Vanquis Bank, part of the Provident Financial Group (PFG), has today announced it’s expanding its product offering by introducing a range of new personal loans.

This significant step demonstrates their strategic vision to be a digital first customer led bank, offering a range of tailored financial products for consumers whose needs aren’t well met by high street banks.

The personal loans market is sizeable and represents a large growth opportunity for Vanquis Bank to offer new fixed term lending options, in addition to their credit card offering.

Until now they have only offered loans to existing card customers. From today, loans will be available to the open market through a phased roll out via distribution partners such as Experian and ClearScore.

Loan customers will benefit from a fully digital journey including automated decisioning, onboarding and account management. Vanquis’ skilled customer service team will be available to help should they need extra support with their account.

Loans Director at Vanquis Bank, Liam Deasey, said: “By offering a greater choice of financial products, we can better meet the differing needs of consumers. For some, a loan is more suitable than a credit card and enables them to plan for larger purchases and life events such as home improvements, getting married or to cover an unexpected emergency.”

“We’ll continue to evolve our loans proposition to ensure we’re offering appropriate and competitive products for our customers.”

To find out more visit: www.vanquis.co.uk/loans

Artificial Intelligence Journey 2021, an international online conference on artificial intelligence and data science, will welcome the world’s leading AI experts as speakers. A key event of Russia’s Year of Science and Technology, the three-day event will be held on November 10–12, 2021.

Participating in the online conference are Director of the AI Lab IDSIA (Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research), Chief Scientific Advisor, AIRI (Artificial Intelligence Research Institute) Jürgen Schmidhuber; Tomáš Mikolov, a senior researcher at CIIRC CTU; Michael Bronstein, professor at Imperial College London and USI Lugano, and head of Graph ML at Twitter; Marc Hamilton, a vice president at NVIDIA; Catherine Mohr, president of the Intuitive Foundation; Somdeb Majumdar, director of Intel AI Lab; Stephen Brobst, CTO of Teradata; ThirdAI Corp. Founder Anshumali Shrivastava, and more.

Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank:

“Effective development and implementation of solutions in high-tech AI and DS domains call for a continuous exchange of information and experience not only domestically, but also internationally. At Sber, we have set ourselves the task of being a catalyst for such global interaction, including through the AI Journey conference, which has already become one of the key discussion platforms for industry leaders. Every year we invite those who work hard at the forefront of science, changing the world for the better, to participate in AI Journey.”

The conference will address a variety of AI development and adoption issues, from the role that new technology plays in ESG and sustainable development to how AI affects social life and industries. AI Journey will also see the announcement of Sber’s tech products and solutions, the announcement of winners of the international online competition for adult data scientists and AI specialists (AI Journey Contest) and winners of the international AI contest for children.

Program details and the list of AI Journey 2021 participants are available on the conference website: https://ai-journey.ru/en

To watch AI Journey 2021, please register on the conference website.

$7 billion banks modernizes customer service with Glia to support digital transformation

Glia, a leading provider of Digital Customer Service, today announced that Liberty Bank has selected its Digital Customer Service platform. By leveraging Glia's platform, the bank will digitize its customer service model, resulting in an easier, more streamlined customer experience as well as boosted efficiencies.

Based in Middletown, Connecticut, Liberty Bank is dedicated to continually evolving to meet customers' changing needs and expectations in the digital age. The bank is currently upgrading all of its digital assets including retail, business, cash management, mobile, digital money movement, digital account opening and financial wellness solutions as part of a broad digital transformation. Partnering with Glia provides the glue that makes digital transformation work: Digital Customer Service. 

"We are in the middle of significant growth, and we needed a reliable partner that would be able to scale with us," said David Mitchell, EVP, GM, & Chief Digital Officer of Liberty Bank. "Glia is a proven leader in the space that will help us adapt to the changing landscape while still providing meaningful, personalized service."

Audra Hamel, EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, added, "When it comes to important topics like their financial health and activity, customers deserve the option to engage with their trusted bankers however they prefer. By switching from a phone-first to a digital-first approach to customer service, our customers will no longer have to leave the digital domain and dial a phone number for support and guidance. We're confident this shift will strengthen customer relationships and loyalty."

Glia's Digital Customer Service platform will enable Liberty Bank to meet customers where they are and communicate through whichever methods they prefer, including messaging, video banking and voice, and guide them using CoBrowsing. Glia's technology delivers continuity by keeping conversations in the digital channel, eliminating the need for customers to spend time re-authenticating and providing context around their issue via clumsy phone experiences.

"Liberty Bank fosters a culture of innovation and they understood that a digital transformation was needed to execute on their growth strategy and provide customers with strong experiences," said Dan Michaeli, CEO and co-founder of Glia. "Liberty Bank is embracing the change and taking strategic, intentional action. By implementing our Digital Customer Service platform as part of its broader digital transformation efforts, the bank will empower its customers with flexibility and choice, which will be critical as it continues its impressive growth trajectory."

Ilya Kretov has joined the Tinkoff team as Director of E-commerce. In this role, he will lead the new business line of Tinkoff E-commerce, an ecosystem of services for online businesses that operates within the scope of Tinkoff Business.

Tinkoff E-commerce will serve as a partner for any company seeking to increase their online sales. It will combine non-financial and financial instruments for entrepreneurs and companies that will help them succeed as they go online and develop online sales through major marketplaces, social networks, online stores, etc.

The team under Ilya's direction will also be introducing new products and adapting Tinkoff’s current products for businesses and customers to better meet the needs of online merchants, including: Tinkoff Business services, POS credits, Dolyame.ru, Tinkoff Checkout products, and the functionalities of the Tinkoff Target loyalty program.

Ilya Kretov Director of Tinkoff E-Commerce, said: 

“Our task is to create a fundamentally new dimension to e-commerce – to build an ecosystem where entrepreneurs would be able to find any e-commerce solution, from a single gateway to all Russian marketplaces to tools for growing their own sales in Russia and globally. 

The new ecosystem of services will combine Tinkoff’s existing top fintech solutions with new tools for online business development. It will help all entrepreneurs to scale their online sales in just one click.

Tinkoff E-commerce will not just be another marketplace. Quite the opposite – we want to become the main partner for all Russian companies that want to go online or increase their online sales, and for entrepreneurs to see Tinkoff Merchants Solutions as synonymous with online sales growth”.

Fedor Bukharov, Vice President, Director of Tinkoff Business, said:

“Tinkoff Business is a leader in providing financial services for small and medium-size businesses; we currently support the online presence of over 700 thousand companies. We are a purely online company by nature – we know how to do business online and strive to share our experience, services, and best practices with our clients. I am confident that with Ilya's help we will become leaders in online business services - his experience and knowledge teamed with Tinkoff's DNA and approach will allow us to conquer this market and bring it to new heights”. 

Before joining Tinkoff, Ilya Kretov served as eBay’s CEO for Global Emerging Markets (appointed in February 2020). Ilya was the sole Russian top manager responsible for the American IT corporation’s international presence in 200 countries. In this position, Ilya focused predominantly on developing online retail exports and improving customer experience for those in global markets. Previously, Kretov worked as CEO of eBay in Russia, Israel and emerging markets in Europe. He joined eBay Russia in 2013 as Director of Marketing.

Ilya has over 10 years of managerial experience in marketing positions at major companies such as Mars and Google. He is the author of the book "Being a CEO: How to build a career and business in 200 countries and live 30,000 days of happiness". He is a keen triathlete and frequent participant in Ironman competitions.

Research by ThycoticCentrify shows a majority of organizations experienced a ransomware attack, while 93% are allocating special budget to fight growing threats 

ThycoticCentrify, a leading provider of cloud identity security solutions formed by the merger of privileged access management (PAM) leaders Thycotic and Centrify, today released new research confirming that ransomware has become a preferred method for cyberattacks, with nearly two out of three companies (64%) surveyed admitting to be victims of a ransomware attack in the last 12 months. 

The report, titled “2021 State of Ransomware Survey & Report: Preventing and Mitigating the Skyrocketing Costs and Impacts of Ransomware Attacks,” is based on survey responses from 300 U.S. based IT business decision makers. It further reveals that more than four out of five  (83%) ransomware attack victims felt they had no choice but to pay ransom demands to restore their data.   

The report highlights how organizations are responding to the growing threats from ransomware attacks, including: 

·        72% have seen cybersecurity budgets increase due to ransomware threats 

·        93% are allocating special budget to fight ransomware threats 

·        50% said they experienced loss of revenue and reputational damage from an attack 

·        42% indicated they had lost customers as a result of an attack 

"Our research shows ransomware is a threat to organizations of all sizes and levels of sophistication,” said Art Gilliland, CEO at ThycoticCentrify. “The first line of defense should be solutions that secure privileged access, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) and other methods of enforcing Zero Trust, to keep would-be cyber criminals contained and limit the damage they can inflict.” 

The report features three main takeaways with recommendations and resources to help mitigate damage from an attack. 

1.     With so many organizations victimized by ransomware attacks, it is more important than ever that organizations prioritize creating an incident response plan to avoid being added to the growing list that have paid the ransom demand. 

2.     While increasing cybersecurity budgets for network and cloud security solutions, organizations must also understand and prioritize the requirements for preventing exploit escalation with PAM security that enforces least privileged access. 

3.     Preventing ransomware attacks by practicing basic cybersecurity hygiene such as regular backups, timely patching, MFA, and password protection is essential. However, PAM policies that make least privileged access a priority enable security teams to identify the attack entry point, understand what happened, help remediate, and ultimately protect restored data. 

A complimentary copy of the full 14-page report can be downloaded at https://thycotic.com/resources/ransomware-survey-and-report-2021/. 

Follow ThycoticCentrify on Twitter and LinkedIn to learn more. 

FlexTrade’s cloud-based EMS has been selected by one of South Africa’s largest asset managers

FlexTrade Systems (@FlexTrade), a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems, today announced Cape Town-based investment firm, Coronation, has adopted FlexNOW EMS as a flexible and cost-efficient platform to support its current and future workflow requirements.

FlexNOW, FlexTrade’s one-click install EMS, has been integrated within Coronation’s existing systems architecture remotely, with no overhead to Coronation’s IT department.  Further, many new product enhancements made to support Coronation’s complex workflow are available to the global FlexNOW community.

Philip van der Merwe, Head of Trading at Coronation Fund Managers stated: ’Over the last couple of years, our trading execution needs have changed. We were looking for a partner that was able to increase our workflow efficiency and reduce our costs. FlexNOW has managed to impress us with both. Their desktop features have proven to be solid solutions, and our team is seeing new updates every week. We managed to invest in a product that delivers a powerful user experience while ensuring simplicity and ease of use.’’

Adi Prnjavorac, General Manager, FlexNOW at FlexTrade Systems noted: “We are delighted to add another prestigious client such as Coronation to our rapidly growing FlexNOW community. Since the pandemic, we have seen significant demand for our FlexNOW cloud EMS to meet firms’ challenges in this new, changing environment. Further, our institutional client base has also grown by 100% over the past year, validating our offering and demonstrating that organizations recognize the tangible value we can deliver in challenging times.

From initial discussions to analysis, design and onboarding, the whole process with Coronation has been undertaken virtually, which is a testament to our robust and proven project delivery capabilities. We are very much looking forward to meeting and working with the Coronation team in person when the situation allows.”

Industry demand for URL filtering grew 10 times since last year – slower progress compared to cyberattacks growing in volume and sophistication

Acronis, the global leader in cyber protection, has released its annual Cyber Readiness Report, providing a comprehensive overview of the modern cybersecurity landscape and the key pain points faced by businesses and remote employees worldwide amid the global pandemic. Acronis’ research from last year revealed more than 80% of global companies admitted they were not prepared to transition to remote work – exposing key vulnerabilities businesses must quickly plan and implement solutions for.

Based on findings from this year’s independent survey of 3,600 IT managers and remote employees at small and medium-sized companies in 18 countries across the globe, the report states that 53% of global companies have a false sense of security when it comes to supply chain attacks. Despite the globally recognised attacks on trusted software vendors, like Kaseya or SolarWinds, over half of IT leaders believe that using “known, trusted software” is sufficient protection – making them an easy target.

Attacks growing in volume and sophistication

Three out of 10 companies report facing a cyberattack at least once a day – similar to last year; but this year, only 20% of companies reported not getting attacked – a drop from 32% in 2020, meaning that the attacks are increasing in volume.

• The most common attack types reached record-high levels this year, including phishing attacks – that continue to grow in frequency, and are now the top attack type at 58%. Malware attacks are also increasing in 2021: detected by 36.5% of companies this year – an increase from 22.2% in 2020.
• However, this year was the year of phishing: the demand for URL filtering solutions has grown 10 times since 2020 – with 20% of global companies now recognising the danger phishing presents to their business.
• Despite growing awareness of multi-factor authentication (MFA), nearly half of IT managers (47%) are not using MFA solutions – leaving their businesses exposed to phishing attacks. According to these findings, they either see no value in it or consider it too complex to be implemented.

In response, organisations worldwide have begun to prepare for the growing threats – but for every step companies are taking, cybercriminals have already taken three.

• The demand for antivirus solutions has grown by 30% – from 43% last year to 73.3% in 2021. However, companies are just discovering that standalone antivirus solutions no longer work against modern threats: we saw the demand for an integrated backup/disaster recovery with antivirus solutions more than double – from 19% in 2020 to 47.9% this year.
• Demand for vulnerability assessments and patch management grew significantly: from 26% in 2020 to 45% this year. This can be attributed, in part, to the increased volume of vulnerabilities exposed this year in critical and in-core software deployments such as Microsoft Exchange servers, Chrome browsers or Apache webservers.
• Not surprisingly, the demand for better and more secure remote monitoring and management tools grew over three times – 35.7% this year, up from 10% in 2020. With remote work now being recognised as a long-term default format of work, it’s more important that ever for IT managers to be able to monitor and manage a wide range of remote devices.

In last year’s Acronis Cyber Readiness Report, we saw an increase in adoption of new services – especially SaaS and Cloud Computing services – and this year, companies continue to adopt new solutions. However, this has increased the overall complexity of IT environments, which most likely will cause additional breaches and unplanned downtime in the future.

“The cybercrime industry proved to be a well-oiled machine this year – relying on proven attack techniques, like phishing, malware, DDoS and others. Threat actors are increasingly expanding their targets, while organisations are held back by the growing complexity of IT infrastructure,” says Candid Wuest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research. “Only a small number of companies have taken the time to modernize their IT stack with integrated data protection and cybersecurity. The threat landscape will continue to grow and  automation is the only path to greater security, lower costs, improved efficiency and reduced risks.”

Remote employees make the most attractive targets

These Acronis findings and external research clearly illustrate why organisations need a cyber protection solution that reduces complexity and improves security to support remote work environments, and that this solution must be cost-effective in order to address the increased scale of the remote workforce.

• One in four remote employees reported struggling with the lack of IT support as one of the key challenges they faced this year. The top-three tech challenges identified by remote employees globally: Wi-Fi connectivity, using a VPN and other security measures, lack of IT support.
• One in four remote employees are not using multi-factor authentication – making them easy phishing targets, with phishing being the most common attack type in 2021.
• On average, one in five remote employees gets heavily targeted by phishing attacks, receiving well over 20 phishing emails per month – with 71% of respondents confirming being targeted by it each month. Learning to identify such attacks through cybersecurity awareness training is crucial in keeping organisations protected, and personal assets as well.
• We have seen attackers aggressively expanding their target pool – it is no longer just Microsoft Windows OS based workloads – where users reported a spike in attacks against Linux, MacOS, Android and iOS devices as well. Attackers are also going after virtualised environments more often.

Unfortunately, cybercriminals don’t need to be tech-savvy to create chaos anymore – take malware for example. Cybercriminal gangs have further expanded their malware-as-a-service model, that provides step-by-step guides on how to make a profit out of compromising targets.

Yet despite the growing dangers for employees, remote work is here to stay; people will continue to work and hire remotely, and that’s the reality most IT teams still need to get ready for: finding a solution to hardware shortages, increased complexity, an increased need for IT support and better cybersecurity solutions. This is an existential crisis companies must prepare for now – the potential costs for not doing so are just too great.

For more information on any findings or trends featured in the report, reach us via email at: AcronisMedia@acronis.com.

Platform with deeper industry insights

Remote work is here to stay, and so are increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. So it’s up to both the organisation and the individual to follow the best cyber protection practices available.

If you are keen to learn more about cybersecurity pain points and available solutions for businesses, don’t miss the chance to register for the Acronis #CyberFit Summit World Tour 2021, kicking off in Miami, Florida on October 25 with a hybrid format, including in-person and virtual. Register now in order to:

• Attend result-focused virtual sessions for free and hear world-class experts explain strategies and deployment options for cyber protection
• Enhance your MSP business’s cyber protection capabilities with advice from top IT channel, cybersecurity, and industry experts
• Hear exclusive case studies of successful, profitable and scaling MSPs and MSSPs
• Learn how to grow your business with cybersecurity-forward services
• Join hands-on, interactive workshops; insightful panels and breakouts; and inspirational keynotes – while enjoying numerous IT channel networking opportunities.

- Award-winning architects Grant Associates improves sustainability using Invu Verify -

Grant Associates, renowned for its award-winning landscape architecture practice across the globe, has redesigned its invoice processing removing the need to print invoices.

Using Invu Verify, a cloud-based automated accounts payable system from Invu, Grant Associates has significantly reduced their reliance on paper and employee efficiency. 

Aside from cost savings and better employee productivity, Grant Associates has also seen a reduction in the use of paper and printers, improving their sustainable practices, which is at the forefront of what they do in all aspects of their work.

Before implementing Invu Verify, Grant Associates had to print out every invoice (the majority of which were also received digitally), type the data into their previous software, manually write the transaction number on the paper copy and further store it in a filing cabinet. This process was not sustainable, an unnecessary use of paper and time-consuming.

To improve this environmentally unfriendly and outdated method of invoice processing, Grant Associates needed to find a solution that streamlined their invoice processing and supported their goals of reducing paper use. 

Ed Lucking, Finance Manager at Grant Associates, explained, “It was annoying to save PDFs on file servers. It was partly laziness; it was almost easier to print out invoices and keep the hard copies than it was to find your own cumbersome way to store them.” 

Targeted at users of Sage 50 and 200, Invu Verify shifts the work away from mundane tasks like data entry and printing invoices, towards value-added activities like dealing with exceptions, exercising controls over expenditure and maintenance of supplier relationships.  

Lucking continues, “I wouldn’t be able to do all my current responsibilities if I didn’t have Invu Verify. This just highlights how little time the process takes now. I am still able to do the process myself and it really takes no time out of my workday to use.” 

Grant Associates aren’t alone in their manual and slow invoice approval process. This has proven to be the case for many businesses, which a recently commissioned independent research project highlighted the majority (85%) of businesses still print out their invoices even if they have been received digitally. 

Ian Smith, GM and Finance Director at Invu, said: “The environmental impact that businesses have is a serious issue. Corporate social responsibility is creeping up the list of priorities in both large and small businesses as they realise the benefits of going paperless. However, as our research shows, most businesses still seem to print invoices that have been sent via email - that’s a lot of unnecessary time, effort and trees being wasted!” 

Finance departments across the UK are ready to embrace automated accounting processes. Research has shown that 44% of finance workers think that automating processes would make them more productive, with one in five (22%) claiming they would welcome automation in their business.

Smith concludes, “Finance teams that are still working with paper-heavy processes need to challenge their business leaders to make changes, and investing in automated invoice processing could be the first step to becoming more environmentally friendly.”

Dreams (www.getdreams.com), the financial wellbeing platform and leader in engagement banking solutions, today announces the appointment of Stefan Krafft as its new VP of B2B Marketing, to further drive the company’s B2B customer acquisition strategy and help facilitate partnerships with some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Stefan joins Dreams with over 10 years experience of building B2B tech startups, predominantly within the MarTech and fintech industries, where he has held a number of senior marketing positions.

Most notably, Stefan spent 5 years on the executive management team at Billogram - the Stockholm-based invoicing and payments platform - as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. Having joined Billogram as its first marketing hire in 2016, Stefan played a pivotal role in driving the company’s expansion and helping it grow from an unknown fintech brand to a market leader in recurring payments with over 100 employees.

Stefan is also the co-founder of a community platform called HAAARTLAND, and holds a degree in Economics, Marketing and Communication from the Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm.

In his new role at Dreams, Stefan will largely be responsible for developing and executing the company’s branding and positioning strategy and building out an already highly efficient marketing engine, which will be critical in further scaling B2B customer acquisition and boosting Dreams’ global expansion.

Stefan Krafft, VP of Marketing at Dreams comments: “Dreams is on a really important mission to humanise and simplify the banking experience for millions of people worldwide, and I’m delighted to embark on this exciting journey.

I have always felt that banking was far too complicated and overwhelming, and that banks have often lagged behind when it came to helping customers take control of their finances. Thanks to Dreams and its groundbreaking scientific approach, however, banks now have a golden opportunity to change this narrative by creating meaningful and emotional engagement with their customers, and making the banking experience a seamless part of everyday life. Now more than ever, banks have a responsibility to look after their customers’ financial wellbeing, and this will be critical if they want to attract the future generations of consumers.”

Dreams is a leading provider of engagement banking solutions that leverages insights from cognitive and behavioural science to enhance financial wellbeing and emotional engagement of banking customers. Its platform helps end-users feel good about money by enabling them to not only become better at saving and paying off debt, but also to allocate the money they have saved towards investments. 

In turn, banks can leverage Dreams’ proprietary financial engagement technology and behavioural science methodology to cater to the needs of new, underserved target audiences, and significantly increase engagement, retention and customer lifetime value of their existing customers.

Through the success of its B2C product in the Nordics, where it has attracted over 500,000 users across Sweden and Norway, Dreams has been able to showcase the tangible business value that caring about customers’ wellbeing can bring to banks and other financial institutions in generating emotional engagement and attracting younger audiences. Most recently, Dreams partnered with Ukrainian commercial bank UKRSIBBANK, to integrate its financial wellbeing platform with UKRSIBBANK’s mobile banking app and provide its 2 million customers with a more personalized and engaging user experience.

Henrik Rosvall, CEO & co-founder of Dreams, adds: “We’re really pleased to have Stefan on board to help drive our marketing strategy moving forward. His impressive tenure at Billogram where he built their marketing division from the ground up, whilst consolidating their position as a leader in the invoicing and payments space, will prove invaluable to the future growth of Dreams. There is no doubt that Stefan will play a vital role in further showcasing how our partner banks can remain competitive and drive growth by pursuing a values-based business model and putting customers' financial wellbeing at the core of their strategy.”