Adyen, the financial technology platform of choice for leading companies, announces a partnership with Qoo10, an online marketplace operated by eBay Japan. By seamlessly managing and optimizing payment flows in a single platform, Adyen will support Qoo10 with fast and stable payment processing, particularly during peak periods.

Qoo10, a popular Japanese domestic marketplace, holds a large-scale sales event called “Mega Wari” every quarter. One of the complexities that Adyen will look to support is peak shopping periods. High traffic periods can result in incomplete transactions as the payment system might not be able to handle the surge of orders, resulting in a poor shopping experience and cart abandonment. Adyen’s platform provides faster and more stable payment processing on Qoo10 even in peak periods, giving eBay Japan the ability to manage and optimize payments on Adyen’s single platform.

Using Adyen also means more secure card data storage with network tokens – which converts regular card numbers into secure non-sensitive tokens. Network tokenization is an emerging technology and as such not all issuers currently support it. To solve this challenge Adyen offers network token optimization which uses machine learning to choose between a network token or PAN payment to boost authorization rates. This drives an additional 1% uplift in authorization rates for businesses.

Yuji Tanaka, Head of Japan Controllership at eBay Japan, said, “We chose Adyen’s seamless payment platform because we believe that its fast and stable payment processing will provide our customers with a pleasant shopping experience, even during sale periods. We believe that Adyen’s payment platform will continue to make a significant contribution to providing a more stable payment experience for the steadily growing e-commerce market.”

Warren Hayashi, President, Asia Pacific at Adyen, said, “We are delighted to be able to offer a more seamless experience to shoppers through the adoption of our platform by Qoo10. The pandemic has led to a rapid shift to online shopping and the demand for a higher-quality customer experience. We will continue to promote Adyen’s platform to support various businesses by optimizing payments and leveraging insights gained from payment data.”

Noda, a leader in instant transaction facilitation, proudly announces its market expansion alongside Wargaming into the Baltic region, including Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Starting in January 2024, this strategic partnership will bring innovative open-banking payment solutions to online gamers across these countries.

After more than a year of serving as a trusted payment facilitator for Wargaming in major markets like Germany, UK, and France, Noda is now extending its services to the burgeoning gaming markets in the Baltic States, including Lithuania. This move marks a significant step in addressing the unique needs of the Baltic gaming community.

In the dynamic world of online gaming, where quick and secure in-game transactions are paramount, Noda's seamless payment gateway stands out. Leveraging Open Banking technology, players can perform real-time payments directly from their bank accounts, offering a swift, secure, and straightforward transaction process. This approach emphasizes direct account-to-account transfers, greatly enhancing the safety and user experience of online gaming.

The advent of Open Banking is transforming the payment landscape, providing immense benefits for both players and game developers. Gamers enjoy smoother, hassle-free payments, while developers benefit from lower transaction fees, faster settlements, and valuable customer insights.

Michael Bystrov, Chief Revenue Officer at Noda, comments, "Our partnership with Wargaming is a major milestone in bringing the benefits of Open Banking to the Baltic gaming market, including Lithuania. We are dedicated to revolutionizing payment processes for gamers, ensuring they are seamless, secure, and quick. This initiative marks a crucial step in our mission to drive innovation within the fintech ecosystem, and we are excited to witness its transformative impact on gaming in the Baltic region."

With this partnership, Wargaming's players will now experience unmatched convenience in their gaming transactions, reinforcing Noda's commitment to advancing payment technologies in the gaming industry. Noda looks forward to this new venture in the Baltic States, confident in the positive impact Open Banking will have on the gaming community there.

Travelex, the global travel money services business, has launched a new bureau at Westfield London, Europe’s largest shopping centre, further expanding its distribution network into major shopping centres.

Located on the ground level at the southern entrance, the new bureau offers a full suite of foreign exchange services - including over-the-counter conversion of a wide range of different currencies, the ability for customers to purchase a pre-paid Travelex Money Card, and click-and-collect services, as well as two ATMs.

Originally opened in 2008 following a £1.6bn, five-year development, Westfield London houses more than 450 retailers and over 80 eateries across 2.6 million square feet, making it both the UK’s and Europe’s largest prime retail centre. Each year the centre receives around 21m visitors from over 100 different countries.

The new site, which is Travelex’s 67th store in the UK, is its second bureau at a leading UK shopping centre, with Travelex also operating at Selfridges’ iconic London flagship store. The global travel money specialist has traditionally operated at major transport hubs, but through its shopping centre stores is enhancing its unrivalled retail distribution network, enabling it to cater to the diverse range of travel money needs.

The new bureau follows the recent opening of more than 20 new Travelex stores across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Brazil, as well as the expansion of the ATM click-and-collect service across Heathrow, Manchester and Birmingham airports in the UK. The new bureau also follows Travelex’s recent announcement that its international revenues had jumped by a quarter over the last 12 months as international travel continued to rebound.

Richard Wazacz, Travelex CEO, said:

“Were delighted to have launched our latest bureaux at Westfield London – not just one of Europe’s most iconic retail destinations, but one with a truly international customer base. Our new bureau means our customers can conveniently fulfill all their cash and card travel money needs whilst enjoying the world-leading retail and hospitality benefits Westfield London has to offer.”

Laura Waters, General Manager, Westfield London, said:

“The opening of Travelex, the world’s leading foreign exchange specialist, enhances our already diverse portfolio of retailers, restaurants and entertainment choices at Westfield London. This addition is set to offer a valuable service to our customers, particularly those who are frequent international travellers, as well as catering to the needs of tourists seeking the best experience during their visit to London.”

Tabby, MENA’s leading shopping and financial services app has introduced Tabby+, a monthly subscription service in the UAE. With Tabby+, shoppers unlock the power of Pay in 4 anywhere, whether its groceries, utilities, fuel, food delivery apps or anywhere VISA is accepted using their Tabby Card.

Tabby+ lets customers use their Tabby Card as their daily spending card and enables them to make the most out of their money for all their purchases. The subscription presents a significant step forward in empowering customers to effortlessly stay in control of their finances.

Tabby+ is an alternative to high-cost credit cards that average 30 to 40% in APR, since Tabby does not charge hidden fees or interest. Instead, Tabby+ runs on a fair and transparent model of only AED 49 per month with the first month being free to try. If Tabby Card holders choose not to opt in for Tabby+, Tabby Card remains free for in-store purchases within the partner network which they can find on the Tabby app.

Tabby Card is the first of its kind, unlike traditional debit or credit cards, daily purchases are split into 4 monthly statements without revolving interest. Tabby Card holders can settle their card purchases on the Tabby app with transparent, monthly statements that make it effortless to manage and keep track of all outstanding payments. In the app, consumers can choose to pay their statement early or automatically make a payment on the due date. The Tabby app also notifies customers in real time of all card transactions and sends alerts for upcoming payments.

Take Tabby anywhere you go

Whether you are purchasing groceries, utilities, fuel or food delivery apps with Tabby+ you can pay in 4 anywhere VISA is accepted with your Tabby Card.

Earn 1% cashback

Tabby+ lets you earn 1%* in cashback on all Tabby Card purchases. Shop anywhere and earn cash in your Tabby wallet every month.

24/7 priority support

Customers get priority chat support with Tabby+, offering unparalleled customer support when you need help with your orders, payments and returns.

Hosam Arab, CEO and Co-Founder of Tabby, said: “Tabby+ is a significant step towards our vision. We’re taking the best of Tabby, flexible and interest-free payments, wherever people go without barriers.”

With over 600,000 Tabby Cards issued in the UAE, the introduction of Tabby+ underscores the company’s consistent growth in the region as the leading shopping and financial services provider and follows its latest announcement of releasing the region’s biggest ever Middle East Shopping Survey, providing retailers and shoppers with data-driven insights of shopping preferences in the e-commerce space.

European equity management platform Ledgy has hired Svein Petter Undheim, an executive with almost two decades’ experience in enterprise share plan management, as the company’s first Head of Financial Reporting.

As companies around the world distribute equity to more employees, it becomes more complex to manage the accounting, reporting and compliance implications. Companies approaching inflection points such as internationalisation, IPOs or acquisitions must be confident their equity and share plan management is compliant with regulations wherever they operate.

Svein’s hire comes as Ledgy builds out its leading suite of reporting tools, which allow companies to complete filings to tax authorities and manage international accounting more quickly and easily. Recently, Ledgy launched share-based payments reporting compliant with IFRS 2 accounting guidelines for its Enterprise customer segment.

Svein joins Ledgy from Computershare, where he served as Head of Financial Reporting Products from 2018 following Computershare’s acquisition of Equatex, where he was Financial Reporting Competence Center head. He joined Equatex, formerly the equity and share plan business of UBS, in 2015 shortly after Equatex’s acquisition of Accurate Equity, where he latterly served as Chief Product and Business Development Officer.

Ledgy CEO Yoko Spirig said: “I’m excited to welcome Svein to Ledgy. His extensive experience solving complex equity challenges for mature businesses in Europe and beyond will help us accelerate our work building best-in-class financial reporting and compliance infrastructure for our customers. 

“Ledgy already works with some of the world’s most sophisticated and innovative tech companies, such as Getir, Tide, Motorway and Airwallex. As our customers grow and scale internationally, they confront new challenges around international accounting and financial reporting. Svein’s leadership will help our customers get this important work done quickly and simply while remaining compliant with international regulations.”

Svein said: “We are at a very exciting time for equity in Europe, but scaling companies need to be on top of international reporting and accounting requirements. Overall, accounting standards are necessary to ensure that financial information is accurate, consistent, and transparent. By building best-in-class compliance infrastructure, we can help customers be confident in their financial reporting, which is essential for investors, regulators, and other stakeholders.

“We have the opportunity to significantly ease our customers’ workloads, across many teams from finance, tax and accounting through to legal and operations. I am excited to partner with Ledgy’s founders Yoko, Ben and Timo, and I can’t wait to contribute to the excellent work of our product and go-to-market teams.”

Nexi Group, the European PayTech, has partnered with Woo, the open e-commerce platform. The partnership will enable Woo merchants to offer customers a wider range of payment options, which can be customized to local preferences across Europe.

The new strategic partnership will see Nexi integrate its leading payment technologies with WooCommerce’s e-commerce platform, serving European mid-market merchants by leveraging a larger network of partner agencies from both companies.

The partnership includes the integration of Nexi checkout plug-ins, which are dedicated e-commerce payment acceptance solutions built for each market and/or region, into the WooCommerce Marketplace.

“The European e-commerce market is highly fragmented, due in part to the wide variation of local payment method preferences,” said Omar Haque, Head of Group e-commerce at Nexi. “Our local checkout solutions are tailored to the specific needs of each market, unlocking value for Woo merchants by reducing cart abandonment and giving them the power to expand their operations overseas.

“Partnering with Woo – the market leader in e-commerce software – helps us to serve more mid-market merchants in Europe, supporting scalable growth across the region. We are proud that integrating our gateways will strengthen the Woo payment proposition, further enhancing a strong e-commerce agency partner ecosystem.”

Web Griebel, Head of Payment Partnerships & Business Development at Woo added: “Nexi’s arrival in the WooCommerce Marketplace is a big step forward in our mission to bring the widest range of local payment options to our merchants, who value freedom of choice and integration with the latest innovations in financial services. Nexi’s products provide flexible access to payment acceptance platforms, delivering local expertise at scale across the European market.”

Chetwood Financial has appointed Roselle Allsop as its new director of marketing.

Founded in 2016, Wrexham-based Chetwood Financial is a digital bank that has multiple consumer products and is soon to launch ModaMortgages, a new specialist buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage lender.

Allsop has more than 23 years’ experience in marketing within financial services, including several roles at senior management level, providing strategic direction, setting strategy, and specialising in brand creation.

She has played an instrumental role in developing some of the UK’s leading specialist lender and challenger bank brands. These include the award-winning brands Precise Mortgages, Charter Savings Bank and Charter Court Financial Services. Allsop was also fundamental in the nurturing and growth of the FTSE 250 brands OneSavings Bank (OSB), Kent Reliance for intermediaries and InterBay Commercial.

As well as overseeing the marketing strategies for each of the Chetwood brands, Allsop will lead on the marketing for the new ModaMortgages proposition, building upon the brand creation work she has carried out as a consultant in the last 12 months.

ModaMortgages is to be the home of ‘smarter, faster, simpler’ BTL mortgages. Working exclusively through intermediaries, ModaMortgages will lend to a wide variety of landlords, including small and large portfolios, limited companies, individuals, and first-time landlords.

In September 2023, Chetwood announced Ian Lonergan as its new group chair. Lonergan was previously CEO and founder of Precise Mortgages, which grew to be one of the largest BTL and residential specialist mortgage lenders in the UK. Meanwhile, Darrell Walker, who previously worked at OSB, Prestige Finance and Interbay Commercial, was revealed as ModaMortgages’ head of mortgage sales and distribution last November.

Allsop said: “I’m delighted to officially join Chetwood Financial. It’s a really exciting time for the company – with several consumer-facing products already established, and the new ModaMortgages proposition launching soon, there is a huge amount happening, and the future looks very bright. I am looking forward to applying my financial services marketing experience, particularly in the mortgage space, to help grow the Chetwood name and reach more and more customers.”

Chetwood’s founder and CEO, Andy Mielczarek, added: “It is great to welcome Roselle to the Chetwood team. Her experience across many renowned financial services brands will be a great asset to us, and her knowledge of how to build successful brands will undoubtedly help as we roll out the ModaMortgages propositions. We have a big year ahead and Roselle will play a key role in helping us execute our bold plans for the future.”

Issuer processing powerhouse Enfuce today announces it has secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This is a key achievement for Enfuce as it continues to accelerate its expansion across the UK and Europe, where it already holds an EMI licence from the Finnish FSA. 

With the FCA’s EMI licence, Enfuce will be able to provide electronic money services as well as card issuing and payment solutions directly to new and existing UK customers. Enfuce will now have full control over the entire payment process, ensuring a seamless onboarding experience and providing its UK clients with a comprehensive and complete Enfuce solution, which is even more secure, efficient and scalable.

This announcement comes less than two years after Enfuce’s first launch in the UK in June 2022 and marks an important milestone for the company’s continued expansion into the country. To date, Enfuce has successfully established key strategic partnerships with prominent UK fintech and financial services companies including the leading small business platform, Funding Circle, and a UK neo-banking start-up focused on scientific research, Science Card. 

The FCA’s EMI licence, which builds on the company’s previous accreditation as an authorised payment institution in Europe, is a testament to Enfuce's dedication to the highest standards of regulatory compliance. Enfuce has prioritised compliance and security since day one, implementing a state-of-the-art infrastructure, bringing payment processing in the public cloud for the first time ever, and conducting regular audits and monitoring. This commitment is an integral part of Enfuce's overarching governance strategy that puts Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles at its very centre.

Denise Johansson, co-founder and co-CEO of Enfuce Group, commented: “This is a major step forward for Enfuce. Our ambition from the start has been to expand our presence across Europe and the world. The UK is a key market for us in this endeavour. The FCA’s seal of approval is not only a testament to Enfuce’s commitment to uphold the highest regulatory standards, but will also provide us with the market access, operational ownership and flexibility that are necessary for long-term growth and success in the ever-changing payments landscape.” 

Monika Liikamaa, co-founder and co-CEO of Enfuce Group, said: “Our Nordic values of collaboration, customer-centricity, and integrity drive our commitment to delivering the best products and services for our clients. With the FCA’s licence we can truly bring the entire Enfuce experience to our current and future partners across the UK to allow them to unlock the full potential of their card payments solutions.”

Fernley Blackler, CEO of Enfuce UK, who leads the company’s operations in the UK, added: “We are incredibly proud to have received the e-money licence from the FCA, which is renowned for its tough regulatory standards. The authorisation process for EMIs has become more difficult in recent years, so our approval further confirms Enfuce’s compliance with the highest regulatory standards as well as the trust from the regulator in our business model and management team.”

In addition to receiving the FCA’s EMI licence, Enfuce is also strengthening its leadership team with the appointment of Laurence Krieger as the Chairman of the Enfuce Board of Directors. Laurence, formerly Tide’s UK CEO and Revolut’s COO, will bring his unparalleled expertise in the fintech and challenger banking industry to support Enfuce in its next phase of growth. 

Laurence Krieger, Chairman of the Board of Directors, commented: “I’m thrilled to be joining Enfuce at a time of significant momentum for the company. Enfuce has been at the forefront of financial services since day one, pioneering payment processing in the public cloud. Receiving the FCA’s EMI licence is an incredible achievement that will play a crucial role in fuelling the company’s ambition to expand its global presence and revolutionise the payment landscape.”

American Express has today launched ‘Plan It’ – a new offering for the UK market that allows credit Cardmembers to pay off purchases on their statement, or a portion of their monthly bill, in instalments. 

Cardmembers with a Credit Card can select a transaction, or an amount from their most recent statement, to put into an instalment plan for 3, 6 or 12 months. They will be charged a fixed monthly fee for their instalment plan, which will be clearly displayed at set up, however they will not be charged interest on any balance in their instalment plan. Cardmembers still earn rewards (e.g. Membership Rewards® points) on any purchase in their plan, as usual. 

Instalment plans can be set up from the American Express® App, or in a Cardmember’s online account. Once set up, the instalment plan is automatically included in the ‘minimum due’ payment each month. 

Ricky Bonham, Vice President, American Express, said: “We know our Cardmembers value flexibility including in how they pay. With Plan It, our credit card customers can now pay at their own pace, continuing to earn rewards as they do so on everything from a new vacuum cleaner to their next big holiday. As a business regulated by the FCA, we’re also delighted to be launching an instalment plan that offers transparent fees and no hidden charges.” 

Charge Cards are not eligible. There must be a minimum of £100, and a maximum of 85% of the statement balance, in a plan. 

Myko, the conversational AI for sales and revenue team data, announced it has secured $2.7 million in seed capital from Khosla Ventures to reach new customers and expand its offerings. The round also included participation from Zero Knowledge Ventures, DayDream Ventures, the AngelList Early-Stage Quant Fund, and others.

Myko is a conversational AI that enables companies to drive more revenue by giving their teams deeper analytical capabilities. The fast and secure AI allows sales and revenue teams to ask questions and get answers instantly, so they can self-serve their data and uncover hidden insights with simple text prompts. Myko plugs directly into users’ existing CRM platforms such as Salesforce, and chat apps including Slack and Microsoft Teams, so data can be analyzed within seconds.

“Reporting and analysis are still massive pain points for most sales and revenue teams,” said Myko AI co-founder and CEO, Trevor Lee. “With the power of AI, Myko learns from each user’s metadata so they can get instant insights straight from the source.”

“Sales is a key area where AI can be used to unlock valuable data insights,” said Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. “Myko’s conversational AI is designed to help sales teams get better insights faster to make effective revenue-driving decisions.”

Myko’s trusted model adapts to each user

By learning from users’ existing CRM and BI infrastructure, Myko’s natural language model automatically understands each company's specific terminology and KPIs with minimal onboarding. Myko’s technology digests vast quantities of information and translates it into concise formats. This information can be understood by a language model in one shot, without querying all of the data with each user question. Their code generation model has been fine-tuned with an extensive amount of training data for sales-related insights.

These breakthroughs enable a very high level of accuracy and reliability. Myko is able to link to all data sources, preventing inadvertent hallucinations and can show fully auditable results for users, giving teams the confidence to trust Myko’s results.

For example, a customer could ask, “Which outbound channel had the largest decrease in average sales cycle between Q3 and Q4?” Within seconds, Myko will generate the analysis and the user would be able to ask follow-up questions and interact with the output until they achieve the desired outcome.

New funding will accelerate growth plans

With this new funding, Myko will be able to offer its product to even more users, enabling any sales or revenue team to better explore and unlock the power of their data. Myko is currently accepting new users from their waitlist.