Bittrex Global (Bermuda) Ltd. has announced the launch of leveraged tokens under the supervision of the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Leveraged tokens as a product are aimed at institutional investors and experienced traders looking to increase their exposure to cryptocurrency markets.  

As a product, Leveraged Tokens offer increased exposure to the potential upside for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cardano traders as well as an insurance hedge should market movements contradict their analysis. Given the inherently volatile nature of cryptocurrency markets, leveraged tokens are expected to play an increasingly important role in the development of this nascent sector within the broader Financial Services industry. If you’d like to learn more about leveraged tokens, please read our handy guide to leverage tokens here.

Stephen Stonberg, CFO/COO, Bittrex Global, said: "For some time institutional investors and professional traders have had to confront a combination of negative bond yields and highly valued equities buoyed by government spending. Investment in cryptocurrencies has enormous potential to offer strong future returns, the Bermuda Monetary Authority has provided a secure environment for Bittrex Global to cater to this important class of investor."  

The launch coincides with Bermuda’s Virtual Tech Summit 2020, which the Bittrex Global team will be actively participating in. Following the recent period of growth in the DeFi asset class, Leveraged Tokens reflect the increasingly mature nature of investors and traders seeking more complex tools in order to navigate these markets. Bittrex Global aims to serve all investors whether they are retail or institutional with as broad a suite of products possible within the highest levels of compliance.  

BMLL, the award-winning data and analytics company, today announced that BMLL Data Feed will be available to US market participants via Crux Informatics (“Crux”), the data delivery and operations firm that helps companies reliably get the data they need, how they need it and where they need it.

The data distribution agreement complements BMLL’s existing direct arrangements to deliver data and analytics to their US client base, leveraging Crux’s network and pipelines to leading data consumers and analytics platforms around the world. 

BMLL operates at the cutting edge of capital markets. Their mission is to unlock the predictive power of pricing data and offer clients the insight they need to understand how markets behave and make more informed trading decisions. 

BMLL’s Data Feeds are pre-computed from the most granular, Level 3 order book data and provide market participants with actionable insight needed to outperform the competition. BMLL analytics are used by leading buy-side and sell-side institutions as well as major exchange groups and trading venues to better understand and analyse trading behaviour on their venues. The BMLL Data Feeds cover venue analytics, trading costs, alternative pricing, pricing analytics and trading analytics.

Michael Rude, Head of Go-to-Market at Crux, commented: “We are pleased to add BMLL to our ecosystem of more than 100 data providers. The granularity of data, covering the full depth of the order book, is a unique addition to the financial markets data available to our clients via our platform. We look forward to our collaboration.”

Paul Humphrey, CEO of BMLL Technologies, said: “The need for timely data insights and analytics has never been greater as the industry navigates heightened market volatility in light of the global pandemic and also upcoming major political events across Europe and the US. Our partnership with Crux will support our ambition to increase access to our award-winning data and analytics products to a US client base, by adding to our already existing data delivery and distribution capabilities.”

EBANX, fintech company specialized in payment solutions for Latin America, announced the Push LatAm, an initiative that comprises expansion of its operations to new markets in Central and South Americas; the offering of hybrid services within Latin American countries; and the launch of EBANX GO, a prepaid card that offers a digital payments account in a partnership with Visa, to other markets in the region besides Brazil; all within the next 12 months. Push LatAm was announced this Thursday, October 15, at the Latin America Summit, EBANX annual event about business in Latin America.

EBANX expansion to Central America will start in Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Guatemala. Paraguay, in South America, is also a destination. These five new markets will add to the current nine where the company already operates – Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador. 

Besides the geographical expansion, Push LatAm also consists of model expansion. After having unveiled its local payment processing, EBANX will now launch its hybrid model, making things more flexible for global companies that have offices in the region, in a fully compliant way. By combining cross-border and local processing services within the same territories, this new model will allow local settlements for merchants, starting by South American countries.

And following a market trend of electronic payments and digital accounts that was accelerated by the pandemic in Latin America, EBANX will also launch EBANX GO in other LatAm markets. The e-wallet was soft launched in Brazil in the beginning of 2020, with a Visa card and a digital payments account, and has been growing steadily ever since. Around 60% of the current purchases made with the EBANX GO card are within EBANX merchants, proving the product can also work as a performance tool for them, besides being an easy-to-use payment option for consumers in the region. 

"The Push LatAm initiative reflects our mission from the beginning of EBANX: to create access, to connect Latin Americans and global brands, always with a customer and product-driven mindset. Expanding our footprint and our solutions right now is the perfect realization of this goal. This will enable us to keep excelling in our commitment with Latin America: to be highly specialized in the region, translating each one of its countries and their singular cultures to businesses around the world," said João Del Valle, co-founder and COO of EBANX. 

Save and Galileo announced a partnership agreement to use Galileo's powerful and customizable API-based payments processing platform to process transactions and funding of Save customers' Debit Invest debit cards and Save Market Savings accounts.

Save, a fintech startup that enables higher yields on savings and checking accounts, and Galileo, the API standard for card issuing and digital banking, expect to process more than $7 billion of customer transactions in the first three years. Save joins other prominent fintech companies on Galileo's roster of clients, including Chime, Greenlight, MoneyLion, Monzo, Revolut, SoFi, TransferWise and others.

"Galileo has won a well-deserved reputation as a leading force for innovation, seamless execution and tech-driven efficiency in financial services, making it easier for fintech companies to work with banks and add value for customers," said Michael Nelskyla, CEO of Save. "Our relationship with Galileo builds a robust regulatory framework for safe processing of customer deposits and debit card transactions. Our customers can feel comfortable and confident that their money is secure while their Save accounts are being opened, during transfers between banks and with every transaction on their Debit Invest card." 

"Customers globally are shifting to digital banking as they look for innovative financial solutions that might not be offered by traditional banks, and we see Save as a significant addition to the Galileo roster of clients," added Galileo CEO Clay Wilkes. "Save has big, ambitious goals to help people earn higher yields on their savings while still getting the safety of FDIC-insured deposits. Every transaction that Galileo helps Save process furthers the mission of giving customers more value from their bank accounts." 

Galileo's robust payment processing platform supports Save customers signing up for a new Save Market Savings Account or Save Debit Invest card and makes it fast and seamless for Save's customer accounts to integrate with Save's bank partners while fulfilling the banks' FDIC regulatory requirements.  

"Galileo will make it easier for Save to help our customers open accounts, fund their accounts and integrate those accounts with our bank partners' back-end systems," said Adam Watts, president and COO of Save. "When you're building something new in financial services and set big growth targets like Save has, it's important to partner with the most innovative leaders in the industry. Galileo is one of those leaders, and we look forward to working with them to keep making amazing things happen for digital banking and fintech customers."  

Save invites new customers to sign up today at: www.joinsave.com

The African internet economy is expanding quickly, with online commerce in the region growing 21% year-over-year, 75% faster than the global average. In order to help increase Africa’s online GDP, Stripe has entered into an agreement to acquire Paystack, a technology company based in Lagos that makes it easy for organizations of all sizes to collect payments from around the world.

Today, more than 60,000 businesses in Nigeria and Ghana use Paystack to securely collect online and offline payments, launch new business models, and deepen customer relationships. Incredibly, Paystack already processes more than half of all online transactions in Nigeria. Paystack has ambitious plans to expand across the continent and recently started a pilot with businesses in South Africa.

Stripe and Paystack have been working closely together for some time. In 2018, Stripe led Paystack’s Series A financing round and has provided ongoing guidance as the company rapidly scaled.

“In just five years, Paystack has done what many companies could not achieve in decades. Their tech-first approach, values, and ambition greatly align with our own. This acquisition will give Paystack resources to develop new products, support more businesses and consolidate the hyper-fragmented African payments market,” said Matt Henderson, Stripe’s business lead in EMEA. “We can’t wait to see what they will build next and how their growth can turbocharge the African tech ecosystem.”

Paystack will continue to operate independently, growing their operations in Africa and adding more international payment methods. Over time, Paystack’s capabilities will be embedded in Stripe’s Global Payments and Treasury Network (GPTN), a programmable platform for global money movement that currently spans 42 countries.

“Paystack is a growth engine for modern businesses in Africa, and we couldn’t be more excited to join forces with Stripe, whose mission and values are so aligned with ours, to nurture transformative businesses on the continent,” said Shola Akinlade, CEO and co-founder of Paystack. “We believe deeply that with the right tools, African creators, developers, and entrepreneurs can do incredible things. Leveraging Stripe’s resources and deep expertise, we’re excited to accelerate our geographic expansion and introduce more payment channels, more value-added services, and deeper integrations with global platforms.”

The acquisition is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

For more information, check out this post from Paystack CEO and co-founder Shola Akinlade on their blog.

An international study of over 1,000 senior professionals in the banking, lending, PFM, investment, and retail sectors by leading open banking provider Yolt Technology Services has revealed that over a third (35%) of Personal Finance Management (PFM) platforms aren’t using open banking technology. These businesses will face an urgent transition when screen scraping is phased out in Europe at the end of 2020 if they are to avoid major service disruptions.

The final leg of PSD2, Stronger Customer Authentication (SCA), comes into effect in Europe on 31^st December 2020 and will add an extra layer of security to log-in processes. This will force many banks to withdraw screen scraping facilities, which are currently used by PFMs to automatically extract on-screen data from the bank’s online banking page or app. This data is then used as raw text in the PFM to generate spending insights for users, but is less secure, less efficient, and creates a more cumbersome log in process.

As a result, many PFMs will have to look for alternative methods to gather customer data efficiently and securely, but despite being early pioneers of open banking, the survey showed that 35% of PFMs are not using open banking products and services such as AIS systems. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 respondents (19%) stated that they have never even considered using open banking.

More surprising still is that among those who were using open banking, only half (55%) were using Account Information Services, while over three quarters (77%) were using Payment Initiation Services (PIS). While PIS can deliver significant value for users, enabling settling between accounts or payment into regular savings accounts, its functionality is not a core part of the PFM offering in the same way as AIS.

Among those who haven’t yet adopted open banking technology, 35% of PFMs said it was too early to invest, and 28% named data privacy as the chief reason for not adopting. Despite this, PFMs do still show an above average adoption rate (68%) after being one of the first sectors to take advantage of the technology, compared with the banking and retail sectors, the next highest, on 63% and 62% respectively.

And the adoption of open banking technology is proving to be lucrative for those PFMs that do make the switch. Over 90% of PFMs who keep track of the monetary gains of open banking said that it is worth between £1m - £5m to their business each year, compared with 70% of respondents across all sectors, so there are financial gains to be had. This may be because open banking is central to service delivery for the majority of PFMs, but in other sectors it is a differentiator and its use is optional.

For all of this promise to be realised, there are clear issues to be addressed, but PFMs stand to benefit if they lead the charge.

Leon Muis, Chief Business Officer at Yolt Technology Services, comments:

“As pioneers of open banking, Personal Finance Managers have incredible potential to propel the technology even further – but only if steps are taken now to address the issues our survey reveals. That starts with more adoption – platforms which rely on manual methods of information gathering like screen scraping are not only less efficient, they deliver a worse service for users. To see a third of all PFM platforms using no open banking technology at all is a concern, and one that they will have to deal with sooner rather than later, with the upcoming ban on screen scraping.

“Data privacy concerns are a key reason behind this adoption rate, but this is built on fundamental misunderstandings not only about the technology, but the rules which govern its use. That over a quarter of PFM platforms don’t understand how open banking legislation works is a signal that we need to do better as an industry to champion the benefits of the technology, but also showcase the core safeguards and secure foundations upon which it is built.

“What is also clear is the power open banking has to differentiate platforms, and those which can most effectively implement it stand to benefit the most, both financially and in service delivery. And, with the phasing out of screen scraping coming into effect at the end of the year, PFMs need to act now to better support their customers and avoid being left behind.”

Tide, the UK’s leading business banking platform [1] has today announced a partnership with GoCardless, a global leader in recurring payments, to launch a service that will allow Tide members to collect invoice payments by Direct Debit.

The late payment of invoices is a well documented and recurring issue for small businesses. Recent research by Tide reveals that over 60% of small businesses regularly have invoices paid late, with almost 16% of those saying they regularly have invoices paid over four weeks late*. This creates a huge cash flow issue and puts small businesses in serious danger of collapse, particularly in the current turbulent climate. When it comes to failed payments 42% of small businesses say the biggest problem they pose is awkward conversations with customers, 29%  citing the cash flow impact, and 27% the cost of recovering payments**.

With this issue front of mind, Tide and GoCardless have collaborated to come up with an invoice payment service that gives small business owners control over when they are paid, helping them to get paid faster, as well as cutting the stress and wasted time out of chasing payments. On average, businesses get paid 47% faster with GoCardless according to IDC’s ‘The business value of taking recurring payments with GoCardless.’

The service, built on Direct Debit, is very simple to use, benefitting both the business owner and customer. Tide members will be able to schedule the collection of payments from their customers when the invoice is due and track the progress of these payments with  low, per-transaction fees***. Tide members’ customers will be protected by the Direct Debit guarantee.

Oliver Prill, Tide CEO, said: “We are extremely excited to be working with GoCardless to provide such an important service to Tide members.  Being able to set up Direct Debit payments for invoices will be game changing for our members,  making the payment process quicker and smoother for both the  small business owner and customer.

“Tide’s mission is to help small business owners save time (and money) on their banking and admin and launching this service couldn’t be truer to that mission. Business owners should be spending time growing their businesses and building relationships with customers, rather than chasing them for payment. We look forward to rolling out this service with the GoCardless team and giving time back to our members.”

Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO, GoCardless, said: “Our mission is to take the pain out of getting paid so that businesses can focus on what they do best. This is more important than ever in today’s economic climate, and our partnership with Tide will help make this a reality for many more small businesses.  Tide members will now be able to automate both the invoicing and payment process, putting them in control of their payments and improving cash flow. We believe that this partnership will help small businesses thrive.”

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Substantive Research, the research discovery and research spend analytics provider for the buy-side, has appointed Jonathan Furse as Chief Technology Officer.

Substantive Research monitors and curates investment research and provides tailored analytics on research spend to buy-side professionals who manage assets from $500million to $3 trillion and represent a combined AUM of more than $10 trillion. Via the Substantive Research platform, asset managers can receive bespoke research from a range of analysts and providers, matched to the needs of their portfolio managers and interests of their investment teams and processes. They are able to compare their research allocations and processes and benchmark consumption habits versus their peers, to optimise their overall research spend.

Jonathan Furse joins Substantive Research from the Financial Times where he was technical director, in charge of subscription management, publishing and data analytics platforms and leading teams across Asia and Europe. He is an experienced senior technical leader, with a hybrid background of engineering, product management and programme leadership. 

At Substantive Research he is responsible for the digital product strategy, growing the in-house team of developers and managing the firm's outsourced technology partners. Since his appointment he has secured the Cyber Essentials certification for the company and hired a new senior developer in the Edinburgh office. Substantive Research also recently appointed a data analyst, with plans to hire a further programmer by the end of 2020.

Jonathan’s appointment follows Substantive Research’s recent expansion to the US, with the recruitment of Drew Hermann as Head of Sales, Americas. Drew is building Substantive Research’s North American operations, working closely with Jonathan and Mike Carrodus, Chief Executive of Substantive Research. 

Jonathan Furse, CTO, said: “The research market has undergone significant changes in recent years and Substantive Research offers the buy-side community an innovative way to consume, benchmark and budget for their research needs. I am very excited to join Substantive Research at such an exciting time for the business and look forward to working with Mike and the team.” 

Mike Carrodus, CEO of Substantive Research, commented on the appointment: “Jonathan is highly skilled at bridging the technology and commercial aspects of digital product development, and has already made a positive impact in his time at Substantive Research, including building up our technical data hub in Edinburgh. I look forward to working closely with Jonathan as we expand our teams and make our offering available to a wider buyside community.”

Colt Technology Services has today announced that Mitsubishi Research Institute DCS Co. Ltd (MRI DCS) is using its Dedicated Cloud Access (DCA) and Ethernet solutions for their new service “Dibertas”.

Dibertas is a multi-cloud storage service which aggregates data from various environments enabling its customers to access and utilise data across multiple cloud services and on-premises environments. Colt's DCA and Ethernet solutions underpin Dibertas' features by delivering higher reliability, data security and lower latency when compared to public internet connections

Colt DCA is powered by the Colt IQ Network, which connects over 29,000 on net buildings and more than 900 data centres globally; with over 90 data centres and 2,500 on net buildings in Asia. The Colt IQ Network delivers improved performance, enhanced control, flexibility and scalability, which are critical when accessing core business functions and data.

“One of the most important advantages of using Dibertas is that our customers can access their data at various locations securely and quickly. We use our own data centre based on the concept of keeping our customers' data safe and secure at the specified location. Typically, the server and the storage are in the same place and connected by a cable, but this time, they are in different places and connected by a network. Therefore, we needed best-in-class connectivity. We are satisfied with Colt’s extremely secure and low-latency network,” said Takashi Gouda, Managing Executive Officer Digital Transformation Unit Head,  Mitsubishi Research Institute DCS Co. Ltd.

“The consultancy service at Colt helped us a lot in the process of connecting to the public cloud, so that we were able to design and develop the network environment in the public cloud that matches the customer whether there is IP duplication,“ said Minoru Ando, ICT Business & Systems Group Data Technology Division General Manager, Mitsubishi Research Institute DCS Co. Ltd.

Mr. Goda added: “Last but not least, Colt brought us great satisfaction in terms of cost performance as well. Initially, we considered using another carrier as a backup, but the increased cost was a concern. However, Colt’s fully redundant ring configuration reassured us that we could provide a stable network using just one carrier. Upon this consideration, we evaluated Colt was the best in terms of stability, reliability and cost-efficiency.”

Masato Hoshino, Colt Technology Services President, and Head of Asia, said: “We are delighted to be working with MRI for their Dibertas service. Together, we are focused on improving the solutions that businesses need when moving to the cloud. As a connectivity provider, we are working hard to proactively understand the latest market needs to ensure our products and sales offerings are aligned to the future of industry. We remain focused on ensuring our customers remain at the heart of everything we do.”

Currently, Dibertas can be used for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, with other cloud services to be added depending on customer needs. In the future, MRI DCS is planning to expand to the western part of Japan, adding facilities to be used as a mutual backup, as well as developing new services that can be used effectively when combining with Dibertas.