Published
- 05:00 am
Binance has completed the acquisition of Trust Wallet, a secure and intuitive mobile wallet. Through this acquisition, Binance aims to provide a better service and to enhance the safety for all of our users.
Trust Wallet (www.trustwalletapp.com ) is a secure, open source, decentralized and anonymous mobile wallet application that supports Ethereum and over 20,000 different Ethereum based tokens (ERC20, ERC223 and ERC721), seeing significant user adoption since its launch in November 2017. The company has built a reputation for security and has held itself to the guiding principles that it will never access user wallets, hold private keys, and ask for personal information.
The acquisition of Trust Wallet will add an on-chain mobile wallet to the list of Binance services with other future integration possibilities. The Trust Wallet brand and team will retain the autonomy and freedom to develop the core product while benefiting from the increased synergy from Binance, including the broad user base and the upcoming DEX.
As a technology driven company, Binance’s acquisition of Trust Wallet shows the importance of secure wallet technology for the future development of cryptocurrency as a whole. As Binance’s first public acquisition, we hope to continue providing our users with improved security, services and support.
- 02:00 am
Wirecard, the global innovation leader in digital financial technology, today announces the launch of secure EFT in South Africa.
According to Statista, online orders in South Africa will grow strongly: Revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-2022) of 13.2 percent, resulting in a market volume of US$5,431m in 2022. EFT payments are the second most popular online payment methods in South Africa - with this, citizens are paying their rent, fees for doctors’ appointments, school fees and further daily needs.
As many consumers in South Africa still do not use payment cards, Wirecard is now able to accelerate the completion of the purchase process when goods or services are purchased online and paid for by EFT. Merchants can now benefit from seamless integration - using Wirecard’s payment page enables integration with no additional coding necessary.
“Instant notification of successful payment means goods and services can be released or delivered real-time by the merchant - they know instantly that they have been paid. As a result we have seen an up to 30 percent higher conversion rate with some merchants using our EFT solution,” said Hannalie Marsh, General Manager at Wirecard South Africa. “Our product offers a simple three-step payment process, which includes faster check-out speeds - about eight seconds versus around 20 seconds previously regarded as the industry norm. Wirecard is one of the biggest players in payments in South Africa and people trust our brand. We are looking forward to further digitizing payment processes to generate more added-value for merchants and end-consumers.”
- 07:00 am
Xero (ASX: XRO) has acquired Hubdoc, a leading data capture solution that helps accountants, bookkeepers, and small businesses streamline administrative tasks such as financial document collection and data entry.
Helping Accountants and Bookkeepers Work More Efficiently
With Hubdoc and Xero, the most time consuming tasks are streamlined, helping accountants and bookkeepers save time and run their practices more efficiently. The existing integration between Hubdoc and Xero delivers:
Streamlined data capture: Hubdoc complements Xero’s “financial web” strategy by auto-fetching financial documents from over 700 utilities, telecom providers, banks and online vendors, extracting the key financial data and source documentation and then seamlessly syncing the data into Xero.
Real-time financial data: Xero can automatically match data imported from Hubdoc with bank feed transactions, so that advisors and their clients have an always up-to-date set of books, and can make more informed, timely business decisions.
Organized and verified data: Hubdoc provides accountants and their clients with confidence that their financial documents are organized, secure, and always available. All data is “verified” with the source document, stored and easily searchable on any device.
“Bringing Hubdoc into the Xero family will enable us to take the next step in delivering a platform that seamlessly connects small businesses with their financial data and their accountants and bookkeepers,” said Keri Gohman, President for Xero Americas. “This is all about accelerating our ability to streamline the collection and classification of that data so that small businesses and their advisors can answer the big questions, and find lasting success.”
Xero + Hubdoc: Shared Vision and Values
Hubdoc and Xero have built a strong relationship since integrating in 2014. Hubdoc is now a leading application on the Xero app marketplace, winner of the 2016 Xero App Partner of the Year award, winner of the very first Xero Partnership Impact award in 2017, and a Xero HQ integrated partner.
Both Hubdoc and Xero are born-in-the-cloud companies with a shared vision for delivering innovative solutions that make it is easier for accountants and small businesses to share data, uncover insights, and plan for the future. Bringing Hubdoc into the Xero family will enable the companies to create even deeper integrations, develop innovative new solutions, and deliver increased value to accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses.
"Over the past four years, Hubdoc has built an industry-changing product, a passionate following of customer advocates and a reputation for authentic, human service," said Jamie Shulman, Hubdoc's co-founder and co-CEO. "What is exciting about this transaction is the opportunity to deeply partner with Xero to rewire the global small business economy."
“Like Xero, we believe that the underlying foundation of any great company is deep customer and employee focus. Our two north stars at Hubdoc are to create amazing customer experiences that people tell their friends about and amazing professional experiences that employees take with them throughout their careers,” said Jamie McDonald, co-founder and co-CEO of Hubdoc. “Xero shares those north stars wholeheartedly, and we can’t wait to join them on this journey.”
Hubdoc will continue to operate on a stand-alone basis. Customers can expect a deeper, more powerful integration between Xero and Hubdoc in the future. Hubdoc will continue to be led by Jamie Shulman and Jamie McDonald. They will report to Keri Gohman, President for Xero Americas.
- 02:00 am
Advanced Logic Analytics Ltd (ALA), a data science-led business offering AI-driven algorithms and app solutions to the global fund markets, is pleased to announce the launch of ALASA, a market sentiment tool that helps banks, investment and trading firms make sense of human and market signals from financial data published online.
It uses advanced proprietary algorithms, machine learning and natural language processing to gather financial information published online from any number of professional and crowd-based sources. This data is then ordered and analysed before an appropriate positive or negative sentiment weighting is applied. The output is a highly accurate sentiment-based feed which allows the user to track market news, social media and mood data from a variety of inputs.
Traders can create opportunities by gauging investor sentiment on any given stock in real-time, offering a market edge and a boost in investment performance. Highly customisable, users can track sentiment scoring against financial instruments of their choosing. The data analysed can be tailored to capture data that is relevant to every trader’s field of expertise. Also, historical sentiment data can be exported and applied where available.
Commenting, Nick Ellis, Managing Director, Advanced Logic Analytics said: “ALASA is a powerful tool which supports traders in being more profitable by tuning into the sentiment of the entire market. Our beta testing results have delivered empirical evidence that ALASA provides early indication of unprecedented events before they impact the markets.”
“This is a very exciting time for us. Early discussions with investment firms indicate an enormous appetite for the tool.” He continued.
All sizes of investment firms can now apply ‘best in class’ scientific methods to their investment strategies simply and quickly. ALASA refines the investment process and affords new insights into how the markets will behave.
ALASA is available via desktop or API and can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
- 01:00 am
Path Solutions, the world’s most trusted software provider for the Islamic financial services industry today announced that its Group Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Kateeb has been selected as winner of Finance Monthly CEO Award for 2018. This accolade recognises Kateeb’s forward-thinking, innovative and strategic vision that has resulted in the thriving success of Path Solutions.
The Finance Monthly CEO Awards celebrate most successful, progressive and ambitious company leaders in business today, following a rigorous selection and judging process. The awards have been launched by Finance Monthly, a global publication providing news, analysis and features on the latest headlines within the financial sector, and distinguish the most highly respected organisations and their C-level executives, who are global pioneers and possess the qualities required to be amongst the best leaders in the industry.
Kateeb has been Vice Chairman of Path Solutions since 2004, elected Chairman of the Board in 2008, and was appointed Group Chairman & CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, Path Solutions has become the leader in Sharia-based financial software solutions and services, servicing over 130 clients in over 39 countries. He spearheaded the group’s external growth strategy, successfully building market share, and developing a unique platform and services portfolio. Before joining Path Solutions, Kateeb has spent 11 years as an executive with Microsoft. He is also known as a key contributor to the region telecommunication, media and information technology industry.
“I am honored to receive the Finance Monthly’s CEO Award for 2018, and I contribute this important recognition to the hard work and dedication of each member of Path Solutions who is committed to empower our clients to achieve competitive edge and grow their business”, commented Kateeb. “This award not only illustrates our successes to date, but further encourages us to continue to lead and shape tomorrow’s Islamic finance sector”.
Talking about the awards program, Navdeep Poonia, Awards Manager at Finance Monthly said: “Disruptive change requires the CEO’s active leadership and involvement on a daily basis. It is imperative for every business striving for success to have a leader whose diligence, innovative thinking and ingenuity inspire his team and guide them to achieve excellence. Mohammed Kateeb is a leader whose enthusiasm, passion and hard work have helped the company accelerate and successfully accomplish its goals”.
In the first quarter of 2018 Finance Monthly asked its subscribers to cast their votes. Between January and March 2018, a total number of 22,639 votes were registered with the research team. The polls methodology provides the ability to validate nominations and allows insights into the nominees’ critical success factors. The process allows the readers of Finance Monthly to nominate and for Finance Monthly to validate the nominations based on internal research, public endorsements, media coverage, and number of votes.
- 07:00 am
Exscudo is happy to announce a release of an open API for trading terminals that will allow utilizing trading robots on the Exscudo exchange.
A trading robot is a specialized software that automatically makes trading decisions based on market data analysis and preprogrammed set of parameters. The trading software allows experienced traders to operate more effectively be making faster judgments and helps to make emotionless choices, reducing the risk of rash decisions that may lead to potential losses. Another benefit of automated trading is the ability to keep track of markets 24/7, as trading bots do not need to sleep or take brakes, unlike human beings.
With the introduction of trading robots, the team plans to make the Exscudo exchange more suitable to experienced and professional traders who use the trading software for their work, allowing to attract a new audience and boost the liquidity on the exchange. Liquidity is one of the most important factors for a new exchange – it allows assets to be swapped quickly and directly influences the usability and popularity of the platform. Today only the top tier cryptocurrency exchanges can offer complete trading terminals support via a public API. The goal of Exscudo is to create a unique exchange that will be equally useful for various types of users – from novice to extremely experienced.
The exchange operates in the heart of the Exscudo ecosystem, formed by the secure Wallet and Messenger app Channels and the Excudo merchant all of which are based on the in-house blockchain EON. The exchange will provide a revolutionary level of security by storing funds in secure wallets within the EON blockchain and playing a role of a mere Escrow agent to confirm transactions, combining the benefits of decentralized and centralized exchanges.
At the moment API for trading terminals is being tested in a closed environment with the integration on the live exchange planned to take place from September to October 2018.
- 06:00 am
Today, we’re thrilled to announce 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton as the keynote speaker for Swell – where the world’s leaders in policy, payments and technology connect.
At a time when groundbreaking technology and regulation were often on a collision course, President Clinton helped usher in a period of extreme growth and adoption of the Internet, shaping what it is today. He also established programs that bridged the “digital divide” and brought new technology to underserved communities around the world.
These learnings are perhaps more relevant now than ever before. Like the Internet boom of the 90’s, we are at an impasse: digital assets and blockchain technology offer a way for value to be exchanged as quickly as information – creating more financial inclusion and economic opportunity. However, with this new technology comes potential for concern, requiring thoughtful policy to protect consumers from risk without hampering innovation.
Gene Sperling, National Economic Council Director and Advisor under Presidents Clinton and Obama, will moderate a Q&A with President Clinton during the keynote address.
This year’s Swell program will also feature:
- Financial services companies using blockchain technology in production
- New market opportunity in remittances, e-commerce and corporate marketplaces
- Frameworks for regulating digital assets across Europe, Asia and the Middle East
The Swell 2018 conference is located in our hometown of San Francisco, California from Monday, October 1 to Tuesday, October 2. For more information, we encourage you to visit the Swell website and stay tuned over the coming weeks for updates on this dynamic line-up.
James Stickland
CEO at Veridium
The use of biometric identifications systems in the financial sector is mushrooming as banks, credit card companies, and other institutions adopt them to improve security. see more
- 06:00 am
Datacenter.com, a channel-focused provider of on-demand colocation services with a ‘high-profile’ brand name and a planned roll-out of colocation data centers in strategic markets worldwide, has added AFIBER to its connectivity portfolio in Datacenter.com Amsterdam AMS1. To accomplish this, AFIBER has deployed a network Point of Presence (PoP) in the Datacenter.com Amsterdam AMS1 data center. AFIBER’s software-defined, on-demand networking proposition is the perfect fit for Datacenter.com’s own on-demand colocation proposition with month-to-month contracts.
Part of the Dutch telecom carrier group, AFIBER is an international provider of Software Defined Optical Networking services (retail and wholesale) with its roots in the Netherlands. Their highly automated and flexible workflows to provision dark fiber and wavelength services are backed by a high capacity optical network with low latency access to: global carriers and network service providers; 50+ data centers in Dutch metropolitan areas and beyond in the Netherlands; and 1,000+ multi-tenant office locations.
“A variety of AFIBER customers and prospects have been asking us for a while already to have our network services available in Datacenter.com Amsterdam AMS1,” said Jochem de Gruyter, CEO of AFIBER. “If you want to have the Amsterdam metropolitan data center market truly covered, you have to take an independent customer focused approach as network service provider. Adding AMS1 to our optical network offers more diversity to our customers and service providers and underlines our connectivity strategy for high density data and cloud colocation.”
CSPs, Financials, Healthcare
The Datacenter.com AMS1 data center is located in the Amsterdam South-East Business District - one of the world’s most ‘carrier fiber’-dense areas. As a provider of flexible, on-demand colocation services with month-to-month contracts, Datacenter.com anticipates AFIBER’s highly automated connectivity proposition – focused on low latency and high security - to be an attractive addition to its broad choice of connectivity options already available in their Amsterdam AMS1 data center.
“AFIBER and Datacenter.com share the same demand-oriented company values of delivering high quality data center services featuring highly flexible, on-demand characteristics. What’s more, we share the same aggressive plans for international growth while we’re both delivering a large part of our services through an international ecosystem of channel partners,” said Jochem Steman, CEO of Datacenter.com. “The highly efficient connectivity services offered by AFIBER will certainly cater to the low latency and high bandwidth needs of our most demanding customers including cloud service providers as well as financials and organizations within healthcare.”
Real-Time Network Specs, Design, Quotes
AFIBER’s investments in proprietary optical network management software have resulted in an automated and fast delivery pipeline of dark fiber and wavelength services. Retail customers and channel partners are able to select and configure their network preferences remotely online through the AFIBER online applications. They can select the type of network service, the preferred route(s) and engineering specifications for deployment. AFIBER’s network management system then automatically generates an optimal network design while the prices and technical specifications and even quotations are being generated in real-time.
“Our unique network design provides high grade fiber optical specifications and connectivity standards in the global industry, thanks to our investments in latest network management systems and equipment,” added De Gruyter. “Together with the transparent characteristics of our connectivity services and features like optical encryption it makes our proposition a valuable one in the European market and beyond. Datacenter.com’s market vision is pretty much similar to our own, with their on-demand colocation proposition, its plans for international expansion and also their channel-focused strategy. Next to that, like us, they have a passion for delivering high quality data center infrastructure – in their case, with an ultra-low thus energy-efficient PUE figure and OCP-ready data halls. We’re looking forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Datacenter.com.”
- 09:00 am
A new agreement between PwC and RiskFirst will see PwC continue to provide consulting and advisory services using the award winning Skyval platform – underpinned by RiskFirst’s PFaroe – whilst also promoting further standardisation and bringing greater freedom to stakeholders to share information.
UK-based consultancy PwC and financial technology provider RiskFirst are reinforcing their relationship with a new agreement, which will benefit clients by bringing PFaroe and Skyval closer together. PwC and RiskFirst jointly launched online pensions platform Skyval in 2013, in response to a growing need for more accurate, reliable and up-to-date pension plan information. This latest evolution will bring Skyval and PFaroe onto the same underlying platform, making it easier to exchange information, thereby facilitating closer working relations across all plan stakeholders.
Jeremy May, Head of Pensions, PwC UK, comments: “We are delighted to be furthering our
relationship with RiskFirst in a way that makes it easier for pension schemes to share information. The Skyval platform, provided by RiskFirst, continues to support our awardwinning pension advisory practice.”
Matthew Seymour, CEO, RiskFirst, comments: “Recognition of the value of capabilities contained in the likes of Skyval and PFaroe continues to increase across the industry, which is driving growing levels of adoption, and thereby enabling pension fund stakeholders to interact more efficiently, effectively and confidently on decision-making through a common platform. We are very pleased to continue our strong relationship with PwC – not only continuing to support their business through effective risk analytics technology, but also by helping to encourage collaboration between users of our technology for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
