Path Solutions is thrilled to announce that it has won three different awards at Banktech Award 2021 held on Wednesday 9 June.

The global Islamic banking software company won two different categories for Path Solutions ‘Best Islamic Finance Technology Vendor in Banking’, and ‘Best Digital Banking Technology Provider’, while Path Solutions’ Group Chairman & CEO, Mohammed Kateeb was selected as ‘Banking Technology Personality of the Year’.

Commenting on this triple recognition, Kateeb said, “We are proud to receive these coveted accolades. These rewards have enforced our belief in our vision and will boost our motivation and intensify our resolve in realizing new heights by becoming the technology provider of choice for financial institutions in the post-COVID-19 era. We are constantly striving to keep our leading-edge banking software ahead of competitors, and awards such as these clearly demonstrate the market recognition of our relentless and uncompromising efforts. We will continue to provide the best open and flexible platform for our clients to deliver engaging and empowering frictionless banking experiences”.

Launched by Faster Community, the ultimate Banktech Award programme embodies and celebrates the best of fintech and banking innovations around the world. These innovations have been carefully chosen for their impact on the bank business models, customer journeys, processes, and digital channels, leading to higher performance and larger market share for their respective banks.

Path Solutions is an Islamic core banking system provider with a proven track record and deep understanding of digital banking transformation. The company helps financial institutions around the world dramatically accelerate their digital transformation, streamline their processes to enable their customers a seamless experience across all channels. 

Kateeb is an inspirational fintech leader who has demonstrated his excellent leadership skills and vision to drive the business growth of Path Solutions. His exemplary leadership has made a significant impact on the company’s success and will continue to drive innovation and growth more than ever.

Competition was fierce for this year’s award programme. An expert jury comprising of global banking and technology leaders evaluated the nominations on the basis of three criteria – Leadership in innovation, commercial viability, and social and economic impact. Traditional banking business practices were already under scrutiny for relevance and business advantage, being challenged by emergent market forces. The ongoing global pandemic has further accentuated the situation, underlining the need for deep flexibility for adaptive innovation. More on the winners of the Banktech Award 2021 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJRIKZtHF2U

OROPAY, a Cypriot EMI, has partnered with Salt Edge, leader in developing open banking solutions, for becoming PSD2 compliant to provide safe and secure payments to its customers.

OROPAY is an electronic money institution regulated by the Central Bank of Cyprus, providing business & personal eMoney, and eCommerce solutions. The company focuses on international money transfers and aims to help businesses and consumers conduct their transactions more conveniently. With the goal to provide better, faster, and more advantageous services, OROPAY became fully PSD2 compliant. 

It all started with OROPAY’s expansion plans to the European Union and the European Economic Area. The eWallet’s clients in this region are mostly businesses that, thanks to PSD2 compliance’s perks, have been enjoying more than just safe payment journeys. The compliance solution empowered OROPAY to build new, value-added services around the APIs, enabling businesses to optimise their processes in a rational and time-efficient way. According to Konstantinos Kareklas, OROPAY Deputy CEO and Director, business clients need easy and secure manners for executing their daily eMoney transactions via OROPAY business accounts, and this is where Salt Edge’s open banking solutions became more than necessary.

Being PSD2 compliant enables OROPAY customers to securely connect their eWallet accounts to third-party applications (TPPs) and get a full view of their transactions and initiate payments directly in the app.

“Strengthening our relationship with our customers is a priority and this is why we constantly aim to come up with offerings suiting their needs and the changes happening in our domain. Cross border payments are a mandatory element of business activities. Becoming PSD2 compliant was, undoubtedly, an added value, so, after a thorough market research, we decided to partner with Salt Edge. We choose specifically Salt Edge for its rich experience in the field, API technology, and excellent customer service.”

Konstantinos Kareklas, OROPAY Deputy CEO and Director

The collaboration between OROPAY and Salt Edge helped the eWallet build services around the new possibilities of open banking.

“Looking back at the time when Salt Edge started implementing the open banking solution in OROPAY’s ecosystem and the great manner that the eWallet is now leveraging it in Europe, it becomes clear that the more open a company is to making its customers’ lives better, the greater its success will be. Our goal was to make this transition as seamless as possible so that OROPAY’s clients from all over Europe take full advantage of the provided solution, and we are happy to ensure their safety and quality at every single stage.”

Victor Colta, Technical Project Manager at Salt Edge.

LexisNexis^® Risk Solutions today announced that it received the Judge’s Choice award for the Best Identity Verification/Authentication Solution from Card Not Present® at the 2021 CNP Awards. Card Not Present is an independent outlet dedicated to providing original news and information for and about companies operating in the card-not-present space, including e-commerce, media streaming, telecom, travel and gaming/gambling. LexisNexis Risk Solutions operates globally and works with companies of all sizes in these sectors, offering intelligent fraud and identity solutions that provide a seamless customer experience while fortifying against fraudulent activity.

Card Not Present’s judging panel includes five card-not-present fraud, risk and payments industry experts. The Best Identity Verification/Authentication Solution award honors the company that most effectively authenticates and verifies the identity of cardholders in a card-not-present environment through directory services, two-factor authentication, 3DSecure or other means.

“Identity verification sits at the very heart of digital commerce and fraud prevention. Merchants who take proactive steps to authenticate their users and implement powerful solutions spend more time making sales and less time chasing down chargebacks and fraud," said D.J. Murphy, editor-in-chief of Card Not Present. "Congratulations to LexisNexis Risk Solutions for their leadership in this area and for winning a Judges Choice award for the second consecutive year – this time in the Best Identity Verification/Authentication category.”

LexisNexis Risk Solutions identity and authentication solutions incorporate in-person, remote and mobile identity document capture and authentication with biometric, identity verification and device/digital/behavioral risk assessment. The company’s comprehensive fraud and identity solution suite transforms data insights into actionable decisions to provide a holistic view of an identity for enhanced risk assessment and a positive consumer journey regardless of time of day or touchpoint.

“Fraud has only grown in complexity and organizations need a trusted partner with years of experience and consultative wisdom to develop risk-based verification and authentication workflows that work across channels and regions,” said Kimberly Sutherland, vice president, fraud and identity strategy for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Our solutions turn data and signals into actionable decisions, which sets us apart from others. We empower businesses with the ability to confidently validate and authenticate a consumer’s true identity using comprehensive intelligence while also strengthening identity trust between the business and consumer.”

Visit the company’s website to learn more about its identity verification and authentication capabilities.

Financial technology leader FIS^® today announced the first in a new series of solutions developed in partnership with C3 AI (NYSE: AI) to help capital markets firms tap into the power of their organizational data to increase efficiency and better manage regulatory compliance and risk.

The AML Compliance Hub leverages C3 AI’s advanced machine learning technology, combined with the deep financial industry domain expertise of FIS, to dramatically improve the efficiency of financial crime detection. Designed to help capital markets firms fight the increasing threat of financial crime, the machine learning-based platform aggregates and analyzes client data across disparate systems to enhance AML and KYC processes, improving decision-making and reducing false positive alerts.

“As an early adopter of AI technology in our solutions, FIS is accelerating our investment in machine learning to help our clients better take advantage of the vast amount of structured and unstructured data within their systems,” said Nasser Khodri, Head of Capital Markets at FIS. “From cost savings through AI-powered automation to enhanced decisioning and analysis, AI offers great promise for forward-looking financial institutions that want to tap into their data for competitive advantage.”

Recent research from the FIS Readiness Report shows that 78% of capital markets firms plan to invest in AI in 2021 to advance their strategic goals.

“We predict that AI will increasingly be a vital tool for capital markets firms in a wide range of use cases and applications,” said Sidhartha Dash, research director at Chartis Research. “AI has significant potential in the fight against financial crime through its ability to aggregate data and apply learnings from past events to automate decisioning. The technology also has great potential in streamlining workflows and cutting costs associated with onerous, manual data review processes.”

The FIS Compliance Hub provides a dashboard view where users can view reports and receive alerts as to key risk drivers, suspicious activity, and AML scoring. By reducing false positives, organizations can focus on true threats that require dedicated attention and timely action.

“Money laundering and other illegal activities are dynamic, fast-moving challenges for the financial services sector, and the data necessary to identify financial crimes are segregated across numerous disparate systems,” said Ed Abbo, president and chief technical officer at C3 AI. “Existing rules-based detection systems generate an excessive stream of false positives that require costly and inefficient manual review and increase the risk of missed investigations. By leveraging C3 AI’s advanced capabilities to unify and analyze all relevant data using machine learning, The FIS AML Compliance Hub is a next-gen solution that can accurately identify, prioritize, and report suspicious activity, while simultaneously reducing the number of false positives.”

The partnership with C3 AI is reflective of FIS’ focus on partnering with innovative companies to accelerate its ability to deliver disruptive new technologies and solutions into the market.

n development. Learn more at: www.c3.ai. 

Northern Trust has entered into an agreement with Distributor Due Diligence (3D) to support its asset manager clients with key elements of how they oversee distribution of their funds to investors. The service is named Network Monitor.

Under the agreement, Northern Trust will make 3D’s platform service available to clients to help them discharge their regulatory responsibilities for performing due diligence of their distributor networks.

By drawing on 3D’s platform and distributor coverage spanning more than 75 countries, clients can automate key aspects of distributor due diligence questionnaire processes. This supports asset managers’ focus on overseeing appointed intermediaries and complying with regulations.

Clive Bellows, head of Global Fund Services – Europe, Middle East and Africa, Northern Trust, says: “This solution deploys technology to help our clients reduce manual administration while evidencing the measures they have taken to meet required standards of due diligence. As regulators show heightened focus on asset managers’ control of cross-border distribution, Network Monitor helps drive efficiencies in how they can fulfil their responsibilities.”

Steve Bennett, co-founder of 3D, comments: “We are excited to be working with Northern Trust on Network Monitor. With our 3D platform, Northern Trust’s clients can evidence oversight and accountability for meeting their regulatory obligations, including those of MiFID II and AMLD 4 at the European level, and also the growing national regulatory requirements in major fund centres such as the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg.”

With European regulators increasingly focused on product governance and distributor oversight, the solution helps managers take action to meet their expectations and provide auditable records of doing so. In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently recommended managers collaborate more closely with distributors while better monitoring risk factors (according to FCA, MiFID II: product governance review, 26 Feb 2021).

The Central Bank of Ireland’s CP86 regulation also sets out requirements and responsibilities for oversight of distribution functions. Additionally, Luxembourg’s financial services regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, sets out in its Circular 18/698 that due diligence performed on delegates by asset managers should be evidenced and documented.

Northern Trust’s Global Fund Services  provides fund administration, global custody, depositary, investment operations outsourcing and revenue enhancement solutions to global investment managers – supporting an extensive range of complex investment strategies across the full spectrum of asset classes.

German full-service payment provider Novalnet AG, and Europe's leading open banking platform Tink, have partnered to bring a new open banking payment solution to the European payments market. 

Novalnet AG is launching a real-time payments feature for merchants across Europe, to further enhance the payment experience enabled by Novalnet's state-of-the-art, seamless and secure payment systems. This new feature will revolutionise payments for e-commerce, with the transaction being credited to the merchant’s account almost instantly.

By partnering with Tink for payment initiation services (PIS) technology, Novalnet will take previous region-specific payment methods and offer a new unified digital payments service to its merchants across Europe. Novalnet's real-time merchant payments feature will be launched initially in Germany and the United Kingdom. The solution will then be integrated across other European markets during 2021. Through this partnership, Novalnet and Tink aim to accelerate the innovation of new solutions in the European payments market. 

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Munich, Novalnet delivers cutting edge payment solutions and fully automated value-added services, from checkout to debt collection, in one place. Novalnet's solutions and services are available worldwide, connecting everything necessary to build online and offline systems that accept payments and process payouts.

Emmanuel Kirse, COO of Novalnet, commented: "We expect great things from our strategic partnership with Tink, which is a significant development for both parties. With Tink, Novalnet can offer a new set of open banking related solutions in Europe. The new opportunities offered by this partnership will help both Tink and Novalnet grow together, along with our merchants." 

Cyrosch Kalateh, Regional Director for the DACH region at Tink added: “Our partnership with Novalnet is a big step for Tink in the German market, and we are excited to work together to bring new, innovative payments services to merchants across Europe. At the end of 2020 Tink committed to expanding its payment initiation services from five to 10 markets, fuelled by an €85 million investment round. We are proud to add Germany to this list by announcing we have now fully launched Tink’s PIS services in this market.” 

illimity Bank S.p.A. (Borsa Italiana: ILTY) ("illimity" or the  "Bank") announces the entry into a binding heads of terms to form a 50:50 joint venture ("JV") with  certain funds managed by Apollo Global Management Inc (NYSE: APO) (“Apollo”) aimed at  investing up to 500 million euro in single-name distressed credit exposure secured by real estate  assets in Italy. 

The JV, which will have an initial investment period of 2 years, with an option to extend, will pursue  investments in NPL and UTP loans mainly secured by real estate assets and with a single price of  up to 50 million euro. 

The JV, which will have illimity and Apollo as 50:50 investors and with equal governance rights,  also provides for the contribution by illimity of approximately 231 million euro of gross nominal value  ("Gross Book Value" or “GBV”) of loans previously purchased by illimity, which is representative of  part of the current special situation real estate investment portfolio of the Bank. 

The JV will see the direct involvement of illimity's Special Situations Real Estate teams and Apollo's  European Principal Finance teams. 

The JV has selected Neprix srl (“neprix”), a company of the illimity Group set up to innovate the  management of distressed corporate credit, as sole special servicer for the management of the  investments. 

The transaction will be structured, and definitive agreements entered into, following the review of  appropriate structuring considerations and subject to the satisfaction of certain customary  conditions. The definitive agreements are expected to be entered into, and the transaction is  expected to be completed, within the third quarter of 2021.  

Andrea Clamer, Head of Distressed Credit & Servicing Division of illimity: “We are very proud to  have entered into this 50/50 partnership with one of the main investors worldwide, which confirms  illimity’s role as a primary player in the Italian non-performing loan market and its international  recognition. The selection of neprix as sole special servicer accelerates the development of neprix’s  third party servicing activities and is the recognition of the quality of the management of non performing loans activities and of the success of the underlying business model”.

Horizon Software, a leading provider of electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology, announce today their partnership with Terranoha, a unique AI platform, to integrate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions into its financial system in order to digitize and automate communication to clients and accelerate digital transformation.

This new feature represents an advancement in communication technology for customer support through the Intelligent Robotic Platform (IRP) by Terronaha, a secure AI & BOT SAAS platform, which will enable Horizon to simplify and automate data-driven workflows.

Mr. Olivier Virzi, CEO at Terranoha said: 

“Through this partnership initiative, we aim to develop trading assistants with cross asset and cross language management, with scalable connectivity and high security levels using the strongest encryption methods.”

He also noted that: “Our TNA bots integrate into Horizon's platform and workflow patterns without changing the way the system operates. The integration is designed to connect to Horizon’s data sources, including pricing engines and existing applications such as Excel, Chat, Databases and APIs, delivering the data that their clients need, when they need it, to both the desktop and preferred mobile apps.”

Mr. Emmanuel Faure, Head of Sales with APAC said: “We are honoured to team up with Terranoha and we look forward to integrating their IRP into our system. Through developments in AI, we are certain that their insight and experience will help to streamline the entire process of developing and operating our Horizon platform, therefore optimizing our Order management assistant workflow to clients. It will be a game-changer for Horizon and a significant digital transformation.”

He added: “Our clients will be able to receive trading signal messages to their desktop and their preferred mobile apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram. By delivering trading signals via these platforms, the brokers will be able to attract a new generation of traders. This is a next level development for our trading system, using AI and machine learning to focus on adding essential business value.”

 According to a new report by Mastercard, which conducted in-depth research into how prepared European countries are to embrace the open banking ecosystem, the Nordic countries have been crowned best placed to take advantage of it, together with the UK. 

Open banking is fast becoming a worldwide phenomenon. It empowers consumers and businesses to take control of their financial data and their financial futures while stimulating competition and innovation among financial service providers. The report - ‘Open Banking Readiness Index: The Future of Open Banking in Europe’ - found the Nordics’ and UK’s digital infrastructures ensure the countries are very well-placed to allow widespread use of this concept:

• Households with internet access: 95% Denmark; 98% Norway; 96% Sweden; 96% UK
• Per cent of mobile phones which are smartphones: 88% Denmark; 95% Norway; 79% Sweden; 83% UK
• Proportion of 14-76 year olds using digital banking: 91% Denmark; 95% Norway; 84% Sweden; 88% UK

The UK is building a world-leading open banking digital ecosystem with its own framework and API standard. According to The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), which was set up by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in 2016 to deliver Open Banking, around 294 fintech companies and payment service providers have joined the open banking ecosystem in the UK, of which 102 have live offerings in the market.

The pan-Nordic collaborative models and P27 initiative aid the region’s open banking readiness and most of the big Nordic Banks have an open banking strategy, with Nordea Group and DNB Bank among Europe’s frontrunners. Norway also has digital customer identification services such BankIDs and Invidem, which add security by proving an individual is who they claim to be and are strong examples of how the Nordic countries are leading the way.

Jim Wadsworth, Senior Vice President for Open Banking, Mastercard, said: “By taking advantage of pan-European developments such as PSD2, all European banks are progressing towards a full open banking environment, but it is clear the UK and Nordics are leading the way with high consumer readiness and a number of solutions already live.

“There are varying approaches across the continent and to ensure that all European markets can take advantage of the opportunities that open banking presents, we need greater standardisation. Mastercard Open Banking Connect provides a universal connection to financial institutions’ open banking functionality, providing third parties with scale, resilience and speed.”

Banking solutions live in the UK include allowing customers to view balances and transactions from other institutions on a single screen, and personal finance management apps such as Cleo, Plum and Moneybox, which help people budget and save more easily. By early 2021, more than 3 million UK consumers and businesses used open banking enabled products to manage their finances, access credit and make payments. Payments API volume in the UK increased by more than 70% between Q1 2021 vs Q4 2020.

The Nordic countries are also well placed for open banking in terms of consumer readiness as Norway boasts the highest internet penetration, with 98% of households connected. And, at present, the UK Open Banking model does not include a digital ID authentication service scheme and domestic KYC utility services (such as the Nordic BankIDs and Invidem solutions).

The report also highlights the key differences in how countries are approaching open banking:

• France, Italy, Spain – open banking is being used as a vehicle for digital transformation in domestic payment ecosystems.
• Germany – a collaborative approach, specific to Germany, is being taken for the development of open banking.
• Denmark, Norway, Sweden – the Nordic collaborative models and P27 initiative include open banking to deliver a cross-country system.
• Poland, Hungary – open banking is being used as vehicle for leapfrogging away from legacy banking infrastructures.

The picture across Europe is generally promising on the whole, with all ten countries reviewed making progress in key areas. To access the full Open Banking Readiness Report, visit: openbanking.mastercard.com/readinessindex, and look out for registration details of Mastercard’s Open Banking Readiness webinar which is scheduled for July 12^th.