Flowe, the benefit corporation of Mediolanum Group, an emerging Italian e-money institution that aims to educate young people on innovation and economic, social and environmental sustainability, chooses SIA, a leading European hi-tech company in the payment services and infrastructures sector controlled by CDP Equity, as its partner to support the offer of innovative digital services in the areas of e-money, payments, current accounts, loans and savings management.

These services can be accessed via smartphone through the Flowe App, available on Apple Store and Google Play Store, which allows users to activate a payment account - in fully digital mode - to which the Flowe virtual debit card, recently launched in Italy, is associated. SIA's technology infrastructure, integrated with Flowe's cloud services, manages the entire life cycle of the card, from the issuing request and virtualization to the top-up of the payment account, and from online customization of features to transaction processing, up to the prevention and management of frauds and disputes.

As part of the partnership, in addition to supporting Flowe in its activities for compliance with the regulations required to operate as an Electronic Currency Institution, SIA has also provided access via smartphone to payment services (bank transfers, postal payment slips, etc.) and other applications such as, for example, telephone top-ups.

The Flowe card can be used to make purchases on e-commerce sites and in shops via smartphone and is also available, at the customer's request, in a wood version. This is an absolute innovation, since the Flowe card - created by SIA in its specialized center in Verona in collaboration with Exceet - provides for the use of environmentally sustainable materials while guaranteeing customers the full functionality of payment services, both in traditional and contactless mode, through the Mastercard circuit.

Cherry wood from sustainably managed forests is used to create these innovative cards, which makes each one of them different from any other and conveys a unique visual and tactile quality. The card is the physical element of the Flowe world, part of a BetterBeing plat-firm, an ecosystem focusing on personal and collective improvement.

"Flowe is a payment app that looks at the future and focuses on the younger generations, those who have lived digitally from birth and are resistant to the idea of using traditional credit institutions. The Flowe card responds to these new needs: experience of use and speed of transfer. We have gone beyond payment services alone and wanted to build a different and more evolved product which, to the features of simplicity and speed, would also add sustainability, an important aspect for new generations. For every wooden card sold, we will plant a tree. And not only that, the social behavior and the purchases made will be read from a carbon footprint viewpoint and Flowe has a function that offers the possibility to offset it by planting trees", stated Ivan Mazzoleni, Cultural Energy Orchestrator and CEO of Flowe.

"We are proud to have supported the launch of Mediolanum's strategic initiative Flowe, which shows how Italy is progressively accelerating towards becoming a cashless society and possesses all the skills and digital infrastructures to be able to assert itself on the European market, where several fintechs are already active. The partnership with Flowe strengthens the collaboration with Mediolanum Group and confirms SIA's ability to accompany the digital transformation of financial institutions, corporates and public sector organizations through the development of innovative services such as digital onboarding and e-commerce, thus increasingly encouraging the adoption of electronic payments with particular attention to the environmental aspects", commented Nicola Cordone, CEO of SIA. 

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, today announced that Orange Bank Africa has gone live with cloud-native Temenos Transact delivered as SaaS. Temenos Transact core banking technology scales to support the bank to launch and drive financial inclusion in the African WAEMU region, starting with the Ivory Coast. Temenos’ cloud technology enables sustainable, long-term growth for Orange Bank Africa by reducing IT costs, operational complexity and delivering an improved cost/income ratio.
 

Temenos and its partner, MCB Consulting, worked closely with Orange Bank Africa to implement the solution remotely after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Temenos’ core banking technology is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Temenos’ SaaS technology and dedicated team support resulted in a seamless implementation within the original project timescales despite the global emergency. Temenos’ Model Bank approach provided highly localized, pre-configured banking functionality so the new software could be deployed quickly, without the need for customization.
 

Banking services penetration in West Africa is relatively low compared to mobile phone penetration, leaving significant room for expansion of mobile financial services. According to recent research from the Economist Intelligence Unit, the affordability of smartphones is driving the development of mobile-only and mobile-first initiatives, like Orange Bank Africa – this was cited as the top innovation strategy by 37% of MEA-based bank executives.
 

Orange Bank Africa’s mobile-first banking strategy was developed to deliver financial services to consumers’ phones. Temenos’ technology will allow Orange Bank Africa to continuously innovate and provide customers with much-needed access to savings accounts and micro-loans. The new technology drives process automation for these services in order to deliver vital funding to more people at a faster rate and promote financial inclusion.
 

Patrick Roussel, Vice President, MEA Mobile Financial Services at Orange, commented: “Our mission is to deliver banking services to those that don’t yet have access with an offer that differentiates us from the competition: simple, accessible and above all mobile-first banking. In order for us to achieve this goal in West Africa, we needed a strategic technology partner with rich experience deploying banking software in the cloud. Temenos’ cutting-edge cloud technology, relentless focus on innovation and unrivalled regional experience makes it the perfect partner for Orange Bank Africa as we launch our operations. Temenos Transact gives us the scalability we need to grow and provide vital financial services to millions of customers.” 
 

Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, Chief Operating Officer, Temenos, said: “Across the globe, banks are moving to the cloud and achieving operational excellence that drives a higher banking performance. For Orange Bank Africa, the cloud is key for rapid market expansion and sustainable business growth. There is a growing need to provide people in West Africa with access to banking services and Orange Bank Africa will play a vital role in addressing this. Telcos like Orange are particularly well placed to offer differentiated banking services and enhanced customer experiences because of their established client base and mobile-centric capabilities. Temenos’ SaaS technology provides a powerful and flexible solution that will support Orange Bank Africa to continuously adapt to changes in the market and innovate quickly as customer demands evolve. We are excited to support the bank in delivering personalized mobile-banking services as they advance financial inclusion in West Africa.”

Konsentus announced that it has partnered with open banking advisory company Open Vector to enable Financial Institutions in Latin America and Canada to implement open banking and benefit from real-time TPP identity and regulatory checking.

Open Banking enables payment users to have better control of and access to their transactional account data by giving regulated third-party providers the ability to initiate payments and access customer account data. Latin America is one region that has a thriving Fintech sector and countries such as Brazil and Mexico are advancing in implementing open banking, based on the UK’s experience, aiming to promote competition and to support innovation and financial inclusion. 

Konsentus Verifyis the only SaaS based API solution in the market providing Financial Institutions with real-time Third-Party Provider (TPP) identity & regulatory checking services. When a Financial Institution gives access to a TPP through their dedicated interface, they need to be confident that they are not putting their customers’ data at risk. Quickly and easily deployed, Konsentus Verify enables Financial Institutions to protect their customers from the risk of open banking fraud.

Open Vector Limited advises Governments, Financial Institutions and Fintechs on the key pillars needed to implement and integrate open banking / open finance solutions. Carlos Figueredo, who was Head of Data Standards for the UK Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) and oversaw its ISO 20022 based standards development, is working with Financial Institutions and Governmentsto help them implement safe and secureopen banking platforms and protect their customers.

Carlos Figueredo, Founder Open Vector stated: “We work with Financial Institutions to advise them on the best solutions available in the market to enable them to innovate and remain competitive. By partnering with Konsentus we can ensure our clients can participate in the open banking ecosystem without exposing themselves to the risks of fraud.”

Brendan Jones, CCO at Konsentus, commented: “Carlos and his team are subject matter experts and experienced individuals, particularly in the drive towards open banking we’re currently seeing both in Latin America and Canada. They pride themselves in their mission to promote true social and financial inclusion to the banked and, importantly, the unbanked.”

Open Vector joins an established list of partners working with Konsentus to enable trust in the Open Banking ecosystem ensuring that unauthorised or fraudulent TPPs are never given access to end user transactional account data.

Orange (www.Orange.com), a major telecoms provider in Africa and the Middle East, and NSIA (www.GroupeNSIA.com), a leader of bancassurance, are pleased to announce the launch of Orange Bank Africa in Abidjan and Côte d’Ivoire. Orange Bank Africa, headed by Jean-Louis Menann-Kouamé, will offer clients a range of simple savings and credit services available at all times via mobile phone.

Orange Bank Africa will address the needs of a large part of the population, often excluded from the world of conventional banking, allowing them to borrow and save small amounts that are nonetheless essential for their everyday lives. When it launches, Orange Bank Africa via its Orange Money service will offer a range of savings and micro credit services allowing customers to borrow as little as 5,000 CFA francs instantly using their mobile phone.

Orange’s mobile financial services strategy in Africa aims to offer solutions accessible to the broadest population regardless of their income or where they live. Orange Bank Africa intends to become a leader in ensuring financial inclusion in West Africa.

Orange Chairman and CEO, Stéphane Richard, explains: “New technology is needed to strengthen financial inclusion and support economic development, as proven by mobile money over the past few years. Banking is a new area of business for Orange in Africa. It falls squarely in line with our strategy as a multi-service operator and our desire to drive the digital transformation forward in Africa. Based on our association with NSIA, also a leader on the market in Africa, we provide easy access to bank services for as many people as possible, with simple and essential services that benefit all our clients.”

Jean Kacou Diagou, CEO of NSIA, adds: “I am very pleased that the partnership between Orange and NSIA has resulted in the creation of Orange Bank Africa. For the past 25 years, NSIA Group has been developing bank and insurance solutions to address the needs of African people and make them available to as many people as possible. We know that electronic banking is vital for the financial inclusion of our customers. We are proud to have combined our expertise and human capital with that of Orange to create the fully digital Orange Bank Africa.”

Orange Bank Africa will expand into Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Having played an essential part in financial transactions for several years now, Orange Money and digital services became even more important and more rapidly adopted by users during the health crisis. With this in mind, Orange believes that mobile banking has an important role to play in Africa. It is the very essence of Orange's purpose of providing everyone with the keys to a responsible digital world.
 

For more information on Orange Bank Africa in Côte d’ivoire: https://orangebank.ci.

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a globally leading provider of payment products and payments processor, announced the addition of innovative capabilities to its Prepaid Card Management System (Prepaid CMS) to deliver greater value to cardholders. Prepaid card issuers can now issue instant, open-loop virtual co-branded merchant wallets paired with added value services such as instant lending at the point of purchase to differentiate their card products and drive higher spend per cardholder.    

In a commoditized prepaid market segment, Open APIs and banking create possibilities for issuers to realize additional value. FSS Prepaid CMS, through its advanced open API framework, enables prepaid card issuers to orchestrate customer-facing merchant ecosystems to expand the scope of services and capture new revenue streams. Card issuers can instantly provision exclusive merchant-branded wallets linked to a customer’s primary prepaid card account with a few clicks. Issuers can tap into popular spending categories to fuel a range of innovative consumer-centric propositions. For example, create an exclusive merchant cashback or loyalty wallet on the fly soon after the customer completes the purchase. Likewise, a food delivery company can issue a commission wallet for home delivery associates or a meal allowance wallet in partnership with select restaurants. 

Issuers, furthermore, can offer added value services such as instant access to credit to fund customer spend and drive sales. Globally, as per industry estimates, instant loans represent a $1.2 trillion opportunity and are expected to grow over 15 percent year-over-year. At affiliate merchant stores, shoppers can opt for an instant open-loop physical or virtual prepaid card, loaded with the amount needed to fund the purchase. The loan amount is for a specific purpose and issuers can define as well as monitor spend limits per merchant. 

Instant lending via prepaid cards allows issuers to have a broader relationship with the customer. Prepaid cardholders can top-up cards to pay for orders, earn and track cashback, and access exclusive sales and offers. Customers can also obtain an additional line of credit on the same card based on terms pre-determined by the issuers, eliminating the hassle of submitting paperwork again when they shop at a different merchant store.

Speaking on the new capabilities N. Sathish, Deputy CPO FSS, stated; “Enabling customer-facing ecosystems/marketplace are the primary driver of future value creation for digital commerce, in the open banking world. By opening the FSS Prepaid CMS platform to third party merchants, we allow card issuers orchestrate an extensive digital services ecosystem, multiplying opportunities for engagement and value creation. The combination of co-branded merchant wallets with added value services such as instant lending at checkout will help issuers build a satisfied and loyal base of prepaid cardholder and improve spend per card.”  

FSS Prepaid CMS advanced API-based framework supports rapid merchant enrolment, instant virtual card, and wallet creation, as well as integration with merchant IT systems. FSS Prepaid CMS platform supports the complete gamut of capabilities to manage the lifecycle of the card, with the flexibility to load, delete and amend applications, enabling the quick roll-out of customer-centric card programs. 

Currently, Prepaid CMS has been deployed by leading prepaid processors globally and supports 150M cards.  

Ant Group, a leading provider of financial services technology, and the parent company of China’s largest mobile payments business Alipay, today officially launched AntChain, a new technology brand for the company’s blockchain-based solutions that also aggregates other digital technologies including AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and secure computation.

AntChain, a new technology brand for Ant Group’s blockchain-based solutions that also aggregates other digital technologies including AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and secure computation.

“Since our inception, building trust has been core to our offer to customers,” said Eric Jing, Executive Chairman, Ant Group. “We believe in blockchain’s potential to redefine trust in the digital age, and in solving real-life problems for our customers.”

Since 2015, Ant Group has been investing significantly in the research and development of blockchain technologies to strengthen transparency and build trust in industries that traditionally involve large numbers of participants and complex processes. Ant Group now has the largest productivity blockchain platform in China, with the ability to process and support one billion user accounts and one billion transactions every day. Currently, over 100 million digital assets are uploaded onto AntChain on average every day.
 

“With the launch of the AntChain brand, we look forward to contributing to the acceleration of blockchain-enabled industry transformations, and to working with our partners to make blockchain technology more accessible for users, as well as creating tangible value for SMEs, consumers and clients across a spectrum of industries.” said Geoff Jiang, Vice President of Ant Group.

Ant Group also unveiled AntChain Station, an all-in-one workstation that reduces the deployment time of the company’s blockchain-based solutions by as much as 90%. This enables enterprise clients to set up AntChain within an hour, which is significantly lower than the previous average set-up time of 10 hours.
 

AntChain Station, which is approximately the size of a laptop, is designed to accelerate the deployment of AntChain’s applications, with hardware encryption acceleration for privacy-preserving computation and enhanced security algorithms. With AntChain Station, enterprise clients can rapidly deploy and use blockchain technologies.
 

Previously, deploying AntChain involves installing a set of software and preparing the computation environment on general-purpose hardware. The new AntChain Station offers users an easy-to-use integrated alternative, combining built-in software and a dedicated hardware accelerator that is expected to reduce deployment time by 90% and increase transaction speed by 30%.
 

On the same day, Ant Group also signed a strategic agreement with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo to make IT leasing services more accessible for SMEs through the use of AntChain. Earlier in May, Ant Group formed a similar partnership with Intel.

Xignite, Inc., a provider of market data distribution and management solutions for financial services and technology companies, and SIX today announced a strategic partnership. Xignite and SIX are now offering real-time data from the catalog of SIX which includes 1,800+ global exchanges and trading venues via Xignite Enterprise Microservices, a suite of cloud-native market data management services built to transform how firms store, distribute, manage, and control market data in the cloud. The partnership accelerates the transition of large financial institutions and fintechs to the cloud. This is the first time such a comprehensive set of market data has been offered to the market via a native cloud solution.

Xignite’s battle-tested cloud-native solution currently serves more than 12 billion API calls per day to 750 clients around the world -- making it the largest cloud API platform in capital markets. Xignite recently introduced Xignite Enterprise Microservices, a suite of vendor-agnostic services large firms can deploy to migrate their market data infrastructure and any of their existing data sources to the cloud.

“Large financial institutions have been looking for cloud-native market data solutions capable of handling their broad coverage requirements and offering a state-of-the-art customer experience,” said Stephane Dubois, CEO and founder of Xignite. “The pandemic has worsened the situation as firms want to get away from maintaining complex and expensive on-premise infrastructures that are overkill for most of their needs. We had the enterprise technology but not the coverage, so partnering with SIX made sense. We are thrilled to partner with SIX and be first to market with a true global enterprise solution.” 

SIX is one of the few market data vendors offering full coverage of the global capital markets. The Market Data Feed (MDF) from SIX delivers a steady stream of global market information that is consolidated, standardized and in real time. With MDF clients get access to over 30 million instruments across all asset classes and from more than 1,800 exchanges, OTC markets, and other trading venues. The combined solution integrates the MDF feed from SIX delivered from hosted collocation facilities to Xignite Enterprise Microservices deployed in the client’s own cloud account. The Xignite Real-Time Microservice is used to distribute real-time data internally or externally from the cloud via scalable APIs while the Xignite Entitlements and Usage Microservice provides control and transparency of data consumption and usage.

“Partnering with Xignite is a great leap for SIX in making its market data easily available to all buy-side and sell-side professionals. While making the richness, depth and wide coverage of our Market Data Feed available via Xignite’s cloud-based solution, we offer clients streamlined access to the highest quality data without a complicated acquisition process, burdensome integration or costly development,” commented John McManus, Head Sales, Financial Information, SIX.

Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication company, today announced a partnership with Alior Bank, the large universal bank in Poland, powering fast and user-convenient digital onboarding and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.

Applicants who want to open a personal account with Alior Bank remotely will now be able to by using the Alior Mobile application. The COVID-19 pandemic has played a significant role in the migration from physical to digital banking. Enforced restrictions and health recommendations for reducing touchpoints are contributing reasons for the 200 percent jump in new mobile banking registrations and only 40 percent of consumer respondents saying they expect to return to branches post-COVID.

By integrating Onfido’s AI-powered technology, Alior Bank users are now able to prove their identity remotely and sign up for a personal account by simply taking a photo of their government-issued ID and a short video selfie. Onfido’s award-winning technology first checks that the ID seems genuine and is not fraudulent, and then matches it to the user’s face using facial biometrics. This ensures the person presenting the identity is its legitimate owner and is physically present. Users are able to start their digital journey anywhere, anytime, through a simple and user-friendly online experience that protects against identity fraud.

Creating solutions with customer convenience in mind is the core principle driving further development of Alior Bank’s digital channels. This aim will be accomplished by building an ecosystem of non-banking services that customers can benefit from.

“Customers’ convenience as well as security and accessibility of new solutions are our highest priorities. Through the digitalisation of our day-to-day interactions with our accounts holders, we can offer many more services via their smartphones and build deeper customer relationships. The capacity to open an account using only your mobile is a first step towards building a virtual ecosystem of products from various categories, not only finance,” said Iwona Duda, acting CEO at Alior Bank.

“In today’s digital age, users increasingly appreciate a simple digital experience so they can prove their real identity while knowing it is secure and upholds privacy,” said Husayn Kassai, CEO and co-founder at Onfido. “We bring trust to digital interactions worldwide, and we’re very happy to be supporting Alior Bank’s digital initiatives. We pride ourselves on delivering access to online services that both detects and prevents fraudulent attempts while enabling the business to scale and meet regulations.”

Users can earn Bits of Stock™ when shopping with leading brands powered by Button’s technology.

Button, the leading mobile commerce platform, today announced its partnership with Bits of Stock, the brand loyalty and investment app, to enable its users to discover in-app brand offers, shop, and earn fractional shares of stock. Through this integration, Bits of Stock can better target users to drive repeat purchases and increase engagement, fueling its monetization strategy through the affiliate channel. 

Starting today, users can shop and earn “Bits of Stock” with leading retailers powered by Button’s technology. Through Button’s Personalization API, brand offers in the Bits of Stock app are most accurately matched with motivated purchasers, enabling Bits of Stock to deliver users more personalized, enjoyable experiences. With these offers optimized to enable brands to spend smarter to achieve their objectives, affiliate spending is personalized in a way that hasn’t been possible before, opening up bigger budgets for marketers. 

“We’re thrilled to welcome Bits of Stock, the newest fintech company to join Button’s platform and build a commerce-first strategy on top of our Personalization API,” said Michael Jaconi, Co-Founder and CEO of Button. “Innovators like Bits of Stock are creating a powerful new model for users, and their approach to partnering with marketers has been focused on driving value for all parties. Brands on our platform are excited to connect with this innovative new model designed around financial wellness.”

“Bits is on a mission to give wealth back to our communities. We believe ownership mentality is the key to financial prosperity for all. Partnering with Button to give our users Bits of Stock when they shop with the brands they know and love is continuing that mission,” said Arash Asady, Co-Founder and CEO of Bits of Stock. “Button’s enabling us to reach a next level of engagement with our users through its personalization offering, and we couldn’t be more excited for this new chapter of driving loyalty through fractional ownership.”

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and its AI research institute Borealis AI have partnered with Red Hat and NVIDIA to develop a new AI computing platform designed to transform the customer banking experience and help keep pace with rapid technology changes and evolving customer expectations.

 
As AI models become more efficient and accurate, so do the computational complexities associated with them. RBC and Borealis AI set out to build an in-house AI infrastructure that would allow transformative intelligent applications to be brought to market faster and deliver an enhanced experience for clients. Red Hat OpenShift and NVIDIA’s DGX AI computing systems power this private cloud system that delivers intelligent software applications and boosts operational efficiency for RBC and its customers.

 
RBC’s AI private cloud has the ability to run thousands of simulations and analyze millions of data points in a fraction of the time than it could before. The flexible and highly reliable self-service infrastructure will allow RBC to build, deploy and maintain next-generation AI-powered banking applications.

 
The platform has already improved trading execution and insights, helped reduce client calls and has resulted in faster delivery of new applications for RBC clients, and has the potential to benefit the AI industry in Canada, beyond RBC and financial services.
 

RBC is proud to have collaborated with Red Hat and NVIDIA to develop a platform that supports RBC customers while providing the flexibility for AI-powered client interactions.
 

Mike Tardif, Senior Vice President, Tech Infrastructure, Royal Bank of Canada said: “In today’s ever changing marketplace, we must always be at the forefront of innovation for our clients. We are proud to have delivered a unique AI Private Cloud capability in-house, leveraging our strong collaboration with Red Hat and NVIDIA. This cloud offers GPU acceleration and containerized platform benefits, and we are well positioned to provide the best experience possible for our customers going forward.”

Chris Wright, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Red Hat adds: “It is always humbling to see Red Hat technologies in action, and we are honored to see how it contributed to the leading AI computing platform that RBC now has. Together with NVIDIA, OpenShift is helping to power the future of not just positive customer experience and overall operational excellence, but is enabling the bank to embark on research projects that have the potential to make a lasting impact on the world.”
 

Charlie Boyle, Vice President and General Manager, DGX Systems, NVIDIA said: “Before AI can enable transformative business opportunities, it must first be integrated as a strategic IT platform. RBC is leading the way in accelerating AI development through high-performance infrastructure from NVIDIA and Red Hat. By combining innovative technology with their expert knowledge in financial services, the RBC team has created one of the most sophisticated and dynamic AI development infrastructures in Canada.”
 

Foteini Agrafioti, Chief Science Officer, RBC and head of Borealis AI comments: “Modern AI cannot exist without access to high performance computing. This collaboration means that we can conduct research at scale, and deploy machine learning applications in production with improved efficiency and speed to market.”