Leading API platform M2P Solutions partners with global payments enabler Buckzy Payments Inc. to facilitate cross-border payments for the un/underbanked

M2P Solutions, Asia’s largest API infrastructure company, has entered into a strategic partnership with Buckzy Payments, Inc, a Toronto-based global fintech delivering industry-leading payment solutions. M2P’s platform will enable cross-border payments for its partners in the MENA region through Buckzy’s safe, secure and convenient ecosystem to markets spanning North America, Canada, Latin America and Europe.

The collaboration will serve as a crucial catalyst for banks, exchange houses and Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) to offer better services across underserved corridors for payments. Markets such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman among others across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will leverage this partnership.

“We are very excited to partner with M2P for delivering world-class financial solutions and services making it easier to meet the demands of a fast-growing customer base in the region,” said Abdul Naushad, Chief Executive Officer of Buckzy. 

Madhusudanan R, Co-Founder, M2P Solutions, said, “As a Fintech enabling platform company, we are constantly looking for new ways to partner, and enable products that are reliable, built on the foundation of leveraging cutting-edge technology, we are glad to find a partner in Buckzy and are looking forward to serving banks and Fintechs jointly with them.”

Financial institutions of every size and scale can access this cutting-edge infrastructure network and launch their own cross-border payment products. M2P’s agile, scalable and secure API platform delivers incredible go-to-market speed and efficacy across payment products such as credit, debit and prepaid cards, Neobanking, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and cross-border solutions.

“We are clearly aligned in our mission to improve global banking and transaction settlement services that unlocks the borderless banking and global economic opportunities for all,” said Adrian Brown, Managing Director for Buckzy in EMEA. “Combining Buckzy’s network with M2P’s API platform delivers an outstanding customer experience and competitive advantage for customers.”

Vaanathi Mohanakrishnan, Business Head M2P Solutions, MEA, says, “The GCC region presents immense potential and enabling corridors like the US, Canada and LATAM among other regions is of strategic importance to M2P solutions as we aim to enable seamless money flows. A lot of M2P’s strategy hinges on enabling fintechs to deliver solutions leveraging our infrastructure and partner network. We are excited to be partnering with Buckzy to deliver frictionless cross border payment experiences to customers in the MENA region.

Buckzy’s expansive network allows cross-border payments to happen in real time across the globe. This enables enterprise and financial institution alike to offer more to their customers through white-label solutions on a secure platform, as well as collections and payouts in local currency in addition to all major corridors. Banking-as-a-Service and foreign exchange solutions take that offering even further by delivering on all cross-border payment needs.

Licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, FINTRAC in the United States and FINCEN in Canada, Buckzy is also ISO 20022 certified making each transaction secure and compliant.

Providing access to high-quality patient payment solutions has become a vital component of dental care management.

Across healthcare, seamless and efficient payment experience has become a critical component to the patient experience. In a 2019 study, 41% of patients said they would switch providers over a poor intake or payment experience. 

Dental practices, often small businesses with limited budgets, have been slow to implement new payment technologies. As a result, patients often find themselves struggling with limited knowledge of their payment options, with many finding it difficult to make payments properly. Several practices still use antiquated billing and payment systems or have a clunky digital experience that requires the patient to enter information manually.

"As patients, we have all felt the challenge of wanting better care and the pain of struggling to afford that care," said Craig Haynor, CEO of FeatherPay. "We designed FeatherPay to help practices make dental care as accessible to as many people as possible."

FeatherPay lets dental care providers easily introduce an intuitive, flexible patient payment experience into their practices with no technical expertise required. The FeatherPay platform improves the dental patient payment experience and, by extension, enhances the patient/provider relationship. 

With FeatherPay, patients have total control over how they want to pay. Multiple payment types are accepted, and patients have the flexibility to combine different kinds of payment types to pay for care. Whether a patient prefers contactless payment or paying in person, FeatherPay is able to accommodate. The platform facilitates a hassle-free payment experience in the office, over the phone, or online. 

Practices using FeatherPay have seen substantial increases in their treatment plan acceptance, as well as streamlined administrative operations.

Supporting the need for industry collaboration on emerging technologies impacting the payments ecosystem, leading enterprise software applications provider BHMI announced it has officially joined the U.S. Payments Forum.

As a national, cross-body organization focused on key issues impacting the payments industry, the U.S. Payments Forum promotes the efficient and effective introduction of new and emerging payments technologies across the country. Expanding from the EMV Migration Forum, the U.S. Payments Forum works with various payments companies, associations and suppliers to address a wide range of topics including EMV implementation, tokenization, card-not-present transactions, encryption and mobile and contactless payments. As a member, BHMI will support the organization’s efforts to collaborate with fellow payments industry stakeholders helping enhance the successful implementation, adoption and security of these technologies.

"The U.S. Payments Forum’s driving goal is to create an open environment for discussion and collaboration on emerging payments technologies among our members, providing actionable guidance and best practices for successfully implementing these new solutions,” said Jason Bohrer, Executive Director of the U.S. Payments Forum. “We welcome BHMI’s wealth of industry knowledge, expertise and commitment in supporting our vital mission.”

"As the payments industry continues its fast-paced evolution, it’s critical we work together as a community to help ensure these new, important technologies are implemented safely, effectively and efficiently,” said Dr. Jack Baldwin, CEO of BHMI. “We share the U.S. Payments Forum’s vision of creating an open, collaborative dialogue among all stakeholders to address these challenges and look forward to working with our fellow members to advance the organization’s efforts.”

Further expanding Firmenich's footprint in China, Studio Guangzhou supports demand for localized fragrances & health-conscious products

Firmenich, the world's largest privately-owned fragrance and taste company, today announced the opening of its new customer experience studio in Guangzhou, continuing its expansion in China. The studio is the company's first integrated sensorial centre in South China, allowing the Group to respond with agility to local consumer and customer demands for tailored and health-conscious products in this fast-growing market.

"Bringing the Group's commercial, marketing and creative teams under one roof in Guangzhou, where they can co-create innovative offerings with our customers, gives us a unique position in the all-important Guangdong province after over 30 years of successful China operations," said Paul Andersson, President, Firmenich China. "In line with Firmenich China's Transform 2025 plan that guides our growth strategy, opening a customer-centric facility in Guangzhou reinforces our strong commitment to the country, the economy of Southern China and the fast-growing customer base in the dynamic South."

"Firmenich is working with its customers to shape the future of fragrance and the diet transformation of taste and beyond. We are thrilled to see China poised to become a leading consumer market globally, and this center is a key step to work more closely with our local customers," commented Emmanuel Butstraen, President, Taste & Beyond. "Alongside our data-driven consumer insights tailored to unique local needs, we will be very focused on providing best in class innovation for healthier food, including sugar & salt reduction and plant-based products, with authentic and delicious local solutions."

"The new studio epitomizes Firmenich's 'Positive Perfumery' ethos underscoring our belief that fragrance has an inherent power to improve quality of life in a meaningful way," said Ilaria Resta, President, Perfumery. "China is our strategic market worldwide, and being able to deliver a diverse range of benefits to an even wider base of consumers is an important element of our China expansion strategy."

At the opening event, guests were invited on a sensory voyage of discovery via the studio's Diffusion Booth, its Ideation Lab and on-site evaluation and creation facilities. The interactive, immersive experience enabled the participants to experience Firmenich's approach to creating highly localized customer journeys, first-hand.

In recent years, the logistics and supply chain industry has ushered in many important capital events, with a lot of companies went public in fields like express, supply chain, freight platform, aviation logistics and automatic driving. As a comprehensive fund covering multiple industries and fields, Legend Capital has already made a long-term and systematic investment layout in the field of logistics and supply chain. According to public information, Legend Capital has invested in more than 10 companies in such field, including Milkyway (603713.SH), Eastern Air Logistics (601156.SH), JD Logistics (2618.HK), Hichain Logistics (300873.SZ), China Southern Cargo, FOR-U Smart Freight, SF Freight, SF Intra-city and Yanwen logistics, among which SF Intra-city and Yanwen logistics have filed for IPOs in the Hong Kong and Mainland China, respectively.

Based on nearly a decade of experience, Legend Capital has already built an accomplished framework and investment system in the field of logistics and supply chain. It also divides the business into three stages, and identifies different investment opportunities in each stage.

Stage 1.0 "Logistics": The essence of this stage is how to transport cargo at low cost and high efficiency based on the needs of consumption or manufacturing industry. In terms of investment in the logistics field, Legend Capital not only pays attention to the incremental market opportunities brought by changes in business flow, scene, technology and policy , but also actively looks for special opportunities such as spin-off, M&A and mixed ownership reform; Stage 2.0 "Supply Chain Service": On the basis of fulfilling transportation needs , Legend Capital looks for enterprises with intelligent supply chain service that could provide value-added services such as raw material procurement, warehousing, finished product distribution and after-sales, and hence achieve the goal of "full link, agility, efficiency, reliability"; Stage 3.0 is to use the concept of "digital transformation, collaborative delivery and platform development" to build industrial Internet.

With around ten-year-experience, Legend Capital's investment strategy of logistics and supply chain mainly focuses on the infrastructure related to consumer goods, retail distribution, industrial manufacturing, and medical health.

Unlike other funds and investment institutions, Legend Capital, on the basis of long-term, comprehensive and in-depth research on the industry, selectively invests in excellent companies with huge industry influence. Besides, Legend Capital empowers enterprises by using the ecological resources of investment enterprises and its value-added services. Under the guidance of long-term value, Legend Capital also advocates and promotes the communication and cooperation among its portfolio companies to create more opportunities on win-win cooperation.

Legend Capital thinks highly of bringing long-term value and value-added services to its portfolio companies. Richard Li, the President of Legend Capital, said: "Logistics and supply chain investment has entered the critical period, and there will be more cross-industry investment opportunities. We have a lot of cooperation with leading enterprises in various industries. When opportunities arise, we have enough experience to support them to grow from BU (business unit) to independent company. "

According to Legend Capital, the logistics and supply chain industry has entered a new stage with information technology empowers various industries. Meanwhile, the new market conditions will generate new traffic and new data, which brings new demands for new kind of resource integration and delivery methods.
 

The mass layoffs and office closures caused by the COVID-19 have affected almost every industry and sector. As a result, hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide were pushed out of the track, and many of them couldn't meet the challenges posed by the pandemic.

According to data presented by BuyShares.co.uk, 213.6 million companies were operating worldwide last year, 560,000 less than in 2019.

The First Drop in Two Decades

After the COVID-19 hit, businesses had to react in agile and decisive ways. For most of them, that meant changing how they operate, provide services, and communicate with clients. While some companies, especially in the eCommerce and tech sector, found new opportunities emerging in the COVID-19 environment, many of them were not that fortunate.

According to Statista, Eurostat and World Bank data, before the pandemic, the number of companies had been increasing for two decades in a row. In 2000, more than 122 million companies were operating worldwide. By the end of 2010, this figure jumped to nearly 160 million and continued rising. Six years later, it touched 185 million.

Statistics show that 2017 and 2018 witnessed the biggest annual growth, with the number of companies operating worldwide rising by 20 million to 205 million in total. In 2019, another 9 million firms started doing business, increasing the total number to over 214 million.

However, the COVID-19 changed that and brought the first drop in two decades, as the number of businesses slipped to 213.6 million globally.

The Number of Asian Companies Jumped by 700,000 in a Year, US Market the Worst Hit

Statistics show that companies from the Asia Pacific region were much less affected by the COVID-19 than their European or American peers. In fact, the total number of companies from this region increased by 700,000 in a year, despite the pandemic.

The EMEA region had 57.2 million companies operating last year, slightly decreasing from 57.6 million in 2019.

The vast majority of companies forced to close their business due to the pandemic were from North and South America. After the COVID-19 hit, the total number of enterprises in the region plunged by 900,000 to 24.1 million.

According to the survey, small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) were much worse affected by the COVID-19 crisis than large firms. In 2020, the number of SMEs plunged by more than 500,000 to 212.9 million in total. At the same time, the number of large enterprises with 250 employees or more slipped to around 667,000, compared to 685,000 a year ago.

New York, Toronto, Charlotte, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad 

Synechron, Inc., a leading digital transformation consulting firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry, today announced that Rajeev Batra has joined the firm as Managing Director-Insurance, North America. Based in Chicago, Rajeev has over 25 years of experience across a variety of insurance-focused leadership roles and will be leading and expanding Synechron’s portfolio of insurance company relationships across its North American footprint.

Rajeev’s appointment, which is effective immediately, will allow Synechron to further build upon its successful financial services-led insurance industry growth momentum, and increase Synechron’s deep digital, business consulting and technology business. In 2017, Synechron launched its proprietary InsurTech Accelerator program through its award-winning Financial Innovation Labs (FinLabs). The InsurTech Accelerator program provides Insurance Companies – brokers, agents, and underwriters – with a set of business-driven applications to address business challenges.

These solutions leverage Synechron’s digital innovation expertise and include Artificial Intelligence/Cognitive Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation, Blockchain, Mobile Applications & Customer Experience Design and the Internet of Things (IoT). Additionally, Synechron has now expanded its offerings to retirement plan platform providers and developed an advanced AI toolkit specialising in the Insurance industry which aimed at resolving technical challenges in areas such as Digital Underwriting, Digital Onboarding, Coverage Recommendations, Claims Processing, Sentiment Analysis and many more.

Rajeev brings Synechron more than 25 years of experience across a variety of insurance-focused leadership roles. Most recently he worked at Capgemini as a Vice President, and has extensive experience with insurance industry relationship building, developing go-to-market strategies, furthering targeted client acquisitions, managing strategic account management, and developing InsurTech partnerships to facilitate front-, middle-, and back-office industry leading solutions.

In making the announcement of Rajeev’s appointment, Faisal Husain, Co-founder, and CEO at Synechron said, “We are pleased to have someone with Rajeev’s depth of knowledge, broad experience and understanding of the insurance industry domain joining our Synechron team. Insurance technology services has been one of our core capabilities within our niche financial services industry focus and we will continue to accelerate digital transformation for the insurance industry with our partners and clients.” He added, “We know that Rajeev will become a trusted change partner they can rely upon.” 

“I am extremely happy to now be a part of Synechron, working alongside many talented individuals all aligned on our mission,” said Rajeev Batra, Synechron’s newly appointed Managing Director – Insurance, North America. “The insurance industry is facing critical challenges. This includes the need to modernize decades-old heritage systems, processes and applications, real competitive threats from digitally savvy startups, and the need to embrace cutting-edge technology and digital innovation to provide enhanced product and service capabilities to customers. In addition, insurance enterprises will need help understanding the new insurance landscape and envisioning the future of insurance. Niche and well-respected players, like Synechron, have the experience and innovative culture to address these challenges and others. Together, Synechron and I are working toward the shared realization of a highly beneficial digital transformation for insurance enterprises to energize, empower and grow their companies.” He added, “I look forward to working with my Synechron colleagues to enable many insurance firms to provide top notch products and services that will delight their customers and provide future growth potential.”  

• Financial coaching app Claro launches a campaign encouraging the public to reduce their Buy Now Pay Later reliance in exchange for a free financial coaching session
• Using the app, people can speak to a financial coach, create a financial plan, set goals and grow their money

The UK’s first financial coaching app, Claro, is encouraging the British public to reduce their reliance on Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes by launching a series of eye-catching billboards at key landmarks in the capital.

Claro is on a mission to help everyone develop a smart money mindset and a healthy relationship with money, so that they can achieve their goals. It has launched – “Bye Now Pay Later” – a series of digital billboards which feature shocking statistics on the financial habits of society, at prominent sites in London, including Oxford Street, London Bridge, Canary Wharf and Westminster.

The digital financial coaching app’s campaign encourages the public to claim one of 1,000 free one-to-one personal finance coaching calls, where they can get help creating a financial plan and building sustainable financial habits, in an effort to drive lasting change in the way society manages money.

The recent Woolard Review and subsequent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) plans for regulation of BNPL schemes means changes will be made to the sector, however their rapid rise over the pandemic means that reforms will be too late for many.

The campaign features a series of hard-hitting statistics from Claro’s own research, published in its Mental Health Project report, created in partnership with Mental Health UK and The Money Charity, which found:

• 41% have been living beyond their means at some point over the last 12 months,
• 20% of households couldn’t last a month if they lost their main source of income, without needing to borrow money,
• 29% of 18 – 30 year olds don’t use a budget to manage their income and expenditure.

Rob Brockington, CEO at Claro comments: “Unconsidered spending and an overreliance on unsecured financial products, such as Buy Now Pay Later schemes, can ruin people’s personal finances for years. We want to reduce this reliance, and remind consumers that they have a choice in how they save, spend and invest their money. Our ‘Bye Now Pay Later’ campaign is aiming to raise awareness of the benefits of better money management for everyone, regardless of their income, bank balance and social standing.”

Claro’s “Bye Now Pay Later” digital billboards also hit the road, with an advertising van visiting the country’s most famous high street, highstreet Oxford Street, the ASOS head office, Boohoo London office, Klarna and ClearPay head offices.

Claro is also inviting BNPL providers and retailers to a meeting to explore ways of promoting considered spending among the public, and educating people on unsecured credit products. The financial coaching app believes that there is a place for BNPL products in the market, however it should be used occasionally, rather than relied on. Issues can begin if a regular habit of using these products is made. Better awareness and education are needed to prevent an overreliance on these facilities.

Dr Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Open University Business School (OUBS), said: “Buy Now Pay Later products, especially when accompanied by an "interest-free" headline offer, can be particularly appealing to cash-strapped consumers.

“Some BNPL offers are in good faith, with the win-win aim of allowing customers to spread payments affordably whilst increasing sales. However, others amount to worryingly ethically questionable practices.

“Firstly, some providers are knowingly encouraging impulsive buying behaviour, which our research shows significantly increases the chances of experiencing financial distress. The Woolard report highlights a correlation between those with pre-existing mental health concerns and the up-take of unsecured financial products such as BNPL. A combination of an increased chance of financial distress with pre-exposure to mental health challenges is surely an area that leads to significant concern for individuals and society. 

“Secondly, it is far too common for BNPL providers to impose high interest rates and excessive penalties (above traditional regulated financial credit) when consumers fail to meet payment deadlines. This relies on the well documented psychological tendency many consumers have to underestimate the difficulty of remembering or meeting payment schedules. As the Woolard report also highlights, BNPL are commonly targeting a younger audience and this may be seen to some as preying on the lack of experience or knowledge of financial products and the impact these can have on not only credit scores but mental wellbeing, if not carefully managed.

“It seems likely that in many cases, BNPL firms are profiting from offering low or interest-free credit headline offers carefully targeted at specific consumers not just by generating increased sales for retailers but also through penalty interest rates and additional charges. If consumers predominantly used the headline advertised interest free options the BNPL would most likely not generate comparable profits and this demonstrates the commercial reliance on exploiting known psychological traits of targeted sections of our society.”

Rob Brockington, continued: “There are parallels between the safe use of credit cards and BNPL products, however there isn’t currently the same level of awareness around the considered usage of BNPL products like there is with 0% interest credit cards and their strict no repayment fee terms. We want consumers to approach BNPL schemes with the same caution they would when taking out a credit card, but building this awareness takes time. We would like to see the FCA review and regulate the industry in the same way Sweden has done with the introduction of the e-commerce payments bill.”

Rachel Harte, Head of Financial Coaching at Claro, continued: “The rapid rise of BNPL providers and schemes must be met with an equally speedy increase in awareness of the dangers of its misuse. We want to instil better habits in people when using these schemes – there is nothing wrong in using BNPL if the debt is paid-off within the 30 days or soon after. However, the truth of the matter is for many, using BNPL schemes becomes a habit and the problem is exacerbated as more retailers provide the service at the point of purchase.”

The free to download app, which launched on 16 August, helps users to learn, plan, save and invest their money, and is already in high demand with over 20,000 users signed up to its waiting list. Claro is offering limited users a 2% cash bonus on their first £3,000, aimed to help people build an emergency fund. 

Rob Brockington, continued: “Most people are overlooked when it comes to financial support as it is typically aimed at those with significant savings or investment portfolios. Claro is designed for people at all stages of their financial journey. Our new 2% cash bonus will kickstart users’ efforts in saving for their financial goals.”

The app has been developed to directly support users to build an achievable yet effective financial plan, regardless of their income or financial stage.

Those wanting to remove their reliance on buy now pay later facilities for non-essential spending can visit www.Claromoney.co.uk/byenow and download the iOS app to claim their free one-to-one financial coaching call. Registrations for the coaching call are valid until 30 September.

Through comprehensive in-app features, including one-to-one financial coaching sessions, spending analysis, and smart goal setting, Claro combines technology with a human approach to provide users education, support, and tools to allow them to achieve their personal financial objectives.

The app also gives users access to saving and investing products that suit their needs, based on their timeline, risk level and values.

Claro’s “Bye Now Pay Later” digital billboard campaign appeared at more than 20 sites across London, including:

• Houses of Parliament 
• Bank of England
• Oxford Street
• ASOS offices
• Boohoo London offices
• Klarna
• ClearPay
• Oxford Circus Underground station
• Canada Square Underground station
• Canary Wharf

• M30 & M50 are modern Android smartphones with inbuilt payment acceptance & certified to the latest PCI and payment industry standards.

• Make calls, access Google Play, accept Chip & PIN and Contactless cards as well as Mobile Wallets and QR code transactions.

PAX Technology, the world’s leading payment terminal solutions provider, is pleased to announce the European launch of the M30 & M50 Android PayPhones at the payment industry’s leading Money20/20 event in Holland on 21-23 September 2021.

The innovative M-series PayPhones are the first-ever smartphones with inbuilt point of sale technology that combine the benefits of a secure EMV & PCI 6 certified payment terminal within a modern Android smartphone ecosystem.

The M30 & M50 are innovative alternatives for Acquiring Banks & Payment Service providers looking to strengthen partnerships with telecoms operators or deliver revolutionary new services to merchants.

Jack Lu, CEO of PAX Technology, commented: “The M30 and M50 are compelling devices, not just because of their technology, but in how they have the potential to revolutionize retail. You can now accept payments, make voice & video calls and interact with customers on social media, all via a single device.

In Brazil, where many tens of thousands of the M-series models were deployed during a successful pilot phase, entrepreneurial merchants and businesses are now marketing goods & services by filming videos and taking photos, and then selling and accepting payment, all via these innovative PAX devices.

View how PagSeguro promotes the M-series products here: https://marketing.paxtechnology.com/videos#videos-by-partners

M30 is designed to bridge the gap between customer and POS system capabilities, enables companies and entrepreneurs to run an eCommerce business on the go. All major global payment methods can be accepted, while at the same time efficiently handling sales & inventory management. A secure PINpad is located on the opposite side to the full screen display, turning the smartphone into a secure payment device.

M50 takes the user experience even further by enhancing the M30 features with faster processing power running on Android 11, a larger 5.7-inch HD+ display for a better working experience. Both models are powered by advanced battery technology allowing up to 78 hours of standby time.

Andrew Wu, VP for the EMEA region at PAX Technology, concluded: “PAX continues to push the boundaries of innovation by bringing to market products which are helping our international clients win more business and deliver new profitable services. We are helping redefine mobile commerce, enabling merchants to be more effective and to process everything they need on the spot, anytime & anywhere. This is the beginning of a new era for mobile business, and we are proud that our global clients appreciate the competitive edge which PAX solutions are bringing to their businesses.”