●      Following a successful year of collaboration, Meniga has consolidated its partnership with Nordea by continuing the integration of its market-leading cashback rewards platform within Nordea’s own mobile banking app in Sweden.

●      Meniga’s cashback rewards platform - which is the largest of its kind in the Nordics - allows banks to leverage financial data in order to unlock new dimensions of customer engagement, while offering banking customers personalized cashback rewards, tailored to their individual spending profiles.

Meniga, the global provider of digital banking solutions, has signed a new partnership agreement with Nordea, one of the largest financial services groups in the Nordics, to continue the integration of its market-leading cashback rewards platform within Nordea’s mobile banking app in Sweden.

According to the agreement, Nordea will continue to offer personalized cashback rewards, which are tailored to individual spending profiles, to its customers in Sweden. 

Through the multi-bank platform, banks can seamlessly integrate - via Meniga’s cloud-based API - cashback rewards directly into their mobile banking applications, and provide their customers with various personalized, cashback rewards and discounts from some of their favorite retail brands. The platform offers merchants a way of attracting new customers and a more cost-efficient marketing tool. Fundamentally, this helps create a mutually beneficial ecosystem between banks, merchants and consumers.

As the largest of its kind in the Nordic region, Meniga’s cashback rewards platform has already been used by 650,000 end-users across Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Nordea is one of three Nordic financial institutions currently live on Meniga’s cashback rewards platform, connecting to over 250 retail partners.

Cashback rewards are amongst the fastest-growing performance marketing channels across the globe - with more than 100 million active cashback rewards users in the US alone and cashback transactions growing more than 100% per annum according to the CardLinx Association. As cashback rewards continue to grow around the world, Meniga has experienced a notable increased interest from banks, financial institutions and other fintechs willing to collaborate and participate in the multi-bank, cross-border rewards platform.

Georg Ludviksson, CEO & co-founder of Meniga, comments: “We’re delighted to have renewed our contract with Nordea Sweden. At a time when neo-banks and fintechs alike are increasingly launching their own cashback rewards platforms, it has never been more important for banks to follow suit if they wish to stay relevant and compete in this new financial landscape. Our rewards service presents a perfect illustration of how financial institutions can take advantage of the opportunities provided by open banking, in order to open up their digital channels, extract value from their users’ financial data and create a mutually beneficial ecosystem with their customers and other industry or non-industry players.”

Gunter Saurwein, Managing Director of Meniga Sweden AB, comments: “Having Nordea Sweden’s continued trust and backing is a testament to how seamlessly our cashback rewards platform has integrated into Nordea’s digital properties, and how well it has been received by consumers and merchants right across Sweden. We’re excited to further collaborate and work closely with Nordea on continually improving our rewards platform, as we look to grow and expand the product to the Nordics, Europe and beyond.“

London-based fintech LemonEdge (formerly LemonTree Software), has secured funding of $2.5 million USD in a heavily oversubscribed fundraising round led by Sidekick Partners, a venture firm with deep ties to the North American private equity industry. Sidekick Partners is joined in this round by investors Tikhon Bernstam, founder of Parse and Scribd, and Lauren Iaslovits, founder of Investran and a pioneer of private capital market technologies.

LemonEdge enables firms in the private equity and financial services industries to digitise complex accounting, many of whom still run on old, ‘insecure’ legacy systems or spreadsheets. The Global Financial Services Application Software Market is worth $144bn and expected to grow by 8% by 2025^[1]. Modern technology platforms will be at the heart at this transformation. They’re growing at 45% CAGR in a market projected at $54bn by 2024^[2]. It’s predicted that by then, 67% of the medium and large organizations will be using low-code tools to speed up application delivery at reduced costs^[3].

LemonEdge’s low code platform is fully customisable and automates the complex and time consuming tasks required for shadow accounting, LP specific performance calculations, and fund administration.  The platform also enables real-time scenario modelling with its unique Canvas function. Analysis that typically requires days or weeks on legacy platforms can be completed in seconds using LemonEdge’s platform.

LemonEdge founders Gareth Hewitt (CEO) and Jamie Nascimento (CCO) draw on 20 years of financial, business & marketing experience each, honed from founding previous software companies managing over $50bn of alternative assets across three continents. They will use the funding to recruit top talent for development, implementation, and sales in the company’s London and New York offices.

Gareth Hewitt, Co-Founder and CEO of LemonEdge, commented: “We are pleased to have completed a highly successful funding round, and to have the support of such well-renowned investors. For more than 20 years, I’ve seen an astonishing amount of financial data inside legacy applications or spreadsheets that do not communicate and that are insecure. LemonEdge’s low-code platform delivers the next generation of private equity performance and accounting software, without dependence on workarounds. LemonEdge is 10x faster to develop and deploy, and it is scalable, adaptable, and secure.”

Lauren Iaslovits founded Investran, the widely used private capital markets technology solution, and sold the business to Sungard (currently FIS) in 2004. Iaslovits currently serves as special advisor to CEPRES, a platform for private market investment professionals.  Iaslovits commented: “LemonEdge brings a complete no- and low-code solution to the challenges of general ledger accounting for the private capital market. The ability to simulate scenarios without risking reporting data is fundamentally empowering, and I can see clear benefit to fund administrators in terms of cost and time saving in the enterprise data space. This is the natural evolution of private capital technology, driven by a dynamic team.”

Tikhon Bernstam founded technology companies Scribd (private) and Parse, which he sold to Facebook for $85 million. Bernstam commented: “LemonEdge is the first instance of proper low-code, platform-led software to address the needs and development challenges faced by financial services. The ability to rapidly deploy off-the-shelf solutions, and to empower a 10x reduction in development time, will open up this hugely under-served segment in the same way that low-code platforms empowered the mobile software boom.”

Jamie Nascimento, Co-Founder and CCO of LemonEdge, added: “We drive informed decision-making with the future of tailored and complete accounting solutions. Our product is best-in-class, and we are focused on building the best possible team to help grow LemonEdge. Our customers are the next generation of financial services professionals who have grown up in an ever-smarter and more connected world – they expect solutions which not only match their needs, but empower their capabilities.”

Etrading Software (ETS), global provider of technology-led solutions designed for financial institutions and industry initiatives, acting as the selected Registration Authority for the new International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) standard ISO 24165 for Digital Token Identifiers (DTIs), and the Association of National Numbering Agencies, (ANNA), a global member association seeking to foster standardisation within the financial industry and ISO Registration Authority for ISO 6166 International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs), today announce a new joint task force to identify potential synergies between the DTI and ISIN.

The Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF) was created by Etrading Software to provide ISO standard identifiers for digital assets based on open data principles. The task force with ANNA and individual National Numbering Agencies, (NNAs), was established in April and is due to run for 12 months. 

Sassan Danesh, Managing Partner of Etrading Software, said, “Etrading Software is keen to ensure that ISO DTI 24165 will be integrated and seamless with existing industry standards. We want to integrate the DTI with other relevant standards which have different functions but are intrinsically linked. This will reduce the operational complexity and costs of the DTI and provide a clear link between an asset and a digital token that represents the asset.”

Stephan Dreyer, Managing Director of the Association of National Numbering Agencies, said, “The Association of National Numbering Agencies has its own permanent working group on digital assets, and this topic is a core priority of ours. We collaborate with industry and other standards bodies to ensure that standards within our responsibility are harmonized and interoperable with complementary standards, leading to efficient usage and greater accessibility for market participants. In that regard, we are very happy to be working with Etrading Software, the registration authority for the ISO 24165 DTI standard, to look for synergies and interoperability between the ISIN and the DTI.” 

Vipin Y.S. Mahabirsingh, Managing Director of the Central Depository & Settlement Co. Ltd., Mauritius, said, “The work between the DTIF, ANNA and NNAs will provide a solid foundation for the identification of digital tokens as the market continues to grow. By collaborating early on in the process, we will be able to ensure a truly interoperable and complementary nature of the identifiers which will benefit the industry as a whole.”

A key deliverable of the task force will be to produce a set of recommendations on areas of collaboration to the ETS and ANNA boards, including an outline implementation plan. These might include aligning DTIs and ISINs, automatic notifications between issuing authorities or white-label access and/or federated models for the allocation of the identifiers to digital assets. The task force charter, meeting agendas and minutes will be publicly available on the DTIF website: https://dtif.org/anna-ets-dti-task-force/.

 Airtel Uganda, The Smartphone Network with the most affordable and reliable mobile financials services has been recognized and awarded for its continuous innovation under the Airtel Money services that has accelerated financial inclusion in Uganda. 

Airtel Uganda scooped the 2021 FinTech Innovation Award at the prestigious 18^th Annual East Africa Com Virtual Awards, 2021 Awards ceremony held recently in Nairobi - Kenya together with Comviva, the global leader in mobile solutions catering to digital financial services, customer value management, messaging and broadband solution and digital lifestyle services.

According to East Africa Com, the awards organizer, The Fintech Innovation Award honours top companies and products leading in Financial Technology (FinTech) innovations in East Africa. Airtel Money is one of Uganda’s top financial inclusion drivers that enable mobile phone subscribers, especially the financially underserved population, to transact in the digital economy.

Powered by Comviva’s mobiquity platform, Airtel Money provides a mobile wallet to consumers linked to their Airtel mobile number, allowing them to transfer money, get loans and make payments instantly, easily and securely, anytime, anywhere. Airtel Money can be accessed via USSD *185# or mobile App, 'My Airtel App.’

Speaking about the Award, Amit Kapur, Chief Commercial Officer at Airtel Uganda said, “We are very excited about winning the 2021 Fintech Innovation Award. This win is a result of hard work and continued investment in tech-driven reliable and affordable innovative solutions aimed at giving our customers the desired experience as they transact using a wide range of products and services we offer.”

“As Airtel Uganda, we pride in being a financial service partner our customers can trust as they send and receive money using safe, secure and affordable Airtel money services, further added Amit.

Commenting on the award, Suresh Khosla, Head of Airtel Business at Comviva said, “We are delighted to win this joint award with Airtel Uganda. We firmly believe that Airtel Money has been truly transformative as it provided the key to increase financial inclusion and create a digital economy. This award also validates our ability to bring innovative fintech services to the forefront in emerging economies. We are happy that mobiquity® Pay is leading the way in digitizing economies and impacting lives of millions of people globally.”

The increased demand for cashless transactions has spiraled a steady growth of the mobile financial services in Uganda. According to the Uganda Communications Commission 2020 4^th Quarter Market Performance Report, active mobile cash transaction wallets increased to 22.5 million between October and December, 2020 from 20.9 million in Q1 2020, demonstrating the fast growth in uptake of mobile cash transactions in Uganda.

During the same period, active mobile agents increased from 227,736 in September 2020 to 235,790 agents in December 2020, to support increasing demand in mobile cash transaction services.

About East Africa Com Awards - With over 18 years of celebrating pioneering individuals and companies in the region, in addition to hosting the largest event on the continent, the coveted East Africa Com Awards identify leaders in the tech and telecommunications market in East Africa for their outstanding performance.

Mphasis, an Information Technology (IT) solutions provider specializing in cloud and cognitive services, announced today that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Migration Competency status. This recognition is a testimony of the work Mphasis has been undertaking, in migrating several of its clients in highly regulated industries to AWS through a foundations first approach that accelerates modernization and refactoring of mission critical apps.

Achieving the AWS Migration Competency differentiates Mphasis as an AWS Partner Network (APN) Premier Consulting Partner that provides specialized proficiency and proven customer success with specific focus on AWS Migration Consulting with experience across all 7Rs (refactor, re-platform, repurchase, rehost, relocate, retain, and retire). To receive the designation, APN Partners must possess deep AWS expertise and deliver solutions seamlessly on AWS. This achievement is complimentary to Mphasis existing AWS DevOps Competency, AWS Financial Services Competency, AWS Security Competency, and AWS Travel & Hospitality Competency designations.  

“We are delighted to be recognized by AWS for our years of experience in enabling our clients to move to cloud on AWS in a cost effective and efficient way. We are committed to empowering our clients with the agility and fast-paced innovation AWS infrastructure delivers, leveraging latest AWS Migration toolsets and methodologies, such as AWS Cloud Adoption Framework, AWS Application Migration Services, AWS Cloud Readiness Assessments, and AWS Well-Architected Reviews. We use our state-of-the-art Cloud automation platforms for migration and modernization to deliver business agility, innovation, and cost optimization. Our work with leading enterprises, in highly regulated industries, covers the entire life cycle of cloud migrations from assessing an application ecosystem to securely migrating not just the apps and data but the entire business process and operating model. Achieving the AWS Migration Competency stands as a testimony of Mphasis success in enabling enterprise digital transformation with AWS,” said, Elango R, President, North America-New Clients Acquisition Mphasis.

AWS offers scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify Consulting and Technology APN Partners with deep industry experience and expertise.

About Mphasis:

Mphasis applies next-generation technology to help enterprises transform businesses globally. Customer centricity is foundational to Mphasis and is reflected in the Mphasis’ Front2Back™ Transformation approach. Front2Back™ uses the exponential power of cloud and cognitive to provide hyper-personalized (C=X2C2 TM=1) digital experience to clients and their end customers. Mphasis’ Service Transformation approach helps ‘shrink the core’ through the application of digital technologies across legacy environments within an enterprise, enabling businesses to stay ahead in a changing world. Mphasis’ core reference architectures and tools, speed and innovation with domain expertise and specialization are key to building strong relationships with marquee clients. Click here to know more.

Welsh Accountancy business Mazuma has scored a triple whammy of award nominations in the FinTech Wales Awards and the Finance Awards Wales.

The awards reward excellence and innovation in Finance and FinTech in Wales, looking at the creative thinkers and innovators who are driving growth and positive change in their businesses.

Mazuma, based in Bridgend, is the UK’s leading online accountancy firm for freelancers and micro businesses.

It combines the technology of online accountancy via their proprietory tech (MazApp) with a human-focused approach, making things simple and clear for clients and being a friendly ear for the self-employed and business owners.

Mazuma is nominated for FinTech Company of the year and is up against heavyweights like Confused.com. The award is sponsored by Cardiff Capital Region.

Lucy said: “It’s an honour to be selected as one of the finalists in these awards, particularly in a category with such well established and innovative businesses."

“It’s a testament to our whole team that we’ve been able to realise our vision and create our own technology (called MazApp) that can take a pile of receipts and turn it into a set of Statutory Accounts in under an hour. To have achieved this against the backdrop of the pandemic is even more exciting."

Not only is Mazuma in the running for a prestigious award, but two of its staff have also been named as finalists.

Chartered accountant Stephanie Collins, Mazuma's Head of Professional Standards is a finalist for Accountant of the Year, while long-standing member of staff Bryony Ham is a finalist in the category of Accounting Technician of the Year.

Upon learning of her nomination, Stephanie said "I'm speechless. I never thought I;d be nominated, let alone become a finalist!".

These nominations come upon the back of a successful year for Mazuma with around 20% growth and a series of new jobs being created at the company.

The winners are due to be announced at awards ceremonies in Cardiff on September 3rd and 23rd.

LEXIT, a decentralized finance platform (DeFi) for tokenizing intellectual property into Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) announced today it has on boarded two new advisors, Marc Brouwers and Werner Leermakers from LvH Corporate Finance in an effort to grow the platform following the best practices from the corporate finance industry. Marc and Werner will advise on all financial subjects, best practice and open up their vast financial network to assist in the growth of the LEXIT platform.

Marc Brouwers has more than 20 years of experience in M&A dealmaking and corporate finance. He worked with American Appraisal/Duff & Phelps (2012-2017), Ernst & Young (2000-2012) and as a business owner of a consultancy agency (1994-1999).

Werner Leermakers is an all-round, hands-on consultant with more than 18 years of experience in corporate finance and transaction management. Starting in 2000 at Ernst & Young, he has experienced all aspects of business transactions: buying, selling, (re)financing and valuation.

About LvH Corporate Finance

Werner founded LvH Corporate Finance in 2014 and was joined by Marc Brouwers in 2017. Together we built LVH Corporate Finance into a trusted corporate finance lead advisor providing best-in-class advice and seamless execution on M&A transactions for our clients. Since our inception in 2014, we continue to build long-term relationships and partner with entrepreneurs, private equity investors and management teams planning to sell their businesses, build by acquisitions, valuate or raise capital. To learn more about LvH Corporate Finance please visit https://www.lvhcf.nl/en/

About LEXIT

LEXIT is a decentralized finance platform (DeFi) for tokenizing intellectual property into Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). These NFTs are then made available through LEXIT’s launchpad, AMM (LexiFi) and through pools curated by LEXIT Pool Managers. To learn more about LEXIT please visit: https://lexit.com/

The partnership with the payment services provider, which is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain, will enable merchant customers to seamlessly and securely turn any NFC-enabled Android device into a payments terminal for the first time. 

New research has revealed that if someone followed the British public’s interest when buying and selling bitcoin this year, they would have made a 27% profit – equivalent to £8,602.37 profit on one bitcoin, or £272.80 for someone who originally invested £1,000.

The analysis by money transfer experts RationalFX calculated what return someone could expect if they invested in the cryptocurrency when internet searches for “buy bitcoin” were at their highest, and then sold it when searches spiked for “sell bitcoin”. 

Based on daily Google search trends for this year, searches for “buy bitcoin” compared to “sell bitcoin” were at their highest on Monday 8February, when the price of one Bitcoin closed at  $44,716.69 (£31,534.21). 

This was the date that Tesla announced it had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, and that it would start accepting it as a payment method for its products.

Then on Wednesday 10 March, searches for “sell bitcoin” were at their highest compared to “buy bitcoin”, when the cryptocurrency closed at $56,915.17 (£40,136.58). 

Therefore someone who chose to invest on the first date and sell on the second date would have made 27% profit. That equates to $12,198.49 (£8,602.37) profit for one full bitcoin, or £272.80 if someone had invested £1,000.

The study also found that lucky investors could have made even more money speculating on the cryptocurrency in 2021, if they happened to choose the right dates. 

Bitcoin’s lowest point this year was $28,154.11 (£19,854.28) on Monday 4 January, while it reached its highest price on Thursday 15 April, when it went up to a high of $64,801.79 (£45,698.22). 

As a result, if someone had bought and sold on those dates, they would have made a 130% profit of $36,647.68 (£25,843.94) in three months. For someone who invested £1,000, they would enjoy a profit of £1,300.

Conversely if someone had invested in bitcoin at its high point this year, and sold it on Thursday 20 May, when it dropped as low as $30,201.96, they would have suffered a 53% loss. That equates to losing $34,599.83 (£24,399.80) for one full bitcoin, or £530 for someone who originally invested £1,000.

Commenting on the study, a spokesperson for RationalFX said: “Excitement about cryptocurrencies continues to grow, and these figures show that plenty of people are following news about bitcoin closely. The potential profits can look very tempting, but the volatility of the price and the possible losses will put off plenty of would-be investors too.”

Bitcoin has been traded since 1 October 2013, and reached its lowest ever price of just $83 on 3 October 2013. If someone chose to invest in one bitcoin at that point, and then sold it at its highest ever price, of $64,801.79 on 15 April earlier this year, they would have made a 776% profit. 

That equates to a profit of $64,718.45 (£45,950.10) on one bitcoin, or if someone had invested £1,000, they would have made a massive  £776,668.15. 

The research was carried out by RationalFX, which is one of Europe’s leading international payment providers, helping businesses and individuals to streamline their bank-to-bank transfers with smart global payment solutions.