OneFor has selected Moorwand to provide issuing, acquiring and digital banking services

Moorwand, a BIN sponsor and issuer that transforms compliance into an enabler of innovation, has been selected by OneFor, a digital wallet and money transfer and payments solution for the remittance market. Moorwand is providing issuing, acquiring and digital banking services that powers OneFor’s offering which aims to improve the simplicity, accessibility, and affordability of remittances for consumers. 

The number of unbanked individuals is as high as 35% in some parts of Europe (McKinsey, 2019), with a significant portion of these individuals coming from diaspora communities who reside outside of their home nation. For these individuals, it can be difficult to open a traditional bank account due to KYC requirements, financial literacy, and even a fear of banks. This means that consumers need to send money using wire transfers and other methods which are often complex and expensive. The cost of remittances can be as much as 6.67% of the total value of funds to be transferred. 

OneFor allows consumers in EU to send funds to individuals inside and outside of the EU through a digital wallet and debit card offering. Customers in the EU gain access to a mobile wallet app connected to an IBAN account and companion debit card. Customers (as the primary account owner) can easily setup, provide and manage companion cards for friends and family members outside of the EU using the app. All the companion card holders have an account linked to the IBAN of the primary account holder, allowing them to easily receive money from the primary user. OneFor does not charge a monthly account or card fee, and its bank and international transfers fees are highly competitive.

“Despite the rapid rise of digital banking innovations, diaspora communities are still largely underserved by fintech products,” said Marco Abele, Co-CEO at OneFor. “OneFor’s card and app help to bridge the gap for these often-unbanked communities by offering them a simple, accessible and affordable way to send money and connect with their friends and family overseas. With support from Moorwand, we have been able to rapidly develop and launch a pioneering service that meets the specific needs of diaspora communities.” 

By utilising a range Moorwand’s services, OneFor dramatically reduced the time and complexity of launching the service. Moorwand is issuing the debit card, acting as BIN Sponsor to access Mastercard network, and providing acquiring services so the card to be easily topped up using a range of payment methods. Moorwand’s Digital Banking offering allows OneFor customers to send money using SEPA. And BIN Sponsorship ensures OneFor is fully compliant in the EEA and meets the necessary regulations.

“Moorwand mission is to help the most innovative fintech companies deliver a more diverse and competitive set of products to consumers and businesses,” said Luc Gueriane, Chief Commercial Officer at Moorwand. “OneFor’s offering is massive step towards democratising remittance services and makes it easier to provide access for unbanked nationals. Through our expertise and suite of issuing, acquiring and digital banking services, we’ve helped OneFor launch this service ahead of the competition.” 

To shed light on the impact the global health crisis – and ongoing recovery – has had on small businesses globally, Mastercard today released Recovery Insights: Small Business Reset. Looking at 19 markets around the world, the report reveals that sales at small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) lagged larger companies by up to 20 percentage points at the peak of the crisis. However, spending has recovered in 2021. Total sales at SMBs rose 4.5% through August 2021 year-to-date compared to the same period in 2020, while e-commerce sales are up 31.4%.

Drawing on the Mastercard Economics Institute’s new Small Business Performance Index* of aggregated and anonymized sales activity within the Mastercard network, Recovery Insights: Small Business Reset identifies several key trends:

• Closures: Globally, small businesses that closed early in the pandemic were about three times as likely as larger businesses to remain closed long term. One-third of small businesses that closed in April 2020 remained closed after six months, and about one-fifth were still closed after 12 months. Locally, the situation varied: in the U.S., roughly one in four small retailers remained closed after 6 months, vs. roughly one in 12 large retailers.
• Location: Spending at SMB retailers in central business districts is down 33% vs. 2019, while sales within more residential neighborhoods grew 8%. As tourists and workers stay closer to home, small businesses in commercial districts are seeing sales suffer.
• E-Commerce: Following shutdowns, the number of businesses going online each month tripled from pre-pandemic levels, peaking in July 2020. This reflects increased demand for an online sales channel, as well as the slight lag after lockdowns began to bring it into reality. The shift to digital has persisted at an elevated level globally since.
• Entrepreneurship: One-third more small retailers launched in 2020 than in 2019, nearly 8x the number of larger firms created. This trend of considerable new SMB formation in 2020 is reflected around the world: U.K. (+101%), U.S. (+86%), Australia (+73%), Germany (+62%), Brazil (+35%) and South Africa (+13%).
• Sectors - Restaurants & Lodging: Small lodging businesses outperformed large by a wide margin during the summers of 2020 and 2021. Where people are traveling, the trend to stay local has benefited small lodging companies (and hurt big cities’ big hotels). Restaurants were a different story, with SMB eateries underperforming large ones globally by roughly 17 percentage points in 2021 YTD.

“Supporting neighborhood businesses has been a rallying point throughout the pandemic. However, the challenges faced have been very real, due to their dependency on local markets, local supply chains and tighter cash flows,” said Bricklin Dwyer, Mastercard chief economist and head of the Mastercard Economics Institute. “But, we see brighter opportunities ahead. The shift to digital opened the door to the pandemic's silver lining: a resurgence of entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Supporting small business owners is a continued priority for Mastercard, which pledged to bring 50 million small businesses and 25 million women entrepreneurs into the digital economy by 2025. Mastercard’s Digital Doors curriculum helps businesses get online and stay protected, ensuring they have the right tools to maximize their digital presence and integrate e-commerce seamlessly, including the free Small Business Digital Readiness Diagnostic. Most recently, Mastercard committed $25 million to help more than five million micro and SMBs digitize through the Strive initiative.

Mastercard also works closely with governments, businesses and other organizations around the world to create environments, programs and policies so small businesses can flourish. Mastercard provides high-frequency, local spending insights to dozens of city, state and federal governments as part of our City Possible and Recovery Insights programs, as well as content such as the recent policy paper addressing ways governments can support SMB recovery.

TransUnion, a global insights and information company, today announced its investment in UK-based fintech Monevo – a personal credit platform and API empowering lenders to deliver highly personalised credit offers to consumers via comparison websites and other third parties.

Eligibility, also known as pre-qualification, is an important part of consumer lending. Pre-approved offers, or an indication of the likelihood of being approved at the rates shown, enable consumers to shop for personalised credit products with ease, while ensuring multiple eligibility assessments do not adversely impact an individual’s credit score.

Operating primarily in the UK and US, as well as Poland and Australia, Monevo provides centralised infrastructure, with the technology, decisioning and integration to allow lenders and aggregators to work efficiently together to deliver the best possible consumer outcomes.

“We’re pleased to make this investment and enter into a global strategic partnership with Monevo, expanding our offering to finance providers and aggregators to help them better serve their customers,” said Satrajit “Satty” Saha, CEO of TransUnion in the UK.

"Harnessing the synergies between the two businesses, we can leverage TransUnion’s data, analytic capabilities and decisioning expertise alongside Monevo’s market-leading technology platform, extensive partner distribution network and expert team.”

Using granular data and predictive modelling, Monevo’s solutions enable credit providers to review and accept more applications. This helps consumers find the most suitable products, supporting financial inclusion and responsible lending. Monevo is well-established in this space in both the UK and the US, and through this commercial agreement with TransUnion can expand and improve its solutions.

TransUnion’s Steve Chaouki, president of US markets and consumer interactive, added: “Monevo has driven fintech innovation in the consumer credit sector and our partnership will open up a broad range of new opportunities serving both consumers and businesses. For example, we will be able to incorporate targeted offers into our CreditView product and offer our consumer platform to Monevo’s existing customer base.”

Greg Cox, CEO of Monevo said: “Our mission has always been to improve access to credit by providing the technology and infrastructure to power credit distribution globally. By partnering with TransUnion, which owns and operates key services and infrastructure in the credit ecosystem and serves a large global base of relevant clients, the potential of this investment for Monevo is huge. Both parties share a similar ethos for innovation and empowering consumers to make better credit decisions and we’re extremely excited to work with the team at TransUnion to realise Monevo’s growth potential over the years ahead.”

Monevo is a subsidiary of Quint Group, which comprises a number of different businesses that serve consumer finance markets. As part of the investment, TransUnion will join Monevo’s board and provide dedicated resource to support long-term growth objectives.

For further updates visit www.transunion.co.uk

 Swarm Markets, which operates the world's first regulated decentralised trading exchange (DEX), today announces it is available to the general public. This is the first unified platform where both retail and institutional investors will be able to trade securities alongside crypto.

The launch comes as total value locked in DeFi platforms has swelled to almost $90 billion, according to DeFi Pulse, since summer 2020, and regulators across the globe begin to crackdown on unlicensed crypto platforms.

Swarm Markets operates under regulatory license from the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Germany, provided to Swarm Capital GmbH Branch Office Berlin, and is supported by Swarm Markets GmbH (together "Swarm Markets").

Co-founder of Swarm Markets, Philipp Pieper, said, "Swarm Markets is skating to where the puck is heading by having regulatory authorisation from a globally-recognised regulator from the outset. BaFin has been extremely forward leaning and provided clarity on how it will govern DeFi, giving entrepreneurs confidence that will allow a healthy market to develop with a regulatory approach.

"We have the privilege of working with some of the most progressive legal minds in the crypto space and have been engaging in an ongoing dialogue with BaFin for the past two years, interpreting securities laws and applying them to assets on the Blockchain.

"Regulators are starting to see the benefits of integrating traditional markets with blockchain technology, namely the transparency of transactions so regulators can lift the hood themselves and see what is happening in real time, reducing their reliance on companies reporting to them."

The platform employs the same know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols as other licensed financial service providers like banks, removing counterparty risk for users and enabling it to welcome new types of market participants and assets to DeFi.

Early adopters of the platform will enjoy greater rewards for adding liquidity and trading. Rewards are paid out weekly and boosts are available for users who hold SMT, the Swarm Markets payment token that facilitates efficient transactions on the platform. The platform reimburses gas fees on all transactions involving trading and adding liquidity. 

Similar to other DeFi protocols, users on Swarm Markets can enjoy networked liquidity with self-custody.

Timo Lehes, co-founder of Swarm Markets, added, "The opening of Swarm Markets is a historic step to move corporate cryptocurrency trading out of its legal grey area and offers sophisticated institutional investors and their clients the full scope of benefits from trading digital assets, including the high APYs attendant to DeFi, for the very first time.

"There are several layers of uncertainty that need to be addressed with regulation in order to build trust. More than just a DEX with KYC, our regulatory status means we can onboard new assets and participants into the DeFi ecosystem that others cannot. We believe assets on the Blockchain can be regulated to provide the same consumer protections as in traditional finance without sacrificing the benefits of innovation.

"Our goal is to integrate traditional markets with Blockchain technology. Not only can existing market infrastructure be replicated on the Blockchain with greater efficiencies, but this technology will enable traders and asset holders to do more and have greater autonomy over the markets they want to participate in."

Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin, SMT, DAI and USDC are currently available on the platform, with new types of assets being introduced in the near future. Swarm Markets launched its liquidity provider programme in July 2021. To date, nearly 2,000 people have registered for the programme, pledging over $100 million in aggregated assets.

 Drawbridge, a premier provider of cybersecurity software and solutions to the alternative investment industry, today announced it was named ‘Best Cyber Security Firm’ at the 2021 AltCredit European Performance & Services Awards.

“2021 has been an amazing year for Drawbridge, and it’s an honor to now be recognized as Best Cyber Security Firm in the 2021 AltCredit awards,” said Jason Elmer, Founder and CEO of Drawbridge. “This win would not be possible without the continued support of our global clients and the remarkable dedication of our staff, who are committed to providing our clients innovative, best-in-class cyber security software solutions to help them manage the evolving threat landscape.”

With winners determined based on an evaluation from a distinguished judging committee of industry experts, the 2021 AltCredit European Performance & Services Awards were held on Sept. 29, 2021 in London and recognized and awarded private debt managers, credit hedge funds and service providers that have thrived through the challenges of 2021.

This latest recognition follows a breakthrough year for Drawbridge. The company secured a growth equity investment from Long Ridge Equity Partners in early 2021 and named FinTech industry pioneer Scott DePetris President & Chief Operating Officer (COO) and appointed him to the Board of Directors. Drawbridge also launched a new module in its flagship technology platform designed specifically for Private Equity (PE) funds to give them a single view to monitor the complete cyber risk profiles of their portfolio companies in real-time. Throughout the year Drawbridge has continued to receive industry recognition for its innovative software, services and customer service, and was recently shortlisted for Hedgeweek’s Best Cybersecurity Provider, HFM’s Best Cyber- Security Service, and Private Equity Wire’s Best Cybersecurity Provider.

The first-ever Accounting & Finance Show Malaysia 2021 is launching on 12 October, bringing together those driving technological change in finance and accounting across Malaysia and beyond.

Aimed at providing the best insights to enhance the ability and speed at which businesses adopt digital tools and technologies within the accounting and finance function, the one-day virtual event will feature 30+ local and international industry leaders who have leveraged technology to revamp and streamline their workflows.

With 2 conference channels, Digital Business and Digital Practice, attendees can engage in debates and discussions revolving digital innovation, accounting tech, running a digital practice, intelligent automation, cloud solutions and vital skills required by accounting & finance professionals for the future. Spotlight topics include “Keynote: Futureproof Your Firm for Client Success” by Xero and CALTRiX, “Keynote: The benefits of kickstarting the digitalisation of your practice in 2021” by Mahzan Sulaiman PLT, “The Future of the Accountants in the New Digital Age” by Institute of Management Accountants and “Panel: Leveraging technology: Standing out from your competition” by ANISE Consulting, Jovani & Co Chartered Accountants, Red Beak and YesBoss

Featured speakers at Accounting & Finance Show Malaysia 2021 include:

• Haroon Aslam, Regional Finance Director, Getz Healthcare

• Andrew Choong, Auditor, Baker Tilly Malaysia

• Hoe Yin Lou, Partner, RSM Malaysia

• Chrishini Richards, Head of Finance, Taco Bell Malaysia

• Coreen Atencio, Lead Consultant, ScaleNorth Advisors

• James O’Reilly, Head of Operations APAC, Unit4

• Richard Hayler, CFO, Nutrition Technologies

• Venkkat Ramanan, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

• Auro Sen, Head of Finance and FP&A, ULA

• Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Xero Asia

• Daniel Hustler, Education Manager, Xero Asia

• Christian Antono, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Xero Asia

Running alongside the conference, our amazing sponsors are ready to showcase their cloud-based accounting software and other digital tools and technologies at the virtual exhibition, Meet Title Sponsor Xero, Silver Sponsor Unit4, Associate Sponsors Cynopsis Solutions, EasyStore, Payroll Panda and more on our integrated and fuss-free event platform.

Featured speakers at Accounting & Finance Show Malaysia 2021 include: • Haroon Aslam, Regional Finance Director, Getz Healthcare • Andrew Choong, Auditor, Baker Tilly Malaysia • Hoe Yin Lou, Partner, RSM Malaysia • Chrishini Richards, Head of Finance, Taco Bell Malaysia • Coreen Atencio, Lead Consultant, ScaleNorth Advisors • James O’Reilly, Head of Operations APAC, Unit4 • Richard Hayler, CFO, Nutrition Technologies • Venkkat Ramanan, Regional Vice President – Asia Pacific, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants • Auro Sen, Head of Finance and FP&A, ULA • Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director, Xero Asia • Daniel Hustler, Education Manager, Xero Asia • Christian Antono, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Xero

Asia Running alongside the conference, our amazing sponsors are ready to showcase their cloud-based accounting software and other digital tools and technologies at the virtual exhibition, Meet Title Sponsor Xero, Silver Sponsor Unit4, Associate Sponsors Cynopsis Solutions, EasyStore, Payroll Panda and more on our integrated and fuss-free event platform

One month on from the launch of its ‘Refer & Share’ programme, crypto wallet and payments platform Zumo has announced that it helped more than 12,000 new customers take their first steps in crypto with free Bitcoin SV (BSV) rewards.

In total, the platform has given away £100,000 in cryptocurrency rewards this summer through its £10,000 prize draw and refer a friend programme. The prize draw gave £10,000 in BSV to one lucky Zumo user, while the follow-up refer and share programme awarded 0.04 BSV (approx £4) to any existing customers who referred a friend to try Zumo, and to all new customers downloading the app with a referral code. With an estimated 2.3 million adults in the UK already holding cryptocurrencies, and the UK counted as the leading European country for crypto activity, it’s hoped the campaign will continue to help a new generation of customers get comfortable with crypto and be able to discover the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies for themselves.

Nottinghamshire local Chris and his wife Joy were winners of the prize giveaway, exemplifying the wave of new entrants familiarising themselves with crypto. Chris says:

“I’ve been actively investing in crypto for the last 6 months. It all started as a game between four friends - we each invested £500 and the challenge was to see who could make the most money and who lost the most money over a 3-month period. We each had an idea how to succeed. In the beginning, we were buying and selling all types of crypto, making and losing money along the way and paying a lot in transfer fees etc. But as time moved on, the four of us realised it’s not a game anymore: crypto is the future and needs to be taken seriously.”

“Zumo is a breath of fresh air, and realistically I had already decided that crypto was a long-term investment so it makes sense to invest with a customer-focused company like Zumo. I look at my winnings as part of a long term investment plan ... I'm getting on a bit now in life and I’m looking forward to retiring to that tropical oasis with nice weather, white sands and turquoise sea!”

Amelie Arras, Zumo Marketing Director, commented: “Very well done to Chris, Joy, and everyone who’s got involved over the past few months. It’s great to see people taking the first step in their crypto journeys and, hopefully, seeing a positive impact in their lives in the long run. We wanted to give people a low-barrier, zero-risk introduction to the world of cryptocurrency, and we hope we’ve delivered on that mission. To anyone thinking about getting started in crypto: we’re here to help.”

 Itiviti, a Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) company, announced the integration of its NYFIX Matching solution with the portfolio, order, and investment management system from Broadridge.

“The post-trade space has historically been defined by manual processes, but given shrinking technology budgets, many firms have been unable to address these challenges,” said Ray Tierney, President of Itiviti, a Broadridge business. “Now, less than six months after being acquired by Broadridge, Itiviti can deliver our automated NYFIX Matching solution for trade allocation, confirmation and affirmation to a far greater number of clients, helping them save money and expedite trade matching. This integration is a testament to the full power of Broadridge’s capabilities, which can scale to support clients now and into the future.”

The new solution will empower Broadridge’s client base with direct access to NYFIX Matching’s automated trade allocation, confirmation and affirmation capabilities. Clients will gain the ability to consolidate matching of multiple asset classes on a single platform and match trade details at a granular level, delivering efficiency and cost benefits. NYFIX Matching’s FIX-based affirmation occurs in near real time, seamlessly catching errors, minimizing costly trade breaks, and supporting accelerated settlement cycles. As with most Itiviti products, this solution is multi-asset, global and fully hosted and offers a modern user interface. This is the first of many product integrations between Itiviti and Broadridge and serves as a compelling example of the strong synergies between the two.

Broadridge Investment Management Solutions supports buy-side clients through every step of the trade lifecycle, enabling streamlined trade processing at a scale befitting a global fintech leader with over $5 billion in revenues.