Target Group, the FCA-regulated business processing and software provider, has today announced that the fintech mortgage lender, Perenna, has become the first client of its Mortgage Hub. The partnership,  which is set to launch later this year, will see the Mortgage Hub powering Perenna’s mortgage offering;  allowing it to provide decisions-in-principle within 20 seconds. 

Perenna will soon launch a range of flexible 30-year long-term fixed-rate mortgages in the UK, providing consumers with the option to lock in their mortgage interest rate for several decades. This is set to create significant disruption in the market, as borrowers will no longer have to repeatedly refinance to remain on a competitive mortgage deal. They will also benefit from certainty over their mortgage repayments for  the lifetime of their loan. Thanks to its integration with the Mortgage Hub, Perenna will also be able to provide prospective borrowers with a decision-in-principle within seconds, ushering in the next phase in  the mortgage application journey. 

Leveraging Open Banking and API technology, the Mortgage Hub is making the cumbersome mortgage  offer process far more efficient, by eliminating the need for repetitive data entry. Its approach means  borrowers can benefit from a decision-in-principle in just seconds. The software launched earlier this year  and has the aim of providing agility and increasing accuracy to help improve the user experience.  

Stuart Anderson, chief commercial officer, at Target Group, commented: “Moving house is a priority for  many following the pandemic, but for most, the mortgage application process is painful, with the  requirement to provide the same information multiple times. Slow decisions are dogged by legacy  technology – it’s time that changed.  

“Our partnership with Perenna will transform the market for the better, providing speed, flexibility and  certainty to both intermediaries and consumers – making the process not only more efficient, but more  enjoyable too.” 

Colin Bell, Chief Operating Officer at Perenna added: “Perenna is bringing flexible long-term fixed rate  mortgage to the UK to help create a nation of happy homeowners. Our mortgages offer borrowers better  terms than short-term alternatives, which leave them exposed to sudden repayment increases and high refinance costs. Our partnership with the Mortgage Hub marks another exciting landmark in our journey  to market and will see us providing customers with near-instant decisions about their borrowing options."

The global early-stage venture capital firm Antler has closed their first Nordic fund. Following strong interest, Antler’s Nordic fund was oversubscribed, closing at $36m, including participation from Draper Esprit, Kistefos, the Danish state fund Vækstfonden, and the Norwegian state fund Investinor. 

Antler, which launched in 2017 in Singapore, invests in exceptional people building the defining companies of tomorrow. The Antler Nordic fund will continue to invest in innovative startups in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, with strong and complementary co-founding teams, validated business models and global potential. Antler also recently announced that its investment strategy in Denmark would focus on backing green, sustainable companies.

Oscar Westergård, Partner at Antler Nordics, explains: “We’re experiencing rapid growth. Since the start, we’ve invested in over 60 companies across the Nordics and it feels truly inspiring to close an oversubscribed fund, allowing us to continue to invest in groundbreaking ventures.” 

To this date, venture capital firms such as FJ Labs, Inventure, Luminar Ventures, London Venture Partners, J12 and Propel Capital along with an impressive number of angel investors, have invested together with Antler in their portfolio companies in the Nordics.

Jonathan Sibilia, Partner, Head of Secondaries and Fund of Funds at Draper Esprit, says:

“Antler is pioneering a new model of talent investing by selecting the world’s most exceptional founders, from serial entrepreneurs and industry leaders to top tier technologists and operators, and then building a network around them. At Draper Esprit we want to ensure we’re partnering with the best businesses early on, and supporting Antler Nordic enables us to do exactly that with a proven formula comprised of specialist teams in prime locations throughout Europe.”

Anders Hammarbäck, Partner at Antler Nordics, continues: “We’re thrilled and proud to have so many renowned investors join forces with us. Now, we are looking to collaborate with individuals, entrepreneurs, politicians and corporations that want to make the Nordics one of the best regions in the world to build new companies in, and support founders from an early stage to work with us.” 

Anne Solhaug Tutar, Partner at Antler Nordics, adds, “It’s wonderful to be able to continue supporting exceptional entrepreneurs through our model, regardless of factors such as background, gender and age. Still today, merely 7% of venture capital in Nordics is invested in companies with at least one female co-founder. At Antler Nordics, this number is 43%”.

Antler continues to take an active role in supporting their portfolio companies in scaling up. Many of Antler’s startups have continued to raise further capital, including Skyqraft (AI system that automatically detects powerline equipment and powerline issues that has raised a USD 2.2M seed round), TradeBay (global B2B marketplace for fruit trading that has raised USD 1.1M), NAG Studios (game development studio for competitive games that raised USD 1M) and Teemyco (Future of Work- and SaaS platform for virtual offices that has raised a total of USD 1M). Now, Antler is also focused on finding the right strategic partners to work with.

Advice firms can now benefit from EQ Investors range of solutions being risk profiled on Dynamic Planner.  EQ Investors (EQ) is an award-winning B Corp discretionary fund manager focused on sustainable and impact investing and has been running sustainable portfolios since 2012.

EQ offers two sustainable solutions for advisers: Positive Impact (active) and Future Leaders (passive) portfolios. Both are diversified, multi-asset portfolios.  The EQ Positive Impact portfolios have a dual mandate: maximising risk-adjusted financial returns while making a positive social and environmental impact. The EQ Future Leaders portfolios use only low cost, passive funds that focus on ESG leaders with additional overweights in selected impact themes. Both solutions have been risk profiled in Dynamic Planner.

Yasmina Siadatan, Sales and Marketing Director at Dynamic Planner said: “Having recently launched our sustainable investing solution we are focussed on ensuring advice firms have the very latest in understanding the sustainability of both people and portfolios. That also entails partnering with asset managers committed to providing sustainable solutions for the growing demand from investors.

“I’m delighted to welcome our very first B Corp to the risk profiling service, EQ Investors, who have opted to behave as an organisation responsible to both the investment returns according to the level of risk taken, alongside having a positive impact on the environment and society, with both a passive and an active range. Suitability and sustainability are becoming hand in hand, and we feel proud to be part of the jigsaw of positive change.”

Damien Lardoux, Head of Impact Investing at, EQ Investors added: “Risk-profiling tools have become an integral part of the advice process to ensure investment plans are best suited for each client's unique goals and circumstances. As we expand our sustainable model & bespoke portfolio service, we are keen to integrate with strategic partners to enhance our offering advisers, Dynamic Planner is the perfect fit.”

The EQ portfolios now available risk profiled on Dynamic Planner are:

§  Future Leaders Defensive

§  Future Leaders Cautious

§  Future Leaders Balanced

§  Future Leaders Balanced Plus

§  Future Leaders Adventurous

§  Future Leaders All Equity

§  Positive Impact Defensive

§  Positive Impact Cautious

§  Positive Impact Balanced

§  Positive Impact Adventurous

§  Positive Impact All Equity

Murex, the global leader in trading, risk management and processing solutions for capital markets, and Intesa Sanpaolo Group have successfully implemented Murex testing automation solution, an important step in Intesa’s continuous integration and continuous delivery (CICD) journey.

The collaboration underscores the importance of investment in testing and the value of adopting proven, effective DevOps software development lifecycle methodology, according to Intesa and Murex representatives. In this specific case, it demonstrates the value of lowering total cost of ownership through testing optimization, with a significant time lapse decrease on patch deployment, Intesa IT team measurements indicate. The successful collaboration was part of a new approach to project management.

“Intesa’s dedicated, committed team worked with Murex to adopt MXtest as part of Murex’s continuous evolution service offerings,” said Flavio Tartarini, head of Murex support at Intesa. “We experienced significant reductions in cost and time spent by transitioning toward automated testing, and saw strong predictability in project management.”

This strategic path toward CICD delivery began with MX.3 patches and will move to upgrades using new testing methodologies. The development and implementation of the new testing process and continuous MX.3 upgrades, powered by Murex’s MXtest technology and closely supported by everis, a Murex partner since 2011, paves the way for Intesa to deliver more value for the bank, and creates a precise, reliable testing activity schedule.

Intesa, one of Italy’s largest financial institutions, is also one of Murex’s largest and most important clients worldwide. Intesa has chosen Murex as its technology partner for capital markets for more than 20 years. This pilot project, the subject of organizational focus from all sides, puts Intesa in good stead to continue its CICD journey and seek similar benefits by generalizing the usage of such methodology as a next step.

“We are happy that Intesa was able to achieve this ambitious initial deployment of the MX continuous evolution services suite, which we anticipate being the start of a larger CICD climb for Intesa, a strategic customer,” said Murex Lead Technical Architect Marwan Khalil. “It is an exciting development, and all team members have the right to be proud of what Intesa has accomplished, here.”

Marwan Khalil noted that Intesa has the ambitious, adaptable internal culture necessary to adopt new ways of working, which was especially important under the constraints of the COVID-19 context.

The pilot project completion also reflects a successful use of MXtest, a test automation service that allows customers to keep pace with rapid technological innovations. MXtest provides automated test technology that links naturally with benefits that would come with other services—in particular, full CICD integration.

Flavio Tartarini also noted everis contributions to the project.

“With its governance and execution throughout this pilot project, everis was an instrumental partner,” Tartarini said. “A system integrator catered to the banking and financial services industry, everis played a critical role in the knowledge transfer process with Intesa and provided training throughout intensive project phases, working in harmony with Murex guidelines.”

Patricia Badía, manager at everis and responsible for the Murex DevOps practice, noted the importance of agility in the present context.

“As capital markets are profoundly impacted by digitalization and COVID-19 constraints, agility and efficiency are first-order client priorities. Enhancing client agility and efficiency through their Murex testing automation and DevOps journeys is strategic to everis,” commented Patricia Badía. “Intesa and Murex involvement and motivation from the beginning of this journey was a key success factor of this initiative.”

Murex looks forward to continuing to collaborate with Intesa on further innovations and stands ready to partner with institutions aiming to improve testing and methodology around continuous integration and continuous delivery.

Commenting on UK GDP rising 2.1% in March, Ian Warwick, Managing Partner at Deepbridge Capital, said: “Today’s monthly GDP estimate reveals the fastest monthly growth since August 2020 and is further evidence that the economy is moving in the right direction at a significant pace. As we focus on economic recovery, it remains critically important that scale-up businesses, particularly in high-growth sectors such as digital technologies and life sciences are supported; as they will be at the very heart of economic growth as we create an economy fit for the twenty-first century. Government initiatives such as the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) have never been more important for helping entrepreneurs and innovators source the funding they require, whilst also offering private investors with tax incentives to develop UK-supporting private equity portfolios. With our EIS funds reaching record levels of funding in 2020/21 it is evident that there is considerable demand from investors and financial advisers alike to invest in early-stage UK companies which we believe will be at the forefront of our economic recovery.”

Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform^[1] and Sage, the market leader in cloud business management solutions today announced a new partnership, offering an integrated banking and accounting product for Tide members. 

Designed for people taking their first steps towards making their business dreams a reality, the partnership will provide UK self-employed and business owners with a new product that combines banking and accounting – all in a single digital environment. By connecting banking data and Tide's existing finance and admin tools to Sage's world-class accounting and compliance services, Tide members will be able to streamline financial and compliance processes, such as self-assessment and year-end accounts.

Research* shows that financial constraints and worries are the most common barriers preventing people from starting their own business. Many start-ups and small business owners worry about getting their tax and accounting wrong, resulting in facing penalties for making mistakes.  With upcoming legislation like Making Tax Digital potentially impacting 4 million businesses in the UK, many don’t have an accountant, and are now looking to their banking providers for support and advice. 

Tide is the UK’s leading business financial platform, helping small business owners save time and money on their financial and admin tasks by offering a range of highly connected products and services. Tide's partnership with Sage will offer a seamless accounting tool from the Tide app, that will provide members with compliant accounts and insights about their businesses to reduce the time spent and stress of traditional accounting.

Having simple accounting and taxation built into Tide’s mobile and web platforms will give start-ups the familiar experience they need to be confident that they are doing all they need to stay compliant and avoid any penalties. This will allow them to focus on growing their business without spending time on unnecessary admin.

Commenting on the partnership, Oliver Prill, Tide CEO said: “Adding Tide Accounting to the Tide platform is a huge step towards our mission to make life easier for people who work for themselves, saving them time (and money) on their financial admin.

Tide has chosen to work with Sage to deliver this product due to Sage's long and impressive record in accounting and compliance and their strategic alignment with Tide. We share a similar customer base, and combining our expertise will bring the right technology solutions to small business owners at the right time.”

Neal Watkins, EVP of Small Business Segment at Sage said, “By partnering with Tide, we hope to encourage more people, who have so far only dreamt about being their own boss, to start a new business. Many entrepreneurs are held back from starting a new business by fears around getting their tax right, but with this new offering, accountancy and compliance will  become a simple and seamless service, meaning that the business owner can sleep easy knowing that they’re getting their tax right.”

Tide will trial their accounting and compliance solution with its 340,000 members later this year.

*In January 2021, Sage UK commissioned research via Edelman Intelligence across 2,500 individuals.  The research focused on understanding  aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners attitudes towards starting a business, their motivations for doing so, as well as the barriers and challenges they encounter.

GDP rising 2.1% in March, the fastest monthly growth since August 2020, Douglas Grant, Director of Conister, part of AIM listed Manx Financial Group, said: “The estimated rise in UK GDP for March is positive, falling in line with what we’d expect as restrictions are lifted and the economy reopens. However, we must remember that the UK’s SME debt burden is ballooning, and we are in serious danger of seeing a relentless flow of weak zombie-like companies falling off a loan default cliff. By the end of this year, it is expected that companies will have borrowed more than £60 billion to help them to survive the pandemic, according to the EY Item Club, and bank lending to businesses, including through the government schemes, could also increase by 5.4%, equating to an extra £26 billion net of repayments. It is imperative that we avoid compounding this cycle by focussing solely on supporting sectors and businesses that are resilient and agile enough to adapt to the new economy.

"We believe the introduction of the recovery loan scheme (RLS) will certainly help. We are pleased to see the Government look beyond the initial triage phase and instead identify, prioritise and protect our most resilient individual business sectors and segments. However we must also acknowledge that default rates across the country will increase significantly over the next three to six months and unfortunately there is more pain to come. Demand for appropriate debt collection and management services for SMEs will grow as the business sector recovers from the damage caused by the pandemic. 

"At Conister we have delivered upon all of our initial objectives. We have allocated our full CBIL and BBL allocation and have applications which we hope can be accredited under the newly launched government support initiative, the Recovery Loan Scheme. We will focus on lending this to robust business sectors that we believe will thrive in the future. Conister will continue to do all it can, working alongside Government and traditional lenders, to support British businesses."

Williams Racing is pleased to welcome Vuzion, a UK-based cloud distributor, as the Acronis #CyberFit Delivery Partner, in line with the Cyber Protection Partnership between Williams and Acronis that was renewed earlier this year.

Since Williams and Acronis first partnered at the start of the 2018 Formula One season, Acronis has helped the team manage growing volumes of data without compromising the security and flexibility mandated by the sport.

Williams has benefited from Acronis Cyber Protect since 2020, a unique AI-enhanced solution that integrates data protection with cybersecurity, preventing cyberattacks and helping the team avoid downtime. Acronis uniquely combines automation and integration, ensuring the prevention, detection, response, recovery, and analysis needed to safeguard all workloads while streamlining protection efforts. Acronis technology is designed to address the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of modern organizations at the highest levels of business and competitive sport.

The Vuzion logo will be proudly displayed on the FW43B for eight races throughout the season, the first of which will be the Monaco Grand Prix.

Tim Hunt, Chief Marketing Officer for Williams Racing, said: “We are delighted to welcome Vuzion to Williams as Acronis’ #CyberFit Delivery Partner. The values we share with Acronis, to push technology and innovation is pivotal to both parties. Introducing Vuzion as Acronis #CyberFit Delivery Partner helps drive continuous improvement that we are all working towards and I look forward to working with Vuzion as the team embarks on its next chapter.”

Michael Frisby, Managing Director, Vuzion, commented: “At the heart of Vuzion’s values, is a passion to be the best partner we can be each day for our vendors and resellers. We are only successful if our partners are successful! Our #Cyberfit Delivery Partnerships with Acronis and, by extension, our shared commitment to the Cyber Protection Partnership with Williams, are tied to that philosophy.”

Vuzion has the spirit of a Formula One competitor, where you must be the best you can be, every day. Like Williams Racing, Vuzion is continually pushing for marginal gains in how its team and systems operate.

Just as Williams focus on finding every tenth of a second in performance, so Vuzion and Acronis strive to provide their joint resellers, the very best service to power the ultimate cyber protection for their customers.

Jan-Jaap Jager, the Board Advisor and Chief Revenue Officer at Acronis added: “We are proud to support one of the most iconic Formula One teams on the grid together with Vuzion. Motorsport depend on data-driven decisions in the office and on the track. With Vuzion’s support of our partnership, we’ll ensure Williams receives the best technology and service to maximise their #CyberFit potential.”

HPD Lendscape, a leading international secured-lending platform vendor, today announces that it has become an official member of Assifact, the Italian Factoring Association. The announcement comes at a time when HPD Lendscape is particularly focused on serving the Southern European market, having recently also become an official member of The Spanish Association of Factoring.

Assifact is a non-political and non-profit organization established in 1988 with the aim of aggregating factoring operators and facilitating the development of the factoring market in Italy. Today, the Association represents 34 factoring companies, banks and financial intermediaries (which make up the substantial totality of the Italian market) and 12 service companies and professional firms.

Membership to Assifact brings HPD Lendscape closer to banks and financial institutions in Italy, to whom it offers the highest level of service, in turn making it easier and faster for SMEs that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic to get the funding they need. Factoring, along with wider bank support and government initiatives, is a major route to liquidity for Italy’s SMEs. The total factoring turnover made by Assifact members in 2020 was €228bn, equal to approximately 13% of GDP.

Assifact ensures the monitoring of the main market and regulatory changes, providing support to the Associates and analysing the consequent implications for the sector. It carries out sector research, develops industry guidelines and offers training courses to its Associates. Assifact is also a member of the EU Federation for the Factoring and Commercial Finance Industry, which has a direct relationship with the ECB, EBA and other supranational bodies.

Claudia Perri, Regional Commercial Director for SEMEA of HPD Lendscape, said: “We are excited to work closer with Assifact, its members and to contribute to the acceleration of the digital transformation of factoring and confirming in Italy, and help local financial institutions engage in more diversified customer-centric services that create and sustain the corporate advantage.”

Kevin Day, CEO of HPD Lendscape, said: “We’re delighted to have been accepted as a member of Assifact. Membership will ensure we offer the Italian market improved support, and we hope to contribute with our international industry expertise and best practices to Assifact, helping banks and non-bank lenders provide much needed funding and liquidity to Italy’s SMEs. Membership shows our increasing focus on serving Italy and the wider Southern Europe region, and we look forward to working together closely with other Assifact members to promote and enhance the Factoring profession in Italy.”

Fausto Galmarini, Chairman of Assifact, said: “Assifact is delighted that HPD has joined our supporting members and looks forward to cooperating in the best interest of the Italian factoring industry.”

Airwallex, a leading global payments platform, is pleased to announce it has secured its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB). The licence was granted on 30 April 2021, and gives Airwallex access to the European single market.

This latest approval adds to Airwallex's existing licences in its core markets, including the UK, United States, Australia, and Hong Kong. With its EU EMI licence, Airwallex will soon be able to offer an enhanced range of products and services to customers across Europe, bolstering its growth by offering businesses an end-to-end solution for FX, card issuing and online payments.

Jed Rose, General Manager of EMEA at Airwallex said, "We are delighted to have been granted an EMI licence by the DNB. This is a significant milestone for Airwallex as we look to deepen our presence in the European market and address the pain points faced by many businesses who are looking for a simpler, more convenient and transparent process to support their payments needs. We look forward to providing businesses in Europe with a full product stack to empower their growth."

Founded in 2015 in Melbourne, Airwallex has grown to become a global fintech platform that is supported by a team of over 650 employees across 12 global offices. Earlier this year, Airwallex announced an additional capital raise of US$100 million to further accelerate its global expansion, strengthening its capabilities through product innovation and new partnerships. In Europe, the company continues to invest in growth, with plans to double its 50-strong team by the end of the year and build out its presence in Amsterdam.