When you are immersed in an industry it’s sometimes difficult to see how it’s really changing. Global financial markets are a good example of this as the populist headlines can easily miss the subtlety of what is really going on. The polemic against misbehaviour by some market participants is obviously deserved (estimates of the total in fines and related costs are approaching USD 300 billion) and, of course, no conversation about the industry is complete without mention of the ‘R’ word.

WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX), a leading provider of corporate payment solutions, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Benaissance, a leading provider of integrated software-as-a-service (SaaS) technologies and services for healthcare premium billing, payment and workflow management. Benaissance is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of WEX and will be part of the Evolution1 business unit.

The brightest stars in the world of App developments were recognised last night as the Appsters Awards 2015, took place at an exciting ceremony at the Fox @ ExCeL. The industry’s most coveted awards attracted hundreds of entries from some of the most promising individuals in the world of App development, all hoping to win one of the 13 hotly contested categories. Both people and apps were commended for their outstanding contributions to the industry at the ceremony which was compared by comedian, programmer and presenter Tom Scott.

SmartStream Technologies, the Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM^®) specialist, today announced that leading global broker Societe Generale Prime Services, has selected SmartStream’s TLM Reconciliations Premium and TLM SmartRecs solutions for its internal and external brokerage, and Exchange Traded Derivatives (ETD) reconciliations.

 LS Retail, world-leading provider of management software solutions for retail and hospitality, has released 

Appian, provider of the leading application platform for 

 Fidessa group plc (LSE: FDSA) recently held a buy-side industry conference which brought together key executives from global asset management firms, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, State Street Global Advisors, AQR and Fiera Capital, to discuss key industry trends. Entitled "Moving forward together", the event also allowed attendees to get hands-on experience of Fidessa's latest award-winning technology and services for the asset management community.

 Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ GS: VRTU), a global business consulting and IT outsourcing company that combines innovation, technology leadership, and industry solutions, today announced that it has partnered with MetricStream, the market leader in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Management Apps, to deliver GRC Solutions across multiple verticals such as Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Telecom, Media, Retail, Manufacturing and Energy.

Adyen, the global payments technology company, today announced the launch of its payments solution in Australia.

With Adyen, retailers can accept payments in store, on mobile, and online with one partner, one contract, one technical interface, and unified reporting. Instead of working with a number of suppliers and third party connections, Adyen simplifies payments for merchants and enables them to offer a seamless cross channel experience to their customers.