Payment Observer industry spotlight includes small business solutions providers. Learn more on their website.

FinovateEurope, 35 companies showcased their latest innovations in payment, financial, and banking technology. It was the second time that the show, a spin-off of the American Finovate conference series, took place in London. What makes the event really special is the format: all companies have only 7 minutes time on stage to demo their services and are not allowed to use slides. Among the companies have been startups as well as large and established players presenting their innovations.

Best of Show 2012

After the presentations, the event’s attendees could vote their favorite demos. This year’s best of show winners are:

• Cardlytics (together with Aimia) presented its transaction driven marketing platform that brings banks and merchants together to provide tailored rewards to their customers.
• Dynamics which demonstrated its Chip&Choice card, a battery-powered multiple application card featuring EMV-technology.
• eToro showed Guru Finder which allows users to find and implement personalized trading strategies on the company’s OpenBook trading platform.
• Nutmeg showed its customizable online investment management service.

Some companies launched new services at the event:

• Electronic payment innovator Ixaris, the company that developed EntroPay, launched Opn Cardworks, a payment application which enables businesses to quickly set up a personalized prepaid card solution.
• IND Group released its renewed Banking Front-Office product, with Gamification as the main idea. The goal is to make the banking processes more fun and motivate clients to use the bank’s online services more often.

Focus: Mobile

One of the main topics at this year’s FinovateEurope was mobile technology:

• Fiserv showed M-Cash, a white label mobile payment service.
• Mobile payment company Luup presented a mobile travel authorization and budget management service.
• Validsoft demoed its voice-based authentication technology for mobile and online banking.
• Handpoint showed an interesting white label mobile Chip&PIN payment solution.
• Finsphere presented its security solution that uses the location of the cardholder’s mobile phone relative to the location of the financial transaction.