Consolidated security model enables providers to leverage the functionality of their preferred authentication solution to seamlessly introduce qualified remote e-signing services with the highest level of legal assurance

Electronic signature pioneers, Cryptomathic, and UTIMACO, a leading global provider of IT security solutions, have today unveiled a joint Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) solution with a uniquely advanced security model designed to accelerate digital transformation in banks, governments and other Trusted Service Providers. The solution enables such providers, whose processes must comply with mandates for strong authentication, to extend the functionality of their existing user authorisation solutions to allow customers to sign transactions, documents and data online at the highest possible level of legal assurance, from anywhere and at any time.

Cryptomathic’s Signer platform is one of an elite few remote Qualified Signature Creation Devices (QSCDs) to be certified against the latest eIDAS protection profile. It is also the first to place its Signature Activation Module (SAM) firmware inside UTIMACO’s eIDAS certified Hardware Security Module (HSM). This consolidated security model ensures the signing payload can only be executed from inside UTIMACO’s protected cryptographic environment, making it significantly more resistant to attack, including from insiders. Signer’s What You See Is What You Sign (WYSIWYS) functionality also provides strong non-repudiation and addresses long term validation signature profiles for XML and PDF documents, while being able to leverage existing IT infrastructure. The combination of these factors, together with the vendor agnostic nature of the solution, means that providers can now seamlessly introduce highest assurance level remote e-signature services as a function of their existing authentication systems, without disrupting either their customer experience or back-end operations.

Guillaume Forget, Managing Director, Cryptomathic GmbH, comments: “Both Cryptomathic and UTIMACO have been fast to market with eIDAS certified products. By offering a joint solution integrated with an eIDAS TSP, we are truly helping banks and other providers accelerate their delivery of online e-signature services with the maximum security. The ease of deployment makes this solution very attractive. Many providers, including banks, have already been required by law to deploy strong authentication systems. Now, these providers can deploy this solution as part of those systems, slotting it into their existing digital experiences and using it flexibly, to enable non-repudiable user authorisation across a rapidly growing number of digitised use-cases.”

Stefan Auerbach, CEO, UTIMACO, comments: “We are delighted that Cryptomathic and UTIMACO continue to deliver fully approved eIDAS solutions to our clients. Cryptomathic and UTIMACO were founding contributors to the initial eIDAS regulation working groups that were formed to deliver the eIDAS regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions. This regulation has now become so successful that a number of countries outside of Europe are also now adopting this as their security standard, enabling businesses, citizens and public authorities to carry out secure and seamless electronic interactions.

“This latest solution offered by Cryptomathic and UTIMACO offers the highest level of certification which is EAL4+ AVA_VAN.5. Together we are affording our joint clients the highest level of assurance and authenticity available for electronic signatures.”

The joint solution is available immediately via a choice of deployment options ranging from on premise to a fully outsourced managed service.

Customers across Europe and beyond are already implementing and going live with the solution at the AdES or QES level.

To provide easy access to financial services for small businesses, Mambu rolls out new functionality to their banking and lending platform.

Mambu, the market-leading SaaS cloud banking platform, has unveiled a fully digital solution for SME lenders that cuts costs and time to market.

The platform not only provides banks and fintechs with robust, scalable loan management technology, but also easy access to an ecosystem of partners such as web-based identity authentication, credit checks and loan origination. These partners are vital to lenders wanting to offer speedy loan approvals – a key competitive advantage. 

According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), it’s estimated that there is an unmet financing need of $5.2 trillion every year across 65 million firms, or 40% of formal micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) globally, with Europe accounting for nearly 15%.

At the same time, there is more pressure on SME lenders to deliver low-risk decisions quickly via a fully digital customer experience. Mambu’s SME lending solution is designed for fast new product launch and offers great flexibility in order to quickly adapt to changes. The solution offers a variety of options to adjust loan conditions in order to support borrowers that are in financial difficulties. This flexibility helps clients to better serve SME companies and to release financial burden during pandemic times.

The benefits of using the Mambu platform to provide this are demonstrated by several pioneering clients. 

Jason Oakley, CEO of Recognise, said: “For too long SMEs have had to do with below average service levels. We know that speed and flexibility are critical for SMEs and the current SME banking providers are no longer fit for purpose. This is why we decided to select a cloud solution early on our journey.”

Tide, the B2B challenger bank, selected Mambu to expand their offering into ledger and lending portfolio management, as well as accounting and reporting across multiple geographies. Tested and launched in three months, the service has garnered more than 250,000 small business users to date. 

Amit Kahana, VP of Credit Services at Tide, “By partnering with Mambu, Tide can now create new products and quickly revamp offerings for customers, including releasing larger overdrafts, credit cards and invoice financing. As a result, we have been able to revolutionise how small businesses manage their money admin.”

Elliott Limb, Mambu’s Chief Customer Officer added: “Small businesses have been greatly affected by the pandemic. Whether that’s starting a new company or growing an existing one, there’s never been a bigger requirement for SME lenders to offer the services their customers need. And with Mambu’s composable approach we provide an agile way for our clients to build and shape new financial services around the businesses they want to help.”

The industry leading payment orchestration platform, IXOPAY has partnered with SHS Viveon, industry pioneers in risk, credit and compliance management.

The strategic partnership will see IXOPAY and SHS Viveon provide clients with a payment solution that enables them to have flexibility, independence, and optimized risk & credit management in an integrated platform, letting them focus on their core business. 

IXOPAY’s architecture is designed to give merchants the best payments processing options per country, with its intelligent routing, cascading, and unparalleled risk management function. As a best of breed payment orchestration platform, users benefit from centralized reconciliation and settlements, along with simplified integration of acquirers, payment service providers, and risk service providers.

Headquartered in Munich, SHS Viveon‘s mission is  to radically simplify the management of corporate, financial, and regulatory risks. From one platform users have a 360° business partner compliance and risk management solution for all their customers and business partners.

Make faster, better and, above all, fully digital credit, limit and sales decisions based on the best possible information with SHS Viveon.

“The partnership with SHS Viveon is a natural step for us. Our aim is to work with the best providers on the market, so that we can give our clients the necessary tools and know how to augment their payment set-up.” Said Laura Allan, VP of Partnerships, Marketing and Business Development at IXOPAY.

“Partnering with IXOPAY makes sense as both companies strive to provide clients with the best possible data and access, so that they can make informed decisions that will boost their payment strategy and support expansion when merchants are entering new markets.” Added Rolf Anweiler, VP Marketing and Partnerships at SHS Viveon.

This partnership strengthens IXOPAY’s commitment to open collaboration.

Global survey reveals customers want banks to help them manage their financial lives and prefer digital interactions, but banks must remember the human touch

Banks must remember the human touch as they develop their digital banking services, according to a global survey1 of retail banking customers from Temenos, the banking software company.  

Based on the views of over 4,700 banking customers worldwide, the data reveals that consumers want banks to help them manage their financial lives. Four in 10 (43%) want easier ways of paying bills or sending money on time, while over half of respondents want services that will positively impact their lives in the long term. For example, intelligent solutions to help them reach their life goals (29%) and accurate recommendations for budgeting and saving (22%). 

While customers want and expect more from their digital banking, they also view access to people, when needed, as a priority. Indeed, making it easier to speak to a human representative was the top item customers want banks to focus on, cited by 19% of respondents. Closely followed by making it easier for customers to complete banking tasks themselves (17%). 

The findings suggest that digital delivery, complemented by human interaction at the point of need, is the preferred model of choice. 

Banking via mobile apps is preferred by 65% of respondents, followed by website (51%); and in-person visits to a branch (42%). Forty-two percent of customers like interacting with their bank on the phone, 37% by email, and one in five (19%) on social media.

However, three in five customers said their last visit to a branch was because they needed to rather than because they wanted to, reflecting the trend for branch closures. According to recent research from The Economist Intelligence Unit released by Temenos, 65% of bankers believe that the branch-based model will be "dead" within five years, up from 35% four years ago.

In response to the changing market conditions and customer expectations, many banks now aspire to develop digital ecosystems that bring more human, differentiated experiences to their customers using the power of the cloud, SaaS and AI.

Joaquin De Valenzuela Muley, Senior Vice President and Business Line Director for Temenos Infinity, said: "Banking products are out. Advice and support that allow customers to meet their goals are in. Banks' primary focus must be on their customers and finding ways to anticipate and meet their individual needs and goals, such as buying a car or saving for their children's education. This involves a different approach, reinventing processes and unifying the bank around the customer. Modern digital banking platforms like Temenos Infinity make this possible, enabling banks to make every interaction smart and contextual. Also, to integrate relationship with transactional capabilities to provide the best possible service in an omnichannel and consistent way. This is the future of digital banking."

Temenos Infinity is used by over 650 financial institutions, helping them reimagine how they engage with their customers through digital and physical channels. Temenos Infinity has helped banks successfully increase prospect to customer conversion rates to over 65%, far greater than the industry average of 30%. Top analyst firms Gartner, Omdia, and Forrester, recognize Temenos Infinity as a leading digital banking platform. 

Further details of the research are available here, and you can read the ebook "Bringing The Power Of Human Touch To Digital Banking?".   

Ian Savage brings wealth of fintech and financial services knowledge alongside particular expertise in driving growth 

Funding Options has added to its leadership team with the appointment of highly experienced Chief Financial Officer Ian Savage. This follows the arrival last year of Chief Technology Officer Aleks Kudic and Chief Revenue Officer Stuart Lawson, as the business finance marketplace builds a C-suite line-up for its next phase of growth.

Savage arrives at Funding Options with a track record of helping to build a series of fast-growth companies. Most recently, Savage was CFO for multinational SME wealth management technology company Finantix (owned by Motive Partners, a specialist fintech investor), where he oversaw the integration of a recent acquisition prior to the business being sold to Investcloud in early 2021. Prior to this, his experience includes tripling revenues at CashFlows over a three year period, taking Sigma Financial Group from a start up to a near £75m balance sheet, and a decade working alongside institutional investors at Anacap Financial Partners.

Since Simon Cureton became CEO in 2019, Funding Options has harnessed the power of Open Banking and data science to launch the first fully integrated real-time lending platform, Funding Cloud. More recently, the team also launched the UK’s first Green Finance Marketplace to help businesses achieve their sustainability goals.

PWC-trained Savage will help to accelerate Funding Options’ vision to be the leading platform for SME finance, capable of delivering fully digitally underwritten lending approvals in as little as 20 seconds, as was achieved recently. 

Simon Cureton, Chief Executive Officer at Funding Options, comments: “Ian represents a very  exciting addition to our leadership team. Having a CFO on board with a track record of director-level positions for fast-growth startups as well as companies with £300 million balance sheets, is precisely what we have been looking for to navigate the next phase of growth successfully. He brings rigour and insight from his most recent experiences with fintech businesses CashFlows and Finantix, which when combined with over a decade of working with private equity investors means he is well placed to work with the broader team to help take Funding Options along the next stage of its growth and evolution.

Ian Savage, Chief Financial Officer at Funding Options, comments: “Funding Options is on an inspiring trajectory and I’m delighted about the prospect of playing my part in that journey. Simon and the board have assembled a fantastic senior team and a workforce committed to driving competition and choice in the SME funding space. Joining so soon after the company has put stakes in the ground in terms of real-time funding approvals with its Funding Cloud platform and sustainability with the Green Finance Marketplace is invigorating. The combination of market leadership, solid foundations, good principles, and innovative intent is intoxicating and was influential in me taking on this challenge.”

• The total facility is one of the largest under the Bank’s programme

Propel, one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing independent asset finance providers, today announces two further financing tranches from the British Business Bank to add to its existing ENABLE Funding facility. The total facility will allow more than £216m of finance to be provided to SMEs across the UK.

This is now one of the largest facilities under the Bank’s ENABLE Funding programme, which aims to improve the supply of finance solutions for business-critical assets to smaller UK businesses.

Propel provides fast, flexible, and accessible asset finance to SMEs across the UK. Currently supporting approximately 40,000 customers, Propel provides hire purchase, leasing and refinancing support on equipment purchases from a few thousand pounds to more than £2m; and equipment types ranging from telecoms and technology to commercial vehicles and industrial plant.

Launched in 2014, the ENABLE Funding programme supports the Bank’s objective to diversify finance markets for smaller UK businesses. Providers of finance to SMEs often lack the scale required to access capital markets – a key source of funding for lending institutions – in a cost-efficient manner. The ENABLE Funding programme warehouses newly-originated finance receivables from different originators – bringing them together into a new structure. Once the structure has sufficient scale, it will refinance a portion of its funding on the capital markets, also helping small finance providers to tap into institutional investors’ funds.

Mark Catton, CEO of Propel, said: “We’re proud to work with the British Business Bank to help support UK businesses across all equipment types. Our partnerships gives us reach into all sectors of the economy, and all types of businesses. The ENABLE Funding programme helps us translate that reach into fast and accessible finance for SMEs wanting to invest and grow”.

Reinald de Monchy, Managing Director, Guarantee and Wholesale Solutions of the British Business Bank, said: “The British Business Bank developed the ENABLE Funding programme to allow access to cost-efficient funding from institutional investors for providers of finance to smaller businesses. By partnering with alternative and non-bank lenders, like Propel, we can give smaller UK businesses access to the asset and lease finance they need. The Bank remains committed to its objective to create a more diverse finance market, and we look forward to continuing to work with Propel and other non-banks to help provide even more funding options to smaller businesses across the UK.”

Hugh McNeill, Partner at Cabot Square Capital, said: “We have worked with Propel since 2014. The company ‘promise’ is simple – being small enough to care, and deliver a brilliant service to their customers, and big enough to have the expertise and technology to be a leader in SME finance.

“These additional rounds of British Business Bank funding will enable Propel to continue doing what they do best – helping customers invest and grow by financing business-critical assets.”

Gregfins, a UK-based PFM app, joined forces with Salt Edge, leader in developing open banking solutions, to empower its end-customers to connect and access all bank accounts in one app.

70% of Millennials and Gen-Z use from 3 to 6 different payment providers. More than half would like to have their expenses, currencies, bills, accounts, investments, and other financial information in one place, where they can keep track of all their activities.

Gregfins app offers a comprehensive financial experience, combining all PFM tools in one place, thus granting to the end-customers a complete control and overview of their financial life. The company provides deep analytics, simplified payment options, crypto trading, and many other features. Combined with Salt Edge data aggregation solution, Gregfins will allow their end-customers to see all their bank and eWallet account information in one place, making it easier to track and manage finances. The company will offer greater oversight and control over funds, reducing the bustle of everyday financial management tasks. Salt Edge data aggregation toolkit will allow Gregfins to access Open Banking and PSD2 channels instantly, providing access to bank accounts data of more than 5000 banks in 50+ countries.

The collaboration with Salt Edge allows us to use all open banking-powered solutions to upskill our existing features and offerings. Leveraging Salt Edge data aggregation we give our end-customers the possibility to connect multiple bank accounts, from any country, to obtain a single unified view and full control over their financial life.

Miraskar Mirakhmedov, Founder  of Gregfins

Open banking unveils countless possibilities for innovative financial management, bringing it to the next level by enabling people to make well-judged financial decisions. Instant access to all financial data in one screen, brings the much needed ease and transparency in the current world. We are delighted to join hands with Gregfins, reckoning on their mission to bring the best possible financial management experience to the end-customers and reap all the benefits uncovered by open banking technology.

 Cristian Gheorghita, Sales Lead at Salt Edge

Bolero International, the leading cloud-based trade finance digitisation experts, announced today the promotion of Chris Broster to the role of Chief Financial Officer.  

With trade finance digitisation kicking into a higher gear as well as Bolero’s continued investment into its platforms, the market has received its latest innovations with tremendous enthusiasm following the release of Galileo TPaaS for Banks.

Andrew Raymond, CEO at Bolero International said “Our Galileo platform has allowed our existing clients to expand and intensify their digitisation efforts. And our new clients are excited by the unique set of features of our platform such as Letters of Credit, Guarantees and the ePresentation functionality using electronic bills of lading.

“To support our rapid growth, we’ve appointed Chris Broster as our Chief Financial Officer. I’m delighted that Chris has become our CFO and I look forward to working with him as we embark on the next stage of our journey.”

Chris joined Bolero in 2017 and during his time at Bolero, he has developed a great understanding of the business and the trade finance industry as a whole.  

Before Bolero, Chris worked at BDO as an auditor with coverage across a multitude of clients covering energy, not-for-profit organisations, educational institutions, construction companies, and housing associations. Chris graduated from the University of Nottingham and worked in Madrid at Accenture after graduation.

Cyberport Academy will host a Green Finance Speaker Series to promote green finance in Hong Kong with FinTech support in light of the rise of green finance. Cyberport believes that FinTech can empower the development of green finance and is committed to playing a role in promoting green FinTech to strengthen Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, says Cyberport has a good number of community members focused on green FinTech and will play a key role in promoting Hong Kong as a leading green FinTech Hub.

The Green Finance Speaker Series will be launched this Thursday (29 July). Two other sessions are scheduled on 12 and 19 August. It strives to provide the latest knowledge of green finance development, with each session covering various topics from the historic development of international policies and recent developments in Asia and Hong Kong during the Pandemic to recognised successful European case studies with the integration of technology. The details of the Series are as follows:

• The first session "Green Finance: Overview – The Best Practice, International Policy and Measures" will be chaired by Dr William Yu, CEO of World Green Organisation
• The second session "Sustainability-related financial risks in Hong Kong and Asia amid Pandemic Era" will be chaired by Dr Glenn Frommer, Founder of ESG Matters
• The third session "See a Problem, Measure It and Fix It" will be chaired by Arnaud Picut, Head of Global Risk Management Practice at Finastra, and Dr Leonid Bogachev, Associate Professor of Reader in Probability at the University of Leeds

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) estimates that as much as US$7 trillion will be needed each year until 2030 to meet climate and development objectives. This creates huge demand for green finance. Additionally, according to the "Hong Kong Green Bond Market Briefing 2020" report issued by Climate Bonds Initiatives, Hong Kong's green debt market maintained growth in size and diversity last year. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited also continues to enhance the ESG requirements of listing companies while investors are increasingly more demanding in investments to perform well in environmentalism and sustainability. With FinTech's role in propelling green finance, FinTech will be significant in such developments as well.

Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, said,"When financial investments flow into sustainable development projects and initiatives, environmental products, and policies that encourage the development of a more sustainable economy, the market requires efficient tools for collecting, monitoring and analysing data for better investment decisions. FinTech delivers such solutions. Cyberport has a good number of community members focused on green FinTech and will play a key role in promoting Hong Kong as a leading and green FinTech hub."

Cyberport is a member of the Working Groups under the newly established Centre for Green and Sustainable Finance by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority-led Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group. With the objective of helping the financial industry manage the risks and capture the opportunities presented by combating climate change, the Centre is a cross-sector platform which coordinates the efforts of financial regulators, Government agencies, industry stakeholders and academia in capacity building, thought leadership and policy development. It will also serve as a repository for resources, data and analytics which supports the transition to more sustainable development.

Arnaud Picut, Head of Global Risk Management Practice at Finastra, said, "There will be no progress in green finance without a strong FinTech community. Cyberport is making a lot of progress and has taken green finance as one of the major streams of development. With a strong investment and focus from different government bodies, Hong Kong will catch up quickly with the leader. Financial institutions can employ FinTech within green finance operations to better analyze costs and efficiency and increase data authenticity."

Dr William Yu, Chief Executive Officer of World Green Organization, said, "Green finance helps provide funds to address different environmental challenges, turning them into investment opportunities via structural financial activities and instruments. With the advancement in technology experienced in FinTech, technology will play a key role in shaping our future financial services. For example, blockchain applications will enhance transparency in sustainability efforts, creating reliable records in environmental projects. UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could also be a reference, and serves as a universal agenda that applies to all countries at the national and local level."

Dr Glenn Frommer, Founder of ESG Matters, a Cyberport incubatee, said, "With green finance growing rapidly, its potential as the next frontier in the FinTech ecosystem is unquestionable. FinTech is a critical enabler for green finance, starting with the mass of ESG data needed to be considered for financial investments. We are hopeful that ESG data quality and availability will improve. With the continued growth of green and sustainable finance, we will likely see further development of the green FinTech landscape globally."

Registration for the event can be completed through Cyberport Academy's website five days in advance at the latest. The sessions will be free and have duration of 1–1.5 hours. Any enquiries should be directed towards training@cyberport.hk.

For high resolution photos, please download via this link.