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Neobank Nerve Launches Embedded Banking Product

Neobank Nerve Launches Embedded Banking Product
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Challenger bank Nerve is launching banking-as-a-service APIs.
  • The APIs will enable creator platforms to offer their clients in the creator economy an embedded digital banking experience.
  • Nerve’s flagship digital bank for musicians helps artists treat their music like a business by providing digital banking and tracking tools.

Nerve, a challenger bank originally designed for musicians, is getting a bit more creative this month. The startup launched a set of public APIs that will help companies serve their clients in the creator economy.

According to Nerve Co-founder John Waupsh, content creators–whether they are individuals or small businesses– have long been underbanked and overcharged. “Every creator deserves financial dignity, and we believe that this begins with a business checking account, and collaboration tools that meet their everyday needs. They are businesses and should be afforded those same benefits,” said Waupsh.

Nerve’s new APIs will offer firms a way to send payouts and royalties at a lower cost to artists such as musicians, authors, entertainers, filmmakers, makers, podcasters, social media content creators, songwriters, and more. The APIs will also enable companies to provide their creator clients with free digital banking tools to help manage their business.

“Companies that pay creators deserve the best, fastest, and least expensive way to pay those they serve, and our APIs open up win-win options for all in the ecosystem,” said Waupsh. “Companies providing distribution, licensing, advances, credit, marketplace, or other services are now able to use Nerve’s APIs to deliver instant, lower-cost payouts to creators.”

Nerve’s flagship product, launched last September, is a niche bank account that helps musicians treat their music like a business. Artists can use the free FDIC-insured debit and savings accounts, powered by Piermont Bank, to manage their business expenses and track and receive royalties and payouts. In addition to digital banking, Nerve also offers tools to help artists collaborate with fellow artists in the music industry, as well as view and track their own stats for Spotify, YouTube, and a range of social media platforms.

Creator platforms that use Nerve’s banking-as-a-service tool will have the opportunity to have access to creators’ transaction and balance information. This data, in turn will benefit the platform by helping them create specialized banking products, such as loans and invoicing tools, to up-sell and better serve their customers.

Photo by Frankie Cordoba on Unsplash

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Identity Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

Identity Verification Specialist OCR Labs Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, OCR Labs
  • OCR Labs, an identity verification company founded in Australia and headquartered in London, announced a $30 million Series B round.
  • The funding takes the company’s total capital to $46 million and will be used to help OCR Labs expand further in North America and EMEA.
  • Making its Finovate debut in 2016, the company won Best of Show at FinovateAsia a year later.

In a round led by Equable Capital, a New York-based family office, identity verification specialist OCR Labs has raised $30 million in a Series B round. The investment will be used to help the London, U.K.-based company grow its team in North America and EMEA, and gives the firm $46 million in total capital.

“2021 was an incredible year for OCR Labs, with continued validation from customers who have chosen us as their provider for online digital identity verification,” OCR Labs CEO John Myers said in a statement. “This investment provides us with the capital to continue our growth while bringing a value-added investor on to our board.”

Boasting a 5x increase in new clients and 3x growth in the size of its team over the past 12 months, OCR Labs offers automated identity verification via ID document validation, facial biometrics and other techniques. OCR Labs’ approach removes the need for human intervention in the customer identification process, and gives companies the tools they need to meet AML and KYC requirements and reduce fraud.

The company made its Finovate debut at our developers conference FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2016 and returned one year later to win Best of Show at FinovateAsia in Hong Kong. Securing Series A funding last year, OCR Labs also recently opened a new office in North America, added a direct sales force, and hired a global Chief Revenue Officer.

“Our vision remains unchanged,” Myers said, “we strive to be the leading technology provider of digital identity verification, globally. The market opportunity continues to grow, and with our expansion in the U.S., and investment in our global sales effort, we’re in a phenomenal position to grow our customer base.”

The first private company to earn accreditation as an identity provider under the Trusted Digital Identity Framework (TDIF) of the Australian government, OCR Labs serves customers in a wide variety of verticals including financial services companies, brokerages, insurers, telecoms, and gaming companies.

Photo by Ksenia Chernaya from Pexels

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The Value of Third-Party API Integrations

The Value of Third-Party API Integrations
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Sponsored

This is a sponsored post, written by Tracy Schlabach, Director of Marketing at Accusoft.

Fintechs, ISVs, big banking corporations, and SaaS solutions all have immediate needs in common, they all need to bring forth financial technologies that improve both the customer and employee experience. The challenge is building and launching these technologies quickly, efficiently, and within a scalable, sustainable model. Product managers and development teams are all evaluating options to assist with meeting stakeholder demands for quality, while also meeting the need for speed to market. Enter the hidden value of third-party software integrations.

The secret life of APIs

Digital transformation is an ever-increasing priority for all businesses as well as an initiative that is seeing a surge in funding. In a recent State of the API Economy 2021 report by Google, 56% of enterprise leaders say APIs help them to build better digital experiences and products. Leaders are also finding value in focusing on an API-driven strategy and 52% say APIs accelerate innovation by enabling partners to leverage digital assets at scale.

How API integration works

At a very simple level, an API consists of code that allows two separate technology systems to communicate and interact with one another. It functions as a translator and messenger; delivering user requests and data from one system to a completely separate system. This effectively allows an application to utilize the features and data of other applications without having to build out that functionality from scratch.

For example, the Uber ride-sharing app connects customers to available drivers within a specific area. It does this with a combination of smartphone geolocation and accurate maps, but the Uber app doesn’t have mapping capabilities. To get those features, it connects to Google Maps by way of an API that allows it to access the relevant navigational data and use it to connect customers to drivers.

Purchasing new software doesn’t mean throwing out existing tools, which substantially reduces the risks associated with technology investments and upgrades.

Another key function of APIs is their ability to automate key processes and connect legacy infrastructure to newer technology systems. Data can be collected in one system, for instance, and “pushed” into another system automatically. This not only eliminates the complicated (and error-prone) task of manually transferring data between different systems, but also allows users to build a workflow in an application they’re already accustomed to, without having to learn an entirely new system.

More importantly, since APIs allow newer technologies, devices, and legacy applications to talk to each other, they provide firms with substantial flexibility when it comes to adding new platforms. Purchasing new software doesn’t mean throwing out existing tools, which substantially reduces the risks associated with technology investments and upgrades.

The cost savings with API integrations

When you purchase a third-party API integration you’re gaining more than additional functionality for your application. You also gain access to a team of developers and support specialists who are here to assist you from POC to deployment and beyond. Leaning on the specialization of a third-party vendor allows your developers to focus on application enhancements and release your product to market faster. This ultimately saves your company valuable development time and realizes product revenue faster.

Interested in learning more?

Could your business benefit from an API-led digital transformation strategy? Schedule a consultation today to learn more about the document management API integration options available from Accusoft.

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Virgin Money Partners with HooYu to Boost Success of Customer Onboarding Process

Virgin Money Partners with HooYu to Boost Success of Customer Onboarding Process
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, HooYu

If making a great first impression is important, then Virgin Money’s decision to partner with customer onboarding and KYC technology specialist HooYu should make a pretty good impression of its own.

“Our smart digital tools put our customers in control and the HooYu journey helps our customers to successfully pass KYC where traditional name and address checks fail,” Virgin Money Head of Digital Customer Experience Linda Robertson said. “We chose to work with a regtech partner like HooYu because their platform enables us to easily build a range of digital onboarding journeys that are simple for our new customers to complete.”

A two-time FinovateEurope alum, HooYu combines a variety of KYC tools and technologies to ensure the success of the customer onboarding journey. This includes giving companies confidence that their customers are who they say they are. HooYu’s identity verification service leverages selfie capture, liveness detection, ID document capture and validation, facial biometrics, address proofing, and geolocation in a seamless process that reduces abandonment and increases conversions. Features such as dynamic customer prompts, white label customization, and flexible customer journeys help reduce friction and streamline the account opening experience.

Calling the emphasis on the digital customer experience an “obsession” with banks like Virgin Money,” HooYu Marketing Director David Pope said it was HooYu’s role to help these institutions “refine their new account journeys and achieve the origination goals.”

Virgin Money serves 6.5 million customers in the U.K. A full-service digital bank, the institution offers current, savings, and business accounts; credit cards and insurance; mortgages and personal loans; as well as pensions and investments. Originally launched as Virgin Direct in 1995, the company secured its banking license 2010 and rebranded as Virgin Money two years later.

“It’s our job to help banks like Virgin Money to orchestrate KYC services and easily configure and deploy with a great customer journey,” Pope said.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, U.K., HooYu began the year by leveraging open banking to support identity and affordability checks. The new offering, Bank Connect, enables users to establish their identity or affordability by logging into their bank account during the KYC process. With the user’s consent, Bank Connect provides identity, account overview, transaction, and card data. This information is analyzed, scored, and presented in a HooYu report. HooYu deletes all the user’s Bank Connect data once the client has reviewed the results of the report.

The technology is currently being rolled out to gaming operators, who benefit from the insights into customer affordability and use the information to make more accurate customer risk assessments. In fact, one month after announcing Bank Connect, HooYu introduced new partner MrQ, one of the U.K.’s growing number of online casinos.

Want to meet companies like FinovateEurope alum HooYu? Check out our FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek series and learn more about the companies demoing their latest technologies next month at FinovateEurope in London, March 22 and 23.

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Savings App Plinqit Raises $5 Million in Series A Funding

Savings App Plinqit Raises $5 Million in Series A Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, Plinqit
  • Savings app Plinqit has raised $5 million in Series A funding, bringing its total capital to nearly $10 million.
  • The technology helps users save safely and efficiently, and offers rewards for users who improve their financial literacy by engaging in educational content via the app.
  • Plinqit was founded in 2015 by CEO Kathleen Craig

Michigan-based savings app Plinqit has secured $5 million in funding this week. The company, which made its Finovate debut in 2019 at FinovateFall in New York, will use the new capital to help scale the business to meet growing demand. The Series A round brings Plinqit’s total capital to just under $10 million.

“Financial wellness is crucial for all of us in financial services,” Plinqit founder and CEO Kathleen Craig said. “We created Plinqit to help builders create solutions that truly help people in a way that is engaging and rewarding. It was critical for us that it was technology that they would want to use – and they are.”

The round was led by Nashville, Tennessee-based Fintop Capital and New York’s JAM FINTOP. Also participating in the investment were Invest Detroit, Michigan Rise, and Michigan’s 4Front Credit Union.

Plinqit is a brandable, mobile-first savings app – built by Millennials for Millennials. The platform empowers users to create up to five savings goals, and begin setting aside funds for each goal while earning rewards. The app’s Build Skills feature not only helps users develop financial literacy, it also pays them for doing so, rewarding users for engaging with content which boosts user engagement for financial institutions that offer the technology. Plinqit also offers a virtual account management system – Vi.Ledger – which enables financial institutions to build their own custom savings programs using virtual accounts within the app.

Launched in 2015, Plinqit is one of the leading solutions offered by app development company, HT Mobile Apps (HTMA). The technology has been adopted in recent years by a number of community financial institutions including The Milford Bank ($482 million in assets), ChoiceOne Bank ($244 million in assets), and First Arkansas Bank & Trust ($760 million in assets). “We created Plinqit as a tool to not only help customers safely and securely meet their savings goals, but to also help financial institutions compete for deposits and develop deeper relationships with their customers,” Craig said when the partnership with First Arkansas Bank & Trust was announced in the summer of 2020.

Last fall, Plinqit announced an integration with the digital banking platform of fellow Finovate alum Q2. Funds saved on the Plinqit app are FDIC- or NCUA-insured, and the service is free to users.

Photo by Grant from Pexels

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FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Partner HUB Ltd

FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Partner HUB Ltd
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2022, FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek, Partner HUB

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope on March 22 and 23, 2022 in London. Register today and save your spot.

Partner HUB Ltd’s Invoice2RTP is a product that enables banks to painlessly onboard their corporate customers into the request-to-pay service using structured invoice data.

Features

  • Easy integration of corporate ERPs for onboarding into the request-to-pay service
  • Customizable user interface and backend and API layer to meet individual corporate needs

Why it’s great

Invoice2RTP eliminates the 80% of integration efforts by using already available invoice data structures. The product integrates invoice management, payment requests, and payments in one place.

Presenter

Katalin Kauzli, Co-founder, Business Development Director
Kauzli is a Co-founder and Business Development Director of Partner HUB Ltd. She has been with the company since 2017 and is responsible for all business strategy, business development, and sales.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Fincite

FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Fincite
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fincite, FinovateEurope 2022, FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope on March 22 and 23, 2022 in London. Register today and save your spot.

From wealth aggregation to portfolio analysis, CIOS.Reporting from Fincite gives customers all their clients’ wealth data– prepared in an intuitive front end, including market data. Save up to 30 minutes for each report.

Features

  • Save up to 30 minutes for each report
  • Ensure fast identification of risks and potentials
  • Receive market data from Morningstar

Why it’s great

Fincite’s CIOS.Reporting offers best-in-class investment reporting for advisors and clients.

Presenters

Ralf Heim, Co-CEO & Founder
Heim is a German technology entrepreneur and Founder of Fincite. Starting as a freelancer at the age of 16, Heim spent his career building analytical systems for companies as well as central banks.
LinkedIn

Paul Kammerer, CCO
Prior to joining Fincite as CCO, Kammerer was responsible for business development, product management and customer care for Rabobanks Retail Banking in Europe.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Realmonitor

FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek: Realmonitor
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2022, FinovateEurope 2022 Sneak Peek, Realmonitor

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope on March 22 and 23, 2022 in London. Register today and save your spot.

Realmonitor reduces customer acquisition cost for mortgages and significantly lowers the bank’s exposure to the agent network by providing super early customer engagement.

Features

  • Significantly reduce customer acquisition cost
  • Provide early customer engagement and super sharp customer profiling
  • Reduce bank’s exposure to agent networks

Presenter

Peter Farago, CEO and Co-founder
Farago has spent the last 15+ years in the bank and real estate industry covering several stages of the housing ecosystem.
LinkedIn

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Delta Air Lines and American Express Partner on BNPL Option

Delta Air Lines and American Express Partner on BNPL Option
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, American Express, Daily news
  • American Express partnered with Delta Air Lines to offer American Express’ buy now, pay later tool, Plan It, as a payment option at checkout.
  • Plan It allows users to select from one to three repayment options and charges a fixed monthly fee.
  • Plan It will be added as a checkout option on Delta’s mobile app this spring.

American Express and Delta Air Lines partnered this week to offer their shared customers a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option when booking flights on Delta.com’s web interface.

The partnership, which leverages American Express’ Plan It tool, enables American Express U.S. consumer card members to split up purchases of over $100 into equal monthly installments with a fixed fee.

Launched in 2017, Plan It allows customers to select from one to three repayment options, depending on factors such as the purchase amount, the cardholder’s account history, and their creditworthiness. Plan It charges a fixed monthly fee that is disclosed before the transaction.

As an added advantage over other BNPL plans, Plan It is built into the American Express card and does not require users to enroll, plus cardholders earn rewards as they usually do with their card payment. Further, cardholders do not need to keep track of additional payments, since they are included in their monthly statement.

As Anthony Cirri, Executive Vice President for Global Consumer Lending and Cobrand at American Express highlighted, the timing of the partnership is ideal. “It’s the perfect time to bring these together as people are booking long-awaited trips, and our card members can book with confidence knowing they are backed by the strong partnership between Delta and American Express.”

Plan It has benefited from the rising popularity of BNPL and alternative payment options. The volume of new plans originated in the fourth quarter of 2021 was more than double the volume in the fourth quarter of 2020. And 65% of plans originated in the last year were from new users.

Travelers will see Plan It as a checkout option on Delta’s mobile app this spring.

Photo by Miguel Ángel Sanz on Unsplash

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ThetaRay Forges Historic Partnership with UAE’s Mashreq Bank to Enable Secure Cross-Border Fund Transfers

ThetaRay Forges Historic Partnership with UAE’s Mashreq Bank to Enable Secure Cross-Border Fund Transfers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Nordigen, Nubank, Temenos, ThetaRay

Historic news out of the Middle East leads off our international fintech coverage this week on Finovate Global. Israel’s AI-powered transaction monitoring innovator ThetaRay has been selected by the UAE’s Mashreq Bank to help ensure secure cross-border transfers for its correspondent banking business.

The partnership marks the first time that an Israel-based fintech company has teamed up with a financial institution from the UAE. The collaboration was made possible by the historic Abraham Accords, signed in the fall of 2020, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

“Mashreq Bank is our first customer in the UAE,” ThetaRay CEO Mark Gazit said. “We look forward to accelerating collaboration with additional financial institutions in the UAE and the entire Middle East, as part of the continued expansion of ThetaRay’s global reach.”

Making its Finovate debut in 2015, ThetaRay offers banks and financial payment providers the ability to detect anomalies in multiple data sets, regardless of size or source. This makes the company’s cloud-based, SaaS AI analytics platform is especially effective in monitoring cross-border payments, an area that has become increasingly vulnerable to financial crime – including money laundering – in recent years. ThetaRay estimates that the cross-border payments market will grow from $37.15 trillion in 2020 to nearly $40 trillion by 2026, potentially attracting an even greater number of fraudsters and thieves.

“ThetaRay’s technology, underpinned by advanced machine-learning based models complementing rules, sets the foundation for next-generation transaction monitoring,” Mashreq Bank’s Group Head of Compliance and Bank MLRO Scott Ramsay said. “By combining speed and agility with efficiency, it allows banks to effectively thwart financial crime risks in the increasingly complex space of cross-border payments.”

A leading MENA-area financial institution, Mashreq Bank is the oldest privately owned bank in the UAE, founded in 1967 as the Bank of Oman. Last fall, the bank announced a partnership with Visa to develop a new digital reconciliation platform for business expense tracking. Mashreq Bank was also the first regional bank to launch an API developer portal, going live with the platform back in October. A month later, the institution reported a net profit of $72 million (AED 265 million) for the nine months ending September 30th.

“Mashreq’s advanced digital transformation program has continued to deliver outstanding service to customers throughout the nine months ending 30th September 2021,” Group CEO Ahmed Abdelaal said. He highlighted the role of digital platforms in supporting the bank’s growth, and embraced the “development of a diverse, inclusive, and enabling working environment” courtesy of Mashreq’s adoption of a “work from anywhere culture.”

FinovateEurope 2022 is just one month away. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22 and 23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Photo by Manprit Kalsi from Pexels

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Backbase Inks New Partnership with Boston-based Eastern Bank

Backbase Inks New Partnership with Boston-based Eastern Bank
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Backbase, Daily news
  • Backbase has forged a new partnership with New England-area financial institution, Eastern Bank.
  • Eastern Bank will leverage Backbase-as-a-Service and Backbase Digital Sales technology to streamline its new account opening process, as well as create and release new financial products and services.
  • With $24 billion in assets and more than 120 locations, Eastern Bank serves customers in eastern Massachusetts, southern and coastal New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

A new partnership between engagement banking innovator Backbase and Eastern Bank will bring a fully digital account opening experience to the Boston-based financial institution’s customers. Eastern Bank ($24 billion in assets) will deploy both Backbase-as-a-Service and Backbase’s Digital Sales solutions, which will give Eastern the technical infrastructure it needs to create and deliver new products and services faster.

The deployment of Backbase’s Digital Sales solution will enable Eastern Bank to combine Backbase’s out-of-the-box accelerators and integrations with solutions from third-party fintechs to offer their customers personalized digital banking services – as well as remove much of the complexity customers encounter when opening new accounts. Eastern Bank expects to offer Backbase’s Digital Sales capabilities in the first half of this year to new retail customers. The bank’s new commercial and business banking customers can expect a similar offering later in 2022.

“We are thrilled Eastern Bank chose to collaborate with us around this commitment to technology and innovation,” SVP of Americas at Backbase Vincent Bezemer said. “Like us, they are passionate about delivering the best digital experience possible for customers.” Bezemer complimented Eastern Bank’s team as “agile and digitally-focused” as well as having a “human-centered approach” to collecting and incorporating customer feedback to ensure high-quality customer experiences.

Founded in 1818, Eastern Bank offers banking, investment, and insurance products and services for retail consumers and businesses in parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The bank earned the 2021 Impact Innovation Award for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics by Aite-Novarica Group and was a finalist in the Best Small Business Banking Solution category at the 2021 Finovate Awards.

A multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Backbase is one of Finovate’s oldest alums, having made its debut on the Finovate stage in 2009. More recently, the company participated in Finovate’s return to live events last September as part of FinovateFall in New York. At the conference, Backbase demonstrated its complete customer onboarding technology that consolidates customer finances via direct deposit, billpay auto linking, and debit card account opening.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Backbase was named “Best in Class” among digital banking platform vendors in Javelin’s 2021 Digital Banking Platform Scorecard. In addition to its partnership with Eastern Bank, Backbase has collaborated in recent months with Wyoming-based Blue Federal Credit Union and St. Louis, Missouri-based, family-owned First Bank.

Photo by Sasha Prasastika from Pexels

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U.S. Bank Taps Payactiv to Help Companies Offer Employees Earned Wage Access

U.S. Bank Taps Payactiv to Help Companies Offer Employees Earned Wage Access
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, PayActiv, US Bank
  • Clients that use U.S. Bank’s prepaid Focus Card for payroll can offer their employees access to their wages as they earn them, thanks to a new partnership between U.S. Bank and Payactiv.
  • Employees will not only benefit from early access to their wages, but will also have access to Payactiv’s other financial wellness tools.
  • “We’re proud to be on the leading edge, developing a solution that helps our business clients provide additional convenient options for their employee payroll,” said U.S. Bank Payment Services Vice Chair Shailesh Kotwal.

U.S. Bank is partnering with financial wellness company Payactiv this week. Under the agreement, U.S. Bank will leverage Payactiv’s earned wage access (EWA) tools.

U.S. Bank’s commercial clients that use U.S. Bank’s prepaid Focus Card for payroll can enable their employees to access a portion of the wages they’ve already earned. Employees can access their funds on their U.S. Bank Focus Card, via an instant deposit into their checking account, or other payment options.

In addition to benefitting from early payouts, employees will have access to other financial wellness services such as savings and bill management tools, financial education, and a discounts marketplace.

“The future of payments is one where companies may soon say goodbye to the traditional, biweekly payroll,” said U.S. Bank Payment Services Vice Chair Shailesh Kotwal. “Employers recognize that providing employees on-demand access to earned wages improves employee satisfaction and recruiting efforts. We’re proud to be on the leading edge, developing a solution that helps our business clients provide additional convenient options for their employee payroll.”

Payactiv was founded in 2011 to help companies send their employees their wages as they earn them, as opposed to bi-weekly. “We provide timely access to liquidity – so a single mother can pay for daycare between paychecks and a healthcare worker can cover an unexpected car expense,” explained company CEO Safwan Shah.

California-based Payactiv has raised $134 million in funding and earned a Best of Show award for its 2016 demo. In 2020, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) approved Payactiv’s EWA program as exempt from the federal Truth in Lending Act and Regulation Z rules governing creditors. “Employers can take comfort in knowing that PayActiv continues to be the leader in responsible EWA for employees,” Shah said at the time.

Photo by Tara Winstead from Pexels

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