Onyx CenterSource, a leading global provider of B2B payments and business intelligence to the hospitality industry, today announced a new partnership with WEX Inc., a leading financial technology service provider, to streamline payments to travel agency partners.

The partnership will focus on virtual payments methods for different transaction types across the hospitality industry. As companies continue to focus on digitizing payments, virtual methods will be integral to industry partners and will allow a more secure payments process, in this case benefiting both hotels and travel companies, said Mark Dubrow, Onyx CenterSource CEO.

“The extensive product portfolio and global reach of WEX, combined with their experience in the travel and hospitality market as well as other verticals, made them an attractive partner,” Dubrow said. “We are confident that this partnership will extend our capabilities to better serve our clients.”

Heather Andrews, WEX vice president, Corporate Payments, said: “WEX is delighted to be partnering with Onyx CenterSource to drive automation in the travel industry by removing friction from B2B payments while allowing for payment flexibility. COVID-19 has accelerated the digitization of payments as companies look for efficiencies to return to growth, and Onyx is leading the charge in the hospitality space. Together, we will look to continue to simplify payments for customers using a secure and proven supplier payments solution.”

WEX uses virtual payments to streamline and automate international and domestic supplier payments for a diverse range of businesses, including some of the world’s largest online travel agencies. The company pioneered virtual payments in 2000 and has a strong global foothold with an extensive customer base in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

To learn more about virtual payments, contact Onyx at www.onyxcentersource.com/get-started/.

Today the British Business Bank has announced that it has accredited the Bank of India under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and Silicon Valley Bank under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).

New CBILS lender Bank of India will be able to provide financial support to smaller businesses across the UK that are losing revenue and seeing their cashflow disrupted, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

New CLBILS lender Silicon Valley Bank will be able to provide finance to midsized and larger UK businesses with a group turnover of more than £45m (the upper limit for the existing smaller-business focused CBILS) that are suffering disruption to their cashflow due to lost or deferred revenues during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Following their approval, each lender will put in place the operations required to start lending under the scheme and will confirm the dates from which they will be ready to start receiving applications from businesses across the UK.

Keith Morgan, CEO, British Business Bank, said: “Our accredited lenders continue to see high levels of demand for Covid-19 business loan schemes. Accrediting these additional finance providers means further support for smaller business customers and continues the British Business Bank’s long-term objective to offer more diverse sources of finance to smaller businesses.”

Government published statistics show more than one million businesses have to date[1] benefitted from loans and guarantees worth £46.3 billion through schemes delivered by the British Business Bank. This includes 1,047,611 Bounce Back Loans worth £31.7 billion, 54,538 loans worth over £11.9 billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and £2.7 billion through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

The Bank continues to review applications from a wide range of lender types – from PRA-regulated banks, to platform lenders, debt funds, invoice finance lenders, asset finance lenders and responsible finance lenders.

Digital Reasoning, the global leader in artificial intelligence solutions that understand human communications and behaviours, and Google Cloud today announced a global strategic partnership to help banks and other financial institutions leverage the global scale, reliability, and performance of the cloud. Under the new partnership, Digital Reasoning will make its Conduct Surveillance product, focused on enabling integrated enterprise intelligence and surveillance, available as a managed service on Google Cloud.

Digital Reasoning provides enterprise intelligence and surveillance solutions that help financial services firms reduce risk, prevent fraud, and meet stringent regulatory scrutiny. Digital Reasoning’s customers include the majority of the largest global investment banks. Increasingly, the financial services industry is adopting the cloud to deliver their core IT services at scale, leverage elastic and reliable infrastructure, and take advantage of the security; Digital Reasoning has been a leader in this transformation.

“The largest European banks are turning to Google Cloud to modernize their businesses, and we are delighted to partner with Google Cloud to bring our leading financial services products to these businesses on Google Cloud’s reliable and highly-performant network,” said Tim Estes, Founder and CEO of Digital Reasoning. “Our customers trust us to deliver proven solutions to help them mitigate risk and solve their toughest problems. Together, our joint solution offers banks a highly secure and scalable integrated surveillance solution.”

“Financial institutions are under considerable regulatory and market pressures, often requiring them to have clear visibility into their most sensitive data,” said Anil Saboo, Global Partnerships Lead for Financial Services at Google Cloud. “Together, we help these firms do so, by combining Digital Reasoning’s leading enterprise security and surveillance products with the security, performance, and scalability offered by Google Cloud.”

Digital Reasoning and Google Cloud have been able to deliver impactful business outcomes for the quickly growing list of joint customers, including:

• Integrated surveillance across all key channels - email, chat, and voice
• Increased risk detection by 5x
• Improved quality of alerts for compliance analysts
• Reduced false positive by as much as 95%
• Leverage cloud compute and GPU-based processing to support cutting-edge AI capabilities such as best-in-class machine learning and voice transcription
• Improved operational efficiency and productivity in a cloud-based deployment
• Reduced operational expenses
• Lowered infrastructure management and maintenance costs
• Scaled systems to process billions of monitored messages
• Provided secure, future-proof systems that have been reviewed and approved by InfoSec teams at some of the largest banks

Digital Reasoning and Google initially began partnering in 2019. Conduct Surveillance on Google Cloud is available now, as a managed service.

After the Jakarta edition of World AI Show, Trescon hosted the MENA edition of the global AI conference on Monday. The show saw a high-level participation from 400+ global technology leaders and AI experts who came together to discuss emerging trends, intractable challenges and the future potentials of artificial intelligence in a post COVID-19 era.

WAIS provided a digital platform for industry leaders in the artificial intelligence space to discuss and showcase innovative AI-based solutions in an exciting and immersive virtual environment that included private consultation rooms, Q&A sessions, private networking rooms and more.

The event featured a mix of powerful keynotes, panel discussions, technology use-cases and insightful sessions from global AI experts. Some of the key areas of discussion included how governments can build trust in AI while fighting the pandemic; how COVID-19 will transform the automation landscape; driving CX continuity in a crisis and the future of AI in Cyber-Security amidst COVID-19; to name a few.

Excerpts from World AI Show:

WAIS opened with a panel discussion on ‘Transforming into an AI company Post-Crisis’. The panel consisted of speakers from a diverse group of consumer-oriented industries such as mobility, retail, healthcare and insurance. “The Covid-19 outbreak has hugely affected the travel industry. In some areas of mobility, we have seen a drop of up to 80% of our volumes,” said speaker and panellist, Mohamad Charafeddine who leads Mobility Engineering, Infra & AI at Careem, UAE. While he shared a few interesting statistics, he also added, “The silver lining is that with everyone staying at home, we are seeing an acceleration of digital transformation in the region.”

From a government’s viewpoint, Latifa Alshehhi, Head of Smart Data Section for the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority of UAE spoke about how governments in the UAE are working together to harness the power of data. She said, “One of the initiatives we have launched during the crises is the Open Data Race - a competition to unlock the power of data in fourteen government entities. We were able to collect more than 250 data sets in a ten-year time series.”

Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad Khalifa ​Al Nueimi, Head of Telecom Division for Abu Dhabi Police and speaker on the government panel said, “The implementation of AI has helped in ensuring the safety of people during the pandemic. We have adopted algorithms in our radar cameras installed on highways and streets for issuing tickets and fines, not as a means of punishment but rather to ensure that people stay at home safely.”

Andrew Tsonchev, Director of Technology at Darktrace is a celebrated technical Cybersecurity expert whose comments have been featured on international media including CNBC and BBC World. In his tech-talk, he threw light on offensive AI and the ways in which threat actors are beginning to use ML and AI to automate and improve their attacking capabilities. He said, “The explosion in 5G infrastructure is creating a massive increase in the number of devices and the degree of connectivity, especially in industrial applications. So, there is a complexity problem here. The scale increases so much that it becomes difficult for humans to monitor and protect these networked environments. At Darktrace, we are using Machine Learning and AI to automate detection and response to deal with these kinds of sophisticated threats.”

Raed Hafez, CEO of ElGrocer said, “When Covid-19 hit, the grocery industry saw a significant shake-up. The in-store experience has transformed to online. In less than a few weeks, we have seen about 400% increase in our orders and a higher increase in our gross value. Although this demand was positive, it increased all the physical activities for the retailers and online market places. We looked at all the areas that got impacted and how technology could help us in dealing with this. Nuummite helped us identify the best processes to prioritize, to give us the best return on our investment. This has greatly benefited our retailers and consumers.”

Other insightful sessions also included a presentation from Matthias Schindler, Head of AI Innovations for BMW on AI innovations in the Automotive Industry;

Panel discussions on reimagining strategy for the age of COVID-19 and transforming into an AI company post-crisis that included speakers Laila Abdullah Al Hadhrami, Digital Transformation & Change Management Expert - Ministry of Technology & Communications MTC, Oman and Mohamed Abdel-Aal, Head of Digital Experience and Innovation at KAUST, Saudi Arabia respectively;

A tech talk on scaling beyond RPA with Hyperautomation for IT and business by Uday Birajdar, CEO and Co-Founder of AutomationEdge; a presentation on conversational AI for better customer experience by Mohammad Zughayer, Business Development Director for Arabot; to name a few.

World AI Show - MENA 2020 was Officially Sponsored by - Lead Sponsor - Darktrace; Platinum Sponsor - Nuummite Ventures DMCC, Gold Sponsors - Qubole, Inc and AutomationEdge; Bronze Sponsor – arabot.

Exhibitors at the show included Koopid and NeoSOFT Technologies.

Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced that HSBC Holdings plc has selected AWS as a key, long-term strategic cloud provider to drive their digital transformation and deliver new and personalised banking services. As part of a multi-year, global agreement, HSBC will make AWS technology available across the bank’s lines of business, starting with customer-facing applications and application modernisation in its Global Wealth & Personal Banking business.

Migrating to AWS will enable HSBC to drive innovation, automate key processes, and enhance operational efficiency across a range of personal financial services. AWS’s global infrastructure will enable HSBC to run and scale applications around the world with the highest availability and reliability. HSBC will use AWS’s extensive portfolio of cloud services, including compute, containers, storage, database, analytics, machine learning, and security, to develop new digital products and support security and compliance standards for millions of personal banking customers worldwide. For example, HSBC plans to use AWS serverless and analytics services, including Amazon Kinesis, to create a more personalised and customer-centric banking experience.

“Our work with AWS is an example of how HSBC continues to invest in secure and advanced technologies to make our digital banking experience even better for customers,” said Dinesh Keswani, Chief Technology Officer and CIO for Digital, HSBC. “Our ambition is to make it easy, safe, and reliable for customers to bank with us, whenever and wherever they are. HSBC’s collaboration with AWS helps us to deliver innovative banking solutions to customers at a faster rate, starting with our Wealth & Personal Banking business.”

“HSBC is continuing to expand its use of AWS to power its digital transformation and deliver innovative financial services that help customers manage, protect, and grow their wealth in new and more personalised ways,” said Frank Fallon, Vice President, Financial Services at AWS. “We look forward to our continued collaboration with HSBC as they leverage AWS’s proven capabilities, reliability, and security to drive efficiency across their business and become a more agile organisation in the cloud.”

Ziglu, the new cryptocurrency challenger, has launched an insurance programme for customers holding cryptocurrencies, providing greater security and peace of mind.

Each Ziglu customer’s cryptocurrency holdings are insured against cyber-crime up to a value of £50,000 at all times and held in a segregated account. The vast majority of customer assets are stored in offline ("cold") wallets, meaning they are not accessible via the internet and therefore at lower risk of theft. 

According to a recent FCA study, 1.9m people in the U.K. currently hold circa £3.15bn worth of crypto with 50% holding less than £260 each. As consumers increasingly gain exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a key concern is the safekeeping of assets. 

Ziglu launched last month with a vision to offer access to cryptocurrencies securely. Ziglu’s customers can now instantly and securely exchange money into digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin & Bitcoin Cash at competitive prices and monitor their balances in real-time.

The fully transparent model guarantees no hidden fees or transaction charges while the platform democratises access, providing a true multi-currency account for people who want bank-grade security and insurance coupled with a  simple way of holding cryptocurrency alongside their normal money.

Mark Hipperson, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Ziglu, said: “One of the biggest concerns for users is the safekeeping of their funds and cryptocurrencies. Ziglu’s insurance programme brings peace of mind to existing customers or those dipping their toes into cryptocurrency for the first time.”

Ziglu is constantly enhancing the platform in response to customer needs. Since launching a month ago Ziglu has listened to its growing community to enhance the user experience and exchange flow,  to provide a more intuitive and smoother transaction exper

Leading UK anti-money-laundering (AML) firm SmartSearch is today launching operations in the USA.

Expansion into the US market follows a period of sustained growth that has seen the firm frequently named among the UK’s fastest-growing companies, and a leader in the increasingly important ‘RegTech’ sector.

SmartSearch’s unique ‘one-stop’ Know Your Customer (KYC) and AML platform enables clients to perform full electronic ID verification and screening in just two seconds, and provides ongoing monitoring to alert users to any change in a client’s status.

Simple to use and manage, SmartSearch enables firms to streamline and automate their customer onboarding process, leaving them free to run their businesses. The full suite of AML checks can be performed remotely, with no need for face-to-face contact or physical documents to be exchanged. There is also a fully-integrated SmartSearch app to allow checks to be performed ‘on the go’.  With the Covid-19 pandemic still a significant factor in many US states, this provides a significant competitive advantage for SmartSearch compared to manual document checks.

The platform has also recently incorporated biometric facial recognition for additional security, and there are well-advanced plans for further enhancements.

With experts and global watchdogs warning that there is an increased risk of money-laundering in the current crisis, firms need to be especially vigilant. SmartSearch provides a safe and cost-effective solution to meeting all regulatory requirements and protecting businesses from fraudulent activity.

SmartSearch expects that its solution will prove popular with US clients, as chief executive John Dobson explains: “We have developed a bespoke product for the American market so that US firms using SmartSearch have the same absolute confidence as those in the UK, that their AML checks are up-to-date and fully compliant with relevant legislation at all times. Our combination of cutting-edge technology and friendly, efficient customer service means SmartSearch is already one of the UK’s leading RegTech firms. Our client retention rate of 98% is testament to the high level of service we consistently deliver. We want to bring those assets to bear in the US market, while continuing to deliver day in, day out for our UK clients.”

US firms can access the service at https://www.smartsearch.com/.

Xignite, Inc., a provider of market data distribution and management solutions for financial services and technology companies, announced today it has created a new program to assist early stage and start-up financial technology companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. To apply for this program visit https://www.xignite.com/fintech-development-program/.

The costs associated with developing and launching fintech products and apps can be daunting, even in the best of times. A particularly challenging aspect can be the procurement of quality financial and market data. Hidden fees, restrictions on the use of data, poorly written APIs and exchange requirements are just some of the factors, in addition to costs, that can make it difficult for new or small fintechs to survive.

To assist early stage fintech companies, Xignite is inviting these disruptors to leverage the same technology and data APIs that have helped move the industry forward over the last decade. Through this program, companies can continue to develop their ideas and products without a significant capital commitment. Participants will be able to take advantage of development access for 60 days on Xignite’s most popular financial data APIs and enjoy significant discounts on fees for the first year. Also included in the program is access to real-time, 15-minute delayed and end-of-day stock prices, company data, currency exchange rates, indices, corporate actions and master data.

“Not only are we offering a compelling financial incentive, but companies will have access to the experts on our Product and Engineering team who not only first brought financial market data to the cloud, but also helped support and power some of the biggest disruptors in the industry such as SoFi, Robinhood and Betterment,” said Ryan Burdick, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales at Xignite. “By introducing this program, Xignite is able to support the next wave of entrepreneurs by helping to keep their visions moving forward as seamlessly as possible during this unprecedented time.”

As more businesses across Scotland take the first steps on the road to recovery and prepare to open their doors on July 15th as part of Scottish Government’s route map, research from newly launched ‘Tyl’ has demonstrated the scale of the acceleration towards contactless payments.

More than two thirds, (69%) of businesses registering for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Tyl payment service since the start of UK lockdown are adopting card payments for the first time. This compares to 53% for the rest of the UK.

The shifting preference for payment options which minimises human contact and ensures social distancing looks set to continue as a fundamental shift in the way we do business and make payments in the wake of coronavirus. This is driven both by consumers, mindful of their own exposure to the virus and by business, keen to meet these needs and adopt the new staff and colleague safety precautions required as part of government guidelines for re-opening.

The figures also suggest a quickening in the rate of businesses now accepting card payments. Prior to April 1^st, just 26% of Tyl customers in Scotland were new to card payments, compared with this most recent 69% post lockdown.

The findings correlate with the rise in e-commerce during the pandemic as well as global trends that show a 190% increase in online searches for the term ‘contactless payment systems’ over the last three months, based on data from Google.

The Scottish Government’s route map will see the hospitality sector, museums, libraries and hairdressers fully open from July 15^th. Hairdressing salons, bars and restaurants, along with dentists and mechanics are sectors the team at Tyl are seeing contacting them and coming on board in numbers as the businesses anticipate the rise in people looking to pay for services through contactless methods.

Tyl has been developed in partnership with SMEs across the UK to enable them to adopt social distancing guidelines, transition to contactless payments, and provide them with the benefit of increased flexibility in how they receive payment, whether through contactless, online or over the phone. Tyl also offers next-day settlement for users, ensuring money is in their bank account the next business day, which has been a crucial factor in assisting businesses with cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the bank has also waived terminal fees for Tyl until the end of 2020, ensuring the option to receive contactless payment is open to as many businesses as possible during the current crisis.

Whilst the consumer and business trend towards contactless and card payments continues, the Royal Bank continues to support its personal and business customers with cash requirements, as supporters of UK Finance’s Access to Cash Initiative.

The bank has become the first in the UK to offer fee-free secure cash home delivery to vulnerable customers, as well as keeping over 95% of the branch network open throughout the pandemic, and backing ATM operator LINK’s 12-month pledge to maintain free-to-use ATMs. 

Mike Elliff, CEO, Tyl said:

“The ability to accept card and contactless payment is proving to be a vital tool as businesses across the UK continue to reopen and recover post lockdown. Meeting customer and staff safety concerns and government guidelines coupled with the rise in e-commerce has presented themselves as key challenges for business during the pandemic and the current trends look here to stay.

“The introduction of Tyl to customers across the UK is a key part of our commitment to supporting business during this time. We hope that through next day settlement, 24 hour onboarding and smart data-led insights, Tyl can provide businesses with the tools they need to help them manage and grow their business and be on the front foot as we look towards the future.”

Eddie Glackin, owner of Abbot Street Laundry, said:

“Before the coronavirus pandemic, we were a cash-only business. We always felt that the costs involved in implementing a card payment system outweighed the number of customers asking to pay by card – which was minimal.

“The business was forced to close for six weeks during lockdown and upon reopening, we immediately noticed a change in consumer preferences. More and more of our customers were requesting a card payment option and we knew it was something we needed to adopt.

“It was important for us to go with a payment provider that we trusted and Royal Bank of Scotland’s reputation gave us a sense of security. Tyl’s pledge to waive our customer fees until the end of the year allowed us to make the decision quickly, keeping our customers happy as the business begins to recover.”