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Re-wiring Post Trade – “Choice to lead the change, or live on crumbs”

Prasoon Mukherjee
Vice President at Societe Generale Bank

“At the outset let me begin with an apology to those few readers who may take offence to the title, as it (kind of) challenges the existing steady state. see more

  • 05:00 am

Detroit FinTech Bay announced today that it will welcome the Detroit Blockchain Center as a resident within its space in TechTown Detroit. Additionally, Detroit FinTech Bay’s first board of advisors is announced. Entrepreneurs and leaders from financial institutions, corporations, community groups and academia make up the group’s membership.

Partnership with Detroit Blockchain Center

Co-founded by Nate Talbot and Adam Zientarski, the Detroit Blockchain Center is a registered nonprofit with the state of Michigan focused on coordinating and promoting the education, adoption and growth of the Blockchain ecosystem throughout Metro-Detroit. The Center also provides resources to entrepreneurs and startups through access to education, financial resources, and business development services.

“We are excited to welcome Detroit Blockchain Center into Detroit FinTech Bay,” said Maissan Almaskati, CEO of FinTech Consortium USA. “Together, we are creating an environment of opportunity, growth, learning, and community around blockchain. Brilliant minds are coming together to create the blockchain solutions of tomorrow, and we’re excited that this innovation is happening right here in Detroit.”

“We’ve found a home where we can grow into our potential and truly foster the leaders who will change the face of blockchain while this technology is still being built from the ground up,” said Nate Talbot, executive director and co-founder of Detroit Blockchain Center. “The team is already expanding and big plans are underway, including DACTROIT, plus more exciting announcements to come.”

Detroit FinTech Bay Advisory Board

Mortgage tech, auto tech and blockchain are fintech segments all represented by entrepreneurs and leaders from financial institutions, corporations, community groups and academia in Detroit FinTech Bay’s first Advisory Board.

“These incredible individuals are coming together to help us at Detroit FinTech Bay continue to strategically grow and foster the next generation of fintech startups and innovation,” said Almaskati. “It is an honor to have them on board.”

The board will convene on a quarterly basis and advise as needed on the initiatives, programs and startups at Detroit Fintech Bay.

Members include:

1. Jennifer Charters, CIO, Flagstar Bank – As Chair of the Detroit Fintech Bay Advisory Board Jennifer will work closely with the other advisory board members to drive the development of Detroit Fintech Bay in partnership with the Fintech Consortium. Jennifer Charters is EVP and CIO of Flagstar Bank responsible for leading the IT organization and technology strategy for the bank. She was previously the CIO of Corporate Technology at Ally Financial, where she was responsible for technology across Ally's enterprise functions. Prior to Ally, she consulted at Accenture, where she led strategic projects in support of Fortune 500 companies in the telecommunications and financial services industries.
2. Peter Adriaens, PhD, PE, BCEEM, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor – Dr. Adriaens is Professor of Environmental Engineering, Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. He directs the Center and Master of Engineering program in Smart Infrastructure Finance, focused on data platforms and efficient financing mechanisms for public and private infrastructure and asset management. The Center is a cofounder of the University’s FinTech Collaboratory with the Ross School of Business FinTech Initiative and the Center on Finance, Law and Policy in the Ford School for Public Policy.
3. Paul Riser, Jr. – Paul serves as the inaugural Director of Detroit Urban Solutions at TechTown Detroit, leading a technology innovation consortium dedicated to advancing the growth of Detroit’s technology ecosystem and supporting the development of solutions to challenges that face Detroit and other urban areas.
4. Sterling Pratz, Founder and CEO of Car IQ – Sterling founded Car IQ after recognizing the lack of innovation and consistency within the connected car space, specifically around automotive payment solutions, and has more than 25 years of automotive experience in both racing and technology.
5. Pari Lingampally, co-founder of Merkle Data – Pari has been involved in blockchain since 2014 when he developed a novel bitcoin mining chip from scratch. That development led AI/ML/Deep Learning and Blockchain initiatives at Intuit's innovation lab, including creation of a unique enterprise-grade blockchain for Intuit that resulted in multiple patents. His quantitative algorithms were embedded within TurboTax and utilized by over 30 million active users. Pari also co-founded Merkle Data, which to date has partnered with top cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as the largest crypto hedge fund.
6. Antoine Dubeauclard, President of Media Genesis – Antoine is an expert on internet and application development strategy. Antoine frequently writes and speaks about technology and the future of the web.
7. Steve Lokam, President and CEO of Openlogix - Steve is a technology geek at heart, an integration evangelist and always tinkering with latest in enterprise technology and architecture. His company, Openlogix, is a technology services company that specializes in enterprise middleware and digital transformation.
8. Thomas Pacchia, Founder and CIO of HODL Capital - Thomas is a bitcoin and decentralized internet technology specialist focused on direct investments into cryptocurrencies and angel/seed stage infrastructure development projects. Prior to HODL, Thomas was a Director of Fidelity Investment's Blockchain Incubator and founding member of Fidelity Digital Assets. 

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  • 04:00 am

The world's very first AI-powered invoice checker has been launched in a bid to help both large and small organisations minimise the risk of invoice fraud. The innovative new Check an Invoice tool uses artificial intelligence to 'learn' how to recognise incompatibilities and inconsistencies in invoice data, identifying and highlighting potentially fraudulent information that can easily be overlooked by corporate finance teams.

Invoice fraud, also known as Business Email Compromise. It occurs when emails containing invoice attachments are intercepted, and information such as bank details are replaced with alternative data. Globally, $12.5 billion was lost in 2018 through invoice fraud - a 135% increase on the previous year - and more than half of all SMEs in the UK have experienced an invoice fraud event. Invoice fraud can affect any businesses of any size, with even major players such as Facebook and Google have experienced this form of cyber attack in the past. 

“The potential impact invoice fraud will have in the coming years cannot be underestimated," says Check an Invoice CEO Firdaus Mogul, who has over 20 years experience in the financial industry. "It is the simplicity of the attack that makes it so dangerous, and unfortunately businesses are slow to recognise this threat" continues Mogul. "Even though anti-fraud software costs less than 0.01% of total payments, companies don’t see it as an urgent business need, typically not thinking to protect themselves until they've actually experienced an attack".

Mogul states that although artificial intelligence has been accessible for a few years, Check an Invoice is the first tool to fully utilise this technology to directly reduce instances of invoice fraud around the world. “Using AI to solve common cyber threats that affect all of us and results in billions of pounds of losses is very exciting, and it's fantastic to see technology not only identifying and preventing fraud but making it affordable, too".

Check an Invoice has been developed by industry leaders across the fintech, blockchain, crypto, AI, eCommerce, and technology sectors, and analyses 8 distinct data points - name & address, invoice number, supplier, costs, bank details, VAT calculations, seller information, and totals - to identify potential attacks and reduce the impact.

The world of cybersecurity is constantly changing as attackers develop new ways of accessing data and internal systems. Check an Invoice recognises that it's not always possible to completely eradicate the risk of fraud, but believes that the fallout of such an event can be minimised significantly by having the right processes, protocols, and tools in place.

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  • 05:00 am

DappRadar, the leading global platform for discovering and analysing blockchain-based decentralised applications (“dapps”), announces it has raised $2.33 million in seed funding. The investment is led by Naspers, a global internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, through its Naspers Ventures division, with participation from Blockchain.com Ventures and Angel Invest Berlin. DappRadar will use the investment primarily for R&D, developing new functionality to help the business expand its service and reach the next stage in its growth.

Dapps are applications that run on peer-to-peer computer networks, rather than on centralised machines or servers. Their code is typically open source and the core function is handled by open source smart contracts deployed on a blockchain. Due to the nature of blockchain technology, a decentralised application’s data is transparent and cannot be tampered with, enabling the community to build on top of it without requiring permission.

DappRadar tracks over 2,500 dapps across six blockchains, including Ethereum, EOS and TRON, with plans to expand to others. DappRadar filters through dapp data, removes fake and irrelevant activity and provides actionable market intelligence. Dapps are tracked in terms of their active users, token volume and transaction activity to provide insight into the trends in the dapp ecosystem. DappRadar has become the starting point for dapp discovery and acts as a distribution channel for dapp developers that are looking to reach new consumers.

“In the short time since we founded DappRadar, we've seen the technology mature quickly and its commercial prospects are clearer,” says Skirmantas Januskas, DappRadar CEO and co-founder. “With Naspers Ventures’ international consumer expertise and Blockchain.com’s industry knowledge, we are in an excellent position to harness this momentum to expand our business further.”

The investment is led by Naspers Ventures, offering further validation of the space as the company joins a portfolio that includes other leading global internet companies. Banafsheh Fathieh, Principal and Early Stage Investment Lead at Naspers Ventures, will join the DappRadar board.

“Naspers Ventures’ strategy is to invest in companies and sectors with high, long-term growth potential. Blockchain is beginning to disrupt and revolutionise a number of key industries and DappRadar has succeeded in creating a strong commercial brand and product in the space. We are excited for our partnership and the opportunity that lies ahead for the company,” says Fathieh.

Blockchain.com Ventures makes long-term venture investments in businesses using blockchain technology to provide product differentiation or enhanced utility, rather than leveraging crypto as a tool for financial speculation.

“DappRadar is playing a vital role in bringing trust, transparency and discovery to the fragmented world of dapps,” says Samuel Harrison, Managing Partner at Blockchain.com Ventures. “We hope to play a role in accelerating their impact on the ecosystem.”

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  • 01:00 am

Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”), one of the UK’s most active SME finance providers, has led a £750,000 equity investment into innovative ecommerce platform, Aero Commerce Ltd (“Aero”).

A total of £550,000 was provided via the North East Development Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Maven, £200,000 was provided by existing shareholders in this round taking the total investment to date to over £1m. The funding will enable Aero to invest in its sales and marketing activities and open an office in Newcastle. This will also allow the business to create a number of new roles and deliver on its ambitious expansion plans, while continuing to roll out several exciting product enhancements.

Aero is an in-house developed, highly scalable and secure ecommerce platform which allows retailers to have professional, feature rich and future proof ecommerce sites built by Aero’s agency partners. Aero partners with digital marketing, web design and ecommerce agencies to provide all of the functionality that the majority of retailers need, its open source license allows further development flexibility to agencies and retailers.

A recent report by Retail Economics predicted that the internet is expected to account for 53% of UK retail sales in 10 years’ time, as younger people who have grown up with the internet will soon represent more than half of the country’s adult population. The December’s IMRG Capgemini Sales Index showed that online sales in the UK grew by 11.8% in 2018, whilst the same index confirmed UK online retail market grew 9.4% year on year in February 2019.

Aero is led by a highly experienced senior management team, and headed up by CEO Richard Bendelow, who co-founded and led the growth of Visualsoft, one of the UK’s largest ecommerce agencies, before selling the business in a management buyout in 2014.  Richard is joined by former colleagues Matt Burton and Tim Spratt who were respectively Chief Technology Officer and Senior Developer at Visualsoft.

Michael Vassallo, Investment Director at Maven, said: “We are delighted to support Richard and the team as they embark on a programme of growth. Aero will support smaller agencies to attract enterprise level ecommerce website customers and provide an innovative, out of the box solution to those clients. Online sales and ecommerce platforms are highly attractive growth markets and we look forward to supporting Aero as it executes its expansion plans.”     

Richard Bendelow, CEO of Aero Commerce, said: “We are excited to work with Maven on the next stage of our growth journey. The investment provides the perfect springboard to progressively develop the platform and take it further to market.  There are already a number of Aero sites live that are out performing the competition in terms of speed, infrastructure costs and conversion rates. The pipeline of sites in development via our agencies is also exceeding expectation, these are truly exciting times for Aero!”

Robert Cooper, Corporate Finance Manager of UNW, who advised Aero on the transaction, said: “It was a pleasure working with Richard and his team at Aero to secure this investment from Maven. We drew on our wide range of experience of both the tech and e-commerce sectors within our corporate finance team to assist Aero with the development of their business plan and financial model to see the deal through completion.” 

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  • 04:00 am

Mastercard today announced the appointment of Jennifer Erickson as executive vice president, Global Communications, effective September 23. She will lead corporate, internal, external and digital communications, reporting to Raja Rajamannar, the company’s chief marketing and communications officer and president, Healthcare.

“We are thrilled to have someone of Jennifer’s caliber join our team to lead the global communications function,” Rajamannar said. “She is a top strategic leader with a track record of delivering results across a number of global companies and industries. As we continue Mastercard’s extraordinary journey to lead towards a world beyond cash, rooted in innovation and delivering Priceless experiences to our customers around the world, Jennifer’s passion for our vision and strong business orientation will accelerate us on this path.”

Erickson commented, “Working with global, best-in-class corporate brands is a proud hallmark of my career. Mastercard’s commitment to financial inclusion, innovation and delivering impactful benefits to its customers, shareholders and the world around us is incredibly inspiring to me. I am proud to join the team and look forward to telling Mastercard’s story and helping to drive its growth.”

Erickson joined General Electric in 2013 and most recently served as chief communications officer, playing a pivotal role in leading the communications function while also protecting and enhancing the company’s reputation through a period of significant transformation. Prior to GE, she spent more than 15 years at Motorola, serving as its chief communications officer and then as chief communications officer for Motorola Mobility, following Motorola’s split into two companies.

She earned a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Roosevelt University.

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  • 05:00 am

Global consulting firm Protiviti has opened a new Protiviti iNNTM innovation site in London, following on from the opening of sites in New York and Chicago earlier this year. The London site will serve as an in-house incubator and accelerator of ideas and next-generation solutions for clients and the firm. The presence of the site within Protiviti’s London office significantly differentiates Protiviti’s innovation culture, reminding employees and clients of the firm’s commitment to innovative solutions on a daily basis.

“Our innovation sites bring together a collection of our people to incubate ideas and accelerate our exploration of new and emerging technologies. We’re constantly looking at ways we can apply them to our clients’ business challenges”, said Jonathan Wyatt, a managing director with Protiviti U.K. and leader of Protiviti Digital. “When our clients come and participate in activities and design-thinking workshops with us, they find that not only is it a creatively stimulating experience, but they leave with something tangible that they can apply to their business”.

Residents at Protiviti iNN Sites

The London opening creates an opportunity for employees from all functions to become ‘residents’ and serve three-month secondments at the site. Through this unique creative rotation and secondment program, the firm maximises opportunities for global employees to participate in the Protiviti iNNTM program. Innovation site teams hold a diverse mix of expertise, backgrounds and skillsets and work together without hierarchy or titles. Residents are free to be creative and are encouraged to learn about emerging technologies and operating methods. Residents serving at Protiviti iNN sites utilise cutting-edge communication tools, collaboration methods and virtual technologies to enable team-working and ideation. They are also able to apply design-thinking principles and leverage agile methodology on their case work.

“Our innovation sites have the latest technology to enable our teams to explore imaginative ideas in new ways,” added Wyatt. “We’ve also provided access to the latest tools and gadgets to enable participants to prototype these ideas and make them real.”

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  • 08:00 am

Torstone Technology, a leading provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing, today announces that Credit Suisse Securities (Canada) Inc. has selected its award-winning post-trade processing platform, Inferno, to replace the firm’s existing third party outsourced platform and service.

Torstone Inferno is a multi-asset, multi-entity cloud-based platform, covering trade capture, confirmation, settlement, accounting, corporate actions, reconciliation and regulatory reporting. It provides a fully integrated, feature-rich user experience for middle- and back-office staff, increasing straight through processing (STP) and reducing manual effort.

Credit Suisse chose to implement Inferno following an extensive review period, including a detailed scoping analysis, which demonstrated Inferno’s capability to support Credit Suisse’s current business needs and the platform’s ability to flex in response to future requirements.

The project to migrate to Inferno is now underway and is focused on the firm’s institutional equities business. A key driver for the change was an aim to move away from an outsourced operation, and to increase efficiency across the wider business. Consolidating processes on Torstone’s SaaS platform will also provide Credit Suisse with the benefits of Torstone’s enhanced service model, resulting in reduced total cost of ownership.

Commenting on the announcement, Sam Farrell, Director, Head of Operations Credit Suisse Canada & Bahamas, said, “We decided to move to Inferno and bring our operational processing back in house in order to leverage a cloud-based, cross-asset platform, providing us greater transparency and control over our business, and presenting an opportunity to reduce our total cost of ownership. Our teams are working well together and we look forward to leveraging the benefits of the platform going forward.”

Jonny Speers, Global Head of Sales, Torstone said: “We are thrilled that Credit Suisse Securities (Canada) Inc. has chosen Inferno to support its institutional equities business here in Canada. As with all of our projects, we are working in close collaboration with the team at Credit Suisse, to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. We look forward to working with Credit Suisse over the coming months and years ahead, and to further growing our franchise here in Canada.”

Brian Collings, CEO, Torstone said: “Our relationship with Credit Suisse proves again Torstone’s ability to quickly enter new markets, underscoring the dynamic and flexible nature of our cloud-based platform.” 

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  • 07:00 am

Luc Gueriane, formerly Head of Business Development at Wirecard, has been appointed by Moorwand as its Chief Commercial Officer. Moorwand is a dedicated BIN sponsor, issuer and acquirer that provides Electronic Money Services and access to VISA, Mastercard, JCB and UnionPay card schemes to payment providers.

Gueriane’s role is focused on driving commercial success through the growth of Moorwand’s client base, programme portfolio, and client retention by ensuring Moorwand continue to build its reputation as the BIN sponsor, issuer and acquirer that turns compliance into competitive advantage for its clients.

Under Gueriane leadership, Moorwand will spearhead a two-pronged commercial strategy in the UK and Europe. The strategy aims to drive growth with established financial institutions, fintechs and payment companies, as well as supporting newer players in less mature geographies across the continent. Gueriane will also expand Moorwand’s market leading partnerships with players such as UnionPay International and JCB to ensure its payment clients have unrivalled reach and choice.

Gueriane has more than six years’ experience working with flagship fintechs like Revolut, Transferwise, Monzo and Curve. His tenure at Cornercard and Wirecard coincided with a time underscored by regulatory change from new legislation - from PSD2 and MLD5 to GDPR and 2EMD – giving Gueriane unique insight into how to navigate regulatory complexity whilst ensuring commercial success.

To bolster Moorwand’s ability to help clients create and maintain innovative payments programmes, Luc brings a wealth of relationships from across the payments value chain including, processors, app developers, KYC providers, banking solutions and mobile wallets.

“Luc has worked closely with the biggest movers and shakers in the fintech world, helping to define and deliver truly groundbreaking payments programmes that represent milestones in our industry’s evolution,” said Robert Courtneidge, CEO at Moorwand. “The addition of his experience to our existing team of payments pioneers makes Moorwand uniquely placed to serve the next wave of innovative from both established and emerging players.”

“Market developments such as Open Banking, cryptocurrencies and wearables are transforming the payments industry as we’ve known it,” said Luc Gueriane, COO at Moorwand. “Compliance is an integral part of innovation. Payment providers need compliance to be as fast, agile and dynamic as their technical implementations have become, with answers in hours rather than weeks. Unlike other BIN sponsors, Moorwand rapidly orchestrates agile and dynamic programmes designed to turn compliance into competitive advantage for our clients.”   

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  • 03:00 am
A poll conducted by the P2P platform Robo.cash has revealed that apart from loans listed in euros, European P2P investors show interest in other currencies. Thus, 21% of respondents prefer investing in Russian rubles. This currency is attractive as it has strengthened by 9% against the euro since the beginning of the year. The second most popular national currency among the P2P investors is the British pound (12.9%), the returns on which are slightly higher than in the Eurozone.
 
Recently, the fully automated P2P platform Robo.cash conducted a poll among European P2P investors. It showed that apart from euros, they willingly invest in loans listed in Russian rubles. This was mentioned by 21% of investors. The second most popular local currency according to the poll is the British pound specified by 12.9% of respondents. The national currency of Bulgaria ranked third winning 9.7% of votes. The fourth place was shared by the Kazakhstani tenge and Czech koruna – each of them was chosen by 8% of respondents.
 
 
According to analysts of the company, there are several factors stimulating European investors to look for returns in currencies other than euros. The Eurozone has had negative interest rates for a long time, and the ECB rate is set at -0.4%. Despite the monetary incentives, the returns on the European stock market have been low over the past few years. Therefore, deposits in euros often do not allow to exceed inflation.
 
Investments in the currencies of developing countries are traditionally popular due to the higher returns. For example, while the ECB rate is set at -0.4%, in Russia it equals +7.25%. The attractiveness of the Russian market is easy to explain. Since the beginning of the year, the ruble has strengthened by 9% against the euro (as of September 3, 2019), and has become one of the most profitable currencies. In addition, Russian assets have also brought rather high profit. Thus, European investors who have invested in Russian currency this year have a double benefit: direct investment income and exchange difference.

With regard to the British pound, which ranked second in the poll, the returns on it are slightly higher than in the Eurozone. The rate of the Bank of England is currently set at +0.75%.

 

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