Adyen, the payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, has today launched a new payment service powered by open banking.

The new service is an alternative to card payments and takes advantage of the European Union’s Payment Service Directive (PSD2) requirement for banks to create APIs for approved third parties to initiate payments on behalf of consumers. Adyen is the one of the early adopters to launch a PSD2 API payment method that provides direct APIs into leading UK banks: delivering access to more than 90% of consumer accounts in the UK.

Launching initially in the UK, but with scope to be rolled out into other European markets, Adyen’s new solution is simple and secure. Open banking payments are authenticated directly between consumers and their banks, meaning, unlike with direct debits, merchants can avoid chargebacks generated due to fraud or an inability to capture funds.

It works in a similar way to most online banking methods. A customer simply selects the payment type during the checkout process, at which point they are redirected to their bank’s online banking environment to securely confirm the payment.

Their bank utilises the customer’s preferred method of authentication – such as Face ID, Touch ID fingerprint recognition, or an online banking password – which enables the funds to be pushed directly from the consumer. This facilitates direct authorisation between the shopper and the merchant, and Adyen handles the payment flow between the bank and the merchant. The system unifies hundreds of individual bank connections behind a single integration, ensuring a fast, secure settlement of funds.

Due to the direct nature of this new payment type, existing processing costs for higher transaction values can be significantly reduced. Payments powered by Open Banking also offer real-time credit transfers, guaranteeing the payment and enabling merchants to ship the product immediately - something that was previously impossible with traditional direct debits.  

“Adyen constantly strives to innovate and simplify the payments process for consumers and merchants,” said Myles Dawson, UK Managing Director of Adyen. “Bank transfers between consumers and merchants are already extremely popular in mainland Europe because they offer greater fraud protection without adding friction to the payment process. We are excited to be the first payments provider to offer a fully-compliant, direct payment solution in the UK and it has been great to work with the Open Banking Implementation Entity to bring these benefits to consumers and merchants.

“It is exciting to see another great example of open banking powering innovation and leading to new services which ultimately help drive efficiencies in payments.” said Imran Gulamhuseinwala OBE, Trustee of OBIE (Open Banking Implementation Entity). “Using Open Banking, Adyen is a great example of how consumers and organisations can benefit from increased collaboration and secure data sharing between financial institutions.”

Dutch airline KLM is the first major brand to rollout the new offering – the service is now live for its UK customers.

“It is great to see that KLM is the first airline to offer this open banking payment option to our UK customers. After our home market, the UK is our most important foreign market. By working with Adyen latest payments initiative, we are offering our customers a wider choice of payment options in a secure and seamless way. Our customers can choose their preferred payment method whenever shopping online at KLM. This way, KLM remains its front-runner position in the online payment industry”. Pieter Groeneveld, Senior Vice President at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

PXP Financial recently announced the public launch of its company. A global payments expert delivering frictionless acquiring solutions built for merchants by merchants, PXP Financial is supported by a management team made up of experienced payment and corporate finance experts.

Led by CEO, Koen Vanpraet, formerly of Global Collect/Ingenico, Credorax and Intrapay, PXP Financial delivers omni-channel integrated payments solutions for in-store and e-commerce, bolstered by best-in-class risk management and data analytics. At a time when businesses must rapidly adapt to changing consumer behaviours, PXP Financial’s end-to-end platform guarantees a secure, seamless payments experience for customers and merchants alike. This will be expanded over time with a range of financial services assisting clients in optimising funding and working capital.

“The world of payments is becoming increasingly complex,” said Koen, “and many payments providers have experienced huge growth at the expense of customer experience and service levels. With PXP Financial, we are building on a solid track record for customer service to deliver on the promise of cutting-edge payments technologies. We cut the layers of complexity out and provide more integration and effectiveness.

“PXP stands for ‘People x Platform’. We offer a stable platform that supports our clients’ global payments needs and growth ambitions. But we also maintain a high level of trust and service with customers that earns their loyalty. Both the platform and the people are key for our success.”

PXP Financial offers a multitude of acquiring, technical, and banking services for over 1,000 businesses worldwide. Its flexible, adaptive platform powers payments across industries such as retail, hospitality, cruise, digital goods, and food and beverages, with clients including Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Urban Outfitters, InterContinental Hotels Group and Millennium Hotels & Resorts.

Koen added, “One reason why we have such loyalty from our clients is because of our team. We deliver unrivalled client care that ensures a personal, high-quality service, supported by a senior team of industry experts with over 50 years’ experience leading innovation in the payments space.”

On April 18, the company Smile-Expo will hold the first Prague iGaming Affiliate Conference – the event about affiliate programs in the industry of online casinos. The occasion will take place as a conference+demozone and will unite arbitrage experts, marketers and game developers from various countries.

Who Will Speak at the Conference?

At the event, leading industry specialists will focus on the topic of affiliate marketing and will also discuss gambling and online casinos.

Panel discussion will become the part of the event. Experts will talk about the regulation of online casinos’ work in the Czech Republic and other European countries.

The participants of the event:

• Jan Řehola – Lawyer in Petroš Sedláčková Legal;

• Robert Skalina – Senior Advisor at the law firm WH Partners;
• Raffaela Zillner – Secretary General of the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling;
• Gabor Helembai – Senior Associate at the law firm Bird & Bird;
• Joseph F. Borg – Head of Blockchain and Gaming at WH Partners.

The moderator of the conference is Vojtech Chloupek – President at Bird & Bird.

Invited experts will also talk about:

• high-quality gambling traffic;
• marketing automatization;
• gambling business success;
• future of affiliate marketing;
• eSports regulation;
• cooperation with affiliate programs.

Demo zone and Networking

The event will include the demonstration place where leading companies in the gambling and affiliate marketing spheres will present their new solutions for online casinos.

Apart from that, the guests of the event will be able to participate in the networking. Marketers, gaming soft providers and affiliate specialists will get a chance to find new partners for business development.

Venue

Prague iGaming Affiliate Conference will take place in the historical centre of Prague in the Hotel Grandium Prague. The address is: Politických vězňů 913/12, 110 00, Prague 1.

Organizer:

The event will be conducted by the international company Smile-Expo, which has been organizing big B2B events for 13 years.

Details and the complete program of the event are on the website of Prague iGaming Affiliate Conference.

Today, Azur is launching Smart Home, a home insurance product that allows brokers to compete against direct insurers. Whilst clients with higher valued homes and contents trust the advice of their brokers, they still seek a competitive product offered by direct insurers.

To help support their broker partners, Azur’s Smart Home is a comprehensive product that gives clients blanket buildings cover, unlimited contents and global all-risks cover, as well as tackling emerging risks with the addition of Personal Cyber cover.  The product is also warranty free.  

Smart Home is the first of many Azur products that will be made available on the Azur Hub. Launching at the same time as Smart Home, Azur Hub is the first technology solution for the Azur broker community. The self-service hub has been built to automate quoting and policy issuance and has been designed to significantly improve the user experience. 

For Smart Home, the Azur Hub leverages openly available third-party data to reduce the number of questions that brokers have to ask their clients.  As a result, brokers can typically quote and bind in less than two minutes.

Kate Wells, Managing Director of Azur, comments:

“It has been an interesting journey to get to where we are, but we are finally ready and very excited to launch Smart Home and the Azur Hub to our brokers.  Our insurance solution, Smart Home, will help brokers compete against direct writers and our Azur Hub technology solution will significantly improve brokers’ ability to quote quickly. Together, these two offerings will not only help our brokers to grow their business, but also to improve efficiency within their teams.”

• 20.02.2019 -- 10:46 am

Kristoff Zammit Ciantar discusses industry trends, future plans and KYC Portal that allows to streamline and automate the operational side of due diligence.

Naspers-owned PayU, a leading online payments service provider, today announced the appointment of Anirban Mukherjee as Chief Executive Officer of PayU India, reporting to Laurent Le Moal, CEO, PayU Global. As well as leading PayU’s Indian business, Anirban joins PayU’s global leadership team to support its ambitious plans to unlock innovative credit and financial services for underserved populations in high-growth markets.

Anirban brings to PayU two decades of experience in global payments, credit, and digital banking gained in the US, India, and broader Asia-Pacific region. He has long been at the forefront of a changing financial services landscape and understands the opportunities exceptionally well. In his new role, Anirban will be responsible for all the operations and business lines of PayU India. In addition, he will identify investment opportunities to build out Naspers’ fintech ambitions, helping these companies scale by leveraging existing assets and infrastructure. Anirban will also lead PayU into new fintech product categories that are aligned with PayU’s global strategy, such as remittances and credit.

Laurent Le Moal, CEO, PayU Global, said, “Attracting someone of Anirban’s calibre into the business is a great endorsement of our strategy and ambition. We are very pleased to have Anirban on board as a part of PayU's Global Leadership team and I look forward to us benefitting from his wealth of knowledge and experience as we push through our next phase of innovation, focused on payments, credit, and fintech investments”.

“The business and regulatory environment in India creates great opportunities for PayU to further build on its strong position in payments and launch innovative new products and services, including offline solutions and credit. Anirban’s impressive track record, business leadership, and broad international experience will be of tremendous benefit to the company to capitalise on the enormous growth opportunities we see in both India and beyond. I am confident that under Anirbans’s leadership, our business will grow from strength to strength”, he added.

Commenting on his appointment, Anirban Mukherjee said,“PayU has a great global culture, amazing market capability and a strategy that has led the company to become one of the most exciting companies in the fintech industry. The pace of change in today’s global fintech market is exceptional. I am thrilled to join PayU’s global leadership team during such an extraordinary growth period of the fintech industry, in general, and the company in particular. I can't wait to lead PayU India into our next phase of growth, where we will combine business and product innovation to unlock future growth opportunities and build a robust credit ecosystem in India”.

Most recently, Anirban was part of the leadership team at Jio, where he drove payments, merchant services, and digital financial services, serving as the Co-CEO of Reliance Payments Solution Ltd. Prior to Jio, Anirban worked with Standard Chartered Bank in India and APAC and with CapitalOne as a senior executive leader in the US. He has an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and is an alumnus of IIT, Kharagpur.

Allianz X, the digital investment unit of the Allianz Group, announced today it has received additional investment from Allianz SE, increasing its fund size to €1 billion. The increase is the result of Allianz X’s investment track record, successful collaborations with growth companies as well as the contribution towards the Group’s overall digital transformation strategy. The funds will be used to make additional direct investments in digital companies globally that are strategically relevant for the Allianz Group. Allianz X becomes one of the largest European firms dedicated to digital investment by fund size, uniquely leveraging the world’s leading insurer and asset manager.

To date, Allianz X has made more than 15 direct investments in digital businesses related to insurance around the world. Notably, Allianz X invested $96.6 million in leading microinsurer BIMA that utilizes mobile technology to serve low-income customers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Additionally, Allianz X invested $30 million in Kansas City-headquartered working capital marketplace C2FO in February 2018 and $35 million in leading Southeast Asian mobile platform Go-Jek in April 2018. Recently, Allianz X participated in N26’s Series D funding round after co-leading N26’s $160 million Series C round last year.

“We are very pleased with the progress Allianz X has made thus far and are committed to further invest and develop the next generation of digital growth companies related to Allianz’s core business,” said Iván de la Sota, Chief Business Transformation Officer of Allianz SE. "Our digitalization approach is multifaceted; Allianz X is a valuable addition -- not only in meeting the changing expectations of our customers."

In addition to committing capital to promising tech companies, Allianz X focuses on developing strategic partnerships between the portfolio company and one or more Allianz operating entities or global business lines, leveraging expertise on both sides. For example, Go-Jek has a partnership in place with Allianz Indonesia in which Go-Jek customers and drivers are offered Allianz insurance products and services. Similarly, Allianz Ghana issued a product in which BIMA’s customers receive digital insurance offerings underwritten by Allianz. Furthermore, working capital marketplace C2FO launched a single-invoice credit insurance product together with Euler Hermes. Each investment has a dedicated team that assists the company with joint corporate development initiatives and implements them alongside the Allianz business unit(s).

“Since shifting our strategy, we have built a great portfolio in which many companies have already developed successful partnerships with Allianz’s business units,” says Dr. Nazim Cetin, CEO of Allianz X. “We are very excited about raising our investment budget to €1 billion and will use the funds entrusted to us to both strengthen our portfolio and build strong, global platforms that create new businesses for Allianz.”

Path Solutions, a leading provider of Sharia-compliant software solutions and technology-based services, and Gold level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN), today announced that its world-class core banking platform, iMAL has achieved Powered by Oracle Cloud status and is now available in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace offering added value to Oracle Cloud customers. iMAL enables measurable business value and increased productivity, while providing the agility and economy of scale of the public cloud with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Database Cloud Service, and Oracle Java Cloud Service. 

The Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking trusted business applications and service providers offering unique business solutions, including ones that extend Oracle Cloud Applications. Oracle Cloud is the industry’s broadest and most complete public cloud, delivering enterprise-grade services at every level of the cloud technology stack including platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), and data as a service (DaaS).

“Path Solutions currently serves many Oracle customers. We look forward to helping them in the transition to Oracle Cloud”, said Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO, Path Solutions. “Our participation in the Oracle Cloud Marketplace further extends our commitment to the Oracle community and enables clients to easily reap the benefits of iMAL core banking platform. We look forward to helping our clients around the world achieve their business goals, leveraging the power of the Oracle Cloud”. 

Powered by Oracle Cloud status recognizes Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) member solutions that have been tested or verified to run on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. This achievement offers customers confidence that Path Solutions’ iMAL is supported by the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure SLA guarantee, ensuring they have full access and control over their cloud infrastructure services as well as consistent performance. 

The Oracle Cloud Marketplace offers an intuitive user interface to browse and search for available applications and services, as well as user ratings and reviews to help customers determine the best business solutions for their organization. With its new automated application installation features, customers can easily deploy provider business applications from a centralized cloud interface.

Axioma, the leading global provider of enterprise risk management, portfolio management and regulatory reporting solutions, announces the release of its new APAC (AP4) and APAC ex-Japan (APexJP4) Risk Models – the most recent update to the firm’s next-generation Equity Factor Risk Model suite. Axioma’s Asia Pacific models follow the recent releases of its Emerging Market (AXEM4) and China (AXCN4) Risk Models, providing equity investors with deep, actionable insights into how to best manage risk and returns across major global growth markets.

“2018 was a wake-up call for Asian focused investors, with the impact of risk-on / risk-off behaviour in an uncertain global environment a significant headwind to return expectations,” said Joel Coverdale, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, at Axioma. “We want to provide every investor with the best possible insights to know both where they stand and where they might be headed. A best-in-class risk management approach is critical for success.”

The updated APAC (and APAC ex-Japan) Risk Models allow for even greater risk attribution precision covering over 26,000 active securities across 17 markets in Asia Pacific with long-term historical pricing data. The 4^th generation models include several new fundamental factors such as Dividend Yield, Earnings Yield, and Profitability that will also allow investors to construct portfolios along with the same fundamental factors that are used to distinguish companies in developed markets. Significant enhancements have been made in several areas, including: 

• New Style Factors: Market Sensitivity, Profitability, Dividend Yield and Earnings Yield;
• Improved Factors: More stable exposures, enhanced definitions and IPO exposures;
• Methodology Improvements: Precise treatment of extreme and missing data, new currency model, as well as a new returns timing model;
• 2018 GICS® based industry factors: Greater granularity in industry structure with well-tuned attribution of risk and return for both sector and industry-focused ETFs.

“Asian markets are maturing and new smart beta strategies have emerged,” said Olivier d’Assier, Head of Applied Research APAC. “Axioma is responding by adding new style factors to its Asian models allowing investors to more accurately control the risks they take in those strategies.” 

The ongoing enhancements to Axioma’s risk model suite closely support its overall aim to bring flexible, seamless investment risk management solutions to portfolio managers and risk professionals across global markets. 

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank of the world’s most innovative businesses, enterprises and their investors, released the 10th anniversary edition of its Startup Outlook Report today. The report is based on a survey of 1,400 startup founders and executives primarily in the UK, the US, China and Canada. Startup Outlook reveals respondents’ thoughts on business conditions, funding, exits, hiring, workforce diversity and public policy issues, including Brexit and business relocation plans.

“As Brexit discussions continue, 75 percent of UK entrepreneurs surveyed fear that leaving the EU would have a negative effect on the innovation economy in the UK, and their greatest public policy concern is a lack of access to talent,” said Erin Platts, Head of Relationship Banking, Europe at Silicon Valley Bank. “Nevertheless, 81 percent of UK startups are planning to expand their workforces in 2019. The fundraising landscape also looks healthy, as 75 percent successfully raised capital last year. In addition, 83 percent say they have no plans to move their headquarters from the UK, underscoring the optimism that still exists despite Brexit related uncertainty.”

UK Findings

Following are the key findings from the 2019 UK Startup Outlook Report. Most Startup Outlook 2019 respondents are founders or executives of companies with fewer than 25 employees and less than $25 million in annual revenue. Reports specific to the US, Canada and China are available here.

Brexit

• 75 percent of UK entrepreneurs say that in general Brexit, regardless of any specific exit plan, would have a negative effect on the UK innovation economy. Only 11 percent say that the post-Brexit environment would have a positive impact on the sector.
• With access to European markets a concern, 28 percent of UK startups plan to open a mainland European outpost.
• Still, the UK appears to be a vibrant centre of global innovation with more than half (55 percent) of startups saying that they do not plan to move their headquarters outside the UK.

Business Conditions

• 41 percent of entrepreneurs expect business conditions to improve this year, compared to 49 percent in 2018.
• 22 percent, up from nine percent last year, of entrepreneurs believe that conditions will worsen in 2019.

Hiring & Diversity

• 81 percent of UK startups say that access to talent is the most important public policy issue they face. International trade (45 percent) and consumer privacy (42 percent) rank next.
• One in three respondents also say that finding talent is extremely challenging.
  • However, 81 percent of UK startups plan to expand their workforces in 2019 – down eight percentage points since 2017.
  • Nearly 50 percent of startups have at least one woman on the board of directors.
  • For the second year in a row, the percentage of startups with at least one woman in an executive position is nearly 60 percent.

Raising Capital

• Three in four UK startups surveyed successfully raised capital last year, which underscores the healthy amount of domestic capital available for innovation companies.
• However, 75 percent say the current fundraising environment is either somewhat or extremely challenging.
• Their outlook for raising international capital is also dimming, as 44 percent believe that access to international capital will be more difficult in 2019.
• By a large margin, UK startups expect their next source of funding to come from venture capital (50 percent). There is also an increase over 2018 in the percentage of those who expect they will rely on organic growth (rising from four to 13 percent) or private equity (rising three to 10 percent) to satisfy funding needs.

Exit Strategy 

• As in past years, acquisition remains the most likely long-term exit path (43 percent), but a growing number of UK startups say they expect to stay private - rising from 17 percent a year ago to 24 percent. The percentage choosing IPO was steady at 22 percent. 
• Eight in 10 startups think M&A activity will grow or remain about the same in 2019.

Promising Technology Sectors

• AI, digital health and big data are the top areas that UK entrepreneurs say have the most promise in 2019.
• Looking ahead 10 years, they expect autonomous transportation and cleantech/energy innovation to replace big data and fintech in the top five.

For additional survey data, including a closer look at hiring, fundraising and respondents’ views on public policy issues, please visit: https://www.svb.com/startup-outlook-report-2019/. UK survey data is based on responses from 108 UK technology and healthcare entrepreneurs. SVB will publish an in-depth report on Women in Technology Leadership in H1 2019.