Over the past few weeks, several FinTechs have made announcements launching new features and partnerships. Here’s the latest on these company updates.
Nicko van Someren joins nanopay as chief security officer
Toronto-based nanopay, a payments platform helping banks facilitate real-time global payments, has added Nicko van Someren as its chief security officer (CSO).
Van Someren has been a member of nanopay’s advisory board for the past five years. Most recently, Van Someron served as the CTO and executive director of the Linux Foundation’s Core Infrastructure Initiative, a program that aims to improve the security of open source projects. Before that, Van Someren was the founder and CTO of the hardware security model company nCipher Plc, which was acquired by Thales eSecurity; the CTO of Good Technology, which was acquired by Blackberry; the chief security architect of Juniper Network; and the founder and CTO of Ant Plc.
“Nicko’s been advising us since the beginning of nanopay. His proven track record and strategic vision on security are a perfect fit for the company and align well with the direction of nanopay,” said Laurence Cooke, founder and CEO of nanopay. “With the addition of Nicko to our team, our products will set a new standard for secure, frictionless payments.”
As nanopay’s CSO, Van Someren will ensure that nanopay’s products and services are secure in their design, implementation, and operation. He will also work with the company’s product and marketing teams to carry the message of nanopay’s security to customers, users, partners, investors, and regulators.
“I am excited to be joining nanopay and to help it transform the way that payments are processed,” said Van Someren. “Cryptographic security has always been at the core of what nanopay does, and as CSO, I shall be working to ensure that key principles of security and trust lie at the heart of everything we do going forward.”
nanopay raised a $10 million Series A in October 2016.
RentMoola launches pre-authorized payments solution
Vancouver-based RentMoola, which allows property owners to collect rent through an online platform, has announced the launch of a pre-authorized debit payments (PAD) tool for the property management industry.
RentMoola said it has partnered with BMO Financial Group to launch PAD, which digitizes pre-authorized debit enrolment for monthly rent payments. RentMoola’s goal through this solution is to reduce the need for forms and void cheques, and allow tenants to pay with any payment methods from anywhere. The company said tenants can also access RentMoola’s MoolaPerks rewards program.
“We are excited to bring RM PAD+ to the Canadian multi-family rental and apartment market. There has been no innovation in pre-authorized payments for decades until now,” said Patrick Postrehovsky, co-founder and CEO of RentMoola. “As a FinTech leader, RentMoola is delivering on its mission of providing a rewarding and paperless payments solution while helping realize significant time and expense reductions to owners and operators. RM PAD+ allows the tenant to also easily make one-time payments which until now has been another pain point.”
SecureKey exploring interoperability in its digital identity network
Toronto-based SecureKey, which develops authentication and identity solutions for online consumer service companies, announced it is joining the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) to continue establishing standards for decentralized digital identity networks.
SecureKey said as a member of the DIF, it will explore the interoperability between Verified.Me — its blockchain-based digital identity network built upon Hyperledger Fabric — and Hyperledger Indy-based identity projects. According to its website, Hyperledger Indy “provides tools, libraries, and reusable components for creating and using independent digital identities rooted on blockchains… so that they are interoperable across administrative domains, applications, and any other ‘silo.'”
Specifically, SecureKey will explore integration points and projects between digital identity-focused platforms. Verified.Me allows users to consent to sharing their digital identity attributes and gain access to various online services.
“Today’s digital identity systems are broken, and we at SecureKey firmly believe that companies building digital identity solutions have a responsibility to work collaboratively in developing holistic products and standards that benefit all users,” said Greg Wolfond, founder and CEO at SecureKey. “This represents an important step in leveraging the best of the mature offering we have built with Verified.Me on Hyperledger Fabric 1.1+ and extending our expertise to both the Hyperledger Indy Project and the DIF to establish firm digital identity network standards for the next generation.”
SecureKey raised $27 million in funding in October 2016.
Photo via Unsplash.
