Mambu’s cloud-native platform will allow Nimble to develop innovative lending products in-house, at a rapid pace, while the company begins to explore potential options and experiments with core digital banking product capability.

Nimble, launched in 2005, was the first company in Australia to launch straight-through processing, allowing customers to receive their funds within an hour of confirmation of the loan. It has since provided unsecured credit to more than one million Australian customers and has been recognised for being instrumental in the development of the financial technology industry in Australia.

“While we’ve had enormous success up to this point, we’ve been acutely aware that it was time to diversify and grow the business,” said Nimble’s Managing Director & CEO, Gavin Slater. “To do that we knew we’d need to update and improve our technology, to become more agile and responsive to what our customers need as we make the shift into being able to provide comprehensive banking services. We’ve always had a reputation for being at the forefront of fintech in Australia, so utilising a cloud-based, customisable engine was a strategic goal from the outset.”

Myles Bertrand, Mambu’s Managing Director, APAC, said, “The composable nature of Mambu’s platform will allow Nimble to continue to be exactly that – nimble – at a time when the industry is experiencing tremendous, transformative change. We’re excited to see how Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform will help Nimble evolve into an innovative competitor in the alternative lending market and, eventually, in the mainstream digital banking market.”

The tangible enthusiasm and support from the Mambu team, and their ability to showcase how they can help us achieve our goal, has helped in affirming our partnership going forward.

Nimble Chief Digital & Innovation Officer, Jason Barry, said, “The tangible enthusiasm and support from the Mambu team, plus their ability to showcase how they can help us achieve our goal, has helped in affirming our partnership going forward. Mambu’s product offerings are scalable and have been very simple to use as we take these initial steps to eventually completely transform our business. We’re able to design products and offerings to meet specific customer needs, with Mambu’s composable banking platform proving to be agile, adaptable and cost-effective. This composable banking strategy is complementary to our own evolving digital platform strategy and is a natural fit with our API-driven design mindset.”

 With just over a month to go until the SFTR go-live date for some market participants, most notably banks and many investment firms, regulatory reporting, best execution analysis and business intelligence market leader, Cappitech, has put together some tips and tricks for firms getting ready to report now or later in the year. Below is a brief summary.

Ron Finberg, Regulation SME at Cappitech, said: “If you are a bank or such that needs to go live on April 11th, preparing for that first report, confirming how traders are inputting newly required information and how reference data will be updated are key areas of focus at this short period before going live. Firms such as asset managers that only start reporting in October, should have a different set of priorities in their preparation.”

1. Day one reporting – new transactions need to be reported from day 1 but open positions with long-dated maturities have some time. Firms should therefore be focusing on new SFTs and margin lending obligations
2. Holidays – SFTR officially goes into effect on a Saturday. It’s also Easter and Passover. Firms need to consider the practicalities of which personnel will be in the office.
3. Lifecycles – these are more complex compared to other regulations and are worth a final look in preparation
4. Reference data – ensuring update processes are in place will be key.
5. UTI sharing – some firms still lack confirmed methods for sharing and distributing UTIs so this remains a key focus
6. Be prepared for the unexpected – no testing will pick up all scenarios so certain reporting isssues are to be expected. A process to handle these should be in place.
7. UAT reviews – learning from MiFID, externa, reviews of SFTR reports will help to ensure accuracy before submissions begin.
8. Ensure your SFTR solution is future-proof to ensure coverage as time goes by and changes and tweaks are made to the regulation.

Genesys, a global leader in cloud customer experience and contact center solutions, announced that Genesys Cloud is now available in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors. The catalog makes it easy for organisations to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Now, enterprises have another option to procure Genesys Cloud, an all-in-one solution and the world's leading public cloud contact center platform.

With the availability of Genesys Cloud in AWS Marketplace, customers can benefit from simplified sourcing and contracting as well as consolidated billing, ultimately resulting in cost savings. The new listing also gives organisations the ability to apply their use of Genesys Cloud to their AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) spend commitment.

“As our customers migrate more and more applications to the cloud, they are looking for additional choice, flexibility, and ease of contracting and provisioning,” said Dave McCann, vice president, Migration, AWS Marketplace and Control Services, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “We’re delighted to welcome Genesys Cloud, a SaaS application, to AWS Marketplace and provide our customers with an additional solution from an industry leader that can help them modernise their application portfolio and transform customer experience.”

Making Genesys Cloud available in AWS Marketplace is the latest development in the longstanding relationship between Genesys and AWS. Hosted on AWS, Genesys Cloud is designed to allow organisations to deliver Experience as a Service™ so they can build more connected, meaningful customer relationships across any channel, including voice, text, web chat and social. With its continuous innovation and rapid release of new features, Genesys Cloud is designed for ease of use, radical simplification and speed. With an API-first, microservices architecture, Genesys Cloud offers businesses an extensive feature set that can be easily customised and extended.

“Businesses face increasing pressure to provide highly personalised experiences to consumers,” said Olivier Jouve, executive vice president and general manager of Genesys Cloud. “AWS Marketplace gives the largest organisations a streamlined procurement path so they can leverage the power of Genesys Cloud to win customers for life through empathetic, tailor-made experiences.”

Genesys Cloud is immediately available in AWS Marketplace for businesses with 500 or more users.

We believe this firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without our authorisation.

HTB is the latest bank to join the Insignis Cash Platform and will offer savings deposit accounts to Insignis’ personal and SME clients.

Cash replenishment and first line maintenance typically outsourced to the same provider

RBR’s Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2024 report shows that worldwide, cash replenishment and first line maintenance are carried out by third parties for around half of ATMs.

Arrangements vary between deployers, but a common pattern is for banks to replenish and carry out basic maintenance in-house for their branch-based ATMs, while outsourcing these tasks for their off‑site terminals. Many banks take the view that refilling their own branch ATMs is quicker and reduces downtime, while for non-branch locations, safety concerns and timing considerations tend to favour the use of external providers. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the global shares of outsourcing for these two functions very closely match the proportion of ATMs installed off-site.

Deployers generally either outsource both cash replenishment and first line maintenance to the same provider, or keep them both in-house. While a variety of different types of company are involved in cash replenishment, it is most commonly performed by CIT firms, which refill three quarters of the ATMs for which this service is outsourced.

ATM service and maintenance outsourcing 2018

Source: Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2024 (RBR)

ATM manufacturers the main providers of second line maintenance

The study shows that, in contrast to cash and basic maintenance, more complex second line maintenance tasks are outsourced for 92% of all ATMs.

Outsourcing of this service is lowest in the UK, at 57%. This is due to the country’s two largest ATM deployers (both of which are IADs) using in-house teams to maintain the vast majority of their ATMs; second line maintenance is performed by third parties for all UK bank ATMs, and for most of those belonging to smaller IADs.

In most other countries, second line maintenance is outsourced for over two thirds of ATMs, and in many markets it is universally performed by third parties; ATM manufacturers and their local distributors are by far the biggest partners for this service, followed by specialist maintenance providers.

Rowan Berridge, who led RBR’s Global ATM Market and Forecasts to 2024 research, remarked: “Levels of outsourcing have increased over the last few years. Some large deployers – particularly IADs, which often deploy lower-spec machines – may find that economies of scale make having an in-house maintenance team worthwhile, but many ATM operators prefer to call in specialist support. Moreover, the ongoing advance of automated deposit technology means that banks will be more likely to need outside assistance in maintaining their increasingly complex machines. It will be interesting to see how the market for outsourced ATM service and maintenance develops over the next few years”.

A desire to problem-solve lies at the heart of young women entrepreneurs and this desire starts at a young age. In fact, a recent study* commissioned by Mastercard found that fifty two percent of Gen Z and 44 percent of Millennial women cited being able to help others as an important factor in determining their future or current career path. Mastercard knows that women have the ideas and passion that can Start Something Priceless, but sometimes the path to actualizing those ideas isn’t easy, especially when starting your own business.

To reaffirm its commitment to women entrepreneurs, Mastercard is launching Path to Priceless to shine a light on their journey and provide a curated calendar of physical and digital advisement and mentorship opportunities, extending its partnership with Create & Cultivate, and introducing the Her Ideas community in partnership with Hello Alice, where members can access learning modules, tools and more.

“Women small business owners are already making their mark despite the challenges before them, and it’s our intention to clear that path so that their ideas can reach their full potential,” said Cheryl Guerin, executive vice president of North America Marketing & Communications for Mastercard. “While we’re starting with a goal of 1 million owners, we’re creating opportunities for all. Our hope is that any woman owner who can benefit from the advisement, mentorship and community we are bringing to life will join us.”

The Path to Priceless: Amplifying the Impact of Women Business Owners

Access to mentorship programs and connecting with like-minded owners were top cited means of advancing female entrepreneurs, according to Mastercard research. To help women business owners continue their positive impact on the community, additional resources are now available through:

• Advisement and Mentorship IRL with Create & Cultivate: Working with some of the most forward-thinking women and motivational entrepreneurs, Mastercard and Create & Cultivate are sparking a 365-day conversation to empower female small business owners through conferences, panel discussions, networking opportunities and one-on-one mentorship. Create & Cultivate event details can be found here.
• Her Ideas Community Launch: In partnership with Hello Alice, a digital platform helping underserved communities build and grow their business, Mastercard is launching a community dedicated to delivering networking opportunities, as well as access to tools and learning catered to the specific needs of women business owners. 

“As a founder myself I know all too well the challenges that face you when you’re trying to build a grow a business and to have a brand like Mastercard showing up for all of us and committing in such a significant way to providing access to what our community needs is tremendous,” said Jaclyn Johnson, CEO and founder of Create & Cultivate.
Capital and mentorship are critical to ensure business for all,” said Carolyn Rodz, CEO and Co-Founder of Hello Alice. “By partnering with Mastercard, we can bring the power of Hello Alice together with their vast insights and resources to create a place that owners can come to when they have questions, need advisement or want to hear from others forging a similar path.”

Pure Storage, the data solutions leader delivering a modern data experience, announces the availability of its third-generation all-NVMe FlashArray//X. This update to the award-winning FlashArray family provides customers with higher performance and enables faster time-to-market. With our one-of-a-kind, industry-first Evergreen^TM Storage model, customers can enjoy access to continuous innovation from Pure Storage that includes these and future updates to its product and solutions suite. 

“FlashArray//X has been recognized as the industry’s smartest purchase, one that gives enterprise customers a path to better IT operations. Instead of worrying about aging storage, Pure’s customers always have the most innovative, feature-rich solutions,” said Prakash Darji, General Manager for FlashArray, Pure Storage. “Evergreen is still one-of-a-kind in the data storage world because it allows customers to benefit from future features and innovations from Pure Storage without delays, interruptions or expensive, painful migrations. Customers can rest assured that their investment in Pure’s next generation FlashArray//X, optimized for future updates coming from Purity//FA, will continue to deliver better results than the competition.”

The latest generation FlashArray//X allows customers to accelerate and consolidate database and enterprise workloads, extend them to the cloud and modernize their data protection strategies. All of the enhanced features, functionality and performance of FlashArray//X are also available through Pure as-a-Service utility-based consumption model. Pure as-a-Service offers unified hybrid cloud data services, enabling customers to deploy on-premises, in colocated or hosted environments or in public clouds - all with a unified subscription, common functionality and a full cloud experience.

“Evergreen ensures we have access to the latest and greatest, but what really sets Pure apart as a strategic vendor is their ability to continually innovate new products, solutions and features that drive real results across our business,” said Keith Martin, Senior Director of Cloud Capacity Engineering, ServiceNow. “Whether it’s hardware or software updates, or a complete overhaul to the platform, we know we’re going to be able to take advantage without delay. This, in turn, allows us to innovate at the speed of modern commerce, a decided advantage in a world where real-time has become expectation.”

Benefits of the new FlashArray//X:

Accelerate Key Applications

• The new FlashArray//X can drive performance gains up to 25 percent versus the previous generation FlashArray//X with updated controllers that feature new Intel Xeon Scalable Processors formerly named Cascade Lake, announced this week by Intel. 
• Customers can accelerate enterprise application performance including SAP HANA, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. SAP HANA OLAP with NSE performance increases up to 50 percent over the previous generation //X non-disruptively, with no migration required.
• Customers can accelerate and consolidate DAS Applications such as PostgreSQL and MySQL for increased efficiency and improved time-to-market. 
  • MySQL testing yielded up to 50 percent faster performance at 35 percent lower latency compared to DAS
  • PostgreSQL testing yielded up to 20 percent faster performance at 35 percent lower latency compared to DAS
• Support for NVMe-oF and Storage Class Memory enable FlashArray to provide latency as low as 150µs providing the performance required for the most demanding enterprise databases and maximum density to shrink data center real estate requirements.

Subscription to Innovation

• As part of their included Evergreen upgrades, existing FlashArray customers can innovate faster than their competitors with up to 50 percent performance improvement over FlashArray//M R2.
• Rethink your Refresh - For customers currently running on competitive storage solutions, the new FlashArray//X provides an opportunity to make the switch. Consume storage as a utility, with all array software included and investment protection across customer fleets without another migration. 
• The latest generation of FlashArray//X further demonstrates the unrivaled customer value delivered by Pure’s Evergreen Storage. To date, Pure has delivered 11 generations of hardware and 21 generations of software upgrades, all without disruption, with an overall density increase of 146x.
• Also available in an OpEx model through Pure-as-a-Service on-premises, or as a bridge to public cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, to further enable data mobility between hybrid and private clouds for customers.

The new FlashArray//X family is 100 percent NVMe from a new entry level 11 TB capacity //X10 (featuring new 1TB NVMe DirectFlash Modules) to our top of the line //X70 and //X90 that support DirectMemory Cache with Intel Optane Storage Class Memory for the highest enterprise performance requirements. The FlashArray//X family is complemented by the capacity-optimized FlashArray//C which enables all-flash economics for tier 2 workloads.