Just one month into 2021 and there is no doubt it is going to be another year of continued disruption. Financial companies have been going hell for leather for the past year to meet new changes in customer needs and behaviours, and this pace of innovation is set to continue.

There was a time, not so long ago, when shopping was straightforward – you chose something, then handed over your cash, cheque, or credit card to pay for it, and walked away with your goods. These days, consumers are faced with a dizzying array of payment options, whether they shop in person or online.

Regulation Drives Innovation 

Ozan Electronic Money Turkey has successfully completed its Visa principal membership process. Ozan Electronic Money Turkey was established to bring individual users together with SMEs on financial services. The recent Visa principal membership is an important step towards this goal and means that Ozan Visa Card users will be able to spend safely anywhere in the world.

"1.7 billion people in the world are still completely unbanked - and billions more are underbanked."

DatacentreSpeak, a leader in business development consulting for the digital infrastructure sector, has today announced the launch of new a service offering to aid medium-sized companies to identify and prioritize digitalization opportunities and develop an effective strategy for program delivery. DatacentreSpeak combines in-depth knowledge of the data center sector with global reach to stimulate business growth.

Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s largest SME digital financing platform, is now live in Thailand. On Feb 2nd, 2021, it was awarded the SEC debt crowdfunding license, enabling it to support Thai SMEs and startups in raising funds from retail and institutional investors.

Wealthify, the multi-award-winning digital investment platform, today announces the appointment of David Semmens as Chief Investment Officer (CIO). Head of Investment Strategy since 2018, Semmens has been acting as Interim CIO since June 2020.

SG NewTech, a Kenya-based tech services company and subsidiary of Software Group, has won an award for ‘Best in MEA’ at Finastra’s Global Hackathon “Hack the Future” for its latest project, Banking4U, designed to provide quick and easy access to bank loans. 

Leading mortgage technology provider, Twenty7Tec, today announces that all users of the company’s CloudTwenty7 platform will now have access to the APPLY integration with Aldermore, for the submission of mortgage applications.

This move follows a successful pilot of the integration, so advisers at both Mortgage Advice Bureau and Connells were able to submit applications to Aldermore from within APPLY.

Link Fund Solutions, part of Link Group (ASX: LNK), a leading global provider of financial administration services, and Confluence Technologies, Inc. (“Confluence”) have partnered to launch a portfolio compliance solution across 283 funds in the UK and Europe.