AI & Finance™ | News for the Week Ending 10/04/24

9fin, the data and predictive analytics platform for debt capital markets, has hired Moisés García as Chief Product Officer to accelerate its development plans and help position the company as a global leader in credit markets. 

Moisés brings over 15 years of experience across leadership roles in high-growth tech startups and leading global firms. Most recently, he served as CPO at online car marketplace Carwow and has previously held roles at Boston Consulting Group, Morgan Stanley, and Deloitte. 

As CPO, Moisés will lead the product management and design teams, collaborating with executive leadership to deliver 9fin’s product strategy and roadmap. 

Abrigo, a leading provider of commercial lending software and services for U.S. financial institutions, today announced that Abrigo Small Business Lending is now commercially available after a highly successful beta phase. The official launch comes at a pivotal moment as financial institutions look to enhance their small business lending capabilities and prepare for an influx of small business loans spurred by the Federal Reserve’s market-moving half-point rate cut. 

By automating key aspects of loan origination and designing for small business needs, the solution supercharges lenders’ ability to manage increased volumes while still maintaining the human touch when needed. The enthusiasm of beta customers, who tested the platform extensively, underscores the growing need for modern, efficient lending technology. 

Abrigo Small Business Lending’s innovation and use of AI enables FIs to streamline loan origination, reduce processing times, and enhance decision-making for small business loans. With these capabilities, FIs can serve their communities more effectively, providing faster access to credit while lowering operational costs. 

Ascensus announced today it has extended its relationship with Financial Finesse—the nation’s leading provider of unbiased financial coaching as an employer-paid benefit—to support increased plan engagement and improve participants’ overall financial wellness. 

Since 2018, Ascensus has seamlessly integrated Financial Finesse’s capabilities with Ascensus’ other financial wellness tools and resources, like the READYSAVE app, which are tailored for retirement plan participants. Ascensus was also the first recordkeeper to introduce Aimee (Artificial Intelligence Motivating Employees Everywhere), Financial Finesse’s AI-powered financial coach, in 2021. In 2023 alone, users who utilized Aimee saw a 60% increase in their overall financial wellness score.1 

Financial Finesse encourages key participant behaviors such as reviewing retirement projections, taking advantage of company match, and evaluating how effectively investments are allocated according to each saver’s goal retirement date. Pairing financial coaching and education with the consultation of a plan advisor, together Financial Finesse and Ascensus can have a deeper impact on the financial wellness of entire workforces and help advisors grow their businesses in the process. 

Bectran, Inc., the industry leader in credit, collections and accounts receivable management technology, has introduced a new collaboration with Cobalt Intelligence, a highly regarded data solutions firm specializing in secretary of state (SOS) data collection. Bectran’s new API integration with Cobalt provides users with a powerful anti-fraud and efficiency generating toolkit. 

Fraud agents prey on out-of-date data, presenting a false face to credit departments with their intimate knowledge of the application process. Utilizing secretary of state real-time data, the risk of approving fraudulent credit applications can be severely curtailed. With direct integration into SOS websites, credit departments can be assured of their data integrity by using up-to-date and reliable records. 

Bectran’s automatic credit application system with real-time SOS website data pulls creates corporate verification reports seamlessly alongside application submissions. The SOS data will then be evaluated through Bectran’s scoring models to determine the authenticity of the application. To ensure data accuracy, a screenshot and link to the corresponding SOS document will be displayed immediately alongside the report. For further protection, a timestamp and watermark are attached to every screenshot, providing users with an audit trail for the verification process. The reports, links and screenshots will include all data and documents available on the corresponding SOS website. This varies by state but can include entity type, corporation status, articles of incorporation, SOS ID, corporate officer information, filing date and more. Credit applicants whose corporation status is found to be inactive or out-of-date can be automatically declined. 

Earnix, the leading global provider of intelligent decisioning SaaS solutions for financial services, today announced Earnix Lending Plus, an end-to-end AI-driven software platform that combines advanced pricing analytics, price optimization, and simulation capabilities with automated credit risk decisioning in a single solution. 

The platform allows lenders to streamline loan pricing and approvals using machine learning-based credit scorecards, make rate updates, and implement credit policy improvements as frequently as needed without dependency on IT. Likewise, lenders can leverage Earnix’s sophisticated analytical framework to simulate the impact and interaction of credit and pricing strategies. 

There is a clear trend toward prioritizing lending efficiency by financial institutions due to its positive effect on volume and profit margins. To meet this need, Earnix Lending Plus offers a single platform to control the entire pricing and credit decisioning process. The platform also minimizes the number of handoffs and allows for more control over and greater speed of lending decisions, resulting in increased automated credit approvals, reduced manual interventions, better consumer experience, while offering profitability uplift and improved portfolio performance. 

Equilar, the leading provider of relationship intelligence solutions, and InvestorFlow, a premier deal management and investor communications platform for financial services and private equity, today announced a strategic partnership. This collaboration integrates Equilar’s real-time executive intelligence with InvestorFlow’s deal management capabilities, delivering a cutting-edge solution to enhance deal sourcing, relationship management and portfolio oversight for financial services firms. 

With this new integration, InvestorFlow clients can now leverage Equilar’s comprehensive executive intelligence data to stay informed on key executive transitions, refine relationship mapping and accelerate deal flow. This partnership offers financial services and private equity professionals a streamlined approach to identifying opportunities and maximizing relationships. 

Equilar’s data-driven insights, combined with InvestorFlow’s deal management platform, provide users with unprecedented efficiency in tracking executive movements and managing portfolio relationships. The integration allows firms to build personalized outreach strategies based on real-time intelligence, fostering cross-functional collaboration and ensuring teams are equipped with a unified view of their networks. 

Figure Technology Solutions, Inc. (“Figure”), a technology platform that powers a more efficient and liquid marketplace for financial products, today announced its first major release developed on OpenAI’s GPT. The tool, a “stare and compare” killer, aims to reduce costs, manual work, and bias while increasing speed and customer satisfaction across loan origination and purchasing processes to benefit lending partners and consumers. 

The company set out to use AI to tackle lending’s biggest, costliest, most time-consuming headaches first, starting with document reviews. To date, loan processors and originators have largely leaned on a literal “stare and compare” method of reviewing documents – meaning staring at reams of side-to-side loan documents and data and comparing the information to ensure accuracy – often resulting in human errors and biases, loan processing bottlenecks and customer dissatisfaction. 

To create its OpenAI-powered “stare and compare” killer, Figure developed a four-phased process. First, it extracted twelve areas of data points that were traditionally key to the “stare and compare” process. The team then built an AI-driven model including more than six years of origination data, 168K+ total documents, 1.7M+ pages and 2M+ attributes. From there, a “Curation team” of customer-facing employees provided feedback based on hours of daily interactions with applicants and the technology; this feedback enabled model fine-tuning for accuracy and speed improvements. 

The Founders Arena WealthTech Accelerator, in strategic partnership with SEI®, First Rate, Inc., Republic Capital Group, the City of Arlington and the Arlington Economic Development Corporation, today announced the selection of its third cohort of startups participating in its global accelerator program. 

The WealthTech Accelerator’s latest selection of startups are ushering in the next generation of solutions for advisors, customers and enterprise clients, including: Agent IQ, LemonadeLXP, Mammoth Technology, Practice Intel, Quinn, and Zeplyn. 

The Founder Arena’s 12-week accelerator program is designed to support and propel the growth of these WealthTech startups by providing them access to resources, mentorship, networking opportunities, and investors. First launched in September 2023, the The WealthTech Accelerator is a hybrid program that offers a combination of in-person and virtual components such as workshops, client prospecting meetings, mentorship sessions, networking events, and VIP visits that provide highly tailored support to address specific needs and challenges. 

Gradient AI, a leading enterprise software provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the insurance industry, today announced that Michigan Planners is using Gradient AI’s SAIL™ underwriting solution to gain deeper insights into risk. This solution enables Michigan Planners and its clients to create customized group health solutions and achieve significant cost savings by tailoring plans to the specific needs of each employer group. 

Michigan Planners is a full-service insurance agency specializing in employer group benefits, including risk financing, customized plan and group health solutions for groups of all sizes. The company turned to Gradient AI to overcome limitations in bandwidth and data, which previously hindered its ability to make accurate risk assessments for its target market of 25-500 life groups. Gradient AI’s SAIL provides valuable insights without requiring additional staff. It generates easy to understand outputs, far beyond what Michigan Planners previously received from carriers. This enables more meaningful, strategic conversations with its clients. 

Gradient AI’s SAIL has allowed Michigan Planners to align solutions to the unique needs of each client. It helps identify and address high claims costs in pooled risk groups, improve risk projections for companies with high turnover rates or recent mergers, and offers smaller groups a new tool to track claims and plan performance. In one case, SAIL revealed that self-funding wasn’t suitable for a rapidly growing client after an acquisition, saving them tens of thousands of dollars. SAIL also allows clients to make more informed decisions about high deductible plans and self-funding. 

Guidewire announced that it appointed Mark Anquillare to its Board of Directors effective September 23, 2024. 

Mark Anquillare served as president and chief operating officer of Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq: VRSK), an insurance industry data analytics and technology provider, through January 2023. Prior to that, he was Verisk’s chief financial officer starting in 2007, leading the company through its 2009 IPO and continuing until 2016. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in Verisk’s growth and innovation, helping insurers improve underwriting and claims processes, combat fraud, enhance operational efficiency, and make informed decisions on emerging risks. Since 2023, he has served on the board of directors of TruBridge, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBRG), a healthcare solutions company. 

Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, today shared the company’s strategy at Investor Day and unveiled new AI-powered innovations that help consumers make smart money decisions year-round and fuel business growth on Intuit’s platform, supercharged with an AI-powered financial assistant in customers’ pockets. 

Consumers are trying to make ends meet, get out of debt, and save money. Upcoming innovations across TurboTax and Credit Karma will deliver a single, connected consumer financial platform that delivers insights and recommendations year-round and done-for-you experiences at tax time. 

Credit Karma members will soon have access to their own personalized and interactive Financial Summary with tax, spending, credit, and debt insights all in one place. Members who link their accounts will be able to see when their spending could exceed monthly income with explanations of essential and non-essential spending and how it is impacting their ability to save money. When they receive a pay increase, Credit Karma will proactively update their estimated tax refund and members will be able to see recommendations about how 401K contributions and adjusting withholdings can help them increase their refund and save more toward retirement. 

Growth equity investment firm Edison Partners today announced leading a $20 million growth investment in K1x, a leading SaaS financial technology company and pioneer of all-digital K-1 data aggregation and reporting for the capital markets. Edison is doubling down on K1x, making an additional investment to accelerate its momentum in modernizing K-1 reporting and data management. 

Investing in alternative assets requires the filing of IRS Schedule K-1 forms with the U.S. federal government and related forms for state agencies. Historically, investors and their advisors have used time-consuming analog technology, prone to inaccuracies, late information and hidden costs. Using proprietary, patented artificial intelligence, K1x has built and evolved best-in-class software that has brought digital transformation to K-1 reporting, which connects institutional investors and their advisors to seamlessly and efficiently exchange alternative investment data. The technology has drawn interest from especially financial firms’ chief financial officers seeking to leverage AI and new technology to reduce costs and risks. 

The K1x growth has been on a continuous, upward trajectory. Over the last year the K1x team increased the number of product releases by 4x, driving a 90% increase in K1x product users. Since Edison’s initial investment in December 2022, the company has seen 130%+ revenue growth in an estimated $3.3B total addressable market. 

Numerated, the leading AI-driven commercial lending platform, today announced its partnership with Alloy, the identity risk management company trusted by over 600 leading banks, credit unions and fintech companies, to deliver best-in-class fraud checks within commercial lending. This strategic partnership will supercharge Numerated’s lending automation capabilities by combining cutting-edge risk management with advanced automation, providing unparalleled security and efficiency to financial institutions. 

In today’s environment, where fraud is an ever-present threat, this partnership will enable Numerated’s clients to perform robust fraud checks seamlessly within their lending processes. According to Alloy’s State of Fraud Benchmark Report, 100% of fraud decision-makers at banks and fintechs reported experiencing fraud in the last twelve months. Additionally, 96% of these institutions suffered financial losses due to fraud, with 70% reporting losses exceeding $500k during that period. This underscores the critical need for advanced fraud prevention in the financial sector, a need that Alloy’s platform will directly address within Numerated’s commercial lending solutions. 

This partnership represents a significant step forward in Numerated’s mission to modernize business banking. With Alloy’s technology, Numerated will continue to lead the industry by offering financial institutions a comprehensive solution that enhances security without sacrificing speed or user experience. 

Options Technology (Options), a leading provider of capital markets services, today announced the relaunch of its network, market data, and trading infrastructure solutions under a new brand umbrella: Atlas. 

Atlas, a comprehensive suite of four integrated products, is designed to deliver best-in-class performance and unparalleled transparency for market data delivery and trading infrastructure. The suite includes AtlasFabric, a low-latency, fully resilient, high-availability network; AtlasFeed, the company’s industry-leading normalized and consolidated data feed service; AtlasEnterprise, a versatile platform offering clients complete control over their market data; and the suite’s standout feature, AtlasVision, which provides cutting-edge monitoring and alerting tools. AtlasVision delivers real-time insights into market data routing, live circuit updates, and automated gap detection, transforming transparency and control in market data management. 

The acquisition of ACTIV Financial in 2021 has been pivotal in shaping Atlas, with ACTIV’s expertise integrated deeply into AtlasFeed and AtlasEnterprise. 

Simplist Technologies, the innovator behind the award-winning mortgage marketplace Simplist, is excited to announce the official launch of Sonar, the world’s first mortgage experience platform. This follows a successful beta phase with over 200 mortgage companies. Sonar seamlessly integrates loan origination system (LOS) and point-of-sale (POS) systems, providing mortgage professionals with a comprehensive, all-in-one solution to revolutionize the mortgage journey from start to finish. 

The mortgage industry has long grappled with outdated and disconnected systems, often requiring mortgage professionals to juggle multiple tools to manage a single loan. This disjointed process can result in high costs, inefficiencies and frustration for originators and consumers alike. Sonar addresses these challenges head-on by offering a unified platform that simplifies the origination process, enhances productivity and reduces costs. 

Sonar’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities automate routine tasks, accelerating workflows and allowing mortgage professionals to focus on higher-value activities. 

Smarsh®, the global leader in digital communications data and intelligence, today announced its AI-powered Intelligent Agent. This groundbreaking product leverages advanced large language models (LLMs) to streamline the review, escalation, and disposition of alerts generated within Smarsh’s Enterprise Conduct Surveillance solution. Smarsh’s Intelligent Agent will be available as an add-on starting in 2025. 

Today’s compliance teams spend up to 80% of their time sifting through noise to find real risks.  Smarsh’s Intelligent Agent changes all of that — proactively screening out less relevant communications before they ever need review. By learning from historical alert patterns and human analyst decisions, the AI agents emulate the expertise of experienced compliance professionals. This enables compliance teams to focus on what matters most: de-risking their organizations. 

This is another industry-first for Smarsh. Nearly a decade ago the company introduced machine learning to communications surveillance. In the subsequent years it has been the first to introduce transcription-powered voice surveillance, model governance, multilingual detection capabilities, productized AI, and the ability to “own your own risk” through augmentation. Smarsh’s Intelligent Agent represents the next step in this evolution. 

MIT Federal Credit Union (MIT FCU), a full-service, Massachusetts-based credit union serving over 35,000 members, has announced a new partnership with Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST), the leading artificial intelligence (AI) lending marketplace, to provide personal loans to new and existing members. 

MIT Federal Credit Union started lending as a partner on the Upstart Referral Network in March 2024. With the Upstart Referral Network, qualified personal loan applicants on Upstart.com who meet MIT FCU’s credit policies will receive tailored offers as they seamlessly transition into an MIT FCU-branded experience to complete the online member application and closing process. 

ValidMind, the leading next-generation AI and model risk management platform for financial services, today announced the launch of the ValidMind Advantage program. This partner ecosystem is designed to provide early-stage and established fintech companies with the ability to test, document and validate their AI models in accordance with banks’ regulatory requirements to ensure SR11-7, SS1-23, E23 and EU AI Act compliance. 

As AI adoption heats up for banks, ensuring AI models are properly validated and compliant remains a priority for the highly regulated financial services industry. Banks must ensure that any third-party models they use are properly documented, validated, and comply with necessary regulations. Fintechs can get ahead of these requests and provide a more attractive offering to banks by working with ValidMind to ensure their models are compliant. 

The ValidMind Advantage program addresses this need by providing emerging and established fintech companies (e.g., system integrators and management consulting firms) access to a trusted, compliant platform to validate their AI models, while financial institutions gain access to a broader range of rigorously tested and reliable AI solutions to enhance decision-making and risk management. 

Visa (NYSE: V) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Featurespace, a developer of real-time artificial intelligence (AI) payments protection technology that prevents and mitigates payments fraud and financial crime risks. The acquisition of Featurespace will complement and strengthen Visa’s portfolio of fraud detection and risk-scoring solutions used by clients around the world to grow and protect their businesses. 

Since its inception out of Cambridge University’s engineering department, Featurespace has developed innovative algorithmic-based solutions to analyze transaction data and detect even the most elusive fraud cases. 

The combined expertise of Visa and Featurespace will enable clients to manage fraud in real-time and further protect the payments ecosystem using AI-fueled solutions. This investment builds on Visa’s commitment to ecosystem security. In the last five years alone, Visa has invested billions of dollars in technology, including to reduce fraud and enhance network security. 

WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE: WNS), a leading provider of global digital-led Business Process Management (BPM) solutions, and Uniqus Consultech Inc. (Uniqus), a tech-enabled global platform that offers consulting solutions in the accounting & reporting, finance operations, governance, risk, and ESG domains, today announced their strategic relationship to offer a comprehensive suite of services in Sustainability and Technical Accounting & Reporting Consulting. The combination of WNS’ leadership in Finance and Accounting (F&A) and cutting-edge AI capabilities with Uniqus’ deep expertise in ESG, accounting, and reporting will provide unique value to clients across industries. 

With sustainability goals becoming integral to businesses, there is an increasing need for across-the-board reporting that seamlessly integrates environmental, organizational, and financial information. The WNS-Uniqus services suite includes consulting, reporting, and AI-enabled data streamlining via the ESG UniVerse platform. The solutions will help enterprises in advancing their ESG compliance and reporting journey, including advanced solutions such as decarbonization, climate action and bio-diversity. 

The technical accounting advisory services will help enterprises address complex accounting issues, GAAP impact studies, and policy manuals. Key services include IPO readiness, transaction accounting advisory, financial statement preparation, regulatory & tax compliance, stock option accounting, audit support, and finance modernization through automation and ERP implementation. It will also offer finance analytics services that deliver CFO-level insights, business performance indicators, data visualization, finance data lake design, and finance and operational reporting design.