Capital.com, the high-growth European trading and investing platform leading the UK leveraged trading industry in overall client satisfaction has today announced an integration with global payments platform PayPal.

The integration will enable PayPal users in the UK and the European Union alternative ways to deposit and withdraw funds to and from their Capital.com accounts.  Capital.com already supports  clients who want to make withdrawals using their debit or credit cards, in addition to wire transfers and various alternative payment methods including Sofort, iDeal, Giropay, Multibanko, Przelewy24, ApplePay, Trustly, and 2c2p. 

With the addition of PayPal, clients can make deposits and withdrawals in Euros,  British Pounds, and  US Dollars allowing them to easily trade derivatives of over 3000 popular markets. The PayPal integration affirms Capital.com’s commitment to make trading simple, secure and accessible to everyone.

Jonathan Squires, Group CEO of Capital.com, said:

“We are delighted to be able to offer our clients a greater choice of payment methods. PayPal is a popular and trusted payment platform in Europe and the UK and its integration enables our clients to deposit funds with ease and convenience.  As a pioneer of new age payment instruments through its One Touch checkout feature,  the integration of PayPal will allow our clients to transact with Capital.com literally with one click.”

To further affirm its commitment to help people trade and invest easily and securely, Capital.com also provides a wide range of educational support resources on its platform, at no extra cost. 

“With a focus on providing education and collaborating with trusted partners such as PayPal, we aim to make trading and investing simple, safe and secure for both new and experienced traders,” added Squires.

Capital.com offers clients a convenient educational app that they can use on the go. Investmate is an all-in-one app to learn finance. It provides clients with a rich and free toolkit that includes varied learning materials, 30+ courses including short lessons that take as little as 3 minutes to complete. The Capital.com platform is also fitted with a demo site, regular news feed, as well as more than 5,000 pages of intelligent financial content and analysis available on its website and through its YouTube trading channel, Capital.com TV.

Capital.com has seen rapid growth in recent months. In the first half of 2021, the platform reported a 400 per cent lift in new clients compared to H2 2020. Over the same period, it saw a global pick-up in trading activity, with total client trading volumes across all markets growing by more than 184 per cent. These results reflect Capital.com’s growing reputation as a platform of choice among retail traders globally. 

• A sizeable proportion of UK consumers (46%) have low confidence in making investment decisions. 
• Women are significantly more likely to feel “overwhelmed by the range of financial options available” (62% of females agreeing with this statement vs 47% of males).  Compared to men, women said they are significantly more likely to “struggle to know where to start” when it comes to making investment decisions (24% for females vs 16% for males).  
• Age is also a significant factor with the research pointing to an “under-50 confidence gap” affecting millennials and Gen Z.  Savers younger than fifty were found to be significantly more likely to agree that they feel “overwhelmed by the range of financial options available” (63% for people younger than 50 vs 44% who are over 50). 

New research published today by TISA, the cross-industry financial services membership body, and EY Seren reveals a significant ‘confidence gap’ affecting consumers’ ability to make long-term savings and investment decisions.  The research points to women and consumers under the age of 50 being the most dramatically affected.  If the industry and the regulator overlook these differences, women and those under 50 are at risk of being left behind.  Ensuring that UK adult cohorts can have confidence in making financial decisions is vital in securing an equitable and financial future for UK consumers.   

46% of UK consumers surveyed indicated they do not have the confidence to make investment decisions.  19% said the same about making savings decisions. 

The top drivers for lack of confidence in making savings and investment decisions were: 1) risk of losing money; 2) finding it too complex and confusing; 3) consumers feeling they had; 4) not knowing enough about the options.   

Women are more likely to be overwhelmed by the range of options available. 24% of women gave a lower confidence rating for savings, compared to 14% of men, and 56% of women gave a lower confidence rating for investments compared to 36% of men.  

Age is also a key factor, with consumers younger than fifty significantly more likely to agree that they feel “overwhelmed by the range of financial options available” (63% vs. 44% who are 50+) and that “their life is so busy they haven’t had a chance to effectively organise their finances” (47% vs. 19% who are 50+). Millennials (those aged 25-34) are also significantly more likely to feel “embarrassed by their lack of knowledge” (28%) compared to the overall sample, compounding the “under-50 confidence gap”. 

Interviews amongst consumers revealed feelings of ‘powerlessness’ and challenges in making financial decisions. Some participants feel unable to improve their financial situation without making changes to aspects of their life not always within reach, for example, raising their salary.  

Many feel helpless and fatigued by the overwhelming amount of information and options available after researching savings and investments resources. This led to ‘analysis paralysis’ and inaction, with participants choosing to prioritise shorter-term financial goals, focusing on 'one thing at a time'. This has an impact on long-term savings and investments, including pensions. 

TISA is leading industry efforts, working alongside the FCA, to seek amendments to Advice regulations to allow pension and investment firms to provide consumers more personalised guidance support services to help them choose investment products. Under existing regulations, firms are heavily restricted in the way they can personalise support.  It’s this level of personalisation that TISA believes is crucial to ensure all cohorts of the UK’s adult population can be catered for effectively, in supporting them to make their important saving and investment decisions. 

The full research is available here: https://www.tisa.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TISA-research-report.pdf 

Kernolab aims to be the out-of-the-box solution for businesses looking at embedded finance

• The $1 million pre-seed round was led by Lighthouse Ventures and joined by Startup Wise Guys

• Kernolab helps any businesses to incorporate financial services into its set of capabilities, with a suite of modular, out-of-the-box technology solutions

• Kernolab leverages the power of its licensed partner network to pool the different license capabilities and rent them to clients, meaning it can easily service non-licensed clients from a range of industries and geographies

• Products and services offered in payments, accounts, and cards, with lending and insurance coming soon

Kernolab, the Lithuanian fintech startup that provides agile and highly flexible Banking-as-a-Service, has closed a $1 million pre-seed round led by Lighthouse Ventures. Joining the round was Startup Wise Guys, which has also previously invested in the company earlier this year. The funds will be used to scale the team with an emphasis on high-caliber hires. The larger team will support faster new market expansion, growth in B2B sales, and partnerships.

Fintech has made it easier for financial services to become disseminated outside of banks. These new financial products and services are increasingly moving toward a number of different nonbank venues where people work and shop – online and often via mobile platforms. The rise of so-called embedded finance is an obvious but difficult proposition for many nonbank businesses that are otherwise running their normal operations, but who could benefit from having the ability to offer their own bank accounts, cards, and other services. 

Kernolab solves that issue with its out-of-the-box solutions, acting as a bridge between fintech and non-finance businesses, making it easy for these businesses to create and market financial services. The startup’s unique business model allows it to pool the capabilities of different financial services and banking licenses. Kernolab works with license holders, supporting them with technology, and is able to rent their licenses to non-licensed businesses. This alleviates a huge burden in terms of compliance and allows Kernolab to support businesses with the widest range of financial services, regardless of geography or industry vertical, with its middleware solution.

“Financial services can blend into any business that has a potential to optimise its operations or generate additional revenues. A logistics company with drivers all over Europe would benefit from simplifying salary payouts by offering its own bank accounts. Starbucks’ card, for instance, has allowed it to classify customers’ pre-loaded cash as ‘stored value card liabilities’, effectively giving itself a 0% interest rate on a $1.6bn loan. The possibilities are endless and our technology enables any company to benefit,” said Vachtangas Babunasvili, co-founder and CEO of Kernolab.

With the new investment, Kernolab aims to boost business development and grow the core team with a series of high-caliber hires, ahead of building a sandbox environment for product development, which will be Stripe-like in its emphasis on programmer-friendliness and community-building. 

“Embedded finance is the next step in fintech and something that can touch almost any business on the planet. The challenge is finding a solution that can seamlessly enable the transition into that next phase of fintech, and with Kernolab we have found that solution as well as the right team to lead it to widespread adoption. If every business will be a fintech in the future, then chances are that they will be working with Kernolab. It took us only six weeks to move forward with this investment,” said Michal Zalesak, managing partner at Lighthouse Ventures.

“Kernolab has created a unique, powerful solution at the perfect time for embedded finance. The possibilities are endless and their technology is completely industry-agnostic. Vachtangas, Natan, and the team have deep domain knowledge not only of the financial industry but also the technology behind it. This combined with their fast traction and ability to execute made it a no-brainer for us to invest initially and continue backing the team moving forward,” said Jone Vaituleviciute, Partner at Startup Wise Guys.

PPRO today announces its integration of the PayPal Commerce Platform. The move further cements PPRO’s market-leading position as one of the go-to providers of local payments infrastructure for payment service providers (PSPs), banks, and gateways.      

PPRO’s integration will allow its customers to significantly reduce the time to integrate PayPal Commerce Platform solutions and give customers access to the PayPal Wallet. This development gives PPRO’s customers the opportunity to enable their merchants’ access to PayPal's user base of more than 403 million active accounts across 200 markets.

Claire Gates, Chief Commercial Officer of PPRO, said: “Today’s news marks a step forward in PPRO and PayPal’s long-standing relationship. The benefits for partners of joining PPRO’s platform are clear: we save them time and money, and provide the quality of payment method integrations that lead to high conversion rates. With the addition of the PayPal Commerce Platform – and the ability to offer the PayPal Wallet – this offering can’t be ignored by anyone operating in the global e-commerce space.”    

By partnering with PPRO, PSPs, banks, platforms, and enterprises with payment platforms not only benefit from access to the PayPal Commerce Platform, but from a vast range of local payment methods (LPMs) globally. PPRO’s global payment expertise, platform engineered for performance and innovation, value through PPRO’s network of LPMs and PSPs is all accessible with just one contract and one integration. This simplicity removes complexities surrounding local payments, increases speed to market, and helps boost sales for merchants.

PPRO and PayPal will be hosting a livestream on October 7, 2021 at 11:30 CEST to discuss their partnership and how companies around the world could achieve high conversion rates by offering the payment method customers know and trust.

PPRO has established itself as one of the most trusted local payments infrastructure providers in the cross-border payments space, helping to power international growth for payment service providers, banks, gateways and enterprises with payment platforms.

The news of the PayPal Commerce Platform integration comes after PPRO announced earlier this year that it had raised US$180 million, taking the firm’s total value to over US$1 billion.

• Removal of deposit restrictions allows Recognise to offer personal and business savings
• The announcement follows the latest funding round, bringing total investment to £54million
• It’s the culmination of a three-year journey to create a bank to serve the UK’s SMEs

Recognise Bank has today announced the removal of deposit restrictions by the PRA (Prudential Regulation Authority), making it one of only a handful of banks to receive full authorization without restrictions since the start of the COVID pandemic. The announcement follows a successful £14million investment round last month, bringing total investment to £54million.

The new SME bank opened its doors and started offering unregulated commercial loans at the end of 2020, but the removal of deposit restrictions means it can now provide a much wider range of services. FSCS-protected savings products for personal savers are due to be launched this week, while business savings accounts will follow later in the year.

The flow of funds into the bank from its savings products will enable Recognise Bank to increase lending to the UK’s small and medium sized businesses via a national network of regional hubs.

Recognise Bank has embraced the best of fintech innovation by using cutting edge cloud-based technology to create its lending platform, while also recruiting a strong team of experienced relationship managers offering growing businesses a “personal-banking” style relationship – something that is missing from both the traditional high street banks that have cut back on their regional workforces, as well as technology-led new entrants that won’t be able to offer SMEs a face-to-face service.

Making the announcement, Jason Oakley, CEO of Recognise Bank, said: “This is a magic moment for Recognise Bank and the culmination of a three-year journey to build a new bank and provide much-needed support to the UK’s SMEs who have been increasingly let down by the mainstream banks.

“We have stuck to our plans and ambitions to be a fully regulated bank, and while other new entrants have either stumbled or fallen, Recognise Bank is already working with SMEs in the regions, lending and supporting their business ambitions.

“While the lifting of deposit restrictions is a successful milestone for Recognise Bank, it also marks the start of our next exciting phase. We can now offer savings accounts for personal savers, as well as business customers whose savings needs have been completely ignored by the big banks for years.’’

Recognise Bank was set up in 2018 and received its Authorisation with Restriction (AwR) in November 2020. Instead of the centralised call centres many mainstream banks use, Recognise Bank has created a network of regional hubs with experienced Relationship Managers who work directly with small businesses and their advisers. 

The bank uses cloud-based banking technology to provide SMEs with quicker lending decisions and speedy access to their funds, using the nCino Bank Operating System and the Mambu SaaS cloud banking platform. 

Recognise Bank offers a range of unregulated funding options for SMEs, including Commercial Mortgages, Bridging Loans, and Working Capital Loans, in addition to specialist Professional Practice Loans for firms such as architects and solicitors, as well as the medical and healthcare sectors. Buy-to-let loans for professional property investors are due to launch later this year. 

The bank has already received £750 million in lending enquiries since it opened its doors in November 2020 and aims to provide £1.3 billion in lending to more than 5,000 SME borrowers over the next five years. It also plans to support more than 50,000 business and personal savers over the next five years.

Recognise Bank is led by Jason Oakley, CEO, who was formerly Managing Director of Commercial Banking at Metro Bank and has a long career in banking and commercial lending. He is joined by Bryce Glover, Deputy CEO, who previously headed up the Commercial Division of Nationwide Building Society, as well as senior banking roles with organisations including Alliance & Leicester / Santander. The board is led by Phil Jenks, previously Chair of Charter Court Group who has first-hand experience of building a successful financial services company from a standing start. 

PXP Financial, the global expert in acquiring and payment processing services, today celebrates three successful quarters of growth in the US iGaming and Sports Betting market.

At the end of 2020, PXP Financial was licensed to process payments in nine US states and now, following nine months of activity, the company has boosted that number to 15. Having been licensed in just one state in January 2020, this shows PXP’s remarkable drive for growth, with future plans for further states to be added to its growing portfolio. The latest states that PXP Financial now operate within include Arizona and Wyoming.

When launching in Wyoming, PXP Financial was able to enter the market and operate with immediate effect as soon as regulations in the state allowed it. In order to achieve this, PXP Financial utilised its experience operating in the country to fully prepare its payment service gateway and secure a state license ahead of the regulation launch. This meant any partner or customer of PXP Financial aiming to operate in Wyoming could do so as soon as it was legally allowed.

When discussing the growth of the US market, CEO Kamran Hedjri commented: “The US gaming market keeps on moving at an unbelievable speed and we at PXP Financial are at the forefront of this journey. The recent launches are another milestone on our mission to provide the biggest coverage and best payment solution to US gaming operators and their customers. To further this, in early 2022 we will be releasing an updated version of our cage deposit solution with new UI and optimised for mobile, amongst other features we will share soon.

Our strong focus on collaboration with our partners and clients has been the key to achieving our remarkable success.”

This celebration follows on from the recent partnership announcement between PXP Financial and B2B iGaming technology provider EveryMatrix. This partnership gives the latter access to PXP Financial’s wide portfolio of over 200 alternative payment methods and financial services, while introducing PXP to a new selection of Gaming Operators to help in the expansion of its US operations.

With more states on the horizon, PXP Financial is on track to break through all of its projected growth targets for the region.

To find out more about PXP Financial, visit: https://www.pxpfinancial.com.