TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, today announced that Mariko Beising has joined the firm as its new Head of Payment Partnerships, bringing a decade of experience, most recently at Klarna where she led partnerships with Payments Services Providers (PSPs). 

As demand for TrueLayer’s open banking payments continues to grow, Mariko will play a critical role in defining and managing TrueLayer’s partner strategy, reporting into the firm’s Chief Revenue Officer, Max Emilson. A highly experienced commercial manager, with a deep understanding of European ecommerce and payments, Mariko will collaborate with Payments Services Providers (PSPs), as well as with TrueLayer’s clients to understand their emerging payments needs and use cases.

“Open banking is an incredibly exciting space to be in, with enormous opportunities to fundamentally change the way people pay. It is already replacing legacy methods like cards that aren’t fit for the digital age, and will continue to do so – innovations like Variable Recurring Payments for example will likely replace direct debits,” commented Mariko Beising. “TrueLayer is a market leader and innovator, with a reputation for strong product management and engineering. I believe those two elements are the basis for high quality, agile products that make it an ideal fit for global payments partners and their clients. I’m also excited to go back to my roots, working directly with Product teams to accommodate the needs of PSPs and their enterprise merchants into the roadmap.”

Prior to TrueLayer, Mariko was Director of Global Partnerships and Head of PSP Partnerships at payments provider Klarna, where she was responsible for Klarna’s global PSP partners such as Adyen. With a decade of experience in financial services, she also managed sales and payments partnerships at German online bank payment platform SOFORT, prior to its purchase by Klarna in 2014. There she played a significant role in the firm embracing PSD2 and open banking, managing multiple PSP partnerships.

Max Emilson, CRO at TrueLayer, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Mariko to further accelerate our growth in Europe and beyond. As more merchants look to implement open banking payments at the checkout, PSPs will play an important role in boosting adoption. Mariko has an outstanding track record in building PSP partnerships from her time at Klarna, along with a deep appreciation, and understanding, of open banking. Her experience at the leading edge of ecommerce payments provides invaluable insight into how to build TrueLayer’s strategic partnerships which will deliver innovation to merchants and their customers.”

Financial reg tech pioneers CUBE has announced a new partnership with Sionic, the global consulting firm. The collaboration aims to accelerate regulatory compliance, by combining CUBE’s AI-powered regulatory data inventory with Sionic’s applied expertise in global financial compliance.

Financial institutions worldwide manage multiple, complex regulatory changes, all of which impact different business areas, and geographic regions.  While some aspects are now automated, much remains manual, time-consuming and prone to error.  Even the automated elements are overly complex, sending a myriad of alerts to users who then still need to discern which is relevant to them.

The combination of CUBE & Sionic will ensure that clients have up-to-date regulatory obligations that are relevant to their business, removing the inefficiency of false-positives, that are categorized and mapped to the associated operational controls.

Ben Richmond, Founder and CEO of CUBE says, “Partnering with Sionic represents a key step on CUBE’s journey to transform regulatory data into regulatory intelligence. Our inventory is built on 10 years’ experience and expertise working with regulatory data. Coupling that with Sionic’s deep domain expertise is a compelling combination for financial firms across the globe who are looking to transform their regulatory compliance.”

Robert Cranmer, Managing Partner and Head of Sionic Canada says, “Our clients rely on us to provide insights and solutions that are relevant and timely.  Partnering with CUBE enables us to combine the best of reg tech and AI with our experience of what clients need to do to be compliant with regulations and crucially, how they need to do it. We are delighted that this innovative partnership originated from our Toronto-based team. We believe that accessing CUBE’s inventory will be a powerful accelerant of regulatory intelligence across North America and beyond, offering significant efficiency benefits to our whole international client base.”

• Buy-side FIX connectivity, real-time connection with Bloomberg & New front-end solution

Profile Software, an international financial solutions provider announced today that Centevo, the leading asset management software provider in the Nordics and a Profile Group Company, has presented the enhancements of its flagship platform, Cairo, the flexible portfolio management solution and the front-end solution for clients.

As part of Profile, since March 2021, Centevo now offers readily available integration with Bloomberg via Cairo’s portfolio system using FIX connection. The orders for stocks and ETFs can be initiated directly in the system eliminating manual processes while achieving automation. In detail, once the order is created in Cairo, compliance checks are carried out and the order is automatically sent to Bloomberg and to the market. At market closing, the order is updated, filled and closed. The order can be updated down to commission level and settlement is followed and sent to the bank. After the transaction is completed, a note is sent out from the counterparty. 

The user benefits are numerous from Automated Order Management and pre-order compliance since it saves substantial time and effort to the users and the updates are processed in the background, delivering a seamless experience.

In addition, Centevo has enhanced the End-Client Solution to deliver more functions. The service offers the end customers with a clear overview of their investments, a secure channel to receive encrypted communication and a straightforward platform for fund trading. The latter has been enhanced with a holistic portfolio view, powerful reporting tools and full trading platform. Furthermore, it offers secure login and client communication compliant with GDPR procedures, whilst being used as ‘System as a Service’.

With these new additions the Centevo Suite delivers upgraded services to meet the evolving market needs whilst delivering the functionality to the end customer and professional user to automate their tasks.

‘We are offering these platform services as new value adding solutions for our clients and we already have satisfied pilot clients using the solutions. We are looking forward to offering these to a broader market in the Nordics in the time to come’. Says Robert Eikheim CCO at Centevo.

The applications are continuously being developed and improved with an automated release process, which abbreviates lead times and optimises focus on end results. 

Commenting yields falling and further dollar weakness following US Nonfarm Payrolls data, Mike Owens, Global Sales Trader at Saxo Markets, said: “US Nonfarm Payrolls came in much weaker than expected for August. We saw bond yields fall and further US dollar weakness immediately after the release as the miss infers a later starting point for the FED to start tapering bond purchases.

“There was also a much higher than expected wages increase of +4.3% vs. +3.9% YoY, which pushes against the central bank narrative that current inflation is transitory. The readings should be market positive for equity prices in the short term, especially for high-growth and technology stocks, although we’re seeing little initial reaction from index futures.”

NeatInvoices Puts the Ability to Create, Send, and Manage Invoices in the Palm of Your Hand

The Neat Company, a recognized leader in financial data management for small businesses, is now offering an easy-to-use accounts receivable solution designed to help small business owners improve cash flow by streamlining their invoicing process and facilitating digital payments. Available now, NeatInvoices lets users create, send, and manage an unlimited number of invoices from their desktop or mobile device while enabling prompt customer payments via credit/debit cards or bank transfer. 

“Healthy cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business, and it requires invoicing and receiving payments as quickly as possible. As a former small business owner, I know there is little time to deal with billing, let alone digitizing these traditionally paper-based processes. Their time is rightfully focused on delivering products and services,” explains Garrett Baird, President & CEO of The Neat Company. “NeatInvoices makes invoicing so straightforward that it can be done from anywhere in minutes. By integrating digital payments capabilities into the invoice, NeatInvoices reduces time to cash from weeks to days with significantly less time spent doing bookkeeping.”

NeatInvoices empowers small businesses to issue customized professional invoices and accept secure online payments. Customers can pay an invoice with just a few taps using online banking credentials or a debit/credit card. Small businesses can see invoice status at a glance and send one-tap payment reminders right from the Neat mobile app. With NeatInvoices, it’s easy for small business owners to know which customers have paid and who may need a nudge.

NeatInvoices streamlines billing by enabling small businesses to:

• Quickly create and send invoices from desktop or mobile phone. Simply pick a customer, choose the products or services delivered, check the box for applicable taxes, and hit send. Even customizations such as including discounts or customer-engaging notes are simple. 

• Establish payment options that are easy for customers to quickly execute—credit/debit card or bank transfer.

• Keep it simple. Neat has identified and eliminated the unnecessary clicks and taps that complicate other small business accounting tools. For example, one-tap reminders and automatic matching of payments streamline the customer experience.

With NeatInvoices, small business owners can create and send an unlimited number of branded invoices with no subscription costs. Powered by Neat’s merchant payment provider, WePay (a Chase Company), users only pay standard processing fees when accepting secure payments by credit/debit cards or bank transfers. To learn more about NeatInvoices, please visit: https://www.neat.com/neatinvoices.

The world’s number one business coaching franchise ActionCOACH has partnered with Children with Cancer UK to help raise money for the charity. Throughout September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Action Coaches across the UK are raising funds by delivering seminars for business owners – and 100% of the ticket price is being donated to the charity. 

Children with Cancer UK lost 40% of its funding in 2020 due to the pandemic, impacting both the research and welfare projects they crucially support and deliver. They are the leading national children’s charity dedicated to the fight against childhood cancer. Julie Wagstaff, UK Co-founder of ActionCOACH, is thrilled to be launching the initiative. 

“I think everyone has been affected by cancer at some point in their lifetime,” said Julie. “But childhood cancers are particularly agonising to encounter and it’s a shocking statistic that on average 12 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer every day. We’re determined to help raise both awareness and funds for a brighter future for the children and families touched by cancer. We understand that children are the dreamers and entrepreneurs of the future, and that’s why we want to encourage business owners to get involved and help us make an impact on so many families across the UK.” 

Around 4,500 children and young people are diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK, with it being the leading cause of death in children aged one to 14 years old. Survivors can face a lifetime of serious health issues as a result of the intensive treatment used to treat their cancer, so the charity’s funds also focus on research for new therapies that are safer, kinder and with fewer toxic side effects. So far, the ActionCOACH UK network of 200+ coaches has raised over £27,000 for the charity, but they don’t want to stop there. 

Cliff O’Gorman, CEO of Children with Cancer UK said: “We are so grateful for the fantastic support of ActionCOACH UK and their ongoing commitment to fundraise for Children with Cancer UK with such a great initiative. We are delighted that they share our mission to improve survival rates for children and young people diagnosed with cancer. The impact of this partnership is far reaching as it will help us continue to fund vital, life-saving research and find kinder, safer treatments with fewer toxic side effects.”

If you would like to find out where your nearest session is taking place, please visit https://actioncoach.co.uk/featured-events/children-with-cancer-uk/

The number of users attacked with QakBot – a powerful banking Trojan, in the first seven months of 2021 grew by 65% in comparison to the same period in 2020 and reached 17,316 users worldwide, demonstrating that this threat is increasingly affecting internet users. This rise has drawn the attention of Kaspersky researchers to the subject, leading them to review updates to the latest version of this Trojan.

Banking Trojans, when they have successfully infected a targeted computer, allow cybercriminals to steal money from victims’ online banking accounts and e-wallets – which is why they are considered one of the most dangerous types of malware. QakBot was identified as early as 2007 as one of the many banking Trojans. However, in recent years, QakBot’s developer has invested a lot into its development, turning this Trojan into one of the most powerful and dangerous among existing examples of this malware type.

In addition to functions that are quite standard for banking Trojans, like keylogging, cookie-stealing, passwords, and login grabbing, recent versions of QakBot have included functionalities and techniques allowing it to detect if it is running in a virtual environment. The latter is often used by security solutions and anti-malware specialists to identify malware via its behavior. Now, if the malware detects it’s running in a virtual environment, it can stop suspicious activity or stop functioning completely. In addition, QakBot tries to protect itself from being analysed and debugged by experts and automated tools.

The other new and unusual function spotted by Kaspersky researchers in recent versions of QakBot is its ability to steal emails from the attacked machine. These emails are later used in various social engineering campaigns against users in the victim’s email contact list.

“QakBot is unlikely to stop its activity anytime soon. This malware continuously receives updates and the threat actors behind it keep adding new capabilities and updating its modules in order to maximise the revenue impact, along with stealing details and information. Previously, we’ve seen QakBot being actively spread via the Emotet botnet. This botnet was taken down at the beginning of the year, but judging by the infection attempt statistics, which have grown in comparison to the last year, the actors behind QakBot have found a new way of propagating this malicious software,” said Haim Zigel, malware analyst at Kaspersky.

Kaspersky security solutions successfully detect and block all known versions of the QakBot banking Trojan.

Learn more about QakBot on Securelist.

To stay safe from financial threats like QakBot, Kaspersky experts recommend that you:
 

• Do not follow links in spam messages nor open documents attached to them.
• Use online banking with multifactor authentication solutions.
• Make sure all of your software is updated – including your operating system and all software applications (attackers exploit loopholes in widely used programs to gain entry).
• Use a trusted security solution that can help you check the security of the URL you’re visiting and open any site in a protected container to prevent theft of sensitive data (like financial information).