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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Refine Intelligence has introduced its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution.
The technology automatically contacts customers whose checks have been flagged as suspicious, and provides a user-friendly digital inquiry process to help customers resolve issues in seconds.
Refine Intelligence made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2023 in London.
Refine Intelligencelaunched its Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention solution this week. The technology, which works with all existing check fraud detection systems, will help banks and other financial institutions deal with an increase in check fraud due to both mail theft and the development of advanced counterfeiting techniques.
Digital Customer Outreach for Check Fraud Prevention automatically contacts customers whose checks have been deemed suspicious. A user-friendly digital inquiry process that takes a few seconds to complete enables customers to review the flagged check and immediately verify key issues such as the amount and the payeee.
“Fraud teams are under time pressure to deal with a tidal wave of alerts about potentially fraudulent checks,” Refine Intelligence CEO and co-founder Uri Rivner said. “In an ideal world, they’d ask the customer about each alerted check, but chasing customers over the phone is expensive and irritating for everyone involved. This new solution closes the gap between detection and prevention by enabling customers to resolve alerts themselves. It works with any detection system, maximizing the current workflow and reducing fraud losses and operational costs for dealing with fraud claims.”
Refine Intelligence’s Digital Customer Outreach platform helps financial crime and compliance teams tackle a range of fraud and financial crime issues. The platform gives banks the ability to automatically contact customers to resolve both AML and check fraud alerts, as well as to automate enhanced due diligence (EDD). The technology leverages proprietary AI to glean insights into anomalous transactions, enabling fraud and compliance teams to learn the context in which the anomaly occurred and to determine whether the transaction is legitimate or not.
NCR Voyix has teamed up with customer interactive technology company Glia.
Glia will integrate its unified interaction capabilities into the mobile version of NCR Voyix’s digital banking platform.
Glia has won Finovate’s Best of Show award 10 times, including in the company’s debut (as SaleMove) at FinovateFall 2015.
NCR Voyix’s mobile banking app just got a lot more interactive.
Courtesy of a partnership with Glia, NCR Voyix will enhance the mobile version of its Digital Banking platform with unified interaction capabilities. Glia’s ChannelLess Architecture enables seamless transitions between multiple interaction channels: from phone calls and digital messaging to chatbots, video chats, and SMS. Now a part of NCR Voyix’s mobile solution, the technology will help banks and credit unions boost customer and member engagement and loyalty.
Glia Chief Product Officer Jay Choi talked about the importance of the mobile channel for a younger, generation of financial services customers. “Forcing customers to exit the mobile app experience to receive guidance or support results in inefficiencies, delays in resolutions, and frustration for all involved,” Choi explained. “With the integration of our digital-first tools into the NCR Voyix mobile app, we are empowering banks and credit unions to overcome this challenge, instead providing instant, personalized and seamless engagement where customers and members already are.”
Among the FIs to deploy the technology are Texas-based 5 Point Credit Union, which has credited Glia’s solution for increasing staff efficiency, simplifying processes, and reducing fraud. The credit union also underscored how the technology enhanced its ability to communicate and engage with its members, improving in-app support.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Glia won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015 (as SaleMove). The company has gone on to win a total of 10 Finovate Best of Show awards, including in its most recent appearance on Finovate’s digital stage in 2021.
Last month, Glia unveiled its responsible AI platform purpose-built for financial services companies called Glia Cortex. The technology provides personalized self-service experiences at scale, helps agents become more productive, and gives managers new insights into agent/customer interactions. Among the solution’s early adopters is Service 1st Federal Credit Union, a Danville, Pennsylvania-based institution founded in 1975.
NCR Voyix was formed in October 2023 when NCR Corporation split into two entities. The company’s ATM business was spun-off as NCR Atleos. NCR Voyix is the successor to NCR Corporation, which demoed its technology at FinovateSpring in 2016 and again in 2017.
Apple is shutting down Apple Pay Later, its BNPL offering, just 15 months after launching the tool.
Apple said that the decision will help the company launch a BNPL offering to cardholders across the globe.
Apple may have also wanted to avoid the consequences of the CFBP’s recent interpretive rule, which classifies BNPL providers as credit card issuers under the Truth in Lending Act.
March 28, 2023 to June 17, 2024. That is the lifespan of Apple Pay Later, Apple’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) tool.
Apple launched the tool last year to allow Apple cardholders to pay for their purchases under $1,000 in four separate installments over the course of six weeks. The service was free, and did not charge users interest or any other fees. Consumers benefitted from a six week float on their purchase amount, while Apple benefitted by attracting new cardholders and potentially enticing consumers to spend more money using their Apple card. This week, Apple announced it has shut down the Apple Pay Later service.
But even though Apple Pay Later is shutting down, the company is replacing the BNPL method with another BNPL option. In a statement to 9to5Mac, an Apple spokesperson said, “Starting later this year, users across the globe will be able to access installment loans offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders, when checking out with Apple Pay. With the introduction of this new global installment loan offering, we will no longer offer Apple Pay Later in the U.S. Our focus continues to be on providing our users with access to easy, secure and private payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will enable us to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places across the globe, in collaboration with Apple Pay enabled banks and lenders.”
According to this statement, the major reason Apple is switching to a new BNPL tool is that the new offering will make installment purchases available to cardholders across the globe. Additionally, Apple will no longer hold the paper on the short-term loan. The company’s new BNPL tool will leverage Citi to furnish the short-term loan.
There is another, unspoken reason Apple may have decided to change its role in the BNPL game, however. The move may have to do with the CFPB’s recent interpretive rule for the BNPL industry, which classifies BNPL providers as credit card issuers under the Truth in Lending Act. This would subject Apple to a range of new obligations, including having to investigate customer disputes, pause payments, provide refunds, and issue credits when applicable.
Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has partnered with issuer processor CLOWD9.
CLOWD9 will leverage Kani Payments’ platform to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities.
Kani Payments made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2023.
Reconciliation and reporting services provider Kani Payments has inked a partnership with CLOWD9. The cloud-native issuer processor selected Kani Payments to power its data reporting and reconciliation capabilities and help the company manage the unique data standardization requirements faced by banks and fintechs alike.
CLOWD9 will use Kani Payments’ SaaS platform to collect and standardize transaction data, including both authorization and settlement data from payment schemes. The platform will enable CLOWD9 to report to clients across the payment value chain faster, as well as provide enhanced and easy-to-understand data customization and visualization via the Kani Payments’ portal dashboard. This will empower clients with the flexibility to configure data as they choose.
“The sweet spot is taking standard data, formatting it for the individual needs of our mutual clients, and accelerating reconciliations with it,” CLOWD9 Chief Product Officer Richard Wray explained. “Kani Payments are the experts in that area and their understanding of the depth, detail, and specializations within the payment data value chain is unsurpassed.”
Headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., Kani Payments made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring in San Francisco. At the conference, the company demoed how its automated reconciliation and reporting platform provides fully automated reconciliations, as well as automated legal, regulatory, and scheme reporting. Kani CCO Marc McCarthy used the example of a simple transaction at a coffee shop to explain the myriad actors – issuing bank, network, processor – that play a role in managing the data of even an everyday purchase. “Each one of those organizations has a different version of that event,” McCarthy said. “We here at Kani Payments provide a reconciliation and reporting platform that helps each one of those actors to have compliance, to have validation of their data, and to have insightful reports of what they can see with their information.”
Earlier this year, Kani Payments announced a partnership with core banking platform Pismo. The collaboration makes Kani’s platform available to Pismo’s bank, marketplace, and fintech clients. Vishal Dalal, Pismo CEO for North America, EMEA, and APAC said that the partnership “will unlock useful insights to help (financial institutions) make better, more informed decisions, shaping a new era for banking and payments.”
Kani Payments was founded in 2018. Aaron Holmes is CEO. Holmes co-founded the company following tenures at Flex-e-card, Global Processing Services, and NBS Card Solutions (now Wirecard).
AI may be one of the most misunderstood concepts in financial services at the moment. Not only is the technology complex, it also suffers from hype, bias, lack of transparency, lack of standardization, regulatory ambiguity, and it is constantly evolving. Accenture’s AI report helps demystify a bit of the AI enigma.
The firm spent multiple years surveying executives in a range of industries to compile a report detailing how to harness the power of AI. The firm surveyed more than 3,000 executives across 19 industries and 10 countries from November 2022 to November 2023 to compare how organizations leveraged AI.
Reinventing the enterprise
The main emphasis of Accenture’s AI report centered around reinvention. Accenture highlighted that reinvention is the key to unlocking the potential of AI for firms. Companies need to embrace reinvention as a deliberate strategy to fully leverage the powers of both AI and generative AI.
What it means to reinvent
Reinvention is more than just a buzz word. It involves firms transforming their entire organization by involving the whole C-suite in a collective decision-making process. Instead of simply adopting new technologies that fit into a bank’s existing approach, the entire firm must adopt a holistic approach that takes on four main attributes:
Encompass talent strategy Organizations must invest in training their entire workforce to understand and effectively use AI technologies. They must also attract new AI-skilled talent into their workforce by creating an attractive working environment and offering opportunities for growth and development. Additionally, firms must develop their leaders to understand AI’s potential and how to strategically implement it.
Break down organizational silos Because AI initiatives often require collaboration among different departments, breaking down silos ensures that all teams work together effectively. This also means that each silo needs to offer transparent access to its data (in a secure way, of course). By making data accessible across the entire organization, AI systems can leverage more comprehensive datasets for more accurate and helpful outputs. And, perhaps most importantly, aligning AI projects with broader business objectives helps ensure that the entire organization is working towards that same goal.
Embrace new ways of working To reinvent their current way of working, organizations need to embrace new ways of working and be open to change. Specifically, firms must adopt agile practices that allow them to iterate quickly, respond to changing markets, and continuously improve their AI systems. They also must create a culture of innovation that encourages experimentation, and offer flexible working arrangements that can improve employees’ productivity as well as their job satisfaction.
Continuously seek reinvention The final piece of the puzzle is that organizations must not stand still. Even after taking initial steps, firms must regularly evaluate and refine their AI strategy to keep pace with advancements in technology as well as changing business needs and shifting consumer demand. Additionally, organizations must continuously invest in research and development to explore not only new AI technologies, but also new applications of existing technology.
Benefits of reinventing
Those willing to reinvent their enterprise stand to reap multiple benefits. In addition to driving growth, productivity, and outperforming their competitors, firms that reinvent their enterprise to unlock the key to leveraging AI will enhance the user experience for their end customers, tap into data-driven decision making, accelerate innovation, manage risk, scale their business, empower their employees, and optimize resources.
By integrating these benefits into their reinvention strategy, firms can fully exploit the transformative potential of AI and generative AI, ensuring long-term success and resilience.
To learn more about what it means to reinvent your enterprise, including the seven components of the digital core outlined in Accenture’s AI findings, check out the free report.
In this latest venture, the two companies are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions. Mastercard is integrating its network and digital solutions with Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking platform to help banks transition from their legacy core banking and payment technologies to cloud-native ones. Ultimately, the two hope the move will increase their efficiency, reduce costs, and create more integrated, personalized, and customer-centric experiences.
“As we expand our partnership with Mastercard, we plan to leverage their global presence and payment expertise to deliver our core banking and payment platforms to banks worldwide,” said Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor. “We are excited to simplify and enhance the modernization experience for complex banks worldwide and make it even easier for them to deliver sophisticated customer experiences.”
Today’s partnership also focuses on pay-now solutions. Specifically, the two will help financial institutions digitize debit cards linked to current accounts.
“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with Thought Machine, and they’re now our first strategic, end-to-end partner in the core banking space,” said Mastercard Europe President Mark Barnett. “We’re providing leading banks and financial institutions with a comprehensive core banking and card issuing solution that meets tomorrow’s payment needs, and we look forward to scaling our joint capabilities.”
Mastercard and Thought Machine first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program. In 2022, the two teamed up to develop Vault Payments, an issuer processing solution that leverages Mastercard’s cloud technology. Vault Payments supports various card and non-card use cases, tapping Mastercard’s extensive payment network with Thought Machine’s banking technology.
U.K.-based Thought Machine has raised $563 million in funding since it was founded in 2014. The company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. Among Thought Machine’s clients are Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Curve.
Greenville, South Carolina-based MTC Federal Credit Union has turned to Mahalo Banking to enhance its member experience.
Mahalo’s technology will bolster MTC FCU’s offerings, including online account opening, Skip-a-Pay, and Savings Jar.
Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023.
MTC Federal Credit Union (MTC FCU), a credit union based in Greenville, South Carolina with assets of $292 million, has partnered with Mahalo Banking to enhance its member experience. Mahalo’s online and mobile banking solutions will power a range of member-centric features for the credit union, including a number of member-requested tools and services designed to streamline platform navigation and boost engagement.
“Mahalo’s committed member and core-centric focus, alongside their dedication to continuous innovation including security and neurodiversity solutions set them apart from other providers,” MTC FCU President/CEO William H. Love Jr. said. “Mahalo is a true partner in our endeavor to provide a comprehensive digital banking experience for our members while attracting new members looking for a state-of-the-art platform with an outstanding user experience.”
Among the enhanced self-service solutions that will be available to MTC FCU members in addition to online account opening are Skip-a-Pay and Savings Jar. Skip-a-Pay enables borrowers to defer loan payments for 90 days – over November, December, and January – when they make a donation of $36 to the MTC Federal Foundation. The foundation supports health and sustainability initiatives, funding for natural disaster relief, and financial education and scholarship awards. Skip-a-Pay eligible loans include personal, vehicle, recreational vehicle, ATV, motorcycle, and watercraft loans. Savings Jar is a round-up transactions feature that helps make saving an effortless part of everyday shopping.
“Our deep credit union ties enable our team to form strong bonds with the credit unions we serve, and that has been the case throughout our partnership with MTC Federal Credit Union,” Mahalo COO Denny Howell said. “Working with MTC Federal Credit Union allows us to deliver on what we do best, empowering the credit union with a member-centric platform that provides enhanced, user-friendly functionality and meets members where they are.”
Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in New York last year. At the conference, the company demoed its online banking solution that fully integrated comprehensive neurodiverse functionality directly into its platform. This innovation enables credit unions to support members who have unique needs ranging from color-blindness to autism, dyslexia, and epilepsy.
Founded in 2018, Mahalo Banking is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. The company’s June partnership announcement is only the latest deal the fintech has forged of late. Just a few weeks ago, the company reported that Texas-based Memorial Credit Union selected Mahalo as “an ideal partner to help transform and improve our digital offerings,” in the words of Memorial CU President and CEO Thomas Rogers. In May, Mahalo Banking partnered with Affinity Credit Union of Iowa. In April, the company announced that it was working with a pair of Michigan-based FIs: Gerber FCU and The Local CU.
A holiday-filled week that began with Father’s Day, continues through Juneteenth, and brings us the first official day of summer.
Don’t be surprised if this week yields a lower than usual fintech news flow as the temperatures rise and the days stretch long. We’ll keep you posted if you decide to step outside and enjoy the season.
Payments
Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocalforged a partnership with Lithuanian gaming marketplace Eneba.
Digital payments platform CleverCardsraises $8.5 million (€8 million).
Shift4acquires a majority stake in Vectron Systems, one of the largest European suppliers of point-of-sale (POS) systems to the restaurant and hospitality verticals.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Egypt.
Egyptian fintech Sahl raised $6 million in funding
An investment of $6 million will help Cairo-based fintech Sahl pursue its expansion in Saudi Arabia. The funds – courtesy of a Series A round led by Ayady for Investment and Development and featuring participation from existing investors Egypt Pay, Delta Electronic Systems, and E-Finance – will also help support Sahl’s mobile bill payment platform.
Sahl enables users to pay for more than 50 services, including electricity, water, mobile bill payments, and more via NFC-enabled, rechargeable prepaid cards. The firm also offers B2B solutions: the company’s Services Gateway serves as a central hub to aggregate billpay services for other payment processors and digital apps, while Sahl’s Acceptance solution helps businesses accept online payments. Founded in 2020, Sahl is among the few Egyptian companies to directly integrate with government agencies and telecom operators.
Ultimately, the company plans to grow into a more comprehensive financial services provider. For now, Sahl’s growth strategy involves becoming the dominant force in the payments market for utilities companies – a market worth EGP 250 billion a year.
“At Sahl, we are committed to addressing the challenges faced by consumers in utility payments, starting with electricity and expanding to water, gas, telecom, and various other essential services,” Sahl CEO Abdullah Assal said. “Our innovative use of NFC technology eliminates the need for consumers to leave their homes to charge prepaid cards, saving valuable time and effort.”
Sahl serves more than 12 million customers a month and 15 million households in Egypt.
HSBC Egypt to launch $31.5 million fund for SME-based fintechs
You don’t have to be Sahl to feel as if good funding fortunes are coming your way. HSBC Egypt will launch a new $31.5 million (EGP 1.5 billion) fund dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses in the fintech sector. The fund, which will be managed by EFG Holding, has secured approval from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) as well as the backing of financial institutions such as the Suez Canal Bank. The fund is slated to go live in Q3 of 2024.
The focus on fintech is designed to take advantage of the spread of digital banking and payments in the region. But the initiative is part of a grander strategy by HSBC to encourage technological innovation and spur economic growth in Egypt.
Established in 1982, HSBC Bank Egypt supports a network of 100 branches and 20 mini-bank units throughout the country. The largest foreign bank in Egypt, HSBC Bank Egypt has total assets of approximately $7 billion and a market share of 7%.
Banknbox Egypt announced multiple strategic partnerships
Digital services and paytech provider Banknbox Egypt has inked strategic partnerships with banks and fintechs in eight countries so far in 2024. Backed by the Central Bank of Egypt, Banknbox has teamed up with firms and financial institutions in countries ranging from Iraq and Libya to Moldova and a number of African countries.
“We would like to thank the CBE for its continuous support in ensuring that Banknbox achieves its vision of transforming Egypt into a regional hub,” Banknbox Chairperson and Managing Director Bassem Mahmoud said.
Banknbox is a regional payment solutions and processor offering issuing and acquiring services, as well as value-added services such as billpay and fraud management. The company also offers integrated digital banking services, including mobile and internet banking, electronic wallets, eKYC and encoding services, and more. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Cairo, Banknbox began the year partnering with SWFT, a banking and finance platform for SMEs. The strategic partnership will give SMEs a suite of innovative banking solutions and tools for smart cash flow management.
“We believe that by uniting efforts with SWFT, we can revolutionize the way SMEs manage their finances,” Mahmoud said. “It’s a new opportunity for Banknbox to provide more services to the Egyptian market, relying on its regional platform in Egypt to serve companies and banks in the region. This strategic cooperation complements the company’s successes in achieving growth rates in the Egyptian market.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
International e-wallet service provider and payment gateway STICPAY integrated with India’s real-time payments system, UPI.
Pakistan-based consultancy Dellsons Associates partnered with UAE-based NymCards to expand into Pakistan and the Middle East.
Indian digital lending platform Fibe raised $90 million in Series E funding.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Payments orchestration platform Paysecure announced a strategic alliance with a55 as part of its expansion plans in Latin America.
Credit Karma has agreed to acquire technology and assets from Zendrive, a mobility risk intelligence provider.
Credit Karma has also brought on certain Zendrive employees, including the company’s CEO Dennis Ellis and its Co-founder and CTO Pankaj Risbood.
Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, were not disclosed.
Intuit’sCredit Karmaannounced today that it has agreed to acquire technology, assets, and select employees from mobility risk intelligence provider Zendrive. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Credit Karma will use the new technology to accelerate development and adoption of its auto insurance product, Karma Drive. Launched in December of 2020, Karma Drive leverages Zendrive to offer customers a telematics-powered, usage-based insurance savings opportunity based on their driving habits. After a 30-day driving trial, during which users receive continuous real-time feedback on their driving, they are offered a potential discount on a new policy from one of Credit Karma’s auto insurance partners.
Since launch, more than 6 million members have enrolled in the Karma Drive program, which has extended more than 4 million discounted policy offers from Credit Karma’s insurance partners.
“We see opportunities to improve traditional telematics practices that lock consumers into a policy and track driving behaviors in a way that can potentially increase policy costs,” said Credit Karma’s Rory Joyce in a blog post announcement. “We have redefined and simplified consumers’ access to insurance discounts based on mobile telematics data. Karma Drive users can see if they can qualify for a discount from carriers without having to buy a policy or even engage directly with the insurer.”
As part of today’s deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, Credit Karma has acqui-hired certain Zendrive employees, including the company’s CEO Dennis Ellis and its Co-founder and CTO Pankaj Risbood. Credit Karma anticipates the new talent will help it to scale its telematics experience.
What challenges are small and medium-sized businesses facing when it comes to getting the capital they need when they need it? What role does technology – especially enabling technologies like automation and AI – play in helping make it easier for entrepreneurs and SMBs to access critical financing?
This week, Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer spoke with Marius Silvasan, CEO of eCapital, to discuss these and other issues important to small businesses and the financial services companies that serve them.
“SMBs in this current market are under pressure,” Silvansan explained in his Finovate Podcast interview. “They are challenged. And the reason behind that is we’ve come from an environment in which inflation is coming down, but has been high over the last year-and-a-half. We’ve come from an environment in which borrowing costs were near zero – and they’ve increased substantially over the last several years. And the labor market has been very tight, so it’s been tough for SMBs to hire, it’s been tough for SMBs to retain qualified personnel. So that’s made the environment for SMBs quite challenging over the several years.”
Headquartered in Miami, Florida, eCapital helps small and medium-sized businesses secure the financing they need in order to grow. Founded in 2006, eCapital offers a wide range of financing solutions including freight and invoice factoring, payroll funding, asset-back lending, equipment refinancing, and lines of credit.
Pinwheel is integrating its technology into digital banking solution Lumin Digital.
Under the partnership, Lumin will leverage Pinwheel’s Prime and Verify tools that will offer a deposit switching solution and verified income and employment information, respectively.
Lumin expects the move will improve both account activation and acquisition ROI for its financial services clients.
Payroll data connectivity platform Pinwheelannounced today it is integrating its technology into digital banking solution Lumin Digital.
Pinwheel will help Lumin bring its financial institution clients frictionless account activation technology. By adding Pinwheel’s deposit-switching solutions, Lumin expects it will improve both account activation and acquisition ROI.
“This partnership provides our customers options for deposit switching solutions and is paramount to helping them achieve their goals,” said Lumin Chief Product Officer Sean Weadock. “Pinwheel is advancing their market in terms of ease, coverage, and security.”
Under the partnership, Lumin will leverage Pinwheel Prime and Verify. Pinwheel Prime is Pinwheel’s two-click deposit switching solution, which digitizes the direct deposit switching process to provide real-time insights into customers’ income. This increased visibility into customer data helps financial institutions form deeper relationships and increase the customer lifetime value.
Pinwheel’s Verify product allows financial institutions to improve their underwriting processes by accessing their customers’ verified income and employment information. Because Pinwheel is a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), financial institutions can legally use the income and employment data for credit decisioning.
“Between traditional financial institutions and neobanks, consumers have many choices, so we want to help banks and credit unions make their deposit switching process for customers as easy as possible,” said Pinwheel Partnerships Lead Brian Karimi-Pashaki. “In a recent survey, we discovered that 72% of consumers say they would be more likely to make a bank their prime bank if it offered Pinwheel Prime at acquisition, which is reason enough to want to get our technology into the hands of as many financial institutions as possible.”
New York-based Pinwheel was founded in 2018 and in addition to its Prime and Verify products also offers Earnings Stream, an early wage access tool; Taxes, a tool to help retrieve and assess customers’ tax forms; Digital, which offers third party companies digital payroll connectivity solutions; and Smart Branch, a tool to deliver Pinwheel’s digital payroll data connectivity solutions in-branch. Pinwheel helps third party apps connect to over 1.5 million employers using over 1,800 platforms, which cover up to 100% of U.S. workers paid via direct deposit. With more than $77 million in funding, the company counts Block, Citizens Bank, Acorns, Credit Karma, and others among its clients.
Founded in 2016, California-based Lumin has integration, referral, and reseller partnerships with multiple, major financial services players, including Larky, Constant, Glia, Envestnet, Paymentus, Jack Henry, Atomic, BioCatch, and others.
