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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Mobile financial services provider and financial inclusion company Wave Money is receiving a boost today from Alipay parent Ant Financial. In an agreement announced, Ant Financial disclosed plans to invest $73.5 million in Wave Money, bringing the company’s total funding to $92.9 million.
The move will position Ant Financial as a substantial minority stakeholder in Wave Money, which is a joint venture between existing stakeholders Telenor and Yoma Bank.
Wave Money is headquartered in Myanmar and seeks to drive financial inclusion across the country. The company operates 57,000 Wave shops located in 295 out of 330 townships nationwide, covering approximately 89% of the country. In all, more than 21 million people have used Wave Money’s services, including Wave Pay, which is used for remittances, utility payments, airtime top-ups, and digital payments.
On the strategic side of the investment, Wave Money will tap Ant Financial’s expertise in mobile payments to help build out its digital capabilities and enhance its user experience.
“Myanmar’s population is still massively underserved by formal banking institutions with only a quarter of people having a bank account,” said Yoma Strategic CEO Melvyn Pun. “Ant Group brings a wealth of expertise in mobile payment and financial services. The covid-19 situation is accelerating the trend towards a cashless society and drives the growth of ecommerce, and we expect this strategic partnership to massively boost Wave Money’s capabilities to support these trends.”
The investment comes amid a time of growth for Wave Money. Last year the company’s transfer volume more than tripled year-on-year to $4.3 billion. During the same period, Wave Money’s revenue and transaction numbers also tripled. Additionally, the number of monthly active users for Wave Pay have increased 14% per month since the service launched in 2018.
Cloud banking innovator nCino has picked up another partner. The Wilmington, North Carolina company – which made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017 – has teamed up with Swedish SME lender Yourban. The firm will deploy the nCino Bank Operating System to power its SME lending operations.
“Our vision for Yourban was to create an institution that could be in place for the long-term,” Yourban CEO and founder Marthin Larsson explained. “With this in mind, we wanted to partner with a technology provider that could adapt and scale our operations as we expand firstly across Sweden and then Europe.”
nCino’s Banking Operating System leverages the Salesforce platform to deliver an end-to-end banking solution that enables banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to grow market share, meet compliance obligations and boost profitability. The cloud-based platform combines CRM, ECM, loan origination, workflow, business intelligence and reporting in a single, digitally-optimized experience, providing greater security, efficiency, as well as time- and cost-savings.
“In a competitive SME lending market, Yourban understands the need to provide customers with an unparalleled digital experience,” nCino VP of Sales, EMEA Edward Lane said. “We’re excited to be helping Yourban achieve its goals at such a critical time in its lifecycle.”
With the company’s SME loan business as a starting point, the partnership between nCino and Yourban is designed to expand to include additional product offerings as the lender’s business grows.
Two years ago, Access Softekdemonstrated its white label roboadvisory technology at FinovateFall in New York. Last week, the company announced the launch of its latest roboadvisory solution, EasyVest. The new offering provides investors with an automated personal investment advisor that seamlessly connects with bank, credit union, and mobile banking platforms.
“Over the next decade, America will experience the largest generational transfer of wealth we’ve ever seen as Baby Boomers pass along their assets to their children and grandchildren,” Access Softek founder and CEO Chris Doner said. “Robo-advisors especially appeal to the generations receiving the wealth transfer. Financial institutions that provide the technology recipients want will benefit from the transfer.”
Investors can use EasyVest to build wealth via a variety of low-cast exchange-traded fund portfolios. The technology supports individual and retirement accounts, conducts automatic portfolio rebalancing, and supports fractional share purchases. Investors can open an account with as little as $200.
Finovate Podcast Interviews Jim Bruene
In the latest episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer talks with Jim Bruene, founder of the Online Banking Report – the first and longest lasting specialty information publication for the digital banking industry. Bruene is currently a Principal at Fintech Labs UX, a firm that collaborates with banks, credit unions, and fintechs to improve ROI.
Bruene is also the “Father of Finovate,” having founded the fintech conference series in 1994. In this podcast conversation, he talks about the third recession of the fintech era, how to apply lessons learned from the dot.com crash, the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 crisis.
FalconPro Technology selects Redrock Biometrics to co-develop a palm-based biometric identification solution for mass transportation.
Truliooadds new features to its EmbedID developer tool.
Daonextends partnership with ForgeRock to bring multi-factor authentication and digital onboarding to ForgeRock authentication trees.
Featurespace to grow behavioral analytics with fresh $37.4 million round.
nanopay to power self-service international payments for Brazil-based Treviso.
Envestnetprovides new integrated unified managed account (UMA) platform to Canaccord Genuity Group.
Washington Trust Bank deploys digital account opening technology from Terafina.
Prolific London interviewsDatasine CEO Igor Volzhanin.
Eigen Technologiesannounces new Chief Customer Officer David Brooks.
Infosys Finacleinks joint partnership agreement with Traydstream to drive automation in trade finance.
Thomson Reuterspartners with Path Solutions to add automation and greater efficiency to tax workflows and core banking processes.
Fiservlaunches new feature of its Clover POS platform, Clover Online Ordering, to help restaurants more easily serve take-out customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jumiobrings its online identity verification technology to Mobiquity’s digital onboarding service.
Salt Edgeintroduces new feature for third party providers that streamlines PSD2 onboarding with banks.
Tradeshiftpartners with Denmark’s ECA Eksport Kredit Fonden on supply chain finance program for businesses.
Caixabankintroduces new mentoring program for female entrepreneurs and SME founders.
TransUnionannounces partnership with Horizon Media to support digital identity initiative.
Payoneerpartners with banking app ANNA to help SMEs and freelancers receive international payments in U.S. dollars or Euros.
Blytzpayforges strategic partnership with AFS Dealers.
FIS Unveils Portal to Help SMEs Access PPP Loan Forgiveness – This portal, available to FIs and merchants participating in the SBA’s PPP, automates and streamlines the process of applying for loan forgiveness under the provisions of the new program.
QR code payments may not inherit the earth. But they may be one of the key technologies developing countries can leverage in order to bring both untaxed merchants and underbanked consumers into their formal national economies.
These are some of the top level conclusions reached in the report – QR Code Developments May Disrupt the Disrupters – from Mercator Advisory Group published late last year. The author, Brian Riley, credited three factors: better authentication, centralized clearance, and improvements to the payments network as giving QR codes renewed viability as a payment acceptance option in some markets.
The convenience of QR (Quick Response) codes as a payment option is clear. They are a fast, easy-to-use compliment to mobile commerce that requires little to no equipment. Armed with a QR code scanning app, their ubiquitous mobile devices and their cameras, consumers can make in-person purchases without relying on cash or physical cards. QR codes also have shown promise as an option for ecommerce, as well.
Adoption of QR code based mobile payments has been modest in markets in the West, such as the U.S. and the U.K. However in regions like the Asia-Pacific, QR code usage has soared. Greg Geng, VP of Tencent’s WeChat Business Group told CNBC last fall that in China, “payment methods using QR codes have replaced cash and cards in just five years.” In fact, the country is now making headlines for the way it is leveraging its affection for QR codes to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.
The news from Ghana this week is further evidence that QR codes continue to prove their mettle. A subsidiary of Ghana’s national bank, Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) has partnered with global payments solution provider HPS to launch its Universal QR Code and Proxy Pay platform. The solution will enable consumers to make instant payments from mobile wallets, cards, and bank accounts by scanning QR codes with their mobile devices.
Ghana is a pioneer in this regard, being the first country in Africa to introduce a national, QR code payment system. The initiative is believed to be a part of the country’s attempt to transition toward significantly less reliance on cash. “At this time, our quest toward a modern, cashless society is more important than ever and we are proud to be the first African country to implement this universal QR code solution,” GhIPSS CEO Archie Hesse said. “HPS has delivered an agile, comprehensive solution during a time of global crisis and we can foresee incredible benefits.”
Abdeslam Alaoui Smaili, HPS CEO, echoed Hesse’s sentiments about the power of QR codes to support a move away from paper currency, calling the initiative “an important part to a long-term goal of a cashless society.”
HPS offers a comprehensive suite of solutions, PowerCARD, that covers the entire payment value chain and enables its partners to process payments regardless of channel or initiated means-of-payment. With more than 400 institutions in 90+ countries using HPS’ technology, the company was founded in 1995 and maintains offices in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
Billon announced blockchain-based proof of concept with Polish electric company Tauron.
Euromoney looks at how finechs in the CEE region are benefitting as consumers opt for digital payments rather than cash.
Silicon Canals features Ukrainian fintech startups that are “taking the industry to the next level.”
Middle East and Northern Africa
Dubai-based Spotii goes live in UAE with its Shop Now Pay Later platform.
Egyptian digital lender Shahry locks in $650,000 in pre-seed funding.
Securrency forges strategic partnership with investment management and banking company, Musharaka Capital, to develop digital asset issuance platform in Saudi Arabia.
Central and Southern Asia
Partnership between MoneyGram and India’s Federal Bank to bring a direct-to-bank-account credit solution to Indian consumers.
Uzbekistan president pledges reform of banking system, including the privatization of six bank.
Indian cryptocurrency exchange Shiftal to leverage digital identity verification technology from Yoti to support compliant customer onboarding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mexico’s Flux partners with Bonnuscard, Moneypool, and Cuando Volvamos to enable businesses to offer pre-paid digital gift cards.
Financial inclusion-based accelerator makes its Latin American debut with a launch in Mexico.
SME payments company Kushki goes live in Mexico, having already expanded to Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, and Peru.
Asia-Pacific
Validus, a Singapore-based P2P lending platform, raises another $20 million in Series B+ funding ahead of its expansion into Thailand.
Indonesia’s Pintek, which helps students and educational institutions alike access credit, raises an undisclosed amount of funding from Accion Ventures Lab.
Fintech News Singapore features the top ten fintech companies in the Philippines.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Voyance, a data science startup based in Nigeria, launches fintech fraud tracking database, Sigma.
South African cryptocurrency exchange Altcoin Trader enables instant EFT withdrawals from any bank account.
WeeTracker looks at the strength of the wealthtech component of Kenya’s fintech industry.
The following is a guest post written by Josephine Jacobs, writer at Academicbrits.com and PhdKingdom.com and an executive coach and organizational consultant.
As we move into an unprecedented
era of remote working (or rather, working from home!), companies and employees
need to consider how to protect sensitive data. Several security considerations
must be explored. Employees working from home will have access to work systems
without the protections an office brings – they will be using different IT
infrastructure, bandwidths and Wi-Fi connections that may not be secure. This
all brings an element of danger to your company’s data – as your employees
access your database or databases remotely, the risk to that data grows.
Usually the risk is only between the server, internal network and end user
machine. External working adds the risks of public internet connections, local
networks and consumer-grade security systems.
Here are some of the best ways to
protect your data whilst your employees work from home.
Tutor your Employees in Data
Protection and Computer Security
“It’s worth giving your employees
a basic training on how to stay safe online and digitally,” says Joey Garcia, a
tech writer at 1Day2Write and NextCoursework. “This can include
warning them about phishing emails, avoiding public Wi-Fi, securing home Wi-Fi
routers and verifying the security of devices they use for work. Remind
employees not to click links in emails from people they don’t know, not to
install third-party apps, and to be aware that hacking and phishing attacks
will increase during the quarantine period.”
Create an Emergency Response
Team
Whilst teaching your employees
some basic computer security is a useful preventative measure, you need an
emergency response team for the unfortunate event of your data being
compromised. Ensure this team can be contacted by everyone in the company and
everyone knows exactly what to do in the event of a cyber-attack.
Provide your Employees a VPN
Using a VPN (virtual private
network) is a good way to ensure data remains secure. A VPN provides more
security by hiding the user’s IP address, encrypting data as it is transferred,
and masking the user’s location. Most companies use some sort of VPN already –
all you need to do is expand it to all of your employees as they work from home
and allow them to use it for all business-related activity.
Security Software
Provide your employees with the
best security protection on all of their devices – this can be anti-virus
software, firewalls, and device encryption.
“Have a look at the best security
software for Macs or Windows, depending on what devices your company employees
use,” says Melisa Cueva, data analyst at Australia2Write
and Britstudent. “Norton Anti-Virus
consistently ranks highly, but there are many other options out there.”
Password Audits
It’s a good idea to have your
employees regularly change their passwords, and to teach them how to make the
best passwords. Perform an audit and ensure all passwords meet a strict
security police: alphanumeric codes are much better than names or dates that
are easily guessed. Two-factor authentication should be put in place as a
mandatory procedure.
Update all Software
Windows and Apple Mac’s have
their own useful security measures in place to protect devices from attacks.
Ensuring all updates are completed and software is at its latest version can
also prevent devices from attacks. Ask your employees to check their computers
and phones are up to date and activate automatic updating on all devices.
Don’t Store Information
Locally
You can instead store information
on the cloud, using services like Google Drive or Microsoft Office 365 Online.
This also includes avoiding the use of USB sticks, as these devices can be
infested with malware. Content should be stored on cloud-based software
wherever possible, and employees should use cloud-based apps, too. Locally
stored information means it is stored on a physical disk, like the hard drive
of a computer. Cloud software is great because you can backup all data here,
too.
Backups
In case of any need to reset and
wipe devices of viruses, encourage your employees to back up all their data –
whether that’s on the cloud, or to local storage (but this isn’t recommended
for reasons mentioned above!).
Josephine Jacobs is a writer at Academicbrits.com and PhdKingdom.com, an executive coach and organizational consultant with more than 10 years of experience enhancing the performance of individual executives, teams and organizations. Her background encompasses a wide range of programs and initiatives for individual development, team building, organization design, and facilitation. She also writes for Essay Help Service.
This week the Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan had established an official banking relationship with two cryptocurrency exchanges: Gemini and long-time Finovate alum Coinbase. JPMorgan is not going all-in on crypto; the agreement calls for the bank to process only the exchange’s fiat-based transactions. Nevertheless, the partnership is a notable milestone in the relationship between big banks and the bitcoin business.
The news is interesting for a variety of reasons. For one, JPMorgan CEO and Jamie Dimon has been a notorious critic of, if not all cryptocurrencies, then at least bitcoin. In 2017, Dimon called bitcoin “a fraud,” adding that bitcoin is “worse than tulip bulbs. It won’t end well. Someone is going to get killed.” He has since moderated his critique, and his bank, like most other major financial institutions, are piloting various initiatives that use bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology – even if not embracing bitcoin itself. That said, last year the bank announced the creation of a JPM Coin that can be used as a digital token to instantly settle transactions. The initiative was the first real-world use of a digital coin by a major bank in the U.S.
The partnership news also comes just after the bitcoin halving, in which the reward for mining BTC transactions is reduced by 50% in order to manage supply. This week’s process is the third in the cryptocurrency’s history; bitcoin was halved first in 2012 and again in 2016. After the most recent halving four years ago, bitcoin saw significant price appreciation, climbing from approximately $650 that July to nearly $20,000 a year and a half later. And while the halving has helped draw renewed attention to cryptocurrencies as alternative stores of value, few anticipate bitcoin making the same kind of post-halving run this time around as it did in 2016.
Whether or not JP Morgan will seek out other customers in the cryptocurrency industry remains to be seen. One advantage both Gemini and Coinbase have is that they are among the most heavily regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the U.S. Both have earned BitLicenses from the New York State Department of Financial Services, and are registered as money services with FinCEN. These may prove to be high hurdles for many other crypto businesses.
Coinbase made its Finovate debut in 2014 at our west coast conference. Founded two years earlier, the company has raised more than $547 million in funding, and had an estimated global revenue of approximately $520 million in 2018 according to Reuters. Since inception, Coinbase has facilitated the exchange of $150 billion in cryptocurrencies, and served more than 30 million customers in 102 countries.
Across the globe, many people have shifted their attention to focus on two things: their health and their finances. Fintech companies have stepped up in recent weeks to help citizens with the latter. In fact, many are seeing record app downloads, usage, logins, and a surge of new users.
eToro is one such fintech. In fact, the U.K.-based company recently announced it has now reached 13 million active users. This milestone comes in part thanks to the comparatively large number of new users that have registered in the first quarter of this year. eToro saw more than a fourfold increase in the number of new users in the first quarter of 2020 than it saw in the first quarter of 2019.
“Coronavirus induced market volatility has been a focus for media globally and has brought the topic of investing increasingly onto people’s radars,” said eToro CEO Yoni Assia. “We have seen a large increase in trading volumes on eToro since the start of 2020 from both new and existing users.”
Activity on the stock-trading platform has also ramped up this year, with stock trading transactions increasing by 3x since January 1. Much of this activity can be attributed to the fact that eToro launched commission-free stock investing for its Europe-based users in May.
As for what’s next, eToro said it plans to expand its commission-free stock investing to users in the U.S. and Asia Pacific regions later this year. The company also noted that it plans to ramp up its acquisitions to keep up with customer demand.
EToro is, by all accounts, in the middle of a growth spurt. In addition to its boosted user numbers and acquisition plans, the company is also in the middle of a hiring spree. It is currently seeking to fill 60+ job vacancies at a time when many fintechs are laying off or furloughing their staff.
With ongoing stay-at-home orders in place due to COVID-19, companies of all sizes across many industries have had to find a way to take their operations into the digital realm. So while digital transformation had previously been on financial services firms’ radars, it has quickly evolved into a priority.
Bajaj Allianz has experienced particular success with its digital transformation efforts. To get some insight into best practices, we caught up with KV Dipu, President – Head Operations, Customer Service & Communities of Bajaj Allianz.
Many firms have recently had to fast-track their digital transformation efforts. What is your advice to ensure a smooth transition?
KV Dipu: The key is to move from the classic two-speed approach to a big bang approach. Since the accelerator (CEO, CXO or COVID-19 – no prizes for guessing!) for digital transformation is obvious, the most effective starting point is the touch point which generates maximum friction in terms of process performance vs. customer feedback. Secondly, transformation efforts follow use cases, not the other way around. Only when business owners own use cases do transformation efforts bear fruit! Thirdly, look for early wins to create competitive fervor across departments.
Disproportionate awards for early birds can help propel the lagging units forward. Fourthly, since deployment and adoption are entirely different buckets of fish, a strong reward program for fast adoption helps. Lastly, agility – defined here as the ability to recalibrate one’s approach with amoebic speed- in an era when the situation is changing by the day is important to carry the transformation through!
Bajaj Allianz has success in collecting and digitizing data with IoT-based devices. Talk to us about this initiative.
KV Dipu: Charles Darwin said, “It is the long history of humankind that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
At Bajaj Allianz, we strongly focus on collaboration and 100% adherence to regulatory compliance when initiating IoT projects. DriveSmart, our IoT-based telematics program, offers five unique benefits to customers: driving optimization, geofencing, 24/7 road assistance, social integration, and gamification. Some of these benefits are possible only through IoT. For instance, geofencing lets you know if the car strays off the beaten path! Similarly, social integration lets you know if a friend is on the route to your weekend destination!
Likewise, when we launched our “connected school” initiative which included an IoT-enabled solution combining safety, security, as well as insurance coverage for school students, we addressed parents’ worries around school travel. We tracked children using RFID cards and geofenced their travel routes to ensure maximum safety.
Do you have other IoT device projects in the works?
KV Dipu: We have also leveraged IoT to digitize our health insurance medical check-up process. It is now automated and paperless end–to-end; we even won the Celent Model Insurer 2020 Award for the same!
What other tools have you relied on to enhance digital operations?
KV Dipu: We have deployed an array of tools to enhance digital operations. For starters, we walked the talk on blockchain when we deployed it in the area of claim settlement for international travel insurance. In case your flight is delayed beyond the terms and conditions in the policy, you don’t even need to notify us of the claim! Once you submit your documents, we get to know of the flight delay and can send you the amount even when you are still in the airport. Similarly, our bot leverages AI to offer 24/7 assistance via the website, Whatsapp, and even Alexa! We have also deployed robotic process automation (RPA) to automate a range of activities in the back office.
One of the most difficult aspects to digitize can be tools that rely heavily on collaboration and communication. What was your experience in making communication digital?
KV Dipu: We have had a wonderful experience making our communication digital! Our motto during the current phase of social distancing was to stay digitally connected with our employees, customers, and partners while being physically distanced. With our employees and partners, work from home became an opportunity to bond from home by celebrating virtual birthday parties and organizing painting, cooking, and singing team activities using digital collaboration tools. With customers, digitizing communication involved a shift from the call centre to digital servicing tools such as Whatsapp, bots, website, app, and portal.
We also leveraged social media to connect with customers. The highlight was digital launches of new products! In fact, based on recent engagement levels, we scored the highest brand engagement rate in the insurance industry! Since we continuously engaged our customers using email, SMS, and digital platforms and enabled transactions on digital assets, our customer satisfaction scores actually improved!
How are you balancing the need to keep things as stable as possible for customers and employees during an uncertain time with the need to drive digital change?
KV Dipu: Communication is the key when trying to perform a balancing act between stability for the present and digital change for the future. We embarked on a multi-modal communication exercise, informing customers that we are just a call or click away. With employees, we propelled our home-grown engagement program christened “Celebrating You” with a strong focus on four fulcrums: fun at work, digital learning, virtual town halls, and videos and podcasts for mental health and physical workout tips.
Digital change gets established as customers experience the ease and convenience of digital assets. Work from home, for instance, given the win-win for both – employees save on commutes to work, firms save on expensive real estate – is likely to be a permanent feature. Similarly bots, Whatsapp, portals, and websites with 1-click features are here to stay. Tomorrow’s organization chart may well show a manager leading a team of both humans and machines!
Driven by the preferences of millennial consumers, the fintech industry is expected to generate revenues of $500 billion in ten years based on research just published by UBS. This represents a growth of more than 3x over the $150 billion in revenues the industry generated in 2018, and shows fintech outpacing the revenue growth expectations of the overall financial sector.
The projections from UBS rely on more than just millennials – who represent 27% of the world’s population and own an estimated $24 trillion in wealth. The UBS report also suggested that blockchain technology will generate economic value of between $300 and $400 billion in multiple industries, with fintech and financial services being the biggest beneficiaries. In addition to automation, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies were recognized as playing key roles in enhancing areas ranging from trade finance and compliance to foreign exchange and insurance.
AI also will play a role in generating significant economic value for the fintech industry over the next decade, according to UBS. In addition to enhancing processes in fields like roboadvisory, insurance, and compliance, AI will help develop a growing array of ever-more-sophisticated, customer-facing applications such as virtual assistants and chatbots. Increased consumer interaction with these AI-enabled technologies could drive a customer experience/innovation loop that would keep adoption rates of these kinds of solutions high and growing. UBS featured data from its Semi-annual Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide (in collaboration with IDC) which indicated that spending on AI technology worldwide this year would reach $47 billion. Ten years ago, that spending total was less than a quarter of that amount at $11 billion.
The report also underscored the growth of the e-wallet industry, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region where the area’s millennials have helped create a 66% penetration rate for the technology. This is double the rate in North America and an even more significant margin over trends in EMEA. Other areas in fintech highlighted in the UBS report were payments, insurtech, wealthtech, capital markets tech, and online lending.
Positive moves from regulators were cited as one of the more surprising sources of optimism for fintech revenues over the next ten years. The reasons vary widely, but include the public-private partnerships that characterize fintech development in the MENA regions, as well as pro-consumer compliance laws in Europe, the U.K, and North America that are driving innovation in often overlooked subsectors of fintech like regulatory technology (“regtech”). The rise of open banking and the proliferation of neo- and challenger banks are also ways that governments have and are likely to continue to create space for growth in fintech.
With so much uncertainty these days, it’s nice to have something to be sure about. One thing we’re sure about is that our new digital format for FinovateAsia is going to rival the in-person version.
That’s right — FinovateAsia 2020 is now a completely digital event called FinovateAsia Digital. Given health concerns around COVID-19, running the event digitally ensures the safety of our attendees, speakers, and sponsors. It also enables attendees outside of Southeast Asia to participate, bringing more (and more diverse) opinions and perspectives to the event.
What will FinovateAsia Digital look like?
Extended dates The number of sessions will remain the same, and we will still feature all 100 of the original speakers of the event. The schedule, however, will be adjusted to make it easier for people to participate remotely. Instead of a two-day fintech immersion, everything will be spread out across five days. That means the event will now take place July 6 through July 10. With this extension, the content will be shorter each day and more manageable for digital participants.
Time zone The event will run on Singapore Time. The online agenda has been updated to reflect the new schedule so that you can see exactly what’s on when.
Engagement The digital nature of the event will make it even easier for individuals to interact with speakers. Attendees will be able to engage with the event in real-time, through Q&A with speakers, audience polling, and chat features.
Networking Making personal connections is one of the most valuable elements of an event, so we’ve worked hard to preserve it! To make sure everyone has ample time to connect with their fellow attendees, our networking app will run across all five days, helping you find and engage with others. All meetings will take place virtually via video call. To accommodate multiple time zones, the networking app will allow meetings to be scheduled 24 hours across all time zones.
Come join in the experience! If you previously booked your ticket, our customer service team has been in contact with you regarding details. If you have any questions, please reach out to register@informaconnect.com.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that it is temporarily easing up on reporting requirements for small businesses that use crowdfunding as a means for fundraising.
Small businesses looking to raise between $107,000 and $250,000 via crowdfunding are not subject to financial statement review requirements. The SEC also said it will fast-track the approval of crowdfunding listings.
The move is in response to small business’ need for funding to stay afloat while stay-at-home orders have diminished consumer demand– and therefore, revenue. While some were aided by the government’s stimulus package, the Paycheck Protection Plan, many small businesses either did not qualify for the funds or were not able to submit their application.
These small businesses may now more easily solicit the American people to help. “In the current environment, many established small businesses are facing challenges accessing urgently needed capital in a timely and cost-effective manner,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. “Today’s action responds to feedback we have received from our Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee and others about the difficulties these companies may face in conducting an offering within a time frame that meets pressing capital needs, while continuing to provide appropriate protections for investors.”
To benefit, companies must disclose to investors that they are relying on the money because of COVID-19. Fundraisers must also meet eligibility requirements, including:
Must have been organized and operating for longer than six months prior to the start of the offering
Must be a U.S. business
Must not be a blank check or an investment company
Must have complied with Securities Act requirements in previous crowdfunding campaigns
The relaxed requirements will be in place until the end of August, so small businesses have just under four months to initiate their campaigns.
When COVID-19 hit, the financial services sector was faced with an abrupt realization that digital transformation needed to accelerate. While moving to a digital-first approach is a massive undertaking, it can be tackled over a period of time. Financial services can see impactful digital changes implemented in hours, not years.
Most importantly, digital transformation places clients at the center of business. An exceptional customer support experience distinguishes leading financial services from the rest, helping to retain clients well beyond these unprecedented times.
Watch Zendesk’s Alex Mack, Sr. Solutions PMM, and Bank Novo’s Head of Customer Success, Brian Kale, for a live webinar. They’ll discuss quick steps financial institutions can take to digitize their customer experiences at a time when scaling support operations is crucial.
They’ll walk through digital customer support initiatives that are quick to deploy and can deliver big results. Learn how to:
Express empathy and build trust through personalization
Scale customer support with help centers and AI
Move customer conversations to SMS, social, and third party messaging platforms
Empower remote collaboration to expedite requests
See how these customer-centric initiatives can help scale your support today while strengthening your client experience for the future.
COVID-19 has brought many new challenges to daily life– from working from home requirements to new budgetary restraints and stock market volatility. Fortunately, it is in times of crisis when fintech solutions shine the brightest. In a pandemic-burdened world, companies across the fintech sector offer answers (and to some, a sense of peace) to those wrestling with today’s new set of problems.
Personal connection
Even though many financial services offices are still closed to outside visitors, fintech tools can help maintain personal connections without requiring face-to-face interaction. Some roboadvisor platforms, for example, connect users with a dedicated certified financial planner to make sure their accounts are on track and to help them plan for the future.
And when it comes to replicating in-branch conversations, some banks– including Bank of America– have introduced video ATMs to offer customers a way to meet with a teller while social distancing. As an extra bonus, the video technology is making tellers available for longer hours, from 7am to 10pm.
Increased visibility
Fintechs provide users access to their account information 24/7 via web and mobile interfaces. More importantly, however, are the integrated analytics and tools that many platforms offer to help users make decisions, answer questions, and offer scenario-planning to help them reach goals.
Keeping users well-informed about their current financial situation as well as their options can help empower them to plan for their future. This is crucial when many are struggling with the uncertainty of job security and stay-at-home orders.
Digital communication
Chatbots have gained popularity over the past couple of years, fueled by advances in AI technology. In the past few months, however, the need for chatbot and automated response technologies have accelerated. That’s because bank call centers have been overloaded with a spike in mortgage refinance request and calls from consumers who need help sorting out financial hardships. Banks are seeing increased value in chatbots, which help relieve pressure on call centers by offering a different channel for consumers to go to for answers.
Circumvention
Looking back, many fintech companies originated to help users work around a process or a service that just didn’t suit them. For example, there are a multitude of players that cater to unbanked and underbanked consumers, helping them work around requirements imposed by traditional financial institutions. Additionally, mortgagetech companies help banks process loan applications more efficiently by moving the entire process into the digital realm.
In a post-pandemic society we will see many new needs arise that aren’t well-served by traditional processes. Take the traditional, brick-and-mortar bank branch model, for example. Because branches have been forced to temporarily close their doors to customers, many have accelerated digital transformation efforts that make the majority of their services available online.
Digital identity
In a pre-pandemic world, digital identity verification was already a hot topic. Now that banks and fintechs are working with consumers almost exclusively online, there is an increased need for services that remotely authenticate users’ identities. Fortunately, there are a wide variety of instant identity verification offerings– from KYC and AML tools to blockchain-based identity networks– available to help banks and fintechs better serve their remote clients.
