Equifax is getting more into what you might describe as fintech farming, so to speak.
On Tuesday Equifax introduced InnovationX that the company said is a new immersive experience to help fintechs, established financial institutions and other organizations accelerate innovation in today’s competitive market.
Perhaps as a slight agriculture reference, Equifax described this project as a “unique testing ground” for new financial services products that can enable organizations to validate ideas and understand new markets with ready access to real-time, cloud-native data and advanced analytics
According to a news release, InnovationX will be led by Peter Maynard, the newly appointed senior vice president of data and analytics for Equifax United States Information Solutions (USIS).
“E-commerce and financial services have converged. Customers expect the same convenience, flexibility and personalized experience from the financial services companies they interact with as they do major e-commerce retailers,” Equifax USIS president Sid Singh said in the news release.
“InnovationX was created to help financial institutions of all sizes create experiences that stand apart from the competition,” Singh continued. “We’re inviting organizations to test and validate their ideas using our unique data and analytics expertise — working hands-on with Peter Maynard and our USIS Data and Analytics team to innovate at the speed of now.”
With new innovations being developed in close collaboration with Equifax executive leadership and the company’s data science, Equifax thinks InnovationX can bring fintechs and other companies the insights they need to drive change for their customers and smarter revenue for their businesses.
By participating in the InnovationX immersive experience, organizations can:
— Quickly test and bring new solutions to market with real-time access to data and analytics, and cloud-native, differentiated data assets that Equifax can provide. Equifax Data Fabric will enable access to the precise data needed to expand an organization’s view of their customers, create new financial opportunities for unbanked or underbanked individuals and make more informed decisions while managing risk.
— Leverage patented Equifax Explainable Artificial Intelligence (xAI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to analyze massive structured and unstructured data sets rapidly
— Choose from a menu of customizable options to create the model configuration with segmentation, data source and modeling techniques that work best for their business
—Drive greater digital identity trust for each identity behind every payment, account creation and login event — blocking fraud in real-time and enabling personalized customer experiences
Maynard has spent seven years in enterprise analytics leadership roles at Equifax. He brings more than two decades of experience to the role of senior vice president of data and analytics and joined Equifax from a major financial institution, where he spent more than 10 years leading application risk and response modeling.
Under Maynard’s leadership, Equifax said InnovationX will offer businesses the insights they need to deliver convenience, flexibility and a more personalized experience to their customers.
“Predictive data and advanced analytics are at the heart of fintech innovation and competitive advantage,” Maynard said.
“InnovationX enables us to work side-by-side with customers to help them harness the power of data as they prepare to launch new solutions, remain ahead of changing credit risk patterns, reduce fraud and create better customer experiences in an increasingly competitive environment,” he went on to say.
The Equifax InnovationX immersive experience is open now in Atlanta with in-person and virtual sessions designed in accordance with COVID-19 social-distancing guidelines.
For more information or to get started, visit Equifax.com.
White Clarke Group isn’t sitting idle even as it’s being acquired for the second time in five years.
As part of the latest CALMS loan origination software release, White Clarke Group has launched the CALMS Customer Direct module, developed to support finance companies in digitizing their services.
The company explained CALMS Customer Direct can simplify the end-to-end finance application journey, from initial application capture, finance calculations and credit decisioning through to document collection, verification and contract boarding.
With an enhanced user experience, White Clarke Group said in a news release that Customer Direct can empower customers to complete a finance application digitally, at their own pace, from any device.
White Clarke Group went on to mention CALMS Customer Direct’s offering includes built-in solutions for eSignature and digital verifications. The artificial intelligence chatbot feature is powered by machine learning and natural language processing, allowing it to respond to customers intelligently and guide them toward the most suitable finance options.
“The pandemic has accelerated digitization in the finance industry. Borrowers now expect lenders to provide the option of a 100% digital loan origination experience,” said Shim Mannan, executive vice president of product and business development at White Clarke Group.
“With the increased emphasis towards digitization, our customers have requested an expanded feature set for the direct space,” Mannan continued. “With the latest CALMS Customer Direct update, we’re able to offer a suite of services that allow lenders to support the full loan origination lifecycle. Lenders have the option of using the APIs to integrate their existing digital portal with the LOS.
“We also offer a configurable user experience that can be white labeled and integrated into the lender’s existing digital suite. We’re very excited to support our lending partners in offering an end-to-end, multi-channel, digital loan experience,” Mannan went on to say.
NowLake Technology — the result of the recent uniting of Westlake Technology Holdings and Nowcom Corp. — is now collaborating with a startup that’s gained momentum in the past six months.
After launching in Chicago in September and adding five industry leaders to its advisory board a month later, Carsfast formed a strategic partnership with NowLake to enable consumers to buy and finance vehicles through SMS chatbots.
The companies explained that shoppers now will be able to get a pre-qualification with Westlake Financial and search for vehicles that fit their payment and amount financed criteria through Carsfast’s SMS technology.
“The technology that Carsfast provides car buyers is cutting-edge and aligns perfectly with our mission as a fintech organization,” said Ian Anderson, group president of Westlake Technology Holdings. “This partnership enables us to reach a broader audience more efficiently through the avenue of SMS technology, which is truly one of a kind for car buyers.”
Carsfast developed its technology and built a following in the Australian market before expanding to the U.S. last year. Carsfast can allow shoppers to complete the entire car buying process through SMS chatbots.
The firm said consumers do not need to download an app or visit a website. Instead, shoppers can review available vehicles and get pre-qualified for auto financing through SMS conversations.
Users can demo the Carsfast platform at https://weare.carsfast.com/demojourney.
Carsfast is being guided in part by its advisory board, which is chaired by Marguerite Watanabe, who is the president of Connections Insights and one of last year’s Women in Auto Finance honorees.
“Car buyers around the world want similar things. Convenience, choice, and an affordable and hassle-free buying and financing process when they are in the market for a vehicle,” Carsfast chief executive officer and founder Shaun Sumaru said.
“Our technology, driven by chatbots that enable convenience and ease of use for the consumers and cost-effectiveness for our partners, is tried and true and has had an overwhelming positive response from car buyers in the U.S.,” Sumaru continued.
Two of Westlake’s other top executives are upbeat about what the relationship with Carsfast could produce.
Senior vice president of sales and marketing Mark Vazquez said, “Carsfast’s new technology offers a new and exciting way for consumers to shop, finance, and buy their next car. We anticipate this new technology will help drive car sales at auto dealers by simplifying the buying process.”
And senior vice president of originations Kyle Dietrich added, “Consumers worldwide demand innovation, whether that’s with a product or service. Carsfast’s technology improves the vehicle search and speeds up the car-buying process — that’s a win in the consumers’ eyes.”
Separate reports from Bain & Co. and S&P Global Market Intelligence detailed how much the COVID-19 pandemic propelled the adoption of digital tools in banking and financing, cultivating a fertile field for more advancements and investments this year and beyond.
Beginning with the consumer-facing perspective, Bain pointed out that customers have turned to digital channels for all kinds of transactions, including the financing and purchasing of vehicles as well as other banking products.
Experts said that as bank branch visits have dropped, change has led to an increase in the hidden defection of consumers, who are now increasingly buying products from banks and providers other than their primary bank.
Now, depending on the country surveyed, between 25% and 51% of all banking product purchases are going to banks that aren’t the surveyed customers’ primary bank. These are among the findings included in Bain’s latest report, As Digital Banking Takes Off, Hidden Defection of Consumers is Rampant.
Over the past few years, Bain said banks have focused on improving their digital services due to increased consumer demand. Improvements to banks’ mobile apps and websites have paid unexpected dividends for customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.
While deposits and core current (checking) accounts generally remain at customers’ primary banks, Bain discovered are losing customers on high-margin products such as loans, credit cards and investments.
“We surveyed more than 56,000 consumers in 11 countries and found that while respondents most frequently cited affordability of a competing offer as their reason for purchasing products from another bank, they also cited better digital tools, a simpler purchasing process and convenience as key reasons,” said Katrina Cuthell, a partner with Bain & Company in Sydney and a co-author of the report.
“These numbers were higher among younger customers, who put an even greater emphasis on digital tools, convenience, branding and security,” Cuthell continued in a news release
If current trends hold, Bain projected that hidden defection will likely intensify in many countries due to the spread of regulations, which will make consumer data portable and thus encourage competition.
The U.K. — which has one of the most competitive banking markets in the world — has the highest defection rate of the 11 countries surveyed. As consumer-friendly, “open-banking” types of regulation take hold in more countries, competition in those markets could intensify. as well, according to Bain’s findings.
“We saw that while some respondents actively search for product options, others respond to ads, with 29 percent of those who defected receiving a direct offer from a competing bank. Of the latter group, 78% said they would be willing to buy from their primary bank if it made a compelling or equivalent offer,” said Gerard du Toit, a Boston-based partner with Bain & Company and the leader of the firm’s global customer experience practice.
“In order to halt the current defection of customers, banks will need to remove the friction that exists in their marketing so consumers won’t feel compelled to shop around, and excel in the basics of opening accounts, so prospective buyers don’t drop off,” du Toit went on to say.
Fintech investment ripe for growth
Now let’s look at the investment angle.
Last year’s favorable market conditions for companies in the U.S. fintech sector are likely to continue throughout 2021, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s annual Fintech Market Report.
The new report indicated that the fintech sector not only weathered the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but many subsectors benefited from it, due to the increased use of digital channels by consumers.
Published by S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Financial Institutions Group (FIG) Research team, this report put a spotlight on the current state of digital distribution and fintech.
The report found that changes in consumer behavior driven by the COVID-19 pandemic led to favorable conditions for the fintech sector. These conditions included surges in demand for digital insurance brokers, mobile banking and more.
Coupled with an ample supply of venture capital and the potential for more IPOs and mergers, analysts said the positive trajectory for the sector is expected to remain.
“By now, the fintech sector is probably on everyone’s radar, but the extent to which customers continue to use digital channels after the pandemic passes remains to be seen,” said Thomas Mason, senior research analyst for FIG at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“At the very least, the pandemic has put a spotlight on both the strengths and weaknesses of digital distribution, offering a stress test of the scalability and fault tolerance of these systems,” Mason continued. “We expect increased digital adoption and the one-stop-shop model to be key themes in 2021, as well as robust IPO and M&A activity in the space.”
Other key highlights from the report included:
— Digital investing: Analysts determined the economic impact of COVID-19 provided a clear windfall to online brokers as U.S. retail investors that already had accounts traded much more heavily, and first-time investors jumped into the action. Charles Schwab, E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade together boosted new accounts in 2020 by 316% in the first quarter and 197% in the second quarter.
— Digital lending: S&P Global Market Intelligence noted the pandemic has been the most significant shock to the non-bank digital lending industry in the past 10 years. Origination volume in the first three quarters of 2020 declined 36% year-over-year across a core group of companies focused on personal lending, small and medium-sized enterprises lending, and student lending.
— Insurtech: Analysts pointed out the insurtech space has been largely unfazed by the pandemic, with many startups still able to grow rapidly, secure venture capital and go public. The creation of insurtech companies that both sell and underwrite policies (also known as full stack) accelerated in 2020, with five property and casualty companies either forming a carrier or announcing the acquisition of one, up from three in 2019 and one in 2018.
—Mobile banking: The latest research found that customers have increasingly turned to their mobile bank apps for basic banking services since the outbreak of COVID-19, forcing institutions to rapidly adjust digital strategies to fill gaps in their offerings. S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 2020 U.S. mobile banking survey found that nearly 58% of respondents indicated that they visited branches less frequently after the COVID-19 outbreak began in the U.S. Overall, 44% of respondents to the survey indicated that they leaned on their mobile banking apps more frequently as a result of the pandemic.
— Mobile payments: The report also mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted mobile payment adoption in the U.S. and led to record growth among multiple nonbank payment providers. Square’s Cash App saw funds stored in-app grow from $945 million to $1.3 billion in the month of April. PayPal saw net new active accounts nearly double from 3.9 million to 7.4 million in the same month. Both businesses experienced significant growth in users and transaction activity in the months following the initiation of the pandemic.
TD Bank Group (TD) recently made a significant commitment to safeguarding open-source software (OSS).
According to a news release, TD became one of the first major banks to join Open Invention Network (OIN), collaborating with more than 3,300 other members in the non-aggression community funded by Google, IBM, NEC, Philips, Sony, SUSE and Toyota.
OIN’s community practices patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent OSS technologies by cross-licensing Linux System patents to one another on a royalty-free basis. Patents owned by OIN are similarly licensed royalty-free to any organization that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System.
“We remain focused on leveraging the best technologies for our platforms and are excited to join the Open Invention Network (OIN), that supports protection from patent infringement claims for the greater good of the wider innovation community,” said Josh Death, intellectual property and patentable innovations lead at TD.
The OIN patent license and member cross-licenses are available royalty-free to any party that joins the OIN community.
“The financial services and fintech industries are increasingly relying on open-source technologies for building and integrating feature-rich platforms,” Open Invention Network chief executive officer Keith Bergelt said
“As the first major North American bank to join our community, we are pleased that an established leader like TD is committed to patent non-aggression in core Linux and adjacent open-source technologies,” Bergelt added.
Diversification continues to be an apt adjective to describe Westlake Technology Holdings.
Less than a week after highlighting the annual growth of its diverse, $12 billion portfolio, Westlake and Nowcom Corp. launched a fintech company on Tuesday named NowLake Technology.
The companies explained in a news release that NowLake was born from the close relationship between Westlake and Nowcom in an effort to solidify their presence in the fintech space.
NowLake Technology will be the parent company of Westlake Technology Holdings and Nowcom Corp. NowLake’s board of directors will consist of Don Hankey, chairman of The Hankey Group, and members of Westlake, Nowcom and Marubeni Corp.
Westlake and Nowcom said they will continue to operate independently from each other in their core business model.
Nowcom Corp. develops technology solutions for the automotive and financial services sectors, including Westlake Technology Holdings.
Westlake Technology Holdings will continue to provide indirect financing solutions to thousands of dealers throughout the United States, as well as offering auto refinancing, secured loans, personal loans and third-party servicing.
The companies said their first joint ventures include investments into TurboPass, SoFi, Carsfast, Affirm, Auto Finance in Canada and developing a medical loan program for Covered Care.
“The completion of this merger is part of our larger goal to expand our opportunities in automotive and other fintech spaces like point of sale, medical, secured, and personal loan financing,” said Ian Anderson, group president of Westlake Technology Holdings.
“Here at Westlake, we are thrilled to be working even closer with Nowcom to build a better future for our clients and the communities we serve,” Anderson continued.
Tuesday’s development continued a string of major actions involving Westlake. In December, NextCar Holding Company (NXCR) — a fintech and insurtech vehicle subscription platform orchestrated by Scott Painter and Georg Bauer — and Westlake announced that they have signed a letter of intent to secure a $400 million debt facility and to enter into a strategic partnership.
And now with the alignment of Westlake and Nowcom, perhaps even more developments are on the horizon.
“We are thrilled about the joining of Westlake and Nowcom to form NowLake Technology,” Nowcom president Jay Kamdar said in the release. “Together, our scale, complementary strengths, shared mission, and more efficient utilization of resources will propel both companies to new levels of success in the fintech space. I am looking forward to our bright future together.”
Meanwhile, Hankey, who is chairman and primary stockholder of all Hankey Group-controlled entities, is just as upbeat.
“This is truly a historical moment for us — two great companies with aligned values and a deep commitment to making a positive shift in automotive finance, coming together to make a bigger impact in fintech, Hankey said. “As NowLake, our clients can expect to see more innovative technology and a wider range of services.”
Tresl used technology to celebrate its accomplishments of the past year that arrived in part to how the fintech leveraged both its human and technological resources while overcoming challenges created by the pandemic.
In late January, Tresl hosted what it dubbed “Mission Possible,” a virtual employee event that included a little mystery, puzzles and prizes, as well as recapping what the fintech firm accomplished in 2020 and its goals for 2021.
“Through our continued effort to put the safety and support of our customers first, Tresl observed a higher than anticipated number of auto refinances coupled with several new partnerships in the vehicle lease buyouts line of business, making 2020 a year we should all be very proud of,” Tresl chief executive officer Christine Pierson.
“Our success was a direct reflection of our people, their performance, and their dedication to helping customers find the financial solutions they needed, when it mattered most,” continued Pierson, who was among the Women in Auto Finance highlighted last year.
Tresl celebrated a host of highlights from 2020, including:
● Rebranding as Tresl (formerly, Innovative Funding Services, or IFS)
● Keeping employees safe by deploying 85% of associates to remote working environments
● Hiring approximately 50% more associates than the year prior
● Establishing four new lending partnerships
● Establishing two new strategic business partnerships
● Launching Tresl Car Sales
● Augmenting its e-enablement platforms with e-pay, e-notary, and e-sign (wet signature) to its offerings, making the customer experience almost 100% digital
● Increasing its associate engagement scores nearly 20 points in an unprecedented year
● Continuing to increase its customer review ratings to 4.6/5 while adding more than 1,900 additional reviews via Trustpilot
Along with rewarding its top performers from the fourth quarter, Tresl also treated its top overall associates who generated the best results of the year with an all-expense-paid trip to Nashville, Tenn.
As a precursor to the event, employees received a surprise “Mission Possible” tool kit via mail, packed with “cool gear and an invitation to a top-secret virtual venue.”
Once in the “Mission Possible” venue, employees were challenged to solve puzzles for prizes, including a drone, Apple Watch 6, multiple Kindle Fire tablets and more.
Throughout the day employees had access to inspiring on-demand video sessions including a creative opening video from “Special Operations Officer, C. Pierson,” as well as video sessions from keynote speaker Kevin Kush and motivational speaker and author John Davidson.
“‘Mission Possible’ took months to prepare for, but we think it was well worth every minute,” Tresl digital marketing and communications specialist Kim Davidson said. “It provided an engaging, team-focused event where associates could browse the venue at their convenience, feel connected and earn prizes while getting a glimpse of our ‘Mission Possible’ goals for 2021.
“Employees showed their creativity and team spirit by Slacking photos of themselves wearing their ‘Mission Possible’ gear, which included a branded T-shirt, black sunglasses, a laser light invisible ink pen and a little black notebook,” Davidson continued.
“And though the majority of our employees are still remote, we were able to revel in the past year’s accomplishments as a team, while looking forward to the strategic and positive plans we hope to accomplish in the new year,” she went on to say.
The two primary segments of Dealertrack’s tools for dealerships and finance companies — F&I solutions and DMS — are each being upgraded to adapt to consumers’ accelerated shift toward digital purchasing as well as achieve higher efficiency and productivity in today’s digital-first environment.
Beginning with Dealertrack F&I, the company announced new digital workflow and contracting solutions for dealerships and finance companies in an effort to provide crucial e-solutions that expand opportunities to connect and contract digitally via an even more streamlined financing process.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Dealertrack pointed out in a news release that preferences for online engagement and interactions continue to increase, underscoring the importance of digital integration. In fact, the 2020 Cox Automotive COVID-19 Consumer and Dealer Impact Study found an overwhelming 85% of dealerships are going beyond conducting business in their physical location, indicating that the option to conduct business digitally from anywhere is an essential element of future-proofing any dealership’s 2021 business strategy.
“Following the sea change brought about by circumstances in 2020, dealerships are moving fast to adapt to a virtual workforce, which requires the right technology partners and platforms to provide a digital workflow for all,” said Cheryl Miller, vice president of operations for Dealertrack F&I Solutions.
“At Dealertrack, we’re working on providing a fast-track solution to digitally connect more car dealers with more lenders through a streamlined financing process, enabling an efficient and flexible workflow that drives faster funding and improves cash flow — even when in-store visits are no longer the only option for customers,” Miller continued.
With more dealerships and finance companies embracing digital workflow, the company said client adoption of Digital Contracting Ready Sign functionality grew approximately 135% based on Dealertrack data from July to December.
Dealertrack added that the number of deals signed with Ready Sign has seen an estimated 173% increase and the number of eSign documents created using Ready Sign grew up to 233% over the same time period.
Dealertrack said it will continue to fulfill its promise to provide dealerships and finance companies with solutions that work more collaboratively in a digital world such as:
Digital Contracting Choice
Dealertrack Digital Contracting Choice can extend a dealership’s functionality to submit contracts digitally to non-integrated (paper) finance companies, eliminating errors and additional steps in the submission process. With this solution, finance companies currently outside the scope of full digital contracting now can appear digital to their dealers, enabling the convenience of a digital workflow to more lenders of a dealer’s choice.
Seamless DMS Integration
Further increasing efficiencies, Dealertrack Digital Contracting can offer seamless integration to an increasing number of DMS providers while allowing dealers to map workflow and reduce deal data entry. This seamless integration, now available on the Auto/Mate and DealerBuilt DMS platforms as well as on Dealertrack DMS and others, contributes to dealership staff being able to conduct more essential areas of business digitally, which is a necessity for the future.
For users of both Dealertrack DMS and Dealertrack uniFI, the company highlighted the level of harmony goes one step by allowing for remote signing of all required documents in a single signing ceremony — adding another dimension of convenience for both consumers and sales staff.
Dealertrack Ready Sign
This tool can enable dealership staff and customers to eSign documents through a single signing ceremony either in-store or remote and submit any deal document digitally as permitted by their state. Dealertrack mentioned this new technology not only currently facilitates dealership staff’s adherence to social distancing protocols but can be useful beyond the pandemic to allow the consumer digital flexibility during their vehicle-buying journey.
Compliance
Dealertrack acknowledged that every year brings new changes to the compliance landscape, requiring a dealership to safeguard against fraud, fines and audits with integrated compliance checkpoints throughout the deal.
The company said dealerships can protect profits and ensure mishaps are mitigated through real-time updates and checkpoints along each step of building one complete digital deal jacket. Dealertrack noted that its annual Compliance Guide has been updated for 2021 and is easily accessible, so retailers can seamlessly share updates.
Cris Aviso is finance director for the Regal Automotive Group in Lakeland, Fla. Aviso shared feedback about using Dealertrack’s F&I solutions.
“We equate the value of solutions in terms of the money, time and customer satisfaction they generate,” Aviso said in the news release from Dealertrack
“We used to wait several days for a deal to be funded, but now with Dealertrack Digital Contacting Choice we can have the deal verified within hours if not minutes, never miss a signature, and it pre-fills with our DMS – that constitutes very real value,” Aviso went on to say.
Latest developments with Dealertrack DMS
And speaking on DMS, Dealertrack DMS also announced new integrations as 2020 proved to be a year of significant change in which dealerships had to pivot to meet evolving expectations of service customers, buyers and team members.
Dealertrack noted this transformation also required retailers to address the operational complexities of the day —approximately 75% of franchise dealerships were switching to digital sales operations, according to the Cox Automotive Sentiment Survey.
And Tracy Fred pointed out this trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down in 2021.
“In these uncertain times, dealerships are more dependent on digital solutions than ever. The need to optimize their technology integrations to prepare for the future, eliminate inefficiencies and ensure their teams have the support they need is at an all-time high,” said Fred, who is vice president of operations for Cox Automotive brands VinSolutions, Xtime and Dealertrack DMS.
“Today, the average dealership uses approximately seven software integrations simply to complete a sale,” Fred continued in a separate news release. “The new Dealertrack DMS integrations bring more processes together, adding ease and efficiency to ensure auto retailers can save time and money which translates to better customer service and happier employees.”
The company highlighted that Dealertrack DMS integrations and solutions are designed to build on its longstanding commitment to put dealers at the center of every business decision and innovation.
Officials added that Dealertrack DMS is focused on deep integrations that continue to add ease and efficiency to operations while boosting satisfaction where it counts most for dealerships in 2021 and adding profitability across critical cash flow areas, including:
Digitized AR Statements
Dealertrack DMS can provide retailers with a simpler, quicker, and less costly way to notify customers and vendors of outstanding accounts receivable balances.
By digitizing AR statements, the company said dealerships can more easily share with customers through email and bulk print statements, as well as utilize modern templates with the ability to add a color logo.
Modern Warranty Claims
The company explained dealerships can submit, track and audit all warranty claims in a single screen featuring all the tools needed to help optimize the customer’s experience.
Through providing a centralized information hub, Dealertack DMS can assist dealerships by increasing accuracy and visibility, streamlining user experience and workflow, and working to integrate with additional Cox Automotive solutions.
Integrated Payroll and HR Management
Through this solution, Dealertrack noted that dealerships can gain complete control of the entire employee lifecycle through easy-to-use tools that leverage exclusive integrations to make integrated payroll and HR management “a breeze.”
By bringing together otherwise disconnected or stand-alone solutions into a single service, dealerships with Dealertrack DMS can help eliminate frustration and inefficiencies within the payroll and HR management processes, thereby improving retention and reducing employee turnover.
Dealertrack elaborated about this topic through an online resource title, “A Dealer Principal’s Guide to Hiring and Retaining Talent,” which can be found on this website.
Neal Jackson is controller at Lawley Automotive Group in Sierra Vista, Ariz. Like Aviso in Florida, Jackson described his experience using Dealertrack’s tool through the company news release.
“As a centralized accounting office for multiple dealerships, we rely on fast, easy information from the outlying departments to produce payroll,” Jackson said.
“I’ve been doing this since 1993, so whenever there are new solutions like Integrated Payroll, powered by Netchex, I’m eager to give it a try. Pretty much anything I put into Netchex, data-wise, I can get out through a report. With Netchex, I no longer need to do manual time-consuming tasks. It is a huge time saver for me,” Jackson went on to say.
For information on all Cox Automotive’s 2021 new offerings, visit www.coxautoinc.com/experience.
Tresl is making an investment in a fellow fintech stemming from a relationship that began nearly two years ago.
And the firms are also rolling out a tool aimed to help banks and credit unions.
On Tuesday, Tresl announced that the company has made a strategic investment in CreditSnap, which describes itself as a next-generation lending platform based in San Antonio. Tresl said it also will take a seat on CreditSnap’s board of directors, according to a news release.
CreditSnap is an award winning fintech company that provides a lending and account opening platform to banks and credit unions as a white-labeled product. This same platform powers Tresl’s digital pre-qualification experience and helped Tresl achieve a 100% improvement in look-to-book ratio as well as improved customer satisfaction in both its auto refinance and auto purchase loan channels.
Based on "overwhelmingly positive" results, the two firms agreed to align officially with the shared objective of serving the needs of the bank and credit union community.
The relationship between Tresl and CreditSnap began in late 2018 when Tresl was looking for an innovative way to deliver highly accurate pre-qualified rates and terms to its customers. After extensively evaluating multiple solutions, Tresl found that CreditSnap’s SaaS solution was superior.
After some rapid configuration and setup, Tresl deployed CreditSnap’s pre-qualification engine in early 2019, overnight becoming CreditSnap’s largest client. In conjunction with other proprietary technology and operational optimizations Tresl has undertaken, the CreditSnap pre-qualification engine has allowed Tresl to unlock strong results, including more than 100% improvement in look-to-book ratio and improved customer satisfaction.
“CreditSnap’s pre-qualification engine served as a strong technology platform to fuel Tresl’s own growth over the last two years,” Tresl president and chief executive officer Christine Pierson, one of the 2020 Women in Auto Finance honorees.
“The CreditSnap system integrated seamlessly with Tresl’s proprietary digital platform, and it has allowed us to deliver more quality funded loans to our lending partners and a great lending experience to our customers,” Pierson continued.
Along with the strategic investment, Tresl and CreditSnap are also announcing an alliance to bring a new joint product proposition to the market known as BankingAmplified.
The companies explained this new product takes inspiration from Tresl’s customer experience and fulfillment capabilities, and CreditSnap’s pre-qualification based digital experience capabilities. The result is geared to a unique solution designed to support banks, credit unions and lending institutions in achieving their digitization and customer growth goals in a turnkey approach.
The companies explained the BankingAmplified program can enable financial institutions to do the following:
● Grow member / customer base by deploying borrower-friendly “no credit impact” pre-qualification technology, end to end digital fulfillment capabilities, highly curated customer acquisition methods, white-label consultative sales solutions, and compliant transaction solutions in all 50 states. In-turn, financial institutions will be fully equipped to compete with fintech lenders
● Increase share-of-wallet through intelligent cross-selling of products to existing and new customers
● Accelerate product go-to-market with turnkey digital experience and lead generation solutions, be it to grow high volume specialty transactions like auto lease purchases or to expand into high yield student loan refinancing and personal loans, or to offer non-traditional products like installment loans
“With the new BankingAmplified product offering, we aim to offer a complete turn-key fintech enablement solution to banks and credit unions, enabling them to effectively compete with major fintech lenders in the marketplace today,” Pierson said.
With this investment and product pipeline, CreditSnap president and co-founder Deepak Polamarasetty elaborated about the potential success for his firm as well as Tresl.
“Unlike fintech lenders, banks and credit unions are uniquely positioned to deliver personalized financial solutions to their customers,” Polamarasetty said. “What they lack, however, is the same cutting edge technology that solves for customer experience.
“BankingAmplified empowers these lending institutions to strike a healthy balance of tech and human touch — digital experience powered by next generation technology (with CreditSnap) and result-oriented customer experience that integrates 100% digital experiences with the consultative, omnichannel support of finance experts (with Tresl),” Polamarasetty went on to say.
Within a week, another Emerging 8 honoree received an injection of financial resources from the investment world.
Soon after an announcement by Volta, fellow honoree MotoRefi — an auto refinancing startup on a mission to help people save on their retail installment contracts — announced a $10 million Series A1 funding round. MotoRefi said the round was led by Moderne Ventures, whose partner Liza Benson will join the company’s board.
This Series A-1 round follows its Series A round, announced in February, which garnered $9.4 million for MotoRefi, bringing the 12-month fundraising total to nearly $20 million.
Since then, the company has been growing at a rapid clip. In 2020 alone, the company said it:
● grew its revenue six times
● doubled the number of finance companies on its platform;
● tripled its headcount
In adding MotoRefi to the Moderne portfolio, Benson said in a news release, “I couldn’t be more excited about MotoRefi’s trajectory and the team they’ve built. They are revolutionizing the auto finance space for consumer auto — a $1.2 trillion market — and are the unequaled tech leader in this largely untapped space.”
MotoRefi’s platform works with numerous credit unions, community banks and other finance companies in an effort to provide an “unparalleled” experience for both consumers and providers that fintech firm said can be up to 20 times more efficient than any other offering currently in the auto refinancing industry.
“We are tremendously excited to add Moderne Ventures and their wealth of consumer finance experience to the team,” MotoRefi chief executive officer Kevin Bennett said.
“Their partnership will enable us to accelerate our already strong growth trajectory, invest more deeply in our tech platform, grow the team and reach a growing segment of this large market,” Bennett continued. “It all adds up to more savings for consumers. That’s the mission.”
