S&P Global Market Intelligence rounds up financial technology companies' recent product launches, partnership announcements and fundraising activity, as well as regulatory developments in the financial technology space. For more fintech news, click here.
Top news
PayPal Holdings Inc. unveiled Pay Monthly, a new buy-now, pay-later offering issued by Salt Lake City-based WebBank, which allows U.S. customers to break the total cost of their purchases into monthly payments over a six- to 24-month period without late fees. The offering may be used for purchases between $199 to $10,000, with the first payment due a month after purchase.
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Bank of America Corp. is expanding its virtual account management solution to U.S. companies. The solution gives companies the ability to open virtual accounts acting as subledger accounts tied to a physical account.
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Morgan Stanley launched a digital tool that gives the company's field leaders a "bird's-eye view" of the way brokers are engaging with clients, Advisor Hub reported, citing executives. The tool, called Manager Next Best Action, will enable Morgan Stanley branch managers to send data- and AI-driven directives to advisers regarding how, when and why they should reach out to clients, the executives reportedly said.
Banking and lending
Royal Bank of Canada and Plaid Inc. inked a data access agreement that will provide the bank's clients with an option to share their financial data via a direct application programming interface with their chosen apps and services on the Plaid data network.
Royal Bank of Canada also signed a data access agreement with Envestnet | Yodlee to allow its clients to connect to and share financial information with the third-party applications powered by the Envestnet | Yodlee platform.
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Dunedin, Fla.-based Achieva CU partnered with bitcoin trading company NYDIG to introduce an app offering cryptocurrency services, such as the ability to buy and sell bitcoin, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
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Treynor, Iowa-based TS Banking Group selected banking services from Temenos AG, delivered on the Temenos Banking Cloud, for a front-to-back digital transformation. TS Banking Group will move all of its banking operations to Temenos' open platform for composable banking.
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Under a partnership, Hawthorne, Calif.-based SkyOne FCU will utilize the AI lending software of Zest AI Inc. to approve credit union members overlooked by traditional national scoring methods.
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Totowa, N.J.-based North Jersey FCU signed a multiyear agreement for Lumin Digital's cloud-native platform for online and mobile digital banking solutions.
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Toms River, N.J.-based independent mortgage bank Family First Funding LLC implemented Nexus Engagement, Nexus Origination and Nexus Closing from nCino Inc. company SimpleNexus LLC to give borrowers and loan originators a "from anywhere" mortgage technology. The three tools facilitate a streamlined, single sign-on homebuying experience that may be accessed anywhere through a lender-branded mobile app.
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Banking app Lili extended its offering through the addition of payment solutions and third-party integrations. The company released a new app center that enables entrepreneurs to connect their accounting software, payment apps and marketplaces to the Lili app.
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Under a 10-year partnership, fintech company Sagent will power Oklahoma City-based Chickasaw Community Bank's growth with homeowner-first, enterprise-grade platforms.
Payments
Through an agreement with payments fraud detection company Advanced Fraud Solutions LLC, Fiserv Inc. is letting financial institution clients automate check fraud detection, risk-based funds availability and decisioning processes. TrueChecks from Advanced Fraud Solutions is accessible through a web portal or integrated through an application programming interface and gives real-time responses on fraudulent items.
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Payveris LLC introduced Loan Payments, a loan and debt repayment service with an array of real-time payment methods and channels. The service supports cash, debit card and e-check/Automated Clearing House payments and allows consumers to pick their preferred payment channel.
Trading and investing
Morningstar Inc. unveiled Morningstar Investor, a new investment research platform replacing the company's Morningstar Premium web offering. The exclusive research and ratings available through Morningstar Investor may be assessed across a universe of over 21,000 stocks, 7,000 mutual funds and 3,000 exchange-traded funds.
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U.S. Bancorp unit U.S. Bank NA, KeyCorp unit KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp unit Fifth Third Securities Inc. joined DirectBooks LLC, a primary markets communications platform for structured deal data, documentation and information exchange in primary markets. The additions bring the total number of global underwriters on the platform to 22.
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