Digital Brief

Bringing you cutting-edge new technologies and disruptive financial innovations.

Global Covid-19 innovations

Top Innovations

Active users on Coinbase jumped from 2.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 6.1 million in the first quarter of 2021.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase saw a…

IBM’s Cloud for Financial Services is to offer banks access to instant evidence for compliance without requiring data collection

IBM announced that its Cloud…

Citi has incorporated ESG scores into its securities services data platform, Citi Velocity Clarity reporting ESG exposure with visualization

Citi has incorporated ESG scores…

Acorns the savings-investments app has acquired Pillar to enhance its auto-Smart Deposit feature with a student loan debt manager

Saving and investing app Acorns has acquired…

Chicago-based AI-driven digital lender Avant acquired a neo-bank to enable offering fully digital E2E banking products

Fintech Avant, an online lender…

Blackhawk and app Bakkt have enabled purchase of eGifts using digital assets including BTC and supported loyalty points

Blackhawk Network and Bakkt have…

Key News

App Farther brings a family office UX to all with goal-based portfolios that spread out money across multiple a/cs to lower tax outgo

Startup Farther is a digital…

Betterment is expanding banking services by offering a joint checking a/c for managing shared finances

Betterment is expanding the banking…

Experian’s tech can now classify raw transactional data to predefined income & expense categories for credit decisions

Experian has partnered with Neonomics…

Wing a cross chain DeFi lending platform has gone live on Ethereum maximising borrowing capabilities with minimum collateralization

Wing, the credit-based cross-chain DeFi…

Metro Bank’s app now allows businesses to create & manage branded invoices directly from within their bank a/cs

Metro Bank has launched new…

Startup Orum auto-routes transactions to appropriate payments rails to shrink money movement time for banks to 24-hrs

Startup Orum aims to shrink…

AML tech offers detection, triage & audit trail info in portable case format for easy SAR filing
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Vendor NICE integrates surveillance of advisor comms, sales practices & CX suitability •
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Case discovery tech enables prioritizing processing of non-responsive data for faster assessment
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Solution uses Slack workflows to automate alert triage & remediation for insider risk events
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Expanding attack surface, ransomware and infrastructure attacks lead cybersecurity trends in 2021
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Vendor launches dynamically extensible, open source pen testing tool for Kubernetes
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Fed defines synthetic ID fraud as use of PII for fin gain by inducing dishonest act
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Tech offers unified cloud & container security for instant visibility into lateral movement attacks
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30% Black & 27% Hispanic investors own cryptos vs 17% whites
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‘Thrifting’ a strong trend among teens with their switch to thinking secondhandTrends
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Grocer partners life skills app to offer visual cues for autistic shoppers
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Citi’s True Name is taken up by 7,000 credit card customers
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App enables divorced parents to track & manage shared expenses for children
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Neobank for teens to offer payt card linked to wallet & IBAN a/c for fund transfers
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Startup’s credit card offers installment loan for monthly subscriptions
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Chicago-based digital lender acquires neobank to enable offering fully digital E2E banking products
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Mastercard launches customizable tool for banks to help consumers calculate carbon footprint
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Citi integrates ESG scores into securities services data platform
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Debit card to offer personalized tips on alternatives for each spend to help lower CO2 impact
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Agri bank to allow CX to direct interest on savings a/c to fund tree-planting projects
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Advanced price comparison app uses AI virtual asst. to offer personalized guidance & alerts on new offers
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Advanced price comparison app uses AI virtual asst. to offer personalized guidance & alerts on new offers
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Tech can compress complex ML models to new form factor for deployment on edge
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ANZ Bank’s AI automates CX profiling & attributes analysis to enable credit decisioning in 4 secs
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Vendor’s AI data quality app with E2E support for data lake to be available on Azure
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Cloud-based data mgmt solution to offer visibility into E2E data supply chain
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Execution mgmt platform enables ingesting real time data from streaming & API-based systems
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Tech to classify raw transactional data to predefined income & expense categories for credit decisions
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Microsoft now offers a de-risked ‘Staged Rollout’ for hybrid Azure Active Directory
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IBM to offer cloud-native platform to enable developing mainframe apps on container tech
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IBM’s cloud to offer banks access to instant evidence for compliance w/o requiring data collection
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Tech implement cloud-native storage without requiring its customers to know Kubernetes
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DLT open source app allows real-time verification of orgs & representatives for KYB checks
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Open-source registry enables real-time ID verification between blockchain businesses
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Utah to pilot NFC and QR code-enabled mobile driving licences
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Tech enables building trusted risk profiles of micro merchants using unique x-linked signals
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BoA uses personalized WFH trainings, newsletters & games to support employees with disabilities
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E&Y creates CoE to recruit candidates with neuro disorders for analytics & cyber risk functions
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StanChart Bank’s internal marketplace maps employees to future skills-based career opportunities
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DBS launches inhouse tech academy to instil foundational skills in growth tech
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Apple’s directional haptic output could apply to slide controls on any Apple device
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TikTok videos to automatically transcribe speech from video to improve accessibility
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FB’s wristband to let users move digi object just by thinking about it
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VR wristband can accurately detect small motions of individual finger interactions
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Capriotti’s digital approach boosts fast-casual ‘sweet spot’
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Startup’s browser extension allows integrating CO2 offsets for purchases directly to checkout flowsImportant
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Lowe’s installs grab-and-go shopping experience and exclusive space for Pro customers
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Walmart’s post-McDonald’s future To Include Tacos, pizza, salads and non-food tenants
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Equifax solution offers banks direct access to CX utility payts data via API for credit review
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Closure of Barclays’ P2P payt app implies need for leveraging open banking to innovate faster
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Bank’s app allows CX to compare bills & utilities & make a switch in 5 mins
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PwC marketplace integrates fintechs to offer API enabled banking solutions cross-journey
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Wealth mgmt solution to offer back-office & record keeping services on SaaS
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Vendor to offer E2E client lifecycle mgmt solution on plug-n-play, SaaS basis
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Betterment to offer joint checking a/c for managing shared finances
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Digi advisor’s goal-based portfolios spread out new money across multiple a/cs to lower tax outgo
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Domino’s and Nuro to begin autonomous pizza deliveries in Houston
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Chipotle to pilot food delivery using Nuro AVs as third-party delivery fees are hurting profit margins
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S/w enables mom & pop retailers to offer same-day delivery by offering software for aggregation
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Use of micro-fulfilment centers can lower vehicle related emissions 26% for last mile: Accenture
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Citi to offer centralized view of service inquiries globally using Swift gpi for faster payts resolution
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Verizon-AWS to offer 5G mobile edge computing for deploying ultra-low latency biz apps real-time
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Same Day ACH payts limit to increase to $1M/transaction from current $100K
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T-Mobile’s 5G broadband for homes to use mid-band frequencies to enable low pricing
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PayPal offers merchants real-time data modeling to spot shifting fraud patterns
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Mastercard’s app for Request-to-Pay enables billers to directly request funds w/o sending invoices
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Instacart and Chase to partner on credit card to enable earning rewards on grocery deliveries
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65% CX globally prefer to use contactless payts more than current levels: Visa
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Mastercard supports mobile app to capture, verify and reconcile corporate expenses
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Venmo Business Profiles targets small sellers or people with side hustles
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Visa taps deeper into Bitcoin through new partnership with Crypto.com
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Mastercard, Liberty Tax team up to support stimulus and tax return payments on prepaid card
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Future Apple devices could shape-shift to show tactile notifications
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Google Pay ‘Spring Challenge’ offers a $30 reward for using the new app
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Google Lens comes to desktop web with Google Photos OCR
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Google Pay ‘Spring Challenge’ offers a $30 reward for using the new app
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Google begins integrating rooms, chat tabs to personal Gmail accounts
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Google is restricting which apps can see the other installed apps on your device
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Apple is now rejecting apps that use third-party SDKs to collect user data
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Apple would allow users to control their Apple Watch by blowing on it
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Apple researching AR pop-up booths to remotely demonstrate devices
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Future Siri may adjust speech based on environmental conditions, user input
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Siri gets two new voices, no longer defaulting to a female voice at setup
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Arizona bill providing alternative to Google and Apple’s in-app purchase options, is scrapped
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Global eSIM adoption to increase 180% by 2025 led by Apple
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Apple’s future MR Headset to include touch zones & in-air gesturing
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Google Assistant to add a “Memory” feature save notes and reminders
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iPhone 12 ‘supercycle’ set iPhone sales records in 2021 – 220 million units for the full year
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Innovations & Trends

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