enVista, a leading global consulting and software solutions firm, enabling enterprise commerce for the world’s leading manufacturers, distributors and omni-channel retailers, has chosen CloudTrade’s patented PDF to e-invoice technology to boost e-invoicing adoption among its customers. 

CloudTrade’s PDF to e-invoicing solution integrates seamlessly with enVista’s Unified Commerce Platform, building on its existing capabilities by adding a simple to use PDF component, which will help to drive supplier adoption rates of over 80-90% in e-invoicing-enabled supply chains. 

Dominic McGough, Managing Partner at enVista, says: “We are delighted to be partnering with CloudTrade – a proven, best of breed PDF to e-invoice technology – on our continued mission to battle the friction that is caused by delays in a supply chain weighed down by too much paper and clunky processes. We believe the partnership will help our users to on-board more of their suppliers, further digitising their operations and actively using technology to improve efficiencies.”

CloudTrade’s solution ensures 100% accurate data is captured and uploaded within minutes of a supplier submitting a PDF invoice, replacing enVista’s previous optical character recognition (OCR) solution, and enabling users to see significant back office savings in the region.

Steve Britton, CloudTrade’s Client Director, says: "CloudTrade’s Patented technology enables documents, such as supplier invoices and customer orders, to be received as PDFs and automatically converted into an e-document structure. We map the data embedded within the PDF, as created by the originating system, and convert it into a format accepted by the recipient. As our approach is so simple and non-disruptive to any supply chain, adoption rates are extremely high.”

“Some paper will always remain in any AP system – at least in the short term - but as most billing applications can generate and send PDF invoices via email, we believe our solution is the easiest and quickest way for enVista’s users to move closer to a paperless office. Our teams are now fully focused on making this project a total success for enVista’s network of mid-market and Fortune 100/5000 users and their suppliers.”

enVista, a leading global consulting and software solutions firm that serves hundreds of omni-channel retailers, distributors and manufacturers will now begin rolling-out CloudTrade’s solution across its global customer network. 

CloudTrade is one of the world’s fastest growing e-invoice and e-document networks, connecting hundreds of global organisations to thousands of their trading partners electronically across numerous sectors and regions. 

New functionality includes the ability for research providers to book and sell meetings, calls, webinars and events

As the global market for investment research continues to unbundle post MiFID II, RSRCHXchange has built upon its strength as an aggregator and marketplace for written research by adding a suite of functionality for other research services. 

From today, buy-side users will be able to schedule, book and buy meetings, calls and webinars with analysts from among the 375 banks, brokers and independents currently using the RSRCHX platform. The new features have all the compliance and control functionality that users and providers have come to expect from RSRCHXchange, in addition to providing both sides with a consumption audit trail.

Call and webinar hosting are now fully integrated into the RSRCHX platform, giving users a seamless experience across their research consumption from written content to their analyst interactions.
Research providers will also have the additional capability to market and sell specific research related events on the platform, such as roadshows and conferences.

Jeremy Davies, Co-Founder of RSRCHXchange, said: “As our business grows, it’s important that we listen to our buy- and sell-side users and continue to build functionality that addresses their research needs. Research is a service and written reports are only just one part of that. We continue to expand our successful marketplace model to bring a complete research services offering to our buy-side users.” 

Vicky Sanders, Co-Founder of RSRCHXchange, added: “The findings of our recent survey have shown that 63% of buy-side firms are taking fewer meetings post MiFID II and that this is partly down to confusion over pricing. As a result of cost and time pressures, many of our research providers are increasingly looking for technology to help them to meet with and maintain close relationships with clients. Building on our expertise in bringing together a marketplace for written research, we are thrilled to add analyst time to our RSRCHX platform.”

B21 will list Salus Alpha’s ‘Smarter than Crypto’ index fund, and introduce new licensed funds to investors

B21, the first mobile-focused personal wealth manager exclusively for crypto assets, today announced a partnership with Salus Alpha, a licensed and regulated investment provider for retail and institutional clients. Through this partnership, B21 will list Salus Alpha’s Smarter than Crypto (“STC”) top 20 by market cap index fund, an actively managed closed cap fund for retail investors. In addition, Salus Alpha will provide the license framework for B21 to create its own funds on the B21 platform, improving its fund management capabilities.

“By partnering with Salus Alpha, we’re able to accelerate the deployment and expansion of the B21 platform, in particular giving our customers the option to include funds in their portfolios,” said Miles Paschini, Co-Founder of B21. “We look forward to a long and successful collaboration with Salus Alpha with the shared goal of onboarding new investors into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

“The B21 platform as such and its strong professional team fulfills our institutional requirements and the gap between traditional wealth management and the crypto world. We are excited to list our strategy with a 15-year track record in the hedge fund space which we have ported to the crypto space as Smarter Than Crypto fund (“STC”). Together, B21 and Salus Alpha will raise the quality bar in the crypto space to the max,” says Oliver Prock, CEO and Founder of Salus Alpha.

The STC crypto asset investment fund is an actively managed closed-cap fund for retail investors. B21 will list the STC Fund on its platform, and Salus Alpha also provide B21 the licensing capabilities to “white label” funds in the B21 name.  With this capability, B21 intends to introduce bespoke crypto funds including ICO funds to provide its customers access to early stage investments.

B21 is a mobile-focused investment platform that allows anyone to create their own portfolio of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS and many others. The offering will now include fund options. Much like traditional investing apps and services, B21 lets users set goals, contribute funds, and track progress through an easy-to-understand dashboard.

The B21 wealth manager provides tailored news and education to users based on in-depth research into individual tokens. This helps users build a portfolio catered to their risk preferences and investment goals. B21 will also offer additional personalized portfolio services for high-net-worth clients. At launch, the app will be available for iOS and Android and investors will be able to fund their accounts in their own local currency.

B21 has applied for a DLT license from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) to comply with governmental regulations covering protection of customer assets, segregation of customer and company funds, maintaining robust and accurate transaction records, and cold storage of customer funds. By acting as a custodian, B21 eliminates the need for people to hold their own private keys. The company’s full transparency data will be published on the EOS blockchain.

B21’s eponymous token will be used as the only form of settlement between the B21 platform and users within the B21 ecosystem. The token will be used by investors to settle fees, and to incentivize and reward referrals and engagement on the platform. The B21 token is currently available in private-sale.

Royal Dutch Shell Pilot Successfully Completed

Citi has launched Citi^® Payment Insights, a new service providing institutional clients with real-time payments visibility, and ability to action payments on-demand via its electronic banking platform, CitiDirect BE^®. Citi^® Payment Insights empowers clients with a complete view of the transaction lifecycle within Citi’s entire global network, and across the correspondent banking eco-system by integrating the transparency provided by SWIFT’s gpi initiative. This enhanced visibility is being launched in 50 markets and includes processing status, processing timelines, charges deducted across correspondent banks, and the amount credited to the beneficiary.

“This new service highlights our dedication to provide a frictionless experience to our clients in a rapidly changing business environment”, said Naveed Sultan, Citi’s Global Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions. “We are constantly searching for innovative solutions to help our clients succeed in a digital economy.”

The Institutional payments industry has traditionally suffered from a lack of full traceability as payments are routed through the global financial system. The servicing of payment inquiries occasionally relies on lengthy, manual and paper based investigation processes between banks. Leveraging banking industry advancements like SWIFT gpi and the latest technologies such as APIs, cloud computing, and Big Data, Citi has taken a transformative approach to digitize its client’s payments experience.

 While developing Citi^® Payment Insights, Citi worked with Royal Dutch Shell to deliver a seamless digital experience to control payments globally. Processes that in the past could have taken several days can now be completed in as few as two to three clicks.  “Digitalization is an integral part of our Cash Management 2020 strategy.  We are excited to see our requirements translate into tangible platform features that benefit both Shell and Citi.  We have received positive feedback from the users who participated in the pilot that they found the service to be very intuitive. We look forward to introducing these features to our cash management team globally and reaching 75%+ elimination of targeted inquires over time”, said Darsh Johal, Global Head of Cash Management, Royal Dutch Shell.

Citi^® Payment Insights has been designed based on client feedback, and the current features include:

• Payments Tracking – provides instant access to payment status including rejects and returns; making the tracking of a payment as easy as tracking a postal package
• Incoming Payments – offers a view of incoming payments before a credit is posted into clients' accounts for improved working capital management
• On-Demand Proof of Payment –  SWIFT messages and branch signatures that can be saved, printed, or sent via email
• Grant/Deny Debit Authority – allows clients to provide debit authority online, when remitter recall funds posted to a client's account
• Return of Funds – enables beneficiary to return credits not recognized

“Clients are at the center of our strategy to continually improve security, transparency, speed, convenience and efficiency in the global payments industry.” said Manish Kohli, Global Head of Payments and Receivables, Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions. “Citi^® Payment Insights is a significant step forward in executing on this strategy. This service will deliver tangible value to all our client segments and the new technology platform sets the foundation for future innovations. I want to commend the Shell team for their digital leadership and thank them for their active engagement throughout the design of Citi^® Payment Insights” he added.

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) enables our clients' success by providing an integrated suite of innovative and tailored cash management and trade finance services to multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations across the globe. Based on the foundation of the industry's largest proprietary network with banking licenses in over 90 countries and globally integrated technology platforms, TTS continues to lead the way in offering the industry's most comprehensive range of digitally enabled treasury, trade and liquidity management solutions.

CoinSmart, a new cryptocurrency exchange offers a reinventedSmartInterface, automated multi-trade functionality, enterprise-grade security, and unique tax reporting tools

TORONTO – July 17, 2018 – CoinSmart.com, https://www.coinsmart.com/, a new cryptocurrency exchange platform has launched to solve the pain and confusion of purchasing cryptocurrency for Canadian investors. Designed for the “Crypto Curious” who are just entering the market, right up to experienced investors, CoinSmart — now offering exclusive early access to the platform —  simplifies the buying, selling, trading and storage of crypto assets by equipping clients with an easy-to-use interface, educational resources, an extensive range of coins, and 24/7 live omnichannel support.

CoinSmart is breaking new ground in the Canadian marketplace by allowing investors to transact between coins not paired with BTC (Bitcoin) or ETH (Ethereum), giving clients the ability to easily switch from one cryptocurrency to another. CoinSmart does this on the back-end, enabling the most straightforward user experience possible.

CoinSmart will also offer a unique tax-time reporting tool to help clients determine their taxable income and capital gains. The easily-generated report will account for both currency-to-coin and coin-to-coin transactions.

Headed by Justin Hartzman, a seasoned entrepreneur who in his career has successfully scaled three technology companies and leads the world’s first social mediaRoboAgency, intends to make investing in cryptocurrency as accessible and simple as buying a book on Amazon.

“As a long-standing cryptocurrency investor, I have experienced first-hand how Canadians are under-served by existing exchanges,” said Justin Hartzman, CEO CoinSmart. “Platforms are unnecessarily complex, lack personal touch, and do not provide the tools and service support that consumers deserve. We used these issues as our design motivation and trust that CoinSmart fixes all these concerns allowing any investor —first time or not— to truly feel comfortable and secure.”

As of launch day CoinSmart will offer BTC (Bitcoin), Ethereum (ETH), BCH (Bitcoin Cash), LTC (Litecoin), Dash (DASH), XMR (Monero), and EOS, with additional altcoins planned for roll-out on an ongoing basis.  Customers can fund their accounts using fiat, Electronic Money Transfer (EMT) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) with plans to introduce Flexepin, credit card, and gift card funding options. Clients will be able to purchase any listed coin directly with CAD, mitigating the need for a BTC or ETH pairing.

Seamless protection for corporate data spanning hybrid cloud deployments; simplifies backup and restore process

 Micro Focus (LSE: MCRO; NYSE: MFGP) today announced that Micro Focus Data Protector now offers comprehensive protection for applications deployed in HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack. Data Protector now extends the reach of its highly scalable and secure backup and disaster recovery solution and its best-in-class integration capabilities with HPE storage to span hybrid cloud environments.

Organisations are increasingly moving critical applications and data into the cloud, and the need to provide the right protection for applications – both on-premises and on the cloud – is paramount. Using advanced data protection techniques, Data Protector enables backup lifecycle management, single item recovery, and advanced application integration for HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack. The fully integrated solution helps organisations take advantage of the solution in hybrid environments, enabling seamless protection of data and applications running on-premises and on the cloud.

“Micro Focus and HPE have partnered to deliver advanced data protection capabilities for customers taking advantage of the flexibility and cost savings from private and public clouds,” said Rahul Tripathi, vice president, ITOM Product Management at Micro Focus. “Micro Focus Data Protector, our backup solution for Azure Stack, enables enterprises to confidently move their critical applications and complex business services into the cloud.” 

“While VMs find a new home on Azure Stack, with Micro Focus Data Protection they can be protected at a location of your choice,” stated Natalia Mackevicius, director, Azure Stack at Microsoft Corp. “Data Protector’s integrations with Azure Stack provide the intelligence and automation required for protecting data in dynamic environments while managing centrally. When the VM’s move, your backup data can be moved with them, accelerating your trip to the cloud.”

The capabilities of the Micro Focus Data Protector solution for hybrid cloud include:

·         HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack integration, with seamless protection for hybrid cloud data and applications. No plug-ins or complex integration is required to implement the Micro Focus and HPE solution, simplifying the backup and restore process.

·         Support of multiple backup topologies, regardless of agent or agentless deployment, on premise or cloud. Unlike “one-size-fits-all” solutions, Data Protector accommodates diverse environments and adapts over time to meet evolving organizational needs.

·         Usage of existing backup infrastructure, including processes to preserve investments and reduce costs associated with training and reskilling. Data protector maintains protection of existing infrastructure while fully integrating with new technologies like Azure Stack throughout any transitions.

·         Application-specific backup, providing application consistency, data integrity and recoverability for the most critical business applications, including Exchange and Microsoft SQL. The advanced recovery options include granular recovery, point-in-time recovery, and availability group support.

·         Advanced analytics and monitoring, which measures the effectiveness of meeting service level agreements in fast-paced hybrid cloud environments. Clear insight into backup status ensures there are no gaps in your protection coverage, and shows if any processes are not running or completing as scheduled. Analytics determine resource utilisation hot spots and allow for infrastructure cost and performance optimisation.

·         Enhanced data security and compliance, including secure peering and centralised command and execution controls, which provide reliable backup for workloads in both public and hybrid cloud. In light of GDPR, Data Protector helps maintain compliance and focus on data accessibility.

Micro Focus is leading the way helping customers protect their data when taking advantage of the flexibility and cost savings from private and public clouds. A recent solution paper from the Taneja Group highlights and confirms the suitability of the Micro Focus and HPE solution. Their market analysis showed that over 50% of companies are using or planning to use Azure within the next two years, and 80% of organisations are already in the process of a move to hybrid cloud infrastructure. Taneja Group’s detailed analysis of Micro Focus Data Protector concluded it makes “…an ideal solution for protecting an organisation’s key information assets in an HPE ProLiant for Microsoft Azure Stack hybrid cloud setting.”

SDK.finance, a core payment platform wrapped in +300 APIs, has committed two open source projects to GitHub, the world’s largest repository of source code. The first of these projects is an Angular UI source code which allows a user to build, test, and deploy User Interface (UI) for the backend of payment solutions. The second of these projects is a Postman collection which facilitates the use of APIs. With this move, the FinTech vendor contributes to the greater developers’ community by offering its advanced payment experience to help end users.

Pavlo Sidelov, CTO of SDK.finance: “Our goal is to provide long-term viability of our solutions and to keep them on the cutting-edge of technology. One of the fundamental ways to achieve this is to open source and collaborate with the developers' community in order to create better products and services. We are extremely happy to be contributors on GitHub – the world’s largest repository of code, and the core pillar of open-source development which drives growth and innovation. We have contributed our UI source code built on Angular, as well as the Postman collection – which can help non-UI developers progress with system components and functionality. Any developer can build their own unique interfaces for their payment solution using the UI source code and the Postman collection, for free. They can adapt, modify modules and components, add a new functionality, and customise everything in a View component of MVC (Model View Controller) software architecture based on an API-first approach. As such, our goal is to make it easier for our clients to customize and implement their individual payment solutions. Open source is effectively the future of software development, so we will continue to contribute actively to the corresponding communities.”

As it continues to expand its business and payments capabilities built over many years, Barclays has today announced the appointment of Rob Cameron as CEO, Global Head of Payment Acceptance. This role will sit at the helm of Barclaycard Payment Solutions and will be based in London, UK.

Barclaycard Payment Solutions is the number one payment processor in the UK and number two in Europe. It enables merchants to take payments, and already processes more than 1 in 3 card payments in the UK with over £245 billion processed in 2017.

Mr. Cameron will report to Barry Rodrigues, CEO of Cards & Payments, and brings 20 years of experience in merchant acquiring and payments. Mr. Cameron joins Barclays from JP Morgan Chase where he wasPresident of Chase Merchant Services Canada and Partnerships and led on the recent acquisition and integration of platform payments leader WePay in the US.

Mr. Cameron will lead the expansion of Barclaycard Payment Solutions leveraging the investment in our core platform, the purchase of The Logic Group, our market leading position in the UK and the breadth of payment and banking offerings from across Barclays PLC.  Mr. Cameron will join Barclays on 8 October.

Barry Rodrigues commented: “I am delighted that Rob will be leading our global payments acceptance business and I am confident that he will be a tremendous asset to Barclays as we look to expand in this exciting space. Rob brings strong payments and acquiring knowledge, leadership skills and customer experience which will continue to drive our momentum forward.”

Rob Cameron said: “Barclays has a tremendous track record in the industry which I’ve watched closely for years. I’m thrilled to be joining a team with such a depth of talent, the capabilities to innovate and execute at a global scale and am enthusiastic about the future of the business.”

Today Barclays is also announcing the appointment of Michael Reed as MD UK Merchant Acquiring and International Expansion. Michael brings an impressive 20 years of merchant acquiring experience and his latest role was as Managing Director of BofA Merrill Lynch Merchant Services, the European subsidiary of Bank of America Merchant Services. 

Michael will start with Barclays on 3 September and will report to Rob Cameron when he joins.

MKB Bank, Hungary’s fourth largest commercial bank has today announced it is the first in the country to take a leap towards digital and open banking after transforming its entire technology system. Its transformation has included a full replacement of its core banking system, the retirement and consolidation of roughly 10 additional systems, and the modernization of its entire IT architecture.

MKB implemented Oracle FLEXCUBE, a core banking solution that has been adopted by more than 600 financial institutions around the world, as part of a broader restructuring project to streamline its internal and customer-facing operations and provide customers with more personalized services across multiple channels. MKB’s aim is to reduce its go-to-market time for new services such as corporate and retail lending, as well as 

digital only services, and to manage customer requests more quickly and easily. 

“It is not every day that a historically conservative medium-sized player commits its resources to modernizing its systems, changing its culture and taking a leap towards digitalization” said Ádám Balog, Chief Executive Officer, MKB. “It is through the reliability of partners like Oracle and the management of our stakeholders that we were able to make this move in such short a time.”

“Banks still have some catching up to do when it comes to serving customers. It’s time to stop resisting change and develop a model based on the way people want to interact with banking services,” said Mark Hetenyi, Chief Digital, Retail and Strategy officer, MKB. “This starts with a robust digital offering. We replaced our core banking platform with Oracle FLEXCUBE because it supports fully digital customer experiences.”

MKB was intent on fast-tracking its technology program. Despite having comparatively fewer resources than major global banks operating in Hungary, MKB achieved its digital transformation in just two and a half years. The average deployment for projects of this scope typically takes between four and five years.

“MKB recognized that digital services are a key differentiator. As a bank with its eyes firmly planted on the future of customer service, MKB’s bullish implementation of our flexible Oracle FLEXCUBE technology has put it in a position to pull ahead in a competitive Hungarian market,” said Sonny Singh, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Financial Services.