New research from analytic database firm Exasol has found that almost 40 per cent of businesses in the financial services industry (FSI) are currently failing to implement data initiatives due to a lack of employee skills. The research asked enterprises about the importance of data to their business, the strategies they are looking to implement in future, and the barriers to achieving their goals for data and analytics.

The findings of Exasol’s research highlighted the importance of data to financial businesses, and the impact it has on the day-to-day activities at an organisation.

• Three quarters of FSI businesses stated that operations and decision making would be severely disrupted on a day-to-day basis if they did not have access to data.
• Moreover, 88 per cent of FSI businesses said they have a strategy to reposition data analytics at the heart of their business within the next three years.

However, there are worrying signs for progress and development of data-driven initiatives in the FSI sector. Despite the importance of data to financial organisations, and their ambitions for analytics, organisations are struggling with data quality and location:

• 46 per cent stated they are struggling with poor data quality
• 32 per cent stated they are struggling with siloed data
• Over one third of businesses are not confident that they know where all their critical data is located – a breach of GDPR

The issue with data location may explain why GDPR is one of the key data initiatives that has failed for almost a third of organisations. In fact, only 29 per cent of businesses said that they had not had any failed data-driven initiatives in the organisation.

Sam Sibley, Strategic Partners & Alliances Manager at Exasol, commented: “It is positive to see that so many FSI businesses have plans in place to put data analytics at the heart of their organisation. Analytics has become a mission critical part of the financial sector’s strategy. However, our research found businesses are being hindered and are unable to implement their data strategies because of data quality and skills.

Sibley continued: “It’s also troubling to see many are unaware of where their critical data resides and have struggled with GDPR initiatives. Compliance is a big issue that comes with crippling penalties. This research emphasises the importance for financial businesses to bring in the right technology to help with aggregating and analysing the data, as well as the right people who have the skills needed to get the most from their data and enable these data initiatives to succeed.”

Exasol’s research was conducted by survey house Vanson Bourne on 500 IT and business decision makers, from enterprises in Germany and the UK.

Refinitiv and MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, and the provider of market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets, have entered into an agreement to redistribute MarketAxess’ fixed income market data to Refinitiv’s customers via its Elektron Data Platform. 

The relationship combines the leading fixed income data capabilities of MarketAxess with the vast Refinitiv market information network, which feeds the global financial community with an average of 40 billion market updates a day, giving market participants the actionable insights necessary to stay ahead of an evolving market. 

The data made available through Refinitiv as a part of the agreement includes MarketAxess’ award-winning Composite+™ and Axess All® pricing tools. 

Composite+ is a leading algorithmic pricing engine for corporate bonds that leverages a range of proprietary and industry data sources, with updates up to every 15 seconds on over 24,000 bonds. It combines public data from the FINRA Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE) with proprietary data from the MarketAxess trading platform and Trax®.

Axess All is the first intra-day trade tape for the Europe fixed income markets.  Sourced daily from over 30,000 bond transactions, powered by Trax post-trade services, Axess All displays aggregated volume and pricing for the most actively traded European fixed income instruments, providing some of the most robust European fixed income trade data available today.

The Elektron Data Platform is Refinitiv’s integrated content and capabilities platform that enables customers to get the data and analytics they need from a single trusted platform with the ability to integrate their own data, offering a range of delivery options to distribute information to wherever it is needed.

“The increasing electronification of the bond market and heightened regulatory pressure to demonstrate best execution mean fixed income traders and investors need more data to power smarter trading engines, find an investment edge, and meet their reporting obligations,” says Brennan Carley, Managing Director for Enterprise at Refinitiv. “As customers look to simplify their data management by using a single trusted source of data across their business, we’re excited to be expanding our fixed income data choice for customers with MarketAxess’ innovative and award-winning market data.”

Chris Concannon, President and Chief Operating Officer with MarketAxess added, “The integration of real-time, enhanced market data throughout the fixed income trading workflow has never been more critical than today.  Data based on liquidity and transactions will benefit the entire investment process to better manage liquidity risk and portfolio execution performance. The collective resources of MarketAxess and Refinitiv are bringing near real-time and actionable insights necessary to stay ahead of an evolving market.”

UTP Merchant Services, a leading credit and debit card payment solutions specialist, has expanded its Hastings branch creating fifty new jobs in the area in order to support business growth.

Supported by Locate East Sussex and backed by a 'Growth Capital Funding’ grant from East Sussex Council, the expansion will see UTP Merchant Services recruit 50 new telesales staff, to be based on another floor of their current Ocean House branch in St. Leonards-on-Sea.

This takes the overall staff total to approximately 130 when combined with the company’s Operations Centre location in Reading.

UTP Merchant Services offers a range of market leading credit and debit card payment solutions including fixed/countertop, portable (using Bluetooth technology) and mobile credit card machines.

As the number of customers that carry cash dwindles and a greater reliance on fast card payments for a variety of retail and leisure facilities such as shops, restaurants, bars and cafes increases, UTP’s services have seen an explosion in demand. The firm has partnered with a number of resellers as a result of this interest, helping to spread the word about its innovative technology called ‘Faster Processing’.

UTP Merchant Services is the only UK company to offer payments to merchants within hours and not days. This speed has seen its payment services being picked selected over more conventional card payment methods by firms around the country.

Traditionally, credit card processing can take up to three business days to deposit cleared funds in the merchant account, a delay which Britain’s small businesses often cite as a cause of cash flow problems. Better transaction reporting and greater fraud detection additionally makes it easier for merchants to stay on top of their sales. 

Head of Marketing at UTP, Paul Lamb, said "We're thrilled to be able to create more job opportunities in the Hastings area. This is something that’s really been driven by the growth of our partner program but the expansion of our existing team is a testament to the success of our service offerings.

“Hopefully, we'll be able to continue to offer more roles in the future and help support the local economy as popularity with retailers across the UK continues to grow.”

New fintech-based startup, Upgrade Pack has exceeded its £500,000 fundraising target with leading European investment platform Seedrs. Since launching its crowdfunding campaign in March, the closed marketplace for discounted flight and hotel upgrades has attracted over 350 investors through the Seedrs community. With 25 days still left to run, the company is now overfunding.

Co-founded by Craig Unsworth (CEO) and Urchana Moudgil (COO), the milestone provides the Richmond-based startup, which marks its first year of operations this week, with a pre-money valuation of £12,750,000. Delivered as an app, Upgrade Pack’s closed marketplace technology helps banks and financial services companies to retain and reward high value customers with membership of its platform, where they can access exclusive and unlimited offers on flight and hotel upgrades.

The £500,000 is part of an overall £2.25m of investment sought, which will drive the company’s expansion into the USA and Asia. Prior to the campaign with Seedrs it had raised £1m in a pre-seed funding through private investors.

Craig Unsworth, Founder and Co-Founder and CEO of Upgrade Pack commented:

“We have been thrilled with the response to our first crowdfunding campaign, and the anticipation around what we are creating. To reach this latest milestone on the week of our first birthday is especially rewarding. We’re now focused on our app’s imminent Beta launch to our founder members – which brings us closer towards our full launch later in the Spring.”

The Seedrs funding round is set to close in early May.

For more information, please visit the Seedrs campaign page: www.seedrs.com/upgradepack

 Kyriba, the global leader in cloud treasury and finance solutions, today announced that it has closed a $160 million growth investment round led by Bridgepoint, an international private equity group, which gives Bridgepoint a majority stake in the business. The closed deal values Kyriba at $1.2B and Daher Capital, Iris Capital and CEO Jean-Luc Robert will continue on as investors in the company. With the new capital, Kyriba will enhance product development and customer support, and expand its partner ecosystem.

“We are thankful and excited to be supported by world-class investors led by Bridgepoint,” said Jean-Luc Robert CEO of Kyriba. “We are incredibly fortunate to have investors that share our vision and provide us with the financial resources necessary to capitalize on the significant growth potential in front of us.”

Kyriba’s innovative approach to cash and liquidity management empowers CFOs, corporate treasurers and finance teams to make better strategic investment decisions, protect against fraud and financial risk, and unlock trapped cash. The company’s cloud platform seamlessly connects siloed financial systems – banks, ERPs and other systems. Through its open ecosystem, Kyriba enables strategic partners to access its platform and create value-added services.

“As global businesses are transformed by the digital economy and enterprise infrastructure moves to the cloud, CFOs and treasurers are looking for better ways to manage cash and risk, while optimizing payments and working capital,” Robert said. “Kyriba sits at the center of this shift and is well-positioned to help enterprises transform their treasury capabilities.”

As announced in March, Kyriba will continue to be led by Jean-Luc Robert and will operate with its current management structure and strategy.

Vayana Network, India’s largest 3^rd party Short-Term Trade Finance (STTF) platform, announced that it has facilitated over Rs.15000 crores in trade finance. Vayana’s digital Network enables businesses and their trade partners get easy, convenient and fair-priced access to financing from Financial Institutions (FIs), such as Banks and NBFCs.

“2018-19 has been a pivotal year for Vayana with a number of key milestones being achieved. We are proud to be empowering Enterprises with our financing programs helping them grow, increase economic activity and ultimately generate new jobs.” said R N Iyer, Founder & CEO, Vayana Network

“We continue to see strong business momentum and expect to more than double the trade financed on our Network in fiscal 2019-2020. We are committed to making access to small business credit simple and seamless; and look forward to many such milestones in the near future.” added Iyer.

1000s of SMEs from over 270 cities access low- cost financing to meet their working capital needs on Vayana Network. The company has deepened its reach with 50% of the enterprises coming from beyond tier 1 and 2 cities in India reflecting true financial inclusion. The Network funds over 2000 invoices every day and has till date financed over a million transactions across 250 Supply Chains in 20+ industries. Vayana is present in 20 countries and has seen good traction in the US market where it has customers in 26 States. The company plans to further develop a global footprint with its foray into SE Asia and a cross-border play across dedicated corridors.

The banking technologies company Penkių kontinentų bankinės technologijos (BS/2) of Penki Kontinentai Group received an exceptional award from the world leader of the banking and trade equipment Diebold Nixdorf for successful business development in Uzbekistan.

The Special Achievement Banking 2019 award was presented to BS/2 at the Banking Eurasia Partner Summit, held in Rome (Italy) on April 8-10. Over 120 delegates from 30 countries participated in the annual event, shared strategic plans for the future with their colleagues and discussed last year results.

“We are pleased that the results BS/2 achieved in one of the major countries of Central Asia were recognized by our reliable partner Diebold Nixdorf. Currently, the financial sector of Uzbekistan is experiencing some major reforms. Banks are actively introducing innovations, increasing the number of ATMs and expanding the range of services. It is gratifying that our company can contribute to the development of banking in Uzbekistan by offering financial organizations advanced solutions for self-service devices,” says Anton Valinčius, director of BS/2 Uzbekistan.

Last year the company executed several large projects, providing the country's largest banks with over 300 Diebold Nixdorf self-service devices with cash recycling functionality. The devices also included the proactive security solution ATMeye.iQ and currency exchange system FCX.iQ integration.

The company BS/2 Uzbekistan was established more than 10 years ago. It contributes to the development of the local banking technology market. Today, the range of provided services includes the sale of specialized equipment and software, system maintenance, IT infrastructure monitoring, consulting, as well as other services catered to unique client needs.

According to Anton Valinčius, Uzbekistan is becoming one of the most attractive countries for foreign investors. In Central Asia, it ranks first in terms of population (over 32 million inhabitants) and second, (after Kazakhstan) in economic development.  Last year Uzbekistan embarked on the development of digital banks at the state level and improved the regulatory framework in the field of e-commerce.

In January 2018, the term “digital banking” appeared in the legislation, and revealed the need to develop the full range of modern technologies that allow interaction between banks, their customers and government through electronic communication channels.

BS/2 is the part of the Penki Kontinentai Group. The company, which has been operating for over two decades, represents the world's largest manufacturer of banking and trading equipment Diebold Nixdorf in 13 countries. In eight of them, BS/2 provides outsourced IT services. BS/2 service coverage is 25,000 units of equipment (ATMs, automated teller safes and information kiosks, etc.) In addition, BS/2 develops its own software solutions for security, cash flow management and optimization of business processes, which are highly appreciated by the experts and used in 80 countries of the world. BS/2 clients include the biggest banks in the Baltics, Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Eastern Europe and other regions.

SWIFT announces today that it has been admitted to the next phase of the tender process to provide connectivity services to all Eurosystem market infrastructures (also known as TARGET services).

The public tender process for ESMIG Network Service Providers was launched in late January 2019 by Banca d’Italia acting on behalf of the Eurosystem. If successful in the next phase, SWIFT will be awarded a concession to provide ESMIG connectivity services from November 2021, becoming a Network Service Provider for the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services. Combined with SWIFT’s existing connectivity to EBA CLEARING’s EURO1/STEP1, RT1 and STEP 2 services, this would allow banks to rely on SWIFT to process all of their euro payment messages – high-value payments, SEPA payments, instant payments and cross-border payments – in a secure, reliable and cost-efficient manner.

By using SWIFT to connect to TARGET Services, users will future-proof and maximise their investment, gaining a single-window for connectivity not only to the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services, but to 254 market infrastructures world-wide and to SWIFT gpi for cross-border payments.

Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA and Asia Pacific, SWIFT, said: “We are delighted to have completed phase one of the tender process to become a Network Service Provider for ESMIG. We look forward to working with the Eurosystem and our customers to ensure a smooth and highly successful community migration to ISO 20022 and the new ESMIG platform. This migration represents a major milestone for Europe’s market infrastructure and paves the way for further harmonisation and integration of financial and capital markets across the EU.”

SWIFT is committed to supporting its customers through their TARGET consolidation projects and the migration to ESMIG, providing high quality and competitively priced access to TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) for instant payments, TARGET2 (T2) for high value payments, TARGET2-Securities (T2S) for securities settlement, and the future Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS).

SWIFT customers will also have access to a wide range of products and services, including impact assessment, integration, standards translation, validation services and testing.