Partnerships 

OKX Wallet Announces Blur Partnership, Revamps OKX Earn

OKX announced a partnership with Blur.io to fully integrate the OKX Wallet on the leading Ethereum-based NFT Marketplace. On March 22, OKX announced the addition of Blur to the rapidly growing OKX NFT Marketplace ecosystem, offering traders batch shelf and order book NFT transactions. As of today, OKX users can connect their OKX Wallet to the Blur.io marketplace and transact directly.

Experian and CarCloud Shift into Higher Gear as Partnership Set to Accelerate Car Ownership Experience

Experian and CarCloud announced a new partnership that will further enhance the car ownership experience for drivers using CarCloud’s free digital management app. CarCloud users will now be able to check eligibility for new car finance deals without it affecting their credit score – giving them the confidence to go ahead with the best, most affordable option. Further to this, users can also assess if they can obtain improved terms on their existing car finance deals.

tmgroup Integrates with LMS Confirmly in Move to Protect Clients from Rising Financial Fraud

LMS, the UK's leading conveyancing services provider, announced a new partnership with tmgroup, a tech company specialising in conveyancing services, to deliver confirmly, its law firm identity-checking technology to tmgroup’s client base. Confirmly is specifically designed for law firms to tackle rising levels of fraud in the industry. By harnessing LMS Panel Link and specialist third party data, it provides real-time monitoring to law firms to verify account details automatically before any funds are transferred, reducing the risk of falling victim to scams.

Affirm and Stripe Expand Partnership to Help Merchants in Canada Grow Revenue

Affirm, the payment network that empowers consumers and helps merchants drive growth, announced that it is expanding its relationship with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, to Canada. Affirm’s Adaptive Checkout™ is now available to all eligible Canadian Stripe users, allowing merchants and platforms to add this pay-over-time option to their checkout experience in minutes.

Deloitte and Riskified Partner to Help E-commerce Merchants Analyse Their Fraud Exposure Against Industry Benchmarks

Riskified, a leader in eCommerce risk intelligence, announced its partnership with Deloitte, a leader in fraud and financial crime advisory services, to empower merchants with real-time insight into how their chargebacks, approval rates and fraud costs compare to similar companies in their space. This benchmarking service is an industry first, helping retailers formulate a scorecard that can uncover new opportunities to reduce operational costs, lower chargeback and fraud losses, and boost revenues by minimising false declines.  

SentinelOne and Wiz Announce Exclusive Partnership to Deliver End-to-end Cloud Security

SentinelOne, an autonomous cyber security platform company, has announced an exclusive and strategic partnership with Wiz, a leader in cloud security. Through the strategic partnership, the combined expertise of Wiz’s Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) and SentinelOne’s Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), can be offered to organisations of all sizes and equip customers with a best-of-breed cloud security solution.

National Trust Launches Three-year Partnership with Starling Bank to Improve Access to Nature for Over 1 Million People a Year

The National Trust and Starling Bank have launched a three-year partnership aimed at ensuring more people have access to nature, both now and in the future. Through the partnership, it is estimated that over 1 million people will be able to benefit from improved access to nature through the family-focused Summer of Play programme, nature workshops for school children, and Starling Banks’s refer a friend scheme.

Hoxton Capital Management Teams Up with Salt Edge to Boost the World of Investments

Hoxton Capital Management, a borderless financial advisory firm, teamed up with Salt Edge to offer internationally mobile people and expatriates a more comprehensive and detailed view of their finances, helping them make the most informed financial decisions, including investment. By utilising an unparalleled combination of highly-skilled advisory experts and cutting-edge technology, Hoxton Capital is dedicated to helping individuals achieve their financial aspirations and manage their wealth on their own terms.

Themis Announces Partnership with SeedLegals

Themis announces a new partnership with SeedLegals, the UK market standard for start-up companies raising investment. The partnership allows SeedLegal’s startup customers to “check that cheque” and ensure they know the provenance of their funding by undertaking thorough due diligence on all their investors. The two companies will promote each other’s services and work together to provide a comprehensive offering to startup customers, covering the legal and administrative aspects of undertaking the funding process and associated screening and due diligence on potential investors.

Ecospend Joins PIMFA WealthTech as Innovation Partner to Pioneer New Open Finance Solutions for the Wealth Sector

Ecospend, the UK’s leading Open Banking provider recently acquired by Trustly, has joined PIMFA WealthTech, the digital marketplace and industry network created to drive innovation and enhance collaboration between WealthTechs and wealth management firms, to provide a proof of concept “Pay-by-Bank” solution to its members. Ecospend’s solution will allow clients of PIMFA WealthTech members to make payments directly to their accounts more easily and securely and without the need for cards.

FNZ and Virgin Money Launch Transformative New Digital Investment Platform to Inspire New Generation of Investors

FNZ, the global wealth management platform, announced that they have partnered to launch a new digital investment solution for UK retail investors. The service has been developed by Virgin Money Investments, a joint venture between Virgin Money UK and abrdn. The new digital investment platform and mobile app will offer Virgin Money customers an enhanced digital experience with a range of new features and capabilities that will make investing easier,  faster and more convenient than ever before.

Capital Bank Goes Live with Finastra to Support Strong Growth in Corporate Banking Business

Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, announced that Capital Bank, a leading financial institution with commercial and investment banking expertise, has gone live with Finastra’s Corporate Channels and will soon follow with Trade Innovation as well as other Corporate Channels modules. The combined offering will help to streamline banking services for corporates in Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Top US-Based Bank Selects Temenos for Core Banking Modernization in the Cloud

Temenos announced that Regions Bank, a top bank in the US, has selected Temenos to modernize its legacy systems for customers’ records and deposits on the Temenos Banking Cloud. The move to software as a service (SaaS) will enable Regions Bank to deliver more seamless customer experiences and more personalized banking products and services designed to help consumers and businesses reach their financial goals.

Qredo Partners with Avalanche for Launch of First-Ever Evergreen Subnet

Qredo, a leading provider of institutional-grade digital asset self-custody solutions, announced its participation as one of the institutional partners in the Avalanche Spruce testnet. Avalanche has provided Qredo with access to the Spruce testnet via MetaMask Institutional and WalletConnect. Qredo will be utilising the Spruce testnet to assess various applications and assets so as to understand the potential benefits of on-chain trade execution and settlement.

Mercuryo Partners with Simpledo to Make Buying Crypto Easy for Turkish Users

Mercuryo, the all-in-one cryptocurrency platform, announced its partnership with Simpledo, an emerging crypto provider in Turkey. This partnership is aimed at expanding Mercuryo's global presence and enhancing its services for customers in Turkey. Simpledo offers a range of crypto solutions to its customers in Turkey, including on/off ramps, crypto swaps. With this partnership, Simpledo will be able to leverage Mercuryo’s expertise to provide its customers with a seamless experience.

Payfare Expands Partnership with NCR to Power Self-Service Financial Tools for Cardholders

NCR Corporation, a leading enterprise technology provider, has expanded its partnership with Payfare Inc. (TSX: PAY), a leading fintech powering instant payout and digital banking solutions for the gig workforce. The extended partnership makes NCR a provider of self-service financial solutions for Payfare’s cardholders across the United States for both cash-in and cash-out transactions.

Pioneer Valley Credit Union Partners with Mahalo Banking to Accelerate Digital Transformation

Springfield, Mass.-based Pioneer Valley Credit Union (Pioneer Valley) has signed a partnership agreement with Mahalo Banking, a CUSO that provides online and mobile banking solutions for credit unions. By launching the Mahalo Banking platform, Pioneer Valley plans to advance its digital banking experience and improve its competitive advantage within the industry. Pioneer Valley is the oldest postal credit union in the nation and serves members of select employer groups and associations within Western Massachusetts.

ApprovalMax and Airwallex Announce Powerful New Partnership

ApprovalMax, a leading provider of automated approval workflows for invoices and purchase orders, has partnered with Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, to offer a powerful integration that enables users to prepare and approve payments for execution (including batch and multi-currency payments), without leaving ApprovalMax. The integration offers a seamless solution for businesses seeking greater control over their payments by streamlining the preparation and approval of payments.

InfoTrack Integrates with LMS Secure Link to Drive Efficiency for Conveyancing Stakeholders

LMS, the UK’s leading conveyancer and panel management specialist, announces that InfoTrack, a pioneering digital conveyancing provider, has integrated with Secure Link to facilitate access to the service for all its clients and deliver an enhanced user experience. LMS Secure Link is an innovative messaging service, launched last year to streamline the conveyancing process and improve case query turnaround times.

Societe Generale and Lemonway Partner to Support the Growth of Large Corporates’ B2B Marketplaces in Europe

Societe Generale, one of Europe’s leading banking groups, and Lemonway, an ACPR-licensed pan-European payment institution, have signed a commercial partnership to deliver payment services to large corporates in Western Europe, launching B2B marketplaces. With complementary approaches, these two firms have committed to adequately addressing the growing needs of corporates in the booming B2B marketplace sector.

Finastra Integrates Alygne’s Tailored ESG Data into Fusion Invest

Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, announced its partnership with Alygne, a sustainability technology platform that provides tailored ESG alternative data, to help asset managers globally make more informed ESG investments. A new connector seamlessly integrates Alygne's data into Fusion Invest, allowing users to leverage the portfolio management capabilities of the solution to ensure portfolios support their ESG-related values.

Launches 

dLocal’s For Platforms Brings a Unified Payment Solution for E-commerce Marketplaces, Ride-sharing Solutions, and Social Media Platforms

dLocal, a technology-first payments platform enabling global enterprise merchants to connect with billions of consumers in emerging markets, announced the official launch of a new all-in-one payment solution to manage global platform payments in one place. dLocal for Platforms is an end-to-end payment solution for marketplaces, on-demand services, and any other platform business models.

Blockchain App Factory and bitsCrunch Join Forces to Launch White Label NFT Marketplace Solutions for Global Businesses

Blockchain app factory, India’s leading enterprise blockchain technology solutions provider announced a strategic partnership with bitsCrunch, a leading force in Forensic and AI-powered NFT analytics. The symbiotic association between the two leading brands will leverage the combined power of their technologies to empower users with forensics and AI-powered real-time analytics. 

Georgia United Credit Union Strengthens Digital Strategy with Jack Henry

Jack Henry™ announced that Georgia United Credit Union has launched its digital banking platform to deliver more personal, custom member experiences. The $2 billion-asset credit union wanted a platform that would scale with its growth goals and meet the evolving needs of its members. Jack Henry’s digital banking platform provides a flexible, open-API infrastructure that gives the credit union control of its custom features and functions, allowing for faster rollouts of new products and services.

ACA Group Launches ACA Vantage to Help Meet Investor Expectations for Portfolio Company Cybersecurity Oversight

ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, bolsteredits product line with the launch of ACA Vantage for Cyber, to help private markets (“PM,” i.e., private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital) firms discover, prevent, and remediate critical cyber vulnerabilities across their portfolio. This unique offering is powered by ACA Aponix®, ACA’s cybersecurity division.

Gate.io Launches Gate Wealth, Offering One-Stop Wealth Management Solution

Gate.io, the world's leading crypto asset trading platform, has launched a new wealth management product called Gate Wealth. This product is designed to provide professional, comprehensive, and customized wealth management services to global crypto investment users, helping them better manage their crypto assets. Gate Wealth offers a wide range of investment tools and structured products with stable income and considerable return rates.

Merger & Acquisition

GoLogiq to Acquire Shape Super, a Leading Manager and Administrator of Self-Managed Super Funds

GoLogiq, Inc., a U.S.-based global provider of fintech and consumer data analytics, has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Australian-based Shape Super Australia Pty Ltd (Shape), a prominent manager and administrator of self-managed super funds (SMSFs). The acquisition will expand the services offered by the company’s subsidiary, GENFI Financial Group, and enable its accountants and advisors to take greater advantage of the specialist management and administration services offered by Shape. 

Job Moves

EBANX Announces Africa-based Executive Wiza Jalakasi as its New Director of Africa Market Development to Lead Expansion in the Region

EBANX, a payments fintech company helping global companies grow in Latin America and Africa, announcedWiza Jalakasi as its new Director of Africa Market Development. Jalakasi comes in with the mission to expand and develop EBANX's operations across the region, strengthen the connections between its global merchants and African consumers and provide in-depth knowledge about the flourishing digital market in Africa.

Surecomp Hires Tal Weiser as Chief Revenue Officer to Drive Digital Trade Finance Growth

Surecomp announced the appointment of Tal Weiser as Chief Revenue Officer to accelerate digital trade finance adoption and support the company’s growth objectives. Helping fulfill its mission to enable seamless, sustainable trade for everyone by removing barriers and fostering collaboration, Mr Weiser will focus on reinforcing Surecomp’s market expansion within the financial institution and corporate domains. Mr Weiser has over twenty years’ experience in the fintech and telecommunication industries.

ING Appoints Amin Mansour as Vice Chairman, Wholesale Banking (WB)

ING has appointed Amin Mansour (60) as Vice Chairman, Wholesale Banking, with immediate effect. In this newly created role, Amin will be responsible for building and enhancing engagement with clients at senior executive levels and further leveraging the network across functions, regions and products. Amin has over 30 years’ experience in senior management roles in international and investment banking.

WealthKernel Appoints Brian Schwieger as its Chairman and Non-Exec Director

WealthKernel, a leading provider of digital investment infrastructure, announces the appointment of capital markets veteran Brian Schwieger as its new Chair of the Board. Brian was previously the Global Head of Equities and ETF trading at the London Stock Exchange (LSE), bringing decades of capital markets experience to WealthKernel. Prior to the LSE, Brian was the Managing Director and the Head of Electronic Trading at BoA Merrill Lynch. He also has a strong background in working with complex B2B platforms, including FinTechs and RegTechs.

Monument Appoints New Chief of Staff

Monument (or the “Bank”) announces the appointment of Craig Blackburn as Chief of Staff, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Ian Rand. Craig will support the senior leadership team to drive company-wide progress on critical projects and initiatives that are key to the Bank’s strategic ambitions to meet the unmet demands of mass affluent clients – approximately 7 million professionals, entrepreneurs, property investors, and others – who are seeking a bank to help them save and grow their wealth (which is estimated at c.£6 trillion).

Lightspeed Appoints New EMEA Managing Director in Continued Path to Profitable Growth

Lightspeed Commerce Inc., the one-stop commerce platform for merchants around the world to simplify, scale, and create exceptional customer experiences, announced the appointment of Liam Crooks as Lightspeed’s new  Managing Director for the EMEA Region. Formerly Lightspeed’s Senior Vice President of Hospitality, UK-born Crooks brings over 15 years of experience within the technology industry to the new position. He joined Lightspeed in early 2022, after spending 10 years at Yelp as Vice President of Sales.

FV Bank Names Frank J. Serra as Chief Financial Officer

FV Bank, the U.S. licensed global digital bank that offers a vertically-integrated suite of traditional and digital asset banking and custody services, has appointed Frank J. Serra as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective immediately. Serra is a seasoned financial executive with over 26 years of experience and brings his considerable experience in asset management, regulatory compliance, and financial performance management to FV Bank.

HSBC Hires Ex-SVB Bankers

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March, HSBC is now hiring around 40 ex-SVB bankers to establish a new unit targeting tech, healthcare, and VC funds in the US. In a statement released by HSBC on Tuesday, the bank’s US and America’s chief executive, Michael Roberts, stated: “As we look to grow our business, this offering allows us to connect the innovation ecosystem with the size, strength, and international network of HSBC.”