On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, sixty nine startup companies unveiled their products at FinovateFall in Manhattan. Finovate is a major financial technology conference that occurs four times a year. 1,100 banking and industry professionals were in attendance to see the latest products available to other companies and consumers. Financial technology is a major growth sector in technology right now, so this conference was followed in business circles outside of financial technology.
Fraud prevention systems and products for banks were among the hottest trends at this year’s conference. The increasing popularity of online banking has created and increasing concern for fraud prevention in the banking industry. Banks are looking for identity verification measures that are more secure than passwords, and other innovations to keep consumers’ information safe and prevent loss of money. Eight of the sixty nine presenters at Finovate were companies that had created systems for preventing fraud.
Fifteen other companies were pitching products which provide finance and investment tools to individual consumers. Products and services in this area ranged from interest free loans to financial organization tools to financial planning. Many used online or mobile applications to make finance more accessible to the individual consumer.
Start ups at the conference included:
–Socure: provides a real time identity verification system for banks to identify their clients.
–Manilla: organizes a consumer’s household bills (cable, phone, internet), bank accounts, subscriptions, and rewards programs on one page. It delivers bills and statements for each account and sends automatic reminders when bills are due.
–Float: lends money interest free to members who shop through its website.
–LearnVest. provides clients with a personal financial planner who helps them set and reassess financial goals.
Finovate selected eight companies as the “Best in Show”. The winning companies are featured on Finovate’s website.