InstaReM, Southeast Asia’s leading digital cross-border money transfer service provider, has partnered with São Paulo-based BeeTech on Ripple’s leading enterprise blockchain network in a move that will unlock further global reach for both companies.

Customers of both cross-border money transfer companies can now benefit from Ripple-powered payments into more markets.

Prominent players in real estate and finance get behind new technology firm

• One-click buying: The Dot Button enables global investors to finance and acquire British and American properties seamlessly online

• A new way to hold property: The Dot Container solution streamlines how real estate is held, managed and transferred

• Dot closes $1.5M seed round lead by Stage Dot O, an LA based venture-build fund established by Roofstock.com co-founder Devin Wade

Coinfloor, the group of cryptocurrency exchanges for institutional and sophisticated investors and traders, announces the launch of CoinfloorEX – a Cryptocurrency  Futures Exchange. It will allow hedge funds, traders, sophisticated investors and miners to unlock the financial potential of Bitcoin at scale, through specifically designed cryptocurrency contracts and operational controls, underpinned by institutional grade risk management and governance.

Raiffeisen Bank will use new customer onboarding technology from analytic software firm FICO to increase its digital lending capabilities in Romania. FICO announced today that Raiffeisen — part of Raiffeisen Bank International, one of the largest banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe — has purchased FICO^® Origination Manager to further automate processing new accounts, through all channels, across all retail banking products.

Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the Middle East, has partnered with Diebold Nixdorf, a world leader in driving connected commerce, to soon launch Emirates NBD EasyHub, the region’s first integrated digital kiosk that will allow customers to sign up for new products and access a variety of teller services, functioning like a mini-branch that is open beyond normal banking hours and all days of the week.

Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”) has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co., Ltd. (“SPD Bank”) to support the bank’s digital transformation with Ant Financial's technological capabilities. The agreement is the third of its kind announced this month between Ant Financial and established banks, following partnerships with Huaxia Bank and China Everbright Bank.  

Actis, a leading global growth markets investor, today announced that it is building an Indian Non-Banking Financial Company focused on secured lending to Small and Medium Enterprises (“SMEs”) with a plan to fund the platform with up to US$220m of equity capital over a 5-year period.

India has a deep culture of small family businesses with over 30 million SMEs and the sector is experiencing secular growth in demand for credit. Profectus Capital will exclusively focus on lending to SME businesses operating in a dozen targeted subsectors.

Compass Plus, an international provider of retail banking and electronic payments software to processors and financial institutions,has announced that it has appointed Payhuddle Solutions, a payments consulting organisation, as the authorised distributor of its software products in India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. As part of the new strategic partnership, Payhuddle will be responsible for marketing, delivery and support of Compass Plus solutions in these countries.  

The recent PwC report into the impact of the drone industry on the UK’s economy, jobs, productivity and quality of life is both positive and welcome but what is more exciting is that this is just a small fragment of the wider drone picture. What many will not realise, but what is becoming widely accepted, is that the drone industry is shifting away from being an air focussed industry to one which is breaking down traditional environmental barriers to give rise to a new understanding of the term 'drone'.