Published
- 04:00 am

UK-based money transfer brand, Imperial FX, have announced that they are now transferring funds into the Polish market, and can beat the rates of many other money transfer firms.
The announcement comes after they have proven themselves to be a preferred provider for individuals transferring money to Brazil, Portugal and the Middle East, due to the competitive rates that their money corridors enable them to offer. They cemented their position in these markets with the acquisition of BR money in 2015.
While many fintech firms are concentrating on digital payments and currencies, personal backgrounds and the experience in sending remittance payments means that the team at Imperial FX are increasingly aware of the financial exclusion that the digital realm is creating, and the number of ‘unbanked’ people that are unable to take advantage of these services, missing out on vital funds.
“We had held back on the Eastern European markets until we could ensure that we were offering a service that provided numerous benefits to users, especially those that are being pushed out of the digital transfer services”, explains CEO Ali Alani, “We have now been able to create a comprehensive offering to those who wish to send money back to Poland.”
“Having already invested £2 million into building our own secure and agile transfer technology rather than relying on third-party software, we are currently working on our online offering. But we are also aware of the number of individuals worldwide that may suffer as a result of the ‘digital only’ world, not being able to access funds, and being penalised with high charges and fees that the traditional services offer. Brexit has also had a severe effect on the amount of remittance sent back home by migrants, we want to make sure our services can lessen the financial burden.”
Last year it was reported that approximately 165 million people across Europe are financially excluded and without a bank account, often relying on remittance payments in order to survive. Imperial FX want to ensure that they can provide services for these people by continuing to offer money transfers that can be picked up in bricks and mortar stores.
Transferring funds to Poland using Imperial FX provides service users with the following features –
· The funds can be sent and received in various currencies
· The transfer is conducted within 24 hours
· The funds can be collected in more than 350 branches
· Imperials own software ensures high levels of security and efficiency
· Multilingual customer support
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Tayo Abinusawa
Strategy & Transformation Consultant at Accelerate Digital
Many of the largest financial institutions (banks, wealth and asset managers, insurance firms) in the world are currently investing a lot of money into their onboarding processes. see more
- 01:00 am

Alphavend, the UK based digital currency ATM operator, has just launched West London's first Bitcoin machine, in Acton Town located a few minutes walk from Acton Town Piccadilly Line Station. After successfully deploying machines in Central London, Scotland, and in Brighton, this latest installation is at the heart of a vast catchment area of West London.
Now, customers from Acton, Ealing, Hounslow, Brentford, Heathrow, Grenwich, Hammersmith, Uxbridge and other key West London districts will no longer have to head into Central London to buy their Bitcoin.
Located in Dhillonz Convenience Store at 21 Hanbury Rd, Acton, London W3 8RF, the machine will be available from 7am until 8pm seven day a week.With the Bitcoin price now over £3,000, demand is expected to be high.
More machine deployments are planned in the months ahead to meet the growing demand for Bitcoin in the UK market.
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- 02:00 am

Wireless service provider EcoMobile announced it has deployed Billaway's solution, enabling mobile phone subscribers to earn free mobile airtime by participating in surveys. To participate, EcoMobile users can download the EcoMobile Refill Rewards app, or simply text "Eco" to 313131.
EcoMobile, known for its inexpensive pre-paid mobile services on three different networks – Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, will now utilize the platform developed by Billaway to enable its customers to get more value out of their everyday mobile experience and ultimately reduce the overall monthly costs of mobile service.
"Prepaid mobile users value and want to take advantage of ways to earn additional airtime," says Paul M. Harkins, CEO of Billaway. "EcoMobile is using our white-labeled technology to increase their value proposition, reduce churn and give their customers a better overall mobile experience at a lower cost without any impact on their margins."
Billaway's seamless integration, cost effective platform will support EcoMobile's business model of providing maximum value at minimal cost to the consumer. In addition to this, customer engagement rates will increase with more people using their mobile phones more frequently, which will help to reduce churn.
According to Garvin Garmo, CEO of EcoMobile, "Part of our success has been the ability to offer customers a way to access reliable, fast mobile services without having to commit to any long-term contracts. Integrating a cost-free program for our customers to earn mobile airtime aligns perfectly with our approach and we are excited to be working with the Billaway team."
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- 01:00 am

Pay4, a leading finance provider to small and medium sized businesses in the UK, has partnered with EQ Global, to act as its global payments processor.
Founded in 2013, Pay4 offers a revolving credit facility for growing UK businesses to pay for goods or services. Funding is accessed by settling supplier invoices via an online platform. In 2017, Pay4 has achieved quarterly growth in transactions of over 150%, establishing itself as a key working capital solution for ambitious businesses.
The partnership between EQ Global and Pay4 will increase the speed and efficiency with which Pay4 can process payments for their customers, which benefits Pay4’s customers and their suppliers.
Rob Keown-Boyd, CEO & Co Founder, Pay4, said: “EQ Global has an unrivalled global reach, offering payment services to almost 180 countries, in 130 currencies. This, combined with their ability to deliver payments simply, quickly and efficiently, makes them an ideal payment processer for Pay4 and our customers. We’re looking forward to working closely with EQ Global on further collaborations in the not too distant future.”
Nick Pedersen, Managing Director of EQ Global, said: “We are very excited to be working with a market leading business finance provider, and are delighted to help enable their future growth. We will strive to bring efficiency and automation to Pay4’s payment processing in the short term, and are particularly interested in developing joint solutions to solve the payment and financing needs of multiple businesses in the medium term. Watch this space…”
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- 01:00 am

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the software specialist for banking and finance, today announces that Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Credito (FENACOAC) has selected Temenos' RetailSuite to drive growth across their 25 cooperatives that operate under the brand MICOOPE.
Temenos' award-winning core banking platform will enable digitalization and reduce the cost of operation, with its open and flexible technology, and its integrated solutions for business intelligence, financial crime mitigation, anti-money laundering, and channels.
Managing 4.5 million accounts and growing, MICOOPE knew that they wanted to convert from their legacy system to a modernized core banking platform that could scale to meet their future needs. Just as importantly, it need to have the capability to serve a rural population. The first phase of the project will focus on mobile and online banking, a key part of MICOOPE's growth strategy to expand access to their services beyond their 263 branches.
The implementation will be conducted across all 25 cooperatives in a multi-company environment, which will also enable any future member cooperatives to benefit from the platform. With Temenos' business intelligence offering, the federation FENACOAC will have greater insight into their full organization, and be able to use that data to develop their growth strategy going forward. This multi-company environment style of implementation allows the cooperatives to take advantage of the economy of scale, while also gaining access to world-class technology.
Enrique Ramos O'Reilly, Regional Director at Temenos commented: "Our model bank will ensure that they are in compliance with all of their local regulations, while our multi-layer approach will enable them to configure the system to their specific needs. The open nature of the platform will allow them the flexibility to offer creative products and services to a large and diverse population. It's a win for the cooperatives, who will be able to lower their operating costs and deliver on their growth strategy, and it's a win for their members, who will gain greater access to secure financial services. We'd like to thank FENACOAC and the MICOOPE cooperatives for trusting Temenos to help them deliver this strategic initiative, and we look forward to our continued partnership."
Oswaldo Oliva Vidal, CEO at FENACOAC commented: "During the past years at the World Credit Union Conference (WOCCU), we were able to see Temenos' commitment and expertise in the credit union sphere. As we continued our discussions with Temenos, they demonstrated superior functionality that will enable us to easily and quickly configure and launch new products across our 25 member cooperatives, and industry leadership in the microfinance space. With this platform, we will also be able to reach even the most rural of our account holders, bringing much needed financial services to an important segment of our community."
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- 03:00 am

Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (President & CEO: Koji Fujiwara) and IBM Japan, Ltd. (General Manager: Elly Keinan) today announced that Mizuho Bank begun to verify operations towards more advanced and efficient risk management by employing cognitive technology *1 to take measures against financial crimes such as terrorism financing that governments across the world urge financial institutions to regulate more severely.
Mizuho Bank has selected IBM’s recently announced regtech offering IBM Financial Crimes with Watson *2 that efficiently manages all financial crimes investigation efforts through streamlined research and advanced investigation techniques. The Watson-powered software, which runs on the IBM Cloud, analyzes a wide range of data sources, including retrieving various news sources and extracting data using screening technologies, that were previously done by hand.
This can efficiently verify financial crimes investigation efforts such as criminals including terrorists sneaking into the customer base. Mizuho's test will take place in Singapore, which is at the center of the growing Asian market and a country that proactively imposes anti-crime regulations and incorporates FinTech.
To ensure their customers can use banking services safely and to protect financial infrastructure, Mizuho Bank has accelerated their risk management approach to remain fully compliant with regulations and prevent financial crimes. To do this, the bank is collecting and inspecting large volumes of data to meet requirements and prevent crime before it occurs. After this verification, the bank will evaluate using this technology to the bank’s global network, including locations outside of Singapore.
IBM Japan supports Mizuho Bank to use IBM Financial Crimes Due Diligence with Watson to analyze a wide range of data sources, including retrieving various news sources and extracting data using screening technologies, and present the results visually on the user’s screen. This will reduce the time required to collect and analyze large volumes of data.
*1: Cognitive technology understands unstructured data, reason to form hypotheses, learn from experience and interact with humans naturally
*2: The cognitive software, which runs on the IBM Cloud and is trained by the experts at Promontory Financial Group, is designed to provide banks with valuable insights into potential financial crimes.
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- 05:00 am

Xendpay, the world’s first free online money transfer service, has today announced the launch of its new Pay Day initiative, offering Zero transfer fees and removing payment transfer limits to users during the pay day period.
The offer will run towards the end of the month around the pay day period, allowing customers to save even more money with Xendpay.
The World Bank estimates that international money transfer is the largest overall source of external financing to developing countries, standing at a staggering $436 billion (2014). However, international money transfers through traditional banks and money transfer companies are expensive, inclusive of hidden fees and unfavourable exchange rates. Many individuals who rely on sending money abroad to their friends and families such as migrants find their hard-earned income is lost due to money transfer fees.
Over 60% of payments made via Xendpay are for family support reasons (such as to pay for university fees, living expenses, bills) with an increase in transactions at the end of month around pay day. As a response of this key consumer insight and the wider issues relating to international payments, Xendpay has launched the new Pay Day initiative to further support migrant communities. This enables new users who make small frequent payments to their families abroad to take advantage of the best exchange rates, usually only available to large corporations.
Xendpay was founded by Paresh Davdra and Rajesh Agrawal (now Deputy Mayor of London for Business) to socialise the money markets and reduce the cost of money transfers. In doing so, this benefits many communities in the UK and globally, especially migrants, who rely on money transfers to financially sustain the lives of their loved ones abroad.
Speaking about the Pay Day initiative, Paresh Davdra, CEO & Co-Founder, Xendpay said: “Our new Pay Day initiative is the latest chapter in Xendpay’s mission to help migrant communities support their families and friends overseas. Whether this is to help fund education, provide supplementary income or pay for bills. The initiative is very close to our hearts at Xendpay, as it represents an extension of our core mission to help migrant communities.”
Since the introduction of the model just over a year ago, Xendpay has seen its number of users and transactions increase twelve-fold and has saved its customers over $3.2m (£2.1m) that would otherwise have been lost in uncompetitive or hidden bank fees. Their pioneering model supports the worlds’ sustainable development agenda including the vision to eradicate global poverty by 2030, through ensuring all payment transfers are not impacted by hidden fees and commissions. Xendpay’s existing “Pay What You Want” model, which aims to empower the users of financial services for the common good, has already been endorsed by Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales and was accepted as a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action. Xendpay also pledged to the Clinton Global Initiative to save customers $100m (£60m) in transfer fees over the next 4 years, helping the families of migrants back home to access better education and social wellbeing.
Xendpay is available in over 50 countries and 39 currencies and is part of the Rational Group of Companies, which has made transfers in excess of $10billion since its inception in 2005.
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- 03:00 am

Sapenaro, first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will succeed Gordon Werkema, whose retirement was recently announced. Sapenaro will assume this new responsibility and continue to serve as first vice president and chief operating officer of the St. Louis Fed.
"Three years ago, Dave led the development of the strategies paper and our initial plans for pursuing the desired outcomes for payment system improvement," said Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President and Chief Executive Officer Esther George, who sponsors the payments improvement initiative. "Dave's leadership experience in many facets of our payments responsibilities and his commitment to the work are exceptional, and I am delighted to have him lead the next phase of our improvement efforts."
As payments strategy director, Sapenaro will lead the Federal Reserve's strategies related to faster payments, payments security, and stakeholder engagement. He will collaborate with the Federal Reserve's current financial services business leaders to execute the full complement of strategies outlined in the 2015 paper.
During his 32-year career with the Federal Reserve, Sapenaro spent 10 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, holding a variety of leadership positions in payment operations, including the bank's automated clearing house and funds transfer operations. Sapenaro subsequently joined the St. Louis Fed, where he spent eight years leading various initiatives in support of U.S. Treasury operations prior to assuming his current role as first vice president in January 2006. Sapenaro holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
"I'm honored to carry these efforts forward and excited to work closely with the many Federal Reserve and industry leaders who have generated very significant momentum toward achieving the desired outcomes," Sapenaro said. "The Federal Reserve remains committed to collaborating with stakeholders on improvements that deliver safe, ubiquitous, faster payments to American consumers and businesses."
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- 05:00 am

Australia’s fastest-growing online stockbroker, OpenMarkets, today announced the successful upgrade of its back office technology to NRI Financial Solutions for Broker Dealers provided by the Nomura Research Institute (NRI), a leading global provider of system solutions and consulting services.
The transition sees OpenMarkets become the first Australian broker to use NRI’s state-of-the-art and robust back-office solution for processing equity trades giving it a clear advantage in features, scalability and automation.
NRI, Japan’s leading consulting and technology solutions provider, is one of the major affiliates of the financial powerhouse, Nomura Holdings Inc.
The move extends OpenMarkets’ track record in dealing with leading global players following the company’s recent integration with Saxo Capital Markets.
OpenMarkets transitioned to NRI Financial Solutions for Broker Dealers to advance and customize its post-trade multi-asset capabilities as part of its focus on automating processes and increasing scalability.
The safe, rapid and smooth transition to the new system involved moving the entire client base to the new ASX settlement PID 1136 after close of business on Friday, July 7th and in time for start of business on Monday, July 10th.
NRI’s work with OpenMarkets continues the company’s expansion into the Australian securities market technology space. In December 2016, NRI acquired ASX-listed technology company, ASG Group to expand their technology services presence in Australia. Further, NRI Financial Solutions for Broker Dealers is already enabled for ISO 20022 which means a more streamlined transition for NRI clients to ASX’s impending CHESS replacement system.
OpenMarkets CEO, Andrea Marani said, “NRI is an innovative, technology-driven company able to provide OpenMarkets with greater efficiencies and integration capabilities. As OpenMarkets was seeking a more technologically advanced system, one that could efficiently integrate with our internal systems, and accommodate our expanded services (such as the recent integration with Saxo Capital Markets), partnering with NRI was a natural fit.”
“We are a technology-focused broker that builds and manages much of our own in-house technology via our partnership with Paritech. This includes our own middleware and order management systems, both of which are dependent upon seamless integration with the back-office solution which NRI was well-suited to provide. We are very excited to announce our partnership with NRI and the opportunities it represents, both locally and offshore.”
NRI’s deep technical expertise and resources, backed by a strong balance sheet (it is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of ~AUD 12 billion), give it the scale and flexibility to swiftly respond to new opportunities.
The highly flexible cloud-based NRI Financial Solutions for Broker Dealers platform helps financial securities companies adapt to rapidly changing technological and regulatory landscapes – a crucial element for OpenMarkets as it expands its business to other international markets.
Mr. Toru Watanabe, President, NRI Financial Technologies India said: “NRI is totally dedicated to offering the best solutions and services in Australia and around the world to support our customers as the industry relies more and more on fast-moving technology to enable speed and efficiency.
“As a new technology vendor to the Australian capital market, it was a major challenge for us to find the right client partner who could help us establish our back office system in Australia, and who were attracted enough to our technology to take the chance of being our first client in Australia for processing equities.
“Working closely with OpenMarkets we have come to understand their need for a high level of operational efficiency in order to provide superior service to their rapidly expanding client base. We are happy that they found our system suitable for their operations process automation and integration goals. We are committed to meet their high standards and the challenge of continuous improvement in the level of automation. We are excited to partner with OpenMarkets as they expand their business in Australia and internationally.”