Published
- 08:00 am
Wirecard and VEON have signed a global payments and processing agreement that will see Wirecard handling the airtime top-up as well as third party payments functionality on VEON’s personal internet platform. This means customers will be able to upload and update their mobile payment accounts on-the-go and within a few seconds.
VEON launched its new personal internet platform in Italy in November 2016 using data analytics and artificial intelligence to offer users a variety of new, personalized and contextual services from entertainment to financial services. The global cooperation with Wirecard will continue to grow as VEON expands into new markets throughout 2017 – including Russia, Georgia and Bangladesh.
AJ Hanna, Chief Mobile Financial Services Officer at VEON, said: “We want the customer experience on VEON to be exciting, enriching and extremely user-friendly. That means partnering with the best processing and payments providers, like Wirecard, so that users can top-up and pay for services quickly and easily.”
Jan Marsalek, Chief Operating Officer at Wirecard, added: “We are delighted to work with one of the largest technology innovators and mobile network operators on this state-of-the-art mobile payment solution. Easy mobile payments are essential in the fast growing frontier markets. With our new airtime top-up solution and third party payment functionality, consumers will be able to upload and spend money more efficiently than ever before.”
- 07:00 am
i2c, a global provider of smarter payments and integrated commerce solutions, today announced that it has appointed Jean Douchey as senior vice president of operations. Ms. Douchey will oversee global operations, including contact centers, fraud, disputes, and third-party partner relationships, and will be responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of high-quality services for i2c customers. Ms. Douchey will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Amir Wain.
“i2c’s business continues to grow, and we are scaling our operations as part of our long-term strategy and commitment to our customers to deliver outstanding products and services,” said i2c CEO Amir Wain. “Jean has deep experience and a proven track record of balancing operational excellence and high client expectations. I am excited to have her on my executive team and look forward to working with her on our path to $1 billion in revenue.”
Ms. Douchey has over 25 years of experience running large operations in the payments industry at First Data Corporation. Prior to i2c, she was vice president of global service delivery and managed multiple large contact centers in North America and in three international locations. Ms. Douchey has extensive experience leading client services, portfolio conversions, implementations, and plastic manufacturing organisations for large credit, debit, and government clients, and has managed client relationships in both the debit and credit space.
“i2c’s payments processing technology truly has no peer in our industry, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to marry world-class operations with best-in-class technology to meet the growing needs of our customers,” said Ms. Douchey. “It is a winning combination, and I look forward to advancing the success of our customers and our business with operational excellence.”
- 06:00 am
WISeKey International Holding Ltd, a leading global cybersecurity company, today announced the launch of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain Centre of Excellence based out of India to support its global projects.
WISeKey India, a Joint Venture established by WISeKey in late 2016 with leading Indian entrepreneurs to deploy its IoT and cybersecurity platform to the Indian Market, appointed Bikramaditya Singhal as Head of the AI and Blockchain practice in India. Mr. Singhalis a researcher, trainer and consultant with over 8 years of industry related experience. Previously he worked extensively on Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning and AI for many years and is the author of "Spark for Data Science," a book that focuses on the integration of data science algorithms and techniques with the fast and scalable computing features of Spark to address big data challenges. Mr. Singhal is also writing a book on Blockchain analysis by providing in-depth technical understanding of how Blockchain works, so anyone can jump-start on their Blockchain initiative. He also has an active interest on Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine to Machine communication using Blockchain and AI.
Prior to joining WISeKey India, Mr. Singhal was with Microsoft, Broadridge, Tech Mahindra and Chelsio Communications, and is a co-founder of Mund Consulting, a company that focused on Big Data analytics and AI. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Eastern Academy of Science & Technology, Bhubaneswar, India.
WISeKey India will be working in expanding the reach of WISeKey AI project WISeAI –integrating the WISeKey Indian Root of Trust and IoT embedded devices with problem-solving AI solution into WISeKey’s Vertical Platform.
While IoT remains wildly insecure, thanks to the integrated solution operated by the WISeKey Vertical Platform, IoT devices would be able to organize themselves into trusted networks based on mutual authentication, identity and integrity. This trusted cybersecurity platform will only enable IoT devices which can provide a recognized identity and a valid integrity report to communicate with peer devices that are part of the trusted community.
Carlos Moreira, CEO of WISeKey said “WISeKey has embarked on a journey to make Blockchain secure using the Cryptographic security standards, integrated with AI at the application and chip level. Our effort to establish these standards and deploy cybersecurity platforms in India is a significant step in that direction.”
Adding AI at the chip level together with the WISeKey RoT it will allow the IoT to provide authenticated sensor data. Current IoT data do not provide value for their manufacturers unless it can be converted into actionable, contextualized information generated by IoT sensors fully identifiable. The majority of IoT devices are not built with embedded secured systems thus are very vulnerable. By integrating AI into the WISeKey RoT and Vertical Platform, objects can develop their own cybersecurity behaviour, thus making smarter and safer decisions. IoT objects with this technology will learn from attacks, defend them and transfer this intelligence via the WISeKey Vertical Platform to other IoT objects peer to peer using a Blockchain.
“We are thrilled to have Bikram join our team as we believe that talent for Blockchain is critical to our journey. We are currently working on two major projects in India: the WISeFarmer, a partnership with Indian Potash Limited established to create a Cybersecurity/IoT platform and an ecosystem connecting 140 million farmers and 200 companies using WISeKey Digital Identities, and WISeLight, a partnership with Bajaj Electricals established to create over 100 million digital identities for consumer and industrial products. Bikram’s expertise in the field of Blockchain, AI and IoT will be very valuable to our team as we continue our expansion in India” added Amit Kumar, Managing Director of WISeKey India Joint Venture.
- 04:00 am
Synopsys, Inc. today announced the availability of its Verification IP (VIP) and source code test suite for ARM AMBA 5 Coherent Hub Interface (CHI) Issue B. Synopsys VC VIP for AMBA CHI has been widely adopted by SoC leaders for successful verification closure and tape out of coherent subsystems and interconnects. Synopsys VIP for the latest AMBA CHI Issue B specification enables customers and partners to extend the standard architecture for their next-generation coherent designs with new enhancements for increased performance.
"Coherent systems are being adopted rapidly in a wide range of applications to scale performance with multiple processor clusters or I/O coherent accelerators and I/O," said Andy Nightingale, vice president of marketing, systems IP, Systems and Software Group, ARM. "Collaborating on AMBA CHI Issue B VIP with our ecosystem partner, Synopsys, enables SoC teams to verify complex coherency-based designs with ease of use, and to increase productivity and performance for accelerated verification closure."
Synopsys next-generation VIP provides performance metrics for latency and throughput analysis, a configurable interconnect model, a reference verification platform and system-level checks for protocol, data integrity and cache coherency. The VIP is natively integrated with Synopsys' Verdi® Protocol Analyzer debug solution. Built-in coverage and verification plans are also included to speed up verification coverage closure.
"Our Verification IP and interface IP solutions for ARM's interconnect technology build on more than a decade-long collaboration for development of the latest AMBA protocol," said Vikas Gautam, group director of VIP R&D and corporate applications in the Verification Group at Synopsys. "Our ongoing partnership with ARM continues to enable designers to create their next-generation server and networking devices with the latest AMBA CHI technology."
- 06:00 am
Today PayPal revealed its small business financing scheme has provided more than £400 million to British small businesses.
Following the credit crunch, businesses have struggled to access financing from traditional providers. The National Audit Office estimates the current small business funding gap - the difference between the funding required by SMEs and the funding available - could range from £6 billion to £39 billion.[i] In particular, younger, smaller and online businesses with less conventional business models or established sales histories can struggle to fit traditional lending criteria.
Mark Brant, Managing Director at PayPal UK, explains, “PayPal made its name pioneering e-commerce, making it possible for businesses to grow their sales and reach millions more customers online. In the years that followed the credit crunch, we saw the impact it was having on our small business customers, many of whom were struggling. We saw an opportunity for us to help and set about making PayPal Working Capital a reality.”
New research from PayPal also suggests the challenges around small business funding have been compounded by recent bank branch closures across Great Britain. A third of all PayPal Working Capital cash advances have been provided to small businesses based in areas that have lost 50 or more bank branches in the last four years.[ii]
Mark adds, “Technology companies like PayPal are finding new ways to serve customers where the products and services of the past are coming up short. Of course, banks will continue to play a pivotal role in small business funding, but we need to collaborate more to make financial services work better for small businesses. They’re the lynchpin of the British economy. With uncertain times ahead, it’s even more important we innovate and equip small businesses with the tools they need to succeed.”
PayPal uses technology and its extensive data to bypass the lengthy application process of traditional business finance, and instead offer a faster, digital alternative for small businesses. PayPal Working Capital provides businesses with a cash advance of up to £100,000 on their future sales. As PayPal knows the business, there is no external credit check and funding can be approved and issued within minutes. Repayments are applied automatically as a fixed percentage of a business’ PayPal takings, which gives them flexibility to pay back only when they’re making sales.[iii] There are no interest charges or late payment fees.
Mel Thomsett set up her small business after her son was diagnosed with autism and sensory processing disorder. The Sensory Smart Store specialises in seamless clothing for people with sensory or sensitivity issues. Mel explains how her first PayPal Working Capital cash advance helped her in 2016: “When I first heard about PayPal Working Capital, I thought it was too good to be true. It was easy to apply because we’ve used PayPal since our first payment in 2009 and they have our entire trading history, so the decision was almost instant.”
Sensory Smart Store’s first PayPal Working Capital advance enabled them to invest in storage, packing and office space, or the ‘Shedquarters’ as Mel calls it. The second and third advances have been used to purchase additional lines of stock, both of which have led to greater profit for the business.
“PayPal Working Capital has enabled me to make some solid business decisions and get funding easily and quickly. It’s completely tied to the success of the business,” explains Mel. “If our sales are mildly successful, we pay back PayPal at a steady pace; if they’re wildly successful, we pay back faster. It really supports the spirit of opportunity and entrepreneurialism that small businesses have.”
- 01:00 am
KPMG and Matchi are delighted to announce that Avoka is the winner of ATB Financial’s Customer Onboarding Global Innovation Challenge.
“This challenge absolutely delivered innovative thinking from around the globe,” said ATB’s Chief Transformation Officer, Wellington Holbrook. “I was excited to see a fantastic breadth and depth of responses—proof of how rich the fintech ecosystem truly is. We’re looking forward to working with Avoka in creating a seamless experience for Albertans who interact with ATB.”
Powered by KPMG in Canada and Matchi, the challenge invited fintech solution providers to produce a relevant, implementable innovation to help automate and optimize ATB’s client onboarding and authentication. KPMG recently acquired Matchi to create a powerful resource that helps clients find and deploy fintech solutions that are most relevant to their business needs.
The challenge attracted more than 50 entries from 14 different countries including Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Russia, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States. All challenge responses went through an intense process of validation, scoring and evaluation to a shortlist of six finalists. From there, the final judging panel unanimously selected Avoka as the solution which was the most aligned to the bank’s current onboarding focus areas.
“Working with ATB and our Matchi team to carry out this Customer Onboarding Global Innovation Challenge has been a fantastic experience,” said David Bolton, Partner, Financial Services, KPMG in Canada. “A number of truly innovative solutions for onboarding, KYC and identity management were identified from all corners of the globe. The judging process supported by the Matchi platform provided a very effective way for all participants to engage in the evaluation and selection of finalists.”
- 08:00 am
FuturePay today announced that it has joined the Salesforce Partner Program in support of Salesforce Commerce Cloud, the fastest path to unified commerce. Commerce Cloud enables brands to provide personalized experiences for shoppers that span web, mobile, social and in-store.
And now, as part of the world’s No. 1 CRM platform – Salesforce – brands can deliver completely unified experiences for customers that extend beyond commerce to include marketing, customer service and more.
FuturePay delivers an instant credit payment option that lets shoppers pay in flexible monthly payments. By giving shoppers a way to split purchases into smaller, more affordable payments, FuturePay has been shown to increase average order values and reduce cart abandonment by up to a third.
The Salesforce Partner Program is the industry’s largest enterprise cloud partner program, empowering consultants, ISVs, VARs, agencies and other partners to drive customer success using the Salesforce Intelligent Customer Success Platform. Through a combination of business, technology and marketing benefits, and the world’s largest business app marketplace – the AppExchange – the Salesforce Partner Program helps partners of all sizes and industries build successful businesses leveraging the Salesforce Platform.
“The FuturePay link cartridge for Commerce Cloud gives their e-commerce retailers the ability to easily provide an instant credit payment option,” said Bobbi Leach, CEO of FuturePay. “Integrating with Salesforce will allow FuturePay to help thousands of their retailers cater to the growing demands of omnichannel shoppers. We are very excited to have such a strong new partner.”
“Everything and everyone is becoming more connected and smarter than ever before,” said Kori O’Brien, SVP, ISV Sales, Salesforce. “By joining the Salesforce Partner Program in support of Commerce Cloud, FuturePay is joining the world’s largest community of cloud partners committed to innovating on the Salesforce Platform and driving customer success.”
- 03:00 am
ConVista’s OneDigitalOffice digital front office platform, today announced its partnership with Digital Fineprint, a London, UK based Insurtech startup that is building the industry standard technology solution that uses consumers’ social media information to optimize the insurance policy purchasing journey.
OneDigitalOffice enables insurance companies to compete effectively in this age of digital disruption by creating a unified digital front office solution.
OneDigitalOffice is a comprehensive platform for any insurance carrier, writing any product, via any distribution channel, connecting to any core middle office to facilitate sales, service, first notice of loss and 3rd party access.
Rather than maintaining multiple portals, mobile apps and websites, OneDigitalOffice unifies all of an insurance carrier’s customer engagement touchpoints onto a single platform radically reducing front office complexity, simplifying digital touchpoints and reducing IT costs.
OneDigitalOffice has a modern Java-based architecture designed to meet the needs for exciting, easy to use interfaces demanded by any smartphone user, combined with the need to integrate with insurance company’s existing core systems and the complexity of legacy environments.
OneDigitalOffice is now integrated with Digital Fineprint, the leading solution for Social Media autofill. Digital Fineprint’s solution increases new risk submissions by permitting a one click autofilling of user content based on Facebook or LinkedIn content. Digital Fineprint’s groundbreaking predictive analytics turns social data into usable insurance data to optimize the process of purchasing an insurance policy online.
“ConVista’s OneDigitalOffice is designed to easily integrate with InsurTech’s software allowing copmanies like Digital Fineprint to plugin and to deliver great value faster to insurance companies and their consumers,” said Jonathan Kalman, Chief Digital Office of ConVista.
“Our solution is proven to increase the amount and quality of new quotations for insurance companies,” said Erik Abrahamson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Digital Fineprint, continuing, “following our work with Allianz, MetLife and other major insurers, we are thrilled to be partnering with ConVista’s OneDigitalOffice to deliver this capability to many more insurance companies worldwide.”
- 03:00 am
Samsung Electronics Australia today announced a partnership with Cuscal, Australia’s leading independent provider of payment solutions that will enable 38 financial institutions to offer Samsung Pay.
Samsung Pay is a secure and easy-to-use mobile payments service available on compatible Samsung devices including the Gear S3 smartwatch and the Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones1.
People’s Choice Credit Union, Credit Union Australia (CUA), and Teachers Mutual Bank are among some of Cuscal’s clients now offering Samsung Pay and the partnership will enable mobile payments for a combined total of 1.7 million cardholders.
Cuscal joins Westpac, Citibank and American Express as Samsung Pay partners.
Richard Fink, Vice President, Mobile Division at Samsung Australia said: “Through Samsung Pay’s partnership with Cuscal we are providing millions of Australians a convenient and safe payment option. Every partner we bring onboard, whether it be a financial institution or retail brand through our Samsung Pay loyalty functionality, brings us a step closer to helping customers replace their wallets with their Samsung smartphone or smartwatch.”
The announcement comes as Samsung Pay marks its first anniversary in Australia. During its year of operation in this country, Samsung has now partnered with over 40 payment card brands and has over 100 different types of loyalty cards loaded onto Samsung Pay – making everyday payments and loyalty point collections simple and secure for Australians.
Robert Bell, General Manager of Product & Service at Cuscal said: “We’re really pleased that our clients’ customers can now use Samsung Pay. Our aim is to allow all of our clients to offer their customers the newest and best payment options available, to help them compete with much larger players. With the addition of Samsung Pay we continue to fulfil this promise to them.”
Cuscal’s 38 financial institutions now available on Samsung Pay are: Australian Unity, Bank Australia, Bank of Sydney, Beyond Bank Australia, Big Sky Building Society, Catalyst Money, Central Coast Credit Union, Central Murray Credit Union, Community First Credit Union, Credit Union SA, CUA, Customs Bank, Defence Bank, Firefighters Mutual Bank, First Option Credit Union, Holiday Coast Credit Union, Horizon Credit Union, Illawarra Credit Union, Intech Bank, MyState, Nexus Mutual, Northern Beaches Credit Union, P&N Bank, People’s Choice Credit Union, Police Bank, QT Mutual Bank, Queenslanders Credit Union, Reliance Bank, SCU, Select ENCOMPASS Credit Union, South West Slopes Credit Union, Teachers Mutual Bank, The Mac, The Rock, UniBank, Unity Bank, WAW Credit Union Co-Operative, Woolworths Employees’ Credit Union Limited.
Samsung Pay has more than 870 bank partnerships worldwide and there has been more than 240 million transactions processed over the past year and a half.
- 07:00 am
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed iSignthis Ltd is pleased to announce that it has today cross listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE) under the code "TA8".
Investors may purchase iSignthis securities directly on either the ASX or FSE.
John Karantzis, iSignthis CEO and Managing Director, said "We are excited to announce the listing of our shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As a Regtech focused primarily on the European market, cross listing iSignthis on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is a logical step. Our European customer base is growing rapidly through the execution of our Paydentity strategy, and this is attracting increasing interest in iSignthis from investors in Germany and across Europe.
The cross-listing is in alignment with our Paydentity European focus, and will provide iSignthis with access to a deep pool of new potential investors that will help to expand our shareholder base, increase liquidity and introduce iSignthis to a wider audience across Europe.
As an authorised European Monetary Financial Institution, we see the FSE as being a significant part of our forward strategy, in order to provide transparency, exposure and opportunity to EU retail and institutional investors. We commence trading on the FSE under the code TA8 today, as well as in Australia under ASX code ISX."
No additional capital or securities have been issued as part of the cross listing, and therefore there has been no dilutive effect. Frankfurt listing will increase trading liquidity and facilitate investment in the Company by institutional and retail investors in Germany and across Europe.
