Top fintech stories this week – 28 July 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Artificial Intelligence/AI
Fintech funding round-up: 26 July 2017
Bread but with the bluster removed. Following on from yesterday’s concise report, our latest fintech funding round-up keeps it brief. Features Cleo, Skype, ItzCash, Ebix and research from Innovate Finance. The “Siri of personal finance,” Cleo, a virtual money assistant, has received £2 million in funding from Skype’s co-founder Niklas Zennström and venture capital (VC) […]
Layer’s new messaging design system gets conversational
FinovateSpring 2017 alumnus Layer has released a new customer engagement-enabling solution as the latest reminder of a trend toward more and better engagement options for businesses, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The San Francisco-based company has launched its Conversation Design System, giving enterprises new tools to build and customise conversational experiences for their customers “in […]
Musk disses Zuckerberg over knowledge of AI
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has given Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a very public b*tch-slap over Twitter, accusing the social media guru of not knowing much about the future of artificial intelligence (AI).
Google makes loads of money, but cloud is real story
Googlers are still swimming in cash as the latest quarter brought in $26.01 billion, and not even a $2.74 billion fine from the European Commission could dampen the mood at this party, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). The uplift in revenue, accounting for a 21% year-on-year boost, should not really come as a huge […]
Aire pulls in $5m, lands partnerships with Zopa and Toyota Financial Services
Alternative credit scoring company, Aire, has raised $5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Sunstone Capital, with funds also coming from White Star Capital, which led the company’s 2016 seed round. Aire’s funding now totals $12 million, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The London-based company plans to use the funds […]
Softbank gets hard for data-powered AI
“Those who rule chips will rule the entire world. Those who rule data will rule the entire world. That’s what people of the future will say.” The words of Softbank’s founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who was bigging up his company at a presentation in Tokyo and laying down some future plans that artificial intelligence […]
China dreams of AI domination
The Chinese government has set out its bold vision to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030. In a Cabinet statement, the government sees AI as integral to making China an “economic power” and is calling for the development of skills, research and educational resources to achieve “major breakthroughs” by 2025 and […]
OCBC Bank fights money laundering with AI double act
Singapore’s OCBC Bank has piloted two fintech solutions from a pair of start-ups as it looks to combat money laundering and terrorism financing via artificial intelligence (AI). The two firms involved – BlackSwan Technologies and Silent Eight – were part of OCBC’s second fintech accelerator programme, Open Vault, which was launched last year. Both companies […]
House of Lords launches artificial intelligence inquiry
The UK’s House of Lords wants you to come clean on the rise of the machines – with a call for feedback on the economic, ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI). The House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is asking for contributions to its inquiry and is looking for pragmatic solutions […]
Mastercard buys in to AI with Brighterion
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion, a software company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI), reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. This acquisition follows Mastercard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security”. Brighterion’s portfolio of AI and machine learning technologies provide real-time […]
No silver lining for IBM cloud revenues
Despite a big push in its cloud-coated ambitions, IBM has revealed a drop in revenues for its technology services and cloud platforms. For its Q2 2017 results, revenues for this largest part of its business (including infrastructure services, technical support services and integration software) was $8.4 billion, down 5.1%. However, in its “strategic imperatives”, IBM […]
Mastercard Buys in to AI with Brighterion
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition follows Masterdard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.”
AI will be ubiquitous in 2020 but overhyped in 2017 – Gartner
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be baked into nearly every new software product and service by 2020, but the rush to claim AI integration today is causing confusion, according to a new report from analyst firm Gartner. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that while virtually every company across industry verticals is busy today figuring out […]
Flybits raises $6.5m to help banks put data to work
Consumer data contextualisation company Flybits pulled in $6.5 million this week, bringing the Toronto-based firm’s total funds to $14 million, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The Series B funding was led by Information Venture Partners. New investor Portag3 Ventures LP also participated along with existing investors Robert Bosch Venture and Trellis Capital. As a part […]
Absa targets African millennials with Hello Soda partnership
Absa Bank, a subsidiary of Barclays Africa, has partnered with multilingual text analytics and big data firm, Hello Soda, as it looks to tap into the millennial market. The bank says it wants to make sense of unstructured social data to better understand its consumer base. According to Absa, Hello Soda provides new ways for […]
More human than human: banking’s AI future is all in the voice
Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]
Behavioural black magic
In 1957 the US market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get moviegoers to “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” by flashing messages onscreen for such a short time that viewers were unaware they had seen them. The term “subliminal advertising” was coined to describe this unnerving practice and it was subsequently banned in many countries.
Fintech funding round-up: 13 July 2017
And the money keeps rolling in for fintech! Features Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye and Gridspace. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. UK challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital, which the company will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. […]
Darktrace raises $75m to fight cybercrime with AI
Darktrace, a start-up that tackles cybercrime with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, has raised $75 million in a Series D round, reports Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The latest capital injection values the company at $825 million, testament to the security threat faced by network operators and fintech enterprises and the power of machine learning technology. […]
Ephesoft earns $15m investment from Mercato Partners
Document capture and data analytics company Ephesoft landed $15 million in Series A funding from Mercato Partners. This marks the company’s first round of funding since it was founded in 2010, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). “Mercato’s investment will help Ephesoft realise its vision of liberating meaning through machine learning technology,” says Ike Kavas, Ephesoft’s founder. […]
Google extends long arm of influence further into AI
Google has launched a new initiative, Gradient Ventures, its own VC arm to seek out artificial intelligence (AI) talent and invest in start-ups, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The initiative itself is a simple one. Google will provide funds and access to experienced engineers to help the start-ups develop to the next level. AI […]
Fintech Funding Roundup: Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye, Gridspace
And the money keeps rolling in for fintech. U.K. challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment it will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. Meanwhile, Santander InnoVentures, the bank’s fintech venture capital fund, has added U.K.-based Pixoneye and Curve and U.S.-based Gridspace to its portfolio.
Bank of England fintech accelerator goes into third gear
The Bank of England’s (BoE) fintech accelerator has kept good speed and completed the third round of various proofs of concept (PoCs). As reported last year, BoE launched its own accelerator to harness innovation for central banking. The latest PoCs covered four areas of the bank’s work: analysing large-scale supervisory data sets; executing high-value payments […]
Nordea looks to Feelingstream AI for quick customer service
Nordea has chosen Estonian start-up Feelingstream’s artificial intelligence (AI) software to speed up response times for customers. Feelingstream’s AI solution analyses and categorises messages sent by customers so they can be forwarded automatically to the right person or unit in Nordea for further processing. The software can analyse hundreds of messages per second. The solution […]
Nvidia jumps in at the deep end with Baidu AI partnership
If Nvidia is looking to make a splash in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) it’s going about it in the right way, announcing a partnership with Baidu, one of the world’s largest internet companies. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Telecoms.com reports that cracking the Chinese market is an ambition which almost every technology company around the […]
Banking Technology July/August 2017 issue out now
Set sail for fintech! The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Regtech: features that make data work harder and smarter
There is far more to regtech than regulatory technology, or at least there can and should be. Regtech, as it is coming to be understood, must be something qualitatively different from what it’s replacing and not just a faster and better version of the same thing.
Salesforce uses AI to anticipate your sentiments and intentions
Salesforce has upped its efforts in the artificial intelligence (AI) world, introducing three new features for developers in its continued quest to “democratise” the technology.
NatWest pilots AI compliance technology with Recordsure
UK-based high street bank NatWest is trialling Recordsure’s regtech recording and analysis solution “to improve and monitor the quality of information and advice provided during regulated customer conversations”.
ARM says we are A-OK with AI
New research commissioned by ARM has highlighted that the tide might be turning in the acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI), not only in the industry but in the wider world.
Verizon jumps on the AI-security bandwagon
Verizon’s venture capitalist arm has started throwing its weight around the security arena, pumping cash into artificial intelligence (AI) start-up SparkCognition.
Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 Creates More Questions than Answers
On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.
Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 creates more questions than answers
The second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is creating more questions and issues than the answers it ultimately should offer.
Money20/20 Europe: let AI negotiate
Are trends eclectic for artificial intelligence (AI)? Perhaps not as the fintech world is getting more imaginative and calling for the machines to negotiate on behalf of less-than-objective humans. At this morning’s (26 June) sessions at Money20/20 in Copenhagen, the themes of AI use cases in financial services and fraud were discussed.
Fintech funding round-up: 23 June 2017
For the third day in a row we present a fintech funding round-up. The previous two were here and here. Our latest report features Blockchain, Julia Computing and Mswipe Technologies. We’ll begin with a confusing company name. Blockchain (yes, really), a UK-based software platform, has raised a Series B of $40 million with Lakestar and […]
Softbank ups investment in security AI firm Cybereason
Softbank has upped its investment in security firm Cybereason, as the focus on artificial intelligence (AI) continues.
Bank to the future: five ways financial apps are changing banking
Less than half a year from now, PSD2 will revolutionise consumers’ access to their own financial information. In fintech hubs across Europe, bright young people are planning a consumer revolution. Their financial apps and tools are helping customers manage their money far more easily than they have before. Here are five important ways in which they are changing the face of banking.
Wirecard Lends Speed, Functionality to Partner VEON
Amsterdam-based mobile network operator and technology company VEON has partnered with Wirecard AG as part of a global payments and processing agreement. Wirecard, a Germany-based provider of global payments solutions, now manages third-party payments functionality and airtime top-up on VEON’s Internet platform, enabling customers to upload funds and update mobile payment accounts within seconds, according to an announcement.
Voice is a natural step in the technology evolution – Amazon
If there is any doubt in which direction the technology world will head next, its being brushed aside by Amazon Web Services (AWS); voice is the natural progression. Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports. Speaking at TechXLR8 in London, David Low, “principal evangelist” at Amazon Alexa EU, highlighted that the voice user interface will be […]
