The number of smartphones users worldwide is expected to grow from 1.8 billion in 2015 to an estimated 2.87 billion users in 2020 according to Statista. In the meantime, the number of people who have a bank account is expected to rise only by 700 million worldwide, compared to 2015, according to a Gallup report. It is clear that by 2020 the smartphone user market will be much higher than that of bank account holders.

STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Börse Group’s index business and a global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, announced today the launch of the new iSTOXX RiskFirst LDI index family as of 23 April 2018. This new offering has been jointly developed with RiskFirst, the UK’s leading provider of risk analytics and reporting solutions to the defined benefit pensions market.

eToro, the global trading and investment platform with over nine million users, has today added EOS onto its platform, bringing the total number of cryptocurrency assets available on the site to ten.

The boutique investment bank Liberum Capital, is using TeleWare’s industry leading mobile communications recording technology to ensure teams across the bank are compliant with the record keeping requirements of the recently introduced MiFID II legislation as well as the forthcoming GDPR regulati

Citi has established a service for clients facing the SEC’s Rule changes affecting the U.S. mutual fund industry later this year. 

Ecobank (www.Ecobank.com), the leading pan-African banking group, is inviting African fintech entrepreneurs to enter its Ecobank Fintech Challenge. Now in its second year, the initiative gives African start-ups the chance to promote their fintech solutions, and potentially to partner Ecobank in rolling-out their solutions across Ecobank’s 33 markets.

Israeli start-up Virtual Crypto Technologies (https://virtual-crypto.com/) Ltd., which develops and provides solutions for making cryptocurrencies accessible, has unveiled a product that allows businesses to receive real time payments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Today, Mitratech a leading provider of legal and compliance software, announced the acquisition of ThinkSmart LLC, creating an end-to-end platform designed to transform legal operations into a center of innovation and excellence.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT) is today launching with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) a new digital platform to expand global access to key ICT data and reporting.

Baker Hill, a leading provider of technology solutions for common loan origination, risk management, relationship management and smart data analytics, announced it will present its latest Baker Hill NextGen^® features at FinovateSpring 2018 for the second co