Funding Options, the leading marketplace for business finance, has launched Funding Cloud (™), a technology and data-driven platform that will bring unparalleled scale and speed to the SME finance sector. Lenders including Just Cash Flow, iwoca, YouLend, Optimum Finance and FIBR have already integrated with Funding Cloud (™) to benefit from its innovative technology and as a highly efficient channel for customer acquisition. By Q4 this year, the company expects to have more than 30 lenders fully integrated. 

One of the greatest challenges for SME owners is navigating the complexity of finance solutions available in a highly fragmented lending market. Funding Cloud (™) powers a centralised two-sided marketplace, streamlining the process for all participants, offering speed and certainty for SMEs, and reducing friction for lenders creating a vastly more efficient market. Through data analytics, open banking APIs and Artificial Intelligence, it is the only platform to present customers with confirmed funding options via a single dynamic customer journey, to help SMEs quickly find the most suitable lenders and products based on their eligibility and needs.

Funding Cloud (™) has the power to deliver real-time instant decisions and firm offers from lenders, based on the two-way exchange of rich digital information. This is a milestone innovation for the SME finance sector, allowing Funding Options to improve upon its already leading capabilities in delivering fast lending decisions to its customers. The fintech has reached a new record of 20.614 seconds from loan application to credit approved with the previous record being just 2 minutes and 56 seconds. Importantly, borrowers that do not match lender criteria receive free insight to understand the financial health of their business and what may be required to gain approval in future. 

The platform completes the legwork for lenders, but they retain control where required, underwriting loans and managing their products through a dedicated lender portal. The data rich Funding Cloud (™) also enables a comparable lending score to be developed for every business, providing insight into propensity for success with Funding Options' lender panel and overall risk for lender consumption.

Simon Cureton, CEO of Funding Options comments, “Our mission is to deliver a single platform that powers holistic digital SME solutions, matching businesses with the best funding options. We are incredibly excited for the launch of Funding Cloud (™) as part of that journey. This builds on the significant scale we have, both in terms of our SME acquisition flow and distribution to our lender partners. Whilst our initial priority will be in getting more lenders transitioned onto the new platform, longer term it will enable a host of SME data driven services to be sourced through digital journeys. COVID-19 has shone a huge spotlight on the SME lending ecosystem and Funding Cloud (™) coupled with our market leading acquisition flow, has the power to transform the SME finance landscape.”

John Davies, Executive Chairman at Just Cashflow comments, “Working capital is the lifeblood of any business. Our customers want both flexibility and fast decision making when it comes to securing the finance they need to grow and maximise profitability. The Funding Options technology enables this in a truly revolutionary way and we are excited to be one of the first partners to be integrated with Funding Cloud (™). The platform enables us to deliver a tailored approach to each customer, matching them with the right product quickly and efficiently.”

Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder of iwoca adds, “Embedded finance is at the heart of what we do. Our technology and this integration means we can now offer bespoke loans that are tailored to each of our partners - such as Funding Options through their exciting new Funding Cloud (™) platform. We believe that business owners should be able to access finance where and when they need it and through the very services they use day-to-day. This includes invoice management systems, bookkeeping apps and of course when trying to source funding through online marketplaces. The Funding Cloud (™) will allow us to scale our own lending, reach more small business owners and importantly make it much easier and faster for them to access the finance they need to rebuild and grow.” 

Chris Smith, Chief Commercial Officer at FIBR comments, “Delivering the best in class lending experience is something we are highly focused on at FIBR. For us a good experience is a fast experience. Through Funding Cloud we are able to deliver real time, tailor-made loan offers to potential business clients so they can find the right financing solution quicker and easier. By collaborating with Funding Options on this new technology approach to lending we hope to serve a wider range of businesses with the funds they need to grow.”

Aleks Kudic, CTO of Funding Options says, “In building the Funding Cloud (™), we started with a vision of what the ideal platform for SME lending would look like. To execute this vision, we adopted a customer first approach to prioritise customer expectations at every stage of their funding journey. Customers look at three key things - speed of loan approvals, the cost of taking out the loan and the amount of funding they are eligible to receive. Key partnerships in open banking, open accounting and credit referencing have been pivotal to remove friction from the current process to give businesses accurate offers and lenders reassurance that sufficient due diligence has been carried out. Over time this scalable, data rich marketplace will act as a clearing house for SME loans, enabling the market to move faster than ever before.” 

The Domestic Payments Schemes Jury today releases its 2021 report titled: “To Survive or Thrive? Domestic Payments Innovation in the Pandemic" revealing that while many domestic payment organisations had to make some adjustments to their innovation programmes due to the pandemic, 36% reported that the pandemic had ultimately led to an increase in their innovation activities. 

Undertaken in collaboration with World Bank and European Card Payments Association (ECPA) the Domestic Payments Schemes Jury is made up of 48 C-level executives from 40 countries representing a rich tapestry of national payment schemes and operators. The 2021 report, the sixth in a series spanning eight years, explores the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic payment organisations; from the rapid surge in usage and their responses, to the acceleration in innovation and the evolution of the regulatory landscape. 

“In the face of unprecedented digital evolution in the last year the ubiquitous role of the domestic payments organisation has significantly changed. As card schemes, telcos, social media platforms and fintechs vie for market share, domestic payments organisations have to strike a balance between standing on their own two feet commercially while bringing their diverse national payments communities together,” Chairman of the Jury, John Chaplin, commented. 

“This year’s Domestic Payments Schemes Jury has concluded that the best strategic response for domestic payments organisations in the wake of the pandemic is a programme of systemic innovation that delivers value-added services beyond their traditional card payments, and at the same time demonstrably supports public policy goals,” continued Chaplin.

Download the full report from www.innovationjury.com

Key findings:

• Despite steep declines in transaction volumes at the outset of the pandemic - nearly half (48%) of the Jury reported declines of more than 25% - 89% reported significant or full recovery of transaction volumes, helped in large part by the development and roll out of digital capabilities.

• While 52% of respondents had to make some adjustments to their innovation activities due to the pandemic, most reported that their programmes remained largely  intact and 36% reported that the pandemic had ultimately led to a further increase in their innovation activities. 

• Supporting mobile and app-based services remains the biggest innovation priority for domestic payment systems (90%) with real-time account to account payments, enhancements to card services - such as QR codes - and digital identity all equally popular among the Jury (70%). 

• The study showed that domestic payments organisations were well positioned to facilitate Covid relief programmes in different markets, with the Jury reporting that two thirds of respondents (70%) were provided emergency support to government efforts to either contain the pandemic and/or manage the adverse effects on the economy.

• Diversification away from a single form factor and business model remains at the forefront of many domestic card payments organisations minds, with digital identity proving a popular option according to report contributor and industry stalwart David Birch.

• As market structures evolve regulators are facing increasingly challenging policy choices as new real-time services are introduced with a need to balance operating efficiency with competition and innovation. A such, the 2021 report also explores the role of regulators as domestic payments organisations increasingly move beyond purely supplying services to banks and expand to include fintechs, telcos and retailers, among others.

• The 2021 report also shows that many domestic payments organisations are becoming more international in their strategies, with nearly half (44%) now conducting activity in more than one country compared to 27% in 2015 

The Domestic Payment Schemes Jury 2021 Report: To Survive or Thrive, Domestic Payments Innovation in the Pandemic can be read in full here: www.innovationjury.com

The use of fintech apps has increased more than 61% since the pandemic started last year, reveals deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory and fintech organisations.
The jump comes as financial technology apps show further evidence that the way we manage our finances further shifted in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
James Green, deVere Group’s Divisional Manager of Europe, notes: “Pre-coronavirus, we were already in an exciting new era driven by the lightning pace of the digitalisation of our everyday lives.
“But like so many areas of our lives, the pandemic has accelerated this trend.”
He continues: “The jump in usage of fintech apps from existing clients, and a sharp increase in enquiries from potential ones, underscores that people are becoming more tech-savvy than ever.  
“Like never before, people are embracing the convenience of immediate, low-cost access to, use and management of their money.”  
The deVere CEO and founder, Nigel Green, who has been a long-term advocate of fintech having launched a series of pioneering apps, believes the trend will further increase.
“The financial services sector is currently undergoing, I believe, possibly the most profound transformation in history.
“We’re seeing seismic and far-reaching shifts in client expectations. As the world moves towards an ever-more digitalised and globalised future – which is increasingly influenced by those who’ve grown-up with 'on-the go' tech - this phenomenon can only be expected to gain momentum. 
“The way we save, invest, use and manage our money has changed forever. We are witnessing a personal finance revolution.”
 The CEO goes on to add: “This revolution is a positive force.  
“Fintech allows all clients’ personal financial services to be dealt with online and/or on their mobile devices, wherever they choose to be. 
“It will speed-up financial inclusion around the world, especially for those who aren’t able to use financial services because of the biases of traditional financial firms.  

“In addition, it allows firms within the financial sector the opportunity to diversify, reduce costs, fulfil regulatory requirements and further enhance the client experience.”
Of the year-on-year jump in fintech apps usage, James Green concludes: “Whether the trend in the usage of fintech is a long-term one will be demonstrated as lockdown restrictions are eased around the world and we look ahead to a post-pandemic future."
 
“I will be surprised if those new users of fintech will ever go back to traditional methods of accessing, using and managing their money.”

GoCardless, a leading fintech for bank-to-bank payments, has today launched Instant Bank Pay, a new open banking feature directly integrated into its global payment platform. With Instant Bank Pay, merchants can take instant, one-off bank-to-bank payments from new and existing customers while still reaping the benefits of bank debit for their recurring payments.

The announcement marks the first milestone in GoCardless’ journey to accelerate its open banking strategy, for which it received $95m in funding at the end of 2020. By combining open banking technology with its existing global bank debit network, GoCardless can offer its 60,000 merchants a new low-cost, seamless and convenient way to collect instant payments that works for any revenue model.

“We’ve specialised in bank-to-bank payments for over 10 years, with bank debit as the primary payment method. And while it provides many advantages to consumers and businesses, speed of payment authorisation is a drawback,” said Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO of GoCardless. “Instant Bank Pay addresses this by giving merchants the best of both worlds: open banking will provide instant confirmation of payment authorisation, enabling them to have immediate visibility of their one-off payments, and bank debit will continue to offer the cash flow, cost and retention benefits they have come to expect.”

With the introduction of Instant Bank Pay, GoCardless will expand its offering into the adjacent e-commerce market, where it can take on both one-off and ‘card-on-file’ payments.

Takeuchi added: “By enabling businesses to take any kind of payment through GoCardless, we can challenge the dominance of cards and move beyond collecting subscriptions, invoices and instalments. The launch of this open banking feature means we can now serve any merchant, regardless of whether they have an ongoing or one-off relationship with their customers.”

While it can be used in many scenarios, Instant Bank Pay addresses an issue that is particularly acute for recurring revenue businesses: according to research from GoCardless, 85 per cent of merchants with this business model have a need for collecting additional one-off payments. Examples include making a first payment when setting up a bank debit (e.g. signing up for a gym membership), purchasing additional goods or services, or topping up an account outside of a customer’s regular payment schedule. 

Bank debit is not suitable for one-off payments because it doesn’t provide instant visibility of payment authorisation. This has forced many merchants to turn to card payments, often with high fees attached, or time-consuming manual bank transfers. Instant Bank Pay is a fast and easy way for customers to make a one-off account-to-account payment. Instant confirmation provides better visibility of payments, eliminates costly credit card fees, and reduces late payments thanks to a seamless payer journey.

Broadband provider Cuckoo used Instant Bank Pay as part of an early access programme to collect first and ad hoc payments for new and existing customers. During the pilot, two-thirds (66 per cent) of customers who experienced a failed payment were able to benefit from using Instant Bank Pay. Of those, 86 per cent were able to make a payment within 48 hours, minimising disruption to their service. Furthermore, before Instant Bank Pay the process of chasing and collecting a failed payment could take 21 days; using this feature Cuckoo has the capability to reduce this to just seven days.

Alexander Fitzgerald, Founder and CEO at Cuckoo, said: “We're taking on a broken broadband industry with simple pricing, fair contracts and exceptional service. The payment process plays a vital role in our mission and working with GoCardless means our customers have a seamless payment experience when switching to us and paying their monthly bill. 

“We’re excited to continue using Instant Bank Pay for one-off payments. Not only will it prevent our customers from losing access to our services, it’ll also help reduce the time we spend chasing late payments and the risk of costs outstanding.”

Merchants can build the Instant Bank Pay option straight into their checkout flow or simply send a payment request with a link to pay. Similar to a mobile wallet payment, payers are seamlessly connected to their bank, and can authorise a payment directly from their bank account in just a few clicks.

Worldline, the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry and number 4 worldwide, today announced it has partnered with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to give all their member airlines access to a wider range of payment solutions to better serve their passengers. All of Worldline’s payment capabilities and services will be made available through IATA Financial Gateway (IFG).

As part of the partnership, Worldline has incorporated Ingenico’s TravelHub solution into IFG. This solution provides companies with easy access to more than 150 online payment methods and offers a range of currency options that are relevant to customers around the globe, including in high growth markets such as Russia, India, Brazil and China. It also offers smart transaction routing capabilities both globally and locally, which improve conversion rates and in turn, revenue.

Airlines connected with IFG will be notified of the new payment services made available to them as a result of the partnership and can reach out to Worldline, via IATA, to gain access to payment capabilities in new markets. Once an airline decides to utilize the IATA/Worldline TravelHub infrastructure, testing will be carried out in conjunction with IATA, which will then seamlessly activate the service so it can be used by the business.

These services include global end to end payment processing, state of the art fraud prevention solutions, more than 150 alternative methods of payment, and local access to new markets like Russia, Brazil, India, China and many others. As an active partner of the IFG community, Worldline, together with IFG, will be supporting airlines in optimizing payment processes and building a cost-effective global payment strategy.  

Muhammad Albakri, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Financial Distribution and Data Services commented: “IFG provides a consolidated and cost-effective solution for airlines and travel suppliers to optimize their different sales payment processes. We’re excited to work with Worldline to provide more payment options through IFG to airlines.”

Eric Liebman, Head of Travel at Digital Commerce, Merchant Services at Worldline: “As the travel industry is set to recover, gaining access to a wide range of payment methods and currencies is key to servicing customers who are eager to plan new trips and experiences. For airlines, navigating the complex travel and payments ecosystem can be challenging, so we help make it much easier for them. By partnering with IATA, we are providing one simple connection to our payment methods and capabilities across the world – enabling our partner airlines to offer the payment options that their customers prefer.”

To learn more about the solutions available via IFG, visit: https://www.ingenico.com/travelhub.

To enable it to keep up with its projected business growth, National Commercial Bank (NCB) in Vietnam has migrated its in-house processing centre to TranzAxis, an open development payments platform, from Compass Plus.

As part of a major initiative to become one of the leading retail banks in Vietnam, NCB made the decision to modernise its payments infrastructure after realising that the legacy system it was using would be unable to keep up with the bank’s growth plans for much longer. The bank opted to replace it with TranzAxis due to the flexibility the platform provides and its ability to future-proof their business without the limitations that many other payments platforms have. 

The main objective of the first phase of the project was to migrate NCB’s local debit cards to the new platform. This phase was completed in December 2020. The local Compass Plus team based in Hanoi, as well as remote support, ensured the project was successfully delivered on time. The second phase of the project, due to go-live early 2021, will see Visa credit cards migrated to the new system.

Compass Plus teamed up with one of their regional partners, Cyberbeat, on the project. “Cyberbeat congratulates NCB and Compass Plus on achieving Phase 1 go-live. We continue to provide comprehensive services for digital payment transformation for clients and partners in the region,” said Rajan S. Narayan, CEO of Cyberbeat.

“We needed a payments platform that could not only keep up with our growth today, but long into the future. Compass Plus’ reputation in Vietnam, coupled with the flexibility that its next generation platform TranzAxis offers, made migrating to it a no-brainer,” said a top leader from NCB. “Compass Plus’ local project team were available to support us with the migration of the project, which fell during the imposed travel restrictions due to COVID-19.”

“NCB has already grown significantly since its inception, and its projected growth rate meant that it needed a more robust, and most importantly future-proof, system for its in-house processing centre,” said Igor Simonov, AVP, Business Development and Sales Manager, Asia Pacific at Compass Plus. “Having TranzAxis as the backbone of NCB’s payments infrastructure will provide them with the ability to adapt their strategy and respond quickly to changing market requirements, truly drive innovation, and hopefully enable their vision of becoming one of Vietnam’s leading retail banks. We look forward to continuing our relationship with NCB long into the future.”

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a globally leading provider of integrated payment products and India’s largest payments processor, and NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL, International arm of National Payment Corporation of India), have signed a strategic partnership to expand UPI (Unified Payment Interface) rails in international markets.

India is among the first countries globally to launch real-time payments rails, processing close to three billion transactions a month on the UPI network. Several governments and regulators globally, and emerging markets, in particular, are keen on modelling NPCI’s success in building an interoperable, real-time payments infrastructure, supporting the long-term growth of the digital payments’ economy.

The FSS and NIPL collaboration brings together complementary capabilities to deliver a compelling end-to-end proposition to activate real-time payments at speed and minimal risk.  Under the umbrella of the partnership, NIPL would offer its market-leading real-time payments processing platform and technical acumen to scheme operators whilst FSS would leverage its deep domain understanding and experience in implementing large-scale national payments infrastructure projects, as well as UPI payment services for PSPs, to extend integration and support services.

Commenting on the partnership K. Srinivasan, COO, PayTech, FSS, stated: “Worldwide the drive towards real-time payments is gaining momentum, with many countries embarking on modernization of payments infrastructure to broad-base the benefits of the digital economy. We are excited to partner with NIPL to bring a proven, best-in-class real-time payment offering that will speed innovation and adoption of digital commerce and have a wide-ranging economic impact. The implementation of real-time payments is complex as flavors differ across regions.  The collaboration confirms FSS expertise and capabilities in delivering world-class payment infrastructures and services at scale around the world.”

Speaking on the partnership Ritesh Shukla, CEO, NIPL, said: “At NIPL, we are dedicated to take our exemplary robust payments system to global markets and equip willing nations with resources and technological proficiency. FSS is a demonstrated leader in payments and its domain expertise combined with a strong international presence makes them a valuable partner to offer a market-leading, real-time payments system to millions of people across the globe. We look forward to attaining new highs with this partnership."

The shift from a batch payment processing infrastructure to a modern real-time 24X7X365 payments model can be challenging for scheme operators as well as participants. The UPI platform has successfully brought about this shift and transformed the digital payment ecosystem of India. Since its inception in 2016, UPI has witnessed exponential growth in transactions, app users and QR codes deployments. In 2020, UPI processed transactions worth $457 Billion, which is equivalent to 15% of

Indian GDP and this feat is achieved at an impressive CAGR of 285%.  FSS - UPI Gateway currently supports many bank PSPs in India to connect to the UPI central payments infrastructure and brings a range of overlay services - QR Payments, Split Payments, Request to Pay, Corporate Payments, AutoPay – as well as reconciliation and authentication to enable banks monetize investments in real-time UPI infrastructure. UPI’s multi-party collaborative model (Bank, PSP, FinTechs etc.) fosters collaboration bringing in incremental efficiencies and levels of adoption.

About FSS

Financial Software and Systems (FSS) is a leader in payments technology and transaction processing. The company offers an integrated portfolio of software products, hosted payment services and software solutions built over three decades of experience. FSS, end-to-end payments products suite, powers retail delivery channels including ATM, POS, Internet and Mobile as well as critical back-end functions including cards management, reconciliation, settlement, merchant management and device monitoring. Headquartered in Chennai, India, FSS services leading global banks, financial institutions, processors, central regulators and governments across North America, UK/Europe, ME/Africa, and APAC and has 2,500 experts on-board. For more information visit www.fsstech.com

About NPCI International

NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL) was incorporated on April 3, 2020 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As the international arm of NPCI, NIPL is devoted for the deployment of NPCI’s indigenous, successful Real-Time Payment System – Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Domestic Card Scheme – RuPay, outside of India.

NPCI has successfully developed and proved its product and technological capabilities in the domestic market by transforming payment segment in India. Conversely, there are several countries which want to establish a ‘real-time payment system’ or ‘domestic card scheme’ in their own country. NIPL, with its knowledge and experience, can offer these countries technological assistance through licensing, consulting for building real time payment system to meet the rapidly evolving need of fast-growing global business.

NIPL is focused on transforming payments across the globe with the use of technology and innovation. It will not only enable payment for Indians but also uplift other countries by enhancing their payment capabilities through technological assistance, consulting and infrastructure.

ComplyAdvantage, a global data technology company transforming financial crime detection, today announced a new early-stage anti-money laundering (AML) program aimed at growth-focused startups called ComplyLaunch™. The program provides qualified startups with free access to the company’s award-winning AML and Know Your Customer (KYC) tools and resources needed to uncover and reduce the threat of money-laundering activities so they can onboard new customers with lower risk and greater trust.   

In addition, ComplyAdvantage has partnered with the global financial crime compliance consultancy FINTRAIL to provide AML education and ongoing training for program participants.  FINTRAIL is a recognised authority on financial crime prevention in financial technology (FinTech) and the application of regulatory technology (RegTech), working with industry leading clients across the globe to transform, build, scale, and assure AFC compliance frameworks that are relevant for digital products. 

Why ComplyLaunch, Why Now?

The impetus for the program was to prepare startups to take on one of the biggest challenges their businesses will face, which is money-laundering. If transacting startups want to maximize their competitive advantage with new or expanded services, then they need intelligent AML and risk management data solutions to prevent the unintended consequences from unknowingly onboarding criminal entities. 

As a serial entrepreneur, ComplyAdvantage founder and CEO Charles Delingpole has experienced first-hand the many challenges that startup teams face and that the early-stage prevention of money-laundering shouldn’t be one of them. As such, Delingpole believes that providing free access to ComplyAdvantage’s AML tools will allow more fintech startups to reach success faster by reducing the business exposure due to unforeseen financial crimes.

“At ComplyAdvantage, we believe that free early access to AML tools and education on setting up a compliance program is a benefit to our entire fintech ecosystem,” said Charles Delingpole, founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage. “By democratising access to best in class financial crime prevention tools, we are allowing fintech startups to not only match but exceed the compliance program standards of the largest, most regulated banks.  ComplyLaunch is a very important program designed to maintain the integrity of Fintech insurgents by reducing the growing threat of financial crimes.”

The first startups to join ComplyLaunch include trustshare, a company that’s revolutionising escrow payments and Juno a company that delivers comprehensive solutions to integrate multi-channel payment services with ERPs and e-Commerce platforms.

“Because we’re focused on simplifying bank payments between friends, family, customers and businesses it made complete sense for our team to join the ComplyLaunch program,” said Pete Bailey, founder and CPO of Juno. “Partnering with ComplyAdvantage to implement their gold-standard AML detection solution means that we can on-board customers with greater confidence.” 

Those early-stage fintech startups with no institutional funding are invited to apply for the program. To apply, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Less than $1M in annual revenue

• Pre-seed - Seed stage

• A company website or web profile

• Less than 10 years old

“We’re excited to join as a launch partner for ComplyLaunch and to provide program members with access to our world-class AML training”, said James Nurse, Managing Director of FINTRAIL EMEA. “There are future fintech unicorns waiting to grow and early money-laundering and risk prevention resources will only help them to reach their success, faster.”

As a sign of growing community interest, the ComplyLaunch program will be promoted with the support of world-class organizations including the leading talent investor Entrepreneur First and Seccl an innovative technology platform providing outsourced custody for financial services firms looking to safeguard their clients' assets.

"There has never been a greater time to start a fintech company and we've seen more and more of the world's most ambitious people wanting to startup in this space,” said Jonny Clifford, of Entrepreneur First. “With the growing complexity of financial service interdependencies, ComplyLaunch is a great idea at the perfect time to help these emerging, disruptive fintech startups to scale more easily and more confidently.”

And finally, Max Rimple a Principal at Index Ventures and a lead investor in ComplyAdvantage also shared his thoughts on the program launch, "with the staggering amount of investment capital going into fintech and related financial services, it's important that startups have early access to intelligent AML and risk management tools so they can grow with integrity and confidence. The ComplyLaunch program is a great starting point for fintech founders to safeguard their businesses from the risks of financial crimes. It's also good for their investors who appreciate that early compliance practices help to set the stage for future success." 

ComplyAdvantage offers a true hyperscale financial risk insight and AML data solution that leverages machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organizations manage their risk obligations and prevent financial crime. The company’s proprietary database is derived from millions of data points that provide dynamic, real-time insights across sanctions, watchlists, politically exposed persons, and negative news. This reduces dependence on manual review processes and legacy databases by up to 80% and improves how companies screen and monitor clients and transactions.

SEON, the fraud fighters, today announces the launch of its new office in Austin, Texas. The move marks the company’s expansion in the North American market, as it adds strategic new hires to better serve its customers and continues its mission to remove the barriers to fraud prevention around the globe.

Progress in the North American market is the next phase of SEON’s growth plan. In its initial phase, the company experienced great success in the European, Latin America (LatAm) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets. Now, it is setting up base in the US to further expand in the noisier and more competitive market that is North America.

Prior to the opening of the office, US-based companies accounted for approximately 10% of SEON’s revenue. With 56% of US companies experiencing fraud in the past two years, the region will play an essential part in the company’s growth plans, as it aims to have it account for as much as 50% of its revenue in the next 3-5 years. The move comes following the announcement of the SEON’s latest series A funding round, in which it secured €10 million (USD 12 million). As Hungary’s largest series A funding round, the investment is spurring on SEON’s growth, bolstering its global expansion and helping it provide services to customers in different markets around the world.

With three in ten US companies recognising that their most disruptive fraud highlighted a need for new technologies, SEON aims to incorporate its solution in these different markets to help mend a number of pain points that have been hindering the fraud prevention industry and preventing businesses from accessing the fraud mitigation services they need. These include, long integration times, lengthy contracts, packages that are only suitable for certain sized businesses and an overreliance on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for decisioning.

By contrast, SEON’s solution has monthly rolling contracts, a free trial period and can be integrated within minutes. Additionally, its solution is suitable for businesses regardless of their size and structure and works on a supervised learning basis, meaning that fraud managers can understand why the solution’s logic and rules have made certain decisions. As such, they have the information and data necessary to make effective and efficient fraud prevention decisions.

Talking about the issues it will be addressing in the North American Market, SEON’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jimmy Fong, said: “In the past, fraud managers have been faced with difficult decisions when it comes to choosing a fraud prevention partner. Not only are they locked into lengthy contracts once signed up, making it difficult to swap providers if needed, but the industry has been bound by outdated legacy systems that have meant that integration times can take weeks.”

Over the past year, SEON has taken note of how these issues have been even more problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Jimmy added: “With many businesses rapidly moving into the online space to survive lockdowns and social distancing, they have needed quick access to fraud prevention solutions, highlighting the demand for rapid integration times. At the same time, online fraud has risen in line with online activity, so businesses must be more prepared for fraud to take place than ever. Therefore, by expanding our operations to North America, we’ll be ensuring that companies have access to the solutions they need to operate in the online space and in turn, better serve our customers. We’ll be ripping up the rule book to give the industry and its customers new options when it comes to fraud prevention.”

To learn more about SEON and the services it provides, visit: https://seon.io/

Plenitude, the Financial Crime, Risk and Compliance specialists offering advisory, transformation services and innovative RegTech products, has appointed former HSBC UK Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), Allan Clare as Senior Advisor. Allan will help deliver Plenitude’s ambitious growth plans and business strategy to meet the challenges posed by the evolving financial crime landscape.

Financial crime is multi-faceted and its impact is felt in many ways across society and the economy. Organisations are paying a heavy financial cost, collectively spending billions trying to prevent financial crime, yet they have seen the threats of money laundering, fraud, theft and corruption continue to grow. The combination of heightened regulatory scrutiny and consumer expectations of financial institutions means it has never been more important for organisations to meet their customer, legal and regulatory obligations.

Allan Clare’s appointment follows a sustained period of growth for Plenitude, having recently announced a number of senior new hires and expanding its technology offering. The firm works across the spectrum of financial institutions globally, providing deep subject matter expertise, advisory and transformation services on some of the largest and most complex financial crime initiatives in the industry. Beyond helping clients mitigate risk, Plenitude improves the productivity of compliance divisions through the use of innovative technology to automate, streamline compliance workflows and provide enhanced insight into the vast array of related laws, regulations, guidance and risk indicators.

Allan Clare has decades of financial crime risk and compliance (FCC) experience, leading and managing financial crime functions and mitigation programmes at systemically important financial institutions. Prior to joining Plenitude, Allan has held Managing Director roles at HSBC, Barclays and Nationwide Building Society and has extensive expertise of the insurance market as Director of Risk, Financial Crime & Security at RBS Insurance Group with responsibility for all financial crime risks across all insurance brands and businesses.  

Commenting on the announcement, Allan Clare said: “Effective financial crime risk management and compliance is critical to making our society and economy safer. Plenitude has developed a well-deserved reputation for serving its clients with first rate advisory, transformation and technology solutions. I am looking forward to helping the firm continue to grow, bringing my insights and experiences to bear so that Plenitude continues to provide robust and sustainable programmes to meet clients’ requirements not just for today but tomorrow.”

Alan Paterson, Plenitude Managing Director, added: "We are delighted to appoint Allan as a Senior Advisor given his extensive FCC industry experience and expertise. This builds on our recent appointments of Barbara Patow and Shahmeem Purdasy and further demonstrates the calibre of our Senior Leadership Team at Plenitude. Allan will play a key role in terms of guiding the business and providing strategic advice which will be invaluable as we grow and develop our offering to meet the increasing industry demand for our advisory, transformation services and RegTech subscription products.”