• New white paper identifies the best-positioned markets for the payments industry

• UK “will remain an attractive market for payments issuers”

• Nordics will be the first in the  world to “realise digital transformation in payments”

• Germany and Spain will see dramatic growth in corporate credit products

A new white paper released today unveils the markets which will be at the forefront of powering the payments industry in the coming years. 

Released by Transact Payments Ltd (TPL), the experts in payment and card solutions, it reveals that the UK, Germany, Spain, and the Nordic countries will be the most well-positioned markets as digital transformation in the industry continues to gather pace.

TPL’s white paper comes at a time of significant change in the payments sector, presenting significant opportunities for all kinds of organisations issuing new payments products across the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). 

In the last five years alone, important developments have included the advent of Open Banking legislation, the European Union’s (EU) Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the impacts of Brexit and COVID-19. During this period there’s also been an unstoppable rise in digital and mobile payments, contactless cards, biometric security and wearable payment technologies.

TPL’s white paper findings

1. The UK 

TPL believes Britain will retain its leadership position in payments technologies and remain an attractive market for payments issuers.

• Highly developed market: The country is home to a growing (and sophisticated) market of 67 million digital-savvy consumers, backed by a forward-thinking regulator. It is also quick to adopt fast-developing payment trends, such as “soft point of sale” (POS) and mobile POS systems to enable wider acceptance for electronic payments, especially in the growing micro-merchant segment, as well as the use of QR code payments due to COVID-19.

• Beyond Europe: Meanwhile, despite concerns relating to Brexit, a recent annual planning paper from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) suggests the UK may be about to pursue a strategy of “smart divergence” from EU legislation. This would give the UK flexibility to follow EU rules where it’s in their interests to do so, but also to diverge for commercial benefit. This could lead to opportunities for British payments firms outside Europe, including in Australia and Canada, which share similar legal systems and are exhibiting many of the same market characteristics.

2. Germany

TPL expects to see dramatic growth in corporate credit products as new specialist lenders using Open Banking, take hold in the market.

• Championing PSD2: Germany has fully embraced PSD2 and created a common standard for open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) through the Berlin Group. The country is also second only to the UK in terms of the number of permissioned intermediaries able to deliver payments services under PSD2. 

• SMEs: Yet historically, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have struggled to gain access to credit and flexible banking services. However, new specialist lenders are taking hold in the market by using Open Banking to prove the creditworthiness of smaller companies.

• FinTech to the fore: Thus, Germany’s relatively advanced status in PSD2 readiness is creating opportunities for partnership between banks and FinTechs via service delivery through shared APIs. Banks are now working with FinTechs such as Moss, a platform that integrates all corporate spending on one card, and Pliant, a business-to-business payments platform, to enable new payment services.

3. Spain

Similarly to Germany, TPL anticipates that credit products for SMEs are going to be huge in the Spanish market, but also for individuals.

• Simplified infrastructure: Previously, Spain presented fewer opportunities for payments players given its relatively bureaucratic systems and standard debit-led card portfolios. Yet, in February 2018, Spain’s three major payment systems merged into a single infrastructure provider, SistemaPay. 

• Modernisation: As well as rationalising the previously complex infrastructure, Spain’s regulators have been actively engaging with the possibilities presented by PSD2 and its Open Banking mandate, including licensing Account Information Service Providers (AISPs) and Payment Information Service Providers (PISPs).

• Development of credit market: With such changes taking place, much like Germany, it is realistic to expect the credit market to flourish via the digital channel, something that’s good news for both payments companies and the Spanish economy. 

4. The Nordics

TPL predicts that the Nordics will be the first markets in the world to fully realise digital transformation in payments.

• Digital transformation (nearly) complete? The Nordic markets of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have the highest penetration of electronic transactions anywhere in the world. The Nordics’ leadership position becomes clear - as coupled with this level of electric transactions - is a functioning, consumer-permissioned digital ID system known as BankID that makes Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance for e-commerce much easier.

• National wallet schemes and “super-apps”: Since 2015, the Nordic markets have also wholeheartedly embraced digital wallet solutions. Therefore, as digital wallets rise and cards continue to be used for a very wide range of purchases, these markets will continue to seek opportunities to reduce cash use for everyday, low-value purchases such as parking, street vendors and others. This is going to create room for mPOS and soft POS systems providers, as well as multi-function card products.

How payments players can succeed

As TPL’s white paper findings highlight, success means identifying opportunities across markets, and creating products that respond to those opportunities. Yet with the payments business changing so fast, doing everything in-house is no longer an option. Those issuing payments products need to select the right partners to help them unpick the unique complexities in each of Europe’s 34 markets, from regulation to programme management. 

Furthermore, flexibility – for issuers and their partners – is going to be equally important. This means offering a wide range of products to customers, products that respect the differences between markets and the specific needs of each market. “One-size-fits-all” approaches are not effective, and the signs are that such approaches will be even less effective in the future.

“We believe great opportunities lie ahead for organisations issuing payments products

throughout Europe and the UK,” said Kriya Patel, Chief Executive Officer CEO, TPL. “As highlighted in our white paper, Britain, Germany, Spain and the Nordics are all in excellent positions to navigate the new landscape in the European payments sector. However, most critically of all, the evidence shows that an effective partnership is going to be the winning strategy in the years ahead.”

TPL is a licensed UK and European e-money institution, regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, Malta Financial Services Authority and Principal Members of both Mastercard and Visa. It provides innovative and flexible UK and European BIN sponsorship, modular payment, debit, credit and prepaid services 

TPL’s white paper is available for download here. 

Qumulo is the central data platform to enhance safety and security for 49ers fans

The San Francisco 49ers today announced a multi-year partnership with Qumulo to serve as the team’s new data storage provider. Qumulo is the breakthrough leader in radically simplifying enterprise file data management across hybrid cloud environments and will support the 49ers operations at Levi’s® Stadium and its SAP Performance Facility.

“The safety and security of our guests and employees is a top priority for us and Qumulo’s technology has certainly helped us enhance those efforts,” said Jim Mercurio, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Levi’s Stadium. “Though this sort of deployment may not be something people see, it allows us the capacity and capability to be more effective and efficient in our workflow. I’m looking forward to Qumulo being a part of our team and process moving forward.”

A primary use of Qumulo’s storage platform will be extending the storage capacity of security camera feeds captured in and around the 49ers’ home venue and training facility. What previously required 54 individual storage arrays will now be compacted into a single namespace. Paired with the data management company’s remote monitoring service, the benefits of the new partnership have significantly reduced management overhead. The technology has also allowed the 49ers to consolidate their data center capacity, freeing up a total of five racks of gear for future projects.

“By unleashing the power of data to enhance security and safety, the 49ers continue to stay at the forefront of stadium innovation,” said Bill Richter, CEO of Qumulo. “We’re proud to serve the 49ers as a trusted partner in delivering reliable, effective data solutions that will bring a safer fan experience to life in future seasons to come.”

Business strategy and analytics work is also simplified. Qumulo aids issue management by providing robust and easy-to-read analytics reports, making outliers and roadblocks much easier to find. Other technical feats accomplished by the franchise include writing over 44TB of data per day and completing cluster upgrades in under five minutes.

“We have a large employee base, a high number of data output, and a 68,500-seat stadium to manage, so our technology and systems in place need to be top of the line,” said 49ers Director of IT Jim Bartholomew. “Qumulo will be a great addition to our overall organizational management and I’m thrilled to welcome them to the 49ers family.”

Qumulo’s advanced file data management technology and systems add to the reputation Levi’s Stadium has built as one of the most technologically advanced sports and entertainment venues in the world. The site won Sports Business Journal’s prestigious “Sports Facility of the Year” award in 2015, along with The StadiumSportsBusiness Awards Venue of the Year. The venue was also recognized for Venue Technology of the Year from Leaders in Sport in 2019 and StadiumSportsBusiness in 2020 for the deployment of its Executive Huddle venue analytics hub.

To learn more about Qumulo and their offerings, please visit Qumulo.com.

Only one in six investors sufficiently understand the value and potential of cryptocurrency, reveals a survey conducted by Cardify. In addition, a third of buyers have either zero knowledge about the space or would call their level of understanding “emerging”. Coreto tackles the problem of knowledge and trust in the cryptocurrency industry by introducing a reputation-based social platform that bridges the gap between blockchain retail investors, traders, influencers, newcomers and project teams looking to achieve funding goals. This enables users to monetise their knowledge and build a reliable reputation online.

The platform is a tokenised, secure environment for crypto communities, offering verified crowdsourced information thanks to its comprehensive trust and performance system. Coreto employs various technologies, including Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, to save users valuable time in the due diligence processes when making trading decisions. These algorithms help recognise various market trends and investor interests to generate relevant metrics that are useful to the community.

One of the platform’s main differentiators is the gamification system, which brings components of video games into a social network. This means recurring tasks, rankings, achievements, leaderboards and much more.

The first feature that has the gamification component is its  unique Staking of Opinion Pool (SOOP) mechanism. This is an innovative tool that encourages accountability, pledges and challenges, validates the legitimacy of shared information and records opinions through its native Community Reward Token (COR token), awarded by users who enter their stake into the pool. It’s designed to reward people who make significant contributions to the community, providing them with the opportunity to get closer to the level of “influencer” and generate additional income through subscriptions. 

The staking pool and automated payments for subscriptions and rewards for increased participation and efficient utilisation of the COR token ecosystem is facilitated by an integrated decentralised finance (DeFi) solution.

Iustina Faraon, CEO and co-founder, says, “Coreto acts as a digital stage on which experts covering all the crypto fields showcase their knowledge and share new insights. It rewards content creators, allows them to communicate directly with their audience and helps them earn a reputation based on the number of posts and the endorsements they receive.” 

The Cardify survey results also suggest that more than a third of respondents researched digital currencies for less than a month before buying.

Vlad Faraon, CBO and co-founder, adds, “Coreto will change the way people do their own research (DYOR), which is currently very time consuming. Sources such as social media, news outlets, Telegram or Discord groups, blogs and more need to be dug into for new possible investments, followed by research for market sentiment, community opinion and recent and future events. The decentralized aspect of the technology makes it attractive but at the same time confusing as each participant has limited knowledge and there is no reliable platform where they can learn more from others while sharing what they know with the community.

“There was an obvious need to protect people from the hype and so-called experts who were shilling projects to then delete traces of their online activity once their predictions were proven wrong. Through Coreto we aim for a healthier crypto ecosystem. With the help of aggregated news, tools and community knowledge, newcomers to the crypto space will better understand what projects are all about, who to follow and who deserves their trust, not solely based on the number of followers, but on a proven track record of their past calls.” 

Registrations are still open so the early adopter community is invited to request access to the platform via https://reserve.coreto.io/ to reserve their username and test the Alpha version of Coreto.io while it transitions to the Beta launch. This way, they’ll gain a firsthand experience of what Coreto has to offer. They will be onboarded in multiple batches, enabling them to access all the latest features of the constantly evolving platform.

Coreto recently implemented Coreto Design Language (CDL), a design language system optimised for efficiency, cost, stability and usability of the platform. In the long run, Coreto aims to strengthen its position in the market as the main information platform for the cryptocurrency field. The team intends to develop the platform on several levels, including options through which Trust and Performance algorithms can be implemented on other platforms where there are peer-to-peer interactions. The final step will be the grand opening, which will focus on UX and scalability and will be ready to onboard thousands of people. 

Avaloq today announced that the investment advisor of its fintech investment fund is being spun off from the group by means of a management buyout. This change of ownership will not impact the fund’s strategic focus and Avaloq will maintain its long-term interests and involvement in Avaloq Ventures.

Launched in 2020, the Avaloq Ventures fund provides investors with early-stage access to next-generation players in the financial industry through Avaloq’s unique ecosystem, consisting of established banks and wealth managers as well as up-and-coming fintech companies.

Following a successful go-live with seven promising investments in fast growing fintech companies, Avaloq and Avaloq Ventures have agreed to spin off the fund’s investment advisor, Avaloq Ventures AG, as a separate entity, independent of Avaloq Group. This will give the management team more agility in advising the fund while Avaloq will focus on growing its ecosystem, also by increasing its commitment to the fund.

The management buyout is led by Francisco Fernandez (founder/board member of Avaloq Group and Chairman of Avaloq Ventures), Alexander Christen (CEO of Avaloq Ventures) and FiveT Capital Holding AG, all of whom have already been a shareholder of the investment advisor. Following the spin-off from Avaloq Group, Avaloq Ventures is being renamed FiveT Fintech.

Francisco Fernandez said: “As FiveT Fintech enters the next stage of its growth story, we firmly believe that the fund will benefit from this new structure, allowing the management team more freedom to implement its innovative strategy. I’m personally very excited about the investment opportunities in the extremely dynamic fintech space and look forward to supporting start-ups to reach their full potential and giving investors the opportunity to participate in their success.”

Alexander Christen said: “Going independent is a major step for FiveT Fintech and we are very happy to further contribute to Avaloq’s ecosystem strategy. As the capital flows into the global fintech sector are reaching new highs, our fund is uniquely positioned to identify the most promising start-ups and accelerate the digitalization of the financial industry.”

Martin Greweldinger, co-CEO of Avaloq Group, said: “Constant innovation is part of Avaloq’s long-standing software DNA and being an active player in the start-up scene is key to keeping abreast of the latest technology trends in the financial industry. We are therefore delighted to continue our collaboration with FiveT Fintech as our preferred financing partner for growth companies as we not only remain a major investor in the fund but are also increasing our commitment in the upcoming fourth closing. At Avaloq, we firmly believe in focusing on core strengths, hence we are confident that the fund and its investors will benefit from this new setup.”

New resources enable use of EMV Payment Token data for EMV 3DS authentication to support improved consumer experience.

Global technical body EMVCo has published new resources to help card issuers and merchants to optimise the EMV® 3-D Secure (EMV 3DS) authentication experience for online shoppers when EMV Payment Tokens are in use, enhancing the fraud-prevention benefits that EMV 3DS provides.

EMV Payment Tokens are used across the payments ecosystem to increase the security of card-based transactions by replacing the primary account number (PAN) with a unique alternative value. Industry feedback identified an opportunity to improve the EMV 3DS authentication process by making Payment Tokens and related data available as part of the 3DS Authentication Request to improve issuer decision making and the consumer experience.  

The EMV 3DS Payment Token Message Extension and supplemental white paper provide guidance on how payment token related data elements can be used to support the authenticity of EMV 3DS transactions. Using the extension, issuers can leverage additional payment token data to better identify the transaction and consumer. This reduces the need for additional consumer authentication in the form of a challenge, such as a one-time passcode or biometric.

“The use of EMV Payment Token data in the EMV 3DS authentication process further enables card issuers to make better risk-based decisions. As a result, merchants will benefit from improved transaction approval rates and a faster, more secure authentication process for their customers,” said Robin Trickel, EMVCo Executive Committee Chair.

The EMV 3DS Secure Payment Token Message Extension supports EMV 3DS v2.1 and v2.2. It is optional and does not impact interoperability. Based on the industry’s request for payment token data to be supported, the extension capabilities will be included in EMV 3DS v2.3 as part of the core specification.

To learn more, view the EMV Insights post: EMV 3-D Secure Transactions and Leveraging EMV Payment Token Data.

• Centtrip, the global fintech providing expense management and card payment technology, has launched its platform, app, and card in the United States.
• The fintech has partnered with Adyen to provide its U.S. offering.
• Designed for the demands of highly mobile businesses, the Centtrip card offers some of the highest spend limits on the market.

Centtrip, the global fintech providing expense management and card payment technology, has announced its launch in the United States.

The Centtrip platform gives businesses real-time visibility and control over their expenses and card payments, helping them empower their people, streamline expense payment processes, reduce the cost and risk of carrying cash, and make the accounting process significantly easier.

As one of the most flexible cards on the market, the Centtrip Mastercard offers high balance and transaction limits and is accepted across the United States and worldwide. Organizations can have as many cards as required (several hundred cards for a single project is not uncommon) – a feature not offered by traditional payment providers.

Centtrip is designed specifically for the needs of highly mobile organizations, notably those operating in marine, film and TV production, music, the wider arts and entertainment industries, and aviation. The fintech, headquartered in London, has over 20,000 clients and users around the world, including the world’s largest superyachts, music’s top touring acts and world-renowned arts companies. Founded in 2015, by experts in payments, foreign exchange and technology, Centtrip now processes over $1.3 billion in transactions each year and is experiencing rapid growth across all core markets as they emerge from the pandemic.

Jane Turner, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We already have clients in the United States who use Centtrip globally and who wish to use it domestically. By expanding into the US with Adyen, we are giving highly mobile businesses in the most demanding sectors greater control, flexibility and visibility over their money and their expenses.

We chose Adyen because we wanted a digital-first payments processor with a track-record for innovation. With its high-growth ambitions, offices around the world and a product-set that spans the payment ecosystem, Adyen are the perfect partner for our own growth plans in the US and beyond.”

Cardholders and authorized administrators can control the card directly from the award-winning Centtrip app, setting spend limits, freezing or unfreezing cards, and enjoying full, real-time visibility of transactions. Clients have the choice to either preload individual cards with funds (for example a cardholder’s available budget) or to have all cards on an account draw from the same, central account balance (in the same way that bank debit cards operate). In either case, Centtrip provides businesses with full control over their funds and maximum security.

As part of the expansion Centtrip has opened an office in Miami Beach, Florida, and plans to expand its US based team in the coming months.

British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, today announces a new £15m commitment to Liberty Leasing, which will increase access to finance for UK smaller businesses in the construction, engineering, transport, agriculture, and printing sectors.

The commitment is a £15m block discounting funding line which will enable Liberty Leasing to support smaller businesses requiring vital funding for critical equipment as the UK economy recovers from the effects of the pandemic.

Liberty Leasing is a Southampton-based specialist asset finance company, which was founded in 2001.

British Business Investments aims to increase the supply and diversity of finance for smaller businesses across the UK, by boosting the lending capacity of a range of finance providers, including asset finance partners. Since it was established in 2014, British Business Investments has committed over £2.5bn to providers of finance to UK smaller businesses.

Judith Hartley, CEO of British Business Investments, said: “British Business Investments’ objective is to ensure smaller businesses can access as diverse a range of finance options as possible, to help them grow and succeed. Supporting independent operators, such as Liberty Leasing, helps to diversify the finance market and provide more choice for UK smaller businesses. We look forward to working with Liberty Leasing, to help smaller businesses across the UK get the finance they need.”

Allan Clegg, Managing Director of Liberty Leasing, said: “The British Business Investments facility is an exciting development for Liberty as we look to support SMEs across the UK with their post pandemic recovery and growth plans. It will provide us with the incremental capital needed to deploy further levels of asset finance into the UK SME market, supporting the growth of the UK economy.”

Leading French payments service provider (PSP) Lemonway has launched Pay By Bank in partnership with Tink, to bring open banking-powered payments to its customers across Europe.

By integrating Tink’s payment initiation services (PIS), Lemonway can enable merchants to offer a fast and secure digital payment method that improves the user experience. With Pay By Bank, end-users can connect to their bank account and authorise the transaction in a few simple steps.

Pay By Bank expands the payments options available to Lemonway’s customers and provides a more seamless experience compared to traditional payment methods. It offers higher payment thresholds, and a secure transaction method that takes fewer steps to complete, because the payment can be initiated directly from the bank without manually filling in payment details – all within the same online environment.

Pay by Bank also aims to revolutionise payments in the wider financial services market. The new service will enable investment firms to connect directly to their investors’ bank accounts, enabling faster onboarding experiences and avoiding delays when adding beneficiaries to an investment account in order to deposit and receive funds. 

Lemonway’s payment services have been trusted by more than 1,400 marketplaces and 200 crowdfunding platforms in Europe, with 8 million payment accounts (e-wallets) and more than 210 platforms registered as agents. In the last year, the value of payments processed by Lemonway increased by 90%.

Simon Berger-Perrin Chief Product Officer at Lemonway said: “The launch of Pay By Bank ensures we continue to offer our customers an industry-leading secure, scalable and compliant payment solution. Our ambition has always been to contribute to the success of marketplaces by enabling them to give their users a safe and frictionless payments experience. By connecting to Tink’s PIS solution, Lemonway can access a complete portfolio of banks across Europe through just one API integration, enabling us to scale Pay By Bank across Europe with ease.”

Jerome Albus, Director France & Benelux at Tink, said: “We are proud to partner with Lemonway to help it take a fast, simple, and secure open banking payment experience to its marketplace customers across Europe. Pay By Bank is a win-win for merchants and their customers, by reducing both the costs associated with payments and the time and effort it takes to complete a transaction. We look forward to continuing to develop our partnership with Lemonway in the coming months and years, to increase innovation in the payments market.”

Validis, the provider of open accounting data analytics, announces its latest partnership with Bank North, the newly accredited SME-focused digital bank.

Having recently obtained a UK banking license (Authorisation with Restrictions), Bank North are set to open the doors to its first lending pod in Manchester later this year, before rolling out across the UK. Their de-centralised lending model is designed to deliver fast, flexible and borrower-friendly support to UK SMEs, built on seamlessly-integrated cloud-native banking technology. Coupled with an experienced relationship banking team, they are committed to deliver finance up to 10 times faster than the industry standard.

Bank North has chosen Validis to access and analyse SME accounting using its single API that will streamline the underwriting process and enable faster access to funding via their innovative lending pods.

An established UK fintech with operations in the US, Validis supports a wide-range of large UK banks and lenders who use its platform to instantly access data from major accounting packages. Bank North are the latest UK-focused lender to choose Validis.

Paul Thomas, CEO of Validis said, “Bank North are an exciting new entrant to the UK market, with an ambitious vision and ground-breaking model that will provide much-needed funding to UK businesses to help them thrive. I’m delighted that we’ve been chosen to support the team as they embark on an exciting launch phase – providing access to on-demand accounting data through our API will deliver the rich insight needed to help power their lending and customer management processes and support their SME borrower community”.

Ewan Hutton, CTO of Bank North said, “Using the Validis API will enable Bank North to harness valuable accounting analytics to support our SME customers in getting the finance that they need to grow. We look forward to working with the Validis team to deploy the API to our lending pod teams who will use the software as a vital part of our technology-enabled cloud banking system. As we move towards launch, Bank North must continue to select high-quality service providers, such as Validis, to help us to deliver the most robust, secure, and customer-centric lending bank in the UK.”

Form3, the leading platform payment technology provider, has today announced its Series C investment funding of $160 million. The fundraising was led by the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) and included participation from existing investors. This brings the company’s total fundraising to $220million.

Form3 welcomes new shareholder Goldman Sachs alongside existing investors Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, Barclays, Mastercard, 83North and Draper Esprit.

Form3 has seen unprecedented growth since launching its cloud-native payment technology platform in 2017 with a mission to fundamentally change the way that technology in this key industry operates.

Michael Mueller, Chief Executive Officer at Form3 commented, “More and more financial institutions (FI’s) are placing mission critical processes onto a platform. Cloud-native technology is now proven at an industrial scale and confidence is high and growing. This announcement marks the beginning of a global roll out for Form3, and the funding required to tackle the next big challenges in payments;  how should payments become smart – uniquely possible with our cloud native technology and an exciting new phase to come.”

Form3 is expected to move into new markets including the USA where it is in advanced conversations with a number of banks.  An ambitious strategic roadmap across geographies and within its platform functionality will further propel Form3 into pole position as a leading global player in platform payment technology.

James Hayward, Managing Director in the Growth Equity Business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, commented: “Financial institutions are increasingly turning to modern, cloud-based technologies in order to handle growing payment volumes efficiently and in real-time. We are delighted to be leading this investment round and look forward to working together with Form3 and other shareholders to help realise their ambitious global roadmap and strategic growth plan.”

Vinoth Jayakumar, Partner at Draper Esprit said; “Form3 continues to prove its ability to own and drive a pioneering, innovative narrative in cloud native payments for financial institutions. We are excited to double down on our support for the Form3 team and welcome Goldman Sachs and 83North to the journey.”