TradAir, the global provider of trading technology solutions for banks, brokers, prime of primes and regulated marketplaces, is using AWS’s London Region to reduce round-trip latency and improve its execution performance.

 HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services company, today announced an agreement to acquire Urban Fulfillment Services, LLC, (“UFS”), a provider of mortgage business process & fulfilment services.

UFS is a Limited Liability Company incorporated in USA, founded in 2002. With over 350 highly skilled professionals, UFS operates out of 3 centres in the US, engaged in providing mortgage business process and fulfilment services to its customers.

“The acquisition of Urban Fulfillment Services strengthens HCL’s capabilities in mortgage BPO services, loan fulfillment and debt servicing space,” said Anoop Tiwari, Corporate Vice President and Global Head – Business Services, HCL Technologies. “Combining UFS’ talent and client portfolio with HCL’s deep industry expertise and business acumen, offers us the unique opportunity to provide platform–based services on our own platform, driving transformation through robotics process automation.”

“The synergies between UFS’ client focused and efficient business processing services and HCL’s technology leadership and financial strength will create an unparalleled competitor and leading provider of state-of-the-art services to the enterprise customers,” said Charles S. Sanders, CEO of Urban Lending Solutions.  “I am very excited about joining the HCL team and being part of such a capable and progressive company that will deliver the highest level of services to the industry.”        

HCL will be acquiring 100% stake in UFS. The total cash consideration for this transaction is up to $30 million, including contingent payments subject to certain financial milestones. Mortgage servicing is a regulated activity in USA and the transaction would require regulatory approvals for obtaining the licenses.

Banco Bilbao Baningo Vazcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA), second largest multinational Spanish Banking group, has announced execution of its first cross-border payments, based on the blockchain-supported fund transfer system. 

By virtue of the new technological advancement, designed by Ripple, San Francisco firm, BBVA managed to transfer about 50-euto dominated payments from Spain to Mexico within a few seconds. Usually, conventional transactions consume approximately four working days to perform these types of transactions. 

BBVA, one of the industry leaders, plans to deploy distributed ledger and expand it further to supply its corporate customers with efficient and affordable international payment method. In average, payments transferred via Ripple technology cost 81% less compared to other corresponding banking networks. 

Additional benefit of the newly applied solution is an ability to control payments that allows having a clear scope of the transfer costs. Moreover, the blockchain transfer system, timely provides all relevant information about transactions and can be validated by a customer. 

Alicia Pertusa, head of BBVA lender’s digital transformation in investment banking unit commented: "It’s not just the real-time transfer that’s important here but the information we can send with the payment." " That’s very relevant for our clients because they could begin streamlining their reconciliation systems." 

The advanced blockchain solution may lay a foundation to evolvement of the BBVA's international payments cloud in the future.

One year on since Atom officially launched the UK’s first bank built exclusively for mobile, they have announced will.i.am as their first Strategic Board Advisor. The entrepreneur, philanthropist, musician and consumer technology investor will take on the role of Strategic Board Advisor.

In this new role of Strategic Board Advisor, will.i.am - who has a keen interest in technology, will provide the Durham-based bank with an external perspective on culture, philanthropy and technology.

Anthony Thomson, Atom Founder and Chairman said, “Like us, will.i.am believes that technology can better and simplify our lives, which is at the heart of all that we are passionate about at Atom. As we develop the range of products and services on offer to customers, will.i.am’s unique view on the world and knowledge of future trends will be a great asset for us.”

Commenting on the relationship, will.i.am said, “Our lives are faster than ever before, but the banking industry hasn’t kept up.  The scale of Atom’s ambition to help people understand and manage their money better, and it’s clever use of technology to give people an entire bank on their phones is awesome. I’m looking forward to working with Atom to achieve success in everything we will do together.”

Atom launched its innovative banking app in 2016, offering competitive fixed savings accounts, secured business lending and retail mortgages offered through intermediaries, with further products and continuous App enhancements planned throughout 2017.  The app is currently available on the App Store and via Google Play.

Plato Partnership Limited (“Plato Partnership”), a not-for-profit company bringing creative solutions and efficiencies to today’s equity marketplace, today announces its intention to enter into a cooperation agreement with LiquidMetrix, the best execution specialists and an operating division of Strategic Insight (SI).  Under this new partnership, the two companies will research, design and implement a stronger methodology for assessing block trade performance

Through this cooperation, Plato will work with the LiquidMetrix research & development team to jointly design and implement a consistent framework for assessing block trade performance. This will enable firms to assess the execution quality achieved by block trading both in absolute and relative terms between different block venues versus other execution options.

MiFID II will have a significant impact on many aspects of trading in Europe. Limits on dark pool trading and the disappearance of current BCN models are likely to drive innovations in how and where trades are executed. RTS 28 requirements on sell sides and buy sides will focus attention on how effective firms are in sourcing liquidity and achieving best execution for their clients in this new landscape.

Mike Bellaro, Plato Partnership Co-Chair, commented:

“If block trading is to become more widely adopted we need a comprehensive and universally accepted framework for measuring block execution quality. This is exactly what we are looking to develop with LiquidMetrix. To date, traditional Transaction Cost Analysis has not done a good job in allowing such relative comparisons to be made. Block trading analysis requires careful risk-adjusted measurement of performance to allow fair comparisons with algo trading. TCA often focusses mainly on what is completed, ignoring or side stepping opportunity costs.

“We are delighted to be working with Strategic Insight’s LiquidMetrix team to bring a solution to the market. This cooperation again demonstrates our commercial focus and ensuring that we are delivering significant utility for our members and the market as a whole.”

Nej Djelal, Plato Partnership Co-Chair, commented:

“An industry standard form of Transaction Cost Analysis has long been recognised as a key opportunity for the industry, but to date has been challenging to achieve. Plato Partnership’s unique positioning as a body that brings together the intelligence and guidance of both buy and sell sides, underpinned by our not-for-profit ethos, means we are well placed to spearhead the move towards TCA standardisation.

“In anticipation of the market’s likely shift towards trading in larger sizes following the implementation of MiFID II, the logical first step is to focus on block trading TCA. This exciting development will enable objective performance analysis of block trading versus alternative approaches, as well as lay the foundation for further TCA standardization.”

Paul Squires, Plato Partnership Member, commented:

“There are a number of areas - including increased standardisation for reporting optimisation - where we want to see significant benefits brought to the market in delivering the regulatory expectations of MiFID II. Ensuring we get ahead of the curve to provide the market with solutions that will drive genuine utility is absolutely central to Plato Partnership’s values, and this cooperation is another example of this strategic approach.”

Sabine Toulson, LiquidMetrix Co-founder, Strategic Insight, commented:

“The LiquidMetrix mission is to provide leading-edge analytics for all of the financial services industry including the buy-side, sell-side and trading venues. As regulatory and technological innovations continue to drive changes in market structure, the financial community must continue to adapt in order to provide meaningful best execution reporting.

“Block trading appears to be re-emerging as an increasingly viable trading option. At the same time, MiFID II requirements specify the need to justify the different execution strategies and policies used by a firm. There is a clear need for a new generation of meaningful block trading metrics that demonstrate execution quality for the industry. Strategic Insight is pleased to have the privilege of collaborating with the Plato Partnership, and in using LiquidMetrix experts to develop a modern platform that the entire industry can use for effective measurement of block execution quality.”

Token, Inc., a turnkey open banking platform provider that enables banks to generate revenue from PSD2, today announced $15.7 million in Series A funding from major investors including Octopus Ventures, EQT Ventures and OP Financial Group.

From January 2018, the European Payment Services Directive, PSD2, will require banks to grant account access to a variety of customer-permitted third party service providers for the purpose of payment initiation and retrieving information. Token’s open banking platform helps banks quickly and cost effectively meet these compliance requirements while also creating opportunities to generate new revenues. In addition to being a turnkey PSD2 compliance solution, Token also offers programmable money capabilities, empowering banks to create revenue from a number of high-value business cases including e-commerce checkout, B2B payments, bill pay, and many more.

Founded in 2015 by serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch (FrameMaker, acquired by Adobe Systems and Infoseek, acquired by the Walt Disney Company) and former Global Chief Technology Officer of Citigroup, Yobie Benjamin, Token has since grown rapidly, opening a European office in London in July 2016. Since inception, Token has also made a series of high-profile appointments, including COO, Todd Clyde, a senior executive with four consecutive successful exits from financial services technology and enterprise software companies. The company has also announced strategic partnerships with Fidor Bank and OP Bank, both known for their innovation in financial services.

The lead investor in the Series A is one of Europe’s largest venture capital teams, UK-based Octopus Ventures, which has backed a number of successful fintech businesses. Simon Andrews of Octopus Ventures, commented: “At Octopus we focus on backing unusually talented entrepreneurs and Token, headed up by serial entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, was a perfect fit for us. Token is proving that programmable money can transform the way the world transacts. We are looking forward to supporting Steve and the team in the next phase of growth and look forward to seeing the organisation develop from here on.”

Joining the round was Stockholm-based EQT Ventures, part of alternative investments firm EQT which has an impressive track record of over 170 investments and 84 exits. Andreas Thorstensson, Technology Partner at EQT Ventures and Board Member for Token, said: “Token is offering a true game changer in the world of banking and financial services. Through a secure API, they are creating an open banking ecosystem, which creates possibilities for new revenue streams for its customers and a better user experience for consumers. This also helps the banks become compliant with the new PSD2 regulation. We couldn’t be happier supporting Steve and his fantastic team on this journey.”

Additional investors include OP Financial Group, the first financial services provider in Europe to offer online banking services, Plug And Play Ventures and Digital Currency Group.

Steve Kirsch, CEO and founder of Token, commented: “Securing the backing from such world-class investors allows us to grow and execute faster on our mission to reinvent the world’s payment systems by providing common, secure access to all banks and a modern, bank-centric payment ecosystem. Each firm shares our excitement about the future of open banking and fully appreciates the impact that programmable money will have on the future of digital transactions.”

Meet Token at EBAday in Dublin, June 20-21 and Money2020 in Copenhagen, June 26-28. To learn more about Token, please visit www.token.io.

Russia’s Sovcombank is using a new form of credit scoring to attract young people looking for their first credit card. The score, developed by Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) and marketed by Silicon Valley analytics firm FICO, uses an interactive online assessment to evaluate an individual’s credit risk. Sovcombank, a universal bank with more than 2 million customers, is using the score to “gamify” the credit application process.

More information: https://www.eflglobal.com/

“We are using the EFL score to give young people a new way to get their first credit card,” said Sergey Khotimskiy, deputy CEO at Sovcombank. “Moving forward, we intend to use the score to rate the risk of people who don’t have a FICO Score because they are new to credit, and so don’t have a credit history to score. This is an innovative way for us to grow our market.”

Unlike the FICO® Score in Russia — which scores credit information from the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBKI), Russia’s leading credit bureau — the EFL Score gathers applicant-contributed data in an interactive online survey to assess a person’s attitudes toward credit and willingness to pay. EFL’s psychometric scoring and behavioural data analysis technology was born out of more than a decade of empirical research, initially at Harvard, and validated by over a billion dollars of lending across the world.

“EFL uses a very different method from FICO, but the goal is the same — to instantly and reliably determine a person’s likelihood of repaying credit,” said Jim Wehmann, executive vice president of Scores at FICO. “It’s an incredibly useful tool to use when there isn’t sufficient data to calculate a FICO Score, and that’s the case for around 3 billion credit ‘invisibles’ around the world.”

“Our score is perfect for a bank like Sovcombank, which wants to build its portfolio among young people who may not have traditional FICO Scores,” said Jared Miller, CEO at EFL. “Our technology can score anyone, it’s simple to use and can even be engaging for the applicant. As a first-mover in the Russian market, Sovcombank is pioneering an approach that will reshape the way people worldwide get into the credit mainstream.”

FICO’s partnership with EFL Global is part of its FICO® Financial Inclusion Initiative, which aims to help lenders make affordable credit available to the estimated 3+ billion unbanked and underbanked adults worldwide. These “credit invisibles” benefit from credit scores that leverage multiple data sources to assess credit risk and assist responsible lending. FICO offers EFL’s psychometric scoring alongside its own credit scoring products in Russia, Turkey, and Mexico.

More than half of the top Russian banks use FICO^® Scores delivered by NBKI. The FICO^® Score is the most used credit score in the world, and the standard measure of U.S. consumer credit risk.