Mitek Agrees to Acquire UK-Based KYC Technology Innovator HooYu

Mitek Agrees to Acquire UK-Based KYC Technology Innovator HooYu
  • Digital identity verification and fraud prevention innovator Mitek has agreed to acquire KYC technology company HooYu.
  • Mitek will pay $129 million (£98 million) for the U.K.-based company.
  • Both firms are Finovate alums. Mitek made its most recent appearance at FinovateFall 2017. HooYu demoed its technology on the Finovate stage most recently at FinovateEurope 2018.

Mitek’s agreement to acquire KYC technology specialist HooYu will help businesses verify their customer’s identity via a combination of biometric verification and real-time bureau and sanction database checks. Enabling institutions to leverage biometrics, ID document validation, geolocation, and identity confidence scoring with bureau checks and sanction list reviews will help them secure a more complete picture of their consumers.

HooYu’s ability to coordinate these features will not only enhance the identity verification process for Mitek’s customers, the technology will also enable them to optimize workflows and empower companies to deploy identity solutions across channels faster.

“Having a single platform that easily orchestrates and configures a KYC journey to manage identities and identify bad actors is becoming a prerequisite for any business transacting digitally,” HooYu CEO Keith Marsden said. “Bringing together Mitek’s lead in identity, liveness, and biometrics, with our orchestration, configuration, and journey services simplifies identity management for financial institutions.”

Mitek’s acquisition of HooYu comes in the context of a global digital identity solutions market that is expected to grow from $23.3 billion in 2021 to $49.5 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. MarketsandMarkets, whose digital identity solutions report was cited by Mitek in this week’s acquisition announcement, credited the rise in both identity-related fraud and data breaches, as well as the need to keep pace with new regulations, for the growth in this market.

Additionally, the rise of the cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) markets – and the new regulatory regime that will accompany them – puts a further strain on the compliance requirements of businesses. For all the legitimate activity in crypto and NFTs, there is no doubt that these growing markets also represent new opportunities for illicit and criminal behavior.

“Our current geopolitical, commercial, and technological environment represents a perfect storm for bad actors,” Mitek CEO Max Carnecchia said. “Mitek is leading the fight against fraud by providing the technology that businesses need to stamp out digital money launderers and sanctioned individuals.”

In 2018, HooYu demoed its verification technology at FinovateEurope in London. The year before, Mitek demoed its Mobile Verify technology at FinovateFall in New York.


Photo by Ann H

The DNA of an Adaptive Enterprise: Opportunity in a Digital Economy

The DNA of an Adaptive Enterprise: Opportunity in a Digital Economy

This is a sponsored post by Stripe, Gold sponsors of FinovateEurope 2022.


Over the past two years, enterprise leaders around the world have had to respond to disruption, unpredictability, and unprecedented challenges. The way the world interacts and transacts has changed, and across millions of businesses using Stripe, we’ve noticed that the capacity for businesses to adapt has been a major determinant of resilience and growth.

An adaptive business initiates change; an agile business reacts to it. The next generation of industry leaders will be companies that anticipate and take action to capture emergent opportunities, using their flexibility as a competitive advantage. They execute on strategies to find new revenue streams, pursue global expansion, and partner to scale faster. According to a recent study from Forrester, adaptive businesses grow at more than three times the industry average.

Stripe worked with The Economist Impact (formerly known as The Economist Intelligence Unit) on a research study that takes a deeper look into the core characteristics that make enterprises adaptive, the strategies leaders are pursuing as online commerce expands, and how the ability to navigate change is an enduring competitive advantage.

Report overview

The analysis in the report is based on a survey of 600 C-level executives, and around a third of the respondents (34%) are based in Europe, with another third (33%) in North America, and the balance in Asia-Pacific. Their companies are distributed across a wide range of industries, with the largest representation from the financial services (15%), technology (15%) and retail (11%) sectors. Just over half (53%) of the respondents work in companies earning annual revenue of over US$500m, with the rest earning between US$100m and US$500m. Most of the companies represented (83%) are no older than 20 years, and 44% have existed for fewer than ten years.

Executive summary

The Covid-19 pandemic brought about profound change, affecting long- standing consumer behaviours and preferences, and in some cases permanently changing competitive landscapes. Businesses had to make consequential decisions in short order—rapidly modifying business models, accelerating digital transformation, seeking out new revenue streams, moving or re-thinking supply chains, entering new product or geographic markets, and improving online customer experiences.

The past two years have created an inflection point for enterprises—one that is likely to define business success for the next decade. Risks to business are considerable, yet organizations that are able to successfully navigate disruption while positioning themselves for growth can be a competitive advantage in today’s global economy. The findings in this report detail characteristics of an adaptive enterprise.

Key findings from the study

Adaptability is decisive. Businesses able to maintain or grow revenue under the difficult conditions of the pandemic appear to have made proactive choices in adapting to widespread change. When asked about chief factors enabling success, CxOs point to their firms’ ability to change or adopt new business models, serve customers online, and scale in short order to shifts in customer behavior and demand. Companies suffering revenue declines, by contrast, highlighted struggles with some of these same areas.

Going for growth. The pandemic has not slowed, but instead seemingly accelerated businesses’ pursuit of growth or new revenue streams. Survey respondents indicate a strong intention to boost investment in technology and show little support for cost-cutting. Rather than contract their businesses, a majority of CxO respondents—80%—believe global expansion is central to their business viability. Over half—52%—plan to increase the number of countries they trade in over the next year. Only 13% said they would decrease.

Digital is integral. The flight of consumers to digital channels was dramatic in 2020, and CxOs in the survey expect the consumer trends that accelerated during the crisis to gain additional momentum. Among the surveyed companies, 28% say half or more of their company sales came via online channels before the pandemic, 46% indicate the same was true during the pandemic (as at October 2020), while 54% anticipated half of their revenue to come from online channels by the end of 2021. A majority—82%—believe that their customer’s shift to online purchasing during the crisis will continue, even after the pandemic is over.

Anticipation is key. Far from all companies were ready for a digital acceleration: 69% of CxOs say their firms under-invested in online strategies before the pandemic. A majority—53%—say they now plan to boost investment in digital transformation over the next 12 months, aiming to improve processes or operations, innovation and customer experiences. The maintained or increasing digital budgets imply a CxO outlook that it’s never too late to adapt.

Check out the full version of the report to gain more insights.


Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—including financial organisations like Hargreaves Lansdown, Klarna, and AJ Bell—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Headquartered in San Francisco and Dublin, the company aims to increase the GDP of the internet. Check out Stripe’s website to learn more, and contact sales when you’re ready to have a conversation.

Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital

Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management is buying retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital.
  • Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios.
  • Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the latter half of this year, were not disclosed.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to acquire retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital in a transaction that is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Terms of the deal, which ranks among the top five asset management deals Goldman Sachs has ever done, were not disclosed.

Chicago-based NextCapital offers automated, digital retirement advice to help banks deliver personalized, customizable retirement planning and managed accounts through their clients’ workplace retirement plans and IRAs. Goldman Sachs, which already leverages NextCapital’s managed account platform to power its retirement program for SMBs, anticipates the purchase will expand its services by adding personalized, managed accounts, and digital advice.

By combining the two companies, Goldman Sachs will be able to provide services to large retirement plans while working with platform clients. As Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon explained, “This acquisition furthers our strategic objective of building compelling client solutions in asset management and accelerating our investment in technology to serve the growing defined contribution market.”

After the deal closes, Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group with approximately $220 billion in assets under supervision that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios. The NextCapital team will continue to operate from offices in Chicago.

Founded in 2014, NextCapital has raised $82 million. “Our vision for the future of the retirement savings market is aligned with the team at Goldman Sachs: technology that can create a differentiated experience combined with a strong culture and focus on clients forms a powerful offering for our clients and the individuals they serve,” said NextCapital CEO John Patterson. “We can leverage the resources of a global financial services firm to continue to scale our platform and offer it to new third party institutional clients and Goldman Sachs’ broader wealth management organization.”


Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

FinovateEurope: What’s Hot, What’s Not, and Where to Invest

FinovateEurope: What’s Hot, What’s Not, and Where to Invest

Have you ever played a game called Fintech Hot or Not? There are no right or wrong answers, you just yell out, “hot” or “not” in response to a fintech trend. The game works best when played with a captive, diverse audience, so I used the participants in my recent FinovateEurope Future of Fintech panel to gather their thoughts on a range of fintech trends.

Included in the panel were Radboud Vlaar, Founder and managing Partner at Finch Capital; Oliwia Berdak, VP & Research Director of Financial Services at Forrester; and Sam Kilmer, Managing Director of Fintech Advisory at Cornerstone Advisors. Ronit Ghose, Global Head of Banking, Fintech, and Digital Assets at Citi Global Insights was also in the panel discussion, but was not able to participate in the game for legal reasons.

In this version of the game, I asked the panel members if a trend was hot (or not) and I also asked if they would invest (or not) in a startup specializing in that trend. That’s because not only are some of the hottest trends not worth backing, but also some of the least popular themes in fintech may turn out to be the most profitable.

Below is the summary of the panel’s thoughts on what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s worth investing in.

Hot or not

Hot

  • Web3
  • DeFi
  • Stablecoins
  • Quantum computing
  • Edge computing
  • Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
  • Buy now, pay later (BNPL)
  • NFTs
  • Digital Identity

Not Hot

  • Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs)
  • Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

Mixed

  • Metaverse
  • Super apps
  • Voice banking
  • QR code payments

I expected more mixed reactions on BNPL, simply because there are so many companies leveraging this technology, and many are facing scrutiny for evading laws and encouraging consumers to take on too much debt.

Additionally, I was surprised at the very clear split between retail and wholesale CBDCs. Retail CBDCs, those designed to be available to the general public, were very clearly “not hot.” Instead, panelists were in favor of wholesale CBDCs, which are designed to be used among financial intermediaries.

As for trends in the “mixed” category, I would have expected both the metaverse and super apps to be labeled as “hot.”

Invest or not

Invest

  • Edge computing
  • BNPL
  • Digital identity

Not Invest

  • Metaverse
  • Super apps

Mixed

  • Web3
  • DeFi
  • Stablecoins
  • Quantum computing
  • SPACs
  • Voice banking
  • QR Code payments
  • NFTs

To be clear, the panelists were not putting down any money, but they were still cautious when deciding whether or not a trend was worth investing in. Each panelist was decisively not interested in the metaverse, web3, or super apps. They did, however, choose edge computing over quantum computing. And to my surprise, they were mixed on whether or not DeFi was worth the investment.

If you attended FinovateEurope, you can watch the full panel discussion in the on demand content section of the FinovateEurope ConnectMe platform for a limited time.


Photo by Fabio Ballasina on Unsplash

Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee Partner to Bring Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Enriched Transaction Data to Banks

Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee Partner to Bring Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Enriched Transaction Data to Banks
  • Two Finovate alums, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee are teaming up to help financial institutions better serve their customers.
  • The collaboration will offer pre-built integrations with Envestnet | Yodlee’s Data Aggregation, Account Verification, and Transaction Data Enrichment solutions.
  • Both Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent Finovate appearances at FinovateFall in New York in September.

A newly announced partnership between Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee will enable financial institutions to offer their customers a holistic view of their finances, as well as an improved customer experience. Specifically, the partnership will bring account data aggregation, account verification, and transaction data enrichment from Envestnet | Yodlee to the Backbase Engagement Banking platform. The move enhances Backbase’s financial wellness capabilities and intuitive customer journeys, and supports the company’s goal of becoming a category leader in the engagement banking platform space.

Backbase CPO Karan Oberoi called the collaboration a “major milestone” in the company’s efforts to “bring value to every step of the full customer lifecycle on a single, unified platform.” Oberoi highlighted the ability of the Backbase Engagement Banking platform to help financial institutions leverage technologies from innovative fintechs like Envestnet | Yodlee “while limiting implementation, procurement, and risk assessment time.”

Adding Account Data Aggregation to the platform will enable customers to combine and maintain all of their financial accounts in a single application. In addition to making it easier for customers to better understand their financial status, the feature also increases stickiness – as well as the potential for cross-selling opportunities – as customers spend more time on the bank’s app. Account Verification allows customers to add and verify their financial accounts in a single app without requiring the use of micro-deposits. Both KYC and AML compliance are also enhanced by the addition of the account verification capability. Lastly, by providing transaction data enrichment, the platform will lower the cost- of-serve for financial institutions and improve customer engagement.

“Entering into this strategic partnership with Backbase is another proof point on how industry leaders are relying on quality data, comprehensive coverage, and intelligent insights from Envestnet | Yodlee to meet fast-growing banking demands,” Envestnet Data and Analytics Group Head Farouk Ferchichi said.

Both multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winners, Backbase and Envestnet | Yodlee made their most recent appearances on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall in New York last September. Backbase demoed a customer onboarding solution that consolidates customer finances via direct deposit, billpay auto linking, and debit card account opening. Envestnet | Yodlee showed how Conversational AI technology can be deployed to deliver hyper-personalized financial insights and goals-based micro-savings applications.


Photo by Essow

HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo

HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo
  • HR and payroll platform Papaya Global has acquired global money transfer company Azimo.
  • The deal will allow Papaya Global to offer payments in hours instead of days.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Global money transfer company Azimo has agreed to be acquired by HR and payroll platform Papaya Global. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch is reporting a purchase price of somewhere between $150 million and $200 million.

The Israeli payroll company will leverage Azimo’s payment platform to offer clients a payroll solution that makes immediate payouts across the globe. “We will build an innovative new payments and finance offering for clients in cash advance and credit-related products, and in cryptocurrency,” the company said in a blog post. The purchase will also enable Papaya Global to add remittance services to its lineup.

Founded by Michael Kent in 2012, Azimo offers a low-priced way for individuals and businesses to send money across the globe. The U.K.-based company charges a fee as low as $0.77 (£0.59) and boasts a more favorable exchange rate, as well. Azimo counts more than two million customers of its digital money transfer platform, which allows users to send money from 25 countries to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to its payment network, Azimo has something Papaya Global may consider quite valuable– payment licenses in the U.K., the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. “Azimo’s global digital payment network, multiple payment licenses, and deep fintech expertise strengthens our ability to help companies manage and pay their remote teams,” said Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez.

Azimo has raised $88.1 million in combined debt and equity. Financial terms of the deal, which will bring all of Azimo’s employees over to the Papaya Global team, were undisclosed.


Photo by Kaboompics .com

FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending

FintechOS Unveils Accelerators to Enhance SME Mobile Onboarding and Lending
  • FintechOS has launched a pair of accelerators – for mobile lending and mobile onboarding – to enable institutions to support small businesses.
  • The new offerings are built for speed, enabling companies to lower account opening times to less than 15 minutes.
  • Headquartered in London and founded in 2017, FintechOS made its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall in New York.

Digital banking and insurance solution provider FintechOS unveiled a pair of new accelerators to help financial institutions better serve their SME clients. The offerings, announced this week, support SME mobile lending and onboarding, and enable institutions to reduce the amount of time required to open a current/checking account to less than 15 minutes.

Calling SMEs “the backbone of the global economy”, FintechOS CEO and co-founder Teo Blidarus decried the “lending gap” that has kept many small businesses from being able to secure the critical funding they need in order to grow. “Our high productivity fintech infrastructure, digital and core financial technology blocks combine here with a low-code approach to help institutions close the gap by rolling out tailored financial services experiences at speed.”

FintechOS’ accelerator for mobile onboarding gives financial institutions the ability to implement a modern UX. This will enable them to readily configure both design and content, as well as journey sequence and product logic. The accelerator for mobile lending allows SMEs to access the financing solutions they need in minutes with an out-of-the-box loan origination journey that can be easily configured and requires no technical expertise. Both accelerators embrace a mobile-centric approach that allows small businesses to use their device of choice for both onboarding and financing, which will help lower abandonment risk during the account opening and lending process.

The launch of FintechOS’ account onboarding and mobile lending accelerators comes just days after the company announced a collaboration with digital transformation consultancy Tesselate Group. Together, the two companies will work to bring innovative lending solutions and strategic planning to financial institutions. The partnership will focus on product verticals including digital journey accelerators, ecosystem connectors, and lean core components.

“We’re on a mission to enable companies to build innovative financial services and products at the speed the market requires,” FintechOS VP of Ecosystem Todi Pruteanu said. “Our ecosystem is fundamental to achieving this objective, and FintechOS is investing significantly to build an industry-leading partner infrastructure.”

In February, FintechOS forged a global partnership agreement with fellow Finovate alum Onfido. The pact integrates Onfido’s identity verification solution into FintechOS’ customer onboarding, lending, and claims management journeys. Two of FintechOS’ customer-centric platforms for banks and insurers – Lighthouse and Northstar – feature Onfido’s identity verification and liveness technology.

Among Finovate’s newer alums, FintechOS demoed its technology on the Finovate stage for the first time in September at FinovateFall. At the conference, FintechOS’ Paula Costea and Steve Rooney demonstrated Sunglow, the company’s “super app for banking.” Sunglow enables consumers to finance and book vacations in a seamless, end-to-end customer experience that factors in every component of the lending and booking processes.


Photo by Pixabay

FinovateEurope: The Road to Digitalization and the Challenge of Innovation

FinovateEurope: The Road to Digitalization and the Challenge of Innovation

FinovateEurope 2022 is a wrap. Our first European fintech conference in what we all hope is truly the post-pandemic era was an excellent opportunity for Finovate veterans and newcomers alike to meet and share insights on the most critical issues in fintech today.

In many ways, the two keynotes that began each day of our two-day event served as reminders of both the accomplishments of fintech to date, as well as the challenges that innovators in fintech and financial services will face going forward.

From commodity products to intelligent services

In his keynote address on how fintech trends in 2022 will drive transformation in financial services, David Brear contextualized his remarks by describing the journey financial services has traveled from analog through digitization en route to becoming truly digital. CEO and co-founder of fintech consultancy 11:FS, Brear underscored the notion that this journey was defined by the evolution of financial services from “commodity products to intelligent services.” He suggested that many companies in financial services were still essentially bringing digital tools to enhance analog solutions – not unlike attaching a carriage to a Clydesdale. As such, he sees the transition toward truly digital banking as “only 1% finished” with plenty of room to go.

For Brear, the current moment is one of execution rather than ideas. Entrepreneurs and companies in financial services have a better idea than ever of what their customers want, and now is the time for firms in this space to ambitiously act to meet those needs. Interestingly, and foreshadowing the themes of the next day’s keynote from AI scientist Inma Martinez, Brear observed that fulfilling these needs will help banks and financial services companies gain or regain the kind of intimate, personalized relationships that are more reminiscent of the kind of connections that smaller, more community-based versions of these institutions historically have enjoyed with their customers and members.

Solving complexity to better serve humanity

Creating an appropriate role for artificial intelligence (AI) was the topic of our Day Two keynote address – How To Use Data Analytics & AI To Create Human Centric Financial Products – from AI scientist Inma Martinez. As someone with decades of experience with artificial intelligence, Martinez has a healthy respect for the capacity of AI to do things that human beings cannot. At the same time, however, Martinez insists that these capacities need to be harnessed in a way that enables AI’s complexity-solving abilities to respond to human needs for “safety, enjoyment, and purpose.” Reminding her audience that the world is not merely “computational,” Martinez said that AI needs to be imbued with EQ, or emotional intelligence, that prioritizes rather than simply includes the role of human cognition. This would support an evolution in design thinking from the basic objectives of “usability, functionality, and convenience” to the more satisfying, emotional, and human-centered goals of being “memorable, assuring, and wholesome.”

Martinez also emphasized the importance of a modern approach to data and data management called the data mesh. This concept calls for leveraging distributed architecture to give end users the ability to readily access and query data where it lives rather than having to deal with a singular, centralized location such as a data lake. Improving the ability to access data is critical, Martinez explained, in a world in which data is both the key to a deeper, more meaningful understanding of customer behavior and the primary source of insights that can streamline the process of creating and innovating new products and services.


Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint

Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint
  • Alkami has entered a definitive agreement to acquire financial analytics company Segmint for $135.5 million in cash.
  • The acquisition will combine Segmint’s data insights with Alkami’s digital account opening and digital banking technology.
  • Both companies are Finovate alums. Alkami made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009. Segmint made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2012.

Another day, another big acquisition in the fintech space. Today we learned that cloud-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has agreed to acquire Segmint, a financial data analytics and transaction cleansing specialist. Alkami will pay $135.5 million in cash for the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based company, and expects its total addressable market to grow by $1 billion courtesy of the acquisition.

“Our customers want to deepen their customer relationships and grow revenue,” Allkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “To do so, they must transform raw account and transaction data into insights that lead to highly personalized communications. Segmint applies machine learning to transaction data to help FIs better understand their account holders and automates messaging with incredible precision and personalization across multiple channels.”

The acquisition will enable financial institutions partnered with Alkami to benefit from the combination of data sets from both Alkami and Segmint. In addition to providing a more comprehensive view of account holders, the combination also will bring greater precision and additional use cases to Segmint’s data models. Further, financial institutions will be able to use this data to leverage digital banking to better target, engage, and build customer relationships.

Approved by the boards of directors of both companies, as well as Segmint stockholders, the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of this year – assuming regulatory approvals and customer closing conditions are met.

As we noted, the Alkami/Segmint acquisition is the second big fintech acquisition involving a Finovate alum this week. We reported yesterday that Canadian identity verification company – and Finovate Best of Show winner – SecureKey – agreed to be acquired by digital security and privacy company Avast.


Photo by Anthony

Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies

Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies
  • Avast will acquire SecureKey Technologies in a deal expected to close next month.
  • Czech Republic-based Avast will leverage SecureKey’s North American presence to expand internationally.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SecureKey Technologies will soon begin its next chapter. The Canada-based digital identity and authentication company recently agreed to be acquired by NortonLifeLock’s Avast, a digital security and privacy firm. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek said that he envisions leveraging SecureKey to create a global and reusable identity framework. “It’s clear that digital identity is the critical enabler for many digital services and SecureKey’s success reflects the growing demand for this from consumers,” said Vlcek. “SecureKey is highly complementary to Avast’s prior work in Identity and together we will take our offer to the next level, accelerating innovation and working to establish a user-focused, global approach that aligns user, business, and government propositions. We are committed to developing offerings that will be fully inclusive for everyone, regardless of their own circumstances.”

SecureKey was founded in 2008 with a mission to simplify consumer access to secure online services and applications using secure, digital versions of the credentials they already have. The company’s digital identity solutions enable over 200 million secure digital ID transactions per year globally.

SecureKey’s flagship tool, Verified.Me, is a digital identity verification network that helps users verify their digital identity and places them in control of what they want to share with whom. Verified.Me, which also comes with a Government sign-in feature, is provided by Interac, which acquired the rights to SecureKey’s digital ID services for Canada last October.

Avast was founded in 1988 and offers tools to help individuals and businesses protect the privacy of their digital lives. Headquartered in the Czech Republic, the company anticipates the acquisition will position it for international expansion. “As the European community is investing in public-private sector digital identity infrastructure in 2022 and beyond, we see Avast well positioned as a collaborative provider of digital trust services for people, digital businesses and government,” said Avast General Manager and SVP of Identity Charles Walton. “Success for us is where digital identity becomes simple, user-centric and portable, and can enable a more trustworthy digital experience and deeper online engagement benefiting both people and business.”

The deal is expected to close early next month. Avast plans to make SecureKey’s products available in the second quarter of this year.


Photo by Thirdman

An Inside Look at New Value: Crypto Trends in Business and Beyond

An Inside Look at New Value: Crypto Trends in Business and Beyond

This is a sponsored post by Ripple, Gold Sponsors of FinovateEurope in London, March 22 -23.


The blockchain industry saw some big changes last year, brought on by a maturing crypto landscape and the development of innovative new technologies.

Ripple set out to better understand and further analyze this rapid evolution through both primary and secondary research.  Our work included surveying more than 2,000 global financial institutions, business, individuals and developers to uncover the key perceptions and trends related to the tokenization, management, and movement of digital assets, as well as the adoption of the core technologies that encompass and underpin these trends.

We are excited to bring you our hot-off-the-press 2022 report “New Value: Crypto Trends in Business and Beyond” which spotlights key findings on the current state of blockchain and digital asset applications, including their benefits, blockers, and future use cases. This report includes a large section on payments, but also expands beyond payments to help the industry better understand how crypto solutions more generally are being used in both financial and business applications worldwide, and, beyond business, by governments and individuals as well.

The report is divided into four sections:

  • Tokenize: establishes the digital representation of value on the blockchain
  • Manage: wields tokenized value through holding, hedging, staking, lending, borrowing, etc.
  • Move: sends value from one place, person or organization to another, i.e. payments
  • Compliance

And within these four sections, it covers a variety of critical topics across the crypto landscape today. These topics include the emergence of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) — notoriety of the former grew rapidly while the latter remained largely in the research and development stage, though a number of countries are actively exploring the technology. While familiar to seasoned players in the space, the use of crypto for Decentralized Finance (DeFi), portfolio and capital management is advancing. And of course, payments leveraging crypto have continued to grow dramatically.

Industry Perception

As we’ve noted, the crypto and blockchain industry is maturing and with that, institutions and enterprises are realizing the potential benefits of applying this technology to their own organizations for a variety of use cases. Interestingly, enterprises tend to be more optimistic than financial institutions on the benefits of blockchain, the potential impacts and the enthusiasm to adopt this technology.

With last year’s explosion of popularity in NFTs, there is a growing number of interested individuals outside of what we’ve traditionally seen in this space. And there is a growing number of use cases that encompass functional NFTs (e.g. for ticketing, or voting) and business-oriented NFTs (e.g. representing real-world assets of various types). Given the agility and power of assets represented on the blockchain, the surge in creative use cases and interest among both individuals and businesses isn’t surprising.

Whether you are considering using CBDCs, NFTs, or cryptocurrencies, or anything else on a blockchain, sustainability should be taken into account. And, we confirmed, there is still a lot of progress to be made in educating consumers, institutions and businesses alike on the differences in carbon emissions between blockchains and the performance advantages of a sustainable blockchain.

Regional Perspectives

The report offers insight into interesting regional differences. Asia Pacific (APAC) is particularly optimistic about the value that blockchain technology can bring to individuals, businesses and institutions in the region. We highlight key findings around why APAC consumers are purchasing NFTs, the potential that APAC enterprises and financial institutions see in CBDCs, and more.

Research results draw parallels between our data on crypto’s positioning in Latin America (LATAM) and recent news of related current events in the region. New Value highlights the distinct stance LATAM financial institutions and businesses have taken on crypto related to payments, inflation and the impact this technology will have in the coming years. While respondents in Europe and North America see the value of these new technologies, they tend to be somewhat less optimistic about their impact than those in APAC or LATAM or MEA.

Looking Ahead

Findings from the New Value Report have far-reaching implications for more than just the financial services industry. Digital assets and the new technologies that drive them will have a profound impact on both the economy and the individual, the government and the artist, the enterprise and the unbanked, and everyone in between.

Download the report here for a comprehensive first look at the exponential climb toward the Internet of Value, and how crypto is paving the way.

Currencycloud Debuts Weekend FX Trading

Currencycloud Debuts Weekend FX Trading
  • Currencycloud launched a new tool called WeekendFX.
  • The new tool enables clients to offer competitive FX rates on weekends when markets are closed.
  • Currencycloud is launching WeekendFX in partnership with Visa, which acquired Currencycloud last July.

Visa’s Currencycloud launched a new tool this week called WeekendFX. The new offering will do just as it sounds– enable clients to offer competitive FX rates around the clock, even on weekends.

In the new digital economy, businesses are always on, operating after business hours and on weekends. However, businesses face increased risks and cost when they arrange cross-border payments on weekends because of the fluctuations subject to occur between when the trading desks close on Friday afternoon and when they open for the week on Monday morning.

Currencycloud is launching WeekendFX in partnership with its parent company Visa to help remove the risk, complexity, and cost to support cross-border payments outside of traditional operating hours. WeekendFX enables Currencycloud clients to offer a competitive fixed FX rate over the weekend and will settle at the same rate on Monday morning when the market opens.

“This is a massive step in overcoming business issues of operating 24/7,” said Partners & Enterprise Co-Founder and VP Steve Lemon. “Together with Visa we now enable our clients to execute FX transactions over the weekend in exactly the same way, using a standardized API and workflow as they would during the week. Therefore, their customers can continue to operate their businesses and execute FX conversions in exactly the same way too.”

Money transfer and payments firm Swinto and aviation business connectivity startup Tuvoli piloted the new trading tool, and ANNA Money will go live with the technology shortly.

Founded in 2012, Currencycloud facilitates cross-border, multi-currency transactions. The London-based company has processed more than $100 billion to over 180 countries for bank and fintech clients including Starling Bank, Revolut, Penta, and Lunar. 

In July of last year, Visa snapped up Currencycloud in a deal that valued the company at $963 million. Last October, the company partnered with Plaid, embedding Plaid’s Payment Initiation Services into its own solution to allow customers to fund their accounts without ever leaving the platform.


Photo by Ryutaro Tsukata from Pexels