Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that stc pay has chosen Red Hat to help it expand its fintech services. stc pay uses Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform, along with Red Hat integration and cloud storage technologies, to enable the portability of applications across any cloud to help accelerate the delivery of innovative applications and features to users.

Launching the wallet of the future

stc pay, a subsidiary of stc Group, was launched in late 2018 with a focus on providing a faster, easier, and more secure customer experience to individuals and business owners, enabling them to send, receive, and manage money seamlessly through their mobile devices. stc pay is already Saudi Arabia’s largest and leading mobile wallet, with 5 million customers.

stc pay recognised the need to be adaptable in order to achieve growth in a dynamic market characterised by ongoing disruption from new entrants, continuous change in consumer behaviour and expectations, and evolving regulatory requirements such as those governing data storage and access. stc pay set out to build a flexible enterprise architecture that would support this business agility, and sought a Kubernetes platform that would enable cloud-native development and a hybrid cloud strategy that includes on-premises, private cloud and public clouds.

Open source leads the way

To meet its goal of becoming a fintech industry pioneer, stc pay wanted a cloud-agnostic platform that would provide abstraction from the underlying hardware and automated provisioning across hybrid infrastructure and found this in Red Hat OpenShift. On OpenShift, stc pay is running Red Hat AMQ, a messaging platform that helps enable real-time integration, and Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage. Red Hat Consulting helps accelerate the implementation with hands-on training to support stc pay teams in embracing agile practices such as DevSecOps.

stc pay engaged Red Hat in the design and build phases of its platform, with close collaboration between the teams to optimise both the tools and the processes as it introduces its API-based microservices architecture. stc pay and Red Hat are also working closely with Temenos, a banking software provider that is relied on by more than 3,000 banks around the globe, to run Temenos Payments, a suite of payment processing solutions, and Temenos Transact, a digital core-banking solution, on OpenShift.

With its OpenShift-based platform that helps streamline application development and scalability, stc pay expects to improve time to market and employee productivity and anticipates an improvement in the availability, uptime and recovery of applications to enhance the user experience. Through continued collaboration with Red Hat, stc pay’s plans for future innovation include growth into new regions using multiple public cloud providers and expanding its work with ecosystem partners to introduce open finance into Saudi Arabia. 

Supporting Quotes

Kelly Switt, senior director, Financial Services strategy, ecosystem and strategic partnerships, Red Hat

“stc pay is looking to shake up the financial services market with its digital business model and growth strategy through the stc Group mobile subscriber base, all of which relies on cloud-native agility. Red Hat is excited to collaborate with stc pay as it builds out a hybrid cloud platform from which it can offer more secure and frictionless services to merchants and consumers in the Kingdom and beyond. Our deep relationship with stc pay and Temenos is built on openness, as we are working closely to achieve joint strategic goals, laying a great foundation for long-term success.”

Abdulrahman Almutairi, vice president of Technology, stc pay

“To support our ambitions to be the pioneer in fintech in Saudi Arabia as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, we were looking for best-of-breed robust, scalable, and trusted vendors to ensure a strong risk profile for delivering financial services. We were attracted to Red Hat’s enterprise open source model offering support and security features in combination with access to a global pool of talent for rapid development. With great proactiveness on all sides, we have formed a strong working relationship with Red Hat as with Temenos. We are excited to be building a hybrid cloud based on Red Hat OpenShift to power next-generation digital technologies that will help us bring innovative experiences to users while enabling greater financial inclusion in the region and closing gaps in fintech services and digital payments.”

Payhawk, the only end to end financial system that combines credit cards, payments, and expenses into one integrated experience, announces the launch of one click bill payments and reimbursements powered by a partnership with Railsbank, the leading global Banking-as-a-Platform (BaaS) platform.

Payhawk also joins the Xero App Marketplace with a live bank feed to fully automate reconciliation of all company payments.

With the release of one-click bill payments and reimbursements, Payhawk empowers finance teams to use a single system for all company spending - cards, bills and reimbursements. And with the addition of the Xero live bank feed all data is reconciled in real-time within their accounting system. A full-circle experience from swipe to books.

Hristo Borisov, Co-founder and CEO at Payhawk, said: “Finance teams are forced to use a set of disconnected tools to manage all of their company spending. One provider for company cards, another for expense reports for employees without cards, and a third for approval of supplier invoices. Finance managers of fast growing companies can now use a single integrated experience to manage company spending in an efficient and automated way that makes the month end closing a matter of hours instead of weeks. We are becoming one of the most essential tools for the finance department at fast growing companies.”

Louisa Murray, Railsbank COO UK and Europe, added: “We are delighted to be a partner of the Payhawk team who are pioneers in the financial services arena. We have worked closely together with them on this latest innovation and believe it will be welcomed by finance teams who will quickly see the potential of a one click bill payments and reimbursements functionality. Payhawk is contributing hugely to how finance teams operate nowadays.”

Imran Chagpar, Head of Finance at By Miles, said: “At By Miles, we have been using Payhawk fully automated system to manage all company cards, and we are excited to use the upcoming bill payments feature. We are looking forward to working with a complete accounts payable solution that is integrated with Xero providing a fully automated experience. Payhawk is at the center of our strategy to automate expenses, credit card and supplier invoices in a single system in an efficient and easy way without adding extra headcount."

Payhawk’s new payments system supports SEPA Instant and Faster Payments, and also comes with its own dedicated IBANs for customers which is essential for receiving third-party payments.

Finance managers will also be able to configure multi-level approval workflows and smart-approval rules that ensure all payments are compliant with the internal spend policies. The new feature will be available for all existing Payhawk customers on March 29.

SoftSolutions!, the high performance multi-market fixed income trading technology provider, today announced that industry veteran James Della-Porta has joined as Head of Client Engagement. In his role, James will help clients take full advantage of the flexible approach that SoftSolutions! offers to the fixed income marketplace. 

SoftSolutions! has been delivering fixed income trading technology for over two decades, and has recently launched the next generation of its nexRates solution, a fully integrated electronic Trading-as-a-Service platform for secondary markets.  

James Della-Porta has been active in the fixed income market for the majority of his career, particularly in electronic distribution,  most recently holding senior roles at Tradition Securities and Barclays Bank. He brings a mix of buyside and sellside experience to the table which will allow SoftSolutions! to be a true strategic partner to its clients.  James understands firsthand that the industry is confronted with major challenges ranging from margin pressure, capacity for handling market volatility and the need for trading teams to work seamlessly from multiple locations.  SoftSolutions! has engineered a service that matches the functionality of the dominant players in the market, with more flexibility and cost efficiency. 

Roberto Cocchi, CEO of SoftSolutions!, said: “We are excited to have James join our team. With his extensive knowledge of the marketplace, James’ background as a consumer and developer of electronic trading platforms in some of the world's top institutions gives him a unique perspective on how our clients can get the best from SoftSolutions!.“

SoftSolutions! electronic trading-as-a-service platform is a new alternative for the market, born from the team’s experience of building proven and powerful end-to-end technology. Fixed income traders can navigate challenging market conditions and outperform the competition with a modern and rational solution that delivers rich data, insights and intelligence. 

James Della-Porta, Head of Client Engagement, SoftSolutions! said “I am pleased to join SoftSolutions!, a company that recognises the need for trading and investment firms to accommodate new and robust technologies to navigate today’s major changes and rising costs. I look forward to helping clients take full advantage of the innovative, cost effective and flexible platform to create bespoke solutions to meet their fixed income trading needs.” 

As part of a project to offer its customers convenient and safe ways to make payments on the go, Banco ProCredit Ecuador, with support from Quipu, has become the first bank in the country to offer its clients the possibility of making payments through Garmin and Fitbit watches. 

Banco ProCredit Ecuador customers can now add their Mastercard payment card to their smart watch and make payments for goods and services using Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay. The project, which went live in just two months, was driven forward by the bank’s desire to digitally transform and offer its customers more accessible and contact-free payment options. 

“We are pleased to support Banco ProCredit Ecuador in becoming the first bank in the country to offer these payment options. With Garmin and Fitbit increasing in popularity in the country, facilitating these payments methods was a logical step for the bank,” commented Eugenio Marengo, Global Head of Processing Centre at Quipu, the processor for the banks in the ProCredit Group. “Our aim is to continue to support our partners in shaping the payments landscape in the countries they operate in, which we do by offering innovative solutions suitable for each specific situation. We will continue to support customers worldwide in their digital transformation journeys.”

Quipu has been running its processing centre on Compass Plus software since 2004 and delivers processing services, as well as personalisation facilities, to 30 financial institutions across 11 time zones. 

Eugenio Marengo added: “Compass Plus offers us a versatile platform, which allows us to deliver the services we need to support the digital transformation of our customers. The technological readiness they offer us enabled us to deliver this project in record time.”

Worldline (Euronext: WLN) and PSA Payment Services Austria GmbH (PSA) are extending their collaboration, working together at the heart of Austria’s payment system. Worldline will act as the technical clearing and settlement partner for domestic and international interbank payments.

Austria will then become the next country besides The Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and the islands Aruba and Curacao, to rely in whole or in part on Worldline’s clearing and settlement platform. Through this cooperation, PSA and Worldline are laying the groundwork for a new real-time payment platform for instant, secure and device-independent payments across Austria.

PSA has recently been entrusted with managing the Austrian clearing operations as a shared services platform and is therefore responsible for processing the national mass payment transactions. At the beginning of 2021, PSA took over this role from the Austrian National Bank’s Geldservice Austria (GSA) subsidiary, and as a centre of expertise now handles both cashless payments and account-to-account transfers for the entire Austrian banking community. PSA ensures the smooth processing of domestic transfers and direct debits in Austria and also is responsible for establishing a multitude of international interfaces with foreign banks. Worldline will support PSA in its role as a technical partner and bring to bear the expertise it has gained from running several national clearing houses, including those in the Netherlands, Aruba and Curacao. It is expected that from 2023 the services will be delivered via Worldline’s central technical interface.

The two companies are therefore extending their cooperation, which first began in card-based payments back in 2012, into a major new and future-oriented area.

Instant account-to-account payments in real time are poised to become a key feature of the modern consumer experience in the European payment universe that enables banks to position themselves effectively in the digital retail environment. This could happen as early as 2023. Worldline has already brought into service the requisite Europe-compliant platform at multiple banks in the Netherlands and a leading German bank. The highly enabled solution caters for all possible use cases for instant payments, from P2P, P2B, in-store and online applications through to corporate environments.

Through even closer cooperation, Worldline and PSA will be able to influence how European banks future-proof themselves with the latest payment types and the right technical partners. The partnership has demonstrated how banks can take advantage of their position in the European financial sector amid the international competition with US powerhouses, fintechs and card schemes to offer innovations that are attuned to market demand.

“PSA’s combined clearing and payment systems can provide highly effective support to its customers and Austria’s entire financial sector” commented David Ostah, PSA’s Managing Director. “By working with Worldline, we can bring European expertise to Austria and combine it with our own know-how. Together, we are in an even better position to provide comprehensive cutting-edge solutions for banks and accompany them along all their challenges in market demand and latest trends.”

“Worldline plays a key role at the heart of several countries’ banking system”, added Michael Steinbach, Worldline’s Head Financial Services. “As a longstanding partner of PSA we are delighted that we will also soon be processing Austrian interbank payments and laying the foundations alongside PSA for the instant payments of the future. Our vision is to be able to shape the future of payments with a pan-European solution, featuring secure, seamless and advanced payments - irrespective of whether they are card or account-based.”

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, today announced that FINCI, a Lithuanian fintech company, has gone live with Temenos. FINCI is running next generation Temenos Payments on cloud-native technology along with Temenos Transact core banking on the same environment. This allows FINCI users to send, manage and receive instant multi-currency payments alongside with possibility for further extension of intelligent financial management tools all within a single app. 

FINCI aims to simplify daily financial management for private individuals, entrepreneurs, freelancers, start-ups and already successfully working businesses of different industries by automating stressful and time-consuming financial and accounting tasks in a single, powerful App. Temenos’ rich banking functionality and API-first, microservices-based technology enabled FINCI to design, build and launch the service from scratch in just 4 months. With new open banking regulations, Temenos’ APIs also allow FINCI to integrate quickly with a wide range of external systems to help create its multiple intelligent financial management applications and drive its product and service innovation. FINCI will initially be available in the Baltic States and Poland with plans to extend the offering to the customers in other European countries and the UK.

Temenos’ cloud-native technology provides a flexible and agile platform that enabled FINCI to quickly build and launch new payment products that are PSD2 compatible with a high level of automation and where all appropriate fraud checks are applied seamlessly. This gives customers peace of mind and allows FINCI to focus on the customer experience and ease of use, knowing that Temenos Payments is efficiently accommodating all processing, monitoring and compliance needs.

Maksim Paukov, acting Chief Information Officer, Finci Technology, commented: “Temenos has enabled FINCI to take advantage of the opportunities arising from the emergence of an open banking market. We think of FINCI as an innovative and advanced platform for your business and personal financial life. At start, FINCI will offer daily financial products such as accounts, payments, currency exchange and payment cards. We develop our products fast and many great services and features, especially for business clients will be added shortly. With Temenos’ cloud-native technology we have a robust payments capability that is fast, secure and compatible with all the various payment regulations in the markets in which we will operate. The flexibility and agility of the Temenos platform will enable us to quickly create and launch financial products while continuing to innovate the customer experience that differentiates our service.”

David Macdonald, President of Europe, Temenos, said: “We are proud to celebrate the launch of FINCI. Temenos has become the de facto tech technology platform of choice for digital challenger banks and fintechs that want to launch fast and innovate rapidly. As FINCI has shown, our technology enables challengers to create hyper-efficient business models that deliver more value to their customers. Temenos has a strong presence in the CEE region and we look forward to supporting FINCI as it expands into new markets and leverages the agile product building capabilities of our platform to enhance its offering and bring innovative new ways to improve its customers’ financial lives.”

Award-winning Temenos Payments provides coverage for an extensive range of payment types, payment schemes, payment formats, and transaction types. When acting as a centralized hub, the solution standardizes, automates, and integrates payment flows, efficiently linking multiple payment sources and channels with multiple clearing and distribution networks and services.

FINCI also benefits from Temenos’ integrated Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM), covering watch list screening, anti-money laundering, fraud prevention and KYC with a flexible range of intelligent and versatile solutions to enhance detection and reduce cost. Temenos FCM is componentized and can be deployed in its entirety or partially to cover only specific business needs. This allows FINCI to add capability as its needs change and evolve.

FINCI joins more than 60 challenger banks and financial companies across the globe such as Alba, Banco del Sol, FlowBank, Flowe, Lunar, Next Commercial Bank, Varo Bankand WeLab Bank, making Temenos the de facto technology provider of choice for companies seeking to launch quickly and innovate at speed at the financial services market. 

Atome, Hong Kong's innovative Buy-Now-Pay-Later platform is providing a more flexible payment solution to local customers, addressing new lifestyle needs under the New Normal. Atome has been working with different online and offline merchants, together with the deployment of AI technology, to promote responsible spending habits. To welcome the coming of spring, Atome is partnering with over 20 brands and online merchants, including Bonjour (Stock code: 00653), Panashop, online and offline shopping platform YOHO, PS Group and more, bringing to market Atome's 6-week (15 March to 30 April) "Freshen Up For A New You" Spring Fair. The program is delivered across different categories including beauty, fashion, electronics, lifestyle, health and wellness and home and décor. Atome will also be hosting live-stream videos with the 20+ merchants to organize online engagement campaigns and a lucky draw.

Eric Yu, General Manager, Atome Hong Kong, said: "COVID-19 has had a major impact both socially and financially across a variety of different markets. Not only has it changed consumption habits, it has also inspired brands to re-think their business operations model. Atome advocates 'Buy-Now-Pay-Later as a means of providing a more flexible payment solution to consumers. Shoppers are able to pay and split their bills with zero interest payments over time, creating an easier payment solution through technology. According to our experience in Singapore, integrating Atome's flexible payment option helps merchant partners increase conversions by up to 17% on average, and the average basket size by more than 30%, proving Atome to be a trustable partner for business expansion. Stepping into spring, we are actively engaging a wider spectrum of merchant partners, offering more merchants and customers a chance to experience Atome in the year to come."

Mr. Clement Chen, Chairman of Bonjour Holdings Limited, said: "We're delighted to partner with Atome Hong Kong in the six-week 'Freshen Up for a New You' campaign. While the past year has been challenging for retail businesses, Bonjour has turned this crisis into an opportunity to strengthen our online platform, 'HK Mall'. The product categories offered have been expanded, covering lifestyle, home electronics, kitchen appliances and more. Atome's innovative buy-now-pay-later payment solution will elevate the shopping experience for Bonjour customers, as well as enhance the affordability of our products and services."

Finzly, a fintech provider of modern banking applications for payments, foreign exchange, trade finance and digital account opening, announced that Lancaster, Pa.-based Fulton Bank, N.A. ($25 billion asset) has gained significant operational efficiencies in its foreign exchange initiatives through the use of Finzly’s FX STARTM and EXIM STARTM solutions.

“We recognized Finzly as a proven provider that understands the unique business needs of regional financial institutions,” said Amy Sahm, SVP and Manager, International for Fulton Bank. “Through the implementation of their user-friendly platform, our bank has been able to achieve better standard functionality across the board – from improved access to reports and confirming trades, to upgrades in investigation and reconciliation capabilities.”

Leveraging open APIs and integrating with existing core technology, FX STAR enables Fulton Bank customers to execute foreign currency transactions via a secure portal at their convenience, utilize multi-currency accounts to purchase foreign currencies in bulk, and initiate payments. Operationally, the bank can self-administer its internal users, manage permissions and set limits, and Fulton Bank gains additional efficiencies through the reduction of incoming support calls, emails and texts. Finzly’s EXIM STAR is an international trade finance solution that helps the bank more securely and efficiently manage the entire transaction lifecycle of commercial letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and documentary collections.

“International trade and foreign exchange can be a complex business for financial institutions of any size to manage successfully,” said Booshan Rengachari, founder and CEO, Finzly. “With one integration to the core, our FX STAR and EXIM STAR solutions help institutions like Fulton Bank to more efficiently, securely and cost-effectively meet the needs of their customers.”

About Finzly

Finzly connects financial institutions with customers through a modern digital banking experience and an efficient, real-time payment services hub. Freeing financial institutions from core system limitations, Finzly’s open, cloud-based bank operating system, BankOS, enables transformation and innovation at the speed of fintech. With freedom to adopt solutions from Finzly and third parties of choice, financial institutions can implement apps in three simple steps – subscribe, try and launch. Serving customers across North America, Finzly has been modernizing international banking and treasury management solutions since 2012. For more information, visit www.finzly.com.

About Fulton Bank, N.A.

Fulton Bank, N.A. is a subsidiary of Fulton Financial Corporation, a $26 billion financial holding company headquartered in Lancaster, PA. Fulton Bank operates more than 223 financial centers throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Learn more at FultonBank.com.

Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in private cloud, hybrid, and multicloud computing, today announced the appointment of Andrew Gill as Channel Director for Western Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa (WEURSSA). 

Responsible for leading all channel and OEM activities in WEURSSA, Andrew will oversee Nutanix's go-to-market relationships with resellers, distributors, regional system integrators and technology partners in the region. Additionally, Andrew will play a key role in driving channel focused initiatives such as Nutanix Cloud Bundles, a strategic and unified offering to access Nutanix enterprise cloud software and solutions, while providing partners with greater value and autonomy through the sales channel. This unified management bundle enables Nutanix to expand access to its solutions, with an offering that meets the needs and budgets of any company as an essential addition to their Enterprise portfolio. 

Commenting on his appointment, Andrew said: “The powerful combination of Nutanix’s unsurpassed multi-cloud approach and its clear commitment to driving true business value for customers and partners alike make it a highly desirable organisation to join.” He continued: “It was clear to me that as well as Nutanix’s market leading technology and outstanding high value Partner program, the company genuinely cares about the success of its customers and partners hence its enviable NPS score of over 90 over the last 7 years - that's a company I want to be part of.”

Andrew joins Nutanix from his position as Director of Partner Ecosystems at IBM, where he was responsible for the sales and go-to-market strategy for the partner ecosystem for the UK and Ireland. During his tenure at IBM, Andrew excelled at selling and enabling high value IT solutions for corporate and commercial marketplaces through partner ecosystems. He also gained invaluable experience within the IT industry with a high-profile start-up business and accelerated his career through multiple roles across the IBM business portfolio. 

Dom Poloniecki, VP Sales, WEURSSA at Nutanix, said: “Andrew has a proven track record in consistently overachieving on business objectives by leveraging his expertise in running highly successful, profitable sales teams and partner ecosystems.” He continued: “He is a welcome addition to the team and both his experience and passion as well as his extensive executive relationships in the partner community will help us to enable our industry-leading partner ecosystem to gain maximum benefit from the innovative product portfolio that we offer."

Finastra announced that it has joined the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Pilot Program to support development, testing and adoption of the FedNowSM Service. Finastra joins other progressive banks, credit unions and payments technology organizations in the FedNow Community to help shape the future of payments and develop use cases that leverage FedNow functionality.

“Finastra has deep expertise and knowledge of instant payment schemes globally, having enabled financial institutions to process payments and implement associated overlay services for instant payment schemes in 12 countries across four continents,” said Ohad Chenkin, Vice President, Product Management, Payments Product and Platform at Finastra. “We look forward to bringing our knowledge and experience to the FedNow Pilot program and to help advance instant payments in the United States.”

The FedNow Pilot program is designed to support development, testing and adoption of the FedNow Service, and to encourage development of services and use cases that leverage FedNow functionality. As a part of the FedNow Pilot Program, Finastra will help shape and provide input into the service and adoption roadmap, industry preparation, and overall instant payments strategy. Pilot firms will also have the opportunity to work with the FedNow Service prior to general availability.

Finastra’s payment solutions provide financial institutions with the tools to meet all of the challenges of new technologies and innovations in the payments space, including immediate/real-time payment schemes, open APIs, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. With a broad suite of integrated solutions for financial institutions ranging from the world’s largest banks to community banks and credit unions, Finastra provides the technology platform to take payments systems forward on a road to modernization.