A comment from Manuel Silva Martinez, General Partner of Mouro Capital on Age UK’s call for cash to become a Universal Service Obligation:

“As our society becomes increasingly cashless, many advocacy groups have raised concerns about the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the digital economy. While these concerns are warranted, many advocacy groups are proposing non-solutions that don't address the underlying issues. 

“In response to Age UK’s call for cash to become a Universal Service Obligation, we should ask ourselves - is maintaining the current status quo by keeping cash around longer really the best we can do? Cash is inefficient, expensive to manage, hard to track by both private and public agents (and thus prone to scams), and requires an individual to travel to wherever their payment needs to be made. Most importantly, one should wonder whether proposing such short-sighted alternatives is a way to mask the real problem: that the increased digitization of the economy and of people's habits is creating a "digital divide" between the technologically savvy and vulnerable groups. This requires appropriate policy so that everyone can benefit from the new possibilities of the digital world”.

“It’s true that not enough is being done to include everyone in the digital economy, but our solution to that should not be to retain cash so we don’t need to bother with digital inclusion. If we’re going to ‘Build back better’, it’s time for everyone to take a longer-term view.” 

The anticipated new book from serial entrepreneur and bestselling author Christer Holloman: ‘Transactional to Transformational: How Banks Innovate’, has launched in the UK today with Wiley.

Holloman invites readers to learn first-hand from the people and teams that have successfully delivered innovation across a diverse group of banks; big and small, long established and brand new, from the east and west.

As the founder and CEO of Divido, Holloman is taking on the lucrative $2.5 trillion Buy Now Pay Later Market having grown the company to be the world’s largest whitelabel platform for retail finance. With this experience, Holloman provides his unique, uncensored insight into some of the biggest threats and opportunities facing the banking sector. 

As a fintech founder respected globally for partnering with banks to drive innovation, Holloman has led Divido to achieve phenomenal growth of 1,250 per cent over four years, recognised by the Financial Times and Deloitte as one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the UK and Europe. 

Author Christer Holloman commented: “The purpose of this book is to equip you with ideas, tools and actionable hands-on advice. You will discover the untold stories about how banks across the world have delivered new solutions to consumers and businesses, products as well as services, across the spectrum of buy, build and partner.”

Told through a series of intimate interviews with Holloman, the book features exclusive insight from within some of the world’s leading banks, including Bank of America, BBVA, Citi, Crédit Agricole, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, ING, J.P. Morgan, Lloyds Bank, Metro Bank, N26, National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Santander, Standard Chartered and Swedbank.

Some of the innovation challenges you can learn about from the book include:

• Working around legacy systems
• Limited tech resources and budget
• Secure budget and buy-in from the exec team
• Creating a culture that embrace innovation
• Compete with fintechs and big tech for new talent
• Validating actual customer demand
• Increasing speed to market whilst satisfying risk and compliance
• Retain control when partnering with third parties
• Making the right priorities
• When to shut something down

“Christer Holloman’s book on how banks innovate is both important and timely. Banks need to innovate in order to stay alive,” says Pinar Ozcan, Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford."

“Christer provides unparalleled insight into an array of innovation efforts by top banks around the world. What I find particularly noteworthy is the honest approach to the problems faced by these vast Institutions."

“For those organisations that are on this journey, Christer’s book provides an open buffet of learnings from the industry to consider and implement.”

Order your copy today:

• Amazon
• Wiley
• Waterstones
• WHSmith
• Foyles

Once you have bought this book you can register at www.howbanksinnovate.com to access more in-depth material from all the banks featured, including full-length interviews and videos.

Kidbrooke has won the award for ‘Best Investment Advisory Solution’ at the Systems in the City (SITC) 2021 organized by Goodacre UK. 

SITC FINTECH CONFERENCE AND AWARDS, which is in its 19th year, hear from industry specialists on the challenges impacting the markets & effective solutions. Chaired by Phil Bungey, COO of Embark Group, this is a must-attend event for companies looking to explore their options and see first-hand how they can implement new technologies into their operations.

The FinTech sector is changing fast; especially with regulatory obligations demanding more time and resources than ever. Hence it is more important than ever that regulated organisations have the right Fintech solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s markets. 

Fredrik Daveus, CEO at Kidbrooke, said: “I’m super proud of the Kidbrooke team, winner of the Systems in the City award Best Investment Advisory Solution announced today. Together with our customers and partners we continue to work hard toward a world where everyone can make educated financial decisions.”

Kidbrooke provides technology enabling the automation of seamless financial decision support, powering hybrid and self-service customer journeys within the wealth management sector. By doing so, wealth managers can slash the cost of providing consumers with high-quality financial guidance while providing new and improved services to a whole new segment of the market. 

Kidbrooke’s strategy is supported by a wider move to digital services: 60% of wealth management clients already prefer digital channels for receiving advice, whereas only 34% of wealth managers favour giving advice digitally. And it’s a growing market, stretching far beyond the super-rich as more and more people worldwide seek savvy wealth management solutions. 

Kidbrooke’s OutRank Financial Planning solution is a powerful technology platform that enables investment decision-making based on the simulations of the underlying personal balance sheets of end customers. The solution, offered as an API, can generate realistic stochastic economic scenarios and apply these scenarios to evaluate any given balance sheet, transaction by transaction, into the future. Built for performance, it scales very well across different workloads. The supported customer journeys include holistic financial planning, short to medium-term investments, pension advice and mortgage advice.                To find out more please visit https://kidbrooke.com/solutions

Kinesis, the digital monetary system for transacting gold and silver, achieves a global industry first, offering a yield on precious metals for the first time in economic history. With the launch of the Minter’s yield, Kinesis is evolving gold and silver from purely safe haven assets or tradable commodities, into assets that generate a recurring yield.

Within a week, all minters will receive a retroactive pay-out. The yield will be paid in physical gold and silver and distributed monthly to minters in perpetuity. This encourages people to use physical gold and silver in the economy, stimulating healthy economic growth as people are exchanging debt-free, value-based assets. 

This represents a true paradigm shift in the traditional economic model for precious metals and highlights Kinesis’ commitment to creating a fair and sustainable financial ecosystem based on physical assets and not driven by ballooning debt. By sharing its profits via yields, such as the Minter’s yield, Kinesis is rewarding participation in a fairer, more ethical, debt-free economy. Next month sees the launch of the Holder’s yield, a passive yield paid monthly on every gram of gold and silver held within the Kinesis system. 

Jai Bifulco of Kinesis, says: “The Minter’s yield is the next step on our mission to move beyond the modern debt-based economic system by integrating precious metals into financial transactions once more. 

“Minting represents an incredible investment vehicle. The traditional markets are looking very sketchy, but our yield allows people to park their wealth in something stable and earn a steady return based on transaction volume. And because it’s based on the transaction volume of a growing number of users, it can only generate a positive return, no matter what happens in the markets. All our indicators suggest that yields will be very strong, potentially beating many traditional asset classes, while allowing people to accumulate gold and silver.”

Minters are entitled to their share of the minter’s pool, which is 5% of all overall transaction fees within the Kinesis system. The payment goes back two years and Kinesis predicts the yield could outperform traditional assets, considering Kinesis now has 70,000 customers and its volumes have been rapidly rising, with 8.3 billion in volumes from January to May 2021.

Thomas Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer of Kinesis, adds: “This is more than just a historical moment for Kinesis, it is a world first. Providing a yield on gold and silver has never been done before. People are often confused why, and the simple answer is because there was no way to make sufficient profit because of the costs involved in buying and selling it. 

“Our blockchain-based system has turned that model on its head by focusing on the transaction fees. And by bringing gold and silver onto the blockchain and digitalising it, we can distribute a yield by sharing our profits. This is why we see ourselves as an honest, ethical, sustainable economic system that is not based on the wild debt of traditional monetary systems but based on sharing and community growth.”

The figure represents a 17% increase from the $3.9 billion generated in H1 of 2020. Revenue from equities increased by 15% year over year to $3.6 billion due to short squeezes in January and heavy borrower demand for recent IPOs and SPACs. Revenue generated from fixed income securities increased by 23% over the same time frame to $886 million, driven by a rise in on-loan values in government debt.

In the past forty years, technology has greatly changed the way we live and do business. Especially in the latter half of that period, the Internet and the Internet of Smart Things have completely changed the appearance of global industries 

Taipei, Taiwan (July 1st, 2021)  

In 40 years, DFI has undergone a series of growth and evolution, transforming from a purely electronic components supplier to a global leading provider of diverse Industrial PC (IPC) solutions. 

Starting with consumer IT products in the 1980s, DFI engaged in a transitional journey into the IT future. Early product lines gave way to the changing market circumstances and led to the innovative and renowned LANParty products of the 1990s, which set the stage for DFI’s shift into more sophisticated industrial computing technologies in 2004. This decisive strategy change has led DFI to further rapid growth and significant financial success. 

Desire for Innovation 

In today’s world, the boundary between hardware and services is blurred. Both must be combined to create a competitive and meaningful offer. DFI is a provider of industrial solutions that help customers optimize their equipment to ensure maximum productivity, durability, and longevity. DFI also serves a wide range of segments and applications, including factory automation, healthcare, gaming, transportation, smart energy, mission-critical, and intelligent retail. 

DFI marked the 40th anniversary with a focus on three main aspects, and with a future focus on the Intelligent Edge, DFI will leverage these advantages: 

Miniaturized Edge AI: 

Edge applications in the upcoming IoT era are becoming more common and complex, especially the ones with a smaller size. DFI has developed miniaturizing technology for decades and helped countless manufacturers to make edge applications lighter and smarter with their small computers. The famous case was the popular Raspberry Pi-sized GHF51 that was the first tiny board built with AMD Embedded Ryzen Processor and successfully downsized the facial recognition, traffic surveillance, and cold chain tracking equipment for their clients. In the future, the focus will be on even more innovative computers with smaller footprints to refresh the industr 

Extended Durability: 

In addition to making Edge AI devices smarter and smaller, DFI strictly follows the international standards for anti-vibration, temperature endurance, and voltage fluctuation tolerance to maximally ensure the product longevity. In regards to the operating temperature, DFI supports wider-ranges of non-standard temperatures, from basically -5° to 65° degrees to even -50° to 85° degrees. On the 

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high-performance models whose operating temperature is restricted to 0~60°C by the CPU, proven innovation, like attaching the heater to the motherboard, can also be seen in order to support booting and operating at -30°C. Under a defined ambient temperature, all parts of the computers must pass the testing so as to fully ensure the safety and durability of the product. 

Synergy with Qisda/BenQ Group: 

Since joining the Qisda/BenQ Group in 2017, DFI’s technology, supply chain management, and manufacturing productivity has been enhanced to a new level. By leveraging diversified resources within the Qisda/BenQ Group, DFI’s product portfolio expands to advanced services such as LCD in house integration, PCB & system assembly, a measurement lab, and enclosure capabilities. These value-added services enable DFI to provide a range of benefits, from flexible small volume and high variety, to large scale and cost-efficient production. Moreover, it offers additional comprehensive solutions including factory automation, digital healthcare, smart energy, and IoT-related applications for future business development. 

Besides those three main foci, DFI, in order to accommodate the diversity of IPC requirements, has continuously strengthened and extended its capabilities. In one example of this, DFI set up a dedicated FPGA R&D team to complement the limited and costly IC choices for the special functions required by clients in industrial PCs. Also, on the way to developing 5G end-to-end solutions, DFI obtained 100% support from its sister companies specializing in 5G infrastructure in the Qisda/BenQ Group to build a solid and comprehensive 5G ecosystem. 

Synergies for Growth 

In July of 2021, DFI will move to the Qisda manufacturing complex in Taoyuan, Taiwan to maximize the advantages of joining the Qisda/BenQ Group. The integration of the production line with Qisda manufacturing system will not only improve DFI’s manufacturing capacity, but also further its development of digital manufacturing capabilities. 

The ‘smartization’ of factories has been the imminent goal following the arrival of Industry 4.0. DFI has been actively building a more robustly informatized framework with enhancements such as barcode management, automated warehouses, part traceability, and big data collection and application. 

“After 40 years of continuous development and evolution, DFI is embarking on an exciting new chapter,” said Steven Tsai, President of DFI. “We look forward and with great anticipation to the further expansion and development of DFI as a key player in the IPC sector by leveraging the synergies of being part of the Qisda/BenQ Group. In doing so, we will continue to cultivate key application markets and welcome partners from various application industries to join us in creating even more new business opportunities together.” 

Tsai also mentioned that “At the same time, DFI is dealing effectively with the impact of ongoing trade conflicts, COVID-19, global supply chain restructuring, and other factors. To do that, DFI will continue its technology innovation and expand its presence in the IPC sector.” 

Moving Forward 

In addition to the continuing work in the field of smart factories, DFI is also actively collaborating with world 2/3

class medical manufacturers and local smart transportation system integrators as well. Meanwhile, becoming a member of the Taiwan Electric Vehicle MIH Alliance also helps DFI to provide more complete in-vehicle application solutions. 

Additionally, learning from the pandemic, DFI has also adopted a more flexible and decentralized management model in response to the drastic change and uncertainty in the future. This strategy strengthened its digital transformation and core competencies to help global customers meet market demands with innovative IPC solutions. 

In the future, DFI’s action plans aim at the twin objectives: collaborating with more partners from diverse backgrounds and serving a larger group of clients. DFI believes that it succeeds when its partners and clients succeed. This honor motivates DFI to help more industries with its expertise and experience in progressing automation and reach more peaks together in the next ten years. 

Learn more about DFI IoT Innovation, please visit https://www.dfi.com/anniversary40 

Opsmatix, an innovative provider of AI-powered omnichannel operations automation solutions, announces a significant new hire to lead their platform development. Sateesh Pinnamaneni has joined the firm as Head of Engineering and will be working closely with Mark Barton, Opsmatix's Chief Technology Officer. 

Sateesh has over 20 years of experience in IT, having worked at some of the world's leading financial institutions, including; Nomura, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. He specialises in high-performance computing, low latency and front and middle office solutions. He is a self-proclaimed technology enthusiast and has joined Opsmatix to accelerate the platform development programme. Sateesh is also a keen tennis player and, in his spare time, coaches children. 

Justin Forrest, CEO at Opsmatix, said: "Sateesh is a great addition to the team. His stellar expertise and drive to develop AI solutions that deliver real value to the end-user align perfectly with our business development objectives. We are on a rapid growth trajectory right now, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. My goal as CEO is to ensure we build a world-class engineering team which enables them to continually create innovative AI-driven solutions that support our customers' needs both now and in the future. Sateesh is integral in terms of making this happen."

Sateesh concludes: "AI is a broad discipline, which when not applied correctly, can be counterproductive. This is because developing a system that only gets it right 50% of the time creates more work down the line. In my view, the industry's biggest challenge is developing models which continually measure the accuracy and success of the AI offering. At Opsmatix, we carefully identify the intentions in all types of unstructured communications and then pair them with the appropriate data points to automate manual processes and ultimately deliver quantifiable productivity gains alongside substantial cost and time savings. My number one focus is to ensure our solutions can be constantly monitored and accurately measured as this is the only way we will be able to deliver robust, future-proofed solutions which always exceed customers expectations."

 733Park’s deal sourcing team recently sourced Northeast Merchant Systems, a provider of comprehensive merchant credit card processing services for GreenBox POS (NASDAQ: GBOX) a customized blockchain payment solution system. The acquisition brings new retail merchant accounts to @GreenBox as well as a new BIN sponsor relationship. @GreenBox furthers its ability to create customized payment systems for businesses, including solutions with cashless transactions, cryptocurrency, and digital payments.

733Park specializes in deal sourcing and deal origination of payments, Fintech and SaaS acquisition opportunities for select clients.   Lane Gordon, managing director of 733Park, has sourced deals for some of the largest private equity groups, payments companies, and software companies, for over 17 years. Deal sourcing is as much a science as it is an art. 733Park opens doors that others can’t, because of their experience and their thought-out approach.

SERgroup Holding International GmbH (SER Group), a leading global vendor of ECM software for intelligent information management, has taken the next step in its international growth strategy and, effective July 1, 2021, has founded SER Solutions Middle East Ltd., based out of Dubai.

The SER Group is scaling its engagement in the Middle East and building on its existing partner network with its own resources and expertise. Under the leadership of Stefan Zeitzen, Chief Sales Officer of the SER Group, and Nabil Ben Abdallah, Vice President of Sales and Managing Director of SER Solutions Middle East Ltd., the new Dubai-based subsidiary launches operations as of July 1, 2021. The office is situated in the prestigious Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), one of the most important global business hubs. From here, the SER Group will serve its customers from  throughout Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

“The entire region is currently highly focused on driving digitalization: For example, the “Dubai Paperless Strategy” aims to fully digitalize government and administrative processes. The healthcare and logistics sectors, however, are also strong candidates for digitalization in this growth region. The government-sponsored initiatives clearly demonstrate the high priority of digitalization and its essential role in ensuring sustainability and economic growth. 

“With our new subsidiary in Dubai, we want to directly support companies in their digitalization objectives. The demand in this region is immense, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where there is such agility and quick decision processes, which is ideal for us as a business location,” explains Stefan Zeitzen.

Expertise — close by and direct

Effective immediately, SER Group customers in the region will be supported by Nabil Ben Abdallah and his team. Abdallah has a deep understanding of the market. In his years as a Project Manager, Professional Services Manager, Vice President of Sales in automation, and most recently, General Manager, he has helped countless customers to achieve their digitalization objectives. Together with Stefan Zeitzen, he is the Managing Director of SER Solutions Middle East Ltd. and responsible for the acquisition and management of new customers and partners. “Digitalization at companies and organizations in the Middle East remains a key focus. The potential of intelligent cloud solutions to help enterprise leaders fast-track the fulfillment of digitalization goals is immense. With an innovative platform like Doxis4, I am convinced that these leaders will be galvanized to replace paper-based processes and outdated legacy systems with our future-ready digital solutions,” says Ben Abdallah.

Software "Made in Germany"

“As a globally recognized premium vendor, we go beyond providing our customers ready-to-run solutions: We are fully invested in ensuring the long-term success of their digitalization strategy,” says Zeitzen. He adds: “The quality benchmark ‘Made in Germany’ is standard for us – and this is precisely the high quality that our customers and partners in this region appreciate so much.”

Elron, a leading Israeli early-stage tech investment company, announced a new managerial appointment. Mr. Elik Etzion has been appointed to lead the Enterprise Software and Cyber Investments at Elron. Etzion will be responsible for identifying and accompanying companies specializing in Cybersecurity and Enterprise Software spaces. He will take over the role as of July 2021.

Elron specializes in early-stage investments in cyber and software companies. The company is reinforcing its management and investment teams. Following its capital offering this past April, the company has approximately $90 million in its fund that is primarily earmarked for continued investments in cyber and software sectors, the company’s leading area of focus, alongside the maturation of its medical device portfolio companies. 

Simultaneous with Etzion’s appointment, Mr. Zohar Rozenberg, who successfully spearheaded cyber investments over the past six years, will continue with the company as an active independent partner (Venture Partner). He will continue to support the activities of Elron and its portfolio companies, in which he serves as a board member and a member of the investments team.

46-year-old Elik Etzion is joining Elron’s management team to head cyber and software investments in the company after a comprehensive career of  25 years in key Elron investment sectors. He brings extensive experience in all facets of cyber and data analytics and is familiar with the digital age and the complex challenges that it entails. 

Etzion, a retired lieutenant colonel, began his career at the top of the tech and cyber world in the IDF, where he gained diverse technological-operational experience and knowledge over the course of 20 years in Unit 8200. In his last positions in the IDF, Etzion served as deputy commander of the cyber division, head of the R&D Department, and Head of the Cyber operations Department. 

Upon his discharge from the IDF, Etzion served as CISO and member of the Technology Division Management at Bank Hapoalim Group. He enhanced the bank’s cybersecurity posture and contributed to the cyber resilience of Israel’s banking sector, alongside being party to spearheading the bank’s digital transformation. 

Etzion also served as a director in SHVA and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Masav, specializing in payments and clearance. He brings in-depth expertise and understanding, a strategic vision of the market along, and practical experience. 

Yaron Elad, CEO of Elron: “We are delighted to add Elik to the Elron family. Elik’s exceptional background following 20 years of military experience, his record in the financial sector, and his in-depth and practical familiarity with growing cyber threats and advanced information technologies will prove immensely valuable in identifying new investments and supporting and overseeing our portfolio companies. Elik will join Zohar, my partner in establishing Elron’s cyber portfolio, who will serve as an independent partner. Zohar will continue to support Elron’s specialization in the cyber sector.”

Elik Etzion: “I see a tremendous opportunity to lead the Cybersecurity and Enterprise Software investments at Elron and in helping Israeli startups grow and become global market leaders. Many vertical organizations undergo a deep transformation in their business model by leveraging disruptive technologies from different fields. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this trend. These transformations dramatically increase the total cyber risk profile and create golden opportunities for threat actors. These Market dynamics create fascinating opportunities for seeding and investing in startups that would facilitate secured business transformation and growth.” 

Elik, married and the father of 5, holds a B.Sc. in Math and Computer Science (summa cum laude) and an MBA in Business Administration, both from Tel-Aviv University.