Another mobile pain point: tackled. T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) launched T-Mobile MONEY nationwide. It’s a no-fee, interest-earning, mobile-first checking account that anyone can open and manage right from their smartphone. With T-Mobile MONEY, eligible Un-carrier customers can earn an industry-leading 4.00% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)* on balances up to $3,000 – 50 times higher than the average U.S. checking account – and 1.00 APY% on every dollar over that! Plus avoid all those big bank fees and overdrafts.

“Traditional banks aren’t mobile-first, and they’re definitely not customer-first. As more and more people use their smartphones to manage money, we saw an opportunity to address another customer pain point,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “You work hard for your money … you should keep it … and with T-Mobile MONEY, you can!"

Keep More, Earn More

Big banks are built on fees. In 2017, Americans paid $34 billion … in overdraft fees alone!! And that’s just one kind of fee. Bank of America Advantage Checking has 19 different types of fees, and Wells Fargo Everyday Checking has 14! With T-Mobile MONEY, there are no fees -- no monthly, overdraft or transfer fees, no fees at over 55,000 in-network Allpoint® ATMs worldwide** and no fees from T-Mobile for using out-of-network ATMs. Also, no minimum balance requirement!

And, you’ll earn more interest on your money, too. A lot more. T-Mobile postpaid customers can get 4.00% APY* on balances up to $3,000 and 1.00% APY on every dollar over $3,000 when they sign up with their T-Mobile ID and deposit at least $200 each month. Everyone else scores 1.00% APY on all balances.

Un-carrier postpaid customers can opt-in for Got Your Back overdraft protection when they sign up for T-Mobile MONEY, so when the unplanned happens, they can go in-the-red, up to $50, without penalty -- just bring the account back to a positive balance within 30 days.

Banking Built for Mobile

Consumers are outgrowing traditional banks – 7 out of 10 consumers bank digitally, and smartphones are the fastest growing digital platform.5 Yet less than half of traditional banks say they have a digital strategy6, and only 13% believe their core systems can keep up with digital innovation.

T-Mobile MONEY is built to be mobile-first, and you can do all the things you need to do every day with your checking account right from the app – make mobile check deposits, set up direct deposit, pay bills, send a check, pay with a mobile wallet such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, transfer money, even make payments person to person. The app offers biometric security with fingerprint and Face ID login, account alerts and debit card disabling.

Plus, T-Mobile MONEY comes with a Mastercard® debit card you can use at more than 55,000 Allpoint ATMs worldwide – more ATMs than Bank of America, Chase or Wells Fargo. And you can use the T-Mobile MONEY app or web site to locate the ATM nearest you. Plus, your T-Mobile MONEY Mastercard offers Mastercard Zero Liability Protection.

T-Mobile MONEY is created in partnership with BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank (Member FDIC), and has been available in a limited pilot since November 2018. T-Mobile MONEY deposits are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. Customers can get 24/7 bi-lingual customer service and support with T-Mobile MONEY Specialists.

Remitly, the largest independent digital remittance company in North America, has launched its award-winning service to France, making international money transfers more fair, transparent, and cost-effective when sending money from France to international destinations.

Remittances are important to the millions who rely on them. For many on the receiving end, remittances are a lifeline providing them with basic necessities. Traditional remittance players have pocketed billions of dollars of hard-working immigrants’ earnings in transfer fees and confusing exchange rates. This is money that could help improve their quality of life and provide them with upward mobility.

Over $21 billion is sent from France to other countries each year. That money is mostly sent by immigrant workers in France sending money to their loved ones in Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal, among other countries.

“Remitly makes the process of sending money internationally faster, easier, more transparent, and less costly,” said Elena Novokreshchenova, vice president of Europe for Remitly. “We do this by eliminating the forms, codes, agents, extra time and fees typical of the traditional money transfer process. We’re thrilled to be in France where customers are increasingly transitioning away from traditional offline channels to more efficient and affordable digital channels.”

Customers can access the Remitly service through its mobile app or website and benefit from a variety of secure and convenient money sending and receiving options, including:

• An easy way to send money on-the-go from your mobile phone or computer.
• On-time delivery backed by a money back guarantee.
• Great rates and no hidden fees.
• Multiple ways for recipients to receive money including cash pickup, home delivery and mobile wallets with our network of partners such as Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Populaire du Maroc, and BMCE Bank in Morocco, Banque De L’Habitat in Tunisia, and Orabank, Ecobank, and Wafacash in Senegal.
• 24/7 friendly customer support.

Remitly was established in 2011 to disrupt the $625 billion global remittance industry, and today transfers over $6 billion around the world annually through its proprietary global money transfer platform.

BELLIN, a global leader in providing web-based treasury software and services for multinational corporations, has successfully integrated SWIFT gpi for Corporates (g4C) technology in its tm5 treasury management system. BELLIN client Darling Ingredients Inc. just went live with g4C and has processed the first g4C payments in tm5, together with JPMorgan Chase bank. This makes BELLIN the first treasury management system provider amongst the select group of SWIFT gpi for Corporates Early Adopters to offer and successfully implement this new, ground-breaking, fast and transparent method of exchanging cross-border corporate payment messages directly from a treasury management system.

SWIFT gpi for Corporates is a multi-bank payment tracking solution that enables corporates to achieve complete visibility of the status of all their cross-border payments in real time. The key feature of the solution is the standardized tracking of payments across different banks by SWIFT.

Release 19.1 of tm5 by BELLIN, rolled out in April 2019, now technically supports SWIFT g4C technology based on MT101 messages. Support for ISO 20022-based messages for bulk payments from ERP systems that contain a unique tracking reference (UETR) will follow later this year.

In June 2019, SWIFT will make the gpi for Corporates service available to all SWIFT corporate customers. This will then enable all BELLIN clients who use the BELLIN SWIFT Service and have their own BIC to introduce gpi for Corporates, provided a customer’s banks support gpi for Corporates. Various major banks have already added this to their portfolio, others are soon to follow.

“We are very proud to see this new era in cross-border payments come to life in our TMS, together with our pilot customers, their banks and of course SWIFT,” remarks Karsten Kiefer, Product Manager SOLUTION MANAGEMENT at BELLIN. “The speed, traceability and transparency of the first gpi for Corporates payments that have been processed are second to none.”

Early on, BELLIN was spearheading Early Adopter development by completing the testing phase. With the technology now live, BELLIN is once again showcasing its drive for innovation and the strong payments capabilities of the tm5 TMS.

First and long-time investor Amerborgh sells a part of its stake in Ohpen to NPM Capital, that upon the transaction, will have a 35% stake in Ohpen. Amerborgh wanted to sell this stake to finance ongoing and future projects, like the arts and culture centre "het HEM" in Zaandam.

Ohpen is a fast-growing Fintech company. The Ohpen SaaS, cloud native core banking platform administers retail investment and savings accounts for banks and other financial institutions.

Rutger Ruigrok, managing director at NPM Capital explains: “The technology sector is an increasingly important focus point in our investment portfolio. Already, we have had Ohpen in sight as one of the most promising technology companies that we have seen in the past few years. We are impressed with their achievements over the past ten years: a cloud native core banking engine, an impressive customer base and a wonderful foundation for further growth. We are very enthusiastic about now being part of their future."

Having the new shareholder on board means a broadening of our options to finance future growth, although Ohpen can still advance with the growth capital that we raised early 2018, says Matthijs Aler, CEO of Ohpen. “With Amerborgh and now also with NPM, we have a well-balanced long-term shareholder structure that enables Ohpen to realize all of its future growth ambitions. I am really looking forward to working with the NPM team.”

Ohpen is the world’s first cloud native core banking provider and became a market leader in the Dutch midsize banking market over the past few years. In the near future, Ohpen will extend its services to large banks and the pension market.

Michel Vrolijk, managing director at Amerborgh Netherlands is happy with the fact that the company decided to invest in Ohpen ten years ago. “Our expectations at the time have always been exceeded. We hope to be a partner of Ohpen’s incredible adventure for a long time to come."

Flywire, a company that solves complex payment problems for educational institutions and their students around the world, today announced the next strategic step in its partnership with TRUE North, a Canadian-based provider of online systems for information management, tracking, collaboration, and reporting for international student programs. The companies have integrated their solutions – connecting the application, enrollment and cross-border payment and receivables processes to provide schools, international agencies and student families increased transparency and convenience. Together, the companies will serve school districts in Canada to better support the recruitment of international students.

As Canadian School Districts continue to experience international program growth, so too come the complexities of supporting the application and payment process from many foreign countries. 

The TRUE North / Flywire solution integration, which is available today, enables schools to simplify the international application enrollment, payment and receivables processes for both themselves and prospective student families.

TRUE North’s secure, multi-user, web-based system manages the information tracking, reporting and collaborative needs of international education programs. Flywire complements this by providing a payment experience that is familiar and local to families, offering flexible payment options from over 240 countries and backed by around-the-clock multilingual support. With Flywire, institutions can offer students and families a convenient and secure payment experience – customized by country and currency – while accelerating funds flow and streamlining operational expense. To date, the company has processed over $10 Billion for over 1,800 clients worldwide.

“At TRUE North we are committed to helping international students who want to study in Canada. We are excited to be partnering with Flywire and are confident this integration will simplify the complexities of international payments and add value for international students, agencies and schools,” said Blair  Hope, who co-founded TRUE North along with Jason Schaad.

“By enhancing student activity visibility from the time of application through enrollment and payment, we help eliminate the manual effort typically required on the part of the schools,” said Sharon Butler, EVP Global Education of Flywire. “At the same time, we provide a seamless payment experience for student families that enables them to put more focus on ensuring a smooth transition for their students.”

Igor Galkin, Head of Global Business Development and Sales at Libertex Group, said, “Lyft held an IPO at the end of March, 2019. Its shares are one of the most interesting instruments of this season. We’re glad to offer our clients CFD for Lyft shares and open new trading opportunities for them.”
 
CFD on Lyft have a huge potential for effective trading because of two key reasons: first, they allow traders to diversify their trading strategies, and second, after the IPO they are quite volatile. Long-term investors can also find Lyft to be of interest, seeing as there is a good potential for share price growth.
 
Lyft shares will be available on the Libertex trading terminal starting April, 2019.

A new deposit acquisition strategy capitalizing on cutting-edge technology and globalized market opportunities.

Praxia Bank, the new Greek digital bank, announces the kickoff of its partnership with Raisin, Europe’s leading deposits marketplace, by capitalizing on technological innovation and globalized market opportunities. Praxia Bank is committed to attracting deposits from Europe’s leading marketplaces. In this context, Praxia Bank will be offering deposit products in Germany through WeltSparen, Raisin’s German deposits platform. Praxia Bank’s product offering, to be fully launched in the fall of 2019, comprises products and services addressing current digital trends seeking to offer an advanced banking experience.

Praxia Bank’s objective to be part of an international online deposit market place constitutes a core component of its business plan. Thus, Praxia Bank will take advantage of the operational flexibility offered by its cross-border digital model.  A pioneer in the Greek market, Praxia Bank is launching a ground-breaking deposit acquisition strategy based on innovation.

Anastasia Sakellariou, Praxia Bank CEO said: “We are a new digital bank seeking to do things differently, to offer a seamless and easy-to-access banking experience with technology on our side. As we approach the launch date of a range of products and services for our corporate and retail clients in the fall of 2019, we have opted to reinforce our deposit base through Raisin’s platform. This enables Praxia Bank to become a key player in the global financial market offering our products beyond the Greek borders in line with the current trends set by pioneering banks in Europe.”