Entersekt, The Financial Authentication Company, announced today that it achieved unprecedented growth in its 2024 fiscal year, driven by the continued adoption of its innovative authentication solutions. Financial institutions worldwide are increasingly choosing Entersekt as their partner to fight digital banking account takeover (ATO) fraud and card-not-present (CNP) payment fraud.

Ecommpay merchants are already benefiting from reduced fraud and higher approval rates for their Card on File payments by leveraging network tokens for both online and in-app payments. Merchants can now enjoy the same benefits for customers that use the guest checkout option, as their card details are tokenized at the checkout with Click to Pay without needing to enter card details or be redirected elsewhere to complete the purchase.

Dopay, the rapidly growing fintech providing a digital payroll and payments platform serving unbanked and underbanked workers in emerging markets, announces the closing of a strategic $13.5 million Series A extension round. This funding milestone tops up a previous $18 million Series A funding round and marks a significant step in Dopay's mission to transform cash-based economies by digitizing payments and providing financial inclusion for millions of workers.

Aven, a technology company offering consumer credit cards backed by home equity, today announced a $142 million series D round of funding led by Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, with participation from existing investors including Caffeinated Capital, Electric Capital, Founders Fund, and The General Partnership.

PEXX, an innovative fintech startup specialising in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, has successfully launched following a $4.5 million seed funding round. This funding will drive the development of PEXX’s stablecoin-to-fiat payment platform, aimed at transforming global currency transfers.

The past year has proven to be transformative for financial technology. Global venture funding into the fintech sector has declined sharply from the industry’s heyday in 2020 and 2021, and experts say the market is in a new normal, with valuations correcting from unsustainable highs.

Information Security (incl. Cyber), Third Party, Technology, Data Management, and External Fraud remain as the Top 5 ranked risks, with a continued increase in materiality scores in the last six months. The findings were published in the Top Risk Review report from ORX, the world’s largest operational risk association which works with over 125 banks and insurers globally. 

Steve Bishop, ORX's Director of Research and Information explains:

ZA Bank today announced the launch of StockBack, an innovative stock rebate programme that allows users to get a free lucky draw of big-name US stocks after each successful stock purchase transaction. The move sets a precedent in the local banking industry where users can get “stockback” from every stock purchase for the first time in Hong Kong.

SkySparc, a leading corporate and financial institutions solutions provider, has appointed industry stalwart Jeff Struzenski as its new Managing Director, SkySparc Americas, to help augment enterprise liquidity management processes across the financial operations of the region’s corporates and banks. Positioned at the nexus of treasury consulting, optimization, platform integration, and AI, SkySparc aims to empower finance leaders by implementing agile, data-driven financial decision-making.

Advancements in technology and the finance system present a key moment where financial institutions can reshape resilience, reshape agility, and reshape intelligence. These three factors are key to facing future uncertainties and facilitating the transformation of the financial industry.