Colt Technology Services, a leading provider of agile, high-bandwidth connectivity solutions, has today announced it is certified for MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services. This confirms that Colt’s SD-WAN solution conforms to the MEF SD-WAN Service Attributes and Services (MEF 70) global standard.

MEF 70 is the industry’s first global standard definition of an SD-WAN service and its service attributes. It aims to help accelerate market growth, enabling the creation of powerful, new hybrid networking solutions optimised for digital transformation.

“Congratulations to Colt Technology Services on its MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification,” said Nan Chen, president of MEF. “Companies who purchase SD-WAN from a certified MEF 3.0 service provider can have confidence they will receive services that conform to MEF’s industry-leading global standards. Companies like Colt understand the value that certification provides, including accelerated service deployment and faster time to market.”

Colt’s market-leading SD WAN solution combines the scale and reach of the Colt IQ Network with an expansive set of features that align with customers’ evolving network landscape. Businesses today need to drive digital transformation through unexpected change. With Colt SD WAN, they can address the needs of their growing remote workforces and benefit from the optimisation of cloud applications, improved security, insights, and the ability to scale quickly and efficiently.

Colt SD WAN services consumers can now have confidence that they meet the industry’s highest standards created by MEF—the world’s authority for standardised network services. MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification ensures simplified, pre-validated functionality for customers and frictionless implementation and partnering within the MEF ecosystem.

Peter Coppens, Colt’s Vice President, Product Portfolio, commented: “We're proud that Colt SD WAN is now a MEF 3.0 certified service for the first time. We’ve been investing heavily in our SD WAN solution for the past few years, and this confirms we’re providing a service that meets the needs of our enterprise customers, achieving the meticulous specifications for performance, assurance, and agility set by MEF. By demonstrating compliance with industry-leading standards, we can build further confidence in our customers and underscore Colt’s dedication to the highest levels of service and continued innovation.”

For further details about Colt’s SD WAN solution, visit colt.net/product/sd-wan.

BHMI, a leading provider of payments software and creator of the Concourse Financial Software Suite^®, announced that Cuscal Limited, Australia’s leading independent provider of payment solutions, will be utilizing BHMI’s Concourse solution to support the needs and requirements for Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP) upcoming PayTo initiative, which provides customers with enhanced visibility and control over their payment options.

Launched in 2018, NPP is Australia’s real-time payments system that allows money to move between different financial institution NPP-connected accounts in seconds. Currently, the system supports credit or “push” payments that customers initiate themselves from their accounts. However, with PayTo, users will now also be able to authorize third parties that can initiate payments on their behalf at the NPP network level.

Cuscal enables NPP payment processing and settlement services for more than 50 banks and payment service providers. As part of its current, ongoing back office support for Cuscal's NPP settlement and disputes processing, BHMI's Concourse will help extend these functions to the new PayTo capabilities. This will include new, enhanced reporting functions and support for disputes related to PayTo investigations and claims that pass through Cuscal’s API connection with the NPP system. Like current NPP transactions, PayTo functions must align to ISO 20022 standards that provides a common messaging language for end-to-end payments from an individual to a business. Concourse will also continue to support this messaging between the authorized third parties and financial institutions under the new capabilities.

“When it comes to real-time disputes resolutions, it’s not just about being fast – you have to be certain,” said Nathan Churchward, Head of Product, Emerging Services for Cuscal Limited. “BHMI’s Concourse helps ensure that certainty and provides the flexibility necessary to support the evolving needs and functionality of the NPP platform and its users, like the developing PayTo initiative.”

“We are very pleased to continue our partnership and support of Cuscal and the NPP Australia platform,” said Lynne Baldwin, President of BHMI. “Concourse is a vital solution for our global clients like Cuscal, offering the configurability and flexibility to scale to their needs as they evolve. We look forward to helping them continue to deliver the best user experience for their clients through the NPP."

Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source solutions, and Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in hybrid multicloud computing, today announced a strategic partnership to enable a powerful solution for building, scaling and managing cloud-native applications on-premises and in hybrid clouds. The collaboration brings together industry-leading technologies, enabling installation, interoperability and management of Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Nutanix Cloud Platform, including Nutanix AOS and AHV.

Key elements of the partnership include:

Red Hat OpenShift as the preferred choice for enterprise full stack Kubernetes on Nutanix Cloud Platform. Customers looking to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift on hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) will be able to use an industry-leading cloud platform from Nutanix, which includes both Nutanix AOS and AHV.

Nutanix Cloud Platform is now a preferred choice for HCI for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift. This will enable customers to deploy virtualised and containerised workloads on a hyperconverged infrastructure, building on the combined benefits of Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud technologies and Nutanix’s hyperconverged offerings.

Nutanix AHV is now a Red Hat certified hypervisor enabling full support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift on Nutanix Cloud Platform. The certification of the Nutanix built-in hypervisor, AHV, for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift offers enterprise customers a simplified full stack solution for their containerised and virtualised cloud-native applications. This certification delivers Red Hat customers additional choice in hypervisor deployments, especially as many organisations explore innovative, modern virtualisation technologies.

Joint engineering roadmap providing robust interoperability. Red Hat and Nutanix will focus on delivering continuous testing of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift with Nutanix AHV to provide robust interoperability. The companies will also collaborate to deliver more timely support by aligning product roadmaps.

More seamless support experience providing faster resolution times for joint customers. Customers will be able to contact either company with support issues. The two companies are collaborating to deliver a best-in-class support experience for the interoperability of the certified products.

Because of its distributed architecture, Nutanix Cloud Platform delivers an IT environment that is highly scalable and resilient, and well-suited for enterprise deployments of Red Hat OpenShift at scale. The platform also includes fully integrated unified storage, addressing many tough challenges operators routinely face in configuring and managing storage for stateful containers.

More information on the partnership is available here.

Supporting Quotes

Rajiv Ramaswami, president and CEO, Nutanix

“This partnership brings together Red Hat’s industry-leading cloud native solutions with the simplicity, flexibility and resilience of the Nutanix Cloud Platform. Together, our solutions provide customers with a full stack platform to build, scale, and manage containerised and virtualised cloud native applications in a hybrid multicloud environment.”

Paul Cormier, president and CEO, Red Hat

“We have a vision to enable open hybrid clouds, where customers have choice and flexibility. Our partnership with Nutanix brings a leading hyperconverged offering to the open hybrid cloud, driving greater choice for our joint customers in how they deploy their containerised workloads and backed by a joint support experience.”

Eric Sheppard, research vice president, IDC

“Organisations around the world are deploying an increasingly diverse mix of modern and cloud-native workloads. This Red Hat and Nutanix partnership, and in particular the collaborative support agreement between the two companies, helps to bring virtualised applications and Red Hat OpenShift-based containerised workloads running on Nutanix’s Cloud Platform together in a way that will benefit exactly these types of organisations and help to drive increased simplicity, agility, scalability within today's complex hybrid-cloud world.”

Ritch Houdek, senior vice president, Technology, Kohl’s

“We are thrilled to see two of our technology partners announce this strategic relationship. As we manage the complexities of hybrid cloud, we believe this relationship will unlock new hosting and deployment options for VM and container-based workloads. These new options will support our goals of being fast, efficient and friction-free as we deliver new experiences to our customers.” 

Gautam Roy, chief technology officer, Unum

“The insurance industry is in the midst of a transformation to rapidly adapt to customers’ demands. We protect 39 million lives around the world with our products and services. As we work to modernise our IT infrastructure to support a seamless digital experience for our customers and employees, Nutanix and Red Hat help simplify our technology stack and advance our cloud transformation.”

Nuvei Corporation (“Nuvei”) (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), the global payment technology partner of thriving brands, and Alipay, the world’s leading digital payment platform operated by Ant Group, today announced a partnership that will connect Nuvei’s merchants with over 1.2 billion potential customers in the Asia Pacific region through the Alipay+ cross-border payment and merchant marketing solution. This includes access to a network of Asia’s leading local e-wallets.

Beginning in early 2020, Alipay started offering its partners a cross-border payment and merchant marketing solution, making it easy for businesses to accept different payment methods and conduct cost-effective digital marketing campaigns. The solution also makes it more convenient for users of Asia’s leading e-wallet service providers, including Alipay (Chinese mainland), AlipayHK (Hong Kong S.A.R.), Kakao Pay (Republic of Korea), GCash (the Philippines), TrueMoney (Thailand), DANA (Indonesia), and Touch 'n Go (Malaysia) to transact easily with more businesses. In China, Alipay alone connects over 80 million businesses with more than one billion users.

Alipay and Nuvei are currently integrated for online purchases via hosted payment page or API, and its point-of-sale app for in-store purchases using a QR code. The adoption of the Alipay+ solution propels Nuvei to another level of global reach, further expanding its significant portfolio of payment methods. This enables Nuvei’s clients to seamlessly market to the Alipay+ network of e-wallet holders through a single API connection. Merchants will be able to accept one-time and recurring payments from Asia’s leading local e-wallet holders in the currency relevant to that payment method.

“We aim to consistently provide the most relevant payment options that open up more global commerce possibilities, expand our clients' potential customer base and drive new revenue streams. Our partnership with Alipay is yet another testament to this goal,” said Philip Fayer, Nuvei’s Chair and CEO. “The APAC region is an economic powerhouse and very attractive to growth-minded businesses. We're delighted to empower merchants to better market to this region while making the purchase experience as seamless as possible.”

“Alipay has always believed in global partnerships, supporting service providers to better serve their clients and unlock growth opportunities so that it becomes easier for merchants to do business anywhere,” said Yulei Wang, General Manager of Global Merchant Partnerships at Alipay. “With Nuvei’s integration into the Alipay+ solution, we look forward to enabling Nuvei to attract more Asian customers to its merchant network.”

About Nuvei

We are Nuvei (TSX: NVEI and NVEI.U), the global payment technology partner of thriving brands. We provide the intelligence and technology businesses need to succeed locally and globally, through one integration – propelling them further, faster. Uniting payment technology and consulting, we help businesses remove payment barriers, optimize operating costs and increase acceptance rates. Our proprietary platform provides seamless pay-in and payout capabilities, connecting merchants with their customers in 204 markets worldwide, with local acquiring in 45 markets. With support for over 480 local and alternative payment methods, nearly 150 currencies and 40 cryptocurrencies, merchants can capture every payment opportunity that comes their way. Our purpose is to make our world a local marketplace.  

For more information, visit www.nuvei.com.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has announced the contract for the delivery of the High Street Scheme (HSS) has been awarded to Prepaid Financial Services (PFS).

TThe £145million scheme will give everyone aged 18 and over in Northern Ireland a Mastercard pre-paid card worth £100 to spend on their local high street. It is planned that the registration process will open to the public in September.

Minister Lyons also today revealed the ‘Spend Local’ logo which will feature on each of the cards.

Speaking during a visit to businesses in Carrickfergus, the Minister said:

“After a robust procurement process, I am pleased to announce that the contract for the High Street Scheme has been awarded to PFS.

“This scheme is a key element of my Department’s Economic Recovery Action Plan and will give a very welcome boost to our high streets which were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. This uplift is what our local businesses need and deserve.

“It will mean up to 1.4 million people will have an extra £100 each to spend on our high streets rather than online. This will help bring many more customers back through the doors of local retail, hospitality and other sectors.

“I look forward to seeing the benefits this scheme will bring to the wide range of businesses situated in the heart of towns, villages and cities across Northern Ireland.”

PFS is a payments technology company which helps governments worldwide get money quickly into the hands of people who need it the most. Most recently, citizens in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Italy and Finland have been assisted with innovative payment solutions across 562 separate initiatives.

Lee Britton, CEO Europe at PFS, said:

''We are delighted to have been awarded this contract. Our award-winning economic stimulus product trusted by governments worldwide will help to give a huge financial boost to the Northern Ireland economy.”

Colin Neill, Chief Executive of Hospitality Ulster, said:

“Hospitality businesses are an integral part of our city, town and village high streets and have suffered considerably due to the impact of Covid. The High Street Scheme is a really welcome and important way we can all support our struggling high street businesses.

“Supporting the high street not only helps the businesses, it also supports the jobs of our friends and family who work in our hospitality industry.”

Aodhán Connolly, Director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said:

“The past year has been one of the hardest on record for our retail industry and our high streets because of the pandemic. This scheme will give a welcome boost to high street retailers and other consumer-facing sectors in towns and cities in Northern Ireland. It will create a virtuous circle of spending that supports our economy, boosts local commerce and gives our shoppers some retail and hospitality therapy. We would encourage everyone who is eligible to register for the scheme and make every penny count.”

Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said:

“This scheme is a win-win for our members and our high streets. It will be a significant spending boost for struggling independent retailers as we progress the long road toward recovery.

“70p in every pound spent with an independent retailer is recycled around the economy, supporting local producers, farmers and manufacturers. So it is vital that consumers make a special effort to spend this pre-paid card with local traders to ensure the widest possible boost to our economy.”

Roger Pollen, Head of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) NI, said:

“This scheme is a key element in reinvigorating our retail and hospitality sectors after more than a year of crippling restrictions and downturn. What is particularly important is the simplicity of its operation and the widespread distribution.

“By empowering every adult consumer in Northern Ireland, the value of the spend will reach every community and sector. We would urge users of the scheme to consider those businesses that have been most impacted by the pandemic and use their pre-paid card where it can spread most benefit.”

Minister Lyons added:

“My Department is planning for the scheme to go live in September and I want to ensure everyone who is eligible can receive their pre-paid card as soon as possible after registration. As a first step in that process I would urge members of the public to sign up for the electoral register if they have not already done so as we plan to use the register to check registrations for the High Street Scheme.”

The Minister also today published research carried out by Retail Economics to inform the roll-out of the High Street Scheme.

Retail Economics carried out research on how, when and where the HSS scheme could impact on consumer spending. The researchers made use of outturn data from a similar scheme which operated in Jersey and information from the Office for National Statistics. A consumer panel survey was also conducted, reflecting a nationally representative sample of 1,000 households in Northern Ireland.

Minister Lyons said:

“Currently, we intend to roll out the High Street Scheme in the autumn. This aligns well to Retail Economics’ recommendations on optimal timing.

“The results of the consumer panel show that there is evidence that the scheme will encourage shoppers back on the high street, to support local independent businesses and to spend their card in those sectors that have faced difficulties trading in the past year. Many respondents considered that it would encourage them to visit physical locations.

“The Covid health restrictions will need to be monitored closely and taken into account as we move forward.”

''From working with Governments around the world, we know how effective prepaid card packages are in helping to stimulate and reinvigorate economies. Using our payment technology, the Northern Irish Government can determine how much, where and over what timeframe taxpayers’ funds can be spent, maximising the impact and benefits for the communities and businesses in which they are trying to reach,” explained Kelly Devine, Divisional President, UK and Ireland at Mastercard.

Heidrick and Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII), the leading global executive search and leadership consulting firm, have today published their 2021 Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Survey. The report, which took place in March and April of 2021, analyses how the CISO role is structured, to whom they report and who reports to them, and data on compensation including current base salary, bonus for the most recent fiscal year, and annualized equity or long-term incentive pay, as well as joining bonuses. The study found that the recent pandemic as well as the growth of modern technology has made cybersecurity a real concern and the importance of CISOs has grown exponentially as a result. 

The 2021 Global Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Survey, with 354 respondents, found that the focus of CISOs is no longer on endpoint security, at 13%; it is now aimed towards network / cloud security, Identity / access management and data security, at 47%, 38% and 35% respectively. This highlights the importance firms are putting on their digital security and customer privacy. With cyber-attacks and ransomwares becoming more common, the attention of organisations must be moved towards prevention instead of remedy.

Commenting on the findings, Guy Shaul, Principal at Heidrick & Struggles, London said, “Cyber attacks are at the height of popularity recently and the pandemic has caused most things to turn digital, thus the security risks have also been raised. The total number of breached records was almost 4 million, as of June 2021. With this growth, the role of the CISO has expanded with it, their advice to boards and firms are of high importance and one that must be taken seriously. A company’s revenue is at stake.”

Adam Vaughan, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, London also spoke about the findings, “The role of the CISO has become even more important in the past year, as digital technologies became more prevalent and remote working became the norm in many industries.”

When comparing US and UK salaries of those surveyed, quite a difference is highlighted. In the US, the overall media cash compensation is $509,000 ($326,000 median base salary and $153,000 median bonus) whereas in the UK this is the equivalent of $421,000 (£306,000 overall; constituted of £226,000 median base salary and £80,000 median bonus). In the UK, median pay by industry ranges from £176,000 to £351,000, depending on the sector.

With regard to the profile of CISOs surveyed, 87% of those surveyed were male and 84% white.

Clearly, there is work to be done with regard to D&I within the CISO role. Like all things, this will take time for people with the right skill set to filter their way up through the ranks, either internally or externally. There is an expectation for companies to increasingly think outside the traditional industry- and IT-specific criteria for CISOs to find the best executives for the role, including people who are diverse in terms of gender and race or ethnicity, as well as industry and functional expertise. This would widen the available pool of talent. 

Considering their role during the pandemic, CISOs were among the many IT professionals who scrambled early in 2020 and made significant contributions to the success of their companies through the pandemic. That was on top of CISOs’ already large portfolios, which cover everything from securing systems from attack to simultaneously managing increased regulatory scrutiny and use of the data these systems contain.

Standard Chartered and Northern Trust Announce Zodia

Custody Receives FCA Registration

SC Ventures, the ventures and innovation arm of Standard Chartered, and Northern Trust, a leading asset servicing provider, announced today that Zodia Custody is now registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The registration means that Zodia Custody is now providing commercial services to clients as a cryptoasset business. Zodia Custody, an institutional grade cryptoasset custody solution based in London, offers services to clients across the globe. Zodia Custody enables institutions to invest safely and securely in cryptoassets. Zodia Custody, developed by SC Ventures and Northern Trust, satisfies institutional investors’ need for a cryptoasset custodian that understands traditional custody and meets investors’ high standards and expectations, whilst maintaining the flexibility required to adapt to the ever- changing cryptoasset market. Zodia Custody is one of nine cryptoasset businesses granted FCA registration under the UK’s Money Laundering Regulations and has commenced commercial operations following a period of testing. Zodia’s registration with the FCA means the business is now supervised under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017. This regime brought cryptoassets into scope in January 2020 and is mandatory for all firms providing cryptoasset services in the UK.

NTAC:3NS-20 Zodia Custody is providing custody services for the two most traded cryptoassets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, with plans to expand to more cryptoassets based on client demand. Maxime De Guillebon, Chief Executive Officer, Zodia Custody said: “Zodia Custody marks an exciting development for the institutional custody market. We deliver bank-grade cryptoasset custody to a standard expected of world-leading global custodians, having been developed with long-established best practices and regulatory compliance in mind. By leveraging the best practices of Standard Chartered and Northern Trust, we give institutional clients the comfort that their and their investors’ assets are kept in a manner that is aligned with the more traditional asset markets. This underpins our mission to increase the accessibility of the cryptoasset market for a wider institutional audience.” Alex Manson of SC Ventures said: “We believe cryptoassets as an asset class is here to stay. We set up Zodia Custody with the clear goal of serving institutional investors who want to invest in cryptoassets in a sustainable, safe and responsible way. Our aspiration is to lift standards, grow the ecosystem and help a nascent industry mature, becoming more acceptable to institutional investors and ultimately society at large.” Pete Cherecwich, President, Corporate & Institutional Services, Northern Trust said: “Since the announcement of the launch of Zodia Custody in December 2020, we have seen significant market interest in these new capabilities. The FCA registration, alongside the successful operational testing with pilot clients, marks a significant milestone. We are pleased that Zodia’s robust capabilities now make it possible to support the growing number of institutional asset owners, family offices and asset managers around the world investing in this emerging asset class.” Zodia Custody further establishes Standard Chartered and Northern Trust as leaders in the development of digital asset infrastructure. Alongside its partnerships with blockchain service providers, Standard Chartered has invested in core technology provider Metaco and is collaborating with the Bank of Thailand and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to explore distributed ledger interoperability for cross-border fund transfers. It most recently announced a partnership with BC Group this June to

NTAC:3NS-20 establish a digital asset brokerage and exchange platform for institutional and corporate clients in the UK and Europe. Northern Trust has a record of focused investment in digital innovation, having launched the industry’s first deployment of blockchain technology for the private equity market in 2017. Working with key clients and regulators, Northern Trust continued to develop and implement additional capabilities on its blockchain and collaborated with Broadridge to make the technology available to all market participants. In 2020, Northern Trust and BondEvalue partnered to complete the first trade of a fractionalized blockchain-based bond, working in cooperation with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Wolters Kluwer Finance, Risk and Regulatory Reporting (FRR), today announces Varo® Bank, N.A. as a new customer. Varo, the first consumer fintech in US history to be granted a national bank charter, has successfully filed regulatory reports using Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting software.

OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting combines bank data into a single source of data to ensure consistency, ease of reconciliation and accuracy. It includes access to Wolters Kluwer’s unique Regulatory Update Service (RUS) which is maintained by Wolters Kluwer experts who actively monitor regulation in 30 countries, factoring the potential impact of future changes into the OneSumX portfolio and ensuring clients’ ongoing compliance.

“We are incredibly excited to be working with Varo Bank to provide a full-service regulatory reporting solution that seamlessly integrates with the Temenos core banking system,” commented Todd Lawrence, General Manager of Wolters Kluwer FRR for the Americas. “Varo is the first fintech to have received its national bank charter and, as such, has an exciting future ahead. Wolters Kluwer is honored to have been chosen for this strategically important project and looks forward to working with Varo to ensure regulatory compliance is at the center of its endeavors.”    

OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting integrates with the Temenos T24 Transact core banking system used by Varo Bank, providing lower total cost of ownership when compared to other Extract, Load and Transform (ELT) processes. As a result, and through utilizing Wolters Kluwer’s RUS, the bank says it will be well placed to meet the ongoing regulatory reporting demands of various regulatory bodies. These include The U.S. Treasury, Department of Commerce, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) and the Federal Reserve.

“The impressive range of features available in OneSumX for Regulatory Reporting will provide us with the necessary functional coverage and adaptability that we were searching for,” commented Thibault Fulconis, CFO for Varo Bank. “We were also attracted by the proven integration with the Temenos T24 Transact platform, not to mention the leading position Wolters Kluwer’s experts have within the regulatory reporting space.”

Wolters Kluwer FRR, which is part of the company’s Governance, Risk & Compliance division, is a global market leader in the provision of integrated regulatory compliance and reporting solutions. It supports regulated financial institutions in meeting their obligations to external regulators and their own board of directors.

Wolters Kluwer FRR receives frequent independent recognition of its excellence and innovation, celebrating a record year for award wins in 2020. Wolters Kluwer FRR is the #1 provider in both Regulatory Reporting and Liquidity Risk according to the RiskTech100, as compiled by Chartis Research.

Econombank, the largest bank in the Saratov region of Russia, has migrated its card processing business to the Compass Plus Processing Centre. The two companies worked closely together throughout the migration process, ensuring a smooth transition and the non-stop operation of the bank’s services.

By utilising Compass Plus Processing Centre infrastructure, Econombank can now issue its customers with MIR cards. The cards can be used to make fast and secure payments, as well as withdrawals through the bank’s ATM network or branches.  

"Since 2017, the volume of MIR cards transactions has been constantly growing, and it is crucial for us to provide our customers with this popular payment method," said Anna Molina, Head of the Operations Department at Econombank. “Having migrated to Compass Plus Processing Centre, we have not only solved the support issues with our card business, but also laid the technological groundwork for further development and growth.”

Compass Plus provides Econombank with processing services via its award-winning open development payments platform, TranzAxis, using an outsourcing business-model.

"The development of our outsourcing business is one of Compass Plus’ strategic goals. We are delighted to team up with a new trusted partner and strive to further develop our cooperation based on our state-of-the-art technological solutions," said Alexey Osipov, Executive Vice President of Compass Plus.

Que Processing Services, the world’s leading card issuance and processing platform is all set to expand its operations across the Middle East by investing USD 10mn in next 6-12 months. .  QPS has recently announced its expansion across the European continent, with an investment of 10mn pounds to set up their operations in London. With its secured open API processing platform, QPS would be focussing on the real needs of the end user by enabling companies to customise their unique card offerings. With this fresh investment the company intends to expand its presence across key markets like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait by March 2022. 

Speaking on the expansion plans, Mr. Vinay Kalantri, CEO & Founder, QPS Global said, “After expanding our reach in the European markets, we are now entering the Middle East by purely focusing on our technological disruption. In fact, we have already secured a deal of issuing 2.3 million prepaid cards across the Middle East market. Going forward, we are also looking at clocking up revenues to the tune of 100 million USD  in the next two- three years across India, UAE & UK.”

With the help of world-class APIs along and a dedicated developer portal with a modern core banking platform, QPS provides an instantly accessible private sandbox environment for its clients. Going forward the company intends to hire 300+ employees globally to support their business expansion plans.

Speaking on the expansion plan, Mr. Kalantri further added, “We are looking at acquiring at least a 20 percent market share in the card issuance industry by onboarding brands across BFSI, Fintech, travel, D2C and ecommerce. With our technology stack, brands can now launch new products and services in a matter of hours. Our goal is to constantly revolutionize the card industry by keeping in mind the end consumer’s day to day requirements.”