Ziglu, the UK's leading personal investment, digital asset, and banking platform, today announced the appointment of Simon McNamara to its Board of Directors. McNamara brings over 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry, holding senior leadership roles at major institutions like RBS Group and Standard Chartered Bank.

"I am delighted to welcome Simon to the Ziglu Board," said Mark Hipperson, Founder & Chairman of Ziglu. "His deep understanding of technology, proven track record in leading digital transformation, and extensive experience in the financial services industry will be invaluable as we move to the next level of growth through innovation."

McNamara most recently served as a Director and Chief Administrative Officer at NatWest Group, where he led the transformation of their technology and services proposition. He has also held senior IT and Operations positions at Westpac Banking Corporation, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, and Midland Bank. Additionally, he also co-founded a successful software start-up, CATS INC, in Silicon Valley.

"I am excited to join Ziglu at such a pivotal time in the company's journey," said McNamara. "Ziglu is at the forefront of innovation and has some really exciting plans, which we will be announcing soon, and I trust that my experience will help in this next stage of growth."

wagely, Asia’s leading financial wellness platform, has secured US$ 23 million in new funding amidst the current funding drought as the company surpasses more than one million salary disbursements since its inception.

wagely’s financial wellness platform allows workers to better manage their money by letting them access their pay after each workday. It is offered free to employers who then provide it as an optional benefit to employees. Pioneering this concept in both Indonesia and Bangladesh, wagely also allows users to track their salary and access financial literacy resources, empowering workers to not only mitigate financial stress but to move closer to financial freedom.

In 2023 alone, wagely says it has disbursed over US$25M in salaries, processing close to one million transactions and being accessible by 500,000 workers, making it the leading financial wellness service in the region poised for continuous growth.

The latest funding round comprises a mix of equity and debt financing. Capria Ventures, a Global South specialist venture capital firm investing in applied Generative AI, is leading the equity portion along with existing investors' participation. The round is further accompanied by a significant contribution from a notable private debt fund aimed at expanding wagely's core EWA service in Indonesia and Bangladesh. This collective investment underscores strong confidence in wagely's potential to enhance financial wellness in these key markets.

Dave Richards, Managing Partner, Capria Ventures, said, “The wagely team has demonstrated excellent execution with impressive growth in providing a sustainable and win-win financial solution for underserved blue-collar workers and employers. We see a huge opportunity for wagely to apply Generative AI across multiple use cases, such as automated document processing and local language conversational interfaces for workers to make better financial decisions.”

As many as 75% of the nearly 195 million workers in Indonesia and Bangladesh navigate financially challenging situations, relying on each paycheck to make ends meet. Lack of access to conventional financial services leaves a significant number of workers without the necessary financial tools and support to help improve their financial wellbeing.

Bank of Ireland has announced an investment of €50 million on customer fraud prevention and protection. The investment includes €15million on new fraud prevention technology, along with a range of high-profile consumer awareness campaigns and support for customers who are targeted by fraudsters.

Bank of Ireland runs one of the most comprehensive consumer fraud awareness programmes in Ireland as a central part of its commitment to safeguarding the financial wellbeing of its customers. The majority of members of the public surveyed see Bank of Ireland as the financial institution most associated with educating the general public about fraud (Red C, Feb ‘24). This latest investment enhances the Bank’s response to this important issue, and includes a nationwide series of free fraud awareness events for consumers. Over the coming six weeks 12 meetings are planned, and details on further events will be published shortly.

Across Bank of Ireland 225 colleagues are now solely dedicated to fraud prevention and protection, the provision of 24/7 phone support to customers every day of the year, and the detection of financial crime. Three in four consumers want to be able to speak directly with someone at their bank or financial service provider if they fall victim to fraud.

In the past 12 months, the vast majority of the population (90%, Red C, Feb ‘24) have experienced fraudulent communications via text, email or on the phone. According to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, reports received by Gardaí from victims of fraudulent texts increased by over 30% in 2023. Bank of Ireland’s fraud teams intercept or prevent the majority of fraud attempts, and this is a 24/7 job. In the remaining cases, where a fraud has been successful, all efforts are made by the fraud team to recover funds for customers.

Myles O’Grady, Group CEO of Bank of Ireland commented: “The vast majority of us have received texts, emails, or calls from fraudsters. At first glance, these look like they come from trusted organisations like government departments, banks, the post office, or delivery companies. Some of them even pose as coming from family or colleagues, but whatever form they choose they all have one common aim – to steal your money.

“Banks are on the front line in defending our customers, and wider society, from this threat. However more action is needed from all of us including telecoms companies, social media and tech firms, banks and fintechs, and State agencies.

“I encourage everyone – regardless of whether they are a Bank of Ireland customer or not – to come to one of our fraud awareness events taking place over the coming months.”

“The investment we are announcing today helps equip our people with the latest resources to support and protect customers. It also ensures that if our customers are targeted by a fraudster they can talk to a real human – not a bot – 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.”

Nicola Sadlier, Head of Fraud, Bank of Ireland said: “Our message is clear – Stop, Think, Check. If something sounds too good to be true, it is. Treat every unsolicited call, text or email as a potential fraud attempt. Be suspicious. Keep your guard up.

“Our teams are constantly monitoring for emerging threats. We see more and more fraud attacks starting from social media and tech platforms. Fake ads should be caught before they are published online, but many are not. If we see a fake ad, we report it to the channel operator, but even then some ads are removed very slowly and sometimes not at all.”

NayaOne, the global Digital Transformation Platform, and Digital Sandbox provider, has joined forces with Smart Data Foundry, a leading AI-simulated Synthetic Data provider, in a strategic partnership aiming to drive digital transformation within the financial services sector.

Through the integration of Smart Data Foundry’s aizle synthetic data sets into the NayaOne Digital Sandbox, this collaboration seeks to unlock new possibilities for accessing data within a safe and secure environment designed to support and drive financial innovation.

NayaOne Digital Sandbox provides secure access to Smart Data Foundry revolutionary aizle® platform, empowering users with controlled access to synthetic data sets alongside robust data interrogation tools. This initiative enables cloud deployment of APIs, supporting customer data calls while maintaining control over sensitive information. The result is an acceleration of innovation and a reduction in regulatory risk, while maintaining security of sensitive data assets.

The alliance between NayaOne and Smart Data Foundry seeks to unlock the full potential of financial data securely. Their shared vision is dedicated to driving positive change and fostering a dynamic ecosystem for financial institutions and fintechs, facilitating the acceleration of digital transformation and innovation in the financial services industry.

“The integration of aizle’s AI-simulated synthetic data into the NayaOne Digital Sandbox is a game-changer for safe collaboration. Together, Smart Data Foundry and NayaOne are forging a path towards a future where innovation is not hindered by data privacy concerns, but rather fueled by data-driven insights and collaborative innovation” – Bryn Coulthard, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Smart Data Foundry

“I’m delighted to combine the strengths of Smart Data Foundry’s industry leading synthetic data with the security and versatility of NayaOne’s platform. Together we can help drive innovation across the financial services ecosystem.” Karan Jain, CEO, NayaOne

To elevate its securities finance offering, CGS International Securities Pte. Ltd. (CGS International), a leading integrated financial services provider in Asia, has implemented global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.‘s, Securities Finance and Collateral Management (SFCM) platform. The single platform enables CGS International to minimize costs via automation as well as simplify workflows and exception-based processes.

“Providing a wide range of products and services to cater to the diverse needs of our clients is a strategic imperative for CGS International,” said Ademola Olopade, Group Head of Prime Brokerage and Wealth Solutions at CGS International. “Broadridge’s solution enables us to introduce additional functionalities and scalability according to our business needs, and helps us to optimize workflows for our customers.”

"We are delighted to have welcomed CGS International to our expanding clientele in the Asia-Pacific region," said Darren Crowther, Head of Securities Finance and Collateral Management Solutions at Broadridge. "In the dynamic landscape of securities finance, financial institutions must adeptly respond to emerging market trends, diversify revenue streams, and accommodate a growing customer base. The Broadridge SFCM platform enables CGS International to scale easily to further expand their business by region or business entity, and also positions them to effectively navigate evolving market dynamics and regulatory demands."

Broadridge simplifies and innovates trading across a complex ecosystem through global, scalable solutions. The SFCM platform is a functionally rich, front-to-back SaaS solution for securities finance, used widely across the global buy- and sell-side securities lending, repo, and collateral trading markets. SFCM has given firms the ability to improve their existing securities finance businesses and expand into new global markets and opportunities, with a core foundation that is fully scalable for business growth.

PensionBee Group plc, a leading online pension provider, today announces it has entered into an exclusive, non-binding term sheet with a large, US-based global financial institution in order to expand into the United States of America (‘US’). The US has the world’s largest Defined Contribution pension market, representing approximately 80% of the global total and $22.5 trillion in assets.

Under the proposed strategic relationship, PensionBee will deliver its United States service through PensionBee Inc, to be established in Delaware as a wholly-owned subsidiary of PensionBee Group plc, with operational headquarters in New York.

PensionBee will manage the operations of the US business, including the hiring of a local team, making available its award-winning online retirement proposition and UK-based proprietary technology to consumers in the US Defined Contribution market. PensionBee will enable consumers in the United States to easily consolidate and roll over their 401(k) plans into a new Individual Retirement Account (‘IRA’).

The US-based partner will provide its expertise and substantial marketing funding. Correspondingly, PensionBee’s financial contribution will be financed from the existing resources of PensionBee Group plc.

Entry into a final binding agreement between the parties is subject to confirmatory due diligence, legal documentation and regulatory approvals, with launch expected in late 2024.

In the UK, following close to a decade of operations, PensionBee will continue to grow its market share in the £1 trillion Defined Contribution pension market in accordance with current guidance on revenue growth and profitability, operating the UK business as financially separate to the US undertaking. As at the end of 2023, PensionBee had £4.4 billion of Assets Under Administration on behalf of approximately one quarter of a million Invested Customers. PensionBee achieved ongoing Adjusted EBITDA profitability at the end of 2023 and expects to be profitable in the UK on an Adjusted EBITDA basis for the full 2024 financial year.

Given the context of the enormous US market opportunity, PensionBee sees the potential for its US business to grow rapidly, becoming at least the size of its UK business over the next decade.

Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee, commented: “In the year of our 10th anniversary, having demonstrated underlying profitability, we have entered discussions with a view to deploying our award-winning customer proposition, supported by our innovative technology platform and marketing approach, in the United States of America. This is a transformative step for PensionBee and for our stakeholders.

By entering the world’s largest Defined Contribution pension market, where many consumers still struggle to prepare adequately for retirement amidst an array of confusing and difficult-to-use investment options, our straightforward approach to online retirement savings will help millions of consumers look forward to a happy retirement.”

TrueNorth, a leading professional services organization specializing in implementation, systems integration and engineering of digital solutions for the financial services industry, and Brim Financial (Brim), a next-generation provider of credit card platform-as-a-service and one of the fastest growing Fintechs in North America, are excited to announce their strategic partnership aimed to bring robust and innovative consumer, small medium business (SMB) and commercial credit card solutions to banks, fintechs and major brands in the US and Canada.

Tuum has announced that they have attained SOC 2 compliance which stands as a testament to their unwavering commitment to security, privacy, and operational excellence. As a trusted core banking vendor, they recognise that their clients operate in an environment where data integrity and protection are paramount.

SOC 2 compliance means that their systems and processes have been rigorously evaluated and are proven to meet high standards for security, ensuring the safeguarding of sensitive financial information.

For their clients, Tuum’s SOC 2 compliance offers a multitude of benefits, including:

Enhanced Trust: Clients and our wider partner ecosystem can engage with our platform knowing that Tuum adheres to industry best practices for security and data protection.

Risk Mitigation: The SOC 2 compliance framework minimises the risk of data breaches and unauthorised access, providing peace of mind for clients and their customers

Streamlined Due Diligence: Clients save time and resources in vendor assessments, as our SOC 2 report provides the due diligence evidence they require.

Market Competitiveness: Their clients can leverage Tuum’s compliance status to demonstrate their commitment to security, bolstering their own reputations. This compliance is not just a badge of honor; it is an operational prerequisite in today’s digital banking landscape. Tuum’s clients can be assured that they are partnering with a platform that is built on a foundation of trust and security, which is integral to their success and growth in the financial sector.

TerraPay group, the leading global cross-border payments network, is pleased to announce the appointment of Louise Brett as an Independent Director at Terra Payment Services (UK) Limited (TerraPay UK). Louise brings a wealth of experience and a distinguished career in the financial services industry.

In this role, Louise will serve as a vital link between TerraPay, the financial ecosystem at large, and TerraPay stakeholders, to uphold the highest standards of governance, diversity & inclusion, and a culture of compliance. With her extensive background in fintech and financial services, she will bring a unique outside-in perspective to the board, enhancing TerraPay’s governance model to align with the company’s growth and ambitions.

Louise’s career includes her tenure as Vice Chairman of Deloitte UK and Head of FinTech and Financial Services Innovation across Deloitte Europe. She has been a driving force in shaping Deloitte’s response to the rise of fintech, fostering financial inclusion, and promoting local fintech excellence on the global stage. Her strategic vision, practical approach, and commitment to inclusive leadership have set her apart as a leader in the industry. She has worked across the ecosystem with financial services clients, government bodies, regulators, advisors, VCs, and the broader fintech community. As a former banker and leader, she understands the nuances of balancing strategic vision with the reality of a highly regulated sector. Louise firmly believes in the potency of inclusive leadership and diversity of thought to drive superior long-term success.

As the Chair of the Board and the Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) Committee at TerraPay UK, Louise will play a pivotal role in ensuring the company’s governance model evolves to embrace TerraPay’s solutions, and enhance its reputation. Her expertise will provide the necessary challenge and guidance, situational awareness, and horizon scanning, to support TerraPay’s strategic narrative and long-term success.

Ambar Sur, Founder & CEO, TerraPay, expressed his enthusiasm about Louise joining the team, “We are delighted to welcome Louise to TerraPay as our Independent Director in the U.K. Her extensive experience and strategic acumen will be invaluable in shaping the future of TerraPay. We believe her expertise will further strengthen our governance standards and contribute significantly to our growth journey.”

Speaking about her new role, Louise said, “I’m excited to begin this new journey at TerraPay. For scaling and maturing fintechs such as TerraPay, it is important to see a determination to be ‘fit’ for growth. By embracing regulatory frameworks and principles hand-in-hand with a passion for innovation they are creating the critical foundation for future success. I look forward to supporting this growth in the coming years.”

Louise is a celebrated industry leader and was recently featured on the prestigious Women in FinTech PowerList 2022, highlighting her exceptional achievements and influence in the financial technology sector. Previously, she has served as a board member for The ScaletUp Institute and UK Women in Payments.

As Louise takes up her position as the Chair of the Board, TerraPay UK looks forward to her guidance, leadership, and strategic insights to navigate the ever-evolving payments landscape. Especially, since the company has secured authorisation as an Electronic Money Institute (EMI) in Italy and is set to expand its operations in the country and subsequently, throughout the EU.