Stockholm-based Brite Payments is delighted to confirm the launch of ‘Single Sign’, the innovative one-step solution for instant bank payments. 

Based on the Open Banking framework, the Brite Payments solution facilitates account-to-account payments, without the need to input card or personal data.

The instant payments provider, which is revolutionising the industry, allows customers to pay straight from their bank account with only one authentication step, except for those cases where additional verification is required by the applicable regulation.

The launch is a significant development for the market, allowing instant bank payments to rival card payments in terms of consumer convenience. Representing the next generation of instant bank payments, the solution has been shown to help users pay up to 40% faster. 

By adopting Brite Payments solution, merchants can gain an advantage over competitors and eradicate many long-standing issues around payments and cash flow management. The intuitive system helps to deliver a better customer experience and can also be used to improve rates of customer acquisition and retention.

Already serving clients across the banking, insurance and eCommerce sectors, Brite Payments’ flexible architecture means it can be tailored to a wide range of needs. Furthermore, users get the choice to either use Brite’s mobile optimized and easily customized iframe or build their own flow on top of Brite’s APIs.

Speaking on the announcement, Lena Hackelöer founder and CEO of Brite Payments commented: “We are really proud to launch our ‘Single Sign’ feature to market. At Brite, we believe that the adoption of A2A payments is driven primarily by consumer convenience. Allowing users to authenticate and pay instantly in just one step is a significant leap forward for our industry. 

Given that only top-of-mind information is required to make a payment, it will now be more convenient to use an account based payment method rather than a credit card. This achievement is an important milestone for our category of payments in its journey to reach its full potential.”

Brite ‘Single Sign’ is currently available for the majority of customers in the company’s core markets: Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Estonia. 

For more information about Brite Payments innovative payment solution, please visit: www.britepaymentgroup.com

PayPoint has today announced a £750k investment in Optus Homes, a leading app for tenants to manage their home rental account. The deal will see the PayPoint Group make an investment in the company, building on the recently-signed commercial partnership positioning PayPoint as the preferred payment provider within the app.

The investment strengthens PayPoint’s MultiPay proposition for the housing sector, as the Optus Homes’ native app payment solution, allowing tenants to pay their rent and manage arrears payments directly in the app, on the phone, or over the counter in 28,000 local retailers across the UK, a network bigger than all banks, supermarkets and Post Offices put together.

The housing sector is experiencing a tide of change in how banking and payments are undertaken, with the focus on helping social tenants in difficulty to better manage their needs and their rental payments. For many social housing tenants, their mobile phone is the only internet-connected device they have, The Optus Homes App enables simple and convenient access to their housing association and secure ways for them to take control of paying their rent.

Danny Vant, Client Services Director of PayPoint, said: “We’re delighted to be investing into the Optus Homes business, building on the partnership that we announced recently to integrate our MultiPay digital payments solutions into their app. This investment will enable PayPoint to build on the great progress made in the housing sector over the past few years, increasing financial inclusion and convenience for social housing tenants and removing complexity for social housing landlords.”

Gerry Kelly, CEO of Optus Homes, added: “PayPoint was a natural partner for us as we seek to offer digital payments solutions, convenience and peace-of-mind for tenants, as well as increased efficiency and reduced costs for housing providers. This investment will help us deliver these benefits to an even broader range of social housing clients and tenants, with simple, streamlined and secure rent payments and an enhanced customer experience”

Uplinq Financial technologies (Uplinq) has raised USD $3.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by noted venture capital investors, N49P and Surface Ventures, alongside a veritable ‘who’s who’ list of leading individual Fintech investors. The business will use the investment to further its commitment to help banks and lenders deliver financial inclusion for their small business customers across the globe.

Alongside N49P and Surface Ventures, Uplinq’s pre-seed funding round also includes participation from MoVi Partners, Impulsum Ventures, Magic Fund, Assure Syndicates, and the DVC Syndicate. Additionally, several notable Fintech executives participated in the raise, including: the former President of Experian Consumer Services, co-founder at SoFi, former CIO and Treasurer at JPMorgan Chase, former Head of Risk at Scotiabank, and the former CTO at FIS.

Uplinq’s value proposition is built on the back of its ground-breaking technology, which enables small-to-medium sized business (SMB) lenders to use billions of unique and validated data signals that go beyond traditional credit indicators, to help make the most accurate decisions possible. The company’s innovative technology has powered over USD $1.4 Trillion in underwritten loans since its inception.

Uplinq launched its operations at the beginning of 2022, following a long planning cycle. The company’s founder and CEO, Ron Benegbi, is a serial entrepreneur now working on his fifth startup. Previously, Ron served as co-founder and President of Railz.ai.

Similarly, Uplinq’s co-founder, Patrick Reily, is a 30-year financial services veteran who has held senior positions with some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Additionally, Patrick previously led the development of North American products at Equifax, as well as managing his own business, Verde International for over 15 years.

Speaking about his business journey, Ron Benegbi commented: “As an immigrant to Canada in the 1970’s, I watched my parents struggle to make a living as small business owners. We were very fortunate that one bank manager took a ‘flyer’ on my dad when he applied for a loan, even though he made it clear that the application did not meet the bank’s lending criteria. Most small business owners are not nearly as fortunate as this, which is why I started Uplinq.”

Ron continued: “Now, it’s great to have so many amazing people who want to be part of our journey. Through this raise, we have connected with people like ourselves who truly care about others and who want to lead with empathy, humanity, and purpose. Together, we all share a collective vision of making an impact on the lives of millions of families worldwide.”

Patrick Reily, co-founder at Uplinq commented: “SMBs create jobs and are at the bedrock of intellectual property creation around the world. These companies drive the global economy, yet as borrowers they remain perhaps the most underserved segment on the planet. At Uplinq, we can change that. That’s why I am humbled and honoured to now partner with so many brilliant and purposeful people who share our vision.”

The pre-seed funding round will be deployed immediately to help scale Uplinq’s operations across the globe. Additionally, Uplinq will use the funding to further refine its solution. This update will allow the company to provide even more precise and predictive insights within the credit-decisioning process, empowering lenders to understand the financial performance of small businesses like never before.

Speaking on the funding round, Alex Norman, Managing Partner at N49P commented: “we are excited to back Uplinq, and Ron once again. Ron has an ability to see the future of finance and deliver against it. We believe Uplinq has the potential to transform lending practices towards SMBs across the globe.”

Dimitri Boguslavsky, Co-Managing Partner at Surface Ventures, commented: “Ron came to us with a bold vision on how he wanted to transform the global SMB credit lending process. We were immediately impressed with his innovative approach to problem solving and his willingness to tackle some of the fundamental issues within the market. Few businesses have the potential to change the world like Uplinq, and with Ron and Pat steering the ship, Uplinq is well positioned to revolutionize the world of SMB lending.”

For more information about Uplinq, please visit: www.uplinq.co

Trading volumes on popular meme stock Gamestop (GME) rose by 194% in the last two weeks on investment trading platform Capital.com, suggesting meme stocks continue to retain their appeal even after Reddit’s WallStreetBets hype last year. 

According to data released by Capital.com, 59% more retail investors traded GME last week compared to a week earlier. Over the same period, trading volumes on AMC Entertainment (AMC) were up by 226% on the Capital.com platform. The two week winning streak across meme stocks coincides with AMC’s price rally this week - on Monday, 28th March, trading volumes on AMC surged by 447% on Capital.com, in tandem with a 45% price rally on the same day. 

David Jones, Chief Market Strategist, Capital.com, said:

“Just when we thought the meme stock fad was so 2021, the two old stalwarts - GameStop and AMC - are back with a vengeance over the past couple of weeks. We’ve seen a significant interest amongst our clients in trading the stocks - after all, there is nothing like a change in price to attract traders, like moths to a flame. The GameStop stock price has more than doubled since 17 March and AMC Entertainment has done almost as well.

Looking at GameStop in more detail, this is quite the change in sentiment from earlier this month when it had traded to its worst level since May 2021. This represented a drop of more than 80% from the highs set in June of last year. Getting traders excited this time around may have been rumours alleging that short-sellers were closing their trades - plus the company’s plans for an NFT (non fungible token) market place. 

The whole meme stock craze started in January 2021 on the premise of squeezing short sellers, so it is not surprising the impact this sort of rumour might have. And on the subject of NFTs, some would see them as a natural evolution of the world of cryptocurrencies. Regardless - the mention of its NFT plans in the GameStop quarterly update on 17 March seemed to help ignite at least some interest in the stock.

So what next? If there is one thing that the past 18 months might have told us about meme stocks it is that those late to the momentum party tend to be left out in the cold.  Given the moves over the last couple of weeks, perhaps some traders may well be reluctant to buy in before there is a significant dip. But whatever the strategy here, the recent volatile session  for both AMC and GameStop does remind us that perhaps talk of the death of the meme stocks had been somewhat premature.”

Fintech Week London 2022, the leading event for the fintech community, has re-appointed SkyParlour as its official PR and media relations partner.

Following a successful event in 2021, Fintech Week London has re-appointed SkyParlour as its official PR and media relations partner. The week-long event, which will run from 11^th to 15^th July 2022, with a two-day conference at its start, will welcome delegates from a host of traditional financial institutions, fintechs and financial services companies.

SkyParlour, the specialist PR agency with offices in Manchester and London, works with an enviable roster of clients spanning fintech, payments, cyber and eCommerce. With multiple divisions dedicated to scale ups, and its newest division Started, which delivers bespoke PR campaigns for fintech start-ups, the company is experiencing exponential growth.

The partnership will see SkyParlour manage all media relations and the press office for the event this July. Despite the difficult conditions and a forced hybrid approach in 2021, the event is set for another great year hosting senior decision makers from a huge variety of financial service businesses, with a key focus that it is an in-person conference. Bringing the community back together face-to-face - to learn and network is what it is all about.

Raf De Kimpe, CEO of Fintech Week London, added: “We are so pleased to be bringing an in-person event to the industry for another year, as we know how crucial it is to facilitate conversations with fintech leaders across both the industry, and globe!

“Partnering with SkyParlour once again was an easy decision. As the PR experts in fintech it’s a perfect partnership as we trust them to raise the profile of the event and attract the attention from the best fintech media across the world. “

Fintech Week London 2022, which expects to welcome around 2,000 attendees from across the globe will feature discussions about open banking, digital sovereignty, fintech for good, big tech and big banks, what’s trending in fintech and crypto.

Kimberley Waldron, Co-founder at SkyParlour, said: “Fintech is such an exciting industry to be a part of; and we are proud to be an integral force in driving the industry forward and bringing key industry figures together to spark conversation around the latest news and innovation at the forefront of the sector.

Fellow Co-founder at SkyParlour, Angela Yore agreed “London’s fintech scene is booming and we look forward to an action-packed week of events with exciting keynotes and delegates. It’s so important that the industry comes together to solve important financial issues.”

Referral Arrangement to Facilitate Clients’ Real-Time B2B Settlement

Citibank N.A. Pakistan (“Citi”) announced today that it has entered into a referral arrangement with Haball Pvt Ltd (“Haball”) providing corporate clients a digital receivables solution which enables real-time reporting and reconciliation.

Haball, a B2B Fintech company, offers businesses and their stakeholders a platform which enables electronic invoicing and digital receivables in real-time, along with instant information that can be customized to the client’s requirements and preferred format.

Through the referral with Haball, Citi’s clients will be able to digitize the entire order-to-cash lifecycle on Haball’s platform, enabling open-loop collections and automatic reconciliation, with the added convenience of receiving collections directly into their accounts with Citi.

CEO and Founder of Haball, Omer bin Ahsan said: 'We are excited about the referral arrangement with Citi which is yet another milestone in building a robust B2B ecosystem across Pakistan. With top blue chip market players already integrated into our platform, Citi's addition will certainly benefit businesses towards enabling context driven payments.’

'Citi is keen on engaging market leaders in the FinTech space to further enhance our clients' transactional experience,' said Iqbal Azeem, Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions at Citi Pakistan. 'Haball's unified platform allows open loop and digital B2B transactions, hence automating the entire order-to-cash lifecycle for Citi’s clients and their stakeholders.'

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) enables Citi clients' success by providing an integrated suite of innovative and tailored cash management and trade finance services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations across the globe. Based on the foundation of the industry's largest proprietary network with banking licenses in over 90 countries and globally integrated technology platforms, TTS continues to lead the way in offering the industry's most comprehensive range of digitally enabled treasury, trade and liquidity management solutions.

Boku's FY21 results reflect continued strong momentum in the Payments business and improved performance in the since-sold Identity business. Local payment methods added to the Boku network over the last three years showed an accelerating contribution to monthly active user numbers, increasing ninefold over 2021, and made up nearly 10% of new users in the year. We have revised our forecasts to remove revenue from Russian carriers and estimate an EPS CAGR of 13.7% over FY21-24e.

Boku is trading on an FY22e EV/EBITDA multiple of 17.9x, at a 48% discount to the payment processing peer average of 34.5x, compared to a 15% discount last time we wrote. Applying the average multiple would imply a share price of 216.4p. In our view, evidence that strong revenue growth can be sustained will be the main catalyst for the share price, with a growing contribution from local payment methods and new major merchants signing up key indicators.

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Global leader in cybersecurity is championing innovation and enabling progressive change by ensuring a safe digital future

We’re moving into an increasingly complex digital world – technology is how we connect, how we work and how we express ourselves. Communities are built and businesses grown through digital innovations, but these are open to attack, putting the future of technological innovation at risk.

A report by Accenture found that security breaches had increased by 67% over the last five years, and currently over 560,000 new pieces of malware are detected every day, according to research by the AV-Test Institute. Cybersecurity is becoming essential to ensure a positive digital future for all.

ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, has announced its new branding with the tagline ‘Progress. Protected’. This new brand positioning is inspired by the insight that while the power of human ideas remains the leading catalyst for the world’s progression today, progress is advanced via the connectivity provided by technology, which needs protecting. Human and technological progress is now more vulnerable than ever to attack, and ESET is positioned to protect the continued advancement of this innovation through the provision of its industry-leading security software and services.

To celebrate the concept of Progress. Protected, ESET will put a spotlight on a number of thought leaders across a range of fields in a series of high-level brand films shot by Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Hubert Davies. These experts in science, education, innovation, and space exploration will provide their insights on what progress in technology means to them and how it’s helping to change the world for the better.

The thought leaders include: 

• Chris Hadfield, astronaut, engineer, pilot and author of four international bestsellers – for his work in promoting technological progress and innovation via collaboration, and his unique perspective on our world.
• Dr. Mimi Ito, cultural anthropologist and Professor in Residence at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California – for her research into and promotion of youth enablement in technology for a safe and progressive future.
• Steven Johnson, author of 13 books focusing on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience, and host of the American Innovations podcast – for his research into the history of transformative ideas and the role diversity plays in creating the most innovative solutions for the present and future.

“The world continues to move forward at pace. When ESET was founded, the internet was in its infancy. Now technology is part of everything we do and is central to the continued advancement of our society,” explains Richard Marko, CEO of ESET. “To ensure continued progress in the digital age, we need someone to question what’s going on in the background. I believe that is an important task for our company, as to protect technology means to protect progress itself.”

“If we imagine for a moment, losing the contributions to our progress and future made by our champions of technology, it becomes clear exactly what is at stake. Through this new brand positioning, we hope to demonstrate ESET’s investment and passion for progress through technology.”

Paysend, the UK-based fintech with over 6.5 million customers, today announces the launch of two new products to help customers improve their financial health: Credit Builder and Pay Later.

Credit Builder lets people in the UK with little or no credit history automatically improve their credit score by simply using their Paysend card for their daily spending when linked to their Paysend Credit Builder account in the Paysend app. The major UK credit reference agencies

(Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) are updated on all spending and payments from the Credit Builder account, while customers have the confidence that they can never spend or send more than they have in their Credit Builder account.

Further, for customers who do need access to additional funds, Pay Later gives eligible users based on Paysend’s own credit scoring system - 100 GBP to immediately spend on purchases with their Paysend card anywhere Mastercard is accepted, online or offline. Eligible customers can start using Pay Later without an external credit check, which may harm their credit score, and will not be charged interest on whatever they have spent from their Pay Later account. By comparison, UK overdraft interest rates are as much as 40% EAR. Also, unlike many other Pay Later services, like those offered during online checkout, Paysend customers can improve their credit score by making timely repayments to their Pay Later account every two weeks.

Customers can get started with both Credit Builder and Pay Later for free with a 90 day trial of the Grow subscription in the Paysend app. After the trial period, there will be a subscription fee of £2.99 per month. More information can be found on the Paysend Grow website.

Ben Chisell, Head of Product at Paysend, said: “Many of our customers have low or no credit score and limited access to financial products that can help them build a credit footprint and strengthen their financial circumstances. We are addressing this gap and helping our customers to positively contribute to their credit score with transactions made through Paysend’s platform. “Our customers also may need a financial buffer and we’re providing them with a flexible and controlled way to pay later that combines the convenience of paying directly from the Paysend account with zero interest. With Paysend, customers will be able to access additional funds for any purchase and enhance their credit footprint while also being protected from other credit products that may worsen their financial situation.”