Synechron, Inc., a leading global digital transformation consulting firm focused on financial services and technology organizations, announces key leadership promotions and a reorganization aimed at enhancing operational efficiencies.

Highlighting its commitment to innovation, Synechron is proud to announce the promotion of May Yang and Mihir Shah to the positions of President for North America and President for EMEA, APAC & India, respectively. Both May and Mihir have been instrumental in shaping the firm’s trajectory and are well-equipped to drive Synechron forward in its next phase of growth.

In tandem with these leadership advancements, Synechron — which currently maintains 44 offices across 19 countries — is adopting a more region-centric organizational framework that promises to streamline and unlock synergies across the firm.  They will now operate under two principal business groups: North America and EMEA & APAC.

May Yang, previously Managing Director and Head of the Charlotte office, will oversee operations in North America. This region encompasses Synechron’s units in New York City, Charlotte, Florida, and nearshore delivery centers in Montreal as well as the soon-to-open delivery center in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Mihir Shah, formerly Managing Director and Head of Europe, Middle East, and APAC, will direct the EMEA & APAC regions. This includes Synechron’s United Kingdom, European, Middle Eastern offices, as well as Asia-Pacific units in India, Singapore, Hong Kong, and a new addition in Sydney, Australia.

Faisal Husain, Synechron’s Co-founder and CEO, commented, “This new structure aligns our skilled leadership and our diverse international operations with our ambitious strategic roadmap. We have now laid a solid foundation for our continued progress in assisting a broader range of top-tier businesses with the cutting-edge solutions they require to realize their full potential.”

Fintech Week London, the premier event celebrating innovation in the fintech industry, is excited to announce that tickets are now on sale for its highly anticipated flagship conference, set to take place on Thursday 13 June 2024 at the ExCeL London.

This event promises to be a pivotal gathering of over 1,000 senior decision-makers from leading fintech companies, banks, investment firms, regulatory bodies, media organisations and service providers.

Fintech Week London shines a spotlight on the vibrant fintech ecosystem in London. The one-day conference serves as the pinnacle event of the week, offering attendees a unique opportunity to engage with some of the city's most influential figures, decision makers, and innovators. 

This year, the event will be bigger and more dynamic than ever before, ensuring that attendees don't miss out on the pulse of the fintech world, with Fintech Week London 2024 teaming up with London Tech Week to plug into a week with 30,000-plus participants from all over the world. 

Fintech Week London’s flagship conference will follow the London Tech Week conference on 10-12 June 2024 as an official fringe event. There’s also a partnership with Fintech Fringe, an event designed to support high-growth fintechs as they look to scale and grow in the UK. Other events include the third annual Fintech Awards London (Wednesday 12 June 2024), which recognise and celebrate fintech professionals and companies making a difference in London.

“Fintech Week London has always been about bringing together the brightest minds in fintech to inspire, innovate, and drive our industry forward,” says Raf De Kimpe, CEO of Fintech Week London. “This year, we're taking it to the next level.”

“Our flagship conference on Thursday 13 June 2024 promises an unforgettable day of insights, networking, and collaboration at the ExCeL London, 10 minutes away from the heart of the City of London. We've condensed our programme to one power-packed day to maximise efficiency and networking opportunities. It's where the future of fintech is being shaped, and we invite you to be part of this transformative journey.”

Why attend Fintech Week London:

• City-to-city collaboration: Fintech Week London brings together traditional financial institutions and groundbreaking fintech companies in the heart of one of the world's leading financial districts - London.

• Global insights: From high-street banks to fintech challengers, technology giants to disruptors, this five-day event will provide unparalleled insights into the global themes of fintech.

• Collaboration with London Tech Week (10 to 14 June 2024): Coinciding with London Tech Week (https://londontechweek.com), the event will be amplified to an international audience of over 30,000, including many international delegations. This collaboration expands reach and creates more networking opportunities.

• Partnership with Fintech Fringe (https://fintechfringe.co), an event series designed to deliver support to high-growth fintechs as they look to scale and grow in the UK. As a part to include all life phases of our fintech companies, the collaboration between Fintech Fringe and Fintech Week London will offer a valuable added focus on up and coming scaling companies in the fintech ecosystem.

• Enhanced conference experience: This year's conference takes place at the ExCeL London, boasting an expanded capacity of up to 1,200 attendees, two stages for concurrent sessions, and an impressive expo area covering 1500 square metres. 

• Interactive networking: Prepare for orchestrated and curated speed networking sessions that will connect you with key players in the fintech industry.

The flagship conference will feature discussions on a diverse range of topics that are at the forefront of the fintech industry, including Embedded Finance, Inclusive ESG, Web3 & Metaverse, Insurtech, Data, Risk, and Fraud, Fintech for Good, Payments, and AI.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to immerse yourself in the fintech revolution. Secure your tickets today and stay ahead of the curve at Fintech Week London's flagship conference on Thursday 13 June 2024.

For ticket information and further details, please visit https://www.fintechweek.london.

Delta Capita, a leading global capital markets consulting, managed services and technology provider, today announces the launch of its new cyber practice and the rollout of multiple new services to help clients strengthen their cyber defences.

Led by Philip Freeborn, Global Head of Services, Delta Capita’s cyber practice leverages its financial services and technical expertise to offer bespoke propositions tailored to each client’s individual needs, including educational resources, technology and recruitment solutions. Specifically, these include:

●      Cyber Academy - Through Delta Capita’s Cyber Academy, clients can select from a diverse pool of candidates trained in cybersecurity and financial services. The training programme will give students access to more than 1000+ hours of quality content and 300 real-world simulations. Once fully trained, the individual will be deployed into the client’s organisation for 18 months, with the opportunity to hire them on a permanent basis.

●      Cyber-attack simulation and education programmes - Tailored programmes offering interactive training for all levels of an organisation. The simulations are personalised so users can practice their response to realistic cyber-attacks, such as phishing attempts, while also becoming fully compliant with industry regulations, such as GDPR and ISO.

●      Security Operations Centre as a Service (SOCaaS) - To enable clients to build a robust and cost-effective Security Operations Centre, SOCaaS is a fully customisable cloud-based solution, that offers threat intelligence, threat hunting, forensic investigation, incident response and strategic monitoring.

●      Cyber Controls - A specialist consultancy offering designed to assist clients in the establishment, management and large-scale change of cyber controls, as well as DevSecOps best practice and guidance on training needs to maintain staff awareness.

Philip Freeborn, Global Head of Services at Delta Capita, comments: “We are delighted to announce the launch of Delta Capita’s cyber practice that brings together specialist consultants with decades of both cyber and banking industry experience, with ThriveDX, one of the world’s largest cyber training platforms. The range of cyber services that we are bringing to market addresses key areas of a Financial Services firms’ cyber defences, and we look forward to collaborating with new and existing clients to enhance their cyber defences.”

Joe Channer, CEO of Delta Capita, comments: “At Delta Capita, we are committed to reinventing the financial services value chain, helping firms to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase their scalability wherever we can. After seeing the increasing number of cyber-attack attempts across the financial services industry, and the significant consequences that a successful attack can have on a firm, we are proud to be rolling out a suite of cyber solutions that will help our clients protect themselves from one of the biggest risks they currently face.”

Roy Zur, CEO of ThriveDX Enterprise, adds: “Ensuring access for individuals of diverse skill sets and backgrounds is imperative to bolster the cybersecurity of businesses across all sectors. Together with Delta Capita, the financial services division of Prytek, we are committed to shaping a stronger financial sector by investing in a cybersecurity workforce that is both highly skilled and diverse, enabling us to effectively confront the ever-evolving challenges presented by the modern digital era.”

Today Mollie, one of the fastest growing payment service providers in Europe, announced it has been granted a Payment Institution licence in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

Mollie originally launched in the UK in early 2021, serving merchants both domestically and those expanding internationally. Now, with the FCA licence granted, Mollie UK has bold growth plans; merchant expansion and most importantly, new product launches. 

Mollie UK intends to follow in its continental footsteps in 2024, with plans to offer fully integrated business financing services and additional payment solutions. 

Mollie was previously operating under the Temporary Permissions Regime for EU-based financial services firms, a regime launched following Brexit. Mollie UK has now been granted its UK licence which validates Mollie’s capabilities to operate as a dual-licensed financial services group across multiple markets and geographies.

At the time of its UK launch, Mollie’s research amongst ecommerce retailers revealed that international expansion is a key strategic priority for 90% of UK merchants. As an international, out-of-the-box payment solution, with a local support team, Mollie has become an attractive service provider for UK merchants, especially those expanding internationally. Mollie integrates to almost all ecommerce platforms, provides access to hundreds of local payment methods, integrates with all the top technology partners like Klaviyo and maintains a strong, trusted product offering. 

This is how businesses like Lounge Underwear supported its mainland EU expansion. Daniel Marsden, Founder and CEO of Lounge says of their expansion into the Netherlands, “"iDEAL is really popular in the Netherlands, but, being from the UK, I'd never even heard of it. I know that implementing payment gateways can be an absolute nightmare, so I did some research and found Mollie. Through Mollie, I got a plugin and it was actually really easy”.

"Receiving our Payment Institution licence from the FCA is a huge milestone, and one that speaks volumes about our dedication to empower merchants with best in class products,” said Koen Köppen, CEO, Mollie. “As a company, this licence opens new avenues for growth and collaboration, as well as providing a strong foothold in the dynamic UK market. We’re excited to continue to shape the future of payments in the UK.”

As UK households begin switching the heating on, 7m people are reliant on credit to pay their bills this winter according to research from responsible lender, Creditspring. 

Despite a slight dip in inflation, Creditspring warns that many people are set to enter winter with no financial buffer and could be forced to turn to credit to survive. Nearly 8m people (15% of the adult population) admit they’ll be forced to borrow to get by in the next six months.  

A quarter (25%) of UK adults - over 13m people - are forced to dip into their savings each month just to make ends, however the ongoing cost of living crisis has depleted this financial cushion for many households. In fact, one in five people (18%) say they’ll need a loan once their savings run out. 

Even more worryingly, the research shows that one in five (21%) of adults – almost 11m people – don’t have any savings to fall back on at all. 

Three in ten (30%) of people say they are terrified for their financial future and a third (33%) feel stuck believing there is nothing they can do to improve their financial situation. In total, almost four in ten (38%) – or 20m people – say their financial future is unpredictable and they’re uncertain about their future position in six months. 

Neil Kadagathur, Co-Founder and CEO of Creditspring, comments: “Although last year was tough, millions of people are in an even worse situation this time after another 12 months of struggling with rising costs and increasing bills. For many, it is a question of not just eat or heat – but how to ensure they can do either. 

“As we approach another winter of high energy costs, many households have nothing left to fall back on and are hugely concerned about how they will survive the next few months. 

“There needs to be more support for vulnerable people – whilst government support packages would be a huge help the lending industry must also be much more transparent to ensure that people are aware of the true cost of borrowing. By providing more responsible credit products without hidden costs that encourage them to take on extortionate debts, lenders can protect vulnerable borrowers struggling to keep their head above water.” 

Personal finance and consumer rights expert, Martyn James, said: “This deeply troubling research lays bare the reality of the cost-of-living crisis for millions of people across the UK who are just trying to get by. People work hard to build up their savings – and they should not have to use them to cover basic necessities like energy bills. 

“I’m especially concerned about the impact of a cold winter and unaffordable bills on the huge numbers of people who don’t have any safety net. I’m already hearing horror stories from people who are terrified of putting the heating on. These people include those who may be more vulnerable, plus countless others who are experiencing very real financial difficulties. 

“This problem is not going away, so we need decisive Government action and long-term planning to help support those most in need. Failing to do so is a false economy as it’s more expensive to help people who can’t pay their basic bills long-term. But the impact on society as a whole is much more devastating.” 

Top tips from Martyn James: What to do if you are worried about your energy bill payments

• Check out the support options online. All energy businesses have these on their websites, usually under ‘financial difficulties’. These might often include Q&A pages, live chat, phone numbers and social media links. You may be able to do some things online, like submit meter readings.

• Don’t get overwhelmed. Energy bills are complicated, so don’t feel any pressure to become a gas or electricity expert overnight. If something doesn’t make sense, ask the business to explain it in plain English terms.

• If you’re struggling financially, tell the firm you are in financial difficulties and they should come up with a tailored plan to suit your needs.  You can find a full list of the support that the regulator Ofgem says you can expect here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/getting-help-if-you-cant-afford-your-energy-bills

• Make a mini budget. This will help the energy firm work out the best option for your circumstances. The fabulous debt charity can help you do this here. StepChange can also step in for you if you can’t afford your monthly bills and will deal with your creditors for you.

• If the business isn’t listening, make a complaint. Keep things simple and focused on the problems you’d like the business to address. Ask the business if you can email or send them the written complaint if it’s complicated. Don’t forget to tell the business what you want to sort the problem out.

• If you’re getting threatening letters, tell the business you are making a complaint and ask them to confirm in writing that they will suspend any debt collection activity while the matter is looked into. Make it clear that you will go to the free Energy Ombudsman if you are unhappy.

Creditspring provides a new way to access credit safely. FCA-regulated, it is a credit subscription service that offers affordable, responsible credit to borrowers. Members pay a fixed membership fee every month to allow them to access two no-interest loans per year with clear repayment terms, capped costs and no hidden charges, late fees or confusing interest rates.

Finastra, a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, announces that CQUR Bank, an international corporate bank, has partnered with Finastra to deliver on its technology strategy. With the implementation of Finastra’s market-leading solutions, Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels, CQUR Bank will offer its corporate clients a new online banking portal for a seamless user experience, introduce new digital workflows and provide host-to-host integration solutions.

“To truly meet the complex demands of our customers, we needed to upgrade our online banking solution to deliver greater connectivity, faster onboarding experiences and access to sophisticated trade finance services that accelerate growth,” said Justin Kenny, Chief Operating Officer at CQUR Bank. “We selected Finastra due to its market-leading solutions that enable us to introduce a comprehensive front-end open architecture to provide access to a variety of fintechs. By broadening our offering and streamlining existing processes, we will be able to create more service value and deepen the relationships with our clients.”

Hussam Alkokhon, Head of Trade Finance at CQUR Bank added, “Finastra is a market leader in trade services globally, which plays to our ambition of being the best trade finance provider in GCC, with the highest standards of risk mitigation and compliance.”

Corporate Channels is a digital banking platform that provides CQUR Bank with a single, intuitive portal to unify trade, cash, supply-chain finance, lending and treasury services for its corporate clients. Trade Innovation is an end-to-end solution for frictionless trade and supply chain finance. The trade services platform uses straight-through processing, digitisation and data analytics that will support the bank’s growth and its ability to evolve with new demands.

“CQUR Bank has extensive expertise in financial services and in empowering international trade,” said Kamal El Khoury, Managing Director, MENAT Lending at Finastra. “Corporate customers are increasingly demanding faster, digital and connected services from their bank that truly elevate how they manage their finances and pursue new avenues for growth. By delivering new services and improving the end-to-end customer experience, the bank can future-proof its business while continuing to enhance economic growth through trade and sustainable development.”

Navan, the all-in-one solution that makes travel and expense easy, today announced the international expansion of Navan Connect, with availability now across nearly 250 global banks. The innovative card-link technology, which extends the “No Expense Reports” experience of Navan Expense to any enrolled corporate Mastercard® or Visa® card, will now support transactions made with cards issued in Europe and the UK as Navan revolutionizes the way businesses handle global expense management.

Navan Connect redefines expense management, enabling businesses to enjoy the benefits of the travel and expense solution employees love, while keeping the benefits of the company’s existing bank and corporate card partner. With the swipe of an enrolled card, expenses are automatically checked against company policy, categorized, and reconciled. 

"Today’s workforce is spread across the globe, and so are travel and expenses,” said Michael Sindicich, EVP and General Manager of Navan Expense. “Bringing Navan Connect to Europe will make it easy for multi-national companies with offices in the region. Navan's promise to our customers is clear: we work hard to create smart solutions that help you manage expenses worldwide. Since launching in the US, customer demand for this product has been incredible — companies love the automation of Navan Expense, but are happy to keep their existing corporate cards and minimize change management." 

Navan Connect is a significant development for international companies looking to localize and scale their travel and expense programs while maintaining visibility and control. 

Navan Expense, which launched in Europe in December 2021, offers a seamless experience for both admins and employees, with direct reimbursements in as little as 24 hours in more than 45 countries and nearly 30 currencies. In addition, the platform's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) supports invoices in multiple languages, such as French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and German, ensuring ease of use across borders. 

“Before Navan, a lot of people were paying expenses out of pocket, invoicing was manual, and it was hard from a finance perspective to control expenses or get proper reporting — a tedious process for our employees,” said Victoria Tuong, Senior Talent Acquisition Partner at SumUp. “Thanks to Navan, I have a partner for managing expenses and reporting. Our previous solutions were time-consuming, multilayered, and non-intuitive. Navan’s all-in-one solution has led to significant time savings. We now manage all our trips and expenses on the same platform.”  

On the heels of Navan's recent new distribution capability (NDC) content partnerships with 10 global airlines, including Air France, Lufthansa Group, and British Airways, this feature further supports today’s inherently global workforce. Navan's people-centric software design enables the company to cater to its expanding list of multinational customers that require global accessibility.

“At Mastercard, we’re committed to working with innovative partners with a shared vision to bring greater efficiency and enhance the T&E user experience as business travel returns,” said Johanna Waara, Senior Vice President of Commercial Solutions, Europe, Mastercard. “As more businesses seek convenience in managing travel and expense reports, we’re excited to offer our corporate cardholders a seamless way to access Navan’s expense management platform through our Connect integration, powered by Mastercard technology.”

Hong Kong's leading payment technology company, Yedpay is breaking tradition and pioneering the innovation of the next-generation payment industry with 'One Touch' technology. This technology aims to solve the sequence of cash flow from collection, payment to settlement for businesses, providing a new experience for real-time cash flow.

In the past, payment and settlement were separately managed. Due to the cash flow transfer of acquirers, settlement institutions and banks, the cash flow from payment transactions was relatively delayed after a lengthy process of circulation and advance payment. With the 'One Touch' payment technology, the boundary between cash and electronic payments will disappear. Collection, payment and settlement can be achieved in one step, making it easy for businesses to manage their funds.

Breaking barriers and innovating to achieve real-time cash flow

At the 8th Hong Kong FinTech Week event themed " Fintech Redefined" Yedpay officially announced this innovative collaboration that will change the history of payment technology development. Yedpay's General Manager, Leo Ngan introduced the innovation and breakthrough of this payment technology to the industry insiders present. They also highlighted the "domino effect" this technology will have on the operation of funds for businesses and retailers.

Leo Ngan, General Manager of Yedpay, mentioned that Yedpay has employed Tap to Phone payment technology in the 'One Touch' payment product. This technology cloudifies credit card payment processing encryption, breaking through the traditional POS machine's fixed hardware encryption format. By using a mobile phone, it can cope with mainstream payment methods. Business enterprises or retailers only need to download an application to activate 'mobile phone induction collection' and use their smartphones to flexibly collect payments anytime and anywhere. Moreover, this technology does not need to be stuck with the traditional T+2 cash flow time difference and the full settlement arrives "instantly."

Lam Cheung-fu, Chairman of the Hong Kong Newspaper Vendors Assoication, mentioned that newspaper vendors and stall operators tend to have more traditional mindsets. Many newspaper vendors have been running their businesses for decades and face daily challenges related to payments and accounting. They have relatively straightforward business models that heavily rely on cash transactions. There is a pressing need for them to undergo a business transformation. The innovative payment technology offered by Yedpay is beneficial for large, medium, small, and micro enterprises to undergo transformation. It not only resolves the issue of delayed payments but also enables newspaper vendors to expand their business into the realms of digitalization and industry reform within the newspaper distribution sector.

Pioneering the innovation of the global payment settlement industry and making inroads into the Belt One Road market

According to the 2022 McKinsey Global Payments Report, in emerging markets in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, the pandemic accelerated shifts to contactless payments and e-commerce, and low banking penetration affords opportunities for payments providers to capture untapped potential and reach underserved populations.

According to the "2022 Southeast Asia Digital Economy Report," Southeast Asia's booming digital payment market is expected to hit $2 trillion by transaction value in 2030.

In the future, Yedpay will continue to be Hong Kong-centric with ASEAN as its core growth point and will launch diversified financial products from collection to remittance of merchant electronic wallets, aiming to build the ASEAN Payment Hub. With 'openness' and 'practicality' Yedpay will conduct technological innovation and make more forward-looking explorations and breakthroughs in the field of mobile payments.

The 'cashless society' promoted by Yedpay can make finance more inclusive and business more intelligent, which drives financial innovation while saving the overall social cost and accelerating the operation of the economy. From a business perspective, this provides companies with new opportunities to explore new financial management models. Especially the new breakthrough of Yedpay's instant payment and settlement, which improves the efficiency of large enterprises' fund settlement, increases the flexibility of funds and can instantly control the operation and reduce operational risks. In addition, through the analysis of electronic payment data, companies can further understand consumers' wants and needs, actively adjust their operational strategies and forecast market direction. Whether it's retails, hotels, mobile services or even newsstands, instant payment technology solutions will revolutionarily change traditional payment methods.

As a leader in Hong Kong's payment technology industry, Yedpay is committed to providing a low-threshold and secure electronic payment system, enhancing competitiveness with 'efficiency' and 'liquidity' and relying on technological power to change the traditional sales industry's landscape to make its own contributes for a more universal and sustainable future.

A new Moody’s Analytics study reveals that while there is an overwhelming desire for AI adoption in compliance, significant barriers hinder progress including poor internal data quality, a lack of clarity around regulation, and a specialist knowledge gap.

The study, which included a survey of more than 550 senior compliance and risk management professionals from 67 countries, assessed their perspectives on and uses of AI. It shows that the top three areas where AI is being applied are data analysis and interpretation (63%), risk management (53%), and fraud detection (51%).

Looking ahead, 83% of all surveyed respondents expect widespread adoption of AI in risk and compliance in the next one to five years. However, the study found that challenges remain, including:

• Internal data quality: Only 14% of those surveyed rated their own data as high quality. Resolving data issues is critical to reducing Large Language Models (LLM) hallucinations and improving the accuracy of AI outputs. Early adopters of different types of AI are more likely to rate their data quality as high (36%), compared to 9% who are not considering the use of AI. There is a clear data maturity gap, with 75% who are not contemplating the adoption of AI considering their data quality to be poor.

• Regulation: The study found 79% of professionals feel that new legislation to regulate the use of AI in compliance is important, while 66% seek greater clarity around any existing AI-related regulations in risk and compliance.

• LLM conservatism: Despite the rapid growth of LLMs, caution remains in risk and compliance. Only 28% take a positive stance on these models, 25% are actively discouraging or prohibiting their use and 46% have yet to adopt an LLM policy. Just 41% associate LLM terminology with risk and compliance.

• Use case understanding: Only a quarter (26%) rated their overall understanding of AI’s relevance to risk management and compliance as high. Compliance professionals are most likely to identify improved efficiency in processes (72%), increased speed of data processing and analysis (72%), and cost savings due to automation or improved decision-making (66%). Fewer currently recognize the potential for more advanced, transformative benefits, such as improved accuracy of results and predictions (51%) and the reduction of false positives (49%).

Despite these issues, early adopters are already realizing the benefits of AI. Nine out of 10 early AI adopters report it is having a positive impact on risk and compliance. Almost 70% of respondents believe AI will have a transformative or major impact on their work. Nearly a third (30%) of those surveyed are actively using or trialling AI, while 49% are considering adopting the technology.

Keith Berry, General Manager Know Your Customer Solutions at Moody’s Analytics, said, “Compliance professionals are convinced that AI will be transformative for their industry, but obstacles remain that could hinder risk management and compliance functions from capitalizing on its potential. The benefits of AI are currently viewed in easy-to-measure quantitative terms. Process efficiencies are a good start to AI adoption, but they are only scratching the surface of the technology’s capabilities. Advanced data analytics, accurate predictions, and the scalability of data are all features compliance teams will not want to miss out on.

“With many of the professionals we spoke to expecting the widespread adoption of AI in the next one to five years, steps need to be taken for it to meet its transformative potential across risk management and compliance. For example, when based on high quality data, AI is able to drastically reduce the number of false positives in a KYC screening process at scale, and can result in up to 80% of level one investigation and triage happening instantly and accurately. The overall outlook for AI is strong if compliance teams acquire the right expertise and data to fully capitalize on the opportunity.”