As banks in Greece often provide local merchants with the entire terminal infrastructure, Wirecard has enabled NBG to integrate Alipay across the country in as many locations as possible. The aim is for most Greek merchants who operate in significant tourist attractions in the country to be able to offer Alipay as a new payment solution at the point of sale (POS) for their Chinese customers.

Greek islands and the capital Athens are particularly popular destinations for Chinese tourists. Thus, Greece has seen an increase of 400 per cent in Chinese tourists over the past five years, the stated goal of the Greek ministry of tourism is to welcome one million by the year 2021. With the new collaboration, Wirecard and the National Bank of Greece will provide them with their trusted payment method Alipay: over 450 million people in China use this mobile payment solution, making it the country’s favourite. Chinese tourists can receive offers from local merchants via smartphone push notifications even while travelling by aeroplane to their respective holiday destination.

Nelly Tzakou-Lambropoulou, General Manager of Retail Banking at National Bank of Greece: “Tourists are one of the most important target groups for Greek merchants. With this in mind, we are particularly proud that we are in a position to allow merchants to offer a payment method trusted by Chinese customers. This has all been made possible by Wirecard’s exclusive technical support and professionalism.”

Jörn Leogrande, Executive Vice President Mobile Services at Wirecard, adds: “We are proud to implement our technology in NBG’s payment processes. With this, we are enabling thousands of merchants to simultaneously offer Alipay as a new payment method for a financially strong target group. We believe that this, combined with the increasing number of Chinese tourists in Greece, will translate into a considerable sales potential for Greek merchants. Our aim is to work with financial institutions across Europe to integrate Alipay as an alternative mobile payment solution in as many till systems as possible.”

The partnership will enable CSPI’s customers to leverage the Geezeo PFM features and benefits, which will tightly integrate via an API directly within their online banking platforms.

“CSPI and Geezeo share a vision of offering financial institutions robust platforms with strong integration, that enhances the digital experience for online banking users,” said Shawn Ward, Geezeo CEO. “Banks and credit unions must invest in digital experience and fintech, across all channels, so consumers can seamlessly manage finances on demand.” 

New Access, which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, provides front-office solutions to private banks, including a portfolio management system, a document management system, and a customer relationship management system. "The acquisition of the Ambit Private Banking solution will reinforce New Access’ global presence in the private banking software industry. New Access will be able to offer a highly competitive front-to-back office software solution allowing private banks to cover the entire functional coverage with only one provider. This integrated solution is easy to implement and maintain, cost effective compared to outsourcing providers, and will allow banks to retain full control over their back-office operations," declared Alexis Sikorsky, founder and CEO of New Access.

This transaction will create significant commercial synergies between New Access and Ambit Private Banking solutions. It will also allow the group to further invest in R&D to develop software solutions adapted to the private banking market shaped by disruptive technologies, and tightening regulatory requirements. "New Access’ solutions are aimed at turning these challenges into opportunities, and getting tangible benefits for their customers," said Vitus Rotzer, General Manager of the Ambit Private Banking business, who becomes Managing Director responsible for business development of the combined group. “We are confident the addition of the Ambit Private Banking solution will benefit customers of both businesses through an enriched product and services offering, while bringing a comprehensive, integrated solution to the private banking market.” 

“I am delighted to welcome Spencer to Fenergo’s Board,” said Marc Murphy, Fenergo CEO. “Spencer brings a huge amount of experience having built a successful career in investment banking over the last 29 years. Spencer will help steer Fenergo through our next stage of growth and I know that Fenergo will benefit greatly from his deep industry experience.”

Most recently, Spencer was Vice Chairman of HSBC Global Banking & Markets. During his decade-long tenure with HSBC, Spencer held several global senior roles in HSBC in areas such as running Debt Capital Markets and Acquisition Finance for four years; Global Markets (including FICC, equities and research) for three years; and Capital Financing (structured and unstructured lending, financing and investment banking products) for three years. Prior to HSBC, Spencer spent 17 years in Merrill Lynch in senior roles spanning real estate finance, investment banking, and debt capital markets across New York, Hong Kong and London. Before Merrill Lynch, Spencer worked for two years at JP Morgan in real estate investment banking. 

In addition to Fenergo Spencer currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the International Capital Market Association, having been a member since 2011, and is helping a few other small companies in their growth strategies. 

“Europe is the second-largest remittance market in the world. Launching in the UK, where over £19 billion ($24 billion USD) in remittances are sent to other countries, is an important next step as we transform the global remittance business. We’re thrilled to offer Remitly’s industry-leading service to the UK, a service that already enables customers in the US and Canada to send over $2 billion a year,” said Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer.

Remitly offers UK customers two options, such as Remitly’s Express service delivers money directly to a recipient abroad within minutes through its direct integrations with banking and cash pickup partners around the world. Using a credit or debit card, customers can send money for a flat fee of £3 or less. As well as, leveraging the UK’s Faster Payments Scheme, Remitly’s Economy service enables customers to send money abroad at less cost depending on the recipient country. Through this option, customers get their transfers to recipients quickly, safely, and with competitive foreign exchange rates as the scheme enables nearly-instant payments between participating banks.

Traditionally, the remittance process has been slow, expensive and lacked transparency - leaving customers in the dark, not knowing when - or if - their recipient will receive the money. Remitly’s proprietary global transfer network is changing that. Its digital service uses the latest technology, directly integrating with payout partners to eliminate the forms, codes, agents, extra time, and fees tied to the traditional money transfer process.

Initially, the company will serve people in the UK sending money to India and the Philippines, with more recipient countries coming soon. Of the countries on the receiving end of remittances from the UK, India is the second-largest recipient, receiving over £2.8 billion ($3.6 billion USD), and the Philippines receives over £454 million ($565 million USD). Remitly aims to put billions of pounds in remittance fees back into the pockets of its hardworking customers through offering more transparency, better rates, and lower fees. 

Crespin, a French national, is a graduate in International Business, Trade and Tax Law from the Universite de Metz in France. He brings with him more than 28 years of banking experience gained at highly reputable global and ASEAN-based organisations. He has wide international exposure and has held different business and operational positions across Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America. One of his biggest successes was the introduction of India’s first completely paperless, signatureless, branchless mobile banking, based on biometrics and artificial intelligence.

Group Chief Executive, CIMB Group, Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz said, "I am thrilled to welcome Olivier to the CIMB family, to head our newly set-up CIMB FinTech, which is our very own FinTech hub for us to experiment and realise our digital ambitions. Its operating model will be agile, dynamic and nimble, in order to provoke, incubate and execute ideas that will either redefine or enhance CIMB's products and services. We are prepared to invest significantly in FinTech propositions that will add value and enhance customer experience for our 12 million customers across the region and I'm confident that Olivier, with his vast experience in this space, will help us do just that.”

The initial round of funding will allow Fleximize to substantially increase its lending capacity, and propel it towards its goal of lending over £100 million to SMEs by 2019. It will also help the company further develop and diversify its product offering, and continue to deliver its mission of first-class customer service by advancing its proprietary technology platform with the introduction of dedicated areas for brokers and direct clients.

Between 2015 and 2016, Fleximize grew its lending to SMEs by 132% to £40 million, a figure that the company is looking to double in 2017 as it rolls out its new secured loan product. Companies can now borrow up to £250,000 from Fleximize on an unsecured basis, and up to £500,000 on a secured basis.

Peter Tuvey, co-founder and managing partner of Fleximize, said: “The chancellor described SMEs as the lifeblood of the UK economy in his spring budget, and we witness that every single day here at Fleximize. From Shelley Dickinson, owner of the award-winning Shelley’s Pie and Mash Shop, to Polly Thompson, managing director of bespoke bridesmaid dress retailer, Nabbd, our clients are representative of the hands-on, hardworking and dedicated entrepreneurs that are driving the UK forward.”

Peter added: “It’s been an incredibly positive start to 2017 for Fleximize, with our lending to SMEs in all sectors growing at a substantial rate. It has been a pleasure working with Hadrian’s Wall Capital Limited. We’ve valued their proactive and fast-paced approach to supporting us. This additional access to funding will fuel our capability to support businesses requiring capital in an unpredictable economic climate, while allowing us to expand our excellent team. We’ve already made a number of key hires this year, including former HSBC and Aldermore senior manager Craig Farmer as chief risk officer, and we are looking to increase our headcount further in the coming months.”

Marc Bajer, chief executive at Hadrian’s Wall Capital Ltd, investment adviser to the fund, said: “We’ve been impressed by Fleximize’s growth over the past three years. It is rare to find such a focused and technology-enabled lender in the SME alternative finance sector. We were impressed with the commitment to transparency with its customers. We look forward to working closely with Peter and the team, and supporting the company on the next stage of its exciting journey.”