Partnerships 

Blockpass and BlockOn Capital Partner over India Blockchain Week

Blockpass, the Safe Network for Crypto, announced a partnership with BlockOn, the worldwide blockchain venture builder & firm. As part of this move, Blockpass will provide information, updates and coverage of BlockOn's events, and BlockOn has invited Blockpass to speak at its India Blockchain Week event, which covers a whole host of themes from NFTs to Governments to Start-Ups over its 7 days.

Mastercard Engage Program Expands with Payment and Lending Ecosystem Partners to Streamline Open Banking for Fintechs, Merchants and Lenders

Mastercard announced an expansion of its Engage partner network to include its open banking services, offering customers easy access to several technology partners that can quickly build and deploy open banking solutions for payments and lending decisions at scale. According to Mastercard’s 2022 New Payment Index, 83% of consumers globally use digital tools for at least one financial task, and more than half use technology for five or more tasks.

Worldline and Casio Enter into Strategic Partnership to Simplify Card Acceptance for Merchants in Japan

Worldline, a global leader in payment services, and Casio Computer announced they have agreed on a strategic business alliance to facilitate card payments and cashless shopping in Japan, a market with huge potential to overturn its conservative retail landscape. The strategic business alliance between Worldline and Casio, which went live recently in Japan, aims to revolutionise the currently rather cumbersome payment acceptance ecosystem.

United Trust Bank Asset Finance Chooses Workato to Power Connectivity and Integration to its New Alfa Digital Platform

United Trust Bank (UTB) has chosen the leading enterprise automation platform Workato to provide the software integration layer which will enable the Bank to connect and integrate a wide variety of powerful tools and apps to its new core Asset Finance digital platform. UTB recently announced that it was partnering with software specialist Alfa to transform the Bank’s Asset Finance operations with an integrated digital solution improving broker service and supporting UTB’s ambitious growth plans.

Finastra and HSBC Collaborate to Bring Banking as a Service FX Capability to Mid-tier Banks

Finastra and HSBC announced that they are working together to distribute HSBC’s FX services via Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud platform under a Banking as a Service (BaaS) experience. This collaboration will take advantage of the best elements of modern API-driven connectivity with licensed institutions’ secure, regulated infrastructure.

Unocoin Collaborates With CleverTap to Offer Its Users Omnichannel Customer Experiences

CleverTap, the modern, integrated retention cloud, announced it has partnered with Unocoin, India's first crypto exchange, to optimize, accelerate their user engagement, and provide a seamless omnichannel customer experience. Through this collaboration, and by integrating CleverTap's solution into its app, Unocoin is now equipped to better understand user behaviour and has the ability to create segments based on user activity, demographics, and other parameters.

Argyle and DigiSure Partner to Supercharge Screening and Risk Assessments for Gig Drivers

Argyle, the leading employment data platform, announced its partnership with Protection-as-a-Service provider DigiSure. Through this partnership, Argyle and DigiSure enable vehicle rental and subscription platforms to screen new customers with one turnkey solution that takes advantage of the availability of historical employment data to lower risk, and onboarding cost and offer a better service for their customers.

NatWest Markets Partners with Google Cloud to Bolster its Data Capabilities and Customer Experiences

Founded in 2016 as the investment arm of Natwest Group, NatWest Markets helps its corporate and institutional customers manage their financial risks and achieve financial goals while navigating changing markets and regulations. Beyond providing products and solutions centred across currencies, rates, and financing, the company's mission is to actively support customers in their transition to achieving broader environmental and societal goals.

Innovative Credit Provider Tymit Introduces Instant Payments with TrueLayer

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announced that the innovative credit firm Tymit is delivering an enhanced experience through instant bank payments for its Credit and Booster customers. Tymit was founded as a flexible approach to financing purchases and managing a monthly budget, creating a viable alternative to credit cards or loans. 

Personetics Partners with Japan's Leading Innovator in Digital Banking, iBank

Personetics, the leading global provider of financial data-driven personalisation and customer engagement solutions for financial institutions, announced a new partnership with iBank Marketing Co., Ltd., a widely recognised as Neobank in Japan. By adding Personetics’ capabilities to its offerings for regional banks, iBank with the support of TIS, a leading systems integrator in Japan, intends to help more of Japan’s regional banks move to the digital space and bring a digitalised banking experience to more Japanese bank customers.

iDenfy Partners with IPRoyal to Provide a Seamless Digital Identity Verification Experience

The certified identity verification, fraud prevention and compliance company, iDenfy, announced a new partnership with IPRoyal, a wide-range proxy service provider. iDenfy will be responsible for verifying customers' identities through its biometric ID verification implementation on IPRoyal’s network. As cyberattack numbers are rising, it’s expected to have high security standards in today’s digital scenery. 

Launches 

OSTTRA Launches New Solution to Digitise Paper Confirmations

OSTTRA, the global post-trade solutions company, announced the launch of a paper digitisation solution that enables market participants to reduce the amount of time it takes to process paper confirmations for complex over-the-counter (OTC) derivative transactions from hours to minutes. The new solution significantly enhancesthe existing paper trade workflows for Investment Managers on OSTTRA Trade Manager.

Mollie Launches Technology Partner Program

Mollie, one of the fastest growing payment service providers in Europe, announced its new Technology Partner Program today. The program aims to help SaaS platforms and technology companies grow their customer base, reach new markets, and improve customer retention. Supporting partners at each stage, Mollie’s Technology Partner program is designed to provide the best possible experience to platforms by providing them with tools to grow their business.

Minima Launches Innovation Challenge To Explore Global Impact Of Decentralized Blockchain

Minima, the first cooperative, ultra-lean, blockchain network that enables anyone to run a complete node on a mobile or IoT device, launched The Minima Innovation Challenge in partnership with EdenBase, UK’s first fund with a supergrowth hub and an ecosystem, investing in the next generation of game-changing companies, powered by frontier technologies.

SAP Fioneer Announces New Vertical Product Strategy to Cater for Banking and Insurance Customer Needs

SAP Fioneer, a leading global provider of financial services software solutions and platforms, has announcedthe launch of a new vertical product strategy which significantly reshapes its offering to customers. Adopting a vertical approach, three platforms will provide IT solutions tailored to a specific market and customer needs enabling them to navigate an increasingly complex financial landscape.

Tink Launches Settlement Accounts to Simplify Real-time Bank Payments for Merchants

Europe’s leading open banking platform, Tink, has announced a significant upgrade to its payment stack with the launch of settlement accounts, a new feature that aggregates PIS settlement. Starting in the UK with a wider European roll-out to follow in the coming months, this launch enables real-time payment confirmation, instant refunds and payouts, integrated reporting, and more.

Sumsub Launches Identity Verification Solution on Salesforce AppExchange

Sumsub announced it has launched its identity verification solution on Salesforce AppExchange, empowering customers to smoothly onboard and verify their global users. Founded in 2015, Sumsub provides an all-in-one technical and legal toolkit to cover KYC/KYB and AML needs. It offers a powerful platform for converting more customers, speeding up verification, reducing costs and fighting digital fraud.

GTreasury Launches ClearConnect; Technology Enables Financial Data Connectivity for Treasury Teams and CFOs

GTreasury, a treasury and risk management platform provider, announced the launch of ClearConnect. Featuring more than 80 API calls in a dozen key categories, ClearConnect offers the most robust connectivity suite available to treasury teams and the office of the CFO. The solution provides immediate access to the comprehensive data required for confident and actionable treasury insights and ensures the fidelity and security of that data.

New Player StormPay Unveils Payment Offering for Businesses

StormPay, a UK-headquartered fintech company which is building an ecosystem that combines financial and lifestyle services in one place, announced it has signed a distributorship agreement with Safenetpay, an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). As such, StormPay can now unveil the first phase of ‘StormPay Business’.

Merger & Acquisition

Flywire Announces Acquisition of Cohort Go to Accelerate Growth with International Education Agents

Flywire Corporation (Flywire), a global payments enablement and software company, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Cohort Go, an international education payments provider that brings additional students, agents and essential student services to Flywire. The acquisition will build on Flywire’s existing education business to accelerate the growth of its agent focus and team. 

Wealthtech Tifin Acquires SharingAlpha

US wealthtech platform Tifin has acquired SharingAlpha, a fund rating platform consisting of a community of more than 15,000 professional fund investors and analysts across the world. Co-founded six years ago by two Israeli brothers, Oren and Yuval Kaplan, SharingAlpha offers professionals the opportunity to build their own track record for fund selection and asset allocation capabilities. 

GoHenry expands into Europe with acquisition of French FinTech Pixpay

GoHenry, the prepaid debit card and financial education app for kids aged 6-18 has acquired French FinTech Pixpay in a deal that will see the financial education pioneer expand into Europe for the first time. Ten years after it launched in the UK creating a new category in financial services, this new deal will enable GoHenry to rapidly expand its two million-plus UK and US member base and accelerate growth across Europe as the company seeks to deliver on its mission to make every kid smart with money.

Job Moves

TS Imagine Strengthens its Marketplace Leadership with Non-exec Board Appointments

TS Imagine, a global leader in trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions for capital markets, announces the appointment of three new board members to support the firm’s rapid growth. As the business builds market share in these sectors, the new board members bring significant expertise in core business areas, including digital assets, securities finance, derivatives, and market structure.

Saltare Strengthens Commercial Team with Hire of Second Commercial Manager

UK-based Saltare, the Early Payment FinTech, has appointed its second commercial manager to grow its customer base with a primary focus on enrolling larger corporations with extensive and diverse supply chains.Chris Wilson, a former small business owner and leadership coach, joins Saltare after owning and running several businesses over the course of his career. Chris will bring valuable first-hand experience in managing business cash flow to the Saltare team.

Red Hat Names Matt Hicks President and Chief Executive Officer

Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, announced that it has named Matt Hicks as its president and chief executive officer. Hicks, who previously served as Red Hat’s executive vice president of Products and Technologies, succeeds Paul Cormier, who will serve as chairman of Red Hat. Known as a hands-on leader within Red Hat, Hicks joined the company in 2006 as a developer on the IT team. 

P2P Lender LenDenClub Appoints AU Bank’s Ashish Jain as Chief Business Officer – Investments

LenDenClub, RBI registered NBFC-P2P, India's largest peer-to-peer lending platform, announced the appointment of Ashish Jain as its new Chief Business Officer - Investments. Ashish brings over two decades of market-honed experience across diverse businesses such as FMCG, Mutual Funds, and Banking in the product, business development and sales domain, driving to achieve organizational goals.

Simpl Appoints Somansh Kumar as Director - Platform Integrations

Simpl, India’s leading checkout network, announced the appointment of Somansh Kumar as Director of Platform Integrations. Through this key appointment, Simpl aims to drive merchant quality and their onboarding experience. As the Director of Platform Integrations, Mr. Kumar’s responsibilities include leading the integrations’ charter for Simpl’s 20k and growing merchant partners. He will especially drive merchant quality and their onboarding experience with a laser-sharp focus on integration lifecycle management and post-integration support.

Stanhope Financial Group Appoints Andrew H Brown as Chief Risk & Compliance Officer

Stanhope Financial Group, an EU (Dublin) based global fintech company that provides businesses with a full suite of banking services, has hired Andrew H Brown as the company’s new Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, following a $10m series A funding round. Brown has decades-long experience in cross-border financial services, most recently supporting platform entities to restructure group activity to balance effective risk and compliance management with supporting business growth objectives and accessing the new opportunities afforded by financial technology.