• The Visa Ready Program enables partners to build and launch payment solutions that meet Visa’s global network standards.
• The partnership will enable Modulr to accelerate its growth through access to Visa’s global network and expertise.
• By collaborating further with Visa, Modulr provides payment services to small businesses in the UK and EU.

Modulr, a Payments-as-a-Service API platform for digital businesses, today announced that it has secured Visa Ready certification, which supports clients in choosing best of breed payment solutions that meet Visa’s global standards. Securing this status validates Modulr’s position as a leading provider of Visa products.

Through this extended collaboration with Visa, the world leader in digital payments, Modulr is helping businesses automate payment flows, embed payments within their proposition and launch entirely new features and services.

As lockdown restrictions ease, it is vital that SMEs recover quickly and take every advantage offered by the digital economy. Research from Modulr highlighted the pressure SMEs face in curbing the rising cost of payment services on the one hand and meeting rising customer expectation of payment experiences on the other.

Achieving Visa Ready status certifies the Modulr infrastructure and gives customers peace of mind they’re using the highest technological standard of Visa payment solutions.

Jill Docherty, Head of Business Development, UK&I at Visa comments: “We’re delighted to be part of Modulr’s continued growth and proud they have achieved Visa Ready certification. Small businesses continue to be some of the hardest hit by the pandemic and together with Modulr, we’re committed to supporting them as they build for recovery. Through this extended partnership more businesses will be able to access the crucial tools and resources they need to benefit from the digital economy.”

Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive at Modulr comments: “Securing Visa Ready certification is a critical step in achieving our goal of striving for greater innovation and payment improvements across the industry for every size of business. Working with Visa, our mission is to further expand our platform in the coming months so every UK and EU business can easily and efficiently benefit from the power of embedded payments.”

Read more about Modulr’s services here, or achieving Visa Ready Certification here. 

LenDenClub releases its 2020-21 study of P2P lender & borrower behaviour 

• Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad - top cities in terms of both borrowing and lending  
• Medical emergencies during the pandemic was the top reason for borrowing followed by advance salary and family functions 
• Up to 25,000 is the most preferred ticket size among borrowers 
• 50k to 1lakh is the most preferred investment range among investors 
• Salaried professionals -- CXOs to mid-managerial level topped the chart as investors  
• November, December and February witnessed peak in demand for loans 

Millennials dominate as the most influential cohort as both borrowers and lenders on peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, says study. LenDenClub, the country’s largest P2P lending platform, today released its 2020-21 report on the key borrowing and lending behaviour of its consumers (borrowers and lenders). 

According to the report by LenDenClub, young and tech-savvy Indians are much ahead of the previous generations when it comes to borrowing or even availing the platform for a new asset class as an investor. According to the report released by LenDenClub, millennials belonging to the age group of 21-30 years were the most active as both borrowers (56%) and lenders (54%) on its platform. This was followed by the cohort belonging to the age group of 31-40 years accounting for 37% in case of borrowers and 33% in case of lenders.  

India’s silicon city, Bengaluru, topped the chart in terms of people having the highest credit demand. Interestingly, the highest number of lenders too hailed from the tech city of Bengaluru. Other major lending and borrowing markets were Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai, showing a clear dominance of west and south.  

It further stated that medical emergencies accounted for 35% of digital loans that were availed during the year. As two consecutive waves of the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on the Indian healthcare system, there was a huge spurt in medical emergencies reported through the year. LenDenClub witnessed huge demand for credit for medical emergencies on its platform which also accounted as the top reason for borrowing. It was followed by ‘advance salary’ accounting for 33% and ‘family functions’ accounting for 10%.  

Salaried professionals ranging from CXOs to mid-managerial level, topped the chart as investors on the platform. The report further stated INR 1.81 lakhs was the average investment amount on the platform while INR 50,000 to 1 lakh was the most preferred amount among lenders, accounting to approximately 50% of the pie in terms of value. Owing to the festival season, November (2020) and December (2020) and February (2021) were the top three months when demand for credit was the highest. Whereas, during Apr-Jun 2020, the demand for credit was the least.  

In terms of loan repayment -- ECS payment was the most preferred mode accounting for 83 % followed by UPI (10%) and NEFT (7%). In addition, the data also revealed that males continued to dominate the platform with more than 80% participation.  

Bhavin Patel, Co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub said “Covid-19 has accelerated digital penetration and uptake across every industry, and the lending sector too, has seen transformation beyond imagination. During the global health crisis, medical emergencies continued to be the top reason for borrowing, and we are honoured to help those who lack credit or lie outside the financial inclusion fold, meet their needs. Interestingly, millennials also actively participated as investors availing P2P lending as an aspirational asset class offering lucrative returns. Thanks to e-commerce and penetration of new-age technology which has built an all-new tech empowered segment of Indians across tier-II and tier-III cities from where we witnessed fresh bouts of demand.”  

LenDenClub, the P2P platform that offers loans ranging from Rs. 5,000 to 10 lakhs, has analysed annual data of over 4 lakhs users, to study the key trends in industry. P2P is a fast growing and upcoming industry for alternative investment avenues. P2P NBFC is an RBI recognized lending platform which started picking up in India in the last few years. The report has multiple data points and key insights showing the typical demographic and professional profiling of the consumers. 

LenDenClub is the largest peer-to-peer platform in India, having disbursed more than ₹500 crores worth of loans. With a 100% funding record for its borrowers, LenDenClub currently enjoys a user base of one and a half million from all over India  and disburses an average of 2.5 lakh loans annually. LenDenClub, with usage of technology, disburses 82% loans within 5 hours to its borrowers.

New Analytics Plus brings advanced cash flow and business forecasting directly into Xero

Xero, the global small business platform, today announced Analytics Plus, part of a new suite of planning and forecasting tools, powered by artificial intelligence and designed to help businesses and advisors plan for the future with confidence.

Available from today, Xero Analytics Plus combines cash flow forecasting featuring advanced predictions and insightful business reporting tools, directly available in Xero. The tools are the culmination of rigorous testing and development with the broader Xero community during a challenging period for small businesses, and build on the company’s commitment to be the most insightful and trusted platform for small businesses.

Xero has also officially released Analytics, a free tool for all Xero Business Edition subscribers that combines the existing short-term cash flow tool, which visually projects cash flow over 30 days, and business snapshot tool, providing up to date insights on their business performance. Since their initial release in pilot last year, the cash flow tool has been redesigned with an all-new look and the ability to view future scheduled invoices and bills, while the business snapshot report can now be viewed on a cash or accrual basis.

“To truly grow and thrive, every business needs to have access to trusted, insightful data that helps them understand where they are now, make decisions for today and where they might be headed in the future,” said Xero Chief Product Officer, Anna Curzon. 

“Over the past two years, we’ve worked closely with small businesses and advisors all around the world to build simple, beautiful and powerful tools and reports that give them access to that data, all on the Xero platform. As our business scale has grown, we now are able to provide powerful AI-powered products that use rich, trusted data, to help small businesses not only understand their current position, but make decisions with confidence based on their future potential.”

AI-powered forecasts with Xero Analytics Plus

Analytics Plus supercharges forecasts and reporting to give growing small businesses greater flexibility and foresight over their business. 

Using pattern-matching and predictive algorithms, short-term cash flow in Analytics Plus can detect and predict regular cash expenses and income over the next week, month or quarter. Businesses can see their future potential cash flow,  the impact of upcoming expenses and discover opportunities to bring cash into the business by invoicing customers sooner, changing payment times or requesting a deposit. Owners can also plan for multiple scenarios by manually adding transactions to see how they might affect their cash position into the future. 

A more powerful business snapshot tool gives small businesses a quick, easy-to-understand summary of their business performance to help them have meaningful discussions about their plans with their advisor. In Analytics Plus, businesses can see their performance over multiple years, drill into the details to analyse trends and identify areas for improvement.

All customers can try Xero Analytics Plus for free up until 31 January 2022. Once the free period ends, the standard pricing will apply. More information on pricing can be found here. 

Last year, at the height of the pandemic, Xero rolled out pilot versions of its short-term cash flow and business snapshot tools to customers for free to help them plan in uncertain times.

Xero Analytics and Xero Analytics Plus inclusions

BidFX and XTX Markets are pleased to announce the full roll-out of XTX Markets Execution Algo on BidFX Algo Hub. It is an implementation shortfall execution algorithm that BidFX clients can now access as algorithmic trading in FX continues to increase.

BidFX Chief Revenue Officer, John McGrath commented: “XTX Markets is one of the largest market makers in the world and their expertise in market microstructure and the reduction of signalling and information leakage aligns with our client’s sophisticated requirements in regulatory, functional and execution strategies. XTX Execution Algo went live on BidFX during 2020 in an initial targeted client roll-out and has the ability to reduce slippage to arrival price. We are happy to see increasing usage of this algo across our global client base in 2021 as well as making it available for clients to add to their Algo Wheel.”

Matt Clarke, Head of Distribution and Liquidity Management for EMEA at XTX Markets, commented: ‘We are pleased to expand our relationship with BidFX through their hosting of our execution algo and are delighted at the strong uptake from clients already. We look forward to continuing to give BidFX’s clients access to our low impact, market leading liquidity and further strengthening their algo platform as a result.’

Proptech company also signs deal with Rightmove

RO Capital Partners, the RO Group’s investment arm, is pleased to have co-led a £1.1m funding round together with the Cass Enterprise Fund in Bamboo Auctions (or “Bamboo”), a leading provider of online auction technology to estate agents and auction houses.  The round was supported by follow on capital from existing investors and new angel investors.  

Launched in 2015, Bamboo Auctions’ technology allows properties to be sold with immediate and legally binding contracts.  Its marketplace makes transactions faster, more certain, and more transparent.  The business has continued to grow quickly since inception with over 1,000 properties, representing a total value of over £200m, having been sold using Bamboo’s platform in the last 12 months.  Customers of Bamboo include Clive Emson, Stags, Bradleys, Hunters and Webbers. 

Bamboo will use the growth capital to invest further in its technology to ensure it remains the best in the market, as well as introducing new features and partnership integrations.  It will also be deployed in intelligent advertising and marketing to drive further sales growth; as well as maintaining the company’s high level of customer service.

Robin Rathore, Founder and Director, Bamboo Auctions explains more:

“The average property transaction takes around 20 weeks, but using our technology, agents can reduce this time to just five weeks.  Around 35% of transactions will fall through before reaching completion, but using Bamboo agents can increase transaction certainty to around 99%.  The speed and certainty that our technology brings to the transaction has given our agent customers an invaluable advantage in the market, not just because it has allowed them the space and time to sell properties during periods of lockdown, but also because it has helped to increase the number of instructions, increase the number of sales, and increase average fees overall.

“Auctions are evolving, and Bamboo is at the centre of this movement.  We are continuously innovating, and by listening to our agent customers, we are focusing on making our core service the best in the market. Ultimately, we are here to help our agent customers sell more properties.  That drives everything that we do at Bamboo.”

Commenting on its partnership with Rightmove, he added:

“We are delighted to have entered into an arrangement with Rightmove, which means that properties listed by agents through Bamboo’s platform will automatically be tagged as an auction property and will have up to date timer and bid status.  Agents will also benefit from additional calls to action and clearer, more standardised information on each property listing page.  This is a great example of the partnerships we are developing as we roll out our technology and brand in the coming months.”

Edward Rowlandson, Group Managing Director, the RO commented:  

“We launched RO Capital Partners in April 2021 to invest in active, early stage tech businesses and proptech was a key market for us given our wider real estate experience.

“We are hugely excited by Bamboo, its offering, and its use of technology to innovate the real estate market.  Robin and his team have demonstrated that, even though it is still in its early stages, Bamboo has a winning business strategy and great growth potential and we are delighted to lead this round alongside Cass and existing investors. “

Steve White, Group Commercial Director, the RO added: 

“The online auction market has seen significant growth during the past year, and we are excited to be investing at such a pivotal stage in Bamboo’s journey as they experience tremendous growth and fast uptake by estate agents and auction houses who are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of the Bamboo offering.”

Helen Reynolds, MD and Investment Director of the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund commented: 

“We have been impressed with the skills and expertise of the Bamboo CEO and his team and the strong relationships built thus far with customers and partners. We look forward to working with Robin through the next stage of Bamboo’s growth and supporting the company’s success.”

Railsbank, the leading global Embedded Finance platform, has raised USD$70 million in its latest funding round.

The latest fundraise was led by Anthos Capital and attracted a range of investors including Central Capital (VC arm of Indonesia’s largest privately held bank), Cohen and Company (the founder of Bancorp), and Chris Adelsbach’s new fund Outrun Ventures. Existing investors also participated.

Railsbank will use the funds to further expand its various Embedded Finance products (Banking as a Service, Cards as a Service, and Credit as a Service) across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, to help its customers remodel and democratise access to the financial services industry. The Railsbank platform is used by customers such as fintechs, telcos, supermarkets and consumer brands to innovate fast and radically improve the way millions of consumers and SMEs access, use and manage their money.

Railsbank is unique in the Embedded Finance market, offering the only truly global platform; by having rails directly connected into the financial system thus bypassing the industry legacy infrastructure; and being both a regulated financial institution and principle card issuing member of Visa and Mastercard. It maintains that many of the Embedded Finance and BaaS providers in the market today are just software layers sitting on top of legacy financial institutions. This means that although customers benefit from improved APIs, they still have to endure the underlying industry legacy infrastructure, operations, risk policies and ways of working.

“Think of Railsbank as being the financial services layer of the Internet,” said Nigel Verdon, CEO and co-founder of Railsbank. “We are transforming the finance industry in the same way that Apple did to the music industry when they created iTunes. Too much of the current global financial services system is made up of aging legacy technology and operational processes, making it unnecessarily complicated, highly expensive and nearly impossible for innovators to create the ‘Spotify’ of financial services.

“We are changing that at Railsbank by combining our ‘zero legacy’ platform with deconstructing financial services into individual digital components. Because we have created these individual financial components, our customers can easily embed financial products directly into their own customer experiences at exactly the point where consumers and SMEs need financial services, not at the point when traditional providers forced them to. This will finally make financial services customer centric and inclusive, rather than the situation today which is institution centric and exclusive.”

Betsy Cohen, Chairman of Fintech Masala and founder of Bancorp, added: “The market has evolved so rapidly since we founded the world’s first BaaS business, the Bancorp. As we move into the $7 trillion embedded finance market, it has been great watching Railsbank's growth story. With this investment, it's a privilege to continue to be part of the journey with a global leader like Railsbank.”

Chris Adelsbach, Managing Partner of Outrun Ventures, commented: "Outrun Ventures are thrilled to support Railsbank in their recent financing. I've had the benefit of being on the front-line of Railsbank as an early investor and Advisory Board member and have been incredibly impressed by their growth. More importantly, as an early stage fintech investor, I've witnessed a remarkable change in the volume of companies that are building next generation businesses using Railsbank. I speak to dozens of founders every week and I've rarely gone through a week where a company doesn't tell me that they are working with Railsbank. When I asked them 'why', their collective responses gave me the conviction to make a later stage investment. Embedded finance makes financial services far more accessible for customers and Railsbank has a solution that is in a league of its own.”

New structured message formats for exchanging information around Guarantees and Standby Letters of Credit are crucial in supporting the digitalization of trade finance

Norwegian software vendor Commercial Banking Applications (CBA), today announced that it has shipped the latest annual release of its IBAS GBF - Global Banking Factory software to all customers over three months ahead of schedule, allowing additional time for testing in advance of the upcoming cutover to SWIFT Release 2021 in November this year.

The SWIFT changes are part of an industry-wide initiative to support the digitalization of trade finance – moving away from unstructured messages to more complex and structured message types that allow for increased automation and straight-through processing. SWIFT Release 2021 upgrades the functionality and format of messages for Guarantees and Standby Letters of Credit, building on the updates to Documentary Credit messages completed as part of SWIFT Release 2018.

To prepare for the November 2021 switchover, banks need to ensure all back-office applications, front-end systems, APIs and other interfaces are ready for the transition. By involving all user banks in workshops early on in the process and allowing them to test a pre-release version – CBA is allowing them ample time to interface with other systems, optimize the customer front end and establish new operational routines to ensure a smooth changeover.

To simplify the process for corporates the changes to CBA’s IBAS GBF front-end solution have been made based on a flexible user interface that is user-friendly for corporates not familiar with SWIFT’s complex message structure and crucially still in compliance with the new SWIFT standards. Capturing all data in a structured format reduces errors and will allow banks to increase automation, improve straight-through processing and accelerate turnaround times for trade finance documentation.

“Whilst the removal of Standby LCs from key Documentary Credit SWIFT messages might appear like a small change, the consequences for banks and their downstream operations is significant. This has made it essential for banks and vendors to start preparations in good time,” explained Rolf Hauge, CEO, and founder of CBA. “We have optimized the business logic associated with handling the new requirements for Standby LCs, which must now always be issued using the same message type as Guarantees, to make the process as straightforward as possible for user banks. This includes the roll-out of brand-new applications for handling Standby LCs which are not only SWIFT compliant but also tailor-made in line with Standby LC market practice.”

“The early release of our software is enabling our user banks to update and test all processes thoroughly, including customer front-end systems, APIs towards other systems and message flows to both corporates and banks,” added Hauge. “Preparing early also allows banks to think ahead about how they can leverage the improved data quality and efficiencies that the new structured message formats will bring. For example, there’s scope for banks to use AI and machine learning to improve and automate risk management, reporting, KYC and AML processes.”

The overhaul of SWIFT’s category 7 message types, including Documentary Credits, Guarantees and Standby LCs, was first set out in 2013. The updates take into account change requests from previous years, including the need to increase straight-through processing, fill gaps in transaction flows and also incorporate requests from the trade finance community that have arisen over the last ten years. Updates for Documentary Credits went live in November 2018, and the upcoming release handles all updates for Guarantees and Standby LCs. Initially the 2021 release was planned for 2019. It was deferred to 2020 to allow banks more time to prepare and subsequently deferred to 2021 because of COVID-19.

smartKYC, the world’s most advanced enterprise solution for KYC due diligence automation, has announced a strategic, data partnership with kompany, the global RegTech platform for business verification and Business KYC (KYB) for AML compliance.

Clients of smartKYC and kompany will be able to seamlessly access original company information and documents, from relevant trade and commercial registers instantly via kompany’s global register network.

smartKYC’s partnership with kompany reflects its commitment to harmonise and extract intelligence from all KYC sources required by its clients - open web, media archives, watchlists, shareholder data, legal judgements, internal blacklists and much more. And now with live access to kompany’s global network, clients can now verify company details at their source and access original documentation.

Dermot Corrigan, CEO of smartKYC commented on the partnership: “We see an increasing demand from clients to validate company data at source. So in automating API access to original registry records, via our partnership with kompany, we are providing an additional layer of KYC security.”

smartKYC’s technology is used by international financial institutions and corporates to enable them to drive faster, better and more cost-effective KYC at every stage of the relationship - liberating human effort to focus on decision-making rather than laborious research. smartKYC fuses artificial intelligence with linguistic and cultural sensitivity and deep domain knowledge to set new standards for KYC quality, whilst transforming productivity and hardwiring compliance performance.

“kompany’s ability to rapidly identify and verify businesses and the individuals who own and control them dovetails perfectly with smartKYC’s world-leading automation of client due diligence and the screening of those businesses and individuals. We look forward to kompany’s real-time audit-proof KYB services reaching more clients around the world via the smartKYC platform. This partnership represents exciting times ahead for both kompany and smartKYC.” commented Russell E. Perry, CEO and Founder of kompany

Gift Card Digital Wallet Company “Passes Positivity” Through New Technology Feature

GiftPocket, the digital wallet app dedicated to empowering young adults to manage their gift cards, announced today that it has launched its SEND capability, and its “Pass the Positivity” campaign to share a little bit of happiness and connection. The GiftPocket app’s new SEND feature is unique within the digital wallet space, and allows current users to send a gift card of their choice and value to a fellow current or new user. To commemorate the kickoff of the SEND feature, GiftPocket’s “Pass the Positivity” campaign grants current users the opportunity to gift a free $5 gift card to another user using the new SEND feature, while also receiving a free $5 gift card for themselves. 

“We hope to empower the next generation within our digital economy. The GiftPocket SEND feature allows all of us to spread a moment of delight, which is necessary as we recover from the Pandemic,” said Brooke Yoakam, founder of GiftPocket. “Receiving a surprise $5 from a friend is a virtual hug, and could mean a free ice cream or taco, which in turn empowers that new user to pass that positivity, which in turn  stimulates the economy, something we can all appreciate.”

The new SEND feature allows GiftPocket users to purchase gift cards from more than 250 plus brands, and then send those gift card values through the app or to a current or new user. Current users can also purchase GiftPocket Points (GP Points) to send or gift to another user. Every 10 GP Points equal one dollar that users can put towards a purchase of a gift card of their choice. 

GiftPocket is the multiple award winning, digital wallet brainchild of Yoakam, who founded the app in 2014 when she was 12 years old. After receiving some unwanted gift cards from older family members and not knowing what to do with them, she created GiftPocket. The app allows users to turn those unwanted gift cards into ones they do want and will actually use. The digital wallet app is focused on young adults, empowering them to use their currency wisely -- which research shows -- is most often gift cards over cash or credit cards.

“GiftPocket solves the problem of losing and forgetting gift cards and what to do with unwanted gift cards. Too often, I received many gift cards from my grandpa to retailers I would never use. GiftPocket provides a solution to this problem, and now we are furthering the connection between retailer and consumer with the SEND feature,” said Yoakam. “The SEND feature  extends that connection, broadening that gift card experience, for both consumer and retailer, through an end-to-end gift card experience with the tap of a finger.”

A video of how GiftPocket's SEND feature works can by found by clicking HERE.

The GiftPocket app is available on both iOS and Android platforms. More information about GiftPocket can be found at: GiftPocket.com.

• 2020 Retail Banking Radar revealed 25% of bank branches expected to close in the next three years
• Only 30% of European consumers surveyed anticipate using a branch for product advisory or purchases
• Customers willing to purchase products digitally increased to 50% from 33% a year before
• Up to 18% of consumers use price comparison websites to research financial products

Analysis from global consultancy partnership Kearney has found that COVID-19 has shifted consumer demand for e-services, with over half of European consumers now willing to purchase products digitally. This recent research indicates the move away from branches and the need for banks to adapt to the digital era in order to retain customers post-COVID.

Now in its 12^th year, Kearney’s European Retail Banking Radar is an annual analysis of the pan-European banking market, tracking 92 retail banks in 22 European markets, comprised of 50 banks in Western Europe and 42 banks in Eastern Europe. This year’s instalment looks at how retail banks have fared against the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and looks forward to how the sector’s recovery may be shaped.

Across all the markets surveyed, customers who were willing to purchase banking products digitally had increased by 17% from 33% in 2020, and those who would still visit their branch or seek advice from a contact centre dropped to 41% from 53% in 2020.

Regionally, the UK came second in terms of highest adoption of the digital channel rising from 48% in 2020 to 58% in 2021. Sweden performed best seeing 61% of customers saying they were willing to buy banking products online in 2021.

While the pandemic transformed behaviours across all markets, it particularly catalysed change in the ones that had been lagging. In February 2020, only 25% of Spaniards, Germans and Austrians would buy a new banking product online. By March 2021, this figure doubled: while only 24% of Germans would buy a banking product online in early 2020, 47% were willing to do so a year later.

In 2020, Kearney predicted that 40,000 branches will close in the next three years (25 percent of all branches in Europe). Just a year later, more than 20,000 European retail bank branches have closed their doors, and we believe that another 20,000 could close in the next couple of years.

Across all surveyed countries, disintermediation is a growing threat to retail banks as consumer behaviour and expectations have changed. For instance, between 12% to 18% of consumers research their next financial product through price comparison websites rather than a bank website or financial advisor. In the UK in particular, 16% are using price comparison portals for consumer loans and this trend is likely to grow over the next few years.

Simon Kent, Partner and Global Head of Financial Services at Kearney, comments:

“Retail banks will need to acknowledge that banking has changed – we have moved from total digitisation and Open Banking being whispers about the near future to it swiftly becoming our present. Customers are no longer loyal to High Street bank branches, and retail banks will suffer if they don’t evolve in line with this change in preferences.

Consumers’ demand for an online experience is not limited to simple products like current accounts – there is demand for complex products such as mortgage applications to be completed online. To economise, improve profitability and remain competitive, banks must adopt even more digital and data-led practices. Transformation is no easy feat, but the business environment of today is unrelenting.”