With companies across the UK switching to remote working since the pandemic took hold, issues around the robustness and security of IT have come to the fore. There are few areas of the economy more cognisant of this than financial firms and few areas of business operations that need to be more closely guarded than payroll. For many organisations, the value passed through payroll makes it their largest monthly outgoing. Clearly, finance teams and directors are focused on ensuring money paid to employees is paid accurately and securely. 

Consumers around the world are switching to contactless to help with social distancing, accelerating the adoption of contactless payments that was already under way

With 15% penetration, contactless still has potential for further growth

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today unveiled plans to explore the benefits of digitalization in the public and private markets and whether new technologies can strengthen post-trade processes and reduce risks and costs.

Cloud based payment processor Paymentology has launched its new Instream Fraud Scoring model which aims to improve the identification and blocking of fraudulent activity at point of sale on card usage, by more than 30%.

The technology built into the new model ensures that the rapid speed of authorisation, for which Paymentology has become recognised as the market leader, is not compromised and the accuracy of the data ensures that all non-fraud cases are cleared virtually immediately.

Biometric authentication is highly robust, and the latest solutions offer considerably greater security than their authentication predecessors: PINs and passwords.

Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, today announces Xsolla, the global video game business engine, as a new client for digital payments in Europe. Wirecard will complement Xsolla’s card payments offerings, so that gamers continue to have their favourite payment options available in their territories.

The pilot of Lendex, Mortgage Brain’s new multi-lender submission and application gateway, is off to a tremendous start.

Coventry Building Society, NatWest and Platform are all available through the Lendex pilot, with a further two lenders expected to be live in the near future. Collectively they represent around 32% of mortgages sold in the UK. Letters of Intent have also been signed by a number of other lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, which will see that figure rise to over 57% of the market.

Russian food producer Cherkizovo Group has connected to Sberbank’s banking services via National Settlement Depository's Transit 2.0 platform. The Group’s connection to the platform has been implemented and tested remotely.

As part of the agreement for technological partnership for interchanging financial messages via Transit 2.0 concluded by NSD and Sberbank, corporate clients have been able to automate their electronic interactions with Sberbank through Fintech API at NSD’s platform.

Dreams (www.getdreams.com), the Stockholm-born fintech empowering millennials to save and feel better about their money, today announces a strategic partnership with Silverlake Symmetri, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Silverlake Axis Ltd (SAL), which provides software solutions and services to the Banking, Insurance, Retail, Government, Payment and Logistics industries.

Over 25 businesses in the Cardiff and Newport area have joined the #helptheheroesdiff campaign, it has been announced today. Together, the businesses are helping provide weekly food parcels to over 600 staff across seven NHS hospitals* around the Cardiff, Vale and Newport area throughout the COVID-19 crisis.