CM.com among investors in latest round to spur international expansion and hiring

: Phos, the fintech behind the leading software-only Point of Sale system (SoftPoS), has secured €2 million in funding as it plots a course to a Series A round later in the year. Led by global leader in cloud software for Conversational Commerce CM.com, this recent funding round will allow the company to expand into the US and make new hires in its development team. 

Many merchants are caught between consumers wanting to make contactless payments and the challenges of implementing systems that can accept cashless transactions, including hidden costs, hardware requirements, and security issues. With Visa alone having processed more than one billion contactless payments, the phos SoftPoS provides a safe and sustainable alternative to cash. It also allows merchants to digitalise effectively, offer more payment options to their customers, and ultimately grow their businesses. 

This clear market demand for phos’ SoftPoS has helped the company win a string of clients and partner with a variety of other leading financial services companies globally, including Dutch neo bank bunq, Stanchion Payments, Tokmatech, Curb and Maxaa. 

The company has also hired Kristiyan Shahinyan as its Chief Technology Officer, two North American sales directors, and welcomed a US based advisor to the board. Additional hires are planned for later in the year. 

Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO of CM.com said: “The cooperation and investment in phos is a next step for CM.com to offer omnichannel communications and payments solutions from one single platform. Mobile payments are the future as we move towards a cashless society. Thanks to the cooperation and investment in phos together with our drive to innovate, we can provide a mobile payment solution that is affordable, easy to use and therefore accessible for merchants of all sizes. Simplifying the payment process not only for merchants but also for their customers. SoftPoS boosts contactless and mobile payments and is set to disrupt the payments market.”

Next to CM.com a number of existing investors increased their investments in phos to support the business as it seeks to expand globally. 

Brad Hyett, CEO of phos, added: “Consumer expectations are constantly evolving, and they increasingly want the same frictionless transaction experience wherever they’re shopping. Securing further investment helps us accelerate our expansion into new markets and support more retailers in more countries to accept high value transactions. All while delivering a seamless shopping experience, irrespective of their size or scale.”

The phos SoftPoS works across a range of devices and is android agnostic, as well as being more affordable and simpler to use than alternative systems. This means that merchants can download the service quickly using existing phones and tablets, negating the need for expensive hardware. 

Merchants also benefit from phos’ comprehensive knowledge of the payments industry’s regulation, compliance, and schemes, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, offering them critical protection and security. 

FSS Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., a globally leading provider of integrated payment products and a payments processor, today announced Askrindo, a market leader in Indonesia’s general  insurance industry, has implemented its Smart Recon solution to modernize and maximize the efficiency of its reconciliation operations. Established in 1971, Askrindo, member of Holding Indonesia Financial Group or IFG, is  a rapidly growing insurance services provider, catering to the insurance needs of medium and the small enterprise segment to support Indonesia's economic development.  

To support its rapidly growing operations, Askrindo needed to automate time-consuming, manual spreadsheet based reconciliation processes, which create challenges around efficiency, accuracy, and control. Designed to  process complex and large volume of payments, claims and settlement data, FSS Smart Recon automates core  workflows encompassing data extraction, enrichment and reconciliation, exception management and  settlement. The advanced workflow automation significantly reduces time to close daily and period-end  reconciliation activities, provides greater control over reconciliation processes, and improves regulatory  compliance. This frees resources to focus on value adding tasks such as strengthening customer service.  

Rachmad Hidayat - Senior Vice President Division Head of IT at Askrindo, commented; “It was important for us  to select the right technology platform on our digitalization journey that could meet current needs whilst  providing us the flexibility to add more use cases for supporting future expansion. We were impressed by FSS’s extensive experience, innovation, and depth in deploying reconciliation solutions for a wide customer base,  strong local presence, and support in the Indonesian market. With FSS Smart Recon we are building an agile  back-office that helps us optimize reconciliation cycles, reduce errors, and lower operational risk exposure.”  

Speaking on the partnership Krishnan Srinivasan COO, FSS PayTech stated; “Askrindo is the latest addition in our  growing base of reconciliation customers in the APAC region. Askrindo needed an experienced partner to  address reconciliation challenges and we are excited to work with Askrindo to deliver a modern, web-based  reconciliation framework, that would help unlock new operating efficiencies, reduce risk and ensure high levels  of compliance.  

FSS has partnered with Berca, one of the largest IT companies in Indonesia, to offer on-the-ground technical  support to Askrindo for proactive service management and quick resolution of issues. For Askrindo, it  rationalizes costs and eliminates rational overheads associated with running the day-to-day services.  

FSS provides a full set of reconciliation capabilities to help Askrindo meet its business objectives for improved  efficiency, transparency, and control over the financial close process. FSS Smart Recon automates the entire  reconciliation process from premium, claims, inter-system, and intercompany reconciliation as well as Bordeaux  reconciliation. It integrates both transaction- and balance-level data from claims acquisition and matching  through period-end premium approvals and reviews. The solution is data-agnostic and greatly increases  reconciliation set-up speeds while reducing exceptions and manual interventions, freeing staff for value-added  tasks.

FSS Smart Recon can match millions of transactions between multiple systems within few minutes, seamlessly  accommodating growth in transaction volumes The solution has been benchmarked to process 1-Billion  transaction records in an hour.  

The Bitcoin network continues to witness an eye-popping activity on its blockchain despite high volatility in Q2, after the asset sharply declined from its all-time high set in April 2021.

Data compiled by Blockchain Centre uncovered a stunning finding — as many as 488,206 new Bitcoin addresses were created daily in the first half of 2021, totaling 88,365,209 new addresses for the whole period.

“Privacy reasons, together with the ever-increasing adoption rate of decentralized finance, are the main forces behind the surprising number of new Bitcoin addresses,” says Tadas Maurukas, CEO of Blockchain Centre.

Blockchain Center researchers extracted the information for the report from Glassnode Studio, a gateway to on-chain data for the most popular blockchain platforms.

Diving into the analysis, January 2021 has the highest number of newly generated BTC addresses per day at 551,132. The total for the month reaches a never-before-seen height of 17,085,095 unique addresses.  

As the data indicates, June 2021 sits on the other side of the spectrum, with the lowest number of newly created addresses for the period at 370,269 per day. Nonetheless, the total average volume of new addresses for the period under review is still substantial at 11,108,070 for the month. 

A glance at the chart reveals that the volume of daily new addresses kept decreasing on a monthly basis. On average, daily new addresses decreased 7.49% per month in the first half of the year. The most significant drops were from April to May 2021, at -12.04%, and from May to June 2021, at -15.19%.

Even with the volume of new addresses slightly decreasing in the past months, millions of new addresses still confirm that the global adoption of digital currencies is at an all-time high.

Prytek offers a unique asset class opportunity for investors

Prytek, a leading unique multinational technology group, today announces that it has now successfully completed 180 deals in the past three years - including 20 merger deals and 3 new tech companies were founded - as part of the company’s ongoing growth strategy to build a range of vertically integrated technology ecosystems.

Since its launch in 2017, Prytek has spent more than $350m to acquire, build and develop deep technologies. It combines top tier managed service companies with leading proprietary technology all under one roof.

As a result, Prytek has experienced +200% annual revenue and asset value growth. It works with more than 250 clients worldwide, and the company has expanded to more than 1,200 employees across eight international offices including UK, Israel, Singapore, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Russia, India, and Cyprus. Prytek operates mainly in the Financial Services, Tech-Education, Cyber and HR sectors.

Prytek has redefined investment asset classes by creating a new and unique asset class that takes the advantages of the common asset classes such as VC, PE, Corporate VC and Investment companies, mixes them together and leaves the disadvantages behind.  Prytek intends to go public in 2022 offering its current and future investors with constant liquidity.

It is formed as a corporation which means it can build long term strategies and enterprises without the urgency to deliver short-term exits and can invests in technological companies in a wide range of stages – growth, early stage, and late stage, when typically, funds are restricted to only one type. What is particularly unique about Prytek is the fact that the companies in each industry sector operate jointly in one ecosystem benefiting from cross-collaboration and the latest technologies to ensure fast growth and joint go-to-market efforts.  This drastically accelerates growth while the companies save costs.

Prytek delivers its world-class solutions through BOPaaS (Business Operating Platform-as-a-Service), an integrated service offering that uniquely combines technology-based managed services with advice and management from leading industry experts. Prytek currently operates BOPaaS in the financial services division with Delta Capita, a leading global managed service, technology solutions and consulting provider.

Prytek also recently invested $55m into TipRanks, an Israeli-based fintech company designed to make investment decisions easier for retail investors, by providing them access to professional tools via a simple interface. The platform now has more than 4 million active retail investment users, and the latest funding from Prytek will enable TipRanks to expand its technological capabilities, with plans to carry out a new generation of data products.

Andrey Yashunsky, Founder and CEO of Prytek said “Prytek’s exceptional growth proves that tech-based managed services are the new gold. By creating a community of entrepreneurs who complement each other - but act independently - we are enabling large scale digital transformation across multiple industries.”

Westpay AB, a leading fintech company, and Klarna AB, a leading global retail bank, payments, and shopping service, has signed an agreement aiming to expand the reach and footprint of Klarna’s payment services. Consequently, Westpay is now integrating Klarna’s payment offerings, making them an integral part of Westpay’s Swipe2Pay technology. This solution will make Klarna a natural choice for Westpay’s merchants and POS Partners, parallel to other payment methods.

With Swipe2Pay, Westpay has a unique technology platform that allows us to, on-going, add new alternative payment methods next to traditional card-present payments. In addition, to strengthen the value of Westpay’s and Klarna’s offerings to merchants and consumers, this collaboration will also add transaction revenue to Westpay.

- We all know the impact Klarna has had and continue to have on the payment landscape. The simplicity they brought to online payments has been a game-changer for the end-consumer. Through our cooperation, we will bring the same simplicity to in-store environments. I am looking forward to working together with Klarna, advancing the next generation of in-store payments, says Sten Karlsson, CEO at Westpay.

Klarna is the leading global payments and shopping service, providing smarter and more flexible shopping and purchase experiences to 90 million active consumers across more than 250,000 merchants in 17 countries. 

- At Klarna, we are always looking for partners that help the end-consumer to a smoother experience. Westpay has a solid, innovative, and future-proof solution that strengthens our in-store offering. They manage to implement our offering while maintaining simplicity. Having the best consumer experience is key for us, and together with Westpay, I am confident that we keep doing just that, says Tom Ruhne, Head of Partnerships at Klarna.

Under the agreement, Klarna will pay and Westpay will receive revenue based on the transactions generated involving Klarna’s solution. Several factors affect total future potential transaction revenues, such as average user adoption, transaction values and volume of transactions. These factors are highly uncertain and prevent us, at this early stage, to predict future revenue. This collaboration is not associated with any major costs for Westpay. The Klarna services are expected to be integrated in Swipe2Pay and reach Westpay’s customers during Q4 2021.

Handepay, the card payments solutions provider and part of the PayPoint Group, has launched the accelerated settlement service for all its EVO-acquired customers. Independent businesses benefiting from Handepay’s card processing services will now receive funds from any transactions completed before midnight directly into their nominated bank account the following business day.

The upgrade now allows businesses to receive funds up to 48 hours faster, helping business owners to manage cash flow more efficiently. Rather than waiting up to three days for funds to arrive in their account, next banking day settlement helps with daily operational costs and allows owners to reinvest money back into their business.

Charles Eveson of Kernahan Service, a Ford-Authorised Repairer in Witney, Oxfordshire, revealed how the next banking day settlement launch has helped his business: “Next banking day settlement is very important in the day-to-day operations of my company. Buying parts can be costly, on top of having to give credit to the majority of leasing companies, so we must make sure that money from our sales goes into our bank account as fast as possible. I was pleased to see that I could save over £150 per month by joining Handepay and still benefit from faster payments.”

26.1% lost their work placement/internship, 29.2% lost their job, 28.2% had their job offer deferred or cancelled. These were the figures of a survey among graduating students conducted by Prospects to analyse the effects of COVID-19 on graduate recruitment. At the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), we wanted to make sure that we can help students continue to develop and build skills at the beginning of their careers by allowing them to join the Global Fintech Internship - a week-long internship to work on real-world case studies presented by leading Fintech companies globally including - Mastercard, R3, Paypal, Onfido, Chipper Cash, while developing soft skills with Grayce.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has jolted students into one of the worst job markets. According to the Financial Times, students across the globe have found it very hard to find internships in 2020 and 2021, with only 17% of university students having an internship in the last year. This is a major problem since internships help students acquire important skills, they are a key differentiator for employers and are a stepping stone for students to prepare for their professional lives. 

As some industries crumble under the effect of COVID-19 - closing down employment opportunities, the Fintech industry is booming, and many Fintech companies, big or small, are hiring. However, many students are unaware of the opportunities.

The Global Fintech Internship Experience: Helping students get the internship they deserve

The Global Fintech Internship Experience is designed to bridge the gap between emerging opportunities in fintech and students who are on the lookout for work experience. It is a free one-week programme for students interested in Fintech and is designed to give them insights into the industry, skills from an applied project, and an opportunity to enhance their CVs. 

The programme is designed by CFTE, in collaboration with leading industry players such as Mastercard, R3, Paypal, Onfido, Chipper Cash and Grayce, whose senior leaders present on the programme will provide business cases to students to work on, as well as soft skills development seminars from Grayce. The programme was designed to be open to all students over 18 years old, without any discrimination of gender, educational background or location, helping a large pool of students access this internship.

“As an emerging talent management consultancy, Grayce believes in the value that graduates can bring to businesses. We aim to be the best fast-track developer of emerging talent, enabling improved diversity of thought and delivery in digital transformation and change. We are on a mission to help organisations harness the power of graduate talent and are proud of our long-standing partnerships with leading FinTech organisations.  

We know that graduate job prospects have been heavily impacted by the pandemic. And with EY's FinTech census revealing that 42% of UK FinTechs are facing a 'digital skills shortage', we're thrilled to partner with CFTE who share our passion for up-skilling young people. We feel a keen responsibility to give the emerging workforce a holistic skillset, combining hard and soft skills, that will set them up for a successful career long-term. The Grayce Team are excited to work with CFTE to help close these skills gaps and kickstart graduate careers on a global scale.”, says a spokesperson from the Grayce Team.

Wiza Jalakasi, VP, Global Developer Relations, who will be a part of the Global Fintech Internship said, "We at Chipper are very excited to be collaborating with CFTE in this year's Global Fintech Internship programme. The entire industry is quickly growing with an increasing appetite for brilliant talent, and we couldn't be more delighted to share our experiences and ideas with the student group, further enabling them to better prepare for the opportunities of today and the future. We are keen to discover any individuals with exceptional potential who we can connect to opportunities within Chipper and in the industry at large."

Clare Joy, Strategy & Expansion Lead at Onfido, who will be joining the week-long programme said, “The fintech industry is booming, yet, there is a significant gap between business demand for digital skills and the number of opportunities available for young people to learn them. At Onfido, we attribute huge importance to internships to close this gap and open the gateway to the future workplace. It’s important that businesses put real world case studies at the heart of the process, to give the most realistic experience to the next generation of fintech experts. We are excited to play a leading role in the Global Fintech Internship and give students from around the world the opportunity to take their first steps in the sector, by applying what they are learning in the lecture hall to the fast-moving business world.”

The Internship programme is also supported by our institutional partners including - Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Singapore), The University of Nairobi,  the University of Ghana, the Students' Representative Council at the University of Cape Town, UCL Business Society and King’s Banking and Finance Society.

What makes the programme a great learning experience?

The programme is virtual and takes place over one week (23 August to 29 August), with pre-work starting from 16 August. Students will be attending presentations, panel discussions on case studies around the Fintech industry, skills to enter Fintech and the jobs available in digital finance. They will be working in teams of 5 on business cases from leading Fintech companies, and submit a written paper and video presentation at the end of the programme. 

The programme is designed to give students a taste of the booming fintech landscape, allow them to brainstorm solutions to the biggest challenges faced by leading companies across the globe and collaborate with peers from diverse backgrounds, across countries worldwide. 

Global Fintech Internship by the numbers

The programme has made a big impact on students since applications opened. Here are some of the statistics:

• 4,096 applications were made to the Global Fintech Internship
• We have a diverse applicant pool with 90+ nationalities
• The talent pool consists of 80% undergrads and 20% Masters and PhDs

Tram Anh Nguyen, Co-founder of CFTE said, “We realised that the pandemic has made it very hard for students to find an internship. CFTE being an educational platform, we were committed to helping students get their first fintech experience, a real taste of the work environment and a stepping stone to fintech opportunities. That’s why together with the global fintech community we have created the Global Fitech Internship, which gives students exposure to the fastest growing area of finance. Regardless of background or experience, we welcomed everyone and anyone to join the programme.”

Huy Nguyen Trieu, Co-founder of CFTE, also added, “Every student deserves an internship. Amid an economic downturn induced by the global pandemic, we at CFTE want to make sure no student is robbed of the opportunity to build the necessary skills to develop in their career. The Global Fintech Internship is a unique opportunity for students to step into the booming Fintech industry at the start of their careers, by immersing themselves in an environment of leading institutions worldwide, where they can learn, develop and build competitive skills to grow.”, 

Selecta serves more than 10 million people every day

Selecta Group, Europe’s leading route-based self-service retailer offering coffee and convenience food solutions in the workplace and in public spaces, is partnering with Fiserv, Inc.,, a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, to commence the enhancement and streamlining of digital payments across its points of sale, meeting consumer demand and boosting operational efficiency as self-service technologies such as vending machines and smart fridges boom in a pandemic-conscious world.

Selecta’s vision is to have a ONE Selecta technology solution that will support cashless interactions across its operations and enable future development and integration. The company is leveraging a unique pan-European payments solution from Fiserv that will support payments with global and local card schemes and mobile apps at the point of sale. 

Selecta is also evaluating a mobile payment app, which will include access to a Selecta loyalty program. A dedicated merchant portal will enable Selecta to streamline terminal management, including onboarding and activation, reporting and insights, maintenance, and diagnostics.

Roll out of the Fiserv payment platform began in summer 2021 across Selecta’s European markets.

“Whether buying a beverage or a meal in the workplace or on-the-go, consumers are looking for modern, cash-free and contactless payment options,” said Christian Schmitz, CEO of Selecta Group. “With Fiserv we will be able to deliver these options in a way that is easy for us to manage, through a single solution, while unified reporting will give us a new level of insight into our business.”

“Seamless digital payment capabilities perfectly complement the convenience of self-service retail, and enhance the overall buying experience,” said John Gibbons, Head of EMEA at Fiserv. “As consumer habits continue to shift, we are committed to working with Selecta to meet the current and future payment preferences of their clients while enabling them to streamline operations across Europe.”

In a world moving faster than ever before, Fiserv helps clients deliver solutions in step with the way people live and work today – financial services at the speed of life. Learn more at fiserv.com/en-em. 

Additional Resources:

• Downloadable image of Selecta vending machine with contactless payments capabilities: fisv.co/SelectaImage
• Fiserv in Europe video: fisv.co/VideoEurope    

Hamilton Reserve Bank implements Temenos technology to add one million new customers

Hamilton Reserve Bank chose Temenos’ cloud-native core banking, payments, and digital banking technology to accelerate growth, automation, elastically scale and enhance efficiency

Temenos, the banking software company, today announced that Hamilton Reserve Bank, a leading global bank with a worldwide presence has completed its end-to-end transformation with Temenos. The unmatched breadth of Temenos’ front-to-back banking technology will help Hamilton Reserve Bank provide its customers across 150 countries with secure same-day worldwide payments and instant customer account access 24/7. With Temenos, pre-integrated with Temenos MarketPlace provider authID.ai, Hamilton Reserve Bank anticipates significant growth of its deposit base and wealth management services. The tight integration provides secure, accurate, and frictionless customer authentication experiences that allow automated customer e-onboarding within minutes while meeting the bank’s rigorous regulatory compliance requirements.

Headquartered in Saint Kitts & Nevis, the birthplace of America’s founding father Alexander Hamilton, Hamilton Reserve Bank serves a large and rapidly expanding global clientele. Planning for exponential growth by onboarding at least one million new customers in the next 12 months, Hamilton Reserve Bank required scalability, automation, agility, and a proven technology platform that would efficiently integrate banking solutions with its steadfast adherence to complete regulatory transparency, compliance, and risk mitigation. Hamilton Reserve Bank has implemented Temenos Transact, the next generation in core banking, and Temenos Payments to enable real-time transactions, and cross-border payments leveraging Temenos’ cloud-native platform which provides Straight-Through Processing (STP) rates of over 99%. Hamilton Reserve Bank also fully installed Temenos Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM) and Temenos Infinity to deliver a seamless, simple, transparent, compliant, and secure experience to its customers.

With AI-powered Temenos FCM embedded across the technology platform, Hamilton Reserve Bank benefits from the lowest levels of false positives in the industry at 2.5%. The bank completely scans all SWIFT transactions in real-time, screens watchlists, and leverages AI-based technology for suspicious activity prevention without detracting from a satisfactory customer experience.

Hamilton Reserve Bank leveraged authID.ai, a Temenos MarketPlace partner, to access innovative pre-integrated fintech solutions that complement Temenos technology. The bank deployed authID.ai’s government-grade biometric identity verification and multi-factor authentication processes to provide strong identity assurance, support automated, remote digital onboarding, and combat identity fraud and phishing.

Prabhakar Kaza, CEO, Hamilton Reserve Bank, said: “What our customers need most are comprehensive one-stop financial solutions that are fast, seamless, easy, fully automated, and compliant. We have chosen to partner with an established technology leader like Temenos, which has demonstrated successful cases around the world supporting large banks. Our decade-long, multimillion dollar investments into a broad range of Temenos solutions will enable Hamilton Reserve Bank to support our rapidly expanding client base, making us rise above and beyond customer expectations as a leading global bank.”

Enrique Ramos O’Reilly, Managing Director, Latin America and the Caribbean, Temenos, said: “Hamilton Reserve Bank and Temenos share a similar philosophy: Customer first. We are delighted to be a part of the bank’s outstanding growth journey, helping Hamilton Reserve Bank deliver efficiency, security, and a satisfactory customer experience. With the advanced Temenos technology, Hamilton Reserve Bank will be able to cost-effectively deepen its key strength in delivering fast payments and managing largely increased volumes. Temenos looks forward to being a part of Hamilton Reserve Bank’s continuing success for many years to come.”

As consumer expectations around their rewards evolve, Visa and Ascenda will offer banks and fintechs a new solution to get loyalty programs up and running in a fraction of the typical lead time 

Visa, the world leader in digital payments, today announced a strategic partnership in Asia Pacific with Ascenda, the loyalty technology company. The payments network will be first globally to leverage Ascenda’s new Nexus platform, which will enable Visa’s partners to adopt a comprehensive new rewards program for their customers.

Reward programs continue to evolve as consumer preferences and behaviours change, in line with larger trends on how people shop. The rise of eCommerce has created new habits and opportunities to engage before, during and after the transaction. The increased role that data plays in the average consumer’s day has led to greater expectations around receiving personalised rewards instead of a general set of benefits. And during the Covid-19 pandemic, traditional benefits like air miles have been less easily used.

With this backdrop of a changing environment, the Visa and Ascenda partnership means card issuers, like banks or fintechs, can deploy rewards programs that are easy to implement and use, in a fraction of the typical lead-time. The digital rewards portal powered by Ascenda comes with offers and promotions from leading merchants via Visa Offers Exchange and Ascenda’s global network.

Rapid implementation of the new platform is possible because the traditional integration points required for new loyalty solutions are removed. By leveraging Visa’s latest API services, Ascenda authenticates customers securely and identifies payment transactions that are eligible for rewards – with minimal action required from the issuer.

Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa, said, “As Visa evolves our business beyond cards, reward programs are becoming more digital, more engaging, more personalised, and easier to adapt to new opportunities. Our partnership with Ascenda ensures Visa is able to deliver loyalty platforms that match the pace of digital adoption our bank and fintech partners need.”

“Visa and Ascenda already have a strong track record of partnering to equip top-tier banks with leading customer engagement solutions,” said Sebastian Grobys, chief commercial officer at Ascenda. “With Visa now leveraging our new Nexus model and integrating Visa’s existing engagement solutions for rapid deployment, we are unlocking significantly greater scale for our collaboration going forward.”