Experian supplies Decision Analytics solution for Soar

Digital banking platform Soar will use Experian’s Decision Analytics solutions to support its work in the community banking market.

 The new partnership will see Soar clients utilise Experian’s SaaS PowerCurve Customer Acquisition platform to help automate lending decisions, transforming their digital onboarding and customer application journey.

Incorporating affordability and eligibility insights based on Experian bureau data, anti-fraud checks, and advanced data analytics all within one cloud-based solution, Soar clients will now have a clear picture of their customers helping them to access the most appropriate lending for their circumstances.

Typically, organisations like Credit Unions and Community Banks have relied upon manual application processes, leading to customers waiting up to a week ”“ and sometimes longer ”“ for their applications to be reviewed and completed.

The solution will significantly improve that wait, returning a decision within minutes, boosting acceptance rates at the beginning of the customer application due to the rich level of customer insight provided.

 By removing the need for organisations to attempt to build a similar solution in-house, PowerCurve will enable clients to quickly modernise their operations and, at the same time, attract new customers who otherwise wouldn’t consider a Credit Union as an option for a financial product.

Steve Pulley, Managing Director Decision Analytics, Experian UK&I, said: “Today’s customers expect digital services to work seamlessly and almost instantaneously, while the impact of Covid-19 means it’s critical that lenders can accurately assess a potential customer’s suitability for lending.”

“Our software plays a critical role in organisations’ decisioning, radically improving their efficiency and outcomes for customers and I’m delighted that those in the community banking market will feel the benefit that data-led analytics can bring.”

Andrew Duncan, CEO of Soar, said: “The community banking market has traditionally been underserved when it comes to technology advancements. We’re committed to changing that, giving organisations the chance to provide their customers with the best digital offering possible

“The breadth and accuracy of what Experian software can offer will be central to us in meeting that ambition and modernising the ethical banking sector.”

LiquidShare selects BTP’s Sextant for Daml platform

LiquidShare has selected Sextant for Daml, a platform provided by Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP), the blockchain and smart contract management and operations platform.

LiquidShare, created in 2017 by eight major European financial institutions (AFS Group, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caceis, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM and Société Générale), was established with the mission to build a European post-trading blockchain infrastructure for the financial industry. The company’s post-trade offering secures and streamlines back-office operations in financial markets, whilst also enhancing transparency and trustworthiness of post-trading operations, leveraging the open-source distributed ledger Hyperledger Besu, and Daml, an application platform.

“We chose Daml as our smart-contract language for its strong potential to embed business logic, and because it enables us to build multiparty business processes easily and rapidly. The fact that it is supported by BTP on our ledger of choice, Hyperledger Besu, was also a main driver for us,” said Jean-Marc Eyssautier, CEO of LiquidShare. “Sextant for Daml has accelerated our time to market by allowing us to focus on customer needs.”

BTP’s Sextant for Daml solution simplifies the deployment and management of the Daml  runtime environment on distributed ledgers, enabling innovators such as so LiquidShare to focus on the application rather than the underlying infrastructure.

“We are delighted to facilitate such financial innovation by freeing LiquidShare from technology infrastructure frustrations,” said Duncan Johnston-Watt, CEO & Co-founder of BTP.  “This is a great use case that showcases the business value of distributed ledgers and smart contracts, by lowering the barrier to entry to capital markets.”

Digital Asset’s Daml is an application platform purpose-built for coding complex multiparty business processes. It provides a robust framework to better manage transactional workflows for improved operational efficiency without compromising privacy and trust. This is particularly relevant to capital markets.

“LiquidShare is at the forefront of innovation in post-trade markets,” said Yuval Rooz, Co-founder & CEO at Digital Asset. “Post-trade processes can significantly benefit from the efficiency and trust provided by distributed ledgers and Daml, which is quickly becoming the de facto standard in capital markets. It’s great to see LiquidShare using Sextant for Daml. It is the right platform to help LiquidShare bring its new blockchain-enabled offering to the market.”

Aveni acquires much needed investment

Edinburgh based Fintech, Aveni, has acquired their much needed £1.1. million investment – this will be used to establish an AI platform focused on supporting speech analytics for modern businesses.

Aveni Detect reportedly uses the latest artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP) technologies to fully automate processes directly from the customer’s voice. This will help the firm to obtain greater levels of efficiency when it comes to quality assurance whilst simultaneously enhancing employee training, consumer experience and the ability to identify vulnerable users.

TRICAPITAL Angel syndicate headed the investment into Aveni’s operations, with the proceeds being directed towards Aveni’s ongoing growth. The company seek to move beyond simply offering financial services into other regulated areas, as well as building a team to facilitate its UK expansion efforts.

Joseph Twigg, CEO at Aveni stated:

“Consumer behavior and business needs have changed significantly over the past 18 months as the service industry digitised in response to the pandemic. This created a new base of consumers comfortable with video conferencing led, digital-first services. But it also created a major challenge for firms to monitor and assess these calls, especially as an increasing number of them were from vulnerable customers who needed additional attention.”

The work behind the scenes to ensure that Avnei direct was implemented properly is thanks to Aveni’s team of NLP scientists and engineers working with the various UK businesses.

Whether a business or company meets clients in-person or face-to-face, through video conference or via phone, Aveni Detect is able to reliably and accurately convert the conversation to text before processing it via its NLP pipeline to offer key insights and automation. This leads to new opportunities for businesses to lower the cost to serve customers, while building a well-trained workforce and also identify key opportunities for new products.

Twigg further noted:

“Aveni Detect automates a significant part of these requirements, driving efficiency into a business, whilst meeting regulatory requirements and protecting the consumer. It is a great example of AI for good’ as the technology is being used to make a positive impact and will help to better protect those that are vulnerable within our society.”

The round was also joined by Scottish Enterprise’s Growth Investments, Old College Capital ”“ the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture fund and Wallace Equity.

Jan Robertson, Interim Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise, added:

“The evolution of Aveni’s game-changing products will enhance Scotland’s proud association with the development of AI solutions and strengthen the country’s growing reputation as a global leader in fintech innovation. Our continued investment in and support for Aveni will help the company grow and scale and underscores Scottish Enterprise’s commitment to nurturing an environment that encourages cutting-edge tech businesses to thrive and flourish.”

NFP Partners with Fintech Firm Legado

Two fintechs, NFP and Legado, have partnered to digitise the life planning process for NFP clients.

A market leader in corporate benefits, wealth management and commercial insurance, NFP has forged this partnership with Legado, a fintech dedicated to helping consumers prepare for key life moments, as its suite of tools enables the organisation, storage and sharing of personal data with those who choose. Not only this but it is presented and communicated in such a way that makes it easily understandable to the client, enabling them to maintain complete control over everything. Legado’s platform is GDPR-compliant, with consumers safe in the knowledge that their documents are safe and easy to find.

Announced today, the partnership enables NFP clients to use Legado’s life-planning platform, giving them instant access to statements and information, storing them in a secure location – no hassle or fuss.

 Richard Basford, Managing Director for NFP Wealth Management, said: “Client engagement and intergenerational planning are emerging as two of the most important considerations in the financial advice sector. Our clients expect us to provide them with more than just financial advice, with an increasing number coming to us about other areas of life planning. We had already been looking to digitise areas of our client experience, with a focus on solutions that would let us work closely with our clients in a secure and simple manner, and that does not add complexity to what can already be highly complex situations. 

“When we saw Legado, we knew it was the right solution for our business. Not only does it provide a secure way to exchange key documents, but it provides a relevant and engaging service to help our clients plan for the future and key life events. We hope that by providing  this service our clients will recognise the additional value we are providing to them to ensure  they are prepared for the future.” 

Josif Grace, CEO of Legado, said: “NFP is a great example of a company that is not only looking to digitise their client experience, but modernise and personalise it. By utilising the  Legado platform, NFP is creating new opportunities on which they can engage clients, and  their families, at key life moments. With Legado’s combination of insight, personal planning tools and technology, clients have a truly holistic view of how prepared they are for the future, while smart, actionable nudges can help people make small changes that can make a  big long-term difference. We are delighted to be working with NFP to put them at the  forefront of innovation in this space.” 

NFP’s Basford added: “Legado gives NFP clients full control over the entire experience,  and so puts NFP and its advisers at the forefront of both client experience and safety. This  will be the industry standard in a year or two, and we are excited to be leading the way in  showing how all professional services businesses will be working in the future.”

The Legado planning API will enable NFP to quickly and easily NFP to integrate the platform  into their existing technology estate, and the pilot will initially give NFP’s advisers and clients  full access to a co-branded version of Legado’s life planning platform. 

“NFP is a leading insurance broker and consultant providing specialised commercial insurance, in-country and global employee benefits, and individual solutions through its licensed subsidiaries and affiliates. NFP enables client success through the expertise of more than 6,000 employees in the UK, Ireland and across the globe. Our professionals support diverse client needs through investments in innovative technologies and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors and financial institutions. NFP is the 5th largest benefits broker by global revenue (Business Insurance), 10th largest property and casualty agency (Insurance Journal) and 12th largest global insurance broker (Best’s Review).

Visit nfp.co.uk to discover how NFP empowers clients to meet their goals.”

Polydigi Tech selected as UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME

Polydigi Tech, the Edinburgh based cybersecurity startup, was selected along with 14 other SMEs as the UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME in the sixth competition held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in collaboration with Inforsecurity Europe.

Polydigi Tech is the only Scottish company among the winners. After ranking 12^th in BusinessCloud’s Scotland Tech 50 for 2020, Polydigi Tech is now ready for the UK market.

This year’s record number of applicants were judged by three industry experts: Innovate UK’s Deputy Challenge Director Agata Samojlowicz CISSP, Global Transatlantic CEO Andy Williams, and Infosecurity Magazine Editorial Editor, Eleanor Dalloway.

Polydigi Tech is being offered the chance to exhibit at the DCMS Innovation Zone during Infosecurity Europe 2021 on July 13^th-15^th in Olympia, London. This opportunity will allow Polydigi Tech to demonstrate its world-class innovation identity authentication solution for EU market expansion.