Digital cloud-based pin to provide added safe social interactive features at the IBC and MPC

Alibaba Group, the Worldwide TOP Partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has unveiled the Alibaba Cloud Pin, a cloud-based digital pin, for the broadcasting and media professionals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. The pin can be worn either as a badge or attached to a lanyard. The digital wearable is designed to enable media professionals working at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC) to engage with each other and exchange social media contact information in a safe and interactive manner during the upcoming Olympic Games, between July 23rd and August 8th.

“The Olympic Games has always been a thrilling event with opportunities for media staff to meet like-minded professionals. With this unprecedented Olympic Games, we want to use our technology to add new exciting elements to the Olympic pin tradition at the IBC and MPC while connecting media professionals and enabling them to maintain social interactions with safe distancing," said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba Group. “As a proud Worldwide Olympic Partner, Alibaba is dedicated to the transformation of the Games in the digital era, making the experience more accessible, aspirational and inclusive for broadcasters, sports fans and athletes from across the world.”

“Today more than ever we look to engage people around the world through our digital ecosystem and connect them with the spirit of Tokyo 2020,” said Christopher Carroll, Director of Digital Engagement and Marketing at the International Olympic Committee. “We are excited to be partnering with Alibaba to support us in our digital transformation journey and to help us build engagement ahead of the Olympic Games.”

Serving as a multifunctional digital name tag, the pin enables users to meet and greet each other, adding people to their ‘friend list’, and exchange daily activity updates, such as step counts and the number of friends made during the day. This can be done easily by tapping their pins together at arm’s length, bearing in mind the social distancing measures.

The digital pins also include specific designs of each of the 33 sports on the Tokyo 2020 Programme, which can be unlocked through a list of playful tasks like making new friends. To activate the pin, users simply need to download a Cloud Pin application, and pair it with the wearable device via its bluetooth function. This Cloud pin at the Olympic Games will be given as a token to the media professionals working at the IBC and MPC during the Olympics.

As the official Cloud Services partner of the IOC, Alibaba Cloud offers world-class cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to help enabling the Olympic Games to digitalize its operations to be more efficient, effective, secure and engaging for fans, broadcasters and athletes from Tokyo 2020 onwards.

In addition for Tokyo 2020, Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) launched OBS Cloud,an innovative broadcasting solution that operates entirely on the cloud, to help transform the media industry for the digital era.

Pan-African fintech partners with Afrimoney, Africell’s mobile money service, to provide users with smooth and affordable international transfers 

MFS Africa today announces that it has made its entry into Sierra Leone, partnering with Afrimoney, pan-African telecommunications leader Africell’s mobile money service, to enable mobile money users in the country to receive payments from abroad smoothly and affordably.  

Remittances from abroad amount to more than half of annual household consumption in Sierra Leone and therefore play an important role in economic growth. As of 2017, less than one in five people in Sierra Leone had a bank account, and mobile money provides an alternative to conventional finance.  

With this partnership in place, mobile transfer operator customers that are connected to the MFS Africa hub - such as MoneyGram, World Remit, and Xoom – can easily send money to mobile wallets in Sierra Leone. With over 320 million mobile wallets connected to MFS Africa’s hub, it provides an array of new cross-border payment possibilities. 

Dare Okoudjou, CEO and founder of MFS Africa, commented on the partnership: “To drive growth in Sierra Leone, bringing more people into the financial system is essential. We are excited to develop new financial pathways to the market with this partnership – Africell offers a compelling and easy way for Sierra Leonean people and businesses to access financial services easily. We’re expanding the possibilities for users by making it seamless and cost-effective to receive money across borders – whether that’s enabling a son or daughter in Freetown to send money home to his or her family or removing obstacles to entrepreneurs who want to look further afield for business.” 

Andy Widmann, Group Director, Afrimoney, said: “Afrimoney is driving greater financial inclusion in Sierra Leone and other African countries. Our partnership with MFS Africa adds to the strength of the Afrimoney platform by linking us to more international mobile transfer operators and giving these operators superior access to the growing market of Sierra Leone. Remittances are an important source of economic value for Sierra Leone, and we are pleased to be working with MFS Africa to make them easier and more affordable for customers.” 

MFS Africa has enhanced the next generation digital customer experience and further strengthened its position as one of the most innovative fintechs on the continent, making the whole remittance process easier.   

New CTO Paul Miller and Head of ESG Client Services, Kelly Perry bring wealth of experience to the firm as it continues to grow

Edison Group, the leading international research and investor relations consultancy, today announces the appointment of Paul Miller as CTO and Kelly Perry as Head of ESG Client Services, as the company continues its expansion following a successful year. 

Paul Miller is an experienced professional who specialises in technology solutions, data management, e-commerce, and business process improvements. He has founded and sold several businesses and has consulted for and advised numerous companies undergoing technology transformations.

At Edison, Paul will oversee all aspects of the technology side of the business as the company undergoes its own digital transformation. In addition, Paul will work with the team at Edison to develop and evolve its infrastructure to both improve efficiency internally as well how clients and readers consume its high-value information.  

Kelly Perry joins from the London Stock Exchange, where she focused on private markets fundraising, as well as also being a member of WIN (Women inspired Network). Prior to the London Stock Exchange, Kelly worked at Cowen and Company leading Corporate Access across the US and Europe. She is actively engaged with the CFA Institute ‘ESG Investing’ programme.

The appointment of Kelly Perry to Head of ESG Client Services falls closely with Edison Group’s continued expansion and focus on its ESG offering. Having launched its innovative ESG Edge Reports in in 2020, Edison has been ramping up its ESG business ever since with a flurry of new products and new clients. 

In her role, Kelly will lead the firm’s efforts to commercialise ESG solutions and integrate them across existing Research and Investor Relations. As Head of ESG Client Solutions, Kelly will also be the central point of contact for internal and external stakeholders on ESG related topics and responsible for overseeing all business and product development, product strategy, and communications related to ESG products.  

Kelly Perry, Head of ESG Client Services, Edison Group said: “ESG is the fastest growing area of Capital Markets, with ESG funds on track to hold more assets under management than their non-ESG counterparts by 2025. Rapidly becoming one of the most important factors for companies when engaging with investors. As scrutiny around ESG shows no sign of slowing, financial market participants will continue to hold sustainability at the centre of their decision making. As a result, it is an exciting time to be working for Edison, helping deliver its innovative product suite in this area and I look forward to growing this key vertical for the company and the team going forward.” 

Paul Miller, CTO, Edison Group, said: “Having worked with Edison in some capacity for a while now, I am delighted to be joining at such an exciting period for the company. In today’s market, technology is at the cornerstone of any business. For a company like Edison, it is critical to ensure clients, readers, and other stakeholders are able to access the valuable market information they need in a timely manner, all the while making all the internal processes as efficient and smooth as possible. I look forward to working with all the team at Edison as the company continues its remarkable growth, with technology at its core.”

• 56% of SME leaders believe UK regions are unequal 

• 44% say economic inequality has worsened as a result of Covid-19

• Nearly a third (32%) believe the location of their business has negatively impacted their ability to access financial support during Covid-19

Following Boris Johnson’s plans to level up the country, new research1 from Nucleus Commercial Finance reveals the scale of the challenge the government faces, with more than half (56%) of SME leaders believing the regions of the UK are unequal in terms of both economic growth and prosperity. This compares to just 17% who believe that the regions are very equal. 

Business leaders in the North are most concerned about this inequality, with 72% saying the regions are unequal, compared to just 49% for those in the South.  More specifically, those in the East Midlands feel this the most with 78% saying the UK is unequal, this is closely followed by North West (77%) and Yorkshire & Humberside (69%). Older business leaders believe in this inequality the most. 83% of those aged 55 and over believe there is regional inequality in the UK, compared to 56% for those aged 35-54 and 35% for those aged 18-34. 

The pandemic has exacerbated this trend, with over four in 10 (44%) of SME leaders believing economic inequality has become more apparent among the regions. The North West has felt this the most, with two thirds (66%) reporting increased economic inequality. 

The findings also show that SME leaders are not hopeful about the resolution of regional disparities. Over a third (35%) believe that equal business investment across the regions will never be resolved, and a similar amount (34%) believe equal government investment will never be addressed. 

These regional inequalities also manifest themselves in SME access to finance. Nearly a third (32%) of SME leaders believe the location of their business has negatively impacted their ability to access financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is of particular concern to younger business leaders. 58% of those aged 18-34 believe the location of their business is impacting their ability to secure funding, compared to just 26% for those aged 35-54 and 9% for those aged 55 and over. 

Chirag Shah, CEO, Nucleus Commercial Finance comments: “Despite years of promise from the government to address the North-South divide, it’s clear SMEs are still feeling its impact and many don’t ever see it being resolved. It’s particularly worrying that business owners have felt the force of this when it comes to accessing finance. No business should feel they have less of a chance of receiving government funds due to their geographic location, but this is a harsh reality. 

“SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy and play a vital role in the communities they serve. In order for them to thrive, we need to provide them with the right tools to help them futureproof their business and ultimately succeed for years to come. Looking ahead, the government must do more to level up and unite the country, and the Prime Minister’s recent speech will be crucial in demonstrating its commitment to boosting local businesses.”

Q2 2021 Highlights 

• UK daily transaction volumes rise 30% q-o-q to £468m (from £325m in Q1) 

• Global daily transaction volumes increased by 32%, with Asia leading the way (44%  increase in volumes) 

• Continued interest in Ethereum, with average daily traded volume up 53% q-o-q 

• Ethereum’s daily traded volume was over 80% of Bitcoin’s daily traded volume in Q2,  and represents 57% of Bitcoin’s daily traded volume over the past three quarters. 

• The price of Bitcoin and Ethereum reached new highs of $63k & $4.2k respectively in  Q2, before dropping back to $31.7k and $1.9k today.1 

Commenting on global cryptocurrency market trends in Q2, Marcus Hughes,  Coinbase’s Managing Director for Europe said: 

“We continue to see significant interest in a range of digital assets from both retail and  institutional customers, with Ethereum continuing to grow in popularity and cementing its  position as the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. Ethereum’s trading  volume grew 53% from Q1 to Q2 while Bitcoin saw a 14% decline. This resulted in Ethereum  volumes making up over 80% of the traded volumes of Bitcoin in Q2, a significant increase on  last year and testament to increased interest in digital assets beyond Bitcoin. 

At Coinbase, our focus continues to be on education and product development around the  broader applications within the cryptoeconomy, whilst leaning into regulation across a number  of different countries to help build trust in this ecosystem. As testament to this, we were  delighted to be awarded the first ever crypto licence in Germany by the BaFIN in June, and  look forward to the opportunity to grow our customer offering there and across Europe.” 

1 BTC and ETH prices accurate as of July 19 2021 – 08:00

Q2 Barometer2 

Global Q1/Q2 2021 Crypto-Fiat Daily Average Transaction Volumes 

Most Actively Daily Traded Cryptocurrencies over Q1 / Q2 2021 

2 Source for all subsequent figures: Apex:E3 - Digital Market Asset Intelligence

Best and Worst Performing Cryptocurrencies over H1 2021 

The country’s leading full stack financial solutions company, Razorpay, today announced its acquisition of TERA Finlabs, an AI-based risk tech SaaS Platform, for an undisclosed amount. TERA Finlabs is a Bengaluru-based startup that provides technology, risk and capital solutions to enable innovative embedded financing solutions for businesses. TERA Finlabs is an Indian subsidiary of GAIN Credit, a leading UK digital lender, which was launched in 2018 to expand their global footprint in digital lending.

This marks Razorpay’s third acquisition and comes following its foray into the B2B SME lending space with the launch of Razorpay Capital in 2019. Razorpay Capital has been solving for liquidity and cash-flow challenges of SMEs, by offering instant settlements and business loans.

TERA Finlabs has been disrupting traditional consumer lending models with customized credit products to make consumer loans affordable for customers and profitable for lenders. What makes TERA truly unique is given its deep experience in risk management, lending operations & governance, the AI-based risk-tech SaaS platform is designed to help new age consumer tech & FinTech companies deploy and scale embedded credit products with positive economics.

Amidst the difficult last year, small businesses have struggled to arrange short-term funding to meet expenses, as their lenders have responded cautiously. Over the last few months, Razorpay has been actively involved in solving banking and lending problems of businesses by strengthening their fintech and banking infrastructure. Lending products launched during lockdown, such as Cash Advance and Credit solutions with instant settlements, have helped SMEs solve cash flow problems. These accessible funds and transparent pricing mechanisms have leveled the playing field for MSMEs.

This acquisition of TERA Finlabs is aligned with Razorpay's strategy of financially supporting as many MSMEs as possible by building core-competencies in capital solutions, credit underwriting, and data-driven risk management capabilities. TERA will provide its entire technology stack, risk management capabilities, and onboarding solutions to create and enable a credit line for Razorpay's merchant network. Razorpay believes bringing in disruptive minds from companies such as TERA Finlabs can solve unique business problems in the industry.

Speaking about their third acquisition in less than three years, Harshil Mathur, CEO and Co-Founder, Razorpay said, “In India, banks are wary of providing business loans to startups and new SMEs due to the risks attached to new revenue models of startups. Through our lending platform, Razorpay Capital, we have been striving to solve these cash flow challenges, making it easier for businesses to get finance and grow. And progressing in that journey, an acquisition such as this fits perfectly with our vision of developing tailor-made affordable credit solutions for the underbanked small businesses across industries so that they can digitally transform and disrupt. The team at TERA FinLabs comes with exceptional domain knowledge in credit underwriting & risk management and we see immense value in TERA Finlabs core lending infrastructure capabilities. Together, we are looking forward to addressing newer working capital issues faced by MSMEs and soon create a major dent in the credit space in the next few years."

Pradeep Rathnam, Co-Founder and CEO, TERA Finlabs said, "MSMEs were an underserved market for a long time. However, in the last 16 months, they have started to show rapid growth with their adoption of digital. And this has created an opportunity for significant disruptions in the lending sector - Embedded Credit is one such innovation that I'm certain will transform this space. There couldn't have been a better time than now for us to join hands with Razorpay and its technological capabilities to support the MSME segment. We are excited that the strengths of Razorpay and TERA Finlabs are now coming together to ensure that small businesses aren't burdened by the short-term uncertainties. Our robust end-to-end platform will enable new businesses to build a scalable and profitable credit business."

Mukund Venkatesh – Managing Director India, GAIN Credit said, “While we are sad to see TERA Finlabs leave the GAIN Credit family, this acquisition is a testament to the lending SaaS platform that we built and, most importantly, the team at TERA that maintained a laser focus on deploying solutions that enabled profitable unit economics for “new to credit” customer segments. We are excited for the great things TERA will do as part of the Razorpay Capital team.”

Razorpay Capital along with TERA Finlab’s technology capabilities will be able to service the credit needs of over 10,000 businesses in India by the next year.

Prior to this, Razorpay acquired Thirdwatch (an Artificial Intelligence-driven company that helps reduce Return-to-Origin (RTO) fraud losses in e-commerce) in 2018 and Opfin (a payroll management software company) in 2019. Razorpay has been witnessing a 40-45% growth, month-on-month. The company has achieved $40 Bn TPV (Total Payment Volume) and aims to further solidify its position as one of India’s largest full-stack fintech companies Razorpay currently powers payments for over 8 Mn businesses including the likes of Facebook, Airtel, Ola, Zomato, Swiggy, Cred, ICICI Prudential among others and is all set to reach 200 million customers by 2021.

We are thrilled to announce that Path Solutions has emerged as a winner in the category ‘Best Islamic Fintech Company’ of the World Economic Magazine Awards 2021.

Mohammed Kateeb, the Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Path Solutions, commented, “At Path Solutions, we aim to create banking software solutions that enhance business operations and efficiently deliver advanced financial services. This award serves as a proud achievement of this ambition and encourages us to continue to strive to be even more impactful as a technology partner for the financial services industry and dedicate all efforts to innovating remarkable solutions that consistently deliver a truly world-class banking experience”.

The award comes on the heels of the IBSI SLT 2021 release in which Path Solutions extended its stellar record, ranking #1 in two categories; Islamic – Universal Banking | Core and Data Warehouse & Business Intelligence, and as the company prepares to launch new solution offerings for both major and underserved markets.

Founded in Kuwait in 1992, Path Solutions is a global leader in AAOIFI-certified banking solutions and services. As a proven software partner focused on powering tomorrow’s intelligent bank, Path Solutions gives its clients a distinct advantage by enabling them to outperform the competition and stay ahead of the innovation curve. Path Solutions powers their transformation to a smarter and digital organization to reap competitive advantages from higher profit margins to faster market share growth.

“From dramatically improving customer experiences to increased operational efficiencies, Path Solutions has again demonstrated the high quality of its advanced solutions and services for the fintech ecosystem. We are pleased to see this consistent performance from the company, showcasing its resilience during the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history”, said Arjun MV, Managing Director, World Economic Magazine Awards. “Congratulations to our 2021 winners”.

World Economic Magazine is a business and finance publication from the UK with an independent research and awards unit that recognizes the top financial institutions, technology suppliers and leaders that drive innovation and exemplify the best in fintech technology solutions across the globe.

Here is the list of Award Winners for 2021: https://worldecomag.com/

Cornerstone FS plc (AIM: CSFS), the cloud-based provider of international payment, currency risk management and electronic account services to SMEs, provides an update on trading for the six months ended 30 June 2021 ahead of announcing its unaudited interim results in September 2021. The Company was admitted to trading on AIM on 6 April 2021. 

Results

As noted in its final results announcement on 8 June 2021, trading volumes have increased in the first half of 2021 following the contraction, particularly in the second half of 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19. As a result, the Group expects to report sequential revenue growth of 6% for the first half of 2021 over the second half of 2020 to approximately £837k (H2 2020: £792k). This represents a near-return to pre-pandemic levels (H1 2020: £872k). 

The majority of revenue for the six months to 30 June 2021 was generated by clients the Group serves via white label partners. However, there was a significant increase in revenue from clients that the Group serves directly, which accounted for 28% of total revenue compared with 12% for both the first and second halves of 2020. As a result of the greater contribution to revenue from direct clients, the Group expects to report a substantial improvement in gross margin to approximately 38% for the first half of 2021, representing a five percentage point increase sequentially and 11 percentage point increase compared with the first half of 2020. 

The improvement in gross margin enabled the Group to achieve growth in gross profit compared with both the sequential period and the first half of the prior year. However, this was offset by increased administration expenses in the period associated with the Company’s IPO and other public company requirements.   

By client type, corporate clients contributed approximately 84% of revenue (H2 2020: 85%; H1 2020: 94%) and high net worth individuals contributed approximately 16% (H2 2020: 15%; H1 2020: 6%). Spot trades continued to account for the majority (83%) of the Group’s revenue by product (H2 2020: 82%; H1 2020: 91%) with the remainder being contributed by forward contracts. 

Cornerstone also continued to successfully execute on its strategy during the first half of the year, in particular with its IPO on AIM in April 2021. The Company’s IPO is a key element in its strategy to grow the business through acquisition as well as continuing development of its own highly scalable, cloud-based software platform. Since the IPO, the Group has actively commenced pursuing acquisition opportunities and will update the market as appropriate in due course. 

Outlook

Looking ahead, with the increased momentum in trading volumes, the Board is confident of delivering revenue growth for full year 2021 compared with 2020. In addition, as the Group executes on its strategy of acquisitive growth together with an increased proportion of direct sales, the Board is confident of delivering further significant gross margin improvement in future periods.

The Company will provide further detail in its interim results announcement.

• Tilen Chetty and Dan Gaskin join TrueLayer in Australia to accelerate product development and enable TrueLayer’s clients to go to market with open banking using the Consumer Data Right (CDR)

Sydney, Australia. TrueLayer, the global open banking platform, today announced two expert technical hires in Australia as part of its continued expansion in the APAC region. 

Tilen Chetty is joining the company in Sydney as Product Lead and Dan Gaskin in Melbourne as Lead Engineer. 

Following its successful US$70 million Series D raise in April, TrueLayer is growing its product, engineering and commercial teams globally. TrueLayer’s API-first platform currently processes more than half of all open banking traffic in the UK, Ireland and Spain, with millions of consumers and businesses trusting TrueLayer to access their financial data and initiate payments. 

Tilen Chetty and Dan Gaskin join TrueLayer’s global technical team which is led by Chief Product Officer Ossama Soliman, who joined the company from Amazon late last year, and Vice President of Engineering Ben Foster, who joined from Checkout.com in February. The new hires will be responsible for leading the Australian product and technical capabilities, working closely with Country Head Brenton Charnley, who joined in Sydney in October 2020.

Tilen Chetty is a passionate advocate for fintech and open data, especially Australia’s ground-breaking Consumer Data Right and the pursuit of competition and innovation. He has previously held strategic product roles at Deloitte Australia, Westpac, Macquarie Bank and Cover Genius as well as global internet giant, Naspers. 

“It’s an incredible opportunity to join the TrueLayer team in Australia at a time when the CDR rollout is accelerating and there is so much opportunity for innovation to benefit the consumer,” commented Tilen Chetty. 

Dan Gaskin is also an open banking and CDR enthusiast, with a passion for modernising financial services through secure cloud native API strategies and solutions. Dan brings experience of Australia's Consumer Data Standards, having recently helped several of Australia's largest banks to implement cloud native microservice strategies to serve open data. He also brings fintech experience from Checkout.com, where he worked with TrueLayer's VP of Engineering, Ben Foster.

“Having implemented the Consumer Data Standards on the data holder side of the CDR, I’m excited to have the additional opportunity to work on the data recipient side,” commented Dan Gaskin. “Joining a world leading open banking provider like TrueLayer, to create and engineer products that bring tangible benefits to consumers, is incredibly exciting,” he added. 

Discussing the growth plans of TrueLayer in Australia, Country Manager Brenton Charnley said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Dan and Tilen to TrueLayer to lead our product development in data and payments. The combination of our local presence and capabilities, supercharged by TrueLayer’s international network, supports our competitive edge in the Australian market helping our local and global clients go to market with open banking and open up Australian finance.”

TrueLayer is in the final stages of full accreditation as an Accredited Data Recipient (ADR) from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and will shortly formally launch its global Open Banking Platform in the local market. The company is also recruiting for positions in operations, sales and engineering to support its Australian growth.

Momentum for the CDR for businesses and consumers continues with the next round of rules updated released by Treasury on 1 July 2021 and additional funding announced by the Federal Government Budget in May to be split by the ACCC and Treasury to advance the CDR rules and adoption across the banking, finance and telecommunications industry. 

TrueLayer has been actively participating in consultation with the ACCC and Treasury and is a member of the Data Standards Body Advisory Committee.