The acceptance of MIR National Payment System (MIR) cards has been announced in Tajikistan, opening up access to Russians who live in, or travel to, the country. 

Amonat Bank, the operator of the Tajik national payment system, Korti Milli, has announced the launch as part of a nationwide Tajik strategy to encourage the use of card payments in place of cash. MIR cardholders will now be able to make transactions via Amonat Bank terminals throughout Tajikistan.

Centage Corporation (www.centage.com), leading provider of cloud financial software that transforms how businesses budget, forecast, analyze and report, introduced the Maestro Help Hub, a rich online portal for Centage customers to access a robust knowledge base, submit and track support tickets, and interact with product experts and other customers. The Maestro Help Hub is free to all Centage customers as part of their cloud subscription and is becoming a popular resource amongst its customer base.

The EIB Group, consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), has provided a mezzanine tranche guarantee of around EUR 100m to Commerzbank AG on a EUR 1.500m granular portfolio of loans to SMEs and Mid-Caps originated by Commerzbank in its ordinary business. The guarantee will release regulatory capital for Commerzbank and will enable Commerzbank to provide further lending of up to EUR 400m to innovative SMEs and Mid-Caps in Germany.

New research commissioned by and published today by cybersecurity company, 

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced two key appointments to the BIS Innovation Hub, a new initiative designed to support central bank collaboration on new financial technology. 

StepChange Debt Charity has today confirmed that it is entering into an exciting new partnership with fintech innovator OpenWrks to bring the opportunities offered by Open Banking into its services. 

Austin-based Eventus Systems, Inc., a multi-award winning global trade surveillance and market risk software platform provider, announced that the firm has just raised $10.5 million of growth capital in a Series A investment round.

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, invites developers to attend Temenos SCALE, the global developer conference for the banking industry, taking place April 27 – 28 in Madrid, Spain.