Fintech company Brixo has chosen to partner with freemium open banking platform Nordigen. 

Brixo is a Swedish fintech company, allowing users to apply for digital credits up to SEK 30,000 (2,750 euros). Finances are analysed to determine whether the consumer will be able to repay the credit and once that is established, the application is processed and the credit can be utilised the same day as the application is approved.

“We want to improve the financing experience for everyone, making the application process smooth and easy to understand, while also being secure and user friendly. We have partnered with Nordigen to add an open banking approach to the procedure, letting us connect to bank accounts and gather the vital financial data we need to process applications rapidly, carefully and effectively,'' says Martin Johansson, CEO of Brixo.  

Brixo's aim is to make credits accessible to a wider public by utilising new credit solutions and modern approaches. By continued development of its own adaptive technology platforms, the company aims to simplify and enhance the market for finance services.

“We are delighted to be collaborating with Brixo and helping them to add an extra level of automatisation and streamlined processing to their mix of effective services and products. Brixo is focused on creating a better financing experience for their users and we believe that open banking is a key element to elevating financial customer satisfaction, due to the simplified process offered to customers and the elimination of manual input and lengthy waiting times,” explains Rolands Mesters, co-founder and CEO of Nordigen.

Following recent significant investments in JDX Consulting and Wrexham, Delta Capita (the Financial Services division of Prytek) has selected Bangalore as a prime location for its expanding global footprint.

The Delta Capita Bangalore office has opened in Karnataka with a team of 21 and is expected to more than double by June. The new office will support Delta Capita’s CLM (Client Lifecycle Management) managed services business and there are plans to expand and serve other business lines over time.

The new office opening follows impressive growth in the region. Delta Capita India launched last year during the pandemic with a small team and has grown substantially across all verticals, with a view to further expand their presence in the region. In a short time, Delta Capita has attracted highly experienced people to join its dynamic and fast-growing organisation.

Pancham Taneja, Regional Lead, India CLM said, “This is an exciting new development for Delta Capita globally as we open our office in India. Bangalore is a strategically important hub for the region, and it has a mature and strong talent pool with access to some of the best universities in the area. We are delighted to bring all our capabilities to Bangalore and in bringing Delta Capita to India, we are committed to spreading the mindset of reinvention and we hope to establish a value centric workplace that fosters innovation and collaboration”.

Gary McClure, CEO CLM commented, “I am delighted to be opening our new Delta Capita office in Bangalore, which will combine local Indian ingenuity and expertise with entrepreneurial culture and a customer-focused value system. We are committed to expanding our global footprint for financial services, and the new office covers the core capabilities across consulting, managed services, and technology for capital markets”.

USA for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, accepts its first stable coin crypto donation towards the organization’s humanitarian support for families forced to flee Ukraine to neighboring countries. The $2.5 million USD equivalent from Binance through Binance Charity. The BUSD donation is a further demonstration of how cryptocurrency is playing a key role in raising vital funds and providing humanitarian aid for the crisis in Ukraine. 

Stablecoins bridge the world of cryptocurrency and fiat currency together as their prices are tied to a reserve asset like the US dollar or gold. 

The donation will go towards providing humanitarian, legal and social assistance including psychosocial support and emergency shelter to people in need. More than 10 million people have already been displaced due to the crisis.  Four million people have found safety in neighbouring countries like Poland, Moldova, Romania and Hungary, while millions more have been forced from their homes but remain inside Ukraine.  

“Binance Charity’s commitment to the families fleeing the war in Ukraine shows the innovative philanthropic power of crypto in action,” said Anne-Marie Grey, Executive Director and CEO of USA for UNHCR. “This generous support will make a life-changing difference for families forced to flee, and more importantly, it shows families that a caring and committed global community is stepping forward to help during their darkest times.”

Helen Hai, Head of Binance Charity, said:  “Every day we see more casualties, more destruction, more lives lost. Our hearts ache for the people of Ukraine. We are proud that we’ve been able to work with UNHCR to deliver its first BUSD crypto donation. UNHCR’s tireless efforts and second-to-none experience in assisting refugees, makes them an obvious choice to support as part of our $10 million USD in crypto donations.” 

As the war in Ukraine continues, the needs of of those fleeing grow. Binance Charity’s  donation comes at an important time as UNHCR continues working with government authorities in the region, other UN agencies, local community groups and other partners to provide humanitarian assistance wherever possible. 

UNHCR delivers assistance to communities inside Ukraine when it is safe to do so and is closely tracking negotiations for safe passage. UNHCR is providing cash assistance so families can purchase basics like food, rent and hygiene items and also delivering core relief items and emergency shelter. Additionally, teams inside Ukraine are setting up reception and transit points for internally displaced people and facilitating access to legal aid and psychosocial care.

In neighbouring countries, UNHCR continues to work with national authorities to provide cash assistance, strengthen reception capacity and implement Blue Dots — children and family protection support hubs — in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners. 

Outside of Ukraine, UNHCR continues to work with national authorities in neighboring countries to strengthen reception capacity and implement Blue Dots — children and family protection support hubs — in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners. 

This is the latest donation following Binance’s $10 million USD commitment to help people impacted by the crisis in Ukraine. Through Binance Charity, more than $4.5 million has already been donated, bringing the total amount to $7 million including the funding to USA for UNHCR. The remaining $3 million USD donation is being finalized and will be announced shortly. 

In addition to the $10 million USD commitment, Binance Charity launched a crowd-funding platform, which has raised approximately $900K USD from the crypto community. This money will also be allocated to humanitarian efforts. 

Armalytix, the open banking platform which streamlines the collection of data for the professional and financial service industries, is partnering with X-Press Legal Services, the largest independent property search provider in the UK, to offer its Source of Funds technology for the legal sector.

Armalytix’s Source of Funds technology will now be included on X-Press’s online database of products as part of their intelligent conveyancing online system (ICOS) and is available for purchase by more than 500 legal practices in England and Wales. The partnership offers a new way for legal firms to order source of funds analysis through X-Press’s trusted ICOS platform, with the additional feature of a free refresh.

The new offering is timely following updates to the Conveyancing Quality Scheme which state that, from 1^st May 2022, firms must have procedures in place which enable them to identify the source of funds of a transaction and provide relevant documentation. Especially within the conveyancing and property sector, having a thorough understanding of the source of a client’s funds is a crucial part of complete due diligence and anti-money laundering practices. On demand access to Armalytix’s Source of Funds information means that users have the ability to access regularly updated data at all points of the transaction and monitor for any changes.

Lynne Lister, the Managing Director at X-Press, stated: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Armalytix as the new provider of Source of Funds technology on our ICOS platform. It is essential that law firms have a grasp of compliance services to help counter money laundering and fraud. Armalytix’s solution will be invaluable in empowering conveyancers to feel confident that they have the full picture when it comes to Source of Funds.”

Tom Lyes, Head of Legal and Property at Armalytix, added, “Partnering with X-Press to carry our Source of Funds technology is an important next step for us as we look to expand to a wider pool of legal and conveyancing clients.  As part of X-Press’s ICOS, law firms can now order Source of Funds analysis with the click of a button. With the legal industry constantly burdened by paperwork, this partnership is a crucial to supporting law firms in shifting towards a form free future.”

Armalytix went live on X-Press in March 2022.

Banking technology provider, BankiFi, has today launched its Open Cash Management platform. The innovative new service gives customers access to a litany of modern solutions, making business financial management easier.

The new Open Cash Management platform provides a fully embedded banking service for BankiFi’s customers. Developed with larger, more established small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in mind, the platform allows customers to handle:

• Invoicing
• Payments
• Collections
• Accounting
• Cash Forecasting
• Working Capital Optimization Insights

The Open Cash Management platform represents a ‘supercharged’ version of BankiFi’s existing service. Built with speed and compliance in mind, the platform combines the benefits of embedded banking and open banking into one accessible and effective solution. As such, the new service can help banks to put their brand and associated digital channel at the heart of all relationships with business customers, regardless of whether that customer has an account with the bank or not.

Speaking on the launch of the Open Cash Management platform, Marijke Koninckx, Chief Product Officer at BankiFi commented: “The Open Cash Management Platform is a business banking super app. With Open Cash Management, banks can offer their small business customers a full embedded banking service, which revolves around procure to pay and order to cash workflows. Instead of offering a banking channel for simple tasks, such as checking account balances and making payments, banks can instead offer a rich and comprehensive service to their SMBs centered around a bank’s brand and digital channel.”

As well as offering several highly relevant business banking services, the Open Cash Management platform has further unique selling points, which makes it so well-suited to the demands and rigors of modern business activity. Notably, the new solution requires no tech integration, as it utilizes a suite of pre-existing bank connectors in several geographies, which enables it to be onboarded by banks in a highly efficient manner. Likewise, the platform can function alongside existing accounting packages without causing disruption.

Significantly, BankiFi’s Open Cash Management platform allows banks to launch a highly relevant service to their customers more cost-effectively than they could do themselves. The platform can help banking companies to harness the advantages of the embedded banking and open banking trends. In doing so, the solution can help banks to accelerate the long overdue process of internal modernization.

This need for modernization within the banking sector was recently discussed in BankiFi’s latest whitepaper, entitled ‘Embedded Banking: Time to Reverse the Trend’. The whitepaper unravels the current state of SME banking and included a list of evidence-based findings. Ultimately, the analysis concluded that there was a need for a “radical overhaul” within the sector, which the Open Cash Management platform goes some way to providing.

For more information about BankiFi, please visit: www.bankifi.com

Propeller automates bond underwriting, simplifying how retail agents purchase surety bonds

Propeller, Inc., a high-growth insurtech MGA specializing in surety bonds, has signed an agreement with Amwins, the largest specialty insurance distributor in the U.S., to serve as a preferred surety partner to their network of over 25,000 retail agencies.

Joe Perschy, the Chief Executive Officer at Propeller, stated, "Amwins and Propeller are a natural fit. Amwins is a premier distribution partner, while Propeller is the most forward-thinking surety solution empowering retail agents to extend services to their clients. This solution truly provides retailers a bolt-on surety department overnight, equipping them with surety technology, market access, and expertise."

The partnership focuses on delivering Propeller's proprietary, white-labeled (URL) technology to agents and brokers, allowing the surety bond process to become fully automated from application to billing and issuance. Propeller onboards agents in minutes for free, with no premium requirements. Amwins retail agents can expect to write transactional surety bonds instantly with no friction and leverage the Propeller markets and team to place more complex risks.

"We are thrilled to partner with Propeller and bring this automated end-to-end underwriting platform for surety bonds to our retail clients," said Tom Parsons, head of digital at Amwins. "Our continued focus is creating the best placement experiences for our clients and Propeller's leading technology and product expertise provides this best experience within the surety market."

Aaron Steffey, Propeller's Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, quoted, "I met Amwins almost exactly one year ago during our participation in the Brokertech Ventures Accelerator. The immediate synergies were obvious, and we knew this could be an incredible partnership as we continue to transform the way surety is viewed, distributed and underwritten. We are excited for this next chapter."

The Amwins and Propeller Bonds rollout will commence immediately with continued efforts throughout the year.

Verisk’s Collaboration with Child Support Lien Network (CSLN) and the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Expands Automated Matching to the Life Industry

Life insurers will be able to help streamline matching of claim settlements with outstanding child support obligations under agreements Verisk announced today with the Child Support Lien Network (CSLN) and the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). The collaboration expands automated child support matching available for property/casualty insurers to the life industry.

More than $114 billion of child support payments are past due in the United States, according to OCSE, reflecting U.S. Census data that counts more than 12.9 million custodial parents—half of whom have some form of legal or informal child support in place. A growing number of states require insurers to match settlements to claimants who owe past-due child support, so these outstanding financial obligations can be met when claims are paid.

In addition to compulsory states, many insurers voluntarily participate in child support matching in all states. This approach delivers an efficient claim processing workflow while helping to ensure compliance. When they enable matching in all states, insurers can reduce the risk of missing a state change from voluntary to mandatory, automatically meeting child support agencies’ regulatory requirements. Effective January 2022, Washington joined a growing number of jurisdictions shifting from voluntary to compulsory child support intercept for life insurers.

“As a steward of insurance industry claims data through our contributory database, Verisk is uniquely positioned to help the industry stay in compliance, supplying data elements that can help identify outstanding child support obligations or liens before insurers pay claims,” said Carlos Martins, senior vice president of claim solutions at Verisk. “Because of this collaboration, insurers can reduce the need for manual intervention and help improve efficiency and accuracy by opting in for electronic data reporting.”

“Access to Verisk’s vast database in support of this mission will give life insurers vital resources to respond to a necessary but significant ask on the part of regulators across the country,” said Project Director George French at CSLN. “The public/private partnership of CSLN offers insurers a streamlined process that fits seamlessly into existing claims processes. Further, expanding our work with a trusted data steward like Verisk will help us deepen our partnership with the insurance industry, to the benefit of children and families across the country.”

To support life insurers across the policy life cycle, Verisk has developed a suite of solutions that apply advanced analytics, automation and machine learning to existing and emerging data sources. The solutions are designed to help transform current workflows in life insurance underwriting, life and pension analytics, claim insights, compliance and fraud detection and actuarial and portfolio modeling.

Acquisition signals the first step in Equinix’s long-term strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company, enabling organizations to accelerate digital transformation throughout the continent.
Equinix, Inc. the world’s digital infrastructure company™, today announced it has completed its deal to acquire West African data center and connectivity solutions provider MainOne for an enterprise value of US$320M, marking the beginning of its expansion into the African continent.

The completion of this acquisition augments Equinix’s long-term strategy to become a leading African carrier-neutral digital infrastructure company by being able to bring a full range of transformative technologies and connectivity to Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

This acquisition will extend Platform Equinix® into West Africa, giving organizations based inside and outside of Africa access to global and regional markets. Nigeria has both the largest population and the largest economy of any country in Africa, with approximately 142 million active internet subscribers. Home to new innovative digital ecosystems in fintech and content and digital media, it has great opportunity for expansion of digital services.

Equinix believes MainOne, headquartered in Lagos, to be one of the most exciting technology businesses to emerge from Africa, and Lagos is rapidly becoming a key connectivity hub for the wider West Africa region. Founded by Funke Opeke in 2010, the company has enabled connectivity for the business community of Nigeria and now has digital infrastructure assets, including three operational data centers, with an additional facility in Lagos expected to open in April 2022.

 Fast Facts

 MainOne’s assets include:

Four operational data centers, which will add more than 64,000 gross square feet of space to Platform Equinix, in addition to 570,000 square feet of land for future expansions.
An extensive submarine network extending 7,000 kilometers from Portugal to Lagos, Accra and along the West African coast, with landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
A terrestrial network of more than 1,200 kilometers of reliable terrestrial fiber in Lagos, Edo and Ogun States. Connectivity to terrestrial sites extends across 65 points of presence (PoPs) in cities across Portugal, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

Access to key internet exchanges enabling low latency to key global networks, including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook.

An estimated 800+ business-to-business customers, including major international technology enterprises, social media companies, global telecommunications operators, financial service companies and cloud service providers.
Nearly 500 employees and a management team with a deep understanding of local and international markets.

The facilities currently generate approximately US$60M annualized (Q2’21LQA) revenue with a purchase multiple of approximately 14x EBITDA.

MainOne will operate under a new brand “MainOne, an Equinix company”

Funke Opeke will continue to lead under the new brand of “MainOne, an Equinix company.”

Globally, Platform Equinix is comprised of 240 data centers across 66 metros and 27 countries on 6 continents, providing data center and interconnection services to 10,000+ companies including more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies.
Closure of the MainOne acquisition marks the latest in a series of strategic acquisitions for the world’s digital infrastructure company. Following the announcement of intent to acquire MainOne in December 2021, Equinix recently announced expansions in South America with its intended acquisition of three Entel data centers to accelerate digital transformation opportunities for local businesses and multinational companies. Both acquisitions followed announcements to acquire 13 Bell data centers in Canada and two highly interconnected data centers in Mumbai through the acquisition of GPX India in October 2020 and September 2021, respectively.

Infor ERP cloud solution will help the Bulgarian metal products manufacturer to improve syncronisation among departments 

Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that Lesto Products, a Bulgarian manufacturer of metal products, is migrating to Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise to help improve overall business processes. The project is managed by IPL Consulting Group, an Infor Gold channel partner and a provider of manufacturing consultancy and software implementation in Eastern Europe.

Learn more about Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise: https://www.infor.com/products/cloudsuite-industrial-enterprise

Lesto Products plans to implement Infor OS operating services cloud platform, which will provide integration to essential capabilities for finite production scheduling and quality control. With these cloud solutions, all powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the customer expects to achieve a more efficient execution of business processes and further improve synchronisation among departments. In addition, the document management capabilities will allow users to accumulate and effectively manage such documents as drawings, specifications, instructions as a part of the business processes. 

Infor has been supporting the successful development of the company since 2012 through the Infor LN on-premises ERP (enterprise resource planning) application. The system has covered all aspects of the company’s business and helps to increase efficiency, allows synchronised business processes of all the departments and boosts data analyses.

“Over the years of using Infor LN, we got an excellent result and established a great partnership with Infor. Now, we see all the benefits and perspective of using Infor’s multi-tenant cloud solution, so it was obvious for us to continue extending our business with Infor,” Ivaylo Gladnishki, CEO of Lesto Products. “We decided to migrate to the new cloud version, Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise, because it's valuable for our company to use continually updated functional and technological improvements with no need to upgrade — effectively always-current technology. This cloud-based ERP solution will help us focus on the production processes and provide us with visibility of productivity and cost controls across the organization. We expect that Infor CloudSuite will allow us to spend less time and  money managing our IT infrastructure and provide us with the security and reliability we need.”

Lesto is planning to go live with Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise in July. Infor CloudSuite will help support the automation across the organisation, optimising business processes of sales and procurement, production planning and scheduling, production management, warehousing and finance management.

John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has praised the UK’s robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) approach and pledged that the government will not compromise on its high standards. Addressing delegates in his keynote speech at the Innovate Finance Global Summit during FinTech Week 2022, the minster gave a wide-ranging speech covering issues such as growth in the UK’s FinTech sector, regulation, management of crypto assets and tackling the challenges posed by money laundering.

Mr Glen praised the innovation and resolve of the sector, stating that year-on-year investment growth in UK FinTech was up more than 200 per cent in 2021. He also re-affirmed the government’s commitment to embracing cryptocurrencies, as he stated, “If crypto-technologies are going to be a big part of the future, then we – the UK – want to be in, and in on the ground floor. In fact, if we commit now - if we act now - we can lead the way.”

On regulation, he said: “The FCA has already expanded and reinforced its world-leading Regulatory Sandbox, it’s piloting the new ‘scalebox’, which offers enhanced support to newly authorised firms and just a few weeks ago, Innovate Finance announced the launch of their International Fintech Group, which they will co-chair with the Department for International Trade.

“We’re setting direction for how the UK can build on its successes so far, notably through a new regulatory oversight committee that will work with industry to agree and implement the vision for the future of open banking in the UK.”

Commenting on the speech, Wayne Johnson, CEO and co-founder, Encompass Corporation, said:

“It’s encouraging to see the government pledging its commitment to robust regulatory standards and outlining a proactive approach to tackling the widespread problem of money laundering. The UK’s FinTech sector has so much potential, but, in an increasingly uncertain world, having the ability to investigate and ratify sources of wealth and income is critical. 

"With the right regulatory tools and technology in place, organisations will be able to continue growing, without the fear of failing to adhere to increasingly complex and strict requirements when it comes to AML and Know Your Customer (KYC)."