YouHodler, a fintech platform that helps people access the benefits of the crypto economy, has announced the winners of their first Crypto Journey campaign. 

The winners of  Crypto Journey are:

• Stefano from Italy, who won a trip around the world sponsored by OneWorld Alliance
• Jun from South Korea, who received a hotel subscription from Inspirato
• Tristan from Australia, who got a brand new MacBook Pro

The participants also had the opportunity to win one of eight unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by a famous artist. The campaign was held from July 1 till August 31 and every week, the company gave away one unique NFT plus a physical picture of that NFT made by artist FRAKTALITY.

Offering crypto services, YouHodler helps people to understand and utilize the benefits of crypto assets and to avoid zero and negative interest rates on their savings with traditional banks. Unlocking the value of crypto assets, the team shares a mission of helping people stop passive holding and start using crypto assets right now.

“Our mission at YouHodler is to connect the traditional finance world with a new digital economy and build a safe environment for consumers to enjoy its benefits”, says Ilya Volkov, CEO & Founder of YouHodler. “We’re always excited to .”

YouHodler’s solutions open up connections between crypto and the real world, allowing people to use their crypto assets without spending them. With YouHodler, users can buy and sell crypto at any time, use it for purchases or put it in a reward account generating up to 12% yields. In addition, they can exchange crypto, fiat and stablecoins and get instant cash and crypto loans with their crypto assets acting as collateral.

Paya Holdings Inc. today announced the completion of its previously announced exchange offer (the “Exchange Offer”) and consent solicitation (the “Consent Solicitation”) relating to its outstanding warrants (the “warrants”) to purchase shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company (the “Common Stock”). The Company also entered into the related amendment to the warrant agreement governing the warrants (the “Warrant Amendment”).

The Company also announced that it will exercise its right, in accordance with the terms of the Warrant Amendment, to exchange all remaining untendered warrants at an exchange ratio of 0.234 shares of Common Stock for each warrant. The Company has fixed the date for such exchange as September 30, 2021. Following such exchange, no public or private warrants will remain outstanding.

The Company engaged Evercore Group L.L.C. as the Dealer Manager for the Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation.

This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, the securities described herein, and is also not a solicitation of the related consents. The Exchange Offer and Consent Solicitation were made only pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Prospectus/Offer to Exchange and related letter of transmittal.

Magpie Invest is a Proprietary Platform and Technology that Offers Stocks from Global Exchanges, Real Time Market Data, and Analytics

MICT, Inc.,wholly-owned subsidiary Magpie Securities today announces the launch of Magpie Invest, its mobile stock trading app. The Magpie Invest trading app will be available to investors in Hong Kong, and is licensed under Hong Kong SFC, the most highly regarded financial market in China.

The Magpie Invest Trading App is a proprietary platform and technology built by MICT that offers customers access to more financial markets, a wider range of stocks, more market data, enhanced analytics, market information, and an engaging user experience.

“From the moment we merged with Global Fintech Holdings we have been promising our stockholders that we will deliver state-of-the-art fintech solutions to the Asian market, today we have momentously achieved this promise. We have injected nearly half a billion Hong Kong dollars into launching Magpie Securities, a leading SFC-regulated securities business, which is introducing its first product, the mobile trading app, Magpie Invest. We have chosen the Hong Kong market to launch as it is the number-one financial center in Asia, with very sophisticated retail investors,” stated MICT Chief Executive Officer Darren Mercer. “Magpie Invest enables investors in Hong Kong with free real time data and market information and allows its users to trade on exchanges from around the globe. The Magpie Invest launch in Hong Kong is only the beginning of the realization of the Company’s business plan, as we now aim to gain regulatory approval in numerous jurisdictions for investors throughout the world to be able to utilize the trading app.”

Synechron, Inc., a leading digital consulting transformation firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry, today announced it has joined Green RWA, the acclaimed non-profit network dedicated to developing tools for financial institutions to manage the long-term risks associated with climate change.

Synechron and Green RWA (Risk-Weighted Assets) are closely aligned in the belief that climate transition and industry evolution will require the entire financial community to work collaboratively. With this partnership, Synechron aims to extend its Sustainable Finance service offerings beyond regulatory compliance and the transition to Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) standards, policies, and company requirements. Fresh technologies and innovations will allow for Synechron’s financial enterprise clients to address the complex challenges of new climate risk factors and scarcity of data.

With climate change and its adverse impact being a key focus of various international forums and organizations including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the expectation is for a renewed push to address the Net Zero Emissions goal by 2050. This will require banks and other financial institutions to optimize their climate risk capital budgets, utilize rigorous analysis and collaborate to meet this aggressive goal.

Established more than two years ago, and led by a team of experienced consultants, Synechron’s Sustainable Finance & ESG practice works to assist clients in accelerating their sustainability transition journey. Synechron serves as a Sustainable Finance change partner across the financial services industry globally. Looking at the key challenges in terms of ESG adoption across a wide range of clients, Synechron has come out with two cutting edge and data science-led platforms called the ESG Booster and ESG Navigator. ESG Booster serves the needs of a wide spectrum of clients in terms of ESG data visualization, portfolio analytics and works across a multitude of ESG data providers. ESG Navigator on the other hand is a first of its kind ESG self-assessment tool targeted at mid-corporates and SME’s which can be used as a white label solution by a variety of financial services market participants.

Rajul Mittal, Head of Sustainable Finance, Synechron, The Netherlands said about this partnership with Green RWA, “Sustainable Finance has become a mainstream focus for the financial services industry worldwide. This includes enabling banks to develop solutions and methodologies to precisely gauge and best manage climate-related financial risks across various asset classes. Green RWA’s Climate-extended Risk Model (CERM) framework will help Synechron assist financial enterprises in deploying climate metrics and related quantitative disclosures for better risk mitigation.” He added, “We are thrilled to partner with Green RWA for the benefit of our climate-aware financial services clients and address their needs for cutting-edge tools to optimize their climate strategies.”

Olivier Vinciguerra, Chairman & Co-founder of Green RWA said in announcing this partnership with Synechron, “We are delighted to have Synechron joining the association. Synechron is a well-respected leader in the financial consulting industry globally and it is per se a recognition of our work. We are now looking forward to leveraging their skills and network to expand the Green RWA toolbox and awareness internationally. This is critical in such a global problem as the climate change that corporate finance can and should help solve.”

At today’s meeting, the Supervisory Board of Commerzbank made personnel decisions in order to establish the Board Team for the far-reaching transformation that has been set in train in the context of Strategy 2024.

Thomas Schaufler, currently Board Member for Retail Banking at Erste Group Bank AG in Austria, will take responsibility for Private and Small-Business Customers at Commerzbank on 1 January 2022. Currently, Sabine Schmittroth is responsible for this segment. The appointment of Thomas Schaufler to the Board of Managing Directors is still subject to the usual approval by the regulatory authority.

As already announced in June, Sabine Schmittroth will return to focusing fully on her role as Labour Relations Director. As part of the transformation and the associated implementation in human resources, this function is particularly important.

The Supervisory Board has also appointed Dr Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz as the new COO on the Board of Managing Directors. The appointment of Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz is still subject to the usual approval by the regulatory authority. Once this approval has been granted, he will succeed Jörg Hessenmüller, whose appointment as Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Commerzbank will end at the latest on 31 December 2021. Jörg Hessenmüller offered his resignation with the aim of giving the Bank the opportunity for a new beginning.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Helmut Gottschalk, commented as follows on the new appointments: “The newly formed Board Team combines a long track record of management experience with great depth of specialist expertise and furthermore secures the necessary focus for implementing Strategy 2024.”

CEO Manfred Knof added: “The task now is to develop our full potential as a team and to consistently transform Commerzbank further – to become THE digital advisory bank in Germany, which stands for customer centricity, sustainability and profitability.”

Since January 2021, Thomas Schaufler has been Board Member with responsibility for Retail Banking at Erste Group Bank AG in Austria and Board Member of Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG. Thomas Schaufler joined Erste Group already in 1997 and since then he has held various management positions in retail banking. In February 2016, he was appointed as Board Member of Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG, where he is responsible for retail business, business with small businesses and independent advisors, private banking, asset management, marketing and product management. Thomas Schaufler is a Certificated European Financial Analyst and obtained a master’s degree at the University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication.

Dr Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz is currently an independent consultant for strategy and transformation projects. As COO and CHRO, he was most recently responsible for the areas of IT, digitalisation, operations, sourcing and human resources as Board Member of IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG from 2016 to 2020. Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz is a business economist, he took a Master of Business Administration at Edinburgh University Management School and obtained his doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His professional career took him to various board and senior management positions at institutions including Deutsche Bank and at other financial services providers in Germany, Europe and the United Kingdom, where he was responsible for the transformation of business and operating models, companies also at national level, and for restructuring projects, sourcing activities and services.

Jörg Hessenmüller has driven forward the digital transformation of Commerzbank with great commitment. The technical and cultural initiatives were particularly important and these enabled him to give his board division a new profile. The agile cluster/delivery organisation “Campus 2.0” created by him received significant accolades throughout the sector.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Helmut Gottschalk commented: “We would like to thank Jörg Hessenmüller for his commitment as a Board Member and for his many years of cooperation at the Bank, with broadly-based management responsibility. We would like to wish him all the best for the future.”

Yapily brings reliable, scalable infrastructure, enabling French businesses to embed open banking within products and services.

Yapily, the European open banking infrastructure provider, today announces its expansion into France with significant investment, the opening of an office and appointment of an expert team. In entering the market, Yapily’s goal is to provide French banks and the country’s flourishing fintech sector with a platform for innovation and international expansion.

Ahead of its launch into France, Yapily had already developed considerable capabilities in the market. With 100% PSD2 connectivity, Yapily covers more than 85% of French bank accounts, enabling banks, fintech firms and other financial institutions to embed the power of open banking within their products and services. Vivid, the Berlin-based financial platform for investing, banking and saving, already uses Yapily to connect to bank accounts in France. 

Julien Lamour, Yapily’s Country Manager in France, said: “Increasingly, the public expect banks and other financial service providers to deliver the same levels of speed, convenience and personalisation found in mainstream mobile apps. Yapily’s proven expertise in open banking provides the foundation for banks and fintech firms to fulfil these expectations. Yapily infrastructure is scalable, allowing French companies to embed open banking within their products and create hyper-personalised services. With our international reach, we’re excited to help French businesses continue to innovate and expand into other European countries beyond the home market.” 

The launch of French operations closely follows Yapily’s recent completion of its Series-B fundraising round, which saw it secure $51m to extend open banking across Europe and revolutionise financial services through open finance, creating financial inclusion for all. The investment round had a markedly European flavour, led by Sapphire Ventures with existing investors Lakestar, HV Capital and LocalGlobe also taking part. 

Julien Lamour continued: “In recent years, the French fintech sector has seen an acceleration in investment and a surge in innovation. In moving data and payments between organisations, open banking initiatives will be crucial to traditional and new financial service providers realising their ambitions. Yapily’s focus on scalable and reliable open banking infrastructure will provide the foundation for French companies to create better and fairer financial products and services.”

Working alongside Julien Lamour to drive Yapily’s business in France will be Mohsen Dajani, Head of Sales, who brings valuable experience and expertise in the French fintech sector as the former country manager of Pagantis.

Together, Alibaba Cloud and Salesforce will work to help brands succeed in China.

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence back bone of Alibaba Group  and Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, today announced they are working toward an agreement to launch Salesforce Social Commerce, a headless commerce product being designed and built in China to help multinational brands succeed in the region.  

Salesforce Social Commerce is intended to help businesses unify data across their Chinese storefronts and offer integrations with key local systems. Salesforce Social Commerce is designed to be hosted in China on Alibaba Cloud, one of the world's top three cloud providers and the largest in APAC.

“This is a planned part of the partnership between two global technology leaders to bring Salesforce’s trusted products to mainland China. Once launched, this localised commerce solution will help brands meet the unique needs of the Chinese market while providing consistency with global Salesforce products. The partnership is designed to ensure that customers of Salesforce that have operations in mainland Chinawill have access to a locally-hosted version of Salesforce from Alibaba Cloud, which understands local business and culture,” said Lancelot Guo, VP of Alibaba Group, and President, Ecosystem and Sales Operations, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. 

Solving Key Challenges Global Customers Face in the Region

As the world’s largest online retail market, China is key for many multinational companies. Yet, brands face many challenges while operating in the region such as performance, data residency, and difficulty integrating with local Chinese platforms.

Salesforce Social Commerce is designed to provide a solution, transforming the way companies do business in the region. 

At launch, Salesforce Social Commerce will support e-commerce across China-specific channels, including Chinese websites and social network mini programs. It will feature integrations into key digital commerce systems such as customers’ order management systems (OMS), product information management systems (PIM), shipping providers, and more. It will also support local payments systems such as Alipay as standard payment processing. The product is being built with an API-first methodology which will allow the product to scale with customers’ needs in the market.

“Together with Alibaba Cloud, we plan for Salesforce Social Commerce to offer a new, localised product that will enable companies to manage and unify their first-party commerce experiences, from websites to social applications, to gain a 360 view of their customers,” said Ryan Aytay, Chief Business Officer at Salesforce. “We are committed to helping multinational customers succeed in China, and are energised to bring more products to the market together in partnership with Alibaba Cloud in the near future.”  

As China’s ecommerce market continues to evolve quickly, Salesforce and Alibaba Cloud intend to regularly deliver new features and integrations for Salesforce Social Commerce -- arming customers with the tools needed to stay on top of market trends.

Salesforce Social Commerce is intended to be the first product brought to market as part of the Salesforce and Alibaba Cloud strategic partnership. It is being designed to complement additional Salesforce products that may be brought to market.

• DF Capital’s savings customers will be able to fully manage their personal savings accounts and apply for new products online
• Collaboration with ieDigital forms a key part of DF Capital’s digital growth strategy following feedback from customers

DF Capital, a specialist savings and commercial lending bank, has developed a digital interactive channel that will enable its savings customers to self-serve their accounts, and apply for new products, fully online.

Hybrid Multicloud Leader Continues Channel Investment with Strategic Hire To Drive Company Growth 

Nutanix, a leader in hybrid multi-cloud computing, today announced the promotion of Adam Tarbox to Vice President of EMEA Channel Sales. This senior promotion demonstrates Nutanix’s continued investment in the channel as it looks to accelerate the company to its next level of growth and support partners and customers in their journey to hybrid multi-cloud. 

In this role, Tarbox will lead all routes to market, spearheading channel activities in all the European countries, Middle East, and Africa region, and will draw upon his extensive industry experience to play a strategic role in supporting Nutanix’s expansion in EMEA. Assuming overall responsibility for Nutanix’s go-to-market strategies with resellers, distributors, OEM platform partners, system integrators, and technology partners in the EMEA region, he will be key in driving the continued growth and success of the company’s already enviable channel and alliance ecosystem.

Commenting on his appointment, Tarbox said: “Partners have and will continue to be an integral part of our success, and I’m inspired by the passion and drive of Nutanix’s channel team. My commitment is to listen, learn and lead through our partners so they can continue delivering business outcomes, best-in-class transformational solutions, and a digital-first customer experience. I am looking forward to building upon our deep relationships with partners to help reach the next level of mutual growth.”

Prior to his new role, Adam was Director of Global System Integrator (GSI) Business for EMEA, where he was responsible for developing and executing an overarching regional alliance strategy for Nutanix’s GSI partners. Adam successfully led a team distributed across the EMEA region focused on driving go-to-market activities with GSIs around joint offerings for both horizontal markets and industry verticals.

Christian Alvarez, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Channels at Nutanix said: “As Nutanix continues to transform to a subscription model, we continue to invest in the channel while retaining  the best and brightest talent in the industry. Adam has a proven track record of driving transformational change and implementing successful strategies to deliver growth. By harnessing both Adam’s strategic abilities and experience, we can enable our partners of today and tomorrow to gain maximum benefit from our highly innovative solutions  portfolio.” He continued: “I look forward to working closely with Adam to deliver our shared vision of assisting  partners  to accelerate their business by delivering the freedom of choice that enables true hybrid multicloud computing. As the channel is going through digital transformation  to cloud, Nutanix is one of the only multicloud, multi-product companies carrying the torch to light the way ahead. Adam is the person best suited to do this, while executing on our mission to help both our partners and customers on their journey to hybrid multicloud .”