ION, the largest global provider of trading, analytics, treasury, and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, today announced that ION Markets' ION Fixed Income has been named Best Trading Solution for Fixed Income by TradingTech Insight (TTI) Awards USA. This award is ION Fixed Income's second such win for the year, having been named Best Trading Solution for Fixed Income by TTI Awards Europe in February 2021. 

TTI USA recognizes excellence in trading solutions and services for rapidly evolving capital markets. The awarding process takes into account a company’s prowess in capital markets as well as the product’s relevance to the TTI community. This award is presented to the marketplace's finest performers.

Andrew Delaney, President and Chief Content Officer of the A-Team Group, which hosts the TTI Awards, said: "Many congratulations to ION Markets for winning Best Trading Solution for Fixed Income Markets in our prestigious TradingTech Insight Awards USA 2021. It's a real vote of confidence from across our readership of 30,000 senior technology officers and trading technology specialists, who selected ION Markets as the clear winner in a very competitive field."

Accepting the award, Edoardo Pacenti, Head of Trading Tools for Fixed Income at ION Markets said: "It is very gratifying for the team to receive this award. It’s a testimony to our continuous efforts to deliver solutions that can keep up with a rapidly changing environment. We are dedicated to our clients, helping them to automate their critical trading workflows, so that their businesses can thrive.” 

“The ION Fixed Income solution offers access to a large set of venues, process automation, and first-class performance, enabling our clients to focus on growing their business. With the emergence of new technology trends around data analytics and AI, we continue to empower our clients with innovative solutions and simplify their trading applications ecosystem. We are excited to continue working with our clients on several initiatives, pioneering innovation in the industry."

TTI Awards conducts the voting online and this year ION Markets earned the highest industry votes in the USA and Europe. Voting included input from the TTI Advisory board, consisting of experts for their customer and prospect community.

Global risk analytics consultancy, 4most, has announced the provision of its USA CECL Economics Service to BancorpSouth Bank amidst the ongoing pandemic. The partnership sees 4most supporting the Bank through the pandemic recovery period while gauging new risks, as part of its range of credit risk initiatives.

The pandemic has caused volatility and uncertainty for many lenders and as the economy recovers 4most will provide invaluable insight and economic forecasting for the Bank’s CECL models and stress testing efforts. To better understand the changeable risk environment BancorpSouth has been working closely with 4most to undertake a tailored analysis of key risk drivers including, the labor market, wages and prices, household finances, financial variables and residential and commercial property prices.

While rapid short-term growth is a certainty, it is important to appreciate what might go wrong. With this in mind, 4most has developed an ‘overheating’ scenario for the Bank in which pre-crisis levels of output are regained in Q2, but a resurgence of inflation then depresses real incomes. During this unprecedented period of easy money and loose fiscal policy, this could be a catalyst for a reassessment of the value of riskier assets, such as property and equities, which could in turn, lead to another recession as we head into 2022.

Keith Church, Head of Economics at 4most explained: “BancorpSouth, like all Banks, is keen to understand the current risk environment and how that might change over the coming months as we emerge from the crisis. Our team are providing both reasoning and narrative to support forecasts so that the bank can fully understand the immediate and emerging economic environment and be in a stronger position to assess threats and maximise opportunities.”

Speaking about the partnership, Ty Lambert, CRO at BancorpSouth added: “We’re delighted to be continuing our partnership with 4most. The team’s expertise and guidance in interpreting the economic downturn and recovery prospects during these challenging times, have been and are, of enormous value to BancorpSouth.”

TransferMate Global Payments, the world’s leading provider of payments  infrastructure as a service, today announced a new collaboration to introduce its simple cross-border payment experience to sellers and buyers of Alibaba.com, a leading ecommerce platform for global  wholesale trade. Customers of Alibaba.com can use TransferMate’s award-winning platform to receive  and make payments, benefitting from preferential FX rates, quick transaction times and no wire transfer  fees. TransferMate customers will also be able to access global markets when selling on Alibaba.com,  broadening their reach to a wider international customer base.  

TransferMate is solving some traditional payment headaches that plague the global ecommerce space.  Businesses that sell globally online deal with buyers all over the world who want to pay in their local  currency. Using TransferMate’s platform, ecommerce companies can invoice their customers with a  secure link, enabling the customer to easily pay in their home currency and allowing the seller to quickly  receive the full amount the same day/next day, incurring no incoming bank transfer fees.  

This cross-border solution from TransferMate improves the cash flow of the billing business, which might  normally wait days for a payment. TransferMate’s unique global network of payment licences around the  world allows transfers to take place at a faster pace, while also bypassing the traditional correspondent  banking system where transfer fees are often taken out of the payment amount and billers receive funds  that fall short of the full invoiced amount. 

“We are thrilled to offer our payments solution to users of one of the largest platforms for global trade,  eradicating traditional cross-border payment challenges for these businesses,” said Sinead Fitzmaurice,  CEO of TransferMate Global Payments – a subsidiary of Clune Technology Group. “TransferMate was  founded to make international payments easier for businesses that wanted to transact globally, and we  could not agree more with Alibaba.com’s mission to make it easier to do business anywhere. Together,  we are bringing cutting-edge solutions to companies of all sizes, allowing businesses to expand their global  reach.” 

Companies buying on Alibaba.com can also take advantage of the TransferMate service, using  TransferMate’s online platform to make a payment for their orders. The quick transaction time and  eliminated fees leads to happier suppliers, who receive payments in full and on time. 

For more information, visit TransferMate.com/alibaba.

In response to increased demand for intercompany financial management (IFM), FourQ has launched a global partner program designed to drive collaboration and engagement with technology providers, consulting firms, and professional services firms. The partner program will promote and develop joint best-in-class intercompany solutions in areas of tax, billing, vendor payments, and financial transformation.

“Corporations operating across various tax jurisdictions with multiple ERP systems are burdened with intercompany complexity and overhead,” explained May Ma, Vice President of Transformation at FourQ. “There is a tremendous opportunity to address the challenges that multinational corporations are facing through our new FourQ partner program. Collaboration with strategic technology and consulting partners will enable us to seamlessly deliver innovative and interoperable solutions at scale.”

The FourQ partner program encompasses four distinct channels, including:

• Technology Partners. Companies that offer financial close and automation solutions (such as e-invoicing) that complement and enhance FourQ’s technical capabilities to provide customers with comprehensive solutions.

• Managed Service and BPO Partners. Outsourcing providers of standardized back-office processes that leverage FourQ’s platform to differentiate their service offerings and maximize clients’ investments.

• Consulting and Professional Services Partners. Services firms that bring a wealth of knowledge in tax, financial advisory, process controls, and industry expertise.

• Referral Partners. Firms that serve and educate those involved with managing intercompany risk and intercompany financial management processes.

FourQ streamlines operations and eliminates the complexity inherent to conducting global business. Providing automated intercompany processing seamlessly integrated with global vendor invoice management, FourQ processes over $34 billion annually across 110 countries. FourQ’s intercompany financial management platform, comprising of two integrated solutions include Paymaster which provides universal vendor invoice management and OneBiller which automates intercompany accounting for billing and tax optimization.

As defined by business technology research and advisory services firm, Ventana Research, IFM is a discipline for structuring and handling transactions within a corporation and between its legal entities. IFM is designed to maximize staff efficiency and accounting accuracy while optimizing tax exposure, minimizing tax leakage, and ensuring consistent tax and regulatory compliance. Ventana Research predicts that by 2025, one-half of organizations with 10,000 or more employees will have implemented IFM to achieve tax, risk management, and financial close benefits.

To learn more about FourQ’s partner program, please contact us at: partnerships@Four-Q.com.

VALK, the London and Zurich-based creators of a market-leading digital platform designed to enable users to capitalise on a global surge in private trading activity has secured a prestigious place in the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory sandbox.

Launched in 2016 and widely seen as a global sandbox pioneer, the FCA regulatory sandbox is designed to help the financial services industry and the UK Fintech market, worth £11 billion, to collaborate and solve some of the industry’s most complex challenges – including the drive towards full digital transformation.

It also provides a safe test space for companies, and the regulator, to learn how products work – normally for several months – with safeguards in place.

VALK is operating a digital end-to-end solution for investment banks, asset and fund managers as well as multi-family offices that integrate every stage of a fundraise or M&A deal onto one secure platform, which connects financial institutions and investors.

Based on the Corda Digital Ledger Technology, the product’s interoperability seamlessly digitises and automates the securities issuance process for a streamlined, efficient and more secure execution of private offers.

For this year’s FCA sandbox chosen cohort, VALK is collaborating with leading global law firm CMS on the product’s development to ensure it fully complies with all legal and regulatory requirements.

VALK co-founder, Antoine Loth, said:

“Our mission is simple. We want to bring private markets in the UK and globally into the 21^st century by making them digital and securely connected, driving efficiencies and, most importantly, new revenue streams from secondary market transactions and other new opportunities that will transform and unleash the enormous potential which this trillion-dollar sector holds.

“Our success and experience to date have helped us to ensure a sought-after place in the FCA regulatory sandbox and we look forward to participating fully in this hugely beneficial and unrivalled experience as part of our growth journey.

“We warmly welcome the opportunity to test our leading digital platform solution so that we can help to bring even greater efficiency, reliability, transparency and liquidity to a market in urgent need of reform.”

For VALK, a successful exit from the sandbox will mean it ensures its products will be FCA-authorised and that its infrastructure and processes are fully compliant for regulatory standards, enabling its clients to take full advantage of its opportunities.

The company, which launched its blockchain-powered digital platform that securely automates the back-office essentials needed to facilitate the growing trade in unlisted assets in 2019, is already making waves in the fintech sector. 

Backed by strategic investors such as R3 and the fintech investment vehicle of SIX Group and Generali, as well as VCs Ascension and Metavallon, the award-winning company recently celebrated a significant growth milestone after confirming that more than $1 billion of assets had been fundraised or traded on its platforms.

VALK is already servicing more than 30 institutions globally and growing at an accelerated rate.

Sam Robinson, Partner at CMS, said:

“We are delighted to have been appointed to the sandbox with VALK and being involved in the FinTech changes in the Financial Services industry and helping to drive those changes. We are excited about the opportunity to continue our relationship with VALK and its growth in the industry."

Shortlisted twice at The Asset Management Awards 2021 for Technology Provider of the Year and Asset Management Innovation of the Year, VALK was established in 2017. Earlier this month, it was nominated for this year’s Blockchain Project of the Year at the FStech awards 2021.

The brainchild of founders Antoine Loth and Elie Azzi, VALK’s mission is to make private markets in the UK digital and connected by offering a seamless end-to-end solution.

Its pioneering technology also features additional secondary market functions enabling financial intermediaries to offer increased liquidity to clients as well as access to digital exchanges.

ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, today announced that it has become a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). By adding its name to the other 3,900+ signatories, ACA formally endorses a framework that aligns with ACA’s commitment to promote a more sustainable financial system, most notably through the launch of its global environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) advisory practice in January of this year.

The PRI is recognized as the leading global network of asset managers, owners, and service providers who are committed to putting responsible investment into practice. The voluntary principles aim to provide a framework for integrating ESG considerations into investment decision-making and ownership practices.

To become better aligned with the PRI, ACA commits to undertake a series of steps in 2021. These include making public its organizational commitment to advancing responsible investment and how this is put into practice in the services provided to clients; providing transparency around the global frameworks with which ACA aligns its ESG service offerings; and launching its own corporate sustainability strategy to promote consistency between recommendations made to clients and how the firm operates on a day-to-day basis.

Shvetank Shah, CEO of ACA Group, said: “We are proud to count more than three thousand financial services firms as our clients. Taken together, their capital allocation in sustainable and responsible investment influences trillions of dollars and touches billions of people. Our ability to shape those decisions energizes us, while reminding us of our own accountability. It was clear we had to drink our own champagne – we could hardly advise clients on how to improve their ESG impact without living up to its highest standards ourselves. By publicly agreeing to adhere to the Principles for Responsible Investment, we are demonstrating our commitment to integrating ESG factors into our own business.”

Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the PRI, said: “We are delighted to welcome ACA as a PRI signatory. This move, combined with the creation of its dedicated ESG advisory practice, demonstrates the GRC firm’s commitment to boosting the awareness of ESG in the investment decision-making process and supporting the sustainable investment ecosystem.”

The six Principles for Responsible Investment are a voluntary and aspirational set of investment principles that encourage the incorporation of ESG issues into investment practice. In committing to the six principles, signatories contribute to developing a more sustainable global financial system. They have attracted a global signatory base representing a majority of the world’s professionally managed investments.

The six principles are:

1. We will incorporate ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making processes.

2. We will be active owners and incorporate ESG issues into our ownership policies and practices.

3. We will seek appropriate disclosure on ESG issues by the entities in which we invest.

4. We will promote acceptance and implementation of the principles within the investment industry.

5. We will work together to enhance our effectiveness in implementing the principles.

6. We will each report on our activities and progress towards implementing the principles.

ACA’s ESG advisory practice complements the existing governance, risk, and compliance offerings of the firm. The ESG team, offering ESG program development, portfolio oversight, and assurance services, is supported by the wider ACA community, which provides cyber, risk, and regulatory technology solutions alongside UK, European, and U.S. regulatory compliance advisory services.

EBANX, the leading cross-border commerce platform in Latin America connecting global merchants with local consumers, today announced an investment of US$400 million from Advent International and an additional commitment of US$30 million to the company's planned IPO in the U.S. Advent is one of the largest private equity firms in the world and one of the most successful investors in the Payments industry, having made investments in Vantiv, Worldpay, Nets, Nexi, Planet, Xplor Technologies, Prisma, Concardis, Monext, and Stone. The firm joins FTV Capital as a minority investor in EBANX. 

The investment will be used to continue funding EBANX's aggressive expansion across Latin America. "Our goal has always been to develop the highest-performing digital payments solutions, recruit the best technology talent and business minds, and deliver a superior value proposition that makes it easier and more cost effective for global companies to access and grow their businesses across Latin America. We are excited to have Advent join us on our journey and help us accelerate our growth”, said João Del Valle, CEO and co-founder of EBANX.

EBANX’s Expansion in Latin America 

EBANX has helped companies such as Amazon, Alibaba, Shopee, Spotify and Uber reach and conduct commerce with over 70 million Latin American consumers across 15 countries, through its proprietary platform and solutions. The Company has grown at an exponential rate in recent years, and processed over US$3.5 billion in volume and 150 million transactions in 2020.

“EBANX is one of the most impressive companies I’ve seen in the last 20 years,” said Mario Malta, Managing Director and Head of Latin America Financial Services at Advent. “The company is the clear leader in a rapidly expanding market, serving clients that are among the fastest-growing companies in the world and helping them to sell throughout Latin America with simplicity, confidence and higher-levels of transaction approval.”

EBANX also continues to recruit talent aggressively. The Company recently hired Alexandre Dinkelmann as Chief Financial Officer, who brings his public company experience as CFO of TOTVS, the largest software company in Brazil. “Recruiting the most talented and experienced professionals in the market is essential to the continued evolution of our best-in-class customer experience and industry-leading capabilities," said Wagner Ruiz, Chief Risk Officer and co-founder at EBANX.

Advent Invests Through All Four Funds for the First Time in History 

For the first time in its history, all four of Advent’s funds, including Latin American Private Equity Fund (LAPEF), Global Private Equity (GPE), Advent Tech and Sunley House Capital, are participating in the same investment, demonstrating the firm’s strong global support of EBANX. This round is also Advent’s largest investment in a Latin American tech company. 

Brenno Raiko, Managing Director and Head of Latin America Technology at Advent said, “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with such a remarkable group of founders and industry leaders at EBANX. This management team is building a unique growth engine throughout Latin America and is the type of disruptive category leader in which we look to invest. We are proud to have EBANX in the Advent ecosystem.”