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.”

Leading technology solutions provider for brokerages and fintech firms, AIRSOFT Technology, has announced a very busy pipeline for Autumn 2021. With brokerages struggling to support the huge influx of traders in 2020-2021, the company believes that the forex events would offer the best platform to create awareness regarding its turnkey technology solutions. Now that fintech events are live once again, they offer excellent opportunities to network and build brand awareness.

iFX Expo International, Cyprus

iFX Expo International will be held at the luxury resort, Parklane, in Limassol. The largest and most well-known B2B fintech event promises to be an exciting one, if iFX Expo Dubai event in May 2021 is anything to go by.

AIRSOFT is the sponsor for the Sea View Lounge at the event. This is where participants are expected to meet and greet each other. To make the experience even sweeter, the company is also sponsoring the beer at this venue. Additionally, the AIRSOFT team will be exhibiting their leading-edge technology solutions for brokers at Booth #98 at the iFX Expo.

This year, the theme for the expo is “Back to Basics.” The focus will remain on networking and how it can spur the industry to grow. The event also intends to highlight innovation and resilience, which have proven to be crucial factors in success during the most challenging times. Limassol is the perfect venue for such discussions, not just because of its extremely hospitable culture but also because the city has risen to become a global hub for fintech and innovation.

iFX Expo is one of the most trusted venues for brokers, liquidity providers, fintech solutions providers, payment services providers, IBs and affiliates, banks, crypto and blockchain projects from all over the world. This is where industry leaders and pioneers discuss their thoughts and opinions. Some of the brightest minds in the fintech world are expected to speak and hold workshops at the event.

AIRSOFT looks forward to connecting with business leaders and demonstrating why its technology solutions are the go-to choices for brokers worldwide.

“At AIRSOFT, we believe that brokers today can only achieve long-term success through exceptional services. This is what helps attract new clients and retain existing ones. Our technology solutions aim to ease and enhance customer experiences to drive growth for brokers. iFX Expo provides an excellent venue to meet with industry leaders and up and coming entrepreneurs and we are very excited to be sponsors for the event,” stated Julia Rotenberg, Head of Sales and Business Development at AIRSOFT.

The London Summit 2021

Organised by Finance Magnates, The London Summit is another event that fintech firms eagerly anticipate each year. This year, it will be held on November 16-17, at Old Billingsgate, London. Since its inception, this annual event has seen increasing popularity, bringing together fintech brands, technology providers, payment solutions providers, fintech startups, retail and institutional brokers and crypto projects. The conference is the perfect venue to meet and connect with the key decision-makers shaping the future of the financial sector.

The London Summit Awards are the other main attraction at the event. Some of the most sought-after titles in the industry are granted right here for firms that excel across various business categories. What makes these awards special is that industry peers vote on the recognition, making it even more meaningful.

AIRSOFT looks forward to being part of the elite gathering at the London Summit. The company will also be exhibiting its technology at Branded Wall Stand #D. Brokers looking for cutting-edge solutions that will not only provide turnkey solutions for their operations but also seamlessly scale as they grow can meet the AIRSOFT team and learn more about their technology right here.

Meet AIRSOFT in Dubai and Amsterdam

AIRSOFT will also be attending Forex Expo 2021, to be held on September 29-30 at the World Trade Centre, Dubai. Forex Expo is another much-awaited annual event for forex professionals and those involved in the FX trading sector. This year, the event expects to see 5,000+ traders, 100+ forex brokers and 70+ speakers from more than 30 countries. Some of the leading minds in the finance industry are expected to speak at the event.

Forex Expo 2021 presents another great opportunity for AIRSOFT to meet with existing and prospective clients about its powerful technology solutions. Brokers, affiliates and payments providers can book a meeting with the team in advance for a one-on-one discussion. The company will be able to guide new and veteran professionals on how to grow their business amid rapidly changing customer demographics and preferences.

The AIRSOFT team will also be present at iGB Live!, to be held from September 28 to October 1, 2021, at RAI Amsterdam. This event brings together pioneers, leaders and startups from the gaming industry. The aim of the event is to help businesses network, learn and drive growth by building connections with the worldwide iGaming industry. In this industry too, success depends on being able to offer the latest technology and best user experiences, something that AIRSOFT excels at.

To book a one-on-one discussion and learn more about how AIRSOFT can help brokerages succeed, book an appointment with the team for any of the above events in advance.

New NoSQL Industry Benchmark Shows Sub-Millisecond Performance at Petabyte Scale on a Fraction of the Servers of Traditional Databases

Aerospike Inc. has unveiled the results of a petabyte-scale benchmark that illustrates its Real-time Data Platform delivering 4 million to 5 million transactions per second (TPS) with sub-millisecond latencies for read-only and mixed workloads on a remarkably small 20-node Amazon Web Services (AWS) cluster fuelled by Intel® Xeon Scalable Processors.

Achieved in collaboration with AWS and Intel®, the benchmark shows that even with significant data growth and extreme workloads, the Aerospike Database performs with hundreds of nodes less than other databases, saving up to $10M per application in infrastructure costs.

“With Aerospike, real-time petabyte-scale processing can be effective and affordable for enterprises of any size, not only those with billions in annual revenues,” said Srini Srinivasan, chief product officer and founder, Aerospike. “Selecting Aerospike’s real-time data platform early in a company’s growth cycle not only helps them grow faster, but also eliminates expensive and time-consuming rip-and-replace of databases that fail to scale up to meet ever-growing demands.”

The benchmark is another illustration of the real-world experiences of Aerospike’s global customers. The report illustrates how companies like PayPal, ThreatMetrix, and Signal (a TransUnion company) significantly reduced their server counts and cut costs by millions of dollars. In most cases, these customers turned to Aerospike after other solutions failed to effectively scale up to meet their rapidly growing data and application needs.

“Organisations moving to the cloud want validation that their applications are going to have the high throughput and extreme low-latency required for modern business,” said Amit Shah, Principal - Product Management, Amazon EC2 at AWS. “Aerospike’s cloud-native, real-time data platform provides a significant reduction in cloud server footprint and delivers impressive performance across all memory configurations.”

“Many successful companies quickly scale to massive amounts of data in the pursuit of better insight to run and manage their businesses,” said Rebecca Weekly, VP of Hyperscale Strategy and Execution at Intel. “Intel’s technologies are foundational for cloud computing, and in close collaboration with Aerospike and AWS, are delivering the optimised balance of compute performance, storage and network capabilities to consume up to petabytes of data, analyze it and create actionable insights.”

Download the full benchmark report and watch a full presentation from the recent 2021 Aerospike Digital Summit for detailed descriptions of the workloads, configurations and performance.

Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Enstar Group Limited (“Enstar”) (Nasdaq: ESGR) today announced the expiration and final results of its previously announced cash tender offer (the “Tender Offer”) for any and all of its outstanding 4.500% Senior Notes due 2022 (the “Notes”).

The Tender Offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 20, 2021 (the “Expiration Time”). The principal amount of the Notes that was validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the Tender Offer as of the Expiration Time according to information provided by D.F. King & Co., Inc., the Information and Tender Agent for the Tender Offer, is set forth in the table below.

Enstar expects to accept for purchase all Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn prior to the Expiration Time, including Notes delivered in accordance with guaranteed delivery procedures. Settlement for the Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Expiration Time and accepted for purchase by Enstar is expected to take place on August 25, 2021. Holders of Notes accepted for purchase pursuant to the Tender Offer will receive the previously announced consideration of $1,021.82 for each $1,000 principal amount of Notes plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon from the last interest payment date to, but not including, the settlement date for the Tender Offer.

The Tender Offer was made pursuant to the Offer to Purchase dated August 16, 2021 and the related Notice of Guaranteed Delivery.

Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Barclays Capital Inc. and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. acted as the Dealer Managers for the Tender Offer.  D.F. King & Co., Inc. acted as the Information and Tender Agent for the Tender Offer. 

Singapore-based blockchain security firm CYBAVO announces that it has raised $4 million USD in its Pre-Series A funding round. The round, completed in June, was co-led by global venture capital firm 500 Startups, Taiwan's H&D Asset Management Company and New Economy Ventures. Other investors from Taiwan, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan also participated in the round.

"The company intends to use the latest funding to fuel expansion in the East Asian, European, and North American markets," says Paul Fan, CEO of CYBAVO. "The funds will also be used for continued investment in the research and development of cybersecurity and blockchain technology, and to further raise the level of customer and product satisfaction."

Digital asset custody and management is a USD $20 billion market, but not many companies offer end-to-end turn-key solutions for enterprises and institutional investors. CYBAVO offers these investors a solution to achieve frictionless adoption of crypto assets with a focus on digital asset security and regulatory compliance.

This year, CYBAVO was accepted into 500 Startups' flagship accelerator program. Through the program, it will have access to its global network of mentors, founders, and industry stakeholders. The company also opened its first European office in Luxembourg and completed Fit 4 Start, Luxembourg's leading startup acceleration program. The program provided CYBAVO with tailored coaching, funding, access to key network connections, and advice on regulations and the market in Europe. In June, CYBAVO won first place in SelectUSA Investment Summit's Cybersecurity pitching session, a program led by the U.S. Department of Commerce. These achievements further showcase the company's intent to deliver a successful international expansion.

"The digital asset market has grown rapidly over the past couple of years, but the market lacks a secure institutional grade end-to-end solution. Thanks to the experience and vision of CYBAVO's founding team, we think there's great potential for the company to develop into a full-stack digital asset management platform," said Shawn Chu, Principal at 500 Startups.

When asked about his insights on the future of digital assets, Managing Partner at New Economy Ventures Ethan Tsai said, "We are optimistic about the future growth and development of digital assets and blockchain technology and we are particularly interested in partnering with technology companies that can provide infrastructure for crypto assets. We believe CYBAVO can leverage its long-term technical and talent advantage in cybersecurity to address the huge market potential of "real assets to crypto assets"."

"With an ever-increasing number of transactions taking place, cryptocurrency and digital assets are undoubtedly one of the fastest growing trends today. The protection of these assets is the basic building block of this industry, and one of the most important issues the industry must tackle is how to manage private keys in a secure and efficient way. I'm very glad that the team at CYBAVO can present an unrivaled solution for private key management. This solution not only provides security, but it's also an end-to-end, intuitive and easy-to-use system that increases operational efficiency. We trust that CYBAVO's institutional wallet solution will make transactions in cryptocurrency as safe and convenient as transactions in traditional banking institutions we've come to trust. Here at H&D Asset Management we're happy to be a part of CYBAVO's growth, and proud to witness its journey to becoming a leading organization in the cryptocurrency industry," said Chu Ping-Yu, Chairman of the Board at H&D Asset Management.

CYBAVO is the leading provider for blockchain security solutions in Asia Pacific. Its extensive list of enterprise customers include cryptocurrency exchanges, fund management companies, cryptocurrency wallet providers, and fintech service providers. The company is insured by S&P AA-rated global reinsurance company, and holds certifications for ISO 27001 and NIST's Cryptographic Module Validation Program.

Smartt Inc., is pleased to announce the acquisition of Costrade S.P.A., a Construction company founded in 1951 with a track record of approximately $1 Billion in executed projects during the years of operation. The Company was previously known as Visconti S.P.A. and has been working mostly with the Italian Government for public projects. One of the current projects where Costrade S.P.A is involved, is the LTR (Linea Tranviaria Rapida) which is the “Underground Fast Train” in Campania region in Italy.

Mr. Diego Visconti, Director of Smartt, Inc., commented: “Smartt, Inc. has signed an agreement for the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Costrade S.P.A., Inc. The Company will be a great asset for Smartt, Inc for the construction division. The transaction has closed on August 22, 2021.”

The First deposit for the acquisition will be 50,000,000 restricted shares at two years that is equivalent to a value of approximately $1.1 Million. The balance due will be a determinate by the performance of share price during the next two years from future forecasted growth. Smartt, Inc. will have the option to pay in cash before the 2-year restriction has matured.

Mr. Visconti, Director of Smartt, Inc. added “Costrade S.P.A. will put us on the map as one of the leading Construction Companies in Italy and Europe with a great reputation of executed projects. Our goal is to expand Costrade S.P.A to the United States and LATAM.”