Verifi, Inc. is the leader in providing payment and risk management solutions for card-not-present merchants. Today the giant has announced that recently launched operations in the UK have exhibited significant growth. Within the first quarter of launching in the UK, the Company has already rapidly increased their service footprint among its issuing bank partners as their award-winning Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) is adopted beyond their US base.

Cardholder disputes represent a significant share of credit card fraud throughout the world. According to Financial Fraud Action UK, fraud losses on UK-issued credit cards totaled £321.5 million in the first half of 2016, representing a 31 percent increase from the same period 2015.

Verifi commenced operation in the UK in mid-2016 and currently supports hundreds of merchants and recognized global brands in diverse industries ranging from digital music, information technology, entertainment as well as top High Street and UK ecommerce clients. In response to the Company’s rapid expansion and demand for services, Verifi has broadened their investments in facilities and key personnel to expand its UK-based chargeback network coverage. 

“The demand for CDRN in the UK has exceeded even our own expectations,” said Matthew Katz, CEO of Verifi. “We have shown great success in a short period of time and expect to extend our UK network coverage for CDRN to 70% by the end of 2017. We are also actively pursuing the overall EMEA region as a whole as the year progresses.”

CDRN’s unique and patented, closed loop process directly integrates with top issuers and provides unmatched service quality and accuracy for merchants and issuers to resolve disputed payments and dramatically minimize chargebacks and cardholder dissatisfaction.  Providing merchants visibility into fraud and non-fraud customer disputes in near real time, CDRN’s closed loop process affords the highest level of true chargeback protection while avoiding false positives that result in lost sales, increased manual review time and decreased profits.

CDRN supports more than 25,000 merchant accounts and has prevented over 3.4 million fraud and non- fraud chargebacks. Additionally, CDRN has been recognized as the Best Chargeback Management Solution the last four consecutive years in addition to Best Chargeback Prevention Service.

Volante Technologies Inc., a global leader in the provision of software for the integration, processing and orchestration of financial messages and payments, today announced support for the technology underpinning Microservices Architecture, as well as SWIFT Standards Release 2017.

Volante Designer version 5.2 provides comprehensive support for developing and deploying RESTful services – the building blocks of a microservices architecture.  As the financial industry shifts towards increasing standardization and collaboration, the responsibility falls on the underlying technology to provide seamless integration of applications and services provided by various institutions such as banks, corporates, service providers and regulatory institutions. Such close coupling is also required to address the regulatory requirements for APIs such as the Open Banking APIs and PSD2.

Internal applications, especially within large organizations, will also benefit from distributed RESTful services as they promote scalability, reusability and secure remote access. Volante has the ability to generate REST Client and REST server implementations for any service built using Volante Designer. Additionally, Volante provides native support to convert any standard message to JSON format and vice versa, further facilitating seamless communications using REST APIs. Using these tools, users can develop and deploy a wide range of services based on the REST architecture without writing a single line of code.

Volante has been a SWIFT partner for over 15 years and has developed a level of product and standards expertise that is unmatched in the FinTech industry. In Standards Release 2017, SWIFT has introduced significant changes in the payments and securities message categories. Notably, this release includes support for the Global Payments Innovation (GPI) Initiative which provides greater transparency for cross-border payments. Volante has implemented complete support for the new standards, which have been thoroughly tested so customers can be confident of communicating SWIFT messages over the SWIFT network without worrying about rejected messages or non-compliance in the face of continuously changing standards and market practices.

In addition to support for REST, JSON and SWIFT, Designer 5.2 features continuous improvement in standards support, platforms support and usability features. This includes: updated versions for standards such as NACHA, FIX, ISO 20022 and US-TCH-RTP; support for Postgres DB and other enhancements to Persistence Designer; and a new Connector for Mulesoft and updates to support for IBM Integration Bus (IIB).

Venkat Malla, VP, Product Management, Volante Technologies, said, “We continue to work closely with clients and industry participants in order to understand and anticipate their needs and challenges, which in turn determines our product roadmap. By introducing comprehensive support for REST and JSON standards, clients are able to not only interface with modern infrastructure like blockchain and DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) but also build out their own user interfaces.”

Fiona Hamilton, VP Europe and Asia, commented, “Being personally very active in standards groups, I continually see the ever-evolving nature of financial messaging standards. We respond by being dedicated to not only tracking and including those changes, but also offering support for those new standards quickly and efficiently. In the latest SWIFT release, firms will be able to take advantage of the benefits of GPI by enabling them to grow their international business, improve supplier relationships and achieve greater treasury efficiencies. By delivering updates within days of SWIFT publishing the final version, our clients have ample time to assess, test and incorporate the changes into their processes well ahead of the go-live deadlines.”

Dock9, an award-winning financial experience design agency, today unveils the findings of its annual Insurance User Experience (UX) report.

After researching the major UK insurers and aggregators, it found out that more than 1 in 4 are neglecting mobile and tablet users (28%) by failing to design websites for these devices. Those that do, nearly two-thirds, are not touch-optimized (57%). This means customers have a longer quote-to-buy journey than necessary – typically websites that are touch-optimized save users nearly a quarter of the time. 

Numerous reports have confirmed more people are now using their mobiles – instead of their desktops – to browse the web. Yet, a significant number of insurers appear to be either ignoring this shift completely, or having built basic compatibility with mobile and tablet, think their work is done. In an increasingly competitive mobile-driven industry, this should set the industry's alarm bells ringing, urging more businesses to take advantages of the big opportunities that touch devices offer.

Mark Lusted, managing director at Dock9 says, “For years innovation hasn’t been a primary focus for the insurance industry. But in the start-up era, where insurtech start-ups are attracting more consumer attention, this needs to change. Our research highlights best practices that businesses can learn from – whatever insurance niche they’re in.

“Those that rank highly have broken the traditional inertia in the industry by adopting modern user-centred design processes, including rapid prototyping and user testing. Incumbent insurers that do this can reap the benefits – after all, they already have the capital, know-how, regulatory approval and a sizeable number of customers. AXA is a good example of this, having invested in a fully responsive site that is touch-responsive they prove to be one of the biggest insurance giants in the UK.”

Building on last years’ report, Dock9’s 2017 research focuses on quote-and-buy journeys for commercial lines – including 10 commercial insurance providers and eight aggregators such as Aviva, AXA, Directline, GoCompare, Hiscox and MoneySuperMarket. Through heuristic reviews and real-user testing, it ranks players in terms of the best and worst online quote-and-buy experiences.

Other key findings include:

• Aggregators still on top – with few exceptions, UK insurance providers are lagging behind the aggregators
• GoCompare continues to set the bar – they were the highest scorers in last year’s report and continue to put UX as a priority. Their website is pleasing, simple, designed for mobile and touch-optimised for touchscreen devices
• AXA comes up trumps – out of all the insurance providers reviewed, AXA offers the best online quote-and-buy experience. Similar to GoCompare, its layout is simple and easy to navigate, offering customers help at every opportunity and designed with mobile devices in mind – not just desktop

Gareth Howell, Managing Director, Direct & Retail Partnerships, AXA Insurance says, “Making life easier for our customers is very important, which is why we put a great deal of time and effort into making sure potential policyholders are not overwhelmed when buying insurance from our website. We are delighted that our efforts have been recognised and will continue to work on making our quote and buy systems as friendly as possible.”

Coupa Software is a major provider of cloud-based spend management solutions, today announced it has been recognized by Gartner, Inc. as a Vendor to Watch in a report titled “Market Opportunity Map: Enterprise Resource Planning, Worldwide.” Coupa was one of only five vendors named as a mega-vendor and emerging Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) provider.

Coupa complements ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, Great Plains, and others to provide organizations with the measurable value. A natively integrated spend management suite that can integrate easily to ERP systems, Coupa delivers a unified user and supplier experience. The platform connects business processes across areas such as sourcing, contract management, invoicing and spend analytics to deliver quantifiable results.

“We transform the value that organizations get, in part, by enhancing their return on their ERP investment,” said Raja Hammoud, vice president of product management and product marketing at Coupa. “We see our inclusion in this report as recognition of our cloud platform’s ability to extend core ERP financials.”

ClearScore is the UK leading credit-checking service, today welcomed The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture, to officially open its new London headquarters.

The new 8,500 sq ft facility in Vauxhall, has opened to accommodate ClearScore’s rapid growth. Around 4 million people in Britain now use ClearScore to stay on top of their money and thousands of people are joining the free service every day. ClearScore plans to create 200 new jobs over the next three years at the site, adding to the 100 people the company already employ.

Matt Hancock MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture, noted, “ClearScore is a great example of the young companies driving forward our booming digital economy, which is already worth more than £118bn a year and growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy. Since launching in 2015, ClearScore has already helped more than 4 million people get control of their money and has also created more than 100 jobs. Their innovation, dedication and determination leaves them well placed to be the UK’s next cutting edge FinTech success story.” 

ClearScore, was last week named in the Future Fifty – an exclusive group of the UK’s hottest start-ups judged to have the potential to scale rapidly and build significant businesses. Alumni companies that are now household names include Ao.com, SkyScanner, Just Eat and Zoopla. 

In 2015, ClearScore launched the UK’s first ever service giving everyone completely free access to their credit report and credit score as often as they like, together with a guarantee that the service will remain free for life. ClearScore is helping drive financial inclusion and also provides tools to help people improve their financial situation. For example, earlier this month it launched ClearScore Coaching - the first bot-based programme in the world to help Brits improve their credit worthiness and ability to get the best financial deals available.

Justin Basini CEO and co-founder, said, “We’re already giving more than 4m people practical steps they can take to make a real positive impact on their personal finances. This is just the beginning of our ambition – this year we will be launching a host of new innovative services to help people sort their money. That means recruiting even more talent and our new London HQ gives us the capacity to do this.”

HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ (MTD) moves closer gaining its momentum. In light of this issue, IRIS warns accountants they must act now to close the digital gap pestering UK small businesses.

The initial deadline for MTD compliance remains April 2018 and there is work to be done throughout the industry to ensure businesses are prepared, regardless of their attitudes towards digital transformation. 

This comes on the day IRIS Software announces the launch of two new digital products to support accountants on their MTD journey; KashFlow for Accountants and IRIS WebPortal.

The former enables accountants to provide a branded, online bookkeeping bureau service which facilitates MTD compliance, sustainable for both clients at the forefront of digital adoption, or those still working with paper receipts, physical account books or spreadsheets.

Sion Lewis, CEO of IRIS Accountancy Solutions, says, “Small businesses find themselves at different stages of the digital journey. Many accountancy firms work with a diverse selection of clients – some have embraced digital as early adopters while some may never have even heard of MTD before. However, regardless of where they stand currently, by April 2018 the majority of small businesses and sole traders need to comply to the new digital tax regulations. This is why we’re releasing the KashFlow for Accountants package, to offer accountants the tools needed to manage their clients’ books and offer invaluable business advisory services, regardless of how digitally advanced their systems are.”

The package includes four key elements:

·         KashFlow - an online bookkeeping and payroll solution for accountancy firms and their small business clients; 

·         KashFlow Rapidfire - a platform for accountants with ‘batch-entry’ digital record keeping for paper-based clients

·         KashFlow Connect - to manage multiple clients from a single platform

·         Gearshift - to provide forecasting, analysis and reporting for business advisory services.

Sion Lewis, CEO of IRIS Accountancy Solutions, says, “With this capability, accountants can position themselves at the forefront of the digital tax revolution as indispensable advisors to their clients. They can take complete ownership for online bookkeeping and ensuring they avoid the pitfalls of failing to comply with government legislation.”

It isn’t just small businesses embarking on a digital journey, and IRIS WebPortal supports accountants on their road to MTD by providing a web-based platform to showcase and enable the digital services they can offer prospective clients.

Sion Lewis, CEO of IRIS Accountancy Solutions, says,, “In the connected age, websites are the digital shopfront for businesses in every sector. Showcasing a strong online presence has never been more important and enables clients to judge whether a firm is qualified to manage MTD compliance on their behalf. A poor digital representation could be the difference between continued business growth and failing to attract and retain clients. This is why IRIS WebPortal offers tailored websites, optimised for use on mobile devices and complying with the latest changes to Google Rankings to ensure strong SEO at all times.

“Uniquely for accountants, IRIS WebPortal features an  integrated Client Area providing access to KashFlow for bookkeeping and IRIS OpenSpace for document exchange between the practice and their clients. This fully branded portal creates a seamless digital journey for the accountant’s clients.

“IRIS has an unrivalled track record in delivering industry leading software that ensures full legislative compliance, empowers practice productivity and facilitates online client collaboration for the accountancy profession and MTD is no exception. These launches are yet another step on the journey towards MTD and one which will simplify what could be a very complex path over the next year.” 

SETL is the London based financial blockchain specialist. Today it has announced the opening of their Paris branch to develop its Eurozone activities. Pierre Davoust, formerly Deputy Head of the Financial Markets Unit at the French Treasury, who is appointed CEO France at SETL, will lead the new office. 

SETL was launched in July 2015 to deploy a multi-asset, multi-currency institutional payment, and settlements infrastructure based on blockchain technology. The SETL system will enable market participants to move cash and assets directly between each other, facilitating the immediate and final settlement of market transactions. The SETL system maintains a permissioned, distributed ledger of ownership and transaction records, simplifying the process of matching, settlement, custody, registration, and transaction reporting.

By opening an office in Paris, SETL intends to bring the benefit of its blockchain infrastructure to the French market and the wider Eurozone. The move will improve SETL’s capacity to deal with any future regulatory or other changes in the EU financial markets.

Pierre Davoust, CEO France, stated: “Paris is a large financial center, with a particularly strong asset management community. So it is a logical step for SETL to develop a local presence in Paris as we aim to put end-users of financial markets, such as issuers and investors, at the center of our strategy.”

He added: “France has a rich technological and regulatory ecosystem, with a high-level IT and cryptography community, and ongoing reforms in the field of securities law, which is a very well suited environment for the development of a best-in-class blockchain infrastructure”.

Peter Randall, CEO of SETL, stated: "We are delighted to open an office in Paris and to welcome Pierre Davoust into the SETL team. Having put sterling on to the blockchain, this latest development demonstrates that SETL wants to bring the benefit of its infrastructure to the Eurozone.”

A charity event that helps homeless people in Grantham has inspired Lincolnshire IT specialist Datcom to establish a fundraising challenge during 2017. The company, with offices in Grantham and Lincoln, has nominated Grantham Passage as its charity of the year, with the aim of raising as much money as possible.

Datcom Account Manager Andy Maddison, who has volunteered for the charity along with his wife Esther for six years, said: “Grantham Passage does really important work. Not only does it provide regular hot meals, but it also supports people who may be going through a difficult time.

“In one of its locations, a former storage building has been completely renovated to provide showers, washing machines and computers.”

The charity, which is a working partnership between several churches in Grantham, attracts around 10,000 visits per year, and volunteers serve up a similar number of meals. Between 70 and 100 regulars appear each day needing help and Datcom is hoping to provide funds that can cover running costs, meals and clothes for those in need.

Grantham Passage Trustee Mike Monoghan said: “In Grantham we have lots of people who are sofa surfing. This means that although they might not technically be homeless, they experience short periods of having no shelter or fixed address, often staying with friends. With this kind of arrangement comes a lot of stress and potential strains on mental health. As well as food and clothing, Grantham Passage offers pastoral support for those who request it, so people can come and talk to our volunteers about their problems with confidence.”

Andrew Townsend, Managing Director at Datcom, said: “When it came to thinking of a charity of the year to support, Grantham Passage immediately came to mind. Andy often tells us of the work he is involved with outside of the office and it’s inspired a few staff to start planning fundraising activities already. We’re hoping to raise more than £2,000 through the year to help the charity continue its vital work.”

Workday, Inc. is a leader in providing enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources. Today the company announced that BP has selected Workday Human Capital Management (HCM), including Workday Time Tracking, to replace its on-premise legacy HR system as part of a company-wide HR modernization programme.

BP, one of the world's leading integrated oil and gas companies, provides customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, lubricants to keep engines moving, and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items as diverse as paints, clothes, and packaging. Employing 79,800 staff in more than 70 countries, BP has embarked on an ambitious programme to modernise its HR function and deliver first-class, efficient, and engaging HR services to all employees.

With Workday, BP plans to:

• Standardize business processes globally to increase efficiency, speed of delivery, and consistency of experience.
• Increase employee engagement with easy access to a mobile, consumer-grade technology experience where staff can find information and perform tasks anywhere, at any time.
• Equip business leaders with instant, actionable people insights to drive better and faster decisions.
• Enable seamless execution of end-to-end processes and remove administrative burden for HR staff to focus on strategic business initiatives.
• Benefit from an agile and scalable technology platform that delivers continuous innovation, enabling the company to rapidly adjust to changing requirements and business growth.

"We are pleased to work with Workday," said Richard Bye, vice president, Global HR Services, BP. "As we deploy Workday's leading cloud-based applications we will be able to deliver the simplicity and consumer-grade employee experience that BP needs to compete and grow in the modern world."

"Global market leaders like BP continue to turn to Workday in order to drive a first-class HR experience," said Chano Fernandez, president, EMEA and APJ, Workday. "BP joins a large and growing community of customers who trust Workday to deliver the technology innovation and employee insights leaders need to continually engage their people and propel future growth."