The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has announced new regulations to create a regulatory sandbox that will allow startups and fintech firms to test and experiment their banking ideas and solutions. The creation of the regulatory sandbox provides an opportunity for fintech businesses around the world to expand and thrive in the Gulf and strengthens Bahrain’s position as a fintech and financial services hub in the GCC.

Ingenico ePayments, the online and mobile commerce division of Ingenico Group, today announced that WOW air, the low-fare, long-haul airline based in Iceland, has selected Ingenico ePayments to support the next phase of its global expansion by enabling consumers anywhere to seamlessly buy online tickets and services using their preferred payment methods.

Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO today announced the availability of FICO Card Compromise Manager, an anti-fraud solution that proactively detects and prioritises compromised merchants and data breaches involving card data.

ForeSee, the leader in Voice of Customer solutions, today announced a new solution to help retail banks prioritize investments across the customer journey for maximum business impact. 

Coinsilium Group Limited (NEX: COIN), the accelerator that finances and manages the development of early-stage blockchain technology companies, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with HyperChain Capital (“HyperChain”), one of the world’s first multi-million-dollar hedge funds investing in Blockchain companies, to collaborate and finance co-investment opportunities in blockchain companies. 

Temenos Group, the software specialist for banking and finance, has become the latest Leadership Circle Partner of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology Foundation (The LHoFT). 

To broaden their offering within Financial Services, Qliro has launched a digital service for savings accounts. The underlying technology comes from Emric, a part of Tieto.

Micro-investing app, Acorns, has highlighted its commitment to sustainability with the launch of a new, socially responsible investment portfolio, available from today.

The SmartStream Reference Data Utility (RDU), founded by Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and SmartStream, today announced a new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) reference data service, enabling financial organisations to more easily meet regulatory requirements, which go live in January 2018. 

Startupbootcamp FinTech, the world’s leading accelerator focused on financial innovation, has announced its first ever Demo Tour, replacing the traditional Demo Day that marks the end of the accelerator program.