Published
- 08:00 am
Since launching last April, close to 1,000,000 Canadians have signed up for TD MySpend, a mobile money management app that makes it easier to track spending habits and gain greater control over personal and family finances. The app features instant notifications, spending insights and category tracking to give users greater insights into their spending.
How App Users Spend
Coffee and Cravings: Spending on morning coffee routines and afternoon snacks adds up. According to TD MySpend data, app users spend most frequently on dining out. Most spending occurs in small increments - between $5 and $8 dollars each time.
Home Sweet Home: For TD MySpend users, the top spending category by dollar amount was on home-related purchases, with mortgage, insurance and renovation costs leading in terms of where our money goes.
Leaving Cash in the Past: Only 12% of all TD MySpend transactions were cash withdrawals. The vast majority were digital or card transactions.
Move Me: TD MySpend users spend as much on transportation as they do on groceries.
Who Spends Less?
The More You Use It… On average, frequent TD MySpend users (those who use the app one to five times per month) are spending 8% less per month, while occasional users (those who use the app at least once a month) are spending an average of 4% less per month.
More About TD MySpend Users:
Millennials trust TD MySpend: 25% of active app users are between the ages of 18 and 25 years old; 33% are between 25 and 35.
Notify me: More than 500,000 TD MySpend users have signed up for instant push notifications so they can be alerted each time a transaction is made - giving them the opportunity to adjust their spending in real-time and make adjustments if need be.
A companion app for iPhone and Android, TD MySpend uses a traffic-light spending insights meter to provide users with a snapshot of whether they are above, at, or below their typical spending with each transaction from eligible TD bank accounts or TD credit cards. Everything is automatic, and based on a user's historic spending, with no need to manually enter expenses or link up accounts. Close to 1 million TD customers use the app to track spending from over 2.4 million TD chequing and savings accounts.
"When we created the app and worked with TD to introduce it as TD MySpend to their customers, our goal was simple - provide people with visibility into their spending so they can make more informed decisions going forward," said Brett King, CEO, Moven. "It sounds simple, but with busy lifestyles, many individuals struggle to find time to understand their finances and we wanted to use innovation to solve for this. Through this relationship with TD, we've been able to deliver this experience to close to a million TD customers, and we're thrilled it's adding real value to their lives."
- 07:00 am
Enabling robust order details to be shared in real time between cardholders, merchants and issuers, Order Insights enables issuing banks and cardholders to determine the legitimacy of a sale at the time a billing inquiry or dispute arises, thereby reducing fraudulent claims and unnecessary chargebacks as well as avoiding loss of sales and profits.
Today’s Dispute Process Creates Significant, Shared Challenges
Today, up to 86% of cardholders bypass the merchant and contact their issuing bank directly to dispute or question a charge on their bill. Disputes can often occur for a variety of reasons ranging from the cardholder simply being confused over unclear or incomplete billing descriptors to legitimate instances of criminal fraud. Many however, have become accustomed to using the dispute process as a refunding tool resulting from buyer’s remorse or those seeking to “game the system” through first party or “friendly fraud.” According to industry research firm, Aite Group, 60 to 70% of chargebacks are the result of first party or “friendly fraud.”
Lacking the information or purchase details needed to legitimize a sale, the most common option for the issuing bank is to credit the cardholder and issue a chargeback. Merchants lose valid sales and profits to significant and unnecessary chargeback fees and drained resources. In the worst cases, the cardholder abandons the brand altogether while issuers are challenged to provide the best customer experience. Issuers incur added operational and representment costs as merchants dispute valid sales lost to unwarranted chargebacks. Customers ultimately see the result of all of this in higher prices. It’s a multi-billion-dollar global problem that affects everyone.
Order Insight – The Right Information for the Right Parties at The Right Time
Integrated with top issuers, Order Insight’s patent pending platform provides robust transaction details including the merchant’s name and contact information, date of purchase, name of device used in the order process and item or service descriptions (size, color, style). Order Insights can integrate this data directly into the issuing bank’s online or mobile applications. In most cases having access to this data can resolve a questionable charge and avoid a phone call to the issuer, saving the sale as well as wasted time, resources and costs for all parties that would occur through the dispute representment process.
When a cardholder elects to call the issuing bank, Order Insights equips the bank’s call center representatives with the compelling evidence they need to identify true instances of fraud, flag unethical cardholders looking to game the system or resolve the confusion created by vague billing descriptors before the matter escalates into costly chargebacks and resulting losses. For those disputes that are not addressed upfront, Order Insight facilitates the efficient resolution of the dispute between the merchant and the issuer to stop it from escalating to an expensive chargeback.
- 09:00 am
Today Dash Financial Technologies announced the appointment of Ari House as Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. House has spent nearly 20 years working in various capital markets roles and has accumulated extensive experience successfully operating private equity-backed software and information services businesses. He joins Dash from The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), where he served as Chief Financial & Corporate Development Officer. During his tenure at ACAMS, he was instrumental in managing the firm’s significant growth and eventual acquisition by Becker Professional Education, a subsidiary of DeVry Education Group. Prior to that, Mr. House served as Director of Financial Planning & Analysis / Corporate Development for Fortent, a leading provider of anti-money laundering compliance software solutions that was acquired by Nice Systems. He began his career in Salomon Smith Barney’s corporate finance division after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania.
“We are very excited to welcome Ari to the Dash leadership team,” said Peter Maragos, Chief Executive Officer. “He brings deep experience from across the capital markets and a strong background in fostering a culture of operational and financial excellence. I look forward to partnering with Ari as we work to execute on the shared vision we have for our firm.”
Mr. House added: “This is obviously an extremely exhilarating time in the company’s history. With the LiquidPoint team and technology platform now fully in the fold, I am excited to join a very talented group as we work to help Dash continue to grow and remain a positive and disruptive force in the industry.”
- 07:00 am
Societe Generale and Wavestone are holding the first innovation awards competition in the banking cybersecurity sector: the “Banking Cybersecurity Innovation Awards”. Security has emerged as a fundamental issue for the banking sector, and especially for its clients.
Cybersecurity at the centre of Societe Generale and Wavestone’s priorities
With the arrival of new technologies and the emergence of new practices, the instantaneousness of the digital experience and the exponential growth of data production, threats and incidents linked to cybercrime are constantly increasing. Against this backdrop, Societe Generale is measuring the risks of this growing cybercriminality and prioritising the protection of its information systems and the data entrusted to the bank by its clients.
Wavestone, one of Europe's leading consulting firms, is adopting innovative approaches to supporting its clients by identifying and minimising these new risks.
The “Banking Cybersecurity Innovation Awards” invites European startups and innovative SMEs to submit and promote their cybersecurity solutions. This major open innovation initiative aims to increase contacts and exchanges with ecosystem players in order to co-build security solutions for the bank’s systems and exchanges with its clients and to maintain its role as a trusted third party.
A jury combining expertise and strategic vision on cybersecurity issues
The jury, selected for its technical and strategic expertise, will choose the winners following the two qualifying stages (written proposal and pitching). It will convene in Wavestone’s innovative and collaborative workspaces and will be comprised of:
Françoise Mercadal-Delasalles, Societe Generale Group Head of Corporate Resources and Innovation
Laurent Goutard, Head of Retail Banking of Societe Generale France
Thierry Olivier, Societe Generale Group Ciso
Pascal Imbert, Wavestone CEO
Reza Maghsoudnia, Wavestone Strategic Development Director
Gérôme Billois, Wavestone Senior Manager Cybersecurity Manager
Guillaume Poupard, Director general of ANSSI
Patrick Duvaut, Director of Research at Telecom ParisTech
Sébastien Couasnon, Journalist and Host of Tech & Co on BFM Business
Prizes will be awarded for three categories at a ceremony to be held on 5 July 2017 at “Les Dunes”, Societe Generale’s new technology park that embodies the Group’s digital transformation:
Digital Confidence for the Bank: for solutions aimed at ensuring the security of the bank's internal systems, both for the business lines and those related to IT infrastructures.
Digital Confidence for Customers: for solutions aimed at ensuring the security of exchanges between the bank and its customers; these are solutions that are visible to customers or set up on customer terminals.
France Special: for a startup whose head office is based in France and whose capital is held mainly by French persons or entities.
The three winners will have the opportunity to test their solutions within Societe Generale and to join Wavestone’s startup accelerator programme, Shake’Up.
- 04:00 am
NAB collaborates with Girl Geek Academy to create a program that will see its CEO and leading technologist Sarah Moran join the technology team at NAB during 2017.
Girl Geek is an Australian group that encourages women to learn skills and expertise in technology by delivering face-to-face programs that help move the needle on the gender ratio of women in tech. Sarah said that she was drawn to sharing her expertise and helping NAB build its Connecting Women in Technology program as it has one of the largest tech teams in Australia and is changing the gender ratio in tech.
“I chose to join the team at NAB because I wanted to know how they are doing what no organisation in Australia seems able to - changing the gender ratio of women in technology - and be part of the company’s success,” Sarah said.
“The culture at NAB is a rare find in a company - it’s a culture where women are empowered to advance their career in technology.”
The program will deliver this year innovative programs designed and created by Girl Geek Academy, including bringing Girl Geek Academy’s flagship programs #SheMakes and #SheHacks to NAB - an all-female hackathon where people learn new skills and test new business ideas.
Founder of NAB’s Connecting Women in Technology program and Divisional CIO of Technology Support Services Dayle Stevens says Sarah is bringing an outside-in perspective that is helping NAB ensure its Women in Technology program has the greatest impact.
“Sarah and the Girl Geek Academy pitched the Girl Geek in Residence idea as an opportunity to come together, use our knowledge and our networks to tackle the issues facing women in technology together,” Dayle said.
“As a major employer in the technology industry, this partnership is helping us deliver on our commitment to supporting gender diversity and the push to see more women in technology.
“I knew Girl Geek Academy were already changing outcomes for women in tech and having great success - and this was an opportunity to broaden the program’s reach and positively impact NAB employees too.”
“At the same time, Sarah gets to pilot Girl Geek Academy events and ideas with us, taking their programs from smaller groups to hundreds here at NAB and even more beyond.”
Through NAB’s Connecting Women in Technology program, since 2014 NAB has seen the number of women in senior technology roles increase from 18-27 per cent.
- 02:00 am
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Metaps Inc., and WiL LLC signed an agreement for capital participation and business cooperation for the purpose of providing a new settlement service using FinTech.
This jointly-established new company will be able to take advantage of Mizuho's customer base and expertise in financial services together with Metaps' data analytics and electronics payments knowledge and smartphone app expertise, along with support from WiL, a venture capital firm with an extensive network of cutting edge service providers, to create and provide the new payment services detailed below.
Overview of New Company The following basic points were agreed upon regarding the company's establishment. The company's capital structure will be negotiated between the four founding companies with consideration of the new company's medium- to long-term outlook.
1. Name: M Wallet Preparation Company Inc.
2. Head office location: 6-8-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
3. Purpose of business: 1) Facilitation of electronic payment via digital wallet app 2) Payment data-leveraged marketing 3) Other related business
4. Date of establishment: May 1, 2017 (scheduled)
5. Representative Director: Mitsuhiko Ogihara (currently President & CEO of SPIKE Payment Inc.)
6. Launch of operations: Summer 2017 (scheduled)
Outline of Digital Wallet App for Electronic Payment*
1. Issuance of e-money credited directly from bank account
2. Provision of digital wallet app that utilizes e-money
3. Targeted marketing that connects users with member stores through analysis of payment data
- 09:00 am
Today Visa Inc. challenges start-ups and innovative fintech companies from 19 European markets to enter the first-ever European Everywhere Initiative. Competitors will have a chance to win up to €50,000 to support a development programme with Visa, or through business partnership with Visa’s financial institution clients. Successful entrants will have the opportunity to access Visa APIs through the Visa Developer Platform, executive mentors and technologists to help them further develop their ideas.
Bill Gajda, senior vice president, innovation and strategic partnerships, said: “The consumer experience is at the heart of the payments industry, a sector that is accelerating and developing at a greater pace than ever before, spurred on by new technologies. Through competitions like Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, we are spurring technological innovation to drive acceptance and promote even greater convenience for consumers. By focusing on local community and travel experience we hope to facilitate improvements to the everyday lives of people, wherever they are. Having already witnessed success across the Atlantic, we look forward to welcoming submissions from innovative European start-ups looking for funding and fruitful collaborations to help them realise great ideas.”
- 08:00 am
Today Fiserv, Inc., a global leader in providing financial services technology solutions, announced that SouthEast Bank, a $1.2 billion Tennessee-based bank, has selected Fiserv to support the bank’s continued growth, enhance the customer experience and provide its staff with modern technology to further productivity and efficiency.
To meet these objectives, the bank will implement the DNA® core account processing platform from Fiserv along with a range of payment, branch banking, customer relationship management, business intelligence, and other solutions.
Having roughly quadrupled in asset size since 2013, SouthEast Bank was looking for modern technology to streamline account opening and automate compliance and other operations to support its continued growth. It also needed a platform that would enable the bank to deliver a seamless omnichannel banking experience to meet the needs of today’s online, on-the-go consumer.
“SouthEast Bank’s technical infrastructure is uniquely complex for its position as a community bank, and we needed a core platform that would keep pace and complement our advanced hardware network,” said John Arnold, Executive Chairman, SouthEast Bank. ”Of all the major vendors we considered, Fiserv offered the most up-to-date programming and technology, and was clearly the best choice for our future. We especially liked the way DNA displays the full customer relationship when an account is accessed, as this information enables our staff to assist the customer in making financial decisions.”
The bank selected DNA for its intuitive and highly customizable real-time software environment that can adapt to and automate many of the bank’s processes, enabling front-line staff to serve the bank’s customers more efficiently. As an example, the bank estimates that it will be able to reduce the time needed to open a new account from an average of 25 minutes to about 5 minutes with DNA thanks to its streamlined workflow.
Reporting was another factor in the bank’s decision to move to Fiserv. With DNA, the bank is able to build and generate reports directly from a single, relational core system database, saving time and effort.
“DNA is so intuitive and easy to use that staff with any computer expertise at all can figure out how to accomplish what they need to do very quickly,” said Mike Stone, Senior VP and Director of Operations, SouthEast Bank. “Because we can customize the system to match our specific processes and needs, things we used to do manually are now automatic and this helps us to provide a faster and better customer experience.”
In addition to DNA, SouthEast Bank is leveraging a range of Fiserv solutions including CardValet® alerts and notifications for debit card management; tMagic™ for automated teller capture; Intelligent WorkplaceSM for financial performance and financial risk management; Nautilus® for enterprise content management; Customer Relationship Management and Business Intelligence solutions; Financial Crime and Risk Management solutions; payments processing; and several DNAapps™ custom core extensions to add new reports and integrations to DNA. The bank is also using SentrySM Network Services for network design and management, and Sentry Unified Communications for its IVR system.
“SouthEast Bank is a progressive financial institution that recognizes the advantages of a modern, open technology platform,” said Byron Vielehr, group president, Depository Institution Services, Fiserv. “Benefits such as scalability, real-time performance, ease of use, and simplified integration with additional solutions from Fiserv and third parties, will help SouthEast Bank support its growth and meet the changing needs of its customers.”
- 08:00 am
Nice Actimize, a Nice business and the industry's largest provider of a single financial crime, risk, and compliance software platform for the financial services industry has introduced ActimizeWatch, a cloud-based, fraud analytics optimization solution that uses consortium data to detect fraud-related attacks before they spread from one financial services organization to another.
Working in a cloud environment, NICE Actimize’s new ActimizeWatch solution continually monitors anonymized transactional data which has been pulled in from a wide range of financial services organizations, using machine learning to identify emerging threats. ActimizeWatch users receive enhanced, individualized analytics that speed the identification of fraud, while reducing operational costs for fraud departments.
ActimizeWatch then puts this intelligence to work, dynamically optimizing analytics for rapid delivery. Additionally, ActimizeWatch provides ongoing fraud intelligence and email advisories to keep financial services organizations abreast of emerging threat patterns, including information about targeted attacks against new faster payment types and digital channels.
“In this environment, fraudsters are innovating almost as quickly as the banks, and not just moving from channel to channel, but also moving from bank to bank,” said Joe Friscia, president, NICE Actimize. “When fraud hits this fast, it is imperative that analytics adapt and change more quickly. We predict that firms will update their approach to data sharing and collaboration by moving optimization to the cloud and working more closely together as an industry to stop fraud dead in its tracks.”
- 02:00 am
Factom, Inc., a blockchain as-a-service (BaaS) technology provider has closed their Series A funding at $8,029,796 USD following the launch of its mortgage product, Factom Harmony.
“The Factom Harmony launch was such a resounding success that we extended the Series A round for additional investors,” said Peter Kirby, Co-founder & CEO of Factom. “We’re very appreciative of our early investors who doubled-down on their participation and the new investors who are helping us strategically extend our reach. Many highly intelligent people worked very hard to help us get to this point and we couldn’t have done it without them.”
Earlier during the Series A round, Factom closed $5,326,522 USD in funding from Draper Associates, Stewart Title, Overstock, Fenbushi Capital, and Plug & Play. Now, Peeli Ventures, Harvest Equity, and a number of local Austin investors added another $2,703,274 USD, closing out the funding round.
“Factom’s Harmony product creates a transformative approach for the compliance in the U.S. mortgage industry,” said Harry Qin, Managing Partner of Peeli Ventures. “It has great potential to impact the mortgage industry with increased transparency and immutable audit records.”
