Ascendant, a leading provider of cross-border payment solutions, is pleased to announce it is one of the companies featured on the 2021 Report on Business ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies.

Canada’s Top Growing Companies ranks Canadian companies on three-year revenue growth. Ascendant earned its spot with three-year growth of 83%.

“Ascendant has always been committed to providing superior service to our customers through tech innovation and a team of experts who go above and beyond. We resolve inefficiencies in the payment process and are excited to see what the future holds as we continue to grow as an organization,” says Jason Mugford, Chief Executive Officer at Ascendant.

This marks yet another milestone for Ascendant, who’s latest product release (Payee Intel) was awarded with the Global Finance Magazine Innovators award in 2020.

Launched in 2019, the Canada’s Top Growing Companies editorial ranking aims to celebrate entrepreneurial achievement in Canada by identifying and amplifying the success of growth-minded, independent businesses in Canada. It is a voluntary program; companies had to complete an in-depth application and due diligence process in order to qualify.

The full list of 2021 winners, and accompanying editorial coverage, is published in the October issue of Report on Business magazine—out now—and online.

“As we look toward the future, Canada’s Top Growing Companies offer both inspiration and practical insights for other firms facing similar challenges,” says James Cowan, Editor of Report on Business magazine. “The entrepreneurs behind these companies are smart, tenacious and unwavering in their commitment to their goals.”

“Any business leader seeking inspiration should look no further than the businesses on this year’s Report on Business ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies,” says Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. “Their growth helps to make Canada a better place, and we are proud to bring their stories to our readers.”

Ollie Cadman joins as Chief Product Officer; David Griffiths and Martin Appiah as Director of Regulatory Affairs

Eventus Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, today announced several key hires in Europe as part of the firm’s continued growth in the region and globally. Bringing extensive experience into the new roles are Ollie Cadman as Chief Product Officer, and David Griffiths and Martin Appiah, both as Director of Regulatory Affairs.

Based in Stockholm, Cadman reports to Eventus CEO Travis Schwab, while Griffiths and Appiah – both based in the UK – report to Joseph Schifano, the firm’s Global Head of Regulatory Affairs.

Cadman will build out the firm’s global product team and provide a framework for expanding its product offering. Appiah will help ensure that Eventus’ growing client base in the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region are able to meet the evolving demands of local regulations and client risk assessments through the firm’s Validus platform. Griffiths, who has deep experience in the UK, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions, will spearhead the firm’s client implementation program globally to ensure new clients maximize the effectiveness of the surveillance procedures, resources and flexibility available to them in Validus.

Schwab said: “We’re very proud to continue attracting tremendous talent to the organization and to methodically build on our team with some of the most experienced and knowledgeable professionals in the business, who understand first-hand the challenges our clients face. Ollie has a powerful background in product development and client service leadership roles within some of the most prominent firms in the industry and is ideally suited to take on our new Chief Product Officer role. Martin and David are trade surveillance subject matter experts who’ve closely followed and analyzed regulatory developments, particularly in the regions in which they’ve served. Each of them will play important roles in enabling us to provide the best possible service to our clients conducting business globally and in the EMEA region.”

Eventus established its first on-the-ground presence in Europe last year. After nearly quadrupling its staff globally since its Series A funding in February 2020, the company earlier this month announced that it closed on a $30 million Series B funding round. Proceeds will support the firm’s continued growth to meet strong demand, with plans to more than double its workforce around the globe, expand its product suite and add new financial risk applications. Open positions to date can be found at https://boards.greenhouse.io/eventussystemsinc/.

Cadman has broad product management and business development experience in financial markets and technology, including at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the London Stock Exchange Group, Morningstar and J.P. Morgan. Most recently, he was at Vela Trading Systems for nearly five years, culminating in his role as Chief Product Officer. In the global position, Cadman was responsible for product management and development, product operations, market data licensing, exchange connectivity and client support. He also served as a director for the firm’s business in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions.

Prior to joining Eventus, Griffiths was Head of Trade Surveillance for SteelEye Ltd. since 2020. He previously was with Cider Barn Group Consulting, serving as Product Director for a strategic partnership between Nasdaq and Digital Reasoning. Griffiths has also held senior compliance strategy and trade surveillance roles at JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered Bank and Oracle Mantas.

Appiah has provided compliance and surveillance expertise through a variety of senior and consulting roles across multiple asset classes at some of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the industry. Most recently, he was Compliance Surveillance SME (Subject Matter Expert) at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), after serving as Lead Consultant for Compliance Surveillance Remediation and earlier as Compliance Surveillance Officer for Nomura International Plc. He also held roles in risk advisory, compliance and surveillance at global consulting firm Deloitte, Santander Group Corporate Bank, BGC/Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, BNP Paribas and JPMorgan Chase.

66% of those surveyed have visited a bank within the last year, rising to 78% among 18-34-year-olds

The Toluna Financial Services Sentiment Indicator (FSSI) is a bi-annual study exploring key issues related to the UK population’s personal and household finances, attitudes towards financial institutions in the UK, and behaviors in relation to personal finances. The latest research surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,081 members of the UK public.  

Confidence in who we bank with remains high - in sharp contrast to how we feel about the UK government.

High street banks and building societies are leading the charge when it comes to higher confidence in financial institutions. 

• 55% of those surveyed had confidence in their bank or building society
• 54% of respondents said that they have high confidence in the Bank of England
• Insurers, IFAs, and investment and pension providers have all seen confidence levels increase by 4-6 percentage points since last year (May 2020). 

In contrast, confidence in the UK Government is continuing to decrease, following a high point of 43% in May 2020 which currently stands at 35% (a decrease of 8% points in the last year).

Despite ever-increasing use of digital banking services and bank branch closures rising, it’s clear the UK public is still keen to use bank branches for a number of reasons, especially those aged 18-34 years old:

• Two in three (66%) respondents have visited a branch of their main bank within the last 12 months
• Surprisingly, this figure rises to just under four in five (78%) amongst 18–34-year-olds and around three in five amongst 35–54-year-olds (61%) and 55+year-olds (60%).

Amongst those not having gone to their bank branch in the last 6 months, two in five (40%) still stated that they feel it was still important to have access to a bank branch. So why do we want access to a local bank branch?

• Nearly half (46%) of those who felt it was important to have access to a bank branch said that they think it’s important for “in-person advice in case of any issues”. 
• A third (33%) said they ‘enjoy face to face interaction with staff’, with 29% stating that it gives them peace of mind. Interestingly, a quarter (25%) of respondents said that banking in person at a local branch gave them a greater sense of security when completing transactions.
• 27% of 18–34-year-olds believe that having a local branch of their main bank is important to them because the “services they need are not available online,” compared to 35–54-year-olds (9%) and 55+ year-olds (12%).
• Alternatively, 55+ years-olds (27%) stated that having a local branch of their main bank is important to them because they “don’t like using online/mobile banking, “compared to 35-54-year-olds (9%) and 18–34-year-olds (3%).

Communication from financial services firms must improve from a clarity perspective

Throughout the pandemic, most public and private sector organisations in the UK have looked to help customers access the services and products they need to ensure limited interruption to their day to day lives whether that’s freezes on loans and credit cards, through to furlough payments.

Nearly three in five (58%) of the UK public recall receiving communications offering support in response to the pandemic, with email being the most popular method financial institutions have used to contact customers (44%). This was followed by letter (22%) and a phone call (9%) 

Clarity of communications, however, has fallen short of the mark

Of those people who were contacted, only (48%) found all communications to be extremely clear and easy to understand.

One in eight (13%) found the communications from financial services organisations offering support difficult to understand, containing lots of jargon and being extremely unclear. 

As a result:

• 17% of those surveyed said this made them ‘uninterested’ in the communication received
• 14% said it made them feel resentful or skeptical
• 9% of respondents said they felt unsupported
• And 8% felt worried 

18-34 years old (66%) were most inclined to mention these negative emotions, compared to 35-54-year-olds (50%) or 55+ year-olds (29%). 

Furthermore, those with speech/sight/hearing impairments (84%), learning difficulties (83%) or short-term poor health (81%) also gave negative feedback for these communications.

Mike Bamford, Research Manager in the Financial Services team at Toluna said:

“In a time when banking brands are looking to digitalise and streamline their business model, it is both interesting and reassuring to see such a large proportion have visited a branch in the last 12 months. In short, our research more than suggests that there is still a place for the bricks and mortar bank branch, as they serve the public on multiple fronts, ranging from social wellbeing offering the public interaction and reassurance, through to ensuring that those unable to service their account online are also not forgotten in the digital revolution.”

One of the UK’s leading property finance specialists has announced the successful completion of an ambitious £2.25 million bridging loan. The team at UK Property Finance worked with Hope Capital to arrange the bridging loan which needed to be arranged as quickly as possible to meet pressing deadlines.

The facility enabled the client, a London property owner to borrow against an existing buy-to-let home in order to purchase, refurbish and resell several properties for profit. As the occupants of the BTL property were isolating with COVID-19 at the time, the lender, Hope Capital organised a drive-by survey and valuation of the property.

This enabled the client to access the funds needed ahead of the short deadline, ensuring the COVID-related issues did not complicate the transaction.

Innovation, Communication and Transparency

“It’s always a pleasure working with our friends at UK Property Finance and Freeths. Swift and transparent communication was key in ensuring we could get this deal across the line in time. A huge thank you to Lisa and Sian at UK Property Finance, Luke at Freeths and everyone else involved, who helped us to pull this case off so quickly and efficiently.” - Laura Carr, Head of Underwriting at Hope Capital

The collaboration between UK Property Finance and Hope Capital ensured the client was able to go ahead with his ambitious investment project, at a time when securing funds against his BTL property would have proved almost impossible on the High Street.

Fast and Efficient Finance

“Working alongside the team at Hope Capital was a joy, they were very efficient and worked quickly to resolve any issues that arose during the process. The client wanted fast finance and that is exactly what was delivered by the team at Hope Capital and everyone else involved. The smooth process delivered by Hope Capital was a relief to the client and for the processing team at UK Property Finance.” - Sian Taylor, Processing Executive at UK Property Finance.

Fast-access bridging finance arranged by an experienced broker can be a uniquely cost-effective solution when looking to raise large amounts of capital as quickly as possible; bridging loans can also be used to purchase most types of non-standard and uninhabitable properties, ideal for investors planning to refurbish and sell them on for profit.

If you would like to learn more about bridging finance or discuss the benefits of bridging loans in more detail, reach out to a member of the team at UK Property Finance for an obligation-free consultation. 

VoxSmart Ltd., the global leader in communications surveillance, has announced the acquisition of GreenKey Technologies Inc., the industry-leading automated speech recognition (“ASR”) and natural language processing (“NLP”) provider, to further bolster its communications surveillance offering to global financial institutions.

The addition of GreenKey’s domain-specific communication analysis expertise will enable VoxSmart to rapidly accelerate growth and position the company as the de facto market leaders in natural language processing (NLP) and voice analytics for Financial Markets.

Commenting on the deal, Oliver Blower, CEO of VoxSmart said: “By acquiring GreenKey, we have added an extremely valuable asset to our product portfolio enabling us to provide even greater value and deeper insights to our clients. We continue to be extremely well positioned to help the market consolidate their surveillance assets with our unique ‘one platform’ approach”.

Anthony Tassone, CEO of GreenKey Technologies, added: “Following eight years of research and development focusing on voice data analysis for the financial markets, we are incredibly excited to be working with VoxSmart on this transaction. They have the breadth and depth of reach within this sector to take the technology to the next level.”

This acquisition marks a period of rapid growth for VoxSmart, following a $25 million growth equity investment injection from Toscafund earlier this year, which was designed to support transactions such as this.

George Koulouris, Partner of Toscafund, noted: “We are already seeing our investment in VoxSmart providing the necessary support in facilitating the completion of this deal, with the company well positioned to pursue further transactions and solidify its position as the market leader."

Tesselate Africa, a subsidiary of Tesselate Group, and Finastra, the largest pure-play software vendor that serves the entire financial services industry, today announced their partnership. Tesselate Africa is now certified as a distributor of Finastra’s Fusion Invest solution, bringing a comprehensive front-to-back experience for asset managers to Morocco.

"With Finastra's global presence and proven technology, combined with Tesselate's local expertise, this move enables asset managers to access our agile, open and collaborative solution to streamline operations and boost transparency. Fusion Invest accelerates investment processes seamlessly with predictable deployment and world-class product support," said Younes Guemouri, Senior Vice President and Managing Director Fusion Invest, Finastra.

In today's uncertain market conditions, asset management firms must balance the needs of their local clients with the requirements of international regulations, increasing pressures on fees, and the adoption of new technologies. In Morocco, the focus has been on portfolio management and risk management solutions that can both streamline a controlled investment process and ensure transparency of risk and performance analysis.

"Through this partnership and our Moroccan Centers of Excellence, Tesselate Africa aims to contribute to strengthening Morocco's position as a dynamic financial center in Africa and to consolidate its regional position as a financial hub," added Said Guida, Managing Partner of Tesselate Africa. “We are excited to work with Finastra to bring its proven technology to the region in support of our ambitions here.”

With Fusion Invest, asset managers can implement new portfolio strategies seamlessly, at speed and with greater efficiency. Robust models monitor portfolio and balance risk management throughout the investment decision process.

Tesselate has more than a decade of experience in consulting and managing technology projects dedicated to the financial sector, with expertise in corporate banking, risk management, capital markets, and asset management. It has deep experience in managing complex projects, helping financial institutions to meet organizational and operational changes to support business growth.

Global Fintech firm, Gold-i has restructured its development team, creating two new senior development roles as part of its growth strategy, both reporting into Chris James, Gold-i’s CTO. 

Dr Syed Ashar Akhtar has been promoted to Head of Development, with responsibility for the development of all products in the Gold-i portfolio.  Mo Alshanteer has been appointed Product Delivery Manager, responsible for managing the entire cycle of Gold-i products.

Dr Syed Ashar Akhtar joined Gold-i as a developer in 2014 and progressed to Team Lead, where he played a key role in the development of a number of Gold-i’s core products, including its multi-asset liquidity management platform, Matrix, Crypto Switch 2.0™ and business intelligence and risk management tool, Visual Edge.

As Head of Development – a newly created role following the merge of two separate development teams - he will manage a growing team of in-house and remote developers, with an initial focus on developments to Crypto Switch 2.0™ and a new version of Matrix.

Dr Syed Ashar Akhtar brings a wealth of experience to the role from both industry and academia, having started his career in software development in 2004 and achieved a doctorate in the development of predictive analytics to enhance learning.

Mo Alshanteer joined Gold-i six years ago and was promoted to Head of QA. In his new role, he will manage a team of three people, responsible for delivering new products in time and maintaining existing products.

Tom Higgins, CEO, Gold-i comments, “With a growing product portfolio and business at an all-time high, we decided this was the right time to promote Syed and Mo, streamlining our teams and enabling us to accelerate product development. We are currently looking to build our team with the appointment of additional developers.

“As part of our growth strategy we look to promote from within the organisation whenever possible and both Syed and Mo are highly valued members of the Gold-i team who thoroughly deserve their promotions. Both have exceptional industry and technical knowledge and are also great ambassadors of Gold-i’s core values: Innovate, Get It Done and Have Fun at Work.”

Dr Syed Ashar Akhtar, Head of Development at Gold-i says, “At Gold-i, I have been very fortunate to work on super exciting and innovative products. I have always ensured that code-quality, adaptability, reusability and traceability are reflected in all product development stages. The company’s culture and values make it a great place to work and I feel honoured to have this opportunity to lead the Gold-i development team.”

Mo Alshanteer, Product Delivery Manager at Gold-i adds, “Gold-i is an excellent company in innovating, developing, delivering and supporting products that help clients work better, manage risk and maximise profits. I feel very privileged to be part of the Gold-i team, managing the entire release cycle of all products.”

Gold-i specialises in multi-asset liquidity management, advanced risk management tools and business intelligence software. Its MetaTrader products include the Gold-i MT4 Bridge, MT5 Gateway, MAM Pro for MT4 and MT5, Matrix (liquidity management platform) and Visual Edge (advanced risk management and business intelligence tool). For further information, visit www.gold-i.com

• P20’s Financial Inclusion Working Group will be supported by EY participants, who will join P20’s Global Payments Conference in September and other P20 events
• Members of P20 include J.P. Morgan, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, FIS and others

P20 is delighted to announce EY as part of P20’s Financial Inclusion Working Group. The Working Group, led by Mastercard, has been developing best practices that form part of a global approach to breaking down barriers of financial exclusion which have grown and magnified during the Covid-19 pandemic.

P20 is the Voice of the Global Payments Industry and brings together industry leaders, regulators and government officials to collaborate in harmonizing a global approach and developing solutions to non-competitive issues in the payments industry. P20 focuses specifically in the areas of combating fraud & criminal transactions, cyber security and financial inclusion.

P20 regularly releases signature reports on payments and hosts its annual Global Payments Conference, which is attended by industry leaders, politicians, regulators and government officials. Previous participants include:

• David Cameron PC, former UK Prime Minister
• Governor Nathan Deal, former Governor of Georgia
• Jack Lew, former US Treasury Secretary
• Steven Mnuchin, former US Treasury Secretary
• Rishi Sunak PC MP, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Mary Ng PC MP, Canadian Minister of International Trade
• General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA
• Admiral Lord West of Spithead GCB DSC PC, former UK Security Minister
• Philip Hammond PC, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
• John Glen MP, UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury
• Kipp Kranbuhl, former US Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions
• George Holding, former US Congressman
• Gwyneth Nurse CB, Director of Financial Services, UK HM Treasury
• Christopher Woolard CBE, former Interim CEO, UK Financial Conduct Authority

Duncan Sandys, CEO, P20 says: “I am delighted EY will be part of our Financial Inclusion Working Group and look forward to seeing the contribution they will bring as we work with players across the industry to develop best practices for the global payments industry.”

Jan Bellens, EY Global Banking & Capital Markets Leader, says: “Financial inclusion is an important issue in the global payments space, and EY participants couldn’t be more excited to join P20’s Working Group. It will be great to exchange ideas on these issues in the hope of making an impact for the future.”

• EUROPEAN LEADER IN AI-DRIVEN INVESTMENT STRATEGIES RAISES NEW FUNDING TO ACCELERATE INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION

• NEW YORK OFFICE TO OPEN IN 2022

• ALBERTO ZAFFIGNANI, HEAD OF GLOBAL MARKETS ITALY AT NATIXIS, JOINS AS SHAREHOLDER AND NON-EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER

MDOTM, the European leader in AI-driven investment strategies, announces the successful completion of its € 6.2 million Series B fundraising. The funds will accelerate MDOTM’s international expansion, double the size of its teams in London and Milan, and see the company open a new office in the US. 

The new funds have been raised from institutional investors, private individuals and leading finance professionals, including Federico Ghizzoni, Chairman of Rothschild Italy and former CEO of UniCredit; Lorenzo Pagani, Managing Director at PIMCO; and Alberto Zaffignani, Managing Director and Head of Global Markets Italy at Natixis. Mr Zaffignani also joins MDOTM as a non-executive board member.

MDOTM was founded in London in 2015 by Tommaso Migliore and Federico Mazzorin to use artificial intelligence to support the investment decisions of asset owners and asset managers. The company, which raised € 2 million of Series A funding in 2018, now has a team of over 30 physicists, engineers, data scientists and finance experts. 

Currently, MDOTM has over € 750 million in Assets under Advisory. Its AI-driven strategies are used by banks, asset and wealth managers, pension funds, insurance companies and family offices.

Thanks to its innovative approach to AI, MDOTM is the only European fintech company to have been selected by Google to participate in its acceleration programme. It is also the winner of NTT DATA’s Open Innovation competition. In 2021, MDOTM’s ALICE™ technology - 'Adaptive Learning In Complex Environments' - was awarded ‘Asset Management Innovation of the Year’ by AIFiN. This year, MDOTM became the first AI-driven advisor to sign the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment, joining the leading international network of institutional investors committed to including ESG criteria in their investment process.

Tommaso Migliore, CEO and Co-Founder of MDOTM, said: “We founded MDOTM to bring the benefits of Artificial Intelligence to asset managers and asset owners. AI is revolutionising how investment decisions are made, and the future of asset management will be shaped by collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions. With the support of the many high-profile and experienced investors who participated in our latest fundraising, MDOTM is in a very good position to lead the sector, expand internationally and continue its rapid growth.” 

Alberto Zaffignani, MDOTM board member and investor, said: “A growing number of asset managers are looking to AI technology to enhance their investment decision-making and processes. MDOTM’s cutting-edge solutions already support many large financial institutions and the company is the European leader in AI-driven investment strategies. I’m delighted to support MDOTM’s young, bold and motivated team as the company embarks on the next phase of its growth.”