Glue42, the company that delivers integrated desktop experiences to financial institutions globally, and Velox, the only data-centric, low-code application platform built for the front-office, today launched the ‘G42 Fidessa/Velox Appliance’. The joint business solution enables and automates the integration process that helps traders with multiple instances of Fidessa gain an actionable, holistic view of their order book for faster market and client responses. The new Appliance can be implemented in a matter of days and is already live at an investment bank headquartered out of London and Frankfurt with offices across Europe. 

The G42 Fidessa/Velox Appliance has been made available in the Glue42 Appliance Store, a collection of pre-packaged business components that support the rapid integration of two or more applications. Appliances are a business-led approach to digital transformation and resolve commonly occurring trading workflow problems. They deliver a level of automation and optimization not previously available to the business without significant involvement from IT. 

The launch of the new Appliance ties in with the demand from financial institutions for solutions that augment existing investments and solve one business problem at a time with the shortest path to immediate value so firms can remain competitive.   

In this instance, Velox brings together different data feeds from the back end and consolidates the data into an actionable, browser-based order blotter and then leverages Glue42 to pass actions to other applications on the desktop.  

As a result, traders no longer have to constantly switch between various Fidessa instances, which increases their productivity by as much a 25 percent, and reduces operational errors and exposure. More so, the Velox data-centric, low-code approach means firms can now innovate up to 10 times faster by adding new functionality to further automate and simplify the trader workflow.  

“Traders’ desktops have been under-performing for too long,” said James Wooster, COO, Glue42. “It’s time we put control back into the hands of the business. By enabling two or more applications to behave as one, we are simplifying the user journey without the hassle of big IT projects or reliance on over stretched in-house IT teams. We’re combining enterprise-class software with the ease of use of e-commerce platforms. We think it is part of one of the final frontiers in capital markets: the quest to simplify and improve the traders’ desktop.” 

A European investment bank that operates through a number of brands, subsidiaries, and broker-dealers, implemented the G42 Fidessa/Velox Appliance as part of its commitment to consistently deliver innovative financial solutions through a common infrastructure. Its aim was to forge a new trading system paradigm that combines the robustness, resilience, and connectivity of Fidessa with the kind of integration and user experience that its users enjoy in their everyday lives.  

As a result of the G42 Fidessa/Velox Appliance, the bank’s traders now enjoy a unified and simplified experience where multiple systems work with each other seamlessly and can access the information they need with a single mouse click. This includes a desktop where the windows and workspaces displayed are only those that are required, and where notifications are managed and centralized. Any new applications and processes will automatically be integrated.  

“M&A activity will constantly create the need for systems aggregation and integration,” said Jon Butler, CEO, Velox. “Traditionally, this has created a massive headache for front office staff that need to operate across all systems. Our technology makes this problem go away by allowing new trade flows, data and businesses to be seamlessly integrated into the existing workflow.” 

To learn more about how financial organizations can use low-code and desktop interoperability to modernize their trading platform, join Glue42 and Velox for a webinar today, Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 11:00 am EDT. 

Corporate treasury specialist Ledgermatic today launches its White Paper, offering a first look at use cases, solutions and technologies it intends to deploy ahead of its product release later this year. It will aid organizations to future-proof their corporate treasury services, allowing them to hold and transact digital assets like Bitcoin in a compliant way. As a first use case, Ledgermatic intends to offer a digital asset competitor to in-house banking payment systems and structures favoured by large banks to allow corporates to reduce their regional and local banking infrastructure. To further this concept, Ledgermatic promises a low-cost, cross border payment corridor and reduced banking touchpoints by up to 60%.

Recognising the continued inefficiencies in global commerce, in 2020 the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) group tasked the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to launch a review to analyse and enhance crossborder payments. Citing friction in speed, cost, transparency, data standards and interoperability, the review seeks ways to improve how global commerce is conducted.

Ledgermatic’s whitepaper proposes ways to tackle these frictions in a B2B setting. Using a P2P payment channel with the choice of an internally minted or externally sourced stablecoin, Ledgermatic’s solution offers cost savings and lower credit risk by virtue of its near instant settlement times. By combining P2P technology with FX settlement capabilities and strong compliance, Ledgermatic offers a hybrid model for enterprise that balances speed, cost and safety. Ledgermatic is also committed to aligning with emerging global standards like the ISO20022 messaging format and Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)’s for business.  

For organisations around the world subjected to sudden currency depreciation, FX volatility and expensive banking infrastructure, Ledgermatic offers alternative asset classes and infrastructure to transact with counterparties and finance their business. It will additionally offer its corporate clients a way to deploy their own corporate-backed Treasury Token (LT2), an internal stablecoin backed by any corporate asset, verified by Ledgermatic. The token will offer multiple use cases for onchain global commerce, including digital asset credit, programmable and dynamic AR/AP processes verified in real-time.

Luke Sully, CEO at Ledgermatic said:  "If you're an international supplier, perhaps a Turkish manufacturer and exporters of steel pipes, you might hold a substantial and increasing amount of US dollar debt at a time when your local currency is depreciating. That impacts your competitiveness. To find more cost effective ways to keep you connected with your international counterparts and insulate yourself from fiat exposure, Ledgermatic is there.”

Isaac Fain, CTO and Co-Founder of Ledgermatic, commented: “If we can help reduce working capital cycles, digital asset infrastructure will provide real economic benefits and deliver on its fundamental promise. The range of exciting use cases adds up to a huge efficiency win for companies and will give them the confidence to access digital asset infrastructure for an ever growing range of treasury solutions, thus enhancing their ability to grow their own business more efficiently.”

Niyo, India's premier digital banking fintech, today announced the launch of Niyo X— a state-of-the-art mobile banking solution for millennials — in partnership with Equitas Small Finance Bank and Visa. With this launch, the company aims to on-board 2M customers by calendar year end 2021.

Ahead of the launch, Niyo conducted a nationwide survey among 8000 millennials residing in metro and non-metro cities to understand millennial’s banking needs post Covid-19 pandemic. The study revealed that 70% of Indian millennials are now inclined towards digital banks, especially for convenient customer support.

Interestingly, 55% respondents said that they would switch banks for rewards & offers and 45% would switch banks for better interest rates. Addressing these needs, the NiyoX comes with industry-best ‘007 banking’ features such as 0% commission on mutual funds investment, ‘0’ account maintenance charges, and upto 7% interest on account balances.

Niyo’s Co-founder and CEO Vinay Bagri said: “As India's leading digital banking fintech startup, our primary focus is on easing and enhancing customer experience, and the launch of the Niyo X is a testament to our commitment to the digital transformation of the banking space. We are delighted to launch our most ambitious product through our strategic partnership with Equitas SFB where we will provide the best possible savings account combined with a best-in-class investment account, all tied together with Niyo’s usual thought-through and delightful user interface. We are confident that this will become the most sought-after banking product very soon."

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, millennials have become more cautious with their spends. Niyo’s study also notes that 60% of millennials track their expenses manually and 84% of millennials would like know how they can track their expenses with convenience. To meet their requirements, the Niyo app comes with a unique spend and savings analyzer, thus encouraging customers to be prudent with their expenses and inculcate better savings habits.

Vaibhav Joshi, Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Equitas Small Finance Bank said: “Neobanking is the next big thing in Banking. We are happy to partner with Niyo on this path breaking initiative. The need today is to create use case driven digital banking products and we aim to do just that with our Neobank & Fintech programs. We have developed an extensive API Banking suite that helps partners like Niyo develop a highly specialized and custom developed solution for its target audience. We are sure this program will break the shackles of the traditional banking mindset and establish a true Open Banking model.”

Besides the state-of-the-art mobile app, this account comes with a VISA Platinum Debit Card, an industry-high 7%* p.a. interest rate on account balance and a promise of “zero non-maintenance fee”, making it ideal for the fast-paced lifestyle of today’s aspirational millennial Indian.

NiyoX is also a 2-in-1 account that provides its users access to a full wealth management suite besides the savings account. The comprehensive wealth management suite powered by Niyo Money provides 0 commission mutual funds, facility to track all your investments at one place, robo advisory and a feature that rounds up your expenses and invests the change. Niyo will soon launch domestic and internationals stocks on the platform.

Besides NiyoX will bring in a multilayer reward system comprising referral incentive, rewards points and scratch card-based cashback. This is topped up with some exclusive offers for the users curated by the team.

Tushar Verma, Business Head - NiyoX adds: “We are not only excited to launch this mobile first banking in partnership with Equitas Small Finance Bank, but also eager to see how millennials receive and interact with the product. We've curated this product keeping Millennials in mind and will be bringing in a lot of amazing features in the future versions.”

ING announced today that Andrew Bester will be appointed member of the Management Board Banking and head of Wholesale Banking. Andrew takes up his position on 6 April 2021, succeeding Isabel Fernandez, who stepped down effective 31 December 2020.

Andrew Bester (British/South African) has broad and deep banking experience, managing and transforming wholesale, retail and SME banking businesses across different geographies and economic cycles. In his most recent position he was CEO of the Co-operative Bank in the UK, leading the turnaround of the ethical bank from 2018-2020. Before that Andrew served as Group Director and CEO of the commercial and wholesale banking business at Lloyds Banking Group (2012-2017). Between 2004 and 2012 he held various positions at Standard Chartered including Co-head of Wholesale Banking for Greater China and previously Africa and global CFO and COO Consumer Banking.

Andrew holds a degree in Accounting from the University Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is a qualified chartered accountant and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Association of Corporate Treasurers.  

The appointment of Andrew Bester has been approved by the European Central Bank.

LenDenClub, one of the leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in India, today said that it has integrated with Google Pay and is now live on its platform. It is the first P2P lending company to integrate with the tech platform. With this integration, customers of GPay can now lend and borrow through LenDenClub as seamlessly as they can make payments through the platform. 

LenDenClub offers borrowers hassle-free loans, even in the remotest parts of the country. It is one of those rare lending apps to offer loans across 19,000 pin codes across the country; higher than some of the banks as well. With its integration on GPay, users can now access services offered by the brand right from the Google Pay app interface. Borrowers can visit the ‘InstaMoney’ spot on GPay and get loans ranging anywhere between Rs. 5,000/- to Rs. 12,500/- transferred to one’s bank account within minutes. Similarly investors can visit the ‘LenDenClub’ spot on GPay and invest as low as Rs. 500 thereby offering loans to borrowers directly. The invest option will be live in a few days. 

The Spot feature is currently available on Android, while the iOS version will be launched in the coming months. 

Speaking on occasion, Bhavin Patel, Co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub, said: “LenDenClub is extremely excited to be live on Google Pay. It goes along with our vision of delivering financial products through technology. Being the first P2P player to integrate with GPay, offers us access to over 60-70 million active GPay users monthly on both the demand and supply side of our business. With more and more people in the country getting used to the idea of shopping and transacting online, a large portion are now also seeking credit digitally. We are confident to add value to Google Pay’s customers through this collaboration.” 

LenDenClub has been critical in serving the marginalised and offering credit to those left out of the country's financial services fold. Additionally, the platform offers an excellent alternative investment opportunity for investors to lend on its platform and earn net returns up to 15% p.a., superior to most of the other investment products available.

The company currently has a loan book of more than Rs. 500 Cr., with an average ticket size of Rs. 25,000. It has arranged more than Rs. 1,000 Cr. worth of loans by more than 1.5 lakhs lenders on the platform. Betting big on the P2P lending space, especially in a post-Covid scenario, the company recently expanded its flagship digital lending platform InstaMoney from its presence in 7 states to pan-India. The company has one of the lowest NPA in the digital lending space at 3.4% as on 30th December 2020.

Newly launched digital treasury services management provider SH Capital Ltd (SHC), has appointed FinIQ as its digital trading platform.

The company selected FinIQ, a leading Singapore-based capital markets technology provider, following a competitive search for a partner to support its expanding services across Dubai and the UAE region.

FinIQ's front-to-back wealth and treasury services platform is used by nearly 15,000 bankers across 21 countries to electronically trade financial instruments. SH Capital, which is scheduled to begin trading in Q2 this year, will utilise FinIQ’s extensive suite of services including its flagship products FIConnect and FXDConnect.

FIConnect is an online order execution tool for a wide range of simple to complex fixed income securities via the world’s largest supplier network including buyside, sellside and direct order workflows. FXDConnect allows access to liquidity from leading investment banks supplying live and dealable quotes for a range of vanilla FX and derivative structures.

SH Capital’s mission is to empower small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs & MMEs) by offering world class global banking services, asset management, FX hedging solutions, investment products and services that have previously been hard to obtain in the region.  

SHC acts as an intermediary for clients, helping them to access leading and global tier one cash investment products.

Khalid Talukder, Managing Director, SH Capital Ltd:

“We were seeking an established trading platform, with a breadth and diversity of functions to offer our clients bespoke tier one financial solutions. It was clear during the review process that FinIQ was the obvious market leader, offering outstanding capabilities and a broad range of services, making it the perfect partner for our fast-growing client base.

We look forward to working with FinIQ to enable ambitious SMEs across the region to gain access to efficient and high-quality digital asset management and investment products globally to support their treasury activities, taking their organisation to the next level."

Sandip Sen, Senior Consultant, FinIQ, said:

“With over 70 years combined experience in its team of financial professionals, SH Capital is looking to establish itself as the go-to premier provider of tier one banking services for growing businesses across the UAE and beyond. We are very pleased to have formed a strategic partnership with what promises to be a fast-growing, ambitious company, that has pledged to set a new benchmark for financial services in the region and beyond.”

SH Capital is a subsidiary of parent company Stanhope Financial Group, which launched with $3.5m funding in November last year.  In December, the group also announced the launch SH Payments in Lithuania after obtaining its Electronic Money Institution licence.

Horizon Software a leading provider of electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology, is making its trading and algo solutions available in the fast-growing Vietnam market.

Throughout the pandemic, capital has poured into the Vietnamese stock market – surging 20% to US$16.64 billion last year. With average transaction value estimated at US$304.8 million per session, up 51.5% year-on-year, the market is set for greater electronification.

Since 2017, Horizon has established a strong partnership with Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchanges (HOSE) and has supported the stimulation of the Vietnamese markets through market making and the issuing of Covered Warrants. Horizon currently has five leading security houses in Vietnam currently using Horizon software.

Horizon is also aiming to expand its OMS across the region. The OMS offers a cross-asset platform for cash and derivatives, an algo factory for sophisticated trading strategies and automated & low latency technology inherited from principal trading.

BSC, one of the leading security houses in Vietnam, commented: “For almost two years now, we have benefited from the advanced functionality, flexibility, stability and reliability of the Horizon trading technology which has helped augment efficiencies in our trading workflows.”

Emmanuel Faure, Head of APAC sales at Horizon, added: “We are committed to working closely with our clients to develop reliable solutions that work across the APAC and globally. Localised solutions have always been the primary driver, enabling us to maintain our position as the leading provider in the Vietnamese market. This year we will step up to the next level from market making to a next-gen cross-asset and cross businesses algo platform.”