IRIS Software Group, one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies is today announcing it has acquired iSAMS, a leading, fully integrated, online school management system.

Set to grow the scope of the education portfolio for IRIS, iSAMS is closely aligned with the Group’s vision to be the most trusted provider of mission critical software and services. iSAMS provides management information system (MIS) solutions to over 500 UK independent schools and over 500 international schools across 80 countries.

iSAMS complements IRIS’ objective to be at the heart of school management, ensuring education leaders stay ahead of regulatory change; streamline school management by automating mundane and complex operational tasks to drive success; and engage employees, parents and pupils to exchange important information and build valuable relationships.

Kevin Dady, Executive Chairman of IRIS Software Group, says: “As part of our growth strategy, we continue to identify opportunities to expand both domestically and internationally.

“Domestically we are seeing a growing need for schools to not only move to a SaaS environment for finance, HR and payroll, but increase their engagement with parents, provide more detailed reporting and create more efficient, paperless administration systems.

“IRIS’ heritage, combined with its 11,000+ school customers, investment in cloud technology and sector expertise will help iSAMS in the next phase of its growth.”

Alastair Price, Managing Director of iSAMS, comments: “IRIS shares our vision for the next stage of growth. Its track record in the education market makes it the perfect partner. The support for management and its culture complements the next chapter of the iSAMS story. We are excited about IRIS investing into the business, reinforcing our commitment to service excellence for our customers worldwide.”

iSAMS is a web-based management information system used by everyone involved in a school, from data administrators and staff, to students and parents with a range of reporting and engagement tools. These modules manage every aspect of administration to help schools run efficiently – including admissions, academic reporting and tracking, examinations, wellbeing, communication, HR, fee billing and accounting.

FinTech Connect, the trade show that connects the global fintech ecosystem, today revealed the agenda for its 2020 virtual event which will take place between 30^th November and 4th December.

This year’s line-up includes the CEOs of major European challenger banks like Tide and Starling Bank, the global digital leads at some of the largest financial institutions in the world including Banco Santander and HSBC, and the fintech pioneers within disruptors like Facebook, Pinterest and JUST EAT. Speaker highlights include:

• Anne Boden, CEO, Starling Bank
• Aleksi Grym, Head of Digitalisation, Bank of Finland
• Ben Arber, Head of Financial Crime Compliance, HSBC
• Ben Shipway, Global Head of Product & Technology, FinTech, JUST EAT
• Chirag Patel, EVP Global Payments, Banco Santander
• Daniel Mast, Head of L&S Innovation and Tradelens Technology Strategy, A.P. Moller – Maersk
• Jacqueline Chilton, VP Payments & Fraud, Ticketmaster
• Kristy Duncan, CEO, Women in Payments
• Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide Bank
• Paul Cobban, Chief Transformation Officer, DBS
• Peter Tilton, SVP Digital, Royal Bank of Canada
• Sarika Sangwan, Global Head of Strategy & Marketing - Financial Services, Pinterest
• Sean Ringsted, Chief Digital Officer, Chubb
• Ville Sointu, Head of Emerging Technologies, Nordea
• William Lovell, Head of Future Technology, Bank of England

“2020 has been a landmark year for fintech. The pandemic has accelerated the pace of transformation at an unprecedented rate and, at the same time, recent scandals around governance have threatened the reputation of the entire sector. We’re reaching an inflection point in fintech’s maturity and so, as we near the end of this tumultuous year, it’s never been more important for the community to coral together and define its future,” said Laurence Coldicott, FinTech Connect’s Director of Content.

“Entering its sixth year, Fintech Connect’s 2020 virtual edition provides a platform to do just that, uniting colleagues from every timezone without the expense of travel or registration fees,” says Coldicott.

Content sessions will belong to one of four streams, Digital Transformation, PayTech, Blockchain and RegTech, which will deliver a comprehensive, in-depth examination of the current state and future direction of FinTech across the world.

The 2020 edition of FinTech Connect will be held virtually on 30 November – 4 December and will bring together 8,000+ of the fintech community to share best practice, showcase new products and solutions and shape financial services of the future. Register to attend here or explore sponsorship opportunities for 2020.

SEON, the fraud fighters, is pleased to announce it has teamed up with Sun Finance, the fastest growing online lender in Europe, working with unbanked and underbanked customers, to explore the changes to consumer risk and how the digital lending industry has been forced to adapt during the pandemic. Taking place on Wednesday 28th October at 10am CET, the session will cover the current landscape of the digital lending industry and how it might change in the future.

Digital lending, and especially online loans have been incredibly successful for some time, but COVID-19 has changed many things about the way that we deal with money. Many people’s financial situations have changed and the way that we complete transactions has had to change too. Many lenders who were previously offline have now moved online to cope with the increased number of people who are doing more from home. Simultaneously, due to the uncertainty worldwide risk has increased, with microlending particularly affected.

It is with these issues in mind that SEON and Kaspars Magazniek, Fraud Prevention Manager at Sun Finance, will discuss:

• The online lending market in general, including loan sizes, and targets, as well as upcoming challenges.
• The shifts that have occurred because of COVID. For example, some big-name companies closing, and how we can adapt to the increased risk.
• How alternative data can help to confirm identity in a way that the traditionally used methods cannot?
• What the future of the online lending industry might hold.

To find out more about this free webinar and sign-up, visit: https://seon.io/webinar/insight-from-a-microlending-fraud-prevention-manager/.

To learn more about SEON’s services, visit: https://seon.io/.

Visa has granted Visa Ready certification for MYPINPAD’s Tap to Phone mPOS solution, with optional PIN capture for Android devices running Android version 8 and higher. This means that MYPINPAD’s Tap to Phone solution with PIN is now available to all interested Visa acquirers where PIN authentication is required.  This is a significant milestone as we move closer to a world where secure and safer omni-channel payments for consumers of all ages, abilities and environments has become a global priority.

MYPINPAD’s leading-edge technology brings a seismic shift to the safety and overall experience of payments, enabling merchants to accept contactless transactions of any amount directly onto mobile devices with the consumer simply entering their PIN for all transactions over the contactless limit. By transforming mobile devices into payment acceptance devices, MYPINPAD’s solution democratises payment card acceptance and enables merchants to innovate and design their omni channel experiences via the company’s PCI approved payments and authentication platform.

MYPINPAD’s vision is to replace dedicated payments hardware entirely with software allowing a single, unified experience that will unlock unparalleled possibilities in omnichannel experiences, enabling a world where card present transactions are available over all channels. Safer for the consumer, simpler and easier to use, and bringing significant benefits for retailers that are not possible with current payment options.

Visa Ready for Tap to Phone recognizes ready-to-deploy solutions that meet Visa requirements and standards for security. The certification provides sellers with greater confidence that technology partners, such as MYPINPAD, offer leading solutions and capabilities to help simplify the process of identifying the right partner and expertise, streamline testing and implementation, and expedite overall time-to market.

Founder of MYPINPAD, Justin Pike, commented: “The Visa Ready certification enables a truly software-based acceptance solution without limits and puts us one step closer to achieving a ubiquitous solution for secure omnichannel payments. Increasingly, there is a blurring of the lines between the digital and offline worlds, so meeting the Visa standard for Tap to Phone mPOS with optional PIN capture is a vital step in removing legacy payments hardware. Looking to the future enables the creation of a seamless payment experience for consumers that can be the same across all channels.”

“Now more than ever, billions of people expect the convenience of paying with their cards wherever they shop, yet there are still many situations where digital payments are not an option. Visa Tap to Phone aims to change this, providing sellers with a more cost-effective, secure and turnkey way to accept digital payments via everyday devices, such as a mobile phone or tablet,” said Mary Kay Bowman, global head of buyer and seller solutions, Visa. “Our work with partners like MYPINPAD is helping to scale the use of Tap to Phone globally and reduce some of the hurdles a seller – of virtually any size – may face when beginning to accept contactless payments for the first time.”

As Tap to Pay usage increases around the world, MYPINPAD’s innovation will help reduce friction in the consumer payment experience and further support a drive toward contactless transactions. For example, in APAC, there is a 3.8x lift in Visa authorized transactions per active card used in a Tap to Pay transaction, compared to 1.8 with a non-user of Tap to Pay.

MYPINPAD is the only company in the world to have obtained PCI accreditation for software PIN entry on Android and iOS devices and the first in the world to achieve Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) certification for its software only Contactless Payments on Commercial off-the-shelf (CPoC) solution.

Please visit www.mypinpad.com to discover more about this transformational technology. 

Yolt, the award-winning smart money app, has today launched a new evolution of its technology with a series of innovative, free features designed to help users save.

Launched in 2017 Yolt is on a mission to harness the power of Open Banking to empower people to be smart with their money. The app’s 1.5 million registered users are currently able to see their various bank accounts in one central place, enabling them to easily track their spending, set budgets and identify where they can make savings. Most recently, functionality was added for users to switch and save on household bills, combine their pensions, invest their money and grow their savings via trusted in-app partners such as MoneySuperMarket, PensionBee, Raisin and Wealthify.

Yolt will be launching an evolved version of the app after recognising the changing financial priorities brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the challenge that UK adults were finding themselves in when trying to save, despite having the best intentions to do so.*

Drawing on the power of habit formation and nudge theory, the new features announced today include:

• The Yolt Account and contactless card, which serve as a new daily spending account, helping users to save on every single purchase with round ups and cashback on selected retailers. The Yolt app automatically sets those savings aside into the Money Jar.
• A brand new virtual Money Jar comes with the Yolt account and is designed to get users into the habit of saving. The Money Jar collects all of the savings users make via using their Yolt card and the app will offer handy tips and financial reminders to prompt users to add to their Money Jar each week.
• Users are able to switch on automatic Jar Boosters like The Cashback Collector and earn cashback rewards with their favourited retailers or The Set Saver, which will automatically move money from their Yolt Account to their Money Jar either daily, weekly or monthly based on user preference. The app will also recognise refunds, a salary increase or even a bonus and will be prompted to pocket these windfalls and add those to their Money Jar too.
• To kickstart their savings plan, users will be able to partake in Yolt’s weekly Money Jar Challenge which will save users a minimum of £416* a year.

Pauline van Brakel, Chief Product Officer, Yolt, comments:

“Our relationship with money has dramatically changed in 2020. Many people are now treading a fine line between wanting to get life back on track, but also having the peace of mind that they are financially secure during these increasingly challenging times.

“Our research shows despite many of us trying to save money during the Covid-19 crisis, 65% of us were unable to**. And whether it’s to free up money for a rainy-day fund, stash some cash away for Christmas or to pay off debt, saving has never been more important.

“That’s why we’ve evolved Yolt and our aim with this new launch is to help users save whilst they spend – combatting the persistent and pressing feeling that we need to save for the uncertainty that lies ahead, whilst also recognising the fact that life goes on and spending with it.

“The new Yolt account and Money Jar are designed to make saving more achievable by getting users into the habit of saving through small tweaks to their daily routines and easy automatic actions within the app.”

The new Yolt app is available for existing users from today, with full access to all UK users on iOS coming early November. Android will follow shortly after.

Path Solutions, the global Islamic software and services provider for banks and financial institutions, is proud to announce it has won the ‘Best Islamic Technology Provider’ award in the IFN Service Providers Poll 2020. This is the 13^th consecutive year that the company has won the prestigious accolade, demonstrating its powerful ability to deliver digital transformation solutions that drive business growth and innovation in a rapidly changing financial services sector.

“This is another huge achievement for us,” commented Mohammed Kateeb, the Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions. “The fact that we are the only company to have ever won IFN ‘Best Islamic Technology Provider’ category over the past 13 years really illustrates our in-depth industry knowledge and our commitment to helping financial institutions become data-driven and empowering them to succeed in a fast-changing world. Our focus is on making a significant difference to our clients by providing a technology platform that is truly a launchpad for continual digital innovation.”

Kateeb added: “This is an important moment for us to also thank our clients for their commitment to us and for providing us with the opportunity to assist them in their transformative journey, and to thank one more time IFN’s team for their hard work during a lengthy and time-consuming due diligence process”.

“Indeed, when looking at the rapid shifts that have taken place over the past several months due to COVID-19 with banks worldwide accelerating their digital adoption to meet new customer requirements; finding the right technology partner has arguably never been so critical for business longevity,” said Vineeta Tan, Managing Editor, REDmoney.

“Therefore, if there is any immovable victor in this poll, it is Path Solutions. Being selected as the ‘Best Islamic Technology Provider’ for the 13^th year running, is a testament to the firm’s unquestionable dominance in the space, and a true reflection of the global Islamic financial services industry. The company’s victory is backed by an impressive year comprising numerous high-profile new contracts particularly in the African region, leaving a formidable footprint in this fast-growing market.”

The year 2020 is also momentous for Path Solutions as it marked the start of its intelligent digital initiative roadmap with the unveiling of two new platforms; Path Digital and Path Intelligence, bolstering its open banking with core system upgrade.

IFN received another strong showing in votes in 2020 and competition was tight throughout. It is also worth noting that the Technology category witnessed a stunning shakeup in second and third rankings this year with Silverlake Axis chosen second runner-up and HeiTech Padu third.

Winners of IFN Service Providers Poll 2020 can be found here:

https://www.islamicfinancenews.com/ifn-service-providers-poll-2020-asserting-dominance-amid-tempestuous-times.html.

Worldline (Euronext: WLN) and PSA Payment Services Austria GmbH (PSA), who have been partners for the past eight years, have agreed to continue working together for the benefit of Austria’s digital payment system for a further five years.

Worldline, the European market leader in payments and transactional services systems and transaction services, will continue to process all transactions made using Austrian debit cards on PSA’s behalf.  In 2019, one billion transactions were processed under the previous agreement, which has now been extended for another five years.

Worldline is a leading technology partner to the European banking industry and provides highly secure, frictionless processing of cashless payments and multiple innovative digital services for consumers as well as merchants. In Austria, SIX Payment Services, which became part of Worldline in late 2018, has been the central processor of all PSA card transactions since 2012.

PSA is the Austrian banks’ central service provider for cashless payment systems and supports the banks with both conventional card products and increasingly popular mobile payment solutions. Contactless payments (NFC) via debit cards, e.g., has become a naturally expected feature for Austrian card holders.

As part of their collaboration, Worldline processes approximately one billion transactions for PSA per year (2019). This includes approx. 770 million payment transactions carried out with the ten million Austrian debit cards directly or indirectly via NFC and mobile-based payment solutions, such as Apple Pay. In addition, Worldline handled approximately 137 million domestic and international ATM cash withdrawals and a further 157 million service transactions.

Michael Steinbach, Managing Director Financial Services at Worldline, commented: "Worldline is a long-term partner and best in class of the banking industry. We are proud to have been able to accompany PSA on its innovative course and will continue to do so for many years."

David Ostah, PSA’s Chief Executive Officer, added: “As the central provider of the payment infrastructure, security, innovation and professionalism are critical for us. Worldline supports our innovative projects with global expertise and a pioneering spirit. Together, we look forward to bringing new payment offerings to the Austrian market.

• White Papers
• 20.10.2020 08:02 am

In the last decade, bundled products and services became broadly unpopular, with customers preferring to shop around for the best deal on each item. As consumer lives have become busier and digital access has improved, a trend has begun to emerge towards rebundling products and services again. The rising stars (and perhaps even the drivers for this change) are super apps. As aggregators of products and services, consumers see an advantage in super apps, since they offer ease, convenience and the chance to receive more personalised services and offers.

The question is: will this be another trend that unravels in a few years’ time, or are super apps here to stay?

MobiCash, a mobile payments service powered by Compass Plus, brings you an insightful white paper that delves into payments super apps, discussing the ultimate convenience they can bring to consumers alongside the competitive advantages they offer merchants, service providers, PSPs, ISOs, acquirers, issuers, fintechs and more.

Thought Machine announces it has been selected by Curve to power its new credit and loan offering, Curve Credit. Curve Credit is a new startup from banking platform Curve which allows customers to pay for purchases in instalments. The start-up is being launched with an ethos of responsible lending and borrowing. 

Combining the simplicity of Curve’s user experience with Thought Machine’s advanced core technology, Curve Credit allows its users to spread payments over three, six, or nine-month periods, offering credit on fairer terms. Credit can be applied both retrospectively and prospectively – utilising Thought Machine’s core platform and Curve’s unique ‘Go Back in Time’ technology.

Furthermore, Curve Credit will augment customer credit scores using their transaction history across various bank accounts, aiming to give customers greater transparency and flexibility in the borrowing decisions they make. 

Curve will make full use of Vault’s Smart Contracts product-building system to deliver this functionality for the live product. The Curve team will, as all of Thought Machine’s clients, have the ability to build the financial products they want by writing them as code in the Smart Contracts interface. 

Vault was selected by Curve Credit as a SaaS offering to power this new functionality. Vault SaaS offers all the features of Vault and can support a bank of any size, scaling as required.

Founded in 2014 by former Google engineer Paul Taylor, Vault allows banks and fintechs to achieve a higher level of functionality, free from the constraints of legacy technology, and built natively for the cloud. Thought Machine has become the core banking technology partner of choice for tier one banks, neobanks and fintechs across the globe. Thought Machine names Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered, Atom bank, Monese and SEB as clients.

Paul Taylor, CEO of Thought Machine, comments: “Unbeatable financial services organisations are those which embrace modern, cloud native technology, like Curve. We look forward to working alongside Shachar, Paul, and the Curve team, to bring this truly unseen proposition to the market. Our teams share a passion for building expertly-engineered products that give customers choice and flexibility in managing their finances, and to do so in a meaningful way.”

Paul Harrald, Head of Curve Credit, comments: “We are excited about launching Curve Credit with Thought Machine’s core banking technology, which is unrivalled in the market. Thought Machine is the only technology that allows us to deliver the flexibility and manageability we desired for our customers. Curve Credit’s ethos is about responsible lending and responsible borrowing. Alongside Curve OS, this three-way dynamic will be able to give each customer the clearest possible terms via a simple and beautiful product and experience.”

———
Learn more about Vault now.

Enel X makes its debut in the digital financial services and mobile banking sector with Enel X Pay, the online banking account from Enel X Financial Services which, thanks to the partnership with Mastercard, enables users to make fully secure payments and transfers in real time directly via smartphone app, to have a digital or physical card and monitor the transactions and spending of the whole family. Enel X Pay was presented today at a web press conference attended by Francesco Venturini, CEO of Enel X, Giulio Carone, CEO of Enel X Financial Services and Matteo Concas, Head of Financial Solutions of Enel X.

“Through Enel X Pay, we are expanding our platform of offers and products to financial services; a digital tool to easily manage financial transactions by relying on an innovative and trusted partner like Enel X,” said Francesco Venturini, Enel X CEO. “The disintermediation from traditional financial services give us the option of entering a highly competitive sector, bringing our ability to innovate and develop new solutions, from advisory and financial management services to insurance services."

"With the launch of Enel X Pay we are bolstering our position in the fintech sector, contributing to the dissemination of digital payments and the development of financial services integrated with Enel's ecosystem,”  said Giulio Carone, CEO of Enel X Financial Services. “The business model we are looking at is that of a Big Tech firm, which makes available to customers its ability to innovate, counting on strategic partnerships with leading technology players, in order to offer high value-added solutions.”

Enel X Pay is a native digital account, involving a card and an Italian IBAN, which allows users to perform multiple types of transactions: from the payment of bills, taxes and duties of the Public Administrations signed up to Italy’s pagoPA circuit, to SEPA transfers, from the peer-to-peer transfer of money with no additional costs, to donations aimed at solidarity initiatives to third sector associations like Save the Children, Food for Soul and Doctors without Borders.

With Enel X Pay, users can pay for the charging of electric cars in the infrastructures within the Hubject circuit. Hubject is the e-mobility joint venture involving the BMW Group, Bosch, EnBW, Enel X, Innogy, Mercedes Benz AG, Siemens and the Volkswagen Group, which boasts over 750 business partners and 250,000 interoperable charging points all over the world.

Users can manage the Enel X Pay banking account directly from the app bundled with a digital and physical card. The card is made out of plant-based bio-plastic and is linked to Mastercard, the key international payment circuit with over 52 million points of acceptance around the world. In addition, thanks to the Enel X Pay “family” option, a dedicated account can be activated for children between the ages of 11 and 18, providing them with a prepaid card while allowing them to make peer-to-peer transfers, withdrawals from ATMs as well as payments on e-commerce sites. Parents can rely on a useful tool which, on the one hand, offers children the freedom to manage their own funds and, on the other, allows the monitoring of their balance and transactions, while setting spending limits and fixing the amount of the prepaid card’s automatic top-ups.

The launch of Enel X Pay is a milestone in a process that the Enel Group has been engaged in for the last two years, accomplishing a series of strategic transactions. These include: the purchase of a majority stake in Paytipper, an institution with which the initial offering of online and offline payment services was created as well as the recent agreements with partners SIA and Tink which, through their highly secure and reliable technology platforms, will enable all Enel X Pay services, allowing for the development of additional open banking solutions tailored to customer needs.

Enel X Pay is available on the Google Play Store (Android) and, in the coming days, on the Apple App Store.