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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 9 and 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.
APIMatic
APIMatic’s developer experience platform adds a layer of technology between fintech APIs and developers to make integrations faster through automation and AI.
Features
Automates the creation of SDKs
Includes dynamic use case guides
Delivers AI-generated integration code
Who’s it for?
Payment providers, banks, and fintech startups.
Corsound AI
Corsound AI enhances security against voice fraud with patented voice-to-face technology and deepfake detection, backed by over 200 autonomous AI patents.
Features
Offers revolutionary security – the future of verification technology
Delivers unique voice-to-face matching that matches a face to a voice without a database
Provides deepfake detection: No enrollment needed, agnostic to new tools
Who’s it for?
Banks, credit unions, identity verification companies, and more.
CSS
CSS introduces IMPACT 3.0, an innovative debt collections platform with AI Copilot Assistants, enhancing compliance, efficiency, and debtor communication.
Features
AI Collector Copilot: Real-time collections advice for agents
AI Automation: Design processes by chat
AI Executive Insights: Instant financial and performance data by chatting
GPTadvisor is the assistant for wealth managers. Their advanced generative AI, in a powerful SaaS platform, enhances productivity for wealth managers across day-to-day activities.
Commercial banks with a private banking arm along with purely wealth management and advisory firms. GPTadvisor’s product also fits the needs of IFAs and includes a licensed SaaS version, as well.
QuAIL Technologies
Q(Fin) by QuAIL Technologies allows financial advisors to elevate productivity and grow their business with powerful AI that is safe, secure, and compliant.
Features
Elevates productivity through automated workflows
Enhances customer engagement with highly personalized content
Improves investment outcomes with deeply integrated AI
Who’s it for?
Registered Investment Advisors and wealth managers.
Synctera
The Synctera Platform equips banks with the tools, infrastructure, and data insights they need to scale a compliant sponsor banking program.
Features
Efficiently manages compliance with a complete set of tools and workflows
Centralizes data and streamlines reconciliation with the Synctera Ledger
Maintains complete data visibility
Who’s it for?
Banks and companies launching fintech or embedded banking products.
TIFIN AG
Through advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, rich data partnerships, and data science expertise, TIFIN AG provides personalized and actionable insights to drive organic growth.
Features
Unifies data and delivers AI-driven insights and recommendations
Empowers advisors to make data-driven decisions
Enhances client growth and retention
Integrates seamlessly with existing technology
Who’s it for?
RIAs, broker-dealers, wealth managers, banks, credit unions, and insurance platforms.
The battle against fraud is a never-ending one. And recent fintech news headlines have helped remind us all of how broad the frontlines are. From the challenge of AI-powered deepfakes to the sad fact that many of our own bad habits continue to keep fraudsters in business, fintechs are busy developing solutions to help us get and stay at least one step ahead of the bad guys. Here are a trio of stories highlighting the latest efforts by fintechs to combat financial crime.
Digital identity verification innovator Socure has unveiled its Selfie Reverification solution. The new capability provides a way to validate return consumers online in less than two seconds with just a selfie. The technology matches incoming selfies with previously verified ID headshots, and features a true match rate of 99.9%. Built on the company’s Document Verification (DocV) solution, Selfie Reverification also detects signs of deepfaking, and readily identifies age discrepancies between the photo and the credential.
“Identity verification isn’t a one-time event. As consumers interact with an online service over time, their risk profile can change. That’s why it’s important to determine you are still who you say you are, without going through the full verification process again,” explained Socure Chief Product and Analytics Officer Pablo Abreu.
Selfie Reverification prompts the user to take a selfie, and sends real-time feedback on positioning, angle, and lighting. Once taken, the selfie undergoes a Level 2 NIST PAD compliant liveness check to prevent spoofing, as well as Socure’s injection attack detection process which makes sure that a fraudster has not injected a false or altered credential into the session. Lastly, the selfie is compared against a set of hundreds of thousands of curated deepfake samples created by more than 20 different AI generators.
The technology leverages biometric analytics to evaluate more than 80 facial features, from eye distance and nose width to jawline contours and emotional expression, to create a facial map and ensure an accurate match. Use cases for Selfie Reverification include preventing account takeover, securing high-risk transactions, streamlining account recovery and re-verification/re-validation, and more.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Incline Village, Nevada, Socure most recently demoed its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateFall 2017. Today, the company has more than 2,500 customers, including four of the top five banks, the top credit bureau, and 400+ fintechs. Businesses ranging from Capital One and SoFi to DraftKings and the State of California rely on Socure’s technology for accurate identity verification and fraud prevention. Johnny Ayers is Socure’s founder and CEO.
Digital banking solution provider Alkami has added credential stuffing protection to the challenge-response authentication process for its digital banking platform. The new functionality automatically checks for human behavior in the background, but does not require visual puzzles or any additional time spent by the user.
“This enhancement in Alkami’s platform has given us the ability to provide an additional layer of security for our account holders,” Quontic Bank SVP of Digital Banking Grace Pace said. “The secure and seamless login experience has contributed to reducing potential fraudulent activities, offering our customers greater peace of mind without added complexity.”
Credential stuffing refers to a type of cyberattack in which a hacker uses credentials obtained through data breaches or purchased from the dark web in order to attempt to access another service. A typical case of credential stuffing, for example, could involve a hacker using the credentials from a breach at a retail store to attempt to log into a bank’s website.
Credential stuffing is a common attack in part because it takes advantage of the tendency of individuals to reuse usernames and passwords. But its commonality takes nothing away from the damage these attacks do. One estimate determined that credential stuffing costs businesses $6 million a year on average, to say nothing of the negative reputational impact that often accompanies it.
The addition of credential stuffing protection is the latest example of Alkami’s layered approach to fraud detection and prevention in digital banking. “Alkami continues to evolve its platform as the security threats change for our customers, and we’re proud to integrate credential stuffing as part of our standard solution for everyone,” Alkami Director of Product Management Brad Cranford said. “Our goal is to help our customers manage security while providing the best experiences for their account holders.”
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alkami made its Finovate debut in 2009 as “IThryv.” Alex Shootman is CEO.
Data and technology company Experian is adding behavioral analytics to its fraud detection capabilities courtesy of a newly announced acquisition of NeuroID.
More specifically, Experian is looking to bolster its defenses against AI-generated fraud threats. With their ability to apply fraud detection strategies to key vulnerabilities such as origination and account management, insights from behavioral analytics can help mitigate fraud in real time and defend users against a range of malevolent actions including identity theft, account takeover, bot attacks, and fraud rings.
“Our acquisition of NeuroID highlights our commitment to provide our clients with world-class data, analytics, and insights to prevent fraud,” said President of Experian’s North American Identity & Fraud business, Robert Boxberger. “Together with NeuroID, we’re excited to build new blended offerings that detect risk but also empower businesses to confidently navigate the online landscape and trust in their transactions.” He added, “In today’s highly competitive and digital-first world, the use of behavioral analytics is now vital for innovating for the future of fighting fraud.”
NeuroID’s solutions are now available via CrossCore on the Experian Ascend Technology platform. The integration will enable platform users to use a single service provider to monitor and analyze real-time digital activity.
“NeuroID unlocks a new view into a user’s riskiness based on behavioral interactions,” NeuroID CEO Jack Alton said. “This view arms companies with a proactive, first line of defense to detect sophisticated fraud rings and bot attacks. By joining forces with Experian, we’re looking forward to helping companies confidently navigate this new era with solutions that enable more secure and frictionless experiences.”
A Finovate alum since 2011, Experian most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall in New York in 2018. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company employs more than 22,000 people, including more than 9,000 technologists and product developers, working in 32 countries.
Are you an innovative fintech with new technology that’s ready for prime time? Join us in New York next month for FinovateFall and take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your solution before an audience of 2,000+ decision-makers.
Streamly Fintech Insights offers unique opportunities to hear from some of the most innovative personalities in fintech and financial services.
Streamly’s interviewees range from entrepreneurs and investors who are helping build and fund tomorrow’s fintech solutions today to analysts and regulators whose job it is to ensure that the interests of consumers are heard and the rights of citizens are protected.
This week, we’re sharing six new conversations from Streamly’s Fintech Insights series.
Financial crime compliance platform Lucinity announced a strategic partnership with AI data management company Knights Analytics.
The partnership will bring advanced AI-powered data management capabilities to bear to fight financial crime.
Lucinity made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023 in San Francisco.
Lucinity has forged a strategic partnership with Knights Analytics, bringing advanced AI data management capabilities to its financial crime compliance platform.
The integration will enable Lucinity customers to consolidate, standardize, and reconcile their data within Lucinity’s unified Case Management system. The strategic partnership will also introduce additional ways to deploy Generative AI capabilities, including entity resolution, network analysis, and automated data extraction from documents. Users can also engage with their data via Lucinity’s AI copilot Luci, which offers actionable insights that are both intuitive and fully explainable.
“We are thrilled to simplify the ability to integrate more data within Lucinity’s platform,” Knights Analytics CEO Alex Ridden said. “Combining our data matching and entity resolution solutions with Lucinity ensures financial institutions make the most of their data. Financial institutions these days are sitting on a wealth of information that they don’t utilize effectively.”
Knights Analytics helps companies extract insights from large and siloed datasets. The firm specializes in combining graph analytics and AI, transforming structured and unstructured data into a high-quality, unified data layer. Leveraging innovations in data linkage and entity resolution technologies, Knights Analytics enables businesses to build a solid data foundation from which they can accelerate business processes and derive actionable insights.
“Partnering with Knights Analytics will take the Luci AI copilot to the next level by enhancing data accuracy, reducing manual analysis, and increasing the reliability of financial crime investigations through advanced data linkage and profile analysis,” Lucinity CEO Guðmundur Kristjánsson said. “This integration will unlock new use cases like on-demand entity resolution, enabling AI-driven automations and insights to streamline case investigations.”
Lucinity made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2023. At the conference, the Reykjavik, Iceland-based company demonstrated its AI-powered copilot, Luci. Luci can conduct internet searches, background checks, fraud detection, sanctions screening, and more. This ability to manage and streamline tedious and time-consuming tasks enables compliance professionals to focus their decision-making on more complex issues.
Lucinity was founded in 2018. The company has raised more than $25 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. Keen Venture Partners and Experian are among the firm’s investors. Last month, Lucinity won the 2024 ICA Award for Innovation in Financial Crime Prevention for its Luci copilot. The company has also received accolades in recent months from Chartis Research and Microsoft, which named Lucinity one of its partners of the year for both its technological innovation and its commitment to “significant social impact and growth.”
Read our profile of Lucinity from earlier this year.
FORUM Credit Union has selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance its commercial digital banking experience.
FORUM Credit Union anticipates the move will expand its commercial member base.
“The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield.
Digital banking solutions provider Apitureannounced today that FORUM Credit Union will use the fintech’s digital banking capabilities to power its commercial digital banking suite.
FORUM, a $2.1 billion, not-for-profit cooperative based in central Indiana, selected Apiture’s Business Banking solution to enhance the online and mobile banking experience for its commercial members. The credit union is also hoping to expand its commercial member base. FORUM was interested in Apiture’s ability to create a customized tool that integrates with its existing retail banking solution.
“As a member-owned organization with the mission of ‘helping members live their financial dreams,’ FORUM is committed to providing technology solutions that optimize our members’ banking experience,” said FORUM Credit Union Chief Technology and Risk Officer Cameron Piercefield. “The comprehensive functionality available in Apiture’s Business Banking solution coupled with the company’s commitment to innovation made Apiture the right choice for our members and employees.”
Apiture was founded in 2017 to help credit unions compete with larger banks and credit unions when it comes to digital banking experiences. The company’s solutions, which work with more than 40 cores, offer both consumer and commercial banking experiences, along with account opening, embedded banking, and data intelligence tools. Powering these capabilities are Apiture’s network of more than 200 pre-vetted fintech partners, including Glia, Deluxe, MX, Mambu, and DefenseStorm.
“We are proud to partner with FORUM Credit Union to support its growth objectives and drive member satisfaction,” said Apiture CEO Chris Babcock. “With integrations to more than 200 best-of-breed fintech partners and an API-first approach that enables rapid innovation, our Business Banking solution will empower FORUM to deliver a fully featured banking experience that supports businesses of all sizes.”
Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, Apiture also has offices in Austin, Texas. The fintech has raised $69 million from investors including T. Rowe Price, Live Oak Bank, and others.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 9 and 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.
Abrigo
Abrigo has been trusted by 2,500+ financial institutions for over 20 years to fight financial crime. The organization’s FinCrime suite includes market leading AML and fraud solutions.
Features
Offers AI/ML-powered check image analysis
Delivers nationwide consortium of check fraud data
Includes configurable rules engine
Who’s it for?
U.S. banks and credit unions.
Bancography
Branches consume sizable capital and noninterest expense costs. Bancography Plan maximizes those investments by identifying opportunities to deploy new branches and reconfigure or close current ones.
Features
Examine prospective merger candidates
Identify overlapping branches and forecast attrition
View full pro forma financial impact, before and after closures
Detect impacts on efficiency ratio and ROA
Who’s it for?
Banks and credit unions.
Diadem Capital
Diadem Capital is a deal flow engine and fundraising solution connecting private companies to private capital ranging across venture capital, private equity, venture debt, and non dilutive funding sources.
Features
Diadem Capital helps investors and lenders streamline due diligence, showcasing only the top prospects. Founders get one-to-one intros to otherwise inaccessible investors.
Who’s it for?
Diadem Capital is a two-sided marketplace catering to any private capital provider looking for deals and private company looking for capital. It is sector, stage, and geography agnostic.
iDENTIFY
iDENTIFY revolutionizes banking with a data validation tool that seamlessly integrates legacy and modern tech, transforming raw data into actionable insights for banks.
Features
Offers real-time data validation
Delivers seamless integration
Provides enhanced insights
Who’s it for?
Banks and credit unions.
Nest Bank & Efigence
Nest Bank, Poland’s first AI-enhanced bank, offers entrepreneurs and individuals innovative payment methods and personalized services. Efigence is a technology company that has been in operation since 1995.
Features
Expense tracking: Monitors and categorizes spending
AI-driven predictions: Forecasts future trends from users’ past actions
Placing instructions: Makes money transfers or issues virtual cards
Who’s it for?
Nest! has a diverse range of clients: Individuals and entrepreneurs who drive over 50% of Poland’s GDP.
Rapid Finance
Rapid Finance empowers enterprises to streamline their small business lending program. Lynx helps users take control of their data and unlock its potential.
Features
Offers comprehensive and holistic 360° views of customers
Advanced AI and analytics provides real time insights and patterns
Customizable rules engine allows users to automate decision making
Who’s it for?
Banks, credit unions, fintechs, neobanks, lending institutions, payment processors, insurance companies, lending and banking platforms, investment banks, wealth management firms, and more.
Winnow
Winnow AI leverages the power of LLP and NLP artificial intelligence. It allows customers to get lightning-fast answers to basic legal questions around topics that Winnow covers.
Features
Quickly answers basic legal questions
Generates responses based on Winnow’s 60,000+ attorney-reviewed legal requirements
Reduces time and effort typically spent on legal research
Should more financial advisers be treated as fiduciaries? Even for one-time financial recommendations like a 401(k) rollover?
The Washington Post recently published an article looking at the battle over the needs of recent retirees on one side and what critics have called “lucrative broker commissions” on the other. At issue is an effort by the Biden administration to force brokers to act as fiduciaries, which means that they must place client needs above all else, including their own paychecks. The administration is especially concerned about what happens when millions of Americans retire or roll over their retirement savings in favor of tax-advantaged accounts such as IRAs. This is a huge market; the federal government estimates that these transactions are valued at more than $770 billion in 2022.
In many, if not most instances, these transfers from 401(k)s and similar products into IRAs is unremarkable. But the administration is looking closely at some transfers, in which investors’ retirement money is invested in instruments such as annuities. Annuity products, in which retirees give funds to an insurance company that provides them with a fixed, annual payout, not only often have costly restrictions – such as big penalties for early withdrawals and caps on returns – but also can be more lucrative products for insurance agents to sell compared to other investments. This – from the Biden administration’s perspective, and that of some consumer advocates – creates a conflict of interest that can lead to savers being steered toward investments that are not optimal for them.
As such, Biden’s Department of Labor extended fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to cover one-time recommendations issued to retirement investors. This puts a number of activities traditionally not covered by the fiduciary rule, including those rollovers noted above, under the rule. The policy was finalized in April and was set to take effect next month.
For their part, critics of the administration’s policy see the attempt to change regulations as a “costly, illegal federal mandate.” In an unsigned statement (ahem!) one of the organizations that sued to stop the Biden’s administration, the American Council of Life Insurers, warned that new fiduciary requirements could “deprive millions of consumers of access to much needed retirement financial guidance and protected lifetime income products.”
So far, the courts – and Congress – have agreed with the critics. Congress made initial moves toward invalidating the new rules in July, with a congressional committee passing a resolution to overturn the rule. Additionally, two federal judges have separately blocked the Biden administration from implementing the rule in September. And industry groups, sensing a major change to their business model, have geared up to persuade politicians that an expansion of the fiduciary rule “would be potentially devastating for the insurance industry,” according to one such group, the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice.
Indeed, impact would be felt. Morningstar reported that investors in annuities could save more than $32 billion over the next ten years – with insurance agents enduring major restrictions in their commissions.
Could an extension of fiduciary responsibility become as significant a campaign topic as the debate over taxing tips? It’s hard to say. But I’ll be on the lookout to see whether or not the Trump or Harris campaigns decide there’s advantage to be had by backing fewer regulations – or retiree rights – when it comes to the role of fiduciary responsibility.
Interested in wealthtech? Check out our feature on the six key ways fintechs drive innovation in wealth management.And be sure to read our primer on wealthtech at FinovateFall next month, Client Centricity and the Rise of Alternative Assets.
Ivankovich is taking the reigns from former CEO John Deignan.
Ivankovich founded iLendx and oversaw Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.
Small business lending solutions provider Baker Hillannounced this morning it has appointed Andy Ivankovich as its new CEO. Ivankovich takes the place of John Deignan, who has served as Baker Hill CEO since 2017.
Baker Hill tapped Ivankovich for his background in lending technology. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he spent his early career managing a $14 billion lending portfolio as a product executive with USAA. During his time as a banker, he developed and was named as inventor on USAA’s lending technology patents. Ivankovich went on to become the founder of iLendx, which he sold to Fiserv in 2018. After the acquisition, he stayed on to oversee Fiserv’s lending and deposit software products and services division.
“I am truly honored to be appointed Baker Hill’s Chief Executive Officer and look forward to building upon the strong foundation Baker Hill has built over its 40-year history,” said Ivankovich. “Baker Hill is consistently recognized as a leading fintech company with world-class products. The team has cultivated a reputation for driving innovation in lending for banks and credit unions to better serve their communities. I am proud to join this team of experts and look forward to leading Baker Hill through its next stage of growth and ushering in a new era of innovation for our clients.”
In his new role, Ivankovich aims to promote innovation across the company’s product suite to ultimately enable financial institutions to modernize their lending operations.
“Andy has demonstrated forward-thinking leadership throughout his career, and he is well-acquainted with Baker Hill’s mission,” said Chairman of the Board for Baker Hill and former CEO of Wolters Kluwer Financial and Compliance Services Brian Longe. “His product and client focused approach, entrepreneurial background, and forward-thinking innovation make him an excellent choice to lead Baker Hill.”
Founded in 1983, Baker Hill offers banks and credit unions a SaaS solution for commercial, small business, and consumer loan origination, as well as risk management tools. The company, which most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021, has recently formed partnerships with Harmony Bank, Union Bank, and Amalgamated Bank.
Last spring, Baker Hill agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition offered Baker Hill access to Flexpoint’s resources and expertise, including its experienced team and capital to fund ongoing product innovation and acquisitions.
Sustainable Fitch will integrate AI-powered text analysis from SESAMm into its ESG Scores and Ratings solution.
The integration will help Sustainable Fitch offer a more comprehensive ESG insights to asset owners and asset managers.
SESAMm won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London.
ESG data and analysis provider Sustainable Fitch will integrate AI-powered text analysis from SESAMm into its ESG Scores and Ratings solution. The integration will enable Sustainable Fitch to provide more comprehensive ESG insights to its asset owner and manager clientele.
The addition of SESAMm’s analysis will improve decision-making and help guide investment and due diligence. The partnership will also help provide broader data coverage for both public and private market data analysis.
“Working with SESAMm’s technology allows us to leverage their advanced solutions to enhance our ESG Scores and Ratings offering,” Sustainable Fitch Global Head of ESG Analytics Gianluca Spinetti said. “By integrating SESAMm’s extensive data coverage, we can offer our clients more comprehensive ESG insights.”
Headquartered in New York, Sustainable Fitch is a research firm that provides data, tools, analysis, and insights for the fixed-income market. The company provides ESG ratings, Second Party Opinions, thought leadership, and more to help individuals and institutions make informed decisions when it comes to ESG impact.
Launched in 2022, Sustainable Fitch has been recognized by Environmental Finance as one of the top five largest global Second Party Opinion providers. This year, the company won “Best Specialist ESG Ratings Provider” at the ESG Investing Awards and “Best ESG Data Provider/Vendor” at the Inside Market Data Awards & Inside Reference Data Awards.
“We are excited that a recognized leader in ESG analysis is using our insights for their ESG analysis,” SESAMm CEO Sylvain Forté said. “Our AI-powered text analysis will provide deeper insights and broader coverage, helping Sustainable Fitch to deliver high-quality ESG data and ratings.”
SESAMm won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London in 2022. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023, where the French AI firm showed an integration of ChatReveal, its proprietary generative AI solution. Bringing advanced chatbot technology to the SESAMm platform, ChatReveal examines more than 23 billion articles on five million public and private companies. The technology identifies if the company is the subject of ESG controversies or issues to help private equity firms and financial institutions better understand the potential risk of companies in their portfolios.
Last month, SESAMm unveiled its ESG Controversy Risk Exposure Heatmap. The solution delivers an overview of environmental, social, and governance risks to provide an easy way to visualize and assess a company’s reputational profile. This enables users to focus on particular areas of concern and prioritize next steps.
Headquartered in Paris, France, SESAMm was founded in 2014. The company has raised more than €50 million in funding and includes Elaia, Opera Tech Ventures, The Carlyle Group, and NewAlpha Asset Management VC among its investors.
We’re midway through August, and while everyone attempts to sneak in their final summer vacation days, the fintech news continues on. While we’ve seen a handful of acquisition news headlines so far this summer, I expect things to tick up slightly this fall. Stay tuned throughout the week to read the latest news this week as we post updates and evolutions.
LianLian Global has tapped Thredd to help it launch a virtual card program in the APAC market.
Thredd will power LianLian’s Yueda virtual card product.
The news comes weeks after Thredd initiated partnerships with TerraPay and Spendbase.
Digital payment solutions company Threddannounced a partnership with global payments company LianLian Global to help the Singapore-based company launch its virtual card program in the APAC market.
LianLian, which specializes in cross-border settlement services with instant payouts, selected Thredd to power its Yueda virtual card product. Designed to facilitate cross-border payments and financial management for businesses, Yueda provides comprehensive payment services, including multi-currency support, payment collection, and fund transfers, tailored specifically for the needs of businesses in a range of industries, including e-commerce, international B2B trade and travel, engage in international trade and commerce.
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in London, Thredd offers digital payment solutions to help businesses simplify financial transactions. In addition to the virtual card service that LianLian will use, Thredd also delivers card issuance, payments processing, card controls, risk and fraud, digital wallets, and cross-border payments solutions.
“Utilising Thredd’s virtual card issuing capabilities we will be able to deliver on our ambitious growth plans for 2024 and beyond,” said LianLian Global Co-CEO Tim Shen. “We have already secured payments licenses covering eight [regions], including mainland China, China, Singapore, the U.S., the U.K., Luxembourg, Thailand, and Indonesia. We are delighted to find a partner in Thredd who can support us with virtual cards that will ensure that no matter where a client needs to send a payment, it will be supported. Access to a local team of experts who speak our language has made the implementation and ongoing operations seamless.”
Today’s announcement comes after Thredd partnered with TerraPay in June to support virtual card payments for the travel industry. Thredd has also recently launched in the U.S., having secured its second U.S. client, Spendbase, in June.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global highlights recent fintech news from the Philippines.
Philippine mobile payments company Mynt, the firm behind super app GCash, has secured an investment of $393 million courtesy of an investment from Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG). The funding comes at virtually the same time as the company reported another $393 million investment, this one from Philippines-based conglomerate Ayala Corporation.
“We are thrilled to welcome MUFG as a new strategic partner,” said Mynt President and CEO Martha Sazon. “With their global expertise and reach within the financial inclusion space, they will be instrumental in further expanding GCash’s social impact, especially to the underserved. Alongside this, Ayala’s unmatched commitment to Philippine economic growth and development, and its expertise in multiple industries will accelerate GCash’s mission.”
The investments give the Filipino firm a valuation of $5 billion, and gives MUFG an 8% stake in the company. Ayala’s share climbs to approximately 13%.
A subsidiary of Globe Telecom, Mynt’s GCash is used by more than 90 million individuals to buy prepaid airtime, pay bills, send and receive funds, transact with merchants, and access savings, credit, insurance, and investment products.
“GCash is an indispensable infrastructure for everyday life of Filipinos and we are delighted to join Mynt as a strategic investor to support the growth of the company,” MUFG Senior Managing Corporate Executive, Head of Global Commercial Banking Business Group Yasushi Itagaki said. “With our investment, we are excited to expand our contribution to the ongoing development of the Philippines’ digital economy and financial inclusion.”
MUFG’s investment comes at a time when the banking group has been funding a range of regional fintechs that are helping bring financial services to the underbanked. Among these fintechs are Ascend Money, a super app based in Thailand, as well as Grab of Singapore and Akulaku of Indonesia.
Earlier this year, Globe Telecom suggested that the super app may launch as a public company in the Philippines next year. This week, Bloomberg reported that the company may pursue a Philippine digital banking license, as well.
Mynt’s GCash is a big deal in the Philippines when it comes to mobile fintech apps. But how big are mobile fintech apps in the Philippines? A new report from UnaFinancial noted that among Southeast Asian nations mobile fintech app adoption has been strong overall, but nowhere more so than in the Philippines where mobile fintech app penetration reached 63% by May of this year. Malaysia was second at 55%. Interestingly, fintech powerhouse Singapore registered 45%, tied with Thailand and behind Indonesia’s 49%. Vietnam showed 32% mobile fintech app penetration.
Why such a strong performance for mobile fintech apps in the Philippines? The UnaFinancial analysts cited a handful of factors including the large number of unbanked Filipinos; regulatory support for developing digital financial technologies; a sizable, tech-savvy youth population; and growing rates of Internet adoption. Digital wallets and payment apps remain the most popular mobile fintech apps, with mobile banking apps making a strong second place showing. One area of particular growth is lending apps, which increased their share of mobile fintech apps from 1% to 5% between 2019 and 2024.
The report noted that the Philippines is likely to remain the regional leader in mobile fintech app adoption. But recent growth in Indonesia’s fintech sector has UnaFinancial predicting that Indonesia could take the second spot from Malaysia by the end of 2030.
The move will allow as many as ten digital banks to operate in the Philippines. Currently, six digital banks have been licensed to operate in the country since the introduction of the Digital Banking Framework in 2020. This week’s announcement will allow as many as ten digital banks, opening the door for the granting of an additional four licenses. Both new applicants as well as existing banks are eligible to apply, though the BSP noted that the licensing process will be “stringent.”
Additionally, the BSP made clear in a statement that it is looking for innovation rather than more of the same. “Applicants must bring something new to the table,” said bank governor Eli M Remolona, Jr. “We want to see unique product and service offerings that are different from that offered by the existing market players.”
Beginning on September 4th, banks in South Africa will suspend electronic fund transfer (EFT) services to Namibia, eSwatini, and Lesotho as part of a payments reclassification to help prevent financial crime.
Central and Eastern Europe
Austrian cryptocurrency platform Bitpanda partnered with Solaris to enhance its KYC capabilities in the German market.
