Both organisations are leaders in their field, offering the market a unique blend of IA best practice in consultancy and implementation

Sopra Steria has today announced a strategic alliance with Symphony Ventures to address the growing Intelligent Automation (IA) needs of its customers across enterprise and the public sector.

Working together, Sopra Steria and Symphony will offer IA with the power to transform business process capabilities at an enterprise level and unlock value across the entire organisation. Across all sectors, organisations are seeking advice and expertise in using IA technologies in order to drive growth and to enhance competitiveness in today’s digital economy.  Together, Sopra Steria and Symphony will offer customers a clear and scalable way to integrate IA into the business operation with a rapid ROI. 

As specialist consultants in IA and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Symphony Ventures will empower Sopra Steria to accelerate its growth in these areas and to rapidly develop new and exciting solutions, enabling customers to re-imagine business operations as part of wholescale digital transformation activity.

John Torrie, CEO at Sopra Steria UK, said: "This alliance signals our investment in IA and accelerates our transformation to become a consulting led business.  Symphony Ventures is the perfect strategic ally for us. It has an outstanding reputation in the market and a proven high-end consulting capability. Clients are looking for rapid, assured automation to drive change, re-imagine customer services and transform business models.  Together, Sopra Steria and Symphony will offer the insight, innovation and capability needed to deliver outstanding outcomes and get rapid results.”   

David Poole, Co-founder and CEO at Symphony Ventures, said: “This is a major strategic alliance for Symphony and a key step in the future growth of our business. Sopra Steria’s strong Business Process Services heritage and extensive client base represents a huge opportunity for us. IA has seen explosive growth over the last four years and with Cognitive, AI and Machine Learning capabilities rapidly emerging, we see the combination of these technologies turning the BPS industry on its head. We are truly excited about the power of this new alliance.”

The terms of the strategic alliance are currently being finalised, with both parties set to enter the market together in H2 2018.

The announcement was made in the presence of Kasangwa Chanthal, Executive Director - Operations Department, Central Bank of Rwanda, and other dignitaries, partners and guests.

UAE Exchange, a leading global money transfer, foreign exchange and payment solutions brand, announced the rebranding of its Rwanda operations as “Unimoni”(www.Unimoni.com). The announcement was made in the presence of Kasangwa Chanthal, Executive Director  - Operations Department, Central Bank of Rwanda, and other dignitaries, partners and guests.

Short for ‘Universal Money’, the new brand “Unimoni” reflects the company’s aspirations to strengthen its global presence and provide a broader spectrum of innovative financial services to its customers. As part of its Africa growth strategy, Unimoni plans to be present in 14 African markets by the year 2020, and has developed a healthy pipeline of digital payment solutions designed to cater to the specific needs of the African customers.

Promoth Manghat, Executive Director of Finablr, said: “Home to some of the fastest growing economies globally, Africa holds tremendous potential and is a critical component of our growth strategy as a group. We will continue to invest in enhancing the breadth of our reach and depth of our operations in the African continent. As a group, we have earmarked USD 100 million in investments to support our growth and expansion efforts in Africa over the next decade. As Unimoni, we will facilitate seamless and connected experiences for our customers and pave the way towards sustainable development and inclusive growth of the various African markets.” 

Through its category-leading brands such as Unimoni, UAE Exchange, Travelex and Xpress Money, the Finablr network extends across 45 African markets. With 29 branches in Africa offering affordable money transfer and foreign exchange services, Unimoni plans to significantly increase its retail footprint over the coming years. Additionally, the brand is also making aggressive investments in customer-focused technology innovations as well as collaborating with ecosystem partners to provide an enhanced service proposition to its customer base.

Speaking about the future expansion plans for its Africa operations, Allen Semboze, Regional Head Africa, Unimoni, said: “The next few years are going to be very eventful for us at Unimoni, as we set out to achieve our ambitious growth strategy. We are in advanced discussions with various ecosystem partners including Mobile Network Operators and aggregators to develop new money transfer solutions. These services will be available in four of our seven markets in Africa by the second half of 2018. We are also working on developing our digital capabilities including an online remittance platform, a white-label solution for our corporate customers and an online forex solution. While we are adopting a phased approach towards our growth in Africa, all these offerings will be live by 2020 across all our African markets.”

The rebranding exercise follows an earlier announcement made by noted UAE-based businessman and philanthropist, Dr. Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, Founder and Chairman of the UAE Exchange Group. In April 2018, Dr. Shetty launched “Finablr”, a holding company which, subject to regulatory approvals, aims to bring together his global portfolio of category-leading financial services brands including Unimoni, UAE Exchange, Travelex and Xpress Money under one umbrella.

MYPINPAD, the global leader in payment acceptance and authentication software solutions, today announces the launch of Open mPOS. Open mPOS is a complete mPOS authentication platform that uniquely enables merchants, acquirers and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to deploy PIN on Mobile technologies without the need to undergo their own Software PIN on COTS (SPoC) PCI certification.

Open mPOS will provide a fully certified PIN on Mobile (PoM) solution that removes the complexity in achieving and maintaining PCI SPoC compliance, enabling acquirers and PSPs to save time and money when deploying the latest mobile payments innovations. 

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has acknowledged input from the industry that mobile and tablet-based POS solutions are key enablers for the continued growth of card payment acceptance. They recently released a standard for Software PIN entry into smart mobile devices. Software PoM opens the path to develop tablet and smart mobile-based payment solutions to increase card acceptance globally. Publication of the standard has generated high demand globally for SPoC certified solutions. Recent industry reports forecast a CAGR in global mPOS solutions of more than 30% from now until 2025. With its Open mPOS release MYPINPAD is ideally positioned to satisfy this global demand.

Through an API, coupled with a MYPINPAD enabled Secure Card Reader, Open mPOS can be quickly integrated into a merchant’s existing payment applications and will be available through MYPINPAD and its distribution partners. Open mPOS utilises MYPINPAD’s innovative payments platform to facilitate the entire payment process, significantly cutting the cost and time of bringing a certified SPoC solution to market.

Key features

·           Simple app-to-app communications is enabled via an API.

·           MYPINPAD PIN ENTRY SOLUTION (MPES) Application secures the PIN at the point of entry for PoM transactions.

·           Cloud-based attestation and monitoring service.

·           Open mPOS solution manages the Secure Card Reader (SCR) device and payment messages directly through to the acquirer or PSP gateway.

·           The first SCR to be certified with the MYPINPAD service will be Datecs Bluelite, with other manufacturers following suit.

PIN on Mobile and Open mPOS represent major steps forward for the payments industry in realising card scheme ambitions to grow the number of payment acceptance points. The removal of complexity and certification hurdles enables all merchants to deploy a PoM solution simply and quickly.

David Poole, Global Head of Mobile POS Solutions, MYPINPAD commented: “The world of payments is evolving at an accelerating rate. As technology trends influence innovation, accessibility and security, merchants of all sizes and consumers are looking to the payments industry to respond rapidly with products and services that meet their ever-increasing needs. Open mPOS will enable rapid deployment of PIN on Mobile, enrich the consumer’s in-store shopping experience and grow acceptance points globally.” 

MYPINPAD is committed to continuously investing in research and development to expand its product and service offerings and to remain at the forefront of thinking about emerging payment acceptance and authentication technologies.

TradeStation International Ltd, the London-based, United Kingdom subsidiary of TradeStation Group, Inc., today announced that it is now offering European traders, investors, advisors and market analysts access to TradeStation Analytics -- a non-brokerage subscription account featuring all of the advanced analytical capabilities of the TradeStation award-winning* platform.

The software subscription account, which is provided to customers directly by affiliate TradeStation Technologies, Inc., offers market participants an opportunity to join the thousands of U.S.-based TradeStation subscribers - professionals and non-professionals alike - who trust TradeStation's cutting-edge technology to perform sophisticated market analysis, identify opportunities and stay one step ahead of today's rapidly changing financial markets.

This TradeStation Analytics premium subscription package includes:

• Market Data delivered with speed, accuracy and reliability, with the trader given the ability to receive custom alerts on strategy buy and sell triggers and market shifts as they occur. Access to one of the industry's largest historical U.S. market databases allows traders to back-test their trading ideas and then enter and track orders risk-free using a simulated trading account. With TradeStation Analytics, you also have the ability to manually import local and proprietary data to analyze.
• Charting & Analysis includes dynamic market-scanning tools, fully customizable charting, indicators and strategies that traders are empowered to create using TradeStation Analytics' proprietary EasyLanguage® programming code. Real-time data feeds for Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies allow traders to chart their trading ideas for these virtual currencies.
• Premium Analysis Tools such as TradeStation's RadarScreen® real-time market monitoring and ranking tool plus OptionStation Pro options analysis platform are included in the package at no additional cost.
• Mobile and Web Trading Apps allow traders to access many of the same essential capabilities featured in TradeStation Analytics at virtually any time and from anywhere.
• TradeStation Technologies' TradingApp® Store allows traders to subscribe to hundreds of custom TradeStation-compatible indicators, strategies and TradingApps created by independent third party developers.   

"We are excited to offer market participants the opportunity to access the power of TradeStation's award-winning platform for advanced technical analysis and research plus trade strategy modeling and testing," said Rustam Lam, CEO of TradeStation International Ltd. "Whether you trade stocks, options, futures, ETFs or cryptocurrencies, superior analytical tools are essential to take on the markets and help identify trading opportunities."

To learn more about TradeStation Analytics, speak with a TradeStation Technologies account executive or open a subscription account, call 1-800-808-9336 or visit www.tradestation-international.com.

* Awards related to the TradeStation platform include: (1) Stockbrokers.com, Best Platform Technology (2013- 2018), and "Best in Class" - Platform & Tools (2012-2018); and (2) Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities magazine, Best Trading Systems - Stocks and Best Trading Systems - Futures (2006-2018), and Best Professional Platform (2004-2018).

All communications regarding TradeStation Analytics including, the sign-up and subscription process, are solely from TradeStation Technologies. Under any and all subscriptions, TradeStation Technologies is licensor of the software products and services being provided. TradeStation Technologies is a software technology company, and does not engage in brokerage, investment advice, research or financial services of any kind.

Second Quarter Results 2018

CEO Casper von Koskull's comments on the results:

"This quarter we have started to see our efforts to increase customer satisfaction bearing fruit and we see signs of improving momentum across our various businesses among both corporate and household customers. We are delivering on cost, compliance, capital and credit quality, which is the foundation for continuing to be the stable, safe and trusted banking partner of our customers today and tomorrow.

In recent years, Nordea has simplified and focused its business on its core Nordic markets and customers. The planned acquisition of Gjensidige Bank is a further step on that journey. It is a profitable, growing, digital bank, and together with our strategic partnership with Gjensidige, we are creating opportunities to strengthen our position in one of our core Nordic franchises and take part of a profitable growth.

We have achieved another major milestone in our transformation journey with the European Central Bank granting a banking licence to Nordea Bank Abp, our new parent company upon re-domiciliation. The licence is essential for Nordea to be able to operate within the Banking Union in order to achieve stability, predictability and a level playing field.

This quarter we have seen signs that business momentum is improving in some of our core markets, lending volumes have stabilised and are picking up in certain sectors and we have a good momentum in our capital markets and advisory businesses, whilst the savings related fees and commissions remain challenged and household lending margins continue to be under pressure. Although we expect some modest growth for the remainder of the year, given the slower first half of 2018, it is unlikely that the repeating revenues in 2018 will reach the 2017 level* but we still expect to report higher net profit in 2018 versus 2017. We are on track to meet our cost guidance of EUR4.9bn for 2018 and loan losses in the coming quarters are expected to be lower than the long-term average."

*2017 revenues adjusted for the deconsolidation of the Baltic operations and Nordea Life and Pension in Denmark.

Second quarter 2018 vs. Second quarter 2017 (Second quarter 2018 vs. First quarter 2018)

• Net interest income EUR 1,073m, -9%; -7% in local currencies (+2%, +2% in local currencies)
• Total operating income EUR 2,541m, +6%; +8% in local currencies (+10%, +10% in local currencies)
• Total expenses EUR 1,154m, -11%; -8% in local currencies (-4%, -3% in local currencies)
• Profit before loan losses EUR 1,387m, +24%; +27% in local currencies (+25%, +25% in local currencies)
• Net loan losses EUR 59m, -44%; -41% in local currencies (+48%, +53% in local currencies)
• Operating profit EUR 1,328m, +31%; +34% in local currencies (+24%, +24% in local currencies)
• Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio 19.9%, up from 19.2% (up from 19.8%) 
• Cost/income ratio 45% down from 54% (down 7%-points from 52%)
• Loan loss ratio of 10 bps, down from 13 bps (up 3 bps from 7 bps)
• Return on equity 13.9%, up from 9.5% (up 3.9%-points from 10.0%)
• Diluted EPS EUR 0.27 vs. EUR 0.18 (EUR 0.27 vs. EUR 0.20)

Exchange rates used for Q2 2018 for income statement items are for DKK 7.4477, NOK 9.5953 and SEK 10.1553.

Nordea Second Quarter Results 2018:
http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1327V_1-2018-7-19.pdf

City of London Group plc (COLG) (LSE: CIN), the parent company of a group focused on providing finance to the SME sector and home reversion plans in the UK residential property market, and CODE Investing, the institutional marketplace for SME debt, are pleased to announce a strategic collaboration to support the growth of UK small businesses. COLG will aim to complete £50 million in UK small business loans over the next four years originated through CODE Investing.

As an institutional partner to CODE Investing, COLG will gain direct lending access to qualified SMEs, originated to their specifications. The focus will be on property-based SMEs targeting bridging loans across the industrial, office, retail and residential sectors. Loans can be for purchase, refinance, and/or refurbishment of investment property or trading business premises.

The collaboration will see COLG aim to complete £50 million of loans over the next four years, with the option to expand that volume further based on demand. This comes at a time when an increasing number of financial services providers are working with FinTech companies* to diversify into the SME market.

COLG joins a wide range of institutions on CODE Investing’s lender panel, highlighting the increasingly important role alternative finance platforms are playing in stimulating the real economy.

Michael Goldstein, CEO of COLG said: “Collaborating with Fintech companies to enhance direct lending opportunities is an important component of our strategy. This relationship gives COLG access to attractive small business loans over the next four years, serving to further diversify our investment portfolio.”

“This agreement follows a period of due diligence on CODE Investing and its capabilities and processes, and we’re confident our joint effort will deliver a positive benefit to economic growth and to UK SMEs in particular.”

Ayan Mitra, CEO and Founder of CODE Investing said: “As an SME, accessing finance has traditionally been a lengthy and frustrating process. CODE seeks to address this dysfunction by offering potential borrowers an aggregate view of financing available to them in the market, a more streamlined experience, and an increased certainty of funding.”

“For our institutional partners like COLG, CODE’s marketplace provides direct lending access to qualified SMEs, made more efficient by automated technology and processes. We see COLG as an important addition to our lender panel and look forward to working with them to support the UK’s SME sector over the coming years.”

Nordea Asset Management Holding AB has signed an agreement to acquire a 40% stake in Stockholm-based asset manager Madrague Capital Partners AB. The partnership combines Madrague’s well-regarded hedge fund investment competence with the strong Nordea Asset Management distribution network in the Nordics and the rest of the world. 

Nordea Asset Management has a proven international track record of collaborating with both internal and external investment boutiques. Now Nordea Asset Management takes the next step in its growth strategy by acquiring this stake in Madrague.

“We pave the way for entering new partnerships with strong investment boutiques. Acquiring a stake in Madrague marks our commitment to partnering with leading players,” says Nils Bolmstrand, CEO of Nordea Asset Management.

“We are excited to have Nordea Asset Management as a new partner. The combination of Madrague’s hedge fund strategy and Nordea Asset Management’s great distribution power is a perfect match. As one of the leading asset management firms in Europe Nordea will boost Madrague as we continue to produce very competitive returns for our clients,” says Lars Frånstedt, CIO, Madrague.

Nordea Asset Management plans to launch a Global Long/Short equity fund managed by Madrague Capital Partners. The fund will supplement and enhance Nordea Asset Management’s product offering.

The experienced Madrague investment management team has an internationally acknowledged track record. Beyond Nordea, the other owners of Madrague are its senior investment professionals and Patricia Industries AB, a part of Investor AB.

The share purchase is conditional on approval by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and expected to close during Q3.

The European Р2Р platform Robo.cash and one of the leading alternative lending
companies in Kazakhstan LLP Zaymer expand partnership by delivering a new opportunity for investments on the platform - installment loans TezCredit with a repayment period up to 12 months and an expected interest rate up to 14.5% per annum.

Both operating within a single financial group, the Р2Р platform Robo.cash based in Latvia and the lending company LLP Zaymer extend cooperation by providing an opportunity to invest in installment loans TezCredit with a repayment period up to 12 months.

LLP Zaymer has been operating in the market of non-banking lending in Kazakhstan since 2015 and initially represented at Robo.cash since the launch of the platform in February 2017 under the brand Zaimer.kz. The company launched TezCredit in early June 2018 and it has issued over EUR 50,000 in a month of its work.

“The way, which Robo.cash follows, greatly corresponds to the development of the whole financial group, so it turns out to be logical to deliver new products to the platform. We are confident that investors will appreciate the opportunity to have greater profitability and better diversification of investments with preserved advantages of the fully automated investment process. At the same time, it will help us to expand business in Kazakhstan, as well as to improve the customer service”, says Sergey Sedov, the founder of the platform Robo.cash.

The average size of installment loans issued by TezCredit is EUR 467, with an average repayment period of 7 months. Investors can expect the annual return up to 14.5% per annum. All loans are secured with a buyback guarantee in case of delinquency for 30 days.

Finicity’s Verification of Assets solution is integrated into SimpleNexus’ Enterprise Digital Mortgage Platform and mobile app

Finicity, a leading provider of real-time financial data aggregation and insights, announced today it is working with SimpleNexus to automate borrower asset verification for lenders using the SimpleNexus Enterprise Digital Mortgage Platform. The agreement will make the process of applying for a mortgage more efficient and improve the mobile loan origination experience for SimpleNexus’ customers.

Finicity’s suite of credit decisioning solutions, including Verification of Assets (VoA), gives lenders access to the data insights they need to digitize their loan process, free up resources, reduce fraud and improve accuracy. Automating VoA reduces friction with borrowers and can reduce the verification process from days to minutes.

“As the leading financial data aggregator in the credit decisioning industry, we are always looking for ways to bring valuable insights to lenders and provide faster, simpler and more modern lending experiences to consumers,” said Steve Smith, Finicity CEO. “We’re excited to work with SimpleNexus to continue to drive innovation in the digital lending space.”

SimpleNexus provides a private-label digital mortgage platform and mobile app that connects mortgage lenders with borrowers and real estate agents, allowing all parties to easily exchange data and documents through the lifecycle of a mortgage loan. Through its smartphone app, loan officers are able to instantly view new loan applications, pull and view credit reports, run live-pricing scenarios, see real-time CRM feeds and send pre-approval letters.

“Finicity’s focus on digitizing the lending process and reducing user friction aligns perfectly with our mobile-first mindset,” said Matt Hansen, SimpleNexus CEO. “This integration agreement will create more efficiencies throughout the entire loan lifecycle for mortgage lenders, borrowers and real estate agents.”

Finicity and SimpleNexus are both part of the Silicon Slopes business community of Utah, coined in the vein of Silicon Valley due to the large number of tech startups and high level of innovation taking place in the region. Furthermore, this partnership has already seen success with Synergy One Lending.

“We’re thrilled to now have access to automated VoA reports for our borrowers,” said Torrey Larsen, Synergy One CEO. “This automated process will simplify the experience for our loan originators and borrowers while reducing time to close. Improvements to the digital mortgage process, like Finicity and SimpleNexus’ integration, are crucial to our pursuit of excellence in the client experience.”

Finicity is also an authorized, integrated provider of asset verification reports within Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter® (DU®). This gives lenders a validated asset report through Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty™ initiative. Finicity is also part of the Single Source Validation (SSV) pilot, meaning Fannie Mae will utilize transaction data from Finicity reports to validate assets, income and employment. A broader rollout of SSV is planned later this year and will build on Fannie Mae’s Day 1 Certainty initiative.