Event: iMoney Expo 2018

Date: November 2-3, 2018

Venue: Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center, Guangzhou China

iMoney Expo 2018 will be a cross-boarder event, consisting of exhibition, forums, pitch and award ceremony, for forex trading, payments, fintech, blockchain, lending, crowdfunding, personal finance, money transfer, InvesTech, RegTech, security/fraud, banking software, financial research, InsurTech, cloud computing, cash management, accounting software, financial inclusion, AI, big data etc. to network and reach potential deals.

Financial technology is driving the financial markets and institutions to a higher level. For example, China’s number of mobile payment users is skyrocketing. Even those from village are fast to adopt mobile payment and it is way ahead of US and European countries with record US$12.8 trillion in transactions from January to October in 2017. The rapid changes in personal finance and money transfer require prompt update in banking software, security system and other fintech products. Blockchain is another disruption revolutionizing financial transaction and trading. iMoney Expo is a must attend event for all industry players to connect the east with the west and to promote a healthy financial environment in China as well as the globe.

iMoney Expo in Guangzhou is expecting over 5,000 visitors. If you are interested in more details of sponsoring or speaking at iME, welcome to contact us at info@imoneyexpo.com

Contact details:

Tel: +86 21 3126 1015

Email: info@imoneyexpo.com

Website: www.imoneyexpo.com

GIMAC, the regional electronic money transfer platform of Central Africa and TerraPay (www.TerraPay.com) the world’s first mobile payments switch have signed a strategic partnership agreement that will strengthen the remittances ecosystem in CEMAC region. The partnership will enable instant cross border money transfer to bank accounts and mobile wallets in the CEMAC zone, comprising of Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Chad.

GIMAC aims to define and establish the regulatory and security framework of the remittance ecosystem, as well as to enhance interoperability between banks, public treasuries, postal and micro finance institutions, and electronic money transmitters in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). Powered by TerraPay’s global clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets, the partnership will make it faster and convenient for migrants across the globe to send money to mobile wallets and bank accounts, in real time to Central Africa.
 

“TerraPay’s collaboration with GIMAC is part of the company’s long-term strategy to enable interoperability and to democratise financial services in Africa. Our partnership would aid in realizing a vision for low-cost and convenient money transfers to the CEMAC region and accelerate the creation of an ecosystem to deliver essential value to stakeholders and consumers alike. The main economic and social objective of our partnership is to help the migrants of the CEMAC area to have an access to low-cost, secure and instant payment medium.” explains Ambar Sur, Founder & CEO, TerraPay.

“The digitization of money transfer services is the final step in improving the delivery of our financial services. Through this partnership, GIMAC will contribute to the reduction of transfer costs and the improvement of the quality of life of many in CEMAC. Transfers incoming via TerraPay will instantly be channelled to their destined bank accounts, mobile accounts, or prepaid card accounts.” says Mr. Valentin Mbozo'o, CEO of GIMAC.

On October 9, 2018, Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland will take place for the second time in Geneva, the European fintech hub. The event is dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrencies uniting blockchain project developers, investors, analysts, financiers, specialists in marketing and legal support of business. The first Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland was held in February and gathered more than 300 participants.

Background, topics, experts

Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference is a series of events held in different countries of the world by Smile-Expo. In 2018, more than 20 events are planned including the recent conferences in the Philippines, Australia, India, Thailand, and upcoming events in France, Switzerland, and Malta.

The event in Geneva combines a conference featuring foreign experts and a demo zone where companies will present their products. The program includes a panel discussion and a pitch session for participants of the demo zone.

The team of Smile-Expo, the international event company, includes in the program of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland reports of international experts as well as bright representatives of the Swiss blockchain community. In February, speakers of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland were representatives of CERN and investor listed in Forbes 30 under 30.

Pioneer in financial technologies

Switzerland is a country with the developed banking system and great interest in fintech innovations. Today the country has its own “crypto valley” – the city of Zug, where a functional blockchain ecosystem has been developed and many famous projects are based, such as Ethereum Foundation, Monetas, Lykke.  Zug is known for several business accelerators and HSLU-I university that teaches blockchain specialists. Besides, one can use Bitcoin to pay for goods and services here and exchange it for fiat money in one of three Bitcoin ATMs. At the end of July, the voting via the eID system based on the distributed ledger will take place in Zug.

In 2018, Procivis startup has successfully tested and implemented the eID solution and a number of e-Government services. Now users can file tax declarations, register residence, and use passport services with their smartphones.

Furthermore, there are blockchain platforms for over-the-counter securities trading launched by major financial organizations in Switzerland. As for the business application of blockchain, 75% of Swiss companies plan to integrate the technology in the next three years (according to the report of PwC).

We are inviting to attend the second Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland!

Smile-Expo’s blockchain conference in Switzerland gives an opportunity to meet global blockchain and cryptocurrency experts. It is a comfortable networking space, where one can exchange experience with companies that have already developed and implemented real-life blockchain-based solutions. 

The event will be interesting for:

• specialists working in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrencies that want to receive new and relevant information firsthand;
• those striving to build a career in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrencies;
• entrepreneurs that plan to integrate decentralized technologies in their business.

Program of Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Switzerland will be published on the website of the event. Subscribe to conference news to receive announcements of speakers and participants of the demo zone! 

Jumio, the leading AI-powered trusted identity as a service provider, today announced a partnership with Backbase, the omni-channel digital banking platform leader. 

Illumio today announced its Adaptive Security Platform is now compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Level 1 security certification and is in the evaluation stage for Common Criteria certification. The new certifications validate Illumio's ability to secure public sector agencies and support federal organizations as they undergo a digital transformation, combat sophisticated cyberattacks, and address the vulnerability of high value assets in their data centers and cloud environments. 

The recent IT Modernization Report identified lateral movement and a lack of understanding and control of unauthorized connections between systems as an immediate priority for federal agencies. With Illumio ASP, organizations can gain visibility into their data centers and cloud environments to understand what should and should not be communicating, allowing them to eliminate the attack vector and limit an intruder's lateral movement. 

"Advanced adversaries like Russia have the time, personnel, and cyberattack capabilities to break past perimeter defenses and into federal networks," said Jonathan Reiber, Head of Cybersecurity Strategy and former Chief Strategy Officer for Cyber Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. "The IT Modernization Act will overhaul aging government digital infrastructures and, as the recent report indicates, bring the federal government up-to-date with cybersecurity best practices. Now federal agencies need to invest in new security tools such as micro-segmentation to prevent breaches from spreading. That means focusing on securing cloud environments and data centers from the inside."

Illumio already enables organizations in highly-regulated industries to comply with standards such as SWIFT, PCI, GDPR, and HITRUST. By achieving FIPS 140-2 compliance and the Common Criteria "in evaluation" milestone, Illumio is now positioned to enable federal agencies to create 'watertight' compartments that prevent intruders from accessing sensitive data in data center and cloud environments. 

Created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), FIPS 140-2 dictates requirements and standards for both hardware and software-based cryptography modules used in U.S. government agency networks. Illumio's FIPS 140-2 compliance was reviewed by a third-party lab accredited by the NIST National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) and states that Illumio's Policy Compute Engine and Virtual Enforcement Nodes for Linux and Windows faithfully incorporate the use of the cryptographic functions provided by FIPS 140-2. 

The Common Criteria standard, developed by the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, is a set of 60 security functional requirements for computer security certification. The international standard ensures that a security solution's capabilities have been independently verified according to a rigorous and repeatable set of criteria and is followed by governments worldwide, including the U.S. Department of Defense. Illumio's Policy Compute Engine is currently undergoing Common Criteria evaluation to conform to the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) Protection Profile for Enterprise Security Management, Policy Management version 2.1.

Smith & Williamson, the UK-based financial and professional services firm with £20.1 billion1 in funds under management and advice, has selected Avaloq to help enhance the delivery of investment management services to its clients and support the continued growth of the business. The move increases Avaloq’s footprint in the UK wealth management industry, a key growth market for the fintech firm.

Smith & Williamson is marked out from the rest of the market by the breadth and depth of services it provides for private clients and their business interests. This is supported by an absolute commitment to serving clients in a personalised manner and via a single, senior point of contact. Its 1,700 people support individuals and families, businesses and their owners, and professional advisers and trustees from 12 offices in the UK, Ireland and Jersey. 

The Avaloq Banking Suite and related services span digital front-to-back technology, application management, IT infrastructure and operational solutions. It provides for a centralized and agile operating model which can bring significantly greater efficiencies and enhanced scalability to financial institutions and allow them to better accommodate new processes and innovations. The implementation of the Avaloq platform will be supported by Avaloq partners Orbium and Excelian.

The deal with Smith & Williamson increases Avaloq’s share of the UK wealth management community – other UK customers include Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management and Coutts. Avaloq, which was recently awarded Outstanding Wealth Management Technology Provider², is targeting strong growth among the sector as all institutions increasingly look to undertake digitization projects, deliver a better client experience, cost effectively meet new compliance requirements and grow market share in a highly efficient manner.

Avaloq recently reported very strong earnings for 2017 driven by sustained demand for the firm’s banking and wealth management solutions. Its front-to-back-office solutions as well as its Software as a Service (SaaS) and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) offerings continue to win new customers and deliver significant value for established customers as the digital transformation of the financial services sector, the need for flexible business models and increased automation drive the future of the market.

David Cobb, co-chief executive at Smith & Williamson, said: “Investing significantly in technology is a key pillar of our five-year strategy and will ensure we remain well positioned for continued growth. Avaloq’s solution will be fundamental in helping our people deliver more effectively, in a personalised manner, the investment management services our clients value. By reducing the amount of time our people spend on administration, we can increase the time they spend on adding value to client relationships. Importantly, we trust Avaloq to deliver a solution of the scale that will underpin our digital agenda to support tomorrow’s business.” 

Juerg Hunziker, Avaloq’s Group CEO, said: “Smith & Williamson is one of the most prestigious investment management brands in the UK and we are absolutely delighted to welcome the company as an Avaloq client. We will look to deliver a highly differentiated, value-added solution to the business that will support its aspirations for growth in the competitive investment management market.”

UK freelancers and micro-business owners throughout Britain are suffering from chronic late payments from clients, new research reveals.

The research from cloud accounting software company FreeAgent - who provide award-winning software for freelancers, micro-businesses and their accountants - has revealed that UK-wide, just 52% of invoices sent during the 2017 calendar year were paid on time or within three days of their payment deadlines.

FreeAgent reviewed data from a sample of its 50,000+ customer-base and analysed hundreds of thousands of invoices that were sent in the last year to create a late payment overview of the UK.

Separate research carried out by FreeAgent has also revealed that a quarter (26%) of UK micro-businesses said that the longest they have had to wait to get paid by a client was three to six months, while 10% have had a client who has never paid them at all.

When asked what measures should be put in place to tackle late payments, 70% of respondents said that they would like to see the government introduce a legislation which enables business owners to secure compensation from late-paying clients. 59% of respondents felt that the government should implement an official code of conduct for companies to adhere to with regard to paying clients.

Worst areas for late payment:

Least affected areas for late payment:

The issue of late payment has become so prevalent that the UK government appointed a Small Business Commissioner in a bid to drive a cultural change in payment practices to ensure small businesses are treated fairly. Commissioner Paul Uppal has been allocated an annual budget of £1.4million to fulfil his remit. While it is a nationwide initiative, Uppal has identified the West Midlands as an area of priority.

Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent, said: “While late payments are an issue across the UK economy as a whole, our research reveals just how widespread it is within the freelance and micro-business community.”

“Around half of the invoices sent by micro-businesses in the UK get paid late, and there are certain areas where the issue is considerably even worse. Even in Manchester, where late payment is least prevalent, there are still many businesses who aren’t being paid on time. Some of these late payments go way beyond a week or two, with some taking months to settle invoices, or even not paying at all.”

“Micro-business owners don’t have the luxury of being able to absorb late payments into their accounts - they need to get paid promptly to keep their cash flow healthy. While the government recognises the late payment problem, the reality is that the Small Business Commissioner has limited power to actually punish companies who routinely pay their invoices late, aside from just naming and shaming them. Late payments put freelancers and micro-businesses at significant risk, and we need stricter measures in place to tackle late payment culture.”

AxiomSL, the leading provider of regulatory reporting and risk management solutions, announces today that it has widened its United Kingdom liquidity risk calculation and reporting suite with the launch of its PRA110 solution. The solution provides treasury teams a powerful tool that automates the calculation of maturity mismatch and ensures that the final PRA110 template that is reported to the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) is reconciled, timely and accurate.

The PRA110, a new liquidity calculation and template, will come into effect from July 2019 to replace current FSA047 and FSA048 process. It will apply to all UK banks, building societies and PRA designated investment firms. A firm’s profile will determine the calculation and reporting frequency which may be daily, weekly or monthly.

PRA110 will require the reporting of nearly 29,000 data points which presents a significant change to the current process as more granular data will be required. Current processes which are often manual can be both error-prone and time consuming.  The frequency and increased granularity will make it difficult to manually comply with the new requirements without robust automated solutions.

AxiomSL’s strategic regulatory reporting and risk management platform ensures that the liquidity regulatory compliance regimes (The new PRA110, the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), Additional Monitoring Metrics (AMM), and Asset Encumbrance (AE)) are all fully integrated and aligned to the internal risk management and Asset Liability Management (ALM) functions, such as Interest Rate Risk in the Banking Book (IRRBB), Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) and cashflow management.  Its PRA110 solution is fully integrated into a unified liquidity data model which means all the internal and external liquidity risk management measures are able to utilise common data sources and modelling assumptions. 

As with all AxiomSL’s solutions, PRA110 and the liquidity suite is available both on premise and on cloud.

Ed Royan, CEO, AxiomSL EMEA commented: “We are pleased to enhance our liquidity risk calculation and reporting suite with the launch of our PRA110 solution. With increased regulatory scrutiny, it is imperative that reporting satisfies requirements accurately and on time. AxiomSL is well positioned to addresses key aspects of the new PRA110 framework with the integration of liquidity metrics, ensuring data governance, automation, traceability and transparency with the benefits of shortened time to market, reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and increased operational efficiency. Now is the time to prepare for the new standard by automating and integrating systems to effectively facilitate the granular data collection and submission prior to the July 2019 deadline.”

Wissam Elzeenni, Liquidity Product Manager, AxiomSL EMEA commented: “The PRA110 incorporates features from other regimes like the LCR and FSA047-048 and addresses additional risks not already covered such as HQLA monetisation. This new standard requires an integrated and robust system that can fully handle the liquidity risk management process, from data sourcing and reconciliation to reporting, including XBRL submission, in a streamlined and automated fashion. AxiomSL’s liquidity solution encompasses all liquidity regulatory compliance regimes, including PRA110 and provides a fully integrated cash flow engine as well as dynamic dashboards along with forecasting, variance and trend analysis.”

The ai Corporation (ai), an FCA approved expert in payments, fraud and risk management, today disclosed that it has secured a $2.5 million investment from its principal existing shareholders, to support its next stage of growth. 

With recent investments in services delivery and product development, as well as global expansion, ai has grown its team and is experiencing growth of more than 36 percent year-on-year. aiand its suite of payment and fraud prevention solutions, including machine learning risk management tools, continue to serve businesses across the globe, with several new contract wins in the EU, US, Australia and Africa.

“It is our customers that are fuelling this growth and our innovation,” says Dr Mark Goldspink. “Our approach of simply stopping fraud and simply managing omni-channel payments, keeps us in the vanguard of the machine learning and A.I. market.Some of the world’s largest financial institutions, international merchants and other major payment service providers benefit every day from ai’s service and expertise, and we are deeply humbled and excited at the confidence shown by our shareholders in our future.”

ai’s unique self-service fraud detection solutions are considered by many industry “thought leaders” to be the best in the world. Its solutions, including its “state of the art” machine learning/A.I, protect and enrich payments experiences for over three million multi-channel merchants, 100 banks and over 300 million consumer cardholders. ai also monitors over 25 billion transactions and authorisations each year. 

Goldspink adds: “Over the past 4 years, we have moved from being a product only business to a service-based business – lumpy to smooth revenues. We have also expanded our range of solutions not only vertically within the fraud domain, but horizontally across the payment landscape. As the payment value chain continues to converge, ai has positioned itself to take advantage of the evolution of the digitisation of payments, by exploiting our fraud and analytical capabilities. 

“ai’s cloud-based payment landscape and European Money Licence mean we can provide a wider range of payment facilitator services for our business partners, allowing them the luxury of rapidly launching new alternative payment types into the market place. A truly end-to-end offering which uses “state of the art” machine learning to manage omni-channel payment transactions securely via a cloud-based platform.”

Coupled with the further investment that ensures ai has the fiscal latitude to take advantage of the growth opportunities, ai’s board members have instigated a full external audit to help re-inforce the strength of the business. ai’s board and shareholders are determined to ensure that no stone is left unturned to demonstrate the growing financial strength of ai.

Goldspink concludes: “Our shareholders have believed in ai’s massive potential since they first invested in the company, and they are convinced, now more than ever, that ai has the right ingredients in place to become a world leader in payments, fraud and risk management. With a world-class executive team, blue-chip customers and industry leading partners, there is no doubt that ai will continue its impressive growth trajectory.”

Market Synergy GmbH, a Swiss-based organisation which offers institutional standard cryptocurrency connectivity and security for banks, brokers and hedge funds has been selected by Bitfinex, the world’s leading cryptocurrency trading platform, to provide robust, high performance connectivity for institutional clients.

Market Synergy has designed and built a bespoke network for Bitfinex, hosted in a Swiss data centre in the heart of Crypto Valley. The network is highly secure, reliable and supported 24x7.

In addition to providing outsourced connectivity and hosting services to Bitfinex, Market Synergy can also manage co-location services for Bitfinex’s institutional clients and offer a FIX feed and ISP link to the digital asset gateway which Bitfinex recently launched in collaboration with Connamara.

Market Synergy is a separate company within the FXecosystem Group, which also comprises of FXecosystem and Bondecosystem, both of which are institutional market leaders in outsourced connectivity in their respective asset classes.

James Banister, CEO, Market Synergy comments, “As the demand for cryptocurrency trading gathers momentum, we spotted a gap in the market for an institutional calibre cryptocurrency connectivity offering. Following over two years of research and planning, we have launched Market Synergy to take us into a new asset class, with the aim of becoming the leading institutional outsourced connectivity provider in the cryptocurrency space.

“We are delighted to have been selected by Bitfinex, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges to manage their global connectivity. We have worked very closely with Bitfinex to evaluate their needs, select the ideal data centre and set up the correct infrastructure to create a bespoke network with connections to their digital asset gateway for professional traders.

“We are now ready to go live, having invested in and set up our infrastructure in a secure data centre in Switzerland which hosts servers for a number of major financial institutions.  We can also offer colocation services to any Bitfinex institutional client.”

Paolo Ardoino, Bitfinex CTO adds, “We are very pleased to collaborate with Market Synergy to facilitate improved access to digital assets via Bitfinex. We are experiencing first hand the immense institutional interest in cryptocurrency trading and we are excited to be able to pioneer its development.”