Allied Solutions, one of the largest providers of insurance, lending, risk management, and data enabled products to credit unions, has just launched a strategic collaboration with Scienaptic AI, leading AI-powered credit underwriting platform provider. The partnership will provide an enhanced, personalized loan decisioning platform that will enable credit unions to lend more, automate the lending processes and reduce lending risks.

“Allied continues to seek out partners that complement our business strategy and deliver solutions to help our clients grow and evolve their operations”, said Jack Imes, Chief Client Lending Consultant with Allied Solutions. “Partnering with Scienaptic will help our credit union clients safely and effectively evolve their lending efforts in this highly competitive lending market, while also addressing existing issues and inefficiencies. The cutting-edge AI will empower credit unions to go the extra mile and deliver better access to credit for all deserving members”. 

Pankaj Jain, Co-Founder & President, Scienaptic AI, said, "We are excited to be partnering with Allied Solutions. Scienaptic’s unique AI technology will augment and strengthen Allied Solutions' product offerings. We are confident that their clients would be able to say 'yes' to more members and automate complex loan processes without increasing risk”.

As companies continue to adapt to the digital world, those with antiquated payment processes are facing major disadvantages affecting both revenue and reach, according to a new survey of finance professionals commissioned by Flywire, a global payments and enablement software company. There’s an imminent need for B2B companies to overhaul their A/R processes, as an overwhelming majority of finance professionals surveyed (92%) believe they could increase their Earnings Per Share (EPS) if their company had a better solution for A/R.

In its second annual report, Pulse on Payments: 2022 B2B Payments Outlook, over 300 finance professionals, including VPs of Finance, Controllers, and other executive-level finance professionals, were surveyed to better understand the challenges and opportunities when it comes to receiving business payments. The respondents work at middle-market organizations (generally $100M - $1B in revenue) with an international footprint across the manufacturing, technology, wholesale distribution, and professional services industries.

“Across the board, those surveyed understand that the blockers in A/R and payments processes soak up time and sap energy that could be used to execute the company’s strategy,” said Ryan Frere, executive vice president and general manager of B2B at Flywire. “But they haven’t yet found a great solution to the many manual and disconnected parts of receiving payments. This is despite the fact that they’ve increased their spending on technology and people year over year. Overall, our survey revealed the untapped value that improving the A/R process can have in accelerating a company’s bottom line.”

Companies want to expand globally, but struggle with FX rates and collection

Global expansion is a priority for businesses, yet 88% of surveyed finance professionals say the complexities of collecting cross-border payments impacts their ability to grow internationally. Specifically, 95% say if they could deal with exchange rates in an easier way, they could accelerate their global expansion efforts.

The complexities surrounding cross-border payments aren’t the only hurdle businesses need to overcome when thinking about expanding internationally. Other challenges related to global expansion cited by finance professionals include compliance (75%), language and culture (71%), and banking issues (67%).

“One of the things we hear repeatedly is that businesses want to expand globally, but don’t know where to start when it comes to setting up the right payment infrastructure to support this,” continued Frere. “Flywire clients solve these problems by working with us. Our global payment network, which spans 240 countries and territories, underpins our B2B invoicing and payment solutions that eliminate many of the operational challenges related to international invoicing and payments.”

Job titles also influence how finance professionals perceive challenges to expanding into another country. However, regardless of level, international payment issues present real challenges that demand attention throughout the entire department. VPs and higher are more likely to think that receiving payments is a challenge when expanding internationally (81%) when compared to managers and directors (70%). Likewise, VPs and higher are more likely to think that banking issues are a challenge when expanding internationally (75%) when compared to managers and directors (64%).

Finance professionals admit to spending time on the wrong things, which could come at the expense of bottom-line growth. As a group, there was overwhelming alignment (93%) that finance professionals should increase their focus on making A/R improvements. And 97% of those surveyed believe that the role of the financial professional needs to change from payments focused to being strategically focused.

A/R Processes are Holding Back Profitability

92% of those surveyed agree that if their company had a better solution for A/R, they could increase their earnings per share – with 61% strongly agreeing.

Additionally, 76% of finance professionals surveyed say their company has lost money due to time spent dealing with A/R. Specifically, 70% of respondents say they lose between 4-10% of revenue in an average month due to time wasted because of operational inefficiencies with payment processing. Interestingly, according to the surveyed financial professionals, global companies are twice as likely to lose 6-10% in revenue processing payments than those from companies not yet global.

“The survey data reveals that many B2B finance professionals are still bogged down by manual processes, complex payment reconciliation, and other ancillary issues that are consuming too much of their resources,” continued Frere. “These are exactly the issues that Flywire is here to solve. Clients who use our solutions automate all the stubbornly manual parts of the global receivables process. As a result, they save time and money, provide their customers streamlined experiences for payments, and can dedicate more resources into value-added tasks.”

To experience the interactive report, visit: Pulse on Payments: 2022 B2B Payments Outlook

METACO, the leading provider of security-critical software and infrastructure to the digital asset ecosystem, has announced a partnership with Brink’s, the global leader in total cash management, route-based secure logistics and payment solutions. 

Brink’s extends METACO’s institutional digital asset custody services into the physical world through its internationally recognized secure logistics expertise and global network of vault locations. These capabilities provide financial institutions with an unparalleled, segregated, and fully distributed, disaster recovery solution for critical private key recovery backups. 

METACO Harmonize, the global leader with Tier 1 financial institutions for digital asset custody and orchestration, ensures that all processes across a clients’ digital asset offering are fully distributed with no single point of failure. Key recovery is no exception, and Harmonize clients can create multiple back-ups, each of which is stored on its own FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified smart card. A client specified, “m of n” subset of the smart cards can be used to recover the crypto assets in the event of a disaster. 

It has always been an open question from financial institutions to determine what are the best practices to store the smart cards and how to implement the right disaster recovery framework. This partnership resolves this uncertainty and brings together the only custody platform that ensures “no single point of failure” in the software and infrastructure stack, with a physical back-up solution that is end-to-end secure and fully distributed to equally ensure no physical and operational “single point of failure” for key recovery storage and logistics. 

Seamus Donoghue, VP of Strategic Alliances at METACO, commented, “We’re proud to further strengthen our industry leading digital asset custody capabilities to ensure clients have a complete and best-in-class disaster recovery solution. ’Security by design’ is our founding principle as we, and our clients, believe all assets will eventually be managed on-chain. 

Donoghue added: “A robust recovery solution is not an afterthought, but a core foundation to be able to securely build and scale a bank’s digital asset future. Brink’s is a market leader in physical security solutions and our partnership adds a critical service for institutional clients in the transport and distributed storage of physical key backups across multiple secure vaults, complementing METACO’s value proposition of ’no single point of failure‘ into the physical realm of key recovery.”

Founded in 1859, Brink’s is a global leader in security solutions including the management, storage and transfer of valuable assets for banks, government agencies, central banks, mints and jewelers. Brink’s has an established global network of facilities and operations in 53 countries, with customers in more than 100 countries. Brink’s is growing its digital asset security services in response to accelerating demand. 

OIiver Buckle-Wright, Senior Commercial Director at Brink’s, commented, “We are delighted to be partnering with METACO to help enable the transition from digital to physically segregated storage solutions across our international footprint. Our goal is to provide a combined secure air gapped service to allow METACO’s clients to scale their digital asset portfolio while addressing internal risk concerns.” 

METACO Harmonize enables institutions to manage a range of end-to-end digital asset use cases from cryptocurrency custody and trading to tokenization, smart contract management, and decentralized finance (DeFi). Harmonize delivers the most flexible and secure custody solution in the market in combination with the secure orchestration of workflows across the entire digital stack. It provides end-to-end unified governance across multiple systems and processes, as well as a programmable policy engine that secures automation at scale, with no single points of failure.

RegTech Africa is set to enhance Africa’s digital future through improved collaboration to unlock greater potential for technology innovation.

It is pioneering this move by bringing together regulators, leading industry experts, decision-makers and government officials among others for the maiden edition of its immersive Africa-focused conference taking place between the 25th and 26th of May 2022. The event will seek to harness the potential of innovation and technology to solve real-world challenges.     

Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the high-level two-day virtual event rightly themed ‘REGULATORY INNOVATION: BOLSTERING AFRICA’S ROLE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY’, will provide platforms for industry-shifting deliberations with C-Level executives, financial regulators, and policymakers at a global level. This will create opportunities to engage, connect and forge collaborations with organisations within the financial value chain. 

The conference will foster inclusion and diversity for over 1000 attendees through breakout sessions in English, Arabic and French. All participants will benefit from the all-encompassing conference particularly because of the diverse topics that will be explored by the versatile speakers and panellists. At every phase of the event, discussions will range from spotting business opportunities, trends, sector forecasts, implementing actionable marketing strategies and proferring sustainable solutions that foster inclusive development in Africa’s financial ecosystem.

Conference chair and co-founder of SWIFT innovation arm, Matteo Rizzi, a dynamic top executive in the financial industry with two decades of experience in financial services, will join over 50 highly experienced speakers and 500+ seasoned C-level suite executives to address seminal themes. Some of the areas of opportunities to be explored in over 10 highly interactive panel/breakout sessions include; “Privacy and Data Protection in Digital Financial Services & Beyond”, “The Intersection of Regulations and Consumer Protection” and the “Innovative Regulatory Developments in the Financial and Insurance Ecosystem across Africa.”

A major aftereffect of the Corona virus pandemic is the quick adaptation of digital tools to facilitate business processes and financial systems, this creates an urgent need for regulations in the sector to ensure that consumers are protected and the ecosystem remains sustainable. To make regulations possible as organisations continue to scale, prominent speakers like James Claude, CEO of Global Voice Group, a global provider of ICT and RegTech solutions for governments and regulatory agencies; Ritesh Jain, Advisor to the G20 Initiative for Financial Inclusion; Professor Olayinka David-West, Associate Dean, Lagos Business School; among other executives will dive deeply into core industry topics such as Financial inclusion,  Financial Crimes, Consumer Protection and Social Inclusion among others. 

Key highlight of the conference which seek to harness the potential of innovation and technology in resolving real-world challenges is the RegTech4Good Challenge, a focused Hackathon designed to raise awareness for the potential of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) adoption to sustain thriving local ecosystems.

The steady climb of tech innovation in the banking and financial sector in Africa is still in its nascent stage, and RegTech Africa is rightly positioned to steer the conversation which cuts across industry segments like telecoms, technology, healthcare, banking and finance. This conference will create a ripple effect and introduce an exciting chapter of regulation and established systems in the financial orbit.  RegTech Africa is at the helm of this vessel, sparking a transformative approach to building a sustainable digital society that thrives on formidable partnerships and fortified impact in Africa. Looking ahead, we can expect to see an Africa that is well-positioned to harness tools, build systems and birth solutions that will transcend the continent and impact the globe. 

To register for the conference and partner with RegTech Africa, visit www.RegTech.Africa or email info@regtechafrica.com.

Eventus, a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, last night won the Markets Media Markets Choice Award for Best in RegTech for the third consecutive year. The award honors the firm that most helped capital markets firms comply with regulation.

The 10th annual Markets Choice Awards recognize excellence in important sectors of institutional trading and technology across the market ecosystem.

Eventus CEO Travis Schwab said: “We’re thrilled to receive this Markets Media award, based in part on the important opinions of market participants, for the third year running after another intense and very productive period of growth. Our focus remains on constantly enhancing our Validus platform, collaborating with clients, helping them customize the platform to meet their unique needs and circumstances, and enabling them to lower costs, protect their firms and keep markets safe. It’s an incredible testament to our talented team’s ability to deliver that the world’s largest and fastest growing organizations are increasingly turning to us for their critical trade surveillance and risk management needs across all of the asset classes in which they do business.”

Terry Flanagan, Markets Media Managing Editor, said: “Eventus had another significant year in helping capital markets firms solve significant regulatory technology challenges, attracting a host of new clients to its trade surveillance platform across multiple asset classes while continuing to grow the firm and scale the technology. Its clients consistently cite the team’s markets and regulatory expertise, along with the flexibility of the platform for meeting their unique needs and bringing them much-needed efficiencies.”

Recognizing excellence at the company and individual level, the Markets Choice Awards are presented at a 300-person gala in New York. Markets Media was founded in 2007 with the mission of being the preeminent provider of news and information about trading and technology in capital markets. Markets Media Group now publishes Markets Media, Traders Magazine and DerivSource in the U.S., GlobalTrading in Asia, and Best Execution and The DESK in Europe.

The collaboration agreement between Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza (General Federation of Italian Commerce and Tourism for the provinces of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza), and Nexi for the digitalization of local and neighborhood stores has been signed. Thanks to the tools made available by Nexi, the European PayTech, and BigCommerce - a NASDAQ-listed B2B and B2C e-commerce platform offering services to businesses of all sizes and at all stages of growth - Confcommercio MiLoMb members will have the opportunity to expand their activities using innovative e-commerce storefronts and discounted digital payment fees. This also offers an opportunity for smaller businesses who are looking to enter the e-commerce world for the first time. 

This agreement is part of a broader project that sees Nexi working alongside Confcommercio Milano Lodi Monza e Brianza to promote the appeal of the city and district with initiatives and events throughout the year such as Milano Restaurant Week and the Christmas street lights. 

"The digital push of the last two years has involved all areas of our daily lives. Companies, especially those in the service sector, have understood the potential of digitalization to innovate their business - explained Marco Barbieri, Secretary General of Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza. According to data provided by Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics), online sales account for 16% of the total turnover of retail businesses, with a 5.5% increase in 2021 compared to 2019. Today e-commerce and digital payments – continued Barbieri - are tools that must be integrated with standard activities of physical stores in order to boost their business while promoting the appeal of the area, also in a global smart city perspective". 

"The agreement with Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza is a major step towards the growing digitalization of Italian businesses, a target consistent with our mission to support entrepreneurs in equipping themselves with advanced tools that ensure a service tailored to their needs - commented Dirk Pinamonti, Head of e-Commerce at Nexi. Indeed now, more than ever, even small and medium-sized businesses need to have an effective online sales presence to allow them to tap into new customers, selling throughout Italy and even abroad. Before implementing a sophisticated omni-channel strategy, it is of fundamental importance to open a direct channel with customers through one’s own digital identity capable of exploiting the trend of e-Commerce that, according to Politecnico di Milano University data, in 2021 grew by 21% reaching €39.4 billion in the B2C sector, thanks to the online purchases of 46.1 million Italian consumers". 

The agreement with Nexi is already in force and includes a series of exclusive conditions and benefits for members of Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza - including 3 months’ free use of the BigCommerce platform, free XPay monthly fees (instead of €24.90/month) and reduced commissions on transactions - as well as free support from Nexi and assistance from SPIN - Innovation Help Desk of Confcommercio Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza.

IRIS Software Group (IRIS) is today announcing it has acquired Paycheck Plus. Founded in 2005, the Drogheda based business has grown consistently into Ireland’s premier payroll services provider, with clients in Ireland, the UK, across Europe, and in the USA.
 
Paycheck Plus provides an extensive range of payroll outsourcing services and has a relentless focus on accuracy, timeliness and compliance. This closely aligns with IRIS’ mission to take the pain out of processes and ensure professionals get it right first time, every time.
 
David Lockie, Chief Operating Officer at IRIS says, “Paycheck Plus joining the IRIS group adds further scale and growth to the IRIS managed payroll offerings in Ireland. As the premier payroll provider in Ireland, Paycheck Plus has an unrivalled market reputation, and its significant achievements in the last 17 years reinforces a strong synergy between our cultures.”
 
Anne Reilly, CEO and founder of Paycheck Plus says, “Since 2005, our mission has been to help our clients be their best by ensuring their payroll function is outstanding. I am incredibly proud to lead Paycheck Plus into its next stage of growth and I know IRIS is an incredibly safe pair of hands for both our customers and colleagues.”
 
Ireland has become a hub for UK and international businesses wanting to maintain access to the EU market following Brexit. The UK’s Institute of Directors found 26% of SMEs trading with the EU were considering moving some EU operations outside of Britain, and 16% have already moved into the single market. With Dublin consistently proving the most popular choice for UK financial services firms to relocate staff and operations, Paycheck Plus provides a highly credible anchor point for IRIS’ customers, especially those from North America looking to enter the EU market.
 
Paycheck Plus is ISAE 3402 accredited, which verifies that they have the international standards for outsourcing including all necessary procedures, systems and controls required to effectively and securely meet customers’ payroll service needs. The business perfectly complements IRIS’ global strategy to scale significantly in the managed payroll segment over the coming years. All staff hold, or are in the process of obtaining, IPASS and/or CIPP certifications, and will join IRIS’ dedicated team of professional payroll experts to take the pain out of processes and enable customers to focus on the work they are valued for.
 
This move demonstrates IRIS’ commitment to investing in people and products that broaden its service offerings for businesses in the UK, Ireland and North American markets. The two companies have strong synergies with regards to core values and culture, with both IRIS and Paycheck Plus achieving Great Place To Work accreditation in 2021. Paycheck Plus also became Ireland’s most highly awarded payroll company, winning more than 30 awards for its client care, management and payroll services.
 
David Lockie continues, “Bringing Paycheck Plus into the IRIS family enables us to expand our Irish footprint further and provide our customers with a highly credible route into the EU. Combining our decades of experience, our global payroll and HR solutions will enable businesses to continue their EU operations with minimal disruption.
 
“Our goal is to support our customers to work productively and remain compliant. We are delighted to bring Paycheck Plus onboard and will continue to support its growth and invest in its people to benefit both existing and new customers.

Over the coming years, we will continue to look for further opportunities to build scale in the managed payroll sector as part of our long-term ‘build, buy, partner’ strategy.”
 
Anne Reilly concludes, “With IRIS’ resources and working with the brilliant IRIS team, who are as dedicated to delivering outstanding payroll as we are, we will be able to take our services to the next level. I look forward to supporting Bróna Grogan as Seamus Reilly steps down and she takes over the reins at Paycheck Plus. We are excited at the prospect of seeing Paycheck Plus flourish further within the IRIS family.”

Having been issued a compulsory strike off means that your company has ceased to exist. However, before that happens you will be given ample opportunity to respond to allegations that you failed to comply with rules and regulations as set forth in UK laws. According to the Companies Act of 2006, you can be found non-compliant, which is grounds for dissolving your company if proven. In other words, you would cease to exist, and all assets would be liquidated. Can you stop it? The process is complicated and even a small omission on your part could hinder your efforts to save your company. If it is a compulsory strike off, you might start by talking to a team of insolvency practitioners and here is why.

Compulsory Is Based on Third Party Evidence

While you can always voluntarily dissolve your company by following the recognised process of settling accounts, liquidating assets and so forth, a compulsory strike off means that you have been accused of one or more of the following:

• Failure to submit accounts timely

• Annual confirmation statement not submitted

• Non-conformance to legal requirements

• No directors having been appointed

• Company has ceased trading

Typically, it would be Companies House as the ‘accuser’ but it could really be any third party if they have documented evidence.

The Process

In the beginning you will be sent a letter of imminent compulsory strike off after which you will be sent a second letter if you do not respond timely. After no response to the second letter the compulsory strike off will be published in the Gazette and by that point the matter is serious indeed. If you had any intention of saving your company from dissolution, you should probably have acted sooner. However, even at this late stage of the game, all is not lost quite yet. There are still actions you could take to prevent being dissolved and struck off, but it will take the expertise of Insolvency Practitioners to show just cause why this would be a miscarriage of justice.

What Not to Do

It might be mentioned here that one of the worst things you can do is to simply shut your doors and stop trading to await the edict of the court. One of the reasons why you can be issued a compulsory strike off in the first place is because you have stopped trading. You can’t clear your good name and accounts that way. Again, let an Insolvency Practitioner guide you through the process so that you don’t make an even greater error than the error or errors you are now being accused of.

Since you are asking if you can stop a compulsory strike off it is obvious that you want to continue operating and are not amenable to voluntary liquidation. This might mean digging in and letting the process be handled by a pro who can make arrangements with the court to keep you in business. It can be a legal mess, but you can win with proper representation.