BSO, a global pioneering infrastructure and connectivity provider, has announced that it is now listed in the OVHcloud partner directory as an Advanced Partner for its expertise in cloud managed services.

BSO joins fellow Advanced Partners in managed services including ViRSO, Certilience and Irontec. The partnership programme is designed to better support the digital transformation of organisations by facilitating access, knowledge, product training and technical support. The programme enables every member organisation to innovate with the next generation of cloud solutions.

BSO Plus includes managed services solutions for hosted private cloud, hybrid cloud and multi cloud environments, DevOps-as-a-Service, Kubernetes, extensions and data centre migration. BSO engineering teams provide global, around the clock availability across their 11 offices and 240+ Points-of-Presence, providing businesses with auditing, technical consulting, and a custom approach to their projects. BSO Plus also offers public cloud cost optimisation as well as proactive equipment monitoring, alerting and resolution.

“We welcome the opportunity to learn from, and to share knowledge with our fellow OVHcloud Advanced Partners. This network can only strengthen BSO’s expert cloud teams, who are delighted to align with OVHcloud’s selected partners. Collaboration is truly the fastest way to grow the cloud infrastructure vertical, and we look forward to driving this, as Advanced Partner group members,” said Pascal Tarin, Cloud and Managed Services Director, BSO.

The majority of British consumers plan to continue to do all their Christmas shopping online this year despite the opening of in person stores, a sign the pandemic is influencing how people plan to shop this festive season. This is according to the latest Generation Pay research by Worldpay from FIS^® (NYSE: FIS), which found Gen Z shoppers remain most attracted to the convenience of shopping online and via mobile (68 percent), while Boomers (48 percent) are more likely to return to shopping in-store. 

With consumers now used to the convenience of online shopping, retailers are responding by offering a variety of payment methods at checkout. The survey reveals 70 percent of millennials cited this as a key preference when shopping in comparison to 46 percent of boomers. Nearly a third (28 percent) of those surveyed stated that they are planning to use BNPL to make their festive purchases this year, with this rising to 43 percent of millennials. Shopping via social media is also becoming more popular with over a quarter (26 percent) preferring to do their Christmas shop via social media.

Additionally, the research shows alternative payment methods could help to reduce returns. Almost 1 in 4 (24 percent) of every purchase during the festive season in the UK is returned – a number which rises to nearly 40 percent for millennials. But returns have dropped by almost 15 percent when bought through BNPL, with responding Gen Z and millennials saying they return 1 in every 5 purchases bought through BNPL.

Maria Prados, Head of Merchant Retail Growth at FIS said: “The pandemic is having a lasting impact on UK consumer shopping preferences. Shoppers have come to expect the convenience and flexibility of shopping online and are now, more than ever, choosing to do their seasonal shopping online. To capitalise on the festive period, retailers must respond to customers' changing demands by ensuring they are adopting the necessary technology which will give consumers more choice at the checkout and provide a frictionless payment experience.”

• LIST’s trading infrastructure solutions increase connectivity options for Spectrum members
• Collaboration will focus on access for brokers, followed by market makers
• Latest in a series of agreements to expand ecosystem of local technology partners

Spectrum Markets, the pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives, has announced a new partnership with international trading solutions specialist LIST that will make it even more straightforward for new members to connect to Spectrum.

LIST will build central connectivity adapters that brokers and market makers can use to easily connect to Spectrum’s trading and execution infrastructure, instead of establishing multiple, bilateral connections.

In the first phase of this collaboration, LIST will focus on developing the connectivity adapter for brokers, followed by the adapter for market makers.

The partnership with LIST is the latest in a series of collaborations Spectrum is developing to expand and further enhance its ecosystem of technology and infrastructure providers, to ensure it delivers a ‘plug and play’ solution that most effectively meets the local needs of financial institutions around Europe.

“When we first conceived of Spectrum as a better way for European investors to trade derivatives, it was clear that making it as easy as possible for members to connect to the venue was going to be a key priority,” explains Christophe Grosset, European Sales Director at Spectrum Markets.

“We are therefore delighted to be working with LIST, a company that has been trusted for years by many of Europe’s leading financial institutions, but also has the expertise and ambition to work with a modern, 24-hour pan-European exchange like Spectrum.”

“Spectrum’s offering is a natural fit for many of our clients, and we are very pleased to be working with them to make connecting to the venue as seamless as possible,” says Mirko Marcadella, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at LIST. “We look forward to growing this relationship, in Italy and beyond, in the months and years ahead.”

Quantile Technologies (Quantile), a leading provider of multilateral optimisation services, today announced the appointment of Guido Van Ingen as Head of the Netherlands and Relationship Management. He started the role in November 2021 and reports directly to Andrew Williams, CEO.

Guido has over 20 years’ experience in Financial Markets. He started his career at ABN Amro Bank N.V, before joining Merrill Lynch as Pan European Equity Sales Director where he was responsible for sales to institutional clients in the Benelux region. He then spent 10 years working at ING, as Head of Financial Markets Corporate Sales EMEA and as Head of Transaction Services Sales in the Netherlands. Throughout his career he has managed sales teams across 23 countries, managing relationships and providing institutional clients with hedging products as well as working capital solutions.

Quantile selected Amsterdam as its European headquarters in 2020, with the office expanding its global presence by providing coverage for its growing network of European entities. Guido’s role will be key to establishing Quantile’s European operations, as well as growing the number of market participants that adopt Quantile’s multilateral optimisation services globally. Guido has joined the leadership team where he is responsible for the Netherlands business as well as Relationship Management across all jurisdictions 

Andrew Williams, CEO commented: “We are delighted to welcome Guido to the team, where his experience will be pivotal to our growth in Europe and extending our network globally. There is immense capacity to help clients manage their capital and funding challenges and I am confident that Guido’s extensive industry experience will drive further adoption of Quantile’s services. Alongside our UK and US offices, the Netherlands office continues to grow as we deepen client relationships and develop our presence globally.” 

Guido Van Ingen, Head of the Netherlands and Relationship Management added: “After 20 years of working in sales management for banks, I am excited to bring my experience to Quantile, where I can be part of a company that continues to deliver real innovation and capital efficiency to the derivatives market.”

  CII under its waste to worth initiative held the 2nd edition of 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Awards

Ramky Enviro - Asia's leading provider of comprehensive environment management services wins the CII 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Award for Excellence in Waste Management. The award was given to Ramky Enviro for the pioneering and impactful work done by them in setting standards and examples of how to responsibly manage and recycle plastic waste.

Ramky Recycling, a subsidiary of Ramky Enviro has achieved this benchmark in managing plastic waste.

CII under its waste to worth initiative, has announced 2^nd edition of 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) Awards for 2021, to recognise and reward best practices amongst industry, start-ups and ULBs in order to set a benchmark of excellence in waste management. The company was evaluated and recognised for its Resource Management Strategies, Sustainable and Innovative business models, environmental and social Impacts/ Benefits and its innovative plan.

Commenting on the win, Masood Mallick. JMD, Ramky Enviro said, “This is a great initiative by CII towards mainstreaming 3R (Reduce-Reuse-Recycle) practices and innovations. This recognition will encourage us and the entire industry to further innovate and adopt best practices and technologies in recycling and resource management. We are humbled by this recognition and we feel this is just the beginning in driving our circular economy agenda and progress towards achieving the nation`s SDGs and resource security goals.”

Indian industry is increasingly adopting responsible processes and innovative solutions towards Reducing, Reducing and Recycling plastic & packaging waste, e-waste and other wastes generated in industrial activities. To accelerate and further mainstream such practices, it is important to capture and disseminate best practices for others to follow and at the same time to recognise and reward industry, start-ups and ULBs who have set benchmarks in (1) managing waste generated in by industry from their own activities (2) designing, developing products those will generate minimal waste at the user’s end, (3) managing Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), (4) managing plastic & packaging and e-waste through better EPR Strategies, (5) Innovative Solutions by Start-ups for Sustainable Waste management, and (6 ) Excellence of MSW management by ULBs.

As announced by the World Business Angels Investment Forum, Gagan Arora Founder & CEO – Vertex Group, has been appointed as Senator for India. Senator Gagan Arora will represent India at the Grand Assembly of the World Business Angels Investment Forum. The inclusion of India in WBAF provides a wide range of opportunities for India’s start-ups, scaleups and high growth businesses and opens doors for economic development.

With this new appointment, India has joined the largest forum of the world’s equity investment markets and will now be able to connect more with the global investors market, which will open up splendid opportunities for the country. Now local India angel investors, incubation centres, accelerators, private equity funds, co-investment funds, technology parks, corporate ventures and aspiring entrepreneurs will have more opportunity to connect with global leaders in the same field.

The inclusion of India in WBAF provides a wide range of opportunities for India’s start-ups, scaleups and high growth businesses and opens doors for economic development.

Baybars Altuntas, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Business Angels Investment Forum says “As an affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnerships for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the WBAF supports start-ups, develops entrepreneurial ecosystems, and helps venture capital and companies connect with international companies, fin- techs and other relevant institutions. We are confident about our contribution to the economic development of the country by facilitating connections with entrepreneurial ecosystems. We strongly believe that India will soon become a country that can foster the development of its economy in a more entrepreneurial atmosphere.”

Gagan Arora, Senator for India said “As per a recent Nasscom report, The Indian Technology start-up landscape has evolved to become the 4th largest in the world. Since 2010 there has been a significant rise in the growth of technology startups and in e2014 India was home to 3,000 technology start-ups. The World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is an international organisation aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from start up to scale up to exit, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide. It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, startups, and SMEs. I will be keen to contribute towards the WBAF global efforts to easing access to finance for entrepreneurs, promoting gender equality, increasing financial inclusion and promoting digital inclusion

The partnership will allow CellPoint Digital customers to incorporate Vyne into its payment ecosystem and access instant payments without a need for direct integration.

DATE Payment orchestration leader CellPoint Digital today announces a partnership with full stack account-to-account (A2A) payments specialist, Vyne. This partnership allows the Vyne platform to offer instant payments to CellPoint Digital’s merchant customers, allowing users to check-out faster than ever before and reducing merchant transaction costs.

Through CellPoint Digital’s Velocity Payment Orchestration Platform, merchants can easily incorporate Vyne into their payment ecosystem, providing all the speed and convenience of instant payments without the need for a direct integration with an open banking provider. With transactions intelligently routed and monitored in real-time, merchants can analyse performance and use data to cut costs, boost acceptance rates, and simplify operations via automated reconciliation     .

By partnering with Vyne, CellPoint Digital’s merchants can now access improved     payment      experiences too. Harnessing open banking technology, the Vyne solution allows online shoppers to check out in as few as three clicks and offers settlements within seconds.

CellPoint Digital CEO, Kristian Gjerding, said, “The partnership with Vyne represents a significant addition to CellPoint’s payments offering. Merchants currently using our Velocity Payment Orchestration Platform can utilise all the benefits of the Vyne platform within their payments ecosystem and this will provide merchants with a greater opportunity to grow their business.

“At CellPoint, we put much stock into our partnerships. To us, they are more than simply functional and with Vyne being fellow innovators in the payments space with a track-record of supplying top tier merchants, we look forward to developing a long-lasting, collaborative relationship.”

The Vyne solution functions by using a customer’s existing online banking app to initiate and authenticate a transfer. As a result, the customer does not need to enter their account information online and sensitive financial details are never held by the merchant, resulting in a more secure process for both parties. By enabling a payment method that can be completed in just three clicks, the platform provides a simple and seamless experience that can help to reduce cart abandonment.

Vyne CEO, Karl MacGregor, said: “Existing payments and banking solutions are broken, and stacked against the merchants and consumers that use them. Payment methods come with a variety of settlement formats and can take anything from days to weeks to complete with customer conversions impacted by manual card data entry.

Vyne provides a new, alternative payment method for merchants and their customers and we’re delighted that more people will benefit from it through this partnership. CellPoint merchants will now experience instant fund settlement and their customers will be able to complete payments through their own banking apps in just a few taps with no card details needed. Merchants can also engage customers at the right time, through the right channels, using pay by link or QR codes, which can be sent via email, SMS, in app or used for in person sales.

“We look forward to working closely with CellPoint and empowering merchants with a level of payments functionality that can drive real, measurable growth.”

By Lina Andolf-Orup, Senior Director, Global Marketing at Fingerprint Cards

Contactless payment technology first came to the UK in September 2007. Like the rest of the world, UK consumers have grown to love the convenience of contactless, which now accounts for 57% of all in-store transactions following a 90% growth between 2019 and 2020. 

Recognizing the benefits of contactless, in March 2021, it was announced that the limit would more than double from £45 to £100 (USD 137), which took effect in October 2021. This placed the UK amongst the highest limits in the world.

While the increased limit has opened the doors to more tap and go transactions, existing worries are likely to be intensified. In search of a solution, the UK can look to banks in France, Switzerland and Mexico and their launches of the biometric payment card.

Growing limits, growing worries

Initially, the £10 cap limited consumers to low-value items. However, as the years rolled by, the limits went up. From £10 to £15, then £20, £30, then £45 at the onset of the pandemic, before finally rocketing to £100 in October 2021. Compared to the early days of only being able to buy a cup of coffee and a newspaper, consumers can now use contactless for goods such as their weekly family grocery shop or a full tank of fuel.

Yet, the UK has not escaped contactless skepticism. Even before the limit increase, 53% of UK consumers were worried about the risk of contactless fraud if their card is lost or stolen, and the new limit has not helped. 

Consumers can now spend £300 before a PIN is needed, leading the media to label contactless cards a ‘thief’s dream’. Exacerbating these concerns is research from the consumer watchdog Which? that found, in 2016, some banks were not safeguarding consumers against contactless fraud. While banks may have adopted a more robust approach since then, stories like this do nothing to calm consumers.

It’s not just consumers who face the risk of higher losses. To help safeguard customers, the UK payments regulators expanded credit regulations, requiring banks and issuers to refund victims of contactless fraud, opening up the probability of increased losses.

A mixed reaction to the new limit

Looking at the reaction of the UK payments and retail ecosystem, there are signs that the £100 limit has not been met with as much enthusiasm as some might have hoped.

The industry body for UK retailers, the British Retail Consortium’s response highlighted that not all retailers plan to implement the new limit. One of the biggest concerns is the risk of higher losses from contactless walk-offs. This happens when a consumer accidentally doesn’t pay for their purchase after they fail to notice that a PIN is needed. This happens either when they have reached the limit of consecutive contactless transactions, or the cumulative contactless transaction value has been hit. While this is less of a problem at staffed checkouts, it poses a significant risk with self-service machines.

Currently, levels of contactless fraud are relatively low – equivalent to less than 2p in every £100 in 2020. However, this is before contactless cards became a more lucrative target for criminals. Banks need to be proactive to minimize the risk of higher contactless limits to maintain trust in the technology.

The mixed response does not do much to support clarity amongst consumers about contactless limits. For example, if a customer expects to pay £100 using a contactless card, yet the retailer has not implemented the limit, this could be met with confusion, and possibly anger, at the checkout, undermining the overall convenience of contactless.

An increasing and misplaced burden

Following the introduction of the £100 limit, banks have adopted varied approaches to maintain trust. One method deployed by some banks is allowing customers to set their own limits, or even allow them to disable contactless entirely – a tactic that consumers seem to favor.

Alongside putting customers in control of contactless limits, banks are reminding them to be more vigilant with their cards and to check their statements more regularly. This makes sense from the bank’s perspective; they need to act to support customers. But placing additional responsibility on customers to mitigate fraud risks can potentially derail the progress contactless technology has made to become the favorite in-store payment method. And this shouldn’t be the case.

To ensure consumers continue to use and trust contactless technology as limits rise, banks can instead utilize the robust security and frictionless experience provided by biometrics. The success of this approach can be seen in mobile wallets, with some UK banks advising customers to explore their use following the contactless limit increase.

Since mobile wallets require authentication for each transaction, and often use biometrics to do so, the introduction of biometrics to payment cards will bring consistency to the in-store payments experience across card and mobile – with biometrics being the authentication bridge between them.

Bringing Biometrics to Britain 

With biometric payment cards, banks, issuers, retailers and consumers can unlock the full potential that contactless brings to in-store payments. Alongside added protection reducing fraud risks and lost revenue, it provides the convenience of avoiding contactless limits – and the confusion they can bring – altogether.

The building blocks are in place for biometric payment cards to reach mass market. Milestones such as achieving new compliance, strategic collaborations and exciting technical innovations are continually lowering market barriers.

There is already significant interest in the UK. When UK consumers were asked if they would prefer a biometric payment card, 48% said ‘yes’, 62% would switch banks to get one, and 42% would be willing to pay extra for it. NatWest and RBS have taken an early lead by identifying the potential of biometric card technology and have undertaken pilot tests.

Moving forward, banks and issuers need to ensure they are supporting customers by adding strong authentication to the ‘tap’ of contactless. In doing so, they can take a significant step in reducing the worries intensified by higher contactless limits.