MackeyRMS, a provider of SaaS-based research management software, and InsiderScore, a provider of actionable data and analytics on publicly traded U.S. companies, today announced a strategic merger to create a best-of-breed investment and research management data, analytics, and software platform.

Facilitated by Resurgens Technology Partners, MackeyRMS’ private equity partner, this strategic merger addresses growing market demand among traditional and alternative investment organizations for a platform solution combining investment and research management data, analytics, and software.

MackeyRMS is the industry’s best-in-class cloud-based research management platform, and InsiderScore is the market leader in delivering data and analytics on corporate, financial, and regulatory filings for publicly traded companies in the US. These two highly complementary product offerings deliver a powerful suite of data, analytics, and software solutions for investment teams conducting fundamental research for actively managed client portfolios.

Together, MackeyRMS and InsiderScore are uniquely positioned to deliver investment organizations with a platform solution that provides actionable investment insights, improves individual analyst productivity, tightens investment team collaboration, and increases operational and organizational efficiency and control over investment IP.

“We are delighted to join forces with InsiderScore to build the essential one-stop, end-to-end research platform supporting the fundamental investment research process,” said Chris Mackey, founder and CEO, MackeyRMS. “And while we will continue to fully support the individual needs of both InsiderScore and MackeyRMS clients, the combined platform we’re building will empower modern investment teams to do their best work.”

According to Rusty Szurek, founder and CEO, InsiderScore, the merger was driven by the two companies’ complementary product portfolios, their focus on the same target market and client segments, the opportunity to increase the value proposition for the companies’ shared clients, and the opportunity to deliver added value to non-mutual clients.

“We are excited about the natural synergies our teams and offerings already have and the added value our combined company will deliver to the investment management community,” said Szurek. “Our combined company will have greater technical resources, deeper domain expertise, broader capabilities, and better positioning to drive product innovation.”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a Stifel company, served as exclusive financial advisor to InsiderScore. Financial terms of the transaction will not be disclosed.

Theta Lake, Inc., the recognized leader in modern collaboration security and compliance solutions, announced today its expansion into the United Kingdom (UK) with the addition of Theta Lake UK Ltd., a dedicated, locally-based entity with employees and UK focused technology. Coming off a rapid period of growth, including a $12.7 million Series A round in October 2020 led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with the addition of Cisco Investments and award-winning industry leaders to its roster of advisors, this UK expansion further solidifies Theta Lake’s position as a global, market-leading security and compliance brand.

With Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority reminding bankers this January of recording and supervision requirements whether remote or in office, and the Information Commissioner’s Office recent focus on privacy requirements for video conferencing, firms and organizations in the UK have a heightened need to provide more robust compliance and data loss protection for integrated video, voice, and chat collaboration usage.  

“Theta Lake helps us meet the FCA’s clear recording and supervision requirements for voice and video calls using RingCentral," said Daniel Bridges, CTO of UK-based Attivo Group. “Theta Lake gives us a depth of security and compliance collaboration coverage that served us pre-pandemic, during remote work scenarios in the pandemic, and in the future as the work-from-anywhere environment evolves. Its UK footprint, London-based data center, and UK focused functionality further demonstrates its commitment to us.”

Theta Lake UK Ltd.’s investment in the UK market is timely given that the Acronis Cyber Readiness Report highlighted the UK among the most affected regions for videoconferencing risk.  At the same time, compliance costs are growing given recent fines related to communication supervision failures, fines for data privacy violations, and the resulting bottom line impacts of compliance issues.  Theta Lake’s UK personnel provide local coverage across customer support, data science, and product development, in addition to plans for continued investment in London and the UK that will help organizations address security, privacy, and compliance challenges directly. In addition to the London team and data center footprint, Theta Lake has also invested in key technology and market delivery partnerships.  That includes the ability for Theta Lake products to be purchased directly through Cisco and its network of UK channel partners and integration partners like the UK-based Red Box.   

“In light of the recent FCA update reasserting the requirement for all calls to be recorded across distributed workforces and for all steps to be taken to prevent market abuse, the combination of Theta Lake’s innovative and fully automated risk detection and supervision capabilities and Conversa by Red Box’s secure, resilient capture of real-time, enterprise-wide communications, has never been more important for UK-based companies. We are thrilled to partner with Theta Lake to better equip our joint customers to meet regulatory requirements, reduce traditionally resource-intensive compliance processes and avoid the costs and risks associated with non-compliance,” said Pete Ellis, CPO at Red Box.

“We are delighted that Theta Lake has chosen to grow its global footprint in London, providing technology that helps UK businesses be safer and more compliant when using modern collaboration tools. It will be part of Europe’s fastest growing tech ecosystem and will benefit from access to the world class talent and new customers based here. London provides a fantastic springboard for US tech companies looking to expand internationally and we look forward to welcoming more companies from across North America,” said Laura Citron, CEO of London & Partners.

“We have the strong belief that we can help organizations in the UK reduce their cost of compliance and security while improving their protection of sensitive data when using modern collaboration tools,” said Devin Redmond, CEO, Co-founder, and Director, Theta Lake UK Ltd.  “Now that we have numerous customers and partners in the UK, it is an easy decision to deploy our Series A funds to build out our UK presence and our ability to help UK-based organizations safely and cost-effectively leverage the collaboration-based workplace.”

Join Theta Lake’s Devin Redmond and Thomson Reuters’ Susannah Hammond on Wednesday, February 17th at 3:00 p.m. GMT/10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT in a discussion about how AI, ML, and natural language processing can help mitigate risk and provide evidence of compliance in the wake of FCA guidance, MiFID II, and other regulatory developments. Register for the webinar here.

Theta Lake UK Ltd. and its employees, partners, and the Theta Lake Security and Compliance Suite are currently servicing UK customers and ready for business. Schedule a demo here or get in touch via email here. 

Mastercard today announces it has signed an agreement with global business integration technology leader SEEBURGER, to provide people and businesses across Europe more choice, flexibility and control across a range of next generation real-time request to pay solutions, with an initial focus on Bill Payments.

The parties will bring together Mastercard's leading request to pay-based technology with SEEBURGER’s Business Integration Suite, enabling businesses to transform their billing and collection process for end customers. The agreement includes a six-month pilot project to test and ready the solution for the market, initially across Europe.

With Bill Payments the initial focus, the collective aim will be to create significant value by: digitising the billing presentment process; digitising customer communications; presenting consumer offers; and enabling accelerated cash flows through better visibility of payment statuses. The working partnership will also look to enhance auto reconciliation, and drive efficiencies for billers by offering a digital platform for communicating directly with their customers to manage enquiries or disputes.

Enhanced Bill Payment services also offer financial institutions increased mobile application engagement by their customers and additional revenue opportunities.

Roberto Tittarelli, Executive Vice President New Payment Platforms at Mastercard, commented: "By partnering with SEEBURGER, who bring leading business payment integration technology, we can transform the bill payment experience for consumers and billers across Europe. The combination of request to pay technology and real time payments, will enable an alternative to direct debit and biller-direct models, providing more optionality for different customer segments, reducing time, inconvenience and risk of inaccuracy for payers and billers alike."

"For both consumers and billers, the payment process can be frustrating, time-consuming and costly. We are pleased to be working alongside Mastercard to help streamline and improve the process," said Ulf Persson, SVP Global Business Development for SEEBURGER. "Our ability to integrate virtually anything aligns well with Mastercard's initiative to create a better payment experience for customers."

For people with variable incomes Direct Debit type bill payments don’t always meet their needs and a more flexible approach would provide valuable options. In Europe today, seventy-nine percent of bill payers use up to three different channels to pay their monthly bills (1).  According to Mastercard consumer research, 40 percent of Europeans would like to have a secure platform that allows them to view, remember and pay all bills in one place.  Furthermore, 35 percent of calls into customer care centres are related to billing, and responding to enquiries is estimated to cost businesses between €6 to €12 each time (2).

Mastercard's Bill Pay solution resides within the application layer of its multi-rail proposition and connects billers to payers via their financial institutions. It enables consumers to view, manage and pay their regular household and other bills with flexibility and control. They can choose to pay now or later, in full or in instalments, using a wide range of flexible payment options including a bank account, digital wallet and card. The digital request allows consumers to view the bill detail and authorize the payment without having to enter the value or recipient's account information, saving them time, hassle, and reducing their risk of error.

By enabling payments across cards, between accounts and cash, Mastercard's multi-rail approach allows people and businesses to pay, or send and receive money how, where and when they choose.

SEEBURGER's Business Integration Suite (BIS) is an agile, secure and scalable business integration platform driving digital transformation for financial institutions and corporates. With SEEBURGER BIS, billers can enable payments data through a chosen channel, manage and transform any payments data, provide agile process orchestration including exception management, on-premise or in the cloud, with end-to-end monitoring and business visibility.

NYMBUS®, a leading provider of banking technology solutions, today announced it has partnered with NYDIG to help financial institutions quickly expand their digital capabilities by offering Bitcoin products and services to customers.

According to a new NYDIG consumer survey, more than 22 percent of U.S. adults over the age of 18 own Bitcoin today. Its increasingly widespread adoption represents a massive opportunity for banks and credit unions to engage and support this digital-savvy audience, however most institutions do not have the technology infrastructure or regulatory expertise to innovate quickly enough.

Nymbus is leveling the playing field by enabling financial institutions of any size to deliver Bitcoin solutions as part of its integrated suite of banking technology. The offering will be powered by NYDIG’s Bitcoin platform and will deliver a frictionless client experience that meets the highest regulatory, audit and governance standards. The partnership can help more banks and credit unions support consumers’ evolving digital banking needs.

“The new era for financial institutions is about leveraging digital to drive revenue and profitability, and it is a myth that challengers own this space,” said Jeffery Kendall, CEO of Nymbus. “With the right tools, processes and technology partners, there is nothing preventing traditional banks and credit unions from achieving next-generation growth. We’re proud to work in partnership with NYDIG to deliver Bitcoin to banks and credit unions, and to deliver impactful innovation that is achievable at a pace previously unseen by the traditional institution.”

“As a notable advocate for financial institutions, Nymbus stood out as a partner to take our vision for Bitcoin and banking to the next level,” said Patrick Sells, Head of Bank Solutions at NYDIG. “As a former banker and technology evangelist, I couldn’t be more excited to bring Bitcoin and banking together, and I see it as a win/win. Consumers win by gaining the ability to custody Bitcoin through their trusted financial partner, and the financial institution is able to earn meaningful non-interest income. We look forward to working with Nymbus and their customers to usher in a new age of banking.”

For more information, please visit nymbus.com.

Barclays has announced a partnership with Smart Pension, one of the UK’s leading online pension providers. The bank’s UK wide network of 1,100 business relationship managers will introduce their business banking clients to Smart Pension via the Barclays website, where they will be able to follow a link to sign up, within a matter of minutes.  

Businesses that sign up through Barclays will be able to offer their employees access to the bank’s proprietary Global Market Funds, which invest in a broad range of asset classes and are managed by the same team of investment experts that look after the bank’s Wealth clients.

Once signed up, Smart Pension offers an online portal for both the employer and employee, so that individuals can easily manage their participation in the scheme. The portal can be integrated with other administrative programmes such as payroll, admin, reporting and compliance capabilities.

Last year, the bank took a minority stake in retirement technology provider, Smart, as part of its Series C fundraising round to support its global growth, which includes entry into the US market.

Jamie Fiveash, UK CEO at Smart, said: “This is an important milestone for us as a business.  Not only do we get to offer Barclays customers a simple pension solution to ensure small businesses meet their auto enrolment obligations, but we also have the privilege of calling them our partner through the strategic investment made. We are excited to see what the future holds for both of us but more importantly we are excited to deliver the opportunity of a successful retirement for all participants.”

Hannah Bernard, Head of Barclays Business Banking, said: “For many busy small business owners, getting to grips with pensions can seem daunting, particularly when they’re juggling a long list of competing business priorities.

“We hope this partnership with Smart Pension will save many of our customers’ time, and take the stress out of the process. Offering a great pension scheme can help attract and retain talent, and support the growth of your business.”

The collaboration is the latest in a series of strategic Fintech partnerships announced by Barclays over the last few years, with MarketFinance, Nimbla and Propel offering invoice financing, insurance products and asset finance to thousands of Barclays Business Banking clients.

Barclays has a package of support available for SMEs to help them recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The bank has so far lent over £12 billion through the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) to over 330,000 businesses across the UK.

For more information, small businesses can visit: https://www.barclays.co.uk/business-banking/smart-pension/.

Computop, a leading global payment processor, has integrated a contactless payment function into the popular photo stations best known in the UK through the Boots Photo powered by CEWE service in Boots pharmacy and beauty stores across the country. These devices enable customers to quickly and easily transfer photos from smartphones so they can be printed out. 2,200 CEWE photo stations in the UK and Ireland will feature the Computop payment solution.

Contactless POS terminals from CCV are installed as special hardware. The software connection is made via a central server, which ensures smooth commissioning and maintenance of the devices. The transaction data flows into the Computop Paygate payment platform, which is also used to process the online payments of Europe's leading photo service provider.

In addition to payments with the major credit card brands, local debit cards will also be accepted in the future, which Computop can process directly as a network operator. By the end of the year, besides the photo stations in Great Britain and Ireland, Computop expects to have installed contactless payment at 1000 more stations in different countries including several hundred units already in use in France.

The advantage to customers of paying directly at CEWE photo stations is that they will no longer need to wait at the checkout and payment will be completed simultaneously with their instant print, including if they choose to use Apple Pay or Google Pay on their smartphone.  

"We are very pleased to be able to support our long-standing customer CEWE to bring contactless payments to their services in-store and to have implemented a true omnichannel solution," explains Computop CEO Stephan Kück. "By connecting to Computop Paygate, not only e-commerce but POS business can be internationalised and standardised quickly and easily - with a uniform terminal, centrally managed and administered."

"With the direct payment function at the CEWE photo stations, we have introduced another innovative service that can reduce queues but also shrinkage rates. The efficient processing via the Computop PSP platform enables us to offer this omnichannel application to retail partners throughout Europe. Initial results show a very positive end-customer response to the new payment function," emphasises Holger May, Managing Director Onsite Finishing at CEWE.

To see how Computop works with CEWE to protect sensitive customer data please click here

Bridge Mutual, the decentralized, peer-to-peer discretionary coverage platform for digital assets, today announced a partnership with AllianceBlock, a decentralized, blockchain-agnostic layer 2 protocol that bridges traditional and decentralized finance. Through this partnership, Bridge Mutual and AllianceBlock will provide traditional investors with a compliant bridge to DeFi protected by decentralized coverage. 

AllianceBlock will integrate Bridge Mutual into its P2P lending platform, allowing Bridge Mutual to provide coverage to lenders and investors. Bridge Mutual will leverage AllianceBlock’s pioneering multi-pair liquidity mining platform to offer BMI token holders instant liquidity via staking, with high APY rewards for a range of pairs. Bridge Mutual will also work to monetize its platform through the AllianceBlock Data Tunnel. 

“Partnering up with quality projects like AllianceBlock that already have meaningful real-world collaborations, including the London Stock Exchange, is one of the primary ways we’ll accomplish making crypto mainstream,” said Mike Miglio, CEO of Bridge Mutual. “We’re excited to change the world with AllianceBlock by opening up a direct channel for consumers in the AllianceBlock capital market to provide and purchase discretionary coverage through either of our platforms.”

“Discretionary coverage is a very important part of our ecosystem, so we are excited to partner with Bridge Mutual and leverage each other's technologies,” said Rachid Ajaja, CEO of AllianceBlock. “We look forward to building an ecosystem where all participants have access to the best products while mitigating the ever-present risk of smart contract failure, hacks, and the resultant loss of collateral value.” 

Last year, an estimated $200 million USD in digital assets were lost in attacks on major digital asset services. Bridge Mutual mitigates the risk of loss of funds resulting from hacked or exploited smart contracts, exchange hacks or theft, price crashes in stablecoins, and other digital asset vulnerabilities by creating a platform that allows users to provide and purchase discretionary coverage. 

To stay up to date with the latest developments with both Bridge Mutual and AllianceBlock, please join their Telegram communities at https://t.me/bridge_mutual and https://t.me/allianceblock. 

Scottish regtech company, AutoRek, a leading software provider to global financial services firms, has been selected by the UK Government’s Department for International Trade (DIT) to showcase the best in British innovation during a US roadshow.

The DIT’s RegTech Roadshow takes place virtually 22-26 February 2021. It will provide ten innovative UK-based regulatory technology companies the opportunity to meet industry stakeholders, regulators and potential partners. They will also receive guidance and training from DIT partners on how to set up and grow a physical presence and hear from experts on the key challenges facing the US market and how their technology can help solve them.

AutoRek was chosen following a highly competitive recruitment process. To qualify for the roadshow, each company had to meet the following criteria set by DIT: 10 or more employees, a minimum annual turnover of £1 million, an enterprise ready solution, and an existing base of clients in the UK and US markets.

Commenting on the accolade, AutoRek CEO, Gordon McHarg, said: “Joining the trade delegation, with other leading regulatory innovators is an exciting and invaluable opportunity for AutoRek to demonstrate our services. We have proven success in the UK and are accustomed to working with global financial services firms and are looking forward to helping revolutionise the way US companies manage risk, compliance and regulatory change.”

Kunal Khatri, Director for DIT North America, said: “The UK has been at the heart of the global financial services innovation for decades, and in 2021 we will continue to lead the global FinTech and RegTech revolution. We’re excited to showcase the talent and expertise that UK companies have to offer. This roadshow is a great opportunity to deepen our bilateral engagement on financial services with the US and encourage private sector collaboration to make the world a safer, easier, and more equitable place to do business.”

AutoRek further strengthened its US offering by signing a partnership with iSoftware4Banks in November 2020. With AutoRek’s growing clientele - together with the nine other roadshow representatives, these companies combined service nearly every major top tier bank.