Yolt Technology Services (YTS), the leading open banking provider, has today expanded out the applicability of its Account Information Services (AIS) to provide enhanced data insights for UK mortgage lenders.

Made possible by the growth of financial data sharing under the Open Banking framework introduced by the CMA in 2016 – and supporting regulation by the FCA – AIS facilitates the secure transmission of an individual’s transactional data across to a regulated lender, with that individual’s permission.

With 96% accuracy in the categorisation of an individual’s spending transactions and income, and bank-grade data security built-in, the enhanced data insights of YTS’ AIS will support mortgage lenders to make faster, better decisions on credit-worthiness and affordability, as well as aiding in the process of customer identification.

Mortgage lenders will be able to use Account Information Services to:

1. Verify the homebuyer’s income – including from alternate sources and across accounts held anywhere in Western Europe, thanks to YTS’ market-leading pan-European coverage
2. Speed up confirmation of the homebuyer’s identity – providing API access to accounts, removing the need for paper bank statements
3. Streamline the onboarding of new business – by removing the need for unstructured data transfer; instead providing secure data flow via API connection
4. Make better credit decisions – taking into consideration all spending and transaction activity e.g. Netflix subscriptions; not just existing credit commitments

Launched from the ING Bank Innovation Hub, YTS was the first Open Banking provider to make a successful API call and became the first institution to connect via API to the CMA-9, the nine largest banks in the UK. YTS operates across Europe and now works with some of the largest financial institutions and fastest growing technology businesses in the world, making in excess of 26 million API calls every single week – equivalent to c.20% of all API calls in the market.

Leon Muis, Chief Business Officer, Yolt Technology Services, comments: “The power of open banking technology has enabled consumers to regain control of their personal finances, better manage their spending, improve their saving habits and ensure they have access to the best rates for financial products.

“We have been supporting some of Europe’s largest financial institutions and fastest-growing technology businesses with AIS and other open banking services (data enrichment and payment initiation services) from day one. Today we hope to build on these benefits, in collaboration with mortgage lenders, to ensure the process of buying a home is as smooth, swift and secure as possible – for both the buyer and the lender.

“Our services will enable regulated lenders to make faster decisions on mortgage applications, whilst also providing them with the security of a deeper, more up to date data set which can be used for both identification and affordability purposes.

“Our ambition is to improve the homebuying process for consumers and lender alike.”

United Fintech has entered the Market Data & RegTech space with the acquisition of German fintech, TTMzero. United Fintech has taken a 25% stake in the market leading firm, with the intention of increasing to 80% over the next three years.

The acquisition is in line with its strategy of acquiring and scaling innovative fintechs in capital markets and creating a fintech one-stop-shop which banks and financial institutions can benefit from to accelerate their transition to a digital world.

Founded in 2013, TTMzero develops fully digitized RegTech and Capital Markets Tech solutions. It has two proprietary products, a financial instruments automation platform to digitize processes and workflows for securities and a real-time data analytics platform to provide real-time data for a large number of financial instruments. These products support financial institutions and capital markets participants in the independent valuation of financial instruments and enable them to comply with regulatory reporting requirements across a wide range of jurisdictions.

TTMzero has a team of 25 technology specialists in Berlin and an impressive client base which includes over 20 large financial institutions, including two of the world’s largest investment banks.

Christian Frahm, Founder and CEO, United Fintech, explains: “We are very excited that TTMzero is now part of United Fintech. They are market leaders in their field, with two of the largest investment banks relying on their infrastructure. The acquisition is a key milestone in our quest to help banks to digitize their operations and facilitate the implementation of innovative, cost-saving capital markets products.

“TTMzero currently has a particularly strong presence in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and has huge potential for global growth. We are looking forward to working with the two founders, Sönke Blunck and Simon Ullrich and their team of specialists to scale the business and broaden its global reach.”

Simon Ullrich, Managing Partner and Head of Business Development at TTMzero, says: “This is an ideal partnership. Our skillset is very much focused on developing cutting-edge technology for banks and financial institutions. To realise the full potential of our platforms, we welcome support with sales, marketing and distribution. United Fintech has an impressive, experienced team in these areas and a fantastic global distribution network.”

Dr. habil. Sönke Blunck, Managing Partner and Head of Financial Engineering at TTMzero, adds: “United Fintech is dynamic and ambitious and we are very proud to be a part of this forward-thinking organisation. We look forward to developing our product roadmap with the United Fintech team so that we can capitalise on growth opportunities and leverage United Fintech’s strong strategic partnerships with leading investment banks.”

United Fintech has appointed two new team members to help with the sales of TTMzero products, along with the sales of products from its first acquisition, NetDania, a leading Danish fintech which provides market data, APIs, market terminals, charting components and full white-labels.

Joshua Green (Senior Sales Manager UK & Ireland) and Emilia Meredith (Sales Manager) both join the firm from Bloomberg LP and will report to United Fintech’s Partner and Head of Sales, Tom Robinson, former Managing Director of Jefferies and Goldman Sachs.

Christian Frahm concludes, “United Fintech is rapidly gathering momentum. We have a high calibre management team in place and have made two excellent acquisitions, with clear synergies between the two firms. We have bolstered our team with the appointment of two exceptionally talented sales people, Joshua and Emilia who bring a wealth of experience from Bloomberg. It has only been a few months since our launch but we now have a team of 75 people and a number of market leading products for banks and financial institutions seeking easy access to innovative capital markets solutions.”

ZEN (zen.com), a newly launched licensed European fintech company, and SIA, a leading European hi-tech company in the payment services and infrastructures sector, controlled by CDP Equity, have announced their partnership to bring ZEN’s innovative digital financial solution to consumers and entrepreneurs in 32 European countries [1], including the UK.

ZEN’s mission is to give consumers and businesses peace of mind in managing their money and shopping transactions. In addition to a multi-currency current account combined with Mastercard payment cards, ZEN offers exclusive benefits, including attractive moneyback or 1-year extension of the manufacturer’s warranty for consumers, as well as lack of chargeback claims for entrepreneurs and payments instantly reaching their account following their clients’ online purchases. ZEN’s offer is available via the online transaction service and the mobile app in a transparent subscription model. Thanks to low costs, latest digital innovations and great user experience, this fintech tool is perfectly suited to managing shopping transactions, especially in the booming e-commerce sector.

ZEN has launched its new online payment cards platform choosing SIA as its technology partner. With this agreement, SIA’s digital infrastructure will manage the processing of transactions made using physical and virtual payment cards issued by ZEN for online and offline payments in over 150 currencies.

The infrastructure will include an advanced service for the fraud prevention and management service and card tokenization services. Consequently, as from now, ZEN clients will be able to add their own card to their Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets.

“As an entrepreneur, I have encountered many challenges while managing my finances with traditional banking solutions. This experience has made me realize that there are more people like myself, who need a comprehensive, digital suite, which gives peace of mind in terms of managing money and shopping transactions. ZEN is inspired by the culture of the Far East, where the concept of Zen means feeling of security and control. Our acronym for ZEN - zero-effort non-bank - stands for helping our clients manage their finances effortlessly. We are aware that to be successful, fintech companies need to scale their business internationally and this is why we partner with trusted providers such as SIA, to create advanced financial solutions, designed to meet the needs of contemporary consumers and entrepreneurs across Europe,” said ZEN’s founder, Dawid Rozek.

“We are particularly proud of our agreement with ZEN, which confirms our role as a trusted technology partner also for fintech companies acting across a number of European markets, where we are already supporting banks and other financial institutions to further accelerate the development of digital payments. We are confident our proven competence in payments systems and the e-money sector, together with our capabilities in leading the innovation, are a perfect combination for ZEN’s success,” stated Eugenio Tornaghi, Marketing & Sales Director at SIA.

[1] Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

GBG, the global specialist in identity data intelligence, has announced  an enhanced  partnership with leading Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology provider InnoValor, to implement their patented ReadID technology into GBG’s suite of identity verification and fraud prevention tools. This combination of innovative technologies paves the way for simpler onboarding, a seamless user experience, and improved digital trust.

A recent PWC report highlighted just how severe the rise in fraud has been during the pandemic, with nearly half of those surveyed (47%) saying they’ve encountered fraud in the last two years. GBG’s own research also found that in 2020 alone, 1 in 5 consumers had been victims of identity fraud, a figure which is only set to rise as our reliance on the digital economy and digital-led businesses continues to grow. The company’s State of Digital Identity Report found that 59% of people opened some kind of new online account in 2020, ultimately leaving consumers more exposed than ever. Companies need to ensure they have the best data, technology, and people in place to protect users, prevent fraud, and verify accounts.

GBG’s suite of identity verification tools already help 20,000 businesses globally to deliver a seamless, yet robust onboarding process to end users. Their IDScan technology allows users to onboard quickly, verify an individual in 5 seconds or less, and uses the latest InnoValor technology – ReadID – to validate, extract data and inspect documents direct from smartphones for 100% accurate results, 100% of the time (when compared to open source tools and data).

InnoValor’s ReadID technology provides user friendly, scalable and secure identity verification across document types, including ePassports, ID document, and residence permits using NFC. If works on all modern smartphones, using the same capability that enables contactless payments. It allows to verify an individual’s identity in seconds, providing a higher level of security at a lower cost with a better user experience. GBG’s decision to partner with InnoValor over open-source options stems from their ability to provide additional protection measures against cloning of the NFC chip, resulting in a greater level of risk mitigation, when compared to other solutions.

Together, GBG and InnoValor are combining solutions to deliver a safe, secure, and seamless onboarding experience through the power of market-leading NFC technology. By offering the most enhanced security features, as well as the ability to cross reference and triangulate data extracted from chips with extracted OCR data and captured selfies, the companies create the best ease of use and highest adoption, raising the bar for the next-in-class generation of identity verification.

Gus Tomlinson, General Manager at GBG, said: “Identity is becoming increasingly complex, and as more people make the move to digitally led lives, establishing digital trust and navigating fraud prevention, without interrupting the user experience online, is going to be increasingly difficult. That’s why we’re so thrilled to be working with such strong partners within the industry – InnoValor understands the balance required to keep people safe while giving them the best experience possible. As we move through 2021 and things continue to move to digitally-led, we feel confident we can keep up with the pace of consumers with them onboard.”

“The partnership with GBG brings the smartest solution for identity verification into the market,” according to Maarten Wegdam, CEO of InnoValor-ReadID. “NFC first is the best way to combine security and optimal user experience. InnoValor is the most experience provider of NFC based identity verification.  In combination with GBG’s IDScan technology it brings a world-class solution to the market.”

For more information about GBG and InnoValor solutions, please visit http://www.gbgplc.com/ or www.readid.com.  

Integral, a leading FX technology provider, announced today that Spuerkeess has chosen Integral’s BankFX™ workflow and trading technology to support its eFX operations worldwide.

Spuerkeess sought an experienced FX technology provider and selected Integral for its highly configurable cloud-based systems and sophisticated modular solutions. The deployment of Integral technology has delivered advanced risk management services and enabled full automation of the group’s execution workflow.

“We partnered with Integral having sought an eFX system that allowed us to differentiate our offering using advanced and configurable technology,” said Claude Origer, Senior Vice President & Head of Department Global Markets at Spuerkeess. “The flexibility and high degree of automation available within Integral BankFX is critical to our ability to serve the unique needs of our institutional clients. We have been extremely satisfied with the level of service delivered.”

“BankFX technology spans the entire FX lifecycle and offers a full-service solution to clients for a fixed monthly subscription and zero brokerage,” said Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral. “We are delighted to partner with Spuerkeess and offer them scalable technology to meet their evolving requirements, while helping them deliver a fully bespoke service to their institutional client base.”

Experian today launches the newest version of its fraud prevention platform to help businesses dealing with the rapid surge in demand for digital services and the growth of online accounts.

Due to the digital acceleration instigated by Covid-19, online retailers, businesses, and their customers are at risk of the growing threat from fraudsters exploiting outdated and unsophisticated fraud prevention systems. 

The size of the problem is significant. Experian estimates that 10 billion identity authentication checks are currently being made each day globally. Up to £31 billion* is set to be lost via online payment fraud in 2024 if rates continue at their current speed.

Specifically, Account Takeover fraud (ATO) – where a fraudster gains unauthorised access to a legitimate customer account – has increased by 34%**. It is likely to become an even bigger issue as people access more services online. 

To counter the threat and meet the demands of this new world, Experian has upgraded and enhanced its CrossCore platform. Incorporating the latest machine learning analytics capability, behavioural biometrics and device recognition technology, the single API solution gives businesses a multi-faceted approach to monitoring and reviewing suspicious activity.

Eduardo Castro, Head of Identity and Fraud, Experian UK&I, said: "The digital acceleration brought about by the pandemic means businesses have had to react to new challenges in ways that were previously unimaginable.

"With online businesses and retailers dealing with swathes of customers they've never interacted with face-to-face, it's critical they are confident in who they are dealing with and identify suspicious activity not only at the point of log-in. 

"It's no longer enough to rely on simple checks, such as email and passwords. Our combination of leading technology brings together everything a business needs to prevent it and their customers from becoming a victim of fraud in this rapidly-evolving space."

Experian's CrossCore includes the following capabilities: 

• Device capability allows businesses to recognise every device across every channel, developing a profile of each customer, and can highlight fraud indicators including inconsistencies and multiple transactions from a single device.

• Known fraud checks uses fraud databases to match transactions against known fraud and anomalies to identify any previous fraud or high-risk flags associated with the profile.

• Behavioural biometrics allows clients to identify dubious log-in patterns by detecting factors such as screen pressure, typing speed and device movements. Suspicious or non-familiar behaviour is then flagged.

• Machine Learning analytics models can predict the likelihood that an interaction is – or isn't – being made by the genuine account holder, with an overall probability of fraud. Organisations can then use this to determine how they deal with the transaction, based on their models and risk appetite.

*Juniper Digital Identity Report 2020 - 2025

** Cifas Fraudscape 2020 report. There were nearly 32,000 cases of facility takeover recorded in 2019, a 34% increase compared to 2018 (23,791).

Market-leading Turkish fintech Papara has appointed Ziya Uçar, Founding Member of Istanbul Police Department's Anti-Cyber Crime Branch as Corporate Relations Director for cybersecurity. He will be responsible for implementing and managing intrusion detection and preventative controls against cybercrime at the fintech. 

Papara is a Financial SuperApp offering instant, free, multi-currency transfers to consumers as well as providing a one-stop shop for paying bills, trading digital currencies and tracking spending habits. It also facilitates mass-payment for businesses, offers a corporate card which can be tailored to facilitate varying spending patterns and enables a secure check-out option for merchants. Targeting the underbanked and underserved, Papara has grown since launch in Tukey in 2016 to become Turkey’s largest fintech company with a current customer base of over six million registered users.

Uçar joins Papara’s experienced senior team, led by serial entrepreneur and Papara founder Ahmed Karslı, and payments expert İlker Diker. Uçar recently retired from his position as Chief of the Anti-Illegal Betting Bureau of the Istanbul Police Department's Anti-Cyber Crimes Branch. His career in the cybercrime industry dates back beyond 2004, when he worked at the Department of Payment Systems Bureau carrying out bank, credit card and general money transfer fraud investigations. More recently, between 2017 and 2019, Uçar was Technical Follow-up Bureau Chief, responsible for digital forensics, identifying, evaluating, and reporting on cyber security risks. At Papara, Uçar will be accountable for the security of Papara’s six million user accounts and overseeing the fraud prevention and detection controls in place.

Papara’s heavy investment into insight and innovation has driven high top and bottom line growth for the business, testament to its success in the Turkish market. Having grown its userbase by 109% in 2020, adding over 330,000 new users each month, Papara is readying itself for roll out across Europe, focusing on countries housing large Turkish communities such as Germany and Austria.

Launching new, user-friendly and time efficient products on a regular basis, from free 24/7 money transfers both in-app and directly to an IBAN, to currency exchange platforms, as well as intuitive budget management tools and splitting expenditures features, user experience is the differentiator for Papara. Investment into this, as well as into top talent in the cyber space through Uçar’s appointment is helping Papara scale up and achieve its goal of becoming the largest neo-bank in Europe.

Ahmed F. Karslı, founder and CEO of Papara comments on Ziya Uçar’s appointment: “The pandemic drove a fourfold volume increase in online payments last year, and with that came a spike in cybercrime. With security at the forefront of everything we do, our customers have not been impacted by this – we’re proud to have fraud rates of less than 0.01 per cent.

“As we grow and expand rapidly into the West, maintaining our strong security track record is of utmost importance, and the appointment of Ziya demonstrates our latest commitment to fighting cybercrime as well as preparing for our ambitious growth targets.”

Ziya Uçar, Corporate Relations Director (cybersecurity department) comments: “Joining the Papara team is a pivotal moment for me – I look forward to leveraging my three decades’ experience in the Police Department fighting cybercrime in the private sphere under article 5549, and using my expertise in cyber law enforcement to protect our customers from future security risks as we head west to take on Europe’s largest fintech players.”

Mastercard and NatWest Group today announced an expansion of their payments partnership by agreeing to convert all the Banking Group’s retail and business debit cards to Mastercard. The agreement includes all NatWest Group brands: NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank and Coutts, totalling 16 million cards.

The deal represents a significant broadening of the parties’ relationship with the aim of delivering payment innovation and enhanced digital payment experiences to cardholders. It further demonstrates Mastercard’s drive to increase the issuance of its debit cards across the UK and Ireland, and will expand Mastercard debit to approximately one in three of all consumer debit cards in circulation by banks in the UK and one in four in Ireland, once card conversions are complete.

Mastercard and NatWest have a deep working relationship through their existing credit card issuing partnership. This agreement furthers that relationship and will focus on increasing payment choice and innovation to NatWest customers, across multiple payment rails.  As people continue to spend proportionately more of their incomes through mobile and online channels, the two organisations will work to bring new safe and convenient digital payment solutions to customers.

Kelly Devine, UK and Ireland Division President, Mastercard, said: “We are excited to be building on our relationship with NatWest to bring Mastercard debit to their 16 million consumer and business debit cardholders. Today people have real choice in how they wish to pay, and we know that for an ever-increasing number of people their debit cards are their first preference for everyday spending. Our partnership with NatWest is further evidence that Mastercard’s payment solutions offer all the flexibility, security and convenience banks and their cardholders require in today’s digital age.”

Across Europe, almost 200 million consumers now use Debit Mastercard every day to pay at 43 million locations instore, online and in-app. Each Debit Mastercard also supports Purchase with Cashback – and can be used for cash withdrawals and balance enquiries at ATMs.

Salim Secretary, Head of Payment Schemes and Partnerships, NatWest Group, commented: “For the last year we have been extensively considering how we develop more tailored payment options for our customers. As part of this we will be extending our existing relationship with Mastercard beyond credit cards and into debit payments. We believe this partnership will enable us to offer more tailored payment options to our customers however they wish to pay – whether in store, online or via mobile devices.”

Cashflows, the platform that makes it easy for merchants to accept payments, has launched Anytime Settlement. The new service enables businesses to access funds in a matter of hours following a transaction, rather than the industry average of three working days. With more than 250,000 businesses set to collapse this year without support, Anytime Settlement aims to give merchants greater control of their funds in the wake of ongoing cash flow challenges. 

The launch comes as research conducted by Cashflows late last year, reveals that 42% of UK retail and financial services payments decision makers say having more predictable cash flow is important to their business - compared to 32% before the pandemic. 67% confirm their businesses have been negatively impacted by Covid-19 with 76% believing the future has been irrevocably changed.  

Worryingly, 15% said they don’t feel in control of their payments. Over half (54%) say being able to control remittances would give them security/peace of mind, this figure rising to 63% of those in financial services. 

With Cashflows Anytime Settlement, business leaders will now have the freedom to choose when and at what frequency they receive funds following the receipt of payments. This ability will therefore allow them the flexibility to reinvest funds as needed to support changing business priorities. 

Businesses across all industries have been forced to adapt to life with Covid-19, with 2 in 5 (41%) of survey respondents having reviewed or changed their business model as a result. 72% agreed that the momentum of technological innovation has accelerated due to Covid-19 and remote working. 47% said that Covid-19 is the single biggest concern for their business, followed by making profits (13%) and Brexit (10%).

Amanda Mesler, CEO, Cashflows, said: “2020 was the most challenging year for businesses that we’ve seen for decades and 2021 doesn’t seem like it will be much easier. We all know that the payments industry has long been hindered by archaic processes and infrastructure. The events of the last 12 months have really highlighted a need to improve this to give SMEs - the life blood of our global economy - the best possible chance to thrive in difficult circumstances. Anytime Settlement is simple - it’s about giving businesses access to what is already theirs, whenever they need it. With so much outside business leaders’ control, we believe they should at least have freedom over how they manage their funds.” 

Merchants can apply for access to Anytime Settlement as part of their general application process to Cashflows, and are subject to approval. 

Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in private cloud, hybrid, and multicloud computing, announced the appointment of James Sturrock as Systems Engineering Director for Western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa (WEURSSA).

Promoted from his previous position as Systems Engineering Manager, James Sturrock has taken up the position of Systems Engineering Director for WEURSSA at Nutanix. Ultimately tasked with driving sustained growth in the region, James will also be responsible for all technical resources in the WEURSSA region as they engage with end users and channel and OEM partners.

Commenting on his appointment, James said: “I am thrilled to be taking on this new challenge at what is such a transformative time for Nutanix and the industry as a whole. With such a talented team around me and an unrivalled technology portfolio, I look forward to playing my part in advancing Nutanix’s leadership in hybrid cloud infrastructure.”

Having joined Nutanix in early 2015, James has held various roles within the Systems Engineering team and was quickly promoted from Engineer to Manager and now Director. During his tenure as Systems Engineering Manager, James was responsible for growing the Systems Engineering teams in Ireland and Scotland by attracting some of the very best talent in the region. This, in turn, supported significant growth in the region over the last two years, with Nutanix acquiring a number of high profile clients in the Finance, Utility and Public Sector verticals, delivering highly complex solutions that are a testament to the skill and tenacity in his team. Prior to joining Nutanix, James started his career in the NHS and went on to hold various IT Consultancy roles, including the position of Head of Consultancy at Nugensis. 

Rob Tribe, VP, Systems Engineering, EMEA at Nutanix, said: “James’ unfailing energy and character ensure he forms strong relationships with every customer he meets. That, coupled with his extensive technical background and proven business acumen, make him the obvious choice to capitalise on the significant opportunities ahead for innovation and customer delight.”