Banks’ digital transformation progress is vital to the retention of their product teams, it has been revealed, with 94% of product managers admitting they would leave their current position to work for a competitor bank with better technology and 92% claiming they would leave for a bank with more ambitious transformation goals.                                                             

These figures, revealed as part of a comprehensive research report by 10x, the transformational cloud-native SaaS core bank operating system founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins, provide insight into how imperative true digital transformation is for the survival of traditional banks. 

10x’s research has made it clear that banks must realign their focus on digital progression, driving transformation that not only attracts and retains valued customers, but ensures ambitious product managers are motivated and incentivised to stay.

Surveying more than 150 senior decision makers and more than 150 product managers, business analysts and project managers, across eight markets (UK, South Africa, the Nordics, Australia, New Zealand Germany, India and Vietnam), 10x’s study sought to understand the decision-making process within the world’s leading banks when it comes to digital transformation, specifically their ability to adopt new technologies, respond to market change, roll out new products, and prioritise resource appropriately.                                                  

Commenting on the findings, 10x Founder and CEO Antony Jenkins said: “The core aim of financial institutions should be to securely and responsibly take care of their customers. In order to do so effectively, banks require market-leading talent. As our findings reveal, institutions resistant to digital transformation have committed a significant oversight, as a lack of perceived innovation has rendered them vulnerable to talent shortages. It seems clear that those on the ground recognise the opportunities to be gained by adopting digital processes and can quickly acknowledge when progress is minimal. If banks don’t align with these expectations, employees in their masses are willing to seek roles at banks that do.”

These findings follow previous revelations unearthed by 10x’s research that found 63% of bank managers believe they have lost out on winning new customers due to slow digital transformation. Further, banks admit to losing 20% of their customers due to poor customer experience, a factor closely associated with agile new technologies designed to increase UX and customer satisfaction. Combined, research into customer and employee retention highlights the very real impact that slow digital transformation is having on financial institutions’ ability to remain competitive.                                                 

“In an environment where technology is shaping sectors faster than ever before, and upskilling workforces remains a constant challenge, banks must understand that they cannot compete long-term without powerful technology and the skilled workforces able to use it effectively”, continued Jenkins. “Digital transformation in the financial sector is no longer a preference, but a key to survival.”

Paymentology, the leading global issuer-processor today announces the expansion of its current partnership with TrueMoney, Southeast Asia's leading e-payment services and financial services provider. 

TrueMoney was established in 2013 and quickly became Thailand's leading digital financial application for all mobile carriers. In Thailand, the platform includes payment, saving and investment services. Its payment services include, TrueMoney Mastercard (previously named as WeCard), TrueMoney Cash Card, Kiosk, Payment Gateway and Remittances.

Building on TrueMoney’s success in Thailand, and as part of its efforts to support financial inclusion in Cambodia, TrueMoney recently bolstered its offering with the launch of a co-branded virtual prepaid TrueMoney Mastercard supported by Cambodia’s Sathapana Bank through BIN (Banking Identification Number). Powered by its global technical payments partner, Paymentology, the virtual prepaid Mastercard card is available to the ‘unbanked’ members in the country and is further promoting cashless transactions. 

Linked to the rise of cashless transactions across Southeast Asia, a Mastercard’s New Payments Index 2022 highlighting that more than 94% of Thai consumers have used digital systems to pay for services, with the most used form of payment being digital wallets, Paymentology has now powered True Money to launch Google Pay with MDES Tokenization. 

Strengthening the alliance between TrueMoney, Paymentology, Google and Mastercard, Google Wallet users can now add their TrueMoney Mastercard to pay with Google Pay in-store, efficiently and securely. 

Apinand Dabpetch, Head of Growth & Wallet Platform at TrueMoney commented: “Our partnership with Paymentology, one of the preferred issuer processors of Mastercard, has been a key factor in propelling our growth journey and enabling us to pave the way for innovation in Southeast Asia. We take immense pride in joining forces with global partners to offer our users inclusive financial services that cater to their needs.”

Google Pay has revolutionised the way people transact globally, with more than 150 million users from over 40 countries utilising its convenient features. Android smartphone users can effortlessly pay for goods and services at leading stores worldwide, both online and offline, including world-class restaurants, pharmacies, clothing stores and many more retail establishments. By seamlessly facilitating transactions, Google Pay enhances the spending experience for Thai consumers, making it hassle-free and borderless.

Emre Durusut, Regional Director APAC at Paymentology added: “We are incredibly proud to be TrueMoney's trusted issuer processing partner, and thrilled to celebrate its recent milestones which strengthens TrueMoney's standing as a trailblazer in digital payments. With our cutting-edge payment technology and collaboration with industry giants such as Mastercard and Google, TrueMoney has become one of the pioneers of digital financial services in Southeast Asia.”

finova the UK's largest cloud-based mortgage and savings software provider, has today announced that its Apprivo² core banking originations platform has been selected by Leeds Building Society for its Limited Company buy to let (Ltd Co. BTL) offering.

Through this partnership, finova will support Leeds Building Society’s entry into the Ltd Co. BTL market and offer a fully managed service for product support, including amending Leeds Building Society products, catalogues, and rules as a service.

Designed to meet the individual needs of lenders, Apprivo², a “cloud-first” SaaS banking originations platform, leverages interfaces to Valuations (Quest) and CRA & EID (Experian) for credit scoring rules and identification checks as well as Payment Card Services (Barclaycard).

Apprivo² is highly customisable, so Leeds Building Society can add different products and API’s to the tool as needed. Furthermore, the platform provides the lender with a range of functions, such as the ability to integrate additional services via the API ecosystem of Finova, including conveyancing, valuations, and payments.

Chris Little, Chief Revenue Officer at finova, commented:

“Leeds Building Society, is the  UK’s fifth-largest mutual, which makes this partnership all the more exciting for us at finova. We are looking forward to supporting the Leeds BS team with their entry into limited company buy to let, and the opportunity this partnership provides for the finova team to once again demonstrate our capabilities in this lending space. We have no doubt this will be a fruitful relationship which we will continue to expand into new market segments.”

John Scally, Head of Product Development at Leeds Building Society, added:

“We are proud to be able to extend our support for landlords through the launch of a new Limited Company Buy to Let mortgage product range.

“Building on our ongoing technology platform upgrades, we have partnered with finova to allow us to offer more choice to our members in this changing market.

“Using Apprivo², we can continue to respond to the changing needs of the market , and look forward to working with finova to deliver broker and customer-friendly solutions.

Synechron, a leading global digital transformation consulting firm, today announced that it has formally partnered with VisionGroup, a Singapore-based technology company and the creator of dataSense, the next generation catalogue and data management tool, to help extend innovation in the Data Management space.

Synechron has been working with VisionGroup and its dataSense team to leverage this technology into Synechron’s 13 global Financial Innovation Labs (“FinLabs”), as well as incorporate it into the next generation of FinLabs-created accelerator solutions expected to debut later this year.

The dataSense technology uses a combination of mathematical algorithms and event processing to build the picture of an organization’s data. It complements metadata platforms by creating an operational view of the data built from the actual data, and not simply metadata. dataSense bridges the gap between the business glossary, operational data, and technical metadata. It augments and completes the data governance framework. dataSense enhances organizations’ existing processes and controls, and can capture unexpected items, such as internal data abuse. Enabling digital fingerprints and data catalogues allows for rapid identification (through Smart Alerts) of data changes and identifying who made changes.

Tim Jennings, Global Data Practice Lead at Synechron said, “We are excited to be partnering with VisionGroup, and looking to leverage the capabilities of the dataSense tool for some interesting imminent use cases. We are seeking to exploit the data observability features in our upcoming risk accelerator, supporting features for pro-active identification and rectification of data issues, and enabling real insight into the data payloads between systems. We are also keen to explore how we can use this tooling in the refresh of our own internal data estate, where data integrity and quality will be the objective.”

Kieran Ebbs, Chief Revenue Officer, VisionGroup said, “We are delighted with the announcement of this strategic partnership with Synechron, a company renowned for its deep expertise in financial services. This collaboration aims to redefine the data landscape by combining Synechron’s extensive capabilities with the innovative approach of dataSense, a transformative data management solution. This unique partnership presents an unparalleled opportunity to deliver successful data initiatives that will drive remarkable outcomes for organizations, empowering them to unlock the true potential of their data, optimize data management processes, and generate actionable insights.”  

Iain Case, DIGISEQ Solution Integration Manager, says: "We’re delighted to have showcased the limitless possibilities of our wearable technology solution at the UEFA Champions League final. 750 guests at this year's final experienced the benefits of sustainability-focused contactless payment. DIGISEQ's innovative use of wearable technology is opening the gateway to countless immersive experiences for millions of sports fans, all of which are now easily accessible through wearable gadgets that effortlessly travel with them.

 

“Our technology has already been embraced by financial super app, Curve, high-end brands like Philippe Starck, and other significant events like the 2019 Golden Globes Awards. Encouraged by UEFA's successful adoption of our solution to create extraordinary fan experiences, we are starting to witness growing interest from sports clubs and venue operators, who have recognized the advantages of enabling secure contactless payments and digital ID verification via wearable gadgets."

STICPAY, a leading global e-wallet service provider and payment gateway, has reported a more than 250% increase in usage amongst African countries, as developing nations across the continent turn to new electronic payment solutions for their payments, forex and gaming needs.

In the first half of 2023 the number of STICPAY forex and domestic payment transactions across African counties increased on average by 255%, while the number of gaming transactions increased on average by 266%, compared to the first six months of 2022.

In Kenya, the total of number of transactions (forex, domestic payment and gaming) increased by more than 5000% - the most of any African nation. The huge increase reinforces a September 2022 VISA report that concluded Kenya now ranks first in the use of digital payments across Africa.

Egypt and Nigeria were the fastest-growing e-wallet gaming markets, with gaming transactions up more than 5000% (Egypt) and 1700% (Nigeria) respectively compared to H1 2022. Insights from Statista have highlighted how Africa’s online gaming market is set to grow at 8.6% annually over the next four years, leading to a market valuation of $2.26bn/£1.78b by 2027.

The slowest growth registered in forex, domestic payment and gaming transactions combined was in Zimbabwe, although transactions were still up 65% compared to H1 2022. STICPAY transactions were also registered in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Tunisia for the first time.

The surge of STICPAY transactions across Africa is the latest indicator of the growing impact of e-wallets in developing nations. Many of these nations’ economies, including those across South-East Asia, have traditionally been reliant on cash, with a consideration proportion of their populations being unbanked and lacking access to retail financial services – an issue e-wallet providers such as STICPAY are working to solve by democratising access to finance through mobile technology.

Sean Park, STICPAY CEO, said:

“We’re delighted to see such strong growth across the African e-wallet market. New fintech payment solutions such as e-wallets help make payments faster, cheaper and more accessible to those in emerging markets, which is why more and more consumers and businesses are choosing to adopt e-wallets to fulfil their gaming, forex, remittance and business payment needs.”

ESG Self Assessment Platform ESG Bay has raised £135,000 in pre-seed investment from investors on the FundMyPitch platform. The funds will be used to drive expansion plans and bolster headcount by 50 per cent.

The investment was led by Bigspace Investments Ltd as well as a number of angel investors, raising 180 per cent of ESG Bay’s initial £75,000 funding target through the FundMyPitch platform.

ESG Bay will use the funding to further develop its ESG assessment technology, expand customer acquisitions and grow its team of climate tech experts, on top of a previous grant from Innovate UK. This will expand the self-assessment platform, providing easy-to-understand ESG assessments and recommendations that enable businesses to measure their climate impact.

The raise took place via FundMyPitch’s video pitch platform, leveraging AI algorithms, to showcase ESG Bay’s innovative sustainability solution to their dynamic investor network consisting of venture capitalists, startup incubators and a range of financial institutions.

Steven Mooney, CEO of FundMyPitch, said: “The work that ESG Bay is doing to drive climate monitoring is transformational for businesses, helping to ingrain climate impact at the heart of their operations. Connecting the next wave of budding entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs, like ESG Bay, with access to funding is an essential part of the UK business economy, encouraging growth and innovation.”

“Especially during uncertain economic times, start-ups and SMEs need a platform to highlight their services and solutions to those that are active in the investment market to ensure they succeed. Access to pitching opportunities and connecting to investor networks is crucial for the business community, now more than ever with the rapid evolution of emerging technologies” Mooney added.

Agnieszka Petrzak, CEO of ESG Bay, said: “FundMyPitch has exceeded expectations by providing ESG Bay with access to the vital funding we need to scale up our business. Working with Steven and his investor networks will enable us to further develop our ESG monitoring capabilities and support businesses with their climate goals. I’m excited to grow our customer acquisitions and add to our talented team of experts to continue expanding our monitoring services.”

Off the back of the raise, FundMyPitch founder Steven Mooney and ESG Bay Founder Agnieszka Petrzak discussed raising investment during turbulent times and ESG Bay’s journey so far, on “The Funding Journey”, an educational platform for entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses.

FundMyPitch connects entrepreneurs and SMEs with investor networks to support the raise of multi-millions in capital during its first year of trading, building upon its user base of investors, helping them get connected to high-potential businesses.

Temenos has been recognized as the global market leader by IBS Intelligence in the IBSi Sales League Table (SLT) 2023 for Core Banking, Digital Banking and Channels, Payments, Treasury and Risk Management and Islamic Banking for core and risk management.

Temenos also ranked #1 in each of the following markets: Europe, Middle East and Africa in the Regional Sales Awards. Temenos maintained its #2 position in North and South America with key wins including a top 30 US bank. The results highlight the breadth of Temenos’ leadership as the banking platform of choice across regions and product segments. Temenos is the only vendor that has been ranked #1 in the core banking category for the last 18 consecutive years.

The IBS Intelligence Annual Sales League Table (SLT) assessed systems purchases made by over 500 banks and financial institutions across 170 products from 57 vendors across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and APAC. It is an annual benchmarking exercise, running for 30 years, based on the number of new customer contracts signed in a calendar year. The SLT is recognized as the barometer for financial technology providers’ sales performance across the banking industry.

In the 2023 IBSi analysis, Temenos has retained its position as market leader across eight categories, ranking:

• #1 for Universal Banking (core) across retail, wealth, SME and corporate segments 
• #1 for Digital Banking & Channels
• #1 for Payment Systems (Retail)
• #1 for Risk Management
• #1 for Islamic Universal Banking
• #1 for Digital-only Banks, with Temenos winning nearly a third of all new deals in 2022
• #1 Treasury & Risk Management
• #1 Islamic Banking (Risk Management)

As the shift to cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) accelerates, the results prove that banks continue to look to Temenos to lead the way. According to a recent Economist Intelligence Unit report, cost reduction and adoption of AI together with business agility, elasticity and scalability are top drivers of cloud adoption. Temenos SaaS delivers the benefits of the cloud while enabling banks to focus on customer-centric innovation and take advantage of new opportunities like Banking-as-a-Service, on a secure and trusted evergreen service.

Andreas Andreades, Chief Executive Officer, Temenos, commented: “The IBSi Sales League Table rankings reconfirm our leadership and prove that Temenos is the platform of choice for banks of all sizes and non-banks, irrespective how they choose to deploy our software - on premise, on any public cloud or as SaaS on Temenos Banking Cloud. With our critical mass and broad leadership, we are able to continue to invest relentlessly on our single platform with its single code configuration base, which means that all banks, regardless of size and segment, can leverage our R&D now and into the future through our evergreening business model allowing all business segments from payments to core to digital to benefit continuously from this investment The banking landscape is going through a fundamental change, and financial institutions need business agility and scalability on a whole new level. For many, this means a move to cloud and SaaS. Building on our strong SaaS credentials, we do not only offer the software but also the service, and this will increasingly drive Temenos’ growth in the future.”

Temenos has 700 clients live on Temenos Banking Cloud across five continents, and 30 regulatory jurisdictions, and a new bank is going live on its SaaS platform on average every 10 days. Banks running on Temenos Banking Cloud benefit from more than 95% lower carbon emissions over traditional on-premise applications. Temenos is also helping clients measure, improve and report on the carbon footprint of their operations with the Carbon Emissions Calculator, a first in the industry.

Nikhil Gokhale, Head of Research, IBS Intelligence, said: “Consumers' enthusiastic use of FinTech tools led banks to invest further in innovation last year, making the IBSi Sales League Table 2023 (SLT 2023) more significant than ever. Our findings in the SLT 2023 show that cloud and SaaS adoption is accelerating significantly. In addition, we see a shift to next-gen core banking systems which offer banks the flexibility of SaaS with reliability and rich functionality, all areas which Temenos is well recognised for in the industry. On behalf of IBSi, I would like to congratulate Temenos for continuing to lead the industry and for being at the forefront of banking innovation, addressing the needs of banks and financial services institutions, whether they are retail, corporate, SME or wealth-focused, and regardless of size or location. The SLT continues to be a barometer for the health of the banking and financial services industry globally and, at IBSi, we are proud to be a valued source of insight for the global banking industry.”

This recognition is the latest in a series of analyst accolades in the last six months; Temenos has been recognized as a leader in wealth with the Everest Wealth Products Peak Matrix, the WealthTech 100 for 2023, and the Omdia Universe report on Digital Banking Platforms.

Wipro Limited, a leading technology services and consulting company, today announced the launch of Wipro ai360, a comprehensive, AI-first innovation ecosystem that builds on Wipro’s decade-long investments in artificial intelligence (AI) with the goal of integrating AI into every platform, every tool, and every solution used internally and offered to clients. Along with the launch of Wipro ai360, the company also committed to making a $1 billion investment in advancing AI capabilities over the next three years. 

Wipro ai360, fueled by this new investment, will help unleash a new era of value, productivity, and commercial opportunities through the application of AI and generative AI. 

“Artificial Intelligence is a fast-moving field,” said Thierry Delaporte, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Wipro Limited. “Especially with the emergence of generative AI, we expect a fundamental shift up ahead, for all industries. New business models, new ways of working, and new challenges, too. This is exactly why Wipro’s ai360 ecosystem places responsible AI operations at the heart of all our AI work. It’s meant to empower our talent pool and be ubiquitous across all our operations and processes, as well as our solutioning for clients. We are ready for the AI-driven future!” 

With responsible AI at its core, Wipro ai360 will bring together the 30,000 Wipro experts in data analytics and AI with Wipro’s technology and advisory ecosystem from four global business lines. Capabilities across cloud and partnerships; data, analytics and AI; design and consulting; cybersecurity; as well as engineering will be leveraged to develop new solutions and embed AI into all processes and practices. Wipro’s new global business line model will enable new levels of agility, speed, and depth in delivery.  

Furthermore, Wipro’s innovation hub Lab45 will be a core part of the Wipro ai360 ecosystem, providing clients with the talent, training, scale, as well as the research and co-innovation capabilities needed to accelerate AI adoption. 

The $1 billion investment will help further advance Wipro’s AI, data and analytics capabilities and foundation, R&D and platforms, enhance FullStride Cloud, and build new consulting capabilities to help clients adapt to change and unlock new value through AI.  

Wipro will also accelerate investments in cutting-edge startups through Wipro Ventures. Additionally, the company will launch a GenAI Seed Accelerator program, which will provide select GenAI-focused startups with the training needed to become enterprise-ready.  

In achieving these goals, the company will train all 250,000 employees on AI fundamentals and responsible use of AI over the course of the next 12 months and will continue to provide more customized, ongoing training for employees in AI-specialized roles. 

Wipro will develop a curriculum that maps out the complete AI journey for different roles. The completion of the curriculum will culminate in the credentialing of employees through the Decentralized Identity & Credential Exchange (DICE) ID platform. Wipro will also run hackathons and challenges on its talent crowd platform, Topcoder, for continuous upskilling of employees.  

MoneyExpo India 2023, the premier finance event of the year, is delighted to announce the participation of an impressive lineup of both forex and stock companies. Taking place at the prestigious Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai, India, MoneyExpo India 2023 promises to provide attendees with an exceptional platform to explore the latest advancements in the finance industry and connect with industry leaders.

Forex Companies:

Just Markets, Enclave FX, QuickStart24, GODO FX, TNFX, ByBIT, DIFX, RiseFX, Exinitic, B2Broker, Morfin FX, UTIP Technologies, Inzo LLC, Vlado Brokers, RRR CAPITAL, FX Career, PrimeX Broker, TradeFXP, Orbex, WesternFx, and Tradeview Markets, leading forex companies known for their expertise and innovative solutions, will be present at MoneyExpo India 2023. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with these industry leaders, explore their cutting-edge trading platforms, and gain valuable insights into effective trading strategies. The event aims to empower traders, investors, and finance professionals with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the dynamic forex market.

Stock Companies:

MoneyExpo India 2023 is also thrilled to host esteemed stock companies, including Spider Software India, Latin Manharlal Securities Pvt. Ltd, ICICI Securities, Octanom, Dhan, Bazaar Indicator, and Bigul. These industry-leading companies will showcase their extensive expertise, innovative trading platforms, and the latest developments in the stock market. Attendees will gain firsthand exposure to the advancements shaping the stock industry and have the opportunity to engage with experts who can provide valuable insights and guidance.

Exciting Highlights:

In addition to the presence of top forex and stock companies, MoneyExpo India 2023 will offer a diverse range of highlights and activities. Keynote speakers will share their expertise and provide valuable insights into the finance industry's future. Engaging panel discussions and interactive workshops will allow attendees to deepen their knowledge and learn from industry experts. The event will also serve as a platform for product launches, enabling attendees to explore the latest innovations in the finance sector.

Their presence adds immense value to the event, ensuring attendees receive a holistic and insightful experience. We look forward to facilitating fruitful connections, fostering innovation, and contributing to the growth of the finance industry.

Become Sponsor

MoneyExpo India 2023 offers sponsorship opportunities for organizations to showcase their brand to a targeted audience. Sponsors can enhance visibility, network with industry professionals, and establish themselves as finance sector leaders. Various packages include branding, speaking slots, and exclusive networking. Contact Anjali@trasol.in for more information and packages.

How to Register?

MoneyExpo India 2023 will be held on the 12th &13th of August 2023 at the Jio Convention Centre in Mumbai, India. Registration for the event is now open, and attendees can find more information and secure their spot by visiting the official website at https://moneyexpoindia.com/mumbai .