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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Digital Onboarding announced a $58 million growth round, boosting its total funding to $62.6 million.
Today’s funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital.
Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, drive awareness in new markets, and increase its headcount.
Digital Onboarding, a financial services onboarding service provider, announced a $58 million growth investment today. The funds come from Boston-based private equity firm Volition Capital and boost Digital Onboarding’s total funding to $62.6 million.
Digital Onboarding will use today’s investment to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, and drive awareness in new markets. The company also notes it plans to double its headcount by the end of this year.
Digital Onboarding offers a SaaS tool to help banks remove friction during the onboarding process. The company’s digital engagement platform helps financial services companies deliver compelling services that keep customers around for the long-term. The company is especially effective in helping motivate accountholders to take action because it aggregates data across banks with similar business objectives.
“Banks and credit unions are pushing further into digital maturity, with many providing online banking and developing robust campaigns for customer acquisition. However, digital transformation often stalls at the onboarding stage of the new customer or member lifecycle,” said Digital Onboarding CEO Ted Brown. “Financial institutions have a significant opportunity to make enrolling in and setting up deposit, payment, and other services simple and seamless. Making these as accessible and easy to complete as possible has a measurable positive impact on customer retention and loyalty.”
Brown founded Digital Onboarding, originally known as SalesBrief, in 2015, along with his co-founder Jonathan Crossman. The company pivoted to the financial services realm in 2017 after participating in a credit union’s fintech accelerator.
Last November, East Cambridge Savings Bank selected Digital Onboarding to increase its checking account activation rates, and Buckeye State CU tapped the Boston-based company to better inform its members and cross-sell product offers. Earlier in 2023, Digital Onboarding also signed Jack Henry, Legacy CU, and others.
Today’s announcement is part of a wave of fintech funding that has surged in the past couple of weeks.
“I can’t believe I’ve now got 200 episodes under my belt!” Finovate VP and Podcast host Greg Palmer shared on X after the 200th episode dropped on Wednesday.
In this most recent show, Greg Palmer shares his four, big-picture takeaways from the Podcast’s first 199 episodes. Through years of conversations with fintech entrepreneurs, veteran analysts, and insightful authors, Palmer has developed a unique perspective on the trends driving innovation in fintech and financial services today.
Be sure to join Greg Palmer for the Finovate Podcast’s historic 200th episode as he reflects on fintech’s journey to the present moment, as well as where fintech is headed in the year (and years) to come.
U.S. Bank’s innovation team recently attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week on what it called a “Future Safari.” After attending the show in 2023, the team was back on the lookout for emerging tech trends with the potential to impact the financial services industry, emphasizing AI, autonomy, embedded financial services, and the intersection of physical and digital realms.
We interviewed U.S. Bank’s innovation team to get a view of CES under a fintech lens, as well as to get a peek at U.S. Bank’s tech-forward initiatives in 2024 and beyond.
U.S. Bank’s innovation team attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. What was the team looking for?
U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We look for several things. First and foremost, we are looking for emerging tech and trends that may have an impact on the financial services industry and/or our customers.
We also look at trends and activity across several technology verticals to see if there is technology that we need to get ahead of.
Another thing we look for is specific new tech we might be able to test and pilot. And, of course, it’s great to see what other industries are doing with the technology that is coming to market.
In general, what are some fintech trends U.S. Bank is currently exploring or excited about?
U.S. Bank Innovation Team: At U.S. Bank, we cover a broad range of technologies, domains, client segments, and industries as part of how we try to develop and deliver the future now. Some of the broad trends we’re exploring at the show include AI and autonomy, of course, and how these technologies can change peoples’ lives; the embedding of financial services into all manner of products, services, experiences; how devices are proliferating and what that means for how we help people optimize their financial lives; and how the physical and digital parts of life are changing thanks to new technologies. We’re exploring dozens of trends in many sectors, but those are a few at a high-level that our Future Safari to CES helps us to gauge.
As a large bank, how does U.S. Bank make the decision whether to build or buy new technologies?
U.S. Bank Innovation Team: As a large bank, we like to focus on our core competencies and make decisions that reduce risk. Particularly in tech areas outside of our expertise (technical or business), we will look first to partner.
For example, we aren’t going to try to build our own quantum computer any time soon. We did build our award-winning mobile app, and we do build the majority of our digital customer facing experiences. Some components of those experiences may be provided by fintechs that we partner with when there is a time to market/cost/economic advantage or they have expertise outside of the banking/financial services realm that will improve our customers’ experience. At the end of the day, it is all about the customer experience.
What are some tech-forward initiatives we can expect to see U.S. Bank come out with this year?
U.S. Bank Innovation Team: While I can’t preview any planned announcements for later this year, we use Future Safaris like these to inform insights that help us create amazing experiences for our clients.
One example of how we’ve used these Future Safari insights in the past is that we were able to be the first bank to integrate with all three virtual assistants – Siri, Google, and Alexa. That work later informed the launch of our own industry-leading virtual assistant, U.S. Bank Smart Assistant, which built the foundation for when we created our Spanish Smart Assistant – the nation’s first Spanish-language voice assistant for banking. All of these were informed by early innovations in voice technology that we were seeing at CES. It gave us early signals into what would be important to people and allowed us to envision how we might integrate these kinds of emerging technologies into how we serve our clients.
What was your favorite non-fintech innovation you saw at the show?
U.S. Bank Innovation Team: We really liked the Genesis Systems WaterCube 100. It is a cube about the size of an air conditioner that pulls water from the air. It runs on low enough power to operate on solar panels and can be dropped in to emergency areas in need of clean water, or it can be used for off-grid and remote applications for both commercial and consumers.
The Federation of International Drone Soccer League out of Korea was very cool! The drone soccer league had a big space where they were demonstrating drone soccer – for Harry Potter fans, it looks a lot like quidditch. We thought it was great as it turns a fun solo activity that kids are into these days into an in-person competitive event. Also, it looks like tons of fun!
We are always amazed by the advances in big farm technology. In the John Deere booth, we saw their latest line of tractors that can be operated manually, remotely, or autonomously. They showed their custom GPS, which can get the behemoth tractors to plow and deliver seeds within one-inch accuracy.
We also noticed a trend of high-end, battery powered campers from the super-luxury concept at LG with built-in bars and entertainment, to Jackery and Goal Zero camper concepts with built-in solar batteries and rooftop tents with low-power fridges and a plethora of glamping features. Going off-grid and connecting to nature may also have plurality creature comforts in the future.
Companies and innovators are raising the bar across all industries, and we continue to push ourselves to do the same.
Group photo left to right: Todder Moning, Head of Applied Foresights; Rosa Dunn, Assistant Vice President, Digital Innovation; Cynthia A. Jackson, Vice President, Digital Innovation; Andrew Cantrell, Sr. Applied Foresights Strategist; Don Relyea, Chief Innovation Officer
Finovate webinar on demand, in collaboration with Quavo, on digitizing fraud & dispute management.
Financial institutions suffer billions in losses, expenses, and fines every year due to fraud, and the resultant impact on customer trust and loyalty presents an even bigger problem. 77% of customers say they would leave their bank if they do not receive a refund in the event of fraud yet, conversely, 80% say they would leave their bank for blocking a legitimate transaction.* Is there any way to win this battle?
Absolutely! But financial institutions must be willing to move away from antiquated systems and outdated processes that can no longer keep up with ever-evolving fraud and account holder expectations.
After nearly 20 years of working disputes at a top two bank and dealing first-hand with the challenges of outdated systems, Joseph McLean, Founder & CEO of Quavo Fraud & Disputes stepped out on his own to develop a better solution to significantly:
Reduce losses
Enhance the account holder experience
Improve operational efficiencies
Ensure regulatory and network compliance
How did he do it? What were the results? What are financial institutions saying about the AI-driven automation technology that has transformed fraud and dispute management?
U.K.-based financial planning software company for advisors, Dynamic Planner, launched its new risk profile mapping service this week.
The service brings greater clarity on potential risks when building diversified investment portfolios with single strategy funds.
Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateEurope in London.
Dynamic Planner, a financial planning software company for advisors, unveiled its new risk profile mapping service for single strategy funds this week. The new service will help advisors create diversified portfolios with greater accuracy and insight on potential risks. This will ensure that portfolios are suitable to their specific investors and their goals.
“The new service will provide them with a level of granularity not previously possible, greater efficiency and accuracy, and all within one system with a consistent level of risk throughout,” company Chief Proposition Officer Chris Jones said. “However you organize your business and decide to meet the needs of your clients, Dynamic Planner can support you.”
The Single Strategy Mapped Service precisely maps instrument-level holdings data against Dynamic Planner’s risk factors and asset risk model. By sourcing single strategy fund holding data directly from fund providers, Dynamic Planner achieves a higher than usual level of granularity. This enables the service to provide the same accuracy and efficiency in the deployment of single strategy funds that advisors have when using multi-asset solutions.
The new service will also help fund managers better deal with compliance requirements. These include new regulations such as Consumer Duty, as well as the Product Intervention and Product Governance source book (PROD) rules that came into effect in 2018. “From a PROD and Consumer Duty perspective, the Single Strategy Mapped Service also enables the fund manager to more simply and clearly communicate whether a fund is intended to be distributed as a solution or part of a portfolio,” Jones said.
Headquartered in the U.K., and founded in 2003, Dynamic Planner made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022. At the event, CEO Ben Goss and his team showed how the platform combined intuitive technology with an independent asset risk model to match the right investment strategy with the right investor. Geared toward asset managers that risk profile, target, or manage more than £250 billion in investments, Dynamic Planner leverages 2,400+ covariance correlations to help ensure investment suitability.
Dynamic Planner began 2024 with the launch of its new low code integration platform. The solution enables advisors to integrate Dynamic Planner with other CRM systems they currently use to better manage client relationships.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope in London next month? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
Supply Wisdom unveiled its self-service, SaaS-based model that gives organizations the ability to conduct real-time risk monitoring.
The new capabilities come in the wake of the firm inking partnerships with three Fortune 100 companies.
Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut in 2022 at FinovateFall in New York.
Today, Supply Wisdomlaunched a self-service, SaaS-based model that delivers real-time risk monitoring capability to organizations. The company noted that its new offering will help organizations operationalize location-specific risk in their decision making.
Tom Thimot, Supply Wisdom CEO, explained the challenges organizations face in terms of both new regulations and growing geopolitical risk. “Firms are starting to recognize that geographic concentration is a common risk indicator raised by DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) and many other recently introduced regulations, yet they lack adequate risk intelligence and the tooling needed to operationalize risk management,” Thimot said. To this end, the new model will help organizations deal with the growing incidence of geopolitcal disruptions to business activity.
The launch news comes in the wake of Supply Wisdom adding three new customers – all members of the Fortune 100 – to its roster. Although unnamed in the company’s statement, the new clients include one of the four largest banks in the U.S., one of the top three shipping companies in the world, and a leading U.S. financial services and insurance company. These firms have used Supply Wisdom’s platform to monitor 150+ metrics across eight location risk subdomains – including ratings and event alerts – in weeks.
“The days of hiring and training scores of staff to compile and aggregate data reporting manually are over,” Thimot said this week. “As a result, we are seeing more Fortune 100 companies across industries turn to Supply Wisdom for real-time risk intelligence. Through immediate insights, businesses can respond more quickly to minimize or avoid the potential impact of global threats.”
With more than 30 years of experience in scaling SaaS-based technology companies, Thimot joined Supply Wisdom as CEO in December. Previously, he was CEO of enterprise identity authentication firm authID. Thimot also served as CEO of Finovate alum Socure. During his tenure, Socure earned a valuation of $1.3 billion. The company also became known as a leader in day zero identity verification.
Supply Wisdom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, the company showed how it leverages real-time risk intelligence and alerting help organizations modernize their risk management beyond point-in-time practices. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in New York, Supply Wisdom has raised $11.5 million funding, according to Crunchbase. The firm counts Fulcrum Equity Partners and Florida Funders among its investors.
With apologies to Dr. Dre … the spot Bitcoin ETFs are here and everybody’s celebratin’!
This week on Tales from the Crypto we’re taking a look at the launch and reception of the long-awaited spot bitcoin ETFs. We’ll also learn a little more about stablecoin issuer Circle’s IPO plans, and the latest – and maybe last – from JPM Morgan Chase CEO and perennial crypto critic Jamie Dimon on what he hates – and likes – about crypto.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Have Arrived!
Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved eleven, count ’em eleven, spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Digital asset manager CoinShares reported new inflows of more than $870 million into the new ETFs in the first three days. According to investment research firm CFRA, investors traded $4.6 billion worth of shares in these new funds on the first day.
While bitcoin ETFs have existed before 2024, the current spot bitcoin ETF fixes at least one major problem of the earlier bitcoin ETFs. In the past, bitcoin ETFs tracked bitcoin prices by holding bitcoin derivative products. Managers of these funds bought and sold bitcoin futures in order to try and copy the asset’s changes in value. This inefficient process often meant that earlier bitcoin ETFs did not always accurately reflect the actual changes in digital asset’s price.
By contrast, the current incarnation of bitcoin ETFs actually own bitcoin. This means that the newer funds are likely provide a truer exposure to the cryptocurrency.
The new bitcoin ETFs and their ticker symbols are below. Expense ratios for these funds range broadly from a low of 0.20% for the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF to a high of 1.5% for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. Compare these to expense ratios for other popular ETFs such as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust or SPY, which has a fee of 0.09%, and the Invesco QQQ ETF, which has an expense ratio of 0.20%.
Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB)
ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB)
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC)
BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)
Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR)
Vaneck Bitcoin Trust (HODL)
Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC)
WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund (BTCW)
Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO)
Hasdex Bitcoin ETF (DEFI)
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
The statement announcing the SEC’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETF (the SEC uses the term “exchange-traded product” – ETP) more than reflects the agency’s ambivalence toward the new offering. “I have often said that the Commission acts within the law and how the courts interpret the law,” SEC chair Gary Gensler writes early on in a statement that details the agency’s efforts to regulate digital assets. His overall message – with its bitcoin-only caveats and his reminder that the current filings are “similar to those we have disapproved in the past”? “The Court of Appeals made us do it.”
The statement actually concludes with a quip about how bitcoin ETFs compare unfavorably, in Chair Gensler’s opinion, with metals ETFs. After asserting that “we’re merit neutral,” Gensler observes dryly: “Bitcoin is primarily a speculative, volatile asset that’s also used for illicit activity including ransomware, money laundering, sanction evasion, and terrorist financing.”
You almost can hear the sound of the dinner plate crashing against the table as the aggrieved server finally delivers your meal and sulks away, muttering under their breath.
Neither the number of shares to be offered nor the price range for the proposed offering were noted.
This week’s announcement represents Circle’s second bite at the “going public” apple. The company had planned to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction in 2021. That deal would have given the company a valuation of about $9 billion. Unfortunately, the transaction did not take place. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that the company simply failed to meet the SEC’s requirements in a timely fashion.
“We are disappointed the proposed transaction timed out,” Allaire said when the deal fell through. “However, becoming a public company remains part of Circle’s core strategy to enhance trust and transparency, which has never been more important.”
Founded in 2013, Circle is the principal operator of the U.S. stablecoin USDC. The company is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Institutions. USDC offers instant settlement compared to legacy payments, near-zero costs, open and global access, as well as ready availability on popular exchanges and protocols, and broad and growing use in the developer community. Circle also offers products such as programmable wallets and its smart contract platform, currently in beta.
Hula Hoops, Pet Rocks, and Bitcoin?
You have to wonder if all this good news for bitcoin is getting under the skin of the digital asset’s biggest bête noire, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Dimon was recently interviewed on CNBC when he announced that this would be the last time he would publicly offer an opinion on bitcoin. That said, Dimon left us with plenty of anti-crypto quips to keep us company for some time to come.
Crypto use cases? “AML, fraud, sex trafficking and tax avoidance,” Dimon suggested. At the same time, he said, cryptocurrency is a “pet rock” that “does nothing.” Dimon is indifferent to what others such as Fidelity and Blackrock that have shown interest in bitcoin ETFs, saying that “I don’t want to tell you what to do. My personal advice is don’t get involved.”
Then again, there are some caveats to Dimon’s disinterest in cryptocurrencies. For one, Dimon does say that there are potentially interesting innovations with regard to non-bitcoin crypto, particularly the tokenization of real-world assets. Second, while Dimon himself may not be a fan of crypto, his firm is apparently playing a significant role in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) as an authorized participant.
B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPay launched its Universal Acceptance solution.
The technology will enable suppliers to offer trade credit financing to qualified buyers.
TreviPay made its Finovate debut two years ago at FinovateFall.
Courtesy of a partnership with Mastercard, B2B payments and invoicing network TreviPaylaunched its Universal Acceptance solution this week. The new offering will enable suppliers who accept Mastercard to extend net terms, or trade credit financing, as well as provide SKU-level invoicing to business customers.
TreviPay CEO Brandon Spear called the launch of the Universal Acceptance solution “an industry milestone.” According to Spear, the solution eliminates much of the complexity of B2B purchasing by taking a “consumer-like” approach to the buying experience. Research commissioned by the company revealed inefficient processes, incorrect invoicing, and slow onboarding as three key pain points for international business buyers. This research also indicated that trade credit was a leading payment option among these same buyers.
To this end, TreviPay’s Universal Acceptance solution enables suppliers who accept credit cards to offer net-terms financing to qualified buyers. TreviPay automates onboarding, financing, and accounts receivable to enhance efficiency and streamline the process. The platform also automatically sends invoices to the merchant’s buyer. This means that suppliers don’t have to worry about the cost and time spent pursuing outstanding or late payments. TreviPay assumes all risks relating to collection and guaranteeing settlement to merchants upfront.
TreviPay’s platform can be implemented in its original API integration directly into the seller’s point of acceptance. Users can also deploy the platform without API integration, relying on Mastercard’s global acceptance network instead.
Rebecca Meeker, SVP, Global Partnerships and Segments, Mastercard, praised TreviPay and Mastercard’s “shared vision to bring consumer-grade convenience to B2B transactions.” Meeker underscored the “seamless invoice reconciliation and faster settlement” made possible via the partnership.
Founded in 1980, TreviPay is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The company made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2022. At the conference, TreviPay’s Rissi Lovern and Max Almerico demoed TreviPay’s Small Business Supplier Payments Network (SBSN). The network enables banks to offer a wide range of products to their small business customers via access to the small business B2B trade credit market.
Last fall, TreviPay launched its Financial Partner Gateway. A new suite of APIs, the Financial Partner Gateway enables banks to deliver solutions including automated accounts receivable, underwriting, and trade credit management. The Gateway gives banks new revenue opportunities while helping TreviPay expand internationally. In August, the company introduced its support for cross-currency, B2B sales.
Swiss fintech Temenoslaunched its end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on the Temenos Banking Cloud this week. The new offering will enable banks to lower the cost, complexity, and risk of modernization, and deploy new software solutions in 24 hours.
Temenos President Product and Chief Operating Officer Prima Varadhan called the offering “a game-changing approach.” Varadhan added, “the ability to deploy fast, take advantage of a functionally-rich system from day 1, and benefit from continuous updates, help banks to attack the largest cost elements of running core banking software.”
Temenos Enterprise Services features 120+ pre-packaged banking products, predefined customer journeys, and more than 700 pre-configured APIs. The offering enables banks, regardless of size, to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and have a build and test environment within 24 hours. Whether the goal is the launch new business lines or to modernize legacy systems, Temenos Enterprise Services enables banks to benefit from continuous updates, optimal security controls, resilience, and high-performance Service Level Agreements. Banks and FI will also get immediate access to the Temenos Exchange ecosystem with another 115+ complementary solutions.
“Speed, security, and business agility are key for banks to compete and thrive in the digital world,” Varadhan said. “With our end-to-end Temenos Enterprise Services on Temenos Banking Cloud, banks of all sizes can have a ready-to-go system in 24 hours with pre-configured banking products, turn on new features, and benefit from faster time to value.”
A Finovate alum since 2013, Temenos counts more than 700 banks and 3,000+ FIs across 150 countries as users of its technology. The Swiss fintech’s offerings support retail, business, and corporate banking, as well as wealth management and services for fund administrators. Temenos ended 2023 with a new partnership with Lesha Bank, a Qatar-based investment bank that migrated to Temenos’ core banking platform in December.
Swiss payments technology company Riveroraised $7 million in Series A funding this week. Inference Partners and 6 Degrees Capital led the round. Kraken Ventures, Seed X Liechtenstein, the venture arm of PostFinance and angel investor and former Adyen COO, Robert Kraal, also participated in the funding. The company will use the capital to fuel expansion into new markets, enhance product development, and add to its workforce.
“We’re thrilled to share the news of our Series A round,” Rivero CEO and co-founder Thomas Müller said, “especially given the current challenging market conditions. We take this as confirmation of our strong business model and clear market demand for our products.”
A specialist in payment digitization and automation, Rivero makes payments easier for financial institutions, especially issuing banks. The company has two primary SaaS offerings: Kajo, a payment scheme compliance solution, and Amiko, which provides tools for fraud recovery and dispute management. Rivero has forged partnerships with more than 20+ financial institutions including Swiss bank Cembra, which deployed Amiko, and payment card issuer Cornercard, which deployed Kajo.
“Globally, banks spend billions of dollars on scheme compliance and payment dispute management,” 6 Degrees Capital partner Thibault D’hondt noted. “Rivero is the first of its kind to offer a suite of SaaS solutions to help banks and processors address the challenge.”
Founded in 2019, Rivero is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
German crypto custodian Fiona raised $15 million in strategic funding at a valuation of $100 million.
Estonian fintech Money Industries secured a $1.5 million investment led by Caucasus Ventures.
Omnicredit, Romania’s first micro financing, scoring and factoring company, won the “Best Digital Lending in CEE Among Fintechs” award from the SME Banking Club Association.
Middle East and Northern Africa
MENA-based Paymob teamed up with GCC-based shopping and payments platform Tamara.
Ooredoo, a Qatar-based fintech, forged a partnership with Commercial Bank to launch its direct debit solution.
MENA-based payments solutions provider Magnati collaborated with Oxinus Holdings to enhance payments in the food and beverage business.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian pay tech Mylapay raised $550,000 in seed funding.
nanopaybrought its remittance solution, Foree Remittance, to Pakistan courtesy of a partnership with the National Bank of Pakistan.
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integrated with Singapore-based PayNow to support remittance flows from Indian’s in Singapore back home.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Conta Simples, an expense management and corporate card services platform based in Brazil, secured $41.5 million in new funding.
Argentina-based fintech Ualá launched the country’s first no-fee credit card.
Danske Bank has signed a deal with engagement banking solutions provider Backbase.
Danske Bank will tap Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to help tailor its digital experience to suit its users’ needs and preferences.
Among Backbase’s most recent partnerships are FrankieOne and SavvyMoney.
Engagement banking solutions provider Backbase inked a deal with Denmark-based Danske Bank this week.
“This engagement is a testament to our customer focus and our commitment to ensuring the best digital banking experience for the future,” said Danske Bank Chief Operating Officer Frans Woelders. “A new platform that works across the web, mobile apps, and our adviser tools is one of the ambitions in Danske Bank’s Forward ’28 strategy, and the agreement with Backbase is the next step towards achieving that ambition.”
Under today’s deal, Danske Bank will leverage to Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform, allowing the bank to enhance the customer experience by tailoring the digital experience to suit the user’s needs and preferences.
Specifically, Backbase cites four aspects of digital banking that its Engagement Banking Platform can enhance, including:
A mobile-first model that guides customers between automated and expert advice.
A modernized and simplified IT landscape that reduces the number of siloed applications.
Aunified platform that consolidates data, business logic, and workflows into a single platform for customers and bank employees.
More agility, thanks to enhanced flexibility that allows for swift implementation of business capabilities.
Expounding on the last point, Danske Bank Head of Personal Customers and Financial Crime Risk and Prevention Christian Bornfeld said, “This platform will allow us to take our interaction with customers through our digital solutions to the next level and to introduce enhancements at greater speed than ever before. It will thus enable us to provide market-leading convenience and personalization for our customers with great insights, increased proactivity, and easy access to assistance and advice.”
Backbase, which is on a self-described mission “to re-architect banking around the customer,” was an early entrant to the fintech space. Founded in 2003, the Amsterdam-based company offers a range of digital banking solutions, including onboarding, lending, investing, and customer support. Among Backbase’s existing partnerships are FrankieOne, which signed with the fintech last September, and SavvyMoney, which initiated its partnership last August.
First, join podcast host and Finovate VP Greg Palmer as he sits down with Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, TR Ventures.
An early stage venture investor with more than 20 years of experience, Steffens shares her insights and perspective on what’s in store for fintech and the funding ecosystem in 2024. Episode 198.
Next, catch up with Greg Palmer as he talks with Denny Howell, Chief Operating Officer with Mahalo Banking.
Mahalo Banking won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last September. In this conversation, Howell explains why Mahalo emphasized neurodiversity as part of its goal of building inclusive technologies. Episode 199.
Open banking platform Link Money announced a strategic partnership with payments platform Optty.
The partnership will enable Optty’s merchant clients and partners to access Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution.
Optty’s platform integrates with 115+ of the most popular alternative payment methods in the world.
Pay by bank is one of the biggest trends in fintech. And a new partnership between open banking platform Link Money and payments platform Optty will help more merchants and customers take advantage of it.
“Through this partnership, we will enable merchants to shift volume away from the most expensive rails and dramatically reduce costs while also reducing fraud and churn,” Link Money VP of Strategy Shaun Vanderkaap said.
The strategic partnership will enable Optty’s U.S. merchant clients and partners to use Link Money’s Pay by Bank solution. The payment option gives merchants a way to keep processing fees low, mitigate credit card fraud, and limit customer churn. Between the convenience of account-to-account (A2A) payments and concerns over credit card fees and the threat of fraud, being able to make payments directly from bank accounts has become an increasingly popular option for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions alike.
Optty founder and CEO Natasha Zurnamer said that the collaboration supports the company’s emphasis on “payment inclusivity and choice.” Zurnamer explained, “By integrating diverse payment options into our platform, (we are) empowering merchants to offer tailored checkout experiences in minutes.”
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, Optty supports nine different dynamic payment architectures. Buy Now Pay Later, digital wallets, credit and debit cards, gift cards, cryptocurrencies, loyalty and rewards, bank transfers, and payouts are all available from Optty via a single API integration. Optty also offers services ranging from carbon calculators and fraud protection to transaction review/optimization and network tokenization. The platform supports 120 currencies, is available in 75+ markets around the world, and has 400+ individual integrations to date. The technology is available as both a white-label product as well as a directly integrated solution.
Link Money specializes in making it easy for consumers to pay directly from their bank. The company leverages open banking to give merchants an alternative payment solution that lowers costs and increases convenience. To use the service, customers securely connect to their bank, select the account from which the payment will be made, and then initiate the payment. Link Money guarantees the payment to merchants, which typically takes two-to-three days to appear in the merchant’s account. The company has connections to more than 3,400 U.S. banks, and does not store bank login information or user credentials.
Founded in 2021, Link Money is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Eric Shoykhet is CEO.
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