PallyCon, a global leader in Multi DRM and content protection service provider, launches robust distributor watermarking to deter and combat premium content leaks in the distribution process. 

Approved and audit passed, the solution protects the pre-release assets of original content owners, broadcasters, post-production houses and content aggregators by securing video content from proxy deliveries and leaks at every step during the post-production workflows. 

Offering both visible and invisible watermarking options, it protects content creators, studios and content owners from potential leaks by applying distributor watermarking, enabling them to trace the point of leak back to the particular department or third party responsible for leaking the content.

Expressing his views on the launch, Mr James Ahn, Founder & CEO of INKA ENTWORKS said: “PallyCon’s robust distribution watermarking is an evolution in the fight against pre-release leaks, ensuring a high degree of traceability which traditional content protection lacked. With the magnitude of the content generated, streamed and downloaded every day, the risk of proxy deliveries are prevalent. Our solution addresses the situation by inserting a secured layer of protection that pinpoints potential sources of breach and ensures the safety of premium video assets.”

PallyCon’s distributor watermarking for B2B streaming allocates a unique identification to each copy designated to different content aggregators and OTT platforms and matches it with the leaked video asset. The solution is resilient against various attacks like compression recording, collusion and re-encoding etc., showing a solid deterrent against leaking. 

The solution supports mezzanine file formats (like ProRes and XDCAM) and interfaces easily with third-party workflow management. 

The distributor watermarking service is a premium addition to the suite of PallyCon content protection, warehousing and forensic watermarking technologies designed to secure and guard apps and developers against various breaches and content piracy.

Qiagen's Supervisory Board suffers from a lack of trust and confidence due to its history of ineffectiveness and governance concerns. This has created a credibility issue that is currently reflected in Qiagen's steep valuation discount to peers and its own historic multiples, and negatively impacts the business.

The Chairman, Lawrence Rosen, has been on the Board for eight years and has been a senior member that has presided over a series of governance failings that have negatively impacted the business and its shareholders. Elizabeth Tallet, has been on the Board for ten years and similarly with Lawrence Rosen, was intimately involved in these historic governance issues, including closely supporting the failed sales process to Thermo Fisher Scientific. By remaining on the Board, Lawrence Rosen and Elizabeth Tallet fail to take appropriate responsibility for their past failings and are preventing the process to refresh the leadership of the Supervisory Board.

The votes at yesterday's AGM are a clear signal that shareholders share our concerns. Qiagen AGMs typically record 95%+ votes in favour of the reappointment of Board members, unless there have been specific concerns. The votes for Lawrence Rosen (83.64%) and Elizabeth Tallet (61.95%) are clearly well below these historic levels of support and confirm that they do not enjoy the full support of the shareholders and that there are serious doubts about their credibility and effectiveness.

There is an urgent need to restore the credibility of shareholders in the Company by refreshing the leadership of the Supervisory Board with the appointment of a new external Chairman with a strong pedigree of leading dynamic businesses within the healthcare industry. Lawrence Rosen and Elizabeth Tallet should accordingly step down from the Supervisory Board to enable this process to commence, which is in the best interest of all the Company's stakeholders.

Commenting on slowing Eurozone inflation in marked contrast to the US and UK, Jesús Cabra Guisasola, Associate at Validus Risk Management, said: “June CPI numbers for the Eurozone came in line with the market consensus (1.9% YoY) and lower compared to May (2.0%). Additionally, the Core CPI also slowed down to 0.9%, in marked contrast to the recent surprise prints in both the US and UK.

“Unlike the US and UK CPI data which helped initiate a move towards a more hawkish tone, these numbers will continue to support the ECB’s ultra-loose monetary policy in the coming months, as Chief Economist Lane already signalled that the September meeting would be too soon for a tapering debate.

“So far the market reaction has been muted. However, the euro has come under some downside pressures in recent weeks, with the currency depreciating against the dollar from $1.22 to below the $1.19 level.”

Digital payments company, Movii announced that it has crossed 1.5 million customer milestone on its digital wallet platform in May 2021. MOVii is ranked fifth amongst all financial institutions in Colombia in terms of transaction volume and has reached this milestone faster than any other financial institution in the country.

MOVii is Colombia’s first 100% digital money platform, where everything from customer registration to payments happens using the mobile application. Movii’s vision is to revolutionize financial inclusion by making it easier for everyone to pay and use their money digitally without paperwork.

MOVii is powered by Comviva’s mobiquity® platform, which enables over 70 digital financial services in more than 50 countries. The next generation money platform enables consumers to transfer money, get loans, receive financial aid, pay bills, make merchant payments, recharge mobile connection, and buy digital content, instantly, easily, and securely, anywhere, anytime using a mobile phone.

Movii’s digital wallet platform has been used extensively during COVID pandemic by all sections of the society with its customer base and transactions increasing exponentially. The Movii digital wallet platform has enabled people to pay essential utility bills and invoices, shop online and transfer money to family and friends in need during the lockdown from the safety of their home. More than 240,000 economically vulnerable people have received solidarity income from the Government of Colombia via MOVii, helping them sustain during the pandemic.

Hernando Rubio, Co-founder and CEO of MOVii said: “MOVii and Comviva share the vision of leveraging digital technology to provide financial services to everyone without any discrimination. We are passionate about democratizing financial services and financially including even the economically vulnerable section. This vision and passion has resulted in MOVii achieving more than 1.5 million mobile wallet users. We will further accelerate this growth by delivering new digital financial services that are relevant and contextual for people of Colombia.”

Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer at Comviva said: “We congratulate our partner MOVii for crossing the 1.5 million customer milestone. MOVii has democratized the financial access in Colombia as well as created path for growth of a digital economy. The rapid growth in use of MOVii during the pandemic, from solidarity income disbursement to remote payments from home during lockdown, stresses on the importance of digital financial services in today’s time as well as in future. We will continue to support MOVii in launching new innovative customer-centric use cases and delivering enhanced user experience.”

Movii has been continuously investing in innovation and launching new products focused on the user needs. It is working on the launch of five new products: PSE payments, interbank transfers, international remittance, insurance and buy and sell crypto assets that shall drive its future growth. Forbes has adjudged MOVii amongst 30 most promising Colombian businesses.

Comviva mobiquity® Pay is one of the world’s largest digital financial services platforms. It serves the financial needs of over 130 million consumers and processes over 7 billion transactions valuing $ 130 billion annually.

Billhop (www.billhop.com), the Swedish payment platform that helps businesses to improve cash flow and close liquidity gaps, has today announced that it has appointed two new hires joining its executive management team - Tashi Gauffin as Chief Commercial Officer, and Niklas Bothén as Chief Operations Officer.

Collectively, Tashi and Niklas carry almost 30 years of working experience, most predominantly within the fintech industry, having occupied a number of senior positions at some of the most reputable fintechs to have emerged out of Sweden over the past decade, including Tink and Bambora.

Tashi spent almost five years at Europe’s most robust open banking platform, Tink. As part of the management team, he was the driving force behind the strategy and execution in transforming Tink from a Swedish B2C mobile application to a Pan-European B2B platform. During his time at Tink, the company grew from 20 to 370 people, and is now covering 18 markets with some of Europe’s most prominent banks and fintechs as customers. For his part, Niklas brings with him an acute understanding of the payments industry, having played an integral part in developing and executing a go-to-market strategy for Bambora, the leading developer of card acquiring and payment software for online payments - where he worked as its Head of Commerce Development for six years. 

Billhop is the payment platform that allows businesses to pay invoices by card regardless of whether the receiver accepts cards. With over 50,000 SMEs, sole traders and large corporates across Europe currently using its solutions, Billhop has recently experienced a dramatic increase in the demand for its service as a result of the pandemic. In particular, the total transactions processed via Billhop, across all of its customer segments, exceeded €270M in 2020. In February 2021, Billhop secured a €4M Series A investment from Element Ventures, to help expand its platform and bolster its customer service, marketing and sales teams. Earlier this month, Billhop announced a new partnership with ICS, the largest credit card provider in the Netherlands, to help improve working capital for Dutch businesses.

Tashi Gauffin, Billhop’s CCO - who will be responsible for the commercial strategy and development, while overseeing all revenue-generating functions - comments: “I’ve been really impressed with how much Billhop has grown over the past few years, and I’m really excited to be joining such an ambitious company that is revolutionising the way businesses operate. I look forward to the journey ahead and to further help expand the company’s market footprint and establish Billhop as the next big fintech to come out of Sweden.”

As Billhop’s COO, Niklas Bothén will be responsible for optimising operational capabilities, employing strategies to maximise customer satisfaction, and managing product initiatives. Niklas comments: “With my background in the commercial payments industry, I have witnessed first-hand the significant cash flow problems experienced by SMEs as a result of the low card acceptance issue within the B2B space. Billhop was created as a direct solution to this widespread problem, so the values and the mission of the company are something that really resonate with me. It’s nothing but a privilege to be joining a company that is providing such a critical technology and solving such an important business need.”

Digiterre, a software and data engineering consultancy, today announced the appointment of Patrick Bishop as Sales Director. Patrick joins Digiterre from Scott Logic where he was Head of Business Development.  Jeremy Toop is also appointed Senior Business Development Executive to support the continued growth of the business.

Ian Murrin, CEO and Founder, Digiterre, said:  “We are delighted that Patrick has agreed to join Digiterre at a time of tremendous growth for the business. Patrick is a well-regarded sales leader within technology consulting and professional services, with deep experience of advanced software development and data engineering solutions. As technology continues to move up the organisational agenda, data and analytics are emerging as crucial enablers of digital transformation, innovation and operational efficiency. Patrick will play a key role in strengthening our long-term relationships in financial services, energy and the public sector and shaping our  plans to help clients apply technology expertise to solve their most significant organisational problems.”

Patrick Bishop, Sales Director, Digiterre, said: “I am excited to join Digiterre and help build on its reputation for excellence in software and data engineering and its distinctively collaborative, caring and respectful culture.  I look forward to supporting Digiterre’s clients as they realise the unique value of data and analytics in the digital age.”

Patrick Bishop has 17 years’ experience in business development and client-facing roles across the financial services, technology and professional services sectors, and has previously worked at Scott Logic, Bloomberg, Fidessa, JustGiving and Featurespace.

Jeremy Toop is a senior new business sales executive who has worked at Transaction Network Services, Fidessa, SIX and Thomson Financial.        

The revolutionary insurtech surpasses 1,000 customers in weeks of launch

Bequest is creating a digital revolution in the insurance industry with the sole purpose of simplifying wills and life insurance for the millennial market. Today Bequest announces its £1.7million investment and the launch of its life insurance offering as it strives to make sure everyone has access to life insurance that doesn’t break the bank. They also report a significant company growth of 325 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

Life insurance policies have not changed in over 100 years and are out of touch with modern life. Bequest is bringing life insurance and wills into the 21st century, placing value on a personalised, holistic approach to providing cover for families and loved ones.  Its life-admin platform is simple and easy to use, allowing customers to get cover for up to £500,000 in as little as 15 minutes, rather than the normal six weeks. Their proprietary tech involves no medical check-ups or mental health discrimination, and the process has each individual customer in mind.

Bequest is an award-winning insurtech backed and supported by insurance and tech industry heavyweights including Berkshire Hathaway’s GenRe, Covea Insurance and Founders Factory. Its advisory board includes some of the most well-known names from the likes of Bupa, RGA, Techstars and Prudential. Today’s announcement of £1.7million investment is led by Kuvi Capital and includes Clocktower Ventures and Form Ventures.

With an increase in the number of people searching for answers on how to prepare for end-of-life and next-of-kin, Bequest is a timely resource for the time-poor millennials who are looking for options that fit with their lifestyle. They launched their free will service and recently, version 2.0 of its life insurance product, Bequest Life, and has already had more than 1000 customers within weeks of going live.

James Buckley-Thorp, CEO and founder of Bequest said: “Everyone deserves the right and opportunity to take care of their loved ones. Currently, 38million families are unprotected and uninsured each year. We, at Bequest, want to make sure everyone is covered by making it relatable, accessible and something that does not cost an arm and a leg. If you look at the life insurance industry, it is out-of-date and overly complex with jargon that has plagued it for hundreds of years. Ultimately, people want life insurance online, want it quickly and want more knowledge and support - we have seen that in the hugely positive response to date to our product. With this latest funding we can now supercharge our growth and become the all-of-life platform for the millennial generation”.

Richard Sears, Kuvi Capital’s investment director added: "What initially drew us to Bequest was the nature of the life insurance market: vast, underserved and still largely undisrupted in the UK. What convinced us to lead their initial investment round was the quality of the team and their innovative approach: both in terms of creating their own unique life insurance product and developing a compelling go-to-market strategy. We're really impressed by their early traction with customers and are excited to partner with them on the journey ahead."

Bequest was voted Best UK Insurtech of 2020, as well as winning #1 Startup Helping Us Through Covid.

UK-based international bank leverages Backbase’s Engagement Banking Platform to provide best-in-class customer experience

Ghana International Bank (GHIB), a UK-headquartered pan-African bank, announces today that it has partnered with Engagement Banking technology provider Backbase. The partnership will underpin the bank’s digital transformation, accelerate innovation and, by allowing GHIB to create tailor-made solutions, provide an enhanced, seamless experience for the bank’s customers.

With modern, cloud-native architecture that can support banks of any size, Backbase will act as the core strategic partner for GHIB’s digital transformation. The partnership will see GHIB adopt Backbase’s Engagement Banking platform to orchestrate customer engagement across the bank’s full range of channels. Via the platform, GHIB is set to leverage Backbase’s Digital Banking capabilities to provide highly personalised banking experiences and frictionless self-service for its customers, as well as its Digital Sales capabilities, which will modernise the entire experience of both new and existing customers.

GHIB’s adoption of Backbase’s Digital Banking and Digital Sales capabilities, which will allow GHIB to grow its corporate client base, with a focus on payments, transactions, and employee empowerment and support, will be closely followed by a second transformation phase, which will include extending the Backbase-enabled enhanced offering to GHIB’s retail customers. Bring Global is the trusted implementation partner that will deliver the Backbase capabilities as part of the digital transformation of GHIB.

By leveraging Backbase’s engagement platform and out-of-the-box accelerators across multiple business lines, GHIB’s innovation initiatives will also be supported, decreasing the bank’s time to go to market with new digital solutions.

Anas Bourani, Chief Technology Officer at Ghana International Bank, comments: “Now more than ever, banks need to respond to exaggerated customer expectations. Today’s

environment emphasises how important it is to offer convenience and choice to adapt to changing behaviour. Our digital journey, that we have set about with Backbase, has placed our customers at the centre of our digital investment, with Next-Gen technology being the critical driver in transforming our bank. Backbase’s flexibility, customer-centric user experience and impressive commitment to ongoing product development made them the natural partner for our digital investment, and the culture fit between our two companies is unmatched.”

Frank Uittenbogaard, Regional Vice President, Europe at Backbase, adds: “With a genuine commitment to provide a best-in-class user experience and drive growth based on its market knowledge and client relationships, GHIB’s people-driven approach aligns with the very fundamentals upon which Backbase is built. We are excited to be supporting GHIB as its strategic partner on its digital transformation journey.”

MuchBetter, the multi-award-winning e-wallet app, today announced a new international payments partnership with global gaming leader Betsson Group. MuchBetter is now available to players in multiple jurisdictions across ten popular Betsson brands, including Betsson.com, Betsafe.com and CasinoEuro.com. 

Betsson is one of the most respected companies in gaming with more than 55 years of experience in delivering high-quality casino, sportsbook and jackpot games across multiple markets. MuchBetter is the latest quality supplier to Betsson as it ensures the best customer experience in the industry. In addition to innovative, secure and seamless payments for Betsson players, MuchBetter will allow Betsson to offer instant payments in some of its high growth markets with the lowest transactions fees in the industry 

MuchBetter is a multi-award-winning payments app designed to make payments as easy and straightforward as possible across more than 180 regions. MuchBetter eliminates security and fraud concerns via the use of biometric verification and unique security features like its patented dynamic CVV – generating a new CVV code for every online or in-store card transaction. MuchBetter also has a unique transaction fee model vs other iGaming payment suppliers. Rather than charging for every transaction in and out of the e-wallet, it charges based on an operators’ winnings in each month. 

“We are now the payment supplier of choice for iGaming operators with nearly one million accounts in more than 180 jurisdictions,” said Israel Rosenthal, MuchBetter founder and CEO “Betsson has a remarkable reputation in the iGaming market and chose MuchBetter as the payment partner it could trust to help it continue its growth in new regions, under new licences and with new brands.”

“Betsson Group is expanding in some really exciting growth regions,” said Stefania Zammit Marmara, Payments Relationship Manager at Betsson. “We chose MuchBetter for its ability to help us take payments in some of our key and emerging markets. We were also extremely impressed by the security and user experience of the product, which were important considerations. We always want the best for our customers, and payments play a big part in the overall experience that customers have with an iGaming brand.”

Finclude, an Ireland-based start-up that provides credit scoring and affordability profiles using machine learning technology, today announced it has joined IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) growing ecosystem of more than 100 Global Systems Integrators (GSIs), Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), SaaS providers, and FinTechs supporting the IBM Cloud for Financial Services. The IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services is designed to address risk in the digital supply chain through a common set of security controls that are adhered to by the entire ecosystem.

A growing portion of the $1 trillion hybrid cloud market opportunity is comprised of the financial markets industry, which is expected to increase nearly twenty percent by 2024.^[1]  Key findings in a recent IBM internal analysis suggest that cloud is expected to account for about 60% of that future market opportunity as financial institutions are accelerating innovation to meet heightened customer expectations, deliver consistent services in the face of challenges like the global pandemic, and navigate the ever-complex regulatory environment.^[2]

Finclude aims to address the lack of a common credit scoring system across Europe, which has left 58 million citizens without access to credit and created major difficulties for those moving to another European country to live and work. People with thin credit histories often struggle to secure credit through the traditional assessment process. Finclude’s credit scoring and affordability solution helps to create a digital credit score for European citizens that is surfaced in the financial systems of their home country and other European countries in Finclude’s network. The company’s solution uses machine learning technology to enhance traditional credit scoring methods with additional data and insights drawn from an individual’s financial transactions and spending behaviours. The resulting digital credit score provides a more holistic profile of a candidate and can move with them across borders.

Onboarding its solution to the IBM Cloud for Financial Services will enable Finclude to scale more rapidly by expanding its network. The IBM Cloud for Financial Services’ built-in compliance support and enterprise-grade encryption technology will also allow Finclude to help financial services clients to fulfill their regulatory requirement to ensure their customers’ data is kept private and secured.

The industry’s first financial services-ready cloud, the IBM Cloud for Financial Services uses IBM’s fourth-generation confidential computing capabilities and “Keep Your Own Key” encryption delivered via IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services to help partners and their customers retain control of their data and transact with financial institutions in a secured environment. Built-in controls are engineered to help customers accelerate innovation, unlock new revenue opportunities, and decrease the cost of compliance.

“Our purpose at Finclude is to help millions of people prosper through fair access to credit by empowering our customers and partner banks to make better financial and credit decisions,” said Ioanna Stanegloudi, Co-Founder & Chief Risk Officer, Finclude. “Joining the IBM Cloud for Financial Services gives us a security and compliance profile that financial institutions and customers can trust, allowing us to grow our partner network more rapidly and extend the reach of our services to more people across Europe.”

“We designed the IBM Cloud for Financial Services with a control framework to help financial institutions accelerate hybrid cloud adoption and drive revenue growth while addressing their need for a secured partner ecosystem,” said Brendan Kinkade, Vice President, Technology and Hybrid Cloud Partnerships, IBM. “By collaborating on the IBM Cloud for Financial Services, partners like Finclude can confidently transact with financial institutions on their journey to modernization.”

Finclude is a member of IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator’s Cohort 1, where IBM and its Accelerator team empower early-stage fintech, healthtech, and insurtech founders with technical and business enablement. The Accelerator team recruits startups from across the globe that are less than $1M in revenue and less than five years old to build and scale their businesses through access to IBM Cloud credits and business and technical mentorship. Learn more about IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator here.