Payments testing and consultancy expert, FIME has been qualified to deliver Visa Contactless Payment Specifications (VCPS) Level 2 terminal testing at its San Jose lab. North American terminal vendors can now achieve multiple accreditations from the payment industry’s key international bodies and schemes in a single test session. This reduces certification time and costs with a one-stop shop to certify their point-of-sale (POS) devices and tap to phone.

The accreditation follows FIME’s acquisition of CETECOM U.S.’s payment activities earlier this year. It expands FIME’s existing portfolio of testing services, technical advisory and testing tools to enable U.S. customers to define, design, deliver and test their pioneering products and services.

“With contactless and Tap to Phone payments growing in popularity we’re helping U.S. customers innovate with an eye on time to market and costs. We now have Visa-accredited labs across the U.S., Europe and Asia, meaning we can offer a ‘follow the sun’, always-on service to terminal vendors. This will help the payments ecosystem to move faster in adopting new technologies to meet evolving consumer demands,” comments Stéphanie El Rhomri, Vice President of Testing Services at FIME.

To find out more about how FIME is supporting the U.S. payments market, contact the San Jose office directly.

Button, the leading mobile commerce technology company, announced that Drop, the app that provides rewards to millions of millennials, has launched on Button’s Personalization API that is part of Button Evolution™, the affiliate industry’s first suite of personalization and intelligence products designed to move this industry forward. Drop is setting the stage for marketers to have a better understanding of the impact of their spend and drive a higher return on investment. 

In a world where marketers have relied mostly on two channels — Facebook and Google — to target and acquire users, the current economic downturn and boycott of the tech giants have sent marketers on a quest to diversify their strategies and spend. The affiliate channel makes up 15% of marketing spend in e-commerce according to Thesis, and is highly profitable, but has not historically offered marketers personalization capabilities that are commonplace in all other channels of marketing like display, search, and social. 

Drop is leading change in the affiliate channel as a mobile innovator by giving marketers a sophisticated new way to tap into users and increase sales efficiency. Through Drop’s integration with Button’s Personalization API, brands in Drop’s rewards program are able to target unique audiences to offer them more tailored rewards and optimize these offers in real time — capabilities that were never before available to marketers in the affiliate channel until today.

All the while, publishers who adopt the Personalization API unlock up to twice the amount of revenue they generate from brands because their goals are aligned. Additionally, publishers are able to introduce new content from brands that only invest in opportunities where personalization capabilities exist, as well as from established brands that can now offer publishers exclusive offers because of the Personalization API. 

By reaching users at their moments of high shopping intent with the most compelling offers through the Personalization API, Drop enjoys an increase in conversion and yield, and improves user engagement.

“Millions of smart shoppers come to Drop to look for ways to earn rewards and level-up their shopping experience,” said Derrick Fung, Co-Founder and CEO of Drop. “Button enables Drop to personalize that experience for our users and provide them with more delightful shopping journeys. We look forward to reaching new heights in our partnership with Button to help our app remain sticky, relatable, and useful to our users.”

"Drop approached Button wanting to create the best rewarded shopping experience for its users," said Michael Jaconi, Co-Founder and CEO of Button. "Today, Drop is delivering on that promise to shoppers and paving the way for other companies building commerce-first strategies—showing how much more value can be created through smarter, targeted spending enabled by Button's technology. Together with innovators like Drop, we look forward to driving an evolution in the partnership and affiliate channel, as well as making commerce the model more companies turn to in the future."

Following a record number of applications, Banking Circle has been awarded two prestigious awards in the 2020 Juniper Research Future Digital Awards. The innovative financial infrastructure provider was awarded the Lending Platform Platinum Award for Banking Circle Lending, and a Gold Award for Banking Platform Innovation.

Now in their 12th year, the Juniper Research Future Digital Awards recognise organisations that have made outstanding contributions to their industry and are positioned to make a significant impact in the future. The Fintech & Payments awards programme honours the best technologies and leading players across the sector.

Anders la Cour, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Banking Circle, said of the double win: “As a business we have always been committed to developing new solutions rather than adapting existing ones that will undoubtedly end up not fit for purpose. We are not just building for today; we are building for a payments world that is ever evolving. It is fantastic for the entire team to receive the recognition of this innovation and dedication, through these latest two award wins.

“Banking Circle’s proprietary technology platform comprises smaller components and services built within a decoupled architecture where it is much easier to replace or update individual elements without impacting other services. It is also possible to add new functionality and new connectivity far more quickly. Our solutions have won multiple awards since launch, and we are delighted to have now won two Future Digital Awards, recognising the importance and value of our financial infrastructure platform and lending solutions.”

The innovative Banking Circle Lending solutions provide financial institutions with the ability to offer their merchant customers a fast, transparent, flexible, low-cost, and easy-to-manage loan solution. Where once smaller businesses were unable to achieve global ambitions due to a lack of necessary funds, Banking Circle Lending is improving financial inclusion by giving financial institutions the ability to offer SMEs fast access to loans and receivables financing with flexible repayment options.

Computop, a leading global payment processor, has set out its commitment to reducing CO2 emissions and providing a climate-conscious service for its customers by becoming part of Leaders for Climate Action, the global group of entrepreneurs and start-up companies that are contributing to the fight against global warming.  

Over the past year Computop has taken stock of its own emissions, which largely relate to transportation, in particular company cars, fuel consumption, and, to a lesser degree, flying. It has focused on reducing direct emissions, but, acknowledged that it was unable to deliver over 350 payment methods for customers worldwide without employees to develop its platform, maintain the technology and protect data, so it would need to effectively offset the total. 

As part of Leaders for Climate Action, Computop became involved in an initiative run by Microsol to provide Peruvian farmers with cookstoves constructed with local materials by local people. Each new stove emits less greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional stone or terracotta stoves and provides vulnerable families in rural regions with access to energy and cooking solutions that are better for their health, more economical and require less firewood. Computop has contributed financially to the project, which has, so far, reduced total emissions by 250,000 tonnes.    

“As a business we primarily process data, which means that our carbon footprint is relatively small – around 500 tonnes last year – but that doesn’t mean we have no impact on the environment,” said Ralf Gladis, CEO at Computop. “It is our duty as an organisation to demonstrate our commitment to reduce CO2 emissions and show best practice to our customers and our industry. Working with the Leaders for Climate Action, which is goal oriented, means that we are in the company of other organisations striving towards lowering emissions, and actively off-setting CO2 by getting involved in vital projects like Microsol.” 

Computop is currently making further reductions to its carbon footprint, facilitated by remote working during the global pandemic, and is encouraging its payment customers to hold it to account in terms of the emissions it creates for payment processing.  

“We want our customers to recognise that they are using a carbon-neutral payment service when they work with us,” says Ralf Gladis. “Like the 700 companies that are part of Leaders for Climate Action, doing business in a climate-friendly way, is very important, and undoubtedly many of our customers will feel the same way.” 

For more information on Computop’s commitment to delivering climate-neutral payments, please go to the Climate Neutral Payments blog.

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, today announced that Roger Klantschi has been appointed as Executive Vice President of Delivery, Americas, effective immediately. In this new role, Roger will be leading Services and Support for North America and Latin America & Caribbean, with a focus on building customer value and success in the region. Roger will report directly to Alexa Guenoun, President, Americas, and Global Head of Partners, Temenos.

Temenos has identified the Americas as a strategic region, and has invested over US$1 billion in the past few years acquiring leading US-based SaaS companies such as Kony and Avoka. Temenos has 1300 clients in North America ranging from large nationals to regional banks to credit unions, de novo banks and fund administrators. Temenos also has over 100 clients in LATAM & Caribbean including blue-chip customers such as Itaú Unibanco and leading regional banks such as Banco Ripley.

Roger will be responsible for leading the Customer Engagement and Delivery Teams across all Temenos products, as well as the newly formed Customer Success division in the Americas to bring best practices in the region and support customers’ business needs and growth. 

Roger Klantschi, Executive Vice President of Delivery, Americas, said: “It’s a privilege to join Temenos and lead the Services organization in Americas as the company’s customer presence and footprint expands in this market. Temenos has the most advanced cloud and AI technology as well as the richest product functionality, it has a blue-chip customer base and talented employees. I am committed to help unlock and sustain business value for our customers.”

Roger’s more than 30 years of banking expertise in customer services and support, as well as his experience in delivering large-scale digital transformation projects, bring both breadth and depth to the new role. Prior to Temenos, he spent 18 years at Infosys holding senior executive positions in the US and Europe, including Head of Services for Americas and Europe, and Head of Presales Americas. Roger was also CIO at Banco Hipotecario in Argentina, a bank that pioneered mortgage lending on extended, low-interest terms, and contributed to consolidating a modern Argentine economy.  Roger started his career with Accenture, where he spent eight years with the consultancy in Europe and later in Argentina.

Alexa Guenoun, President, Americas, and Global Head of Partners, Temenos, said: “I am delighted to strengthen the Americas leadership team by bringing Roger onboard. He will be responsible for driving business outcomes for our customers, and I am confident he will help us take the Americas region through its next phase of growth. He has an impressive record in delivering large-scale transformation projects globally and specifically in the US and LATAM as well as delivering best practices and great customer experiences. We take pride in building strong partnerships with our clients and helping them grow their business, and this will be a key focus for Roger and his team.”

Diginex Limited (“Diginex” or the “Company”), a digital assets financial services company, announced today that it has completed its business combination transaction (the “Transaction”) with 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: JFK) (“8i”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”). The Transaction, which was approved at a Special Meeting of Shareholders on September 15, 2020, creates the first listed company on Nasdaq with a cryptocurrency exchange.

Diginex Limited will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “EQOS” where it will offer investors the opportunity to participate in the growth of digital assets. The Company’s warrants will trade under the ticker “EQOSW”.

Approximately US$50 million was raised, comprising both Diginex’s private raise completed in advance of the listing and the cash remaining in the SPAC. This will strengthen the Company’s balance sheet and will enable it to realize its vision to build a digital assets ecosystem that offers innovative product and services that are compliant, fair and trusted.

Richard Byworth, CEO of Diginex, commented: “This is a watershed moment for both Diginex and the cryptocurrency industry with the listing of the first-ever company with a crypto exchange on Nasdaq. This also presents the first opportunity for anyone trading in the US capital markets to buy directly into the equity of a digital asset ecosystem and opens the door for financial institutions to participate in the enormous opportunity that digital assets present.”

“Diginex offers a unique set of innovative products and institutional-grade infrastructure. Our EQUOS.io exchange is regulatory-focused and will offer features such as segregation of duties, portfolio margining, and cross collateralization, which are not commonly available in the crypto exchange marketplace.”

“While EQUOS.io forms the core of our ecosystem, we are also the first company to have an integrated offering comprising a regulated asset manager, cold and warm custody solutions, and capital markets advisory as well as a multivenue trading platform that plugs into some of the world’s leading trading technology providers.”

Chi-Won Yoon, Chairman of Diginex, said: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone for both the industry and Diginex. The Nasdaq listing demonstrates our commitment to bringing transparency and accountability to the digital assets industry. This should give investors greater assurance about the long-term growth and viability of this asset class.”

Chardan acted as a financial advisor and Loeb and Loeb LLP acted as legal counsel to 8i. Winston & Strawn LLP acted as legal counsel to Diginex.

Ingenico Group (Euronext: FR0000125346 - ING), the global leader in seamless payments, today announces the launch of Smart Self for Vending, an intelligent end-to-end solution dedicated to improving customer journeys in all unattended environments. 

Answering the calls for autonomous vending solutions, Ingenico offers vending operators its flexible and reliable payment solution, Smart Self for Vending. The solution can be tailored to an operator’s unique requirements, while providing end-to-end payment acceptance, enhancing operational efficiencies.

This is achieved with real time reporting, smart transactions management, easy, quick and secure payment processing, and strong acquiring capabilities. An evolutive solution, Smart Self for Vending harnesses Ingenico’s new PCI PTS V5 hardware range, meaning it can accept all new cashless payment methods such as QR Codes while operating as a secure gateway with 99.99% availability. It also boasts advanced acquiring capabilities and enables to accept payments made in more than 20 different currencies.

For customers, who are increasingly drawn to vending operators that can offer the latest innovations while enjoying a best-in-class customer experience, Smart Self is designed to engage and delight customers by enabling operators to interact with shoppers digitally. In addition, the solution promotes a vending operator’s charitable and sustainable approach, something that is becoming increasingly important to shoppers.

Guillaume Pascal, EVP Enterprise Retail business unit at Ingenico Group, commented: “As the ultimate contactless service, we are excited by the possibilities that Smart Self for Vending opens up for vending operators whatever the sector; not only does it offer end-to-end payments processing, but it also increases efficiencies across the board. Delivering a seamless solution with all expertise in-house means we can answer all client needs. Its secure gateway provides immediate reporting with real time data, along with advanced acquiring capabilities.”

He adds: “The most significant shift in the payments industry to evolve from this year has been the sudden move towards contactless and alternative payment methods (APMs). So much so, that a vast majority of customers think that cash should disappear completely at some point in the future. Now more than ever, vending operators should be looking to self-service options for their business.”

To find out more about how to work with Ingenico Enterprise Retail:  https://www.ingenico.com/smartselfvending.

Fintech Solutions & Services (Global) Pty Ltd (FinSS Global), Australia-based technology solutions expert, joined forces with Salt Edge, leader in offering open banking solutions, to reveal the possibility for credit unions, banks, and fintechs in the Australasian region to digitalise financial management processes via open banking.

FinSS Global provides compliance, debt and risk management, banking solutions, including open banking (CDR) use case enablement for lenders and credit providers, neobanks, and emerging fintechs. The collaboration between Salt Edge and FinSS Global sets the stage to ensure broader access to digital and open banking experiences in the finance sector. This will refine FinSS Global’s portfolio with tech-savvy open banking solutions and enable Australasian companies to obtain aggregated bank data of their end-customers from across the world.

Salt Edge’s data aggregation technology automatically structures and categorises the bank data fetched via traditional and open banking channels. The solution allows financial institutions to skip many steps like bank integration, monitoring of APIs, normalisation of data format, and to start using bank data almost instantly. FinSS Global will streamline Salt Edge open banking toolkit that allows access to customers’ bank data at digital speed and eliminates miles of red tape. Salt Edge enables aggregation of data from over 5000 financial institutions in 50+ countries to grant a complete financial situation overview to businesses and their end-users. Instead of manually entering information or uploading CSV files, bank data becomes instantly available to Australasian companies for aggregating, digitalising and managing their daily business needs.

Dallas Newton, CEO at FinSS Global, said: "Going digital is a key strategy for companies in the A/NZ region, along with an appetite for data aggregation, personal financial management and the adoption of the Australian open banking regime (CDR). After extensive research, FinSS Global has entered a strategic partnership with Salt Edge to bring its globally recognised open banking technologies to the region. Salt Edge has a very mature solution set, including a wealth of experience supporting the European open banking standard, PSD2, which we are hoping to leverage in the region as financial institutions look to participate in the open banking ecosystem. We see this partnership giving us the ability to add capability to our existing product portfolio and offer exciting solutions for local/overseas data aggregation/categorisation, customer money management, and open banking, to the market as it embraces digital transformation."

Lisa Gutu, Head of Business Development at Salt Edge, comments: "The financial services industry is undergoing a revolution in how software solutions are created and delivered to the market and one of the most important digital transformations is the concept of open banking that matures and fructifies very fast. Here at Salt Edge we are excited to collaborate with FinSS Global to promote open banking movement in the Australasia region, so more companies and financial institutions could benefit from countless opportunities that emerge in the financial market."

Provenir, a global leader in risk decisioning and data analytics software, announced today that White Oak has chosen Provenir Cloud technology to support its digitization and innovation strategy, accelerating a move to a fully automated origination process across its business loans and asset finance products.

Nick Isaacs, Chief Risk Officer, Leases and Loans, at White Oak, said: “For over 30 years, we’ve been helping thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses across the UK with their working capital needs. As an accredited CBILS lender, we are continuing to see higher volumes of applications via our direct and aggregated channels, and we are committed to delivering the smoothest lending experience possible.”

“We have chosen Provenir to ensure we have the best technology in place to provide our clients with a better service. This partnership allows us to make real-time risk decisions with a fully automated lending experience. Provenir has an impressive track record in the industry and their low-code platform will give us the flexibility to build new models, integrate new data sources easily and enhance our underwriting process.”

Chris Kneen, Sales Director at Provenir, adds: “We are delighted to be supporting White Oak with our cloud-based risk analytics platform. They are playing a crucial role in the UK SME finance market right now and have a clear vision to further disrupt the way businesses can access funds with little fuss – adopting our agile technology to enhance the speed and accuracy of credit decisions is a key component of their innovation strategy. We’re really excited to have White Oak onboard to our cloud-based solution which will complement their first-class customer service.” 

Tribe Payments, an issuer/acquirer processor and payment technology provider, today launched a new report “Fintech 2030: The Industry View” based on a survey of 125 fintech executives and contributions from 15 fintech industry leaders. The study predicts embedded finance - where fintech becomes embedded non-financial specific products and services - will dominate the industry by 2030. Contributors include 11:FS, Bain Capital, Currencycloud, eToro,  iwoca, Locke Lord, Moneyfarm, N26, Onfido, Plaid, Plum, Qadre, Thought Machine, Tribe Payments, Wirex and Zego.

By 2030 the industry expects embedded finance to change market structures and business models.

Payments are already moving in that direction with taxi applications and stores without checkouts removing the act of paying, and the transaction is automated in the background. Embedded finance will see software companies - many of them big tech firms - embed financial services within their offerings to attract and retain customers. As fintech continues to be embedded into financial and increasingly non-financial products, we will no longer categorise fintech as its own distinct sector, just as no one today talks about the Internet as a discrete market.

Key findings:

• More innovation, more fintechs, but less funding
  • An overwhelming 86% see the next decade of fintech building on the first, with fintech innovation accelerating. Only 14% said that innovation and change has peaked or plateaued.
  • Three quarters of respondents state that there will be an increase in the number of fintechs. And 37% said that the number of fintechs is likely to double by 2030.
  • Fintech funding is likely to change with nearly two thirds (60%) agreeing that investors will favour profitability over “moonshots”.
• Banks, big tech and fintech
  • No respondents saw the success of fintechs leading to the end of incumbent banks. In fact, just over half (51%) claimed banks will become platforms that curate fintech services for their customers, while 43% think that fintechs and traditional providers will simply exist alongside each other as they do now.
  • Just over a third (38%) see banks becoming ‘dumb pipes’, like the relationship between a mobile operator and WhatsApp or Netflix.
  • Less than one in ten thought that Big Tech firms have a chance of dominating the market completely. 34% said that Big Tech will become aggregators of bank and fintech services.
• Machine learning, IoT and automation will drive embedded finance
  • The three most important technologies today - Open Banking, data analytics and blockchain - will not be the most important in 2030.
  • The three most important financial technologies in 2030 will be machine learning (71%), the internet of things (49%) and automation (40%)
  • These are all technologies that will support embedded finance, where non-financial services businesses can give their customers access to financial services and payments, often in an invisible, seamless way.

“Fintech 2030 is a detailed journey into the future of finance, giving us a glimpse into not only how fintech will change, but how it will change every market it touches,” said Alex Reddish, Chief Commercial Officer at Tribe Payments. “While every contributor has their own vision, the consensus is that fintech will continue to evolve, with innovation accelerating. And just as we no longer think of “online businesses” — because every business is online — embedded finance will become so ubiquitous that fintech as a category becomes less and less useful. The very nature of embedded means that fintech firms will need to partner, collaborate and integrate in the search for scale and success.”

“Fintech is, on one hand, moving “down” towards becoming a platform, and on the other hand, moving “up” towards ever more niche services and specialisms,” said Simon Taylor, Co-founder of 11:FS. “While it shifts vertically, it is also moving horizontally in terms of the customer segment. For instance, challenger banks started at the consumer, digitally savvy end of the market. The question now for fintech is how to go from the creative teenage phase to the productive and profitable phase.  Do they move down to be a platform? Up to niches and higher per customer revenue? Or move left and right in terms of product offering? Regardless of the path taken it is my firm belief that fintech is only 1% finished, and the next decade is going to be its most exciting and challenging yet.”

The report “Fintech 2030: The Industry View” can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/fintech2030.