Partnerships 

ACI Worldwide and CARDNET Partner to Modernize Digital Payments in Japan

ACI Worldwide the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, announced an agreement with Japan’s leading central domestic payment network, Japan Card Network, Inc, CARDNET, to modernize its digital payments infrastructure. The agreement will see ACI work with CARDNET to provide the latest digital payments technology and next-generation solutions to CARDNET’s customers.

BlackRock Teams Up With Coinbase in Crypto Market Expansion

Over the past few years, Coinbase has played a central role in developing and strengthening crypto markets as the safest, most trusted bridge to the crypto economy. Today marks an exciting next step on our journey as they announce that Coinbase is partnering with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to provide institutional clients of Aladdin®, BlackRock’s end-to-end investment management platform. 

Ranqx Expands Visa Partnership to North America

Ranqx, the digital lending platform built specifically for lenders to small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs), expands its work with Visa into North America. Prior to collaborating with Visa in North America, Ranqx worked with Visa in its Asia/Pacific region. Under the expanded arrangement, Visa will introduce Financial Institutions to Ranqx’s digital capabilities, helping direct lenders provide easier access to much-needed capital for SMBs.

TradeSun and Coriolis Technologies Partner for ESG Scoring of Trade Transactions

TradeSun, a technology company leveraging artificial intelligence for trade compliance and automation, and Coriolis Technologies, a leading trade data and analytics provider, have partnered to launch an integrated solution for banks to measure and verify environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance across trade transactions.

Sonovate Announces New Partnership with Demica as it Continues to Redefine Embedded Finance for the Contingent Workforce

Sonovate, the leading provider of embedded finance and payment solutions for the contingent workforce, announced a new partnership with Demica, the market-leading trade finance fintech, to enhance its reporting processes so it can continue to support thousands of business customers globally. Under the terms of the partnership, Sonovate will use Demica’s Platform to enable it to lend more efficiently to more customers, ultimately growing Sonovate’s customer base and business.

VNX Adds Visa and Mastercard Payment Methods to its Native Tokenized Gold Platform

VNX, the first European regulated platform for investment into tokenized precious metals, now accepts major credit cards Visa and Mastercard as payment options on its native platform. The addition of the two largest credit payment methods unlocks the gates for accredited investors to utilize VNX’s tokenized gold platform without the requirement of using crypto payments or cumbersome wire transfers.

TBC Bank Decreases Time to Market for New Offerings by 40% While Reducing Integration Costs by One-third with Kong

TBC Bank, a leading financial institution in the Caucasus and Central Asia Region, has reduced the time to market for new and enhanced products and services by 40% since implementing Kong Enterprise, the cloud-native API platform.  By removing the need for a centralised integration layer and scaling back the associated resources, Kong’s technology has not only streamlined innovation processes at the bank but reduced costs by one-third.

Ecospend Partners with CDER Group to Provide Customers with Secure Pay By Bank Account Solution

Ecospend, the open banking technology provider announced it is partnering with CDER Group, one of the UK’s foremost Enforcement and Debt Resolution companies, to provide its account-to-account ‘Pay-by-Bank’ solution. Collecting over £250m of unpaid Central and Local Government debt each year, CDER Group is using Ecospend’s ‘Pay-by-Bank’ solution to provide an additional, easy-to-use, secure payment channel.

4G Capital and Mambu Empower Entrepreneurs in Africa

4G Capital, an award-winning neobank powering micro and small business growth in Africa, announced their go-live on Mambu's leading cloud banking platform. 4G Capital provides unsecured business loans along with enterprise training and access to digital solutions. Mambu’s platform will enable the neobank to scale and expedite its digital journey to meet customer business needs.

Deutsche Bank Partners with Traydstream to Automate Document Checking for Their Trade Finance Products

Deutsche Bank and Traydstream have been working together since July 2021 with a detailed pilot of the Traydstream automated trade document checking platform. Both parties have now announced a further commitment for a deep dive into the bank’s trade operations as well as integration of Traydstream’s AI tools. The parties have agreed to integrate the Traydstream platform into the Deutsche Bank environment and intend to subsequently roll out the platform globally.

Fabrick Selects Innovative Fintech Solutions to Accelerate in Collaboration with Federated Innovation @Mind

Federated Innovation @MIND, a public-private collaborative model to foster innovation and Fabrick, a business that promotes Open Finance at an international level, are two businesses that share a common desire to encourage the development of innovative concepts into concrete new products, processes and services that can contribute to economic growth in Italy and Europe while enabling collaboration and synergies between different sectors through the open platform model.

Open Banking One Partners with Nordigen To Deliver a Single View of All Customer Accounts

Fintech application Open Banking One has joined forces with Nordigen to provide their customers with a simple way to interact with all their bank accounts at once. Open Banking One (OB1) is the brainchild of the developers at Cabora Technologies, which specialise in mobile applications centred around financial services, e-commerce, retail and fitness. OB1 was created to enable customers with multiple banks or credit card accounts to access all their accounts from a single application.

FloQast Collaborates with Microsoft to Deliver an Efficient and More Accurate Financial Close

FloQast, a provider of accounting workflow automation software created by accountants for accountants, expanded its role as a Microsoft partner by joining the Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect program and launching multiple apps on Microsoft AppSource. FloQast’s participation in the Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect Program provides Microsoft ERP customers with a way to increase the efficiency and accuracy of the Close with a centralized suite of solutions.

Launches 

American Express Launches Digital, Cross-Border Payment Solution for US Small Businesses

American Express the leading Small Business Card issuer in the U.S. announced American Express Global Pay a new digital solution that enables U.S. businesses to securely make domestic and international business-to-business (B2B) payments. This new digital solution allows business customers to send payments funded from their business bank account to their suppliers in more than 40 countries. 

Fintech Company Sunbit Announces Next Generation Financing Product

Sunbit, the company building financial technology for everyday expenses, announced that it has expanded beyond point-of-sale lending with the introduction of a new, next-generation credit card. The Sunbit Card delivers unprecedented flexibility and a personalized APR for every approved consumer. In addition to standard credit card functionality, cardholders can choose to pay in full or select a 3-, 6-, or 12-month payment plan at the individual transaction level with no annual fees. 

Yapily Launches VRP, Announces Volume and Ozone API as First to Market

Open banking platform Yapily launched Yapily Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) to accelerate innovation across the open banking ecosystem. Put simply, VRP allows businesses and consumers to use open banking for recurring payments of varying amounts, without the need to re-authenticate every transaction. This could be automatically moving money between their own bank accounts now and paying subscriptions or household bills in future.

Australian Neobank Up Launches Maybuy - A BNPL Killer

Australian neobank Up Bank has launched savings service Maybuy. Maybuy is designed as an alternative to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) products which have become increasingly popular in recent years. Maybuy will create an automated savings plan for users looking to purchase items online. Upon reaching their goal, consumers can decide to buy the item or save the money for another purpose.

Fast-Growing Crypto Exchange Bybit Launches Shark Fin Structured Product

Bybit, the third most visited cryptocurrency exchange in the world, launched a new structured product Bybit Shark Fin for all users on August 1, 2022. Bybit Shark Fin is a low-risk, principal-protected structured product that affords better capital protection to users as they reap profit. Users deposit their funds into the product and receive a yield based on the performance of the strategy. The underlying strategy utilizes up-and-out call options to generate the yield.

Merger & Acquisition

Thoma Bravo To Acquire Ping Identity For $2.8B

Ping Identity, provider of the Intelligent Identity solution for the enterprise, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $28.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at an Enterprise Value of approximately $2.8 billion. The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the Ping Identity Board of Directors, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Ping Identity shareholders and regulatory approvals.

B2B Payments Startup Paystand Acquires Mexican Peer Yaydoo

Paystand, the leader in blockchain-enabled accounts receivable and B2B payments, announced the acquisition of Yaydoo, the leader in accounts payable, cash flow management, and liquidity solutions in Mexico and LATAM. The deal represents one of the biggest technology unions in Mexico and LATAM and makes commercial blockchain-based solutions more accessible across the Americas.

Global Payments to Acquire EVO in $4B Deal to Boost B2B Segment

Global Payments is to acquire smaller rival EVO Payments for nearly $4 billion in an all-cash deal that will extend its reach in the B2B sector. Global Payments is paying a significant premium for the acquisition, which will expand its geographic footprint and also add accounts receivable automation software capabilities that complement its existing B2B and accounts payable offerings.

Job Moves

Recognise Bank Appoints Jean Murphy as CEO

Digital SME banking startup Recognise Bank has appointed Jean Murphy, a former senior banker at Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, as CEO. Alongside her background in banking, Murphy has spent the past seven years running her own wealth management startup, FSG. At Recognise Bank, she will be charged with steering the business and spearheading future funding rounds.

Accelerated Payments Appoints Dermot Nutley as Chief Operating Officer

SME funding provider Accelerated Payments announced that it has made another strategic appointment with Dermot Nutley stepping into the role of Chief Operating Officer.  Dermot brings a wealth of experience to the role, specialising in technology transformations, business process outsourcing and digital process optimisations. He has over 30 years of experience as COO, CTO, CEO and Head of Lean Six Sigma. 

Detected Appoints Fintech and Payments Leader as Chief Revenue Officer

Detected, the London-based fintech that provides frictionless global business onboarding, announces that it has hired Top 100 Women in Fintech, Rebecca Duckworth, as Chief Revenue Officer. Rebecca joins with over 25 years of experience working in digital transformation across the payments, fintech and software sectors, and most notably spent six years working in Leadership roles at Fiserv, the global fintech and payments company.

Wirex Credit Launches in UK and Expands Crypto Collateral Options

Wirex, a leading crypto and payments ecosystem, has expanded the Wirex Credit program to new regions and developed additional features. Their crypto-back credit lines are now available to UK users and has added WXT as a token to be used as collateral. Having launched last month on the Wirex app, Wirex Credit has become a hugely popular option for users wanting to easily and quickly borrow crypto-backed credit lines of up to $100,000. 

AstroPay Appoints Fayyaz Ansari as Chief Financial Officer

AstroPay, the payment solution of choice for millions of users globally, announced the appointment of Fayyaz Ansari as Chief Financial Officer. Having worked in finance for over 20 years, Fayyaz brings with him a deep understanding of the global payments industry. Prior to joining AstroPay, he was working at Skrill, NETELLER & Income Access (part of Paysafe Group Plc) as CFO of their digital wallet division and board member of their regulated entities.

Singapore Fintech Robocash Group Appoints New CEO

Robocash Group announced the appointment of Natalya Ischenko as Chief Executive Officer and Ivan Adamovich as Chief Financial Officer. Sergey Sedov, who founded and led the company to international expansion, remains in the position of Chairman of the Board. Natalya is a knowledgeable leader with more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry and consulting Big Four companies.

nCino Announces Executive Leadership Appointments

Matt Hansen has been named Chief Product Officer of nCino, overseeing the Company’s Product Development & Engineering organization globally. Jaime Punishill has been named Chief Market Officer (CMO) of nCino, taking over for Jonathan Rowe, PhD, who is taking on a new strategic role with the Company after serving as its CMO since 2012. Ben Miller has been named Chief Executive Officer of SimpleNexus, a nCino Company, taking over for Cathleen Schreiner Gates, who will remain with the Company in an advisory capacity. 

Shieldpay Appoints Sophie Condie as Chief Operating Officer

Shieldpay, the market leader in secure digital payments, announced the appointment of Sophie Condie as Chief Operating Officer. The addition of Sophie to the Shieldpay C-Suite further develops the company’s focus on delivering the best outcomes for customers as part of its overarching customer-first strategy. In her role, Sophie will continue her work transforming Shieldpay’s day-to-day operations, driving efficiencies and improving performance across the business as it continues to scale and grow.

BVNK Appoints Sales Director for its FX Business

BVNK, the crypto-powered business banking and payments platform, announces that it has appointed Jonathan Cumberlidge as its FX (foreign exchange) Sales Director. Cumberlidge joins the company as it seeks to disrupt legacy FX payments and OTC (over-the-counter) trading infrastructure and processes with a faster, more transparent, and more cost-effective alternative based on crypto. 

Michaela LeBlanc Weber Named Mollie’s New VP of Partnerships

Michaela LeBlanc Weber has joined Mollie as our new Vice President of Partnerships, working to develop and maintain our strong relationships with local and global partners. Michaela will lead the development of our partner network to provide small- and medium-sized e-commerce businesses with access to cutting-edge SaaS-based tools and help them to compete with larger e-commerce competitors.

Robinhood Chief Product Officer Quits

In the same week, it announced plans to axe nearly a quarter of its staff, and trading app Robinhood has lost chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada. Chennapragada joined the company from Google a little over a year ago as its first chief product officer to oversee all product, design and research. In a tweet thread, she says that she was "drawn to Robinhood for its potential to democratize finance for all".