SmartStream Technologies, the financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM^®) solutions provider, today announces KeyBank N.A. goes live with its TLM Collateral Management (formerly Algorithmics/IBM Collateral) OnDemand solution - offering coverage for cleared and non-cleared, over the-counter (OTC) derivatives, repo and securities lending margining.

KeyBank needed to streamline its back-office workflow with a cloud offering that would enhance efficiencies within their collateral management operations - this included all data capture, validation, calculation and processing. In addition, the use of APIs links the application to various other reporting solutions and downstream systems. A powerful user interface provides clear and logical paths for the user, and a management dashboard will help with trend analysis and decision-making.

Paula Janofsky, Swap Operations Director, KeyBank, states: “Moving to the cloud enabled us to further improve and automate our operational and credit risk strategies, and reduce our internal infrastructure and support costs”.

Jason Ang, Program Manager, TLM Collateral Management, SmartStream, states: “We are delighted to have gone live with KeyBank. The bank will benefit from SmartStream’s industry leading collateral management solution ensuring that all operational efficiencies are met, whilst keeping an eye on costs”.

TLM Collateral Management can be installed on-premise or accessed via the cloud. The latter deployment option removes the need for firms to buy and install their own hardware, shortening implementation times and minimising overheads. SmartStream’s Collateral Management OnDemand solution provides physical segregation of client data to ensure that client information is never commingled.

Nukkleus, Inc. (NUKK), a leading software and technology solutions firm, announced the recent acquisition of Match Financial Limited. The acquisition was completed on 28 May, 2021. Match Financial is a financial services firm that wholly owns Digital RFQ Limited, an FCA registered EMD agent enabling frictionless and efficient conversion of FIAT to crypto through multiple banking facilities allowing for global same day settlement.

Match Financial will be absorbed into Nukkleus as the company looks to scale its operations and increase its service offerings in direct response to client demand. Through the acquisition, Nukkleus will be able to offer a full-service digital asset platform with unique access to deep liquidity and a comprehensive suite of crypto products and services.

Nukkleus and Match Financial are primarily focussed on advanced multi-asset trading technology, institutional digital asset execution, crypto-backed product investment management and global payment services.

With the belief that multi-asset investment strategies must include digital assets, Emil Assentato, CEO of Nukkleus said: “As digital assets continue to be widely adopted, we believe that the best guarantee of acceptance and longevity will be transparency, governance and oversight. This is what Match Financial provides Nukkleus, underpinned by performance, security, integrity and the right partnerships”.

Jamie Khurshid, the Founder and Managing Director of Match Financial, spoke on the vision to de-risk investing through regulated products and regulated firms: “Digital Assets are especially exciting as they are a technology that has the opportunity to be massively beneficial in everyday lives. As an industry, we are at the early stage of fully appreciating the impact and benefits, but we have run into a number of fairly predictable issues that are preventing mainstream adoption. In creating Match Financial, we have specifically gone out to address these issues in a structured way to enable crypto to become a legitimate part of an investment portfolio for the long term.”

Nukkleus and Match Financial share a vision of healthy, customizable approaches to digital asset investment.

Providing stability and legitimacy to volatile assets

Over the last year, cryptocurrencies have seen tremendous growth. As they enter a new period of price discovery, investors are presented with huge opportunities to enter the crypto market at a crucial time. However, as with all opportunity, comes risk and managing a risk-reward investment strategy is a delicate balance.

This is the challenge that led to the addition of Match Financial’s capabilities into the Nukkleus suite. Now Nukkleus can combine its best-in-class technology with Match Financial’s superior institutional crypto advisory, over-the-counter brokerage, and exchange execution services. Nukkleus will be able to extend its full service offering and compete effectively in the multi-asset space. Investors seeking customized crypto investment approaches now have a one-stop-shop that matches their understanding of technology, the markets and available investment products with their associated risk.

If the last year and a half have shown us anything, it’s that having a multi-asset approach to investing, including cryptocurrencies, is key for both investors and brokers. This is something Match Financial and Nukkleus understand as well as the unique challenges in the cryptocurrency investment space.

Like any emerging market, cryptocurrency is largely unregulated and that increases the level of risk for investors. While more regulation has been making its way into the crypto space, there’s still a long way to go. For example, more than 800,000 leveraged Bitcoin accounts were liquidated in May 2021 as a result of price volatility – and markets still haven’t recovered.

Cryptocurrency investments have unique requirements and challenges. Along with regulatory and volatility-related concerns, secure cryptocurrency custody remains an infrastructural and insurance challenge, particularly for high-volume traders and trading platforms. Additionally, crypto market participants are battling against fraud and other kinds of financial crimes, including money laundering. This means crypto and digital assets are not suitable for everyone. However, for those who understand the asset class and the risks, Match Financial and Nukkleus offer what is believed to be the safest possible mechanism to enter the market and gain exposure to the performance of crypto assets.

This is where Nukkleus can deliver real value to investors. With the acquisition of Match Financial, investors aware of the risks of buying and holding the physical asset, can safely access cryptocurrencies through their network of regulated business partners and liquidity providers. Investors not previously comfortable with the risks in cryptocurrency technology or the available cryptocurrency investment products, will now be able to take advantage of the vast opportunities presented by digital currencies. With a strong background in traditional financial markets and investment banking, the Match Financial team consists of experts in regulation and consumer protection for institutional businesses, as well as for professional and accredited investors.

Nukkleus, through Match Financial will also provide unique access to the first fully-regulated and cleared crypto instruments on a fully-regulated market.  Access to these products is only possible through Match’s wholly-owned subsidiary and crypto-backed financial product investment manager, Digital RFQ Limited, a leading institutional cryptocurrency to FIAT exchange service, token advisory and OTC brokerage registered with the UK FCA as an EMD Agent with full banking level KYC, KYB and AML.

About Nukkleus, Inc.

Nukkleus, Inc. (OTC Pink: NUKK) combines its world class technology with institutional digital asset advisory and exchange execution services, giving Nukkleus the full-service offerings needed to compete effectively in the multi asset world. 

Nukkleus is a digital financial services company with a suite of financial technology to provide institutional counterparts with unique access to global liquidity and a comprehensive suite of products and services ranging from advanced trading and technology to trusted token advisory services.

Our technology delivers counterparts institutional-grade access to traditional and digital asset markets globally along with a fully regulated EMD agent status for handling professional and accredited client funds and conducting cryptocurrency conversion into FIAT currencies. 

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements".  Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors as disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission located at their website (http://www.sec.gov).  In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, governmental and public policy changes, Nukkleus’ ability to raise capital on acceptable terms, if at all, Nukkleus’ successful development of its products and the integration into its existing products and the commercial acceptance of the Nukkleus products.  The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Nukkleus’ views as of the date of this press release and these views could change.  However, while Nukkleus may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Nukkleus specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.  These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Nukkleus’ views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.

In FY20 and into H121, 4iG has continued to execute at pace, with a series of acquisitions that will transform the group once the acquisition of DIGI Group, a leading telecoms services provider, closes in Q321. 4iG's strategy is focused on three pillars: IT services; telecoms & infrastructure; and space & defence. The group continues to scale in Hungary, with a target to become the market leader, but we also expect 4iG to develop a more diversified regional footprint in FY21 and FY22. On top of 39% revenue growth in FY20, we estimate 44% revenue growth in FY21, even before considering the contribution from DIGI Group (FY20 revenues HUF70bn, EBITDA HUF19bn). 4iG is fast growing, with a likely step-up in margins post DIGI Group, and offers an attractive dividend yield, yet trades on an FY21e P/E of 10.5x, a 40%+ discount to its peer group.

At an FY21 P/E of 10.5x and EV/EBITDA of 6.1x, 4iG's valuation neither reflects the transformation the business has already achieved nor its future prospects as management executes on its plan for market leadership in Hungary. Even pre-DIGI Group, the stock remains at a substantial discount to regional peers, as well as a material discount to our NPV estimate of HUF1,237 per share (WACC of 8.2%). 

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• Cyber security pioneer SenseOn launches new campaign showcasing they are on a mission to create a safer world by putting people at the heart of cyber security.
• SenseOn’s vision is a safer world for everyone to work and play in, through democratised, affordable and accessible technology – as simple and effective as switching on and off.
• New campaign comes after firm named Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum alongside 100 of the most promising tech companies in the world.
• SenseOn is transforming the global cyber security market, having developed an industry-first, cloud-native security architecture, instantly deployable via a single piece of software.

SenseOn, the UK-based cyber security company, has announced the launch of a campaign, showcasing its mission to fix cyber security. This comes amid news that the firm was selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers, a select group of early to growth-stage companies from around the world using new technologies and innovation that is poised to have a significant impact on business and society.

SenseOn was founded in 2017 by David Atkinson, the first cyber specialist in the United Kingdom Special Forces. SenseOn’s unique ‘AI Triangulation’ technology emulates how a human security analyst thinks and acts to automate the process of threat detection, investigation and response. Capable of looking at the behaviours of users and devices from multiple perspectives, pausing for thought and learning from experience, SenseOn provides accurate and context-rich alerts. These automated capabilities free security teams from the burden of exhaustive analysis, alert fatigue and false positives.

The idea for SenseOn was conceived after Atkinson discovered reoccurring problems within the security operations industry that could be attributed to the multiple single point solutions in traditional cybersecurity. Understanding the daily pressures currently facing CISOs, Security Analysts and IT Managers alike, Atkinson set out to establish a centralised, cohesive platform that provides complete visibility and insights informed by data sources working natively to accurately detect and autonomously investigate cyber threats. This enables IT and security teams to minimise noise and focus on genuine threats.

Commenting on the announcement, Atkinson said: “I have seen first-hand the huge cybersecurity issues facing organisations of all sizes and all industries, public or private sector. The range of threats today are so sophisticated and becoming more so literally by the day, which makes keeping on top of them a seemingly losing battle for many. This is the fundamental challenge SenseOn was created to address and I am delighted to have been recognised by the World Economic Forum in our endeavour to tackle what is one of the most systemic risks facing the world today.”

SenseOn currently works across all industries and sectors, including financial services, healthcare and public sector, including the UK Government. The financial services industry is faced by unrelenting cyber attack attempts due to the nature of high value data held, with SenseOn’s threat detection and response platform actively flagging suspicious behaviour and instantaneously isolating serious threats. Similarly, security managers operating in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, responsible for the protection of lucrative and confidential patient data, can deploy SenseOn to safeguard the integrity of this sensitive information whilst maintaining essential access for healthcare institutions.

The SenseOn team is working to address what they see as a historic “flawed approach to cyber defence”, seen first-hand working inside some of the world’s biggest and most high-profile institutions. Alongside CEO Atkinson, the firm’s CTO, James Mistry, spent eight years developing cutting-edge cyber defence platforms for major corporate and government organisations. The firm’s data science function is led by Chief Data Scientist Dr Neil Caithness, who has an extensive academic background as a research leader in the Department of Engineering at the University of Oxford.

Major investors in the four year-old business include research-led venture capital firm MMC Ventures, global technology investor Amadeus Capital Partners, early-stage intelligent enterprise venture capital firm Crane Venture Partners, leading cyber security accelerator CyLon, and Winton’s venture arm, Winton Ventures.

SenseOn expects to grow its team to 60 employees by the end of this year, with more than 30 customers spanning the UK, US and EU, within its first eighteen months of trading and is on a mission to fix cyber security by reaching £100m in serviced clients by 2027.

Phishing, the practice of impersonating trusted people or representatives of trusted entities in an effort to fraudulently obtain valuable information (e.g. credit card details), has caused problems since the inception of the internet. Even the most tech-savvy individual can be fooled if they let their guard down. Compounding the problem, phishers keep tweaking their methods.

We’re now in 2021, and it’s a good time to look at how phishing scams have changed over the years: one 2020 survey found that 53% of respondents had noticed more phishing attempts since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and that trend has continued. What do people need to do to stay safe today? What threats do they need to recognise? Let’s run through some revisions and set out some tips for staying ahead of the phishers.

They’re focusing on home deliveries due to lockdowns

Unable to attend large social gatherings, go to their regular offices, or do much brick-and-mortar shopping (with countless retail stores closed), people have been spending heavily online. Older people who wouldn’t otherwise have tried ecommerce have become accustomed to it — and this is good in many ways, but it also presents opportunities for fraudsters.

Knowing that shoppers will be receiving plenty of confirmation emails, phishers can do things like pose as couriers and request fees to cover import costs that seem plausible. So plausible, in fact, that it can be hard to spot the fakes. In the end, it comes down to investigation (tools like the email lookup service at WhatIsMyIPAddress.com can expose email origins) and requesting confirmation (a quick live-chat conversation with a retailer can clarify the legitimacy of an email).

What you need to do: read ecommerce emails very carefully before clicking any links.

They’re exploiting interest in COVID-19 vaccination

For obvious reasons, people are extremely eager to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations as swiftly as possible, but inconsistent rollouts and confusing updates lead them to simply hope they’ll be notified when they can proceed. Due to this, when they receive messages stating they can enter their details to find out when they can be vaccinated, or even pay to move up the queue, they can be so eager to continue that they don’t question them.

It doesn’t help that most people don’t know which regional or national medical bodies are responsible for handling vaccinations in their areas (aside from huge bodies like the NHS). If they did have that information, they’d be more likely to spot messaging inconsistencies. This might seem like a fixed-term tactic destined to become useless once all adults have been vaccinated, but the likely need for boosters will ensure that it sticks around for quite some time.

What you need to do: check the details of your medical body so you can spot phishing.

They’re targeting remote-working business communications

Email has always been used heavily for business purposes, but its importance has risen significantly during the pandemic era. Companies trying to keep going while working remotely have come to rely on broad digital communications — and those communications can be compromised by enterprising fraudsters.

If someone can figure out the hierarchy of a business (often easily done), they can pose as someone’s boss through spoofing their email address (Barracuda’s explanation) and attempt to rush them into taking some kind of action (like authorising a payment, for instance) without checking. This may not be effective very often, but when it is effective it can prove incredibly lucrative (and dangerous for the company, of course).

What you need to do: use a closed comms system (instead of email) for business discussions.

Wrapping up, phishing schemes have changed in 2021 to take advantage of new norms in how we live, work, and look for news. Staying ahead of them is all about changing your habits: reading things more closely, and siloing key business conversations to protect them.

Scienaptic, a leading AI-powered credit decision platform provider, announced Pelican State Credit Union has chosen its platform to enable the financial institution to make faster credit decisions and support the financial goals of its members. 

Originally chartered to serve Louisiana's charity hospitals, mental health centers and state office personnel, Pelican State Credit Union has become the largest state-chartered credit union in Louisiana, growing to more than 50,000 members nationwide. For over 60 years, the credit union has been providing innovative products and services with a continued, dedicated focus on member loyalty.

“At Pelican, we understand that our members are more than just their FICO credit score and we are committed to meeting their financial needs,” said Paige Corcoran, Senior Vice President of Lending at Pelican State Credit Union. “Scienaptic's AI-powered credit decisioning platform will help enhance our view of our members’ total financial picture and further support our mission to improve their lives through safe, competitive products and educational services.”

“We are very pleased to help Pelican State Credit Union expand its credit availability for its current and potential members,” said Pankaj Jain, President of Scienaptic. “Scienaptic’s AI-powered credit decisioning platform can increase the reach and speed of credit approvals, strengthening member relationships and supporting their financial needs.”

Apex Litigation Finance are delighted to announce the appointment of two new Advisors to its team. Both bring with them an impressive track record in employing artificial intelligence technology in litigation funding.

The appointment of Jan Buza and Jozef Maruscak provides key support for Apex’s growth strategy, strengthening resources to meet a significant increase in case numbers.

Jan Buza led Business Development at Exponea, a data company that raised over £30m and was later acquired by Bloomreach, the leader in Commerce Experience. He then worked on employing AI (artificial intelligence) and predictive analytics in litigation at CourtQuant and was part of Deloitte’s Legal Tech accelerator program. Most recently, he co-founded and heads product development at Trama, a Legal Tech company that is building an AI-powered trademark registration service.

Jan says: “It is great to be on board with Apex. I have watched them over the past eighteen months or so as they established themselves as a leading provider of litigation funding solutions. Their innovative use of AI in this field mirrors my own background and I look forward to making a valuable contribution to their capability.”

Jozef Maruscak co-founded various Legal Tech projects while studying law at Cambridge University. He then continued as the CEO of CourtQuant, a start-up specialising in predicting key attributes of legal cases using AI and predictive analytics. He is now a partner and Head of Business Development in Sudolabs, a company building software products for Silicon Valley start-ups and Y-Combinator founders.

Jozef says: “The legal market is increasingly driven by AI, and I wanted to bring my experience in this area to a company that fully embraces its potential, and that’s definitely true of the senior team at Apex. There is a bright future for AI as a tool to support better decisions by litigation funders and I am confident that Apex is in the best place to disrupt the market.”

Commenting on these appointments, Apex CEO Maurice Power expresses confidence in the company’s strengthened resources: “We recently announced that we were looking to expand our team with talented individuals and Jan and Jozef exceed our expectations."

“They both have a CV and skillset that fits perfectly with our continuing journey of employing AI in litigation finance to drive up efficiency and performance for our clients and investors. Jan and Jozef will both combine their contribution at Apex with exciting commitments in complementary roles.”

nSure.ai, a predictive AI fraud protection company, focuses on the unique needs of digital goods retailers, announced a successful seed fundraising round of $6.8 million, led by DisruptiveAI, Phoenix Insurance, Kamet – an AXA backed venture builder, Moneta Seeds and private investors. 

These funds will go towards further developing nSure.ai’s predictive AI and machine learning algorithms that have reimagined digital fraud detection, reducing decline rates by 90% from an industry standard of declining 20% to only 2%.

Unlike physical goods, digital goods are instantly delivered and deposited. These include gift cards, top up & prepaid debit cards, software and game keys, digital wallet transfers, international money transfers, tickets, and more. Sellers of physical goods have warehouse processing times to double-check charges and can withhold a shipment if needed. Digital sellers lack this buffer, so even if fraud is detected minutes later, the assailant is untraceable, leaving sellers to absorb hefty chargeback fees.

Before founding the company in 2019, the founders of nSure.ai, Alex Zeltcer and Ziv Isaiah, experienced first-hand the unique challenges faced by retailers of digital assets. During the first week of operating their online gift card business, 40% of sales were fraudulent, resulting in chargebacks. They turned to leading fraud detection solutions from the physical goods space but soon realized that they did not meet their needs. This led them to develop a platform that focuses specifically on supporting the under-served digital goods sector.

Sellers of physical goods have access to incumbent anti-fraud technologies that prevent fraudulent charges and come with chargeback guarantees. Now, nSure.ai is bringing this technological and chargeback guarantee revolution to the digital goods sector, freeing digital goods retailers of worry and opening greater opportunities to scale.

“We believe that fraud, especially in the booming field of digital goods, can only be fought with top-of-the-line AI technologies,” said Gadi Tirosh, Venture Partner at Disruptive AI. “nSure.ai has both the technology and industry understanding to win this market.” 

Today’s industry benchmark declines approximately 15%-20% of transactions. With accurate proven AI and a deep industry understanding, nSure.ai’s 98% approval rate reflects a more accurate fraud-detection strategy, allowing retailers to recapture nearly $100 billion a year in revenue lost by declining legitimate customers, according to CEO Alex Zeltcer.

“We are thrilled that our investors have placed their trust in our leadership and confidence in nSure.ai,” said Alex Zeltcer, co-founder and CEO. “This investment enables us to register thousands of new merchants, who can feel confident selling higher-risk digital goods, without accepting fraud as a part of business.”

nSure.ai solution currently monitors and manages millions of transactions every month, and has approved close to $1B in volume since going live.