Visa is teaming up with PayPal and Venmo for its new Visa+ service to allow customers to move money between more person-to-person digital payment apps. 

The Visa+ pilot uses personalized payment addresses linked to PayPal and Venmo accounts to allow users to send payments without using a card, according to a Visa release.

“Consumers continue to seek simple and seamless ways to digitally move money between friends and family, including the ability to send money between different payment platforms,” Chris Newkirk, global head of new payment flows at Visa, said in the release. “Through this collaboration, Visa+ can help break down barriers for payment app users as they connect, engage and move money.” 

The Visa+ platform is expected to go live later this year, with general availability planned for mid-2024, according to the release. 

Along with PayPal and Venmo, Visa partners include payment platforms DailyPay, i2c, TabaPay and Western Union, according to the release. 

Liberty Bank taps Alkami for digital banking platform

Middletown, Conn.-based Liberty Bank has selected Alkami’s digital banking platform for assistance with the bank’s digital overhaul. 

The $7 billion bank sought an open platform to significantly enhance the retail and business customer experience, David Mitchell, chief digital officer at Liberty Bank, told Bank Automation News. 

“We specifically needed a new modern UI/UX to provide a better front-end experience, and we also wanted a single platform for both retail and business customers versus maintaining multiple systems,” he said. “In addition, we needed an open platform that was API-driven, cloud-based and allows us to bring products and services to the market much faster, unlike most of the closed legacy systems.” 

The cloud-based Alkami solution utilizes several technologies within its digital banking platform, which aligned with Liberty Bank’s technology journey, according to Stephen Bohanon, Alkami co-founder and chief strategy and product officer.

“The platform leverages API integrations with hundreds of third-party data and processing providers to facilitate self-service functions for bank customers,” Bohanon told BAN. “Additionally, Alkami leverages AI/ML to personalize the user experience, including the targeting of content and offers, and to mitigate fraudulent activity.” 

Using Alkami’s platform, the bank “will be able to connect with their customers using messaging, video and other tools like AI,” Mitchell said, adding that communications can be tailored by demographics. 

Magnolia State Bank selects Teslar for lending operations

Bay Springs, Miss.-based Magnolia State Bank selected automation platform Teslar Software to help streamline its lending processes. 

The $420 million bank will use Teslar’s exception tracking tools to boost efficiencies within its lending operations, according to a release. 

“By automating and streamlining some of our loan documentation and tracking processes, we will be able to empower our front line with the most up-to-date information necessary to better serve customers,” Curt Jones, chief credit officer at Magnolia State Bank, said in the release.  

Magnolia State Bank is the latest partnership for Teslar, which secured the business of Hillsboro, Ohio-based Merchants National Bank at the end of March. 

“We have boots on the ground when we first start working with a bank. We identify a couple of use cases, and then it grows from there,” David Hamrick, senior account executive at Teslar, previously told BAN. 

FedChoice FCU expands agreement with MeridianLink

Lanham, Md.-based FedChoice Federal Credit Union has extended its relationship with digital lending platform MeridianLink. 

The $438 million credit union now has access to MeridianLink’s loan origination and account opening products, which will provide FedChoice with a data-driven lending and deposit marketing automation solution to increase its ability to segment audiences within its member database, according to a release. The latest solution FedChoice is utilizing is the tech provider’s business intelligence solution, MeridianLink Insight. 

“Our biggest pain point was processing times,” said Brian Fleming, head of business intelligence for FedChoice, said in the release. “The addition of [MeridianLink Insight] allowed us to shift from reactive to real-time management of the loan origination process by shortening the window between seeing results and acting on results.” 

FedChoice’s integration of the MeridianLink solution was completed in late March, according to the release. 

Finastra partners with Alygne on ESG investments

Core provider Finastra is teaming up with sustainability tech platform Alygne to help asset managers make more informed environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investments. 

Through the partnership, Alygne integrates into Finastra’s Fusion Invest platform to allow for portfolio management capabilities in support of ESG-related efforts, according to a Finastra release. 

“In addition to using traditional financial metrics to monitor their portfolios, our customers can strengthen their decision-making process by accessing Alygne’s tailored ESG data through our solution,” Fabien Feron, senior product manager of Fusion Invest at Finastra, said in the release. “They can easily check the impact of trade simulations for both public and private markets.” 

In the release, Corinne Grillet, chief executive at Alygne, said, “Retail and institutional clients can also use this data to promote ESG capabilities to their end customers.” 

Finastra is the core provider to Sandy, Utah-based FinWise Bank, Elizabethton, Tenn.-based Elizabethton Federal Savings Bank and Spirit Lake, Iowa-based Bank Midwest, among others, according to an FI Navigator report provided to BAN.