Enacomm, Inc., a leading provider of customer authentication and intelligent interactions technologies for banks, credit unions and credit card companies, this week presented VPA personal banking at the Corelation Client Conference 2017 in San Diego.

VPAs are rapidly growing in popularity with Americans. According to eMarketer’s “first forecast on users of digital assistants, such as Siri, and voice-enabled speakers, like Amazon Echo”:

• “This year, 35.6 million Americans will use a voice-activated assistant device at least once a month. That’s a jump of 128.9% over last year.”
• “Amazon’s Echo speaker will have 70.6% of users.” Google Home will have “23.8% of the market.”
• “eMarketer expects usage [of virtual assistants, ‘the actual software inside various devices’] will grow 23.1% in 2017. This category includes Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Now and Microsoft’s Cortana.”

Digital personal assistants provide hands-free voice-control for many devices and services – from ordering a pizza to summoning a car – using “skills” created by users or developers. Now users can access their banks and credit unions to conduct a range of financial transactions. Alleviating security concerns, Enacomm’s VPA skills allows customers to authenticate using the company’s secure voice biometrics solution Enacomm Voice Authentication (EVA).

“Offering the convenience of VPA personal banking is a competitive advantage for credit unions,” commented Michael Boukadakis, CEO of Enacomm, who is in attendance at the Corelation Client Conference. “The ability to manage your money using a digital personal assistant elevates the consumer experience, exceeding the expectations of high-value, often on-the-go members without increasing risk.”

More reliable than fingerprint scanning, EVA enables real-time member identification with a 99.99% success rate and adds the most crucial security layer for multi-factor authentication. In combination with EVA, Enacomm uses a custom security code to prevent unauthorized voice access. All transactions are encrypted and no one – not even the cloud providers of the VPAs – can access them.

Voice personal assistants are particularly useful for retrieving information. Rather than searching through multiple screens, users can simply ask a question, whether related to account information or a credit union’s products and services. VPAs with EVA voice biometric authentication will also save financial institutions time and money by making it easy for customers and members to solve simple problems, such as activating a new card, without relying on customer service representatives, in person or by phone.

Using Enacomm’s VPA skills, properly authenticated users can confidently conduct secure credit union transactions and access financial account information, from making payments to checking credit card balances, reviewing transactions, and receiving information about their checking and savings accounts. For example, the member simply says, “[VPA Name], ask ‘my credit union’ for my recent checking account transactions,” and the VPA handles the rest, requesting the necessary authentications and issuing appropriate confirmations.

“Credit unions can now be confident that voice personal assistants are safe for personal banking – today, members can authenticate with their voices, without having to say both their PINs and account numbers out loud,” explained Mike Kirk, Vice President of Financial Services for Enacomm, who is also at the Corelation Client Conference to help credit unions advance their technology offerings. “Credit unions don’t need to rival the largest financial institutions in size to stay on the leading edge of technology. Offering safe, voice-enabled personal assistant banking is a powerful way for credit unions to compete on the technology front and win the loyalty of new and longtime members.” 

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. recently hosted a RegTech event focused on helping firms navigate the evolving and complex regulatory landscape. The panel featured Buy-side expertise around Regulatory Reporting, Data Governance, and the Lifecycle of Investment Operations. Key learnings discussed as firms begin to develop a RegTech Operations model include: leveraging clean data, understanding the enterprise data topography, and acceptance as the ultimate ‘sign off’ for Regulatory responsibilities.

“RegTech has become the new norm and the tidal wave shows no signs of receding, placing tremendous pressure and scrutiny on financial service firms to deliver an ever increasing footprint of disclosures in tighter timeframes,” said panelist Carol Penhale, MD Professional Services, Broadridge Financial Services.  “Budgets and resource allocation to non-regulatory projects continues to diminish to feed regulatory adherence.  For many asset managers, they need to dovetail regulatory adherence with business improvements in order to not fall behind on systems and data improvements to remain competitive in addition to remaining complaint.”

The Top 5 insights shared during the event:

1.           RegTech solutions as a "silo buster" – Agile, responsive technology complimented by end-to-end business flows enable silos to connect (with potentially additional unintended positive consequences) and view/use some data across a unified platform. A great starting point for firms to understand their data topography at an operational work flow view.

2.           Man vs machine – Throwing additional headcount at regulatory challenges no longer works as a long-term solution. While that might work as a tactical solution, the operational work flow risk it introduces is unpalatable for most firms. Technological solutions across operations help mitigate risk and provide more consumable, actionable insights.

3.           Data as a Product – Some are purporting data is now a more valuable commodity than oil.  While not everyone will agree with the statement, financial services must recognize the growing importance of good, granular, accessible data plays. Proactive data management is not only the center to better servicing regulatory adherence, but also the foundation of better operations and client servicing.  Data is the predominant output of the Financial Services industry and asset managers should treat it with the respect it deserves, not a byproduct of their business.

4.           The Liabilities of Bad Data – The consequences of bad data are magnified as data moves across siloed operations. Many resources spend more time verifying data than analyzing it.  While this is acknowledged by many, quantifying the effort spent rectifying bad data is elusive.  Effort to increase a comfort level in quality of widely used sets data is a good investment.

5.           Outsourcing does not Offset Responsibility – Firms are accountable for sign-off and accuracy even if they outsource regulatory and compliance functions. Understanding the mechanics of how the regulatory process is structured and the validity of the data behind the reporting is important regardless of whether the infrastructure to support regulatory adherence is internal or outsourced.

”Firms can take advantage of regulatory compliance deadlines to elevate their Enterprise Data Management capabilities,” said Scott Knous, Data Management Practice Leader of Olmstead Associates.  “As part of their RegTech journey, and with minimal incremental effort, firms are able to streamline their overall data architecture, enhancing the quality of data, while establishing solid governance policies. By approaching RegTech in the context of an overall data strategy, firms are ultimately avoiding additional technical debt and enabling greater operational agility”, added Knous.

Now in its 12th year, the annual prestigious peer-to-peer conference, which Mitratech is also a key sponsor for, is expected to see a whole host of senior compliance, risk, and audit officers from around the globe gather together to hear from leaders within the compliance community about best practices in compliance, audit and risk program management as well as trends in enforcement and regulations.

This year will see Mitratech's VP of Business Development - GRC, Jason Cropper, who will not only chair a panel on Bridging the Gap Between Legal, Compliance and Operational Risk (day 2, 2:05pm, in the State Room) but also participate in a roundtable on Creating Defensible Compliance Programs Through Best Practices Policy Management (day 2, 3:20pm in the Georgia Room). Previous years' speakers have included representatives from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice, Fortune 500 CEOs, and academic thought leaders.

Sharing the stage with Cropper will be Alexandra Hider, Assistant General Counsel, Corporate Compliance, Exelon Corporation, Victoria "Tori" Lang, Sr. Manager Policies & Procedures for HMSHost, Heidi Rudolph, Managing Director, Morae Legal, and Ben White, Vice President and Internal Auditor, Systemax.

"For some time now Mitratech has been monitoring the ever-changing trends of how legal, risk and compliance are structured and operate. In today's world of increasing regulatory pressures, organizations are looking to understand the best approach to removing the traditional silos between these functions," said Cropper. "We have put together a panel of experts with significant experience across these functions, and we will collectively discuss these trends, the barriers to progression, and advice on how best to bridge the gap between legal, risk, and compliance."

HMSHost panelist Lang commented: "Regardless of how an organization structures its legal, risk and compliance functions, cross functional collaboration is necessary for success. At HMSHost, I have found compliance technology solutions to be a great foundation on which to build collaborative relationships and bridges between silos to achieve compliance initiatives. I look forward to serving as a panelist and sharing real world experiences with actionable takeaways for compliance industry peers." 

Equiniti Group PLC, the FTSE listed FinTech and regulatory services business, today announces the opening of its latest regional technology hub, Ada House, in Exeter’s Pynes Hill business park. The opening expands Equiniti’s footprint in the South West and Wales, with over 200 employees currently based in Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and Stroud.      

The new centre will be opened in a ceremony today by Sir Hugo Swire, Conservative candidate for East Devon, alongside Equiniti Group’s Chief Executive, Guy Wakeley. They will be joined by Stuart Robb, the CEO of EQ Data (formerly Marketing Source) and the newly-formed EQ Cyber-Security business. Clients, local businesses and the media will be given the chance to experience the latest data and cyber-security technologies.

Equiniti’s investment supports the South West Growth Charter, which calls for greater investment and infrastructure in the region, and will be a platform for future growth. It follows the acquisition of long-standing Exeter business, Marketing Source, in January 2017 and the establishment of a centre of excellence for estate and probate administration, following a contract win with Lloyds Banking Group in November 2016.

The centre is named after Ada Lovelace, who was widely considered to be the first computer programmer, following her work on Charles Babbage’s “Analytical Engine” in the 1830s, for which she is accredited with the first-published computer algorithm. Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated every October, to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Sir Hugo Swire, Conservative candidate for East Devon, said: "It was a pleasure to open Equiniti's new centre in Exeter's Pynes Hill Business Park today. Exeter is the fastest growing city in the country and Equiniti is just the sort of company that is finding this an exciting area in which to do business and expand. I hope they have a long and successful relationship with the area and beyond.”

Guy Wakeley, CEO of Equiniti, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Equiniti and for the South West region. It is Equiniti’s ambition to grow its presence in Exeter, serving some of the UK’s largest financial services organisations from this regional hub and attracting tech talent to continue our development of ground-breaking technology. The centre will provide jobs and investment for the future with facilities for training, mentoring and development, including for graduates of universities in Devon.”