Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 25 October 2017
Android Pay arrives at Monzo
Whether we’re scrolling on Instagram and streaming on Spotify, or ordering a cab and finding our way around a new city, we use our phones for almost everything. Now, thanks to Android Pay, we’re excited to say that you can use your Monzo debit card to make payments with your phone too!
If you have a Monzo current account, you can now pay quickly in person by waking your phone and tapping it against the contactless terminal, or checkout in apps without having to manually enter your details. That means no more digging around in the bottom of your bag for your debit card at the checkout, or faffing around to find it before you leave the house.
You can even make payments of more than £30. Before you tap, just unlock your phone — you don’t even need to open the app!
OnDeck to offer real-time access to capital via small business debit cards
OnDeck (NYSE: ONDK), the nation’s largest online lender to small business, announced today agreements with Ingo Money and Visa to enable real-time1 funding of loans to small businesses via their debit cards, powered by Visa Direct. OnDeck will be the first company in the online lending industry to offer real-time access to capital via a customer’s existing small business debit card.
The move by OnDeck comes in response to small business demand for improved cash flow and faster payment experiences. A recent survey found 70% of small business owners report they have a small business debit card, and of those without debit cards, 87% of them said they would get a new debit card to take advantage of real time transfers.2 OnDeck plans to use Visa Direct through Ingo Money’s technology platform to disburse loan proceeds securely in real time to its line of credit customers via their existing small business debit cards. Visa Direct is Visa’s real-time push payments platform allowing companies to leverage Visa’s global scale to develop faster payments solutions for ubiquitous reach to consumers or small businesses with a debit card.
Finn.ai raises $3 million in fuding
Finn.ai announced it has raised $3 million in its recent institutional financing round.
Yaletown Partners, a Vancouver-based national venture capital firm focused on Canadian emerging-growth technology companies, Flying Fish Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, and John Livingston, former CEO and Chairman of Absolute Software: (TSX:ABT) led the round. An experienced angel syndicate comprised of senior technology and banking executives also participated.
Finn.ai will use the new funding to grow its team of data scientists, engineers and banking industry experts to meet the needs of the Company’s rapidly-growing customer network and to support its continued expansion into the U.S. and global markets.
“Finn.ai is built from the ground up specifically to help banks and credit unions transform the way they engage with customers ‒ making banking simpler, more accessible, more human, and ultimately helping to build trust and engagement between banks and their customers,” said Jake Tyler, Co-Founder and CEO, Finn.ai.
Westpac NZ moves to ACI Worldwide real-time banking platform
ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced that Westpac New Zealand has completed a wide-ranging banking technology transformation, underpinned by ACI’s powerful and comprehensive Universal Payments (UP) portfolio of solutions.
Westpac NZ, one of New Zealand’s leading retail, corporate and investment banks, has adopted UP real-time payments and fraud prevention solutions with Agile methodology and DevOps practices through ACI.
Westpac NZ, a long-standing ACI customer, is utilizing ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution as its financial transaction hub, orchestrating payments across channels, networks and payment types, and settling to any clearing stream in real-time. Core payment processing is handled by ACI’s market-leading UP Retail Payments solution which acquires, authenticates, switches and authorizes financial transactions across multiple channels. The implementation allows Westpac NZ to make changes at speed and rapidly scale up operations to overcome market challenges.
