iBanFirst, a global financial services provider, has chosen Tunisia as the home of its new research and development centre to accelerate its product innovation. The new facility is iBanFirst’s third R&D centre globally, with the other two in Paris and Dijon. The office opening is accompanied by a recruitment plan in France and Tunisia of 45 additional hires in 2020.

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Chip, the clever savings app that has helped its users put aside more than £150 million to date, has begun the roll-out of Interest Accounts in a move towards democratising savings. The first savings account to be available via the new platform is eligible for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and offers a highly competitive easy access rate of 0.90% AER (Annual Equivalent Rate). The rate is above inflation and significantly higher than the Bank of England’s base rate.

TransferMate, one of the world’s leading cross-border B2B payments providers, and TouchNet, the leading provider of integrated and secure commerce and credential solutions for universities, announce the launch of a custom integration solution designed to help higher education institutions solve payment challenges. Through the partnership, TouchNet’s university customers will have access to TransferMate’s education payments portal and benefit from TransferMate’s broad global regulatory footprint.

LiquidityBook, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based provider of buy- and sell-side trading solutions, announce the hire of Cash Lafferty as Head of Business Development – West Coast.

Statistics of the P2P lending platform Robo.cash show that the size of the first deposit made by its investors increased sharply in June this year. According to the data, the average first amount which users added to the platform last month was €909. This number significantly exceeds the pre-crisis figures.

Since the launch of Robo.cash in 2017, the first deposit of investors grew from year to year. Thus, in 2017, its average amount was €604, in 2018 - €658 and in 2019 - €772.

Robert McKechnie, Open Banking Expert at Equifax UK, underlines the pivotal role of Open Banking amid the COVID-19 crisis:

“COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on many people’s finances, altered consumer behaviour and disrupted working environments. As we navigate a path out of the lockdown, Open Banking has the capacity to support financially vulnerable people, kick start lending and enable the financial services sector to adjust to a state of altered normality. 

New research from TransUnion’s (NYSE: TRU) Consumer Financial Hardship studies found that phishing is the top digital fraud scheme worldwide related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among consumers reporting being targeted with digital COVID-19 schemes globally, 27% said they were hit with pandemic-themed phishing scams. To help prevent identity fraud that can result from phishing, TransUnion announced today new enhancements to its Document Verification solution.

Nethone’s leadership bolstered by an ex-McKinsey & ex-Samsara COO Mateusz Czech, and a payments-veteran Head of BD from the largest French acquiring bank Groupe BPCE, Patrick Nickel-Drexler.

Both executives will lead Nethone in driving operational excellence, delivering outstanding client experience, and achieving the commercial growth goals to establish an international footprint for one of the fastest growing tech companies in Central Europe.

After the positive results of 2019, Banca Profilo grows the suite of products powered by Artificial Intelligence launching three additional discretionary mandates advised by MDOTM, the Fintech company based in London and Milan that develops AI-driven investment strategies for institutional investors.