The joint venture will empower the finance company to quickly and seamlessly detect fraudsters through SEON’s Intelligence Tool

SEON, the fraud fighters, today announces its partnership with Creditstar, the short-term loan providers. By joining forces, SEON will enable Creditstar to utilise its Intelligence Tool for data enrichment, improving KYC processes, and mitigating financial losses through fraud detection. 

The  Intelligence Tool scans open-source databases to gather additional information about users based on factors such as email address, phone number or IP address. The phone API aggregates data sources, including social media accounts, to confirm identities and flag suspicious users. By integrating the Intelligence Tool, Creditstar will improve the performance of credit risk assessments, and unlock a wealth of additional data about any potential customers which will in turn reduce time spent tracing applicants to confirm their identity. This will serve to improve business results for Creditstar, including streamlining processes and improving the quality of its client portfolio. Ultimately, this will mean the cost of credit loss is lowered so the company can offer more attractive prices and conditions to its customers. 

Speaking about the announcement, Aleksei Moronov, Head of Credit Risk at Creditstar, said: “Although relatively new, our partnership with SEON has already shown to be valuable to Creditstar, bolstering our KYC processes, providing rich data capture tools, and equipping us with the intel we need to be able minimise any risk of fraud and to recover debt.”

He added: “SEON came recommended to us by a mutual partner, and they haven’t fallen short of expectations at any point during the onboarding process, their communication with our team was seamless and it has been a smooth integration for our team. Not only that but we have been impressed at the flexible nature of their offering, which has enabled us to select a service that suits our needs exactly.”

Tamas Kadar, CEO and Co-Founder at SEON, said: “Finance companies are at risk of fraudsters taking advantage of account takeovers, pretending to be someone they’re not, in order to take out loans against their names. We firmly believe in preventing fraud where possible, rather than simply reacting to it, which is why we’re delighted to be able to appropriately equip Creditstar with the tools it needs to spot any such players and minimise the risk of what could be significant financial losses.”

To learn more about SEON and the services it provides, visit: https://seon.io/

Lightspin, the leader in next-generation Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), announced the addition of four strategic executive members to its advisory board and board of directors: Guarav Kumar, Srinath Kuruvadi, Steve Pugh, and  Ron Zoran. The new members each have an established track record as industry CISOs and cloud security experts and will play key roles advising the company on both technology and business strategies. 

“We’ve seen strong demand for our technologies that simplify cloud security by surfacing the most critical threats first. To meet that demand, we’re building the board we need to scale efficiently and effectively,” said Vladi Sandler, Co-founder and CEO of Lightspin. “Guarav, Srinath, Steve and Ron bring deep C-level experience driving the market growth of cybersecurity companies that will inform our strategy and execution in building the next generation of security posture management.”

The new board members include:

Guarav Kumar – Angel investor and advisory board member, Guarav is Founder and CEO of Dassana,  previously Chief Architect at Palo Alto Networks and the Founder & CTO of RedLock with over 15 years of experience in building security systems.  “Lightspin’s approach to cloud security is one of the most cloud-native approaches I have ever seen,” said Guarav Kumar.  “The platform understands the cloud context which I am most passionate about, and I am excited to be part of their journey.”

Srinath Kuruvadi – Angel investor and advisory board member, Srinath is Head of Cloud Infrastructure Security at Netflix.  He has 15+ years of experience in security and privacy with a strong background in software engineering applied to large scale cloud environments and he is the owner of one patent with three other patents pending. According to Srinath Kuruvadi, “DevOps needs attack-path context to bring down security risks and Lightspin is uniquely positioned to deliver an end-to-end solution focused on risk-based ROI.”

Steve Pugh –  Advisory board member, Steve is  CISO of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE),  Pugh previously served as the former CISO of the White House Military Office and has more than 25 years of experience in cybersecurity, national security, and intelligence, and most recently was the Chief Security Officer for Twilio. “I love Lightspin’s ‘attacker approach’ to traditional vulnerability scanning,” commented Steve Pugh.  “It provides the best context to help defenders have the biggest impact.”

Ron Zoran –  An independent board member, Ron is a board member at several security companies including Cynet, CyberX, Intezer and IntSights (recently acquired by Rapid7), Ron was previously the CRO at CyberArk. “Cloud stack vulnerabilities are quickly becoming the soft underbelly of free world organizations,” said Ron Zoran. “Lightspin offers a unique technology, designed to eliminate those attack vectors, with minimal effort. I’m excited to join and help the team with the mission to deliver unparalleled security to their customer base."

The expansion of Lightspin’s board follows exceptional market growth. Leading midsize to Fortune 500 companies rely on Lightspin to secure their cloud including Genesis and Berlitz. 

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced a new platform to streamline the issuance, transfer and servicing of private market securities. As described in a new industry report, “Digital Securities Management: Bringing Private Markets Infrastructure Into the 21^st Century”, DTCC’s new Digital Securities Management (DSM) platform will, subject to regulatory approval, for the first time, provide an industry-wide solution that offers common market infrastructure and standards across private markets. The platform represents the next major milestone in DTCC’s efforts to bring automation, standardization and efficiency to the private markets, building upon its Project Whitney case study.

DSM will offer access to participants through both central and distributed infrastructure, leveraging a cloud-based architecture to enable the book entry recordkeeping of securities as well as support the burgeoning digital asset ecosystem by providing the option to create tokenized representations of a security.

“DTCC has a long history of innovating to make the global financial services industry more efficient, and we continue to explore new and emerging technologies to support the digitalization and tokenization of assets,” said Michael Bodson, DTCC President and CEO. “The DSM platform offers a unique opportunity to implement new technology and streamline processes in the private markets while relying on the secure and resilient infrastructure that we have long provided for the public markets."

The new DTCC DSM platform will support securities through their full life cycle, and will provide broad benefits to the entire private market ecosystem including:

• reduced operational costs through standards and increased automation, including security identifiers;
• electronification of transfer restriction approvals;
• gross settlement as early as T+1; and
• cost mutualization of non-differentiated services, such as centralized stock record keeping and codification of transfer restrictions.

Further, DTCC is exploring the ability for broker-dealers to hold customer assets while relying on DSM as a “Good Control Location” for both traditional and tokenized representations of securities, subject to regulatory consideration and approval.

From launch, DSM will optimize primary issuance and transform secondary markets, creating new business model and distribution opportunities for participants while facilitating a digital asset ecosystem. Architected to be blockchain agnostic, DSM will initially interface with the Public Ethereum Network, but will incorporate additional public and private blockchain support based on client and market demand.

“DSM is capable of transforming the private markets, unifying an increasingly fragmented space under a common infrastructure that can automate manual processes, reduce costs and risks, and open up more opportunities for investors,” said Jennifer Peve, Managing Director, Head of Strategy and Business Development at DTCC. “DSM is the culmination of a hugely collaborative effort with our clients, industry representatives and other key stakeholders, whose feedback was critical in developing a solution to modernize, digitalize and ultimately transform the private market ecosystem.”

The DSM platform will initially support pre-IPO equity securities, and will expand into other markets, positioning it to become the platform of choice for funds, debt, real estate, loans and other private instruments that are underserved today from a market infrastructure perspective.

DTCC is currently in the production build phase of the DSM platform and, subject to final regulatory approval, is expected to launch the service in early 2022.

The eighth Accelerator program is now accepting applications from financial technology companies and nonprofits creating innovative solutions to expand access to financial health benefits and tools.

The Financial Solutions Lab, an initiative from the Financial Health Network in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase and Prudential Financial, announced today its eighth accelerator Challenge. The Accelerator seeks applications from financial technology companies focused on helping low- to moderate-income (LMI) and Black and Latinx communities expand access to benefits and financial tools that help them to maintain key safety nets and improve their financial health. For more information on our next Challenge and how to apply, visit our website. Applications are due December 20, 2021.

Almost two years into the pandemic, U.S. consumer financial safety nets continue to be challenged. 

• U.S. households with annual incomes less than $30k are more than twice as likely to be financially unhealthy than higher-income households, leaving many families behind on paying bills such as rent and mortgage payments, prioritizing immediate financial needs over planning for the future.
• While public supports such as stimulus payments and child tax credits have had a positive immediate impact on LMI and Black and Latinx communities’ liquidity, systemic barriers continue to prevent these communities from building and maintaining long-term financial health.

The economic impacts of the pandemic have taken a higher toll on communities of color, particularly Black and Latinx communities, who face depleted emergency savings, experienced the greatest job losses in frontline jobs, are managing rising healthcare costs, and have limited access to workplace retirement savings plans. For example:

• Low-income Black and Latinx families and women of color experienced the fastest depletion of their cash balances gained during COVID.
• Black Americans seeking unemployment benefits are approved 73% of the time compared to 80% for White Americans.
• 52% of Black and 68% of Latinx Americans do not currently have access to a workplace retirement plan versus just 40% for White Americans.

This year’s Accelerator will be focused on addressing these gaps and identifying innovative solutions helping LMI and Black and Latinx communities to better navigate and benefit from the existing web of financial health benefits, products, and tools.

“Too often, accessing benefits requires consumers to navigate complex systems and option sets, many with opaque terms, extensive requirements, and limited accessibility,” said Hannah Calhoon, vice president, Innovation, Financial Health Network. “There is a great need and potential for innovative solutions improving user experiences that make financial health benefits and tools more accessible.”

Solutions relevant for this year’s Accelerator cohort include, but are not limited to:

• Optimization of public and private benefit experiences and tax system navigation
• Enhanced enterprise and consumer applications to manage healthcare costs and decisions
• Affordable services to help address obligations within the legal system
• Stronger resources and safety nets to protect against income volatility and economic shocks
• Improved access to retirement preparation and navigation tools

Interested fintech startups should apply to the Financial Solutions Lab Accelerator by December 20, 2021. The program will prioritize founders and teams with lived experience of the issues they are addressing, and companies demonstrating a commitment to operationalizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles within their organization. Pre-seed and seed stage startups are encouraged to apply. 

“Fintech innovation has the potential to support consumers navigating complex financial and social systems that help build financial health, especially for those who have suffered most during the pandemic - Black and Latinx communities,'' said Sarah Willis Ertur, director of Financial Health, JPMorgan Chase. “These solutions align to the goals of JPMorgan Chase’s $30 billion racial equity commitment, working to tackle major barriers to wealth creation and an inclusive recovery.”

Each selected organization will receive up to $100,000 from the Financial Health Network; product and user behavioral insights to help inform development and market strategy; guidance to navigate the legal and regulatory fintech environment; insights on impact and customer financial health measurement; resources for external marketing and communications; mentorship from financial services and financial health experts; support to further diversity, equity, and inclusion; and more.

“With nearly half of Americans struggling with financial hardship resulting from the pandemic, we need to do more to ensure equal access to financial tools and systems, especially for the most vulnerable,” said Sarah Keh, vice president, Prudential Inclusive Solutions. “There is tremendous opportunity for innovative solutions to help fill the gaps in our social safety net and give people the flexibility they need to continue to build financial health.”

• Partnership to unlock uncollateralized credit for institutional crypto trading, using Clearpool’s innovative protocol mechanics   
• Tokenized credit to open up secondary market and new products such as credit derivatives

Clearpool, a decentralized capital markets ecosystem, is partnering with X-Margin, the platform facilitating credit to trading firms, to enable institutions to borrow from their own dedicated and transparent lending pool. 

Clearpool will integrate X-Margin’s privacy preserving technology to measure and publish institutional borrower creditworthiness, enabling borrower pools to present an accurate risk score without revealing sensitive information. The partnership will enhance capital access for creditworthy institutions trading digital assets, while providing lenders with data that enables informed capital allocation across a diverse selection of borrowers.  

Robert Alcorn, CEO of Clearpool, said: "We’re opening up credit in the DeFi space, enabling borrowers to improve capital efficiency. Our partnership with X-Margin will be the catalyst to data-driven credit markets and the development of exciting new instruments such as credit derivatives. It’s a major advance in the maturity of crypto and DeFi markets.” 

The partnership allows institutional borrowers to access lenders via a dedicated pool, and justify their credit by providing privacy preserving and neutral credit risk metrics. Tokenizing the credit provided to the pool will enable lenders to manage credit risk more actively, and the data provided by X-Margin lays the foundation for a robust secondary market.  

Clearpool is building a revolutionary decentralized capital markets ecosystem powered by its native token (CPOOL) where institutional borrowers can access unsecured liquidity and is the first dynamic marketplace for unsecured institutional capital. Merging the sophistication of traditional capital markets with the benefits of decentralization, Clearpool significantly improves the landscape for both borrowers and lenders. 

Borrowers on the Clearpool protocol, typically institutions, can access unsecured liquidity, and eliminate risks of liquidation, significantly enhancing capital efficiency. Lenders (liquidity providers/LPs) on the Clearpool protocol, typically individual or institutional investors, are rewarded fairly for risk taking, with pool interest rates rising when risk increases, and falling when risk decreases. Clearpool lenders earn further rewards in the form of CPOOL tokens, enhancing overall APYs to market-leading levels.

Clearpool is backed by a long list of top investors from both traditional venture capital and blockchain including Sequoia Capital India, Arrington Capital, Sino Global Capital, Hex Trust, Huobi Ventures, Kenetic, HashKey, and many more. Several of the top crypto trading institutions are also investors including Wintermute and Folkvang Trading.

X-Margin Credit is a complete platform for counterparty due diligence, encompassing KYC, financial statement analysis, and real-time risk monitoring across borrower portfolios. Lenders gain security through X-Margin Credit’s increased visibility of risk and through optional programmatic governance of funds. Among its users are Ledger Prime,  Dunamis Trading, GSR and Wintermute Trading. 

Darshan Vaidya, CEO of X-Margin, said: “We share with Clearpool the same vision for managing credit risk and we’re particularly excited about how our partnership with Clearpool can play a key part in tokenizing credit, allowing a new market to develop. Giving lenders visibility and control over their credit risk will open up the access to capital in the digital asset space, and in turn lead to a more efficient and liquid market.”

Female Invest, is an EdTech platform and community which, through approachable subscription-based e-learning, empowers women by increasing their understanding of personal finance and investing. Female Invest has members across 67 countries (with the UK being the fastest growing market) and an online community of 150,000+ women.

In October 2021, Female Invest closed a 3.3 million GBP funding round from a syndicate of prominent investors including Y Combinator and Dr. Fiona Pathiraja. At a time where less than 2% of funding goes to female founded companies, Female Invest is shattering the glass ceiling in multiple arenas.

Female Invest - Developed By Women For Women

Female Invest was founded in 2019 by Emma Due Bitz (26), Camilla Falkenberg (28), and Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen (27), and inspired by their own experiences of attending personal finance educational events at which women were largely absent, and their subsequent discovery of the unaddressed gender disparity in investments and savings. 

All three co-founders were named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2020, and in the same year, the company was the winner of the world’s largest start up competition, Cartier Women’s Initiative, and the prize of 100,000 USD. 

At a time when 70% of stocks are owned by male investors (1 in 5 British women admitting to having never held stocks), and female workers retiring with around £70,000 less in their pensions than men (Nest survey - Oct 2020), Female Invest aims to close the gender investment gap by providing a space in which women can acquire the skills necessary to control their own capital and obtain financial independence. What’s more, according to analysis by Warwick Business School, women who do take the plunge outperform men when it comes to investment returns, making the need for a company run by women, for women, that approaches finance in a fun and authentic way, all the more pertinent.        

Female Invest co-founder, Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, explains the rationale underpinning the platform: “Women are falling financially behind in every single country in the world. They are earning less, saving less and then - with what money they have - they are investing less. Our job at Female Invest is to close that gap as quickly and helpfully as possible.”

Co-founder, Camilla Falkenberg, outlines the need to reinvent the paradigm of how young women experience financial advice: “When it comes to money-saving insights, the internet is filled with sites which advise young women on how to save money on beauty, clothes, food and going out. Yet, when it comes to making money, there is almost nothing on helping women make their money grow through investments. Female Invest fills this gap”.

Yet Female Invest intends to achieve more than just financial education. Co-founder Emma Due Bitz, who worked as a certified stockbroker from the age of 20, explains that a byproduct of the platform should be to contribute to the demystification of the world of investments: “The financial industry has traditionally been dominated by men. This is reflected in every aspect of it: from communication style to the corporate culture and product offerings. While this is not done with the intention to exclude women, it effectively does just that.”

How it works

Female Invest is a subscription based learning platform. When signing up, members get access to extensive learning courses with everything they need to make the most of their money. The platform currently has 27 video courses, 18 master classes, a written knowledge bank, weekly webinars with expert speakers and a community page where members can connect with each other.

www.femaleinvest.com a

Argos KYC, Korean KYC/AML service company, has partnered with Smart Engines, an AI-powered ID scanning vendor, to perform OCR data extraction with greater speed and accuracy.

Argos KYC will use high-precision Smart Engines' software for intellectual data extraction of ID cards, passports, and driving licenses. This partnership improves and secures automated identity verification that is crucial for Argos KYC. It aims to increase its efficiency and speed of verification while maintaining data security and privacy at the highest level. 

Smart Engines' ID scanning software based on edge-cutting Green AI helps Argos KYC perform OCR data extraction faster and more accurately. Smart ID Engine SDK automatically identifies the document type, precisely extracts data at various angles and lighting conditions, and provides instant ID scanning ability to mobile applications. 

The speed and accuracy of OCR data extraction are possible through the state-of-the-art GreenOCR technology created by Smart Engines. This OCR extracts data of ID cards, passports, residence permits, and other identity-related documents in more than 100 languages, including Korean, Japanese, and Chinese, all Latin-based and Cyrillic-based European languages with all special symbols. The SDK minimizes CPU energy consumption and carbon footprint thanks to the framework of low-bit pipelines for deep neural network inference. With Smart Engines ID scanning, the customer's data is processed securely without sending anything to external services.

"I have no doubts that positive experience with the KYC solution will enable further expanding the services based on ID scanning for our customers and to effectively apply legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating identity theft, money laundering, and terrorist financing," - said Q Lee, CEO at Argos KYC.

"We are proud that our OCR performs exceptionally well for the Korean language. Our partnership with Argos KYC not only corresponds to the needs of their business but will help it to get in the head place among its competitors," - said Nikita Arlazarov, Chief Financial Officer at Smart Engines.

40% of SMEs in the UK have no sustainability plan, while 30% have no intention to develop one

·      Sustainability planning can help to future proof your business

·      365 Business Finance offers a guide with simple sustainability steps for SMEs

Consumers are becoming evermore eco-conscious, as many companies alter their product offerings and practices, with sustainability increasingly becoming a valuable and important part of any organisation’s business model.

Despite this, a survey by YouGov* – conducted during the pandemic – showed that SMEs in the UK continue to fall short when it comes to setting sustainability targets. According to the research, 40% of SMEs do not currently have a sustainability plan in place, with 30% openly admitting that they have no intention of developing or adopting one.

SMEs are a powerhouse for the UK’s economy, as smaller businesses make up 99.9% of the business population. They employ over 16.8 million people and generated £2 trillion in turnover in 2020 alone. If every SME made a greater commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, even just taking a few small initial steps, it would contribute greatly towards battling the environmental, economic and social sustainability issues that we now face globally.

This latest helpful online guide, from SME financier 365 Business Finance, offers simple but effective tips for change to assist SMEs in becoming more sustainable and resilient, future proofing their business as climate change and other challenges become more prominent in the lives of the next generation: How SMEs Can Adopt Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | 365 Business Finance.

Although smaller businesses are not always in a financial position to commit to and implement big sustainability initiatives, particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there are initial steps – which do not require great financial investment – that can be taken to kick-start an SME’s journey towards achieving sustainability goals.

Managing Director at 365 Business Finance, Andrew Raphaely, said, “While all eyes are on COP26 taking place in Glasgow, many businesses are being driven to think of the environment and how they can do more when it comes to sustainability and setting their own targets.

"The benefits for SMEs of developing and striving to achieve sustainability goals include improved brand image, reduced costs if lowering the consumption of resources in the work place, and of course preparing for the future by keeping up with updated government commitments and the needs and visions of employees wanting to make a difference.”

As a trusted and leading lender to small and medium sized businesses across the UK, 365 Business Finance offers merchant cash advances, which are a form of flexible finance with no APR or fixed terms. Although mainly used for cashflow management, the purchasing of stock and equipment, and for the refurbishment of premises, as SMEs grow in size they may also look to use some finance to support the growth of their initiatives surrounding sustainability.

Showcasing its status as a fully fledged cross-chain DeFi platform spanning multiple blockchains, this latest announcement follows the launch of Wing on Ontology, Ethereum, and OEC.

Wing, the credit-based, cross-chain decentralized lending platform developed by Ontology, the project bringing trust, privacy, and security to Web3 through decentralized identity and data solutions, is now live on Binance Smart Chain (BSC). 

By integrating onto BSC, a blockchain known for its high speeds and low fees, Wing will open up its unique lending, borrowing, and insuring options to millions of new DeFi users. The initial supported assets include WING, ONT, BTCB, ETH, BNB, USDT, BUSD, USDC, DOT, ADA, BCH, XRP, DAI, LINK, LTC, DOGE, CAKE, and FIL. 

Since launching on the Ontology blockchain in September 2020, Wing has seen monumental growth in total value locked (TVL), as well as in levels of lending and borrowing activity between users. Over this time, Wing’s TVL has increased astronomically, reaching over $300 million at its peak, driven by its launch on Ontology, Ethereum, OEC, and now BSC. BSC holds over a $19.5 billion worth of transaction value, meaning there is massive potential for even further growth in Wing's TVL.

Commenting on the milestone, Erick Pinos, Americas Ecosystem Lead of Ontology said, “We are excited for BSC users to finally have the opportunity to experience Wing’s unique lending and borrowing services. Wing recently celebrated its first birthday and its arrival on BSC is an exciting development that will bring many new users to the platform. Wing’s TVL has grown considerably in the last year and with the expansion to Binance, more liquidity will become available to users.”

Wing is designed to promote a mutually beneficial relationship between borrowers, creditors, and guarantors through a decentralized governance model and risk control mechanism. This launch will enable BSC users to access Wing’s credit-based DeFi ecosystem featuring a blockchain-based reputation system. This system rewards users for building a positive reputation on the blockchain by offering them preferential lending rates.

Since launch, further asset classes have been added to Wing’s credit platform through the launch of “Any Pool,” which allows for the contractualization and lending of any asset. This innovative feature allows real-world assets such as real estate to be used as lending collateral. To facilitate this, Wing previously partnered with UPRETS, a company that digitizes real estate assets to make them tradable on blockchains.

Small business loan approval percentages at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) increased from 14% in September 2021 to 14.1% in October. Meanwhile, small banks’ approvals also rose from 19.5% in September to October’s figure of 19.7%, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ released today.

“Banks are showing a willingness to lend, but they have been cautious. While it’s a good sign that approval percentages continue to climb, we are still far below the levels we saw before the pandemic,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, one of the nation’s leading experts in FinTech and small business lending. “Every category of lender, with the exception of credit unions, which remained flat, saw their loan approval percentages rise this month.”

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 531,000 in October, and the unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%, according to Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued Friday, Nov. 5. Notable job growth was seen in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing. Many of these new jobs are created by small businesses.

“We are seeing an increase in funding requests from transportation and warehousing companies. These industries have rebounded well from the pandemic,” Arora said. “Entertainment-related companies are starting to come back, although restaurants are still hurting. Many small businesses are gearing up for the holiday season and need capital to cover anticipated additional costs.”

Non-Bank Lenders’ Approval Percentages Rise

• Institutional lenders’ approval percentage rose to 24.7% in October, up from 24.5% in September.
• Alternative lenders approved 25.6% of small business funding requests in October, up from 25.4% in September.
• Credit unions approved 20.6% in October, the same as in September, but down from 20.9% a year ago.