Partnerships 

Computop Adds Open Banking Payments for Merchants with Token

Open banking payments platform, Token, and leading Payment Service Provider (PSP), Computop Paygate, have joined forces to answer the growing demand for Open Banking payments in Europe. Using Token’s Open Banking connectivity and platform, Computop enables account-to-account (A2A) payments for eCommerce merchants, Whitelabel partners and resellers using its Paygate platform.

NatWest Makes Agreements with Three More Payment Providers to Offer VRP

NatWest Group has made agreements with Token, Tink and Yapily to offer Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) as a new and convenient payment option for businesses and consumers. This means NatWest Group now has agreements with six payment providers to offer VRP as a new payment method – after previously making agreements with TrueLayer, GoCardless and Crezco.

Jack Henry and Mastercard Expand Collaboration to Address Financial Fragmentation

Jack Henry announced an expansion of its existing relationship with Mastercard® that will enable credit unions and banks to provide their account holders with the ability to securely see all of their financial accounts – within and outside their primary financial institution – in one place. Together, the companies establish a partnership that makes secure, API-based data-gathering affordable for community and regional financial institutions.

Apto Adds Patriot Bank as Bank Partner

Card issuer and service provider Apto Payments announced the addition of Patriot National Bancorp, Inc., a Connecticut corporation as a new bank partner to help customers bring card products to market with ease and confidence. Patriot is a bank that is committed to supporting purpose-driven, digital-first financial products and will support Apto’s wide range of card use cases, including disbursements, small business cards, corporate expense cards, and more.

Canoe Intelligence Enables VRGL to Streamline Multi-Asset Analysis for Wealth Management Clients

Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”), the financial technology company powering alternative investment intelligence, announced a new partnership with VRGL, a provider of institutional-grade analytics and automated data extraction to the wealth management industry. This cooperation allows wealth managers to explain their value to prospective and current clients using traditional and alternative investment data and portfolio analytics.

NatWest Group and the Vodeno Group Enter into a Strategic Partnership to Create Banking-as-a-Service Business

NatWest Group plc (“NatWest Group”) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Vodeno Group (comprising of Vodeno Limited and its subsidiaries) which will see the creation of a Banking-as-a-Service (“BaaS”) business in the UK. This cooperation will allow businesses to embed financial services products such as payments, deposits, point-of-sale credit, and merchant cash advances directly in their ecosystem. 

ADSS Partners with Real-time Analytics Leader KX to Accelerate Transformational Growth Strategy

ADSS, the Abu Dhabi and London-based financial services firm, has partnered with leading real-time analytics company KX to increase operational efficiency as it rolls out its transformational growth strategy and offers clients greater access to liquidity and a broader range of financial instruments. ADSS, one of the largest CFD trading platforms in the Middle East, is investing heavily in proprietary data processes and multi-asset trading platforms.

Abymap Teams Up With Nordigen For Direct Access To Client Financial Data

Abymap has partnered with freemium open banking provider Nordigen for direct access to customer bank accounts.  Abymap is a French financial software firm that was launched in 2020 by accountant Agnès Bichon and IT specialist Matthieu Paris. The two experts identified common challenges within existing accounting systems and the lack of clarity that was often present in these solutions.

Tuum Strengthens AML Compliance Offering Through a Partnership with Salv

Tuum, an API-first and modular core banking platform, joins with Salv to combat financial crime. The cooperation adds AML to Tuum's primary banking infrastructure. The cooperation also solves time-to-market and AML compliance issues. Tuum's customers now have access to a rapid, flexible, transparent AML platform with comprehensive monitoring, screening, and risk-scoring solutions.

Zero Hash Partners with Current to Provide Access to No-fee Crypto Trading

Zero Hash, the leading global B2B2C crypto-as-a-service infrastructure provider, announced it has partnered with Current, a leading U.S. financial technology platform, to provide access to no-fee crypto trading for its over four million members. The integration with Zero Hash allows Current members access to buy and sell dozens of crypto assets without trading fees, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, in the Current app.

Currencycloud Becomes Preferred FX Provider for Integrated Finance

Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has become a preferred FX partner for Integrated Finance, the London-based Fintech infrastructure platform that helps businesses build, expand and manage the financial infrastructure, delivering easily integrate FX products for existing payment platforms. Integrated Finance helps Fintechs begin and develop their business by providing basic banking products and a marketplace of pre-built connectors via a single API.

Nexi and Illimity: A New Partnership to Support Italian SMEs

Nexi, the European PayTech, and Illimity Bank S.p.A. (“Illimity” or the “Bank”), a high-tech Banking Group, announce a new partnership to support Italian SMEs: b-ilty, Illimity's digital store for SMEs, adds Nexi's digital collection solutions. Italian SMEs can rent or buy Nexi's collection goods and services through the b-ilty platform, allowing them to accept any method of payment in a straightforward, rapid, and secure manner.

Wio Bank Announces Partnership with Stripe

Wio Bank PJSC, the region’s first platform bank, has announced a partnership with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, which will enable SMEs in the UAE to access the power of e-commerce faster and more easily and conveniently. Wio Business, the first digital banking software from Wio, will let SMEs and freelancers get into e-commerce faster with an easy-to-create Stripe account.

Launches 

In Response to Spiking Insurance Rates, Marble Launches Rate Watch

Marble, the free platform that makes it easy and rewarding to take control of all your insurance in one place, announced the launch of its new Rate Watch feature. Marble members can be alerted if their insurance carrier files for a rate hike in their state. This service gives Marble members professional-grade insights into their insurance costs, a first for the industry as Americans face practically unprecedented rate increases, especially for personal auto policies.

Planet Introduces its New Online Payment Gateway

Planet, a global technology leader providing integrated software and payment services, announced the launch of a new Online Payment Gateway as part of its connected commerce platform. The new Online Payment Gateway fully integrates the specialist digital payment capabilities of Datatrans, which Planet acquired in November 2021, with its global connected commerce platform.

TransUnion Launches New Eligibility for Retail E-commerce Solution

TransUnion, a global information and insights company, has unveiled its new Eligibility for Retail E-commerce solution that offers retailers a view of customer eligibility prior to starting the credit checking process. This solution intends to equip retail businesses to make smarter and more robust decisions as consumers change their spending habits due to current cost of living pressures.

Signifyd Launches Fearless Payments, a New Optimization Solution to Propel the Digital Transformation of Payment

Signifyd, the leading digital commerce protection provider, launched Fearless Payments for payment providers, a suite of innovative solutions that empowers payment service providers (PSPs) to significantly increase authorization rates while lowering their operating costs and providing their customers with a full financial guarantee against all types of chargebacks.

Plaid Unveils ‘Wallet Onboard’ Tool, Promises Crypto Product Push

Plaid is bringing new technology and experience to web3 through Wallet Onboard, a safe and easy way for developers to onboard their consumers through a seamless wallet-linking experience. Wallet Onboard enables developers to connect to more than 300 self-custody crypto wallets through a single integration. Wallet Onboard is built on top of Plaid Link, a familiar and trusted user interface used by almost one in four Americans today.

Brazil's Nubank to Introduce Cryptocurrency as Part of Rewards Pro

Brazilian digital banking behemoth Nubank is developing its own cryptocurrency, called Nucoin, for its millions of customers. The Nucoin token will be the basis for a rewards programme when it launches next year, distributed for free to the bank's 70 million customers for discounts and other perks. However, Nubank says that in the future it also wants to see Nucoins traded in the crypto market.

Fenergo Launches Perpetual KYC Offering

Fenergo, the leading provider of digital solutions for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Client Lifecycle Management (CLM), has launched a new perpetual KYC solution to enable financial institutions to streamline periodic KYC review processes and reduce costs through automation. Fenergo Smart Review automates KYC compliance monitoring by spotting changes to entity data, transactions, and AML screening.

PPRO’s New Orchestration Layer Enables Customers to Deploy, Control and Scale Hundreds of Payment Services Through One Connection

PPRO, the leading provider of digital payments infrastructure, has completed the rollout of its new, no-code service orchestration layer, uniting hundreds of payment, acquiring, and risk products from dozens of providers - all of which can be deployed and scaled through one connection. PPRO's orchestration layer helps businesses launch new products and tools faster, replace outdated systems more simply, and eliminate costly RFP processes and single-provider dependencies. 

Cloud Processing Powerhouse Enfuce Launches Real-time Card Spending Control Tool

Enfuce, the pioneering issuer processing powerhouse, has announced the launch of its dynamic spend management tool Authorisation Control, which empowers companies of any size, in any sector, to set transaction and spending controls for any card in real-time. Authorisation Govern enables card providers unequalled flexibility to define sophisticated criteria for approving and refusing transactions in real-time and to control how, where, and when cards can be used.

Sun Finance Launches BNPL Product

One of Europe’s most rapidly growing fintech companies, Sun Finance, is expanding its product range with BNPL (buy-now-pay-later). The first market in which this new product is being launched in Latvia, where the company’s headquarters are located. Sun Finance works in seven countries and has 9 million registered consumers who employ instalment loans, lines of credit, and microloans. Sun Finance now offers BNPL.

GBG Launches GO-no-code Onboarding for Optimised Customer Experience

GBG, the global expert in digital identity, launched GBG GO, its third-generation simple, cloud-hosted solution that enables businesses of all sizes to verify the identity of new customers. GO provides ready-to-go customer journey templates, an easy, drag-and-drop journey builder, and a smooth UI editor with a built-in customer consent check, enabling organisations to go to market in minutes, not days.

Cion Digital Launches Wealth Advisor Lending Platform

Cion Digital, developers of the first enterprise SaaS blockchain orchestration and payments platform, announced the company is expanding their operations to offer its suite of services to a broader portion of the financial services and retail sectors. Through this expansion, Cion Digital will support traditional asset and securities-backed financial products in addition to crypto assets through their lending platform.

B2B Marketplace Solv Launches in Kenya to Unlock MSMEs’ Growth Potential

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya will now be able to access working capital financing and a wide range of other business solutions following the launch of Solv in Kenya. The full-stack platform claims to benefit businesses by offering access to new markets in Kenya and resolving critical operational difficulties. Solv is backed by Standard Chartered's fintech, innovation, and enterprises arm, SC Ventures.

Revolut Challenger Atlantic Money Launches in Ireland

New international money transfer provider, Atlantic Money, announces its official launch in Ireland, continuing its expansion in Europe after Belgium and Germany. For the first time, Irish consumers can transfer up to €100,000 internationally for €3 at the current exchange rate. Atlantic Money's iOS app offers low-cost transfers. The company, co-founded by two early Robinhood workers, undercuts PayPal, Revolut, and Wise.

ION Launches XTP Spark to Simplify Post-trade Processing

ION, a global leader in trading, analytics, treasury, and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, launched XTP Spark, a turn-key trade processing solution for Cleared Derivatives. XTP Spark is ION's quick-to-deploy, easy-to-use XTP solution. It's suitable for banks and brokers, commodity trading organisations, or specialist clearers starting their digitalization journey and needing rapid, accurate back-office capability that meets client, regulatory, and exchange standards.

Nutanix Launches Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Microsoft Azure

Nutanix has announced  the general availability of Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Microsoft Azure, extending its hybrid cloud environment to Microsoft Azure dedicated bare metal nodes.  NC2 on Azure enables seamless hyperconverged infrastructure and unified administration to speed hybrid cloud adoption. NC2 on Azure allows users to install and manage workloads under their own Azure account and VNet, simplifying and ensuring consistency across Azure and on-premises.

Merger & Acquisition

Moneff Has Acquired Financial Lifestyle App, StormPay

Moneff announced that Moneff has formally acquired the financial lifestyle app, StormPay. Founded in 2020 by Otabek Nuritdinov and Aziz Makhmudov, StormPay was developed specifically for businesses and consumers to better manage their money, grow their assets, and improve their well-being through financial health.Through its ecosystem of fintech services, StormPay provides a tailored solution to users’ needs and financial goals.

Job Moves

Atom Announces the Appointment of Andrew Marshall as CFO

Atom bank announced the appointment of Andrew Marshall as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Atom co-founder David McCarthy. Andrew has worked with Atom for six years as a Group Financial Controller, Deputy CFO, and Director of Corporate Finance.Prior to Atom, he worked at Barclays and EY. Andrew was involved in Atom's first securitization issue, capital raises, and Banking Competition Remedies bid.

Chargebacks911 Appoints Industry Veteran Pel Faquiryan as Chief Growth Officer

Chargebacks911, the leading dispute technology specialist that powers chargeback remediation for the largest global eCommerce businesses as well as the world's financial institutions has appointed long-time finance leader Pelwasha ‘Pel’ Faquiryan as its Chief Growth Officer, responsible for the delivery of superior, personalized customer experiences and measurable business results.

Marika Fredriksson Appointed to Saxo Bank’s Board of Directors

At the extraordinary general meeting of Saxo Bank, Marika Frederiksson was elected to the Board of Directors.Previously, Frederiksson served as CFO and Group Executive Vice President of Vestas Wind Systems A/S, a global leader in sustainable energy solutions. She has also held various leadership positions including CFO of Gambro AB, CFO of Autoliv Inc., CFO and Senior Vice President Finance and Strategy at Volvo Construction Equipment International AB.

Vance Sherard Promoted to Vice President of Investor Relations

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. announced the promotion of Vance Sherard, who leads Investor Relations, to vice president. Sherard has been with Jack Henry for 25 years and has led Investor Relations since 2015. His additional roles at Jack Henry include experience in sales, corporate development and finance. Sherard is a CFA charterholder. He obtained a BBA from Missouri-Columbia and an MBA in Finance from Rollins College. 

Flutterwave Appoints Marshall Lux, Former Chief Risk Officer at JPMorgan Chase, as Senior Advisor

Flutterwave, Africa's leading payments technology company, announced the appointment of Marshall Lux, former JP Morgan Chase Chief Risk Officer of all consumer products, BCG and McKinsey Senior Partner, as Senior Advisor. He has extensive experience in model building, stress testing, portfolio management and optimization, line setting and increases, fraud, regulation, cyber, operations risk, and the like.

LPA Appoints Matthias Schulz as Chief Technology Officer

LPA, the financial markets software and advisory firm, announced that it had appointed Matthias Schulz as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to oversee the development of LPA’s technology stack and support clients along their digital transformation journeys. Matthias joins LPA with a wealth of experience, ranging from ITERGO to Solera, Ingenico and ING.

Coinbase Hires Fintech Executive to Lead European Expansion

Crypto exchange Coinbase has raided German digital assets firm Solaris to appoint its chief operating officer Daniel Seifert as regional managing director for Europe. The new appointee will be expected to lead Coinbase's expansion in the European crypto market. In a statement reported by Bloomberg, Coinbase said it would fill a number of core positions within its European team. The crypto exchange has already secured licences to operate in Italy and the Netherlands.

JPMorgan Names Kalyan as Head of Payments for Asia Pacific

Madhav Kalyan has been appointed as head of Asia Pacific payments for JP Morgan as part of a reshuffle of the bank's senior management in the region. Based in Mumbai, he succeeds Sridhar Kanthadai who will remain with the firm as the newly appointed co-head of global payment rails and payment VAS. Kalyan joined JP Morgan in 2009 as head of corporate banking for India and became a senior country officer for India in early 2021.