Aquila Capital is expanding its portfolio in the Nordics with the acquisition of its first project in Finland, a wind farm with an installed capacity of 14.4 MW on the coast near Kokkola.

The Windpark Ykspihlaja includes four Nordex N131/3600 turbines and is in one of Finland’s most favorable locations with an average wind speed of 7.7 meters/second. This will generate a capacity factor of 43%, which is above average for wind projects.

Ykspihlaja is the third project that Aquila Capital has acquired on a turnkey basis with OX2, one of the largest wind developers in Scandinavia. As a seller and general contractor, OX2 is responsible for completing the park by the beginning of 2018 and the ongoing technical on-site management.

Susanne Wermter, Head of Special Infrastructure Investments at Aquila Capital, said: “This transaction represents the realization of another project from our Scandinavian pipeline and our first in the popular Finnish wind market. The Ykspihlaja wind farm is one of the last projects to benefit from the expiring Finnish green energy support scheme, from which it will receive a state-guaranteed, fixed-market premium on the electricity price in the first 12 years of operation.”

Paul Stormoen, CEO for OX2 Wind, adds: “We are pleased with our excellent cooperation with Aquila Capital and that we are able to announce our third deal together in just a few months." 

Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and Co-Founder of Aquila Capital, said: “Due to the high demand for renewable energy infrastructure, a deal pipeline of attractive target investments is a decisive success factor for investment managers. The long-standing cooperation with leading market participants such as OX2 is therefore of great importance for the sustainable positioning of Aquila Capital in the Nordics.”   

The acquisition increases Aquila Capital’s track record in the ​​wind sector to about 1,000 MW. With regards to the Nordics, Aquila Capital has implemented renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity of more than 800 MW since 2011.

Businesses are failing to prepare for a future led by Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms, Servion Global Solutions has warned. While automation has played a role in customer experience for some time, industries are reaching a tipping point – not only are intelligent machines on the verge of taking over, but consumers want them to. Indeed, Servion predicts that, by 2025, AI will power 95% of all customer interactions, including live telephone and online conversations that will leave customers unable to ‘spot the bot’. At the same time, consumer expectations that businesses use visual technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, and holograms, are set to skyrocket. Businesses that fail to prepare for this future now face a severe risk of being left behind by their competitors.  

“Quite simply, everything has become commoditised – with organisations struggling to compete on price and product offerings, delivering a better customer experience has become the only differentiator,” commented Shashi Nirale, SVP&GP EMEA at Servion Global Solutions. “Businesses are realising that keeping customers is more profitable than acquiring new ones. If customers aren’t satisfied, the business can suffer a deathly blow to its bottom line. Consumers today already expect automated tills at the supermarket, automatic answers to simple queries on the phone and online, and automated payment at the car park – by the next decade they will expect so much more. Businesses that can only offer the option of struggling against a simple, automated chatbot or answering service will soon find themselves left by the wayside.”

Gartner has predicted that, by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human. However, in the following decade, even these simpler apps and automated systems will be replaced with advanced AI technologies designed to improve the overall customer experience by being proactive, anticipating customer needs and engaging on an emotional level. Ultimately, only five percent of customer interactions will require human involvement at all. At the same time, technologies such as holograms, virtual and augmented reality, are already seeing a boom in popularity. Interactions such as viewing a holiday rental property in virtual reality; solving technical issues through augmented reality; or greeting shoppers and demonstrating products by hologram will become not just luxuries, but part of the expected customer experience by 2025.

“Businesses that don’t adopt these technologies will become irrelevant in less than a decade,” said Sameet Gupte, CEO of Servion Global Solutions. “The challenge is not deciding whether to adopt, but how to do so quickly and successfully. Success means integrating all communications channels, and being able to add more as they appear. To do this, businesses need to take a holistic view: bringing all communication channels, data and technologies together in a single ‘hub’ that controls all customer interaction. By taking this approach, organisations can ensure they have control over the customer experience, whether it takes place in person or with an AI in virtual reality. Ultimately this means a better customer experience and a business that is ready for the future.”

In light of International Women’s Day (08/03/17), here are the five women who should definitely receive an honourable mention for bridging the gender inequality gap within the fintech sector:

1. Marta Krupinska, Azimo

Marta is the General Manager & Co-Founder of Azimo, which seeks to disrupt the world of money transfer. Originally from Poland, she speaks five languages, and in her day-to-day role, Marta oversees Azimo’s operations and is responsible for decisions across the business.

2. Sophie Guibaud, Fidor Bank

Sophie is currently the Vice President of European Expansion at Fidor Bank, a digital-only, challenger bank. She oversees the launch and roll-out of the bank into new markets, including the UK in September 2015. Previous to this she was instrumental in the launch of HelloFresh UK, a Rocket Internet backed e-commerce company.

3. Meaghan Johnson, 11:FS

Meaghan is the Director of Research and Co-Founder of 11:FS, a global research and advisory firm, specialising in fintech. Before launching 11:FS in 2016, Meaghan provided competitor intelligence and benchmarking research for dozens of global financial institutions throughout her career.

4. Devie Mohan, Burn Mark

Devie Mohan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Burnmark, a fintech research company created in partnership with FinLeap, which launched six months ago. She is also the market strategist and UK co-ordinator for FinLeap, and a prominent speaker, adviser and mentor in the industry.

5. Liz Lumley, Startupbootcamp

Liz is the London Managing Director of Startupbootcamp FinTech, the accelerator focused on financial innovation. She has over 20 years experience in the fintech space and previously was special projects editor at Finextra. She is responsible for running the accelerator programme in London as part of the rapidly expanding global team.

Kodak Alaris Information Management (IM) recently announced a strategic alliance with document capture solution vendor ITESOFT-Yooz Group. The partnership will provide organisations with a comprehensive solution for automated invoice processing, focused on customer needs and specifications.

The partnership will combine Kodak Alaris’ award-winning range of scanners with Yooz cloud-based Accounts Payable Automation solution. By leveraging the value of intelligent capture in accounts payable automation to reduce costs, eliminate processing errors and improve cashflow, accounting departments can become more effective and productive.

Yooz speeds up the entire accounts payable process. Its high performance recognition technologies deliver the highest level of automation and accuracy, however in order to ensure speedy straight-through processing rates, the quality of the scanned image is paramount.

“Sophisticated capture technology plays an important role when it comes to enabling organisations to stay ahead of the curve, which is why many of our customers specify Kodak scanners, because of their reliability, image quality, optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy and productivity.” said Jas Bharj, Marketing Manager at ITESOFT. 

“Digital transformation across all sectors has made traditional paper-based, manual approaches to accounting practices unsustainable. The combination of fast, efficient and feature-rich Kodak scanners with Yooz - an all-in-one solution that integrates seamlessly with any financial system, ERP or accounting package, and is easy to set up and customise, will be a core asset for any business,” said Steve Mulroy, Portfolio Marketing Manager, Information at Kodak Alaris.

Kodak Alaris holds the most Pick awards out of any scanner manufacturer tested by Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI), the leading provider of independent test-based analytical information and competitive intelligence for the global digital imaging industry, and scooped the Scanner Line of the Year award two years in a row.

Fidor, the advanced provider of digital banking solutions that helps firms launch and run their own digital banks, today signed a partnership agreement with Van Lanschot, the leading wealth management firm, founded in 1737 in the Netherlands. 

The partnership will enable Van Lanschot to upgrade their payments software and infrastructure using the Fidor digital banking solution. As part of the agreement, Fidor will manage user and account data and will process Van Lanschot’s payments flows within its fidorOS (fOS) platform in addition to modernising the user experience with iOS and Android native mobile applications and a desktop internet banking platform front end.

This agreement means that, over time, Van Lanschot clients will enjoy an improved and modern user experience across a range of value added services: an innovative and modern mobile payment app, on-us real-time payments, multiple accounts in multiple currencies, global money transfers, P2P transfers in addition to special services for the Dutch market such as iDEAL payments and Acceptgiro.

This partnership comes at a time where banks will soon be facing pressure to comply with the new Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The fidorOS platform is built using open APIs and geared for the future. The integration of fidorOS will provide Van Lanschot’s platform with added benefits such as significant cost efficiencies, added flexibility and fast implementation while reducing risks for Van Lanschot to enter into a major and costly infrastructure change on their back end.

“To be working with the most reputable wealth management bank in the Netherlands shows how far the belief in the effectiveness of digital banking has now progressed. This partnership with Van Lanschot marks the launch of Fidor’s Payments Avenue, which will be extended to other European countries and offered to banks that wish to join our payment business model as a service,” said Ge Drossaert, Chief Commercial Officer and Member of the Board at Fidor AG.

Richard Bruens, member of the Executive Board of Van Lanschot, said: “This is an important step, as it will allow us over time to provide our clients with state-of-the-art payments services and products. In Fidor Solutions, we believe to have found the best partner to improve our offering and focus even more on our core business, wealth management. Fidor’s Payments Avenue also opens up a multitude of opportunities as banks are given more chance to collaborate together”.

Fiserv, Inc., the world leading provider of financial services technology solutions, revealed today that Raddon Financial Group has relaunched with an updated slate of research and consulting services for financial institutions. These services are designed to provide banks and credit unions with the insight and direction they need to navigate an increasingly competitive market. As part of the relaunch the company has been rebranded as Raddon^SM, a Fiserv company. A redesigned website at raddon.com offers access to research reports and provides insights via the Raddon Report blog.

“Raddon has been a sought-after source of financial industry insights and expertise for more than 30 years,” said Chris Canton, senior vice president, Raddon. “In today’s rapidly changing world, bank and credit union clients rely on us for information that helps them anticipate future demand and positions them to grow. We’re changing how we go to market with a focus on delivering actionable insights that enable our clients to better serve their customers and members.”  

The heightened emphasis on research and consulting is evident in the company’s investment in services such as Raddon Research Insights, Performance Analytics and consulting.

Raddon Research Insights

Raddon Research Insights, an evolution of the former Raddon Strategic Planning Study Group, examines the financial behaviors, intentions and attitudes of consumers and small businesses in the United States. Research delves into topics such as usage of banking channels (branch, online, mobile, etc.), technology adoption, financial product design and usage, and the competitive landscape. In order to capture the rapid changes taking place in these areas, Raddon will conduct a minimum of eight topical research studies per year. Findings will be shared with subscribers via research papers and webinars.

“The pace of change in financial services is extremely rapid, driven by new technologies and changing user expectations,” said Bill Handel, vice president of research, Raddon. “Frequent research ensures our clients are able to stay up to date with information on how people are managing their financial lives. We help our clients spot trends and changes so they can be ready to serve customers in the ways they expect.”

Raddon will also launch a new conference, the Raddon Research Conference, to establish a forum to share and discuss research findings as well as their practical application through marketing and business strategies.

Performance Analytics

Performance Analytics, formerly known as the Raddon CEO Strategies Group, provides new product ideas, strategies for segmentation, insights on pricing, profitability measurement, and actionable insights based on a financial institution’s own unique data. Specific areas analyzed can range from branch optimization to loan growth. Twice a year, clients receive a detailed performance and opportunities report customized to their financial institution.

Raddon will continue to host its annual Raddon CEO Forum featuring strategy sessions targeted to large credit union executives. Raddon also offers semi-annual Performance Analytics workshops, where participants can review results from their organization and interact with peers to share best practices.

Consulting

The new Raddon consulting suite has three pillars: Strategy Services, Marketing Services, and Sales and Service Culture Transformation.

Raddon combines unique industry expertise with proprietary research, analytics and benchmarking diagnostics to tailor market-driven strategies for sustainable performance improvements and measurable results. Senior level financial services consultants at Raddon help financial institutions ensure a solid differentiated strategic foundation, create segment-specific growth strategies, align products and services with customer needs, create marketing and communication plans and improve sales and service productivity.

Gini has chosen data-aggregation specialist eWise to deliver Hong Kong’s first ever customer relationship management platform to create customer loyalty programs through the secure aggregation of end-user’s credit cards and bank accounts. 

Gini is an online-to-offline digital commerce technology that enables merchants and marketers to target loyalty and rewards based on actual transaction data from banks, and represents a technological breakthrough for marketers, who have long struggled to properly target consumers in a market dominated by offline spending.  Launching in Hong Kong in Q2 2017, the CRM platform will help merchants identify and reward customers with discounts, offers and incentives based on actual spending habits. Users will be able to redeem cash-back rewards by simply using any credit card linked to the app, without any need for vouchers. Merchants will not need to adapt their hardware to track loyalty points as customer loyalty will be measured through Gini’s data science. 

Gini deploys the eWise AEGIS aggregation platform to pool multiple end-user credit cards and bank accounts, along with the eWise Categorisation-as-a-Service  (CaaS) artificial intelligence API to analyse individual spending patterns. Combined, this personal finance technology will identify the customers that merchants are targeting, and directly offer them loyalty rewards and offers through the platform. The collaboration with Gini marks eWise’s first Hong Kong partner, and is comprised of a local dream-team of founding entrepreneurs; brothers Calvin Lang (梁敬汪) and Victor Lang (梁敬熙), and their cousin ex-Citibank Vice-President, Raymond Wyand.

CEO, Raymond Wyand said: “Gini will give Hong Kong’s residents an intuitive relationship with their favorite vendors, enabling truly targeted discounts. Unlike other apps which have a scatter-gun approach to loyalty points, Gini deploys proprietary data technology to identify customers deserving of rewards. This saves the merchant valuable time, improving an indispensable element of Hong Kong’s personal finance eco-system, all while maintaining user privacy.”

Once billed as a leading young entrepreneur by Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek Asia, COO Victor Lang said: “eWise has been a tremendous partner for us. Their emphasis on best-in-class security and data privacy protection allowed us to create an in-device solution that ensures total user privacy. Through eWise, we can get a holistic view of end-users’ spending, and merchants signed on to the Gini platform won’t have to change their transaction software to keep track of their most loyal customers. Given our experience so far, it’s no surprise to me that HSBC group and Westpac have also chosen eWise as partners.

David Hamilton, CEO of eWise said: “For their personalised rewards solution, Gini needed a reliable and robust transaction categorisation API, and the security of client-side data aggregation supplied through the eWise AEGIS platform. We’re delighted to have Gini as our first Hong Kong partner, as we continue our expansion into Asia markets.”

Gini was recently admitted into the Cyberport Incubation Programme, a Hong Kong government backed initiative to support entrepreneurs. Gini’s launch coincides with Hong Kong’s emergence as a Fintech player driven by Hong Kong’s robust capital markets, banking experience and the city’s gradual cultural shift from conservatism to experimentation as signaled by Hong Kong’s Monetary Authority September 2016 launch of a regulatory sandbox to drive innovation.

Gini is a member of the CardLinx Association, a non-profit professional consortium with a mission to increase the interoperability and promote the growth of online-to-offline commerce and card linking. Other members of the CardLinx Association include Microsoft, Mastercard, Discover, Facebook, AirBNB, Hilton, Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, and Samsung.

Misys is making gamification an integral part of its Misys FusionBanking Essence Digital platform to help banks educate the next generation on better money management. Integrating Moroku’s GameSystem directly into the Essence Digital architecture enables banks to inject some fun into personal financial management (PFM) and help consumers achieve their savings goals.

“Digitalisation has completely changed the way that people interact and we believe the next generation will be more incentivised through gamification,” said Simon Paris, President at Misys. “Supporting better financial management and education in banking is a powerful tool that moves consumer experience beyond the transactional and opens the door to bring people of all age groups into the savings fold. Working with Moroku to apply today’s digital habits to driving better money management makes sense and is an important move as empowering financial literacy is becoming ever more crucial.”

With research suggesting that consumers spend more than one billion hours a month playing mobile games, the case for gamification in helping banks to attract, engage and retain customers is compelling. Banks stand to benefit from building greater trust with consumers and capturing market share. Gamification can also deliver a significant boost to customer experience. FusionBanking Essence Digital brings points, leaderboards and rewards to standard banking activity, to educate and also support savings and spend management.

Colin Weir, CEO at Moroku said, “Banking and finance is rarely considered fun. In fact it is often boring and complex, and can feel unrewarding in the short term. Our software helps banks build and run contemporary digital experiences for their customers. The purpose is to drive engagement, literacy and action by adding a touch of creativity and eliciting an emotional reaction. Integrating our software with Misys expands our reach to bring banks gamification functionality and ultimately help their customers succeed.”

Jost Hoppermann, VP & Principal Analyst, Forrester recently wrote*, “A great banking customer experience (CX) builds on great mobile or omnichannel banking capabilities with polished user interfaces (UIs). While the ability to efficiently and effectively support the configuration of predefined UIs to the individual needs of a bank will grow, Application Development & Delivery teams should not focus purely on channels and UI: They also need to look for gamification and social banking support to enrich the overall CX.”

Previously available as a standalone component, GameSystem (known as Gameo) is now delivered to banks on a single, scalable digital platform through FusionBanking Essence Digital. Available on premise and via the Misys FinCloud, it will further contribute to cost savings whilst ensuring easy upgrade paths and continuous innovation.