Mastercard today is pleased to announce that it has received in-principle approval from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to begin formal preparations to set up a domestic bankcard clearing institution in China.

The application was submitted by Mastercard NUCC Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd, a joint venture of Mastercard and NetsUnion Clearing Corporation (NUCC).

Ajay Banga, president and CEO, Mastercard, said, “We are delighted and encouraged by this latest decision from the PBOC. China is a vital market for us and we have reiterated our unwavering commitment to helping drive a safer, more inclusive and seamless payments ecosystem for Chinese consumers and businesses.  We remain focused on working with the Chinese government and local partners to grow the overall payments infrastructure.”

The strategic collaboration between Mastercard and NUCC is founded on mutual synergies, and will drive a simple, safe and smart payments experience in a market well regarded as being one of the global frontrunners in digital payments technology.

Within one year, the company will be able to apply to the People’s Bank of China for formal approval to begin domestic bankcard clearing activity.

Salt Edge announces its most significant landmark so far – integrating with 1000+ open banking APIs so that businesses could develop smarter and better services for end-users.

Having access to accounts is especially beneficial for businesses when the number of connected accounts is constantly growing, the size of the range really matters here. So, understanding the significance of offering a pan-European coverage, Salt Edge works patiently and steadily on connecting to all financial institutions. And right now there is a call for celebration: 1000+ connected PSD2 APIs, with recently being added TransferWise and Capital One in the UK, ČSOB in Slovakia, ING in the Netherlands, DNB, Eurobank Private Bank, and Raiffeisen in Luxembourg. A special emphasis was put on Germany, with 300+ connections added in the last couple months, including Deutsche Bank, Sparkassen Group, Volks-Raiffeisen Group, Commerzbank, HypoVereinsbank (UniCredit), and others.

“It’s a good feeling to be an open banking pioneer with 1000+ PSD2 bank connections all over Europe, but more importantly a larger audience can now safely access from third party applications their accounts, held in many different institutions. At Salt Edge, we are constantly working to help our clients provide the best open banking services to their end-users,” commented on the news Vladimir Pintea, Head of Open Banking at Salt Edge.

Having a vast network of connected PSD2 APIs is about helping people reach their financial data and initiate payments securely, and this is the goal that Salt Edge is focused on. So despite the integration process being sometimes quite long and cumbersome, it is a necessity to actually make the open banking work for end-users. Next stops on the Salt Edge’s journey to integrating with all the open banking APIs in Europe and beyond are the following: BBVA, Sabadell, Santander, Bankinter, Bankia, BNP Paribas Group, Crédit Agricole Group, and many more.

Klarna, the leading global payments and shopping provider, is proud to announce the launch of its ‘Consumer Council’. The global initiative sees Klarna invite consumers to a meet-up and share their thoughts on different themes related to their experiences using Klarna. The meet-ups will take place in all main markets, three times per year. 

This is yet another step demonstrating Klarna’s commitment to get even closer to consumers and to understand what it takes to fulfil Klarna’s mission to provide the smooothest and smartest experience when shopping and paying. 

“At Klarna, we have an amazingly engaged consumer community, which we speak and listen to daily to understand their experiences first-hand. We’re interested in the good parts, but more importantly we’re interested in the areas where we clearly have room for improvement. We’re always looking for new ways to support and build Klarna with our community and to solve consumer pain points we may not have thought of ourselves. Gathering direct feedback is extremely important to us and a vital part in meeting consumers’ needs and ultimately, to provide the best end-to-end shopping experience”, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of Klarna.

It has become increasingly evident over the past few years that the way consumers shop, spend and save is evolving rapidly and that technology has revolutionised how consumers approach their finances. At Klarna, everything revolves around the consumer and how to provide unparallelled services that allow them to benefit from increased control and joy - everyday. However, as a digital company it can sometimes be hard to regularly meet consumers face-to-face, especially with rapid expansion into new markets. Klarna’s ‘Consumer Council’ will play a key role in facilitating that important conversation and ensure that Klarna is even more responsive to consumer’s evolving needs and developing services to solve them. 

“With the launch of the ‘Consumer Council’, we are taking our direct consumer dialogues to a new level, enabling them to advise us, and truly placing them at the heart of everything we do. We are extremely proud of the number of consumers that choose Klarna every day and with this initiative we want to make sure that they can be equally proud of using our services”, continues Sebastian Siemiatkowski.

The first ‘Consumer Council’ meet-ups will take place in London on March 10 and Stockholm on March 16, followed by Manchester, Berlin, and New York during the spring. Each meet-up will have a specific theme tailored to the local market, with the objective to involve consumers across the spectrum in Klarna’s mission to become the world’s smooothest shopping experience.

After the meet-ups, all findings and experiences shared will be summarized in a report. The report will ensure all feedback is properly taken into account when designing and developing new and existing products and services. Progress on development goals will be made available on local Klarna blogs, where each region will provide regular status updates.

Rewire, a cross-border banking service provider for migrants, has today announced the growth of its product offering as a neobank for migrants in Europe. Rewire now offers tailored accounts focused on the specific needs of migrants and is introducing a new line of innovative banking products that can serve them in the host country and the country of origin.

In addition, clients will get a free Euro account and debit card as well as additional banking services such as insurance, mortgages and savings accounts. Rewire’s unique solution allows customers to link the Euro account to a bank account in their home country with an option to receive salaries directly to the Euro account. 

Customers can also make local payments, use their free debit card for daily use and for cross-border payments, transfer money, pay bills and more. This is possible through using risk management algorithms and modern payments technology as well as partnering with strategic banks and shareholders such as BNP Paribas and Standard Bank of South Africa.

Strategic partners provide the infrastructure and access to banking products such as saving accounts and more, and in return Rewire helps them penetrate an underserved market alongside other benefits such as a lower cost model and immediate set up or services and credit history. This is part of the overall mission to provide full, reliable and transparent banking services for migrants across Europe helping millions to reach their full financial potential.

The development follows a $12 million Series A investment round last March resulting in a 40% monthly growth rate across Europe and an annual turnover of over $300 million with 100,000 registered clients. This has been facilitated by newly opened offices in Amsterdam, headed by Alex Bakir, who will continue to lead expansion efforts in Europe.

Rewire now looks to extend and strengthen strategic partnerships to grow capacity and allow customers access to additional banking products such as credit history and tailored savings accounts. New funds will also be used to introduce more tailored services for migrants and to access additional markets across Europe.

Guy Kashtan, CEO, Rewire stated:

“We have come a long way since our beginning and we continue to shape the way international workers manage their finances. We believe in complete transparency, simplicity, and a fair banking system for everyone and we’re proud to be a leading banking solution for migrants in Europe that will make them feel at home. Our values of doing social good, pushing new boundaries, and valuable opportunity for all, are part of everything we do. We are here to evolve the way underserved migrants from developing countries are integrated into the global financial system and support them in creating a more secure future for themselves and their families. 

Alex Bakir, MD/GM Europe, Rewire stated:

“Enormous progress has been made across our European operations allowing our recent growth. Migrants still rely on three to four financial institutions for their financial needs and we’ll continue to help provide our customers with their first, all-inclusive digital banking solution. We'll leverage our success to reach more customers globally, and keep developing the positive financial and social impact our products create for Rewire's users." 

Leumi UK – the London-based subsidiary of Israel’s leading international bank – and LeumiTech, Leumi Group’s technology banking practice hosted a joint tech-focused discussion, bringing together influential figures from the technology industry – including senior representatives from Google, Facebook and Amazon – to engage in an open discussion on the state of the tech landscape in 2020.

In his opening speech, Gil Karni, CEO at Leumi UK, explained the important role the tech sector has to play in the UK: “Many industries were impacted by Brexit, but the tech industry has thrived – with investment into the UK tech sector reaching a new record of £10 billion in 2019 – demonstrating that the UK is the best place to be for the tech industry, and Bank Leumi is here to support this growth by providing expertise and willingness to support and facilitate the right companies”.

The talk was held by Yifat Oron, CEO of LeumiTech – a prolific figure in the industry, with over 25 years’ experience working in tech, venture capital, banking and consulting – with discussions centred on the trends and challenges that are shaping the ever-changing tech ecosystem.

Here are the four top trends Oron predicts for 2020:

1. Everything is being ‘Amazoned’

In terms of online retail, Amazon is a monster, and competitors are not even close to it. Is Amazon getting too big? Its unprecedented expansion into other domains – such as food and pharma – has led to collaborations between smaller competitors, but so far, nothing has come close to beating the colossal corporate.

2. The high street needs to innovate to survive

Will physical retail die or evolve? One thing is for sure – plenty of stores are closing down, signalling that everything is moving to the Internet. However, we see retail giants looking for technologies to innovate their physical stores, in order to enhance customers’ shopping experience and create a smarter environment that will lead to fewer employees working on the floor.

3. The spotlight is on Artificial Intelligence

Cyber is a hot topic – for instance, Israel as a nation decided that cyber should be a key market and it has become one of the leading nations in terms of exports of cyber products in the world. The next trend to look at? Artificial Intelligence (AI). As an infrastructure-type technology, AI for healthcare, for example, could use complex algorithms and software to analyse complicated data, minimising human input. Certainly, AI is where the spotlight is shining.

4. Stars are aligned for digital health

Digital health is, in one word – huge; two words – very big, but there is always the question of what comes first. The technology, which is ready, or the market’s requirements? This is clearly an area that needs to be addressed, and tech players have spotted this and are investing a huge amount to meet the growing needs.

Ending the discussion on a high note, Yifat expressed optimism about the technology industry outlook in 2020 and beyond: “Every business around the world needs some sort of technology to survive, whether it’s banks, retail stores, real estate or consulting companies. Why? Because tech is where all the money is. Smart businesses realise that this is a sector that they need to be looking at carefully, so moving forwards into 2020, technology will continue to blossom globally and remain resilient towards any upcoming challenges”.

Sysnet Global Solutions, the leading provider of cyber security and compliance solutions, today announced it has secured a significant growth equity investment.

Sysnet provides merchant compliance and security management solutions to some of the world’s largest, global acquiring organisations that supporting more than 3 million merchants worldwide and operate in over 60 countries worldwide. The investment will be used to support Sysnet’s rapid growth in North America and Europe, as well as expansion into new markets, including Latin America and Asia.

Furthermore, it will also accelerate the development of its security product offerings to SMBs via acquiring and payment processing organisations globally. The Proactive Data Security (PDS) solution is used by acquirers to drive more secure environments for SMB customers. Many of Sysnet’s clients are seeing this goal become a reality with clients achieving up to 95% compliance for PDS enrolled merchants.

“Sysnet is delighted to align with world-class partners like FTV Capital and True Wind Capital to support growth plans in both existing and new markets,” said Gabe Moynagh, CEO at Sysnet, “FTV is a perfect fit for Sysnet given its knowledge of security and payments, Global Partner Network® and proven ability to scale high-growth companies. Further, True Wind is a seasoned technology, software and security investor, providing decades of operational, growth and scaling expertise to technology companies. Their combined investment will enable us to deepen our strategic relationship with our clients and their customers through the enhancement of our security product offering and customer support globally. We’re incredibly confident that Sysnet will benefit from the experience and expertise that the FTV and True Wind teams bring to the table.”

The investment was led by first institutional investor FTV Capital, a growth equity firm with a successful track record supporting high-growth financial services and technology companies. True Wind Capital, a technology focused private equity firm, co-invested. As part of the transaction, FTV Capital founding partner Richard Garman, partner Kyle Griswold and principal Richard Liu will join Sysnet’s board of directors. From True Wind, founding partner Jamie Greene and partner Sean Giese will join Sysnet’s board of directors.

“As the need for cybersecurity and compliance solutions continues to skyrocket, businesses of all sizes require best-in-class solutions to meet this critical need,” said FTV Capital partner Kyle Griswold. “Sysnet has proven to be a continuous innovator in the space and provides a compelling solution to both payments providers in the form of better compliance and merchant retention and merchants in the form of better security and data protection.” True Wind Capital partner Sean Giese continued, “the company is primed for tremendous growth as it looks to serve businesses ranging in size from small to large, while expanding its global footprint and product set.”

“Sysnet is revolutionizing the way merchants meet payments standards across the globe,” commented FTV Capital founding partner Richard Garman. “With this investment, FTV Capital will use its security market experience and network to accelerate Sysnet’s innovations for the global transaction service industry.”

“We are at an exciting inflection point of Sysnet’s development. True Wind looks forward to partnering with both Sysnet’s management team and FTV to achieve this next stage of growth,” said True Wind Capital founding partner Jamie Greene.

Building on its commitment to the delivery of data on the cloud, Refinitiv today announces the launch of its Tick History dataset on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), enabling customers to access, query and analyze Refinitiv’s extensive archive of pricing and trading data using the machine learning capabilities of Google Cloud’s BigQuery.

The Tick History dataset offers the full breadth and depth of Refinitiv’s historical tick data drawn from real-time content. The dataset covers Over The Counter (OTC) and exchange-traded instruments from all asset classes in more than 500 venues dating back to 1996. 

The combination of Refinitiv’s managed service database and GCP’s managed compute cluster allows for customers to work across large datasets remotely and in a fraction of the time that they would typically experience. Customers using the solution are also likely to enjoy a reduced total cost of ownership, as they benefit from a reduced infrastructure spend and storage required to maintain and integrate the scale of Refinitiv’s Tick History data.

Further, the capabilities of BigQuery will power analytics of the Tick History data, enabling customers to build and back-test trading strategies, perform quantitative research and analysis, and meet regulatory and best execution requirements. Because the data can be analyzed in-situ and does not need to be moved and loaded into an analytics engine, customers can also obtain results in reduced timeframes when compared to what they would typically expect. This expedited delivery of data allows for data scientists and quantitative analysts to be more productive as they spend less time preparing and waiting for data delivery, and more time generating valuable insights.

A report titled Global Algorithmic Trading Market 2016–2020 suggests that by 2020, around 90% of public market trades in the U.S. will be traded by quantitative means. Refinitiv’s customers continue to strive for success in this increasingly competitive and automated financial market, where access to large volumes of historical data and near-infinite amounts of compute and storage capabilities are of great value.

A global Refinitiv survey conducted in 2019 among 300 senior executives and heads of market data found that “as cloud adoption in financial services evolves, companies are finding that the benefits are not just about cost efficiencies but also to do with resilience, agility and innovation.” The survey additionally found that 64% of firms believe that cloud use will be “significant, or transformational, for their sector over the next five to 10 years.”

Catalina Vazquez, Proposition Director, Tick History at Refinitiv, said: “As the cloud delivers on its promise to make AI-based analytics more readily available, the potential of data to deliver answers that drive business performance gets ever greater. Combining Google Cloud’s machine learning tools with Refinitiv’s Tick History data in BigQuery is a step-change for customers looking to develop new trading models, interpret trade patterns or comply with regulations. The cloud is changing the paradigm for the financial community, enabling less time and money spent managing data and more time innovating and getting answers from data that gives a competitive edge.” 

Adrian Poole, Head of Financial Services, UKI, Google Cloud, said: “At Google Cloud, we are committed to partnering with the industry on solving complex problems. Working with Refinitiv, we are delighted to help the company with the delivery of its customer commitment to provide its datasets on GCP.”

To learn more about the Tick History click here.

DivideBuy, a leading LendTech company, has won the Feefo Platinum Trusted Service award, an independent seal of excellence that recognises businesses for delivering exceptional experiences, as rated by real customers.

Customer insight technology provider, Feefo, awards the Platinum Trusted Service to businesses who achieve the ‘Gold’ standard for three consecutive years. Businesses who achieve the Gold Trusted Service Award have collected over 50 Feefo reviews in a year and have achieved a service rating of 4.5 or higher.

This badge of approval is based purely on interactions with real customers. As all reviews are verified as genuine, the accreditation is a true reflection of a business’ commitment to outstanding service.

Craig Williams, Call Centre Manager at DivideBuy, stated: "At DivideBuy, we are customer-centric and to be recognised by our customers via the Feefo platform is very much appreciated. To be a part of this exciting business with exceptional team members is a privilege. This award shows us that the steps we all take to make the customer journey easy is leading us in the right direction."

Robert Flowers, CEO at DivideBuy, commented: “I am really proud that DivideBuy has been recognised as a Platinum Feefo partner. Consumer experience is at the very heart of all we do at DivideBuy. To be awarded a platinum status is testament to the amazing people we have throughout the business and the passion and dedication they have for delivering market-leading customer service.”

Congratulating DivideBuy on winning this year’s award, Steph Heasman, Director of Customer Success at Feefo, commented: “The Trusted Service award has always been about recognising companies that go way beyond the norm in customer experience and generate great feedback from happy customers. This year we’ve been delighted to see so many companies using Feefo to provide outstandingly high levels of all-round service – it’s what Feefo is all about. We help our clients give their customers the best experiences possible. I’m confident we’ll see more success from businesses partnering with us throughout 2020.”

Steph continued: “Feefo is all about powering up customer experience, which is why we have introduced our new Platinum category. Clients told us they want recognition for achieving our demanding Gold award standard over a longer period. Our new Platinum award is earned by companies that achieve a Gold rating in three consecutive years. It’s a tough challenge and very-well deserved by those that earn it.”

Feefo provides businesses with the tools to collect real, purchase-verified reviews and insights. Working with over 3,500 clients, Feefo ensures that all feedback is authentic by matching it to a legitimate transaction in order to increase consumer confidence and enable businesses to make smarter business decisions.