Empire Startups - Everything FinTech的动态

Money20/20 was as hectic and crowded as ever, but there seemed to be fewer booths with action continuing to migrate to restaurants and suites. Those companies who did have booths were primarily service-related (fraud, security, regtech, open banking) and payments with far fewer prior year faves like BaaS, neobanks, lenders, and crypto. And AI is everywhere, including a robot dog. ? Open banking and cash flow underwriting are hot. 1033 is final and will make it easier for consumers to permission their data. Firms like Nova Credit, Prism Data, and Plaid are ready to help extract insights from it. All lenders should at least be experimenting so they are ready to ramp up: take your turn downs, ask them to provision their data, and use basic rules to make some approvals. ? Fraud is also hot and it feels like a consolidation is underway.?The newer players like SentiLink, DataVisor, and Socure continue to build out their offerings and the incumbents like Visa and Experian are making acquisitions. First party remains a problem (Socure and SentiLink can help here) and older bot detection and doc verification solutions are getting beat by GenAI. Companies must always be testing new solutions, e.g., Deduce and BioCatch. Scams are growing and on track to become an absolute disaster as payments shift to real time and the US lags other countries. US regulators need to take urgent, aggressive, and coordinated action, (like this... https://lnkd.in/gm2UnQn9). In the meantime, everyone else needs to double down on customer and employee education and data sharing (and check out Memcyco) as current defenses are not sufficient. ? The partner banking shakeout is well underway. Column and Lead were very visible and popular as fintechs flee the weaker banks. ? Fintech lenders may be seeing some opportunity. Their borrowing costs are down (a bit), credit card rates are up (due to expected CFPB action on late fees), and there’s a lot of revolving debt to refinance. The challenge: how to differentiate and cost-effectively acquire consumers. ? There’s a lot of GenAI being touted that is little more than good prompt writing, which is not enough to build a company around.?The breakthrough will happen when GenAI is used to transform how a business works which will require rethinking how work is done, getting your data in order, and building controls to ensure consistency and accuracy. ? Thanks to my colleagues at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) plus Kevin Moss, Nayan Goswami, and Pradeep Vallanur Ramesh for their help. Please let me know what you think.

Economic crime, such as Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, poses a major threat to the UK. Our second Coalition brings together experts from finance, tech, policy, and academia to combat this rising issue. ? CFIT’s second Coalition will - ?? Focus on APP fraud, which accounted for ￡459.7 million in losses last year ?? Collaborate with big tech, banks, fintech firms, and digital ID providers ?? Carry out data-driven research to protect businesses and consumers ? We’re currently developing the core use cases and will announce the final cohort of partners over the summer. Stay tuned! ? Read more in The Fintech Times: https://lnkd.in/ej92P3_m ? #EconomicCrime #FraudPrevention #Payments #APPFraud

?? Stay informed and ahead of the curve! The Paypers presents the news of the day. ?? Dive into the highlights below, and let us know which story caught your attention the most! ?? Find these and more by subscribing to our newsletters: https://lnkd.in/eFCT7JA ???? The?European Central Bank?(ECB) has released its second progress report on the preparatory phase of a potential digital euro. https://lnkd.in/dgzPbikH ?????? The?Superintendence of Private Insurance (SUSEP - Superintendência de Seguros Privados)?has announced the publication of key regulations to refine the Open Insurance (OPIN) programme.?https://lnkd.in/dWTMssSf ???? BlackRock?has reportedly initiated discussions to acquire HPS Investment Partners, LLC, a private credit firm, in a deal valued at USD 12 billion or more. https://lnkd.in/dk2jTKy9 ???? Hong Kong-based fintech firm?KPay Group?has raised USD 55 million in a Series A funding round. https://lnkd.in/dGE2chGy ?????? Solaris SE?has announced that it is close to securing new future funding amid reports that it needed urgent financing or faced the prospect of being sold or even closure.?https://lnkd.in/dpeFiNmd ?????? The?Bank of New Zealand?has announced an investment in payments technology company?centrapay?as part of its efforts to enhance its digital payments offerings. https://lnkd.in/dyKAWRf6 ???? Creand (Crèdit Andorrà)?has selected?NICE Actimize, a US-based fraud prevention company, to optimise its global Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions strategy.??https://lnkd.in/dQeV2AWT ???? MCB Bank Limited?has announced its partnership with?BPC?in order to provide customers with AI-powered fraud management solutions and strengthen digital security.?https://lnkd.in/dYUv96KX ?????? The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed a fine of SGD 2.4 million (USD 1.79 million) on US lender?JPMorganChase?for misconduct by relationship managers. https://lnkd.in/dZJzET26 ?????? Fintech company?Revolut?has been under scrutiny in the UK, facing a fraud lawsuit after scammers stole EUR 700,000.?https://lnkd.in/dnFtMdVq #ThePaypers #News

??News?? When Revolut needed a new bank after Metropolitan Commercial Bank cut off its fintech customers, it found CFSB, a tiny bank whose only branch sits beneath an elevated subway line an hour’s ride from Manhattan, squeezed between a shuttered Rite Aid and a children’s events space that moonlights as a venue for $10 adult Zumba dance classes. As more banks dump fintech partners, CFSB has leaned into the sector. For the fintech companies joining the bank that has become somewhat of a lender-of-last-resort, striking a relationship comes with its own risks: Court filings, FOI documents and other sources show accounts tied to several of the bank’s fintech partners have been at the center of alleged phishing schemes and other claims of payments fraud. CFSB and its owners have also been ensnared in a legal battle that provided a glimpse into the inner workings of the bank. Its CEO was accused of opening bank accounts for shell companies related to his extended family’s business-one of North America's richest developers-as well as helping process wires to pay for an allegedly fraudulent hand sanitizer scheme run by members of the family. Click to read the full story: https://lnkd.in/ePvnW7SR

Real-time payments in the US: growth, opportunities, and challenges Real-time payments (RTP) in the US are surging, with platforms like Zelle and FedNow leading the charge. Zelle processed 1.7 billion transactions worth $481 billion in H1 2024, reflecting a 28% annual growth driven by consumer demand for instant payments. Businesses benefit from faster cash flow, while financial institutions (FIs) see new revenue opportunities. However, this growth faces challenges from sophisticated fraud schemes like APP scams and money mule activities. To combat these, FIs are employing AI-powered analytics, multi-layered strategies, and proactive regulatory compliance. https://okt.to/wKPCVj

I'm a fan of CNBC's Hugh Son so I was a bit disappointed in the overly-negative and overly-broad sweeping tone of a recent article on "how thousands of Americans got caught in fintech’s false promise." There's no doubt that people are suffering because they've lost access to their money. I don't mean to belittle their plight. The blame, however, needs to be placed on particular entities--not #fintech as a whole. A few of the article's "key points" stand out as egregious: ?? "The collapse of middleman Synapse has revealed fintech's promise of safety as a mirage." I don't think fintech--as a whole--ever promised "safety." The primary promises were speed, convenience, and a better experience. And let's be honest here--some banks have pushed the "FDIC safety" thing as much as some of the fintechs have. Impugning all of fintech for this is a step too far. The underlying problems here were two-fold: 1) The failure of a technology firm who was an intermediary between another fintech and a bank, and 2) a bank whose compliance and oversight policies and procedures weren't up to speed. ?? "More than 100,000 Americans with $265 million in deposits have been locked out of their accounts." This is probably a true statement--but it glosses over something that's actually mentioned later on in the article: 85% of those Americans were customers of one fintech, Yotta. When a tech vendor for a (real) bank has a technology glitz and bank customers get locked out of their account, do we blame the entire banking system? Of course not. Blaming all of fintech for the actions of just a few is just as wrong. ?? "The implications of this disaster may be far-reaching. The most popular banking apps in the country, including Block's Cash App, PayPal and Chime, partner with banks instead of owning them." The first sentence might not be as bad as some of the bank-run inducing statements made at the start of the SVB debacle last year, but it's not far behind. To suggest that Block, PayPal, and Chime customers may lose access to their accounts because these firms partner with banks may be a factually-correct statement, but implies problems that are far less-likely to happen than what happened in the Synapse-Evolve situation. 2 great quotes from the article: 1?? Michele Alt: "The Synapse failure will prove to be an aberration." 2?? Scott Sanborn: "Many of the tiny banks running BaaS businesses simply don't have the personnel or resources to do the job properly." Sanborn's quote previews the future of BaaS: Larger banks with the resources to invest in tech and personnel get in and squeeze the smaller banks out (or acquire those banks to get into the BaaS space). Bottom line: Today's problems are speed bumps in the evolution of #EmbeddedFinance and #BaaS. Efi Pylarinou Alex Johnson Simon Taylor Nik Milanovi? Mary Wisniewski Marcel van Oost https://lnkd.in/e-uNYDGT

Instant payments + fraud concerns: a hot debate in fintech right now. Love this take from Reed Luhtanen at US Faster Payments Council - "Fraud on instant payment rails in the US has been vanishingly rare." Yet many are still hesitant. Here's my two cents: - Yes, we need strong security measures - But innovation shouldn't be held hostage by fear - Smart strategy: Start with your current customers' needs, then expand What's your take? Have you seen fraud concerns holding back financial innovation in your organization? https://lnkd.in/gjms3Fdj #Fintech #Payments #FinancialServices #Innovation #Banking #Risk

This article sums up some of the potential regulatory risks #fintech platforms and #BaaS providers will face if they not fully comply with the array of federal rules surrounding financial services. This risk appears to be most apparent e in the payments space and among fintech platforms who do not engage in direct relationships with banks offering their services, and instead rely on third-parties to interact with consumers. In my view, ongoing enforcement actions based on BSA/AML compliance may effectively shake out fintechs who do not fully address their regulatory risks as they enter the arena. Even the most innovative fintech disruptors with ample VC/EC funding may besubject to regulatory action if they get over their skis. From the article: "'In an interview over the summer,??Ingo Payments?Chief Revenue Officer?Lydia Inboden?told PYMNTS that the BaaS industry might be going through a period of upheaval, but direct relationships enable a more thorough vetting of FinTechs to ensure satisfaction?of anti-money?laundering and other compliance programs.? “The financial institution needs to be able to show proper oversight into all those downstream partners,” she told PYMNTS.'" #fintech #occ #fdic #aml #bsa

Some positive news for the fintech companies. This approach to dealing with fraud, prevention of it and the compensation of consumers feels balanced and on the right path.