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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on March 14. Register today and save your spot.
FinTech Insights by Scientia is a competitive analysis tool for banks and fintechs that provides all the data a company needs to outsmart their competition in one powerful, user-friendly platform.
Features
Reveals gaps in a company’s market faster
Eliminates the risk of releasing an obsolete feature or user journey
Imports a product roadmap and benchmarks the projected self against any competitors
Why it’s great
Most digital banking teams develop with limited view of the market, and FinTech Insights allows them to quickly identify unmet customer needs and market opportunities.
Presenters
Nickolas Belesis, VP of Growth Belesis is a fintech growth and digital banking specialist, assisting c-suite executives in utilizing FinTech Insights to skyrocket their digital banking and maximize their NPS scores. LinkedIn
Konstantine Pappas, Account Executive Pappas is an experienced fintech executive who is empowering digital banking teams to improve their UX and product offerings. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on March 14. Register today and save your spot.
TAZI AI is a machine learning (ML) platform, enabling business experts and data scientists to build and deploy ML models with patented continuous learning and explainable AI.
Features
Easy to use: can be used by business users who don’t have data science training
Time to value: deploy models in less than two weeks
Adaptive: adapts to changes in data
Why it’s great
A no-code ML platform for business experts (and data scientists) to create, update and deploy ML models, allowing them to make smart decisions in dynamic business environments.
Presenter
Zehra Cataltepe, CEO & Co-Founder Cataltepe is a computer science expert with a Ph.D from CALTECH, democratizing AI across industries. She has 100+ publications in the field of AI and 14 patents. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on March 14. Register today and save your spot.
Trulioo is the identity platform global businesses turn to for growth, innovation and compliance. Trulioo is the end-to-end identity verification platform.
Features
Quickly build, launch and optimize onboarding workflows through Workflow Studio or connect to specific verification services through API Direct.
Why it’s great
No matter a company’s needs and requirements, Trulioo enables a company to smoothly connect their system with Trulioo’s solutions.
Presenters
Michael Ramsbacker, Chief Product Officer Ramsbacker has more than 20 years of experience in the strategic execution of product strategies, particularly for the business-to-business technology industry. LinkedIn
Ben Penning, Director, Product Management Penning is the Director of Product Managment at Trulioo. Prior to working at Trulioo, Penning was a Senior Product Manager at ServiceNow. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on March 14. Register today and save your spot.
10x Banking empowers banks to move from monolithic to next-generation core banking solutions delivered through their comprehensive and powerful cloud native SaaS core banking platform SuperCore®.
Features
Create innovative banking experiences across cards, savings and lending on one platform
Enable users to make smarter decisions based on real-time data to hyper-personalize
Launch new propositions in minutes
Why it’s great
10x SuperCore Cards help banks slash time to market from months to minutes with significantly reduced overheads in managing the ecosystem.
Presenters
George Broom, Product Owner Broom is the Product Owner for financial products and subscriptions at 10x. His job is to remove all the barriers to building innovative products that customers love. LinkedIn
Nicole Sanders, Product Marketing Manager With 15 years of product and marketing experience in FS and leading GTM’s in nine countries, Sanders champions actioned customer insight to transform business’ bottom line. LinkedIn
There are plenty of reasons why FinovateEurope 2023 next month will be one of the year’s biggest fintech events. With just over a week left to take advantage of early-bird savings on your FinovateEurope ticket, we thought we’d share a handful of our favorite reasons why we hope to see you in London, March 14 and 15.
New Keynote Speakers!
FinovateEurope 2023 will feature the return of many of our favorite keynote speakers. But this year’s event will also showcase a number of newcomers. At the top of the list is Leda Glyptis, veteran banking professional and author of the book Bankers Like Us. With a mainstage keynote on Day One of FinovateEurope titled “The Problem with Digital Transformation Is You,” Glyptis will examine the key role that financial services professionals play in helping – or hindering – the process of digital transformation in their own businesses and institutions.
Also making their Finovate debuts as keynote speakers at FinovateEurope are John C. Hulsman, President and Managing Partner, John C. Hulsman Enterprises, who will speak on the global economy; and Adam Lowe, Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Arculus by CompoSecure, who will discuss securing digital platforms and optimizing the customer experience.
FinovateEurope will also present a series of Quick Fire Keynotes. Leading these 10-minute presentations are Matt Bullivant, Director of ESG Strategy, OakNorth, who will speak about climate change, ESG, and financial services; Martin Hyde, EMEA Payment Partnerships Lead, J.P. Morgan Payments, who will talk about the power of embedded payments in financial services; and Dhaksha Vivekanandan, founder of Daylight Robbery, who will discuss bitcoin and the relationship between traditional and decentralized finance.
New Demoing Companies!
Of the 30 fintech innovators demoing their latest solutions live on stage next month, nearly half will be making their Finovate debuts. Representing countries as diverse as Scotland, Austria, Estonia, India, Switzerland, Israel, Sweden, and Bulgaria – as well as the U.S. and U.K. – these newcomers include:
The official name of the session is “Pre-Event Briefing for Financial Institutions.” But we know a pre-funk when we see one! On March 13 – “FinovateEurope Eve” if you will – we are hosting a special, invite-only occasion featuring expert insights into top fintech trends, a special address, and a fireside chat with keynote speaker, Steven Van Belleghem. We’ll top off the evening with drinks and networking to allow attendees to spend quality time with fellow professionals from banks and other financial institutions.
Alumni Alley: How the Best Have Won
Alumni Alley is our opportunity to showcase some of the biggest brands in fintech that have demoed their innovations live on the Finovate stage. For our upcoming conference next month, the focus will be on FinovateEurope alums. Check out our coverage of some of FinovateEurope’s most storied alums.
If you’re working with a bank, an established fintech innovator, or a bold, new startup, Alumni Alley is a unique chance to gain insights and ideas that can help you grow your organization, improve partner relationships, and take your business to the next level.
“If You Start Me Up”: Finovate’s Startup Booster Program
Our Startup Booster program is designed to enable early-stage startups to take advantage of the full Finovate experience – at a price point appropriate for their early-stage status. Held on March 15, participants in our Startup Booster Program will hear from successful founders about partnership strategies, insights into the investment process, tips on how to land your first bank customer, and more.
Following the presentations, startups will have two hours of networking time with investors from across the U.K. and Europe.
What’s Hot? What’s Not? The GameShow!
Think you know what’s hot and what’s not among fintech’s competing trends and passions? Join us for our special event – What’s Hot? What’s Not? The Gameshow! – where we’ll pit veteran fintech analysts and insiders against the wisdom of the crowd to find out who really knows where fintech is headed!
Our unique gameshow format – in which you the audience get to play judge and jury – will bring a little lighthearted fun to the discussion of fintech trends, and add a little healthy competition to the endless debate: HOT? Or NOT!
Early-bird savings for FinovateEurope end on March 3rd. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and save your spot!
International hiring and employment platform Global Partners (G-P) has tapped cross-border money transfer company Wise for its payment tools.
Under the agreement, G-P will embed Wise’s international payment tool in its Contractor platform with an aim to simplify worker disbursements.
With Wise, businesses will be able to use their payment method of choice to pay contract workers, while the contractors will be able to select their preferred payout method.
International hiring and employment platform Global Partners (G-P) has turned to cross-border money transfer company Wise to help its business clients to pay some of their workforce.
G-P was founded in 2012 to help businesses quickly hire contract and freelance workers across borders in a compliant manner while solving for legal, tax, and HR issues. Under the partnership, Wise will enable G-P’s business customers to access Wise’s payment solution directly from the G-P Contractor platform. As a result of the integration, G-P will offer their customers more flexible payment options, as well as more transparency into the payments process.
“Together with Wise we are creating a world that is unhindered by traditional financial systems, providing customers and contractors an ethical and transparent employment and payment process for all talent through our Global Employment Platform,” said G-P Chief Product and Strategy Officer Nat Rajesh Natarajan. “At G-P, our mission is to create a borderless and equitable world of work. Delivering flexible payment options is critical to delivering on that mission and meeting the needs of today’s professionals.”
Wise was founded in 2011 under the name TransferWise and has since helped 13 million people and businesses send money across international borders. The company offers a multi-currency account that enables users to hold up to 50 currencies and get account details to receive money in 10 currencies. TransferWise prides itself on its transparency by showing fees up front and charging the mid-market rate for money transfers.
With Wise, G-P Contractor clients will be able to use their payment method of choice. They’ll also benefit from batch payments for invoices in the same or different currencies, and will be able to see payment summaries that show a breakdown of costs. Additionally, contract and freelance workers receiving payment via G-P’s platform will have their choice of payout method, including bank transfer, virtual card, digital wallet, ACH, wire and international wire.
DirectID, a credit risk assessment and decisioning platform based in Scotland, has raised $9.5 million (€9 million) in funding.
The funding was led by Ingka Investment, the investment arm of Ingka Group – which is the world’s largest IKEA retailer.
DirectID will use the new capital to accelerate the launch of its predictive credit and risk models built using open banking data.
Credit risk assessment and decisioning platform DirectID has raised $9.5 million (€9 million) in funding from Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group. The company will use the additional funding to help fuel the launch of its predictive credit and risk models built using open banking data. DirectID also plans to bring its credit risk solutions to new markets, as well as accelerate its development of models for each stage of the credit lifecycle – from originations to portfolio management to collections.
“We are excited to be shaping a new global standard in credit scoring that enhances people’s lives by enabling access to products they need in an affordable way,” DirectID founder and CEO James Varga said. “Our coverage, advanced insights, and predictive models provide a unique opportunity to achieve this by creating the world’s first real-time, inclusive, credit score based on open finance data.”
The funding takes DirectID’s total equity capital to more than $23 million. No valuation information was provided in the company’s funding announcement.
Headquartered in Scotland, DirectID is the current incarnation of a project that began in 2016, when Varga rebranded his company miiCard to The ID Co. The move was intended to reflect the growth of the company’s B2B embedded, integrated verification solution, DirectID. Four years later, the company took the Direct ID name in a move Varga said was necessitated by the fact that “data has become such an important part of our offering.”
Ingka Group is the world’s largest IKEA retailer, representing approximately 90% of IKEA’s retail sales. Ingka Investments, the company’s investment arm, has $21.2 billion (€20 billion) in assets under management. The firm’s investment activity is oriented around three “key strategic movements”: financial resilience, business development, and sustainability. Peter van der Poel, who is the managing director for Ingka Investments, credited DirectID for its ability to “complement and disrupt the traditional credit and risk market”. He noted that the company’s efforts promote greater financial inclusion for consumers and will “add value to Ingka’s financial services proposition” going forward.
DirectID closed out 2022 by forging a partnership with U.K.-based SME capital provider Got Capital. The alliance will facilitate the digitalization of the application process for small businesses seeking financing. Since inception, Got Capital has provided more than $362 million (£300 million) to more than 12,000 small businesses in the U.K. Also late last year, DirectID’s Varga was one of 13 business leaders named as the first “Scottish Export Champions” by the Department for International Trade (DIT). The organization also named DirectID as the new “FinTech Champion for Scotland.”
“Whether it’s working with other industry figures to promote the U.K. as a place to do business, or sharing knowledge of our experience exporting to multi-national organizations, I’m proud to be supporting the growth of the £11 billion U.K. fintech economy,” Varga said.
TransUnion’s business solutions are getting a fresh start this week with a new look. The global information and insights company has rebranded its lines of business solutions in the U.S., organizing them into seven different categories.
“TransUnion’s rebrand clarifies our product offerings and better demonstrates our expertise in both our heritage and new markets, while also making it easier for customers to find what they need,” said company President and CEO Chris Cartwright. “It’s the next logical step in the company’s evolution. We can now offer more powerful consumer insights than ever before, allowing us to meet the needs of our customers in more ways, and at a much deeper level.”
The seven business solutions leverage TransUnion’s “organic investments,” as well as the company’s recent acquisitions of digital identity solutions companies Neustar and Sontiq which TransUnion purchased in 2021 for $3.1 billion and $638 million, respectively. The company has built upon its expertise in consumer identity to expand beyond credit into fraud management, marketing solutions, and communications.
TransUnion’s new business solutions include:
TruAudience includes omnichannel audience targeting and advanced analytics to enhance marketing and media performance. The solution includes all TransUnion marketing products, as well as all marketing offerings from Neustar.
TruValidate offers fraud prevention and identity proofing products. TruValidate includes all of TransUnion’s fraud products, as well as all fraud offerings from Neustar.
TruVision is comprised of risk management products that help balance risk and identify best-fit customers across the account. Among the products in the TruVision line are all TransUnion risk tools, including those formerly known as CreditVision, CreditVision Link, and DriverRisk.
TruIQ offers advanced analytics products and services that provide insights into the decision-making process. TruIQ includes offerings formerly known as Prama and Innovation Lab, as well as other custom analytic services.
TruEmpower is comprised of consumer engagement products including consumer-facing tools such as those formerly known as CreditView Dashboard, as well as offerings from IdentityForce and Cyberscout.
TruLookup offers investigative products that help organizations conduct faster due diligence or issue resolution, and includes TLOxp, TransUnion’s skip tracing, investigative research, and risk management tool.
TruContact includes communications and contact center products to help restore trust in communications, enhance customer outreach, and streamline delivery of telecom connectivity services. TruContact includes products from Neustar’s Communicationsand Contact Center Solutions.
TransUnion’s Chief Global Solutions Officer Tim Martin anticipates that the move to rebrand will both simplify its offerings and allow customers from a range of industries to navigate the products.
Launched as a consumer credit reporting agency in 1968, TransUnion has since pivoted to focus more holistically on data. The company is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TRU and has a market capitalization of $12.8 billion.
Mizuho International selected SymphonyAI’s Sensa to enhance AML detection within its European Capital Markets Division.
Sensa’s machine learning models– including changes in behavior, risk similarities, anomaly detection, and hotspot identification– help organizations detect money laundering activity.
Sensa operates under SymphonyAI, which acquired the company in 2019.
Mizuho International selectedSymphonyAI’s Sensa to bolster its fight against Anti-Money Laundering (AML). Specifically, the London-based securities and investment banking arm of Mizuho Financial Group will use Sensa to enhance AML detection within its European Capital Markets Division.
Sensa leverages advanced machine learning models that include changes in behavior, risk similarities, anomaly detection, and hotspot identification. The company combines these models with its set of scenario rules to help firms detect money laundering risk. With 46 patents and $100 million in research and development, Sensa’s technology won Aite-Novarica Group’s 2021 Fraud & AML Impact Innovation Award and is a top 10 DARPA innovation. The company was founded in 2008 and has since garnered $106 million in funding from the likes of Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and others.
“We are thrilled to be deploying industry-leading AML transaction monitoring (TM) capabilities. Our next-gen AML TM strategy sought a more refined rule detection and advanced AI solution to find real AML risk and reduce false positives and analyst review times by holistic scoring. We needed a solution that helps analysts, through user interfaces, to deliver all the information needed to expedite investigations,” said Mizuho EMEA’s Chief Compliance Officer Dinesh Joshi. “SensaAML will make a significant difference in our long-held fight against money laundering. Our financial crime team will be empowered and more effective.”
SymphonyAI, the company behind Sensa, offers AI SaaS solutions for enterprises across a range of verticals, including retail, consumer packaged goods, finance, manufacturing, media, and IT/enterprise service management. Founded in 2017, the California-based company acquired Sensa in 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
The topic of AI– specifically generative AI– has received a lot of attention since Open AI launched its consumer-facing ChatGPT tool late last year. The fraud and financial crime space is prime for AI enhancement, especially generative AI enhancement. As Bain Capital Ventures Partner Sarah Hinkfuss explained in a recent blog post, “Generative AI can produce new training data to train and re-train fraud models. One of the challenges with piracy and fraud has been the cat and mouse game of security providers building to address the latest exploited weakness, only for fraudsters to find the next weakness. Training models on yet-unseen examples of fraud generated by generative AI provides the opportunity to stay one step ahead.”
The number of female entrepreneurs and founders in fintech and financial services has grown significantly in recent years. Nevertheless, there is still some distance between where we are now and the kind of gender-neutral future that so many are fighting for.
As of 2019 women in finance are better represented in many C-suite leadership positions – including CIO, CTO, CMO, and CHRO – than they are in most other industries. Only in the CEO and CFO roles does female representation lag behind that of other industries. Overall, according to analysis by Korn Ferry, women in finance have outperformed their peers in other industries in achieving executive leadership – and it’s not especially close.
At the same time, according to the Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum, women make up more than 50% of the entry-level finance workforce in the United States. Yet only 6% of the “top financial institutions” in the country have women in senior positions.
On the morning of Day Two of FinovateEurope next month, we will host our Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing to discuss how women and their allies can work together to help close this gender gap. Moderated by Magdalena Krön (LinkedIn), Global Head of Rise Digital Innovation & CTO Group Innovation for Barclays Bank, our special morning session will discuss the key questions on the state of gender diversity in fintech and financial services: How much progress has been made? What can we do to pave the way for the next generation of female founders and executives in our industry?
Joining Magdalena Krön are a distinguished panel of industry professionals including:
Martha Mghendi-Fisher, Founder, European Women Payments Network (EWPN). Mghendi-Fisher is a fintech and payments professional, social entrepreneur and philanthropist with years of experience in cards and payments, NGOs, and entrepreneurship. LinkedIn.
Veronique Steiner, Head of High Growth Tech and Head of Technology, Media, and Telecom for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), J.P. Morgan. Steiner represents J.P. Morgan across the global payment industry, positioning the institution as a leading bank for the tech companies in EMEA. LinkedIn.
Nitzan Solomon, Head of Transaction Monitoring, AML, and Fraud, Revolut. Passionate about regtech and financial crime, Solomon was named 2020 best regtech practitioner and one of the U.K. Top 100 Women in Tech. LinkedIn.
Chantal Swainston, Founder, The Heard. Launched in 2022, The Heard profiles and showcases women and non-binary talent in the fintech industry. Swainston brings nearly a decade of experience in journalism and public relations covering both fintech startups and established companies. LinkedIn.
The FinovateEurope 2023 Women in Fintech Breakfast Briefing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 15 from 8:15am – 9:00am. To learn more visit our FinovateEurope hub. Take advantage of big savings by registering by March 3rd.
Due to the success of the first Banking Tech Awards USA held in May last year, the awards will be returning for 2023!
The Banking Tech Awards USA are brought to you by FinTech Futures, the global intelligence platform for financial services technology.
Nominations for the 2023 awards are now open – the extended deadline is 24 February. Start your nomination today!
So if you have a project, colleague, or team in the U.S. that deserves recognition, then make sure to submit a nomination today! Nominations are open to organizations based anywhere in the world as long as the project, individual, or team is located in the United States.
The awards are open to banks, other financial institutions, and software providers.
There are over 30 categories to choose from, including the Banking Tech Project Awards for banks and financial institutions, Excellence in Tech Awards for technology services and software providers, and Leadership Awards for any individual or team to enter. Take a look at this year’s categories here.
The 2023 winners will be announced in a fabulous gala ceremony which will be held in New York on June 1, 2023. The event will feature an inspirational celebrity host, entertainment, plenty of drink and food, and wonderful company in elegant surroundings – it’s not to be missed!
The first Banking Tech Awards USA ceremony took place on May 19 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco and was a great success, with over 150 guests joining us for an incredible night of celebration and entertainment. Take a look at the 2022 winners here.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on March 14. Register today and save your spot.
Connect Earth supports financial institutions in offering customers transparent insights into the climate impact of daily spending.
Features
Includes carbon emissions data estimates for every spend-based transaction
Provides calculations with maximum granularity
Delivers actionable insights and tips to put knowledge into practice
Why it’s great
Every transaction is a climate transaction. Financial services can be a catalyst for change.
Presenter
Alexander Lempka, Co-Founder & CEO In 2021, Lempka co-founded Connect Earth by combining his experience in fintech with his passion for sustainability. LinkedIn
