Bleckwen, a French cybersecurity startup, has recently been awarded EBAday “Fintech Zone Winner”.
If you are on the market to buy stocks they are a company to watch out for. Originally founded as part of Ercom Group in 2016, Bleckwen emerged as an entity in early 2019. The company has already raised €8.8m in funding with spending plans for international development, as well as advancement of capabilities of its AI-powered platform. A key investor is RingCapital, who provide funding to fast growing digital companies that have the scalability for success.
Bleckwen provides software for banks, which both detects and prevents fraud. The fintech’s AI-engine is designed to expose human hacking. The software also protects banks from the risks posed by open banking (PSD2), where third-party providers will increasingly be used to manage customers finances. The encrypted solution runs on public cloud platforms and is said to be fully GDPR compliant.
Financial fraud has risen to an estimated €3.5 trillion per year. With the increasing challenge to business, Bleckwen is focused on two key areas, anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF). A report on the “Fraud Detection and Prevention Market” by Markets and Markets, has estimated the worth of this area at $63.5 billion by 2023. Given the huge value of the industry, Bleckwen is established and driven to grab a large stake in the sector.
During last year, the company has set out its goals for expansion. The management team has been strengthened with two notable appointments. David Christie as CEO (formerly COO of Euronet’s money transfer business) and Matt Knowles as Chairman (previously CEO of HiFX). To meet its goals to upscale, the company also has plans to open offices in both the UK and US later in 2019.
Leading the way with its AI-powered platform. Bleckwen is working closely with customers, including a tier-1 bank. The software is built for being adaptable and scalable to suit the real-time needs of the market. By combining algorithms with readable results, it turns data into something that is understandable for both employees and customers.
International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts the world will be creating 163 zettabytes of data a year by 2025, ten times the amount produced in 2017. All this data needs to be turned into something of value. This is where the future of fintech is necessarily being shaped by AI-capabilities. It’s ability to ensure compliance, act as a digital advisor and assess risk through huge datasets. This is all made possible through the algorithms of machine learning.
With the financial sector being a highly sensitive area, carrying considerable risks and a huge degree of complexity. The future of the industry will need both AI and human intelligence to navigate the increasing complexities and data. The rise of sophisticated and automated fraudulent activity means that the industry response needs to be equally as intelligent.
Technological innovation is essential to tackle the growing threat facing financial institutions. At Bleckwen, customers have seen a decrease in fraud losses by more than 60%, and a reduction in the rate of false positives by 95%. With its expansion and accumulation of investment, combined with their ability to flex for consumer demand, they are paving the way in the use of AI for the fintech industry.