Leading global AI-powered credit decision platform provider, Scienaptic AI announced that InRoads Credit Union has chosen to implement the company’s AI-powered platform to enhance its credit decisioning and underwriting capabilities for new and prospective members.

Founded in 1938 and headquartered in St. Helens, Ore., InRoads Credit Union has grown to support members across Columbia, Clatsop, Cowlitz, Multnomah, and Washington Counties. Implementing Scienaptic’s AI-powered platform positions InRoads to make stronger, faster credit decisions for its members while delivering the best value for lifelong relationships.

“At InRoads, we believe everyone thrives when we grow together,” said Robin Balza, Chief Lending Officer at InRoads Credit Union. “Deploying Scienaptic's platform will make it easier for us to enhance credit access for our members. Not only will Scienaptic help us further our commitment to continued growth but, more importantly, it will drive strengthened financial options to support the growth of our valuable members.”

“We are excited to help InRoads Credit Union by streamlining and supporting the credit and financing needs of its members,” said Pankaj Jain, president of Scienaptic. “With access to enhanced credit decisioning, InRoads will be able to assist more current and prospective members, increase approval rates and minimize risk, all while building deeper relationships.”

Validus platform gains further traction in fixed income

Eventus Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of multi-asset class trade surveillance and market risk solutions, announced today that LedgerEdge, the new global corporate bond trading platform built on distributed ledger technology (DLT), has selected Validus as the real-time trade surveillance platform for all of its markets upon their launch.

LedgerEdge, the next-generation ecosystem for trading, plans to first launch later this year as a multilateral trading facility in the UK and to roll out an alternative trading system (ATS) in the first quarter of 2022, subject to the usual regulatory approvals.

Ian Chicken, Chief Operating Officer of LedgerEdge, said: “Our innovative new platform will operate at the highest standards of trade surveillance and monitoring. We looked at several platforms, and Eventus stood out for its experience in handling large client implementations with significant real-time data requirements. Validus and the Eventus team also came highly recommended by a London-based firm that has been using the platform since last year.”

Eventus CEO Travis Schwab said: “We’re thrilled to work with LedgerEdge and some of the most innovative minds in the industry to fulfill a vital role in this exciting new market center certain to disrupt the $41 trillion global corporate bond market. As we continue to grow our presence in the UK and Europe, along with the U.S. and Asia, we are also proud to emphasize the versatility of Validus in providing robust trade surveillance capabilities for fixed income, as well as all major asset classes.”

Chicken said Validus is already integrated with LedgerEdge’s global technology partner Yaala Labs, which has worked with Eventus on behalf of mutual digital asset exchange clients.

The increasing number of organizations accepting cryptocurrency and the growing interest in blockchain technology continue driving the entire sector's impressive growth. However, recent years have also witnessed a surge in the number of venture capitalists pouring money into blockchain companies.

According to data presented by BlockArabia.com, blockchain companies raised $30.4bn in total funding, a massive 44% increase in a year.

Investment Activity Soared by 515% YTD

By allowing digital information to be distributed but not copied, blockchain technology created the groundwork for the new type of internet. Although initially invented for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, by improving online security and streamlining fundraising and payment options, blockchain technology was adopted by many companies across different industries.

The Crunchbase data showed 2018 was a record year for investment activity in the blockchain market, with companies raising around $10.7bn in funding rounds that year. However, the next two years brought a significant slowdown in venture capital funding.

In 2019, blockchain companies raised $4.3bn, with the cumulative funding amount rising to $20bn that year. However, statistics show 2020 brought even less fresh capital, with companies raising only $2.4bn.

After two challenging years for blockchain companies looking to attract investments and expand their business, investors flocked to this sector in 2021. In the first quarter, startups focusing on blockchain technology raised around $2.9bn, more than in all of 2020. The strong investment activity continued in the second quarter of the year, with companies raising another $4.1bn.

The Crunchbase data showed blockchain startups raised around $8bn YTD, a staggering 515% increase compared to a year ago period, and 20% more than in 2019 and 2020 combined.

US Blockchain Startups Raised $12.5B, more than European and Asian Companies Combined

Statistics show that US blockchain companies lead in the total value of investments, with $12.5bn in funding rounds so far. European companies hit $6.1B in total funding, half the value of their US peers, ranking as the second-leading region globally. Asian blockchain companies follow with $5.4B, respectively.

Analyzed by type of funding, initial coin offering ranked as the most popular way to raise fresh capital. Statistics show blockchain companies have raised $9.3bn through ICOs so far, more than any other funding type.

Series A funding rounds have brought in around $3.8bn so far. Series B and Series C funding rounds follow, with $2.6bn and $2.4bn, respectively.

The full story can be read here: https://blockarabia.com/pr/blockchain-companies-hit-30-4b-in-total-funding-a-44-increase-in-a-year/

Atom bank, the Durham based Fintech, has made significant progress in the first quarter of its 2022 financial year passing several important income milestones. The Q1 results vindicate Atom’s business model and support a strong trajectory towards sustainable profitability.

During the 3 months April to June 2021, Atom reached £3bn of mortgage completions, passed £1bn of deposits into its Instant Saver product, grew total customer deposits 16% to £2.5bn and delivered its first month of operating profit.

Atom has placed particular emphasis on supporting SMEs as the country exits lockdown and saw strong demand for CBILS  products, which drove quarterly growth of 16% in Business lending taking it to a total of £759m. Coupled with 9% growth in the bank’s residential mortgages, Atom’s income from lending is on track to support its targeted return on equity of +24%.

Margins and returns on lending remain strong. Quarter-end net interest margin is at 1.30%, up from 1.02% at the last quarter-end. Atom’s well established credentials in the mortgage market have been further enhanced by the bank’s launch of a range of mortgages for customers with near-perfect credit.

Strong cost control and an improving credit outlook together with a one-off gain from its liquid asset portfolio have enabled Atom to record an operating profit for the month of June.  With the build of the bank infrastructure complete, further asset growth will allow it to exploit its embedded cost leverage opportunity.  These results further strengthen Atom’s confidence that it will be generating month-on-month operating profit later this year.

Atom’s excellent reputation amongst its customers has also endured. Atom’s customers give the bank a TrustPilot rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 and a recent survey of Atom’s business lending customers confirmed a Net Promoter Score for this key group of +88, reflecting the support Atom has provide to SMEs during lockdown and the service provided to those who need to borrow to grow their businesses.
 

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at Atom, said:

“We have momentum - it’s been an outstanding quarter for Atom.  We have achieved several important milestones and continued to drive the grow of our savings and loans.  We have also maintained our reputation for exceptional service - a key focus for us in that it remains a challenging time for our customers, our people and the country as a whole.

“We will continue to provide our customers with simple, transparent and competitively priced products and support them with an outstanding service experience.  Atom achieved a monthly operating profit for the first time in the company’s history and we’re determined to accelerate further and faster both this year and next as we continue our journey towards sustainable profitability and IPO”.

Significant momentum after a challenging period:

• Several key milestones reached:

o   £3bn of mortgage completions; with growth focussed on higher (>85%) LTV and margin origination.

o   £1bn of deposits into Atom’s Instant Saver product, while total customer deposits have grown by 16% to £2.5bn.

o   Made the 1,000th secured loan to an SME customer.

o   Atom’s first month of operating profit.

• Net interest income has increased 30% in the quarter to £9.8m (+60% annualised growth to FY21) with strong growth in both the mortgage and business bank lending portfolios.
• Launch of near-perfect credit mortgage range in June.
• Net interest margin has increased to 1.30%, up from 1.02% at the last quarter.
• Capital position strengthened, with a CET1 ratio of 17.6%, up from 15.3%.
• Quarterly operating costs down to  £12.3m with tight control as operations continue to scale .
• Exceptionally high levels of customer satisfaction, with a business Net Promoter Score of +88, and a TrustPilot rating of 4.6/5.
• These results reinforce Atom’s expectation of generating sustainable, month-on-month operating profit this year.

• Kroll Business Connect allows compliance professionals to keep track of compliance requirements in a single, cloud-based platform 
• Managers can assign automatic task reminders and notifications to ensure efficient task ownership 
• The service is compatible with all compliance software or CRM systems 

Kroll, the world’s premier provider of services and digital products related to governance, risk and transparency, has announced the launch of its new Know Your Customer (KYC) tool, Kroll Business Connect. The tool further enhances Kroll’s global compliance offering and is designed to streamline onboarding and KYC workflow processes for compliance professionals.  

Kroll Business Connect offers a collaborative environment for users, where tasks, communications and document sharing are consolidated into a single cloud-based platform–eliminating many of the manual and repetitive onboarding processes compliance professionals currently face.   

Monique Melis, Managing Director and Global Head, Financial Services Compliance and Regulation practiceat Kroll, said:  

“In the challenging regulatory climate of cryptocurrency, cross-border trading, cyber-attacks and working from home, KYC has become an increasingly complex task while simultaneously increasing in value. It is an integral part of firms’ due diligence processes to protect against financial crime and we’re proud to be helping firms ensure compliance in this area. 

“Our Global Regulatory Outlook study with the financial services industry revealed that almost a third of respondents predict the total cost of compliance will be greater than 5% of their revenues this year, and this cost is set to rise if unaddressed. With Kroll Business Connect we can streamline the compliance process, improve checks and save firms time and money in the process.” 

Kroll Business Connect allows users to set up automatic task reminders and notifications to reduce the risk of deadlines not being met, and knowledge slipping through the cracks. The tool will also give managers better oversight, providing an additional dashboard to assign task owners and view their progress.  

The tool has been designed so that all KYC processes are centralized in one place, giving compliance professionals an enhanced ability to manage projects, communicate with clients and stakeholders, and improve workflows. 

Crucially, the service will integrate seamlessly with any compliance software or CRM system via APIs, meaning current systems don’t need to be replaced. The software is fully encrypted and backed by Kroll’s leading data security and cyber risk management.  

Kroll Business Connect builds on Kroll’s extensive financial crime risk and compliance experience across the financial services industry and corporates globally, including enhanced offerings from Duff & Phelps which began rebranding to Kroll in March 2021.  

• Significant number of UK adults frequently missing out on best deals on their bills, by not comparing energy tariffs (18%), credit card deals (27%) or broadband offers (18%), as Yolt’s own proprietary user data¹ demonstrates a significant rise in household spending
• One in five people (22%) are also ignoring bank statements, missing opportunities to reduce spending

New research² from Yolt, the award-winning smart money app, reveals today that over one in six (16%) UK adults never review some of their key household expenses. This indicates that the 8.6 million in the UK who are ‘bill blind’ could be missing out on the most competitive deals available. This follows Ofgem’s recent announcement that the energy price cap is set to rise 12% this October – the biggest increase to date. On top of this, Yolt’s internal user data indicates that spending on household utilities, such as gas, electric, broadband and water, has increased by 7% year-on-year from April 2020 to April 2021.

Aside from not looking to see how they can save money by switching, consumers often also lose money by not shopping smart, with one in four UK adults (27%) never comparing prices at different supermarkets, a third admitting having forgotten to return something they didn’t want (31%) and 24% going beyond their arranged overdraft limit at least once a year.

The findings also point to the worrying issue of potentially more serious financial trouble, such as ignoring bank statements altogether (22%) and a significant number of consumers (15%) confessing to never paying more than their minimum re-payment on credit cards.

Pauline van Brakel, Chief Product Officer at Yolt, comments: “Many consumers have had a challenging period financially as a result of the pandemic, with a significant number of one in 10 UK adults (12%) seeing their monthly expenses exceed their income over the last year leading to an average overspend by £277 a month, according to our research. It is a good time to take stock of your regular outgoings, checking in on where you could be saving by taking advantage of the best deals available and cutting down on unnecessary spending.

“Our own user data shows utilities bills are rising, adding additional strain to household finances. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to ensure you’re on a tariff that gives you the best value. Switching providers using price comparison websites via Yolt partner MoneySuperMarket could save you hundreds of pounds – and help turn those not-so-good habits into good ones.”

Coinbase Custody has been selected by Deutsche Telekom as its trusted custodian for its CELO tokens – the native cryptocurrency of the Celo blockchain network.

As the first telecommunications company in the world, Deutsche Telekom joins Celo to participate in the decentralized financial economy. Deutsche Telekom collaborates with Coinbase to stake its tokens to subsidiary T-Systems MMS.

Together with the possibility to participate and help secure the blockchain by staking CELO assets, the safety and security of Coinbase Custody’s cold storage function was a major factor in Deutsche Telekom’s decision to place its CELO tokens with the custodian. Coinbase Custody stores customers’ funds offline in segregated accounts, an important security measure against theft or loss. Coinbase proprietary key generation process and cold storage solution have been battle tested over 9 years of in-house development, making Coinbase Custody one of the largest and most trusted digital asset custodians globally. Coinbase has also recently been awarded Europe’s first crypto trading and custody licence by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), reflecting its commitment to regulatory compliance.

Guillaume Chatain, Head of Institutional Sales EMEA, said: “We’re delighted that Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications provider, picked us as custodian for its CELO tokens. CELO tokens, cUSD and cEUR will play a vital role in revolutionising mobile payments, helping to build a fairer, more accessible and transparent financial system.”

To learn more about Coinbase Prime, Custody, Exchange, our execution services, or Coinbase’s white label brokerage services click here.

• Nearly one in 10 (9%) have defaulted on Covid loans before starting repayments

Two thirds (66%) of SME leaders who received financial support from the Government’s Covid loan schemes say it’s likely their business will default on the loan, according to new research1 from Nucleus Commercial Finance. This equates to 2.3 million SMEs who anticipate never repaying their loan.2

The anticipated default rate increases to 75% for small businesses with 10-50 employees. The number of defaults anticipated by SMEs is significantly higher than estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility which suggest that up to 40% of BBLS borrowers may default.3

With over half (51%) of SMEs receiving financial support through the loan schemes such as CBILS, BBLS and RLS, the Government could be facing a significant shortfall, with 10% of SME leaders who received a government loan saying they would find it extremely difficult to repay their loan.

Chirag Shah, CEO, Nucleus Commercial Finance comments: “Government loans have been a vital lifeline at a time of crisis, helping SMEs to survive and start to recover from the impact of the pandemic. However, based on this insight, the government is going to be facing challenges if defaults reach these anticipated levels and businesses will require additional finance to help them get by. 

“Rather than leaving SMEs, who underpin our economy, on the brink of survival, government and industry need to engage with them now to provide ongoing support and signpost them to the solutions available. It’s crucial that government and industry work together to support SMEs over time as they transition their finance from these loans to other sources of finance.”

Of SMEs who received a loan, nearly two thirds (64%) have started making repayments, 44% through their own revenue, and 21% through a loan from another source. Over a third (34%) haven’t started repaying their loan. This is made up of 17% who have taken a repayment holiday, 9% who have defaulted on the loan before starting repayments, and 8% who haven’t started making repayments yet. 

Sole traders were the most concerned (30%) about having to pay back the loan, compared to 17% for medium companies (50-250 employees), 4% for small companies (10-50 employees), and 6% for micro-businesses (1-9 employees). 

Chirag Shah, CEO, Nucleus Commercial Finance continues: “When looking ahead, if the government introduces new loan schemes, technology and expertise needs to be at the forefront of the decision-making process. Making accurate and fair decisions will be vital in delivering SMEs the support they are looking for, at a speed that matches their ability to repay and creating a seamless customer experience - throughout the lifetime of the loan.” 

Halal-focused investment firm extends partnership with WealthKernel to use flexible investment APIs

WealthKernel, a wealthtech provider for digital investment services, today announces that US halal and ethical focused investment firm, Wahed, has migrated its investment offering entirely to WealthKernel’s trusted APIs. Wahed initially partnered with WealthKernel in 2017 to utilise its white-label service and build the world's first automated halal robo-advisor.

Following exceptional growth, and to support its new app launch in the UK, Wahed has now migrated entirely to use WealthKernel’s APIs. The migration will see Wahed benefit from increased flexibility beyond its current white-label solution - allowing it to build an exceptional user experience, and easily integrate investment capabilities via WealthKernel’s APIs. Wahed’s customers will also benefit from a more unified experience across its desktop, and mobile app - allowing them to quickly onboard and complete KYC checks with simple photo capture and document upload features.

Wahed is currently using WealthKernel’s vertically-integrated investment infrastructure to help it deliver simple, affordable and halal investment services to its customers. This partnership sees WealthKernel providing KYC, trading, portfolio management & rebalancing, custody, and ISA tax wrappers for Wahed’s users in the UK.

Launched in 2017, US-headquartered Wahed provides halal investment services to 130 countries across the world. Its ethical and halal approach means its portfolios do not invest in certain companies, such as those involved with gambling, tobacco or alcohol. Wahed was also responsible for launching the first exchange-traded halal fund in the US. Following its acquisition of UK-based fintech, Niyah, in 2020, the firm is seeking to become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for socially responsible financial products and services.

Karan Shanmugarajah, Founder and CEO of WealthKernel, says:

“Having supported Wahed from early-on in its journey, it’s incredibly exciting to not only see how their business has grown since then, but also that we are now helping them to take their offering to the next level. Wahed is a prime example of the kind of investment business that WealthKernel wants to help empower - as someone bringing accessible financial services to underserved markets, with responsible investing, and exceptional customer experience at its core. By using our APIs, Wahed will now be able to affordably, and efficiently deliver investment services to its customers via its new app.”

Umer Suleman, UK General Manager of Wahed, says:

“Our relationship with WealthKernel over the years has allowed us to bring Wahed’s vision to our customers at a competitive pace. Through working with WealthKernel, Wahed has been able to specifically tailor the services it provides to its customers, and bring them an investment product they can have full faith in. With our new app now launched in the UK, we hope to further encourage not only Muslim investors to engage with us, but also those looking to make socially responsible investments.”

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