Trabzonspor is the second Turkish Süper Lig club to officially partner with Capital Block, making Turkey a football NFT hotbed

• Capital Block has today announced they are now the official NFT agency for Trabzonspor, the Turkish Süper Lig leaders.
• Capital Block will advise Trabzonspor initially on Two NFT ‘drops’ to elevate fan engagement enabling fans to own the club’s most special moments.
• CEO of Capital Block, Tim Mangnall said: “We are really excited to announce this partnership with Trabzonspor which is the second Turkish football club Capital Block is working with. This is not just a great testimonial to the successful growth of the NFT fan community in Turkey but also makes Turkey the forerunner in the European NFT sports world.”

Capital Block can today announce that it has entered into an official partnership with Trabzonspor, the major Turkish football club, and will now be working with the club to develop a bespoke NFT strategy for the club’s fans.

Trabzonspor is the second Turkish football club to officially sign with Capital Block, which puts Turkey and its clubs at an advantage over many other European football powerhouses.

Capital Block will initially help Trabzonspor deliver two NFT drops over the coming months, one of which will be celebrating the great club’s previous championships.

Beyond the NFT drops, Capital Block will develop an NFT roadmap for the club, providing expert advice and guidance on how to build an NFT strategy based around its own and its fans’ passions.

Capital Block will be making further announcements about more partnerships in the coming weeks. The last NFT drop that Capital Block officially managed sold out in 59 seconds.

Commenting on this announcement, CEO of Capital Block, Tim Mangnall said: “We are really excited to announce this partnership with Trabzonspor, a fantastic football team followed by passionate fans.”

“Trabzonspor fans should now be looking out for the club’s first NFT drop. And with the club in such a strong position in the Süper Lig, we will hope to be celebrating at the end of the current season with another NFT drop.”

“With more Turkish football clubs becoming aware of the advantages of having their own NFT series, we are looking forward to the many new opportunities that will be created for fan engagement for Turkish football fans. This will also increase general understanding of the significance of NFTs in the wider European football market.”

Serdar Ekrem Şirin, Trabzonspor member of board, explains below about the collaboration: “Trabzonspor has taken a step into the NFT world in what is an already successful season. By cooperating with Capital Block, banding together Blockchain Technology and sports, we will very soon be presenting Trabzonspor’s cultural history to our supporters on a digital platform. I am extremely delighted to setting the right foundations in the right season for Trabzonspor.”

The pandemic will be remembered as a decisive time for contactless payments with accelerated card issuance and usage

Consumers favour contactless payments during the pandemic

RBR’s Global Cards Data and Forecasts to 2026 shows that the number of contactless purchases increased by 36% in 2020. Many hygiene-conscious consumers gravitated towards contactless payment methods during the pandemic to minimise contact with EFTPOS terminals — this was also widely encouraged by businesses and retailers. Governments took note of this trend and several countries, including the UK, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, raised the limit for payments without PIN, facilitating contactless spending further.

High levels of growth will continue, with RBR forecasting that the number of contactless card purchases will increase by 23% per year on average, reaching over 500 billion by 2026.

Contactless is diverting everyday spending away from cash

Some regulators and financial institutions view contactless technology as key in advancing the shift away from cash. Consumers are already choosing to use contactless cards for many low-value, everyday purchases they would have previously made with cash. In China, the central bank has mandated that all new cards must be issued as contactless to expedite uptake of cashless payments.

RBR’s research reveals that contactless card usage is most established in Europe, which sees the highest average number of contactless purchases per card. Countries such as Ukraine which have particularly high levels of card tokenisation and mobile wallet usage have the most active contactless card users.

Number of contactless card purchases worldwide (billions)

Source: Global Cards Data and Forecasts to 2026 (RBR)

Contactless cards will expand their reach but some markets may be harder to crack

Contactless rollout will accelerate in all 65 countries covered in RBR’s study, with 81% of all cards forecast to be contactless in 2026. The fastest growth in contactless cards will be in the Americas. Issuance had previously been slow in many countries in this region, but the picture changed in 2020 when Brazil and Mexico both saw contactless card numbers almost triple as both banks and fintechs ramped up their activity.  

Contactless cards may, however, struggle to gain momentum in countries with established alternative contactless payment methods, such as Indonesia where QR code payments are widely used and contactless card uptake has so far been sluggish. International card schemes are considering mandates for issuance of their cards as contactless to tackle such obstacles.

Daniel Dawson, who led RBR’s Global Cards Data and Forecasts to 2026 study, commented: “Issuers got the message quickly during the pandemic that demand for contactless was increasing as customer habits changed. In 2020, contactless cards got the extra push they needed to extend their reach across customer segments and regions, a trend that will only continue with time”.

 Investors have been increasingly considering aligning investment decisions with ESG  values. In 2021, this focus increased as the entire world watched heads of states’ debates on effective actions  against climate change at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. Taking one step  further to consolidate its leading role in the Paris-aligned (PAB) fixed-income indexing, Solactive launches now  two Paris-aligned high-yield indices as well as a CTB-version (Climate Transition Benchmark) and expands the  PAB index family. 

The Solactive USD Corporate HY PAB Index, the Solactive Euro Corporate HY PAB Index, and the Solactive Euro  Corporate HY CTB Index follow the successfully launched Investment Grade (IG) PAB index series, which has been live for nearly two years already. Solactive’s PAB index universe is the most extensive one in the whole  fixed-income industry. It includes already the IG PAB indices in USD, EUR, and GBP; the Global Corporate Index; and the Paris Aware indices (Solactive Paris Aware Global Aggregate Index and Solactive Paris Aware Global  Government Index).  

Solactive used an index methodology for their benchmarks with stricter criteria than the PAB regulation  requires. The German index provider makes sure that the gross emissions are reduced by 50% at inception and by at least 7% Year-Over-Year, according to the Paris recommendation. Solactive goes beyond that and  measures Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions as well as the carbon intensity based on the book values for debt and  equity of companies, which makes the criteria stricter for two reasons:  

a) Scope 3 emissions are already respected instead of using the phase in approach granted by the  regulation; 

b) Aligning the indices by intensities reduces the gross emissions even further and makes sure the impact  of the companies is measured on an equal basis.  

To make the criteria more effective, the intensity must be reduced by 50% compared to the parent index. Companies that do not meet specific ESG requisites, for example, those that generate more than 10% of their  revenue from production, exploration, distribution and services related to fossil fuels, are excluded.  

Risk/Return Profile 

Despite the strict criteria, Solactive keeps the PAB screened indices aligned to their benchmark in terms of  risk/return characteristics, as there are constraints regarding how much the Paris-aligned index may differ from the parent index.

The German index provider recently ran a calculation comparing each benchmark index to its Paris-aligned  version regarding performance, correlation and annualized tracking error in the range of one, three and five  years. It demonstrated an average correlation of 99.4% between the four IG benchmark indices and their PAB  versions. 

The results showed that ESG screening brought outperformance to most indices. The EUR HY PAB, the US IG  PAB, and the US HY PAB indices outperformed their parent indices by more than one percent since their launch.  In three and five years, five of the six PAB indices outperformed their respective benchmark. 

Timo Pfeiffer, Chief Markets Officer at Solactive, comments: “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges  of our time, which translates into a surge in demand for climate investment strategies. As part of the overall  path to a greener planet, Solactive is committed to increasingly develop more sustainable investment  solutions. We have been successfully doing that in the active investments space, where we are most prominent  and present. Now we are moving towards the next stage of evolution in the fixed-income space with the  recently launched Paris-aligned high-yield indices, which solidifies our lead role in climate investment  strategies.

FinDock is pleased to announce its partnership and newly added open banking integration with GoCardless, a leading fintech in direct bank payment solutions.
“We’re on a mission to take the pain out of getting paid, and we’re proud to partner with FinDock which unlocks Salesforce for end-to-end payments management. Now, users can further realize the benefits of FinDock, with added automation and cost efficiencies," says Karl Stjernstrom, Head of Global Enterprise Partnerships at GoCardless. “As we continue to combine our global bank debit network with open banking technology, Salesforce customers will be among the first to access the latest account-to-account solutions via FinDock, those that let payments flow freely, without cards, expiration dates or extra costs."

The FinDock and GoCardless integration allows users to switch on GoCardless as a payment processor directly in their Salesforce environment. From there, merchants can collect one-off and recurring payments directly from their customers’ bank accounts through GoCardless via FinDock. 

This means that complex processes, such as direct debit mandate management, compliance notifications and collections can all be automated, saving organizations considerable time and cost. The GoCardless integration works seamlessly across FinDock’s data model, which means payment data becomes CRM data, accessible and actionable across all Salesforce Clouds and industry solutions, making it even easier to deliver personalized payment experiences and drive more efficiencies in payments management.

In addition, the combination of instant payments through open banking and regular collections through direct debit enables merchants to craft sophisticated payment strategies, optimizing for conversion, cost, fraud protection and more.

“FinDock is continuously looking at trends to understand market needs and extend FinDock to better serve our customers.” says Stefan van der Knaap, Head of Product at FinDock. “With FinDock and GoCardless, users benefit from automated end-to-end direct debit and instant payment management, available out-of-the-box across 30+ markets, with FinDock bringing this right to the heart of Salesforce.”

Using GoCardless in FinDock

To switch on GoCardless as a payment processor in Salesforce, users simply dock GoCardless using the FinDock payment switch. FinDock makes it easy to dock different payment processors so users are never locked into any one payment processor - you can mix and match, optimizing and adapting as your organization grows or your customers’ payment preferences change. 

Take a look at FinDock Docs to learn more about how to get started using GoCardless and FinDock. And register for our March Release webinar to see a demo of FinDock and GoCardless in action.

Objectway, a global top 100 wealth, banking & asset management software provider, has been confirmed as a strategic digital partner to Rathbones according to their recently published 2021 annual statement.

Objectway has been partnering with Rathbones, a leading UK investment manager with more than £68.2¹ billion FUMA, to help them build and implement their digital portal and “MyRathbones” app. This ensures that Rathbones’ clients and advisors can access their investments and investment managers anytime and anywhere. It is available via desktop, tablet and smartphone.

Implemented in 2020 and enhanced further throughout 2021, MyRathbones has been successfully adopted by c.43% of Rathbones clients who access the service more than 6 times per month on average and download tens of thousands of investment reports quarterly.

In 2021, in partnership with Objectway, Rathbones implemented a major upgrade of their custody and settlement system, which was completed on time and budget. The upgraded solution is a solid foundation to build upon with the upcoming launch of their future digital solutions to help improve prospecting, onboarding and servicing capabilities.

“Over the last two years, Objectway has proven to be a reliable partner in terms of solution design and execution for key components of our digital strategy. We are happy to confirm them as a strategic partner for our future digital transformation plans,” affirmed Andy Brodie, Chief Operating Officer at Rathbones.

“Partnering with Rathbones over the last two years on their digital transformation program has been extremely constructive and satisfying for us and we are proud we did deliver against their milestones and expectations,” commented Alberto Cuccu, CEO of Objectway International. “With an agile and incremental approach we have delivered in partnership a scalable and flexible digital platform.”

 Thursday, the co-founders of BixMex pled guilty to “violating the Bank Secrecy Act by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an anti-money laundering program” at their exchange. The pair will pay a collective $20 million in criminal fines.

“The worst part of this case is that the company appears to have had criminal intent. It would have been incredibly easy to implement a solution which would’ve made their exchange compliant. I’ve been following the regulatory landscape closely, and we warn our clients and the media alike of the compliance necessities when operating in this industry. I even designed a complex solution specifically created to stop money launderers and keep exchange executives legal, which integrates with all popular KYC & AML providers, and goes above and beyond, utilizing advanced geo-fencing that looks for proxies, such as VPNs and Tor exit nodes; provides Suspicious Activity Alerts; and features Ciphertrace and Chainanalysis integrations to identify deposits associated with criminal activity. In this case, the pair seems like they went out of their way to operate in an illegal fashion, and, if that’s the case, they deserve jail time,” said Richard Gardner, CEO of Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges.

According to the indictment, public court filings, and statements made in court, the pair “willfully caused BitMEX to fail to establish and maintain an AML program, including a program for verifying the identity of BitMEX’s customers,” resulting in the company effectively serving as a “money laundering platform.”

It continued to note that the pair “failed to institute AML or KYC programs at BitMEX despite closely following U.S. regulatory developments that made clear their legal obligation to do so if BitMEX operated in the United States, which it did,” despite claims to the contrary.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “As cryptocurrencies and technologies designed to facilitate their trade proliferate, companies engaged in the virtual currency economy have become critical gatekeepers in efforts to ensure that U.S. markets are fair, efficient, and secure. The opportunities and advantages of operating in the United States are legion, but they carry with them the obligation for those businesses to do their part to help in driving out crime and corruption.  Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo built a company designed to flout those obligations; they willfully failed to implement and maintain even basic anti-money laundering policies.  They allowed BitMEX to operate as a platform in the shadows of the financial markets. Today’s guilty pleas reflect this Office’s continued commitment to the investigation and prosecution of money laundering in the cryptocurrency sector.”

“The FBI did good work. But, fining each only $10 million is a slap on the wrist for the enormity of the crime, and it sends the wrong message to the industry,” said Gardner. “BitMEX had the ability to stay legal, stay in compliance, and do the right thing. They chose the opposite road, and there should be a more punitive response.”

Modulus is known throughout the financial technology segment as a leader in the development of ultra-high frequency trading systems and blockchain technologies. Modulus has provided its exchange solution to some of the industry’s most profitable digital asset exchanges, including a well-known multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange. Over the past twenty years, the company has built technology for the world’s most notable institutions, with a client list which includes NASA, NASDAQ, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Barclays, Siemens, Shell, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Cornell University, and the University of Chicago.

“Right now, as we wait for the government to build a complete guidebook to regulate the industry in a fair, commonsense fashion, it is critical that we look at intent. In this case, there was intent to provide a haven for money launderers. This isn’t a case where the exchange was engaged in a legal gray area made fuzzy by a failure to adequately regulate. This is a case where BitMex knew the legal way to operate and acted in brazen, purposeful opposition. That can’t happen if we want the industry to succeed,” noted Gardner.

 FV Bank (www.fvbank.us), the U.S. licensed global digital bank that offers a vertically-integrated suite of traditional and digital asset banking and custody services to fintech and blockchain firms, has introduced its first application programming interface (API) to advance bank automation and integration for its clients’ operations.

FV Bank’s new API will provide multiple benefits to corporate and institutional clients who need to integrate compliant banking solutions into its products. The API will enable firms to reduce operating costs and effortlessly scale their operations through automating data flows and payments systems. 

The API will streamline everything from the creation of beneficiaries and payments including ACH, Domestic Wire, International wires and internal transfers using FVNet. When creating beneficiaries and payments, for example compliance functions automatically run in the background including sanctions screenings to ensure AML compliance. The new API also provides real time webhook notifications for incoming and outgoing payment and transaction reconciliation — creating a better experience for both firms and their customers.

“We founded FV Bank, to foster growth between banks and fintech creators,” said Miles Paschini, co-founder and CEO FV Bank. “Our new API will allow customers to seamlessly integrate payments and banking into their platforms and improve customer experiences.  With our API FV Bank clients can create compliant banking experiences directly with a bank partner instead of using an intermediary Bank as a Service (BaaS) provider. Our goal is to vertically integrate and provide the regulatory and compliance functions of a bank and also deliver the tech solutions directly to our customers." 

FV Bank’s API will also enable clients to integrate  banking solutions into their own fintech and blockchain applications enabling USD Bank Account functionality to their customers. The API facilitates instant transfer of funds to their customers’ FV Bank Account enabling real time payouts and, when permissioned, to request funds from a customer’s FV Bank account and access balance and transaction history data. 

Future releases of the API will include integration with FV Bank’s digital asset trust and custody services, opening up the ability for fintech and blockchain creators to develop exciting new products while maintaining compliance with a regulated banking partner.

FV Bank also recently announced a strategic investment in DIRO, and integration of DIRO’s patented Decentralized Document and Entity Verification Engine technology solution into its account opening protocols to facilitate compliant automation of its Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) processes.