
Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky urges UK government to provide special tech visa to ensure London’s status as a “fintech powerhouse” after Brexit.
Fiserv helps Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank centralize its currency management process.
Bottomline Technologiespartners with UMB Financial to offer Visa-powered payables solution to customers in the U.S.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Ten African subsidiaries of Societe General to benefit from enhanced payment processing capabilities courtesy of new partnership with HPS.
South African challenger bank TymeBank moves toward a formal launch in late February.
The IMF blog reviews the prospects for fintech innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Central and Eastern Europe
Fintech Futures interviews Pavel Novak, CEO of Czech Republic-based P2P lender, Zonky.
Saudi Arabia banking regulator opens regulatory sandbox to test fintech solutions.
Central and South Asia
State Bank of India to help finance digital invoice discounting marketplace, Invoicemart.
The Daily Star considers the “promise of fintech” for Bangladesh.
Reliance Realty announces plans for a fintech center in Navi Mumbai, India.
Latin America and the Caribbean
PYMNTS.com looks at the Mexican government’s efforts to leverage fintechs to help make it easier and less expensive for Mexicans living abroad to send money home.
Brazilian SME lender Adianta raises $2.18 million ($8 million reals) in round led by DGF Investimentos.
Colombian fintech Open Vector signs memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support development of open banking in South America.
Asia-Pacific
Ant Financial to acquire UK currency exchange firm, WorldFirst in $700 million deal.
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) to debut its digital bank, TMRW, in Thailand.
Visaannounces plans for an innovation center in South Korea.
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
Visatakes minority stake in Indian payment gateway BillDesk.
Swift India partners with MonetaGo to pilot blockchain-based banking.
India FinTech Forum (IFF) announced the 20 companies recognized at its India FinTech Awards (IFTA), including Finovate alums Hydrogen, iProov, Ocrolus, and James Finance.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Elevar Equity leads $5.25 million investment round for Uruguayan fintech, Bankingly.
Banco Original, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based FI, to deployFICO Origination Manager and FICO Application Fraud Manager.
First Data launchesClover Mini and Clover Flex in Argentina.
Asia-Pacific
Finastragives Singapore banks top marks in its inaugural Open Banking Readiness Index.
FinLab accelerator introduces its smart business transformation program for Thailand small businesses.
SmartPesa brings its softPOS contactless card acceptance via NFC phone running Android – to Singapore and South East Asia.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South African financial services company, Discovery, to launch “behavioral bank.”
Nigeria’s central bank proposes fintech licensing regime to help manage cyber risk, capital adequacy, and operational oversight issues.
A “hands-off” attitude toward regulation is credited for helping boost Uganda’s emergent fintech sector.
Alternative small business lending platform Behalf has benefitted from its ties with Visa this week. The New York and Israeli-based company announced it landed an undisclosed amount of funding from the payments giant, marking Visa’s first investment in an Israeli company.
The investment will be added to Behalf’s previous total funding of $306 million in combined debt and equity. As part of today’s deal, Visa will have access to Behalf’s small business clients to market its tokenized Visa Virtual Card, a payment solution that offers businesses instant financing for business purchases. Visa will begin marketing the card in the U.S. and expand to more markets later this year.
“Our network of B2B merchants can fit Behalf seamlessly into their eCommerce flow, receive payment immediately and provide their business customers with more buying power and flexible payment options at checkout,” said Benjy Feinberg, Behalf CEO. “We are proud to partner with Visa with the goal of making purchases easier.”
The partnership is part of Visa’s strategy to promote its products through collaborations with startups and fits with the company’s commitment to invest up to $100 million in fintechs. Shahar Friedman, acting general manager for Visa in Israel, described small businesses as being “the backbone” of the global economy. “This partnership is a result of a close collaboration between the Visa Innovation Studio Tel Aviv and the dynamic Israeli start-up ecosystem to bring the power of the VisaNet global network to promising young companies in Israel such as Behalf,” he added.
Founded in 2012, Behalf offers short-term purchase financing for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Unlike other alternative SMB lenders such as Kabbage or OnDeck, Behalf does not issue funds directly to the SMB. Instead, the startup pays the small business’ vendors on the SMB’s behalf. Having flexibility in repaying their suppliers helps merchants increase their production and ultimately grow their business.
Feinberg showcased Behalf’s vendor payment platform at FinovateFall 2014. Since then, the company has partnered with FinWise bank to offer SMB clients a broader range of financing solutions and, earlier this year, secured $150 million in debt financing.
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.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mookh Africa, a fintech startup from Kenya that has developed a social business payments solution, winsVisa’s Sub Saharan Africa Everywhere Initiative contest.
Techpoint declares 2018 The Year of the Nigerian Fintech Startup.
Temenostaps Alexandre Menage as new Head of Sales for Africa.
Central and Eastern Europe
Equities.com reviews the 10 Hottest Places to Launch a Fintech Startup in Central and Eastern Europe.
Total Croatia News looks at money transfer startup, Aircash, which has gained 15,000 users in the first 12 months of operation.
Ukraine’s Financial Stability Council issues digital currency regulating document as popularity of crytocurrency trading in the country grows.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Salaam Gateway discusses how Dubai’s FinTech Hive supports Islamic fintech with the organization’s executive Vice President, Raja Al Mazrouei.
UAE-based merchant acquirer Network International introduces e-commerce platform for SMEs.
Daily Sabah looks at venture investment in Turkey in the first half of 2018.
Central and South Asia
Aurora talks with President and CEO of Telenor Bank, Shahid Mustafa about microfinance and e-commerce in Pakistan.
Onfido to Secure Drivers for India’s Largest Rideshare Company.
Fortune India interviews PayU India’s CEO Amrish Rau.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Incoming cohort for Startupbootcamp FinTech’s second Latin America-oriented program features fintechs from Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru.
The Sociable profiles Microsoft-backed Imagine Lab Chile.
PYMNTS.com looks at how financial institutions in Latin America are coping with cyber fraud.
Asia-Pacific
Truliooextends its identity and business verification service to the Philippines.
PersoneticsScores Minority Stake Investment from United Overseas Bank.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority unveils Open API framework.
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.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian card processor Conductor to deploy 3D Secure authentication technology from TAS Group later this fall.
Distributed check capture specialist Panini and technology distributor J. Fleischman team up to bring check truncation to Paraguay.
Visa introduces loyalty program available to issuing banks in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Asia-Pacific
TransferWiseopens office in Hong Kong as part of expansion into Asia.
AsiaCollect, a credit management services provider based in Singapore, raises $4.5 million in funding.
Foreign exchange and international payments company, Frontierpay, opens Asian headquarters in Singapore.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South African fintech walletdoc partners with EasyPay to make it easier for consumer to pay monthly subscriptions and utilities.
Digital Experience Specialist ConfigoLaunches Cloud Environment.
Around the web
Spanish bank IberCaja deploys digital banking technology from Meniga.
Fiserv to help prepare European banks for transition to real-time payments.
BBVA and Samsung partner to bring iris scanning technology to smartphones.
VISAannounces bank partnerships in preparation for Visa B2B Connect commercial launch in 2018.
Everest Group names billpay service specialist doxo to list of Top 40 FinTech Trailblazers.
FST Media interviewsAvoka Chief Experience Officer Derek Corcoran.
RealtyMogulwins Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year in the Consumer Services category.
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.
