QuantHouse, the leading independent global provider of end-to-end systematic trading solutions including innovative market data services, algo trading platform and infrastructure solutions, today announced that QuantHouse and ARQA Technologies have been awarded ‘Best Alliance or Partnership’ at the 2019 Waters Technology Sell-side Awards.

The Sell-Side Technology awards recognise the leading technologies and third-party vendors in their area of expertise, through an auditable and transparent methodology developed and managed by Waters Technology and determined by an esteemed panel of judges.

As part of the QuantHouse API Ecosystem store, both companies partnered in 2018 to offer an OMS and advanced trading solutions as a fully managed service to sell-side market participants across Europe delivering access to over 150 equity and derivatives markets. This partnership was a direct result of the high demand witnessed for ARQA Technologies’ QUIK OMS - an order management system for sell-side companies. The joint solution expanded ARQA Technologies’ reach in Europe using QuantHouse’s backbone infrastructure and market connectivity.

This collaboration between QuantHouse and ARQA contains two elements. One, to feed QUIK OMS with fast, well-normalised and truly global market data and the other, to host QUIK OMS at QuantHouse’s data centre in London. These two elements enable clients to use QUIK OMS as a service and simplify connectivity to exchanges and execution brokers that are members of the QuantHouse API Ecosystem store.

Stephane Leroy, Business Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, QuantHouse, said, “QuantHouse is delighted to be recognised by Waters Technology for our joint offering with ARQA Technologies. End-clients benefit from a fully hosted solution that delivers a best-in-class OMS together with seamless market data and exchange connectivity integration. This approach makes the solution much easier to deploy than a traditional client-side implementation and allows clients to innovate rapidly and cost-effectively by connecting to our API Ecosystem store.”

Roman Anokhin, director, ARQA Technologies, said, “By partnering with QuantHouse, we are able to extend the reach of our services to yet more firms looking to benefit from easy to integrate, on demand services. Furthermore, as part of the QuantHouse API Ecosystem store, this new service has the capability to scale to match trading and performance requirements for regional players through to large investment banks.”

KKR announced that it has become a founding signatory to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a new market standard for impact investing introduced by the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. KKR joins 59 other signatories, collectively representing over $350 billion in assets invested for impact, in their commitment to managing their impact investments in accordance with these Principles, which are meant to bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market.

IFC led the development of the Principles, in collaboration with leading asset managers, asset owners, asset allocators, development banks, and financial institutions, following a three-month public stakeholder consultation. The Principles aim to create clarity and consistency regarding what constitutes managing investments for impact in order to bolster confidence in the market.

Ken Mehlman, Co-Head of KKR Global Impact, joined fellow signatories in Washington, DC, today for the global launch of the Principles. He commented: “For the last decade, we have sought to learn from leaders in sustainability as we have made our journey. The IFC has been leading impact investors for many years and we look forward to learning from their thinking, as well as from other stakeholders who are committed to investing for positive impact and shared value.”

Over the last decade, KKR has been a leader in driving and protecting value throughout the firm’s private markets portfolio through thoughtful Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) management, as well as measuring and reporting on performance to the public and investors. The firm also has a history of investing in businesses that promote sustainable solutions to societal challenges.

This experience of responsible investment combined with a changing landscape of global challenges led to KKR’s decision to create a dedicated Global Impact business in 2018. KKR’s Global Impact strategy focuses on identifying and investing behind businesses with positive social or environmental impact that measurably contribute solutions to one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. KKR’s alignment with the Operating Principles for Impact Management, which you can read more about here, will build on this strategy.

Liquidnet, the global institutional investment network, announces that it has launched its EU operations in Dublin. Liquidnet EU Limited (located in Dublin’s International Financial Services Centre), has been authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland as a MiFID II investment firm and MTF operator. This new entity acts as an agency broker, ensuring Liquidnet continues to provide services to its Member community based in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Liquidnet began preparations to open an EEA-based presence in early 2017, following the UK invocation of Article 50 to leave the EU. As a result, and following an extensive evaluation and assessment of alternative locations, the firm chose to establish a presence in Dublin in readiness for Brexit. Dublin is a well-established international financial centre with an appropriate and supportive financial regulatory regime. As such, it is already home to a significant number of major financial institutions as well as a growing number of financial technology firms.

“It is vital that we continue to provide services to all our European clients, which include some of the world’s biggest institutional investors following Brexit,” said Simon Ormrod, Chief Operating Officer, Liquidnet EMEA. “Establishing our presence in Dublin ensures that our EU-based operations continue to give our clients global access to the same unique liquidity, innovation, and execution ecosystem that we currently offer from the UK.”

“In searching for a location for our EU operations, we carefully reviewed a number of jurisdictions in Europe before concluding that Dublin offered the regulatory environment and highly skilled workforce that will enable us to continue to serve our Members’ needs and grow our business in the region,” Ormrod continued.

Sopra Steria is to acquire fellow French core banking vendor SAB as part of a strategy to turn around its underperforming Banking Software division.

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions, and Discover Financial Services, a leading direct bank and payments services company, announced today that Global Payments is now an acquirer for all cards on the Discover Global Network in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This includes Discover, Diners Club International and affiliate partner cards.

Discover and Global Payments have been working together since 2006 with Discover Global Network card acceptance in place in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. This relationship will now be extended at major hotels, luxury brands, food and beverage merchants and other businesses in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“Hong Kong and Taiwan are the top destinations for tourists and business travelers, especially for our Discover Global Network issuing partners in Asia Pacific,” said Amy Parsons, senior vice president global acceptance at Discover. “We continue to look at ways to open up additional acceptance in these key markets to provide the best customer experience for our cardholders when they are traveling.”

“Global Payments is proud to extend our regional expertise in Diners Club and Discover card acceptance to additional markets across Asia Pacific,” said Konrad Chan, President Global Payments Asia Pacific. “Diners Club and Discover are exciting additions to our extensive product and service offerings. This new partnership reaffirms our continued commitment to leading payments technology across the globe by offering another form of payment acceptance and enhancing a seamless customer experience.”

The Discover Global Network includes Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and affiliate networks. It has more than 44 million merchant acceptance locations and 2 million ATM cash access locations around the world.

PayU, an online payment service provider and Naspers’ fintech arm, today announced the acquisition of Wibmo, a Cupertino, CA-based industry leader in digital payment security and mobile payment technologies. This strategic acquisition combines PayU’s strong merchant network and Wibmo’s leadership in digital transaction security solutions to offer industry-leading payments solutions to merchants and financial institutions in India and other high growth markets.

Wibmo, an innovative digital payment company partners and deeply integrates with banks in over twenty countries to offer payment authentication and risk-based decisioning across billions of online and mobile payment transactions. The acquisition of Wibmo will enable PayU to build a robust digital payment ecosystem capable of harmonizing transaction processing on both issuing and acquiring side, to deliver a seamless payment experience and industry-leading success rates in online and mobile payments. Additionally, PayU and Wibmo together will be able to work with merchants and financial institutions to offer targeted payment solutions leveraging data from hundreds of millions of Indian consumers annually. This acquisition will also help PayU accelerate its credit business by leveraging big data to power credit on various online and offline merchants in partnership with leading lending players.

Wibmo has also built and operates a robust platform for banks to power mobile payments solutions. PayU and Wibmo will leverage this platform to partner with leading banks and be a catalyst in creating a full suite mobile commerce and payment ecosystem in multiple countries.

Aakash Moondhra, CFO, PayU Global said, “India is a priority market for PayU and we are committed to making digital payments frictionless through our innovative products and services, supporting the Government’s vision of a digital India. PayU’s technologically future-ready products are defining and reinventing India’s payments landscape, supporting the country’s transition to a cashless, digital economy. Through the acquisition of Wibmo, our endeavour is to positively impact and add value to the entire ecosystem including banks, consumers and merchants, with the combined service offerings of PayU and Wibmo. We will partner with leading banks to enable digital banking, merchants will gain with higher conversions rates and increased sales, and consumers will have a frictionless experience in completing digital payments transactions.”

Govind Setlur, founder and CEO, Wibmo added, “PayU has evolved within the complex payments landscape to become India’s biggest online payments processor, serving more than 350,000 merchants. We are excited to embark on this next chapter of Wibmo’s growth with PayU. By combining our track record and expertise in payment security and mobile payments with PayU’s strong merchant network and heritage in payments, the combined entity will be focussed on delivering more secure and seamless payments experience to its customers.” 

The deal brings together two highly complementary businesses and enables them to offer innovative financial services and new capabilities to the merchants and financial institutions, thereby helping them grow and scale. Given different capabilities and positioning in the value chain, Wibmo and PayU businesses will continue to run separately. However, both teams will work together to extract synergies and build unique business solutions from the two technology platforms. Govind Setlur, founder and CEO of Wibmo, a strong technology leader with 30 years of management experience in Silicon Valley and India, will become part of PayU’s leadership team, reporting into the PayU India CEO. 

Wibmo will continue to operate and serve all of its clients as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Naspers’ PayU under the leadership of Govind. Wibmo’s strong management team of seasoned technology and payments experts will also become part of the PayU team, adding value to the combined business. 

As well as helping Wibmo scale its business in India, PayU will draw upon its presence in other high growth markets to drive the expansion of Wibmo’s payment security and mobile payment business outside India. The investment takes PayU’s fintech investment total past the $500 million mark, putting the company within the top five leading global fintech investors over the last two years.

With entries received from all over the UK, a visit from Hugo Taylor and a competitive voting period which saw over 5,000 votes cast by the public, The Hand Dyed Shoe Co. was crowned the winner of Klarna’s ‘Smoooth Stores’ initiative at last night’s star-studded awards.

‘Smoooth Stores’ – launched by Klarna to discover and develop top retail talent across the UK – has named Simon Bourne and his experiential shoe making business from Durham the overall winner. He’ll receive £10,000 alongside mentoring from senior Klarna executives , and free use of Klarna’s Pay later service for 12 months.

The Hand Dyed Shoe Co, which creates handmade footwear from scrap leather in the furniture industry, has always done things a bit differently. Founder Simon claims his mission is to change the way the world buys shoes, offering a unique experience and service through all the touch points of the business. His approach has grown alongside the business, and started with free shoe-shining lessons, fresh coffee, and local gin for G&Ts.

With experiences offered in Durham, Dubai and London – the company has focused on putting customer experience, as well as workplace culture front and centre of its brand.

Special commendations have also been given to runners-up Britannical, the luxury children’s outerwear brand who came in second place, Charlotte Jade in third place, who offer hand drawn plant, floral and animal themed designs for wallpaper, upholstery and tiles. The pair have been awarded a £5,000 cash prize.

Simon Bourne, Founder of The Hand Dyed Shoe Co, said: “I come from quite humble beginnings – a council estate in Scunthorpe actually, and I never dreamed I’d be here in front of everyone to accept such a generous award. This opportunity will really drive  my business into the future - we’ll invest it wisely and I hope you’ll see much more from The Hand Dyed Shoe Co. in the future.”

Hugo Taylor, added: “From the moment I met Simon I knew he was incredibly passionate about his business, and rightly so, the quality of the products, and the unique experience he offers is something to be proud of. Working with him over the last few weeks has been a pleasure, and I know he’ll go on to do great things with the support of Klarna.”

Luke Griffiths, General Manager at Klarna UK, commented: “We are delighted to announce that Simon has won our Smoooth Stores competition. The unique experience which The Hand Dyed Shoe Co. creates is above and beyond what many retailers offer, and yet, it’s an intrinsic part of what makes Simon’s business so great. Every business we’ve had the chance to work with in this project has shown us that the UK’s retail scene is thriving and evolving. The Hand Dyed Shoe Co. will only continue to succeed, and I hope our prize and ongoing support will help accelerate that success for them - I can’t wait to follow his brand’s journey.”

TBC Bank Group PLC of Georgia has entered into an agreement to acquire a 51% stake in LLC Inspired, a leading payment platform in Uzbekistan trading under the Payme brand.

Payme is a leading payment service provider in Uzbekistan that supplies high-quality payment solutions to its 1.3 million customers. It facilitates utility payments, P2P transfers, loan repayments, mPOS for QR-based payments and ecommerce purchases. It also provides a marketplace platform for loans from certain Uzbek banks.

Payme has grown rapidly in recent years, increasing its number of clients by around 70% during 2018, while its revenue and net income grew by 41.9% and 24.5% respectively year-on-year. At the end of 2018, the gross assets of Payme stood at US$0.7 million, while total revenue and profit before tax for the full year 2018 amounted to US$1.6 million and US$0.8 million respectively, based on Payme’s unaudited management accounts.

Payme was founded in 2011 and continues to be managed by the three original founding shareholders. In addition, the team was strengthened by two new shareholders: one acting as Business Development and Research Director and the other as the Chief Technology Officer.

The shareholders who sold part of their shares to TBC Bank are Managing Owners Sarvar Ro’zmatov, Bakhrom Khodjayev and Farrukh Ziyayev, Business Development and Research Director Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Akhadov and Oleg Geverges.

The management team will remain with Payme on a long-term basis and will continue to be actively involved in the development and execution of Payme’s strategy.

The consideration for the 51% stake is US$5.5 million, implying a valuation of US$10.8 million for Payme. The consideration is payable in cash from TBC Bank’s own funds and the transaction is expected to close before the end of April 2019. TBC Bank has also entered into a put/call arrangement for the remaining 49% of Payme, which, in normal circumstances, may only be exercised between the fourth and seventh anniversary of the date of completion of the transaction.

Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, Chief Executive Officer of TBC Bank, commented: “The acquisition of Payme is another important step in our planned expansion into Uzbekistan. It will enable us to gain immediate access to a large customer base in the country and use our core digital strengths in Georgia to innovate in the Uzbekistani market. With Payme joining our effort, we intend to further develop the payment business and also use it as a platform to develop new ecosystems in the country. I am excited about the partnership with Payme’s highly successful management team and I look forward to working closely together with the team in devising and executing the Bank’s strategy in Uzbekistan for the benefit of our stakeholders. In addition, the acquisition is expected to increase the total number of users that the TBC Group and its subsidiaries are serving by more than 50% to 3.7 million”.

Sarvar Ro’zmatov, Managing Owner of Payme commented:  “We are thrilled to partner with a leading bank in the region, with advanced digital capacities and and strong commitment to Uzbekistan. I am confident that together we will bring the company to the next level and offer our customers new, cutting-edge solutions and services in a very short period of time”.

Grant Thornton acted as exclusive financial adviser, Baker & McKenzie LLP as international legal adviser and CentilLaw as a local legal adviser to TBC Bank in relation to this transaction.

 Source https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/post/49077

Sberbank, Gazprombank and Digital Horizon announce that Sberbank has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Speech Technology Center (STC) from Gazprombank. Digital Horizon venture capital fund has also agreed to acquire a stake in STC. Gazprombank remains a strategic shareholder in STC and will continue to play an active role in the company’s future development. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of May 2019.

The shareholders will create a new board of directors at STC, which will consist of four Sberbank representatives including the chairman of the board and two representatives from Gazprombank and one from Digital Horizon.

STC is a leading Russian developer of biometric technology. The deal will give STC access to the resources and expertise of two of Russia’s largest financial institutions, including in the field of artificial intelligence and big data. In addition, the expertise of

Digital Horizon’s international team will provide STC with additional competitive advantage on the global market for biometrics, which is expected to reach an estimated $40 bln by 2022.

Stanislav Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank: “For Sberbank, this deal is a logical step on the road to digital transformation and the construction of a biometric platform for the Bank’s growing ecosystem. In the future we will use this platform to create a range of services that will take interaction with clients to a completely new level in terms of ease and information security. In turn, Sberbank’s expertise in AI and big data will help STC broaden the use of speech technology in Russia, bring Russian technology to foreign markets and help the company compete for global leadership.”

Dmitry Zauers, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprombank: “Gazprombank Group has successful experience of investing in promising hi-tech companies. This can be seen in our long-term partnership with STC. We intend to maintain our strategic focus on developing this area as part of the Group’s work to deploy cutting-edge biometric solutions for the Bank’s everyday operations in the interests of our many retail and corporate clients.”

Dmitry Dyrmovksy, CEO of Speech Technology Center Group: “STC is gaining another serious partner. The synergy with Sberbank will significantly boost the development of our company’s technologies and products. We are receiving
access to the expertise and competencies of one of the world’s largest retail banks. STC is already a key player on the biometrics market, but with such a team behind us we plan to become a global leader in the next few years.”

Alan Vaksman, co-founder of Digital Horizon: “This is a historic deal, not only for the development of biometrics, but also for the Russian venture industry. Thanks to the long-term vision of Gazprombank, which saw potential in STC more than a decade ago, today Sberbank — the leader of the Russian