QuantHouse, the independent global provider of high performance systematic trading solutions including innovative market data services, algo development tools and global network infrastructure, today announced it has been selected by Quest Partners LLC (“Quest”) to support the diverse needs of their automated traders.

Quest specializes in research-driven, multi-asset, quantitative trading and is known for trading complex, disciplined strategies leveraging volatility changes across a wide range of global exchanges. Their algorithmic traders connect to over 80 liquid markets including commodity, currency, equity index and fixed income venues. To meet the organization’s need for high quality data and technology, Quest has chosen QuantHouse, a specialist in the quant space with services tailor-made for advanced, global systematic trading.

ConsolidatedFEED leverages QuantHouse’s robust infrastructure and unmatched normalization used to power the ultra-low latency solutions and to streamline the process of consuming data from global markets. QuantHouse performs normalization, updates and maintenance at the source, disseminating data in a proprietary protocol across the fully resilient QuantLINK fiber optic network and providing 140+ feeds through a single API, accessible anywhere in the world from dedicated regional hubs. In addition, QuantHouse manages connectivity and hosting services in financial datacenters worldwide – allowing Quest to connect to brokers, execution venues and other technology providers from QuantHouse hosted servers as part of a fully managed service.

Salloum AbouSaleh, Managing Director, Americas, QuantHouse, said, “Quest is a very successful systematic asset manager and we are delighted to have been selected by them to handle some of their most critical core trading requirements. QuantHouse is becoming a one-stop-shop for quant funds by providing market access, historical and real-time market data, hosting and connectivity for order flow to prime brokers, algo execution providers, cloud service providers, and fund admins and by providing additional services through our API ecosystem store. Our propositions have been developed to support the growth of a multi asset buy-side whether global macros, asset managers or hedge funds.”

Volante Technologies Inc., a global provider of software for accelerated end-to-end payments processing and financial message integration, today announced that Bank Leumi (UK) has selected VolPay Open Banking to implement PSD2 compliance and enable open banking business models.  

Bank Leumi (UK) is a specialist and relationship bank based in the UK. By choosing Volante’s Open Banking PSD2 solution, the bank is able to rapidly meet its PSD2 regulatory requirements through an easy to implement, out-of-the-box solution. The bank is also well positioned to continue delivering on its core mission of providing reliable customer-focused relationship services, now through new open banking channels.

VolPay Open Banking’s scalable micro services based architecture, enables banks to rapidly integrate their back office servicing applications, including payment engines and core banking account holding systems, with the front end API management layer, that provides the secure managed access to the banks environment via defined APIs. Building upon Volante’s partnership with Token who provides PSD2 compliant APIs, this complete solution will provide the building blocks for Bank Leumi to expand into other value added services, over and above basic compliance, in the global phenomenon of using open APIs for doing business and becoming more competitive against the rising ranks of new Third Party Providers (TPPs).

All VolPay products offer high levels of automation, access to out-of-the-box functionality and inbuilt testing. This dramatically accelerates time to projects completion. For Bank Leumi, this translates to rapid time to compliance with the PSD2 regulation and Open Banking readiness.

Nadish Lad, Global head of Payment Products, Volante Technologies, commented, “Volante’s VolPay Open Banking solution provides out-of-the-box compliance with EU PSD2 regulation and enhanced capability for a rapid implementation within the bank’s environment. The bank not only achieves compliance quickly, it also helps lay the foundation for the bank’s consideration of future revenue generating channels and opportunities. We commend Bank Leumi for their vision of PSD2 compliance as a stepping stone towards playing a wider role in the open API space.”

Dhavarajh Frank, Chief Operating Officer,  Bank Leumi (UK), commented, “We looked for a solution that would enable PSD2 compliance quickly without having to make considerable changes to our systems and considered Volante and Token’s PSD2 compliant APIs a perfect one-stop-shop solution to provide this capability. Offering the most compelling propositions to our domestic and international customer base remains a primary focus for the Bank and we believe that Volante’s solution will help us in our overall customer facing capabilities.” 

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, can today reveal that only around half (48%) of businesses can detect if any of their IoT devices suffers a breach. This comes despite companies having an increased focus on IoT security: 

• Spending on protection has grown (from 11% of IoT budget in 2017 to 13% now); 
• Nearly all (90%) believing it is a big consideration for customers; and 
• Almost three times as many now see IoT security as an ethical responsibility (14%), compared to a year ago (4%)

With the number of connected devices set to top 20 billion by 2023, businesses must act quickly to ensure their IoT breach detection is as effective as possible. 

Surveying 950 IT and business decision makers globally, Gemalto found that companies are calling on governments to intervene, with 79% asking for more robust guidelines on IoT security, and 59% seeking clarification on who is responsible for protecting IoT. Despite the fact that many governments have already enacted or announced the introduction of regulations specific to IoT security, most (95%) businesses believe there should be uniform regulations in place, a finding that is echoed by by consumers^[1] 95% expect IoT devices to be governed by security regulations.

"Given the increase in the number of IoT-enabled devices, it's extremely worrying to see that businesses still can't detect if they have been breached," said Jason Hart, CTO, Data Protection at Gemalto. "With no consistent regulation guiding the industry, it's no surprise the threats – and, in turn, vulnerability of businesses – are increasing. This will only continue unless governments step in now to help industry avoid losing control."

Security remains a big challenge

With such a big task in hand, businesses are calling for governmental intervention because of the challenges they see in securing connected devices and IoT services. This is particularly mentioned for data privacy (38%) and the collection of large amounts of data (34%). Protecting an increasing amount of data is proving an issue, with only three in five (59%) of those using IoT and spending on IoT security, admitting they encrypt all of their data. 

Consumers¹ are clearly not impressed with the efforts of the IoT industry, with 62% believing security needs to improve. When it comes to the biggest areas of concern 54% fear a lack of privacy because of connected devices, followed closely by unauthorised parties like hackers controlling devices (51%) and lack of control over personal data (50%).

Blockchain gains pace as an IoT security tool

While the industry awaits regulation, it is seeking ways to address the issues itself, with blockchain emerging as a potential technology; adoption of blockchain has doubled from 9% to 19% in the last 12 months. What's more, a quarter (23%) of respondents believe that blockchain technology would be an ideal solution to use for securing IoT devices, with 91% of organisations that don't currently use the technology are likely to consider it in the future.

As blockchain technology finds its place in securing IoT devices, businesses continue to employ other methods to protect themselves against cybercriminals. The majority (71%) encrypt their data, while password protection (66%) and two factor authentication (38%) remain prominent. 

Hart continues, "Businesses are clearly feeling the pressure of protecting the growing amount of data they collect and store. But while it's positive they are attempting to address that by investing in more security, such as blockchain, they need direct guidance to ensure they're not leaving themselves exposed. In order to get this, businesses need to be putting more pressure on the government to act, as it is them that will be hit if they suffer a breach." 

Huami Corporation ("Huami" or the "Company") (NYSE:  HMI), a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology, today announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with McLaren Applied Technologies, a global leader in high-performance design and technology solutions, to jointly develop co-branded intelligent, data-driven, customized performance optimization solutions and wearable technologies in the future. These co-developed, co-branded products will work seamlessly with mobile applications to provide users with a comprehensive view of their biometric and activity data, particularly in relation to health and wellness-based activities and competitive e-sports, a market segment of growing popularity over recent years. The collaboration will explore the application of metrics-driven wearables that contribute to the optimisation of human performance in the field of racing, such as body sensors and AI technology.

The first stage of the collaboration will see Huami Partner with McLaren Shadow Project esports competition. Huami technology will be used to help select the winner of the competition, held at the McLaren Technology Centre between January 16 – 17, 2019. The winner will be chosen from seven finalists after four days of virtual and real-world racing as well as rigorous human performance testing by McLaren Applied Technologies. Throughout the finals week, assessment sessions will include stimulus detection, central processing, physical capabilities and driving skill that will utilize biometric data collected from Huami's high-quality wearable products to evaluate human performance characteristics exhibited during the event.

"We are excited to be working with world-leading performance design and technology solutions provider McLaren Applied Technologies and official partner to McLaren Shadow Project. We believe that this strategic partnership validates the growth potential of our high-quality wearable technology products and will help broaden our global reach," said Tommy Tang, Vice President of Huami. "As part of our strategic collaboration, we will integrate our mutually compatible technologies to develop an innovative wearable design and create a comprehensive user experience. As a partner to McLaren Shadow Project this programme will enable Huami's devices to be used as an invaluable data source to detail compelling insights about human physical performance that works across different sectors, including wellness and e-sports."

"As part of our partnership we are honored to help determine the champion of the McLaren Shadow Project, based on analysis of the biometric data collected from our premium wearable products," Mr. Tang continued. "Importantly, we look forward to jointly developing smart technology wearable products that work with mobile applications to provide users with a comprehensive view of their biometric and activity data. Jointly, we can set a new standard in delivering quantifiable and actionable human performance insights."

Mike Collier, Head of Human Performance at McLaren Applied Technologies commented: "This is a hugely exciting announcement for McLaren Applied Technologies. Huami is a global leader in the wearables technology space and we're looking forward to the opportunity to co-develop products as part of this long-term technical partnership. The involvement of McLaren Applied Technologies in the McLaren Shadow Project is a key differentiator between our competition and others in the racing e-sports space. This offering has only been strengthened by this partnership with Huami and we're pleased to have such a trusted partner on-board to help crown our winner."

Safe-T® a leading provider of software-defined access solutions for the hybrid cloud, today announced it has joined the Symantec Technology Integration Partner Program (TIPP), a global ecosystem composed of more than 100 participating technology companies, in a collaborative effort to combat cyber crime and secure the Cloud Generation.

As part of the Symantec TIPP, Safe-T can leverage an open ecosystem, which includes a complete API framework, as well as integration with the Symantec Integrated Cyber Defense Platform. Safe-T and Symantec will offer API-based integrated solutions that best protect customers from security threats. Also, as part of the Symantec TIPP, Safe-T will access Symantec technology, tools, and support to more quickly and efficiently deliver these API-integrated solutions to market. 

"Organizations today have become more digitized than ever before, forcing them to control large amounts of sensitive data entering and leaving their networks," said Eitan Bremler, Co-founder and VP Technologies at Safe-T. "Balancing this volume while accommodating a zero trust model is a challenging task. The Symantec TIPP allows us to integrate our Software Defined Access solution with Symantec's data loss prevention and endpoint protection solutions. Through the integration, organizations can now unify all data exchange flows into one secure solution, ensuring all files are scanned and controlled before leaving or entering the organization, regardless of their source or destination, preventing file exfiltration, leakage, malware and ransomware."

"In the Cloud Generation, it's important for companies to work with an open ecosystem to reduce the fragmentation that can increase vulnerabilities and create high operating costs," said Peter Doggart, Vice President of Business Development at Symantec. "By integrating with the latest, advanced security technologies, our partners can protect their customers and data from threats. The Symantec Technology Integration Partner Program opens our Integrated Cyber Defense Platform to our partners for deep technical integrations that create the strongest possible security ecosystems."

First Data, a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, today announced a new PCI P2PE validation to its portfolio, TransArmor P2PE using Ingenico Group’s On-Guard solution. 

Eurobase is pleased to announce that RCB Bank Ltd has selected Siena as its treasury, trading and sales solution, including an online customer dealing platform.

UnionPay International today announced the launch of the UPI Developer, an open platform that gives global developers access to 18 of UnionPay’s UnionPay cross-border mobile Internet payment products and services in the first phase.