Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has revealed today its new FA-IT Open Platform for factory automation based on edge computing. The platform boosts connectivity between factory shop floors and value chains via Internet of things (IoT) systems to enable the rapid collection, analysis, and utilization of data for smart manufacturing.

Key Features

1) Application development and connection to production equipment

Vendors can download the free development environment to create manufacturing applications for operation on the platform, including connecting the platform to industrial networks for the collection of data from diverse devices and production equipment. Mitsubishi Electric is also considering opening an online application store.

2) Simple data model construction for manufacturing sites

Users can design, manage and access equipment data models based on the Industrie 4.0 administration shell* without expert knowledge in subjects such as programming. Also, data can be effectively selected and analyzed.

* System for storing information on the design, operation, and maintenance of total equipment in factories

3) Connection with various clouds and IT systems

The cloud-connected platform can be used to link manufacturing sites with IT vendors’ own cloud-supported manufacturing-optimization services for supply chains, administration of multiple factories worldwide, and other applications

Mitsubishi Electric will continue developing the platform itself and applications for the platform through collaboration with IT companies and others, focusing on connection to increased equipment and devices, strengthening security measures, and incorporating artificial intelligence.

The platform will also be integrated with solutions based on Mitsubishi Electric’s e-F@ctory ecosystem for factory automation. 

Atom Bank, the UK’s first bank designed exclusively for mobile, has agreed terms for a further £83M in equity, which will bring the total capital raised by Atom to £219M. They have secured further capital from current investors including BBVA, Woodford Investment Management, Toscafund Asset Management and others reaffirming their commitment to Atom’s future.

After securing its banking license in June 2015, Atom Bank launched operations in April 2016, offering two market-leading Fixed Saver accounts and secured business lending for small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’). From the start, Atom set out to build a customer-driven bank, designed to meet their new needs and optimised for mobile technologies. Atom Bank recently launched its first mobile mortgage product, allowing borrowers to manage everything via an App. Atom plans to launch further products and enhancements to the App throughout 2017.

Atom aims to offer a great customer experience by using the best practices from leading digital firms and introducing them to the banking industry. Customers are able to open accounts using Atom’s mobile App, access their financial information in a simple way and take advantage of a range of unique tools that will help them get the most out of their money.

Commenting on the latest capital raise, Atom Bank’s Founder and Chairman, Anthony Thomson said: “We are very pleased with the response we have had from investors. Our customers benefit from the backing of highly reputable investors who are supportive of what we are doing. This is a great vote of confidence in our growth prospects and plans for the future.

With the work we have done so far we are just beginning to see how transformational our new approach to banking can be. There is so much more to come from Atom in the coming months and years”. Atom expects to announce further funding in the near future. 

Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited act as financial advisors and Bond Dickinson act as legal advisors to Atom Bank plc.

Verifone, a global provider of payments and commerce solutions, received this year iF DESIGN AWARD, for Verifone Carbon, the company’s beautiful, flexible and integrated POS.

The prestigious iF DESIGN AWARD is awarded annually by Hannover-based iF International Forum Design GmbH, Germany’s oldest independent design organization. Verifone’s POS innovation won over a 58-member jury of independent experts, who selected Carbon for its innovative approach to point of sale technology, design elegance, and flexibility. More than 5,500 entries were submitted from 59 countries. 

“The point of sale is ripe for design innovation. I’m extremely proud of what the Verifone team has done to evolve the role of POS technology into something that is much more meaningful to merchant-consumer interaction,” said Glen Robson, EVP, Global Head of Solutions for Verifone.

“We have spent the past two years creating the next generation device platform to deliver Verifone’s solutions, and the result of this effort has been truly special products, such as Carbon. It’s the maniacal attention to detail in these products and the value they can deliver for our clients that make them worthy of the iF DESIGN AWARD.”

Glasgow based Encompass Corporation has been chosen to attend the Department of International Trade’s (DIT) first RegTech mission to New York. 

This mission offers British businesses the opportunity to explore the US market and NYC's financial services industry. It is taking place from 24-28 April the event will include five days of workshops, networking events and 1:1 meetings where UK companies can learn best practices about US expansion strategy and business development as well as network with top-level industry executives.  

A leading RegTech company, Encompass Corporation provides next generation KYC software for banking, finance, legal and accountancy.  

Encompass is one of 16 leading RegTech firms selected to take part in the mission and the only Scottish firm.   They will also pitch at an event during NYC FinTech week and have a booth at the Empire Startups Conference.

Francesca Lorenzini, based in DIT’s British Consulate office in New York congratulated Encompass saying “we’re delighted to welcome Encompass to the mission, they are among a group of RegTech firms leading the way in the U.K. and on an exciting trajectory toward the US market which we hope this engagement will support.”

Roger Carson, Co-Founder and Global Financial Sales Director, Encompass Corporation said: "This mission will be of enormous benefit to our businesses as we look expand globally, and into the North American market in particular. We're also delighted to have the opportunity to showcase the exciting developments in RegTech that are happening here in Scotland."

Sharon Hamilton, Head of Financial & Business Services, Scottish Development International said  "This is a fantastic opportunity for Encompass to showcase RegTech in Scotland to the world's largest digital economy." 

CSC, a global leader in next-generation IT services and innovative cloud solutions, and Virtual Clarity, a leading provider of IT-as-a-Service (ITaaS) transformation strategy and leadership, today declared about an agreement to jointly help enterprises accelerate their transformation to leading cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

Under the terms of the agreement, CSC will make an undisclosed investment in Virtual Clarity to accelerate the company’s leading transformation consulting services targeting the Financial Services, Insurance, Telecom, and Manufacturing industries. Virtual Clarity will become a Strategic Affiliate of CSC and will collaborate on joint go-to-market pursuits with CSC.

Virtual Clarity has significant knowledge and experience in helping global clients solve large, complex business problems and building lasting value for customers and partners. Its ClearTransformation service enables companies to accelerate business innovation, overcoming the inertia of legacy IT by transforming the traditional IT operating model to nimble IT-as-a-Service.

The Virtual Clarity relationship will enhance CSC’s ability to lead client transitions to the digital enterprise and reinforces CSC’s leadership in cloud transformation. Clients will benefit by combining the breadth and depth of CSC’s vendor-agnostic, next-generation technology solutions with Virtual Clarity’s business- outcomes consultative approach.

As more organizations are looking to operate their business in the cloud, they increasingly face challenges associated with managing complexity, cost and risk. The CSC and Virtual Clarity integrated approach will de-risk large-scale IT transformation programs while empowering clients to focus on growing their businesses with improved efficiencies at a scale not possible in traditional IT environments.

“We are excited to be partnering with CSC. This partnership will ensure that organizations can transform their business faster and safer than before, and at scale,” said Steve Peskin, chief executive officer, Virtual Clarity. “CSC delivers fantastic service solutions to enable what organizations need to finally make enterprise infrastructure frictionless and invisible to the business and unlock competitive agility.”

EQ Investors (EQ), the boutique wealth manager headed by John Spiers, is delighted to announce that its popular Positive Impact Portfolios are now available for financial advisers to access via the Transact & Nucleus platforms.

The portfolios launched in 2012 are designed to meet the growing investor demand for an investment approach, which delivers an attractive return and also committed to making a positive contribution to society and the environment.

The seven risk adjusted model portfolios available range from ‘Cautious’ for the most risk-adverse to ‘High Octane’ for the most risk-seeking. The models are available for advisers to invest in via the platforms at a competitive annual management fee of 0.35% + VAT.

Each of the models make use of EQ’s independent research team which conducts extensive analysis, fund selection and impact due diligence. The portfolios contain typically 20-25 socially responsible funds, covering a range of styles, asset classes, and fund management groups.

Commenting on the announcement, John Spiers, Chief Executive of EQ, said: “We are committed to working with advisers and platforms to ensure the EQ Positive Impact Portfolios are as widely available as possible.”

Damien Lardoux, Portfolio Manager at EQ, added: “Our unique Positive Impact Portfolios have been a terrific success since their launch, in line with growing evidence that companies run in a sustainable and responsible manner generate higher returns.

“Demand from all types of investors is increasing as the concept of impact investing becomes more widely known.”

The Positive Impact Portfolios are also available via the Novia and Alliance Trust platforms with further announcements due imminently. Available in ISA, SIPP or GIA accounts, the portfolios invest only in FCA authorized and recognized funds offering daily liquidity.

Axway, a major catalyst for transformation, today has revealed that it has received the access control and policy management Common Criteria certification for Axway API Gateway. It meets the latest requirements from the U.S. Federal Government to conduct business within government and international agencies and other highly regulated industries. Axway API Gateway is the only product in the web access control category to meet the strict requirements for achieving Common Criteria certification.

With the completion of the Common Criteria evaluation, Axway is now certified to sell solutions to highly regulated entities such as the U.S. Federal Government, international governments, and other managed industries around the world. The importance of security has never been more visible and important given the increase of security breaches in recent years. Whether it’s helping to protect against security threats, speeding up the approval of patents critical to work conducted by regulated entities or safeguarding digital assets, organizations today need software solutions that have built in visibility, security and governance capabilities.

“The certification of Axway API Gateway further demonstrates our commitment to delivering products that meet the highest international standards for IT and support the needs of the federal government and other highly regulated industries around the globe,” said Jeanine Banks, executive vice president, global products and solutions, Axway. “Axway is leading the API economy with certification and this latest recognition is an important accomplishment that validates the leading security capabilities of Axway’s API solutions. We are proud to achieve this milestone.”

The Common Criteria is a set of internationally recognized standards used by the federal government to assess the security and assurance of technology products. The certification of Axway API Gateway was made against the most recent version of the access control and policy management Protection Profiles (PP) – v2.1 – that contains many more security requirements than previous versions. The National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP) is responsible for the U.S. implementation of the Common Criteria and other certifications critical to U.S. government customers.

Along with solid growth in revenue and earnings, the technology expert for the financial services industry, exceeded its full-year guidance slightly. The main growth engine was demand from retail banks for digitalization solutions. In the Americas & UK division, growth was slowed by the reduced propensity of investment banks to invest in IT services.

Compared to the previous year, consolidated revenue increased by 13 percent to EUR 422.56 million in the financial year 2016 (2015: EUR 373.51 million) and thus exceeded the upgraded full-year guidance of EUR 420.00 million issued in August 2016. Adjusted for revenue contributed by the acquisitions made in July 2015 (Adesis Netlife S.L.) and April 2016 (Habber Tec Brazil), organic growth amounted to 10 percent.

Dynamic revenue trend in Continental Europe

The Continental Europe division increased revenue by 23 percent to EUR 200.52 million in the financial year 2016 (2015: EUR 162.68 million). This growth was driven above all by consistently strong demand from retail banking clients for solutions to digitise their business processes. Revenue growth was particularly encouraging in Spain, whose banking sector is one of Europe’s most advanced in terms of digitalisation. Revenue in this country rose by 61 percent to EUR 78.05 million (2015: EUR 48.45 million).

The Americas & UK division (which mainly comprises investment banking clients) achieved revenue growth of 4 percent to EUR 219.42 million (2015: EUR 210.78 million). The moderate revenue trend in this division mirrors the general downturn in investment banking since the beginning of 2016. Uncertainties surrounding the Brexit referendum also led to more subdued investment in IT services.

Earnings burdened by currency-related special items

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 5 percent to EUR 46.77 million (2015: EUR 44.56 million). This figure includes negative exchange rate effects of EUR -1.97 million due mainly to the devaluation of the British pound. Account was taken of these effects in August 2016, when full-year guidance for EBITDA and EBT was downgraded by EUR 2.00 million each to EUR 46.50 million and EUR 33.00 million, respectively. Pre-tax earnings (EBT) improved by 2 percent to EUR 33.05 million (2015: EUR 32.52 million). Due to a higher tax rate of 27 percent, earnings per share fell year-on-year by 9 cents to EUR 0.92 (2015: EUR 1.01). In the previous year, retroactive tax refunds in Spain had led to a tax rate of just 18 percent.

Headcount grows to around 4,900

As of 31 December 2016, the GFT Group had 4,870 full-time employees – representing growth of 20 percent over the previous year (31 December 2015: 4,050). The increase in headcount resulted from the hiring of numerous new staff – above all at the company’s development centres in Spain, Brazil, Poland and Costa Rica – as well as from the acquisition of Habber Tec Brazil with over 100 employees.

Development in 4th quarter of 2016

Consolidated revenue of EUR 108.28 million was generated in the fourth quarter of 2016, corresponding to year-on-year growth of 6 percent (Q4/2015: EUR 102.03 million). EBITDA and EBT in the fourth quarter were both 4 percent down on the prior-year period at EUR 12.77 million (Q4/2015: EUR 13.26 million) and EUR 9.34 million (Q4/2015: EUR 9.77 million), respectively.

Additional key data

As of 31 December 2016, cash, cash equivalents and securities amounted to EUR 62.29 million and were thus EUR 15.31 million, or 33 percent, above the year-end figure for 2015 (31 December 2015: EUR 46.98 million). Equity of EUR 115.90 million was EUR 8.55 million, or 7 percent, down on year-end 2015 (31 December 2015: EUR 124.45 million). Total assets rose by EUR 39.23 million, or 12 percent, to EUR 366.04 million as of 31 December 2016 (31 December 2015: EUR 326.81 million). The equity ratio of 32 percent as of 31 December 2016 was 6 percentage points below the year-end 2015 figure (31 December 2015: 38 percent).

Dividend

The Administrative Board of GFT Technologies SE has decided to propose a dividend of EUR 0.30 (2015: EUR 0.30) for the financial year 2016 at the Annual General Meeting on 31 May 2017. This corresponds to a dividend payout of EUR 7.90 million (prev. year: EUR 7.90 million).

Outlook

The GFT Group anticipates a further positive development of business in its financial year 2017: “Dynamic growth stimuli are expected from the rising pressure on costs and growing competition in the banking sector. Financial institutes need to implement projects to enhance their efficiency and drive the digitalisation of their business processes,” commented Ulrich Dietz, CEO of GFT. Consolidated revenue is expected to rise to EUR 450.00 million in 2017. Over the year as a whole, EBITDA is expected to improve to EUR 48.50 million with an increase in EBT to EUR 35.00 million. 

The medium-term forecast of the GFT Group issued on 2 March 2016 has been confirmed. Assuming that the demand for solutions to implement compliance requirements remains unbroken and the trend to digitise business processes continues, the GFT Group aims to raise revenue to EUR 800.00 million in the medium term with an EBITDA margin of around 12 percent in 2020. The underlying business plan anticipates consistent organic growth of around 10 percent per year in combination with targeted acquisitions.