Binance, the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider, has today announced the appointment of Greg Monahan, former US Treasury Criminal Investigator, who joins the organization as Global Money Laundering Reporting Officer (GMLRO).

Mr. Monahan has nearly 30 years of credited government service, a majority of which as a US Treasury Criminal Investigator, responsible for tax, money laundering and other related financial crime investigations. He has led complex international investigations that have resulted in the takedown of some of the most prolific cybercriminals, nation-state actors and terrorist organizations.

“Binance has a strong culture of putting their users first, from providing market-leading products to supporting high-profile investigations that help make the crypto industry a safer place,” said Mr. Monahan. “My efforts will be focused on expanding Binance’s international anti-money laundering (AML) and investigation programs, as well as strengthening the organization’s relations with regulatory and law enforcement bodies worldwide.”

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said: “We have always held Binance to the highest standard to safeguard our users’ interests, and to that end we are always expanding our capabilities to make Binance and the wider industry a safe place for all participants.”

“As a former US Federal Law Enforcement Investigator, Greg Monahan brings a wealth of AML and investigations experience to Binance. We’re thrilled to welcome him to our team as GMLRO and we look forward to his contributions.”

Karen Leong, who has held the GMLRO position since 2018, remains at Binance as Director of Compliance and continues to promote compliance efforts within the organization.

Binance has grown its international compliance team and advisory board by 500% since 2020. Notable appointments include Jonathan Farnell as Director of Compliance, former FATF executives Rick McDonell and Josée Nadeau as compliance and regulatory advisors and former US Senator Max Baucus as policy and government relations advisor.

Are entrepreneurs risk takers at heart or calculated visionaries?  According to serial entrepreneur and Ukheshe Technologies CEO, Clayton Hayward, many entrepreneurs don’t truly understand the nature of risk, which has a direct impact on the success of their business idea. He says that to be a successful entrepreneur you need to be willing to take risks with a greater vision in mind – and become comfortable with the possibility of failure.

Hayward, who has started more than 26 businesses since graduating in the early 90s, says that globally, managing risk is probably one of the biggest entrepreneurship obstacles: “It is important not to overthink, over strategise or over plan the launch of a business. Understand the nature of the risks involved and go for it. Too many entrepreneurs let perfect get in the way of good. Timing is vital, just make a decision and commit to it.”

While avoiding debt is critical, Hayward believes budding entrepreneurs must understand that the risk is there regardless of how good the business plan is: “My advice to first-timers: approach friends, family and fools who believe in your vision for an investment, and then take the leap.”

He says that if you are going to fail, then do it fast and try not get lost in the process: “Get into the market as soon as possible with a minimum viable proposition and evolve the business from there. If you wait for it to be perfect, you will not get anywhere fast.”

Along with understanding risk, it’s critical to learn from failure and Hayward urges entrepreneurs not to fear it: “We learn more from failing than we do from success. Take notes and try again knowing that you have learnt a valuable lesson and won’t make the same mistake twice.”

He admits that it is harder to fail in the South Africa market because it is so frowned upon. Conversely, in the United States failure is regarded as part of being a successful entrepreneur: “There is a lot that we can learn from the United States where I believe entrepreneurship was born. They absolutely lead the way in how to make a success of a business and how to fail successfully too.”

Closer to home, the African continent is filled with the green shoots of exciting opportunities according to Hayward who currently heads up Ukheshe Technologies, a market-leading fintech enabler with an eye on becoming Africa’s next unicorn: “With the launch of 5G we are expecting innovation to flourish. I am excited to assist the market to address financial inclusion and make a meaningful impact across the market. It is here that I learnt another valuable lesson: focus.”

He says that as a serial entrepreneur, the joy is often in the chase, having several projects running concurrently. “But many have suggested that I learn to focus on one instead of many and this is what I am doing with Ukheshe. We took risks, pivoted and took some more risks, and now we have built one of the most exciting businesses that will undoubtedly exceed all my entrepreneurial dreams.”

JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., Japan's only international payment brand, and Advanced Bank of Asia Ltd. (ABA Bank), the digital banking leader in Cambodia and a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada, signed the License Agreement and announced the launch of JCB payment acceptance in Cambodia.

Askhat Azhikhanov, CEO of ABA Bank (left) and Yoshiki Kaneko, President and COO of JCB International Co., Ltd. during the Online Signing Ceremony of Partnership Agreement on 17 August 2021.
This partnership will enable JCB Cards to be used at ABA merchant network across Cambodia, which will provide greater convenience to JCB cardholders. JCB has been expanding the issuing business in the ASEAN countries including Cambodia.

JCB and ABA plan to expand the partnership to all ABA merchants including acceptance at PayWay online payment platform and ATMs by the end of 2021.

Askhat Azhikhanov, CEO of ABA Bank said: "We are delighted to announce our partnership with JCB, one of the world leaders in payment services. Under the agreement, ABA merchants and JCB cardholders will be able to broaden their payment opportunities through our extensive networks across the country. Witnessing solid economic and business ties of Cambodia and Japan, we believe that this cooperation will bring benefit to Japanese businesses and individuals in the Kingdom and will enhance the efficacy of the Cambodian payments industry."

Yoshiki Kaneko, President and COO of JCB International Co., Ltd. said: "We are honored to announce the partnership with ABA. The acceptance of JCB Cards in ABA merchants will increase the convenience to our customers in and outside of Cambodia. I believe that this partnership will contribute to the further growth of digitalization in this highly potential market and hope to seek for further business opportunities with ABA."

Tonik, the Philippines’ first private neobank operating under its own digital bank license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has launched the physical debit cards for clients of its mobile app.  Tonik customers can now order physical debit cards through the app, and use these cards at any ATM or merchant that is part of  Mastercard’s global network, which includes the majority of the ATMs and card-accepting merchants in the Philippines.
 
Responding to the needs of the Filipino consumers for higher security of card transactions, Tonik’s debit cards are equipped with multiple pioneering features for secure payments:  

• No name and card number on the face of the card – providing enhanced customer data privacy;
• In-app controls to easily freeze and unfreeze the debit card for transactions;
• Ability to manage limits of physical debit cards within the app;
• 3D Secure and advanced antifraud, powered by Mastercard’s state-of-the-art security suite;
• Savings protection - Stash and Time Deposit accounts are not directly linked to the account with the card, thus protecting the savings;
• Tonik encourages its customers to use their virtual card for online transactions, instead of the physical card, as in the unlikely event of the card being compromised the virtual card is very quick and easy to replace.

In line with Tonik’s philosophy of maximizing customer’s access to their money, Tonik debit cards offer the highest potential transaction limit in the market of up to Php450,000.   However, we do encourage our clients to keep limits low to reduce risk, and only increase the limits for specific high-ticket transactions, and subsequently reducing them back to a lower level to keep their accounts well-protected. 
 
“Filipino consumers increasingly prefer the convenience of physical debit cards for their daily transactions. However, the security of card payments remains their primary concern.” shared Greg Krasnov, Founder and CEO of Tonik. “Our physical debit cards are specifically designed to offer a highly secure payment experience.  We hope this will help the Philippines continue on its rapid path of transition towards a cashless society and will help drive higher financial inclusion in the country.”

Tonik made its commercial debut to the Philippine market last March, which saw it secure over Php1B (US$20M) in retail deposits in under 1 month - a historic record for any new bank launching in the country.  The neobank continued to break records of speed of growth, having attracted ca. 3.5 billion pesos (US$70M) in retail deposits as of mid-August. 
 
Tonik is supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and deposits are insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC).  Its unique cloud-based solution is powered by global financial technology leaders such as Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, and Finastra.
 
To know more about how you can order a physical debit card and other updates from Tonik, visit https://tonikbank.com/. 

Leading retail finance platform Deko, has today announced the acquisition of technology services provider Imegamedia in order to expand its service offering and integration experience for its partners.

The deal, which includes 100% acquisition of the Imegamedia Services Ltd and TrueInnovation Ltd businesses, will enhance Deko’s integration service; paving the way for accelerated growth. All of Imegamedia’s existing partners will continue to receive the same high levels of service as part of the deal and will also have access to new and enhanced features.

The deal will provide Deko with expanded integration capability, providing merchants a same-day installation service and their customers faster access to Deko’s unique multi-lender platform.

Over the past 10 years, Imegamedia has become a market leader in Retail Finance technology integrations, supporting over 15 finance providers, 500 merchants and processing c.£400m of new lending requests annually.

The acquisition comes following announcements about new Deko partnerships with NewDay, SNAP and ZIP, all of which have been integrated into the Deko platform in recent months.

Mike Dawson, CEO of Deko commented: “We are excited to welcome the Imegamedia team, along with its hundreds of partners, to Deko. We have partnered with Imegamedia for a number of years and have been consistently impressed with its service model, technical standard and integration promise. Imegamedia’s business model is strongly aligned to ours and we believe we can achieve more for all our stakeholders as a combined and focused group. Delivering Imegamedia’s market leading onboarding experience into the Deko platform is an essential investment and underlines our commitment to making immediate, lasting and valued connections across our ecosystem.”

Maxine Moon, MD of Imegamedia and TrueInnovation commented: “We are thrilled to be joining the Deko business. Our ecosystems are very similar, we are motivated by the same purpose and share the cultural commitment to service excellence and innovation. Imegamedia has been built over the past 10 years to simplify access to ecommerce financing solutions and we are excited to be incorporating our unique integration solutions into the Deko platform. All of Imegamedia’s existing partners can look forward to the same consistent level of service and an exciting roadmap of future enhancements.” 

TPAY MOBILE platform allows developers to monetize their apps on Huawei devices across twelve operators in seven countries 

TPAY MOBILE, a full-service digital payments platform, today announces the first phase of its strategic app monetisation partnership with Huawei.  The partnership is live across twelve mobile operators in seven countries within the MEA region, enabling over 60 million subscribers to purchase from HUAWEI AppGallery using direct carrier billing (DCB).

During the first half of 2021, millions of DCB transactions have been processed across Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, and Tunisia. In addition, developers have gained the opportunity to connect with an array of operators, including Orange, WE, STC, Ooredoo, Vodafone, Omantel, and Zain. 

The strategic partnership, first announced in September 2020, enables local and global developers to accept DCB payments for their apps and services through Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) In-App-Purchases (IAP) kit. 

Sahar Salama, founder and CEO of TPAY MOBILE, says, “TPAY MOBILE and Huawei have been working together closely as part of our ongoing commitment to support developers and consumers in the MEA region. We are pleased that this partnership has scaled at such a rapid pace in a short amount of time. Huawei is leading the pack when it comes to smartphone adoption and penetration across the MEA region, and this is further demonstrated by the tenfold growth in DCB payment volumes we are witnessing on a monthly basis.”  

Adam Xiao, Managing Director of Huawei Mobile Services MEAI, Huawei Consumer Business Group, said, “At Huawei, consumers’ satisfaction is always at the forefront of our strategies, and our partnership with TPAY MOBILE is a testament to that. Huawei device users will gain the opportunity to pay for their favourite applications and services conveniently via DCB – using just their mobile phone number and without the need for a bank account. This service is vital, especially when traditional transactions are not realistic for many smartphones users who don’t have access to bank accounts.”

Nav, the simple and intelligent financing platform for small businesses, today was included on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This year's recognition marks Nav's fifth consecutive appearance on the Inc. 5000 list.

Founded in 2012, Nav has worked with small business owners to match business financing products from top-tier traditional and alternative lenders by utilizing their real business data to meet businesses’ needs. Since its founding, millions of small business owners have been helped by Nav’s platform. Since the pandemic started, Nav facilitated more than 239,000 applications for financing to help small businesses unlock PPP funding. Additionally, Nav helped over 23,000 small businesses to secure business loans through the PPP process.

"The team at Nav has been focused for nearly a decade on helping small business owners navigate the tricky world of business financing,” said Greg Ott, Nav’s CEO. “Being named to the Inc. 5000 list for a fifth year in row is a true testament to our employees and the company’s dedication to helping small business owners. Our data-driven, digital platform that we’ve built has been essential to supporting small businesses through their small business journeys."

In addition to being named on Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies in America list for the fifth year in a row, the company has continued to be recognized for their growth and work in the state of Utah. In 2020, The Salt Lake Tribune named Nav as a “Top Place to Work in Utah”, and The Utah Business Journal selected Nav as a “Best Company to Work For” in 2019.

More information about Nav is available at Nav.com.