
Pidgin and United Bankers' Bank Named American Banker's 2025 Innovation of the Year
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pidgin, a secure, real-time payments platform built for the future of payments, is proud to announce that its partnership with United Bankers' Bank (UBB) has been recognized as one of American Banker's Innovations of the Year for 2025. This prestigious award highlights the groundbreaking work Pidgin and UBB have accomplished in bringing instant payment capabilities to community banks across the United States.
The collaboration between Pidgin and UBB has empowered more than 1,000 community banks to offer their customers secure and convenient payment options through the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve's instant payment offering.
Share
According to UBB, 'Receiving this Innovation of the Year award is a proud moment for us and a testament to the strength of our collaboration with Pidgin. At UBB, we are focused on operational excellence and customer-centric innovation. By partnering with Pidgin, we've accelerated our ability to deliver seamless, secure, and modern payment experiences that meet the evolving needs of our clients.'
The collaboration between Pidgin and UBB has empowered more than 1,000 community banks to offer their customers secure and convenient payment options through the FedNow Service, the Federal Reserve's instant payment offering. By providing community banks with access to cutting-edge payment technology, Pidgin and UBB have helped level the playing field, allowing smaller financial institutions to compete effectively with larger banks and fintech companies.
Since going live with Pidgin, UBB has consistently increased the number of partner banks participating in the FedNow Service by 5-10% each month. The partnership enables community banks to process transactions quickly and securely across a variety of use cases, including Peer-to-Peer (P2P), Consumer-to-Business (C2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), and Business-to-Business (B2B) payments.
"Being recognized by American Banker for our work with UBB is a tremendous honor that validates our mission to make instant payments accessible to financial institutions of all sizes," said Abhishek Veeraghanta, Founder and CEO of Pidgin. "This award belongs equally to the team at UBB, whose forward-thinking approach to payments has enabled their network of community banks to participate fully in the real-time payments landscape."
American Banker's Innovation of the Year awards will be presented at a special gala during the Digital Banking Conference in Boca Raton on June 14, 2025. The awards recognize groundbreaking solutions driving real business impact and redefining what's possible in banking and financial services.
About Pidgin
Pidgin is an innovative and secure faster payments ecosystem, enabling financial institutions, business owners, and individuals to process transactions quickly and with lower fees. Engineered for the future of payments, Pidgin allows financial institutions to send and receive instant payments while keeping funds within the institution, rather than a third-party holding account. For more information, visit www.pidgin.net or follow Pidgin on LinkedIn.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Western Alliance Bank's and Digital Disbursements' Triangle of Fraud Protection Named as Innovation of the Year by American Banker
Digital Disbursements and ClaimScore Recognized in Annual Award's Cybersecurity and Fraud Category PHOENIX, May 19, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Western Alliance Bank's subsidiary Digital Disbursements, the leading digital payments platform for the class action legal industry and part of the bank's Juris Banking Group offering, today announced that their Anti-Fraud Triangle innovation, developed in partnership with ClaimScore, a data-driven fraud prevention software solution for class action settlements, has been selected as American Banker's Innovation of the Year in the Cybersecurity and Fraud category. The prestigious award recognizes 2024's most groundbreaking and influential technology-focused innovations, and the teams that brought them to life at banks, financial institutions and fintechs. The Anti-Fraud Triangle was developed in response to the 19,000% surge in fraudulent class action and mass tort claims, which skyrocketed from approximately 400,000 in 2021 to more than 80 million in 2023. The integrated platform combines the respective services offered by Digital Disbursements and ClaimScore, with the variety of tools offered by the particular settlement administrator in any given case to detect and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. The integrated solution is far more effective than the sum of the individual components: in 2024 alone, the Anti-Fraud Triangle identified and prevented more than 800 million fraudulent claims. Had all of those claims been approved, the bad actors would have received well over $100 million in fraudulent payouts. "We are deeply honored by this recognition, which comes at a time when innovative fraud protection strategies are needed more than ever," said Digital Disbursements Founder and Co-CEO Jeff Richardson. "Thank you to American Banker and to our partners, who entrusted us with the implementation of a modern, claimant-first solution, which was made possible through our collaboration with ClaimScore. The Anti-Fraud Triangle has endless potential both within and outside the settlement space, and we will continue to capitalize on its innovative capabilities." Digital Disbursements and Western Alliance Bank recently released their third annual "Digital Payments in Class Actions and Mass Torts" report, which revealed that the number of claims with significant indicia of fraud in 2024 dropped for the first time on record after the dramatic increase between 2021 and 2023. About Western Alliance Bancorporation With more than $80 billion in assets, Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) is one of the country's top-performing banking companies. Through its primary subsidiary, Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, clients benefit from a full spectrum of tailored commercial banking solutions and consumer products, all delivered with outstanding service by industry experts who put customers first. Major accolades include being ranked as a top U.S. bank in 2024 by American Banker and Bank Director and receiving #1 rankings on Extel's (previously Institutional Investor's) All-America Executive Team Midcap 2024 for Best CEO, Best CFO and Best Company Board of Directors. Serving clients across the country wherever business happens, Western Alliance Bank operates individual, full-service banking and financial brands with offices in key markets nationwide. For more information, visit Western Alliance Bancorporation. About Digital Disbursements A subsidiary of Western Alliance Bank, Digital Disbursements addresses the evolving payment needs of those in the legal, financial and other industries through its award-winning technology. The proprietary platform enables all types of payees, including those with claims from class actions, mass torts and bankruptcies, to choose how they would like to receive their payments, with options ranging from direct-to-bank accounts to popular digital wallets and credit cards. The benefits include improved deliverability, reduced cost and mitigated fraud, while also allowing the unbanked to receive their funds without high check-cashing fees. Digital Disbursements is part of Western Alliance Bancorporation, which has more than $80 billion in assets. To learn more, visit Western Alliance Bank's Digital Disbursements. About ClaimScore ClaimScore LLC is a technology company that offers AI-based claim validation software for class action settlements. Designed to provide a transparent and efficient approach to the claims process, ClaimScore's proprietary scoring system and real-time reporting stands as the gold standard in claim validation software. View source version on Contacts Media Contact:Stephanie Whitlow, SWhitlow@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Huntington makes commercial banking push in Florida
Huntington Bancshares is joining a wave of out-of-state banks that are seeking to take advantage of Florida's growing economy. The Columbus, Ohio-based bank announced Thursday that it will continue to expand its footprint, starting with middle-market services anchored in Fort Lauderdale. Huntington's commercial banking push in Florida follows major investments to scale its business in North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. Heath Campbell, regional president of the Carolinas region, told American Banker that the company's latest bet on a new state was opportunistic. Huntington was able to bring on a two-person middle-market banking team to kickstart its services in the Sunshine State, according to Campbell, who's overseeing the bank's Florida's strategy. "If I'd have thought back several months ago, I don't know that I said, 'Man, we're ready for Florida,'" Campbell said. "But all of a sudden, two amazing leaders emerged, and it became obvious very quickly, not just with me, but the executive leadership team, that this is the right time." Huntington Chairman and CEO Steve Steinour has been vocal about the bank's focus on playing offense with its investments. He said in January that the bank's priority was organic growth by entering new markets and niches. "We really like this equation," Steinour said at the time. "We believe we have significant core opportunities for growth, as well as with these new investments, and we're very focused on that. The business is performing exceptionally well." To roll out the Florida business, Huntington hired two long-time bankers from Truist Financial, where Campbell also worked until 2023. Josh Sheradsky, who's been a middle-market banker in South Florida for more than 10 years, will lead Huntington's efforts in the state. Monica Olsen joined the team as a senior executive relationship manager. Huntington said the group will also aim to connect middle-market clients in Florida with the bank's other offerings, like wealth management and investment banking. Huntington operates a private banking office in Naples, Florida. Specific growth goals for the Florida team are still under wraps, but Campbell said Huntington has "plenty to harvest" from the investments it's made. "We're entering with a middle-market banking strategy," Campbell said. "That's what we're focused on today. As this strategy unfolds, we'll see where that journey takes us." As Huntington looks to expand, it makes sense to jump on regions that are seeing stronger population growth and bigger GDP gains, Campbell said. Still, the bank didn't cast a net toward Florida until it found the right team to hire. "As we look at all those markets that have compelling demographics, population, economy, growth and scale, those are always going to be nationally attractive for financial services to enter," Campbell said. "I think it's really neat to work for an organization that says, 'Let's start with the people.'" But Huntington will be one of many fish in the seaside state. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida has become a hot spot for businesses looking to migrate. Banks of various sizes from around the country have followed suit. JPMorgan Chase, Citizens Financial Group, First Horizon Corp. and Vista Bancshares are just some of the lenders that recently made plays to capture more market share in the state. "Florida has continually, especially South Florida, been the most competitive banking market," Hope Dmuchowski, chief financial officer at First Horizon, said during an industry conference in March. She said Memphis, Tennessee-based First Horizon was still seeing strong performance in the market. Citizens Chief Financial Officer John Woods said at the same conference that his bank's efforts to capture more market share in Florida and California would help the bank to hit its profitability targets. The Ohio bank's buildout in Florida mirrors the blueprint it used to bolster operations in Texas last year. In February 2025, the bank said it expects the Lone Star State business, which operates offices in Dallas and Houston, to be profitable within the next 12 months. The $210 billion-asset company bank also made moves to roll out operations in North Carolina and South Carolina at the end of 2023. The play in the Carolinas marked the first time Huntington had taken on a geographic expansion outside of an acquisition, Campbell said. Less than a year after launching, the Carolinas business hit profitability. Huntington said last fall that it would open 55 branches across the two states. Huntington has also worked to revamp its legacy Midwestern markets and build out industry verticals such as fund finance, Native American financial services and aerospace and defense. During the first quarter, loan growth from the additional verticals and the new geographies totaled $1.3 billion, or about half of the bank's total loan growth. Steinour said in April that he expected the bank's lending momentum to carry over into the spring and summer. "We are more optimistic than some, maybe many," Steinour told American Banker at the time. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Business Wire
15-05-2025
- Business Wire
Apiture Innovator Award Winners Announced at Apiture Accelerate 2025 Conference
WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apiture, a leading provider of digital banking solutions, today announced the 2025 'Apiture Innovators' at its annual client conference, Apiture Accelerate, which took place this week in New Orleans. The event brought together industry leaders and experts from banks and credit unions from across the country. Now in its third year, the annual awards program recognizes financial institutions demonstrating new and innovative uses of the Apiture Digital Banking Platform. This year's winners include: $1.9B Alabama Credit Union, serving communities across Alabama and northern Florida, is leveraging the Apiture Consumer Banking and Business Banking solutions to support its members. Understanding that many of its members are also business owners, the credit union offers fully featured online and mobile banking solutions that seamlessly integrate business and personal accounts, providing convenience and continuity across all banking channels. $1.3B North American Banking Company was founded in 1998 in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul but has established a national footprint in the high volume and specialty payments space. In keeping with its focus on payments innovation, the bank is expanding its services to include real-time payments for both consumers and businesses. This financial institution will be the first Apiture client to enable customers to send and receive real-time payments in the Apiture Consumer Banking and Business Banking solutions through both the Federal Reserve's FedNow Service and RTP® from The Clearing House. $800M Quail Creek Bank has operated as a full-service community bank in Oklahoma City for more than 50 years. Leveraging Check and ACH Positive Pay, tools traditionally used by business clients, the institution is safeguarding high-net-worth consumers from fraud, providing additional peace of mind to this important customer segment. 'We are proud to celebrate this year's Innovator Award winners for their unique contributions to digital banking innovation and their drive to meet the evolving needs of their account holders,' said Chris Babcock, CEO of Apiture. 'As financial institutions continue to focus on delivering elevated experiences to today's consumers and businesses, we remain committed to empowering their success.' About Apiture Apiture delivers award-winning digital banking solutions to banks and credit unions throughout the U.S. Our flexible, highly configurable solutions meet a wide range of financial institutions' needs, from leveling the playing field with larger institutions to supporting growth through innovative data intelligence and embedded banking strategies. With our API-first approach, our clients can maximize the capabilities of their platform while preserving a seamless user experience. Our exclusive focus on digital banking, and a team with hundreds of years of collective experience working at U.S. financial institutions, means we are dedicated to meeting the unique needs of our clients while providing a level of support that is unmatched in the industry. Apiture is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, with offices in Austin, Texas. To learn more, visit