Following an announcement from HMRC in December, Ecospend can confirm it has initiated £2.4bn worth of open banking transactions through its ‘pay by bank’ services across its client portfolio.

Ecospend’s open banking technology allows customers to bypass manual data input when carrying out online payments. As a result, customers can make instant payments directly from their bank account, at a fraction of the cost of traditional cards to merchants, while also significantly reducing the risk of fraud.

Ecospend has been enlisted to implement ‘pay by bank’ payments across a number of high profile businesses and organisations as well as 13 HMRC tax regimes, including self-assessment, PAYE, corporation tax and VAT. Ecospend also has partnerships with London Mutual Credit Union, as well as well-known utilities and ecommerce platforms. HMRC was the first Government in the world to offer customers the ability to pay via this method, and truly integrate open banking technology.

James Hickman, CCO, Ecospend, said:

 “We’re delighted that our technology has facilitated such a significant value of payment transactions with our partner businesses. This milestone is a testament to the innovative product we have developed, and this is just the beginning when it comes to the true application of open banking technology. Our solution not only gives customers a smoother and more efficient payment experience, but also reduces the cost for businesses and organisations when compared to traditional card transactions. In the year ahead, we expect more consumers and merchants to benefits from the capabilities of this technology.”

Aims to upscale AUM to Rs. 900 crore by FY22, accelerate product development, and diversify investment offerings

• First proptech company in India to cross 500 crore AUM mark
• Doubled AUM from Rs. 240 crore to Rs. 500 crore in just 9 months
• Investor base witnessed 300% growth last year and currently has 1,500+ active investors and 20,000+ users
• 35 Lac is the average ticket size of investors
• Listed over 13 assets across states of – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana & Rajasthan
• Recently raised Series-A funding of USD 6 million led by Kotak Investment Advisors and Gruhas Proptech, a Zerodha owned fund

Strata, India’s leading tech-enabled commercial real estate (CRE) investment platform, is the first proptech company in the country to have crossed a significant threshold of 500 crores in Assets Under Management (AUM). The company recently raised $6 million in a Series-A round co-led by Kotak Investment Advisors Limited, Gruhas Proptech (an exclusive fund by Nikhil Kamath of Zerodha & Abhijeeth Pai of Puzzolana Group), and Sabre Investments.

The company which doubled its AUM from Rs. 240 crore to Rs. 500 crore in just 9 months also witnessed a massive jump of 300% in its investor base crossing 1500+, which comprises more than 20k+ active users. The company now aims to upscale its AUM by nearly 2X to reach ₹900 crore by April 2022. The company is eyeing a host of asset classes such as industrial assets, office spaces, warehouses, data centers, hotels, hospitals, among others. The company is also eyeing sale & leaseback deals with large corporations on long-term leases.

Strata, since its inception in November 2019, has offered a suite of high quality, commercial assets such as office spaces, warehouses and industrial facilities among others. Strata funded 150+ crore worth commercial property at Hosur. It made Strata the first proptech company to fund property worth 100+ crore, which witnessed 100% investment in 35 days of listing. Owing to its data centric approach, Strata has successfully pioneered to penetrate tier-II markets such as Jaipur wherein assets have witnessed full investment in just 15 days of the listing. This very data driven approach has also enabled Strata to identify newer and high potential markets while offering superior ROI to its investors.

The assets funded are situated across cities such as Bengaluru, Hosur, Hyderabad, Mumbai etc. Earlier this year, Strata raised Rs. 34 crore for its ‘E-Zone investment opportunity’ in Mumbai. A premium office located in Goregaon, the asset received 100% commitment from investors within just 48 hours of its listing. Additionally, the company raised Rs. 47 crore for another office asset unit located in the Financial District in Hyderabad. That asset too received 100% commitment from investors within just 4 working days since its listing.

Strata has been relentlessly working towards democratising the commercial real estate investment space in the country and has funded assets across the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan. Strata was also the first proptech platform to offer warehouse investment assets through an online platform in India. The company raised Rs. 140 crore for a consortium of three grade-A warehousing assets amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Sudarshan Lodha, Co-founder & CEO, Strata, said, “2021 has been an extremely special year for Strata as we have grown at a significant pace, adding 1 crore to our AUM everyday this calendar year, which has enabled us to double our AUM to Rs. 500 crore in just about 9 months. Being one of the pioneers in democratising CRE as an asset class in the country, Strata has been diligently working towards enhanced risk mitigation and client centricity, while offering robust returns to our investors. The milestone is extremely valuable as it is a testimonial of the unhindered faith our investors have invested in us and our transparent modus operandi. It will play an instrumental role in further strengthening our position as a trusted investment partner for both our clients and developers. We are committed to accelerating our growth journey from here while building and offering more inclusive and rewarding products for our investors.”

Through its tech-enabled platform, Strata empowers retail investors across the globe to invest in specific commercial properties in a particular location of their choice whilst offering good yields. Currently, the platform has over 20,000+ users along with an active base of more than 1,500 investors globally. Besides, it also offers a robust and trusted platform for real-estate developers all across the country to find investors for their assets. While 18% of the investor base comprises NRIs, others include HNIs, family offices, top management from Fortune 500 companies as well as UHNIs, and institutional investors.

Last year, in March 2020, the company had raised $1.5 million in seed funding co-led by Elevation Capital and Mayfield India along with participation from PropStack angel investors. Strata envisions to be the largest alternative investment platform in the country for retail investors by enabling them to invest in CRE assets—by democratising assets and offering it on an easy-to-use online platform.

About Strata Property Management

Phoebus Software Limited (PSL) and Lendco have signed a four-year contract which will see the specialist lender onboard all new mortgage completions onto the latest Phoebus digital account servicing platform. Lendco’s existing book of buy-to-let mortgages, bridging and refurbishment loans will be migrated onto the Phoebus platform in Q1 2022.

Using agile delivery methodology, the Phoebus solution was delivered into user acceptance testing (UAT) within three months of Lendco signing off its requirements. The solution went live in December 2021 and encompasses all Lendco’s primary and special servicing requirements and also facilitates all of Lendco’s securitisation needs. The award-winning Phoebus originations and migrations API will be used to automate the onboarding of cases.

Richard Pike, sales and marketing director at Phoebus Software Ltd, says,

“Lendco is an innovative lender which we are very pleased to bring into our client user group. The speed and quality of the implementation is testimony to the investment we have made into both our implementation methodologies and also our digital technology and automation. This deal reinforces our position as the market leading account servicing supplier in the UK and Ireland, and we very much look forward to working with Lendco for many years to come.”

Ian Ferguson, Operations Director at Lendco comments,

“PSL is a strong brand and their technology is an exceptionally good fit for specialist lenders such as ourselves that wish to undertake servicing in-house. The interaction with PSL from start to finish has been first class and they are a company that delivers to their commitments.  We look forward to working with them in partnership to achieve mutual success for both parties.”

• 06.01.2022 -- 05:18 am

UK’s leading school payment service enhances its offering to parents, schools and caterers with the addition of tablet-based meal ordering and hospitality management platform

ParentPay Limited, the UK’s leading provider of school payment and parental engagement services, has acquired BlueRunner Solutions Limited a leader in web and mobile based meal ordering solutions for schools, contract catering companies and hospitality.

The deal extends ParentPay’s existing meal management platform with additional functionality for meal ordering in primary schools as well as rewards, loyalty and hospitality booking for schools and tertiary education institutions.

Importantly, BlueRunner also brings a new tablet-based meal ordering and cashless catering product for secondary schools, rounding off the Group’s primary and secondary school meal management solutions.

The acquisition expands ParentPay’s reach into the hospitality and corporate catering markets in the UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was signed on 31^st December 2021, ParentPay Limited has acquired 100% of the issued share capital in BR Limited.

Commenting on the deal, Mark Brant, Group Chief Executive of ParentPay said, “ParentPay has long valued its relationship with school caterers and the ability to complement our existing suite of products with additional features for primary school catering alongside new cashless catering solutions for hospitality and secondary schools, is highly attractive.”

He added: “We’re delighted to welcome BlueRunner to the Group and look forward to delivering even greater value to our customers and staff alike.”

Chris Schroeder, BlueRunner’s MD and Founder, added, “ParentPay’s leading position in the school payments market and its continued strong growth, present a compelling opportunity for BlueRunner. By combining with ParentPay’s significant customer base and leveraging its highly successful national field sales operation we will be able to bring the benefits of BlueRunner solutions to a larger number of clients.”

Bank moves to Jack Henry to meet aggressive growth goals while keeping community culture

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.^® (NASDAQ: JKHY) announced today that Old Missouri Bank (OMB) selected Jack Henry to provide a modern and open banking platform as part of the bank’s expansion.

Springfield, Mo.-based OMB is building a new digital bank, launching in early 2023, with the aim to expand geographically and serve customers nationwide. The bank plans to serve all types of customers, from personal banking customers to small and mid-sized businesses and large corporate clients. Adding new features and functionality to the bank’s previous banking platform proved too expensive and time-consuming.  Jack Henry’s infrastructure is open and flexible, allowing the bank to access a variety of fintechs, building a unique and competitive ecosystem. The bank can integrate directly with the Jack Henry banking system using jXchange^TM or with the Banno Digital Platform^TM using the Banno Digital Toolkit^SM.

Stephen Bishop, chief operating officer at OMB, explained, “Delivering an exceptional experience to our customer base is the core of what we do. Jack Henry gives us the tools to execute our customer promise while giving us the scale, infrastructure, and openness we need to build a well-rounded and competitive portfolio to meet very ambitious growth goals. This new business plan will position our community bank to double or even triple our assets in the next three years while not only maintaining but growing our commitment to serving our customers and community we’re built upon.”

In addition to the Jack Henry banking system and Banno Digital Platform, OMB is leveraging Jack Henry’s digital lending, deposit, and payment solutions. Automating the commercial lending process will create a more seamless and user-friendly experience for both borrowers and lenders. The bank also added Jack Henry’s treasury management services to help mid-sized to large commercial customers manage day-to-day cash flow as well as long-term financial positioning, thus diversifying its portfolio while increasing deposits to lower the cost of lending.

Bishop added, “We are committed to providing excellent service while building strong, long-term relationships. We never question the dedication and hard work that is needed to get the job done, and we see that in Jack Henry as well. The company is aligned with our vision for growth and modern banking and truly understands our commitment to community. Their open banking capabilities, combined with their proven and effective technologies, are what we need to reach our goals.”

Stacey Zengel, senior vice president of Jack Henry & Associates and president of Jack Henry Banking, said,

“OMB is scaling the values and service its established in Missouri to a larger audience in need of digital banking with personal support. It is building a financial experience that will compete with any large bank or fintech, and one that will win on service. This is exactly why we built Jack Henry’s open platform. As a well-rounded financial technology company, we are proud to service the bank in such a pivotal moment in its history.”

InvestorWire -- SRAX, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRAX), a financial technology company that unlocks data and insights for publicly traded companies through Sequire, its SaaS platform, has announced their preliminary list of industry specific conferences for 2022.

This season’s events kick off with the Sequire Metals & Mining Conference on January 27th, 2022, from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET. With a massive uptick in the mining industry and electric vehicles on the rise, Sequire is spending the entire day with public mining companies and industry experts exploring possibilities, opportunities and the latest news.

Register for the event here.

Sequire’s 2022 Virtual Event Calendar:

• Sequire Metals & Mining Conference - Jan 27, 2022
• Sequire Cannabis Conference - Apr 20, 2022
• Sequire Tech & Fintech Conference - May 19, 2022
• Sequire Blockchain & Crypto Conference - Jun 23, 2022
• Sequire Semiconductor Conference - Sep 15, 2022
• Sequire Restaurant Conference - Nov 17, 2022
• Sequire Medical Technology Conference - Dec 8, 2022

Sequire features a network of millions of influential, forward-thinking shareholders, and this conference series is just one of many ways SRAX and Sequire offer value to their budding investor community. SRAX’s wholly owned subsidiary, LD Micro, will also host several in-person and virtual events this year, which will be announced at a later date.

“We learned so much hosting last year's conferences. This year, we are looking forward to applying those learnings and expanding through partnerships, interesting content and industries we haven't yet hosted to provide a truly unique virtual conference experience. We hope you join us," said Morgan Fogg, Vice President of Community & Events at SRAX.

Workwear leader goes live on multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite Fashion to sustain growth and accelerate the integration of new acquisitions

Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that workwear manufacturer and distributor Portwest has deployed Infor CloudSuite Fashion in a multi-tenant cloud deployment, running on Amazon Web Services. This upgrade will help Portwest create standardised processes throughout facilities in the United Kingdom, USA, Ireland, Poland, Dubai, Australia, Myanmar, China, Bangladesh, Italy, and Albania.

Learn more about Infor CloudSuite Fashion: https://www.infor.com/products/cloudsuite-fashion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Portwest has grown consistently at 24% per annum over the past two years and currently manufactures and distributes more than 1,800 products and 35,000 SKUs. The upgrade is the latest stage in an ongoing standardisation programme to help sustain that growth.

This programme most recently saw Portwest deploy the workflow and electronic data interchange (EDI) integration capabilities of Infor CloudSuite to improve collaboration with suppliers and customers. Portwest has also taken advantage of the Infor CloudSuite capabilities for documents such as pick sheets, invoices, order confirmation, statements, and dispatch notes. This has enabled Portwest to retire inefficient, legacy document management technologies.

The enhanced application will now enable Portwest to use internal invoicing to track the movement of goods more accurately and efficiently within the group, as well as form a template for the rapid integration of acquisitions.

Plans for 2022 include integrating factories in Bangladesh and Myanmar, plus onboarding an Albanian facility that is part of a recent Italian acquisition. Once a standard template is in place across these facilities, Portwest plans to deploy integrated business intelligence and analytics and begin the full automation of a UK warehouse.

“Our use of Infor has evolved as we have grown, from Infor M3 ERP on-premises through to M3 single-tenant cloud, and now the multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite because it has been a path of ever-increasing returns,” explained Paul Forry, head of information technology at Portwest. “This move to multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite also helps us address issues in the movement of our stock and forms a foundation for plans in the coming months to ensure standardized processes in our acquisition targets. We have aggressive plans to become a £1 billion company by 2025, and acquisitions and increasing our salesforce are going to be the main engines of that growth. We are also undertaking a deep examination of our customer profiles and looking at how we can diversify to sustain our double-digit growth. Infor CloudSuite will be at the heart of all of these initiatives.”

“Portwest is a textbook example of how moving from ERP to multi-tenant Infor CloudSuite can enable, accelerate and sustain substantial growth,” said Anwen Robinson, Infor general manager and senior vice-president for UK & Ireland. “From establishing improved processes to reducing costs by retiring legacy technology, and accelerating the onboarding of acquisitions, Portwest has demonstrated repeatedly why it is not only beneficial to harness the power of cloud technology, but that to drive growth, it is a necessity.”

Doug Clare, Vice President of Product Management, Fraud Protection and Compliance, FICO, describes the benefits of examining the full picture

Billions of friction-filled moments, which risk upsetting a customer’s journey, occur daily, as financial organizations of all kinds—from traditional banks to fintechs and telecommunications providers—contend with making millisecond-quick authentication decisions. Mobile devices aim to make transactions fast and easy, but the mix of underlying data has become incredibly complex. That’s the challenge contextual intelligence promises to help cut through.

Contextual intelligence provides the answer to a bank’s question, “What answer, to what question, do I need to know, at what moment in time in the customer journey, to make sure the transaction is legitimate?”

PSD2 regulation in the UK and European Union also impacts, as it frequently compels the use of strong customer authentication. Online payments, transfers from bank accounts and even changing account details can all trigger an authentication requirement – even when the payment service provider deems it unnecessary. Constant demand for multi-factor authentication is frustrating for customers so when a provider can limit them it’s a win for customer experience.

How do financial institutions benefit from contextual intelligence?

There are three main advantages to working with contextual intelligence.

• The customers’ experiences will simply be better. Less friction, fewer false positives, higher detection rates of actual frauds and scams and better experiences translate into greater customer loyalty and ultimately, more profits.
• Cost. By right sizing the quantity of data that is relevant to answering each question, companies can buy significantly less data from external sources, saving costs.
• Streamlined operations. Delivering more efficient, integrated foundations, contextual intelligence provides a decision framework that can be applied to many customer journeys: account opening and KYC, retail banking money transfers, person-to-person (P2P) transfers, credit applications — anything that requires the orchestration of data from multiple sources to answer point-in-time questions.

Real-world example

A customer goes on holiday in Thailand, she wants to access her online banking to pay a bill but didn’t bring her laptop on the trip, and her phone has run out of battery. She goes to the computer in the hotel lobby to log into her online banking. Contextual intelligence can drive the following sequence, to simultaneously ensure security and a streamlined customer experience.

• This new device appears risky. The customer is asked to authenticate via an email link since, at the moment, she can’t accept a text on her phone.
• The customer logs in, and it’s immediately apparent she’s a long way from home, on a computer she’s never used before. It’s appropriate to step up her authentication; she is presented with challenge questions that are successfully answered, and she pays the bill.

Here’s a twist on that scenario: Half an hour before logging on, she made a withdrawal at the ATM in the hotel lobby using her debit card. The stepped-up authentication above would have been bypassed because, although the customer is logging in from a new device and is in Thailand, her bank knows:

• She withdrew money at an ATM at the same location.
• That appeared suspicious, so an agent from the bank’s fraud desk called the customer to verify that she was indeed making the withdrawal. The customer verified the transaction, and then her phone ran out of battery.

When the customer logged on to online banking from the hotel lobby, contextual intelligence would have dictated that, since the customer has verified she is in the same geolocation and had used her card, no further authentication would be required to pay a bill. Adding friction to this low-risk activity would be unpleasant for the customer — but if she decides to do a high-risk online banking activity, such as send a large payment from her bank account to a person or business she’s never paid before, the system will ask to authenticate further.

Different transactions require different questions and different answers —and different contextual intelligence.