Better Payments. Faster Restoration.

"Tom and team are the right people at the right time to bring financial innovation to the restoration industry. We're so happy to partner with them on this journey," said David Wieland, managing partner and lead investor at Motivate Venture Capital, who also stated he expects to see accelerated digital transformation in the restoration industry with iink's network perfectly positioned to be the conduit that is connecting carriers, banks, contractors, suppliers and property owners. 

iink plans to use its funding to grow its existing network and double down on integrations that allow for seamless communication between iink and the core systems of both their carrier and banking partners. 

The vision of iink is an ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders. The carriers are happier because through their engagement with iink they are cutting down on the time it takes for repairs to get started for their policyholders by a factor of up to 60x. The contractors are happy because they no longer are cash- and time-constrained dealing with complex processes with mortgage banks and can get the homeowners back to their normal lives expeditiously. The banks are also equally excited with iink reducing the burden of reviewing these claims payments as well as the added layer of security and vetting that ensures timely repairs of their assets.

"When the insurance claim has been paid there is no reason for the unnecessary delays associated with multi-party claim checks, snail-mail, and lienholder approvers. iink solves that problem," states Tom McGrath, CEO, and co-founder of iink. 

Bybit, the fastest growing cryptocurrency exchange, won the Best Crypto Exchange Award at Crypto Expo Dubai (CED) 2022 on Thursday. Now the third most visited exchange in terms of web traffic, Bybit has more than doubled its user base since it last participated in CED six months ago.
 

The award is testimony to Bybit's meteoric rise from a niche but formidable derivatives trading platform in 2018 to a fully fledged exchange for all crypto traders — all 6 million of them — of varying risk appetites and skill levels. Backed by its powerful matching engine and robust infrastructure, the platform sailed through the high seas of crypto's historic trading frenzy in May 2021 unscathed with an up rate of 99.9%.

Bybit joined hundreds of speakers, founders and crypto fans at CED 2022 connected by a colorful vision for the future of blockchain technology.

"The original promise of the internet was to create a level playing field for all," and somehow web 2.0 was led astray from that vision, said Igneus Terrenus, head of communications at Bybit. "What web3 and the metaverse could do is to give power back to the individual," he shared at a panel on what the future holds for crypto after the metaverse.

According to him, blockchain could also help us save the world from an impending climate disaster. Existing carbon credit models have a greenwashing problem, and distributed ledger technology could plug the loopholes.

"This is where blockchain can come in to monitor and assess real progress in carbon reduction and carbon capture. And NFTs are about ownership and bragging rights as much as they are tradable assets and financial instruments. These technologies can play a role in addressing the biggest problems of our generation. And if we don't, we are kicking the can down the road at our own peril," said Igneus Terrenus.

Bybit also recreated part of its NFT universe in physical form at CED 2022, showcasing interactive metaverse creations, select artists and projects from the Bybit NFT Marketplace.

Crypto Expo Dubai 2022 drew to a successful close on March 17 after an action-packed two days featuring blockchain projects and crypto units from around the world.

Nets Group now extends the framework agreement with DNB, Norway’s largest bank, thereby prolonging the existing partnership. This includes several key deliveries of payment services, information technology, and other financial services.

“Payments and technological developments are set to evolve at a rapid pace. Our renewed agreement reaffirms our longstanding partnership with Nets,” says Knut Peder Abrahamsen, Executive Vice President of Payments, Open Banking & Identity at DNB.

Torsten Hagen Jørgensen, Chief Executive Officer of Issuer & eSecurity Services at Nets Group, says:

“In Norway – one of the most digitised regions in Europe – we have extensive experience in issuing and indeed in growing the entire payment value chain. Extending our partnership with DNB strengthens our position as the leading enabler of Norway's payment infrastructure. We will continue to help drive DNB's ambitious digitisation and growth strategy, ensuring that Norway remains at the forefront of payment innovation.”

Bitcoin is not only the first cryptocurrency to appear on the market; it has also seen a significant surge in its importance in recent years.

Major corporations such as Tesla and Xiaomi now accept Bitcoin as payment, and El Salvador has officially recognized Bitcoin as legal currency. If we look at market capitalization alone, just a few companies have outperformed the initial coin, showing that there is still a lot of possibility for extension in the digital currency industry in years to come.

Businesses are well aware of the need to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change. A Bitcoin payment gateway has developed as a "must-have feature" for today's businesses in order to handle this.

The Top Three Reasonings for Accepting Bitcoin as Payment

What are the edges for the companies of incorporating this alternative?

1. The total number of cryptocurrency owners continues to grow - over 300 million individuals now own Bitcoin, USDT, and other digital assets. As a result, the size of your target audience may increase greatly.

2. Bitcoin payments are less expensive since no third parties are involved. A bitcoin gateway's commissions are far lower than those charged by debit/credit cards.

3. The high degree of security given by crypto payments benefits both businesses and customers. The procedure is irretrievable.

The whole list of advantages is much larger, and many merchants are well aware that such a development is helpful to their businesses' bottom lines.

What is the Most Efficient Method of Accepting Bitcoin Payments?

Fear of change is one of the most challenging obstacles for business owners to overcome. Connecting, on the other hand, is rather simple:

1. Locate a trusted supplier of bitcoin payment services (e.g. B2BinPay).

2. On your PC, create a BTC wallet. Merchants may use B2BinPay to access a secure wallet, while business owners can utilize the service to receive funds directly into their bank accounts. A service provider takes cryptocurrency payments, converts digital currencies to the fiat currency of the customer's choosing at market prices, and regularly deposits funds into bank accounts.

3. Taking digital currencies is relatively straightforward with all-in-one solutions, as the professionals connect APIs and handle all of the setup.

4. Retailers benefit from round-the-clock support to resolve any barriers and inconveniences as quickly as possible.

B2BinPay is a cutting-edge payment solution that drives your company to new heights. Apart from BTC, merchants may accept over 800 alternative cryptocurrencies, ensuring their products reach the broadest possible audience.

Bitcoin Owners Have a Number of Options

There is a number of options available. Those that like trading cryptocurrencies are included in this group. Others, meanwhile, sense Bitcoin's growing potential and want to invest in cryptocurrency funds. What possibilities are there?

• BTC should be held as a form of investment. Every year, Bitcoin grows at a pace of 472%.

• You may also use BTC to purchase goods and services. Bitcoin is accepted as payment at over 23 000 places worldwide, making it the world's first cryptocurrency.

• You may convert Bitcoin for other cryptocurrencies at a very low cost (such as Stellar, Cardano, and Ethereum).

B2BinPay wallets are versatile and incredibly secure, and they serve as a gateway into the world of cryptocurrencies.

HSBC Ventures Joins Investment Round in Silent Eight 

Silent Eight, an AI-based financial crime compliance service, has closed a $40 million Series B fundraising round led by HSBC Ventures, the firm's latest customer. The financing was led by TYH Ventures, with participation from OTB Ventures, Wavemaker Partners, Standard Chartered's SC Ventures, Aglaia, and Koh Boon Hwee, chairman and general partner of Altara Ventures. Silent Eight's AI technology for financial crime conducts real-time investigations into any questionable transaction, beneficiary, or consumer.

Dubai-based Metaverse Start-up Eikonikos Raises US$2 Million in Pre-seed Funding

Eikonikos, an open-world metaverse start-up, has raised $2 million in pre-seed funding by angel investors. Eikonikos envisions creating an open metaverse platform that is owned by Web3 followers, developers, and a growing community of players. Nearly a dozen investors, including blockchain players, took part in the round.The current pre-seed fundraising round would help the company to extend its ecosystem, bringing more fans into the digital realm.

Treehouse Raises US$18 Million to Establish a Standard for DeFi Analytics

An undisclosed large FinTech investor led the round with participation from strategic investors, including Mirana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Binance, MassMutual Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Jump Capital, GSR, Wintermute, Do Kwon of Terraform Labs, senior executives from SoftBank Vision Fund, and more. Founded just 11 months ago and fueled by the team's commitment toward financial inclusion, Treehouse is building the infrastructure required to enable everyday people to fully harness financial products and services made possible by DeFi. 

ConsenSys Raises $450M Series D Funding as Leading Self-Custodial Wallet MetaMask Reaches Over 30 Million MAUs

ConsenSys announced the close of a $450 million USD financing round, bringing its valuation to over $7 billion USD. ParaFi Capital led this raise after participating in ConsenSys’ Series C round in November 2021. They were joined by new investors, including Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Microsoft, Anthos Capital, Sound Ventures, and C Ventures. Series C investors — Third Point, Marshall Wace, TRUE Capital Management, and UTA VC, United Talent Agency’s venture fund — also participated in this round. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as ConsenSys’ legal advisor in this transaction.

EarnUp Closes $31 Million Series C Funding Round

EarnUp, a San Francisco-based Fintech company offering payment and data solutions for the mortgage industry, closed an oversubscribed $31 million Series C financing round. Included in this round are new strategic investors, LendingTree and KeyBank, in addition to leading institutional investors, Bain Capital Ventures, SignalFire, Blumberg Capital, and Flourish Ventures. With this latest round of funding, EarnUp will build on its mission to create a financial system that works for everyone by expanding its reinvention of payment and data flows for the mortgage industry that supports borrowers, lenders, and servicers.

BNPL Playter Raises $1.7 Million Seed Round

Playter, a buy now – pay later (BNPL) startup, has raised a $1.7 million Seed round, according to a statement from the company. Playter is a London-based platform that aims to help startups scale quicker with BNPL invoicing. The round was co-led by global investment firm Fin Capital and 1818 Ventures, with participation from RLC Ventures, and investment network Angels. Marc Cohen, Partner at 1818 Venture Capital, has joined the Playter board.

Encompass Corporation Raises £25m in Funding to Accelerate Global Growth

Encompass Corporation, the provider of intelligently automated Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions, announced the completion of a successful capital raise of £25M. Perennial Partners, a major Australian investment management company, served as the lead investor, joined by financial services focused principal investing firm Serendipity Capital, Seven Seat Capital, and FinTech investment firm Microequities Asset Management.

Atlan Raises $50M Series B led by Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia and Insight to Build a Collaboration Hub for Data Teams

Atlan announced that it has closed its $50M Series B round led by Insight Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and Sequoia Capital India. Several founders in the data space participated in the round including Fivetran founder Taylor Brown and ThoughtSpot founder Ajeet Singh. Atlan creates a unified discovery and collaboration experience, bringing context and trust to the entire modern data stack. “Today, data assets are not just tables, but code, models, BI dashboards, and pipelines,” said Prukalpa Sankar, Co-Founder of Atlan.

Partnerships 

Bank of Canada and MIT Partnering on CBDC research

The Bank of Canada has teamed up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a twelve-month research project on central bank digital currency. The project will see the central bank and the MIT Media Lab’s digital currency initiative team experiment with potential technology options to establish how a CBDC could work. The Bank of Canada has spent several years working with the country's commercial lenders to explore the construction of a DLT-based CBDC. 

IXOPAY Partners with Hawk AI

The industry-leading payment orchestration platform and white label solution, IXOPAY, has partnered with Hawk AI, Germany’s leading provider of anti-money laundering (AML) surveillance technology for banks, payment companies and fintechs. This strategic partnership boosts IXOPAY’s offering by giving its white-label clients access to state-of-the-art fraud prevention that uses traditional rules in combination with artificial intelligence to detect suspicious behavior.

Moneyhub Partners With Samsung for World-first Open Banking Self-service Payments

Moneyhub, the award-winning Open Data and payments platform, is partnering with leading global electronics manufacturer Samsung to facilitate the world’s first Open Banking payments on a retail self-service point-of-sale (POS) Kiosk. Moneyhub’s award-winning Open Banking payment technology in conjunction with Samsung’s self-service ordering and payment solution will support the digital transformation for many businesses. The sleek and compact Samsung Kiosk will be used by many sectors such as quick-service restaurants, retail stores, stadiums, and other hospitality venues.

Microsoft for Startups and Ansarada Announce new Global Partnership

Microsoft for Startups and Ansarada announced a new global partnership to make it easier and faster for startups to raise capital and grow. Ansarada is the first third party technology vendor to forge a global partnership of this kind with the Microsoft for Startups program and will be a central part of the offer to participants. Microsoft for Startups helps remove traditional barriers to building a company with free access to technology, coaching, and support.

Volume Partners With Yapily to Remove Hidden Online Checkout Fees With Open Banking Payments

Volume, the one-click checkout startup, has partnered with open banking infrastructure provider Yapily to reduce the $100 billion being paid by customers annually in hidden and unnecessary fees at online checkouts. The partnership underpins Volume’s Transparent Checkout, the UK’s first one-click solution to enable direct “account-to-account” (A2A) payments between consumers and merchants, without the need for payment processing intermediaries and expensive third parties. Currently, merchants have to pay between 2% and 8% of every sale to this card, e-wallet, and BNPL facilitators — costs that are ultimately paid by consumers at higher prices.

Ecospend Partners With Anglian Water to Offer the New ‘pay by Bank’ Payment Method

Ecospend has announced its partnership with Anglian Water where it will begin processing customer payments using open banking technology. Ecospend’s pay-by-bank technology will enable Anglian Water to receive an instant account to account payments, which will reduce the utility provider’s processing costs. The partnership will also enable a range of new payment functionalities for Anglian Water customers.

Nuvei Partners with Ledger to Offer Direct Crypto On-Ramp for Millions of Users

Nuvei Corporation announces that it has partnered with Ledger, the leading hardware wallet provider, to enable direct on-ramps for 125+ cryptocurrencies with all the leading fiat funding options via its Simplex by Nuvei solution. Through Ledger Live, Ledger users will be able to purchase cryptocurrencies through Visa, Mastercard, SEPA, SWIFT and over 100 other fiat funding options for various global currencies.

IDnow Announces Partnership with Interpol

IDnow, a leading European provider for identity proofing, has announced a partnership with the International Criminal Police Organisation – Interpol. The 12-month collaboration will see IDnow experts deliver a series of training programs to local law enforcement and immigration departments, starting in Abu Dhabi later this month. Lovro Persen, Director Document Management & Fraud at IDnow, commented: “We are thrilled to be working with Interpol to share our knowledge and expertise on the subject of fraud prevention.

Emerchantpay and Propel Announce Strategic Partnership to Finance Card Payment Terminals

Emerchantpay, a leading payment service provider, and Propel, a pioneering asset finance specialist, have announced a new strategic partnership. This will enable emerchantpay’s partners to offer top-of-the-range card terminals to merchants in the UK, with flexible financing options. The strategic alliance enables emerchantpay to provide financing solutions to companies across an array of business structures for card payment terminals. Propel’s an award-winning platform, Propeller, ensures an optimized sales process for emerchantpay sales teams and partners.

Square Announces Partnership with CodeBase to Boost Entrepreneurship in Scotland

Square, the globally trusted software, payments, and hardware solution for businesses of all sizes, and CodeBase, one of the UK’s largest technology start-up incubators, announced a partnership to provide entrepreneurs with access to Square’s payment ecosystem and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Through the partnership, Square will support CodeBase’s network of start-ups by offering a series of workshops that enable entrepreneurs to learn from leaders in the commerce and payments fields. Square will also offer these start-ups free or discounted hardware to accept payments as well as free payment processing to help kick-start their business.

BidFX and Finastra Partner to Offer Automated Trading Workflow

BidFX, a leading execution management system designed for the 6.6 trillion daily FX market, announced its integration to Finastra’s Fusion Confirmation Matching Service (CMS), ensuring capabilities right through from execution to settlement for mutual clients. BidFX CRO, John McGrath, commented, “Partnering with a market leader like Finastra to offer increased workflow benefits for mutual clients is a win/win project for all parties. As eFX markets become more sophisticated and workflow-based projects become paramount to generating alpha we are happy to work with innovators such as Finastra and the clients they service.

Launches 

LMAX Group to Launch 24/7 Traded Crypto Futures in Partnership with SIX

LMAX Group, the leading operator of institutional exchanges for FX and cryptocurrency trading, has partnered with SIX, one of Europe’s leading operators of Financial Market Infrastructures, to launch cash-settled, centrally cleared crypto-asset futures (“crypto futures”). The launch is expected in Q3 2022, pending regulatory approval, and will initially include centrally cleared USD settled Bitcoin and Ethereum futures, trading 23 hours, five days a week, with the full product roll out to be extended to 24/7 trading.

Versana, Founded by Top Global Banks, Launches to Transform the $5T Syndicated Loan Market

Versana announced its plans to launch a leading-edge, industry-backed syndicated loan platform, joining together banks, institutional lenders and their service providers to bring transparency, efficiency and velocity to this $5 trillion market. Versana's founding members are J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citi and Credit Suisse. The Versana platform, which is expected to launch later this year, will aim to reduce the corporate loan market's operational challenges by digitally capturing agent banks' reference data directly from its source on a real-time basis. 

Bitbns Partners With Quantinsti to Launch Online Education Platform – Bitbns Academy

Bitbns, the country’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has partnered with QuantInsti to launch Bitbns Academy, an all-new dedicated online education platform that offers scholastic tutorials, resources and educational content on Cryptocurrency and Blockchain. A comprehensive digital education platform, Bitbns Academy offers globally accredited certified courses that not just teaches the fundamentals of crypto but helps candidates to develop in-depth understanding of the subject. The coherent content has been carefully curated to serve users across the board, inclusive of beginners, enthusiasts as well as mature investors.

Mollie Launches Connect for Platforms to Enable SaaS and Marketplace Businesses to Expand Across Europe

Mollie, one of the fastest-growing payment service providers in Europe, announced the launch of its newest product, Connect for Platforms. Designed for online SaaS and Marketplace platforms, it is the most efficient and easiest way for companies of all sizes to integrate payments, onboard customers and accept and route payments. It also offers dedicated local, multilingual support – vital to Mollie’s customers operating throughout Europe.

Chargebee Launches Industry’s First E-invoicing Service With Spring 2022 Product Release, Also Featuring Increased Automation Capabilities

Fresh off its recent round of funding, Chargebee, the leading subscription management platform, announcedthe industry’s first e-invoicing service for high-performing SaaS and subscription-model businesses as the centerpiece of its Spring 2022 Product Release. The release includes updates geared towards enabling growth and efficiency for Chargebee customers, including taxation and revenue recognition features, and a new Marketplace to automate billing workflows through a library of customizable integrations.

Flashloans Launches DeFi Platform

Flashloans announced it has launched an online platform that enables people without knowledge of Solidity programming to execute a flash loan and profit from arbitrage opportunities. The DeFi tool aims to ensure market discrepancies and premiums paid for certain tokens on digital asset exchanges are eliminated.Flashloans has been designed so that anyone with a Web 3.0 wallet can connect to the platform and gain access to the liquidity needed to execute profitable arbitrage trades. 

Nium Introduces New Global Brokerage Payments Solution to Provide Faster, Lower Cost Alternative to SWIFT Settlement

Nium, a global leader in the modern money movement, introduced a new brokerage payments solution that offers international financial institutions (FIs) a faster and more cost-effective method of settling transactions to select U.S. brokerages enabling customers to easily invest in the U.S. equities. When compared to transactions settled via the SWIFT International Payments Network, Nium lowers settlement costs for Financial Institutions by up to 90% for international brokerage account transactions.

DTCC Launches Enhanced Post-trade Data Analytics Service To Help Firms Analyze And Improve Their Operational Performance

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, announced the launch of its enhanced Institutional Trade Processing (ITP) service, ITP Data Analytics. The new service includes powerful analytical tools that enable Broker/Dealers and Investment Managers to measure and compare their operational performance against counterparties, industry standards and peers.

Robo.cash Launches lLoans from Sri Lanka

The European investment platform Robo.cash introduces new commercial loans, which will be provided by the company of Robocash Group in Sri Lanka. Now platform users will be able to invest in loans for a period of 3 years at 12.5% with monthly interest payments. Robocash Group company Rapidlend (PVT) LTD in Sri Lanka started its work in 2021. It provides instant access to payday loans to employed individuals and selected professionals. At the end of February, the number of issued loans in Sri Lanka reached 708,000 EUR.

Volante Technologies Launches Service to Accelerate ISO 20022 Payments Modernization

Volante Technologies, the global leader in cloud payments and financial messaging, announced the launch of the Volante ISO 20022 Service. This value-added service simplifies the complexity of ISO 20022 modernization for any organization involved in the processing of payment messages, from banks and financial institutions to fintechs and payment service providers (PSPs). Such organizations face significant headwinds in achieving ISO 20022 message compliance, whether for domestic clearing and settlement (TARGET2, CHAPS, Fedwire™, among others) or for cross-border payments (SWIFT CBPR). 

Phos Partners with AZUL to Introduce SoftPoS in the Dominican Republic

Phos, the fintech behind the leading software-only Point of Sale system (SoftPoS), has partnered with AZUL, to launch ‘Tap’, its SoftPoS enabled mobile app in the Dominican Republic and the insular Caribbean. The partnership with  AZUL (the commercial arm of Servicios Digitales Popular part of Grupo Popular,  its parent company ) means phos’ innovative SoftPoS technology will be available to merchants in the Dominican Republic for the first time.

Merger & Acquisition

Data Blockchain Solution WeGro Acquires a Charitable Cryptocurrency, ChariT

WeGro, a groundbreaking cryptocurrency project, announces the acquisition of ChariT, adding to the ever-growing WeGro ecosystem, alongside the first of many charitable gestures with a $5,000 donation to the HOFFA Foundation.  The founder of ChariT, Joe Braun, will now oversee the charitable giving program for WeGro. Braun, who has over 20 years of charitable giving experience in the non-profit world, will guide the upcoming "WeGro…WeGive" program.

Advent International Acquires a Minority Interest in Spend Management Leader Medius

Medius, a leading provider of the source to pay solutions, announced that global private equity firm Advent International has acquired a minority stake in the business. Following the deal, Marlin Equity Partners remains Medius’ majority shareholder. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in Stockholm in 2001, Medius is a global leader in AP automation, payments, sourcing and procurement with more than 500 employees serving thousands of customers across the globe.

Acquisition Strengthens Value Proposition of TT Platform With New Product Suite of Algorithmic Execution Strategies, Trade Analytics, Tca Services

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions, announced that the firm has acquired RCM-X, a technology provider of algorithmic execution strategies and quantitative trading products. TT made the announcement at a session with leaders of many of the largest global financial institutions on the first day of the 2022 International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, Florida. Both firms are based in Chicago.

Motive Partners Agrees to the Sale of Global Shares to J.P. Morgan

Motive Partners ("Motive"), a specialist private equity firm focused on growth equity and buyout investments in software and information services companies that serve the financial services industry ("financial technology"), announces that it has entered into an agreement, along with other shareholders, for J.P. Morgan to acquire Motive Capital Fund 1 portfolio company, Global Shares, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Motive Partners invested in Global Shares in July 2018, acquiring a c.40% shareholding in the business for c.$25 million.

Apex Group Acquires Majority Stake in Fund Admin Chain

Apex Group Ltd. (“Apex” or “The Group”), a global financial services provider, announces the expansion of its Digital Assets capabilities with the acquisition of a majority stake in Fund Admin Chain (“FAC”), a distributed ledger-based network for launching, distributing, trading and settling collective investment funds. FAC is designed to connect fund investors, fund managers and their service providers in a digital distributed ecosystem. In addition to simplifying and streamlining the investment funds’ value-chain, FAC delivers additional revenue opportunities for funds industry participants.

Job Moves

Government Blockchain Association Appoints Earle G. Hall to its Board of Directors

The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) announced the nomination of Earle G. Hall to its Board of Directors. He will also serve on the Standards and Certification Workgroup. The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) is pleased to announce the nomination of Earle G. Hall to its Board of Directors. He will also serve on the Standards and Certification Workgroup. Earle G. Hall is recognized as a visionary and innovator in several fields of technology and neuroscience. He is the CEO of AXES.ai, a fintech present in more than 40 countries dedicated to the eradication of money laundering, addictive gambling and illicit activities through real-time blockchain-based data collection, artificial intelligence, and cashless technology. 

TrueLayer Appoints Former Amazon Exec David Exposito as VP of EU Sales

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announces that former Amazon executive David Exposito has joined the firm in the newly created role of VP of EU Sales, where he will manage commercial operations and development, including the company’s European Country Managers. A highly experienced commercial manager, with more than a decade working in payments and eCommerce, Madrid-based David joins TrueLayer as it continues its rapid European growth. The company recently expanded its open banking platform for data, verification, and account-to-account payments with connectivity to leading banks in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and Portugal.

Ronn Baker Joins Baton Systems as a Senior Director

Baton Systems (“Baton”), the global fintech digitally transforming post-trade processing using distributed ledger technology (DLT), has announced the appointment of Ronn Baker as Senior Director of North American Sales. Ronn previously served at Wells Fargo, where he was most recently Director of Innovation & Digital Strategy, spearheading the implementation of DLT, cryptocurrencies and digital assets for the FX trading and Capital Markets division. Having been at Wells Fargo for nearly 15 years, Ronn brings vast experience, with his tenure at the company spanning FX technology, eCommerce sales and institutional sales for cross-border payment solutions and services.

Former Deputy CEO at Santander, Tony Prestedge, joins Board of Twenty7Tec Group as Non-Executive Director

Leading mortgage technology provider Twenty7Tec announces that it has appointed Tony Prestedge to its Board as a Non-Executive Director. Prior to his most recent role as Deputy CEO at Santander, Mr Prestedge spent 12 years at Nationwide, occupying a variety of roles including Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO, and has also held the role of Managing Director of Home Finance at Barclays.

Yapily Strengthens Executive Team with the OBIE’s Selene Brett

Yapily, the leading open banking infrastructure provider, announces it has appointed Selene Brett as its Chief Legal Officer, where she will play a key role in expediting Yapily’s strategic growth plans. Selene brings deep financial services, fintech, and open banking expertise to the role following an extensive career to date in legal advisory services. She has previously held positions at Aon, Royal London, consumer champion Which?, and most recently the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) as General Counsel and Company Secretary.

PayPoint Hires Jason Levy to Drive Digital Progress in Charities

To accelerate its investment into the charities sector, digital payments expert, PayPoint, has named Jason Levy to lead the Strategic Development and Partnerships plans. The appointment confirms PayPoint’s ambition to become the market-leading omni-channel payment and donations solutions partner for the charity sector. Levy has considerable experience across the industry, which first began as Director of Fundraising and Marketing at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. Here he delivered significant and strategic income growth through the development of innovative digital and face to face fundraising campaigns.

• The first edition of Fin+Tech, a three-year program which is part of the CDP National Accelerator  Network, created by CDP Venture Capital in collaboration with Digital Magics, Startupbootcamp,  Fintech District, Nexi and Credem and involving numerous partners in the financial and insurance  sectors, has received more than 300 applications. 

• 16 start-ups, covering both the fintech and insurtech markets, will gain access to the investments and  services offered by the program in order to accelerate their growth: 6.2 million euros have been  allocated by CDP Venture Capital together with all the promoters and partners. 

 Fin+Tech, the acceleration program aimed at startups that develop fintech and  insurtech solutions, has completed the selection of the 16 start-ups that will join the first cycle of the  program. The initiative is part of the CDP National Accelerators Network, which is operates throughout the  country in order to help the growth of new companies focused on markets with the greatest growth  potential.  

Fin+Tech is the outcome of an initiative launched by CDP Venture Capital in collaboration with Digital Magics,  Startupbootcamp, Fintech District, Nexi and Credem as promoters, who make up the overall endowment  of 6.2 million euros, working together with corporate partners. 

Over 300 applications were submitted, of which approximately 50% came from abroad, demonstrating the  relevance of the Italian market in the targeted sectors. 

The Fin+Tech acceleration program aims to lay the foundations for supporting the most promising fintech  and insurtech start-ups in their growth path by offering those that best perform during the acceleration  phase, the opportunity to obtain new financial resources. 

The Fin+Tech evaluation committee, made up of the promoters and corporate partners involved, selected 16  start-ups focusing on fintech and insurtech, which will have the opportunity to access the program,  benefiting from an initial investment of 48,500 euros as well as a 4-month acceleration period with the  support of a network of mentors, industry leaders as well as the venture capital world. Start-ups who show the most promising opportunities for growth will be eligible for follow-on investment of up to 300 thousand  euros.  

The selection was based on the basis of the innovation of their solution, composition of the team, scalability  of the project and market potential. In the fintech field, the start-ups selected tackle the payment systems,  lending, certification, and interoperability systems based on blockchain, credit and scoring systems for e commerce, artificial intelligence and open banking, tokenization solutions for financial transactions and robot advisory platforms. In the area of insurtech, the focus has been on systems for the digitalization of online  policies, platforms for the automation of insurance transactions, risk management, IoT-based insurance products. 

The institutional partner of the initiative is Consob, by working with the group Consob Tech as well as many other important corporate partners including: Anima Sgr, Banca CF+, Banca Mediolanum, BNL Gruppo BNP  Paribas, BNP Paribas Cardif, Compass, Credem, Excellence Consulting, Net Insurance, Nexi, Reale Group. In  addition, CRIF and Base Digitale joined the initiative, strengthening its potential impact on the market. The  valuable contribution of technical partners includes: Studio Legale Ferrari Pedeferri Boni (FPB), ItaliaFintech,  Italian Insurtech Association and Swiss Insurtech Hub.

The selected start-ups are: 

• Cents, a social impact platform that combines the experience of giving with every purchase,  connecting people, companies, and financial institutions to the Third Sector. 

• Earnext SA, a full wealth management platform aimed at financial advisors. 

• Exain, blockchain-based platform for tokenization and asset management. 

• Flowbe designed and engineered TENet (Trusted Exchange Network): the first interoperability  platform that allows companies/operators/users to interact within specific processes in a natively  digital and certified way. 

• Icashly, digital banking mobile app aimed at simplifying and improving people's financial aspects:  pay, save, invest, and learn. 

• Ooki, app for financial well-being, allows users to optimize their level of credit risk through open  banking. 

• Politically, a platform that focused on fundraising for political campaigns aiming to create  transparent and digital donations.  

• SplittyPay, a platform offering innovative payment solutions. 

• Aptus.ai, a solution that grants banking regulations accessible in machine readable format by  applying proprietary artificial intelligence technologies to automate impact analysis in a multi language, cross-country context. 

• Coyzy, mobile personal safety and violence prevention application based on crowd-sourcing concept, with support from local communities. 

• Delega, cloud-based fintech SAAS whose mission is to fully digitize the bank power of attorney  process for mid- to large-sized companies. 

• Fairsich, provides IoT solutions and software to assess a driver's level of risk in real time, enabling  dynamic pricing models in mobility. 

• Insurance4Music, the first broker entirely dedicated to the music world, which, through a digital  platform, offers different insurance solutions, from insurance on musical instruments to event policies. 

• Agree.Live, simplifies the process of remote sales of financial products, allowing banks and insurance  companies to meet customers and prospects in video meetings, share documents and/or contracts  with them and receive them digitally signed.  

• Open-Source Modelling, develops and delivers actuarial and/or risk models through open-source  solutions.  

• TrueScreen, an app that allows to certify photos, videos, screenshots, documents, and audio  recordings, guaranteeing with extreme probative value that any content generated by smartphone  or tablet is authentic and unchangeable. 

The three-year Fin+Tech program will accelerate 16 start-ups per year for a total of 48 start-ups in 3 years  and aims to create a strong ecosystem at national level able to increasingly attractstartups and international  investors. 

For any further information please visit www.finplustech.eu.

The Bank's customers can now choose   

PassadorePay, PassadorePay Premium and  PassadorePay Small Business ‐   cards developed by Nexi for cash withdrawals and payments   

with the most advanced features on the market   

Banca Passadore & C., an independent bank serving private  and  business  customers  since  1888,  makes  available  PassadorePay  international  debit  cards created in collaboration with Nexi, Europe's leading PayTech in the digital payments  sector.   

From  today, customers of  the Bank can  request PassadorePay, PassadorePay Premium and PassadorePay Small Business, the most advanced and exclusive international debit  cards on the market, developed by Nexi for payments and cash withdrawals and accepted  worldwide thanks to the connection with the international Mastercard circuit. The cards  feature contactless technology to pay in a single swipe, they are enabled to be uploaded  on mobile  devices  to  pay via  smartphone  or  smartwatch,  they  can  be  used  for online  

purchases and they include insurance coverage and legal protection against cyber risks.      

These payment cards boast digital  features  that make  their use simple, convenient and  secure  ‐  in  addition  to  direct  debiting  of  the  current  account  on  the  same  day  as  the  purchase or the cash withdrawal, they guarantee round‐the‐clock assistance thanks to a  multi‐channel customer service (dedicated toll‐free number, SMS security services and 3D  secure for online purchases).    

Through the Bank's online channels (Internet Banking service and MB+ App), the Nexi Pay  App  and  the portal  dedicated  to Nexi  cardholders,  they  can monitor  transactions  and  check the residual credit on their card.   

In  addition,  through  the Nexi  portal  and Nexi  Pay  App  it  is  also  possible  to  customize  spending limits and view the PIN and card details.   

The PassadorePay Premium card, designed for the most demanding customers, for those  who travel frequently and request exclusive and fully digital services, comes with a 12.5g  contactless metal core and elegant packaging complete with a welcome kit making the  exclusivity of  this product with  top of  the  range  features immediately evident. It offers  monthly spending limits up to €50,000 for purchases and cash withdrawals, a dedicated 

concierge service available 8am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday, Fast Track for immediate  access  to  airport  security  checkpoints  and  boarding  areas,  exclusive  insurance  policies with  high  coverage  caps  and  the  possibility  to  enjoy  the  advantages  granted  by  the  MasterCard World Elite circuit.   

A study from CloudShare found that B2B software companies increased the amount of virtual POCs and self-paced virtual learning experiences by nearly 400% in 2021, clearly demonstrating the customer engagement and retention benefits of this approach

CloudShare, the software experience company, has completed research on the state of B2B software sales and product training. The 12-page trends report, linked here, points to a seismic shift in the way B2B software companies connect with customers and the potential for increased revenue that comes from a shift to virtual software experiences.

The demand for virtual software experiences is growing dramatically, both for sales organisations and customer training teams. Anecdotally, this has been true for nearly two years—the new remote reality from 2020 onward accelerated the need for virtual platforms. But CloudShare’s study, which includes data from more than 500,000 unique CloudShare users, is the first to back up the stories with raw data.

Among other things, the report highlights a rapid increase in the adoption of technologies that will become the new norm: virtual POCs, self-paced learning, video-enabled training, tighter integrations, etc. Following are the biggest trends:

There’s strong evidence of increased demand for virtual sales experiences

• As forward-thinking organisations start to look for ways to engage buyers digitally, it’s no surprise that CloudShare’s research identified a sharp increase in demand for virtual sales experiences. There was a 368% increase in virtual POC experiences delivered on the CloudShare platform from 2020 to 2021, along with a 311% increase in activity on the same POC environments.

Similarly, there has been a significant increase in self-paced virtual learning

• In a recent survey, 42% of SaaS leaders said scheduling across the globe is their number one barrier to effective training. That’s one underlying factor behind the shift to self-paced learning in virtual environments. While virtual instructor-led training (VILT) still has a major place in onboarding and complex product training, CloudShare’s study found a major shift in 2021: VILT courses decreased by 16%, while self-paced experiences increased by 365%.

The use of multiple instructors in the same class has a positive impact on sales/training engagement

• While self-paced learning is growing, live engagement still has an important place in prospect and customer interactions. One way to boost engagement is bringing multiple instructors into a VILT environment. CloudShare’s research found that companies using multiple instructors in a single class saw an average of 53% higher attendance and nearly 20% higher class completion rates.

In-app video conferencing has the biggest effect on participation and completion

• Video conferencing affects participation like no other training tool. According to CloudShare’s study, in-app video conferencing brings class completion rates up to 67%, compared to just 46% when trainers and learners have to switch back and forth between materials and video conferencing.

“Simply put, B2B buyers expect more from sellers in 2022 than they did even just a few short years ago, and customers expect better training experiences, too,” said Dr. Zvi Guterman, CloudShare CEO. “Gone are the days when software companies could interact with users from afar, through walk-through videos, passive Zoom webinars and how-to guides, none of which offered insights into product engagement levels. The modern software user expects a collaborative virtual experience that allows them to ‘play and break’ products in their own replicated environments while providing the software company with real-time visibility into the way customers are actually using their products. This is the present and future of B2B software experiences.”

CloudShare’s report was produced solely from data based on the use and operation of the CloudShare platform. All data refers to these users, from any company (excluding CloudShare’s use) that accessed and leveraged the platform between 2019-2021.