Celent, the leading research and advisory firm focused on technology for financial institutions globally, has named HSBC as the winner of its Model Risk Manager Award for Legacy and Ecosystem Transformation, enabled by the ARIC™ Risk Hub from Featurespace.

In addition to the award, Celent has published an in-depth case study that details HSBC's strategy, implementation, benefits and learnings with ARIC ("HSBC: Insurance-Focused Transaction Monitoring Solution Powered by Machine Learning and Cloud").

Announced at Celent's 15th annual Innovation & Insight Week 2021, the award recognizes how HSBC innovated transaction monitoring for its insurance business with ARIC. It is the first AML technology deployed within the bank to use industry-leading rules and machine learning models - specifically designed by Featurespace - to generate alerts automatically and deliver:

• Reduced false positives and improved alert quality;
• Reduced overhead in alerts screening;
• Mitigated risk in missing genuine cases of money laundering; and
• The ability to identify new risk scenarios and typologies earlier than before.

Araliya Sammé, head of Financial Crime at Featurespace, said: "This award is a true testament to HSBC's ongoing commitment to safeguard society from financial crime. Constantly pioneering, their innovative spirit is setting the bar in money laundering prevention and detection, also serving as a beacon of best practice to inspire others."

"HSBC's transaction monitoring processes were already compliant and effective; with the implementation of Featurespace’s ARIC solution, the bank prioritizes AML alerts to increase efficiency and it enables the bank to adapt to emerging behaviors and position it to confidently deal with future AML challenges," said Arin Ray, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Risk and Compliance practice.

Celent’s annual Model Risk Manager Awards recognize the best practices of technology usage in different areas critical to success in Risk. Nominations are submitted by financial institutions and undergo a rigorous evaluation process by Celent analysts. Celent judges submissions on three core criteria: the degree of innovation, technology or implementation excellence, and demonstrable business benefits.

Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX), the platform making it easy to buy, own, and sell alternative investments, has added new account maintenance functionality to its digital alternative investment platform. The new AIX account maintenance capability automates maintenance requests, mitigating tedious paperwork and manual processes.

“From day one, the sole purpose of AIX has been to make alternative investments easier to buy, own and sell,” said Joseph P. Ujobai, CEO of AIX. “With the launch of account maintenance functionality to our existing enterprise alts platform, we deliver on that promise by ensuring an efficient, point and click experience for advisors who want to make alternative investments a workable option for their clients’ portfolios.”

While subscribing to alternative investments funds is an arduous process, more effort and paperwork is required to support and maintain those investments over time. Being that owning alts is a long-term strategy, common changes, such as adding new banking information, adjustments to cost basis or distribution method, and basic updates to contact information, can occur dozens of times throughout the lifetime of a single account. Each of these transactions require more paperwork and greater time spent servicing these positions than any other type of asset class.

“By removing the friction associated with both buying and owning alternative investments, advisor exception handling and paperwork can be automated, leading to time savings and improved client experiences,” said Brad West, COO of AIX.

At this week’s Blue Vault Bowman Alts Week 2021, AIX is speaking on the importance of selecting a technology partner that understands the alts business, enables growth, and has the capability to solve for the entire alternative investment lifecycle.

Refinitiv, a business under the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), has announced the winners of its FX Trading Awards 2021 for Thailand.

The FX Awards aim to promote transparency and liquidity in the Thai foreign exchange market and to recognize its importance to the broader Thailand economy. The award winners were determined based on trading activity on Refinitiv's FX trading platforms throughout 2020.

Foreign exchange is the world's most-actively-traded asset class. Refinitiv was appointed as the Official Calculating Agent for the Bank of Thailand's transactions-based Thai Baht benchmark in 2019 to enhance Thailand's FX and implied interest rate benchmarks, and better reflect the growth and evolving nature of Thai financial markets. It recently reported the average daily volume (ADV) of foreign exchange trading across its FX platforms globally totalled US$457 billion in February 2021. Average daily volume for spot trading was US$91 billion.

"We are delighted to celebrate the strong support we have seen from the trading community in Thailand, and we would like to extend our congratulations to all the winners recognised at the awards ceremony. Refinitiv is firmly committed to supporting the growth of FX markets, and will continue to work closely with central banks, liquidity providers, and other market participants to promote the development of robust and transparent capital markets and empower the financial community in ASEAN and beyond," said Nigel Fuller, Proposition Sales Director, FX Trading, Asia, LSEG.

The 2021 Thailand FX Award Winners are as follows:

• Best THB FX Data Contributor (THB Spot): CIMB Thai Bank PCL
• Best THB FX Data Contributor (Local Cross Currency): Bank of Ayudhya PCL
• Best THB Interest Rates Data Contributor (Interest Rate Swap): Bangkok Bank PCL
• Best THB Interest Rates Data Contributor (Money Market): Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Bangkok Branch
• Best OIS Data Contributor: Kasikornbank PCL, Siam Commercial Bank PCL and Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) PCL
• Best USD/THB FX Bank: HSBC
• Best Foreign Currency FX Bank: CIMB Thai Bank PCL
• Best Bank - Refinitiv Matching: HSBC
• Best FXall Corporate Client: PTT Exploration and Production PLC

For further information on Refinitiv's FX solutions, visit here.

Datasynthesis, data quality management platform provider, is very pleased to announce that it has recruited Brian Sentance as Head of EMEA. Sentance’s appointment marks a key step in the expansion of Datasynthesis, extending its reach beyond its origins in the North American market with its new London office. Datasynthesis, formed in 2018 in New York, is a relatively recent entrant to the market with its cloud-native data quality management platform.

Sentance is the ex-CEO of Xenomorph and has over 30 years of experience of data and analytics technology within financial markets. At Datasynthesis he joins the leadership team of Christian Robertson, CEO, and Vlad Agranov, Chief Product Officer, industry veterans of Paladyne Systems and Broadridge respectively.

Robertson, CEO, said of the appointment: “I would like extend a warm welcome to Brian – his wealth of experience in the industry will prove very valuable to Datasynthesis and to our clients in Europe and beyond. It is exciting time to be joining the company, as we believe that the industry needs a fresh approach to enterprise data quality management. Business users need a self-service, enterprise-capable platform that can help them transform data policy directly into data operations. Technologists need a platform that provides a migration path out of the complexity and tactical burden of managing legacy data infrastructure.”

Sentance added: “I am excited by cloud-native technology design built by Datasynthesis, not for the technology directly but more for what it makes possible for the business user. Applying internet-scale data technology at an enterprise level effectively means that storage and processing capacity are no longer constraints. Once these limits have gone, you can rethink what business users can do with data – how about actually talking to your data quality platform and saying ‘Where are my data issues right now?’ and being shown, in real-time, what data problems are occurring anywhere across the enterprise? I think Datasynthesis can change the way data management is done, making it simpler, drastically cheaper and much more adaptable to accelerating business needs.”

Clearwater Analytics, an industry-leading SaaS solution for automated investment data aggregation, reconciliation, accounting, and reporting, announced today that it has appointed global industry veteran, Mr. Jacques Aigrain, to its Board of Directors.  

Mr. Aigrain brings nearly 30 years of expertise and leadership experience in the financial services industry including nine years at Swiss Re including as CEO, and 20 years in global leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York, London, and Paris. Mr. Aigrain currently serves in key corporate Board roles, including as Chairman of the Board of LyondellBasell NV and Non-Executive Chairman of Singular Bank SAU. In addition, he is a Non-Executive Director of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG Ltd.) and leading media communications company WPP Plc. Mr. Aigrain previously held Board positions at LCH Clearnet Group Ltd., Lufthansa AG, Swiss International Airlines AG, and the Qatar Financial Authority.  

“Clearwater is honored to welcome a leader of Jacques’s caliber to our Board of Directors,” said Sandeep Sahai, Chief Executive Officer, Clearwater Analytics. “His extensive global financial services leadership experience, particularly his expertise in investment management, insurance, corporate governance, and M&A strategy, will provide tremendous value for us as we continue our growth strategy and invest in our expansion in Europe and Asia.”

Eric J. Lee, Clearwater’s Chairman of the Board and General Partner at WCAS, said, “We are honored to have Jacques Aigrain join the Clearwater Board of Directors. He has built a tremendous career leading growth and success across complex financial services institutions around the world. We look forward to partnering with Jacques as Clearwater extends its market-leading track record for innovation and client success into the global market.”

“Clearwater Analytics serves some of the most demanding financial institutions and corporate clients in the world,” said Jacques Aigrain. “I have been impressed with the Company’s strong culture focused on client success and continued leading innovation. I am well familiar with the ever-changing complexities of multiple jurisdiction regulatory, accounting, and tax requirements and their impact on the accounting and reporting requirements for insurance companies, asset managers, and large corporations. I am excited to join the Clearwater Board of Directors and help enable Clearwater’s market-leading SaaS-solution around the world.” 

Provenir, a global leader in risk decisioning and data analytics software, welcomes Frode Berg as the new General Manager for EMEA. In his new role, Frode will be responsible for overseeing Provenir’s accelerated growth in the region and enabling new and existing clients, which include Klarna, Avida Finans, Hitachi Capital and White Oak, to make smarter decisions, faster.

Frode joins Provenir with a wealth of commercial leadership experience as well as deep expertise in data, analytics and decisioning. Prior to joining Provenir, Frode held senior leadership roles at Experian Nordics and Bisnode, leading regional business units including sales, operations, and innovation.

“Frode’s deep product knowledge and leadership experience in our markets will help take Provenir to greater heights,” said Larry Smith, CEO and Founder. “For more than 15 years, we have delivered best-in-class credit decisioning, data and analytics solutions to clients around the globe. Frode will help us expand our presence and identify new decisioning markets in EMEA.” 

Commenting on his appointment, Frode added: “I’m delighted to join Provenir at such an exciting phase of their journey. The level of disruption across the industry is high, and Provenir offers unique decisioning, data and analytics solutions to support the rapid digitization of the sector. I have long admired their impressive track record of solving complex business challenges for Fintechs and established financial institutions.”

About Provenir

Provenir offers no-code, cloud-native SaaS products and solutions that enable fintechs, financial institutions, and payment providers to make smarter risk decisions, faster.

Provenir works with disruptive financial services organizations across 20+ countries and processes more than 100 million transactions annually. Clients use Provenir’s no-code technology to easily design, build, and deploy solutions to solve complex business challenges such as open banking, digital banking, eWallet, digital onboarding, retail financing, BNPL approvals, SME lending, insurance, credit card management and more. Provenir is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey with EMEA operations in England and APAC operations in Singapore.

PayDashboard, the UK’s number one payday company, has today announced the arrival of Ryan Ward as a key member of the executive board. Ryan joins following recent management roles at organisations including SAP, Oracle and Adobe and brings a wealth of experience in creating and driving significant growth programmes for start-ups and SMBs - from inception right through to large, international corporations.

This latest new hire follows a period of significant growth at PayDashboard since its launch in 2015. Ryan’s appointment will capture his experience having worked with a number of well-known software companies over the past 30 years, including European roles at Salesforce and Xactly. 

PayDashboard CEO, Mike Binns, commented on the new hire: “We are currently working on an exciting roadmap for significant development and growth in 2021 and beyond, with a firm focus on a number of financial wellness product initiatives, all of which are designed to expand and diversify the business.”

He continued, “Managing these in parallel with the continued success of our Smartslip increases the management challenges that we face and so, when we were recently given an opportunity to work with someone who has been down this road several times, it seemed to be too good an opportunity to miss. I am delighted that Ryan has agreed to join as a board advisor and look forward to working closely with him.”

Ryan Ward added, “Having spent several years working with SaaS organisation, I thrive in helping small businesses transition to their next stage of growth. At PayDashboard, my role will be to ensure the company meets its full potential, liaising closely with investors and partners. I will be working alongside Mike and the rest of the management team on strategy and operations matters to ensure a clear roadmap for the future.”

PayDashboard is an interactive payslip platform that digitises the entire payroll experience from start to finish, offering customers an opportunity to regularly connect with employees on all things pay.

Data platform company, RegulAItion, has appointed leading financial services technologist Paul Lee-Simion as its first CTO to meet the ‘incredible demand’ for its break-through AIR platform.

An industry stalwart with more than 30 years’ leadership experience in financial services, Lee-Simion will be based in the pioneering company’s new Singapore office to meet demand in the Asian markets and support international expansion.

Paul is an acknowledged entrepreneur and global leader with over 20 acclaimed industry awards. He has held senior positions including CTO, Head of Architecture, Head of Innovation and Head of Engineering at some of the world’s largest financial institutions including DBS Bank, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered.

With a decade of working in Asia, including China, Hong Kong and  Singapore, Lee-Simion brings additional international experience to RegulAItion. The company plans to open its Singapore office in 2021 to accelerate the roll out of its AIR Platform to the Asian financial and professional services community. Paul reports directly to and works closely with CEO Sally Sfeir-Tait also working in tandem with Head of R&D, Hirsh Pithadia, who developed the first prototype blockchain system for UK banks to report digitally to regulators in 2017.

RegulAItion’s AIR Platform won the MAS Global Fintech Hackcelerator in 2020. The AIR platform blends federated learning, privacy enhancing techniques, blockchain and AI in order to transform the way in which organisations across the globe access data and insight. It previously demonstrated the platforms potential in Singapore by working with a leading global insurer, to improve risk models and create potential seven-digit profitability improvements.

Sfeir-Tait commented: “Paul is a true industry leader. He has a proven track record of delivering successful commercial solutions with a heightened focus on security and privacy. We’re experiencing incredible demand from multiple sectors across different jurisdictions. Paul will play an instrumental role in accelerating the deployment of the AIR Platform globally and in establishing our on the ground presence in Singapore.”

Lee-Simion added: “Operational today, but designed for the future, RegulAItion is developing a data infrastructure for every organisation, in any sector, to access data for analytics.  As a technologist, it doesn’t get any bigger or more exciting than this and I’m proud to be part of this fantastic team.”

Basel – The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has announced a new collaboration with Certification Authorities (CAs) and Trust Service Providers (TSPs), to drive the use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) within digital certificates. 

GLEIF has launched a CA Stakeholder Group to facilitate communication between GLEIF, CAs and TSPs from across the world, as they collectively aim to coordinate and encourage a global approach to LEI usage across digital identity products. Participation has already been confirmed by China Financial Certification Authority (CFCA), DigiCert, InfoCert, Entrust Datacard, ICAI India, and SwissSign.

The collaboration announcement follows news last year that ISO has standardized the process of embedding LEIs in digital certificates. In accordance with ISO 17442-2, the CA Stakeholder Group will develop and promote best practice guidelines and use cases for LEI integration across the digital identity industry. This will help members of the group, who are all committed to incorporating the LEI into their digital identity products, to progress their own implementations. GLEIF will also welcome participants’ views on current and future LEI services.  

The use of the LEI in digital certificates will deliver significant identity management benefits in a digital environment. Certificates linked to verified, regularly updated and freely available entity reference data by a unique, universal identifier are easier to manage, aggregate and maintain. There will also be greater transparency overall across the digital identity ecosystem.

“This is an important step in promoting the LEI’s capacity to enhance trust and add enormous value across the digital identity management systems which power the private sector,” comments Stephan Wolf, GLEIF CEO. “A unified and proactive global approach to embedding LEIs in digital certificates will rapidly extend the benefits of LEI adoption beyond regulatory use cases. Our aim is for the LEI to be harnessed as an enabler of advanced transparency in digital transactions and exchanges, and for its positive impact to deliver advantage and opportunity across the economy and society. We look forward to working with our new stakeholder group members and reporting developments in this space very soon.” 

Naijin Lu, from CFCA’s Strategic Development Department, comments: “CFCA is committed to incorporating the LEI into our digital identity products and we are already advanced in our related work efforts. We fully support this industry collaboration and are happy to be part of an initiative which brings the benefits of the LEI to a broad global audience, through an enhanced digital ID ecosystem.”   

Dean Coclin, Senior Director of Business Development at DigiCert, comments: “DigiCert looks forward to participating in this important initiative to advance standards that strengthen online identity protections for users. Widespread use of LEIs, among other enhancements, may improve user confidence in websites, devices and online applications, and this is in the best interest of all internet participants.” 

Cristina Andreoli, Business Compliance Consultant at InfoCert, adds: “InfoCert is fully behind participation in the GLEIF CA Stakeholder Group initiative. We recognize the value in the industry collaboration intended to share knowledge and coordinate efforts and actions to promote usage of the LEI within digital certificates and more widely, across the digital identity industry. We are excited to play our part.” 

Macro Hive, a leading independent research provider for investors, is now the first full service financial research firms in the world to accept cryptocurrency for its services. Having partnered with CoinPayments, the world’s largest cryptocurrency payments processor, Macro Hive now accepts Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum for both its retail products. This is in response to increasing demand from customers to use new technologies and demonstrates the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies in the traditional economy. Macro Hive joins Tesla, Microsoft and Shopify in accepting bitcoin for payments.

“Whether you are bitcoin enthusiast or bitcoin cynic, there is no denying the increasing acceptance of bitcoin and other crypto currencies in the traditional financial system. At Macro Hive, we stand ready to adopt the latest innovations to provide what our clients need,” said Bilal Hafeez, founder and CEO of Macro Hive. 

Macro Hive was launched in summer 2019 to disrupt the research industry by offering institutional quality research to retail investors. Part of this was to provide coverage on new asset classes such as bitcoin that were adopted early by retail investors. But Macro Hive also innovated on the delivery of research. This included creating its own social media platform for members to interact on outside of Twitter and Facebook. Accepting crypto currencies for payments of subscriptions is the latest innovation by Macro Hive.

You can learn more about Macro Hive by visiting www.macrohive.com. 

CoinPayments is the easiest, fastest and most secure way for merchants worldwide to transact in cryptocurrencies. It is the first and largest cryptocurrency payments processor with more than US $10 billion in total transactions to date, while supporting more than 2,065 coins, and is the preferred cryptocurrency payment solution for merchants and eCommerce platform providers worldwide. Founded in 2013, CoinPayments is dedicated to providing clients with fast, secure and user-friendly crypto payment APIs, shopping cart plugins, digital wallets, and a host of other solutions supporting cryptocurrency payment applications. Learn more at: https://www.coinpayments.net/