Following the 2008 financial crisis, traditional banks across Europe suffered heavy losses. Regulators have had to intervene to harden their financial requirements. As capital became a rare commodity, many banks have had to restrict their lending activity or offer less attractive conditions to their borrower clients. SMEs, typically companies with less than €50m of turnover, have been most penalized. In France this year, SMEs represent a highly significant 99.8% of all companies, and 46% of GDP. Their contribution to employment is even more significant.

IHS Markit , a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today announced that Jane Hamilton joined the firm as managing director of business development for FX.

Jane brings deep experience in the FX market, prime brokerage and the technology systems supporting FX trading to Markit.  She will be responsible for expanding Markit’s portfolio of FX services and software, including recently-launched centralized services for trade affirmation, managing FX options, clearing and regulatory reporting.  

CenturyLink, Inc.  announced that Highwinds, a global content delivery network provider, has chosen CenturyLink to help the company continue optimizing its global content delivery platform. Businesses worldwide depend on Highwinds CDN to stream video, distribute games, serve advertising assets and deliver software, apps and websites.

House Advantage, a leading provider of customer loyalty strategy and solution expertise, and Sightline Payments, a market leader in payment solutions, announced a strategic integration partnership.

As an integrated solution, Sightline Payments Play+® platform and SPAN™ Network will allow an account holder to transfer funds electronically from their Play+ account, directly to or from the casino and across other customer touch points through House Advantage's award-winning HALo® loyalty platform.

Chubb expanded its cyber risk engineering capabilities in the UK and Ireland, as it continues to invest in building its cyber enterprise risk management proposition in the region.

Citisoft, a leading global investment management consulting firm, has been recognised by Consulting Magazine as one of 2016’s ‘Best Small Firms to Work For’. The list of top consulting firms was ranked based on survey responses from over 10,000 consultants, representing 300 firms.

DCB Bank, a new-generation private sector bank in India, has announced the launch of mVisa. The mobile based payment solution will make payments at retail outlets much easier: Customers of any mVisa issuing bank can make digital payments at mVisa enabled retail outlets simply by scanning a unique QR code on their smartphones. To implement mVisa, the DCB Bank has partnered with GI Technology, a Chennai-based digital payment company.

KPMG in Canada announced the introduction of its Digital Ledger Services, a comprehensive suite of services designed to help financial services companies realize the potential of blockchain capabilities -- providing faster and more secure transactions, streamlining and automating back office operations, and reducing costs by utilizing blockchain-based technologies.

 SAP SE and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) (NYSE: NTT) announced a partnership enhancement in co-innovation, global partnership and global reference.