Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Digital, NEO, Open Banking, Open Finance
NCFA’s Fintech Confidential Issue 3 (Dec 2020) is here! Happy Holidays…
NCFA | Craig Asano | Dec 17, 2020
Dear Global Fintech & Funding Communities,
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and partners are excited to present Vol. 1 Issue 3, FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL, a digital pop-up of the 6th annual 2020 Fintech & Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON20) held virtually across themed 8 weeks from July 9 to August 27 and co-hosted by NCFA and Toronto Finance International.
The main theme of FFCON20 was “RISE”, reflecting the joint efforts of the two associations, NCFA and TFI, to build and increase the success and sustainability of Canada’s fintech and financial sector. There were many moving parts this year and a brand-new digital format with the event bringing together 100+ thought leaders, 50+ partners, and more than 500 attendees, 2 challenges and the inaugural Fintech Draft pitching and demo competitions. Congratulations to the winners: SolidBlock and MazumaGo (formerly DivDot)! Thanks to all the partners, speakers, attendees, volunteers and the entire organizing team for making FFCON20 an impactful and amazing online experience for Canada’s fintech and funding community.
Despite a challenging year for many, the fintech industry continues to demonstrate its resilience, creative capacity, and thirst to create valuable partnerships and financial products/services that benefit millions of consumers, small businesses, and the economy. As covid accelerates the adoption of digital trends, it has spotlighted the social and economic gaps that saw fintechs pivot to work on supportive solutions from mobilizing low-cost capital campaigns to personal finance apps that help users better manage their finances, spending, savings, and investment habits.
Digital identity, CBDCs (and digital assets), AI, and sustainable finance are all taking off as governments and industry work to collaborate on overhauling Canada’s digital infrastructure, data rights, privacy and standards that will set the stage for years to come. The second round of open banking consultations that were delayed due to the pandemic were suddenly announced in November with many organizations, fintechs and incumbent banks coming together to discuss the scope, governance, implementation, and accreditation of a made in Canada OB solution. We urge the OB committee to remain laser-focused on consumer interests while looking globally for insights to implement a principles-based, inclusive, broad-scoped and competitive framework as swiftly as possible.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Fintech Confidential magazine – it certainly makes for great holiday reading! While everyone relentlessly strives to achieve success in 2021, we encourage you to bring in the new year with good health and to be mindful that we are all in this together, and to help others in your community more than ever before. Peace, happiness, and best wishes for an incredible year and journey ahead.
All the best
Craig Asano
Founder and CEO
NCFA Canada
Check out the magazine --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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December 2020 Magazine: NCFA Fintech Confidential (Vol 1. Issue 3)
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Former Koho CTO, head of Uber Money launch new FinTech startup with $15.8 million CAD seed round
Betakit | | Dec 8, 2020
The FinTech sector in North American is a tale of partnerships; startups having to find banking partners due to extensive regulations, and financial institutions trying to keep up with the digital age and looking for innovative solutions.
All this all encompassed by an industry that is slow to adapt to such changes and hard to break into for newcomers. This reality has led to the need for even challenger bank-style FinTech startups to partner with existing financial institutions in order to offer their products.
Enter Synctera, a North American startup looking to streamline partnerships between community banks and FinTech companies.
Newly launched out of stealth mode, Synctera is co-founded by Peter Hazlehurst, former head of Google Wallet and Uber Money, who left the latter organization earlier this year after Uber decided to shift focus away from financial services. Synctera’s founding team also has some notable Canadian FinTech pedigree with the now-former CTO of Koho and Portag3 Ventures, Kris Hansen.
See: Why Partnerships Are the Future for Fintech
The pair, along with head of product Dominik Weisserth, created Synctera and have been operating in stealth mode since earlier this year. Now, with $15.8 million CAD ($12.4 million USD) in seed capital, the startup is officially launching its product in the United States.
Synctera provides a two-sided marketplace, connecting startups and financial institutions so they can partner to launch products. “We’re basically building a layer that fits between banks and partners to facilitate … FinTech partnership, and to create a marketplace in the middle … that helps bring these worlds together,” Hansen told BetaKit.
Synctera may be a young company, but that value proposition has attracted notable investors in the FinTech landscape.
The startup was created with the support of Portag3-backed venture builder Diagram Ventures, which invested in the seed round. The all-equity round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and included a number of angel investors such as Affirm and PayPal founder Max Levchin; Zachary Perret, CEO of Plaid; Alexa Von Tobel, founder of LearnVest and Inspired Capital; and Henry Ward, CEO at Carta.
Following the investment, Synctera’s board of directors consists of Hazlehurst, who serves as CEO, Ansaf Kareem, the lead Investor at Lightspeed, and Diagram partner Frederic Latreille.
See: Bank/Fintech Partnerships: The Fad Is Over
Founded during the year of a global pandemic, Synctera is a fully remote company with operations in the United States and Canada. Incorporated in America, Synctera also has a Canadian subsidiary and its engineering team is based out of Toronto.
The startup is building a partnership banking marketplace in order to connect community banks with FinTech platforms. The idea is to reduce risk, ensure compliance with various regulations such as Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC), and increase the speed at which FinTechs and banks can bring tech solutions to market.
“What I saw was really an opportunity to decouple that relationship, which is typically bilateral agreements and a one-to-one integration per partner, and just really create more of a marketplace,” said Hansen.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Lenders’ Challenge: Custom vs Off-the-Shelf Software
The performance of technology has become critical to business success in the new COVIDnomics. Digital lending requires speed and simplicity and forces financial organizations to rethink front-to-back office processes.
The pandemic acted as a catalyst for digital transformation. According to research by London and Partners, the UK Fintech sector has attracted $3.6bn in VC investment, putting it in second place globally behind San Francisco, estimated at $5.1bn. With the increased interest in fintech and digital transformation, a lot of founders and lenders are looking for reliable tech solutions.
“Since the pandemic started, we see lenders have accelerated their digital transformation plans,” says Ivan Kovalenko, CEO of HES FinTech. “Sticking to the old ways with traditional technology under the hood is no longer an option. Consumers are addicted to speed and convenience, which makes automation and technology the number one priority for lenders worldwide.”
Rephrasing Shakespeare: Custom software or out-of-the-box (OOTB)? That is the question.
Option 1: Off-the-Shelf Lending Software
According to Wikipedia: “OOTB software works immediately after or even without any special installation without any configuration or modification.”
When looking at Capterra and its list of loan software providers (over 190), business owners develop a certain idea of the platform’s desired functionality. To get it right away, lenders opt for software paid on a monthly basis, the so-called SaaS model. And this option works well if a lending entrepreneur is seeking to launch an MVP and test the product-market fit quickly.
However, buyers need to be aware that OOTB tools have little space for customization and are limited in their abilities to develop alongside a unique business model. Moreover, SaaS providers won’t make a functionality update to align with your new business requirements unless the rest of its users make the same request. This is where you have to pay extra for customization.
| Advantages of OOTB software | Disadvantages of OOTB software |
| A quick start: SaaS lending software is often a component-based, integrated and end-to-end platform that is already installed and configured. | Vendor lock-in: The customer is ceding control to the SaaS provider. Moreover, there can be per-user charges and penalties for growth. |
| Scalability: SaaS software is flexible enough to accommodate a client's unique growth plan. | Typically a customer has no access to the source code of the platform. |
| Low initial costs: No upfront hardware costs and flexible payment methods, such as pay-as-you-go models. | Extra costs: Depending on the business model, the customer may require to customize the decision-making process, calculations, document management, reporting, 3rd party integrations, etc. |
| POC: Founders can easily and quickly do proof-of-concept (POC) and test the software functionality together with the business or product idea. | TCO: While the initial costs of SaaS solutions might be significantly lower, the YOY costs, in conjunction with customizations, can add up to a large amount of money in the long-run. |
“From our experience, it’s one size fits none scenario. If you are starting as a small team of ten and planning to scale to the enterprise level, make sure your software can do the same,” adds Ivan Kovalenko, CEO of HES Fintech.
Option 2: Custom Lending Software
The competitive advantage of any financial institution lies in its ability to respond to changing market conditions and, at speed, to meet the specific needs of its target audience quickly.
In the current climate, many lenders see SaaS as a way to launch fast and reduce costs, but there’s one thing they need to know first. As with any investment decision, businesses need to understand the total cost of ownership, including YOY customization and integration costs, data migration costs, premium support, etc., and potential risks.
The lending business is not cheap. Yes, with SaaS, a lender can start an MVP quickly and relatively inexpensively. However, scaling and customizing, according to unique business needs, can easily cost over $500,000. And the client does not own the solution.
Owning the source code ends the SaaS contract, but missing repository access and documentation can still create vendor lock-in in a custom build.
| Advantages of custom software | Disadvantages of custom software |
| Tailor-made software follows specific business needs and requirements. It is fully compatible with the legal environment and strictly follows the client’s specifications. | High investment: While it may pay in the long run, the initial investment may be a little overwhelming for some companies. |
| No vendor lock-in: The client controls everything and owns the source code. | Time to market: While OOTB software can be implemented within a couple of days, bespoke solutions require typically half a year to go live. |
| TCO: In the long run investing in custom software is far more profitable than purchasing a ready-made product. | |
| Flexibility: With bespoke software, lenders can adapt to market trends and introduce new products faster. |
Despite its initial costs, lending software development can be a good investment if you are growing and anticipate your company to scale. Before choosing between custom software and SaaS, a lender should take a close look at the available resources and compare them with the core functionality they want to see on their new platform.
Wrap Up
To “build or buy” is a never-ending question. Some companies start with off-the-shelf software because it’s fast and cheap but ultimately switch to custom products, while other lenders are ready to stay and scale with SaaS providers.
There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.” This is what you need to consider when choosing a solution.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Liquid Avatar, Lumedic, Loop Insights, The Campus Agency and TripXpertz Form Consortium to Manage Verifiable Identity Credentials for COVID-19 Vaccinations
KABN | David Lucatch | Dec 8, 2020
Verified Self Sovereign Identity, together with a complete end-to-end issuance and verification health credentials ecosystem, ensures individuals have full privacy and control of personal healthcare data, including vaccination records, so they can securely start returning back to public life, freely.
TORONTO, ON and GIBRALTAR / ACCESSWIRE / December 8, 2020 / The KABN Network, together with KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. (CSE:KABN) (the "Company" or "KABN North America"), a Canadian fintech company that specializes in continuous online identity verification, management and monetization in Canada and the US, through its biometrically and identity verified Self Sovereign Identity platform, Liquid Avatar (www.liquidavatar.com), today announces the formation of a consortium of industry leaders that will empower people to start getting back to the activities, people and places they have been missing in their lives. The consortium has developed an integrated solution that enables healthcare issuers, individuals and verifiers to have a digital COVID-19 verifiable identity healthcare credential that is secure, user managed and controlled to ensure privacy, transportability and ease of use. This solution supports the foundation for the acceptance of digital Healthcare Passports.
This consortium initially includes the Lumedic Exchange, to power the healthcare credential ecosystem; Loop Insights (MTRX), a leader in automatic contact tracing; The Campus Agency, to support on campus programs at over 2,000 US Colleges and Universities; and TripXpertz, an organization that works with over 1,000 travel and tourism boards, airlines, wholesalers and resorts, together with Liquid Avatar's Self Sovereign Identity platform to empower the worldwide Healthcare industry to issue Identity-based Verifiable Credentials through a secure, effective and cost-efficient ecosystem.
See: Liquid Avatar and The KABN Network Launch Cloud-based Biometric Identity Verification for Self Sovereign Identity, Digital Wallets and Verified Credentials
This ecosystem will allow qualified Health Professionals with the ability to issue a Verifiable Credential that enables venues and other facilities to verify both the issued credential and the known user in real-time to grant access and / or services. This partnership built on a Trust over IP (TOIP) open standards framework, and the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) specifications for decentralized identifiers for credential management, can power interoperable COVID-19 vaccination and other verifiable credentials across a host of user managed and controlled digital wallets and applications. This process can be used for multiple use cases such as Education, Workplaces, Tradeshows, Healthcare, Sporting Events, Concerts, Entertainment, Travel, Places of Worship, Senior Living, and other facilities, venues and locations and opens the door to further opportunities for commercial and consumer opportunities.
Liquid Avatar's Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) platform, which includes user biometric validation and a bank-grade verified identity credential, is available to consumers at no cost. Liquid Avatar enables users to verify and manage their identity and access credentials in a cloud-based, biometrically-secure application. Users have complete control over their digital assets (like wallets, passwords and more), identity, and data through easy to use avatars that can be shared, on a permission-basis with others. The COVID-19 Verifiable Healthcare Credential combines healthcare data with the user's biometrically verified identity credential. When a request is made by a Verifier, the User has a choice of which attributes are shared, creating a private verification transaction between themselves and a verifier. While much of the technology and services are already in place, the launch of the healthcare credential pilot is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2021 to coincide with the expected release of the COVID-19 widespread vaccination program.
This program will not only be able to verify identity credentials for the Covid-19 vaccines, diagnostic and antibody testing, but will also be able to support a wide range of immunizations and healthcare records.
"We want to empower users to return to public life and the things they once did freely, pre-COVID-19, with ease and continued safety, with this and future credentials," said David Lucatch, CEO of KABN. "Our goal is to help get everyone back to life as efficiently and effectively as possible, so a sense of "normality" can be reestablished. Liquid Avatar and the ecosystem, together with this amazing group and a growing list of partners, will potentially enable businesses, schools, entertainment venues, and more do the normal things that they do and give users the power to engage with them as they did before the pandemic changed our lives."
Healthcare issuers and individuals will be granted access to the system at no cost. Verifiers wishing to access the system will be charged a nominal subscription and micro-payment per verification, making it very cost efficient and effective to use the system for small and medium sized enterprises all the way up to major airlines, venues and facilities. The partners are committed to making the services affordable to all parties, so that everyone can get back to their everyday lives.
See: From Voting To Social Media: What Does The Future Hold For Digital Identity On The Blockchain
The KABN Network is working with leading industry partners to provide a safe and effective ecosystem that supports the issuance, ownership and verification of these verified identity and access credentials and is proud to be working with the following partners at the outset of this announcement covering a wide range of technologies, issuer, consumer and verification engagement, with additional partners to be named as the program grows.
Trust over IP Foundation (ToIP)
As a member of the Trust over IP Foundation (www.trustoverip.org) steering committee, The KABN Network is committed to the organization's open-standard framework and tech stacks. ToIP recently released its Covid-19 Credentials Initiative ("CCI") Governance Framework for public review.
"Trust over IP offers an important new model for how to assemble the pieces that create working and reliable digital trust ecosystems. We are very excited to see momentum growing for real-world cases where the model is being used to make people's digital lives simpler and better. This includes the KABN Network becoming part of the Lumedic Exchange," said John Jordan - Executive Director of the Trust over IP Foundation. "We hope to see this momentum continue, and more organizations using the Trust over IP model to create solutions that benefit individuals and businesses."
Lumedic Exchange
The KABN Network, as a founding partner, is working with the Lumedic Exchange (www.lumedic.io), an open-standards, decentralized framework for the healthcare industry giving patients greater control over their health data.
Chris Ingrao, Chief Strategy Officer of Lumedic, a US-based Health technology company, part of Providence Health Systems ecosystem, comments: "Lumedic recently launched the Lumedic Exchange, the first healthcare ecosystem of its kind dedicated solely to community-driven standards development for patient-intermediated information exchange using verifiable credentials, to support secure exchange of vaccination information."
Loop Insights, Inc.
Powering professional sports, entertainment, collegiate and other venues and facilities with Automatic Contract Tracing, Loop Insights, Inc. (www.loopinsights.ai) (MTRX) has developed a fully managed contactless check-in platform that securely transfers contact information and triggers real-time notifications at scale.
"The success Loop has had with our recent NCAA sporting events using our venue tracing and management tools, only reinforces the need for a unified verifiable credential that consumers and businesses can trust. Working with KABN and Liquid Avatar and their digital identity platform will provide our customers - and ultimately consumers - with the level of trust required to provide personal information such as COVID testing results, vaccination proof, payment, and other sensitive personal information required in today's changing landscape. We are thrilled to be one of the first partners to work with KABN and Liquid Avatar on an end to end solution that will provide this safety, security, and peace of mind required to protect consumers looking to return to a new way of life where mobile devices and personal information will be at the forefront of nearly every interaction", Rob Anson, President and CEO Loop Insights.
The Campus Agency
With reach to over 2,000 US College and University campuses and over 1.5 Million Gen Z students, alumni and families, The Campus Agency (www.thecampusagency.com) has been supporting innovative direct to student and online marketing programs for over 40 years.
"We are really excited to be working with KABN and Liquid Avatar and be a member of this consortium. COVID-19 has impacted the lives of students and faculty on college campuses in such a major way, and we are looking forward to being part of a solution that provides campus communities with the tools and resources they need to return to their way of lives, safely and securely," Chris Nyland, Chief Operating Officer, The Campus Agency
TripXpertz
Powering over 1,000 travel and government tourism boards, airlines, travel wholesalers and resorts in US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and around the world, to more effectively reach their intended travel audiences with end to end travel marketing management, booking and analytics solutions TripXpertz (www.tripxpertz.com) is changing the way the travel industry reaches travelers and how travelers can receive better value from their travel experiences.
"Our Priority Protection Passport program is aimed at restoring consumer confidence and trust in travelling again and piece-of-mind while away," says Brad Miron, CEO of TripXpertz. "This partnership gives us, and our multiple program stakeholders, the ability to verify an individual's identity with certainty, while maintaining security and privacy - In the context of Priority Protection Passport, Liquid Avatar and the capabilities of the Verifiable Identity Healthcare Credentials are foundational to what we must deliver to attract, assure and welcome back tourists to destinations."
For more information on the program and / or how to become a consortium partner or participant, please visit www.liquidavatar.com
About KABN North America - www.kabnnaholdco.com
KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. through its wholly owned subsidiary KABN Systems North America Inc. focuses on the verification, management and monetization of Self Sovereign identity, empowering users to control and benefit from the use of their online identity. The KABN proprietary technology suite includes 4 key products:
Liquid Avatar is a verified Self Sovereign Identity platform empowers users to create high quality digital icons representing their online personas. These icons, in conjunction with KABN ID, allow users to manage and control their digital identity and Verifiable Access and Identity Credentials, and to use Liquid Avatars to share public and permission based private data when they want and with whom they want. www.liquidavatar.com
KABN ID is an Always On, biometric and blockchain based digital identity validation and verification platform allowing users to continuously and confidently prove themselves throughout the online community.
KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. is publicly listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol "KABN" (CSE:KABN)
If you have not already joined our mailing list, and would like to receive updates on KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp., please click here to join!
For more information, please visit www.kabnnaholdco.com or www.kabnsystemsna.com
For further information, please contact:
David Lucatch
Chief Executive Officer
647-725-7742 Ext. 701
ir@kabnsystemsna.com
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. Granted Canadian FINTRAC License
RevoluGroup Canada | Dec 7, 2020
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RevoluGROUP Canada Inc. (TSX-V: REVO), (Frankfurt: IJA2) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has granted the Company with the Canadian FINTRAC license M20352455 on the 4th of December 2020.
The Broader Ramifications of The Canadian FINTRAC License
The granting of the Canadian FINTRAC license represents a major corporate milestone. Bringing the RevoluPAY app's banking technology home to Canada has been the management's goal from the outset. The national dialogue surrounding Open Banking is at a fever pitch across Canada. While the several U.K. domiciled Neobanks are vying for access into the nascent app-based digital banking space, to managements knowledge, RevoluGROUP is the only Canadian Fintech with proven and functioning technology. A Canadian federally endorsed open banking legal framework is seemingly approaching. During this interim term, RevoluGROUP chose to accelerate the adoption of its RevoluPAY Neobank Fintech to customers worldwide, having met and exceeded Europe's most stringent banking security criteria to obtain the coveted pan-European PSD2 license. RevoluPAY also joined forces with the top 40 world bank BBVA, Flutterwave, and Thunes. RevoluPAY is now transacting with +100 countries.
RevoluGROUP CEO, Steve Marshall, stated: "Bringing our core open banking technology back to Canada is a natural step, especially since an upcoming federal Open Banking legal framework is potentially looming."
See:
NCFA OpEd: Canada’s Open Banking Consultations: Let’s Get it Done!
Finance Canada Announces Second Phase of Open Banking Virtual Consultations Dates
Canadian consumers appear primed for the Fintech revolution since, according to Payments Canada, 62% of Canadians reported using less cash since the onset of the pandemic. In comparison, 42% of Canadians surveyed said they avoided shopping in places that did not accept contactless payments. As a result of today's news, the Company expects to rapidly introduce a Canadian Dollar version of the RevoluPAY Apple and Android app with our linked Visa card upgraded to multi-currency. Canada will get an ensemble of financial technology that has proven extremely popular worldwide for its ease of use, cutting-edge transaction security, and minimal fees when compared to conventional banks.
Stage set for Neobanks in Canada
Business Insider recently reported growing dissatisfaction with the Big Five Canadian banks, especially amongst consumers under 40. Fintech adoption has nearly tripled in Canada, increasing from just 18% in 2017 to 50% in 2019, per E.Y. Meanwhile, during the past decade, European born RevoluGROUP executives witnessed firsthand a similar scenario unfold in Europe. During this closely observed period, the emergence of Neobanks saw conventional banks ceding significant market share to app-based banking technology equivalent to RevoluPAY.
United States MSB License Update
During the past week, management at the Florida based wholly-owned subsidiary RevoluGROUP USA Inc. has submitted several State government solicited supplementary documents. The progress concerning the petition for the analogous United States MSB licenses is advancing positively. The recent obtention of the Canadian FINTRAC license in conjunction with the previously presented Pan-European PSD2 license bodes well for the Company's ongoing application process.
View original release --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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NCFA OpEd: Canada’s Open Banking Consultations: Let’s Get it Done!
NCFA Canada | Dec 3, 2020
Open banking is about giving Canadians control over their banking data to allow them to take advantage of data-driven financial services offered by third parties. But what exactly does that mean?
Imagine giving Canada Post the key to your house to deliver a parcel, rather than leaving it securely in a mailbox. The same situation may happen when sharing your banking data with a third-party. While some provide a secure mailbox accessed using an application programming interface, other require consumers to divulge their user name and password to a stranger. Open banking regulation would provide consumers with a secure and standardized way to share data and access valuable financial advice, products or services.
This week Finance Canada’s Open Banking Advisory Committee (OBAC) is holding the second phase of consultations. OBAC is meeting with banks and financial institutions, financial technology (fintech) companies, industry associations, and other stakeholders coast-to-coast. Five three-hour sessions take place from November 30 to December 17 to review the proposed framework, covering data standards, privacy, cybersecurity, accreditation, and more.
See: MOF: Consumer-directed finance: the future of financial services
This is welcome news after the almost two-year delay since the first consultations were launched in January 2019. Canada’s foot dragging continued despite the June 2019 recommendation from our Senate Banking Committee that “The federal government must give Canadians the means to share their financial data safely and securely by facilitating what’s called open banking”.
See: Senate of Canada, “Open Banking: Protecting Canadians’ financial information”, June 19, 2019, https://sencanada.ca/en/info-page/parl-42-1/banc-open-banking/#collapse-item3.)
The hold up continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, when Canadians turned to digital platforms to manage their personal finances as never before.
The OBCA understands the urgency to get this regulation in place. We agree. It is time to pass open banking legislation that provides access to innovative financial services while protecting consumer-welfare, similar to what exists in the EU, UK and Australia.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) has long advocated for consumer-centric financial services that increase consumer choice. Canadians deserve competitive and transparent pricing. They deserve regulation that is proportionate to the risks and rewards. We support innovations that increase financial inclusion, address bias and discrimination, and create jobs. We want our fintechs to succeed at home and abroad, alongside other Canadian technology success stories.
The UK has been a leader, passing open banking legislation in January 2018 to increase competition and promote innovation in financial services. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the government regulator responsible for protecting consumers. The FCA has set open banking standards and publishes a list of approved providers. This agency has been proactive, for example targeting data brokers who aggregate and sell consumer data. The UK has set the model for Canada to follow.
See: Global Risk Institute Report: Discussing Open Banking Regulation for Canada
The OBAC will recommend Canada’s open banking solution to the Finance Minister. A successful launch will require one entity to be responsible for the roll-out. It will require harmonized rules across Canada to avoid a provincial patchwork. Licensing and compliance costs should encourage competition and not simply favour incumbents, in line with the February 2019 submission from Canada’s Competition Bureau.
Education and effective communication will be critical. Regulators cannot rely on consumers to educate themselves, which was tried and failed with equity crowdfunding. To boost public confidence, we need a public awareness campaign that highlights the benefits of open banking and the steps being taken to protect consumers.
Canada’s framework needs to recognise international standards and avoid being siloed. To this end, OBAC should incorporate the work of the Standards Council of Canada on industry-wide standardization strategies for data governance. We need a future-proofed framework that will support a globally competitive financial system.
The open banking train has left the station. Canada risks being left behind if we don’t act now. The greatest risk is inaction. Passing open banking legislation will allow Canada to advance to a financial future that puts the needs of consumers first.
Craig Asano is the Founder and CEO of NCFA Canada. Prof. Michael R. King is a NCFA Advisor and Richard Remillard is a NCFA Board Member.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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