Finovate Global Canada: Clik2pay Partners with Inovatec; BMO Offers Installments; RBC Buys HSBC’s Canadian Business

Finovate Global Canada: Clik2pay Partners with Inovatec; BMO Offers Installments; RBC Buys HSBC’s Canadian Business

There are many countries whose fintech innovations are often overlooked. And Canada, America’s legendarily kinder, gentler neighbor to the north, is among them.

This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech headlines emanating from the Great White North this week. The news ranges from big new fundings to new product launches to deal-making in Canada’s banking industry.


Clik2pay, a payment service provider based in Toronto, Ontario, has teamed up with lending process automation expert Inovatec. The partnership will enables Inovatec’s clients to use Clik2pay’s direct-from-account payment platform to request payments from customers. The functionality leverages Interac’s e-Transfer money transfer solution to ensure safe and secure fund movement.

“Clik2pay is always looking for ways to make the payments process simpler,” Clik2pay Chief Commercial Officer David Robinson said. “Allowing borrowers to make payment directly from their bank account in real-time through an email or text makes paying incredibly easy for the customer and allows for more efficient collections and payment reconciliation by lenders.”

The collaboration will give lenders the ability to use email to collect payments directly from customer bank accounts – and have those payments reconciled automatically on Inovatec’s platform. The process supports agent-assisted collections, as well, enabling lenders to textc customers payment links and secure real-time notification of successful payments “before the borrower hangs up the phone” the company noted in a statement.

Clik2pay is the first Canadian company to provide real-time, direct-from-account payments for businesses at almost all FIs in the country. Founded in 2019, Clik2pay relaunched its Clik2pay mobile app for small businesses last month. The new app features an enhanced user experience, including improved, simplified onboarding. Mike Bradley is founder and CEO.


Canadian banks have made fintech headlines this week, as well. Bank of Montreal (BMO), for example, announced the launch of its new credit card installment offering. Currently available to BMO’s Canadian retail credit card customers via their online banking platform, the new plan – called PaySmart – enables customers to convert eligible credit card purchases of more than $100 into smaller monthly payments.

Customers will be able to choose between three, six, or 12 equal monthly payments. No interest is charged and BMO will access a monthly fee of up to 0.9%. Because purchases are within the customer’s existing credit limits, no additional credit check or approval is required.

BMO’s latest offering is part of a suite of solutions designed to help its customers better manage cash flow and finances. These solutions include the bank’s Pre-Authorized Payments Manager, Same Day Grace feature, and BMO CashTrack.

In other Canadian banking news, Royal Bank of Canada announced that it has purchased U.K.-based HSBC’s Canadian business for $10 billion (£8.4 billion; C$13.5 billion). The move comes as HSBC seeks to bolster its business in Asia – especially China. The company has more than 130 branches and 780,000 customers as part of HSBC Canada. And while HSBC has also expressed plans to abandon its retail banking operations in the U.S. and France, it is the company’s Canadian division that has turned a profit -whereas both its businesses in the U.S. and France have not.

The acquisition is the biggest by RBC under the tenure of CEO Dave McKay, who has also tried to calm concerns about potential layoffs by noting that RBC is considered one of the best workplaces in the country. McKay also pointed to the fact that RBC has nearly 6,000 open positions and referred to the acquisition as a “talent acquisition opportunity” for RBC. HSBC Canada has $134 billion in assets and 4,200 full-time employees.

“HSBC Canada offers the opportunity to add a complementary business and client base in the market we know best and where we can deliver strong returns and client value given our financial strength and award-winning service,” McKay said in a statement.


Earlier this week we shared news that Toronto-based FinovateFall 2019 alum Buckzy Payments had secured $14.5 million in Series A funding. The company offers real-time, cross border payments services, as well as banking-as-a-service capabilities, via its embedded finance platform. The company has more than 140 bank, neobank, and fintech customers since going live with its platform in 2020. This week’s funding takes Buckzy’s total equity capital to more than $23 million. The round was led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures.

“This round of financing is a validation of Buckzy’s vision to create an intelligent and automated international payment system,” Buckzy CEO Abdul Naushad said. “We’re on a mission to build the plumbing for real-time money movement globally, the same way high-speed internet fundamentally shifted the communications industry.”


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil’s Nubank announced that it will offer savings accounts and debit cards in Mexico via its digital banking arm, Nu México.
  • Chilean based alternative credit scoring fintech Destácame raised $10 million in funding.
  • Brazilian fund Latitud released its The LatAmTech Report 2022 this week highlighting trends for B2C fintech in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • Finastra launched a new Center of Excellence (COE) at MRANTI Technology Park in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • Cambodia’s ABA Bank leveraged technology from Compass Plus Technologies to introduce instant card issuance kiosks.
  • Financial crime compliance company Napier announced its entry to the Japanese market via its financial crime risk management platform, Napier Continuum.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • ThetaRay and Ghanian mobile financial services company Zeepay partnered to help fight financial crime in remittance transactions.
  • TechCrunch profiled South African payments company Revio.
  • Kenyan payment service provider Cellulant launched its expansion to South Africa..

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hamburg Commercial Bank announced that it has implemented and is now live on the nCino Bank Operating System.
  • ING Germany partnered with Viafintech to launch new cash service offering.
  • Estonia-based payment tracking company Transferlink announced a partnership with open banking platform Nordigen.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE-based expense management platform Qashio secured $10 million in seed funding.
  • Jingle Pay, a financial super app based in the UAE, announced a strategic agreement with Mastercard.
  • Israel-based workplace intelligence platform Shield raised $20 million in Series B funding.

Central and Southern Asia

  • KreditBee, a fintech platform based in India, raised $80 million in Series D funding.
  • Mumbai-based youth banking startup Galgal Money secured $1 million in funding.
  • M bank in Mongolia is the latest customer – and first Mongolian client – of Singapore-based B2B SaaS fintech finbots.ai

Photo by Andre Furtado

nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs

nCino Teams Up with Ashman Bank to Enhance Banking for Property SMEs
  • FinovateEurope alum nCino announced a partnership with U.K.-based Ashman Bank.
  • The alliance will enable Ashman Bank to deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to better serve its small businss customers in the U.K. property market.
  • nCino is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker NCNO. The company has a market capitalization of $3.5 billion.

A new partnership between cloud banking innovator nCino and U.K.-based Ashman Bank is designed to “transform the banking experience” for small and medium-sized businesses in the country’s property market. Ashman Bank, which was awarded its banking license earlier this year, will deploy nCino’s Bank Operating System to support its life cycle property finance solution.

“Partnering with nCino takes us one step closer to being able to transform the banking experience for property SMEs,” Ashman Bank Chief Commercial Officer Caroline Luxmore said. “nCino gives us the best and most efficient platform for us to realize our ambitions as a digital-first bank, and we believe that together we can create a meaningful change in the U.K. real estate market.”

Implementing nCino’s technology will enable Ashman Bank to offer a variety of products and services that will allow SMEs to access the financing they need to support their growth. The bank is scheduled to launch early next year and focuses on providing real estate lending solutions – ranging from commercial mortgages and buy-to-let to development and bridging finance – to “conscientious businesses”. Ashman Bank has made a point of helping businesses become more sustainable by providing them with proprietary digital tools to enable them to understand their environmental and societal impacts.

Ashman Bank is an ambitious new entrant that will provide real estate lending for conscientious businesses in the U.K.,” nCino Managing Director of EMEA, Charlie McIver said. “It is bringing an innovative approach to commercial real estate, and nCino can help the Ashman team execute, grow, and adapt as the bank expands.”

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017. At the conference, the company introduced its Bank Operating System, which leverages the Salesforce platform to provide financial institutions with an end-to-end digital banking solution.

nCino began October with news that Pennsylvania-based independent community financial institution PeoplesBank went live with its Small Business Banking Solution. The bank had previously deployed nCino’s Commercial Banking Solution, and recognizes the new technology as a way to better serve its small business clients. “Our industry is rapidly changing and we’re very proud of our ability to better support small business owners in our community with premier technology offerings,” PeoplesBank SVP and Chief Commercial Banking and Lending Officer Amy Doll said. “Their success relies on being agile and able to scale and, with nCino, we now provide tailored experiences that evolve with our clients as their businesses grow.”


Photo by Kristina Paukshtite

Paymob Closes Egyptian Fintech’s Biggest Series B; South African’s Capitec Partners with Entersekt and nCino

Paymob Closes Egyptian Fintech’s Biggest Series B; South African’s Capitec Partners with Entersekt and nCino

A $50 million investment will help Egyptian digital payments company Paymob expand into new markets in both the Middle East and Africa. The round was led by Kora Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Clay Point, and represents the largest ever Series B round in Egyptian fintech history.

“Central Bank of Egypt initiatives that are continuously being introduced in the market to support fintech companies were key to Paymob’s growth,” company founder and CEO Islam Shawky said. “The Central Bank has created a regulatory framework to help fintech flourish and participate in making Egypt’s digital financial inclusion ambitions a reality.”

Processing more than 85% of the market share of transactions in Egypt with its mobile wallet technology, Paymob serves customers in five markets including Palestine, Pakistan, and Kenya. The investment comes as Paymob reports strong 2021 growth, including year-on-year growth in merchant partners and monthly volumes of 4x as of December. The company has onboarded more than 10,000 merchants in less than two years en route to a goal of onboarding one million SMEs.

This week’s funding brings Paymob’s total capital to more than $68.5 million.


South African bank Capitec announced that it was teaming up with two Finovate alums, Entersekt and nCino.

One of the fastest-growing digital banks in South Africa, Capitec has partnered with cloud banking and digital transformation solution provider nCino. The two companies will work together to build Capitec’s Business Banking loan management system to better serve the company 70,000+ business banking customers.

“Capitec has embraced an agile and innovative approach to growth,” nCino CEO Pierre Naudé said. “We’re glad Capitec saw a partner in nCino and look forward to providing the bank with industry-leading technology and a flexible platform that will help drive the sustainability and growth of its business banking operations.”

nCino made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateEurope. The company’s flagship offering, its cloud-based Bank Operating System, provides a complete end-to-end banking solution that combines CRM, loan origination, workflow, ECM, business intelligence, and reporting all in a single location. nCino’s technology replaces disparate point solutions and manual processes with a modern, digitally-optimized experience.

In addition to its collaboration with nCino, Capitec also announced this week that it was working with South African identity and authentication solution provider Entersekt. Capitec will implement the company’s EMV 3D Secure solution to enhance the security of its e-commerce transactions.

The technology will enable Capitec to spot high risk e-commerce transactions in real-time, enhancing security without interfering with the customer experience. Entersekt’s EMV 3D Secure solution is pre-integrated with NuDetect from NuData Security – also a Finovate alum – which leverages behavioral biometrics and machine learning to help tell the difference between authentic users and potential fraudsters.

“We are constantly looking for ways to offer the best security possible without impacting our customers’ experiences,” Capitec Bank Marketing and Communications Executive Francois Viviers said. “By implementing Entersekt’s EMV 3D Secure solution with behavioral analytics from NuData Security, we are able to provide an additional level of protection for our e-commerce transactions. This also allows our team to continue to innovate, keeping our customers secure and Capitec at the forefront of digital banking innovation in South Africa.”

Entersekt demonstrated its technology as part of our developers conference, FinDEVr, in San Francisco in 2014. The company, headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, finished 2021 with a “significant investment” from Accel-KKR. This spring, Entersekt announced partnerships with edtech Mindjoy and the MiDO Foundation to promote financial literacy, as well as a collaboration with credit union service organization (CUSO) Bonifii to bring context-aware authentication solutions to credit unions.


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa


Photo by Spencer Davis

nCino Collaborates with KPMG Australia to Boost Middle and Back Office Performance

nCino Collaborates with KPMG Australia to Boost Middle and Back Office Performance

nCino will bring its cloud-based Bank Operating System to the Land Down Under to help KPMG Australia improve its middle and back office operations for its bank clients.

“nCino has a proven track record of helping financial institutions innovate while optimizing their processes,” nCino Director of Strategic Partnerships in APAC Zameer Momin said. “As more and more financial institutions are embarking on their business transformations, we are truly excited to be able to offer the power of KPMG Australia’s banking operations knowledge with nCino’s cloud technology to help create a robust and scalable digital experience.”

nCino’s Bank Operating System leverages the Salesforce platform to offer financial institutions a complete, end-to-end banking solution. nCino’s technology integrates with the institution’s core systems, and combines CRM, onboarding, account opening, loan origination, deposit accounts, credit analysis, ECM, and instant reporting capabilities. nCino notes that its client institutions have experienced a 92% reduction in servicing costs, a 54% reduction in policy exceptions, a 40% decrease in loan closing time, and a 22% increase in efficiency using its cloud-based Bank Operating Systems. These FIs have also experienced a 1.2x increase in account opening completion rates.

KPMG Australia Partner Alex Moreno pointed to the changing nature of the financial services landscape in Australia – including the arrival of both new digital competitors and increased regulation – as reasons for the collaboration with nCino. “Customers are expecting a better experience from their bank,” Moreno said. “Most banks have challenges with operational efficiency and internal time to competency, and secure and responsible lending is in the spotlight. The combination of KPMG’s Banking Operational Excellence Practice and nCino’s Bank Operating System is well positioned to help navigate these challenges.”

A Finovate alum since 2017, nCino began 2021 by announcing new partnerships with Platinum Bank ($425 million in assets) headquartered in Minnesota, and the National Bank of Canada ($332 billion in assets). More recently, nCino brought its technology to Hamburg Commercial Bank and Boston Private, and also worked with Coast Capital and Amerant Bank to expand their use of nCino’s solutions.

Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, nCino was founded in 2012. The company, which went public last July, trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker NCNO and has a valuation of $5.4 billion.


Photo by David Jia from Pexels

nCino Soars on IPO; MaxMyInterest Teams Up with Morningstar

nCino Soars on IPO; MaxMyInterest Teams Up with Morningstar

nCino’s Record-Setting IPO – We previewed the initial public offering from cloud banking innovator and Finovate alum nCino a few weeks ago. Yesterday, the Wilmington, North Carolina-based company made its debut on the Nasdaq, climbing more than 150% on its first day of trading.

The one-day gain for nCino, which trades under the ticker “NCNO,” was the biggest for a U.S. tech company IPO since the dot.com days. The “exponentially oversubscribed” offering was priced at $31 on Monday, above two previous, lower price ranges, and nCino sold just over eight million shares to raise $250 million. The pricing gave the company a diluted market capitalization of $3 billion.


MaxMyInterest Integrates with Morningstar – A new partnership between cash management solution provider MaxMyInterest and Morningstar will give financial advisors a broader range of options when it comes to delivering higher yields for their clients’ cash. Head of Morningstar ByAllAccounts David Johnson said the integration would help “solve the problem of zero-interest rates on cash or cash-like balances for investors.”

The initial integration between MaxMyInterest and Morningstar ByAllAcounts data aggregation service will feature the ability to deliver client balance data into 40 platforms used by financial advisors for client reporting. Morningstar ByAllAccounts leverages AI technology to collect, consolidate, and enhance financial data and, regardless of platform, deliver that information to clients for a unified view of their investment holdings.


Currencycloud Readies for EU ExpansionCurrencycloud has been one of our busier alums in recent weeks. The company partnered with fellow alums Ripple and Mambu in June, accessing the former’s RippleNet to better serve SMEs in underserved regions, and teaming up with the latter in an integration that will enable financial services companies to deploy virtual accounts, payments and FX services faster.

This week we learn that the U.K.-based, B2B cross-border technology company has formed a new partnership – this time with Canadian payments and FX platform Shift Connect. The company is seeking Currencycloud’s help as it expands into the U.S., Europe, and the U.K.

Currencycloud also reported this week that it has been granted an e-money license from the Dutch Central Bank. The license, only one of seven the central bank issues to non-banks, will enable the company to store money, operate e-wallets, process payments, and collections. Currencycloud will also be able to “passport” its e-money license to other countries in the E.U., ensuring its ability to continue its expansion throughout Europe. This will remain the case for the company – headquartered in London – after the Brexit transition period is over, according to Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven.

“The Netherlands possess the perfect blend of factors to support our expansion in the E.U.,” Laven said. “It has a strong fintech sector, access to top talent and a safe regulatory environment, which allows us to keep driving forward our services and product.”


Here is the latest news from our Finovate alums.

  • Sezzle announces $60 million fundraising on Australian Stock Exchange, consisting of an institutional placement and a non-underwritten share purchase plan.
  • Backbase expands in the Asia-Pacific, opening offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.
  • D1 Capital Partners invests $200 million for a 4% stake in TransferWise, sending the company’s valuation to $5 billion.
  • United Federal Credit Union to deploy core banking technology from Fiserv.
  • iProov teams up with IDV Pacific to support identity verification in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Nordigen featured in Silicon Canals’ look at top tech startups from Latvia.
  • NYMBUS teams up with Payrailz to enable financial institutions to access enhanced digital payment solutions.
  • Marqeta to power new digital wallet from Swiss fintech YAPEAL.
  • U.S. Secret Service to use blockchain analytics technology from Coinbase.
  • Bankjoy inks a pair of credit union partnerships.
  • ACI Worldwide announces that its Proactive Risk Manager and Model Generator solutions can now be deployed in a private or public cloud environment.
  • Courtesy of a partnership with Paxos, Revolut had enabled cryptocurrency trading for its customers in the U.S.
  • Swiss fintech Numbrs partners with TrueLayer to give its U.K. users access to open banking services.
  • Onfido announces a trio of new identity verification partnerships, teaming up with European alternative lenders Bondora, Voima Gold, and EstateGuru.
  • UAE-based Al Ain Finance to deploy Temenos Infinity and Transact solutions as part of an end-to-end digital transformation.
  • International credit agency CRIF signs strategic partnership with SIA to offer open banking services in Italy and across Europe.
  • Fintech Futures profiles Ukrainian bank, Privatbank.

Photo by Lad Fury from Pexels

nCino Readies for IPO

nCino Readies for IPO

Cloud banking specialist nCino is the latest fintech to announce its intention to go public.

In a brief statement shared on Monday, the Wilmington, North Carolina-based company reported that it had publicly filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their proposed initial public offering. nCino made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017.

The company’s announcement did not disclose the number of shares to be offered, nor the price range of the offering. Renaissance Capital reported that nCino is seeking to raise $100 million. The company expects to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker “NCNO.”

Underwriting the IPO are Bank of America Securities, Barclays, KeyBanc Capital Markets, and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

nCino’s Bank Operating System, built on the Salesforce platform, provides financial institutions of all sizes with an end-to-end banking solution that enables them to deliver the kind of digital experience banking customers have come to expect. The platform combines customer relationship management, loan origination, workflow, enterprise content management, as well as business intelligence and reporting, all in a single, secure, cloud-based environment. On average, financial institutions using nCino’s Bank Operating System have enjoyed a 40% decrease in loan closing time, a 92% reduction in servicing costs, and a 127% increase in account opening completion rates.

Founded in 2012, nCino has raised more than $213 million in funding. The company reported revenue growth of almost 50%, reaching $44.7 million, for the quarter ending in April. nCino also reported revenue of $138.2 million in its most recent fiscal year, ending in January. This year, the company has forged partnerships with Alterna Bank, a subsidiary of Alterna Savings and Credit Union Limited, and with Swedish SME lender Yourban. Additional partnerships announced in the first half of the year include collaborations with Fulton Bank and Black Hills FCU. Pierre Naudé is President and Chief Executive Officer.


Photo courtesy of Les Finances

nCino Drives Digital Banking in Sweden; Access Softek Unveils Roboadvisory Tool

nCino Drives Digital Banking in Sweden; Access Softek Unveils Roboadvisory Tool

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 Softek demonstrated 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.


Here is the latest news from our Finovate alums.

  • Overbond introduces live ETF NAV pricing.
  • Jack Henry to automate lending for Kentucky’s Commonwealth Credit Union.
  • Nordea goes live with new account aggregation and #PFM management tools from Tink.
  • NICE Actimize extends its strategic collaboration with Infosys to provide end-to-end financial crime management.
  • Hive selects ID R&D for passive facial liveness.
  • FalconPro Technology selects Redrock Biometrics to co-develop a palm-based biometric identification solution for mass transportation.
  • Trulioo adds new features to its EmbedID developer tool.
  • Daon extends 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.
  • Envestnet provides new integrated unified managed account (UMA) platform to Canaccord Genuity Group.
  • Washington Trust Bank deploys digital account opening technology from Terafina.
  • Prolific London interviews Datasine CEO Igor Volzhanin.
  • Eigen Technologies announces new Chief Customer Officer David Brooks.
  • Infosys Finacle inks joint partnership agreement with Traydstream to drive automation in trade finance.
  • Thomson Reuters partners with Path Solutions to add automation and greater efficiency to tax workflows and core banking processes.
  • Fiserv launches new feature of its Clover POS platform, Clover Online Ordering, to help restaurants more easily serve take-out customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Jumio brings its online identity verification technology to Mobiquity’s digital onboarding service.
  • Salt Edge introduces new feature for third party providers that streamlines PSD2 onboarding with banks.
  • Tradeshift partners with Denmark’s ECA Eksport Kredit Fonden on supply chain finance program for businesses.
  • Caixabank introduces new mentoring program for female entrepreneurs and SME founders.
  • TransUnion announces partnership with Horizon Media to support digital identity initiative.
  • Payoneer partners with banking app ANNA to help SMEs and freelancers receive international payments in U.S. dollars or Euros.
  • Blytzpay forges strategic partnership with AFS Dealers.
  • Yukka Lab earns spot in the F10 Scaleup Program.
  • Avaloq extends contract with First Abu Dhabi Bank Switzerland.
  • ClickSWITCH and Deluxe partner to offer a digital deposit solution for FIs.
  • Tavant launches new machine learning-based conditioning management and decisioning solution for Ellie Mae’s digital lending platform, Encompass.

Finovate Alumni Features and Profiles

Big Bank Meets Big Bitcoin: JPMorgan Partners with Gemini and Coinbase – 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

eToro Reaches 13 Million Users, Spurred by COVID-19 – The U.K.-based company recently announced it has now reached 13 million active users.

Featurespace to Grow Behavioral Analytics with Fresh $37.4 Million Round – Behavioral analytics technology provider Featurespace announced today that it closed a $37.4 million (£30 million) round of funding.

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.

Ephesoft Brings Power of Context to Accounts Payable with Semantik Invoice – The new data acquisition solution from Ephesoft will bring 97% accuracy and 30% cost-savings to companies looking for ways to enhance their accounts payable processes.

Eltropy and Prisma Campaigns Help Credit Unions Better Engage Members – Text messaging platform Eltropy and omnichannel marketing innovator Prisma Campaigns have teamed up to help credit unions communicate more effectively with their customers.

Helping Secure Digital Identities; Managing Financial Crime Risk

Helping Secure Digital Identities; Managing Financial Crime Risk

Two of the biggest themes in fintech – digital identity and the rise of fintech in Central and Eastern Europe – meet in the latest announcement from biometric authentication specialist and Finovate Best of Show winner iProov. The company’s facial recognition technology now makes it easier for users of SK ID Solutions’ Smart-ID Service in countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to renew their accounts without having to visit a physical bank branch.

“This is a major development for all digital identity providers,” iProov CEO Andrew Bud said. “Estonia has proved, for the first time, that a remote, automated, biometric ID verification service can deliver the highest possible levels of security.”

Recognized as equal to a handwritten signature throughout Europe, Smart-IDs enable users to authenticate themselves and provide permissions online using a smartphone app. iProov’s facial recognition technology adds a three-second scan to compare the image of the user to the image on their presented ID document to help defend against fraud and identity theft.

Smart-ID also leverages NFC-based ReadID document verification technology from InnoValor.

Financial crime risk management innovator Featurespace will be helping Enfuce combat fraud and money laundering courtesy of a newly announced partnership. Enfuce, a financial services firm based in Finland, will use Featurespace’s ARIC Risk Hub to enhance its ability to protect its customers from fraud and financial crime.

“Our clients deserve industry-leading services that allow them to freely and fully concentrate on the success of their core business, without worrying about ever-evolving fraud,” Enfuce co-founder and chair Monika Liikamaa said.

ARIC Risk Hub offers real-time transaction monitoring for fraud and financial crime, enabling institutions to identify and act against anomalous and potentially dangerous behavior as it occurs. The technology also reduces the number of false positives by as much as 70%, keeping anti-fraud processes efficient. Featurespace introduced its fraud-fighting technology to Finovate audiences at FinovateEurope 2016.


Here is a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.

  • Sezzle unveils new logo along with its first annual report.
  • Flybits expands its executive team in New York, Toronto, the U.K., and Dubai.
  • ID R&D updates voice biometric solution IDVoice.
  • M1 Finance surpasses $1 billion in assets on its platform.
  • Armor Bank selects Teslar Software’s automated workflow and portfolio management tools.
  • Mastercard partners with myPOS to boost adoption of card payment solutions among European SMEs.
  • Black Hills FCU selects nCino’s Bank Operating System.
  • Bazaarvoice launches partnership program with Yotpo as the piloting partner.
  • Keysafe inks partnership with Salt Edge to access tenants’ bank data without the need to acquire its own PSD2 license.
  • Lending Club appoints Annie Armstrong as Chief Risk Officer.
  • Assaray Trade and Investment Bank selects Temenos Infinity and Transact to power its digital transformation.
  • Long John Silver’s chooses Blackhawk Network for gift card program.
  • Trustly and Fly Norwegian team up to let travelers pay directly from their bank accounts.
  • Pindrop launches Deep Voice 3, the new version of its voice recognition technology.
  • Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga steps down, replaced by Chief Product Officer Michael Miebach.
  • Venmo to launch debit card for teens.
  • Almost 600 banks select Fiserv’s Turnkey Service for Zelle.
  • Finastra to offer ClickSWITCH’s account switching technolkogy to its clients.
  • Simmons Bank partners with Jack Henry to leverage its Banno platform to build a digital presence.
  • Currencycloud and Currensea team up.
  • Yseop and Automation Anywhere join forces to scale intelligent automation.
  • Lighter Capital appoints Kevin Fink at CTO and Patricia Elliott as CSO.
  • InComm launches Roblox gift cards in France and Germany.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

Revolut’s $500 Million Round Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion – Global financial platform Revolut has secured its place as the U.K.’s most valuable fintech.

Dealing with Deepfakes in Fintech – The fintech industry is ripe with security firms, such as iProov, that use AI to combat both video and audio deepfakes with anti-spoofing technologies.

Envestnet | Yodlee Acquires Indian Data Aggregator FinBit.io – Envestnet | Yodlee has acquired another asset in its strategy to further grow and develop its data aggregation and analytics business.

Meet Sonect: Cash Network Builder, Finovate Newcomer, Best of Show Winner – What’s better than having a large pizza with all your favorite toppings delivered to your front door? How about a side order of cash, saving you a trip to the ATM or bank branch?

Azimo Taps Ripple for Cross-Border Payments to the Philippines – Fueling these payment transfers is Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution that uses XRP to source liquidity and complete money transfers within three seconds.

Lendio Lands $55 Million to Match Small Businesses with Lenders – The investment more than doubles the company’s previous funding, bringing its total to $108.5 million.

SheerID Expands Identity Marketing Platform – The move enables brands to identify and acquire new customers across the globe.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Blockchain-Based Payments and Rebooting the Financial System.

Around the web

  • BioCatch beefs up insights on behavioral biometrics platform.
  • Fujitsu partners with Personetics to leverage Personetics’ cognitive AI recommendation engine for its new personalized banking cloud service.
  • AutoRABIT partners with nCino to help banks deploy software solutions on the nCino Bank Operating System faster.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

nCino Brings AI to its Bank Operating System with nIQ

nCino Brings AI to its Bank Operating System with nIQ

Cloud banking leader nCino is enlisting AI in the fight to help financial institutions make better, more informed decisions faster. The Wilmington, North Carolina-based company announced this week the release of nCino IQ (nIQ), a new expansion to its Bank Operating System that works across front, middle, and back office operations, to automate and connect. This not only reduces expensive and error-vulnerable manual data entry, the technology also enables financial institutions to leverage automation and analytics to make data-driven decisions that enhance the customer journey.

“Since its inception, nCino has championed the idea of the agile enterprise, where financial institutions can reduce loan cycle and account opening times by digitizing and automating their processes via our single end-to-end platform,” Chief Product Officer Trisha Price said. “Now, with nIQ, we’re evolving that concept further to the Intelligent Enterprise, where AI is injected into every stage of production and stands at the center of every business line we support.”

nIQ has three main components: nIQ Data Recognition, which automates data extraction; nIQ Insights, which uses predictive analytics to measure and monitor organization-wide performance and risk; and nIQ Digital Assistant, which gives bankers the real-time data they need in order to build personalized experiences. The solution can be used in commercial, small business, and retail banking, as well as for customer engagement.

“With nIQ supercharging their operations,” Price added, “financial institutions can achieve a competitive advantage that allows them to increase savings and, most importantly, make more informed decisions to more effectively and efficiently serve their customers.”

The product news from nCino follows company’s $80 million funding raising – its largest to date – announced last month. The funding, which took nCino’s total capital to more than $213 million, was led by a group investors advised by T. Rowe Price, and featured the participation of existing investor Salesforce Ventures. Also last month, nCino announced a partnership with CNB Bank, a $3.2 billion asset FI based in Pennsylvania, and added David Rudow to its C-suite, appointing the software and technology executive as Chief Financial Officer.

nCino demonstrated its Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017. Founded in 2012, and named to the Forbes Cloud 100, the company partners with more than 250 financial institutions around the world. Pierre Naudé is CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Spreedly Raises $75 Million in Growth Funding.
  • NLP Innovator Eigen Technologies Closes $37 Million Series B.
  • nCino Brings AI to its Bank Operating System with nIQ.
  • Lloyd’s Syndicate to Insure Ledger’s Vault.

Around the web

  • DriveWealth partners with Bamboo to give Nigerians real-time access to trade 3,500+ stocks listed on the U.S. stock market.
  • OnDeck builds liquidity with new $125 million securitization.
  • Salt Edge teams up with Exprivia to expand access to open banking solutions.
  • Insuritas partners with Security Federal Savings Bank to launch digital insurance agency platform.
  • Coinbase adds five new currencies to its Coinbase Card – XRP, BAT, REP, ZRX, and XLM – as it brings its card to ten new countries.
  • Mastercard launches Mastercard Accelerate, a worldwide initiative that gives fintechs access to the company’s suite of digital solutions to help differentiate their offerings.
  • Finastra inks partnership with UAE-based United Arab Bank, which will deploy the company’s Fusion Corporate Channels and Fusion Cash Management solutions.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finicity’s AssetReady Reports Accelerate the Prequal Process.
  • Envestnet Adds Yodlee FinApps to MoneyGuide’s MyBlocks.

Around the web

  • PyraMax Bank launches PyraMax Insurance Services leveraging Insuritas’ digital insurance platform.
  • Finastra’s new Fusion Treasury Essential helps small banks with no dedicated treasury system automate their treasury function.
  • nCino appoints David Rudow as Chief Financial Officer.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.