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/

NatWest has today launched MentorDigital, a free new digital advice platform for SMEs, which offers employment law, HR and health and safety guidance, as the UK takes its next steps out of lockdown. 

The bank’s new Mentor digital service aims to help SMEs plan ahead to ensure both business owners and their staff are well protected, as they return to their workplaces in the months ahead, and increasing numbers of staff return to full time employment in a much changed work environment. 

The free platform is the latest improvement to the bank’s Mentor service, which has seen a significant surge in interest during the pandemic, with over 200,000 users now using the service for advice and support, an increase of over 80% since lockdown. 

NatWest reports that 47% of the calls Mentor has received in the last 12 months were related to staff redundancies, and 34% were related to the furlough scheme - meaning that 4 out of 5 calls it took during the course of the year were from businesses looking for support on their employment challenges. 

Iain Cumby, Mentor CEO, NatWest said: 

“With the worst of the pandemic now hopefully behind us, SMEs face the next challenge of adjusting to the new normal. Changes to working arrangements, covid-compliance, the end of the furloughing scheme and the vaccine debate are all crucial issues that business owners with staff will be considering how to approach.

Through Mentor, we’re here to provide SMEs with our free digital platform, as well as a telephone advice service to help businesses ensure they’re well prepared for all these issues, keeping themselves and their staff safe in the process, and allowing them to focus on what matters in the months and years ahead – making their business thrive.”

 MentorDigital aims to provide small business owners with a free online compliance platform, offering the latest advice on business recovery and health and safety guidance, as well as tools to allow employee record and holiday management.

ALPIMA, the SaaS platform for investment management and product design, has appointed Karen Tierney as Chief Product Officer. A member of ALPIMA’s leadership team, Karen is responsible for ensuring ALPIMA’s strategy and product build up is aligned with customer needs and that new capabilities are prioritised, planned and executed effectively. 

Karen joins ALPIMA from DWS, having previously held roles at RBS, Barclays, Deloitte and The National Bank of New Zealand. 

“Karen’s extensive experience in product and programme management makes her a fantastic addition to the ALPIMA team,” said Pierre Mendelsohn, CEO and Founder of ALPIMA. “She has the right background and mindset to support our mission, which is to help our clients provide first-class solutions and service in the digital age.”  

Karen Tierney said, “I’m very excited to be joining ALPIMA and working with the team to bring digital innovation to the investment management industry in a manner that drives enhanced personalisation, greater transparency, and improved customer engagement and service.” 

Murex, the global leader in trading, risk management and processing solutions for capital markets, is pleased to announce a significant partnership and platform integration with DDCAP Group™ (“DDCAP”), a leading provider of asset facilitation and trade execution services, which will streamline booking and processing of Sharia compliant transactions by financial institutions worldwide.

MX.3 for Islamic Finance automates post-trade business processes and benefits from a preconfigured solution based on Sharia stipulated standards. The packaged solution offers and delivers a depth and breadth of Sharia compliant, functional coverage to clients and is supported by a team of Islamic finance specialists operating from a large presence in Asia and the Middle East. 

Clients of DDCAP and Murex operate within all of the largest markets for Islamic finance - extending from Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Brunei; Gulf Cooperation Council countries in the wider Middle East, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the UK, Africa, Europe and North America.

Previously clients booked and processed commodity Murabaha deals via two distinct platforms, one run by Murex and the other by DDCAP. That process is now fully integrated, eliminating double-booking and shifting trade initiation to MX.3. Working with two systems exposed clients to higher operational costs and the potential for manual error. The flexible integrated automation achieved between DDCAP and Murex reduces cost of ownership for clients, whilst the packaged interface allows Murex Sharia-compliant clients to book MX.3 Murabaha contracts with direct access to DDCAP trade and post trade environments including automated inventory screening and allocation, issuance of trade contracts and all supporting documentation. 

The platform integration is mutually beneficial to DDCAP and Murex, but also brings a competitive edge to clients by extending product coverage and reducing operational timelines whilst adhering to Sharia-compliant protocols that uphold the integrity of the Murabaha process.

“As the Islamic finance market continually grows, the DDCAP-Murex platform integration and partnership should dramatically simplify and optimize booking and processing for existing clients and provide an efficient solution for new customers in existing and new markets,” said Murex Co-founder and Managing Partner Philippe Helou.

DDCAP sees huge upside for its clients as a result of the integration, according to its Managing Director, Stella Cox CBE. She noted that the platform integration offers a series of benefits, including straight-through processing, connectivity efficiencies and cost reduction, with the capability to differentiate itself by offering a range of new products to complement existing. The integration will optimize ​running ​cost​ and strike the reconciliation burden, with ​trade ​booking ​and​ documentation ​synchronized​ in ​real-time ​between​ DDCAP ETHOS Asset Facilitation Platform™ and ​MX.3​ platform. It will also reduce manual intervention to exceptional cases.

“DDCAP is very excited by this partnership with Murex,” Cox said. “As Market leaders we saw an opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths in this instance, and we expect significant benefits for clients as well as for both organizations in our current user landscape and beyond.”

Murex’s market-leading MX.3 platform has been fully integrated with DDCAP’s ETHOS AFP™, an award-winning, bespoke, real-time and post-trade services provider enabling continuous coverage and allowing clients worldwide to purchase from a diverse asset inventory, including commodities, via a secure, web-based portal. The platform is Sharia-compliant and is regularly reviewed by and supported with a Fatwa issued by DDCAP’s own Sharia Supervisory Board. The platform has also been endorsed by other internationally recognized Sharia scholars.

SoePay, a FinTech subsidiary of Spectra Technologies Holdings Co. Ltd., today announced the launch of the SoftPOS solution for accepting contactless Visa and Mastercard card payments on any NFC-enabled Android smartphones that will revolutionize the customer experience of small and micro-merchants in Hong Kong.

SoePay SoftPOS is a mobile payment solution that eliminates POS and payment terminal rental and provides an affordable and secure way for small and micro-merchants to accept contactless card payments on their mobile devices. This is a significant step in mobile payment acceptance for Hong Kong. By transforming mobile devices into payment terminals, SoePay SoftPOS enables merchants to securely accept card payment in many situations such as events, markets, and food delivery. SoePay SoftPOS solution is globally certified by Payment Card Industry (PCI) CPoC to accept contactless payments from cards and smart devices without requiring additional hardware.

Established in 2019, SoePay is a payment solution provider and payment facilitator in Hong Kong. Our mission is to provide customers with innovative, secure, reliable, affordable, and hassle-free payment solutions. For more information about our product, visit https://soepay.com/en/softpos

Damien Chow, Director of Digital Payment, SoePay: "SoftPOS is a key strategic initiative of SoePay to make payment acceptance affordable, frictionless and hassle-free to our customers. We look forward to enhancing our SoftPOS solution and accelerating the contactless adoption and digital payment development in Hong Kong."

Helena Chen, Managing Director, Hong Kong and Macau, Mastercard: "Mastercard is thrilled to join forces with Spectra to further expand the Mastercard Tap on Phone acceptance network with the launch of the new SoePay solution, which provides safe, fast and secure contactless payments that meet consumers' everyday needs. The Mastercard Sonic feature is also applied to SoePay, which accompanies payments with a sound that indicates cardholders' successfully made payment. The new partnership is in line with Mastercard's ongoing commitment to promote contactless payment across the city and to support local SMEs' future development through digitalization."

Maaike Steinebach, General Manager, Visa Hong Kong and Macau: "Visa is excited to partner with SoePay to enable off-the-shelf 'Tap to Phone' mobile devices to accept contactless payments without additional hardware in Hong Kong. More than seven in ten of all face-to-face Visa transactions are contactless. This new low-cost and simple solution will help micro, small and medium-sized businesses stay competitive on their digital transformation journeys."

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre has selected PCI Pal to securely manage telephone-based payments and refunds via its cloud-based Agent Assist solution and ensure it complies with PCI DSS rules.
Having opened in 1976 by the famed actor Laurence Olivier, the Royal Exchange Theatre has a rich history. With the ability to seat up to 700 people in it’s unique in-the-round auditorium the theatre invites audiences to join them from a vibrant programme of work featuring around ten original productions a year. The theatre also offers a dynamic off-stage programme for communities across Greater Manchester.
Since the pandemic, the Theatre has been unable to host live performances, however the team was keen to source a payment security provider to ensure all payments, donations or refunds to patrons are handled in a secure and compliant way. PCI Pal’s Agent Assist solution was selected as its solution of choice and has been implemented remotely.
Sheralee Lockhart, Director of Business and Operations for the Royal Exchange Theatre said, “While we have been forced to temporarily close our stages due to the pandemic – we wanted to ensure that our payment systems were fully up to date and as safe and compliant as possible. Given that our small team are having to handle payments and refunds over the phone, from their homes, we wanted to eliminate potential risks from the process, but also make it straightforward for the callers."
“The PCI Pal Agent Assist cloud-based solution allows all payment details to be provided by our patrons in an anonymous and safe way, and gives us the assurances that we have descoped from the requirements of PCI DSS. We have peace of mind that our cardholder-not-present telephone-based payments and refunds are in safe hands.”
For more information on the Royal Exchange Theatre, visit www.royalexchange.co.uk.
For more information on PCI Pal visit www.pcipal.com, call +44 207 030 3770 to arrange a demonstration or follow PCI Pal on Twitter.  

CubeLogic, the market leading provider of award-winning enterprise risk and compliance solutions announces the availability of S&P Global Market Intelligence data on its platform.

CubeLogic customers can now seamlessly ingest S&P Global Market Intelligence data, including ratings, financial statements, credit outlooks, and more into the CubeLogic RiskCubed platform. S&P Global Market Intelligence is the division within S&P Global that provides data, essential insights, and powerful analytics to help navigate the financial markets. Credit practitioners now have a single, integrated, decision-making portal from which to manage their business that blends the credit and counterparty data stored in RiskCubed with the comprehensive credit data and analytics that the division provides.

Customers currently use this integrated environment to manage an array of critical tasks, including credit assessments and reviews, credit line approvals and limit setting, Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance functions, risk appetite and credit analytics, and more.

Roderick Austin, Managing Partner - Americas, “Our discussions with customers are always revealing that they need more, better, and easier access to data to run their business. By combining our RiskCubed platform with S&P Global Market Intelligence and their vast, world-class data services platform we can seamlessly provide them with an integrated experience to manage their risk and enable them to respond more effectively to their stakeholders, be they front office, executive management, or shareholders.”

Lee Campbell, CEO of CubeLogic concludes, “This partnership is further evidence of our commitment to building a holistic risk-management ecosystem for our customers. We look forward to collaborating with S&P moving forward as we find new ways to continue to add value to our joint customers and the credit industry in general.”

About CubeLogic

CubeLogic is the leading supplier of business intelligence enabled enterprise risk management solutions for market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk and regulatory compliance. CubeLogic’s founders are renowned experienced industry specialists who have an impressive track record of developing and implementing global risk IT solutions. In the current volatile market conditions, CubeLogic addresses the increasing demand for robust, cost effective Business Intelligence solutions for risk management. https://cubelogic.com/

 Boku Inc., (AIM: BOKU), the world's leading provider of mobile payment and identity solutions and DAZN, the leading global sports streaming platform, today announced the launch of mobile payments for NTT Docomo. For 80 million NTT Docomo subscribers, they can now purchase DAZN subscriptions with just their phone number. DAZN is the rights holder for Japan’s J-League soccer and NPB baseball leagues, whose seasons have just begun as well as Formula One that starts on March 28 and the Premier League.

With this launch, DAZN can now accept mobile payments from nearly all mobile subscribers in Japan, including NTT Docomo, Softbank, Y!Mobile, au, and UQ Mobile.

These initiatives form part of the DAZN for Operators program, through which DAZN collaborates with TV and telecoms operators to provide improved, seamless streaming experiences for sports fans and generate new revenue streams and value for partners.

“DAZN holds the Japanese rights to the best sports programming around the world, providing a very attractive and high-value streaming service to consumers,” said Jon Prideaux, CEO, Boku Inc., “Boku is thrilled at the opportunity to ensure that nearly every Japanese consumer can purchase a DAZN subscription to watch their favorite sport with a quick and easy mobile payment experience.”

“With new seasons of the J.League, NPB and Formula One upon us and the stars of Japanese football appearing regularly in the Premier League and La Liga, DAZN is making it even more effortless for fans across Japan to conveniently access their favourite sports,” said Ben King, Chief Subscription Officer, DAZN. “80 million NTT Docomo subscribers can now instantly add DAZN to their phone bill simply with the click of a button. Once again, entertainment services and operators are innovating and collaborating together to make premium sports easier to find, quicker to subscribe and better to watch.”