• Workplace savings fintech, Cushon, closes latest £35m fundraising round, bringing total raised over past two years to £61m.
• The new capital is being used to fund its latest acquisition, scale operational capability, and invest in technology and product development.
• Cushon is acquiring the Creative auto-enrolment scheme which is Cushon’s third acquisition in two years and will result in the fintech looking after £1.7bn of assets for 400,000 customers.
• The workplace pensions industry is under pressure from the UK government to consolidate, deliver better value for money, and to make better use of its financial muscle in the fight against climate change. This announcement is a key milestone in Cushon’s mission to lead a tech-revolution of the industry with its sustainable, environmentally-friendly investments.

Workplace savings fintech, Cushon, has successfully closed a £35 million fundraising round and announces its third acquisition, as part of its drive to lead a tech-revolution in workplace pensions and savings.

The £35 million was provided entirely by Cushon’s existing investors, including fintech venture capitalist, Augmentum Fintech Plc, and AshGrove Capital, a leading independent pan-European specialty lending firm. Other companies in Augmentum’s portfolio include Tide, Interactive Investor and Habito.

Today’s announcement brings the total amount raised by Cushon over the last two years to £61m, with the acquisition making Cushon the fifth largest master trust pension provider in the UK and doubling its assets under management from £840 million to £1.7 billion across 400,000 customers.

The fintech is on a mission to lead a tech-revolution of the workplace savings and pensions industry, with the industry under pressure from the UK government to consolidate and deliver better value for money, and to make better use of its financial muscle in the fight against climate change. There have been four major consolidations in the workplace pensions market in the past two years, three of which have been completed by Cushon.

This funding not only supports Cushon’s acquisition of the Creative auto-enrolment scheme but also provides significant growth capital for Cushon to further develop its market-leading mobile app, operational capability and organic growth. This will enable Cushon to offer faster onboarding of employers who want to offer their staff an app-first, climate-friendly, workplace savings solution.

The UK pensions market is the third largest in the world – with a total of £2.58 trillion invested¹ – and the way people’s money is invested has a significant impact on society and the environment.  The average UK pension finances a staggering 23 tonnes in CO2e every year, roughly equivalent to 5 family cars. Cushon aims to have a positive impact on society by making saving and investing through the workplace more convenient, better value for money, and with a clearer connection to the impact people’s money is having on the world.

Ben Pollard, CEO and founder of Cushon, said: 

“Our mission is to offer UK savers a convenient, climate-friendly, and great value way to save, through a combination of cutting-edge technology and socially responsible investments. Right now, workplace pensions are simply too complicated, boring, and disconnected from things people care deeply about. Cushon is here to change that, and today’s announcement is a hugely significant milestone for us. The funding will continue to fuel Cushon’s growth, enable us to scale even faster, and accelerate some exciting new features within our app.

“It will also support the acquisition of Creative which not only doubles the reach of our app-first climate-friendly pension, but also incorporates the talent, expertise and credibility of the Creative business. This is another momentous step on our journey to ensure millions of people across the UK have the ability to access innovative workplace savings solutions in the palm of their hand, together with a right to feel optimistic for the future they are helping to build via their investments.”

Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, said: 

“Workplace pensions and ISAs are ready for transformative change. Public policy will continue to encourage people to save more and there is significant opportunity to successfully challenge incumbents struggling to transform digitally. Cushon has become the leading digital disruptor in this space with a world class technology platform and a truly innovative product.”

Phil Fretwell, Founding Partner at AshGrove Capital, said: 

“We are delighted to continue to support Cushon with further acquisition and growth funding. The acquisition of Creative is a significant milestone that more than doubles Cushon’s assets under management and positions Cushon as the stand out consolidator in the tech-enabled workplace savings market. The combination of structural organic growth in master trusts, driven by annual inflows, coupled with a clear market need to consolidate master trusts in order to drive better outcomes for savers remain central tenants to our investment thesis. We look forward to continuing to work with the team on the many exciting initiatives Cushon has planned.”

This is Cushon’s third master trust acquisition in two years which is in line with regulatory goals to drive further consolidation in the market. When completed, the deal brings Cushon’s total assets under management (AUM) including ISA savings to around £1.7 billion – a 102% increase on current AUM – with annual inflows of more than £300 million. Completion of the acquisition, which is expected in Q1 2022, is subject to regulatory approval.

Sally Webber, CEO, at Creative, said: 

“With more and more customers looking to use technology to manage their pension, and a heightened focus on the environmental and social impact of investments, joining the Cushon group will allow us to ensure our customers’ interests are both considered and protected. Our employers and customers alike will benefit from Cushon’s wider workplace savings offering and its innovative, technology-led approach – an approach that is unlike any other workplace savings provider in the market.”

• Mastercard Track Instant Pay uses machine learning and straight-through processing to analyze and automatically initiate instant payment of supplier invoices
• The new, first-of-its-kind virtual card solution is integrated with Mastercard Track Business Payment Serviceto deliver greater choice, faster payments and improved efficiency for buyers and suppliers

Mastercard today announced the launch of Mastercard TrackTM  Instant Pay, a next-generation virtual card solution that uses machine learning and straight-through processing to enable instant payment of supplier invoices. Integrated with Mastercard Track Business Payment Service, Mastercard’s open-loop B2B network, the new, first-of-its-kind virtual card solution delivers greater choice, efficiency and automation for buyers and suppliers to help streamline and speed business payments.

Slow and inefficient payment processes continue to create challenges for businesses. Lengthy payment terms and late invoice payments impact cash flow for suppliers, while manual invoice approval and check processing is costly and time consuming for buyers. Other payment methods, like ACH, require buyers to safeguard sensitive bank account information, adding another layer of complexity. Research shows a growing demand from businesses to automate supplier payments with virtual cards, but existing solutions aren’t meeting these needs, with 90% of virtual card transactions still being processed manually1.

Mastercard Track Instant Pay is the first virtual card solution that can safely and intelligently authorize an immediate payment to a supplier once they submit an invoice. The solution uses sophisticated machine learning to analyze invoices and identify those likely to be rejected, enabling the rest to be authorized for payment on the same day they’re received.  Using straight-through processing, digital payments are sent directly and securely to a supplier’s bank account via a Mastercard virtual card, with no manual intervention required.  

“Delayed payments create significant challenges for businesses financially and operationally, especially in today’s environment,” said Ron Shultz, executive vice president, New Payment Flows, North America at Mastercard. “Track Instant Pay helps solve these pain points by enabling buyers and suppliers to automate their manual payment processes, unlocking valuable time, working capital and choice. This innovative new solution is the latest step in our ongoing commitment to support multiple payment rails and mission to modernize B2B payments.”

Mastercard Track Instant Pay combines machine learning capabilities from Previse, an artificial intelligence and data science company, with Mastercard’s core commercial solutions and global payment network to transform how businesses send and receive payments. The solution is part of Mastercard’s comprehensive suite of B2B products and services designed to reduce complexity and risk, cut costs, and automate processes for businesses around the world.

Key benefits of Mastercard Track Instant Pay include:

• Suppliers: By accelerating payments, Mastercard Track Instant Pay helps suppliers improve cash flow and unlock working capital so they can reinvest in their business. Instant payments eliminate costs associated with chasing collections on outstanding invoices, and rich remittance information is provided with each payment, simplifying reconciliation.
• Buyers: With Mastercard Track Instant Pay, buyers can grow revenue by increasing acceptance and converting costly check and ACH payments to rebate-generating virtual cards. Automating manual processes helps lower costs, accelerate payments, and remove friction to improve business relationships. Buyers can manage their working capital more efficiently using the credit line tied to their commercial card account; while unique, dynamically generated virtual account numbers with layers of controls provide enhanced security for supplier payments.
• Issuers: Mastercard Track Instant Pay can help issuers grow and extend the reach of their virtual card programs to meet increasing demand and gain a competitive advantage.

Mastercard Track Instant Pay is available in the United States with plans for international expansion, as Mastercard continues to onboard partners as part of its mission to modernize business payments. For more information, please click here.

Today, Bitfrost, the fintech ecosystem, announces the appointment of Alfred W. Moeckli as the new Chairman of the Board. Moeckli joins from his previous position as Chairman of Coinify. 

“I am excited to take on the role of Chairman for this ambitious organisation. I believe Bitfrost is in a position to provide significant changes to the financial industry due to an effective and scalable business model and talented management team. I plan to see that potential realized,” says Moeckli. 

Moeckli, who is the owner of Moeckli Finance and Management Ltd., is a banking expert with more than 20 years of international experience as a CEO, COO and Board member of various European banks. As a former Chairman of Coinify, Moeckli played an important role in the sale of Coinify to Voyager in its $85 million deal in the summer of 2021.  

Prior to his current role, Moeckli also served as a Group Chief Executive Officer of VP Bank Ltd. During his leadership, the market capitalisation of the VP Bank doubled. He also co-founded publicly-listed Swissquote Group and subsequently built up Swissquote Bank as CEO. 

Anton Chashchin, Managing Partner of Bitfrost, said, “We are very pleased to have Alfred as incoming Chairman, considering his global banking experience and outstanding history of leadership. I look forward to working closely with Alfred, and I am confident that his profound knowledge of the financial industry and his unique expertise of strategic transformation processes will drive Bitfrost forward.”  

Moeckli will continue Bitfrost's course on creating a seamless integration of crypto and banking services, focusing his work on strengthening the banking component based on the best Swiss practices and experience. 

TISA, the cross-industry financial services membership body, has today announced that CEO David Dalton-Brown will be stepping down from his role at the end of January. He leaves for family reasons after five years at the helm of the organisation and 13 years at TISA in total.

Succession planning was already well advanced, reflecting the scale of TISA’s growth under David’s tenure and the success of TISA’s Development Plan. TISA Group’s operations will now be focussed into two streams, with the creation of two new Advisory Boards: one for the Traditional Membership Business Unit, which includes TISA’s strategic, policy and events work, and one for the rapidly growing Digital Business Unit, which includes TISA’s digital initiatives and TISA Delivery Entities (TDEs). Both will be overseen, as currently, by the TISA Group board.

Carol Knight, currently chief operating officer at TISA, will take over as CEO of the TISA Traditional Membership Business Unit, and Harry Weber-Brown, digital innovation director at TISA, will become CEO of TISA’s Digital Business Unit.  Gary Bond remains CEO of TISA’s Delivery Entities, TISAtech and TURN.

Tony Stenning remains as chairman of TISA Group, with oversight of all of TISA’s workstreams, entities and policy pillars.

Knight and Weber-Brown will act as co-CEOs of TISA Group and sit on the TISA Group Board.

David Dalton-Brown, Chief Executive Officer at TISA said:

 “I am very pleased with what our team have accomplished during my time as CEO. It has been a privilege to lead and develop the business, and I will look back on my time at TISA fondly.

“The organisation is on a strong footing for future challenges and will, I’m sure, thrive as both a leading financial services membership organisation campaigning for better consumer outcomes and a digital innovation hub for the entire industry. I would like to thank the entire team for what we have achieved together and look forward to hearing about their continued success.”

Tony Stenning, chairman of TISA, said: 

“David’s achievement is hard to overstate. TISA has gone from strength to strength under his tenure, and he has been a champion of both consumers and the entire financial services industry. He leaves TISA in a fantastic position and I look forward to working with Carol, Harry and the team to build on his success.”

“We are all saddened by David’s departure and wish him and his family the best of health for the future.”

Carol Knight, chief operations officer at TISA said:

“David will be greatly missed at TISA, having been fundamental to the company for 13 years, and a fantastic colleague and friend. We wish him and his family all the best, from everyone here at TISA.

“A new structure is already in place to make this transition seamless and I look forward to working with Tony, Harry and all of our people.  We are ready and eager to face the future ahead of us.”

Harry Weber-Brown, digital innovation director at TISA said: 

“We would like to extend a huge thank you to David for his time at TISA, having been a key individual in developing the company into what it is today. David entrusted us with building a digital business here at TISA and was a great source of inspiration and insight as we grew. We wish David and his family all the best.

“I look forward to working with Carol and the team to continue the success story that is TISA in recent years.”

Collaboration between Rural Finance, Sopra Banking Software and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK delivers game-changing efficiencies to proposal process.

Providing ‘finance auto-acceptances while you work’ was the simple, specific efficiency gain that has been delivered successfully by Sopra Banking Software, leading partner of over 1,500 financial institutions across the world, for well-established broker partner, Rural Finance, in conjunction with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions UK. 

The solution developed is an API interface between Sopra Financing Platform’s Sprint broker platform used by Rural Finance and the existing BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions’ technology, also designed by Sopra Banking Software. Marrying the two required a number of technical and organisation firsts; the result was precisely as specified. Today, not only can Rural Finance provide auto-approvals to their many customers in the rural communicty; they, their customers and BNP Paribas have benefitted from the removal of significant levels of re-work that was part of the previous financing proposal process. The result is greater efficiency between lender, broker and end-customer and as Rural Finance Director, Rex Tattersall reflects, more time to provide customers with a tailored, personal service.

Tattersall comments “As the largest specialist agricultural finance brokering network across the UK, our success relies upon personal service. We aim to be easy to work with, combining empathy with the distinctive requirements of our customers in the rural community, with speed and an understanding of their financial needs. Agriculture is a fast-moving industry, and the capacity to match our financing approach to this and at the same time make accessing finance quicker and easier is a positive outcome for everyone.”

The new API digitizes the entire finance proposal journey. Manual processes, often required due to the nature of agricultural financing, have been eradicated. The result is higher quality proposals with lower amount of input errors, improved turnaround time of decision and higher acceptance levels. It has been a winning scenario for all parties, buying time for everyone to focus on business development.

Tim Pulleyn, Head of Partner Sales at BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, states “We are delighted to have partnered with Sopra Banking Software and successfully delivered this solution for Rural Finance. This project is a great example of the importance we place on listening and responding to the business needs of our partners to help support them in achieving their commercial objectives – performance through partnership. The speed and efficiency delivered by the API interface benefits everyone in shortening the critical timeframe of proposal to credit decision and, crucially, enables our partner to provide an optimal service to the end customer. We look forward to rolling out the solution to our wider partner network.”

Hugh Mahony, Business Development Manager at Sopra Banking Software, notes “As a business, we have an established reputation for our agility in delivering targeted software solutions for the financial service community based on our configurable and composable cloud-based platforms. This new API is a case in point, delivering innovation for a specialist marketplace that is elegantly simple. It is the type of challenge in which we specialise, and it has been a pleasure to help Rural Finance and BNP Paribas once again.”

 The only free open banking platform Nordigen has proudly announced a new partnership with a personal finance management app Everst to create a solution for their transactional data collection and management. 

Everst is a finance tracking and management app that enables users to have a complete view of their finances in a comprehensive way and covers most of Europe as well as the UK. Everst utilises open banking to connect all bank accounts and create a coherent financial overview. 

“On the mission to challenge the status quo of personal finance management, we found the perfect partner to launch our very first app. Nordigen has been a key collaborator from the start and I am very excited to share a common vision of broader access to open banking,” says Felix Goosmann, founder and CEO of Everst.

Nordigen supports Everst with transactional data collection through its free open banking API. Nordigen's free API connects to more than 2,100 banks in Europe in 31 European countries. 

“Through the use of integrated PSD2-regulated APIs, Nordigen safely provides Everst with the necessary open banking data for their app. Our account information services supply the application with crucial financial information needed for automation and an excellent overall user experience,” Rolands Mesters, co-founder and CEO of Nordigen, notes. 

"METACO Harmonize provides orchestration layer for managing bank’s digital asset operations"

METACO, the leading provider of security-critical software and infrastructure to the digital asset ecosystem, has announced that Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is implementing its digital asset management services. UnionBank is deploying services on IBM Cloud, in order to leverage the confidential computing capabilities of IBM’s digital asset infrastructure which are fully integrated with METACO’s digital asset orchestration system, METACO Harmonize.  

One of the largest universal banks in the Philippines, with over $15 billion in assets under management, UnionBank, will leverage METACO Harmonize, METACO’s digital asset orchestration system, to manage its digital asset operations. UnionBank can improve insurability with additional FIPS 140-2 Level 4 certified physical controls for managing and migrating keys,  mitigate potential operational risk and loss events through trusted threshold signatures and hardened policies, and address insider collusions with third-party audited source code deployments. These capabilities are supported by IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services.*

METACO Harmonize enables institutions to manage a range of end-to-end digital asset use cases from cryptocurrency custody and trading to tokenization, smart contract management and decentralized finance (DeFi). UnionBank’s launch follows the recent opening of METACO’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, established to ensure that METACO offers best-in-class services to UnionBank and other customers in the region.

Patrick Enjalbal, VP Customer Success and MD, APAC at METACO, commented, “We are proud to further expand our significant presence in APAC, with Union Bank of the Philippines, a national leader in banking services. METACO continues to grow at a significant pace. With the recent launch of our APAC headquarters in Singapore, we can ensure that we continue to offer best-in-class services to UnionBank and other customers and partners in the region.”

Founded in 1982, UnionBank is a leader in innovation in banking technology and was one of the first institutions to launch electronic savings accounts in the country with the EON Cyber Account. With over 388 branches nationwide, UnionBank is a key provider of corporate cash management and B2B banking services for local and multinational companies in the Philippines.*

“We have the passion for meaningful and sustainable reinvention. We value our strategic partners, like METACO, and collaborate with them in an alliance that is meaningful in pursuit of a common vision. And for UnionBank, that common vision is customer centricity driven by emerging technologies and innovation”, said Henry Aguda, UnionBank’s Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Technology & Operations Officer and Chief Transformation Officer.

As the digital asset industry matures, most organizations require optionality to reduce the risk of third-party dependency, seeking to work with multiple vaults, sub-custodians, and liquidity providers. Working with numerous service providers creates additional complexity. Institutions face challenges in terms of security, and scalability, with a proliferation of access points weakening end-to-end processes. METACO Harmonize manages this complexity and mitigates the risks in working with an ecosystem of partners by acting as the overarching policy layer to ensure tight management of digital asset operations, coupled with a single point of integration to its various internal systems.

New offering further enhances Global Asset Servicing Solutions product set

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., a global Fintech leader, today announced it is the first fintech provider to connect to The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC’s) new automated process for submitting instructions for voluntary corporate actions in ISO 20022 format. The newly enhanced Reorganizations service, offered by DTCC’s subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC), automates the manual process of submitting corporate action instruction, thereby reducing risk associated with human error and providing significant cost savings for clients.

“This new offering for Broadridge’s Global Asset Servicing Solutions clients is another industry first, enabling participants to increase straight-through-processing rates for voluntary corporate action instructions from financial advisors to agents,” said Michael Wood, Head of Asset Servicing, Broadridge. “Broadridge looks forward to collaborating further with DTCC and to expanding our product offerings for clients.”

The program will provide common members of both DTCC and Broadridge’s Global Asset Servicing Solution the ability to manage and execute corporate action instructions around time-sensitive events in a more streamlined and efficient manner, increasing straight-through-processing rates and minimizing the risks associated with manual instructions. Broadridge currently services more than 60 DTCC corporate actions clients. The Broadridge solution will provide full “end-to-end” integration with ISO 20022 messages for corporate actions lifecycle entitlements. ISO 20022 is an industry standard message type designed to simplify global business communication.

After a robust testing period is completed, Broadridge anticipates going live with DTCC’s automated program in early 2022. Broadridge will continue to help facilitate testing with DTCC to support mutual clients’ needs and identify process enhancements and the best path to implementation.

In addition, in a separate effort, Broadridge is also working with DTCC to evaluate ways to achieve data standardization for equity corporate actions events. This initiative to improve the announcements process is a critical component necessary for success in the ongoing industry effort of achieving a "golden copy" record sourced from issuers, which can be disseminated to all market participants.

Asia’s Banking Infrastructure leader accelerates global expansion 

M2P Solutions, Asia's leading financial Infrastructure company, announced a $56 million Series C1 raise led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners with participation from MUFG Innovation Partners, a CVC company of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) - one of the world’s leading financial groups, existing investors Tiger Global and Better Capital. In total, the company has raised more than $100 million in the past year. The investment allows M2P to further build its technology and team, while accelerating its plans to expand internationally. M2P’s existing investors also include BEENEXT, Flourish Ventures, Omidyar Network India, 8i Ventures, and the DMI Group via its investment vehicle Sparkle Fund.

M2P Solutions, an API infrastructure company that enables businesses of any scale to embed financial products in their customer journeys, is the platform of choice for the burgeoning fintech ecosystem. Over 500 fintech companies dozens of Banks and other financial institutions leverage M2P’s API infrastructure to embed financial products. In the past year, M2P witnessed widespread adoption of its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) + Programmable Credit card stack that allows BNPL companies to gain access to Visa Credentials, thereby helping them go to market rapidly. M2P Solutions operates in over 20 markets across Asia and North Africa.

Madhusudanan R, Co-Founder and CEO of M2P Solutions, commented,“The consequence of COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift from in-person to digital consumption.  This shift has forced businesses across the globe to move from brick and mortar to digital channels and, in doing so, has created an urgency for businesses to adopt an API platform like ours.   We see an unprecedented opportunity to meet this need by bringing our leading platform to other fintech markets across Europe, Africa and Asia, while doubling down on key and emerging fintech markets such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Egypt.

We are very glad to get the backing of Insight Partners and looking forward to leveraging their deep understanding of working with fintech entrepreneurs across the globe as we look to expand into new markets. MUFG with assets across the Asia will be a key partner in the next phase of our growth.” added Madhusudanan R.

“M2P is India’s leading FinTech infrastructure-as-a-service company – they knit together the broadest set of banking and fintech relationships in the market and have built powerful products delivered as an API with a strong commitment to customer service,” said Nikhil Sachdev, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “M2P’s stellar founding team and rapid growth have established the company as a clear market-leader that is transforming financial innovation in the region. We’re excited to partner with Madhu and team as they continue to scale up.”

Mayank Shiromani, VP, MUFG Innovation partners, said: “We are excited about the growth of fintech and fintech-enabled businesses in India / SE Asia and we believe M2P has an important role to play in the ecosystem. Top start-ups in India already work with M2P. For financial institutions like MUFG, M2P unlocks new partnerships possibilities and provides tested technology for scaling digital offerings efficiently.”