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.”

Leading UK anti-money laundering specialist SmartSearch has appointed a new in-house general counsel to provide expert guidance on legal issues affecting the business.

Nicola Gifford has joined the rapidly growing regtech specialist, and will oversee the firm’s corporate governance. With over 28-years working at companies such as Johnson & Johnson and HSBC, Gifford brings a vast amount of experience to the role.

SmartSearch’s industry-leading product ensures compliance for regulated businesses in the UK and internationally, therefore Gifford’s expertise is essential to ensure SmartSearch is ahead of the constantly evolving data protection and money-laundering legislation.

Part of Gifford’s responsibilities will be to help further enhance the SmartSearch team’s knowledge so they can have informed conversations with clients. By putting on regular training sessions, each member of the SmartSearch team will improve their knowledge so they can speak to clients on areas such as GDPR and data protection.

Gifford explained: “Being part of SmartSearch in this new role that has been created, means I can integrate myself fully in the business and find innovative solutions to problems.

“Working in-house means I’m available to be involved in conversations day-to-day, for example helping the team deal with customer queries, developing contracts for suppliers and clients, and supporting on the development of new products.

“One of the parts of my role I enjoy most is upskilling and equipping everyone in the business to prepare them with the knowledge they need to do their roles more effectively.

“In addition to the improving the overall expertise of everyone in the business, I also want to start consulting with other compliance professionals so we can have a voice on codes of conduct and the direction digital verification takes in the future.”

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

THG Ingenuity takes a stake in Civo to leverage Civo’s newly launched managed cloud-native Kubernetes platform. The platform will enhance THG Ingenuity’s technology offering

Civo, the first pure-play cloud-native service provider, and THG plc (THG), a global technology platform that specializes in taking brands direct to consumers, together announced that THG Ingenuity, the technology Division of THG, has invested £1.4 million to take a minority stake in Civo. Civo’s developer-focused Kubernetes platform will strengthen and accelerate the development of the technology stack that underpins THG Ingenuity, its cutting-edge proprietary technology platform.

The deal is THG Ingenuity’s first strategic investment since it announced in May 2021 that Softbank Group had invested $730 million in THG with an option for a further $1.6 billion investment in THG Ingenuity, THG’s cutting-edge proprietary technology platform.

The funding comes at an important phase of growth for Civo as it creates the go-to platform for building cloud-native Kubernetes applications. The platform offers a wealth of simplified capabilities for building scalable zero-downtime e-commerce applications that bolt onto THG Ingenuity.

Civo is currently the fastest managed Kubernetes provider in the world, with a fully usable cluster deploying in under 90 seconds. It’s also the first production-ready K3s platform, the super-efficient Kubernetes distribution that focuses on speed, simplicity and reduced overhead.

As part of the investment, THG Ingenuity becomes Civo’s exclusive datacentre hosting & Enterprise sales partner, accelerating the global rollout of Civo regions to data centres and large development teams around the world.

Mark Boost, CEO & co-founder at Civo, said: “We are delighted to announce THG’s investment which will bring Civo’s technology to more people around the world as we grow our capabilities.

“THG Ingenuity is the leading global platform for end-to-end digital commerce, and I’m proud that Civo technology will now strengthen its cutting-edge technology stack and help brands create frictionless digital experiences for their customers."

“For too long hyperscalers have oversold and underdelivered with shocking cloud bills. THG has already proven that there is a better way forward, delivering a global e-commerce solution that drives down cost. Core to this plan is infrastructure, and core to that infrastructure is Civo – a platform that is leading the way for a cloud-native future.”

John Gallemore, CEO of THG Ingenuity said, “We built THG Ingenuity to remove the burden of multi-partner relationships and complex software and infrastructure. In turn, THG has sought best-of-breed partners that help us create the most seamless, effective, and scalable direct-to-consumer retail models in a single, digital platform.

“With Civo we have found the future of home-grown UK cloud-native innovation. Civo is a fast and developer-friendly platform for accelerating our digital commerce roadmap. We are delighted to invest in Civo and to support the next phase of growth of this impressive technology success story.”

*Note to editor: THG Plc will take a 9.4% stake in Civo, at a £12.6 million pre-money valuation (c. $17.4 million at the time of writing)

Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, will offer a programme combining innovation, new technologies and insights on the payments’ key trends at Money 20/20 Europe, to be held in Amsterdam on September 21-22-23, 2021.

ON STAGE

Worldline experts will be on stage to discuss the payments trends that shape the world.

21 September

·        Gilles Grapinet, Chairman and CEO of Worldline // What would a payments infrastructure that combines regional sovereignty and global convenience look like? (14.30 CET)

Learn more about the session & other speakers

·        Nicolas Kozakiewicz, Innovation Executive Advisor at Worldline // What should the new money value chain look like? (11.45 CET)

Learn more about the session & other speakers

22 September

·        Gilles Grapinet, Chairman and CEO of Worldline // How personalised is it possible to make a retail experience? (12.05 CET)

Learn more about the session & other speakers

23 September

·        Giulio Montemagno, SVP & General Manager at Worldline // “How can we empower D2C companies to deliver extreme personalisation at scale?” (10.20 CET)

Learn more about the session & other speakers

WHAT WE’LL SHOW

On Worldline’s booth, the Group’s teams will present their latest solutions that shape the new ways we pay, live and do business.

Digital banking security // For an innovative and trusted digital world, Worldline will present some of its latest solutions & innovations: Behavioural Continuous Authentication, Stablecoins, Green Banking, Digital Issuing, Account-Based Payments and Mobile Biometry.

New ways of payments // Customers need fast & seamless experience, self-service & autonomous journeys. Worldline solutions - Scan & Pay, Face Recognition, Autonomous Store with Smart Lockers and our Next-Generation Terminals - can help them achieve this journey successfully.

New tools for merchants // Worldline will display its automated and omnichannel tools that generate efficient and complete front & back-office services: Bill Pay & Match, Omnichannel Reporting and tools to manage Next-Gen Terminals like Terminal as a Service and Payments Platform as a Service.

WORLDLINE’S E-PAYMENTS CHALLENGE: APPLY AT OUR MONEY 20/20 BOOTH!

The e-Payments Challenge is Worldline’s co-creation programme. During this annual collaborative forum that will be held in January 2022, Worldline’s customers work together with fintechs, tech start-ups and Worldline experts to create solutions which will shape the payments of tomorrow.

More than 10 challenges have been proposed by Worldline customers until date and currently a call for applications is open for the tech companies to apply.

At Money 20/20, our expert will be available on our booth to meet all who are interested to learn more. More information is available here.

 
Commerzbank pursues ambitious cornerstones for its sustainability strategy. The core of the sustainability agenda is the commitment to “net zero”. “We are expressly committed to the Paris Climate Agreement. That is why we have committed ourselves to reducing the CO2 emissions of our entire credit and investment portfolio to net zero by 2050 at the latest,” emphasised Manfred Knof, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors. “We want to contribute to channelling more capital into sustainable economic activities in order to mitigate the consequences of climate change. Our most important goal is therefore to support our clients in their transformation into sustainably operating companies.” To this end, the Bank will mobilise around 300 billion euros by 2025. This corresponds to a tripling of the sustainable business volume compared to the end of 2020. “As a bank, we are financiers of the green transformation,” said Knof. “Hence, sustainability becomes a fundamental pillar of our business model.”
 
Sustainable business volume to be tripled to 300 billion euros by 2025
Commerzbank has made transparent which products are included in the sustainable business volume in its “Sustainable Finance Framework”, which was published in April 2021. In the corporate client business, this includes, inter alia, the support of sustainability-related syndicated loans and promissory note loans as well as issues of sustainability-related bonds. In the private client business, asset management and green mortgages are to be contributing to the growth of the sustainable business volume.
 
Coal portfolio halved to around 1 billion euros within two years
Commerzbank has had a binding coal policy since 2016. Among other things, it stipulates that the Bank shall not finance any new coal-fired power plants or coal mines. In the past two years alone, the Bank’s coal exposure has been halved to around 1 billion euros. This corresponds to about 0.2 per cent of the total portfolio. The Bank is currently working on expanding the policy to include gas and oil. It is to come into force on 1 January 2022.
 
Measurement of carbon footprint of loan and investment portfolio in preparation
The Bank will define specific CO2 reduction targets for the entire loan and investment portfolio by August 2022 in accordance with the requirements of the “Science-based Targets Initiative”. The initiative provides a scientifically sound methodology for measuring CO2 intensity. Commerzbank already joined a year ago, so far the only German bank among more than 50 European companies in the financial sector to do so.
 
The Bank is currently working on making the carbon footprint of its loan portfolio measurable and deriving measures that are necessary to achieve the climate targets. In a first step, it is focussing on CO2-intensive sectors such as energy production. Initial test calculations show that a reduction in CO2 intensity by more than 50 per cent will be necessary in this portfolio by 2030 in order to achieve the preliminary goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. An even higher reduction will be required for “net zero”. For the energy sector, the Bank intends to define concrete CO2 targets as early as by the end of the current year.
 
With regard to its own banking operations, Commerzbank aims to reduce CO2 emissions to net zero by 2040 at the latest. Since 2007, it has reduced its own CO2 emissions by 70 per cent, and its banking operations have been climate-neutral in Germany since 2015. By 2025, Commerzbank also aims at cutting the CO2 emissions by a further 30 per cent which corresponds to around 36,000 tonnes of CO2. Key measures to achieve this include the increasing restriction of flights for business appointments and the further energy-efficient refurbishment of real estate.
 
Regular dialogue forums ensure transparency of progress in sustainability
By launching the new online event “Sustainability Dialogue”, the Bank will regularly report on its sustainability activities in the future. Viewers can participate directly in the virtual exchange by posing questions. “We want to make our progress in sustainability transparent. To this end, we are seeking continuous dialogue with interested stakeholders, from which we expect valuable impetus,” said Bettina Storck, Head of Group Sustainability Management. The first “Sustainability Dialogue” – which addressed the Bank’s sustainability agenda – took place today, 17 September 2021, with Chief Executive Officer Manfred Knof, Member of the Board of Managing Directors responsible for the Business Segment Corporate Clients, Michael Kotzbauer, and Chief Risk Officer Marcus Chromik.

 
Commerzbank pursues ambitious cornerstones for its sustainability strategy. The core of the sustainability agenda is the commitment to “net zero”. “We are expressly committed to the Paris Climate Agreement. That is why we have committed ourselves to reducing the CO2 emissions of our entire credit and investment portfolio to net zero by 2050 at the latest,” emphasised Manfred Knof, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors. “We want to contribute to channelling more capital into sustainable economic activities in order to mitigate the consequences of climate change. Our most important goal is therefore to support our clients in their transformation into sustainably operating companies.” To this end, the Bank will mobilise around 300 billion euros by 2025. This corresponds to a tripling of the sustainable business volume compared to the end of 2020. “As a bank, we are financiers of the green transformation,” said Knof. “Hence, sustainability becomes a fundamental pillar of our business model.”
 
Sustainable business volume to be tripled to 300 billion euros by 2025
Commerzbank has made transparent which products are included in the sustainable business volume in its “Sustainable Finance Framework”, which was published in April 2021. In the corporate client business, this includes, inter alia, the support of sustainability-related syndicated loans and promissory note loans as well as issues of sustainability-related bonds. In the private client business, asset management and green mortgages are to be contributing to the growth of the sustainable business volume.
 
Coal portfolio halved to around 1 billion euros within two years
Commerzbank has had a binding coal policy since 2016. Among other things, it stipulates that the Bank shall not finance any new coal-fired power plants or coal mines. In the past two years alone, the Bank’s coal exposure has been halved to around 1 billion euros. This corresponds to about 0.2 per cent of the total portfolio. The Bank is currently working on expanding the policy to include gas and oil. It is to come into force on 1 January 2022.
 
Measurement of carbon footprint of loan and investment portfolio in preparation
The Bank will define specific CO2 reduction targets for the entire loan and investment portfolio by August 2022 in accordance with the requirements of the “Science-based Targets Initiative”. The initiative provides a scientifically sound methodology for measuring CO2 intensity. Commerzbank already joined a year ago, so far the only German bank among more than 50 European companies in the financial sector to do so.
 
The Bank is currently working on making the carbon footprint of its loan portfolio measurable and deriving measures that are necessary to achieve the climate targets. In a first step, it is focussing on CO2-intensive sectors such as energy production. Initial test calculations show that a reduction in CO2 intensity by more than 50 per cent will be necessary in this portfolio by 2030 in order to achieve the preliminary goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. An even higher reduction will be required for “net zero”. For the energy sector, the Bank intends to define concrete CO2 targets as early as by the end of the current year.
 
With regard to its own banking operations, Commerzbank aims to reduce CO2 emissions to net zero by 2040 at the latest. Since 2007, it has reduced its own CO2 emissions by 70 per cent, and its banking operations have been climate-neutral in Germany since 2015. By 2025, Commerzbank also aims at cutting the CO2 emissions by a further 30 per cent which corresponds to around 36,000 tonnes of CO2. Key measures to achieve this include the increasing restriction of flights for business appointments and the further energy-efficient refurbishment of real estate.
 
Regular dialogue forums ensure transparency of progress in sustainability
By launching the new online event “Sustainability Dialogue”, the Bank will regularly report on its sustainability activities in the future. Viewers can participate directly in the virtual exchange by posing questions. “We want to make our progress in sustainability transparent. To this end, we are seeking continuous dialogue with interested stakeholders, from which we expect valuable impetus,” said Bettina Storck, Head of Group Sustainability Management. The first “Sustainability Dialogue” – which addressed the Bank’s sustainability agenda – took place today, 17 September 2021, with Chief Executive Officer Manfred Knof, Member of the Board of Managing Directors responsible for the Business Segment Corporate Clients, Michael Kotzbauer, and Chief Risk Officer Marcus Chromik.

Saxo Bank, the online trading and investment specialist, today marks the 20th anniversary of partnership with Portugal’s Banco Carregosa, a wealth management specialist offering namely advisory, asset management and online brokerage services, making this Saxo’s longest partnership in its institutional business.

Resource and budget constraints in IT, back office and market access lead many banks and brokerages to seek alternatives to building an online trading solution themselves. Saxo’s institutional business, Saxo Advanced Solutions (SAS), taps into Saxo’s open technology infrastructure to enable partners – from banks, brokers, asset managers and fintechs to hedge funds and financial advisors – to accelerate their digitisation journey.

In 2001, Banco Carregosa was looking for a digital solutions partner to support them in their digital transformation journey, allowing them to outsource parts of the offering to reduce costs and complexities, while redirecting efforts on providing a better client experience.

The result is Saxo’s first White Label Client partnership, which allowed Banca Carregosa to leverage Saxo’s back end technology while offering a state-of-the-art trading platform under their own brand, maintaining full customer control and confidentiality. Since then, the partnership has grown strongly, and Saxo has continued the development of its White Label client business model where today it has over 135 WLCs globally.

Francisco Oliveira Fernandes, CEO, Banco Carregosa, said, “We are delighted to celebrate this momentous occasion today, with the Saxo team in Lisbon. This 20-year partnership has been very positive, and in Saxo, we have a great collaborator and solutions provider who can help us bring a strong digital experience to the market and to our clients. We look forward to more great years ahead.”

Kim Fournais, CEO and Founder, Saxo Bank, said, “As the first partner bank we onboarded in 2001, Banco Carregosa has been a valued and treasured partner, and we are very proud to be here today to celebrate this great milestone together. This is a great example of a win-win relationship, which we always strive for with all our clients and partners. We are very honoured that 20 years later, Banco Carregosa is still using our technology and market access to service their end clients. We continue to work on the continual upgrade of our partner solutions, and we look forward to taking the partnership further with Banco Carregosa.”

The 20^th year anniversary celebration took place in Lisbon, with an event attended by the leadership teams of both Saxo and Banco Carregosa. A panel session featured Saxo’s Chief Investment Officer, Steen Jakobsen, Mário Carvalho Fernandes, Chief Investment Officer, Banco Carregosa, and Maria Cândida Rocha e Silva, Banco Carregosa, Chairlady. The discussion focused on trends in the market, where the industry is going, digitisation of investment, where both companies are going and how they see the future of investment.

Combining human touch with scalable digital solutions

In the past 20 years, the world of Fintech and banking has evolved and one of the most significant trend in the wealth management space is the shift from in-person interaction to more digital and scalable solutions.

Digitisation offers the fastest and most cost-effective way to expedite the integration process, and increasingly, more firms are tapping partnerships and FinTech solutions to future-proof their business with a modern platform-based business model. The increased scale and automation of back-end processes free up advisors to focus on investment performance, customer management and acquisition. For the firms themselves, there is a low cost of ownership, and they can keep pace with technological innovations but at lower ongoing capital and operating expenditure.”

“We understand there are many banks, brokers, asset managers, fintechs, and other institutions that have a strong desire to overcome barriers to go digital and get to scale quickly, but many are bogged down by high costs and a multitude of disconnected systems. There is a real, and ever more urgent, need in the market for these companies to partner with the right solutions provider to help them scale and gain more clients, and continue to thrive in the face of regulatory and compliance requirements,” Henrik Alsøe, Global Head of Saxo Advanced Solutions, Saxo Bank, said.

For more information, please visit https://www.home.saxo/institutional-and-partners

·       PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey 2020 reports more than half (56%) of UK businesses suffered some form of financial crime in the past two years 

·       Cambridge & Counties Bank and ieDigital have developed a robust solution to mitigate risk around financial crime and protect its small and medium business clients by keeping their data fully secure  

·       Brand new solution uses the specialist ieDigital Interact Suite underpinned by OutSystems low-code platform – this enables Cambridge & Counties Bank’s in-house development team to rapidly customise and extend the solution 

·       Low-Code capability cuts time to market and lowers the risk and skill barriers normally associated with custom software development. Industry analyst firm Gartner predict global low-code application development platform revenues to reach $5.8 billion in 2021* 

Leicester-based Cambridge & Counties Bank, one of the UK’s leading niche banks for SMEs and professional property investors, has launched an enhanced financial crime solution in cooperation with ieDigital, the specialist financial technology provider for the financial services sector.  

The initiative comes against the concerning backdrop reported in PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey 2020 which reveals economic crime reached its highest level in the previous 24 months with 56% of UK businesses surveyed stating that they were impacted by fraud, corruption or other economic crime. This 2020 figure was the highest in the history of PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey, and is well above the global finding of 47%. 

The brand-new, cutting-edge financial crime-fighting technology delivers a robust solution to mitigating risk around financial crime for Cambridge & Counties Bank and protect its small and medium business clients by keeping their data fully secure. The new solution, developed in tandem with the bank, represents the next step in Cambridge & Counties Bank’s digital transformation programme and is a key element of its dedicated approach to managing risk for its business and property investment clients.  

ieDigital’s solution, developed using the specialist OutSystems low-code platform, will enable a more robust monitoring of Cambridge & Counties Bank’s existing customer base. It will allow the bank to leverage integrations it already has in place across its financial crime systems, as well as provide end users with a simple onboarding journey. 

In turn, the implementation, together with the ieDigital partnership, will influence the internal development of future applications. ieDigital provided support and training in this area, so Cambridge & Counties Bank can further reduce costs, complexity, and time to market by improving its in-house development capabilities. 

Jerry Young, CEO of ieDigital, said: “At a time when the globe was suffering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the business community was suffering its own pandemic – that of financial crime. When Cambridge & Counties Bank decided to fight this outbreak, we were delighted to play an integral part in delivering their online transformation journey to protect the Bank itself, and ensure the data and information of its clients remains secure. 

“We delivered a modern, low-code solution via OutSystems for financial crime onboarding and monitoring – something that can be developed further as needed, and we are certainly looking forward to continuing a productive partnership together.” 

Phil Baker, Director of IT & BI at Cambridge & Counties Bank, said: “When we were looking for a partner, it became clear that ieDigital would provide the strength of knowledge in the financial services arena, and the power of technology that came with using a low-code platform.  

“Not only have we collectively implemented a fantastic financial crime solution, we’ve up-skilled internally, which will enable us to hasten our digital transformation with in-house development capabilities.” 

Finovate is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Finovate Awards, recognizing excellence in fintech across 25 different categories. This marks the third annual Finovate Awards competition, which aims to highlight the stellar work carried out by the companies who are driving fintech innovation forward and the individuals who are bringing new ideas to life.

This year, Finovate had a record number of nominations for the awards. The winning companies and individuals have all proven that they have what it takes to advance standout products, services, and overall excellence within their respective fields. While only one company can win, it’s worth recognizing the quality of all the companies who made it to the final stage. A full list of the finalists can be found at the following link: https://informaconnect.com/finovate-industry-awards/awards-categories

Judges for the awards, which included media analysts, board members, bankers, fintech founders and other leaders, were given the arduous task of sifting through a record number of nominations and distilling them down to a single winner in each category.

Without further ado, please find below the winners taking home the prizes in each of their respective categories this year:

• Best Alternative Investments Platform: Pipe
• Best Back-Office / Core Service Provider: MANTL
• Best Consumer Lending Platform: Salary Finance
• Best Customer Experience Solution: TMRW by UOB
• Best Digital Bank: Oxygen
• Best Digital Mortgage Platform: LendingHome
• Best Embedded Finance Solution: ApexEdge
• Best Enterprise Payments Solution: GoCardless
• Best Financial Mobile App: Simplifi by Quicken
• Best Fintech Accelerator/Incubator: Financial Solutions Lab
• Best Fintech Partnership: T-Mobile and BM Technologies
• Best ID Management Solution: IDology
• Best Insurtech Solution: FloodFlash
• Best Mobile Payments Solution: Simpl
• Best RegTech Solution: Featurespace
• Best SMB/SME Banking Solution: Ramp
• Best Use of AI/ML: Zest AI
• Best Wealth Management Solution: Charles Schwab
• Excellence in Financial Inclusion: Airtel Money
• Excellence in Pandemic Response: Biz2Credit
• Excellence in Sustainability: BlocPower
• Executive of the Year: Barbara Morgan, FIS
• Fintech Woman of the Year: Jo Ann Barefoot
• Innovator of the Year: Jon Schlossberg
• Top Emerging Tech Company: Synctera

Finovate would like to thank the judges, followers and everyone who took the time to submit a nomination. Congratulations to the winners!

Reuters Events Commodities have today launched their flagship whitepaper of 2021, The Energy transition’s impact on global markets and trading in partnership with Refinitiv.

In 2021 it is key to explore how the energy transition is affecting the trading community in the oil, natural gas, carbon and other markets.

Reuters Events and Refinitiv have engaged with all our internal experts and asset class teams – oil, power, natural gas, carbon and LNG team to scope out what their view of energy transition is, and their view of the subsequent impact it is (and will) have.

Download our Reuters Events and Refinitiv Whitepaper NOW

The whitepaper will explore a number of the key factors regarding energy transition, including:

• Utilising the existing - Fossil fuel companies can leverage existing infrastructure, technologies, and expertise to not only switch to but embrace decarbonizing the energy sector.
• Tech and Data advancements - The role newer technology and data capture, analysis and reach can play in supporting the energy transition.
• Energy Commodity Price impact – What is happening currently, how will this change and what are the consequences of this e.g. topics like drilling limits, higher forecasts and new policies.
• The geopolitical shift – And the results this has across all energy and power markets.
• The potential obstacles - That could affect the transition, red flags and anything on the horizon.

This Reuters and Refinitiv whitepaper will unite industry leaders and experts who are challenging what’s possible and developing innovative and responsible solutions to deliver a better global energy system.

This press release is being issued in association with Reuters Events upcoming flagship Commodities conference Commodities Trading 2021. More information can be found on the website.

Segmint’s cooperative with Corelation brings data analysis to the forefront to enhance member engagements

Segmint, the global leader in transaction cleansing and analytics for financial institutions, announced a partnership with Corelation, the innovators in core processing for credit unions. The collaboration between these two industry-leading technology innovators in the financial services space will deliver an accelerated member experience, using insights derived from account holder transaction data. Corelation’s growing stable of credit union clients will now have a seamless path to Segmint’s solutions, resulting in immediate impact for their members.

Corelation’s Keystone core solution leverages state-of-the-art architecture with the bold goal of transforming the way credit unions operate. This solution is a person-centric system that empowers credit unions to offer the best member service possible, enhancing their value for member attraction and retention. As credit unions upgrade their digital offerings to remain competitive, it is critical to leverage data as their core competency to execute 1-to-1 relevant messages across multiple channels, where their account holders are engaging.  Segmint’s solutions do just that.

“The capabilities of both Corelation and Segmint align this collaboration at the pinnacle of innovation. Adding an industry leader like Corelation to our ecosystem furthers our strategy to partner with organizations that bring value and a competitive edge to the financial services industry,” said Greg Gruning, Chief Revenue Officer for Segmint.

In line with being a leading innovator in the data analytics space, Segmint’s Merchant Payment Cleansing service is a differentiator in the industry in terms of speed, accuracy and scale. Transaction cleansing is a critical tool that allows financial institutions to better understand member transaction behavior and model spend patterns.  Additionally, Segmint’s Marketing Automation Platform then leverages the insights from payment and transaction data to strengthen member relationships through relevant marketing strategies and messaging fueled by Segmint’s proprietary patented Key Lifestyle Indicators (KLIs).  KLIs are assigned to each anonymized member based on their products, activities and interests, channel preferences, competitive product mix, spending habits, product recency, among many other unique insights from a combination of predictive and real-time transactional behavior. 

Segmint also recently announced the launch of its industry leading AI Platform, a cloud-based and always-on predictive modeling engine which can build and deploy custom predictive models for any financial institution within two weeks. The AI Platform boasts seamless data integration with multiple cores where data flows into the models on a daily basis, continuously updating the insights. The first in a new generation of AI modeling capabilities is Segmint’s Predictive Attrition Model, where KLI’s are the catalyst to guide financial institutions to decrease their attrition rates by predicting which account holders are likely to leave in the near future. 

“The platform delivers predictive models at incredible speed and scale, using insights that describe the full universe of account holder data, now giving community banks and credit unions a major competitive advantage using predictive analytics,” said Nate Shahan, Chief Product Officer.