Wealth Dynamix, a global leader in client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions, has been given unique recognition in Aperture’s inaugural Market Map for its WDX1 solution. Wealth Dynamix has been named as an ‘Enabler’ following assessment of WDX1, which continues to transform client lifecycle management in an industry that depends on deep and impactful relationships.

The Swiss headquartered strategy consultancy has launched the Market Map to challenge some of the longer-standing indices. The firm states that its evaluation methodology befits the fast-moving digital age by considering not only technology and business model innovation, but the critical role innovators play in giving firms in the nuanced wealth sector market advantage. Unlike Gartner’s more established Magic Quadrant which commends firms plotted in the coveted ‘top right corner’, the Market Map recognises the fundamental roles digital specialists play in advancing wealth and investment managers with varying propositions and service channels.

Aperture deems an ‘Enabler’ as a system with the capacity to, “help wealth managers to augment their proposition without the constraints of their existing technology and business model.” This is essential in the wealth marketplace, where legacy systems are considered one of the greatest obstacles in implementing a digital strategy and continue to be used in a large proportion of firms.

One of just two ‘Enablers’ within the Market Map, Wealth Dynamix scored most highly on technology and digital enablement. The report states, “There is much to like about the Wealth Dynamix solution,” and calls out WDX1’s provision of empowering information and tools that help relationship managers better manage their clients.

Gary Linieres, CEO and Co-Founder of Wealth Dynamix says, “We are delighted to have been included in the first ever Market Map and to have been recognised for our very distinct role in advancing the specialist wealth sector. The world of wealth is changing fast, from the drivers that underpin wealth generation to the way in which clients choose to engage with their wealth managers. Firms have been further challenged of late with managing clients across their channels of choice which adds to the importance of effective lifecycle management and the complexities of the end-to-end client relationship. Our high scores for leveraging technology and our clients’ existing business models reflect the flexibility of our bespoke solutions and the extensive sector expertise that we bring to the table.”

PayRetailers partners with CONMEBOL as a two-year new Official Sponsor at the kick off of 2021 season of Sudamericana football tournament.

PayRetailers, a premier payment platform operating in Latin America, decided to bolster its commitment to fully being part of the region’s everyday life and culture, by sponsoring one of the region’s greatest competitions in its most beloved sport. 

The rapidly growing PSP will be the Official Sponsor of the prestigious CONMEBOL Sudamericana football tournament for two seasons, starting this year with its 20^th edition as well as in 2022.

CONMEBOL Sudamericana is the continent’s second most famous competition after Copa Libertadores, gathering 47 teams from 10 national associations to compete in 157 matches. The competition is broadcast to football fans in over 70 countries all over the world. 

The sponsorship is the first of its kind for PayRetailers, which from its inception see local touch as key in payment processing as it helped its clients manage extensive and varied payment networks across the continent.

Ever since its founding in 2017, the firm decided to put down deep roots around the continent and currently has a physical presence in twelve Latin American markets and an expansion to Paraguay underway.

The locally embedded approach allows the firm to be highly responsive to varied payments preferences of consumers in this highly diverse part of the world and can help its clients by providing a seamless payments solution covering more than 250 local payment methods in all of the region's currencies, ranging from in-store cash payments to bank transfers and the rapidly growing number of APMs.

Jutgla further noted that, “during the last years PayRetailers watched from the ranks and has been very careful with the selection of its first sponsorship. We wanted to make an impact and find a partner that lives our values and is geographically close to our activities. Now we approached CONMEBOL because we regard it as one of the most important associations for the people.”

It is also notable that, PayRetailers is entering this historic partnership and introducing itself to the Latin American and global football fans with a sleek, fresh face.

The new logo and the visual identity have been simplified to follow an ambitious new strategy for the firm and the willingness to become an even more globally and regionally recognizable brand. The platform is eager to reach the highest in the global fintech world, and this ambitious partnership and rebrand are just the start. 

While the brand still emphasizes the company’s role as the payment gateway to Latin America for retailers, it also highlights that while their partners might know how to play the retail game, it is PayRetailers that can help them navigate the increasingly complex Latin American payments playing field.

If you want to get down from the stands and join the retail game in Latin American, get in touch with PayRetailers by clicking following this link. They will be happy to help you keep your eyes on the ball as they remove and simplify the operational intricacies of cross-border payment management and accepting alternative payments.

The rest can just kick back and enjoy what are bound to be two amazing tournaments showcasing some of the world’s best football, that will be brought by CONMEBOL Sudamericana in partnership with one of the region’s most innovative fintech firms. 

Hyland, a leading content services provider for organisations around the world, has been recognised as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave ™: Robotic Process Automation, Q1 2021 report. Hyland added RPA functionality to its intelligent automation product portfolio through the acquisition of Another Monday in 2020.

The report, which is available to download here, features key industry trends driving the increased demand for RPA and essential capabilities organisations should look for within an RPA solution, including the ability to deliver rich experiences for business leaders, provide integrations to RPA-adjacent technologies and empower a superior scaling experience. The Forrester report  acknowledges Hyland’s strategic approach integrating RPA into its content services platform and intelligent automation solutions that solve industry-specific challenges with RPA, process orchestration, low-code capabilities and advanced integrations with external systems. Hyland received the highest score possible in the following criteria:

• Current offering: Portfolio management and ROI analysis – defined as offering customers a rich platform covering the whole automation lifecycle, including cost and projected efficiency considerations as well as seamless integration with external platforms
• Current offering: Bot deployment – defined as delivering automated bot testing, AI-powered bot repair and re-testing and generating compelling, auditable bot documentation
• Strategy: Product vision – defined as having superior capabilities  with plans such as no-code designer for citizen developers, automation collaboration, automation portfolio management, task/process mining integration, bot generation
• Strategy: Performance – defined as having strong evidence of past and future performance, one-year sales forecast and growth ambition that aligns with its strategic product vision

John Phelan, EVP and chief product officer at Hyland, explained the value of RPA for organisations across industries: “In order to excel in evolving business climate and compete with innovative start-ups that are born digital, organisations need to embrace intelligent automation, allowing digital workers to perform repetitive, tedious work and allocating employees to higher priority tasks that elevate and improve customer experience. We see RPA as a natural extension of an organisation’s intelligent automation strategy and vision. By incorporating RPA into a best-in-class content services platform, organisations quickly streamline processes, achieve faster ROI, and enable end-to-end automation.”

To learn more about intelligent automation delivered through Hyland RPA, visit Hyland.com/RPA.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today outlined a three-prong plan to further harmonize derivatives trade reporting requirements and deliver against the objectives that were originally established by the Group of 20 (G20) at its historic 2009 summit in Pittsburgh.

In a new paper released today, titled, “Course Correction: Finding a New Path to Global Data Harmonization in Derivatives Trade Reporting,” DTCC outlines its recommendations for a path forward in reaching global data harmonization in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market.

“OTC derivatives trade reporting standardization would enable regulators to reach the level of transparency and global risk monitoring identified as critical by the G20 summit, but has been a challenge to achieve for individual jurisdictions,” said Chris Childs, DTCC Managing Director and Head of Repository and Derivatives Services. “With several trade reporting rule sets currently under regulatory review, now is the time to work together and continue to progress against these objectives, and more specifically, to align individual jurisdiction trade reporting rules to facilitate global market transparency.”

Challenges in Achieving Standardization in Trade Reporting

While the industry and regulators now have greater insights into local market risk, insufficient alignment of reporting requirements across jurisdictions could impede the global aggregation and analysis of OTC derivatives transaction data reported to trade repositories. This could lead to a lack of transparency across jurisdictions, which could hinder regulators’ ability to adequately monitor systemic risk.

Several regulatory bodies are now embarking on the adoption of critical data elements (CDE) for derivatives trade reporting as identified by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) working group on harmonization (Harmonization Group). The CDE initiative was designed to promote the data harmonization critical to enabling data aggregation and systemic risk transparency. However, disparate adoption of the CDE and other reporting standards across jurisdictions will hinder the achievement of the G20’s risk mitigation objectives, and create complex implementation burdens for market participants.

A New Path Forward

Within the paper, DTCC outlines three steps the industry should take to improve in this area and advance toward the transparency and systemic risk monitoring goals envisioned by the G20.

1. Cross-jurisdictional differences: The industry, regulators and other key stakeholders must work together to eliminate cross-jurisdictional differences in the adoption of CDE trade reporting requirements to avoid ongoing re-harmonization efforts and future regulatory amendments. This would involve paring down the CPMI IOSCO list of 110 CDE to only the most important elements that then can be aggregated across jurisdictions.
2. ISO 20022: With the help of ISO 20022 Derivatives SubSEG working group, the industry must finish the ISO 20022 CDE message scheme for OTC derivatives, setting a definitive timetable for completion, and universally adopt a single ISO 20022 message as the common data standard and format for reporting to trade repositories. A common messaging standard would help drive data consistency across trade repositories and jurisdictions.
3. LEI ROC: The industry must furnish the LEI ROC with adequate resources in order for it to successfully serve as the central governance body for CDE, universal product identifiers (UPI) and universal transaction identifiers (UTI), as designated by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on October 1, 2020.

Childs concluded, “It is critically important that we embark on these efforts now and capitalize on this unique moment to enhance systemic risk mitigation before market participants begin their next round of updates to conform to the latest rules revisions, some of which are projected for implementation in 2022.”

The Equals Group chose the TruNarrative platform to help drive operational efficiency and facilitate smooth customer experiences across their range of services.

TruNarrative enables businesses to safely onboard customers, detect fraud and identify risk via a single API. Their technology is used to deliver fraud detection and compliance strategies across the globe in a range of industries including banking, lending, online gambling, eCommerce and payment services.

The Equals Group is comprised of well-established international payments and e-banking brands including Equals Money, FairFX and CardOneMoney. The Group’s brands deliver a range of money management solutions to their business and personal clients which include expense management, global payments, and foreign exchange currency services. Combined, these services help clients manage spending, cashflow and international transactions.

The Equals Group were searching for a solution to enhance their Group-wide customer onboarding, compliance and fraud prevention strategy.

They required a comprehensive SaaS onboarding and compliance platform with multiple customisable journeys and workflows. Their goal was to drive business efficiency, consolidate insight and compliance processes, whilst providing a low-friction customer journey.

The partnership delivers the Equals Group full access to the TruNarrative solution and its capabilities for; KYC (know your customer), KYB (know your business), identity verification, Pep’s (politically exposed persons) & sanctions and ongoing risk monitoring of individual and business customers.

The TruNarrative solution integrates with the Group’s existing tech stack, including their core platform and front-end systems, delivering them the ability to efficiently make customer acquisition and business risk decisions. Through the TruNarrative platform, the Equals Group can access a full case management system for manual review and referrals. Helping them make informed onboarding decisions with the full customer in view, delivering time savings and relieving pressure on referral management teams.

Alongside a natural language rule builder allowing for rapid strategy changes and an automated frictionless experience for low-risk applications, the Group can access 50+ third party data providers and a comprehensive audit trail for instant recall for regulatory purposes.

“Our partnership with the Equals Group demonstrates our commitment to working with innovative, high-growth businesses.” said Ryan Morrison, Chief Operating Officer at TruNarrative. “We look forward to helping them drive greater efficiency and maintain a low-friction customer experience.”

Matthijs Boon, Chief Operating Officer at The Equals Group added “We are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest tech solutions to help us deliver the best service possible to our clients. Through TruNarrative, we can address an integral part of our customer’s journey and take it to the next level.” 

Viva Wallet, the Pan-European Neobank with a presence in 23 countries, and PrestaShop, one of the leading open-source e-commerce platforms, announced a new collaboration that will allow thousands of online merchants across Europe and the UK to accept fully localized payments in a few clicks, through the new Viva Wallet module.  

Viva Wallet for PrestaShop modulewill offer frictionless payments that adapt automatically to the client’s use. When merchants choose the new Viva Wallet module they can expect a higher conversion rate due to the local targeting parameters it offers. The end customers of online shops will be offered a fully localized experience based on their location (language and type of local types of payments) and their preferences (eg. Device, previous way of payments). 

When choosing the Viva Wallet module, merchants will not only get the best E-commerce payments solution there is, but also other added benefits such as a localized IBAN account and a local BIN business debit card, next-day settlement, and 0% acceptance fees. 

“Viva Wallet helps businesses across 23 countries increase their revenue by providing payments tools which can be activated instantly. The Viva Wallet module for PrestaShop, will help merchants immediately get a local IBAN account, to activate payments acceptance for all international card schemes and also for local payment methods and to use their Viva Wallet business debit card, all in a few clicks. And further to that, online merchants may reduce payments fees down to 0% by using our one click Viva Wallet module inside Prestashop. ” said Yannis Larios, VP of Strategy at Viva Wallet. 

“We are excited to start a collaboration with Viva Wallet, a leading payment provider offering plans from 0% acquiring fees through its business debit card program. Our European partnership will boost Viva Wallet's footprint and accelerate its merchant's acquisition within our open-source ecosystem"  said Valerio Martelli VP of Partnership at PrestaShop. 

Linedata, a global provider of credit and asset management technology, data and services, today announced it is the first technology vendor to seamlessly integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data into asset managers’ workflows through collaboration with leading independent provider Arabesque S-Ray. A wide range of ESG data assets feeds directly into Linedata’s software to help managers meet growing demands from regulators and investors for greater transparency over ESG funds, and to provide a competitive edge through sustainable positioning and differentiated product offerings.

Arabesque S-Ray’s quantitative data tool uses machine learning to crunch the sustainability performance of over 8,000 of the world’s largest listed companies, and directly integrates with Linedata’s portfolio and order management solutions for unparalleled ease of use. It is available to Linedata clients in Europe, Asia, and North America.

“We believe economic value creation can go hand in hand with environmental stewardship, social inclusion, and sound governance,” noted Georg Kell, Chairman of the Arabesque Group, and founding Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact. “Our agreement with Linedata empowers more asset managers to make better decisions for a sustainable future.”

Positioning powerful ESG intelligence at the fingertips of Linedata’s over 450 global asset management clients helps managers support ESG decision-making and adapt to evolving requirements under Europe’s new Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the United States’ new ESG agenda. 

The move also marks an expansion of Linedata’s Data Management Service, a key component of its cloud-based Asset Management Platform - AMP launched last year. It offers an innovative commercial model which gives basic ESG and UN Global Compact scores to users of Linedata software, and the flexibility to access premium data on a usage basis, a break from the industry standard.

“Linedata is committed to helping market participants to make more and better ESG driven decisions. With sustainable fund assets hitting a record $1.7 trillion in 20201, asset managers recognize ethical and sustainable funds as a major growth opportunity,” said Gary Brackenridge, Linedata’s Global Head of Asset Management. “The combination of Arabesque’s market-leading ESG data seamlessly integrated into Linedata’s cloud-based portfolio workflows with a unique usage model fits with what we know clients are looking for: commercial flexibility, high-value content and excellent user experience.” 

Providing instant access to Arabesque S-Ray’s data supports the wider industry shift to ESG investing, while removing a major operational burden from asset managers. The ability to leverage independently validated ESG scores streamlines and accelerates the development of ethical, sustainable and funds and in turn helps guide which companies consciously minded investors and consumers choose to support.

Users benefit from ESG data insights throughout the entirety of their investment operations: 

• Score, rebalance, and create new ESG portfolio strategies, products, and workflows
• Integrate ESG factors into pre- and post-trade Compliance at asset and fund level
• Manage regulatory and investor transparency and reporting with dashboards, screening, and monitoring tools

Multiply AI, the UK’s first fully-automated financial adviser app, today announced it has partnered with digital mortgage broker Mojo to provide the first end-to-end digital advice app free of charge for first-time home buyers.

Leveraging the power of deep learning AI, the app provides holistic financial advice for those who cannot afford to see a traditional face-to-face advisor.

The free-to-use online service helps people save up to buy their first home, providing tailored recommendations to help grow their wealth and then offers the best mortgage deals in a fast and transparent way. The process is simple and easy to use, and customers get the investment support they need in a matter of minutes.

Multiply AI also provides an achievable pathway to get on the property ladder by launching access to a market-leading Lifetime ISA (LISA). This comes as many help-to-buy ISAs are closed to new applicants and most first-time buyers have been stalled due to lockdown measures.

Vivek Madlani, CEO of Multiply AI, said: “Our partnership with Mojo will help homebuyers from the point at which they decide to start saving their deposit, all the way to getting their keys."

“Mojo shares our ambition to democratise access to financial advice and remove key barriers to entry for first-time home buyers – namely financial knowledge to saving and getting the right mortgage. Together we are delivering a complete online experience that is easy to understand, cost-effective, fast and transparent."

“Multiply and Mojo will allow first-time buyers to go from deposit saving to homeownership without any of the frustrating paperwork, delays and fees that are usually associated with the traditional process of buying a home.” 

Mojo’s award-winning free service has made great strides in bringing transparency and convenience to first-time buyers with innovations such as MortgageScore and real-time eligibility across thousands of mortgage deals from 90 lenders.

The smart, time-saving tech allows Mojo’s expert mortgage advisers to spend more time with first-time buyers, giving them real confidence in their mortgage decisions.

Even during the pandemic, many first-time buyers remain locked out of the housing market due to high demand, ongoing housing shortages and soaring property prices. Average first-time buyer house prices are up 10 percent from 2019, with the average UK property now worth £260,000. The average mortgage deposit required is also up – with most lenders requiring a minimum of 10 percent of the purchase price.

On top of this, most high loan to value (LTV) mortgages for small deposit borrowers have been pulled during the pandemic. These 95 percent loan-to-value mortgages offered a unique opportunity for first-time buyers to get their foot on the ladder.

Even with the demise of this lending option there are still other kinds of mortgages available but picking the right one can be confusing and time consuming without sound advice.

By joining forces, Multiply and Mojo are disrupting a process that has traditionally been difficult for first time home buyers to navigate. Customers can now get the quality advice and support they need to make the right decision about saving for a property and choosing a mortgage – with just a few taps on their smartphone.

Richard Hayes, CEO of Mojo, said: “We help thousands of people with mortgages and re-mortgages, but it’s always great when we can make things just that bit easier for first-time buyers, and this partnership with Multiply does that."

“Many first-time buyers have seen their plans disrupted over the past year, and most will want to make 2021 the year they get on the ladder - particularly if there is a softening of house prices after the SDLT holiday."

“This partnership gives them the quality advice and confidence they need to make better and more informed decisions about the biggest investment they will ever make in their life.”

The app can be downloaded from the App Store and will soon be available on Android phones.

Global payments service provider SumUp (www.sumup.co.uk) announces today that it has raised a €750m facility from Goldman Sachs, Temasek, Bain Capital Credit, Crestline, and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.. With Goldman Sachs’ and Bain Capital Credit’s continued support as existing investors and high demand from new investors, the current round was oversubscribed.

SumUp will use the proceeds to accelerate its growth and continue to acquire and support its existing merchants in 33 markets across the world. The new funds will also be used to continue expanding SumUp’s product suite, both organically and through further acquisitions (M&A), as well as for refinancing existing debt facilities. 

The company has recently broadened its product portfolio in the POS and gastronomy space across the UK and continental Europe through the acquisition of leading POS software providers Goodtill and Tiller. These recent acquisitions will put SumUp into contact with potentially millions of new customers, from cafes and restaurants right up to the biggest sports stadiums and concert arenas; signalling a new generation of SumUp merchants coming into play. SumUp has also recently completed the acquisition of the core banking system provider Paysolut, as part of its strategy to build up its offering of banking services for merchants.

Despite the effects of COVID-19 on SMEs, SumUp has entered 2021 in its strongest position to date. Over the past year, SumUp has unveiled a host of new solutions and innovations to help businesses navigate the operating restrictions brought about by repeated lockdowns. This included the introduction of payment links & invoicing options, new online selling functionalities through the ‘SumUp Online Store’, and gift card collaborations with Google, Facebook, and Instagram; solutions all designed to help business owners to receive payments safely and continue trading in the face of uncertain economic circumstances.

In the year ahead, SumUp is looking to grow its 2000+ strong team by adding the world’s best talent to its 19 international offices on three continents. In addition to prominence in Europe, the US, and Brazil, SumUp’s long-term trajectory will include expansion into Asia. In Europe, SumUp has launched in Romania, bringing the number of its European markets to 29. Within its new markets, SumUp acquired the full stake in the joint venture it previously had with Chile’s BancoEstado and will continue serving merchants and developing the market further exclusively under the SumUp brand. The Colombian market launch is also a hugely significant step for SumUp, with the fourth largest economy in LATAM and a population of over 50 million people now able to come into contact with the company’s technology. With thousands of merchants joining the SumUp services every day, its proprietary card terminals are relied upon by over 3 million businesses globally. 

Marc-Alexander Christ, Co-founder at SumUp comments: “Each day I continue to be impressed by how the SumUp team has faced down the challenges of the past year and continued to deliver the vital, payments technology that empowers small businesses all over the world; helping them to continue to be successful doing what they love best. As one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world, this cash injection - in addition to having the built-in option to expand the financing - will significantly accelerate the growth of our customer base, enhance SumUp’s technology leadership position, and drive the development of new services to support our merchants globally.”

Tom Maughan, from Bain Capital Credit comments: ”We’re proud to be backing SumUp once again and we recognise the truly impressive strides made by the company over the past couple of years. We have huge admiration for what SumUp is doing for small businesses across the world in helping them to keep trading and flourishing in some of the most trying economic circumstances imaginable. The doubling down of our investment in SumUp in this round is both a demonstration of our confidence in the company today and its strong future.”