International payments platform Currencycloud has today announced a new  partnership with Lithuania-based start-up Evarvest. Evarvest, the modern way to invest in the brands you love, will be using the full suite of Currencycloud’s platform to empower cross-border payments for the next generation of investors to access the largest stock markets in the world.

Evarvest is removing the barriers to entry to over 30 stock markets across the world, providing a simple, easy-to-use, transparent and low-cost way to invest in stocks, bonds and ETFs like a local.

The new partnership will provide Evarvest with the ability to scale from its initial launch in five countries including the UK, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Lithuania, and future global expansion, providing a seamless experience for their users.

Mike Laven, CEO at Currencycloud, comments: “Evarvest is an exciting new service, providing an easy to use, transparent and low-cost way to invest in stocks around the world. We’re proud to be working with Evarvest as they help the next generation access the largest stock markets in the world, and look forward to supporting their expansion.”

Stephanie Brennan, CEO at Evarvest, comments: “Currencycloud have been fundamental in supporting us to reduce our costs and providing a cross-border payment and FX solution, so we can make investing accessible to the next generation of investors. Their API functionality allows us to fully integrate with our platform in a seamless manner, so we can support trading in international markets where the buy/sell process of stocks must be in that local markets’ currency. We look forward to working with Currencycloud, growing our partnership and together, shaping the future of cross border investing.”

Evarvest has recently launched a €75,000 funding round on a leading European investment platform Seedrs and will launch to consumers in the second half of this year. For more information visit https://www.evarvest.com/.

Modulr, the Payments as a Service API Platform for digital businesses, today announced that it has completed an investment of £14m.  The investment round has been led by new investors Frog Capital as well as further investment from existing investors including Blenheim Chalcot. 

This scale-up capital takes the total amount raised to £24.5m and will enable Modulr to accelerate its vision of enabling partners and direct clients to quickly and easily integrate new payment services into their core products. The Modulr platform delivers a fully integrated service providing a fast, easy and reliable digital alternative to processing payments via traditional business and corporate banking.  

Modulr is already moving billions of pounds for businesses across alternative lending, employment services, accounting platforms, marketplaces, FinTech companies and the travel industry. The total value of payments in and out of Modulr’s platform exceeded £10 Billion this month, since the start of 2017. The capital will help increase the speed at which new payment types and functionality are added to the Modulr platform which will accelerate growth into existing industry verticals as well as supporting entry into new industry verticals. 

The capital will support the continued growth of the teams located in London and Edinburgh, two of the UK & Europe’s leading FinTech hubs.  The recent establishment of an additional office in Dublin will be the focus for expansion into Europe. 

Myles Stephenson, Chief Executive, Modulr, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have completed our latest funding round, led by Frog Capital, and to have found a likeminded investor to work closely with the leadership team and our existing lead investor, Blenheim Chalcot, to pursue the significant global opportunity for our business.  We’ve rapidly demonstrated the size of the market opportunity having processed more than £10bn of payments through the platform in our first two full years of operation.  The investment allows us to take the next step in pursuing our vision to become the world’s leading digital alternative for commercial & wholesale payments”. 

Jens Düing, Senior Partner, Frog Capital, said: “Ever since the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) we have monitored the markets across Europe for leading innovative scale-ups addressing this sizeable segment. Modulr stood out with the quality of its team, its product and the unrivalled traction the company has already managed to achieve.” 

Rob Devey, Chair & Senior Non-Executive Director, Modulr, & Advisory Partner, Blenheim Chalcot, said: “We are delighted to have Frog onboard and we are greatly looking forward to working together to capture the massive opportunity that lies ahead.” 

Auriga, a leading European supplier of software and technology solutions for the banking industry, today announces Niccolò Garzelli as its new Senior Vice President, Sales.  He joins from holding senior business leadership roles at Diebold Nixdorf for the last ten years.

Niccolò has more than 20-years’ experience in the banking and enterprise technology fields. Prior to Diebold Nixdorf, he held business leadership and sales management roles at BMC Software and Computer Associates among other enterprise information technology businesses.

With a reputation for driving successful growth strategies and developing sales for innovative products, solutions and services, Niccolò will be responsible for driving Auriga’s growth in Europe, as well as an increasing number of locations around the world.

Auriga solutions are deployed on ATMs and other self-service digital banking devices and systems and are founded on a modern cloud computing architecture that improves time to market for new customer services while lowering operational costs and building long-term competitive advantage.

With offices in Bari, Rome, Milan, London, Paris and Frankfurt, Auriga is developing an exciting international presence. Auriga’s technology is deployed in UK, France, Italy, Portugal, Mexico and Belgium and is developing partnerships in Central America, Australasia, Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Southern Europe.

Speaking about the announcement, Vincenzo Fiore, CEO, Auriga, said, “Niccolò brings a wealth of industry experience to the team, which will be vital as we continue to build our international presence. I look forward to working closely with him in the future.”

Niccolò Garzelli commented, “Auriga combines technical excellence with a vision for the future of banking. I’m honoured to be able to join the team and look forward to helping more banks realise the potential of the branch of the future, with Auriga technology on board.”

Having transformed how consumers see ‘payments’, Klarna the Pay later company has turned its sights on the high street. It aims to show retailers how building a positive ‘play-area’ for buyers can inject new life into bricks and mortar outlets. At the same time, it wants to create new opportunities for pure-play digital brands to get hands-on with customers and create even closer engagement.

Klarna’s first UK all-immersive store will be popping up in London’s Covent Garden*, with a private VIP launch party on 4th June, before throwing its doors open to the public on 5th June 2019 for a week of daily-themed, high-octane fashion and lifestyle events — including free refreshments and entertainment.

The double storey pop-up will showcase an appealing mix of fashion, beauty, sports, interiors and technology and feature brands such as ASOS, Beauty Bay, Cambridge Satchel Company, Finery, Schuh and Swoon. Designed to be a totally visual ‘feast for the eyes’, with quirky, cool and amusing displays.

The Klarna pop-up brings your digital shopping experience to life, featuring many brands and products previously only available online. As you move around the pop-up, you’ll definitely spot retailers you’ve heard of and some that maybe you haven’t. Klarna believes this is part of the joy of shopping; stumbling upon a hidden gem, unearthing a new brand and finding clothes that help you, be you. Alongside a journey of discovery, there will be styling by industry experts, free beauty treatments and exclusive ticketed events in collaboration with some of the UK’s biggest brands. Tickets will be available free of charge in the week prior to the event.

Explaining the pop-up rationale, Luke Griffiths, GM of Klarna UK, says, “Anyone who knows Klarna, knows we like to do things differently. Whilst we believe payments should be smoooth, we also believe the overall shopping experience should be inspiring, so consumers can put together creative looks that are fun and affordable.  

“With retailers facing increasing pressure to acquire, retain and convert customers, we wanted to show how creating positive consumer experiences is the real secret to success and building loyalty. Happy and engaged visitors will come back, bring their friends and share their experience through social. We’re delighted to be able to create this unique and collaborative space, bringing together some really cool brands to demonstrate what’s possible with a little imagination and lots of passion!”

Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announced it has been positioned as a leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) services in banking by global research firm NelsonHall. 

The vendor profile highlighted Atos’ strengths in the space, including its portfolio of proprietary IP and BPS (Business & Platform Services) delivery in North America acquired with Syntel, Atos’ relationships with leading product vendors, particularly its Google delivery partnership, and the company’s existing client base of tier-one banks.  

Atos delivers RPA and AI services to a broad range of global and regional financial institutions, focused primarily on design and deployment activities. 

“Atos’ position as a leader in NelsonHall’s RPA and AI in Banking evaluation reflects the company’s strategic development of its offering by key acquisitions and partnerships, which provide strong RPA and AI capabilities in data management, transaction processing (payments and securities), and customer engagement,” said Andy Efstathiou, Director of NelsonHall’s Banking Operations & Transformation Research. 

“We are pleased to be recognized by NelsonHall as a leader in RPA and AI services in banking. Atos’ comprehensive offering in this space is driven by our commitment to support the digital transformation of our financial customers and enable them to overcome the digital dilemmas inherent in the move to future technologies,” said Himanshu Vyas, Chief Strategy Officer Global Financial Services, Atos. 

PXP Financial, a global payments expert delivering frictionless acquiring solutions built for merchants by merchants, has strengthened its expert team by welcoming new Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Sumit Arora.

Sumit has joined the business from payments provider, Ingenico ePayments, where he worked for nearly eight years, moving through the ranks from EMEA Business Development Manager, to Director for Global Strategic Accounts for EMEA, Russia and Africa. Prior to that, he was Deputy Manager for Business Development at Nucleus Software, growing product sales in Western Europe. He brings a proven insight not only into the varying payments landscape but into the unique technological needs of customers.  

As CCO, Sumit will be responsible for driving the ongoing transformation of the company’s commercial governance, playing a key role in supporting PXP Financial to meet its ambitious growth goals.

Sumit’s main priorities will be to further strengthen PXP Financial’s position within the payments industry and reinforce the company’s position as a trusted payment and financial service provider of choice.  His focus will be creating client intimacy and ensuring that PXP Financial’s commercial staff are providing relevant advice and solutions aimed at supporting the revenue growth of the company’s prospects and clients.

The arrival of Sumit isn’t the only change taking place on the PXP Financial executive board. Having been part of the board since her appointment as COO earlier this year, Gabriele Griesbacher has also had her responsibility  expanded with the addition of product, solution and service responsibilities. As such, she will be championing product and service innovation in the business, as well as leading the development of leading customer service policies.

This development is a testament to the important and positive impact Gabriele has had on the PXP Financial business. With her new responsibilities, Gabriele will be able to continue to lead this innovation, ensuring the company continues to provide the best and most relevant solutions to clients.

Koen Vanpraet, CEO of PXP Financial, commented: “We’re really excited to have Sumit on board. With his payments and technology experience, Sumit brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will be invaluable as we grow our client base and take steps to drive our business to the next level.

“Gabi, meanwhile, continues to showcase the value she adds to PXP Financial. Throughout her career, she has shown she always anticipates what clients need today and in the future, playing a key role in leading our business to constantly adapt to meet our customers’ changing needs.”

SEDCO Capital, a leading global asset manager, has partnered with the CFA Institute to provide a best-practice case study on its fully Shariah-compliant Prudent Ethical Investment (PEI) strategy for a new report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration in equity and fixed-income investments.

‘ESG Integration in Europe, The Middle East, And Africa: Markets, Practices, And Data’ focuses on the current state of ESG integration in EMEA. It is one of four reports compiled by the CFA Institute to create a best-practice guide to this nascent investment strategy. In addition to global insight, there are three regional reports, covering the Americas, APAC and EMEA regions. The aim of the reports is to help investors understand how they can better integrate ESG factors into their equity, corporate bond, and sovereign debt portfolios.

In the Arabian Gulf Region alone and with the collaboration of SEDCO Capital, the CFA Institute’s EMEA report finds that Islamic finance and ESG investing are complimentary investment approaches with many shared principles, such as good social and environmental stewardship.

Across all the reports, the CFA Institute published more than 30 case studies written by equity and fixed-income practitioners as the foundation of the analysis. SEDCO Capital’s case study examines its PEI strategy, a unique approach to integrating responsible and Shariah-compliant investment. Both responsible and Shariah-compliant investment strategies exclude the sin stock sectors via negative screening. However, Shariah compliance also requires balance sheet ratio screening.

SEDCO Capital’s own research shows that the balance sheet constraints of Shariah-compliant investors can improve risk-adjusted returns of conventional and responsible investment portfolios. PEI goes further, combining both responsible and Shariah-compliant investment strategies and integrating assessment of ESG criteria in addition. In this way, PEI delivers distinct return/risk characteristics relative to conventional as well as responsible investment strategies and has generally outperformed conventional portfolios, when adjusted for risk, over the last few years.

In its case study, SEDCO Capital sets out the five key building blocks to its PEI investment process. These are: negative screening, environmental factors, social factors, governance factors, and active ownership through proxy voting.

Commenting on SEDCO Capital’s partnership for the report, Christian Gueckel, Chief Risk Officer at SEDCO Capital, said: “We have always believed being a prudent investor means avoiding undue risks and seeking sustainable investments with strong governance which comply with jurisdictional regulations. Our PEI strategy shows that Islamic portfolio criteria, combined with ESG integration, can generate higher risk-adjusted returns than both conventional and responsible investment portfolios.”

Mr. Gueckel continued: “Partnering on this best-practice report points to a growing influence of responsible investments. It is an opportunity to demonstrate the value-add of SEDCO Capital’s Prudent Ethical Investment strategy for all investors – not just responsible or Shariah-compliant investors.”

In the EMEA region, the CFA Institute finds the ESG strategy is farther advanced in the equity world than in fixed income. It also finds the appeal of environmental and social factors is growing and that governance is so far the most widely integrated factor into investors’ processes. However, although integration is becoming more frequent, portfolio managers and analysts are still rarely adjusting their models based on ESG data.

When creating the report, the CFA Institute surveyed 1,100 financial professionals around the world; held 23 workshops in 17 major markets for practitioners and stakeholders; analyzed Bloomberg’s ESG company disclosure scores; and reviewed data from the largest global database of information on investors’ ESG practices – the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI) reporting framework. In July 2014, SEDCO Capital became the first fully Shariah-compliant as well as the first Saudi Arabia-based asset manager to be a signatory to the UN PRI.

Fenergo, a leading provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions for financial institutions, today announces the launch of Digital Client Orchestration, a suite of CLM tools that integrates front, middle and back office systems using an API-led approach.

A recent Fenergo survey found that over one third of banks have lost customers due to inefficient or slow client onboarding, costing them $10bn in lost revenue per annum. To counter this challenge, Fenergo Digital Client Orchestration expedites the onboarding process, enabling efficiencies of up to 82% while enabling staff to focus on more value-add tasks.

Fenergo’s Digital Client Orchestration provides a steel thread that digitally directs the customer journey through all internal approval processes, ensuring fast, compliant onboarding, from any front-end channel including mobile, web, desktop and in-person. The suite of tools harness automated workflow rules to eliminate manual data entry errors. Underpinned with a centralized data management approach, financial institutions can achieve a single client view throughout the lifecycle whilst building customer loyalty through optimised customer experiences.

Marc Murphy, CEO, Fenergo, said: “It’s now or never for banks and financial institutions that haven’t yet embraced digital. The beauty of an API-led approach enables banks and FS institutions to achieve true Digital Client Orchestration by delivering frictionless end-to-end customer journeys to any channel, significantly improving the customer experience and reducing operational inefficiencies.”

Fenergo Digital Client Orchestration is built upon the core Fenergo CLM building blocks including Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance, Anti Money Laundering (AML) screening, global derivatives reform rules, tax compliance, client risk assessment, account opening and client master data.