Britain’s SMEs are shifting the billions spent each year on hiring traditional experts, such as legal and procurement consultants, to leverage the skills required to survive in an increasingly digital world, including those for cybersecurity and new payments technology.

After a frantic few days in Copenhagen for Money 20/20 Europe, I’m finally back at my desk. The flight home gave me a bit of time to digest the discussions and presentations and, amid the melee and company announcements, a few themes stand out. 

Merck, one of the first U.S. companies to be hit by the attack yesterday, saw its stock decline 0.6% after news of its breach, and the long-term impact could be greater. In fact, a recent Ponemon study found that a company’s stock price drops an average of five percent on the day a breach is exposed, so maybe they’re getting off easy.

ANZ today announced it was reducing international money transfer fees from Australia to five Pacific countries, effective immediately. 

9 Spokes, the business insights dashboard for SMEs, is pleased to announce it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to provide a white-label version of the 9 Spokes platform to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). RBC is the market-leading retail bank in Canada, with broad leadership in financial services, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalisation. RBC was recently ranked ‘Best Global Retail Bank of the Year’ by RBI, and ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among the Big Five Retail Banks’ by JD Power.

Continuing to accelerate its momentum and growth, Greenlight Financial Technology, Inc., today announced that the Greenlight smart debit card for kids now works internationally, and also integrates with Apple Pay. 

Today, SimCorp has signed an agreement to acquire all shares in APL Italiana S.p.A. (APL Italiana) for a total enterprise value of EUR 35m. 

ScanSource, Inc., a leading global provider of technology products and solutions, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire POS Portal, a leading distributor of payment devices and services primarily to the SMB market segment. POS Portal brings 17 years of demonstrated success focused solely on the US payments industry channels. 

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, could soon give rise to a new internet era even more disruptive and transformative than the current one, according to a white paper, Realizing the Potential of Blockchain, published by the World Economic Forum today.  

Dadiani Fine Art is spearheading a revolution in the art world, becoming the first gallery in Britain to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for works of art.