GTreasury, a treasury, payments, and risk management software provider, today announced that ClearConnect has been named a Stevie Award^® winner in the Financial & Market Data Solution category for new products, part of the 20^th annual International Business Awards^®.

Offering more than 80 API calls in a dozen key banking and financial data categories, ClearConnect offers the most robust connectivity suite available to treasury teams and the office of the CFO. The solution provides immediate access to the comprehensive data required for confident and actionable treasury insights and ensures the fidelity and security of that data through purpose-built connections bolstered by GTreasury’s support. GTreasury also recently added the ClearConnect Gateway, which has further improved API connectivity speed and the depth of data integrations that the solution offers.

In determining category winners, judges selected ClearConnect because of the platform’s wide adoption among enterprise customers, reliability, flexibility, feature set, ease of use, and ability to “enhance treasury efficiency.”

“ClearConnect has quickly become a valuable asset for our global customer base,” said German Karaivanov, VP of Product Management at GTreasury. “The speed and breadth of API connectivity into key financial and banking data is increasingly mission-critical for treasury teams and the office of the CFO. ClearConnect, now boosted even more by our ClearConnect Gateway, helps modernize treasury operations with out-of-the-box API connectivity for immediate and cost-efficient balance and transaction reporting, payments, and real-time data analysis. We are honored to have our solution named as one of the top Financial & Market Data Solutions category in this year’s International Business Awards.”

Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 230 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process in June and July.

“Nominations to the IBAs get better every year, and this year’s class of Stevie winners is the most impressive yet,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Miller. “The winners have demonstrated that their organizations have set and achieved lofty goals. We congratulate them on their recognized achievements.”

Details about The International Business Awards and the lists of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Instant Financial, a leading innovator in the financial technology sector, has successfully raised a second funding round led by TTV Capital, a leading fintech-focused venture capital firm, and an original investor in Instant. The funding round also saw participation from ITC Holdings and InComm, along with reinvestment from existing partners who continue to show confidence in Instant's proven business model and unwavering commitment to its mission and vision.

"Our team at TTV Capital is optimistic about supporting Instant Financial on its journey to reshape how employees get paid," said Gardiner Garrard, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at TTV Capital. “We've always believed in their vision to revolutionize financial accessibility for their clients and to empower individuals with seamless access to their earned wages."

This infusion of capital comes on the heels of an exceptional period of growth for Instant, marked by unprecedented revenue expansion in 2021 and 2022, a testament to the company's commitment to delivering fee-free employee pay. Further indication of the effectiveness and versatility of Instant's solutions, their portfolio boasts a diverse range of clients across various verticals, including Randstad, Bloomin' Brands, Ultra Steak, Road Runner Sports, and more. 

Although fintech funding has experienced a decline over the past year, there is a notable trend of sustained funding flowing into earned wage access (EWA) companies, signaling a rising consumer appetite for immediate payment solutions with employee well-being in mind.

The newly secured funds are earmarked to accelerate Instant's growth initiatives, including substantial investments in product development, enhancements in client support services, and strategic sales and marketing endeavours. This allocation of resources is designed to fortify Instant Financial's position as a market leader and further enrich its suite of offerings. 

"Instant Financial's successful funding round marks a significant milestone in our journey toward revolutionizing the payday experience," said Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial. "We are excited to partner with our investors and we are committed to using this investment to drive innovation, expand our capabilities, and deliver even greater value to our clients."

Following their last funding announcement in April 2018, Instant Financial has made remarkable strides, firmly establishing itself as a key player in the financial technology landscape. 

In a move set to redefine the platform landscape, Mangopay, a platform-specific payment infrastructure provider and Spryker, a leading composable commerce platform for sophisticated use cases in B2B Commerce, Enterprise Marketplaces, and Thing Commerce, have announced a strategic alliance. This collaboration is dedicated to empowering businesses in building seamless marketplaces — from seller onboarding to payment processing. It further underscores the commitment of both companies to enhance the platform industries by leveraging their distinctive strengths and capabilities. 

Through the ever-changing platform landscape, businesses continue to seek flexible, secure and experienced technology partners to future-proof payments experiences and build customer experience. The partnership, which officially starts in September 2023, is set to redefine the landscape of online marketplaces by offering a holistic solution that addresses key challenges faced by businesses in this space. Both Spryker and Mangopay prioritise innovation and putting their customers first. Together, they aim to provide exceptional value to their clients. 

As the marketplace industry continues to grow and is projected to reach 8.7 trillion dollars by 2025, the payment experience remains a key differentiator. Mangopay, in its strategic alignment with Spryker, reaffirms its dedication to pioneering advancements in the fintech industry. The partnership's key objectives centre around delivering exceptional value to mutual customers, providing them with the tools and capabilities needed to excel in the dynamic online marketplace landscape. By leveraging Spryker's best-of-breed composable platform and Mangopay's secure and reliable payment infrastructure, the two companies aim to empower businesses to create efficient, successful, and scalable online marketplaces. 

Mangopay, in its strategic alignment with Spryker, reaffirms its dedication to pioneering advancements in the fintech sector, says Luke Trayfoot, Chief Revenue Officer at Mangopay. ”This alliance allows us to provide our customers with enhanced services in the platform industry. Merging the top-tier technology from both our companies paves the way for novel opportunities for online enterprises.” 

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Mangopay to provide enterprises with a strong offering that enables them to build their marketplace faster,” said Manishi Singh, SVP App Composition Platform at Spryker. “With Mangopay’s powerful payment structure and Spryker’s best-of-breed composability, customers will be able to efficiently build a seamless marketplace experience for both operators and end-users.” 

As community-based trading becomes increasingly popular in Africa and around the world, Kwakol Markets puts expertise at investors’ fingertips with their innovative copy trading model. 

Kwakol Markets is a multi-asset broker that operates globally, with its headquarters based in Nigeria. The company offers a comprehensive range of financial products and services to traders from all around the world seeking to access a diverse range of markets and instruments, including CFDs, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies. Kwakol Markets caters to the needs and preferences of various types of traders, including copy traders.

Copy trading is a popular investment strategy in which investors replicate the trades of experienced traders. This approach operates on the principle of selecting strategy leaders or expert traders who consistently demonstrate trading strategies with returns and transparent risk ratings. When an investor subscribes to a strategy leader, their trades are automatically copied into the investor's own trading account. 

Kwakol Markets’ vision is to provide the best trading experience and the best market pricing and execution to traders globally. The surge in the adoption of copy trading over the last two years makes Kwakol Markets’ Percentage Allocation Money Management (PAMM) model a timely and pragmatic service to investors, whether they are seasoned and experienced, or newcomers to the financial markets. 

One of the key advantages of Kwakol Markets' designated PAMM managers is the relatively straightforward investment process. The designated PAMM managers have spent years honing their trading strategies on their journey to achieve consistent returns. By sharing their performance on the platform, Kwakol Markets offers an opportunity for other investors to replicate their trades and potentially reach similar results. This is an advantage for investors who are copying the trades, and also provides an avenue for the successful traders to earn additional income streams by receiving a percentage of the profits generated from their copied trades or by earning management fees.

Other than the PAMM model, Kwakol Markets’ copy trading options include:

• Multi-Account Manager (MAM),

• and Social Trading.

The Multi-Account Manager (MAM) feature is particularly attractive for professional traders and money managers. MAM allows traders to manage multiple trading accounts simultaneously from a single interface, making it easier to execute trades and monitor performance. This feature is especially useful for those who manage multiple client accounts or plan to diversify their investments across different strategies.

Kwakol Markets also offers a Social Trading feature with which investors can share trading ideas with other traders within the community. This feature fosters a collaborative environment where traders can learn from each other, discuss market trends, and exchange insights. Social Trading promotes knowledge sharing and can help investors expand their understanding of the financial markets.

For beginner traders, the main benefit of following other investors is to minimise the chances of making costly mistakes. By subscribing to verified strategy leaders, beginners can follow their performances, which are clearly marked on a leaderboard. In this way, newcomers can better understand the process of choosing assets to trade and timing their trades to take advantage of market trends. 

The benefits of copy trading for experienced investors include:

• diversifying their portfolios,

• gaining exposure to different trading styles, markets and instruments,

• and spreading risk.

Before selecting strategy leaders to follow, every investor should conduct thorough research and due diligence. It's important to consider factors such as the leader's trading history, risk profile, and consistency of performance. Kwakol Markets provides detailed statistics on profit and loss, drawdowns, performance fees, and other information that can add to an investor’s decision-making process. 

It’s a natural part of the investment markets that past performance doesn’t necessarily guarantee future results, and all investors must manage their risk wisely. Once the risk management tools are in place, however, the other benefits of copy trading are accessibility and confidence building. The accessibility and ready-made strategies that are part of copy trading account for much of its popularity, enabling investors to diversify their approaches to the financial markets and to build on the experience of more advanced traders.

To reach the stage of being a confident investor, much can be gained from copy trading’s mirroring capabilities because one of the best ways to learn or test new strategies is to follow in the footsteps of a trader who has tested and refined their investment plans in live market conditions. 

By investing smarter with copy trading and leveraging the expertise of top-performing traders, investors can navigate the financial markets more confidently and work towards their investment goals. With Kwakol Markets' copy trading platform, expertise is at investors' fingertips, empowering them to thrive in the global financial markets. 

To start copy trading with Kwakol Markets today, visit their website and take the first step towards smarter investing.

Past performance does not guarantee future performance, nor is it a reliable indicator of future results or performance.

As the payments industry continues to undergo transformative shifts, financial strategies play a pivotal role in driving innovation, expansion, and adaptability. A key question that arises is whether industry players anticipate changes in their budgets over the next 12 months. This topic was explored in our recent State of the Industry Survey, revealing intriguing insights into the financial outlook of payments professionals.

Budget Flexibility in the Payments Sector

As the payments sector continues to witness transformative shifts, it's crucial for businesses to stay agile in their financial planning. The survey delved into the matter of budget changes, posing the question: "Do you see your budgets changing over the next 12 months?" The responses provided a glimpse into how companies are strategizing their financial allocations in response to the dynamic industry landscape.

Anticipated Budget Changes

The survey results indicated a variety of perspectives regarding budget changes:

• Increasing Budgets: A notable 49% of respondents expressed an expectation of increasing budgets over the next 12 months. This optimistic outlook reflects a willingness to invest in growth, innovation, and seizing new opportunities that the evolving payments space presents.

• Steady Budgets: 34% of respondents indicated that their budgets are likely to remain stable. This stance suggests a cautious approach, where companies are aiming to maintain their current financial strategies in light of the changing landscape.

• Decreasing Budgets: On the other hand, 17% of respondents foresee a decrease in budgets. This perspective could stem from factors such as economic uncertainties, evolving consumer behaviours, or shifts in market demands.

Understanding the Factors

Behind these perspectives lie a multitude of factors influencing budget projections. The payments industry thrives on swift technological advances, regulatory shifts, and evolving consumer preferences. Businesses may be adjusting allocations to propel digital transformation initiatives, enhance cybersecurity measures, or pivot strategies to incorporate emerging payment methods.

Furthermore, external influences contribute to the budget landscape. Companies must navigate a changing marketplace, adapt to evolving consumer needs, and respond to regulatory changes. These influences guide budget decisions, driving resource allocation in alignment with overarching strategic goals.

Navigating Uncertainties with Strategic Planning

The diverse range of responses to the budget change question underscores the dynamic nature of the payments industry. Whether budgets are set to increase, remain steady, or decrease, strategic planning remains essential. Adapting to changing circumstances, seizing growth opportunities, and ensuring financial resilience are common objectives that businesses across the industry share.

The insights from the State of the Industry Survey offer a valuable lens through which payment professionals can assess their own financial strategies. By staying attuned to the industry's trajectory and aligning budgets with strategic goals, businesses can position themselves for success in the face of ongoing transformation.

As we journey into the next 12 months, one thing remains clear: the ability to anticipate, adapt, and innovate will be key drivers in navigating budget changes and thriving in the dynamic world of payments.

You can learn more in our State of the Industry Survey and other industry insights at https://pay360event.com/view-the-2023-24-state-of-the-industry-infographic/.

Join us at the premier conference for payments professionals PAY360: https://pay360event.com

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Functions-As-A-Service Platforms, Q2 2023. 

The report states that Functions-As-A-Service (FaaS) platforms should deliver a “world-class developer experience, provide robust security capabilities and enable everyday use cases with enhanced workload portability.” Vendors in the Wave, including Alibaba Cloud’s Function Compute were evaluated across 40 criteria grouped into three high-level categories – Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence. Alibaba obtained the highest score (4.43 out of 5.00) in the Current Offering category. 

Key features of Function Compute were noted in the report, including its built-in visual autoscaling configuration capabilities, granular pricing models, user adoption strategy and emphasis on open source community support. Its ability to accommodate “web use cases, content-centric workloads and portability across hybrid environments” was also mentioned.

“As digitalisation deepens across the business world, the ability to seamlessly build serverless applications is only going to grow in importance. Our efforts to support the enterprises and developer community with a secure and flexible FaaS platform have, in our opinion, been recognised in this latest Forrester evaluation and we believe it reflects the progress we are making. We look forward to continuing to invest in our capabilities and innovate new ways to push the boundaries of our serverless product offerings,” said Jiangwei Jiang, Senior Researcher and General Manager of Infrastructure Products, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

Alibaba Cloud’s serverless computing platform Function Compute for highly simplified, scalable and efficient infrastructure 

Alibaba Cloud’s Function Compute is a fully managed, event-driven compute service which alleviates users from managing their own infrastructure. Its secure and stable, pay-as-you-go platform is designed to simplify the computing experience to enable faster development and iteration of business logic and core code. The FaaS platform also scales and mobilises computing resources within milliseconds to handle spikes in online traffic, delivering reliable performance over time.

Function Compute has a proven track record across a variety of use cases, which include supporting online events, audio and video content, gaming and e-commerce, among others. One example is HEROZ, a Japanese artificial intelligence company providing solutions to a range of sectors, which was looking for a solution to lower its operations and maintenance (O&M) costs as well as better manage its peak and off-peak computing traffic periods. HEROZ adopted Function Compute to enhance its computing stability, improve the user experience while reducing churn, and lower its O&M costs.

Sampras (HK) Limited, Alibaba Cloud’s Hong Kong-based web development solutions partner, offers a wide range of services with an expertise in mobile platform and social media integrations. Together with Function Compute, Sampras products help businesses lower costs and optimise their support for e-commerce activity, covering flash sales, lotteries, and virtual queuing. 

Alibaba Cloud recently introduced a 3-month free trial program of Function Compute. Global customers can try deploying their applications and services on Function Compute for serverless computing experience.

Beyond Capital Ventures (BCV), an esteemed venture capital firm focusing on emerging markets, has made a strategic investment in Zanifu. Zanifu is an innovative financial services platform that champions small retailers across Africa.

The exact investment amount remains undisclosed, but it’s clear that BCV sees great potential in Zanifu. This venture is a reflection of BCV’s enduring commitment to generating robust financial returns while also effecting positive social change in East Africa.

Delving into Zanifu’s operations, the platform addresses an urgent need within the African financial landscape. A staggering 51% of MSMEs (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises) in Africa grapple with the challenges of obtaining financing.

These difficulties often stem from constraints such as insufficient collateral, the enterprise’s size, or the lack of a formal credit history. Through Zanifu, these MSMEs gain a viable solution – a platform that facilitates the procurement of inventory from suppliers combined with a buy-now-pay-later feature. This initiative taps into a whopping $45bn MSME financing market spanning countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Zanifu’s establishment in 2017 was spearheaded by its CEO, Steve Biko, and CTO, Sebastian Kilimo. Their combined expertise – Biko’s deep-seated understanding of the fintech sector and Kilimo’s rich product knowledge – serves as a formidable backbone for Zanifu.

Beyond Capital Ventures General Partner Eva Yazhari lauded the new collaboration, saying, “We view this investment in Zanifu as a seamless addition to our fintech portfolio. By addressing the critical financing gap in Kenya and beyond, Zanifu is fostering economic growth and financial inclusion in the region.

“Steve and Sebastian’s dedication to lending working capital to microenterprises aligns with BCV’s commitment to drive robust financial returns and to imbed a lasting impact into our portfolio returns.”

A myriad of favourable factors influenced BCV’s decision to invest in Zanifu. These include the $330bn market’s vastness, the unique B2B2C acquisition model Zanifu employs, and its proven competitive edge in the lending sector. Furthermore, Zanifu’s proactive risk strategies have led to an impressive 1.48% default rate, a figure that significantly undercuts the industry average for non-performing MSME loans.

In summation, BCV and Zanifu are set on a mission – to revolutionise opportunities for small retailers and catalyse economic progression in Africa. Their partnership is poised to leave an indelible mark on the financial inclusion narrative within the continent.