SIX today launches its “SIX Tax on Instrument” service to provide client advisors and portfolio managers in the Wealth Advisory industry with tax classifications on individual securities. The service allows users to analyse the tax consequences of financial products, to anticipate the tax-related costs of an investment on that security and to find better investment options.

While the existing product “SIX Tax Score” addresses the overall tax suitability aspect of financial products by looking at the tax cost of an investment, “SIX Tax on Instrument” is geared at pre-investment workflows in Wealth Advisory, allowing for more detailed portfolio simulations and portfolio constructions from a tax perspective.

Marion Leslie, Head Financial Information & Executive Board member, SIX, highlighted: “This latest tax offering is a great addition to our suite of tax data services, designed to increase efficiency and reduce tax complexity for the Wealth Advisory industry, enabling improved targeting of investments and portfolios.”

”SIX Tax on Instrument” enables clients to access up to 60 data fields per tax regime covering financial products such as Equities, Bonds, Funds and Structured Products with attributes on Income Tax, Wealth Tax, Capital Gains & Losses Tax, and generic tax details. The service is designed to help client advisors and portfolio managers achieve superior after-tax returns by providing insights about tax implications and costs, allowing them to optimize their clients’ investment portfolios.

The launch of the service meets a growing need among wealth advisors for detailed tax cost indicator information and additional tax categorisation attributes to help them make projections for expected returns, especially important in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. “SIX Tax on Instrument” currently covers the UK, Switzerland and France tax jurisdictions with plans to expand to a further 13 countries in the future including Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain and the US among others. The service will be available via standard reference data feed or via suitability platform/API to allow for easy integration into clients’ existing systems.

SIX worked with market-leading partners Investment Navigator and NOVERAS to develop the service. NOVERAS acts as a content provider, enriching the data received from SIX with additional tax attributes and is responsible for organising the fiscal data categorisations. Investment Navigator receives this enriched data and shares these tax insights with users through its platform and API, enabling automated rule-based tax suitability assessments to identify tax harmful products. The Tax on Instrument data is also available on the Investment Navigator platform for clients with a clear suitability outcome for all financial products, cross-asset classes.

Following the launch of “SIX Tax Score” in September last year, “SIX Tax on Instrument” is the second service from SIX directly targeting advisors and solidifies that SIX is tapping into other parts of the value chain like the front-office of wealth management.

Further information about “SIX Tax on Instrument” is available here.

For a long time, contactless payment with a smartphone was only possible with methods such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. Apple has still not opened its NFC interface for other payment solutions. But with the new Computop Close-by service, the use of NFC signals for payment is about to become much easier for retailers and service providers. Using this solution, the payment process will shift to the smartphone - without an app and without registration. 

THE DIRECT WAY TO A VARIETY OF PAYMENT METHODS 

The launch of Computop Close-by is set against a backdrop of change in how payments are being made, particularly in retail. Paying online without POS terminals, even at vending machines or in shops, is very easy thanks to passive NFC tags or the use of an active NFC transmitter to call up a ready-configured payment page on the smartphone. Customers select their favourite payment method and pay directly, often using fast wallet solutions like PayPal or the new Click to Pay.  Apple Pay and Google Pay have also proved convenient to use and at the same time support secure biometric authentication. All of which makes a POS terminal in retail almost redundant. Payments can instead be made directly with digital price tags on the shelf, via the product label or in a promotional area. 

As well as retail and multiple other scenarios, Computop Close-by will also offer flexibility for consumers paying at EV charging stations. Currently it is not possible in the UK to park up and charge using a credit or debit card on all charging networks as many require drivers to download an app, go to the company’s website or use an RFID card. However Computop Close-brings e-commerce-type payment methods such as PayPal, Direct Debit or Alipay into play. With the appropriate configuration in the merchant system, active NFC transmitters can integrate fixed or variable payment amounts securely encrypted in the link. 

SOLICIT DONATIONS DIGITALLY AND FROM ANY LOCATION 

Computop Close-by is particularly suitable for soliciting donations. With a simple and inexpensive NFC tag, for example a sticker or a key fob, the payment page is called up on the smartphone. An amount can also be transmitted directly, so that only confirmation by the donor on the smartphone is necessary. Since passive NFC tags do not require their own power supply, digital donation is possible everywhere where network coverage is available. 

Compared to calling up a QR code, the NFC method is simpler and more secure. Modern smartphones respond directly to the NFC signal without having to activate the device and camera app. In addition, QR codes are easy to forge, while NFC coding is permanent and cannot be overwritten. Overlapping by a fraudulent signal is also ruled out, as smartphones do not react to overlapping radio signals. 

PATENT PENDING 

Ralf Gladis, founder and co-owner of Computop, was instrumental in driving this development: "Computop Close-by is, like many innovations, an intelligent combination of existing technologies. The NFC process combined with an efficient e-commerce checkout makes a variety of payment situations easier and more flexible. That is why we have applied for international patent protection for this product." 

ABOUT COMPUTOP – THE PAYMENT PEOPLE 

As one of the very first payment service providers, Computop offers its customers around the world local and innovative omnichannel solutions for payment processing and fraud prevention. The Computop Paygate payment platform enables seamless integrated payment processes for e-commerce, at POS and on mobile devices. With this internally developed software, retailers and service providers have the flexibility and freedom to choose from over 250 payment methods enabling them to specifically tailor their payment options per country.  

Computop, a global player with its head office in Germany and locations in China, England and the USA, has been servicing large international companies in the service, retail, mobility, gaming and travel industries for more than 20 years. These companies include global brands such as Bigpoint, C&A, Fossil, the entire Otto Group, Sixt and Swarovski. Computop also provides it payment system to banks and financial service providers as a white-label solution. Through its customer network and collaboration with the global marketplace Rakuten, Computop processes commercial payment transactions for more than 15,000 retailers annually, with a combined value of USD 31 billion. With its individual and secure solutions, Computop makes a major contribution to the future of international payment processing. 

www.computop.com 

* Interact Switch designed to counter customer attrition rates in the mortgage sector
* Ensures mortgage lenders remain at the cutting-edge of technology innovation in financial services
* The launch of Interact Switch will enable mortgage lenders to improve their Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) offering.

UK-based financial technology specialist ieDigital has announced the launch of Interact Switch, a digital solution designed to help mortgage lenders retain customers at product offer maturity.

Many mortgage lenders continue to rely on older legacy-systems and operate using paper-based methods, relying heavily on labour-intensive CRM systems and telephone-based mortgage interviews. This has led to the slow and costly processing of customer data, which has increased attrition rates. The sheer effort needed to power these processes provides the lion’s share of the carbon footprint created by mortgage lenders.

Interact Switch hits the market at a time when innovation in financial services is at an all-time high, with 14 million UK customers having already opened a digital-only bank*. People are increasingly turning to online options for speed and convenience.

Interact Switch will effectively replace legacy processes, helping to avoid the build-up of notifications in the lead-up to customer mortgage product renewal. Mortgage lenders can operate more efficiently by decreasing paper-based costs, mortgage representative costs, and third-party costs. As a result, providers can deliver better customer experiences around communication, security, offer and application status, and progress reports.

The launch of Interact Switch will also enable mortgage lenders to improve their own ESG offering. The modular and flexible digital platform will allow lenders to introduce exciting new functionality while removing the traditional labour-intensive processes which result in a high carbon footprint.

Jerry Young, CEO of ieDigital, said: “There are so many opportunities for mortgage lenders to take the lead in offering digital services – and by doing so they will also take a massive step forward with their commitment to protecting the planet.

“Interact Switch can rapidly change the dynamics of how mortgage lenders operate, specifically for how they are alerted to maturity, how they manage the offer, and ultimately retain the customer. Attrition rates can be dramatically reduced, which is good for the mortgage lender , and terrific for the customer who will have the opportunity to make a more informed decision about their offer online.”

The world’s premier financial services conference, Sibos 2021, takes place on October 11-14.  David Rafalovsky, Sberbank executive vice president, Sber CTO, and head of Technology,  participated in this year’s event. He held a conversation about how Sber transformed from a  financial institution into a tech company. 

During the conversation Rafalovsky spoke about Sber’s experience of building its own ecosystem, offering clients a variety of services, from ordering taxis to watching movies.  According to Rafalovsky, growth opportunities are limited in banking, so financial institutions have to go beyond offering standardized financial services in order to grow. Against a backdrop of global digitalization, it is not enough for clients to simply have quality banking – they need more, both at the product level and at the emotional level. One of the tools to achieve this is through virtual assistants. 

David Rafalovsky, executive vice president, Sberbank; CTO Sber; head of Technology: 

“The decision to design our own Salute virtual assistants, who help clients carry out complex transactions between bank channels and create a unique customer experience, had a  synergistic effect. It was important for us to establish a connection with the client at the emotional level, which was made possible with a multimodal architecture in which voice, touch,  gesture, and computer vision are brought together to provide amazing user experience”. 

Rafalovsky also noted that assistive technology will be omnipresent in a few years. Virtual assistants will be available on various devices and are likely to take on a more complete form,  e.g., they may appear as holograms complementing a voice. These are assistants people will trust, nurture, and be friends with. 

Sibos is an annual international conference, exhibition, and networking event organized by  SWIFT for the financial industry. The event aims to discuss the most relevant issues facing the  financial community. Sberbank is a traditional participant at Sibos. In 2021, the topic of the  conference is Recharging Global Finance, addressing how the financial ecosystem can  reassess and reenergise to meet client, regulatory and societal demands of the future. 

BCS Global Markets (“BCS GM”), the investment banking services division of Russia’s largest independent broker, has appointed Julien Mareschal as a new Chief Risk Officer at BCS UK.

Based in London, Julien’s primary role is to further develop and lead a robust and comprehensive risk management framework for the firm’s operations. He will also oversee risk management across multiple business lines and across BCS GM’s entire suite of investment banking solutions. Julien will report to BCS GM co-CEO Maxim Safonov, and Marina Atavadzhieva, Global Head of Risk, BCS GM.

Julien has over 20 years’ experience in financial risk management. Most recently he was Head of Risk Management London for Mediobanca where he was responsible for the risk management of the firm’s London capital market activities and alternative asset management. In this role, he developed and implemented the Group’s risk frameworks and policies, including structured transaction, securitizations, arbitrage derivatives pricing of illiquid instruments, and collateral policy.

Prior to this, Julien spent four years at the BNP-Paribas in London as a Senior Risk Manager in the Transaction and Securitisation team, responsible for new transactions, securitization credit and market risk framework. Previously he was Head of Structured Credit Trading at Heritage Capital UK LTD, where he spearheaded the development of structured credit brokerage. Julien also previously held the position of Head of ABS, MBS, CMBS and CLO Trading at Commerzbank London.

Maksim Safonov, co-CEO at BCS Global Markets, commented:

“Risk management is fundamental to BCS GM’s culture of accountability and transparency, and we are pleased to welcome someone of Julien’s proven ability and experience to our growing international business.

“We believe that Julien’s expertise and track record in building and overseeing world-class risk management systems and infrastructure, coupled with his extensive knowledge of our industry, will be a vital cog in helping to take BCS GM to the next level in our growth trajectory.”

BCS maintains a dominant trading position on the Moscow Exchange, with more than 25% of the market share in Equities, Derivatives and FX.

• New business model: Pleo expands its European services and moves into the free price segment with its new ‘Free’ product offering.

• The new strategy comes as the scale-up moves to establish itself as a go-to spending solution for forward-thinking teams.

Fintech scale-up Pleo, which offers a simplified company spending solution, smart company cards and bill payment processing, announces its new business model incorporating a no-fee service for customers in the UK, Ireland, Sweden and Denmark. The Free plan - which is available from today - sees Pleo create a selected catalogue of its services free of charge, up to five users per company. The Pleo offering is provided in cooperation with J.P. Morgan, Mastercard and payment processing service Enfuce. 

With the introduction of the Free plan, Pleo is strengthening its presence in the SME, agency and startup sectors. Playing into Pleo’s motto, “Power to your People”, the plan will help start-ups and small businesses in particular, get to grips with their cashflow and expenditure following a challenging two years due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Jeppe Rindom, CEO and Co-Founder of Pleo, says:

“Our ambition has always been the same: transforming how businesses handle their spending, with a product that not only solves problems, but helps people feel valued and inspired at work. For that reason, revenue growth has never been our core goal. So we’re thrilled to now be in a position, as one of the leading companies in the B2B spend management market, where we can realign our pricing strategy to bring Pleo to more businesses, no matter their size. 

“There is a reason that over 20,000 companies already place trust in our product every day. If we can maintain our current trajectory we hope to reach one million happy users by the end of 2025.”

The reconstruction of Pleo’s pricing model, trialled in Germany earlier this year to great initial success, comes during a strong phase of growth for the company. In the past year alone, Pleo has grown by 150 per cent, and in July it announced a further $150 million raised in capital, bringing the company to a unicorn valuation of $1.7 billion. In the rapidly growing market of spend management solutions, Pleo is strengthening and expanding its market share.

Keri Gohman, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures and Pleo board member, says:

“Pleo has a deep understanding of where the world of work is going, and the need to create an employee-centric culture where teams feel empowered. With the Free plan, they’re enabling thousands more companies to set this in motion right from the get-go, no matter their funding stage - providing spending autonomy and transparency for even the smallest teams. It’s this kind of agility and forward thinking that is setting Pleo well on its way to becoming the leading spend management solution for innovative companies all across Europe.”

The mobile app is planned to communicate with GBT’s AI engine for intelligent health monitoring and alert capabilities

GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) ("GBT”, or the “Company”) is developing an iOS (iPhone version) mobile application for its qTerm device. The iOS application will be synchronized with qTerm’s website and Widget. The mobile app will establish Low Energy Bluetooth (BLE) with the device electronics and show the user vitals results upon taking measurements. A secured infrastructure for user’s privacy and confidentiality will be prepared following industry cybersecurity standards.

The application will be targeted to provide all necessary data to be transferred to an AI engine for further processing. GBT's qTerm, a human vitals device, is aimed to measure human vitals with a touch of a finger. The iOS mobile application is planned to provide real-time visual results, and at a later stage will include AI statistics and analysis. An Android version was already developed a few months ago and was used during prototype testing.

GBT plans to develop a dedicated version of its Avant! AI system to perform user’s on going vitals monitoring and analytics. The system is designed to alert in case of abnormal results, remind about medial check/follow-ups, and monitor medications. Upon taking vitals measurement, the iPhone app will present the data, with full synchronization with qTerm’s web portal, including body temperature color code visual feedback for immediate abnormality identification. The web application Widget will be supporting the iOS version to enable remote telemedicine possibilities. GBT will evaluate adding to the app vital health related information like close by clinics, urgent care sites and hospital locations. An initial version of the iOS mobile app is targeted to be complete by the end of the year.

"Mobility is a key feature with today’s technology and qTerm is no different. We are currently building an iOS mobile application to enable results review and AI communication channel. The mobile app is based on the user’s interface of the qTerm’s device, ensuring Bluetooth connection with its electronics, and at a later stage, communicating the information with its AI system for further analysis. The iPhone mobile application will be synchronized with the device’s website and Widget. An Android version was already developed and was used for prototype testing, the iOS version will be parallel to support iPhone devices. The app will present vitals measurement, including rapid color-code visual feedback for abnormal results. Users will be able to access their data via the mobile app and personal computer using the web application; worldwide. The data will be secured with the most up-to-date cybersecurity measures to keep user’s privacy and confidentiality. The company will consider adding additional important health related information like, nearest clinics, urgent care sites, and hospital locations. A robust mobile technology for iPhones and Android devices is a key feature of the qTerm device and we plan to further develop its capabilities. Utilizing modern iOS mobile technology, will make the qTerm device a global, personal, health assistant; to monitor, analyze, advise and alert, keeping our lives healthier and happier," said Danny Rittman, the Company’s CTO.

National Funding, Inc., one of the largest U.S. specialty finance companies serving small- and medium-sized businesses, announced the recent renewal and upsize of a $60.0 million senior secured warehouse line of credit. The facility, which includes an accordion to expand to $75.0 million, was provided by a prominent U.S.-based commercial bank. The facility will continue to be used by the Company to fund new originations and support additional growth of the platform.

Concurrent with the transaction, National Funding also secured a $55.0 million investment-grade-rated corporate note financing provided by a consortium of institutional investors. The transaction was assigned a BBB+ rating by a nationally recognized statistical ratings organization. Having closed this additional financing, National Funding is well-positioned to support its partners and the funding enhances the Company's ability to take advantage of significant market opportunities.

To date, National Funding has provided more than $4.3 billion in working capital and equipment leasing for more than 75,000 small- to medium-sized businesses nationwide.

"As the economy recovers from the pandemic, this challenging environment is creating opportunities for National Funding to accelerate our growth plans and at the same time provide flexible capital solutions to our client base seeking to expand their businesses," stated Dave Gilbert, CEO of the Company. "Our ability to close these transactions with multiple institutional partners has substantially expanded our financial capacity and flexibility and is a validation of the strength of the robust platform that National Funding has built."

Joe Gaudio, President of National Funding, stated, "These new facilities represent the continued evolution of the Company's funding sources, providing National Funding with a unique opportunity to reduce our cost of funding and access more diversified sources of capital. Both investments are a strong endorsement of the stability and success of our Company and of our mission to transform the way small businesses access the capital they need to grow."

Brean Capital, LLC served as the Company's Exclusive Financial Advisor and Placement Agent in connection with the note transaction

Amazon Connect users across the globe can now leverage PCI Pal’s secure payments solutions for additional payment security and compliance options

the global provider of secure payment solutions – today announced a new integration with Amazon Connect to offer its customers worldwide with additional options for payment security and compliance with PCI Pal omnichannel secure payment solutions.

Thousands of businesses of all sizes are using Amazon Connect to adapt their customer communications for the post-pandemic future. With this integration, PCI Pal will become the first truly global secure payments provider available in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalogue that makes it easy for organisations to discover, procure, entitle, provision, and govern third-party software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon Connect customers will now have access to PCI Pal’s solutions, including Agent Assist, IVR and Digital products, through an integrated offering allowing for PCI compliance and payment security across their entire omnichannel communications mix. Users of the services will also benefit from retaining their payment service provider (PSP) as PCI Pal is agnostic to all payment environments. 

“This integration enables businesses to minimise their PCI footprint and secure their customers’ most sensitive payment data, while maintaining the best possible customer and agent experience,” says James Barham, CEO at PCI Pal. “Amazon Connect users are able to seamlessly access our secure payment services across all customer engagement channels allowing a focus on service excellence whilst safe in the knowledge that data is protected.”

Customers using Amazon Connect with PCI Pal will be able to reduce contact centre exposure to sensitive cardholder data, descoping their infrastructure from the requirements of PCI DSS.  Additionally, Amazon Connect Delivery Partners and AWS Consulting Partners, who help companies build cloud contact centres with Amazon Connect, will now also be able to sell PCI Pal omnichannel payment solutions. 

"The COVID-19 pandemic has made contact centre agility and security more important than ever,” continues Barham. “As the leading provider of secure payment solutions to the business communications space globally, this offering ensures that whether working in the office, contact centre, or working remotely from home, Amazon Connect customers will not only be able to set up more agile contact centres in minutes but now, for the first time, will have access to best-in-class payment security solutions.”

Amazon Connect is an easy-to-use omnichannel cloud contact centre used by thousands of businesses of all sizes. Based on Amazon's own customer service system, Amazon Connect enables businesses to set up contact centres in minutes to support millions of customers from the office or virtually. Through this integration with PCI Pal, Amazon Connect customers can access the highest levels of security and compliance whether working from a traditional contact centre or at home.

Exabel, a data and analytics platform for investment teams, is partnering with LinkUp to deliver a powerful new insights platform for LinkUp’s investment clients.

The LinkUp Data Insights Platform will give portfolio managers additional insights based on LinkUp’s job listings data. The platform delivers user-friendly dashboards, visualizations and KPI monitoring capabilities.  This assists investors in idea generation by spotting trend shifts in LinkUp’s jobs data.

Partnering with Exabel gives alternative data vendors a compelling extra presentation and monitoring layer that investors value, utilising Exabel's unique Al analytics, financial modelling and data science platform. The LinkUp Data Insights Platform forms part of Exabel’s growing partnership program.

Exabel’s partnership solutions empower data vendors to discover new value-added insights in their datasets, demonstrate extra value to potential customers in easy-to-create report cards, and deliver a new, proven insights product that appeals to a wide group of professional investors. Through its partnership with Exabel, LinkUp’s clients can now much more easily and quickly leverage alternative data to exploit investable insights. 

LinkUp indexes millions of job listings directly from employer websites daily. By only collecting data directly from employers, LinkUp eliminates the ‘noise’ that pollutes other jobs datasets leaving the labor market data highly accurate and powerful in its clarity. From its archive of over 165 million job postings, LinkUp has developed a wide range of data products and services that offer unparalleled predictive power into the current and future job market.

Neil Chapman, CEO of Exabel commented:  “We are thrilled to be partnering with LinkUp on this new insights platform. LinkUp’s job listings data affords investors a powerful insight into the decisions being taken within boardrooms - one of alternative data’s most compelling capabilities. We are proud to be working with the best in class in this vital section of the alternative data market. Today most investors want to use alternative data, but many find the cost and complexity of modelling data in-house a prohibitive burden. Exabel allows active managers to benefit from alternative data immediately to supplement fundamental strategies.

“We are looking forward to working with LinkUp to create actionable insights on its data. Dashboards, intelligent screening KPI prediction models and company drill down tools are among the many features our easy-to-use SaaS platform can deliver.”

Toby Dayton, CEO of LinkUp commented:

“The LinkUp Data Insights Platform makes exploring and using our data easier for many existing clients and opens our data up to new market segments. Exabel’s platform adds tools for investigating the data and testing strategies that have previously required substantial client development expertise and time. The Insights Platform allows users to focus on investment strategy immediately. Exabel has helped us make the potential of LinkUp’s data more apparent and improved the value proposition by shrinking deployment times.  We think users are going to love being able to dive into the data immediately with a powerful toolset that gives them a new vantage point on forward-looking corporate hiring plans''.