Strands and Credolab Bring Smart Money Management to Banks

Barcelona, Spain-based Strands and Singapore’s credolab announced a partnership this week that will give banks a new solution to help their customers make better decisions with their finances. The collaboration will embed credolab’s credit scoring technology into Strands personal finance management platform, giving banks the real-time ability to obtain relevant customer insights with embedded risk assessments.

“Strands’ expertise in developing customizable digital money management solutions for banks will add great value to our clients globally,” credolab founder and CEO Peter Barcak said. “We are confident that our embedded technology will help Strands develop solutions to promote a more delightful way of banking that empowers customers with meaningful interactions, and makes them happier, more loyal, and more profitable.”

In their joint statement, Strands and credolab noted that retail banks often face challenges when it comes to improving customer engagement and providing long-term value to their customers. They blame a lack of relevant data, as well as the inability to generate significant insights into customer behavior and preferences. The integrated solution will serve as a “one-stop shop” for banks to realize new potential revenue sources by helping their customers be smarter with their money.

“By partnering with credolab, Strands is in a stronger position to deliver state of the art financial management solutions to banks worldwide,” Strands CEO Erik Brieva said. “This collaboration will allow us to embed next generation scoring technology into our AI-driven product suite, meeting financial institutions’ increasing demand for smart, highly customizable, and scalable FinTech white-label solutions.”

Credolab demonstrated its CredoScore technology at FinovateAsia 2018. This spring, the company has announced a collaboration with regional credit risk and decision analytics company Qarar to help the UAE-based company enhance its credit risk scoring processes.

Strands made its most recent Finovate appearance last month at FinovateAsia Digital. Teaming up with Tearsheet to publish its guide to “Banking as a Service,” in May, Strands began the year with news that CEO Brieva had been named to Analytics Insight’s Top 10 Most Inspiring CEOs.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

• Voyager Innovations, the company behind Filipino-based payments app PayMaya, secured $167 million in funding to support the launch of a digital bank.
• Vietnamese investment app Infina raised $2 million in seed funding from investors headquartered in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, the U.S., and South Korea.
• Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group filed for a digital banking license this week.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Ghana International Bank partners with Backbase to assist in its digital transformation.
• Nigerian neobank FairMoney announced $42 million in Series B funding.
• Tech Nova looked at the role of mobile operators in driving innovation in sub-Saharan Africa’s fintech industry.

Central and Eastern Europe

• Slovakia’s largest commercial bank, Slovenská sporiteľňa, announced a partnership with FICO to enhance lending operations.
• Russia’s central bank began pilot testing a digital ruble.
• Germany challenger bank Tomorrow added carbon tracking to its app.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• Splitit announced a partnership with UAE-based Buy Now Pay Later firm tabby.
• Sorbet, an Israeli fintech that enables workers to convert unused paid time off into cash, raised $21 million in seed funding.
• Executive Magazine looked at the challenge of attracting capital to fintech in Lebanon.

Central and Southern Asia

• Indian “supercard” startup Slice raised $20 million in new funding.
• Pakistan-based digital bank, UBL, announced a partnership with Temenos.
• Digit, an insurtech startup based in India, earned a $3.5 billion valuation after raising $200 million in funding this week.

Latin American and the Caribbean

• Brazilian payments and banking as a service platform Conductor has expanded into the Mexican market.
• The first cryptocurrency exchange in Haiti launched this week, courtesy of a partnership between Naijacrypto, Dash Haiti, and Dash Core Group.
• Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin raised $200 million in funding from the SoftBank Latin America Fund. The investment is the largest Series B round in Latin American history.