Helix Applications, the Canadian listed blockchain technology company (TSX Venture: HELX) (is pleased to announce that it has completed the previously announced business combination with GlobalBlock Limited. GlobalBlock is now a wholly owned operating subsidiary of the Company.

GlobalBlock is a fast-growing United Kingdom based digital asset broker that provides a personalised telephone broking service, trading platform and mobile app.  GlobalBlock was established in 2018 by an experienced team of financial services professionals and acts as a trusted agent serving the cryptocurrency needs of individuals, corporates, institutional financial firms and intermediaries, providing best execution trading and safe custody of digital assets.

GlobalBlock is committed to meeting the highest standards of digital asset regulation and customer protection and has been temporarily registered under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as a cryptoasset business until 31st March 2022, pending the determination of GlobalBlock’s application by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. Plans include looking to expand beyond the United Kingdom, ensuring relevant jurisdiction licences are granted and adhering to local regulations in any new territories it looks to operate in.

Rufus Round, Chief Executive Officer of Helix said:

“As we worked to complete the transaction with GlobalBlock over the past few months, GlobalBlock has been building out its team by adding to its sales, business development and marketing functions. Plans for new products and services are already underway as the new combined business aims to become the leading provider of digital asset broking services in the UK and beyond. This is an exciting time for all current and now new shareholders in the business.”

David Thomas, GlobalBlock Head of Operations, and new Chief Operating Officer of the Company, said:

“We believe that our service led, transparent and secure digital asset platform is a standout to other digital asset trading and custody offerings. Firstly, being UK based and adhering to the highest of regulatory standards is a must in today’s digital asset environment and secondly having a team that has such a wealth of experience in building successful financial services businesses.

“We are hugely excited to complete this this business combination, which allows us to continue to focus on our growth and development within the digital asset space, making us well placed to become the number one digital asset broker within the UK market and beyond.”

Board, Management and Corporate Matters

Management

The Company’s current interim Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rufus Round, and its Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary, Ms. Jessica van den Akker, remain in place as senior management of the Company and are joined by Mr. David Thomas, who has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the Company.  Mr. Thomas is one of the former shareholders of GlobalBlock and his biography is set forth in the May 17, 2021 press release of the Company (the “May Press Release”). 

The other three (3) former shareholders of GlobalBlock, Messrs. Karl Thompson, Patrick Bullman and Tim Bullman remain in place as local management of GlobalBlock.  Biographies for each of these key managers of the combined Company are also set forth in the May Press Release.

Board of Directors

As set forth in the May Press Release, Mr. Jay Sujir has resigned as a director of the Company and has been replaced by Mr. Stuart Olley.  The Company thanks Mr. Sujir for his dedication to the Company.  In addition, Mr. David Thomas has been added as a director of the Company.  Biographies for Mr. Olley and Mr. Thomas are also set forth in that May Press Release.

The Board of Directors of the Company is now comprised of the following members:  Rufus Round, Trevor Gabriel, David Thomas and Stuart Olley.  The members of the Audit Committee of the Company now consist of Rufus Round, Trevor Gabriel and Stuart Olley.

Operational Information

At this time, GlobalBlock only accepts United Kingdom and Ireland resident clients or customers for its digital asset broker or trading services. To be specific, measures (including comprehensive AML/KYC procedures) have been implemented to prevent residents in the provinces and territories of Canada and the United States from becoming clients or customers.

The Company aims to conduct business to the highest industry standards and within the constantly developing global, regulatory environment with regards to digital assets. GlobalBlock primarily holds client assets through the Qredo custodian platform as described below, and through GlobalBlock’s accounts on digital asset exchanges. GlobalBlock has engaged third party digital asset custody provider, Qredo Limited (the “Custodian”) to manage client assets being held internally, through an omnibus account in the name of GlobalBlock. The Custodian accepts an ever growing list of digital assets with more being added, on a frequent basis. The Custodian is not a Canadian or foreign financial institution and is awaiting SOC1&2 attribution, expected in December 2021.  The Company is unaware of any related parties between itself and the Custodian. The Custodian is based in London, United Kingdom and utilizes a multi-signature, MPC (multi-party computation), decentralised storage protocol. The Custodian currently provides US$5 million equivalent of insurance per wallet.  

Name Change

It is intended that the Company will be renamed “GlobalBlock Digital Asset Trading Limited”, or such other name as determined by the Board of Directors of the Company, and as approved by the TSX Venture Exchange.  The Company will issue additional press

Finzly, a fintech provider of modern banking applications for payments, foreign exchange, trade finance and digital account opening, announced today that The Middlefield Banking Company has selected Finzly’s contactless digital account opening (DAO) solution, enabling the bank to gain back-office operational efficiencies that support an enhanced customer experience.

Finzly’s DAO solution enables Middlefield Bank to digitize the entire account opening process and achieve complete automation, as well as co-browsing support, customized onboarding workflows, and analytics to capture customer pain points. The DAO solution provides the bank’s customers with flexibility to open up to 13 account types within minutes, and offers multilevel authentication, external account funding, debit card order and online banking enrollment. With DAO, the bank can combat the latest fraud threats using AI-enabled customer ID verification and “selfie” validation, as well as out-of-wallet questions as needed. 

“At Middlefield Bank, we pride ourselves in providing a quality banking experience for our customers,” said Thomas G. Caldwell, President and CEO, Middlefield Bank. “Finzly’s fully automated DAO solution will further these efforts, giving our customers a modern, flexible approach to opening multiple accounts within minutes. By eliminating manual processing and driving operational efficiencies using DAO, we can continue to deliver a modern banking experience to our valuable customers.”

Using core-agnostic open APIs, Finzly DAO enables the addition or replacement of third-party providers within the process. Accessing the solution via the bank portal, Middlefield Bank can review the status of applications, request more information from customers and intervene in cases where applicants have not provided complete information.

“Finzly is excited to help Middlefield Bank drive a more secure, seamless and modern banking experience through a single digital solution for both consumer and business account opening,” said Booshan Rengachari, founder and CEO, Finzly. “With Finzly’s DAO solution, the bank will have continuous access to the best, most up-to-date offerings available on the market while tapping greater levels of customer-facing flexibility and full automation capabilities to help reduce application abandonment rates.”

The UK Immersive Tech: VC Investment Report, compiled and published by Immerse UK, part of KTN, and HTC VIVE X, features ten companies that are pushing the boundaries of immersive tech, extended reality (AR/VR) and spatial computing, as well as 21 early-stage ventures it considers “ones to watch”.

Tech featured in the report includes training software that allows office workers to swap bodies with colleagues to improve workplace communication and emotional intelligence, surgery simulation for trainee doctors, and interfaces that allow for sci-fi style hand-waving interaction with personal computers.

Asha Easton, Immerse UK Lead at KTN, says: “The ventures highlighted in this report show the huge potential of the XR sector.  They demonstrate some of the various cross-sector applications of this technology ranging from media and entertainment to medicine, manufacturing, education, training, and more.

“This report shows that, as a nation, we are driving this emerging technology and the UK economy is well positioned to benefit from it.  It’s the perfect time for investors to get involved.”

David Haynes, Director of Developer Ecosystem & VIVE X EMEA, HTC VIVE, says: “Amara’s Law states that we tend to overestimate the impact of new technologies in the short term, but underestimate them in the long term.  Sure enough, in 2016-17 we saw record levels of investment going into the immersive sector, and new start-ups created, as VR and AR first came to market in a serious way. However, the following two years saw the hype dissipate.  Now, though, we’re entering a new era where the tech is being used in genuinely innovative and potentially life-changing ways.  The time is right for immersive tech!”

To read the full report, visit www.immerseuk.org.

MYPINPAD, leader in PCI certified software-based payments solutions, today announced it has received further accreditation from the Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet). After making history earlier this year by being the first CPoC (Contactless Payments on Commercial off-the-shelf) solution to attain approval in Australia, MYPINPAD has now also received SPoC (Software-based PIN Entry on COTS) certification.

This makes MYPINPAD the first company to achieve both types of certifications in the region. Its SPoC solution enables card payment acceptance by means of card insertion or tapping onto a card reader paired with merchants’ iOS or Android tablets and smartphones with the option of using PIN entry where needed.

The announcement comes at a time of optimism for the Australian retail sector. Following the challenges  of COVID-19, recently released figures show a 25% year-on-year increase in monthly revenue for the retail industry. As the sector rebounds together with consumers’ preference for contactless transactions, enabling customers to make higher value purchases, with the security of PIN entry if needed, will be hugely beneficial.

In April last year, the Australian government doubled the legal contactless limit to A$200 to help reduce social contact for consumers making purchases in person, a move that was welcomed by merchants and card schemes. Despite decreasing numbers of COVID cases, the country retained the limit in 2021 and further guidance has yet to be issued.

By enabling mobile smart devices to be used for PIN entry on purchases over the contactless limit, MYPINPAD increases the scope in which software-based solutions can be used throughout the retail industry and beyond.

Morten Hofstad, Head of APAC at MYPINPAD comments on the certification: “The news of our CPoC certification earlier this year was a first for the Australian market, and this announcement of SPoC accreditation furthers our capabilities in the region. Being recognised as the only provider to be both CPoC and SPoC accredited is an important step in our Australian expansion, which we see as a key hub for payments innovation.

MYPINPAD’s SPoC solution gives merchants and consumers confidence in using secure and robust payments software that protects their sensitive data, particularly while making higher value purchases. The accreditation will allow us to further innovate in the payments space, opening up new options for merchants throughout a range of industries.”

corfinancial today announces that Man Group, the global active investment management firm, has selected its treasury solution, Salerio, to manage the firm’s foreign exchange confirmation, settlement and netting processing.

Man Group uses Salerio to automate the management of securities post-trade processing and is expanding the use of Salerio to incorporate automation of foreign exchange processing. The investment management firm’s international growth has relied increasingly upon Salerio, which automates key middle office processes.

Salerio will also support Man Group’s CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement) netting - a standardised, automated bilateral payment netting service.

Richard Craske, Change Management Specialist at Man Group, said: “We have been a long-term user of Salerio to manage our trade confirmation and settlement.  The high volume of our securities trading – that can reach in excess of 30,000 allocations per day – demands the very best in technology and Salerio has more than proved its worth. We now want to incorporate foreign exchange processing and CLS netting in the same, centralised processing model. With Salerio’s treasury modules in place we can continue to scale our operations efficiently, allowing our teams to focus on handling exceptions.”

Bruce Hobson, CEO at corfinancial, said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Man Group to bring further efficiencies to their post-trade processes. We look forward to Man Group extending the use of Salerio to incorporate FX processing, completing the treasury deployment during 2021.”

Francesca Carlesi, Co-founder and CEO of Molo Finance

“The stamp duty extension back in March was a responsible move by the Government. Not only did it allow many house-buyers to breathe a sigh of relief, but it also enabled market resilience and contributed to growing the UK economy. However, now that the stamp duty holiday has come to an end, initial signs are mixed, with price drops and price rises both being reported. 

“No one could have predicted the consequences that the pandemic would have on the mortgage and housing markets. However, despite being in the midst of great uncertainty, at Molo we saw high demand across the first half of 2021, with the average loan amount increasing by 59% compared to the end of 2020. The rush to buy during the stamp duty holiday gave the industry a much needed boost, but this peak in activity was never going to be a sustainable one. As the stamp duty holiday comes to an end, the temporary decline in activity is no surprise. As for the rest of this year, I'm expecting activity to pick up, house prices to stabilise, and by the end of 2021 the market will be in a healthy, more sustainable position.”

Data from the latest edition of Landmark Information Group’s quarterly Property Trends Report has shown that residential property completions in June were 85% higher compared to the same month in 2019,  spurred on by the 30^th June Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday deadline. 

As property professionals worked around the clock to finalise as many transactions as possible, the cross-market analysis shows property search orders were up 43% in April 2021, compared to the same month in 2019. 

Within the Property Trends Report, further analysis is published on the Completions to Instructions Ratio (CIR). This data stood at 82% at the end of the first quarter of the year, yet jumped to 115% in June 2021 - comparable to the pre-Christmas completion rush that property lawyers saw in 2019 – as legal professionals worked hard to meet the Stamp Duty holiday deadline.

The CIR ratio provides a good barometer for identifying how much pressure conveyancing lawyers are facing: typically a higher percentage indicates a more stable and manageable relationship between incoming and outgoing workloads. As a guide, the average CIR for a ‘normal’ year (2019) was 69%. The ratio of 115% however underlines the achievement of conveyancers who worked hard to push high volumes of transaction through to completion and manage high workloads with new instructions too.   

Key Findings:

Property Listings: While listings were up by 7% this April compared to the same month in 2019, they were overall down on average by 5% at the half year point, showing a slow in supply, compared to demand remaining strong.   This lack of supply may limit the volume of sales, and has the propensity to push prices up, as buyers have fewer properties available to them.

Sold Subject to Contract: For properties converting to Sold Subject to Contract, the data shows market activity was 22% higher in April 2021 compared to April 2019, yet June aligns more closely with 2019, and 2020 figures which was the first full month out of the first lockdown after three months of minimal activity.

Legal Conveyancing: Property search order volumes saw a surge as lawyers and conveyancers worked hard to meet the Stamp Duty deadline; Landmark’s data reports a sustained increase when compared to 2019 data, with search order volumes up 43% in April and 27% in May, while June shows a 9% increase, as conveyancers’ focus likely switched to completion activities. 

Completions:  Data shows that completions in June were a significant 85% higher than in 2019, far exceeding the 66% surge that was reported in March as conveyancers worked hard to meet the Chancellor’s first original Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday deadline, before it was further extended to the end of June. 

Simon Brown, CEO of Landmark Information Group said, “It has been the most remarkable quarter in the residential property industry, with everyone working tirelessly to make sure as many homebuyers as possible were able to capitalise on the Stamp Duty holiday.   Indeed, not only did we see completion volumes peak in June, but we recorded the highest quarterly number of mortgage valuation instructions to go through our business since we started recording the data in 2014.  We now await the next quarter to see if supply and demand balance out, or if transaction patterns will start to align more closely to the pre-pandemic figures of 2019.” 

Spanning property listings, sold subject to contract, legal conveyancing and completions, the data used is extracted from Landmark Information Group’s business entities, which have touchpoints across the whole UK property market transaction pipeline, and offers a truly unified view of the whole England and Wales property market. 

The Property Trends Report provides cross-market trend analysis for the residential property market pipeline in England and Wales and assesses transaction movements across the estate agency and conveyancing sectors.  To view the report visit: https://www.landmark.co.uk/news-insights/industry-reports/landmark-property-trends-report-july-2021/. 

For more information on Landmark Information Group, telephone 0844 844 9960, or visit www.landmark.co.uk. 

Leading global AI-powered credit decision platform provider, Scienaptic AI announced Numerica Credit Union has selected the company’s AI-powered platform to enhance its overall credit decisioning for several of its lending products and services, including consumer and commercial underwriting, CLI for credit cards, preapprovals, best credit product recommendations for members and credit risk assessment for the institution’s treasury services.

With roots going back to 1937, Numerica Credit Union was initially founded to support railway workers and employees of other transportation systems and shippers. For over 80 years, the Wash.-based credit union has evolved and expanded, now currently serving more than 160,000 members across central and eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The award-winning institution offers a full line of financial products and services, including mortgages and business products to help their members and communities live well financially.

“Numerica’s core purpose is to enhance the lives of our members, fulfill their dreams and enrich our local communities,” said Ken Plank, Chief Lending Officer at Numerica. “Scienaptic’s platform will support our mission and deliver automated decisions across commercial and consumer underwriting, allowing us to serve more members when they need us most. The platform will help us increase loan approval rates and extend more credit to current and potential members while advancing their financial well-being.”

“We are very excited to be working with the team at Numerica, helping to empower its credit decisioning for its members,” Pankaj Jain, President of Scienaptic. “Scienaptic's adaptive AI will help bolster the institution’s reach and speed for its credit approvals, enhancing member experience, all without increasing risk.”