A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of users of software-based facial recognition to secure payments will exceed 1.4 billion globally by 2025, from just 671 million in 2020. This rapid growth of 120% demonstrates how widespread facial recognition has become; fuelled by its low barriers to entry, a front-facing camera and appropriate software. The research identified the implementation of FaceID by Apple as accelerating the growth of the wider facial recognition market, despite the challenges to facial recognition during the pandemic with face mask use.

The research recommends that facial recognition vendors implement robust and rapidly evolving AI based verification checks to ensure the validity of user identity, or risk losing user trust in the authentication method as spoofing attempts increase.

For more insights, download the free whitepaper: How to Maximise Mobile Payment Security whitepaper

Fingerprint Sensors Dominant, Hardware-based Facial Recognition Growing

The new research, Mobile Payment Authentication: Biometrics, Regulation & Market Forecasts 2021-2025 PDF report, found that fingerprint sensors will feature on 93% of biometrically equipped smartphones in 2025. This compares favourably to hardware-based facial recognition, with just 17% of biometrically equipped smartphones featuring these capabilities in 2025.

Research co-author Susan Morrow explains: ‘Hardware-based facial recognition is growing, but the ability to carry out facial recognition via software is limiting its adoption rate. As the need for a secure mobile authentication environment grows, smartphone vendors will need to increasingly turn to more robust hardware-based systems to keep pace with fraudsters’ evolving tactics.’

Voice Recognition for Payments Growing, but Limited in Scope

The research also found that the use of voice recognition for payments is increasing, from 111 million users in 2020, to over 704 million in 2025. The report identified that, at present, voice recognition is mostly used in banking, and will struggle to grow beyond this, due to concerns around robustness. Juniper Research recommends that vendors adopt a multi-method biometric strategy, which encompasses facial recognition, fingerprints, voice and behavioural indicators to ensure a secure payment environment.

Whitepaper Download: https://www.juniperresearch.com/white-papers/how-to-maximise-mobile-payment-security

Mobile Payment Authentication market research:  https://www.juniperresearch.com/researchstore/fintech-payments/mobile-payment-authentication-market-research     

Delta Capita, a global provider of managed services, technology solutions and consulting acquires International Compliance Partners (ICP). The acquisition enables Delta Capita to further extend its customer reach in Benelux financial services and accelerate growth through the development of innovative propositions with leading-edge technology.

ICP is a compliance specialist in the field of KYC/CDD, Risk & Compliance and has over 12 years’ experience in compliance, auditing and consultancy as well as in learning and development from its own KYC Academy. The expertise firm is based in The Netherlands and Belgium and has an excellent track record at financial institutions. ICP will further support Delta Capita to bring it’s KYC platform – Karbon – to the clients as part of Delta Capita’s Business Operating Platform-as-a Service.

This is one of a series of acquisitions Delta Capita has made since taking in $150m investment capital from Prytek in March last year. The acquisition of ICP enables Delta Capita to further its continued expansion in Benelux financial services and enhance its growth through several additional teams of experienced analysts in the financial sector. Furthermore, ICP’s KYC Academy enables Delta Capita to not only train and develop its own teams quickly and with high quality standards, but also enables client teams to develop with tailor-made learning programs.

Following the acquisition, the senior management team of ICP will hold a prominent role in the Benelux KYC practice. For its existing client base ICP remains the primary point of contact and its clients can expect the same level of dedication, service and professionalism. Clients will benefit from Delta Capita’s technology capabilities, international presence and managed services in financial services.

“Bringing the strong team of ICP on board within the Delta Capita family will scale our KYC and AML business to the next level with over 200 experts in KYC. Together with our technology investments this transaction demonstrates our commitment and provides clients with a strong partner to achieve their compliance obligations”, said Tom Kastelein, CEO of Delta Capita Benelux.

Commenting on the acquisition, Harm Groot Kormelink of ICP, said: “We are excited to join the Delta Capita organisation and be able to benefit from existing competences, international position and technology capabilities. We will be part of the senior management of the KYC practice knowing that our shared professional values are a success factor for growth and strong added value for our customers."

Delta Capita is the financial services arm of Prytek and was recognised in three out of the last four years by the Financial Times as one of the Top 1000 fastest growing companies in Europe, including 2021.

Appzone, the Pan-African fintech software provider building proprietary solutions for the continent’s banking and payments industries, has today announced the close of its $10mn Series A round. Led by CardinalStone Capital Advisers with participation from V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital, and Itanna Capital Ventures, the new round will bolster investment in Appzone’s core technologies and kick off a wave of new country expansions in a drive to build out a financial operating system intended to completely digitise and automate the delivery of financial services on the continent.  

Launched in 2008, Appzone delivers best-in-class products for digital core banking and interbank transaction processing with clients across seven African countries including high-profile names like Access Bank, GT Bank and Zenith Bank. Since its inception, the company, also an alumnus of the Google launchpad accelerator, has led Africa’s fintech sector through radical innovation that resulted in a number of global firsts from the continent, including the world’s first decentralised payment processing network , the first core banking and omni-channel software on the cloud and the first multi-bank direct debit service based on single global mandates. To date, the company’s platforms have served 18 commercial banks and over 450 microfinance banks, amassing a yearly transaction value and yearly loan disbursement of $2bn and $300mn respectively.

As Africa’s traditional banks and fintech startups grapple with the increasing threat from telco companies and big tech players, Appzone’s products effectively and affordably equip them to deal with the sector’s most pressing challenges including legacy cost structures and a major lack of operational efficiency. Currently, due to a severe dearth of high-quality localised solutions that address these problems, traditional and challenger banks in Africa are limited to using foreign technology solutions tailored for Western markets - many of which are plagued with the huge stumbling blocks of prohibitive pricing, insufficient flexibility to innovate and a lack of local tech support. 

Speaking on the fundraise, Appzone’s Co-Founder and CEO Obi Emetarom says: “We’re excited not only to be securing a significant capital raise, but also welcoming on board some strategic investors whose support will be key to our growth journey. Today’s news allows us to scale Appzone’s products and services rapidly. For the last 12 years, we’ve worked in stealth mode, building the really complex infrastructure to power the continent's growing digital financial services space and forging partnerships with the continent’s biggest financial institutions."

In terms of next steps, we are now looking to hire from Africa’s top 1% to grow our team of elite talent who have proven themselves to be true  African builders; the brightest senior software engineers and domain experts, doing the incredibly hard work of building the backbone and next generation infrastructure for digital financial services at a level beyond world-class. We are seeking out gifted and audacious engineering and entrepreneurial minds, hungry to accelerate economic prosperity and tackle challenging technology with us. We are not just trying  to bring African fintech on-par with the rest of the world - we exist to make our financial sector the most innovative and technologically advanced on the globe through solutions built for Africa by Africans.”

Currently, Appzone’s clients spread across Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Tanzania, Senegal and Guinea and to-date, the company has raised $15mn in equity funding with previous investors including Lateral Capital, GreenHouse Capital, Timon Capital and Itanna. In 2018, the company obtained an officially approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) and has been the recipient of a number of industry awards including the Frost & Sullivan Award, NAMB (National Association of Microfinance Banks) and CeBIH (Committee of eBusiness Industry Heads) awards. 

Yomi Jemibewon, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Cardinal Stone Capital Advisers said: “Our investment in Appzone is further proof of Africa's potential as the future hub of world class technology. Appzone is building a disruptive FinTech ecosystem that will be the backbone of Africa's finance industry with products across payments, infrastructure and Software as a Service. The impact of Appzone's work is multifold - the company's products deepen financial inclusion across the continent whilst providing best-fit and low cost solutions to financial institutions. Its emphasis on premium talent also helps stem brain drain, rewarding Africa's best brains with best in class employment opportunities."

Despite its challenges, Africa’s banking sector is projected to reach a total market valuation of $129bn by 2022 according to McKinsey & Co. As the industry struggles to serve Africa’s huge unbanked population, there has been a growing influx of fintech platforms filling the gap. In recent years, these startups have attracted major interest from investors across the globe and in 2020, the sector accounted for over a third of the total $1.3bn in funding secured by African tech startups. 

PayNearby, India’s largest branchless banking network has announced the appointment of Mr. Abhaya Prasad Hota, former MD & CEO, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and former in-charge of DPSS in Reserve Bank of India and Mr. Mohan Tanksale, ex-CEO of Indian Banks’ Association and ex-CMD of Central Bank of India to the company’s Board of Directors. The new appointments are in line with PayNearby’s vision to create a strong governance at its core while accelerating to the next phase of growth. Mr. Hota and Mr. Tanksale will serve as Independent Directors to further strengthen PayNearby’s vision to deepen financial inclusion and democratize digital payments in the country. 

The new board appointments bring with them a rich mine of thought leadership in the field of digital payments, financial inclusion and banking and have been instrumental in revolutionizing digital payments and digital banking in the country. Their experience and demonstrated expertise will help create a unique culture within the organization and empower teams to innovate with passion and purpose every day, as it works towards making a digitally strong and financially empowered India. 
 
Speaking on the occasion, Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby said, “It’s a momentous occasion for PayNearby to welcome Mr. A. P. Hota and Mr. Mohan Tanksale on our board. Their guidance in the form of independent directors will help us establish stronger governance as we move to the next phase of growth and scale. Their decades of work and commitment to the cause of financial inclusion and democratizing digital payments will lend valuable guidance in our journey. The ‘Digital India’ agenda of bringing high-end technology to the bottom of the pyramid has been exemplified and powered by these two stalwarts. We are certain that they will guide us on an orbit-shifting path towards bringing financial liberation for the country at a much accelerated pace than before. We are privileged to be able to call on the experience of Mr. Hota and Mr. Tanksale.” 

Commenting on the appointment, Mr. A. P. Hota said, “I am delighted to be a part of the PayNearby family, which has been pioneering financial inclusion through their expansive retail network and stable technology architecture. I hope to help catalyse their growth and forward-looking vision in a strategic manner while working with like-minded people and focusing on driving last-mile connectivity for digital payments.” 
 
Mr. Mohan Tanksale said, “It is an exciting time in PayNearby’s journey. The company is well positioned to move to the next stage of expansion, where it is able to financially empower the lives of every unserved Indian. I feel privileged to join the PayNearby team as an independent board director. PayNearby has dedicated itself to bringing affordable financial services to the bottom of the pyramid and I hope to do my best to guide them and take PayNearby to greater heights while fast-tracking inclusive growth.” 
 

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, today announced that MyLife MyFinance has gone live with Temenos’ front-to-back digital banking platform delivered as Temenos SaaS. Using Temenos Country Model Bank methodology, the new front-to-back system simplifies processes, enhances the customer experience, and replaces legacy systems.

MyLife MyFinance is an Australian bank offering its customers a range of savings and lending solutions. Temenos cloud technology allows MyLife MyFinance to create hyper-efficient cost models for its suite of products. The reduced costs from Temenos SaaS will enable MyLife MyFinance to deliver more competitively priced products to its customers.

As a result of the build-and-migrate implementation, MyLife MyFinance has reduced complexity by moving to one central core banking system to store and run all of its processes and data, Temenos Transact. Combined with Temenos Infinity and Temenos Analytics, the end-to-end solution, increases automation and straight through processing (STP), completing conditional decisions for 90% of applications. Temenos’ end-to-end SaaS solution also reduces cost and complexity, and paves the way for innovation. The bank now benefits from secure, scalable technology built to meet Australian requirements today and in the future, including creating an open banking ecosystem to enhance services like customer verification, digital wallets and fraud monitoring, to deliver a differentiated customer experience. The project was completed using a phased approach, supported by Syncordis.

Challenger Limited, an investment management firm, recently entered into an agreement to acquire MyLife MyFinance from Catholic Super. The acquisition is currently subject to approval by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the Federal Treasury.

Zvonko Balic, Chief Technology Officer, MyLife MyFinance, commented: “With Temenos’ SaaS digital banking platform we have simplified our systems and can now provide an end to end solution to meet customer needs. This includes a streamlined customer onboarding experience. Transformations are inherently challenging, and add to this the complexity of adapting to new ways of working due to COVID-19, and the challenges only increased. I am proud of our team and our partners including Temenos, who have worked to help support our business and technology transformation.”

Mark Sawyer, General Manager, MyLife MyFinance, said: “For MyLife MyFinance, innovation means finding ways to create the best possible outcomes for our customers. We partnered with Temenos to create an ecosystem of innovative fintech solutions to improve our service levels and simplify processes. Temenos has provided us with a front-to-back digital banking platform. This includes Temenos Infinity and Analytics, an API-first technology that enables integration with third-parties, which can help us generate new innovations in the future. We’re excited to have reached this milestone of our digital transformation journey, and for our customers to experience the benefits.”

Jean-Paul Mergeai, President – MEA & APAC, Temenos, said: “Cloud-native technology is helping banks create hyper-efficient cost structures, enabling them to pass on the benefits to their clients in terms of a better banking service. Banks who have embraced modern technology can now run their operations at 10% of the cost of their legacy technology stack. As a Temenos customer, MyLife MyFinance can focus more of its IT spend on growth and innovation rather than on maintenance. The bank will be more agile in its ability to launch new products more quickly and onboard more customers and originate more products and services digitally. We are delighted that MyLife MyFinance has completed its digital transformation journey with us.”

SatchelPay, the EU-based electronic money institution (EMI), presents their next-gen financial product line branded as Satchel. The newly introduced and rebranded self-titled platform is designed to access the wide range of financial services intended both for businesses and individual clients.

Consistently following the course set in 2018, when Satchel was founded, the company focuses on providing secure and flexible money transferring solutions. The latest product offers a unique range of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) options, including EU IBAN provision, card issuance, and SEPA & SWIFT payments procession, as well as the White label card program.

The latter list intends for the clients searching for smooth, set-to-use, and, at the same time, easily scalable BaaS solutions to start their own fintech business without struggling with the regulation issues, software development, and resource-intensive operational management. The Satchel philosophy implies a rapid business deployment under the consulting team's watchful eyes and full-time competent customer support literally one call away, together with strong and accurate attention to compliance and legal procedures.

Apart from the BaaS solutions, business clients are welcome to consider the benefits of convenient services for the day-by-day business run. Satchel is fully capable of covering the small and midsize business's needs with well-thought-out options to transfer and collect money, business payment cards, payroll projects, and many more. The direct partnership with Mastercard allows Satchel clients to build their own internal money flow as an alternative to exhausting and high-priced bank accounting.

Speaking on the new significant step in project development, Sergiy Barybin, the Satchel CEO, has made an accent on the newly introduced product's flexibility. He also pointed out the importance of providing businesses with an opportunity to customize the set of fintech services they use in correspondence to its unique needs.

“Long years of working on Fintech products show how challenging the financial aspect of running an own business could be. With our vast experience and greater understanding of all the pitfalls the business can face, we were headed to provide our clients with an opportunity to doing their own job instead of spending valuable time on the backend development, compliance, or endless searches for an acceptable way to organize their finances. Here's when the Satchel concept first appeared. Today we are proud to introduce our flexible lineup of financial solutions that certainly makes Satchel a cutting-edge player in the EMI market.“

Apart from providing the services for institutional clients, Satchel will continue offering personal and corporate accounts, providing them with fast and fully remote account openings, ease of cross-border operations, and a high-security level.

Identitii Limited (Identitii, Company) (ASX:ID8) is pleased to announce that the Commonwealth Bank’s venture scaling entity, CBA New Digital Businesses Pty Ltd (x15ventures (http://www.x15ventures.com.au/)), is investing $1.0 million in Identitii subsidiary, Payble Pty Ltd (Payble (https://payble.com.au/)) to acquire a minority ownership stake.
 
In Australia each year, more than 75 million recurring or scheduled bill payments fail or are paid late. Businesses pay a high price to collect missing funds, using expensive call centres to update billing details, request late payments or activate instalment plans.
 
Payble helps fix failed or late bill payments before they happen, leveraging Identitii’s participation in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) CDR testing. Payble intends to utilise the new Open Banking regime to help businesses ensure more payments are made on time, and to provide customers with more control over their finances.
 
Payble represents x15ventures’ first minority equity investment.
Commenting on the announcement, Toby Norton-Smith, Managing Director, x15ventures says: 
“We’re thrilled to welcome Payble into the x15ventures family. Working closely with the startup community is key to our strategy to build, invest and acquire digital businesses that are reshaping banking and benefiting Australian businesses and consumers.”

Commenting on the announcement, Elliott Donazzan, CEO, Payble, says: 
“Over 500 million bills are sent to Australian consumers every year and over 75 million of those aren’t paid on time. This is a huge problem for Aussie businesses who spend time and money following up on late payments, fielding calls from customers about their billing details or retrying payments when they fail. Payble set out to fix failed or late payments before they happen and we are thrilled to have x15ventures join us on this journey. I’d like to thank the x15ventures team for their support to date and look forward to working together as we accelerate our go-to-market strategy.”

Commenting on the announcement, John Rayment, CEO, Identitii, says: 
“It’s a really exciting time for the Payble team and Identitii is thrilled to be working alongside x15ventures to support their aspirations. We’re very excited x15ventures decided to continue to invest in Payble and congratulate Elliott Donazzan, CEO of Payble, on the progress the company has made in such a short space of time under his leadership.”

x15ventures will be a significant minority shareholder in Payble and has appointed Chris Austin as Director to Payble’s Board, joining Founding Directors John Rayment and Elliott Donazzan. Mr Austin leads CBA’s Business Development Partnerships team, which includes investments by x15ventures. He brings over 15 years of M&A and strategy experience from his time with CBA and UBS. The additional links forged at the Board level will be instrumental in helping bring Payble to market.

Payble was founded by Identitii and Elliott Donazzan. After the x15ventures investment, Identitii will hold 51.3% of the issued capital of Payble Pty Ltd, x15ventures will hold 26.7% and Elliott Donazzan will hold 7.3%. The remaining 14.7% will be issued and allocated as part of employee incentive arrangements.  x15ventures retains a right to invest further at the same valuation to move to a majority ownership position.
This announcement has been approved and authorised to be given to ASX by the Board of Identitii Limited.

Atos today announced it has been positioned as a leader in Intelligent Automation in Banking by global analyst and advisory firm NelsonHall. 

The recognition of Atos is a result of the analysis undertaken and lists the company’s strengths, including a large client base of global banks with a presence in multiple markets requiring automation engagements and an expanding portfolio of financial services proprietary IP backed by large onshore delivery capability.

“In positioning Atos as a leader within intelligent automation in banking the company’s broad geographic reach and depth of offering was taken into account, so too its expanding technology ecosystem reinforced by strategic acquisitions which provide strong RPA capabilities across consulting, implementation and managed services” said Andy Efstathiou, Banking Sourcing Research Director at NelsonHall.

“We are pleased to be recognized by NelsonHall as a leader in intelligent automation in banking. Our proven approach of deploying intelligent automation frees up valuable resource to be allocated elsewhere and it is a vital enabler within an integrated, total transformation approach to unlocking potential within banking and financial services institutions” said Himanshu Vyas, Global Head of Analysts and Advisor services, Banking Financial Services and Insurance market, Atos.

 Atos delivers intelligent automation services to a broad range of global and regional financial institutions. Its automation solutions framework integrates best-of-breed technologies and services into a highly secure, scalable and comprehensive cloud-based solutions.

To address the increase in demand for B2B eCommerce, Oro Inc has launched its flagship platform OroCommerce in the UK.

OroCommerce is an enterprise-grade B2B ecommerce platform, built with a comprehensive set of features ready for any B2B commerce model, helping to digitally transform businesses and revolutionise the eCommerce landscape. The platform has been specifically designed for manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and multi-channel brands.

Already established in the US, OroCommerce is the first and only open-source B2B eCommerce platform built from the ground up for mid-market and large commerce businesses. Despite only being released in January 2017, OroCommerce has been recognised in the IDC MarketScape as a Major Player and by Gartner in its 2021 Market Guide for Marketplace Operation Applications.

The platform will allow UK-based businesses to expand into new markets with an online and mobile presence which is paramount in the digital landscape of 2021. Businesses who don’t want to get left behind are being urged to rethink their digital strategy as the number of eCommerce users is expected to grow by 7% to 61 million users in the UK by 2024.

As a purpose-built eCommerce platform for B2B, OroCommerce offers out-of-the-box B2B features. Oro Inc recently announced the release of OroCommerce 4.2, the latest version of its flagship eCommerce platform. The platform’s integrated technology solution provides a diverse range of B2B features and capabilities, such as personalisation, localisation, built-in multi-channel CRM, powerful workflows, and a pricing engine.

Yoav Kutner, CEO and Founder of Oro, Inc, said: “It’s never been more important for businesses to have a B2B eCommerce platform that supports their digital strategy and we’re pleased to be able to offer our flagship platform to UK businesses looking to improve their online offering so that they can reap the same rewards we’ve seen with US-based businesses.

“With the release of OroCommerce 4.2 and our expansion into the UK market, we’re looking forward to welcoming even more businesses on board. Digital B2B commerce is all about providing a consistent, relevant, and personalized buying experience, whether your business is new to eCommerce or you're looking for a competitive edge.”