Broadway Technology, a leading provider of high-performance front-office solutions, today announced it has added two FinTech veterans to its expanding global business development team. Broadway continues to invest in premier industry talent to propel its continued global growth and enhance its focus on client service.

“2021 has been a breakthrough year for Broadway as we continue to deliver innovative solutions to help our global clients navigate their evolving fixed income workflow challenges,” said Dan Romanelli, Head of Relationships at Broadway. “Broadway has always focused on investing in our people and our customer relationships, and we’re proud to welcome such exceptional industry talent to our global business development team to enable us to continue delivering exceptional customer experiences.”

New additions to Broadway’s US and UK relationship management teams include:

• Carlota Parages-Torres, who joins Broadway in London as Director of Business Development. She brings 25 years of experience in financial markets, with extensive expertise providing trading and workflow solutions to buy side and sell side customers. Prior to Broadway, Parages-Torres spent more than 20 years with Bloomberg LP, where she most recently led Fixed Income Electronic Trading Solution Sales to Tier-1 UK Asset Managers. Throughout her career at Bloomberg, she also held roles as Senior UK Buyside Execution Platform Sales and Relationship Manager and Sell Side Order Management System Sales. Earlier in her career she worked in Repo Sales for Compagnie Financiere Tradition.
• Jim Bruen joins Broadway in New York as Director of Business Development. Bruen brings more than 28 years of experience in the global financial and technology markets to Broadway, with specific expertise in front end electronic trading systems. Prior to Broadway he served as Managing Partner and Director at Luminosity Group (TLG). Earlier in his career, Bruen held senior relationship management roles at Fidessa, Vela Trading and Trading Technologies and served as Executive Director/CEO of ZincMedia Group, Inc.

The appointments follow several recent strategic initiatives for Broadway, including the appointments of Michael Chin, a 30-year fintech industry veteran as CEO, Bruce Boytim as COO and Romanelli as Head of Relationships.

The company’s largest customer conference to date features customers, industry experts, and partners showcasing best practices for digital acceleration in mortgage and banking

Total Expert, the customer experience platform purpose-built for modern financial institutions, today kicked off its 2021 Accelerate customer conference, an annual event highlighting customer experience innovation in financial institutions and the game changers who make it happen.

Accelerate brings together Total Expert customers, partners, and industry thought leaders for inspiring keynotes and impactful conversations that tie customer experience to customer loyalty. With a theme of “Elevate the Journey,” Accelerate will take place in Scottsdale, AZ, from Oct. 3-5.

“Accelerate gives the industry’s innovators the opportunity to inspire and reflect on the most successful practices driving growth and humanizing customer experiences--all fueled by turning data into action and impact,” said Joe Welu, founder and CEO of Total Expert. “With the amount of change our industry has been through in the last 18 months, elevating the journey has never been so important. We’re here to learn from each other, and we’re honored that so many of our customers are taking the stage to share their innovation stories.”

Total Expert customers speaking at Accelerate include American Pacific Mortgage, Assurance Financial, CIVIC Financial Services, Fidelity Bank, Finance of America Mortgage, Horicon Bank, Motto Mortgage, Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, (PRMG, Inc.), Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC, and United Community Bank Mortgage Services.

Attendees will hear and gain insights from industry speakers and panelists, including author and marketing evangelist Guy Kawasaki, Brittany Hodak of Experience.com, James Robert Lay of the Digital Growth Institute, Hunter Young of HIFI Agency, Julian Hebron of The Basis Point, and Amanda Swanson of Cornerstone Advisors.

Accelerate attendees will also be the first to learn about new functionality in Total Expert releasing over the next month, including updates that give direct-to-consumer lenders a complete understanding of each consumer based on their unique financial needs in order to deliver a personalized digital loan experience. Chief among the new capabilities is a new lead management module and a full communications package--complete with a dialer, two-way SMS, and unified cross-channel conversation history.

For the first time, Accelerate will feature The Expys, Total Expert’s awards program that recognizes high-achieving companies and applauds ingenuity, innovation, hard work, and customer-centric strategies. Award winners will be publicly announced on the last day of the conference, Oct. 5, following the awards ceremony.

Exchanges around the world have united to promote financial literacy, investor protection and financial inclusion, ringing the bell in multiple countries on multiple days all week during World Investor Week (“WIW”) 2021.

The World Federation of Exchanges (“WFE”), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, is supporting the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) WIW 2020, which runs from 4 October to 10 October 2021. WIW is a week-long, global campaign to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection and promote financial literacy.

In 2021, a record 78 exchanges are holding virtual bell ringing ceremonies, workshops and events this week to drive awareness of the important and necessity of financial literacy and its impact on life. 

In addition, the WFE’s monthly Focus magazine for October is a Special Edition which shines a light on Financial Literacy initiatiaves around the world.

Nandini Sukumar, Chief Executive Officer, the WFE said: “Financial literacy is more important than ever before as retail investor participation grows. The nature and ethos of public markets enshrines investor protection at the heart. Education is part of that mandate and a significant factor in developing markets to maturity and beyond. All market infrastructures, whether large or small, whether in a developed market or a frontier market, prioritise investor education at the heart of their business and as a foundation of market integrity.”

The exchanges participating in the Ring the Bell for Financial Literacy 2021 initiative are:

Name of Exchange / CCP Opening Bell, Closing Bell or other

(alphabetical order - WFE members in bold)

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) Opening Bell

Amman Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Aquis Exchange PLC Opening Bell

Astana International Exchange Opening Bell

Athens Stock Exchange Closing Bell

B3 – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão Opening Bell

Bahrain Bourse Opening Bell

Baku Stock Exchange Opening Bell

BME Spanish Exchanges Opening Bell

Bolsa Centroamericana de Valores Honduras Opening Bell

Bolsa de Santiago Opening Bell

Bolsa de Valores de Montevideo S.A. Opening Bell

Bolsa Mexicana de Valores Opening Bell

Borsa Istanbul Opening Bell

Borsa Italiana Opening Bell

Botswana Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières S.A. Opening Bell

Bursa Malaysia Opening Bell

Cboe Global Markets Closing Bell

China Financial Futures Exchange  Other

China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Other

Chittagong Stock Exchange Other

CME Group Other

Colombo Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Dalian Commodity Exchange  Other

Dar Es Salaam Stock Exchange Closing Bell

Dubai Financial Market  Opening Bell

Euronext Amsterdam Opening Bell

Euronext Brussels Opening Bell

Euronext Dublin Opening Bell

Euronext Lisbon Opening Bell

Euronext Paris Opening Bell

FMDQ Securities Exchange Opening Bell

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd Opening Bell

Japan Exchange Group, Inc. Other

Johannesburg Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Kazakhstan Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Korea Exchange Opening Bell

Latin American Stock Exchange (Latinex) Other

London Stock Exchange Group Opening Bell

Luxembourg Stock Exchange Other

Macedonian Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Malta Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Moscow Exchange Group Opening Bell

Muscat Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Namibian Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Nasdaq Copenhagen Closing Bell

Nasdaq Helsinki Opening Bell

Nasdaq Iceland Opening Bell

Nasdaq Riga Closing Bell

Nasdaq Stockholm Opening Bell

Nasdaq USA Other

Nasdaq Vilnius Opening Bell

National Stock Exchange of India Limited Closing Bell

Nigerian Exchange Closing Bell

NZX Limited Opening Bell

Oslo Børs Opening Bell

Pakistan Stock Exchange  Opening Bell

Palestine Exchange Opening Bell

Qatar Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Saudi Exchange Opening Bell

Shanghai Stock Exchange Other

Shanghai Futures Exchange Other

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Closing Bell

Singapore Exchange  Opening Bell

SIX Swiss Exchange Closing Bell

Taipei Exchange Opening Bell

Taiwan Stock Exchange Other

Tehran Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange Other

The Egyptian Exchange Opening Bell

The Philippine Stock Exchange Opening Bell

The Stock Exchange of Thailand Other

TMX Group Opening Bell

Tunis Stock Exchange Opening Bell

Uganda Securities Exchange Other

Wiener Börse Opening Bell

Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange Other

Established in 1961, the WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. Headquartered in London, it represents over 250 market infrastructure providers, including standalone CCPs that are not part of exchange groups. Of our members, 35% are in Asia-Pacific, 45% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 57 member CCPs collectively ensure that risk takers post some $800bn (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges are home to 47,919 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is over $109 trillion; around $137 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2020).

The WFE is the definitive source for exchange-traded statistics and publishes over 350 market data indicators.  Its free statistics database stretches back more than 40 years and provides information and insight into developments on global exchanges. The WFE works with standard-setters, policy makers, regulators and government organisations around the world to support and promote the development of fair, transparent, stable and efficient markets. The WFE shares regulatory authorities’ goals of ensuring the safety and soundness of the global financial system.  

With extensive experience of developing and enforcing high standards of conduct, the WFE and its members support an orderly, secure, fair and transparent environment for investors; for companies that raise capital; and for all who deal with financial risk. We seek outcomes that maximise the common good, consumer confidence and economic growth. And we engage with policy makers and regulators in an open, collaborative way, reflecting the central, public role that exchanges and CCPs play in a globally integrated financial system.

The latest diversity report from FinTech recruitment company Storm2, has found that female representation in Nordic FinTech engineering teams stands at 11%, below the global average of 17%. 

With a focus on FinTech companies in the Nordics, Storm2 examined the current state of gender diversity in engineering. The report highlights that there is still work to be done and aims to “educate, spark discussion, and inspire change.”

Angela Ward, VP of Europe at Storm2, said: “The Nordics are world leaders when it comes to gender parity in many areas of society, but this has not filtered through to the FinTech sector. We hope that by sharing our research on why this is still a problem, in even the most progressive of regions, and offering actionable advice on how to turn the dial on the problem, we can create a more diverse, inclusive and more profitable FinTech ecosystem.”

Storm2 is a specialist FinTech recruitment firm that focuses solely on finding candidates with the skills needed to build and scale a successful FinTech company. 

Due to increasing adoption worldwide, cryptocurrencies are generating higher income from transaction fees than major mainstream companies. According to the research data analyzed and published by Wette.de, the total transaction fees on the Bitcoin network in Q2 2021 hit $416.6 million. Compared to the $48.5 million recorded in Q2 2020, that was a 750% YoY jump.

The growth comes amid rising crypto adoption around the globe. According to a Chainalysis report, global cryptocurrency adoption skyrocketed by 881% over the past year.

Calculated ARR for BTC Transaction Fees Rose to $2.986 Billion in April 2021

The calculated annualized revenue run rates (ARR) for BTC transaction fees rose to $2.986 billion in April. This figure is higher than the ARR of Shopify for the past year, which was $2.929 billion.

In Q2 2021, the Bitcoin network’s median transaction fees rose by 1,080% from $1.24 in Q2 2020 to $14.64. Median daily active addresses saw a jump of 11.5% from 880,000 in Q2 2020 to 982,000. Total BTC transaction volume rose nearly fivefold, going from $120.2 billion to $527.1 billion, a 338% YoY increase.

However, after hitting an all-time high of nearly $65,000 in April, BTC closed the quarter at around $35,000. China’s crackdown on miners was partly responsible for this huge price decline. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), close to half of Bitcoin’s mining hashrate came from China (46.04%) in April 2021. As a result of the mining crackdown, BTC transaction fees in June fell by 93% from April highs. Trading volume also nearly halved from the all-time high set in May.

Bitcoin’s overall rise in Q2 transaction fees was not an isolated case. Ethereum’s transaction fees shot up 5,000% as a result of growth in transaction volumes. From $36.7 billion in Q2 2020, total ETH transaction volume rose by 2,000% YoY to $777.1 billion.

Intelligo, the payroll software company behind the multi-award winning payroll solution MegaPay, have been shortlisted in six categories of the prestigious UK Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) Annual Excellence Awards.

The payroll software specialists, who offer on-cloud, on-premises and outsourced payroll solutions for the UK and Ireland jurisdictions, are finalists in the following categories:

• Best Coronavirus (Covid 19) Crisis Response Award
• The CIPP Bright Beginnings Award
• Wellbeing and Employee Engagement Award
• In-house Payroll Team of the Year
• Software Product of the Year
• Payroll Service Provider of the Year

In a year that has tested the resilience of payroll firms, Intelligo has helped its employees achieve new levels of professionalism in the demanding yet rewarding discipline of payroll delivery.

Intelligo's people-focused efforts have resulted in the growth of its client numbers over the crisis, with the payroll provider working tirelessly to deliver seamless payroll support for companies vital to pandemic recovery efforts in industries such as healthcare, medical technology, insurance, pensions, business consulting, IT and software, retail, logistics, construction, facilities management, and food production.

Intelligo Software Co-founder and Director Padraig Gill was delighted with the announcement, with the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) considered the peak body of its kind in the United Kingdom, being incorporated by Royal Charter.

"It is an incredible honour to be shortlisted for six awards by the CIPP, which lead the way in industry professionalism and work incredibly hard to develop the profession and support individual payroll professionals, the foundation of payroll excellence."

He went on to praise Intelligo's employees for ensuring that — in otherwise extraordinary circumstances — payroll continued to be 'business as usual' for the firm's clients:

“Despite the incredibly complex challenge the pandemic has thrown at us, as an organisation we have risen to the challenge to make sure everything we did meant business as usual for our clients. I’m extremely proud of our people who not only pivoted to home working within a week, but doubled-down on the customer service values we live by and increased our client base even as we retained all of our existing clients."

“The hard work and dedication of our cloud, on-premises and outsourced teams behind this phenomenal recognition deserve special mention. Let's hope their efforts are recognised further still with a couple of award wins! I’d also like to extend our congratulations to other CIPP Annual Excellence Awards finalists and wish them the best of luck on the night.”

IHS Markit to establish direct delivery of corporate actions ISO 20022 formatted messages for full lifecycle electronic processing

IHS Markit today announced that it will connect its Corporate Action SaaS solution with The Depository Trust Company’s (“DTC”) products and services, enabling DTC participant users to benefit from a simplified workflow for the corporate action lifecycle management process. Developed leveraging DTC’s current ISO 20022 messaging platform for voluntary reorganization instructions automation, including entitlements and allocations processing and the latest ISO 20022 standards, the offering is expected to begin rollout in Q4 2021.

The connection offers DTC participant user’s greater levels of straight through processing for corporate actions. Users can benefit from seamless connectivity using existing DTC SMART technology, for a quick-to-implement and cost-effective corporate action messaging flow and a reduction in the risk and efforts associated with the manual entry of elections into DTC portals. Users will be able to completely automate the corporate actions workflow from announcement capture to instruction processing to final allocation using latest ISO 20022 messaging standards.

Bidhu Rusia, Director of Product Management for Corporate Actions at IHS Markit said, “This connectivity with a leading post trade infrastructure provider like DTC is a natural next step in our quest towards providing the industry innovative technology solutions that help participants enhance efficiency and reduce risk in their corporate actions processing workflow. Enabling straight through processing automation for DTC participant users, prospects and the wider industry is a priority for us and, we are excited to be a part of this project.”

New integration helps B2B and/or B2C merchants efficiently manage, track and analyze all subscription activity from within their store through Open Source Checkout

BigCommerce, a leading Open SaaS eCommerce platform for fast-growing and established brands, today announced a new native integration with Chargify, a leading billing and subscription management platform for B2B SaaS companies. In collaboration with developer Ebizio, the joint Chargify integration provides BigCommerce B2B and/or B2C merchants with a comprehensive solution to manage, track and analyze subscription activity to decrease churn and strengthen customer relationships to influence lifetime value of selling online. 

"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many B2B SaaS companies expanded their business models with eCommerce offerings,” said Barrow Hamilton, chief product officer of Chargify. “Enabling B2B companies to go to market with any business model is Chargify’s primary objective, and Chargify is the natural next step in that process. It provides a powerful recurring billing and subscription management suite for these hybrid B2B2C companies to support their most complex billing and pricing models."

With a one-click install, merchants can use Open Source Checkout to sell their products on subscription directly through their BigCommerce store, removing the need to change existing third-party systems that rely on orders, inventory or customer goal tracking. Merchants can also quickly introduce subscription options to their customers without costly development work. Customers with subscription, non-subscription and varying subscription frequency items in their cart are then able to easily checkout in a single transaction. Merchants can also monitor and analyze their revenue growth in real-time with Chargify’s reporting features.

Key benefits include:

• Out-of-the-box integration to help merchants get products to market faster and start selling and billing customers to drive revenue.

• Centralized dashboard to give merchants a single location to access, manage, analyze and report on all activity such as subscription revenue, customers, products, and more.

• One-click install via BigCommerce’s Open Source Checkout to keep subscription data in one location and prevent merchants from having to change existing third-party systems that rely on orders, inventory or customer goal tracking.

“Our partnership with Chargify further illustrates our commitment to providing merchants access to the highest-caliber technologies and service providers available in the industry,” said Russell Klein, chief commercial officer for BigCommerce. “Chargify and Ebizio both share our desire to help merchants sell more and grow faster to maximize success, and we look forward to working together to mutually support customers.”

The partnership comes at a time when B2B brands are increasingly looking to subscription ecommerce to boost sales. According to UnivDatos Market Insights, the global subscription ecommerce market is anticipated to reach $478 billion by 2025, displaying an explosive CAGR of 68.0% over the forecast period (2019-2025)1.

“While consumers have already adopted the idea of subscribing to products through their preferred ecommerce stores, we believe that businesses will follow suit and become more comfortable with purchasing their products on a subscription basis,” said Brian Antczak, owner of Ebizio. “With BigCommerce being the best Open SaaS ecommerce platform for B2B companies, and Chargify being a powerful B2B-centric subscription platform, the integration between the two only makes sense.”

Click here to learn more about Chargify subscriptions.

1Subscription eCommerce Market: Current Scenario and Forecast (2019-2025) UnivDatos, October 2019.