Partnerships 

LendingUSA introduces FastScreen customer prescreen toll for the funeral home industry in partnership with TransUnion

LendingUSA, a leading point-of-need fintech company, introduces a new tool, FastScreen, to funeral home merchants nationwide that allows them to quickly determine whether a family is likely to be approved for a loan to help cover the cost of funeral services for loved ones. Using only a soft credit inquiry, one of the main advantages of FastScreen is that it can quickly and seamlessly run behind the scenes with limited information, meaning funeral directors can confidently walk into the cost conversation knowing whether financing will be an option through LendingUSA.

Chargeback911 and Microsoft team up to launch fraud protection solution for financial institutions 

Chargebacks911, a post-transaction fraud platform, is working with Microsoft to launch a new fraud protection solution for financial institutions that identifies and combats fraud with the use of integrated data and adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) technology. By combining Chargebacks911’s dispute and chargeback technology with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection, financial institutions get a complete package covering both pre-authorization and post-transaction friendly fraud protection. The solution suite is also available to be white-labeled, providing banks the opportunity to drive added value and loyalty with their customers.

Worldline enters the Japanese merchant services market through a partnership with local NSP Vesca

The Worldline proposition for the Japanese market is based on a strong partnership with Vesca, a leading local provider of payment solutions and network service provider (NSP). Worldline will provide transaction processing, leveraging the footprint, scale, and technology of its global payment processing facilities, while Vesca is the technical enabler that acts as the acceptance layer in the country. Through this set-up, starting to accept credit cards will no longer be cumbersome for merchants, and they can do so at competitive costs.

Medius partners with Nomentia to extend global payment and cash management capabilities

Medius, a leading provider of AP Automation and wider spend management solutions, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Nomentia, a leading name in cash and treasury management. The partnership is the latest step in developing Medius’s integrated payments offering across global markets. Nomentia automates and simplifies payments, delivering out-of-the-box banking integration for businesses looking to take advantage of Medius Pay’s secure gateway for improved payments visibility and control. Nomentia offers integrations with over 10,800 banks globally, through host-to-host, SWIFT, and local connections.

TSB partners with Farewill to offer customers simple and affordable wills and probate services

TSB is the first bank to partner with Farewill, the UK’s best-rated will and probate provider, to offer customers access to easy will writing and probate services at exclusive discounted prices. Farewell will provide TSB customers with an accessible and cost-effective way to take control of their affairs and remove possible concerns for their families. Customers can obtain a will for as little as £80 which is half the average market cost and takes as little as 15 minutes to complete. TSB customers will also receive a five percent discount on Farewill’s probate services, saving time, money and stress when settling a loved one’s estate.

Bourgeois Boheme partners with Moorwand and Payme Swiss to develop fintech products for high-net-worth individuals

Moorwand, a BIN sponsor and issuer that transforms compliance into an enabler of innovation, has partnered with Payme Swiss, a provider of unique payments solutions, and Bourgeois Bohème, a specialist partner for high-net-worth clients offering qualified concierge and financial service with a human touch to bring luxury payment products to market. Through access to Moorwand’s issuing services, Payme Swiss is providing virtual and physical cards linked to wearable payments products to Bourgeois Bohème, who will be using it to develop luxury items and services geared to affluent European consumers.

Launches 

Hepsiburada launches a project to support women’s cooperatives in e-commerce

Hepsiburada, one of the leading e-commerce platforms of Turkey, continues to celebrate and support women's entrepreneurship with the launch of the "Women's Cooperatives: Stronger with E-Commerce in the Pandemic" project in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO), Innovation for Development (I4D), and the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM). The project aims to improve the digital and business skills of female entrepreneurs by providing training and mentoring support to over 100 women in 5 women's cooperatives that have been affected by the pandemic. sustainable economic growth.

TotallyMoney launches new Cashplus credit card to close the £6 billion SME lending gap for UK’s 3.2 million sole-traders

TotallyMoney, the credit app which helps everyone move their finances forward, has partnered with Cashplus, the leading SME-focused digital challenger to launch its new, market-leading cashback credit card. The Cashplus card for entrepreneurs and independent traders offers limits of up to £5,000 and 56 day interest-free repayment periods, enabling greater financial flexibility. It comes with zero monthly or annual fees, and with 1% cashback customers can earn while they spend. Guaranteed limits and guaranteed rates mean applicants know exactly how much they’ll be able to borrow, and at what interest rate, before they apply. 

Kingswood launches new online client portal

Kingswood Holdings Limited, the international, fully integrated wealth and investment management group, announces the launch of ‘Kingswood Go’, a new online portal for clients, in partnership with technology designed by Moneyinfo, a leading Wealthtech firm that specializes in client portals and mobile apps for the wealth management industry.

Shakepay launches its Bitcoin rewards card to Canadians

Shakepay, a leading Canadian bitcoin technology company enabling customers to easily buy and earn bitcoin through financial applications, announces the availability of its Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card to the public after a successful invite-only launch to its devoted community of Shakers in December 2021. Shakepay Cardholders will earn up to 2% in bitcoin cashback on their first $5,000 spent, settled directly to the bitcoin balance of their Shakepay account. Cardholders will then earn 1% bitcoin cashback on every purchase beyond their first $5,000.

GTreasury partners with Infor, empowering customers with enhanced treasury management functionality

GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider, announced its partnership with Infor, a global leader in industry-focused business cloud software solutions. The deal enables GTreasury and Infor customers to benefit from new automation and data integration between GTreasury’s digital treasury platform and Infor’s powerful cloud-based ERP platform. The integrated workflow will help eliminate the challenges of relying on various siloed systems to accomplish business-critical treasury and accounting tasks.

Soldo launches Google Pay customers in the UK and Italy

Soldo, the leading European pay and spend automation platform launched Google Pay for customers in the UK and Italy. The integration with Google’s technology allows a Soldo physical or virtual card to be added to Google Pay mobile wallets on Android smartphones, enabling secure and seamless payments and convenient shopping experiences for Soldo customers for business spending from retail to travel. With Google Pay, Soldo’s 30,000 customers can make in-store and secure contactless payments, as well as online or in-app purchases everywhere that Google Pay is accepted.

Pollenpay created a buzz in BNPL revolution

PollenPay, the Manchester-based ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) company has officially launched in the UK. The company’s mobile-based application is now available as a free download for all customers aged 18 or above, via Apple’s App Store. PollenPay’s new mobile application will give its customers more flexibility when making payments. The exciting BNPL technology aims to ease pressure on purchases, by spreading payments and enabling greater levels of financial responsibility among its users. For boutique businesses, PollenPay’s service can also ensure greater cashflow management.

Capital Bank of Jordan launches Blink Neobank using Codebase Technologies DigibancTM platform

Capital Bank of Jordan partnered with Codebase Technologies to build Blink, the first digital-only neobank in Jordan. The project officially commenced in late 2021 and in February 2022, Blink went live for Jordanian customers. Blink was born out of a simple belief: money is meant to be easy; it's meant to work for people, and not the other way around. Jordanians can open a Blink account directly from their smartphone with their Jordanian ID, in just 15 minutes, gaining access to an instantly issued virtual debit card and account. A physical card will be delivered directly to their chosen address. In addition, users can manage their accounts, send and receive money, view their transaction history, and withdraw money from domestic and international ATMs.

Merger & Acquisition

Mews acquires POS innovator Bizzon for Seamless guest payments in the hospitality 

Mews, the industry hospitality cloud, has announced the acquisition of Bizzon, an innovator of POS software, to expand its fintech offering to hotels and their F&B teams. The Bizzon POS product family will become part of the Mews Payments product line. Founded in 2015, the Bizzon team developed an integrated suite of products that were designed to help hospitality businesses connect and modernize the guest experience through fully integrated POS and digital ordering.

Wikisoft Corp. acquires blockchain technology company – EtheraLabs LLC

Wikisoft Corp. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 51% of Etheralabs LLC a New York City based venture lab and ecosystem that invests in, builds, and deploys disruptive technologies across the Blockchain space. Wikisoft is using equity to fund the acquisition, thus providing the Company the optimum financial flexibility in the future. The transaction includes a global access to Etheralabs' full stack of technologies across the Blockchain and global funding landscape. Etheralabs ecosystem allows development and finance partnerships throughout the blockchain world and beyond, and connects the blockchain community, investors, and venture capital to relevant data intelligence and direct investment opportunities.

Payment platform Cheddar expands into open banking with its acquisition of Upside

Cheddar, the bank transfer platform powering payments, announces an exciting new acquisition of open banking technology by Upside Saving to be added to the company’s free payment offering. Upside, the business acquired by Cheddar, developed an open banking-enabled, hyper-targeted, marketing platform that connects retail brands with consumers by offering personalized cashback, a unique approach providing significant advantages over traditional cashback platforms.

Rakuten Symphony agrees to acquire leading US-based cloud technology company Robin.io to deliver highly integrated Telco-cloud for mobile

Symphony, Inc. announced an agreement to acquire leading Silicon Valley-based cloud technology start-up, Robin.io. The addition of Robin.io's multi-cloud mobility, hyper-automation, and orchestration capabilities to the Rakuten Symphony portfolio allows the creation of highly efficient, consistent high-performance cloud infrastructure and operations, from edge to central data center.

Job Moves

LPA expands Italian presence with new hire

LPA, the capital market technology and advisory firm, announced the hire of Paolo de Vito as the new Head of Business Development, Italy. In his role, Paolo will lead the opening of the Italian branch of LPA and be responsible for the business development, strategy, and growth of LPA’s activity in the region. Paolo will be based in Italy and will help LPA’s clients transform and digitize their activity, maximizing productivity and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Mode appoints former Alipay UK Chief Rita Liu as CEO

UK-based crypto startup Mode has named former Alipay UK CEO Rita Liu as chief executive officer. For over a decade Liu has held leadership roles at fintech giant Alipay in Asia, the US, Canada and was CEO in the UK before joining Mode in March 2020 as Chief Commercial Officer. In her new role, Liu will be responsible for driving Mode forward as the firm bids to deliver a one-stop app for users to shop, earn and grow their bitcoin.In addition, Mode’s chief technology officer Jonathan Conway has been appointed to the board with immediate effect, underlining the company's emphasis on building a streamlined app experience.

Financial crime compliance expert from Natwest joins Napier as CPO

Napier, a provider of leading anti-financial crime compliance solutions, has announced that former NatWest Group Head of Financial Crime Quality and Standards, William Monk, will become its new Chief Product Officer (CPO), while current CPO, Nick Portalski, moves to the role of Chief Solutions Officer (CSO). Monk’s experience in the finance sector includes stints at major high street banks including HSBC, Barclays, and most recently NatWest. As Napier’s new CPO he will be leading RegTech’s long-term product vision for next-generation SaaS financial crime solutions.

PCI Pal marks Australian launch with senior VP appointment

PCI Pal, the global provider of cloud-based secure payment solutions, announced the appointment of Adam Paton as its VP Sales for Australia and New Zealand.  The hire marks an important milestone in the company’s continued global expansion. Based at PCI Pal’s new Australian HQ in Sydney, Adam joins the team having worked in the contact centre security industry as a Strategic Account Director, where he supported large enterprise customers in achieving compliance and maintaining critical sources of revenue generation. Prior to this, Adam spent 12 years at co-location provider Equinix, where he supported customers from the financial services and global banking sectors.

MDX Technology hires Nigel Someck as Global VP of sales

MDX Technology (MDXT), the leading provider of trader collaboration solutions, continues the expansion of its leadership team by announcing the appointment of Nigel Someck as global VP of Sales. Nigel joins from Livingstone Technologies, where he was the commercial Head of the Managed Services team. Before this, Nigel spent over 12 years in business leadership roles in several highly successful fintech firms, including Sungard (now FIS) and Imagine Software.

Shawbrook hires Arthus Leung as a Chief Product Officer

Shawbrook has appointed Arthur Leung in the newly created role of Chief Product Officer, reporting into the Bank’s CEO Marcelino Castrillo. The appointment follows a number of recent announcements on the Bank’s investment in technology and talent including plans to create 100 new digital vacancies by the end of 2022. Arthur brings more than 15 years’ product and leadership expertise to Shawbrook, having previously worked across a breadth of leading organizations including fast growth payment card specialist Curve, top-tier consultancies including fintech-focused 11:FS and most recently Advent International where he led the digital product and engineering team.

Ignition Advice appoints new Chief Operations Officers for Europe

Ignition Advice, the global provider of advice technology, has appointed Will Drew as its new Chief Operations Officer for Europe. Will comes to Ignition with 20 years of industry experience across a range of sectors, having worked at wealth managers, insurance providers, and retail banks. Prior to joining Ignition, Will was Head of Account Management for Bravura Solutions, a global provider of software solutions. Before that he was a Director within Deloitte’s Technology Consulting practice, specializing in digital transformation.

Westpac appoints first BaaS Chief – Damien MacRae

Westpac has appointed Damien MacRae as its first BaaS chief executive, overseeing the Australian lender's efforts to deepen its relationship with non-bank partners looking to embed banking services. MacRae, a Westpac veteran who recently returned after a stint away from the bank, will begin his new role in April, alongside his current position as MD of Pacific Bank and Specialist Finance. The two-year-old banking-as-a-service business uses a cloud-native banking platform built from the ground up in partnership with UK-based provider 10x and integrating more than 30 different technology services.