As part of its commitment to remove barriers to enterprise and help the economy build back better and stronger NatWest has today published the findings of an industry wide review into the UK SME recovery, conducted in consultation with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

UK SMEs face a big productivity and sustainability challenge. To better understand this NatWest conducted research with over 1,000 businesses and analysed over 100 reports and support programmes globally to identity the barriers to SMEs reaching their potential.

CEO of Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform^[1], Oliver Prill, has today said that the “slow uptake of Open Banking” has meant missed opportunities for both customers and companies who might have created new products and services.

Contemi Solutions, a global FinTech company, today announces the launch of the latest version of its Corporate Actions Processing solution, enhanced to significantly improve straight through processing (STP), future proof event processing and manage future resource requirements.

54% of the industry perceive Corporate Actions to be poorly automated in their own organisations

PJSC M.Video (M.Video-Eldorado Group, the Company, or the Group; MOEX: MVID), Russia’s leading e-commerce and consumer electronics retailer and part of the SAFMAR Group owned by Mikhail Gutseriev, Sber, and goods.ru founder and co-owner Alexander Tynkovan have signed binding documents covering Sber’s acquisition of an 85% stake in goods.ru (OOO Marketplace). The deal is expected to be closed in 2Q21.

Nordic API Gateway announces that it has partnered with Santander Consumer Bank to deliver open banking capabilities for Santander's new consumer-focused money app, Prosper. The Prosper app is set to take advantage of open banking opportunities by using account aggregation and payment initiation to offer their 1.5 million customers, as well as non-customers, in the Nordics a fully digital service that aims to give the user a complete financial overview across banks and ‘peace of mind’ when managing their money.

Creative workspace and accelerator Huckletree today announces international law firm CMS to join as their first sustainability programme partner alongside Silicon Valley Bank, and A/O Proptech - Europe’s largest proptech VC firm.

The pandemic has had a profound impact on consumer spending habits and how we choose to pay for the purchases we make. At Barclaycard Payments, 50% of our transactions now come through ecomm, up from 40% 12 months ago. Even when consumers are able make purchases in-store, they rarely use cash. In fact, contactless purchases now account for 88.6 per cent of all eligible card transactions*.

It is safe to say that today, within marketing but also engineering, it is crucial to ensure you have the right fits, either of the market, the consumer or just the user. The latest changes in the market have proven the rising need for T-shaped profiles, individuals with deep knowledge and skills in a specialised area, along with ability to make connections across different disciplines.

Broadway Technology, a leading provider of high-performance front-office solutions, today announced it has named Michael Chin as CEO and will appoint him to the board of directors. Chin’s appointment marks the latest phase in Broadway’s long-term strategic growth plan to capitalize on growing market opportunity and continuously deliver high value services to clients.

 Tassat, a global provider of financial technologies and products for digital payments, today announced it has named Jay Agarwal as Managing Director, Payments.