ABAKA, the global leader in digital saving and retirement enterprise SaaS solutions, today announced the launch of a new suite of products which allow financial services firms of all sizes to ‘plug in and play’ a financial advice chatbot as a service solution. The new offering provides AI-powered chatbot ready-to-go solutions for financial advisors, wealth managers, retail banks or retirement providers. It offers a more cost-effective option for firms that can be easily deployed and installed into their businesses with very little integration. ABAKA’s chatbot new product offering expands the company’s product portfolio as it continues to revolutionize how financial services firms help customers plan for the future through its Artificial Financial Intelligence™ technology platform.

The new offering from ABAKA is the first of its kind to help power digital advice solutions to acquire, engage and advise customers at scale through human-like conversations. ABAKA expects the conversational AI market to grow from $4.2 billion in 2019 to $15.7 billion in 2024 (according to research from Markets & Markets Conversational AI Industry Forecast).

Indeed, customer expectations across generations are high for Conversational AI interactions, in particular following the global pandemic: a recent Facebook study found that 65% of millennials, 65% of Gen Xers, and 63% of baby boomers would much rather send a message than call customer service. More specifically in retirement, 84% participants said they wanted access to digital retirement coaching, from hire to retire and beyond, yet only 11% have been offered one, based on the latest Accenture Citizen Survey of 6,000 employees across 6 countries, across both DB and DC-type retirement plans. 

ABAKA’s new suite of products will help to democratise AI-powered chatbots by enabling both small advisory boutiques to large international banks to quickly incorporate powerful, intelligent solutions with their businesses. However, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for companies, but rather ABAKA will offer chatbot software that is tailored to specific industries, ranging from banking, wealth and asset management, insurance through to retirement planning.

Fahd Rachidy, Founder and CEO of ABAKA, said: “Engagement is one of the biggest challenges facing the financial services industry and now, more than ever, businesses need to incorporate new, digital ways of engaging their customers. The COVID-19 Crisis and lockdowns across the globe have only emphasised just how critical it is for businesses to develop digitised and hyper-personalised ways of acquiring, communicating, guiding and advising clients.”

“Our Conversational AI chatbots provides a critical solution for firms to engage and activate their customers in financial planning in the new normal. We find that about 30% of customer enquiries through our chatbots can be turned into a sale without a human intervention, and chatbot interactions drastically reduces the costs and times to service a customer by easily capturing prerequisite information. Our new plug and play products provide these powerful Artificial Finance Intelligence solutions to businesses of all sizes and across a wide array of sectors within financial services.”

For more information visit: www.abaka.me.

Phos, the fintech behind the first-ever software-only Point of Sale (SoftPoS), and Stanchion Payment Solutions, a global specialist in payments systems and integration, have today announced a partnership to enable payment processors and banks to accelerate  the time to market of innovative contactless payments acceptance solutions for European merchants.

Phos and Stanchion will collaborate to help banks and payments companies empower merchants to meet customers’ demands for a wide range of secure, frictionless payment options, including contactless payments straight from a mobile device. Stanchion brings its proven systems integration and digital payments technology to the partnership. 

Phos brings its innovative SoftPoS technology, which enables simple contactless payment acceptance for any merchant with an NFC-enabled Android device.

At a time when social distancing measures are prevalent and amid heightened safety and hygiene concerns, the phos solution directly addresses the increased reluctance of consumers to handle cards and cash. The technology is cheaper and simpler than alternative payment solutions, which often require additional hardware or come with long settlement times or high fees, and allows a merchant to instantly accept contactless payments on their own mobile device. 

The partnership will support businesses in countries across Europe, including the UK, Poland, Romania, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal as they reopen and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic uncertainty. Data from phos shows that over 33m businesses across Europe are still reliant on cash, owing to barriers such as the hidden costs and security issues related to many digital options. The SoftPoS solution can provide a safe and sustainable alternative to cash and allow merchants to digitalise effectively, offer more payment options to their customers and fundamentally grow their businesses.

Through Stanchion’s existing relationships with banks and payments institutions across the region, hundreds of thousands of European merchants will be able to take advantage of the phos SoftPOS solution, either in application form or as an SDK. 

Upon registering and once accepted, merchants can download phos from the Google Play store and enable all of their Android devices to accept payments from contactless cards or other NFC-enabled devices such as smartphones, smartwatches or wristbands. Additional payment options will be added to the solution in the coming months, including Pin-On-Mobile.

Deon van Biljon, group product director at Stanchion, said: “We’re seeing a rising demand among  merchants for contactless payments as consumers increasingly demand frictionless, cashless and cardless options for everyday transactions. We are delighted to partner with phos to deliver a simple and flexible software POS and contactless payments solution – in line with our strategy to help banks and payments processing companies to accelerate time to market with digital payments innovations.”  

Brad Hyett, CEO of phos, added: “Our partnership with Stanchion brings next-gen payment technology to payments companies and banks that wish to grow their merchant base and increase retention. It offers them a simple solution for contactless payments acceptance that can easily be deployed at scale as part of their wider digital payments framework. We look forward to collaborating closely with Stanchion to exceed merchants’ and payment processors’ expectations when it comes to innovative and engaging payments experiences.”

FinecoBank today announces the expansion of its investment products with a suite of funds from Capital Group.

With the new funds from global asset management firm Capital Group, Fineco clients in the UK now have access to a wide variety of investment strategies and asset classes including Capital Group New Perspective Fund (LUX), a global equity offering launched over 45 years ago, and Capital Group Global High Income Opportunities (LUX), a fixed income fund with a track record spanning 21 years.

The Capital Group announcement follows partnerships with Fidelity Investments, Aberdeen Investments, M&G Investments and Columbia Threadneedle Investments in the last year as the company builds out its investment offering.

Paolo Di Grazia, deputy general manager, Fineco: “Capital Group is one of the largest and most experienced investment companies in the world and we are delighted to be able to offer our UK customers an increasing suite of investing options. Our continued expansion of the offering available to UK clients is part of our mission to provide Fineco customers access to the best investments at competitive prices.”

Fineco launched in the UK just over two years ago with an integrated offering providing trading, banking and investing services through a single account in up to 13 standard currencies.

Chris Miles, Managing Director, Financial Intermediaries, UK, Capital Group, said: “We have been working with FinecoBank for a number of years in Italy and are delighted to expand our partnership to the UK. At Capital Group, our approach is to build enduring and meaningful partnerships with leading financial intermediaries like FinecoBank through whom we can serve more investors. We look forward to offering our focused range of actively managed funds to FinecoBank and helping its clients to achieve their long-term investment goals.”

Pleo, the fintech empowering businesses with a smart spending and expense management solution, is delighted to announce that it has introduced Apple Pay for its 10,000+ European and UK customers. Allowing Pleo’s customers to instantly benefit from a simple and secure mobile payment method, Apple Pay makes it easier than ever for Pleo customers to make expensable purchases on the go.

Customers will also benefit from Apple Pay’s security and privacy features, including: 

 • Secure, private Apple Pay payments - which never store card and transaction information on devices or its servers.
 • Confirmation of payments via Apple Touch ID or unique passcodes.
 • A contactless payment method - removing the need to handle cash or touch buttons amid Covid-19 concerns.

The new co-branded service will launch for its six markets of operation, starting in Denmark and Sweden, before rolling out to customers in Germany, Ireland, Spain and the UK.

The new capability will allow its business users to seamlessly sync their Pleo credit card with Apple Pay and make payments from their favourite Apple device. This integration with the Pleo app will mean employees and their team leaders can easily keep track of business spending in real-time for easier monitoring of expenses.

Niccolo Perrera, Pleo co-Founder and CTO, comments: “We are thrilled to announce this new functionality with Apple Pay. Not only does this make the Pleo service more seamless for our customer base, but continues a trend of people expecting the services they have in their private lives being mirrored in their professional ones. It was a no brainer for us to unlock this partnership with Apple as it’s what is expected in an increasingly digitised and integrated world.”

Apple Pay is widely accepted as a payment method both in-store and online wherever a card can be used, making a payment as simple as the press of a finger with Apple Touch ID. The functionality is usable with a range of Apple devices - from iPhone, to iPads and Apple Watches - meaning Pleo customers will have freedom to make business purchases in a variety of ways.

In May 2019, Pleo closed a $56M Series B funding round led by New York-based growth fund: Stripes. Pleo is also supported by strategic and technical partnerships with Mastercard, J.P. Morgan and Danske Bank.

Sysnet Global Solutions, the leading provider of cyber security and compliance solutions, is today launching a brand new update to its leading Proactive Data Security (PDS) solution. PDS 2.0 comes with a host of new features including a mobile application and additional security tools. As Sysnet offers these services via its payment processor and bank partners, they have also introduced new ambitious customer KPIs, reflecting their commitment to providing exceptional service and protection to their clients’ customers.  

Mobile Application

The ‘Sysnet Protect’ mobile application is the latest addition to Sysnet’s renowned suite of cybersecurity and compliance solution. The company also provides a managed security service that proactively engages smaller businesses, helping them to complete their PCI compliance requirements and install and run security tools that help to protect their business. The new mobile application will now allow merchants to keep track of compliance when, and wherever they choose.

Providing on the go snapshots of their current PCI compliance status directly from its dashboard, Sysnet’s mobile app instantly informs merchants of any deadlines and areas where falling out of compliance is a risk. This is particularly useful if they have several different accounts that they must monitor and report on.

Alerts and notifications are sent through the app by managed service teams as reminders of key deadlines and non-compliance issues. Plus, editable policy templates and educational content regarding compliance can be accessed through the application, making otherwise complicated issues like Information Security and Incident Response more palatable for smaller businesses.

Additional Security Tools

Sysnet is also further bolstering its suite of security tools provided to merchants. Accompanying its enterprise-grade endpoint protection and security scans already offered, Sysnet is expanding protection beyond the device by adding the facility to run website security scans. The advanced scan is accompanied by a support call from one of its security team to assist the business owner to understand the results of the scan, as well as offering anti-malware protection to sites found to be vulnerable. This is in conjunction with more advanced protections being added to its existing software package, such as Dark Web Monitoring and Keyboard Encryption.  Advanced protections such as these were, until now, typically out of the reach of small businesses due to cost and complexity. Sysnet is leveraging economies of scale to provide elite security tools, to smaller sized businesses.

Client KPI commitments

Additionally, Sysnet has introduced a range of advanced KPIs for its processor and bank partners. The new KPIs introduce ambitious minimum merchant validation rates, improved attrition rates, improved customer satisfaction rates, and minimum levels of security tool deployment and usage rates. With these changes, processors and bank partners can have the confidence that targets will be met, making it easier for them to predict the positive financial impact their compliance and security programmes will have on their business.

Gabriel Moynagh, CEO of Sysnet, commented: “Building on the success of Proactive Data Security over the last 3 years, PDS 2.0 takes the product to the next level with marked improvements in business protection, customer experience and client commitments. Through a combination of continuous engagement with our clients and market research we understand the issues that matter for businesses when it comes to data security and compliance - we know what businesses struggle with and we know where they are most likely to be breached. With PDS 2.0 we can continue to deliver a high performing, modern data security and compliance solution to our clients’ customers, and they can hold us to that with numbers that really mean something.”

Many of Sysnet’s clients have already begun to benefit from the changes to KPIs and a positive reception is expected to both the Sysnet Protect mobile app and the advanced KPI commitments now they have launched. Going forward, Sysnet will continue to enhance the solution with more features and security tools for even greater protection, especially for small merchants. In addition, it plans to expand its commitments even further with KPIs on risk levels, solution usage, and providing more granular statistics for the programme.

Nova Credit, the premier cross-border credit reporting agency, has teamed up with Salt Edge, leader in developing open banking solutions, to get instant access to the banking data of newcomers from the UK and EU. The new partnership improves the consumer’s access to products like credit cards and loans in the United States.

When a person moves to the U.S., a lack of local credit history makes it difficult for U.S. lenders to assess a borrower’s propensity to pay. With the help of the Nova Credit solution, the consumer gets a standardised Credit Passport® that credit card companies, lenders, and providers across industries from credit cards to telecommunications and real estate can use to evaluate their creditworthiness through international credit and bank transaction data. Nova Credit provides lenders with this information through a single API.

The partnership with Salt Edge allows Nova Credit to expand the Credit Passport® to include bank transaction data from  31 European nations including Austria, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, among others. After receiving an applicant’s consent to share their international banking data, Nova Credit normalises it based on U.S. standards and incorporates it into the Credit Passport®. Salt Edge’s data enrichment solution helps simplify this process for Nova Credit. Bank data is transferred in a well-structured format, with all transactions sorted through an innovative categorisation engine based on self-learning machine algorithms.

Misha Esipov, Nova Credit Co-founder and CEO, said: "The Credit Passport® has helped thousands of newcomers gain access to finance in the U.S. Our new partnership with Salt Edge will support the expansion of country coverage and enable more consumers to leverage their own data to start their new life in the U.S. on the right foot. Migration is a vulnerable period of transition and we’re proud to make it a bit easier with this new partnership."

Bank data is accessed in a regulatory compliant way, adhering to all security and personal information standards. The collaboration with Salt Edge grants Nova Credit access to real-time financial data to automatically verify the applicants’ identity, income sources, account number, and balance.

Vladimir Pintea, Head of Open Banking Gateway, commented: "With the current U.S. financial system, it can take newcomers up to five years to build a credit history that corresponds to what they had in their country of residence. Using Salt Edge’s open banking technology, Nova Credit can refine banking data faster, and expand their country coverage to Europe and beyond so that more people can start living the American dream."

Copper, the London-based digital asset infrastructure provider, today announced the appointment of three new senior executives to lead the company’s international expansion. They take up their new roles with immediate effect.

Michelle Lai, Jonathan Tse and Doug Bilyk bring expertise from across the financial services landscape, from institutional asset management, traditional trading and private equity, through to cryptoasset trading and fintech.

They join Copper’s rapidly expanding team, which has more than doubled in size during the COVID-19 pandemic alone. Michelle Lai, taking on the role of a Senior Strategic Advisor for the Asia-Pacific region based in Singapore. She has spent six years working with different fintech companies in Asia and Silicon Valley. At Copper, she will help enable the company to achieve its plans to expand into the East, and bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors on a global scale. She was previously Head of Business Development at Anchorage, and Chief Strategy Officer at Prenetics, an insurtech company in Hong Kong. Prior to working in financial technology, she spent seven years working in private equity investments and mergers & acquisitions across the Asia Pacific region, overseeing deals for a range of financial institutions.

Jonathan Tse, who will serve as a Head of Trading in Hong Kong, has over nine years of experience in trading and financial markets. Most recently he was the Head of Trading at Coinsuper, a Chinese digital asset trading platform, and prior to that, he was an Equity Derivatives Trader at JP Morgan. Jonathan will enable Copper to optimise its integration with crypto trading platforms in Asia, bolstering its offering for institutional clients across the Asia-Pacific region.

Doug Bilyk will be overseeing Business Development for the United States market, helping Copper to achieve a stronger bridge between its United Kingdom headquarters and US crypto investors. His professional experience in digital assets began in late 2017. With his past trading experience in traditional asset classes, he has focused on Business Development, helping firms build the bridges between digital and traditional finance. He was a successful Portfolio Manager for 16 years specializing in Global Macro markets with a focus on Foreign Exchange, Commodities and U.S./European Index derivatives markets.

Dmitry Tokarev, Chief Executive Officer, Copper Technologies, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Michelle, Jonathan and Doug as the newest members of our rapidly growing team. While many players in traditional finance have struggled through this global pandemic, unable to quickly adjust to the changing landscape, we have retained the agility to continue growing and expanding exponentially.

“Investors from across the world, from crypto funds through to traditional family offices, have seen the potential benefit of crypto in helping them hedge against COVID-19’s economic impact. However, for investors to take advantage of this alternative exposure, they need the assurance that the digital assets they buy are stored securely and can be traded quickly. With our international expansion, Copper can now enable that on a global scale.

“Our new joiners are renowned experts across a wide pool of financial sectors, and I believe that their experience combined with a deep understanding of the crypto space will position Copper to expedite this global expansion. I am excited to see what this momentum will enable our business to achieve in the coming months.”

GoCardless, a leading fintech for recurring payments, today announced the launch of GoCardless for Salesforce Billing on Salesforce AppExchange, the world’s leading enterprise cloud marketplace. It provides Salesforce customers with direct access to the GoCardless global bank debit network to help them take control of their domestic and international recurring payments.

The fully integrated application enables businesses to bring sales, billing and payments processes together within the Salesforce platform to have a 360° view of their customers across the whole lifecycle. Fully automated payment collection via bank debit means businesses have better visibility of their payments flow, helping them manage and reconcile their payments all from within Salesforce Billing. 

MeilleursAgents, a French property service that brings together buyers, sellers and estate agents to facilitate the process of selling homes, has been reaping the benefits of using GoCardless and  Salesforce together. “The integration of GoCardless with Salesforce was very quick and easy to set up. We’ve reduced the amount of time spent managing payments by seven days a month and have decreased our volume of customer churn,” said Antoine Gaudin, Deputy CFO, MeilleursAgents.

“We are delighted to launch GoCardless for Salesforce Billing on AppExchange. By using a pull-based payment method like GoCardless, companies can automatically collect payments directly from their customers’ bank accounts. This helps businesses to drive down total costs, reduce failure rates and decrease churn, as well as improving cash flow,” said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO, GoCardless.

Conviction Investment Partners, today announced that it has managed and completed pre-series A financing for Konsentus, a provider of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) solutions for open banking. Conviction led the multi-million pound investment after recognising Konsentus’ high-growth potential and how it can contribute to creating a safe and secure open banking environment for banks and financial services companies.

Conviction represents a syndicate of global investors that focus on high-growth, B2B, software as a service (SaaS) capital opportunities. Conviction actively identifies, funds and helps to build SaaS technology businesses that will generate exceptional returns for investors. It has successfully raised over £70m of venture capital since the firm was established in 2017. Conviction has participated in one exit and two mergers, which includes Paypal’s $2.2bn acquisition of payment solutions provider iZettle.

Konsentus is a fast-growing business that launched in 2018. It was identified as a prospect because of the positive impact its RegTech solution, Konsentus Verify, is having on the open banking space. Open banking requires banks and financial services companies to share customer data and financial information with third-party organisations, exposing them to risk.

Konsentus allows financial institutions to verify in real-time that third parties are both legitimate and authorised by their country’s regulator to provide the services being requested. This helps to prevent fraud and data breaches. Its customers and partners include some of the most prestigious names in banking and finance. The solution has been white labelled by Mastercard to power its Open Banking Protect service. Mastercard is also a key investor.

Andrew Jenkins, founder at Conviction Investment Partners, explained: “We have been monitoring the open banking space for some time and it’s apparent that banks and financial services companies have reservations about exposure to risk. Konsentus helps them to mitigate against that risk while also creating a stable environment for open banking that will reduce barriers to entry and drive adoption”.

He added: “Conviction selects post revenue businesses based on their category, high-growth potential and the disruptive impact their technology has had on the market. Konsentus met with all the relevant criteria that Conviction looks for when we select an early stage business primed for growth. We’re pleased to have led the latest multi-million pound round, providing the funds that will support the business as it continues to grow and innovate”.

Mike Woods, CEO of Konsentus, said: “We have grown rapidly due to the timeliness and relevance of our solution and because it helps our customers to successfully navigate the regulatory environment that governs open banking. Our solutions ensure open banking data requests and transactions are legitimate, protecting against fraudulent activity. We operate in a fast-growing space and we will continue to scale to meet new requirements. Conviction recognises our potential and they worked closely with us during this latest round of funding. We’re delighted to have such a committed investor that is on hand to provide strategic counsel and support”.

Conviction has also launched its Investment Pitch Program for high-growth, B2B SaaS businesses seeking early stage funding. The program provides entrepreneurs and start-ups with the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Conviction’s investment team and gain access to an exclusive network of private investors and family offices.