Finovate Fall 2016 kicks off this week on September 8th in New York City. The annual demo show for financial technology is celebrating its tenth anniversary. After attracting 1600 attendees to last year's event, the show's organizers have more in store this year. The two-day event uses the typical short-form product demonstration without the slides or pre-recorded videos made popular at tech shows like TechCrunch Disrupt. In addition to the general cast of startup characters launching at the event, larger fintech companies like Fiserv and FIS have also taken to Finovate events to introduce new products.
What does this year's event mean for fintech? Below are four themes from investing, insurance, banking, and brokerage worth checking out at this year's event.
Sales and marketing tools for financial institutions
There are quite a few companies presenting this year that aren't
fintech, per se. These firms have technologies that, in the hands of financial companies, boost sales and service levels.
Econiq is one of these types of companies. The software and analytics company records front-line sales conversations, scores them, and then color codes them into actionable information. Managing financial documents is a major hassle and
FutureVault wants to become banks' electronic filing cabinet. For financial firms that want to deliver personalized, engaging experiences to customers, partners and employees,
Liferay offers a digital platform.
New payments and paymentech
There are a few payments companies presenting at Finovate. Instead of letting gift cards expire worthless,
Swych is a mobile gifting app that functions as a wallet for all your Amazon and Netflix credits. For firms selling internationally,
Zooz smart routes card payments to the appropriate bank for processing that minimizes fraud and maximizes successful payments.
Digital payments players are presenting, too.
Modo Payments is a digital payments hub that takes monetary value from just about any source, and can deliver it to just about any destination. So, think any value from loyalty programs, gift cards, debit credits can be transferred, through Modo's COIN to digital wallets, merchants, and accounts.
Big data, analytics, and sundry other technologies
Plenty of companies are working on big data and analytics solutions as our social media footprints expand daily.
MapD provides financial firms the ability to crank through huge datasets and turn them into visualizations at speed.
MX is a six year old firm that works with digital banking providers and other financial institutions to enhance the account holder experience and increase user loyalty by leveraging data and insights.
Bots are coming to banking and
Kore wants to lead the way. Banks and other financial institutions can use Kore's platform to develop bots to deploy to customers and employees.
Mobile banking
As financial services move toward digital, it's also getting more mobile. Users don't want to wait until they get home or to the office to transact. Mobile banking is a big theme at Finovate this year.
Bankjoy provides mobile banking services to credit unions. There are a handful of white label banking solutions presenting.
Urban FT is one of them. The software company provides basic banking functionality like cards, account aggregation, and bill pay. But it also provides other features to increase mobile user engagement, like with PFM functionality and local venue and deal discovery.
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