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.

A clear focus on trust and sustainability for the future of payments

Worldline today unveils its new brand identity. With its global footprint and dedication to reliability, innovation and sustainability, Worldline is focused on accelerating the development of a trusted payments industry and further shaping the way we pay, live and do business.

To reflect this, the Group’s brands will be operating under one clear banner – Worldline – and all previous brands will now be known as Worldline^[1]. The Ingenico brand, leading brand in its market segment, will continue to be used by the Terminals, Solutions & Services business line.

Announcing the launch of the new brand identity, Gilles Grapinet, Chairman and CEO of Worldline, said:

“Worldline fully supports the people, merchants, banks and institutions who process and accept payments. Every day, our expert team of ‘Worldliners’ is deeply committed to deliver trusted solutions to our clients, supporting their own growth and development ambitions in our fast-evolving digital world.

As a leading consolidator of the payments industry, Worldline has inherited the know-how, talent and creativity from the many great companies that joined us. It is now time to consolidate our rich brand portfolio and turn Worldline into a truly global brand after many years of active and successful integrations. I am proud that as we move forward, we do so with a renewed and distinctive identity that encapsulates what Worldline is and what we stand for: a strong, sustainable and trusted company dedicated to play a leading role for the future of payments in Europe and beyond, for the benefit of all its customers and the wider societies that we serve.”

Worldline brand’s evolution

For nearly five decades, the Group has grown organically and through many mergers and acquisitions, resulting in a large number of different brands under the Worldline umbrella, making the Worldline brand itself evolve through time. In parallel, the Group reached a significant milestone in its history in January 2020 when it became a fully independent company, separate to Atos, following the carve out in 2019. All Group’s brands will now be consolidated and harmonized under the same architecture and a distinctive new branding identity.

Trust at the very heart of Worldline’s new branding

Being used daily by billions of consumers, digital payments have always built and operated with a maximum focus on convenience, user-friendliness, efficiency, security and regulatory compliance. These are fundamental pillars that ensure we can always reach the highest level of collective trust in the digital payment system: trust between the payers and the payees, trust between the stakeholders of the payment ecosystem, trust in the privacy of the personal data, trust in the resilience and security of the payment infrastructures.

It is why trust has always been and will always be at the core of Worldline’s offering and is therefore at the heart of the new branding. Ensuring trusted and secure payments and transactions has been the foundation and will be the continuous element to further grow Worldline’s reputation towards its internal and external stakeholders. The Group’s new branding marks a new chapter in Worldline’s journey, bringing together the Company Purpose, values and visual identity whilst encompassing its vision.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, the Lab will serve as a global research and development center for climate conscious digital products and solutions, and support impact-driven startups and customers

Mastercard today announced the launch of its new Sustainability Innovation Lab, which will spearhead the further development of the company’s portfolio of environmentally conscious digital products and solutions. The Lab will focus on ways to empower businesses and consumers to transform how they produce, distribute and purchase products and services, ensuring both people and the planet can thrive as the global economy rapidly digitizes.  

In support of the EU Green Deal, Mastercard selected Stockholm, Sweden as the home of the global Lab – a location that has long been at the forefront of sustainable innovation, with strong consumer, political and business commitment to transitioning to a green economy.

“Fostering innovative solutions with practical applications is urgently needed to achieve global climate change goals,” says Kristina Kloberdanz, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mastercard. “As we continue to build a more sustainable digital economy, the Sustainability Innovation Lab will enable us to co-create a robust portfolio of environmentally friendly solutions, uniting everyone – businesses and consumers alike – in climate action.”

Recognizing that consumption will have to shift to a more sustainable paradigm in order to meet global carbon reduction targets, Mastercard is reimagining the future of commerce by collaborating on digital solutions designed to empower businesses, governments and billions of consumers across its network to help preserve the environment. The Lab will focus specifically on solutions that enable sustainable spending, as more consumers want to take action for the environment, as well as increase visibility and traceability across value chains for producing products that have a positive impact on both people and the planet. 

Open innovation to drive sustainable impact

Mastercard has a track record of building partnerships with startup innovators in the Nordics region, where the new Lab will be based, having most recently collaborated with the Swedish fintech Doconomy to create the Mastercard Carbon Calculator. Mastercard is also nurturing climate-focused fintech innovation through the Climate Fintech Cards & Payments Challenge and its Start Path startup engagement program.  

“Human activity has undoubtedly created the climate crisis and it's ours to fix,” says Mathias Wikström, CEO, Doconomy. “Working with Mastercard and our partners across the world, we are confident that innovation will help us address it. It is truly inspiring to see the Sustainability Innovation Lab capabilities support inclusive climate action by every bank in every market.” 

Research and development within the Lab is already underway – with dedicated Mastercard employees, startup partners and customers – and the physical space will open in spring 2022. 

The new Lab builds on Mastercard’s experience in impact-driven innovation, in areas such as financial inclusion, and will explore how technologies such as 5G, quantum and advanced AI can be applied to address environmental challenges. It will consist of an R&D Center focused on solutions for sustainable consumption and value chains; a “Labs as a Service” platform to convene partners and customers in the co-creation of sustainable shared-value solutions; and a Mastercard Experience Center for hands-on product demos and in-person engagement.

The Lab’s initial priorities include iterating on the Mastercard Carbon Calculator feature, now embedded across the company’s global network, ensuring that it is seamlessly implemented by customers – with Doconomy team members based in the Lab to support. It will also explore how Mastercard Provenance can continue to elevate transparency not only for social impact, but also environmental initiatives, such as enabling supply chain parties to make more sustainable production decisions.  

To further drive collective climate action, Mastercard continues to make progress on its pledge to reach net zero by 2050, having recently joined the 1.5 degree Supply Chain Leaders initiative to address emissions across its network of suppliers. And the company has united more than 65 partners globally as part of the Priceless Planet Coalition, which aims to restore 100 million trees.

Thunes, the Singapore-based fintech company, and a leader in global cross-border payments, today announced it has appointed Irina Chuchkina as Chief Marketing Officer and Babul Balakrishnan as Head of Customer Care. Both executive hires will be based in Singapore and support Thunes’ global growth strategy.

These appointments follow the announcement of Thunes’ acquisition of Limonetik, a European Payment Methods Platform, which complements existing Thunes’ cross-border payments solutions in 115 countries by enabling businesses to get paid in 70 countries. The announcement also follows a number of strategic hires that the company made over the last 12 months, with some of the high-profile industry experts appointed to complement Thunes’ existing strong leadership team.

Chuchkina is an accomplished Fintech marketing leader with over 15 years of experience building world-class brands on the intersection of payments and technology across Europe and Asia. She will lead Thunes’ global marketing strategy laying the foundations of competitive brand positioning, looking at supporting top-line revenue growth, and overseeing key marketing initiatives.

Before joining Thunes, Chuchkina led global brand, communications, and social media marketing for Rapyd. She was also part of Southeast Asia super-app giant, Grab, where she helped to launch GrabPay, Grab’s mobile wallet, and GrabRewards, its loyalty platform. She also spent several years with Visa, where she was part of Visa’s Innovation Centre team and led its Marketing and Communications efforts across APAC. Chuchkina also serves as an Executive Committee Member in the Singapore Fintech Association. 

“Thunes is a fast-rising star in the payments industry and I am thrilled to be joining the company at this pivotal time. I believe that the company has immense potential and I  look forward to helping Thunes grow and build a brand synonymous with cross-border payments excellence, and secure the attention and credibility that it deserves” said Irina Chuchkina, CMO of Thunes.

Balakrishnan, also known as BK, has over two decades of experience across various industries with a focus on customer service and customer experience. In his most recent role as AVP of Customer Experience Operations at StarHub, Singapore’s leading telco, Balakrishnan was responsible for back-office operations and a team of field service technicians, for the company’s consumer business. Prior to that, at DHL eCommerce, BK was the founding member of two incubation startups as well as the regional lead for Customer Experience. In his new role, Balakrishnan will work with the various business units to elevate customer care into customer experience across Thunes’ partner network, which currently spans over 115 countries. 

“Thunes is currently at an inflection point of its global growth, and I’m excited to be part of this journey. My focus will be on building and forging strong network partnerships and enhancing the experience for all our customers,” said Babul Balakrishnan, Head of Customer Care at Thunes. 

“We have built the best-in-class industry team that is growing and cementing our leadership across all core functions. And we already know that we have all the elements to support our long-term leadership – highly competitive product capabilities, an incredible network, and a strong customer portfolio. Now is a great time for us to change the way we communicate the value we create to the world, and ensure that we deliver a world-class customer experience. Irina and BK come with extensive experience in their respective fields, and their expertise will be key to accelerating our growth plans,” said Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes. 

• Partnership to improve access to credit by enabling banks to quickly and easily embed and offer alternative lending options 

• iwoca’s quarterly SME Expert Index of UK brokers reveals unprecedented demand for unsecured finance

• Internal iwoca data suggests embedded finance is key to SME recovery and rebuilding economy

Open finance partnership platform, mmob, has today announced the addition of one of Europe’s largest small business lenders, iwoca, to its growing network of industry-leading third-party digital finance providers.

The partnership will enable banks and other large financial institutions to easily embed small business loan provision into their digital ecosystems and ensure they can rapidly meet the rising demand for alternative lines of credit from SMEs eager to invest in their growth post-pandemic. 

In addition, the secure processing and seamless sharing of customers' personal and account information between iwoca and mmob’s partners will significantly reduce the time small businesses need to invest in filling out lengthy forms and submitting paperwork. This will help to remove the complexity of applying for a loan and greatly increase the speed at which business owners can access much-needed lines of credit. Something banks, in particular, are well placed to leverage already having many of the relevant data points required for loan applications.

“As big banks reduce their risk appetite, we believe embedded finance is the future of SME lending,” said Colin Goldstein, Commercial Growth Director at iwoca. To that end, “mmob presents an exciting opportunity for us and a win-win for everyone involved in its ecosystem. It will ensure mmob’s commercial partners can quickly respond to the increasing demand for credit from small and medium enterprises, and enable us to further extend our reach into new sectors by embedding our solution within the financial apps and systems business owners use everyday.”

The announcement follows the publication of iwoca’s quarterly SME Expert Index of UK brokers which found that demand for small business loans is rising rapidly. According to iwoca’s Index, over a third (38%) of brokers had submitted more lending applications for unsecured finance in May this year, compared to the four weeks prior. Further, internal iwoca data suggests half of applications through embedded finance partners receive faster decisions and are 58% more likely to convert than direct applications.

“Banks and traditional finance institutions face increasing competition from the new wave of digital challengers who can more readily meet the demand for digital services,” said Irfan Khan, CEO, mmob.  “Our partnership with iwoca is a perfect example of how we are helping financial institutions to efficiently and effectively bridge the gap into complementary services that will help build defensibility against digital competitors by keeping account holders engaged, and driving retention and revenue amongst their key market segments. There has never been a better time to grab the opportunity offered by embedded finance.”

mmob’s open finance platform eliminates the complexity, time, and resources financial service providers need to select and deploy partner-driven services. Through its API, banks and large established fintechs can quickly and easily connect to mmob’s network of third party partners and gain rapid access to new verticals, using just one line of code. Embedding partnerships that once took weeks or months can now be achieved in days.

• Using artificial intelligence (AI), RegAssure understands the compliance needs of small to medium sized financial institutions and delivers the regulations and insights that matter to those the most, fast.

• Stay ahead of the curve on what regulations are coming that will impact your organisation and what obligations you need to be compliant with and when.

• For one person compliance hero’s and small compliance teams RegAssure provides a new way to tackle compliance head on reducing risk and workload.

CUBE, a global RegTech company working to simplify compliance for the world’s financial institutions, has launched RegAssure, a groundbreaking product that provides automated regulatory intelligence to small and medium sized financial institutions. 

Drawing on 10 years of experience, CUBE has developed RegAssure specifically to cater for nimble, lean financial organisations and FinTechs looking for effective compliance without the set-up costs and lengthy implementations. RegAssure has been developed to provide instant access to meaningful, relevant regulatory information that enables those working in compliance to get the job done, in a fraction of the time it would normally take. 

Until now, small and medium-sized financial organisations have relied on manual processes to manage regulatory change, which is both inefficient, time consuming, and can expose organisations to regulatory blind spots. RegAssure offers an automated but simple alternative, harnessing artificial intelligence to quickly understand an organisation’s business profile and deliver the regulatory intelligence that matters, at the touch of a button.

Ben Richmond, CEO and Founder of CUBE, “In working with the largest financial institutions across the globe we have put our automated regulatory intelligence to the test in the most demanding environments. We wanted to take that experience and build something specifically for those that have limited budgets and resources to meet their compliance requirements. That’s what we have achieved with RegAssure, which has been founded with a single goal in mind – to provide fast, automated regulatory intelligence that intuitively knows what matters to each organisation and the people within it.”

RegAssure is designed to evolve with companies and is underpinned by a simple user interface, enabling growing financial institutions to quickly begin using and benefitting from new capabilities without the impediment of business or technical complications.

The result is a highly flexible, instantly accessible regulatory alerting, inventory and analytics capability that provides fast, automated regulatory intelligence and one source of the truth that can be relied upon.

Molitor joins Kneip to drive its technology and operational strategy and support the next phase of the company’s expansion

Kneip, the global leader in fund data management, is today announcing that it has appointed Cyril Molitor as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO). Molitor brings 20 years’ industry experience, having occupied several senior positions at leading financial services institutions, including HSBC, Credit Suisse and AXA. He was most recently the CEO of Woven, a leading outsourcing provider, where he drove technological innovation and delivered service excellence to its clients. Prior to this, he was the Chief Transformation Officer and Director at Innovation Group Business Services, a leading InsureTech company which he set up in South Africa. Molitor is an experienced and accomplished leader with an impressive background in driving innovation and running operations in financial services and private equity backed businesses. He graduated from Reims Management School with an MSc in Management. 

Based in Kneip’s Luxembourg office, Molitor will be responsible for Operations and Technology. In his capacity he will be driving the company’s operational strategy. He joins Kneip as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, reporting to the CEO, Enrique Sacau.

Commenting on his appointment, Cyril Molitor, Chief Operating Officer of Kneip says: “This is a truly exciting time for me to be joining Kneip. Over nearly three decades, Kneip has built a world class reputation for delivering innovative products and solutions for some of the biggest names in the fund industry. I am thrilled to be joining an ambitious executive team, and I look forward to delivering outstanding client experience and building the structures that will support the next stage of Kneip’s expansion.”

Kneip’s CEO, Enrique Sacau commented: “Cyril’s appointment reflects our commitment to innovate and deliver exceptional service for our clients. We are thrilled that he is joining our team at an important time in our company’s development as we embark on the next stage of Kneip’s growth. His impressive track record in operations and technology gives Cyril the perfect experience to drive innovation and deliver high value to our business and to our clients.”

With Molitor’s arrival, Kneip’s current COO, Mario Mantrisi, who had stepped in the role a year ago, becomes responsible for market development with an emphasis to grow Kneip in new markets. As the newly appointed Strategy Director, Mantrisi retains his role as a member of Kneip’s Executive Leadership Team.

Kneip’s CEO, Enrique Sacau, says: “Mario took over Client Services last year and leaves Cyril a transformed operation. Thanks to his exceptional knowledge of our product, our clients, and our regulatory environment he will now have the opportunity again to grow Kneip.”

Cyril Molitor, Chief Operating Officer of Kneip

The all-in-one loyalty e-wallet app is set to launch with 100+ international brands on board

Swapi, a brand-new loyalty e-wallet platform, has today announced it has closed its latest funding round at £860k ahead of its launch later this month.

This new injection of funds will help bring the app to market, while ensuring a strong customer experience as well as providing the means to expand the Swapi’s growing team. Swapi has today announced the appointment of Carolina Paradas-Mandato, previously Global Senior Affiliates & CLO Manager at Harvey Nichols, as its new Head of Strategic Partnerships. Carolina will be in charge of expanding Swapi into new and exciting international territories as well as handling all affiliate relationships with the 100+ brands working with Swapi.

Swapi has been cultivating funds from a variety of backers since incorporating last year, including private investors, a crowdfunding round as well as considerable investment from Trampoline Ventures, which has invested in other exciting names in the tech industry such as Gousto, Mediquo, a Spanish and Latinamerican telemedicine platform, Argentinian crypto currency payments platform Lemon Cash and Singaporean BNPL start-up Octifi. 

Swapi’s pre-seed round will also be used to ensure the Swapi app is fit for a global roll-out early in the new year, with the team eager to revolutionise not just the British retail experience but kick-start a worldwide evolution of more rewarding retail loyalty.

As modern retail loyalty options and schemes continue to leave customers feeling deflated with poor builds, meagre rewards and incompatibility with other brands, The team at Swapi believe that a change is needed to help retailers bounce back from the pandemic as well as providing customers with attractive loyalty options for the future.

Swapi is on a mission to revolutionise loyalty for the better when it launches next month by providing British consumers with an all-in-one e-wallet for their payment and loyalty cards, as well as providing customers and retailers alike with a brand-new currency called ‘Swapi Points’ to spend on rewards, coupons and discounts on the app, irrespective of which retailer the customer has accrued their points with.

By collecting Swapi Points with a host of leading retailers, hotels, airlines and more, customers can then spend their loyalty points in a way that suits their needs and lifestyle. 

For Swapi’s founder and CEO Pete Howroyd, this funding is another clear affirmation that the retail loyalty industry is calling out for innovation and renovation:

“Everyone at Swapi is ecstatic with the amount we have managed to raise during this pre-seed round. As we get ready to launch this Autumn, the funds are already proving vital to making the app the best it can be, as well as bringing in fantastic new additions to the team like Carolina, who we are delighted to welcome to the team. With Carolina’s experience, we’re confident we can bring globally-recognised brands onto the Swapi app as we prepare to revolutionise the retail loyalty environment for the better.”