Appian today announced the immediate availability of Appian AI, a free and fast way for Appian customers to add best-of-breed artificial intelligence capabilities to any application built on the Appian Platform. Initial AI services are powered by Google Cloud Platform. Appian AI is included in the Appian Platform; additional charges may apply with increased levels of usage.

FintechOS, a start-up specialized in accelerating the digital transformation of financial institutions worldwide, has just attracted EUR 1,1M post-seed investment in a new round led by GapMinder VC, with participation of LAUNCHub Ventures, Gecad Ventures and private investors. This makes the total capital invested so far worth EUR 2.7 million and turns FintechOS in one of the best funded start-ups entering into global scaling stage. The company plans to continue its aggressive expansion and raising another EUR 8-10 million in a series A round by the end of 2019.

In the beginning, there was digital experience, analytics and, cloud. Of the nine Marco forces, these three have consistently captured most mindshare and dollars in investment over the last decade, and with a good reason. But, today they are the pillars upon which many ambitions for the future are built. And we are far from being done.

Digital experience

The number of customer complaints have climbed to a 5 year high in the financial services sector, up 130 per cent in some cases owing to customer service, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service complaints handling data out today.

Customer complaints against financial services institutions have hit a 5-year high year, with payday loan complaints surging 130%, according to data just published by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Facilitating the flow of legal entity and counterparty information between banks and data providers to counteract financial crime, bribery and corruption is critical. Fenergo, the leading provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) software solutions, has partnered with Refinitiv, global provider of financial markets data and infrastructure, to enable customers to more efficiently identify risk.

The downfall of banks has been predicted several times throughout history. In the 1990s it was said that “banking is necessary, banks are not” and for banks these gloomy forecasts have gained renewed traction in recent years. Fintechs delivering a relevant and razor-sharp digital customer experience make banks look dusty and foot-dragging. At the same time, tech-giants such as Apple, Tencent and Alibaba are moving rapidly into areas usually associated with more traditional financial institutions.

Finastra has announced the appointment of Mark Miller as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective May 13, 2019.

While British consumers expect their banks to ensure that the latest technology is available, consumers’ rate of adoption does not necessarily meet the rate of innovation. Nearly a third (30 percent) of Brits say their bank is over-ambitious introducing additional services on different devices, saying they do not need or want more ways to interact. At the same time, over two-thirds (69 percent) expect their bank to be delivering the latest technology to them and a third (34 percent) say that since they started using devices to manage their money, their financial goals are clearer.