TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking payments network, today announced that iconic UK gaming operator William Hill is now using TrueLayer’s Payments product to enable instant pay-ins and payouts for players in the UK.

Users can now select the Instant Bank Transfer option to quickly pay into their William Hill accounts. Powered by open banking and using instant payment rails, these transactions also allow customers to transfer their winnings directly to their bank account in seconds, offering a superior user experience.

Payments from TrueLayer are authenticated directly with a player’s bank, ensuring PSD2 and SCA compliance as well as significantly reducing the risk of fraud and unauthorised transactions.

One of the UK’s most notable bookmakers, William Hill has been a leading name in UK gaming since 1934. Its key offerings include sports betting, casino games, bingo and poker.

Open banking payments facilitate the instant experiences that iGaming customers increasingly value. Research from TrueLayer and YouGov shows that 8 in 10 European players consider quick payouts important when choosing a betting provider. 

Instant pay-ins and payouts are also crucial to winning new users and fostering customer loyalty. More than half (55%) of iGaming players in Europe said they were likely to switch to a provider that offers instant providers, while 64% said they’d be more likely to trust an operator that offers instant withdrawals and deposits. One in four customers (28%) even said they’d consider depositing more money if they could withdraw their winnings instantly.

Laura Manning, Payments Manager at William Hill, said: “William Hill greatly values customer experience and partnering with TrueLayer is an important power move in providing a top-notch service to our clients. By using their unparalleled payment solutions, we’re able to offer instant payment options whilst providing reliable and secure services and keeping our commitments to helping our customers stay in control. Integrating with TrueLayer was seamless – they’re an agile company with a nice, smart team that’s easy to work with.”

Roberto Villani, VP of iGaming at TrueLayer said: “Working with William Hill, one of the biggest gaming brands in the UK, is a further testament to how TrueLayer is delivering the best in class instant payment experience to players. End users value instant experiences: by embracing the innovations of open banking, William Hill have shown the importance of prioritising the player experience.”

Coincover, the blockchain protection company, and AlphaPoint, a global financial technology company providing digital asset infrastructure, have partnered to provide an additional layer of protection for AlphaPoint customers.  

The partnership enables AlphaPoint clients to access Coincover’s leading Asset Protection technology, enabling them to mitigate security risks such as hacking, human error, and scams simply and effectively. AlphaPoint’s end users will be provided with increased security, increasing the company’s credibility as a safety-conscious exchange at a time when security is the top priority for its customers.  

Igor Telyatnikov, Co-founder & CEO at AlphaPoint, said,  

"At AlphaPoint, enabling our customers' success is our top priority. By collaborating with Coincover, a top innovator in asset protection, we're providing our customers with leading-edge insurance to safeguard their assets. This partnership demonstrates our commitment to delivering complete peace of mind through institutional-grade security and infrastructure.” 

Ridhima Durham, Chief Commercial Officer at Coincover, said,  

“Asset protection has become the norm when it comes to safeguarding and monitoring digital assets, and we are proud that AlphaPoint has integrated with Coincover to give customers access to the gold standard of asset protection.” 

In Coincover’s recent report ‘Securing the Future of Cryptocurrencies’, a survey of more than 16,000 crypto users and non-crypto users found that hacking and security risks were one of the biggest barriers to adoption, behind volatility and financial risk. The data showed that adopting protection solutions such as insurance and security technology, like Coincover’s Asset Protection, would help build confidence in the industry.

DTCC, the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced the launch of Trade Reporting Analytics and UTI Exchange as part of its DTCC Report Hub service. Report Hub is a cloud-based pre and post reporting platform that helps firms manage the complexities of meeting multiple derivatives and securities financing transactions mandates across 14 global regimes.

DTCC Report Hub’s new Trade Reporting Analytics provides reporting parties access to a growing library of over 100 data insights on their own reporting behavior to identify potential errors, highlight trends, and benchmark performance against anonymized peers. Report Hub’s Trade Reporting Analytics capabilities have been validated by a pilot user group of some of the world’s largest firms, including J.P. Morgan, Nomura Americas Services, LLC and Wells Fargo.

“As the industry continues to develop tools to focus on the quality of reported data we welcome the introduction of DTCC Report Hub’s Trade Reporting Analytics,” said Bill Hughes, Head of Operations, Americas, Nomura Americas Services, LLC. “The tool enables us to evaluate our trade and transaction data for accuracy, completeness, and timeliness across reporting regimes while tracking our performance against an anonymized peer group, a uniquely valuable benefit.”

DTCC Report Hub’s new UTI Exchange, delivered by API, supports the exchange of UTIs by counterparties as required by most major derivatives regulatory reporting regimes under existing rules and upcoming rules rewrites. Through a no-touch workflow UTIs can also be automatically enriched onto a trade and submitted using DTCC Report Hub’s Pre Reporting service.”

“As the industry leader in trade reporting, we are committed to driving efficiencies, mitigating risks, and mutualizing costs associated with regulatory compliance,” said Chris Childs, Managing Director and Head of Repository and Derivatives Services at DTCC. “The demand for pre and post reporting solutions has never been greater, and we remain committed to expanding DTCC’s trade reporting ecosystem and our service capabilities to support our clients’ evolving needs.”

SRM (Strategic Resource Management), an independent advisory firm serving financial institutions across North America, the UK, and Europe, announced the success of its inaugural Payments University, which took place September 5-7 in Dallas, Texas. The two-day event provided a discussion-oriented forum for payments professionals from banks and credit unions nationwide.

During the event, payments industry veterans from SRM delivered critical information and insights on the most important topics impacting the payments landscape, such as evolving technology, innovation trends, and regulations, among other industry developments. Guest speakers from the signature card networks and a nationally regarded economist rounded out the event programming, delivering expert commentary and answering questions for attendees that could impact planning for next year and beyond.

“The SRM Payments University exceeded my expectations,” said Joel Fair, Chief Operations Officer at Carter Credit Union. “The level of expertise and knowledge of the presenters was excellent, and I came away from the event with a more well-rounded view of the evolving payments landscape.”

The next edition of Payments University takes place at the newly opened JW Marriott in Dallas, TX, from Tuesday, April 30, 2024, through Thursday, May 2, 2024. Registration will open soon. The coming event will provide more sessions for financial institution payments professionals looking to learn from industry experts.

“We’re thrilled with the turnout and collaboration at our first Payments University in September and excited to offer it again to our network of payments professionals in April 2024,” said Ben Mrva, Chief Revenue Officer at SRM. “Forums like this highlight the synergy between SRM and our clients, and the feedback we received from the first event will help us provide an enhanced experience in April.”

Ebury, the global financial technology company, is delighted to announce that the Central Bank of Brazil has approved its acquisition of Bexs Group, including both Bexs Banco (foreign exchange) and Bexs Pay (payments). Now, both companies will work to advance the integration procedures and efforts to accelerate the launch of new products in the Brazilian market.

Luiz Henrique Didier Jr (previously CEO of Bexs Group) has been signed as ED of Ebury in Brazil to lead the business in this region.

The acquisition will broaden Ebury’s offering of international money transfer solutions for SMEs and amplify its digital offerings to online businesses in Brazil, particularly marketplaces, investment applications, and software companies. Ebury will enable large-scale payments from abroad to Brazil by leveraging Bexs Group’s technology. The company aims to onboard 3,000 clients in the country by 2025. 

Increasing its presence in Latin America is a key aspect of Ebury’s global growth strategy, with the company currently employing more than 1,700 employees across 38 global offices in 25 countries.

This will facilitate financial and commercial operations between Brazil and the world. The solutions conceived also comply with the Brazilian regulations and are an important step for the globalisation of companies based in the country, especially small and midsized companies that have difficulties tapping into international markets.

Luiz Henrique Didier Jr., ED of Ebury in Brazil, commented: “This approval means we can now accelerate Brazil’s connection with the world’s key economic regions. We are excited to expand our offering for SMEs in Brazil operating in international trade and strengthen our position as leaders in meeting the needs of digital e-commerce, investment platforms and other companies operating in the cross-border segment.”

Fernando Pierri, Global Chief Commercial Officer of Ebury, added. “This acquisition opens up huge potential for Ebury to offer new foreign exchange services for Brazilian companies and to integrate payment solutions into global marketplace platforms. The international payments world still has many friction points and we will continue to innovate to bring forward solutions to improve the experience of these services.”

Following the acquisition, Bexs Group will be branded as Ebury Bank in Brazil, as the company holds a local banking licence concerning FX services. This allows the company to offer a full range of FX and international payments products to its customers. 

Embedded Finance (trading as Railsr) is pleased to announce that it has secured funding of $24M from existing investors including D Squared Capital and Moneta Venture Capital, reflecting their continuing confidence in the company’s growth potential and strategic vision.

Dan Adler, Managing Director of D Squared Capital, said:

“We continue to strongly back Embedded Finance as we continue to believe in the fundamentals of the business. Embedded Finance is a market leader in the UK and presents significant growth potential in Europe. We are confident about the future of the business, with its highly experienced executive team, leading technology and robust strategy.”

The Company has made positive progress in addressing regulatory concerns in the UK over the last six months and is targeting a complete remediation by early next year.

Also, Embedded Finance has established an entity in France. It did not acquire Railsbank’s regulated entity in Lithuania and has instead initiated the application process for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence in France, which it plans to passport across Europe, either directly or through a network of Partners.

This positive momentum follows the recent appointment of a new executive team with significant management and operational improvement experience in financial services. It is led by Philippe Morel, former CEO of SETL and Global Head of Boston Consulting Group’s Capital Markets Practice.

Philippe Morel, CEO, said:

“With this substantial new investment secured in a much tougher fundraising environment, we are very well placed to grow sustainably. It has been a very challenging period for the sector. Many companies grew too fast, failing to adequately develop internal controls, and then had to scale back quickly in a difficult economic environment. As a UK pioneer, we were one of the first to face these challenges, but we are now also well positioned to be one of the first to come through this period. We have a proven product and business model, which is operating in a sector with much higher barriers to entry due to a tougher regulatory and fundraising environment. We are now best placed to be one of the small group of winners.”

Rick Haythornthwaite, Chairman of Embedded Finance, said:

“This new funding shows that we are bouncing back. We are now on the front foot, rebuilding momentum quickly, and our strategy gives the company a clear path to return to growth. The Company is a core part of the ecosystem for other fintechs and the sector is one of the UK’s key growth areas. It is set to play an important part in ensuring the UK remains a leading fintech hub.”

Ali Hamriti, CEO and Co-founder at Rollee comments: “This research reveals that financial institutions are struggling to grant gig workers access to financial products because of a data disconnect in credit checks. This is having critical repercussions on the lives of many self-employed workers, causing them to face high levels of financial exclusion and being denied financial products despite having the necessary levels of affordability.”  

 

“To avoid excluding a growing market of gig workers, bridging the gap caused by this data disconnect is vital. Financial institutions must find solutions to access a broader range of data, including verifiable data points about a worker’s income, employment status and activity. Having this kind of holistic view will ensure that credit assessments are not just based on financial transactions, but also account for gig workers’ ability to repay.  This is the final frontier of open finance.”  

Gatehouse Bank, the Shariah-compliant challenger bank, has published research indicating that over a third (35%) of UK adults – equating to over 14 million people – consider their monthly savings to be an essential outgoing. 

The research looked at UK adults’ attitudes to money, asking respondents to identify as either a saver or a spender in terms of their mindsets around money. The survey revealed the increasing importance of saving, even amongst those who considered themselves to be spenders, with eight in 10 respondents (82%) making monthly savings contributions. To meet their savings goals, UK adults are spending less on some of their milestone moments such as travel, household renovations and weddings. 

The main motivation for the increasing focus on saving was concern for the future, with nearly eight in 10 savers (78%) and seven in 10 spenders (70%) identifying the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis as barriers to achieving their savings goals.  

However, the approach to financial security varied across generations. 45% of savers and 31% of spenders aged 55-60 noted that they would need to have enough income to cover essentials, savings and nice-to-haves in order to feel financially secure. This was in stark contrast to just 16% of savers and 14% of spenders aged 18-24 who said the same.  

Similarly, almost a fifth (18%) of 18-24-year-olds said they would feel financially secure if their income covered their essential outgoings, but this does not leave room for any unforeseen one-off costs. A further 18% of the youngest respondents said they did not know what financial security meant to them, demonstrating that there is still work to be done when it comes to financial education for young savers. 

Ravi Kumar, Senior Product Manager at Gatehouse Bank, commented: 

“The data indicates a promising increase in those who focus on saving, but the generational gap regarding financial security remains. This is no fault of younger generations, and with the vast majority ready to learn from those close to them – over three quarters (78%) of those aged 18 – 24 said they were influenced by their friends and family – there is clearly scope to develop healthy savings habits amongst this age group. 

“The role of family members in encouraging positive habits is obvious, but the work does not stop with them. Financial organisations need to continue guiding young people to make sensible financial decisions to meet their short-term and long-term goals. As a founding signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Banking, Gatehouse Bank has set targets around financial health and inclusion, and we are piloting a financial education programme, to be distributed more widely at the end of this year.   

“We also look forward to launching our Regular Saver product later this year, which aims to encourage our younger customers to set financial goals, build up healthy savings habits and bolster their financial resilience in the long run.”

TransUnion, a global information and insights provider and one of the UK’s leading credit reference agencies, has been named Credit Information Provider of the Year at the National Credit Awards 2023.

The National Credit Awards recognise remarkable achievements in the UK credit space, honouring outstanding professionals and firms which contribute towards raising the standards within the credit arena.

This year, TransUnion was named Credit Information Provider of the Year for its achievements in several areas, including promoting credit education through its CreditView solution, supporting businesses and consumers in the current economic climate with its enhanced Affordability Report and Affordability Screening, as well as helping identify and reduce fraud with TruValidate.

“We’re honoured to have received this recognition, which is a testament to our mission of using information for good to support businesses and consumers through the current challenging economic conditions,” said Kelli Fielding, chief product officer at TransUnion in the UK. “This award highlights our commitment and quick action in helping lenders to have better insights into the consumer’s financial position to enable more informed decisions, whilst equipping consumers with the tools to improve their financial wellbeing.”

TransUnion was also highly commended in the Innovation Award, attributed to the company’s guidance for finance providers on the credit reporting aspects of the Mortgage Charter relief scheme, as well as using enhanced data and insights to support businesses as they address the requirements of the new Consumer Duty regulation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).  

FinTech Wales, the not for profit independent membership organisation for the FinTech and Financial Services industries in Wales, has elected Rhys Thomas, Chief Operating Officer at Cardiff Capital Region, Rachel Hillier, Partner at Capital Law, and Lucy Cohen, Co-Founder of Mazuma, as its new Board members. They will join existing members Ben Joakim, former Head of Strategy at Principality Building Society, Scott Jones, CEO of UX agency Illustrate Digital, Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of FinTech Wales and Louise O’Shea, Chair of InsurTech UK and former CEO of Confused.com.

It was also announced that, from January 2024, existing Chair Louise O’Shea will be stepping down from her role after five years at FinTech Wales. The announcements were made at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which took place on October 17th at the ICC, Newport, during Wales Tech Week.

In addition to the changes made at Board level, nine new Panel Members have been voted on to the FinTech Wales’ Advisory Panel.  With immediate effect, FinTech Wales will welcome David Landen, CEO at Hodge; Gareth Lewis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Delio; Gemma Hallett, Head of Skills at CFIT and Founder of miFuture; Jessica Leigh Jones MBE, CEO at Iungo Solutions; Lynsey Walden, Director at Front Door Communications; Scott Cargill, CEO at Admiral Money; Sophie Mason, founding CEO of Thinkedi; Tim Barnett CEO of Credas; and Tony Smith, Chief Governance Officer at Principality.

The new panel and board members represent a variety of industry leaders including founders and board members of FinTech companies, as well as those who work to enable and support the FinTech and Financial Services sector in Wales, and as a result bring with them diverse expertise, innovation, and strategic insight to the company, which will help shape the continued success of the organisation and growth of the FinTech and Financial Services industries in Wales.

Speaking at the AGM, FinTech Wales CEO Sarah Williams-Gardner shared her enthusiasm for the new appointments made: “We are delighted that FinTech Wales has grown so substantially in the last year, and this AGM is the perfect time to reflect on all of the fantastic progress made and look ahead to another year with brilliant, forward-thinking people at the helm.

“As part of our four-year strategy for FinTech in Wales, we have focused on four key pillars, including skills and talent, ecosystem and community, funding and investment and the promotion of Wales as a place for FinTech and Financial organisations to thrive.

“So far, our Coding and Data Academies have made a remarkable impact, with an outstanding 81% success rate of placing candidates in the first year. In addition, our award-winning accelerator programme, the FinTech Wales Foundry, has helped 23 FinTech startups collectively raise over £20 million in investments and created 150 job opportunities in Wales.

“It is of the utmost importance for us to be louder and prouder about our FinTech successes in Wales. As well as continuing to grow and advance further, we need to be braver and bolder in taking the next steps and showcasing the innovation and talent that Wales has to offer. This is an exciting time for FinTech Wales, and we are eagerly looking forward to collaborating with our new Board and Panel members in the upcoming year.”

Launched in April 2019 by Richard Theo, the UK Government’s FinTech Envoy for Wales, FinTech Wales operates as a trade association with member organisations comprising of FinTech and financial services companies that are headquartered or operating in Wales. The idea behind FinTech Wales is to help businesses both in Wales and beyond to start-up and scale up in a supportive and collaborative atmosphere. Ultimately, the goal is to make Wales a world leader in the global FinTech community.

It brings together entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, as well as technology suppliers, innovators, universities and public sector bodies.