British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a new £15m commitment to Par Equity as the latest partner in its Regional Angels Programme.

The funds from British Business Investments will be invested by Par Equity alongside the Par EIS Fund and the Par Investor Network to deliver over £75m of new funding for scale-up businesses primarily in the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a leading Islamic financial institution, has become the first Islamic bank to successfully execute trade finance distribution transactions using Blockchain technology. The cross-border transactions, which were completed with multiple based banks, were made possible through ADIB's partnership with TradeAssets, a trade finance e-marketplace powered by Blockchain technology to help digitize the traditional processes of origination and distribution of trade assets.

TruNarrative, the global RegTech company has announced a new partnership with AccountScore, to integrate Open Banking connectors into the TruNarrative platform. Enabling Risk & Compliance teams to integrate affordability scores to aid onboarding and monitoring of customers.

The nation-wide lockdown in the wake of Covid-19, predictably, has hit the poorest sections of society the hardest, especially migrant workers and the rural population. However, now, through the help of bank mitras and Aadhaar enabled payments, customers can withdraw upto Rs. 10,000 daily simply through the use of their thumb, which is a blessing in rural areas where there is a lack of adequate financial infrastructure.

 Curve, the banking platform that consolidates multiple cards and accounts into one smart card and app, has appointed Hannah Nixon to advise on the company’s regulatory activities and relationships. 

Hannah has extensive experience in economic regulation and competition matters, working across a range of industries in the public and private sectors. She will help guide Curve’s regulatory strategy and framework focused on the UK and EU as well as advising on a range of regulatory matters important to Curve’s growth.

Funding Circle, the small business loans platform, has today been approved for accreditation by the British Business Bank under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), term loan variant.

Funding Circle expects to open CBILS applications within the next week once it has completed the required legal and operational approvals with the Bank.

UK technology firm Zenoo  has created a new solution to enable US small businesses to quickly receive essential Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the COVID-19 crisis.

The technology was created at the emergency Hackathon to Save Small Business in March, where the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR) brought together over 60 people representing more than 20 banks, fintech firms, non-profit organisations and other institutions across the US and Europe

Sopra Banking Software released on March 31 Cassiopae V4.7, a leasing and lending application, which is part of the company’s Sopra Financing Platform. The company met the ambitious release date announced ten months ago.

The new release, Cassiopae V4.7, includes an enhanced digital portal for dealers and merchants, credit card processing via electronic payment partners, revolving credit for individuals, and improvements in the management of real estate and equipment leasing.

Messaging apps; speech-based assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa; and chatbots are entering the marketplace in large scale, all with a goal of enhancing everyday life. Businesses are taking notice; leveraging the technology to analyze peoples’ behavior in order to create a more personalized and efficient customer experience.