Almost half (48%) of regulated firms in the UK reported seeing a rise in financial crime attempts in the past 12 months, with a further 26% confirming they have been victims themselves - according to new research by leading RegTech firm SmartSearch.

The survey* of 500 regulated businesses in the financial services, legal and property sectors found just a quarter (25%) said they have not seen any change in the level of financial crime attempts.

Across the sectors more specifically legal firms, including conveyancers, were hardest hit with a third (33%) saying they had been victims of financial crime.

The findings form part of the SmartSearch Electronic Verification Uncovered campaign and reflect the unprecedented pressure on the property market during a long hot summer for house sales – a prime target for organised crime gangs laundering cash.

There were also significant variations across the regions of the UK with almost two thirds (64%) of regulated businesses in the East Midlands reporting a rise in fraud attempts, as well as 55% in London.

The increase in financial crime and money laundering has been driven primarily by the gaps in security that opened up due to the global coronavirus pandemic, as businesses rushed to adapt to new working practices.

Carrying out processes such as Know Your Customer (KYC) checks, and the due diligence required by anti-money laundering regulation, became increasingly challenging as face-to-face meetings were banned.

But while criminals were able to take advantage of those changes by making forgeries of hard documents such as passports and driving licences, legislation was introduced to help businesses by endorsing the use of electronic verification.

However, the SmartSearch survey also revealed that a significant number of firms, 13%, were not aware of the change which, according to CEO John Dobson, could prevent them becoming victims of money laundering.

He added: “There’s no doubt the conditions since the outbreak of coronavirus have been ripe for criminals to seize the opportunity for money laundering and other fraudulent activities in the property market. They have been able to do this because a lot of business still rely on manual methods of verification when onboarding new customers.

“Even so, the fact that half of the businesses we surveyed have reported an increase in criminal activity brings home the sheer scale of the problem.

“The most effective way of preventing this is by switching to a digital solution which does away with the need to riffle through documents which are easily forged by today’s organised crime gangs.

“In September 2020 the Money Laundering and Terrorist Finance Act recommended the switch to electronic verification, so it’s a concern that more than one in ten firms are still not aware of it.

“It is a key development in the AML sector as a digital platform ensures your business is 100% compliant with FCA regulations at all times. This avoids the potential for punitive fines or even criminal proceedings for non-compliance if your firm is found to be in breach.

“The message for regulated business that comes out of these findings is that switching to electronic verification is the smart thing to do, providing confidence through automated perpetual KYC processes.

“If the country is on the brink of another lockdown this winter, it is vital that businesses are not caught out by not having the right tools to avoid business disruption.”

For more information about anti-money laundering solutions in the UK, please visit www.smartsearch.com

Pires Investments plc, the investment company focused on next generation technology, is pleased to provide an update on its investment in Pluto Digital Assets plc ("Pluto"), a technology company that is operating in the exciting digital assets sector.

Pluto has recently announced a strategic partnership with NFT company, Terra Virtua Limited ("Terra Virtua"), and sports tycoon Jon Smith OBE, to develop sports-focused NFTs ("Non-Fungible Tokens"). The partnership has already announced an NFT agreement between Terra Virtua and the Indian Super League which was facilitated by the partnership.

As part of the partnership, Pluto will have economic participation with respect to NFT revenues achieved through the Terra Virtua platform with respect to a range of global sports organisations as commercially facilitated by the partnership. In collaboration with Pluto and Jon Smith, Terra Virtua has also already engaged with a wide number of other leading sports brands.

The understanding and awareness of NFTs and their potential has been rapidly gaining traction and the partnership has been established to capitalise on the belief of the growing demand in the NFT sector.

Nicholas Lee, Director of Pires, commented:

"We are very pleased with the announcement of Pluto's strategic partnership with Terra Virtua and sports tycoon Jon Smith to develop sports-focused NFTs. With an increasing understanding of NFTs and their potential, this partnership is well timed to capitalise on the sports NFT market which is set for considerable further growth."

Full announcement here: https://www.investegate.co.uk/pires-investments--piri-/rns/pluto-announces-strategic-nft-partnership/202109280958032144N/

TIBCO has kicked off it’s virtual user conference, TIBCO NOW Limitless 27-30 September 2021, with the announcement of significant updates to its Connect portfolio and evolution of TIBCO Cloud™, packed with enhanced features that provide digital leaders a unified, self-service, modern digital platform to run and adapt how the business operates. Innovative updates to integration, API management, and messaging offerings further empower users to connect, compose, and deliver any application, data source, and device. This positions the company's suite of solutions and services as one of the most comprehensive in the industry.

“A connected digital business requires accelerated development and connectivity to reach its full potential,” said Randy Menon, senior vice president and general manager, Connect and Cloud, TIBCO. “We’re raising the bar by accelerating digitally native business priorities and giving anyone in an organisation the power to do so. We offer a single, cohesive platform that supports the adaptability required by digital businesses, helping organisations capitalise on data and insights to make predictions in real time.”

Enhancements to key TIBCO Connect solutions include the following:

• TIBCO Cloud™ Integration: New automation capabilities empower a wide variety of business users to quickly streamline and automate key processes and workflows, which improve the efficiency of core business activities, such as onboarding, lead generation, and claims processing.  

• TIBCO Cloud™ API Management: Building on TIBCO Cloud™Mashery®, this new offering evolves API management to manage the value provided by a business expressed as APIs. The solution provides full lifecycle API management as an integral part of the TIBCO Cloud, with seamless connectivity into essential capabilities, such as integration, data analytics, process automation, and messaging. TIBCO Cloud API Management, along with new innovations enhancing the developer pipeline and a new visual editor for API design and testing, are immediately available to new and existing TIBCO Cloud Mashery and TIBCO Mashery® customers.

• TIBCO Cloud™ Messaging: New cloud-native storage options introduced in TIBCO Enterprise Message Service™X empower a new level of support for TIBCO Cloud Messaging. TIBCO Cloud Messaging enables open source solutions like Apache Pulsar and Apache Kafka to be fully managed in the cloud, and now offers native support for JMS with a managed TIBCO Enterprise Message Service support. The solution now facilitates simplified customer migration from on-premises estates to cloud-ready solutions without the need for a lift and shift approach.  

“As a business, we can't limit our choice of applications, data sources, and new application development based on the integration capabilities of our legacy environment. We need agile, interoperable systems with all applications, regardless of whether they are on-premises or in the cloud,” said Dan Chesterman, group executive, technology and data, and chief information officer, Australian Securities Exchange. “With TIBCO, we now have an environment that supports the cohesion we need with an expanded API universe and, most importantly, access to data no matter the source in real time for the decision-making insights we need.”

TIBCO Cloud is a comprehensive platform that runs and adds agility to your digital business. A refreshed user experience gives more users a pulse on their connected business within a personalised, 360° platform experience. In addition, automated decisioning, developed within a completely no-code experience for business users, builds a real-time digital experience that senses and response proactively and intelligently to key business events. 

“To keep pace in today’s fast-changing environments, our customers can’t afford prescribed approaches that limit their digital business initiatives. They need business agility, allowing complete flexibility that enables anyone to connect any app, data, and device, using an approach that best meets their business needs,” said Michael Guillory, chief marketing officer and vice president, Industry Relations, Sage IT. “With TIBCO, our customers have complete freedom of choice, helping them rapidly evolve to a modern architecture that is highly scalable and flexible.”

TIBCO Cloud advancements were introduced during the Connect track of TIBCO NOW™2021. When combined with the extensive suite of TIBCO solutions, they offer connectivity for better access to data and accelerated time to insights. 

• She’s Next, Empowered by Visa launches in Ireland offering grants and mentorship to women-owned small businesses
• Ireland is first country in Europe to launch programme
• New research by Visa shows women business owners disproportionately impacted by Covid-19 with over 50% finding the past year a challenge

Visa is today launching its global programme ‘She’s Next, Empowered by Visa’ in Ireland, to support women-led small and independent businesses, many of which have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Europe’s inaugural She’s Next programme will provide additional funding options for women business-owners in Ireland, with the chance to apply for one of five grants totalling €25,000.  

In partnership with the go-to funding marketplace for women-owned businesses IFundWomen, women entrepreneurs in Ireland, across all industries and sectors, are invited to apply for one of five €5,000 grants. The winning businesses will also be awarded mentorship and coaching from IFundWomen for one year to support them with moving their business forward.

Applications are now open until 2 November 2021 at IFundWomen.com/VisaIreland.

A mission to support women-led small businesses

Even as the country reopens, small businesses in Ireland continue to struggle because of the pandemic, with women entrepreneurs finding it particularly challenging. In a recent Visa study[i] of small business owners in Ireland, the majority of women (55%) said the past year has been a challenge for their business, while the majority of men (52%) stated it had been an opportunity.

Gender inequality in entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon. In Ireland, there are nearly double the number of men for every woman who is an early-stage entrepreneur, which is well above the average across the OECD[ii]. More than half (58%)[iii] of men in Ireland perceive that they have the necessary skills to start a business, compared to just 38% of women.

“The pandemic has impacted all small businesses across the country, but women business-owners have been disproportionately affected,” said Dominic White, Country Manager Ireland, Visa.

“Visa wants to spotlight and address the challenges faced by women and the gender imbalance that still exists in early entrepreneurship. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy in Ireland, and we all have a role to play in supporting them as they get back on their feet. To ensure they get the support needed, we are committed to providing the tools, resources, insights and networking opportunities that can help them grow their businesses. We’re excited to be bringing this opportunity to women-owned businesses in Ireland today and hope these grants will support them in making their next move.”

Women business leaders get behind She’s Next

Owner of Irish brand ‘Moxi Loves’ and former ‘The Apprentice’ runner-up Pamela Laird explains why the She’s Next programme is such an important step in bolstering women-led businesses:

“I can’t emphasise enough how valuable Visa’s She’s Next programme will be to women in business in Ireland. These grants can make all the difference to a business in its early stages or one in need of a boost, whether it goes towards a website, social media, branding, marketing, or research, this is the extra support that women in business need right now. Having access to the right mentorship is just as valuable to growing a business, so the coaching element of the programme is a fantastic benefit.”

Female designers behind the Irish creative brand Jill & Gill are also getting behind the She’s Next programme. Jill Deering, co-founder of the company added, “We are regularly approached by women entrepreneurs who are looking for guidance and advice on where to go for supports for their business, whether they are at idea stage or further down the line. We welcome more structured programmes aimed at women business-owners in Ireland and that is why She’s Next is such an important initiative.” 

How to apply

The She’s Next Grant Programme, in partnership with IFundWomen, is open to small businesses and organisations who are majority owned by women, operating across all industries and sectors, through a simple application process. To enter, applicants are asked to submit details about their business and online presence at IFundWomen.com/VisaIreland.

Applications are invited under five different categories:

• General awards for
  • Micro business: sole proprietorships or microbusinesses with no more than two employees
  • Early-stage business: Businesses founded and incorporated within the last 24 months
  • Small business: Any small business with less than 50 employees
• Additional two categories for:
  • Innovation: Businesses in science, technology, engineering or medicine that are focused on developing new technologies.
  • Social impact: Small businesses and not for profit organisations that have made a positive impact on their communities. 

“We’re so grateful for partners like Visa that have such an appreciation and commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs,” said Karen Cahn, Founder & CEO at IFundWomen. “It’s an honour to partner with them for the inaugural She’s Next Grant Programme in Ireland, and we’re confident that with continued funding and resources, each women-led business will not only recover but bounce back stronger.”  

With the expansion of the She’s Next Grant Programme, Visa aims to bolster its long-standing commitment to supporting small businesses, particularly those led by women entrepreneurs. Prior to the extension of Visa’s global She’s Next Grant Programme, Visa launched the small business toolkit offering solutions to enable SMEs to drive efficiency and sales through acceptance of digital payments and expanding businesses online.

The real-time payments partnership highlights the full potential of open payments

Today, IFX Payments and Volt announce a new partnership, integrating IFX Payments’ virtual IBANs with Volt Connect.  

The partnership will provide UK and EU-based merchants with complete visibility of open banking payment flows end-to-end and real-time reconciliation and settlement management.  The joint solution will also provide the ability to initiate refunds and payouts as well as offering highly competitive treasury and FX rates.

This integration between IFX Payments’ virtual IBANs with Volt Connect, for UK and EU-based merchants, is a significant development for open banking payments as until now, open banking payments did not provide transparency of payment flows, nor the breadth of functionalities that merchants and their payments teams need. 

IFX Payments was founded in 2005 to provide bespoke FX solutions to both corporate and private clients. With offices in London, Warsaw, Dubai and Australia, it’s success to date has been driven by its bespoke payments & FX technology aimed at managing risk, providing robust advice and delivering effective global payment solutions. 

Will Marwick, CEO at IFX Payments, said: “Our ongoing aim is to make cross-border payments seamless and stress free for all our clients.  By offering virtual IBANs to Volt customers, we take away the laborious requirement of reconciliation and give merchants the confidence of complete transparency of payment journeys.

“Volt is pioneering the new market standard for PISP services, and the combination of our two bespoke technologies creates the perfect holistic solution.”

Volt CEO Tom Greenwood added: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with our friends at IFX Payments to launch this market-leading functionality through our joint solution.

“This represents a game changer for open payments, enabling real-time visibility of the full payments value chain.”

Volt is driving the real-time payments revolution. By connecting the world’s new-generation payments schemes, we give merchants across the globe the ability to receive direct, account-to-account payments from their customers, in real-time.

Cryptocurrencies have completely changed the way we look at online transactions and making a profit online. These digital assets managed to revolutionize the financial industry and present people with a futuristic payment method.

They have quite a lot of advantages which is why they are considered superior to regular payment methods. That is the topic that we wanted to discuss in this article. We are going to name these advantages and use them as a reason why people want to invest in crypto. Let’s break down the details.

The Chance To Make A Profit

Let’s start with the most obvious reason – the chance to make money. Now, it is worth noting that there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies on the market and now all of them are profitable. But, there are a select few which have a solid price tag and can earn you a hefty profit.

Take a look at Bitcoin, for example. This cryptocurrency is valued at almost $40,000 and research has shown that it has helped over 100,000 people to become millionaires. Ether is yet another extremely valuable cryptocurrency. Its current value is around $2,000 and what makes it so unique is that it operates in its network called Ethereum.

Lastly, we have the so-called stablecoins. Even though they are not as valuable as the aforementioned 2, they are not subject to the massive volatility rate, which makes them the perfect choice for trading. Tether is one of those stablecoins and it is valued at $1.

Speaking of trading, cryptocurrencies are bought and sold at trading sites. To gain access to these platforms, you just need to register and verify your account. One of the most reputable trading sites on the planet is yuan pay group official site. This platform allows registered traders to connect with thousands of buyers/sellers from all around the world.

Security And Efficiency While Paying Online

Apart from making money with cryptocurrencies, we mentioned that they are superior to regular payment methods and here's how. Cryptocurrencies are not controlled by banks. They utilize the so-called blockchain technology which allows them to remain self-sustainable and highly decentralized.

Through crypto mining, all of the users are making sure that transactions are processed and the network remains stable. This leads to one massive advantage when paying online and that is efficiency. When banks process online payments, it takes up to 5 days for a transaction to be completed, which is a bit long. The processing time of cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, is instant.

Not only that, but cryptocurrencies utilize a method called cryptology. Thanks to cryptology (or also referred to as cryptography) users’ data is masked and thus, they gain a certain level of online anonymity. The anonymity makes cryptocurrencies far more secure than regular payment methods.

Saving Money

The fact that cryptocurrencies are out of the control of the banks brings us to yet another advantage, which is saving money. Here’s how it works. When banks process online payments, they usually impose fees as they are the main way through which they make a profit.

That is not the case when people use cryptocurrencies. Thanks to the fact that banks are excluded from the equation, users void many types of fees. Not only that, but general fees are also much lower. Hence, when using crypto, you are saving money and have the chance to make money as we saw earlier.

Salvadorans Have An Extra Reason

Finally, if you are from El Salvador, there is an extra reason why you should in cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. Recently, El Salvador legalized Bitcoin. The reason for that is that this country does not have an official currency and as its president said, Bitcoin will make it easier for the people living abroad to send money to friends and family back home.

 Fime has been chosen by Australia’s domestic payment scheme eftpos to support its ecosystem’s migration to the latest EMV^®* 3DS protocols with its EMV 3DS test solution powered by Fime Test Factory. This initiative will help eftpos to reduce time to market for its members and enable seamless and secure authentication experiences when shopping online.

Fime’s online testing solution, consulting support and managed services are enabling eftpos to share the benefits of digital onboarding with stakeholders, including:

·       Reduced testing time through automated end-to-end testing of Access Control Servers (ACS), and 3DSS Servers.

·       A user-friendly experience with quick and easy onboarding through web access.

·       An “anytime & anywhere” cloud-based solution, enabling 24/7 tool availability and multiple users to collaborate in real-time.

·       Reduced time to market.

Fime Test Factory also enables eftpos to integrate new test scenarios and value-added services over time.

eftpos Chief Product Officer, Matt Barr, said: “We are passionate about enhancing digital commerce experiences for our customers and are working with world-class providers like Fime to bring our eCommerce products to market quickly.”

“Fime’s solution has enabled eftpos to build its eCommerce approach to provide frictionless user experiences, without compromising on security,” comments James Daniels, VP Head of APAC at Fime. “eftpos needed state-of-the-art EMV 3DS testing to ensure its members’ solutions can easily connect to its Directory Server and operate as they should in the field. Fime has supported domestic schemes around the world to improve processes and bring forward innovations. Digitizing testing and offering on-behalf services will help eftpos support its members and end users.”

Find more about the end-to-end support Fime can offer domestic schemes on our website.

*EMV^® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC.

When diversifying investments, asset owners can put their investments into various economic sectors or different international markets such as developed or emerging markets. Amundi now expanded its successful Prime ETF range with yet another low-cost ETF, the Amundi Prime Emerging Markets UCITS ETF, allowing investors to invest in emerging markets easily and consistently within the entire Prime Range. The ETF replicates the performance of the Solactive GBS Emerging Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index and started trading on September 28^th on XETRA.

When considering international markets, investors have the choice to select from two large clusters: developed markets, which include most developed countries in both economic and capital markets, and emerging markets, which display characteristics of developed markets but do not fully meet the criteria in terms of standards of living and the development of their infrastructure and capital markets. For decades, investors have put their investments in both emerging and developed markets to diversify their portfolios. The Solactive GBS Emerging Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index, which is part of the Solactive Global Benchmark Series, intends to track the performance of the large and mid cap segment covering approximately the largest 85% of the free-float market capitalization in the Emerging Markets. The index is calculated in USD, and its constituents are weighted by free-float market capitalization.

Timo Pfeiffer, Chief Markets Officer at Solactive, comments: ”Our Solactive GBS Emerging Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index offers logical and cohesive access to emerging markets, which owned their rightful place in investor’s portfolios for decades now. We are delighted that Amundi expands their Prime ETF range with our indices once more, and we are looking forward to jointly enable investors to further engage with high-quality benchmark offerings.”

Matthieu Guignard, Global Head of Product Development and Capital Markets of Amundi ETF, Indexing & Smart Beta, said: “Reflecting the purpose of our Prime ETF range, which is to provide the must-have building blocks for a diversified asset allocation, we are broadening our offering to include Emerging Markets equities exposure. With this latest addition to our range, we offer investors a competitive solution to access this promising market and incorporate this new essential investment exposure in their allocation.”

New quarterly report reveals most in-demand goods bought for resale using automated bots

ManchesteNetacea, the bot detection and mitigation specialist, today launches its Top Five Scalper Bots Quarterly Index, a list of leading items targeted by scalper bots globally. This first index covers April to June 2021 and shows a mix of technology and fashion as the most frequently targeting items by scalper bots.

The top five items targeted by scalper bots in Q2 2021 were:

1. Air Jordan Retro 1 High OG sneakers: These popular shoes can sell for more than seven times their original price of $110.
2. PlayStation 5: One botnet of 300 compromised machines made one million purchase attempts of PS5s in just six hours.
3. Gaming graphic cards (especially the NVIDIA RTX 3000 series): Driven by many factors, including the success of streaming sites like Twitch and a highly anticipated product line.
4. Yeezy Boost 700 MNVN sneakers: Despite limited numbers dropped every hour on Yeezy Day, most fans were left disappointed thanks to scalper bots.
5. Cryptomining graphics cards: Crypto hype has meant gamers were struggling to buy cards even without scalper bots getting in the way.

Scalper bots, also known as sneaker bots or grinch bots, target merchandise in high demand or limited supply and snap it up faster than human users. The merchandise is then sold for a profit. Increasingly, these bots are easily available to the public and not just to experienced hackers with access to the dark web.

While scalper bots are not new and were once a niche concern, mostly to the ticket industry, they have been under growing scrutiny during the last 18 months as they target more popular consumer goods. The limited stock following the release of the PlayStation 5, for example, shows that no retail product is safe from scalper bots.

“It’s an especially difficult time for retailers. In addition to supply chain issues adding to the challenges of the last two years, they increasingly face the risk of bots buying their most popular items before their customers—a trend that negatively impacts prices and a brand’s reputation,” said Andy Still, CTO at Netacea. “Our ongoing research into how businesses can better protect themselves from bot activity also gives us deep insight into what’s happening across many retail sectors. We are pleased to be able to share our findings with this first-of-its-kind index and hope that the information it provides will help retailers understand if they are likely to be a target.”