Published
- 01:00 am
Divido, the multinational white-label platform for point-of-purchase lending, today announces that Nordea Finance, the largest finance company in Northern Europe, will license Divido’s platform to deliver point-of-purchase finance to retail merchants.
Nordea Finance will leverage Divido’s technology under its own brand and immediately rollout the platform across key markets, beginning in Norway, quickly followed by Finland, Sweden and Denmark.
Changing global retail appetite has seen the importance of point-of-purchase finance solutions grow in popularity over the last few years. By licensing Divido’s omni-channel solution Nordea Finance has the ability to provide point-of-purchase finance in multiple currencies across multiple markets, all through a single solution.
For Nordea Finance, building a new lending platform in-house to replace current legacy systems, servicing multiple markets wasn’t a practical option. Looking for a new solution, Divido’s omni-channel, white-label lending platform was the preferred choice.
“Nordea Finance is without a doubt one of the most innovative names in banking today,” said Christer Holloman, CEO and co-founder, Divido. “By licensing Divido, Nordea Finance will have access to technology that enables it to differentiate its product proposition and offer new credit products at the point-of-purchase. With Divido, Nordea Finance merchants will be able to access multiple markets through a single integration, saving them money, time and effort.”
- 07:00 am
Today marks the public launch of PXP Financial, a global payments expert delivering frictionless acquiring solutions built for merchants by merchants. The business 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 integratedpayments 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.”
- 03:00 am
Mansfield Bank ($519 million in assets) has selected Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) (OTCQX: CSVI), a provider of end-to-end financial technology solutions, as its new core provider.
The Massachusetts-based bank will implement CSI’s robust product suite, including its NuPoint® core processing solution, digital banking platform and CSI CRM, in order to provide its customers with an enhanced digital banking experience and more efficient back-office processes.
Mansfield Bank, which places a heavy focus on high-quality technology and customer service offerings, turned to CSI for integrated banking solutions that align with its customers’ changing needs. The conversion to CSI NuPoint creates a seamless user experience across all channels, streamlines internal processes and offers the ability to personalize customer experiences through user analytics. Bank executives cited that a key factor in their decision to work with CSI, alongside enhanced technology offerings, was similar company culture and emphasis on customer support.
“For more than 130 years, we have prided ourselves on offering our customers the best technology and in-person customer care. It is imperative to us that as we advance with new customer-facing changes, we do so with a partner whose principles align with ours,” said John Westwood, Mansfield Bank’s first SVP, CFO and treasurer. “We are excited to work with CSI and continue to serve our customers in an innovative and customer-centric manner.”
In addition to such valuable technology solutions as managed IT and regulatory compliance services, Mansfield Bank plans to use the core processing solution to enhance customer service through company-wide internal adoption. Bank executives are leveraging CSI’s accessibility and training to help the entire staff become well-versed in the platform to deliver results in an improved and efficient manner.
“At CSI, we remain dedicated to providing success through industry-leading technology while offering the best customer service and support,” said Steve Powless, CSI’s chairman and CEO. “We are excited to partner with Mansfield Bank and look forward to delivering a true digital banking experience with competitive, integrated solutions that will drive them to continued growth.”
- 08:00 am
The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance has joined enterprise software firm R3’s collaborative initiative to develop innovative applications and solutions on its Corda blockchain platform.
The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) is an industry leading non-profit trade association with a mission to advocate, guide and promote comprehensive adoption of blockchain technology and cryptoassets across global markets.
It joins R3’s global network of more than 300 of the world’s largest financial services firms, technology companies, central banks, regulators, and trade associations working together on Corda.
Corda is an enterprise-grade blockchain platform that removes costly friction in business transactions by enabling institutions to transact directly using smart contracts, while ensuring the highest levels of privacy and security. R3 recently launched Corda Enterprise, a commercial distribution of Corda specifically optimised to meet the demands of complex institutions
Corda and Corda Enterprise are the foundation of a vibrant ecosystem of interoperable applications. These apps are built by R3’s partners, harnessing the power of blockchain to overcome the specific challenges faced by their customers.
Ron Quaranta, CEO of the WSBA, comments: “We are pleased to partner with R3 and introduce our trade association to the wide range of use cases that Corda enables throughout global financial services. We are certain that our members will benefit from our close collaboration with this leading industry body.”
David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, comments: “The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA) and R3 will work together to to accelerate widespread adoption across an innovative community of financial services professionals. We advocate a strategic approach to collaborating with regulatory bodies so that financial markets, and beyond can gain the full benefits of blockchain’s capabilities.”
- 06:00 am
Launched just over a year ago, TNS Secure Cloud Connect provides secure, resilient and easy access to a range of cloud services. It facilitates connectivity to the cloud as well as from the cloud to TNS’ vast global financial community. Where cloud providers use a regional set up, such as with Azure, TNS Secure Cloud Connect enables cross-region connectivity to help make the infrastructure more efficient and redundant.
Microsoft Azure is currently second in terms of cloud services market share behind Amazon Web Services according to Gartner*. Azure is available in 54 data centers (regions) and 140 countries, making it a strategic and valuable enhancement to the TNS network.
“While cloud services are playing a key role in the digital transformation of financial enterprises, it’s important to remember that the majority of this technology has been designed on IT principles, not trading infrastructure requirements,” says Bill Versen, Chief Product Officer at TNS. “This puts financial market participants at risk, unless additional measures, such as TNS Secure Cloud Connect, are installed. By bypassing the internet and using TNS’ private network, financial organizations can reduce the security risk and meet their compliance obligations.”
Now firms using Azure can quickly and easily establish interconnectivity to all of the global exchanges, markets and other organizations that are part of TNS’ established financial community of interest which includes more than 2,100 endpoints. TNS’ current customers who want Azure functionality will now benefit from having a direct, secure connection with better latency.
“The continuing growth of cloud services means that our financial services customers need secure connectivity to the top cloud providers,” noted Versen. “Our development teams have devised TNS Secure Cloud Connect in response to this need and we’re seeing increasing demand for this service from financial market firms.”
Optimized for electronic trading, TNS’ robust secure network is relied on by the global financial markets for mission-critical connectivity to multiple diverse trading partners. Many of the world’s most prominent and influential buy- and sell-side institutions, market data and software vendors, exchanges and alternative trading venues have selected TNS’ network. Resilient connectivity is assured by there being no single point of failure across the TNS core network and by connected firms choosing from a variety of diverse physical connections.
- 07:00 am
FactSet, a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications, and industry-leading services, today announced the expansion of the Open:FactSet Marketplace (OFM), with the launch of new features and data offerings, including investment signal data from IHS Markit.
IHS Markit’s Research Signals offers financial and industry data that covers over 30,000 securities in 80 countries and has a history going back 20+ years. FactSet and IHS Markit have worked together to integrate this robust data into the Open:FactSet Marketplace, addressing issues of data fragmentation and back-end connectivity so clients can begin using the content immediately. Research Signals is the first of several data feeds IHS Markit is planning to include in the OFM this year.
“Data is the fastest growing currency for investment managers,” said Rich Newman, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Content and Technology Solutions at FactSet. “Adding data from companies like IHS Markit to the Open:FactSet Marketplace is game-changing for our clients. The breadth and depth of content complements the core and alternative datasets already in our ecosystem, and we will continue to break down data siloes and help our clients discover new ways to drive smarter decision-making.”
“Research Signals brings a comprehensive library of traditional quantitative research factors and alternative data signals from IHS Markit to the Open:FactSet Marketplace that investment managers can quickly integrate into their investment process,” said Sally Moore, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Alliances at IHS Markit. “As more financial institutions look to alternative data as a source of alpha, our work with FactSet will help them move more swiftly from initial ideas to actionable insights.”
FactSet has also introduced a Candidate Program for data providers as well as a Community Forum to the Open:FactSet Marketplace. The Candidate Program allows clients to discover and evaluate potential new datasets before they become available as fully integrated products on the OFM, with all candidate providers screened by FactSet before being accepted into the program. The Community Forum meanwhile will be a resource for FactSet clients and will serve as a central location for them to discover new ideas, post reviews and sample code, and ask questions to the OFM community.
“We are an integral part of the growing alternative data frontier,” said Rich Newman, “and it is important to have a community where the industry can explore this frontier together.”
- 05:00 am
Wolters Kluwer’s CASH Workflow™ solution has been named Commercial Loan Origination Solution of the Year by US Business News, as part of its Technology Elite awards series.
The award recognizes the superior technology and user functionality of CASH Workflow, a market-leading SaaS-based commercial lending workflow solution, that helps lenders more efficiently originate loans by converting back office paper processes into a digital workflow. Through CASH Workflow users can create custom workflows that match their existing commercial loan origination process or begin anew.
“On behalf of Wolters Kluwer I would like to thank the judges for this award recognizing CASH Workflow’s technology and user functionality. Independent recognition of our market leading analytics that enable more successful lender outcomes is always very welcome news,” said Steven Meirink, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Wolters Kluwer’s Compliance Solutions business. “Lenders that implement a workflow solution will find themselves at a significant advantage to better serve their clients and grow their business. Wolters Kluwer’s experts continue to deliver excellence and innovation through CASH Workflow, with the solution simplifying and driving efficiency across the origination process through its responsive design and SaaS-based connectivity.”
CASH Workflow makes it easy for lenders to build a mirror of their commercial lending workflow or setup a new process with its drag-and-drop configuration tool. The tool uses an easy to understand visual interface to chart the process and facilitate the build out from application to close. Once configured, CASH Workflow provides a consolidated workspace and delivers automated activity alerts to loan officers to take action, as needed.
US Business News is published by AI Global Media and has a subscriber base of more than 175,000 business and professional service providers, including CEOs, partners, directors and litigators.
Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions, part of the company’s Governance, Risk & Compliance division, is a market leader and trusted provider of regulatory compliance solutions and services to more than 2,000 U.S. banks and credit unions. The business helps these financial institutions efficiently manage compliance obligations tied to loan and deposit origination transactions and workflows, and gain the insights needed to focus on better serving their customers and growing their business.
- 03:00 am
ReachX, an emerging financial platform looking to transform wholesale banking and research in a post-MiFID II environment, is pleased to announce the launch of its webcast series.
The inaugural webcast will feature Forensic Accounting Expert, Steve Clapham. In an hour long session, Clapham will discuss the Patisserie Holdings Plc (LON:CAKE) situation, his views on what investors could have picked up in the financial statements and will host a Q&A session. Clapham is the Founder of Behind the Balance sheet and a ReachX Expert, with deep experience in equity analysis, portfolio management and accounting. He also provides leading training in forensic accounting.
The session will take place on February 6, 2019 at 4h30 pm GMT. Please contact: info@reachx.co for more details.
ReachX is working to shake-up traditional financial market research and investment banking services via its technology enabled platform connecting independent industry and finance professionals with corporations and institutional investors to offer bespoke, on-demand services with greater transparency and cost-efficiency.
At present, ReachX professionals include top rated analysts, economists, researchers, corporate finance, capital markets and investor relations specialists who provide advice and insight, without conflict of interest, for financial firms and corporations via the company’s digital platform. ReachX also publishes bespoke global market focussed content, analysis, research, podcasts and videos on unique investment opportunities via its portal. The company is also in the process of preparing the launch of AI driven research to cover companies with limited coverage in Europe.
- 04:00 am
Brex, today announced that it will start issuing World Elite Mastercard for Business with an enhanced rewards structure and rich suite of travel benefits. Current Brex cardholders will be switched to Mastercard’s World Elite program this month, giving startup founders access to additional personalized, premium rewards.
“We’ve spent time building our card issuing technology from the ground up, giving us the flexibility to partner with a number of financial platforms. Today we add Mastercard to that list,” said Brex CEO Henrique Dubugras. “We are focused on continuously improving the Brex platform to be the best corporate card for all businesses.”
The Mastercard World Elite program bolsters the already rich rewards program that Brex cardholders enjoy with enhanced benefits such as access to a luxury hotel and resorts program, emergency travel assistance, travel and rental car insurance, and more. Cardholders will also receive enhanced anti-fraud benefits such as purchase protection and ID theft protection benefits that are offered by Mastercard. Through the Mastercard network, Brex is focused on providing employees of start-ups tailored access to the value and benefits from their corporate cards, perks traditionally associated with big enterprise companies.
“Mastercard is leading the charge toward imagining and designing payment solutions driven by customer need, not just industry norms,” said Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships, North America, Mastercard. “By partnering with Brex, the Mastercard World Elite card can deliver on what startups require today to grow their business and anticipate needs for tomorrow.
In conjunction with its Mastercard launch, Brex is releasing new fraud prevention technology, which gives its customers access to a more robust fraud protection program. Cardholders will now enjoy “no questions asked” concierge fraud support, ensuring that Brex customers are never liable for any identified fraud on their cards. Visit www.brex.com for more information.
The card will be issued by Emigrant Savings Bank.
- 03:00 am
Mastercard today announced the appointment of Paul Stoddart as president, New Payment Platforms, effective March 1, 2019. Stoddart succeeds David Yates, who will transition into a senior advisory role focused on real-time national and cross-border payments strategies.
In this role, Stoddart will oversee the development and strategic integration of Mastercard’s real-time payments capabilities beyond traditional card-based solutions. Among these solutions are our Vocalink account-based payments, the Homesend joint venture and Mastercard Send.
“Paul’s industry experience and deep immersion in the business makes him the ideal choice to drive the growth of our account- based payment activities,” said Michael Miebach, chief product officer of Mastercard. “In his role as CEO of Vocalink, he has created momentum across the business, renewing relationships with key customers and expanding our infrastructure activities to new markets. We’ll now build on that foundation to deliver the technology and support needed for an expanded world of payments.”
In 2017, Stoddart was named chief executive officer of Vocalink following the company’s acquisition by Mastercard. He originally joined Vocalink as managing director, responsible for strategy, corporate development and its UK and international product portfolios. Prior to Vocalink, Stoddart was responsible for mergers and acquisitions and asset disposal at Barclaycard. Earlier in his career, he spent 12 years at RBS, where he held senior roles in group corporate development, retail direct and the company’s WorldPay division.
During his 35-year career, Yates has built payments businesses around the world. Before joining Vocalink as CEO in 2011, he was president of Western Union, where he drove the company’s diversification into online money transfer and business payments.
He also spent six years as president, First Data International, building all the company’s global activities outside of the U.S., including merchant acquiring, merchant transaction processing, issuer processing and ATM network solutions business units.
“David’s knowledge and experience has given us a perspective to help shape our strategy and capabilities in additional payments choices that we can offer to customers and consumers,” said Ajay Banga, president and CEO, Mastercard.
