Financial Innovation Roundup e29: week of Sep 17 – Sep 23, 2023
Here are my top 20 stories about financial services innovation from the past week.?
#industryinsights
This week saw a strong week of funding rounds for the FinTech sector, with the top deal seeing Galvanize garner a whopping $1bn in investment.
Up to $2.9bn was raised in the FinTech sector this week, representing a strong week for the market and a growing humming of the sector after a relatively quiet summer period.
Sector-wise, this last week saw a particularly strong week for FinTech firms, with eight FinTechs bringing in deals. Following just behind on five deals were WealthTech and InsurTech firms. RegTech companies brought in three deals, ESG and PayTech two, and the AI sector just the one.
Geographically, the US and the UK lead with the most deals this week, with the former recording 13 deals and the UK bringing in seven deals. German firms were involved in two funding rounds, while Israel, Brazil, Hong Kong, Canada, Egypt, Spain, Sweden, Ireland and France all brought in one deal each.
Notably, Calgary-based ZayZoon , the financial empowerment platform for small and mid-sized businesses, has successfully secured a total of $34.5m in its Series B funding.
The investment round witnessed leadership from Framework Venture Partners. It also enjoyed co-investment from Export Development Canada (EDC), participation from ATB Financial, and contributions from existing shareholders.
A beacon for financial stability, ZayZoon’s primary offering is Earned Wage Access (EWA). EWA acts as a financial bridge for employees, particularly in a world where 63% of Americans are navigating the challenges of living from one paycheck to another.
2.???? 波士顿谘询公司 <> Klarna Kosma : The Power of Open Banking: Exploring the Next Wave of Use Cases
In the context of an interconnected, digital, and increasingly accessible financial system, open banking offers consumers the chance to simplify and enrich their financial activities. Businesses, meanwhile, have an opportunity to improve customer journeys by integrating payment capabilities and expanding ecosystems, each of which has the potential to broaden horizons and deepen customer engagement. Yet, despite these positives, many business leaders sense that open banking has not reached its potential—that there should be more to gain from a shared and data-driven economy. Despite progress, open banking is a concept whose time is yet to come.
Open banking was originally conceived as an antidote to a perceived lack of competition and innovation in the banking market (OBIE in the UK and PSD2 for EU are two of the most recognizable initiatives globally). With banks required (regulation driven) or invited (market driven) to share transaction data or allow third parties to initiate payment transactions via bank accounts, subject to customers’ consent, competition was enabled in services including account aggregation, onboarding (account verification), and payments. Open banking plays a key role across the globe where the majority of countries are following a regulatory driven approach and only some a market driven (e.g., US). Pls see exhibition 1 for details on initiatives across the globe.
#artificialintelligence #ai #dataanalytics
3.???? Chipper Cash : Launches AI Verification Suite Chipper ID to transform customer onboarding in Africa
Chipper Cash, a financial services company serving over five million customers, has launched Chipper ID, an AI-powered suite of verification services, tailored to solving industry-wide customer onboarding and compliance issues in the African market.
Chipper ID has been designed to tackle Know Your Customer (KYC) issues across the African continent including ID verification, often impacted by mobile issues, and sub-par KYC solutions in order to protect against pipeline losses and inauthentic users.
Ham Serunjogi, CEO and Co-Founder of Chipper Cash, said: “Chipper ID is here to revolutionise online identity and verification through innovative AI technology for businesses serving the African market. Chipper ID has been designed specifically to address the unique challenges faced in Africa, providing a secure and trusted solution that is tailor made for businesses operating across the continent.”
“Over the years, we’ve experienced lacklustre solutions on the African continent for verification due to many tools being built for the Western world. Faced with these challenges, we began to put in place the foundation blocks for Chipper ID – a product we now use ourselves within our own business and one that has saved us millions of dollars, reduced fraud, and yielded better results across onboarding and verification.”
4.???? 美国银行 : Gives CashPro Chatbot an AI Upgrade
Bank of America is elevating the experience of its business clients through enhancements to CashPro Chat, a virtual service advisor within the CashPro banking platform. CashPro is used by more than 40,000 corporate and commercial clients around the world to manage their treasury operations.
CashPro Chat now includes the same proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities behind Erica – the company’s popular virtual financial assistant that’s been used by more than?38 million?individuals to access account information, transfer funds, send money to friends and family, and more. Business clients can now experience the power of this advanced virtual assistant to quickly view transactions, find information about their accounts and navigate CashPro functionality. As needed, the virtual advisor will route more complex requests to specialized service teams to resolve.
?#blockchain #crypto #cbdc
Hong Kong’s real estate market stands on the brink of a revolutionary transformation, with Tykhe Capital leading the charge. The investment firm recently announced the launch of PRINCE, Hong Kong’s inaugural real estate fund?security?token issuance (STO).
This pioneering move could cause a shift in the city’s property market.
Hong Kong Hub for Real Estate Tokenization
The PRINCE token is tailored for professional investors, aiming to raise HK$100 million. If the project receives regulatory approval, these tokens will also be listed on the trading platform HKbitEX, enabling secondary market trading throughout the day.
This innovation would significantly reduce financing costs, marking a radical real estate investment paradigm shift.
The?tokenization?of real estate and other real-world assets is a growing trend globally, and Hong Kong is embracing this wave. By converting physical property into a digital token on a blockchain, the process democratizes investment and also enhances liquidity in the traditionally illiquid real estate market.
Investment banking giant Citigroup today announced the launch of a digital token service for institutions.?
The Citi Token Services product uses blockchain and smart contract technology to allow its institutional clients to send money across borders quickly, Citi?said?Monday. The technology will use a private blockchain—not a public one like Bitcoin or Ethereum.?
It added that Citi Token Services will provide automated trade finance solutions on a 24/7 basis.
“Digital asset technologies have the potential to upgrade the regulated financial system by applying new technologies to existing legal instruments and well-established regulatory frameworks,” Citi’s global head of services Shahmir Khaliq said in a statement.??
The idea, according to Citi, is to streamline the process of making large transactions by digitizing bank guarantees and letters of credit in the trade finance ecosystem.?
The bank worked with integrated logistics company Maersk on a pilot to see how it would work in the shipping industry, Citi’s Monday statement said. The shipping industry can be a challenge for banks as collecting payments and processing transactions can be cumbersome and complex.?
eToro has announced its application to the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) register has been successful.
This registration will allow eToro to offer regulated crypto services to all EU countries on a cross-border basis from one single entity, once the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) comes into effect.
Dr Hedva Ber, deputy CEO at eToro, said: “This registration signals that we are 100% ready to embrace a new era for crypto once MiCA comes into effect next year. As a global company regulated in various markets around the world, we are very much looking forward to the increased certainty and security that MiCA will offer to both consumers and reputable businesses in this space.
“Europe is a hugely important region for eToro, it’s where the majority of our users are based and we want to continue offering to European investors direct access to a wide range of crypto assets as part of a diversified portfolio. This new CySEC registration will make it much easier for us to achieve this in a post-MiCA Europe, allowing us to create a more streamlined and efficient offering for European investors who want to trade with crypto assets.”
eToro is authorised and supervised by a number of regulatory authorities in multiple jurisdictions around the world including the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), GFSC (Gibraltar), FinCen and FINRA (United States). eToro is also registered as a digital asset provider with various local authorities including The Bank of Spain, the AMF (France), and?BitLicense?in New York state.?
#digitalbanking
8.???? Apiture <> Greenlight : Combining Family Banking to Help Financial Institutions Support Financial Literacy
Apiture becomes first digital banking provider to offer Greenlight's award-winning family finance app to its 300+ financial institution clients as a Greenlight for Banks partner?
Apiture, a leading provider of digital banking solutions, announced the introduction of family banking through a partnership with?Greenlight? Financial Technology, Inc, the fintech company on a mission to help parents raise financially smart kids. Through the?Greenlight for Banks?program, Greenlight's family finance app is now available with Apiture's Consumer Banking solution, providing banks and credit unions with a full suite of family banking tools to help improve financial literacy for the next generation.
According to Greenlight, 93% of parents say it is important for financial institutions to provide financial literacy education for their children, yet only 16% say their current institution provides such services.* Greenlight offers a debit card and app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, give, and spend wisely - all with parental supervision. Using the Greenlight app, parents can send money instantly, automate allowance payments, manage chores, set flexible spending controls, get real-time notifications of all transactions, and more. Kids get hands-on money management experience, along with access to?Greenlight Level Up?, an in-app financial literacy game with an industry-leading curriculum, educational challenges, and rewards.
Many banks and credit unions do not have the resources to create a compelling digital banking experience for young people. Apiture is the first digital banking provider to offer the Greenlight for Banks solution, empowering its 300+ financial institution clients with Greenlight's suite of family banking tools at no cost to their customers.
"Our Greenlight for Banks program is designed to help financial institutions bring families the best-in-class financial tools and education they need to build healthy financial futures," said Matt Wolf, SVP of Business Development, Greenlight. "Partnering with Apiture will allow us to reach even more families and improve financial literacy for the next generation together."
A new free money management app, designed to transform the way students manage their finances, has been launched today by leading financial wellbeing platform, Blackbullion. The first-of-its-kind app aims to help students use and understand their money confidently across the university or college term, making sure they can focus on their academic studies and wellbeing.
With the student budget deficit increasing year-on-year, the cost-of-living crisis continues to negatively impact all areas of student university experiences. Blackbullion’s 2023 Student Money and Wellbeing Report found that students need an extra ￡548 a month to confidently feel they can complete their degree. The report also found that nine out of 10 students (87%) are worried about money; 58% say worrying about finances negatively impacts their mental health; almost one in 10 (9%) of students surveyed have considered or have dropped out of university in the last 12 months as a direct result of the cost-of-living crisis.
By connecting Blackbullion’s app to their bank accounts, students can access real-time insights into their spending, and receive personalised suggestions as to where they can make savings. Students can respond quickly to suggested changes helping to manage their budgets and support ongoing financial wellbeing. This all happens through open banking technology.
SOURCE: AltFi
#digitalwealth ?#wealthtech #Investing
Saxo Bank and Mastercard are announcing a partnership to implement open banking payments in Saxo Bank’s investment platforms, making it seamless for customers to transfer money into their investment accounts. Saxo Bank customers will no longer need to log in to a separate bank account to initiate a manual transfer into their investment account.?
The Saxo Bank and Mastercard partnership is already?enabling a better user experience. Instant funding has improved since launch with around 20% of new funds coming through the new module when Saxo Bank customers add money or “top up” their investment accounts using open banking.??
Saxo Bank customers in Denmark can now top up their investment accounts using Mastercard’s open banking technology. The payments feature is set to be rolled out across additional European markets as a next step.?
GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca now includes new artificial intelligence tools, the latest accessibility features, and significant design innovations. The website also introduces behavioural science resources and design elements to help you make better decisions along your investing journey.?
GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca has a fresh look-and-feel with animations and cohesive design woven throughout the site. It features streamlined menus, clearer navigation, and an expanded search tool to help you quickly find information.
The new GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca is designed to be a leader in accessibility. During its development the team anticipated meeting or exceeding the latest accessibility standard of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) even before they took effect (released in July 2023).?
#esg #sustainability #climatetech
12.? SAP Fioneer : launches ESG software to help financial institutions mitigate growing regulatory risks
SAP Fioneer, a leading global provider of financial services software solutions and platforms, has launched its first software solution for ESG data orchestration and calculation for portfolio and single exposure KPI. The solution not only plugs the data gap banks and insurers need to remain ESG compliant, but also enables them to leverage the pertinent business potential.?
The Fioneer ESG KPI Engine is the world’s first software solution to provide full visibility into ESG-related portfolio data, enabling financial institutions to make sustainable, cross-departmental decisions based on reliable insights. By revealing real-time financed and insurance related CO2e emissions, financial institutions can seize transition opportunities and avoid greenwashing, bolstering transparency and accountability.?
The Fioneer ESG KPI Engine covers all asset classes and markets, no matter if the data can be sourced or not. The new software saves financial institutions cost and time by offering clear calculations and simplified data presentation, as well as ending the need for employees to spend hour after hour uploading data manually on spreadsheets. The Fioneer ESG KPI Engine brings standardization, auditability and is updated in real-time to react to new regulations automatically, freeing up employees to spend more time analyzing the data and finding new business opportunities and creating a more sustainable portfolio.?
HSBC has announced that it plans to offer $1bn of financing to early-stage climate tech companies around the world.
The financing is expected to support high-potential climate technology companies creating solutions including EV charging, battery storage, sustainable food and agriculture, and carbon removal technologies.
This announcement comes after the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking and of HSBC Asset Management's Climate Tech Venture Capital strategy.
Barry O’Byrne, CEO of global commercial banking at HSBC said: “Access to finance is critical for early-stage climate tech companies to create and scale real-world solutions. We are already working with some of the most exciting companies at the forefront of climate tech, from seed to global scale-up. With HSBC’s global reach, in-house climate tech expertise, and newly launched Innovation Banking proposition, we can offer these pioneer companies unrivalled support.”
#openbanking
Coinbase?has announced the expansion of its Easy Bank Transfers to the Netherlands, making Open Banking payments available to Dutch customers.??
Launched in partnership with the European Open Banking payments network, TrueLayer, Easy Bank Transfers allow customers to make deposits to their Coinbase accounts. Connecting directly to users’ bank accounts, these payments auto-populate customers’ financial information, minimising the need for manual data entry.?
As per the press release, Coinbase has stated that the result is a less error-prone process that reduces the risk of payment failure and makes deposits easier for its customers. Moreover, users can also benefit from an efficient customer experience, authenticating payments directly through their mobile banking apps. The process leverages payment rails to make funds available to users in minutes, allowing customers to make crypto transactions on their schedule.?
The companies have stated that Easy Bank Transfers will become available to all users in the Netherlands, shortly after this announcement in September 2023.?
SOURCE: The Paypers
15.? Waave : Launches Wendi, which uses Open Banking to show the user all their subscription expenses.
Australian fintech Waave has launched Wendi, which uses Open Banking to show the user all their subscription expenses.
Waave points out that Wendi onnects directly to a user's bank accounts, does not require them to download an app, does not promote financial products on a commission structure, and does not require a lengthy sign up process involving ID checks like submitting a driver's licence.
Once a user has select their bank(s) and relevant account(s), Wendi displays a list of all subscription expenses including digital subscriptions, insurance, professional memberships, storage, club associations and health and fitness clubs.
The company plans to add other categories such as buy now pay later, gig economy spending (Uber, etc), and bills.
"Waave’s philosophy is built around fairness. Think of Wendi as your trusted financial friend who makes your life better in a safe and secure way. It's using your data to review and manage your subscription spending, no strings attached," said Waave co-founder and CEO Ben Zyl.
SOURCE: iTWire
#payments #spending #borrowing
16.? 汇丰 <> Nova Credit : first UK bank to offer newcomers option to include international credit history when applying for a credit card
Newcomers to the UK can now leverage their international credit history instantly and free of charge when applying for a credit card with HSBC UK, thanks to a new partnership between the bank and?Nova Credit, the world's only cross-border credit bureau.
New and existing customers?applying for an HSBC UK credit card online?can choose to share their credit history from a growing list of 12 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, and the US.
The UK immigrant population is one of the fastest-growing demographics in the country. More than 10 million people living in the UK were born overseas and every year more than 800,000 more people are granted long-term visas to work or study in the UK. Currently, 95% of the country’s net population growth comes from immigration, expected to grow to more than 100% by 2025.
Swift and Wise today announced an innovative collaboration to increase cross-border payment options for financial institutions and their customers, enabling payments sent securely via Swift to complete seamlessly over Wise with end-to-end transparency.?
Financial institutions seeking to innovate their offerings will be able to route Swift payment messages directly to Wise Platform - Wise’s infrastructure solution for banks and major enterprises — through its latest Correspondent Services solution. This will enable their customers to benefit from the speed and convenience of Wise, and the breadth of Swift without needing to implement any major changes to their systems.?
Wise Platform will harness advanced Swift capabilities to power its service, including cloud and API connectivity and Payment Pre-validation and will continue to offer banks all the hallmark features of Swift GPI, including a payment status tracker which Wise Platform will update to ensure end-to-end view across both networks.
The collaboration, announced in Toronto at the annual Sibos conference, is the start of a broader relationship, and comes as increased innovation and fragmentation in the financial ecosystem is creating more ways for money to move — and more consumer demand for choice. It reflects the importance of new forms of collaboration to provide optionality, while maintaining secure, reliable and inclusive connectivity. And it is directly aligned with both G20 and UN Sustainable Development goals on the speed, transparency, cost and access of cross-border transactions.?
18.? J.P. 摩根 <> 美国银行 <> 富国银行 : Rival banks unite to take on Big Tech
America’s largest banks are preparing to fire the latest salvo in their efforts to defend their turf from Big Tech groups.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and others, next year plan to launch Paze: a mobile wallet that will connect directly to the credit and debit card accounts of 150mn customers.
The app will be operated by Early Warning Services, a bank consortium group that already runs payments app Zelle. Paze is the latest sign that big banks see partnerships — either working collectively or even in collaboration with tech firms — as the best way to stop the advances of the likes of Apple, Google and, most recently, Elon Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter), which aim to offer banking services to their millions of users. But, just as banks are seeking more deals with fintechs, those partnerships are coming under greater scrutiny from regulators who worry that such tie-ups could open the banks and the US banking system to bad actors.
“Regulators want banks to know who their customers are, and that becomes a lot harder when you are working through a fintech,” says Michele Alt, a bank consultant and a former top official at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency?
“Anecdotally, we have heard increased examination scrutiny by regulators of these partnerships.”
The rush to partner up is a big shift from just a few years ago, when the megabanks thought they could go up against Big Tech, the start-up fintechs and each other — one-on-one — and win.
#smallbusinessbanking
19.? Judo Bank <> Backbase : partner to create new digital experiences for its small and medium (SME) business banking and term deposit customers.
Backbase?is pleased to announce the partnership with?Judo Bank?(ASX: JDO) is now live. Judo selected Backbase’s?Engagement Banking Platform?(EBP) to create new digital experiences for its small and medium (SME) business banking and term deposit customers.
The adoption of Backbase’s EBP will enable Judo’s relationship bankers to dedicate more time to customers. The platform will also allow for monthly releases of additional features going forward.
Judo’s purpose-built, modern, cloud-based, flexible technology stack uses adoptive technology principles. Judo was looking for a global leading, digital platform capability that embraced both strong design and security principles, with the customer at the core. Backbase was selected after a comprehensive search with the build commencing in 2022.
Judo Bank is Australia’s first purpose-built challenger bank, uniquely focused on SMEs and on 1 November 2021, was the first commercial bank to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in 30 years. Relationship Banking is the core of Judo’s strategy. Technology at Judo is designed and built to enable banker and customer relationships. This differentiated, human-centered approach has seen Judo’s growth since inception reach a lending book of over $9B and a deposit book over $6B with over 35,000 customers.
Divido brings Split Capability to our flagship?Divido Connect?retail finance platform for merchants. This innovative feature enables merchants to easily manage how they split product verticals and sales channels between different lenders using the Divido Merchant Portal.?
Large merchants previously struggled to offer the right retail finance on all their products and sales channels with a single lender. Lenders may also change their lending appetite for certain products, so access to multiple lenders through Divido Connect increases business resilience for retailers.
With Divido Connect Split Capability, merchants support a wider range of product verticals by connecting with more than one lender through a single Divido API. Merchants also gain extra business resilience in case lender appetite changes for a specific product vertical.
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CEO, CFO @ INVRS | CPA, CFA
1 年Another great post.
Thanks for sharing Matt Wilcox! ?? Helping students learn about money is central to everything that we do, and we can't wait to see how the app will work as an extra tool to help students put their financial theory into practice. ??
Thanks for sharing, Matt!