·         Concardis, part of Nets Group, will deliver acquiring for the newly-founded, OTTO Market, supporting OTTO’s desire to set up its own payment service for the platform.

·         The deal is an extension of the long-standing relationship between Otto.de and the Otto Group with Concardis.

·         Expanded services will support the national and European growth of Otto Group's brands.

OTTO, one of Europe's most successful e-commerce companies, has further expanded its collaboration with Concardis, part of the Nets Group and one of Europe's largest pay tech providers.

Concardis has delivered innovative and reliable payment services to Otto Group for more than 16 years and the expanded partnership will see the company manage acquiring services for OTTO Market, which was founded in autumn 2020 and in which all payment activities will be bundled in future.

Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Concardis and Nets Merchant Services, sees great potential in the future expanded cooperation: "Together with OTTO, we have not only experienced the transformation of the classic mail order business to the pan-European e-commerce business, but we continue to grow as international leaders in online commerce, ensuring OTTO is ready for new challenges and equipped to capture opportunities for dynamic growth throughout Europe."

Mirko Krauel, Managing Director of Markt PEG – Payment Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH at OTTO, added: “Concardis has been a very long-standing and trustworthy partner, particularly in credit card acquiring, for the majority of the Otto Group companies. We look forward to continuing to rely on Concardis as an important partner, particularly in the development of our own payment provision.”

Within the Otto Group, Concardis also supports well-known and successful brands across Europe in acquiring and in developing new target markets.A

Cloud portal with on-premise and hybrid deployment models addresses full range of customer demand from SMBs to Government and Enterprise

Organizations of all sizes can now access the highest level of e-signature security services under European and Swiss law following the launch of SIGNIUS, a new remote qualified e-signing platform.

SIGNIUS is powered in the back end by Cryptomathic’s pioneering e-signature solution, Signer, and brings the security and non-repudiation advantages of eIDAS compliant e-signatures to a broad range of organizations, from small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to banks, government institutions and other large enterprises. To address the varying customer requirements across the market, two service options are available:

SIGNIUS Professional – Self-service e-signature portal for SMBs and individual users

SIGNIUS caters for SMB demand through SIGNIUS Professional, a self-service cloud portal, that provides a fully managed, simple, and convenient service for businesses wanting to sign documents with a legally binding Qualified or Advanced Electronic Signature in less than a minute. By seamlessly integrating with corporate, national and European Identity Providers, SIGNIUS Professional guarantees end-user identity verification either by confirming the user’s personal data stored in their eID or e-banking credentials, or by using certified video identification methods. 

SIGNIUS Enterprise – Feature rich, multi-service platform for the enterprise

Designed for governments, banks and other large organizations, SIGNIUS Enterprise is a comprehensive, feature rich platform providing a wider range of remote e-signature capabilities including digital contract management, Qualified Electronic Signing and Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering compliant remote customer identification.

Recognising that enterprise scale organizations have varying security policies, infrastructure models and approaches to service provision, SIGNIUS Enterprise supports a range of uniquely flexible deployment options at a price-performance ratio unrivalled by other providers on the e-signing market. Users can reskin the platform to carry their own branding and integrate it seamlessly into their existing document management, CRM and ERP systems. In contrast with the previous generation of e-signing solutions, SIGNIUS’ API-enabled architecture supports easy and fast integration with other cloud-based enterprise applications and provides a full end-to-end digital customer experience, complete with remote customer onboarding and an exceptionally convenient and visually accessible user interface. Multiple signature types, including AdES and QES, are already available on the platform, with QSeal support also in late-stage development. SIGNIUS Enterprise is also available in fully managed, hybrid and on-premise architectures.

“Demand for legally binding e-signature services is growing rapidly, as organizations of all sizes continue to transform to support modern ways of digital contracting,” comments Jack Piekarski, CEO, SIGNIUS. “SIGNIUS accelerates that transformation by providing convenient, feature-rich solutions that cater for the whole of the market. Now e-signature services that carry the highest level of security are within easy reach of all players, from sole traders to governments. This is the vision behind the eIDAS and other e-signature regulations finally realized.”

“The launch of SIGNIUS is yet another example of the enabling power of Cryptomathic’s Signer solution,” adds Guillaume Forget, Managing Director, Cryptomathic GmbH. “By adding SIGNIUS to Signer’s delivery options, Cryptomathic’s clients get access to a fully-featured signature portal with an elegantly simple UI to remotely onboard signatories, allowing them to upload and sign at the Advanced or Qualified level under eIDAS or Swiss Law. Ultimately, this means the whole of the market can benefit from earlier access to ZertES or eIDAS compliant remote e-signature services.”

The SIGNIUS Professional cloud service is now live, and the first implementations of SIGNIUS Enterprise are already underway with banks and governments in Europe.

For more information on the services available, please consult https://signius.eu/en/.

• Mettle has launched a new feature to automatically sync transaction categories and receipts 
• The feature is provided by cloud-based accounting software provider for small businesses, FreeAgent

Mettle, NatWest’s free digital business account for sole traders and limited companies, today announces it has launched a real-time sync feature with accounting software provider, FreeAgent. The new feature uses API technology to share data between the two platforms, and is an improvement on the existing capability that uploads transactions between a customer’s business account and their accountancy software.

The service also allows for real-time bookkeeping, saving time for customers using both services by ensuring transaction categories and receipts are kept up to date in tandem. Customers can use this feature to categorise expenditure and upload photos of their receipts on the go within the Mettle app, and this info will be shared automatically with FreeAgent.

To make use of the service, existing Mettle customers with an active FreeAgent connection will see their categories and receipts sync automatically and don’t need to do anything to use this new feature, whilst new customers simply need to connect an existing FreeAgent account or register for FreeAgent through the Mettle app. 

Today’s announcement is the latest enhancement in the partnership between the two brands, aimed at introducing shared features that make it simpler and easier for the UK’s self-employed to run and grow their business. Mettle recently conducted research that showed there are over five million self-employed people in the UK, who are set to contribute over £125 billion to the UK economic recovery in 2021.

Ken Johnstone, Chief Product Officer, Mettle said:

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with FreeAgent further by offering truly simple, real-time bookkeeping to our customers. Mettle and FreeAgent have a shared aim to help the UK’s small business community run and grow by providing an effortless banking and accounting experience, powered by integrations and partnerships. We’re continuing to work closely with FreeAgent to offer one of the most compelling business banking offerings available in the UK.”

Roan Lavery, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent said:

“With the launch of the real-time sync feature in partnership with Mettle, we are excited to take the next step in helping small businesses and freelancers save time and money. 

The pandemic accelerated the move to doing everything, including accounting, online. This, combined with digital initiatives such as MTD (Making Tax Digital), will see fully automated processes for small businesses and sole traders become the new normal. We will work with our partners at  Mettle to continue building innovative solutions to empower our customers to do this.” 

Mettle is offered free of charge to all eligible UK customers, and is available to sole traders with a turnover of up to £50,000 annually, or limited companies with a turnover of up to £100,000. Its customers receive free access to FreeAgent, which typically costs around £150 a year.

Oren Marmur joins to oversee the evolution of the business line and support customers on their payments journey

Finastra today announced the appointment of Oren Marmur in the role of General Manager, Payments. Based in Israel, with a global remit, Oren will lead the Payments Growth business, delivering end-to-end Payments solutions to customers globally, and continuing to promote the product modernization journey towards a cloud-based platform and ecosystem. His focus will be on supporting new and existing customers on their digital transformation journeys.

Oren is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur, with a broad range of experience in senior management positions in both large and small organizations, and in driving organizations through change, challenges and business growth. He has spent the past six years with Amdocs, leading the NFV (Network Function Virtualization) product portfolio and business activities. In this role, he grew the new domain from incubation phase into a stable business, with a growing number of global customers.

He also recently led the business activities and solution sales for Amdocs Technology, the core Amdocs product line, focusing on digital evolution for communications service providers and their journey to the cloud. Prior to this, Oren was Chief Executive Officer at Mishor 3D, Chief Executive Officer at Mobix Wireless Solutions, VP and Head of Optical Networking and CESR Line of Business at ECI Telecom, and Founder and Chief Technology Officer at FlexLight Networks.

Oren will report to Eli Rosner, Chief Product and Technology Officer. Eli said, “Payments is an exciting growth area for Finastra and we are confident that Oren will help drive the evolution of our business so that we can reach our full potential and provide our customers with the highest levels of quality service and innovation. His leadership and deep technology experience lends itself well to our vision around helping our customers to achieve digital transformation and embracing the cloud.” 

Oren said, “I’m excited to bring my experience in modernization, digitalization and cloudification from the telecoms sector to the world of fintech. Finastra is a leader in this space and I have been impressed by the company’s clear mission to become the number one open platform for innovation in financial services, through FusionFabric.cloud, and its strategy around orchestrating the global software ecosystem for providers and consumers in this sector. The opportunity to accelerate the transition of our customers to the cloud, to enable an open ecosystem for innovation and partner integration for payments, represents huge growth potential.”

MoonPay, the global payments solution for cryptocurrency, has announced global support of Polygon, a protocol and framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks, to enable purchases of MATIC (Polygon’s token and PoS chain) assets with fiat currency. 

MoonPay’s market-leading infrastructure boasts the highest fiat-to-crypto on-ramp conversions in the world and will, for the first time, bring millions of users across the globe to the MATIC ecosystem. Users will now enable purchases of MATIC ETH, MATIC USDC, and Native MATIC with fiat currency. 

It will now break down the barriers to entry for Polygon users on all payment methods from digital wallets, traditional credit, and debit cards. It also enables users to access NFT marketplaces and decentralized apps (DApps) on the Polygon ecosystem. MoonPay will also send a small amount of MATIC for each Polygon USDC and ETH purchase, allowing customers to quickly transact without having to buy additional MATIC to pay for network fees. 

Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO and Co-Founder of MoonPay said, “At MoonPay, we want to make buying and selling cryptocurrencies across all ecosystems seamless. Our agnostic support with Polygon creates whole new accessibility to MATIC for millions of users, and we are thrilled to have also enabled this access in the U.S. for the first time ever. 

“MoonPay has moved beyond being a payment provider and we are now bringing new users from across the globe to the Polygon ecosystem. We are looking forward to crypto users, old and new, enjoying the simplicity this creates.” 

Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon said, “Integrating a fiat on-ramp onto our network has been our top priority, and finding the right partner to do this has been so important for us. MoonPay’s reputation and track record of seamlessly integrating fiat on-ramps into blockchain networks made them the perfect choice and we are excited to enable our customers across the world, and particularly in the US where it hasn’t been possible, to get onto the Matic ecosystem with complete ease."

To learn more on how to access the MATIC ecosystem, visit www.moonpay.com/buy/matic. 

Validis, the provider of open accounting data and analytics, announces the appointment of former Lloyds and Metro Bank product specialist, Ronan O’Dea as Head of Product.

In his new role Ronan will be bringing his extensive experience to lead the product management function at Validis, strengthening the global proposition, unifying the product vision and accelerating innovation and growth plans. He has held leadership roles in product strategy for the last seven years, launching multiple digital SME lending offerings across origination and customer management for Lloyds and most recently, Metro Bank.

Validis currently manages the acquisition and curation of SME accounting data for several top-tier UK banks and the largest global accounting firms. This senior-hire points to ambitious plans as the fintech seeks to enhance a product suite to support accounting and financial firms on a global scale.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Validis at such an exciting time in the evolution of the business”, says Ronan. “The Validis platform offers unrivalled capabilities across the SME landscape, with valuable insights, analytics and financial intelligence that are helping our global accounting and financial services customers re-imagine how they serve their SME clients. I’m looking forward to leading the next phase of customer-centric innovation.” 

Paul Thomas, CEO of Validis said, “We’re delighted to welcome Ronan to our senior team as we accelerate our innovation plans. He brings a breadth and depth of SME lending and banking knowledge and experience that will enhance and add to the strength of our very talented team.”

The LendTech company released the guide for merchants who want to understand the benefits and logistics of adding Point of Sale finance to their checkout.

Leading LendTech company, DivideBuy, which ranked 1^st in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 UK, 2020, announces today the release of its brand-new eBook, “How to attract customers with interest free credit: A retailer’s guide to offering credit with confidence.”

Interest free credit has experienced a boom over the last 12 months, with research showing 11.5% of bridge millennials have used Buy Now Pay Later, with users regarding the solution as an effective means of controlling their finances while being able to make the purchases they desire.

With research such as this indicating that the way consumers want to pay for their goods is changing, DivideBuy is releasing the guide to provide merchants with the resources they need to make an informed decision about the payment method.

These include the benefits for retailers and consumers, what merchants can expect during implementation of a solution, and data from its retailer partnerships. For example, when following the company’s best practice guidelines, merchants have seen a 43% increase in big ticket item sales and a 34% increase in average basket value.

Jo Balsamo, Chief Marketing Officer for DivideBuy, commented: “Ecommerce sales have soared since the onset of the pandemic, and so has the demand for new and alternative methods of payment, such as interest free credit. This research and insight comes at a pivotal time in the retailer landscape, with much of this information, including data taken from our recent consumer pulse survey, demonstrating that there is a bounty of opportunities but not all retailers know how to harness them.

“The past 12 months have completely transformed the retail landscape – for merchants large and small. Now, online retailers are looking to continue the success they’ve experienced by improving customer loyalty and increasing conversion rates.

“Ultimately, by promoting different payment methods on their website and at their checkout, retailers can provide consumers with the choice they desire and make the difference between a customer committing to a sale or abandoning their basket. As retailers tend to see a 70% increase in conversion rates overall when implementing an interest free credit solution, it’s vital that retailers understand the benefits it can provide.”

For more details of the benefits of interest free credit, retailers can download the guide here.

Cross-border payments leader Thunes today announced the acquisition of Limonetik, a European Payment Methods  Platform. This move will complement existing Thunes Cross-Border Payments  solutions by enabling businesses to get paid in 70 countries, using over 285  local payment methods such as mobile wallets, payment by installments (BNPL), QR code payments and more. The solution will be known as Thunes  Collections. 

Limonetik is one of the earliest developers of an alternative payment methods platform suitable for international merchants and marketplaces. And like  Thunes, the firm closely partners with payment service providers and financial  institutions. Processing more than EUR 2 billion a year, Limonetik is trusted by over 14,000 merchants, marketplaces and fintech players, including Deliveroo,  Uber Eats, Veepee, CMA - CGM, Worldline - Ingenico, ACI, Amadeus and  Natixis. Founded in Paris in 2008, Limonetik is led by CEO & co-founder  Christophe Bourbier, a multiple-time entrepreneur and payment space expert.  Today, Limonetik counts 50 employees who will become Thunesters.  

Rapid growth in cross-border e-commerce trade has made it essential for global  sellers to accept payments in locally preferred methods. There are over 400  alternative payment methods, and this diversity brings integration complexity  and back-office costs that Limonetik’s offering resolves with a single API  integration. We believe collecting funds globally should be easy regardless of  customer location. 

By joining the Thunes global payment and collection networks, businesses and  their customers can send payments to – and get paid in – even the hardest-to reach corners of the world. With a single, simple connection, Thunes offers fast,  transparent and affordable payments across the world and will now also enable  more flexible ways to collect funds.  

“Thunes is recognised for our far-reaching global network and brilliantly simple  payments solution. We are excited to further strengthen our offering with a  global collections capability made possible through the acquisition of Limonetik.  We welcome the Limonetik team to Thunes, and as one, we look forward to offering a single end-to-end payment solution that connects every corner of the  world and makes the global economy accessible to all.” commented Peter De  Caluwe, CEO of Thunes.  

“Limonetik has been driving the transformation of collections with its platform as-a-service (PaaS) model, while Thunes possesses a powerful global  payments network. We are incredibly excited to extend our combined payments  and collections solutions across the world,” said Christophe Bourbier, founder  of Limonetik.  

Thunes is also unveiling a new brand identity, including a new logo and website  to better reflect its well-established market position and expanding service  offerings. These changes arrive four years after Thunes’ inception and the  company's successful diversification and scaling of its offering while broadening  its global presence.  

In May 2021, Thunes announced a US$60 million Series B growth round led by  global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, bringing the  company's total funding to US$130 million in less than two years. Insight  Partners’ support enables Thunes to speed up investment in its operations,  product and technology.  

Exberry provides its robust infrastructure to enhance user capabilities and price discovery for Arcadier’s marketplace builder platform

Exberry, the marketplace and exchange technology pioneer, has partnered with Arcadier, the world’s fastest-growing marketplace builder company, to provide technology for the next generation of marketplaces. 

Many marketplace clients today are looking for a turnkey solution that is quick and easy to deploy, while still having all of the robust features of an established exchange. The growing trend of alternative marketplaces stem from the fact that businesses and consumers today are looking for a more transparent way to make purchases and smarter buying decisions. They want control and choice, to pay a fair price by placing a bid or reserve on a product or service, and to purchase at that set price. At the same time, producers are looking to get fast and accurate data on demand and market prices from the platform. 

The Exberry / Arcadier technology partnership will enable Arcadier’s marketplace operators to offer an on-line, innovative trading experience to their sellers and buyers for enhanced price discovery - creating a new, customer-focused, buying experience. Meanwhile, Exberry clients will be able to utilise Arcadier’s marketplace infrastructure and technology to create a fully functioning, customisable marketplace according to their requirements. 

Exberry’s cloud native technology is light to deploy and easy to integrate through APIs into the “Marketplace-as-a-Service” concept, allowing Arcadier-powered marketplaces to reap the full benefits of an institutional exchange-grade trading solution.

Dinuke Ranasinghe, CEO & co- Founder of Arcadier commented: “Our partnership with Exberry will benefit all Arcadier marketplace operators, no matter their size or type, from healthcare all the way through to retail. Client centricity is driving the agenda and we are seeing a more active consumer base with specific and unique marketplace requirements. This collaboration has the potential to reshape the world of trading and marketplaces by offering a more accessible and efficient exchange experience, inviting both sellers and buyers to define the terms and set prices.”

He added: “We have been impressed by Exberry’s deep tech capabilities and flexible approach to integration, without compromising the stability of this unique technology.”

Guy Melamed, CEO of Exberry said: “We are very excited to collaborate with a visionary firm like Arcadier, and this is an important and strategic partnership for our business. Our goal is to improve and simplify the way marketplaces are built, operate and develop by customising and adapting to the changing market needs. Enhancing Arcadier’s marketplace capabilities with exchange features such as dynamic pricing and price discovery where buyers and sellers both contribute to finding the market price at that moment in time is exactly what our technology is designed to deliver. We are delighted to be playing our part as Arcadier continues to expand its offering globally, while also deepening Exberry’s offering to our clients by leveraging Arcadier’s technology and providing a truly turnkey exchange marketplace solution.”

Exberry architecture is designed to support fast growing markets using the latest technologies combined with the safety, security and maturity provided by experienced market participants. There are use cases across the entire spectrum of the market, from national stock exchanges through emerging opportunities in eCommerce, from digital securities and tokenized markets to established players modernising their platforms.

Eighty-four percent of consumers believe businesses need to use AI and automation to protect against sophisticated fraudsters 

With concerns around online fraud and identity theft rising, consumers expect businesses to utilize new technologies to protect them online. According to research from Trulioo, the leading global identity verification company, 84% of people believe that businesses will need to rely more on automated fraud protection to protect customers as fraudsters become more sophisticated. 

The research revealed positive attitudes towards a number of newer methods of identity authentication amongst consumers in China, the UK and the U.S. Almost three quarters (74%) of people said they feel secure when they are asked to log into their bank account to verify their identity for other online services. A further 72% feel secure when behavioral biometrics, such as AI-enabled analysis of their voice and typing speed, is used.

The findings are launched today in a new white paper, ‘New Fraud Threats in the Digital-First World’, which examines how online brands can find the right balance between online security and customer experience in a digital-first world.

“People are demanding more from online brands when it comes to their online security and they’re expecting greater variety and choice in how they verify their identity when opening new online accounts,” said Zac Cohen, COO at Trulioo. “People expect their online experience to be both secure and convenient, and they recognize how advancements in technology have a big part to play in this. Online brands should take note - if they can get this right, then they can lay the foundations for a long and trusted relationship with customers.”

One of the most striking findings of the research is the extent to which consumers are comfortable with bank account verification, where they log in to their bank account as a way to authenticate their identity for other digital services. Eighty-two percent of people stated that they trust their bank as a central place to authenticate and manage their identity, and 70% reported feeling comfortable using their bank account to authenticate their identities for all new online accounts. 

Nearly half of all consumers (48%) believe that online brands are ultimately responsible for protecting them from online fraud and identity theft, and 32% feel that the onus lies with their bank or credit card company. Fewer than one in five people (18%) stated that it is their own sole responsibility. Interestingly, consumers in the UK are more likely to assume responsibility for protecting themselves online (26%) than people in the U.S. (19%) and China (9%). 

The research explored opinions on which identity authentication measures feel the most secure and convenient when creating a new online account. 

Two-factor authentication, where people are asked to provide two forms of verification, for example, a pin code and a One Time Password (OTP) or a biometric scan and a password), is perceived to be the most secure method. Close behind this are OTPs on their own and biometrics like facial recognition that are critical for providing secure account opening and preventing account takeover fraud (ATO).

Cohen concluded, “After a year of digital upheaval, this research highlights the need for online brands to re-think their online security strategies to address rising consumer concerns (and expectations) around online fraud and identity theft. Businesses need to demonstrate that they are doing all they can to protect customers while also delivering as seamless an onboarding experience as possible. This means offering a choice of secure and convenient identity verification methods, with clear and transparent communication on why they are requesting data or pass codes at each stage of the process.” 

Download the ‘New Fraud Threats in the Digital-First World’ whitepaper here.