Global Payments Inc., a leading worldwide provider of payment technology services, and American Express today announced an agreement that will enable Global Payments to provide enhanced payment acceptance solutions to American Express small merchants in the UK. These technology solutions include payment processing, settlement, reporting, support and statementing services on behalf of American Express.

Align Capital Partners, LP, announced its expansion with the hiring of seven new employees. ACP, a growth-oriented, private equity firm that targets control investments in lower-middle-market companies, was founded in 2016 and closed its $325 million inaugural private equity investment fund in September.

Joining ACP’s Cleveland office are Rick Costello, Operating Partner; Katie Noggle, Director of Business Development; Matt Beesley, Vice President; and Dustin Brode, Associate.

The Nordic region has a history of early adoption of new technologies, particularly within payments. Last year, according to Euromonitor, card transactions per capita in the Nordics were 50% higher than in Western Europe. The contactless revolution is in full flow too; close to 70% of all card payments made via Dankort, Denmark’s national payment scheme, are being conducted via terminals activated to accept contactless payments, just a year after the technology was introduced.

Object Trading, a provider of multi-asset trading infrastructure, announced today that it fully conforms to Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) latest trading platform, Titan. Upgrading to NASDAQ’s Genium INET platform today enables SGX to offer enhancements and new features to participants including new connectivity protocols, extended trading hours, and enhanced risk controls; and delivers the ability to support increasing growth and interest in the Asian derivatives markets.

Three-fifths (59%) of British adults say they are neither more pessimistic nor more optimistic about their personal finances following the UK’s vote to leave the EU, according to new research by insolvency and restructuring trade body R3.

However, the R3/ComRes survey of over 2,000 British adults found that one-in-four (25%) say they are more pessimistic since the referendum, compared to 17% that are more optimistic.

Credit cards have evolved from magnetic strips to chip-and-pin, chip-and-choice, and chip-and-signature cards. EMV is now the de facto global standard for the chip technology embedded in financial payment cards. In the fourth quarter of 2012, there were 1.62 billion chip cards in use across 80 countries.

But has EMV really been successful in bringing down incidents of fraud? This paper explores these facets by examining the EMV standards, rate of CNP fraud post EMV implementation and the impact.

Pakistan-based AlHuda CIBE has conferred the “Best Technology Solutions Provider to IMF 2016” award to Path Solutions for promoting global financial inclusion and demonstrating exemplary social responsibility towards a sustainable financial system.

The award was granted to Path Solutions after a rigorous evaluation of a record number of nominations by an internal research team and an award committee at AlHuda CIBE. 

The government has ambitious targets in place for implementing its MTD strategy and getting people to start reporting their tax digitally, but I believe there needs to be more flexibility when it comes to smaller businesses. The average freelancer or micro-business owner doesn’t have the resources that a larger SME has to get themselves prepared for the switchover, and many will struggle to upgrade their processes in such a short timeframe.

Vela Trading Technologies, a global leader in high performance trading and market data technology, today announced the appointment of two additions to the senior management team, Brian Cassin and Ollie Cadman. Providing leadership across North America, EMEA and APAC, Brian and Ollie will serve as joint heads of product and strategy.  

Requirements that banks and financial institutions comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements is a global challenge. Blockchain holds potential to help address this need to prove the identity of a person or organization, source of funds, business interests, history and also monitor for changes. During the Singapore FinTech Festival, IBM announced a blockchain project with Singapore fintech startup KYCK! to help enable financial services providers to more rapidly on-board their customers in a secure environment.