Squirro, the AI driven context intelligence and insights solution provider, has announced the launch of its new financial services (FS) solution, Squirro for Corporate Financial Services, an artificial intelligence (AI) driven solution that unlocks the insight within the vast amounts of unstructured data held by FS firms.

Squirro for Corporate Financial Services is initially targeted at three different businesses within the financial services industry – Investment Banking, Corporate and Institutional Banking, and Real Estate – and the AI-based solution looks at both structured and unstructured data to deliver to organisations a deep understanding of their clients, market conditions and any potential new opportunities.

“The insight within unstructured data is far greater than structured data, but most corporate FS firms are only benefitting from a tiny fraction of that insight, missing out on valuable deals and failing to anticipate their clients’ needs,” said Dr. Dorian Selz, CEO and co-founder, Squirro. “Squirro for Corporate Financial Services will help anyone in investment banking, real estate or the wider corporate finance world to address these issues, offering a true 360-degree of clients and providing actionable recommendations as to when and how best to approach them.”

The new Squirro solution takes data from news feeds, social media, earnings call transcripts, multiple CRM platforms, email, call notes and much more. It adds structure to that data to provide users with a comprehensive understanding of what their clients are doing and alerting them to any potential new deals or leads.

With such a wide variety of factors that can trigger a deal or opportunity in corporate finance, the AI-powered automation of Squirro for Corporate Financial Services means that significant events and catalysts that could lead to new opportunities are automatically identified and highlighted to users. The solution also offers actionable recommendations, that advise on best a banker can take advantage of each opportunity.

“Corporate financial services is an incredibly fast-paced sector and remains driven by strong client relationships,” continued Dr Dorian Selz. “There is also a great emphasis placed on being first to contact clients about a potential deal, and currently organisations across the world are missing out on millions or even billions in missed opportunities. Squirro for Corporate Financial Services uses the power of AI to monitor and analyse masses of unstructured data, meaning users can identify opportunities they otherwise would not have been aware of.”

Investment banking, corporate and institutional banking, as well as real estate are all heavily research-based, much of which is carried out manually, and is both time-consuming and often lacking depth, with researchers wading through reams of unstructured and siloed data. The AI-powered automation of Squirro for Corporate Financial Services can save hundreds of man hours on research and is more accurate and comprehensive than a manual approach could ever be.

Squirro for Corporate Financial Services is based on the firm’s new platform TRINITY, an advanced technology that places Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) right at the heart of the enterprise.

“Artificial intelligence has been mostly hype to this point, but that is set to change in 2018,” concluded Dr Dorian Selz. “When organisations use it for a specific purpose as opposed to a ‘catch all’ solution, AI’s analytic power can be remarkable and we are bringing this power to the corporate financial services sector with the launch of Squirro for Corporate Financial Services.”

eGain (NASDAQ:EGAN), the leading provider of cloud-based customer engagement solutions, today announced that Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. (NYSE:WDR) selected eGain Solve(TM) to provide omnichannel customer service.

Waddell & Reed, founded in 1937, is one of the oldest asset management and financial planning firms in the United States.  Waddell & Reed selected eGain Solve, eGain's award-winning suite for customer engagement, for its leading knowledge management, proven AI guidance, and digital-first omnichannel capabilities. The company will deploy the following applications, all part of eGain Solve, to power its contact center modernization initiative:

• eGain Advisor Desktop: Digital-first, omnichannel agent desktop
• eGain Knowledge+AI(TM): Personalized and proactive knowledge solution with AI-based process guidance

"We plan to leverage eGain technology to enhance our service delivery and expand our servicing touch points for financial advisors," said Matt Kramper, Vice President, Client Experience at Waddell & Reed. "With the eGain cloud platform, we will boost client satisfaction and drive operational efficiency across interaction channels."

"The eGain platform is preferred by brands transforming their service capability with digital and AI technology," said Ashu Roy, eGain CEO. "We are delighted to make it easy for Waddell & Reed to further expand their trusted and consistent customer experience."

Workday, Inc., a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, today announced a partnership with Duo Security, a cybersecurity leader specialising in trusted access and multi-factor authentication (MFA) technologies that are easy to use, yet powerful in ensuring the right people are accessing the right applications. As part of the partnership, Workday will complement its robust, built-in security with seamless integrations that enable customers to leverage Duo’s MFA functionality right within Workday’s user interface. With this joint, expanded toolset in one experience, organisations can further strengthen safeguards to mitigate phishing incidents and ensure validated, trusted access to Workday anytime, from any device.

Expanded security toolset in one Workday experience

The composition of today’s workforce is ever-changing as organisations employ teams comprised of full-time, freelance, and contingent workers, among others, who increasingly are working across different kinds of devices and locations. This, coupled with greater volumes of sensitive, worker-related data and more intelligent phishing and cybersecurity threats, has organisations asking for better methods to keep workers productive with access to critical business applications when, where, and how they prefer – in a more secure environment.

With this influx of worker types, data, devices, and security threats, Workday saw an opportunity to expand its security offerings by bringing Duo’s industry-leading trusted access technologies into its product suite using the latest in visual integration technology. With Duo and Workday in one seamless experience, Workday customers will benefit from:

●      Greater flexibility for today’s mobile workforce – Customers will be able to leverage Duo’s global and comprehensive MFA product to provide more flexibility for workers of all types. For example, customers with sales teams who travel often – switching between corporate and outside networks and working regularly from smartphones – can trust that team members are securely logging into Workday once they have authenticated access with Duo on their mobile device.

●      Stepped-up security over the most sensitive data – With Duo’s MFA offerings in conjunction with Workday’s step-up authentication, administrators can further limit access to the most sensitive data and resources in Workday. For example, if an employee’s smartphone is inadvertently placed in the wrong hands, administrators can rest assured that several steps of identity verification are required before sensitive information like payment elections are accessed or changed.

●      More awareness and control of vulnerable devices – Combining Duo’s contextual understanding of devices and device health with Workday’s extensive knowledge of worker identity, provides customers with a superior offering for secure access in an increasingly mobile world. For example, because Duo can recognise device health indicators such as outdated software, customers could define a policy that prohibits access to Workday by employees who are using devices running vulnerable versions of the operating system.

Comments on the news

“Integrating Duo with Workday is yet another avenue to help ensure that all Workday customers are leveraging MFA to protect their people and businesses,” said Josh DeFigueiredo, chief trust officer, Workday. “Our partnership reinforces both the security protections we built into the Workday technology platform and the commitment we made to safeguard customers’ data since day one.”

“The Ohio State University has partnered with both Duo and Workday since 2015,” said Helen Patton, chief information security officer, The Ohio State University. “Their partnership will help our community deliver on the university’s mission securely and effectively. We look forward to the partnership and the benefits that it will bring to our university.”

“This a natural partnership for two cloud leaders focused on people-centric secure enterprise IT,” said Jon Oberheide, chief technology officer and co-founder, Duo Security. “Together we will help further protect the most sensitive data and applications of our joint customers – no matter where or how they work.”

Aptean, a leading global provider of mission-critical enterprise software solutions, has formed a strategic partnership with FAST Technologies in Northern Ireland. This partnership is an important part of Aptean's growth strategy in the European market, specifically the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.   

FAST Technologies will sell and support one of Aptean's industry-leading process solutions, Factory Manufacturing Execution System (MES). Process manufacturers use Factory MES to gain real-time visibility into production, operations and quality compliance by adopting a true paperless solution. FAST, a leading provider of industrial automation solutions, is well-established with high-volume manufacturers of retail packaged goods and pharmaceutical products. 

"We are excited to announce this partnership with Aptean. For many years, we have struggled with an appropriate solution that gives our customers an out-of-the-box experience, with quick implementation and less customization required, allowing a fast deployment at the right price point," said Colin Spence, sales and marketing director for FAST Technologies. "We now believe we have this and look forward to helping our customer base drive inefficiency out of their manufacturing and processing operations."

FAST Technologies' presence as a local reseller will help Aptean better serve its customers in northwestern Europe. In turn, Aptean will rely on FAST's expertise in industrial automation to drive growth in the region.

"Across Europe there's a demand for forward-thinking technology that gives manufacturers granular visibility into their processes," said Alan Somerville, managing director of Aptean EMEA. "We've been interested in expanding Factory MES across Europe, and we wanted to partner with a trusted name in manufacturing technology to give manufacturers peace of mind. FAST Technologies' expertise will be a great asset in supporting our growth of the Factory MES footprint in Europe."

Self-Service Banking Asia returns to Indonesia on 21st and 22nd March 2018. RBR’s flagship ATM conference in the region will address the most pressing issues facing the industry today, including cash recycling, omnichannel integration, branch transformation, ATM security and the latest ATM innovations

Southeast Asia has some of the world’s most dynamic ATM markets

Southeast Asia is home to some of the most dynamic ATM markets in the world; significant unbanked populations and underdeveloped rural areas in many countries mean that banks are expanding their fleets rapidly to meet demand. Many deployers are taking full advantage of the potential of the ATM, and adding functionality far beyond the simple cash withdrawal.

The excitement about the Chinese and Indian ATM markets has cooled over the last couple of years and the industry is looking elsewhere to identify the next hot market. Economies and banking sectors across southeast Asia are growing fast, but Indonesia is of particular interest because it is by far the largest market in the region.

Hear the latest perspectives from banks and industry experts

Tapping into this interest, RBR’s Self-Service Banking Asia 2018 conference provides a unique opportunity for local and regional banks to listen to presentations about the latest industry trends and view solutions from the world’s leading ATM hardware, software and services suppliers.

2018 marks the second Indonesian edition of this conference, and Self-Service Banking Asia 2018 will also build on the success of other RBR conferences around the region, in Beijing, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila. RBR’s Managing Director, Dominic Hirsch, comments: “Self-Service Banking Asia is a unique opportunity for banks in the region to gather and learn from each other; this exchange of ideas allows banks to improve processes, better serve their customers and, ultimately, drives the industry forward”.

A busy speaker agenda demonstrates the scope of diversity found in the region. Delegates can learn from case studies from BCA, DBS Bank, Maybank, Bankwest and OCBC NISP, as well as hear thought-provoking industry perspectives from institutions such as Bank Indonesia and Visa, giving them the opportunity to refine their own self-service banking strategies. The networking breaks and dedicated exhibition area will showcase the latest self-service technology from leading international suppliers*.

Unique atmosphere at RBR’s Asian conferences

Self-Service Banking Asia attracts over 350 delegates from southeast Asia and beyond. Amanda Hardy, Conference Manager for the event, highlighted the unique atmosphere when she said: “RBR’s Asian conferences generate a real buzz – banks in the region bring a level of enthusiasm that we don’t see elsewhere.” She continued, “Exhibition booths are virtually sold out, but if any companies would like to get involved they should contact me as soon as possible, and we will do our best to accommodate them, as we don’t want anyone to miss out”.

To find out what the future holds for ATMs in Asia, don’t miss Self-Service Banking Asia 2018. For more information, please visit www.rbrlondon.com/ssba.

* Exhibitors include: Abloy, CPI, Diebold Nixdorf, Datascrip, dormakaba, emerico, Evolis, FEXCO, FIS Global, Fiserv, Glory, IBM, KAL ATM Software, Nautilus Hyosung, NCR, Novus Technologies, Oberthur Cash Protection, S21sec, Sargent and Greenleaf, Spinnaker and TMD Security.

 Mitek (NASDAQ: MITK), a global leader in mobile capture and identity verification software solutions, today reported that its Mobile Verify has improved leading European blockchain provider Nocks' customer on-boarding time by 98%, from 12 hours to five minutes. This has helped Nocks to grow its userbase by 214%. Mobile Verify also helps Nocks achieve compliance with the 4th and 5th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directives.

Nocks is the first all-digital payments platform built upon the Gulden blockchain - a safe and fast decentralised blockchain that is easy to use for sending or receiving payments with as little effort or cost as possible. Nocks allows consumers and business to pay and get paid using fiat currencies but with the transaction being orchestrated by the Gulden blockchain to improve the speed, transparency and security of payments. Nocks makes paying bills easier, streamlines POS-tools for companies, and offers innovative financial trading mechanisms.

By integrating Mobile Verify, which employs advanced AI and machine learning algorithms, Nocks can validate the identity of applicants in real-time, dramatically improving new customer conversion rates. Users simply take a picture of both their ID document and driving licence using their smartphone. Mobile Verify validates that the documents presented are genuine, original, unaltered, and government-issued - granting users rapid access to a range of payment options.

“Our mission is to redefine the financial landscape using blockchain technology to dramatically improve the performance and experience of payment services,” said Roel Boers, CEO and Co-Founder, Nocks. “The experience begins at registration, and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for new users to access services so they can grow their businesses and improve their financial lives. We also wanted to ensure compliance with regulatory demands, so our users and beneficiaries are protected without impacting the user experience.”

“There is no doubt that blockchain technology will transform the financial services industry,” said Rene Hendrikse, Managing Director for EMEA at Mitek. “By introducing digital Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, innovative fintech companies like Nocks can demonstrate that the blockchain is not only transformational, but safe and secure for customers and the wider industry alike.”

Metro Bank, the revolution in British banking, has launched instant online account opening for its current account. For the first time, customers from across the UK can join the bank as current account holders from the comfort of their own home, office, coffee shops, sheds, hot tubs…

Just like the bank’s instore account opening process, customers can use their account right away, with account details provided immediately at the end of a successful application. What’s more, cards are delivered by first class post, normally arriving within two working days, but if customers prefer they can opt to pop in to their nearest store and have their MasterCard debit card printed on-the-spot straight away.

The use of cutting-edge technology means identification documents, along with a selfie, are uploaded directly onto the application.  With verification and authentication taking place in real-time, accounts can be opened in less than 10 minutes, including setting-up internet banking. 

Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank commented: “We promised to revolutionise UK banking and today we’re bringing our revolution nationwide, with the launch of our online current account opening platform. Now wherever customers are, they can experience the great service and convenience that everyone’s been talking about. The process is fast, simple and convenient and gets customers — wherever they are and whatever they’re doing — up and running in a matter of minutes.

“When it comes to physical versus digital, it’s not either or, customers should be able to benefit from the best of both worlds. Opening an account from the convenience of your own home, then being able to use the account straight away, with a card ready to be printed in your local store, is a great example of the seamless integration of bricks and clicks. With nine in ten people (92%) wanting the choice to bank however, wherever and whenever they choose, we’re continuing to invest across all our channels, whether that’s our physical stores on the high street, the great tech that sits behind our app and internet banking, or our telephony systems that mean customers get through to a colleague straight away. Welcome to the banking revolution.”

With store numbers expected to reach 110 by 2020, an award-winning mobile app, a simple to use internet banking platform and 24/7 UK-based contact centres, customers have a real choice about how they manage their account. 

Leading digital identity verification provider, Jumio, has teamed up with smart cryptocurrency payments platform, Byteball, to support it in optimising “Know Your Customer” (KYC) processes for users taking part in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Byteball offers an innovative, distributed, decentralised platform that has been designed to support users in launching ICOs with enhanced protection against fraud. More and more listing companies are concerned about verifying the identity of ICO participants, as governments worldwide seek to bring these often unregulated “token sales” under the same regulations as traditional fundraising tools, to prevent money laundering and other financial crime.

Using Netverify®, Jumio’s advanced identity verification solution, Byteball will be able to offer optimum KYC checks for ICO transactions, providing ICO operators with the reassurance that the people they are doing business with are genuinely who they say they are. Netverify combines ID Verification and biometric Identity Verification to provide a quick and easy experience for users and, for ICO issuers, ensures proactive compliance with imminent regulatory guidelines.

First, participants of an ICO hosted via Byteball’s platform are asked to scan a government-issued ID document, such as a driver’s license or passport, which is verified for authenticity in real time. Secondly, Jumio’s Face Match technology asks the user to submit a live selfie, following an on-screen icon with their eyes as it moves in a random pattern. This dual-layer of security, bolstered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and human identity experts, ensures that the user’s selfie matches the photo on their ID document, and that they are physically present at the point of verification.

Philipp Pointner, VP Product, Jumio, explained: “ICOs have transformed the financial arena as an alternative means for listing companies to raise funds for development projects or to launch new businesses. However, as they are currently unregulated and, as transactions in cryptocurrencies are, by their nature, anonymous, regulatory bodies are becoming increasingly concerned that they provide an avenue for money laundering and other financial crime.

Netverify’s comprehensive identity verification is ideally suited to tackling the unique fraud challenges of ICO projects. Asking a fraudster to submit a live selfie is a major deterrent, and makes participation in ICOs instantly less attractive to that individual. By working together on accurate identity verification for ICOs in this way, Jumio and Byteball can help prevent money laundering and fraud, and support conscientious listing companies in cooperating with regulatory bodies. Together, we can help ensure that ICOs have a bright future as a legitimate alternative to traditional fundraising instruments.”

In addition to providing an innovative platform for ICOs, Byteball enables users to create and enter into smart contracts for a host of other financial transactions, such as betting or insurance, confident that the terms they have agreed upon will be met. This is because the platform allows users to set conditions which have to be met before the actual payment is made, protecting the money of the individual purchasing services from fraud.

Jumio is working with Byteball to provide identity verification for several other types of transactions in the near future, including fraud screening for credit card payments and lending.

The Jumio-verified identity will be stored securely in the user’s Byteball wallet, while a “hash” – or an encrypted shorthand form of the personal data, will be posted to Byteball’s Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) as a proof of identity verification. When a user needs to provide their personal data to access a service, including an ICO, they can pull their data out of their Byteball wallet in just a few clicks.

Tony Churyumoff, Founder, Byteball, added: “By partnering with Jumio, we bring identity to the distributed ledger, both for ICOs and other financial transactions, creating strong connections between the crypto and the real world.  For end users, we offer them a sovereign identity that is totally private, secure, and incredibly easy to use. For businesses, it is an opportunity to build applications that leverage the identity layer that was not possible before.”

The new Jumio-enabled identity verification feature will be launched on the Byteball platform on 17th January 2018.

Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO today announced its partnership with Barbican Insurance Group (Barbican), a multi-platform insurance group that underwrites business predominantly through its syndicates at Lloyd’s of London, and which provides global cyber insurance coverage to its insureds. Barbican will use the FICO^® Enterprise Security Score to measure the cybersecurity risk of insureds, and will also provide insureds with access to the FICO^® Enterprise Security Score Portrait product, which can help a firm identify and mitigate weaknesses in its defences.

More information: http://www.fico.com/en/products/fico-enterprise-security-score

As cyber insurance is a relatively new class of insurance, underwriters have lacked historic actuarial data upon which to base underwriting decisions. The FICO Enterprise Security Score provides an accurate, empirical, and forward-looking assessment of the overall cyber risk exposure of an enterprise, which insurers can use for underwriting, pricing and ongoing portfolio management.

"We partnered with FICO because of its expertise and experience in predictive analytics and its strong focus on risk quantification," said Graeme King, business group leader for cyber at Barbican. "The FICO Enterprise Security Score gives our underwriters a predictive, stable and objective rating to help better assess cyber risks. It also encourages our insureds to improve their cybersecurity. Using the FICO Enterprise Security Score Portrait product, our insureds receive actionable information to help them proactively strengthen their defences and reduce their exposure to potential risks.”

The FICO Enterprise Security Score is unique in its machine learning approach, internet-scale data collection and pool of curated exemplars. While other firms leverage judgmental assessments and focus on producing the longest possible list of potential vulnerabilities, FICO’s purely empirical techniques apply data-driven risk quantification, and allow the user to focus exclusively on issues that are demonstrably correlated with breach outcomes. Jeffrey Wheatman, research director at Gartner, notes, "By 2022, cybersecurity ratings will become as important as credit ratings when assessing the risk of business relationships.”*

"FICO has a history of delivering powerful risk metrics to the insurance industry and the consumer credit space," said Doug Clare, FICO's vice president for cybersecurity solutions. "Partnering with Barbican Insurance to give their underwriting team the ability to better measure and manage their portfolio risk is part of our focus on delivering an industry-standard score to the cyber insurance market. By offering premium credit to their cyber policy holders for the use of the FICO Enterprise Security Score Portrait, Barbican is taking risk mitigation much further than the yearly assessments that are common today.”

The FICO Enterprise Security Score is based on an algorithm that leverages supervised machine learning techniques to associate conditional and behavioral characteristics of organisations' security practices with data breaches. Ranging from 300 to 850, the score provides strong separation between high-risk and low-risk organisations, and is the strongest predictor available in the market for discerning the go-forward cyber breach risk of any enterprise. Explainable AI techniques provide the top reasons for each score and advanced anomaly detection identifies weakest assets, allowing users an opportunity to proactively prioritise and remedy their organisational cyber defense.

*Gartner, “Predicts 2018: Security and Risk Management Programs,” Rob McMillan et al, 16 November 2017.