Blackhawk Network, a global payments provider, today announced product management and payments executive, Cory Gaines, has been named its Chief Product Officer.

Banking has gone through radical changes in the past few years, in step with technology and the sheer amount we can now do online. This revolution in how we bank or pay for goods isn’t just for the retail sector, it’s also having a positive knock-on effect for the lettings industry. Just as online-only challenger banks disrupted the inconvenient process of visiting physical branches, Open Banking is making the process of tenant reference checks and payments quicker and smoother than ever.

Don't Let These Fears Stop You From Investing

Fears make a person think about the correctness of their actions and change their choices. But we should not be swayed by unfounded fears that cause more harm than good. By abandoning your plans to avoid losses, you may lose much more than you intended.

Investing seems like a simple process. It is enough to choose an appropriate option, invest your funds and get the benefits. But in reality, the process is somewhat more complicated, which gives rise to certain fears among investors.

Curve, the fast-growing financial super app, announces it’s going live with its crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday May 25th, following a surge in demand from customers. Since Curve announced its crowdfunding on May 11th, more than 35,000 individuals have expressed an interest in investing. 

In just 12 months the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation trend by almost half a decade. Tech businesses have had to scale rapidly, and many are looking for investment to meet the market demand. Tech businesses have also proved their resilience during the market shocks of the last year, meaning that investor interest in growing tech businesses is strong. 

Ignition, the global provider of advice technology, has launched into the UK market offering digital advice solutions to enable its financial services clients to help people make better financial decisions. The Ignition engine is a white-label, multi-currency, bank grade digital financial advice platform that is compatible with the current legacy and migrating technology environments of large financial institutions.

Both online retail and fraud are growing quickly. While e-commerce sales worldwide are set to increase from $4.9 trillion in 2021 to $6.5 trillion by 2023, it’s estimated that retailers operating online could lose almost $130 billion in revenue to fraud worldwide by 2023.

Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has become the latest institution to join Contour’s global network of banks, corporates and ecosystem partners working together to transform trade finance.

Having been a member of Contour’s beta network since last year, transitioning to the full production network signals SMBC’s commitment to digitising trade finance. In doing so, SMBC will be able to provide its customers with a fully digital end-to-end Letter of Credit (LC) settlement process, vastly improving cost and time-saving benefits.

Cashflows, the platform that makes it easy for merchants to accept payments, today announces two additions to its leadership team to support its ambitious growth strategy. Ron Shteinberg joins as Senior Director of Product Delivery and Gary Allinson as Head of Product go-to-market for Marketplace, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Facilitators (PayFac).