Backbase, the digital banking software leader, today launches its next generation Onboarding & Origination solution across Retail-, SME/Business- and Corporate Banking and Wealth Management. The modern, turn-key solution allows financial institutions to optimize their customers buying experience, fully digitize onboarding and product origination operations and maximize their business agility.

Digital-first challenger banks have been extremely successful in acquiring new customers. The simplicity of opening an account is the main driver, and a key component of this is the use of modern technology that converts customers within minutes and significantly lowers acquisition costs. The frictionless and speedy experiences provided by neo-banks have raised the bar on customer expectations globally.

In stark contrast, some traditional banks’ onboarding can often take up to 60 minutes of manual processes in a physical branch and, for commercial customers, an average of 20-90 days, costing an estimated $25,000 of lost revenue. Therefore, financial institutions are under increasing pressure to rethink their onboarding and origination journeys to both decrease levels of customer dropouts and optimize operational costs. 

Using the Backbase Onboarding and Origination Solution, banks can cut onboarding times by 80%, reduce operational costs by more than 30% and go-to-market 18 times faster. Financial institutions can buy and build their solutions either by adopting out-of-the-box banking apps or using the platform to develop their own unique customized capabilities. 

Additionally, Backbase removes implementation and procurement friction for it’s customers by providing access to fully pre-integrated best-in-class FinTech players via their rich Open Banking Marketplace. Ranging from KYC, e-signature, AML/PEP and virtual assistants, banks can leverage Backbase’s FinTech ecosystem to go to market even faster and innovate at speed. 

Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase commented, “We have been piloting this next generation solution over the past 12 months with various customers around the world. We are extremely pleased with the results. It's incredibly fast to implement, extremely versatile in the way it integrates and complements existing systems, and it brings a very sound ROI for our customers. Aside from the established ROI advantages, this new solution helps banks and credit unions orchestrate their full customer lifecycle - from onboarding and product origination, to customer support and regular customer background / compliancy checks. Additionally, our recently launched Backbase-as-a-Service enables banks to consume all the new Onboarding and Origination capabilities directly from the cloud. It’s all part of the larger Backbase Platform vision that enables banks to break free from legacy applications and take full control of their digital future”.

A remarkable 450 blockchain companies call London home. Inflow of talent from the EU (prior to Brexit), low barriers to company incorporation and active involvement of the FCA combined with the broader fintech ecosystem around London is considered to be the key reasons behind this. 

Since 2013, blockchain startups in the United Kingdom have raised a collective $503 million between themselves in equity raises. 1 in 3 blockchain companies in the region manage to raise funding. Of the total capital allocation, $95 million has been invested in seed stages alone. London also dominates as a preferred hub for startups to set themselves up in comparison to other regions in the EU like Berlin and Zug in spite of their thriving ecosystem.

Potential access to capital does not necessarily mean rampant scaling or growth. The power laws for blockchain firms in the UK are similar to those found elsewhere. Only 13 percent of all firms that raise funding go on to raise a Series A and a mere 3% witness a Series B. Challenges around regulations, attracting the right talent post-Brexit, targeting ideal markets and improving user experiences plague startups in the UK too. One of the challenges faced by startups is that while blockchain technology could see substantial adoption in another part of the world, regional regulations being laggard and strictly enforced could restrict how fast firms can react to changes.

From the research it is evident blockchain as an ecosystem continues to be unwelcoming to women. According to the limited data available on Crunchbase, a mere 13% of employees in blockchain startups are women and only 10.4% of founders with investments are women. 

Dr Jane Thomason, CEO Fintech Worldwide:

"We need to do more to facilitate the involvement of women in the blockchain ecosystem, and improve their access to capital. These statistics are appalling."  

The United Kingdom beats its peers by far but if the ecosystem needs to grow, more needs to be done in terms of diversity. The United States had slightly more female employees (at 14.2%) but considerably lower number of female founders with backing. 

With startups like Blockchain.info and Revolut in the region, London is home to some of the biggest names in both fintech and the digital asset ecosystem. With regulators like the Bank of England being active proponents of Central Bank Digital Currencies and regional investment funds scaling up their activity, London appears to be in good shape to continue being a dominant hub for blockchain startups to set themselves up in. 

Joel John, Outlier Ventures Analyst: 

“London remains impressive for its ability to enable startups to incorporate and raise within short periods of time. A major contributor towards this is the well established financial ecosystem in the region. London absorbing blockchain projects is an indication of the region’s evolution.”

Outlier Ventures are looking to continue to grow, develop and support London startups working in the open data economy. Outlier run a 3 month accelerator program called Base Camp with £35k immediate funding, office space, legal and back-office support for early stage projects. 

Banking Competition Remedies Limited (BCR) is today announcing details of enhanced dowries for the lower four bands of the Incentivised Switching Scheme (ISS), and an increase in dowries for loans. This comes having reviewed performance of the Scheme as a whole and discussed this with RBS and ISS participants to which the majority of customers have switched since the Scheme started.

Since inception, the number of SME switchers from ISS accounts for approximately 47% of all SME and charity switchers between March to December 2019. While acknowledging the success to date, BCR recognises that more needs to be done to get closer to the Scheme target of 120,000. It was to this end that BCR introduced a temporary uplift in Bands 1 and 2 for two months between 29 November 2019 and 31^st January 2020 which proved successful.

The key elements of the enhanced scheme are:

Turnover Band                                            Existing Dowry                 New Dowry

1  (< £15000)                                                £750                                  £1250

2  (£15k - £100k)                                          £1000                                £1500

3  (<£100k -£500k)                                       £3000                                £4000

4  (<£500k - £1m)                                         £3000                                £4000

Loans (based on transferring balance)    2.5%                                  3.5%

The changes to the new dowry will take effect from 25^th March and will be backdated to the beginning of the Scheme to ensure that early switchers, that have kept their account open at their new bank, do not see themselves as disadvantaged.

Godfrey Cromwell, Chair of BCR commented:

“The number of switches has doubled since ISS began, representing a significant increase in switching rates for the SME sector. This decision is based on analysis of the first year of operation of the whole Scheme and the success of the temporary increase in dowry for Bands 1 and 2. Simultaneously increasing the loan dowry is also intended to incentivise relevant business current account customers considering switching to make the move.”

PayPal has confirmed integration with ECOMMPAY to pilot the PayPal Commerce Platform.

Sonihull, the world’s leading ultrasonic anti-fouling system, has welcomed two industry veterans onto its board following the announcement of major investment.

Industry leaders Suresh Kavan and Sharon Rowlands have just joined the Sonihull board as strategic advisors. Their appointments and investment mark an important point in the development of the company which has the tagline: ‘Sonihull - Saving the oceans. One ship at a time’.

Based in Coventry, the firm has developed an industry-leading technology that safely prevents marine algae, weeds and molluscs from colonising ocean-going vessels and structures like ships and wind farms. The technology removes the need for poisonous chemicals and microplastics in antifouling coatings and can reduce maintenance costs by up to 90%. The company is transforming the way that marine applications are approaching antifouling, an industry that is worth about $100 billion annually.

Suresh Kavan has over 30 years’ experience in the B2B information and technology industry, holding a variety of positions in sales, marketing, research, technology, product development, business development and general management.

He has served as CEO of DMG Information and DMG Events and as Chairman of RMS, the world’s leading catastrophe risk modelling company, and as President of a $2.5bn division of Thomson Reuters. Kavan is a fervent technologist with a focus on the Internet of Things and Big Data with extensive energy sector experience.

Sharon Rowlands is CEO of domain name registry and web development service Web.com and on the boards of publicly-listed technology companies, including global business software company Pegasystems and the emergency communications provider Everbridge.

She has operated billion-dollar companies across financial services, media, risk management and driven a number of high-profile digital transformations.

“To attract this calibre of industry leader demonstrates the huge potential of this market,” said Darren Rowlands, CEO of Sonihull at the announcement. “Sonihull has the best technology in the marine sector and Suresh and Sharon’s commitment and skills will help us to realise that potential and make a big impact for clean technology.”

GreenKite, an independent Professional Services Firm for Insurance and Financial Services, is delighted to announce the appointment of Dean Fathers; experienced entrepreneur, chair and Professor of Organisational Resilience at the University of Lincoln as Chair of the Board. Dean will work directly with GreenKite CEO, Sara Ager and the rest of the founding team, as a trusted adviser and business mentor.

A serial entrepreneur with international acclaim, Dean started his career in logistics. He has held a portfolio career for over 25 years, combining senior roles across the commercial, executive education, and public sectors. Dean has advised many business entrepreneurs and been a mentor to a number of established players in organisations such as: Costain, CNN, Deutsche Post, Fullers, John Lewis, Kier, QBE, Unipart, Willis, ZF, and Zurich. An experienced Board member and Chair, he has also developed and sold several organisations including his own global consultancy practice.  

Dean’s involvement in Executive Education was initiated with the Institute of Directors where he was a lead tutor for 17 years and where he sat on the design team that created the Chartered Director Programme. Whilst a Professor at Cass Business School, he chaired the Governance Standards Review Body for the Sector Skills Council for Administration and was also on the working group that created the Governance Standards BS13500. He is proud of his record as an inclusive leader, engaging proactively with the diversity agenda, being a champion for greater inclusivity at Board level, and has been recognised in many ways for his impact in advancing this agenda (Stonewall Best Company 2015 and Star Performer 2016 and Gold Award Winner for DRM).

Commenting on his appointment, Dean Fathers says: "This is an exciting time to be engaging with organisations keen to achieve their strategic ambitions post-Brexit. There is great potential for the Boards of UK organisations to increase their competitiveness and recognise how to positively impact on their triple bottom line."

“We are delighted Dean has decided to join us. His strong interest in leadership, strategy and governance, and the experience he brings of not only building his own consultancy but the cross sector experience he has, will ensure GreenKite can continue with its ambition to develop itself as an insightful and valued professional services firm” adds Sara Ager, GreenKite CEO.

GreenKite launched in October 2019 to engage with ambitious firms within the Insurance and Financial Services sectors – from startups and scale-ups to established firms. GreenKite is a professional services firm providing support, advice and solutions to dynamic and enterprising organisations. GreenKite works as an extension of its clients’ businesses, and provide proactive support and insight on company setup, growth or sale, if people and their performance and the operational and tech supporting the business. GreenKite provides services on an interim, project or retainer basis.

NatWest has today reaffirmed its commitment to supporting UK SMEs by removing the minimum monthly fee from its Business account and launching its free ‘Business Builder’ digital coaching programme for start-ups and entrepreneurs,

NatWest is now the first high street bank in the UK to offer a business banking account without a monthly fee, and a truly ‘pay for what you use’ tariff. The monthly account fee removal will also apply to existing business account customers, meaning over 280,000 UK businesses will be better off as a result of the change. NatWest will write to all affected businesses from 9 March to inform them of this improvement to the offering.

The bank also offers 18 months of completely free banking to all new start-ups, meaning companies in this initial phase of growth won’t be charged for making transactions either, providing additional support for businesses at a critical stage. These changes mark the first stage in a series of planned improvements that the bank will make to its SME proposition this year as it aims to become the biggest supporter of start-ups in the UK.

NatWest has also today relaunched its digital initiative for start-ups and entrepreneurs as Business Builder. Previously called ‘Pre-Accelerator’, the programme is free-of-charge, and provides a series of online learning modules, augmented with regular newsletters, networking events and access to a digital network of like-minded individuals.

Andrew Harrison, MD, Business Banking said: ‘As part of our revised strategy, NatWest has committed to helping create 50,000 new businesses across the UK by 2023, and to support over half a million people to consider entrepreneurship as a career. Today we’ve launched the first in a series of improvements to transform how we support businesses of any size, by removing the monthly account fee and relaunching our digital coaching initiative.

Business Builder will provide budding entrepreneurs with the skills they need to get started with confidence, and combined with the account changes we’ve announced today, we’re proud to be able to provide a completely free platform on which the entrepreneurs of the future can build their own success stories.’

Nutanix, a leader in enterprise cloud computing, today announced the financial services industry findings of its second Enterprise Cloud Index Report, measuring financial firms’ plans for adopting private, public and hybrid clouds. The report found the financial sector outpaces all other industries in hybrid cloud deployments – hosting workloads in both private and public cloud – but trail others in their use of multiple public cloud services.

Most financial services companies must adhere to strict regulatory requirements and government mandates. Not surprisingly, 60% of respondents called out security as the single biggest influence on future cloud strategies. Additionally, because so many organizations struggle to migrate workloads between environments, financial services companies have the highest percentage of traditional data centers (59%) delivering key applications. Yet, in the face of digital transformation, the sector faces mounting pressure to modernize IT and to make services more convenient for end-users. Together, this explains why nearly 18% of financial companies have deployed hybrid cloud today, while 51% plan to shift investment to hybrid cloud in just three to five years.

Additional findings of this year’s report include:

• Flexibility to move applications as needed is critical. Nearly three-quarters of financial companies surveyed (71%) shared their plans to move one or more applications running in a public cloud back on-premises. In the financial services industry, regulatory requirements are constantly evolving, meaning companies must keep pace with changing regulations that govern where these companies can store and manage their data. Respondents also ranked hybrid cloud as the most secure IT operating model (27% of the time) signaling the importance of flexibility, alongside security, in this ever changing environment.
• The future of work and digital transformation plays a role in the financial sectors’ infrastructure decisions. Financial services selected “support for remote/branch office users” as a motivator for cloud decisions nearly 30% of the time, a significantly higher percentage than cross-industry averages, pointing to the increasingly remote workplace landscape and the role of digital transformation in customer experience. In the short term, respondents listed lack of adoption stemming from concerns around nascent tools for managing hybrid environments (66%), a lack of hybrid cloud skills (30%) and a lack of cloud-native development skills (23%). 
• Security is paramount for compliance and regulation. Data showed that financial companies are running the highest percentage of data centers today, with just over 59% of financial companies. Accounting in part for this trend is dissatisfaction with public cloud, with only 39% of financial services companies reporting public cloud services were completely meeting their expectations.

“The financial sector’s digital transformation is aggressively driving datacenter modernization and cloud adoption,” said Greg Smith, VP of Product Marketing at Nutanix. “Ambitious, but necessary, plans to shift investment to hybrid clouds clearly demonstrate that financial companies recognize the obvious benefits. With hybrid cloud infrastructure, financial companies can enjoy application mobility across clouds and gain greater control of their IT spend, while remaining confident in the security of their data.”

The 2019 respondent base spanned multiple industries, business sizes, and the following geographies: the Americas; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and the Asia-Pacific (APJ) region.

Today Refinitiv has continued its commitment and investment in the wealth management industry with the acquisition of Scivantage, a trusted Software as a Service (SaaS) innovator in the fintech market.

The acquisition of Scivantage represents the next step in Refinitiv’s journey to create next-generation digital wealth management solutions, providing clients with the data, technology and insight needed to empower better decisions and user engagement.

Scivantage’s primary solutions include digital wealth management offering Wealthsqope, a digital client experience, and Maxit E2E, an end-to-end tax information reporting solution. Core functionality includes account management, personal portfolio management, money movement, market & investments data, advisor focused features, trading, cost basis and tax information reporting.

By integrating Scivantage’s solutions, Refinitiv has expanded its wealth management portals’ service offering, driving client centric experiences through exceptional service and connectivity between advisors and their clients. Wealth firms will be able to realize the workflow benefits via both end-client and wealth professional portal use cases.

Joe Mrak, Global Head of Wealth Management at Refinitiv, said: “In what continues to be a transformational wealth management environment, our customers increasingly rely on us to provide the data, analytics and digital technology solutions that enable their growth. We have an excellent history of collaboration with Scivantage, working together on both tax reporting and client portal solutions. Refinitiv’s best in class BETA self-clearing platform is already connected to Scivantage’s systems.”

“Acquiring Scivantage at this stage affords a tremendous opportunity for us to work together on our shared goal of creating next-generation digital wealth management solutions that enhance the overall customer experience. Scivantage’s deep roots, knowledge and capabilities will enhance our wealth management portfolio of solutions, and we welcome our esteemed new colleagues to the Refinitiv family.”

Joe Stensland, Chief Commercial Officer at Scivantage: “Scivantage has made tremendous impact as a Software as a Service (SaaS) innovator in the fintech market. Our digital solutions continue to move the industry forward and enable our customers to deliver a better client experience. Being part of the Refinitiv family will enable our growth through integration into Refinitiv’s broad portfolio of wealth management solutions.”

To learn more about Refinitiv Wealth Management solutions, visit: https://www.refinitiv.com/en/wealth-management