Icertis, the leading enterprise contract life cycle management platform in the cloud, today announced Gartner, a leading research and advisory company, designated Icertis as a key player in the contract life cycle management (CLM) market.

As the velocity of business increases, companies are realizing the need to digitally transform their commercial foundation to accelerate performance, protect against risk and optimize business relationships. Because every company’s commercial relationships are governed by contracts, contract management has become an increasingly important part of the digital transformation efforts within the business.

“CLM solutions are evolving from operational record-keeping systems used for legal auditing purposes into enterprise-level core systems for addressing business risks, costs and the pursuit of revenue maximization,” wrote Kaitlynn Sommers, Senior Principal Analyst of Gartner.¹

Gartner predicts the CLM software market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12% through 2022 and the analyst firm reports that interest in CLM solutions is stronger than ever and remains a

leading topic raised by users of Gartner’s client inquiry service.

The Icertis Contract Management (ICM) platform, which is used by customers to manage all types of buy-side, sell-side and corporate agreements, enables companies to reimagine enterprise contract management, thereby transforming their commercial foundation.

“CLM presents a great opportunity for digital transformation, because it’s practical, well-scoped and

executable,” wrote Sommers. “The technology is proven, as is the ROI, which companies can use to fund other initiatives on their digital business roadmap. Additionally, adoption is increasing as organizations implement their digital roadmaps to eliminate paper and improve workflows and collaboration.”¹

A key development in contract management highlighted in the report has been the emergence of best of breed software solutions which challenge the traditional procurement and sales suite providers.

Companies are realizing that new cloud-enabled contract management applications offer higher chances of deployment success, faster adoption and more satisfied business users.

“Historically, stand-alone CLM vendors could be characterized as buy- or sell-side vendors, based on the types of contract they supported,” wrote Sommers.¹ “However, over time, the dividing lines between these solutions have blurred, primarily because CLM customers don’t want to have deploy and support multiple CLM solutions to handle the various contract types.”

Artificial Intelligence Will Drive Increased Efficiency

With contracts being digitized for the first time in history, advances in computer science can be applied to drive increased value from a company’s contract processes. Gartner reports that “by 2023, artificial intelligence will bring 30 percent more efficiency to the contract negotiation and document completion process in organizations that deploy leading contract life cycle management solution

Icertis is applying AI to this new pool of digitized data to transform contracts from static documents into live contracts which can interact with humans, surrounding systems and ultimately even other contracts. Icertis recently announced two AI applicationsthat enable companies to solve previously intractable enterprise contract management challenges.

“Leading enterprises are digitally transforming their commercial foundations – resulting in rapid expansion in the contract management industry as exemplified in Gartner’s report,” said Samir Bodas, CEO and Co-founder of Icertis. “By utilizing enterprise-wide, AI-Infused CLM platforms and placing contracts at the center of their efforts, companies will be able to accelerate their business, protect against risk and optimize commercial relationships.”

Mastercard Incorporated and Earthport PLC today published a Rule 2.7 announcement under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers regarding an agreement on the terms of a recommended all cash offer by Mastercard UK Holdco Limited, an indirectly, wholly-owned subsidiary of Mastercard, for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Earthport.

Under the agreement, which will be subject to the conditions and further terms set out in Appendix I of the announcement at investor.mastercard.com, Earthport shareholders will be entitled to receive 33 pence in cash for each Earthport share.

The acquisition values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Earthport at approximately £233 million (approximately US$305 million) on a fully diluted basis.

With Mastercard’s experience as a global network, its bank distribution, technology and reach, including Mastercard Send and Vocalink’s faster payment capability, financial stability and brand, Mastercard UK Holdco believes Mastercard can complement and enhance Earthport’s existing capabilities and allow it to accelerate development of a more robust account-to-account cross-border network service.

Mastercard UK Holdco Limited is a private limited company incorporated in England and Wales. Further details in relation to Mastercard and Mastercard UK Holdco will be contained in the offer document at investor.mastercard.com.

Mactavish, the UK’s leading expert on insurance governance, has launched a new Cyber Risk Consulting Practice for corporates as it warns the majority of off-the-shelf cyber specialist insurance policies have major flaws, and that some companies need entirely different cover.  Given this, it is concerned that some organisations could be ‘mis-sold’ policies.

The new practice will first help businesses identify their cyber risks, and this should include looking at current contingency plans for cyber events and the potential liabilities and penalties their business could face.  It will also help clients develop business-specific loss scenarios documenting more nuanced insurance needs.

Furthermore, for those who do identify a specific need for a cyber policy,  the practice can then help clients find and negotiate appropriate cover.

Mactavish says cyber cover is not necessary for some organisations, or that the configuration of cover is often wrong, but it fears they may face strong sales tactics and scaremongering from brokers and insurers to buy cover. 

Bruce Hepburn, CEO, Mactavish said: “For businesses that hold limited personal data and can operate with manual processes following systems interruption, most additional cyber cover may be of very limited value. Specific exposures can also often be effectively and economically covered via amendment of existing insurance policies. For example, Professional Indemnity insurance can sometimes cover damages payable to third parties for data breaches, and Business Interruption insurance can cover aspects of network interruption.  However, traditional policies often only respond to  potential cyber events through careful amendments to their wording.”

Commenting on the proliferation of specialist cyber insurance, Hepburn added: “Cyber insurance is a new and untested financial product, and in many cases it is complex and incomplete, and in need of major adaptation to provide reliable protection for a specific business’s exposures.”

The report, produced in conjunction with a number of leading economic, social policy and technology professors, delves into four key considerations of the impact of technological progress on employees, businesses and society at large.

The first chapter looks at what technological change means for the future of work, concluding that contrary to popular belief, there will be no shortage of work in contemporary economies.

Rafael Lalive and Daniel Oesch, professors in economics and sociology respectively at the University of Lausanne, commented: “Rather than a jobless economy, the two great challenges in the labor market may then be massive dislocation on the one hand and the distribution of productivity gains on the other. While technological change will not lead to the end of work, it will certainly displace people from occupations and sectors.”

The second chapter assesses how to make A.I. transformation more likely to succeed by looking at past examples of innovative ways of investing in artificial intelligence. It delves into examples such as BMW with Project i, Amazon and predictive shopping, Sony’s use of transistor technology as a disrupter to RCA’s dominance in the television market and the emergence of new entrants to the financial industry leveraging digital interfaces.

Howard Yu, LEGO professor of management and innovation at the IMD Business School and Jialu Shan Research Associate at the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, said: “It takes more than just vision, belief, passion and experimentation in A.I. to transform a company. It takes a pocket so deep that it requires other people’s money to act on that aspiration. It’s an unconventional approach taken during an unconventional time.” 

The third chapter sets out the need for economic security in the gig economy. The growing number of freelance workers replacing traditional employees provides much greater freedom, flexibility and control from self-employment, but it is imperative that these non-traditional workers have their rights and economic security protected.

Giuliano Bonoli, professor of social policy at University of Lausanne said: “The idea that social protection needs to be adapted to the changing nature of work is now firmly embedded in public debates. The challenge before us is to preserve the high levels of social cohesion and economic security achieved in the past in this newly emerging economic and technological world.”

The final section looks at the legal and ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence and discusses how can we ensure that modern computer technology will improve the working world and ultimately benefit people of future generations.

Bettina Hummer, professor of social law and legal German, University of Lausanne, said: “Legislators must be aware of the complexities surrounding information technology and artificial intelligence and try to gauge their very “nature” in order to define the aims that regulation should pursue.”

Urs Rohner, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group and Chairman of the Credit Suisse Research Institute, commented: “Big data and advances in computing power have triggered a technological revolution that have enormous bearing on the workplace and the labor market. Machines and robots are improving their capacities rapidly through artificial intelligence (AI) and innovations in design and structure. How businesses navigate these changes whilst ensuring clients are connected, empowered and protected will be both the challenge and opportunity ahead.”

Semafone® patented Cardprotect™ solution has been recognised once again as the industry-leading solution for contact centre PCI DSS compliance and data protection at the PCI Awards for Excellence, run by AKJ Associates. The award was given to Semafone for its “exemplary real-life PCI DSS project” with the Caravan and Motorhome Club.

The implementation of Cardprotect™ enables the Caravan and Motorhome Club to be PCI DSS compliant whilst maintaining high standards of customer service. By implementing Semafone’s Cardprotect™ solution, members can input their payment details directly using their telephone keypad. Sensitive card data by-passes the contact centre completely, achieving PCI DSS compliance without interrupting the conversation between agents and members while they pay. No card details are captured on call recordings – enabling the organisation to record calls without inadvertently capturing data.

The project saw a rise in both customer and agent satisfaction, with members expressing appreciation for the extra security the Club had put in place. As the Semafone system is cloud-based, it’s also easy for the Club to add additional agents to accommodate peak times and seasonal demands.

Jon Laws, the Club’s Financial Controller, explained, “As a membership organisation, maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction is our number one priority and any system we chose had to work well for all our members. Our mission was to keep members’ data safe without getting in the way of their ability to communicate with us, and we are delighted to have achieved this!”

CEO Tim Critchley said “We are thrilled to have won the PCI Excellence Award for the third year in a row! The need for stringent data protection is more important than ever; helping companies to descope their contact centre environment and achieve PCI DSS compliance is a key part of data security. The Caravan and Motorhome Club is a great example of how organisations can protect customers while offering outstanding levels of service.”

This is the third year running in which Semafone has achieved success at the PCI Awards for Excellence. In previous years the company won an award for projects with broadcast giant Sky, insurance company AXA and the online retailer AO.com.

In the Financial Times' (www.FT.com) report on Innovation in South Africa today, Aziza Coin (www.Aziza.io) simulates how to beat high fees and shows why "excessive profits in UK fund management industry handicap growth on the African continent."

In 2017, Damian Gawlowski, a South Africa insurance contractor based in the City of London, uncovered the hidden impact of intermediary fees with the more risk an investor took on. Up to 78% of returns from private equity are consumed by intermediary fees. Gawlowski investigated and found that while this was the case, the underlying equity and bond returns were over 4% rather than the 1% he actually received. Undisclosed fees added, he calculated, made intermediaries consume over three-quarters of the underlying returns generated by the bond portfolio that was ultimately invested in. Gawlowski considered putting his pension into higher risk investments such as private equity funds and as the mutual fund returns resulted in real depreciation of his pension by 1.3% per year after fees. He modelled a dummy private equity portfolio where he calculated that the portfolio would need to make 140% over a typical seven-year period simply to cover the fees and to keep up with inflation. This meant that an (annualised) internal rate of return of 13.3% would be required to simply retain his 2017 buying power by achieving UK inflation of 2.7%. *

The Financial Conduct Authority has expressed concern about the level of fund management profits when it was quoted as saying in a report lambasting the statutorily-protected revenues of the United Kingdom’s £6.9 trillion fund management industry’s’ profit margin of 36%. It found that “firms do not typically compete on price with their retail active funds in the UK [and that] there is some evidence of a negative relationship between net returns and charges.” **

These fees, which the FCA regards as excessive, have real societal costs. As Einstein is alleged to have said, compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe. A pension that appreciates by 13.3% per annum (ie gross returns without the 78% intermediary fees will return 140% in seven years time, whereas with the fees added, an annual return of 2.7% will only appreciate by 20%. These fees have already broken the defined benefit company pensions system and has the potential to cause real poverty in the Western world, where their effect is not well understood by the general population. The fact that the UK financial services PR industry is worth £2 billion per year does not help. Furthermore, if the fund management industry is taking three-quarters of returns, with 40% of funds disappearing upfront, it becomes distinctly more risk averse, as any loss of retail investor capital will invite scrutiny and therefore shed light on the level of their fees.

This risk aversion is manifested in the fact that 0.02% of assets under management or only 8 billion Euros were allocated to startups in 2016. This matters since start-ups create more jobs than the rest of the economy combined. Pre-ICO, Damian invested in the Aziza Project, which seeks to use distributed ledger technology to automate and disintermediate the layers of fund management costs. The Project was careful to avoid the usual pitfalls that have beset other cryptocurrencies:

1. From the outset, it avoided the argument as to where it was a security or a utility, by registering under Reg D exemption in the United States as a security token.
2. Every buyer and seller of coins has been vetted and subject to the level of KYC required to open a high street bank account as well as being checked as being recorded as a taxpayer.
3. It became the first cryptocurrency in the world to integrate its reporting systems with a tax authority when it became a third party data provider to South African Revenue Services (SARS), ensuring that investor gains were reported and taxed as capital gains. 4. It is asset-backed by seven oil and gas concessions in Southern Africa. Aziza Coin offers something Damian could not find anywhere else – low transparent fees where investor fees are limited to 10% upfront with no further fees. Its Ethereum-based smart contract automates the annual fund management function with a mere 800 lines of code. So if the underlying exploration projects deliver the same underlying returns as Damian’s fictitious portfolio – 140% in seven years, his returns after fees will increase from 20% using traditional fund management fee structures to 126% — over six times times the returns.

Aziza Coin offers something that excites Damian more than reducing the fees. He has starting working on Acqumine, which has had discussions with the South African Revenue to internalise commodities taxation into a smart contract and eventually a pan-African commodities exchange that will enable host countries and local communities in the developing world to receive royalties due to them, while giving end customers piece of mind as to the true source of the minerals that make up consumer goods they buy.

Barclays CEO Jes Staley on the bank’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – a call to action to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals highlight how ending poverty goes hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address social needs including education, health and job creation. 

In a video published today, showing how the bank is running programmes that support the UN’s goals, Barclays CEO Jes Staley said: “The United Nations recognises that unemployment is a significant issue, estimating that 470 million more jobs are needed globally by 2030. These need to be quality jobs that deliver a fair and secure income if we’re going to lift people out of poverty.” 

The 17 global goals range from promoting gender equality, to ending hunger, to advancing affordable clean energy. Goal 8 – ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’– is an area where Barclays can have substantial, first-hand impact. The UN states: “Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions to allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment.”

To address this, Staley said that Barclays’ “commitment is to upskill millions of people and help drive job creation.” He continued: “We’re helping people gain access to the vital skills they need to get into work. By addressing the challenges people have in finding employment, we believe that the individual’s social and economic prospects increase, which in turn creates broader opportunities for growth and helps build long-term demand for banking services.”

Barclays, said Staley, has played a part in driving economic growth and societal progress for over 327 years. Today, he added, “we have more opportunity to play a role in fostering innovation and inclusive growth for all, as we develop the future of banking”.

Staley said that Barclays is committed to using its connections with corporate and SME clients, suppliers and high-growth entrepreneurs while providing training and resources for job-seekers, working on both sides of the employment equation. Below we outline four programmes that illustrate Barclays’ further engagement in supporting the next generation of job creators and seekers: LifeSkills, Connect with Work, Eagle Labs, and Unreasonable Impact.

LifeSkills

LifeSkills delivers careers education and work experience, creating a pipeline of talent that helps people into the first stages of employment, benefitting them and companies throughout the UK.

Kirstie Mackey, Head of Citizenship and Consumer Affairs for Barclays UK, explains: “Over the last five years we’ve been running our LifeSkills programme, which equips young people with those key skills they need for the world of work. It does that through working with schools, universities and colleges and providing lesson plans for teachers.

“Already 6.7 million young people have gone through the programme. They feel far more motivated to study, they’re incredibly confident, and they have better aspirations and a clearer career plan, and these are all things they weren’t necessarily getting taught in their school environment.”

Connect with Work

Barclays’ Connect with Work programme is supporting people from often overlooked communities into work by providing them with the relevant skills and helping them find meaningful work by connecting them with Barclays suppliers or clients.

Deborah Goldfarb, Head of Citizenship for Barclays International, says the programme is unique because it takes a “demand-led approach”. She adds: “We’re working with organisations to identify their hiring needs and then we’re providing skills and training for individuals to secure placement in these roles.”

Barclays partnered with Per Scholas to create a full-time 17-week training programme helping upskill people in a rapidly expanding area of technology. Plinio Ayala, President and CEO, Per Scholas, says: “The Barclays partnership has been exceptional. We’re finding individuals who are incredibly talented in communities that are often overlooked. We know we’re not just transforming the lives of those individuals, but also the lives of family members and many more generations to come.”

Eagle Labs

“In a time of economic uncertainty in the UK,” says Kirstie Mackey, “it’s really important that we look at how we can make the whole of the UK thrive, especially in local communities – and what’s important in that is smaller businesses.”

Since 2015, Barclays’ Eagle Labs have offered co-working and office space to help grow UK businesses through innovation. Mackey says the 20 Eagle Labs across the UK – from Jersey to Edinburgh – benefit society by providing an environment where businesses can grow and scale – providing structured mentoring, technical skills-building, and providing access to emerging technologies that small businesses might not otherwise have the resources for.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy,” says Mackey, “if we want a successful UK economy we need all of the UK to be thriving, so that’s all of our local communities, not just the big cities.”

Unreasonable Impact

“Unreasonable Impact,” explains Deborah Goldfarb, “is a partnership between Barclays and Unreasonable Group, focused on supporting the next generation of job creators, who are pioneering new business models and technologies and are addressing some of the key issues of our time, whether it’s how we bring clean, affordable energy to the 1.5 billions people living off the grid, or how we can sustainably feed a growing population that’s set to exceed 8.5 billion by 2030.”

The intensive programme runs across the UK, US and Asia, where entrepreneurs get tailored advice from mentors, experts and industry specialists. Fitting with the other Sustainable Development Goals that highlight the need for environmental innovation and sustainability, each Unreasonable Impact company has also committed to creating 500 jobs over the next five years.

Goldfarb says: “Our colleagues work with thousands of businesses every week, from small-scale startups to large multinational corporates, and as a result we are incredibly well positioned to open the networks and relationships of Barclays and help these Unreasonable Impact companies scale and grow. We expect to be creating thousands more new jobs.”

Pintec Technology Holdings Limited ("PINTEC") (Nasdaq: PT), a leading independent technology platform enabling financial services in China, today announced it has joined a partnership to help launch next-generation handset financing for China Mobile's subscribers.

PINTEC, together with a national consumer financial company approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission, will develop a digital lending solution for China Mobile Group Electronic Commerce Co. Ltd. ("China Mobile E-commerce"), a fully-owned subsidiary of China Mobile Ltd. that specializes in mobile payment technologies and operations. 

China Mobile E-commerce runs the carrier's Hebao business, an NFC-based mobile payment system that functions as a digital wallet targeting personal and institutional clients. China Mobile is the country's largest mobile telecom company by market capitalization, with the world's largest network and customer base of over 902 million subscribers, as of June 2018.

Leveraging its state-of-the-art financial technologies and rich experience in customer acquisition and point-of-sale financing, PINTEC's installment loan solution will help add an efficient financing option to Hebao that allows customers to buy mobile phones online and offline with zero or limited down payment. 

The installment loans will be fully covered by cash incentives offered by China Mobile, which means customers can enjoy price reductions averaged at RMB1,500 ($222) on handset orders, depending on their line of credit, subscription plans, and incentive policies from province to province. 

"The new services will largely help ease the financial pressure of customers and boost the consumption of mobile phones," said PINTEC President Zhou Jing. "It's a win-win situation. With PINTEC's fintech knowhow, I believe this partnership will bring customers a superb handset shopping experience in the future." 

Consumer electronics such as mobile phones have been upgrading fast in recent years, driven by IT development and market competition, which boosts consumer demand for these products. According to a recent report from Counterpoint Research, a global industry analysis firm, Chinese consumers update their mobile phones every 22 months, while the global average is 21 months.

"We see a huge market in handset financing, which will in turn help lure and retain customers," said Zhou. "PINTEC is more than willing and has full capabilities to further tap into this same market beyond China, together with local telecom operators and other potential partners. Our customizable and modular digital lending solutions, based on technologies including artificial intelligence and big data, are readily replicable and transferrable with high efficiency and effectiveness."

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This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "target," "confident" and similar statements. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's control. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and PINTEC does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

EToro, the global, multi-asset, investment platform with over ten million registered users, has today added ZCash (ZEC) to its product range. This brings the total number of cryptoassets available on eToro to 14.