Financial planning firm Metis Ireland has further expanded its team with three new hires, including a new Private Client Manager, a Client Services Associate, and a Client Services Executive.  

The latest round of appointments comes in response to growing demand from both new and existing clients, and follows an impressive period of growth for the business which now has more than €240 million in assets under management.

Bolstering the firm’s existing customer service-led offering and working alongside Metis Ireland’s national network of top-quality financial advisors, Susan Walsh, Eoin O’Brien and Kasia Preising join as Private Client Manager, Client Services Associate and Client Services Executive, respectively.

With offices in Dublin and Limerick, the latest expansion announcement follows a string of new hires for the business this year, including Dublin footballer Dean Rock who joined as a Client Services Associate, and Financial Planning Executive Kate Walley.

It also follows news that the firm has tripled the size of its Dublin office to accommodate their high aspirations for growth in the Capital.

Commenting on the latest recruits Metis Ireland founder and Managing Director, Carl Widger, said the expansion of the team reflected the firm’s ‘ongoing commitment’ to providing an unrivalled service, centred around its core values of ‘acting with integrity and in the very best interests of clients’.

He added that the move would bolster the team’s national reach and allow the business to accommodate growing demand from individuals and business owners looking for wealth management and financial planning advice both in the immediate and longer-term future.

An experienced Financial Advisor with more than 15 years’ experience, Susan Walsh joins the company’s Limerick office in the role of Private Client Manager, bringing with her a myriad of qualifications and a wealth of knowledge as a Specialist Investment Advisor.

Her role will see her guide clients through their financial journeys, helping them to achieve their financial goals no matter how big or small.

Also based in Limerick and providing support to clients across the country, Eoin O’Brien - a University of Limerick graduate and a keen sports player - joins the team as a Client Services Associate, while Kasia Preising – a qualified financial advisor who specialises in data analysis in finance - joins as a Client Services Executive.

Carl Widger said: “We are delighted to have three incredibly talented and knowledgeable individuals joining our team, with each of them bringing a wealth of demonstrated experience to the table."

“It has been a particularly busy year for the Metis Ireland team, with recent events prompting many of our clients to review their financial status and their plans for the future."

“The arrival of Susan, Eoin and Kasia is indicative of our commitment to supporting those new and existing clients, and of our focus on building a national network of dedicated, innovative and ambitious team members who act with the upmost integrity in all that they do.”

After a year of lockdowns and financial uncertainties, Carl added that many clients are particularly engaged with the firm’s Metis LifePlan.

“Business owners in particular are really seeing the benefits of engaging with the Metis LifePlan, which gives them and their families a roadmap for financial independence, whilst allowing them to focus on running their business,” he added.

“In many cases, the difficulties caused as a result of the pandemic have encouraged people to take a step back and to assess what really matters most to them. We’re pleased to be in a position to help them put in place strong foundations to ensure they’re well equipped for whatever the future might hold.”

Established in 2014 Metis Ireland has a world-class reputation for its inspirational and innovative approach to providing financial planning advice to its clients.

Ivno, the London-based financial markets Tokenization company, and CloudMargin, creator of the world’s first and only collateral and margin management solution native to the cloud, today announced a new strategic partnership that leverages Ivno’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) and CloudMargin’s collateral management capabilities. The first-of-its-kind partnership will enable market participants to benefit from minimising transfer costs, settlement failures and cash trapped in transit whilst optimising liquidity via a wide range of Tokenization solutions. It will also deliver significantly improved operational and treasury efficiencies.   

The proposition combines Ivno's DLT Tokenization and CloudMargin's award-winning cloud-based collateral management platform. Market participants will have the ability to Tokenize cash, cash equivalent and high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) to use for collateral. This approach will give clients the ability to instantaneously record and immediately settle Tokenized asset transactions whilst maintaining a legal look-through to the underlying asset. In addition to optimising operational processes and intraday cash flow, clients will derive further benefit from real-time liquidity insight and the ability to post and receive collateral outside normal banking window cut-offs.

Ivno is a blockchain Tokenization software supplier to financial markets clients requiring innovative solutions to reconcile value transfer requirements instantly and securely. Its offering is specifically applicable to Tokenized assets and stablecoin use cases for value transfer. CloudMargin’s advanced collateral workflow and settlement functionality, combined with Ivno’s technology, will enable mutual clients to benefit from robust, secure, business-defining solutions for liquidity management and payment modelling.  

Aaron Grantham, CEO of Ivno, said: "Clients are now able to seamlessly combine the strength of CloudMargin's operational credentials with Ivno's immediate value transfer software for instant Tokenization and settlement. Working in partnership with CloudMargin will enable our shared clients to leverage the benefits of a world-class team and technology by providing a highly innovative solution which delivers tangible value to their business."

Simon Millington, Global Head of Business Development at CloudMargin, said: “CloudMargin has always strived to be at the forefront of modern technology initiatives within collateral management. We believe that Ivno’s Tokenization technology represents a practical application of blockchain technology to solve settlement challenges within collateral management; it offers a compelling use case that gives firms a centralised, secure ledger where all parties – counterparties and their respective custodians – have access to the same information to settle instantly, thereby accelerating the settlement process. We are excited to work with Ivno to begin delivering this unprecedented service to the industry.”  

CloudMargin and Ivno have successfully completed initial testing on the initiative and validated workflows for secure settlement between the two technology providers. The partners are now seeking firms aiming to gain benefits from the compression of their settlement cycles to be part of the larger proof-of-concept.

Nium today announced that it has expanded its global payments network by adding a new corridor into one of Europe’s biggest economies - Poland. Nium customers around the world will now be able to send money to Poland in its local currency - PLN (Polish Zloty), with the offering being extended to their end-users as well. PLN payments will reach beneficiaries in as little as 30 minutes and the service can be used for all local currency banks accounts.

Poland has grown into a leading European manufacturing hub in the past years, best illustrated by the increasing number of new projects and investments it has attracted. According to a recent article, Asian companies have chosen to relocate production plants from Asia to Poland to diversify business activity and shorten supply chains. At the same time, Western firms have set up factories in Poland to bring down operating cost. The country was also named “South Korea’s gateway to the European Union”, witnessing an increasing amount of investment from the Asian powerhouse in recent years.

Nium’s network expansion into Poland will enable a faster and more convenient payments flow for its customers. It will help businesses overcome the complexity of sending local payments into Poland and open pay-outs into the country to facilitate B2B transactions, as well as B2C, C2C and C2B.

“Poland’s economy is expected to grow at a steady pace this year, as post-pandemic business booms.  We see more funds flowing into the country, whether for investment purposes or to pay vendors and suppliers. All funds transferred into Poland can be initiated in any of the 60+ source currencies currently offered through our pay-out platform and recipients will receive the money in the local currency”, says Frederick Crosby, Nium Chief Revenue Officer. 

Part of Nium’s European expansion, payouts in all non-EUR local currencies will also be made available to other CEE countries such as: Bulgaria (BGN), the Czech Republic (CZK), Hungary (HUF) and Romania (RON).

Länsförsäkringar has integrated Meniga’s cutting-edge personal finance management (PFM) solution into its own digital banking platform to help drive customer engagement, boost loyalty and dramatically improve the overall user experience of its customers across Sweden.

 Meniga, the global leader in personal finance banking solutions, has announced a partnership with Länsförsäkringar, one of the largest financial institutions in Sweden, to launch a new Personal Finance Management (PFM) solution.

As part of the agreement, Länsförsäkringar has integrated Meniga’s cutting-edge PFM solution into its own digital properties to help drive customer engagement, boost loyalty and dramatically improve the overall user experience of its customers across Sweden. The partnership with Meniga also marks a significant step in Länsförsäkringar’s broader vision of digitalising its entire offering and integrating all of its services - banking, personal lending and insurance - within one, easily accessible, solution. 

Länsförsäkringar’s new solution harnesses Meniga’s data management platform as the foundation for providing its customers with access to real-time data on their spending behaviour, and helping them better understand and manage their finances.

Acting as a personal finance advisor and an easy-to-use tool for everyday banking, the solution consists of several features designed to make the user experience as interactive and immersive as possible, including:

• Enhanced budgeting and financial planning capabilities 

• Categorised and enriched transactions, as well as savings goals and a full overview of transaction history

• Extensive insights and reports offering a seamless overview of a customer's financial life

• Practical search capabilities for specific transactions

Länsförsäkringar’s new digital banking solution is available in Sweden via iOS and Android app stores. 

Georg Ludviksson, CEO & co-founder of Meniga, comments: 

“We are extremely excited about joining forces with Länsförsäkringar. Partnering with such a reputable bank will no doubt prove instrumental in further cementing our position as the go-to digital banking solutions provider in the Nordics. Having worked assiduously with Länsförsäkringar to create an outstanding and first-class personal finance management experience for their customers, we are also very pleased to have been able to assist them during a time when so many people are in need of support and looking to take control of their finances.”

Dynatrace today announced the findings of an independent global survey of 176 CIOs in the financial services sector, revealing that their IT teams are struggling to keep up with digital transformation. The pandemic has forced financial services organisations to urgently pivot their go-to-market strategies and accelerate digital innovation. However, the traditional IT operating models commonly used within financial services organisations are proving ineffective at keeping up with their modern cloud-native architectures. For example, siloed teams and multiple monitoring and management solutions are hampering IT’s ability to drive value for the business. The report, “How to transform the way teams work to improve collaboration and drive better business outcomes,” is available for download here.

The survey reveals:

• 91% of CIOs in financial services organisations say digital transformation has already accelerated, and 57% predict it will continue to speed up.
• 90% of CIOs say IT’s ability to maximise value for the business is hindered by challenges, including IT and business teams working in silos.
• 66% of CIOs say they are fed up with the need to piece together data from multiple tools to assess the impact of IT investments on the business.
• 43% of CIOs say limited collaboration between teams disrupts IT’s ability to respond quickly to sudden changes in business needs.
• 16% of an IT team’s time is spent in meetings with the business to identify the causes of and solutions to problems. This issue alone costs financial services organisations an average of $1.7 million annually due to lost productivity

“Consumers are relying on online and mobile financial services now more than ever. As a result, digital capabilities have become critical to driving revenues and enhancing customer relationships for banks, fintechs, insurers, and other financial services providers,” said Abdi Essa, Regional Vice President, UK&I, Dynatrace. “However, the pressure that their IT teams are under to meet this demand for faster innovation and improved financial services experiences is outstripping what they can deliver. Siloed teams, a lack of cross-team collaboration, and the absence of a single source of truth all hinder IT departments from achieving business goals.”

Additional findings from the report include:

• 44% of financial services CIOs say they have limited data and visibility into users’ perspectives on how digital services are performing.
• Only 18% of financial services organisations have a single platform that enables cross-team collaboration and a true understanding of IT’s business impact.
• 44% of CIOs say IT and business teams work in silos.
• 40% of CIOs say limited cross-team collaboration makes it more difficult to identify the severity of an issue and minimise its overall business impact.
• To ease the burden on IT and avoid stretching limited resources beyond their limits, financial services organisations are adopting new practices that rely on breaking down silos:
  • 52% are adopting BizDevOps
  • 49% are adopting Autonomous Cloud Operations
  • 48% are adopting NoOps

“Often, within financial services organisations, different teams use various tools to monitor separate areas of the business, from user experience, to infrastructure, and application performance,” added Essa. “The result is that there’s no single and consistent source of truth, making it difficult for teams to understand their data, identify issues, and collaborate effectively. To maintain productivity and drive the business forward, financial services organisations must transform the way their teams work. Breaking down silos between IT and the business will be key to bringing teams together with a single, unifying language that supports collaboration and helps drive greater value for the business and its customers. Empowering teams with a single platform that delivers precise, real-time insights will drive shared goals and improve the outcomes of digital innovation in financial services.”

The report is based on a global survey of 176 CIOs in financial services institutions with over 1,000 employees, conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by Dynatrace.

Klarna, the leading global banking, payments and shopping service, has released its latest Shopping and Money Management trend reports.

Klarna’s quarterly global Pulse reports underline consumers’ difficulty to understand the costs of using “traditional” payment methods, such as credit cards, and their overall shopping and money management behaviour. While consumers may have missed the social aspects of shopping instore and being able to touch and feel new products, the trend towards online shopping under lockdown looks set to stay. In the UK almost half (48%) of consumers shop online at least once a week, up 26% from Q1, leading to a shift away from cash and towards credit and debit cards, and other alternative payment methods. 

With the shift towards online shopping continuing, Klarna’s Pulse report highlights the challenges consumers face when it comes to using credit cards. Over a quarter (26%) of Brits do not know how much interest their credit card charges, 15% only pay off the minimum amount each month and 23% have incurred unexpected credit card costs. 

The majority of UK consumers (66%) own at least one credit card, with 23% of them using it as their main card for purchases and 43% for emergencies or sporadic high ticket purchases. However, almost two thirds (59%) would rather go to the dentist or do household chores than read their credit card’s fine print or work out the cost of its APR. Surprisingly, this is particularly true for those with a high interest in personal finance. 

BNPL offsetts online shopping issues.

When it comes to payment preferences, a quarter (26%) of UK consumers have used BNPL, enabling them to defer payments or pay in installments. The majority of consumers use BNPL because they want to offset the risks of online shopping - which is set to increase in the future. Almost 4 in 10 (37%) feel shopping online can be risky. In fact, more than 6 in 10 (62%) of those who use BNPL said that the main benefit of paying after delivery is to be able to check a product before paying, while almost half (45%) of BNPL users said paying only for the products they keep was one of the main benefits. 

Interestingly, the research also found that while most people have heard of BNPL (85%), only a quarter (26%) have actually used it, explaining the high level of confusion about how BNPL works among non-users. A quarter (24%) of people who hadn’t ever used it thought BNPL attracted high interest, despite none of the new breed of BNPL companies charging interest and Klarna charging neither interest nor fees on BNPL products. 

Alex Marsh, Head of Klarna UK, commented:

“It’s clear that over a year of restrictions has caused a shift in consumer behaviour which looks set to stay, with online shopping continuing to rise. As a consequence consumers have also shifted their payment preferences to match their lifestyles. The research has shown that while many consumers own credit cards, they are increasingly getting stung by a lack of understanding of how they work, unexpected fees, and the danger of rolling over debt month to month. On the contrary, UK consumers using services like Klarna’s benefited from additional flexibility at no extra cost, saving £76m in credit card interest last year alone.”

Klarna’s Money Management pulse is available here.
Klarna’s Shopping pulse is available here.

Randall and Quilter Investments Holdings, a leading non-life global speciality insurance company focusing on Program Management and Legacy Insurance businesses, has renewed its contract with Atos for a further three years as its core digital services partner to maintain and modernise its IT estate.

Atos|Syntel has managed Randall and Quilter’s growing IT footprint since 2018 which is a result of its mission to generate profit from the expert management of legacy non-life insurance acquisitions and reinsurances.

Sangeeta Johnson, Head of Operations at Randall and Quilter: “We require a partner that can take a strategic view of our digital operations and optimise a disparate set of systems in order to help realise our core mission and in opting to renew our contract and with Atos we have the right partner to help us deliver on our objectives.”

David Haley, Atos Head of Financial Services and Insurance, Northern Europe: “Through close collaboration Atos is able to audit, identify and achieve rationalisation of the Randall and Quilter digital estate, presenting an integrated and modernised ecosystem, helping to manage its operations effectively and realise the value of its investments within the highly regulated geographies in which it operates.”

As a partner to a number of the world’s leading banks and insurers, Atos in the UK and Ireland is an FCA accredited business and has a growing footprint and expertise in assisting the digital transformation of legacy insurance acquisition organisations.