Daimler Financial Services AG announced that it is acquiring the electronic payment services provider PayCash Europe SA. By gaining a foothold in the ePayment business, Daimler AG will be launching its own electronic payment services provider under the “Mercedes pay” brand name.

"'Mercedes pay' is a fundamental component of our mobility and digitization strategy. Daimler's new payment system underscores our ambition, as a leading provider of digital mobility services, to make the products and services we offer even more appealing," said Bodo Uebber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services. The parties agreed not to disclose the details of the acquisition.

Klaus Entenmann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Financial Services AG stated: "Our philosophy is to provide mobility at your fingertips. ‘Mercedes pay' allows our customers to easily and securely pay for our mobility offerings and services using their smartphones. “Mercedes pay” will mainly benefit customers who, in the future, will only need to provide their payment details one time, in order to be able to use a range of Daimler’s services. This is made possible by the eWallet function, a virtual source of payment.”

“Mercedes pay” will be integrated into Daimler Mobility Services GmbH, a subsidiary of Daimler Financial Services, and incorporates a number of different mobility services, including the market leader in car-sharing, car2go, and the mytaxi taxi app, which operates in nine European countries. In 2016, Daimler Financial Services AG had more than four million financed vehicles in its portfolio for the first time in the company’s history. The company plans to use the new payment system to facilitate these and other financing transactions in the future.

PayCash Europe SA is a financial institution that is regulated by the Luxembourg banking authority with a license for electronic cash. The ePayment company, which was founded in 2012, also offers solutions for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and eWallet systems, in addition to mobile payment services.

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that De Surinaamsche Bank (DSB), the largest commercial bank in Suriname, has extended and expanded its long-standing relationship with Fiserv. DSB will implement DigitalAccess from Fiserv to enable online and mobile banking for retail and commercial customers. In addition, the bank is upgrading to the latest version of the Signature^® core banking platform.

DSB offers retail banking, corporate banking and Suritrust for Asset Management in Suriname. The bank chose to upgrade and implement new Fiserv solutions to create a flexible banking environment that provides them with a single view of the customer to quickly and effectively respond to the needs of both their retail and corporate customers.

“We chose to expand our relationship with Fiserv and enhance our digital offering to keep pace with changing client needs and enable the bank to grow. Our retail banking clients will now have access to the latest mobile banking technology, and our corporate clients will have access to a digital banking service designed specifically for corporate use,” said Sigmund Proeve, Chief Executive Officer, De Surinaamsche Bank. “The new technology upgrades also will help create efficiencies and save resources on daily tasks for our staff.”

DigitalAccess offers a multi-channel, readily deployable solution that provides a rich digital banking platform delivered on any device from desktops to smartphones and tablets. Corporate customers of DSB will have access to a mobile solution for banking for the first time, giving them anytime, anywhere access to manage their business when and where it best fits their lives.

“DSB is listening to its customers, and taking steps to enable them to manage their finances when and where they want. The bank’s investments provide multi-channel services that make life easier for its customers,"said René Salazar, managing director, Latin America, Caribbean and Canada, Fiserv. “As a long-standing client, DSB has seen the value Fiserv brings with proven innovation, scalability and the ability to serve their needs as a financial institution.”

With Signature, bank staff will have a single customer view to help service customers, including automation of manual processes and the elimination of paper in many cases. Branch staff will now have the capability to perform wire transfers. Integrated with the Signature bank platform, DSB will also utilize additional Fiserv solutions including Nautilus^® for document management, Aperio™, a cross-channel customer interaction suite that enables customer relationship management, as well as upgrading Financial Crime Risk Management Platform for anti-money laundering and fraud prevention, and Advantage Payment System for local and international payments processing.

In a world that is moving faster than ever before, Fiserv helps clients deliver solutions that are in step with the way people live and work today – financial services at the speed of life. Learn more at TheSpeedofLife.com.

Geoswift, a leading provider of cross-border payment solutions between China and the rest of the world, announced today that its UK entity, Geoswift UK, has received authorisation as a Payment Institution from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to conduct a more efficient end to end cross-border collection and settlement services to and from China.

Capriza, a leader in enterprise mobility for business applications, today announced Schroders, the global asset management company with £375 billion (€433.5 billion/USD $487.1 billion) assets under management as at 30 September 2016, has selected Capriza to power its drive to digitisation. Capriza’s Zapp capabilities will be deployed across the organisation as it responds to the waves of change in the financial services sector.

Schroders wanted the ability to link and re-configure core processes from funds administration to sales, marketing to investment strategies using easy-to-use front-end technologies. Capriza achieves this without extensive IT intervention and requiring virtually no re-training of app-savvy modern users.

Commenting on choosing Capriza, Graham Kellen, Chief Digital Officer of Schroders, said: “Schroders is trusted with the investments of a variety of clients. We have to deliver the highest levels of efficiency and responsiveness to our clients. This pursuit mean we cannot restrict ourselves to outdated technology. This investment in Capriza sends the clear signal that we are taking this challenge seriously and we see clear value for our clients globally.”

While Capriza is already in use by pioneers in sectors as diverse as automotive, healthcare and education, Schroders will be one of the first in the financial sector to benefit from its transformative technology. Its early adoption will deliver a distinct competitive edge in a sector, asset management, which has traditionally been more conservative with its technology platforms.

Russell Acton, VP and GM, International at Capriza, welcomed Schroders bold move: “Blue chip organisations like Schroders, where success is measured in decades and centuries, quite rightly think hard before embracing technologies. There is no ‘rip and replace’ option for complex core systems, so Capriza’s ability to enhance customer service and increase efficiency by smartly reconnecting these systems is a winning proposition.”

EBA CLEARING today announced the timely kick-off of the testing phase for its pan-European instant payment infrastructure platform scheduled to go live in November 2017.

Twenty-eight of the funding institutions from all over Europe were represented at a meeting in Milan, which marked the start of the testing phase and included a demonstration of the functioning of the new system in the test environment run by EBA CEARING’s technical solution provider SIA.

“The timely delivery of our instant payment system in the test environment is a key milestone on our journey towards the go-live of the service in November 2017. I would like to thank our funding institutions and our technology partner SIA for their vital contribution to the successful implementation of this first version of this pan-European system,” said Hays Littlejohn, CEO of EBA CLEARING. “We now look forward to engaging the growing community of early movers and their trusted service providers in the pilot user tests that will follow our acceptance testing with SIA. The system will be open to any AS-PSP adhering to the EPC Scheme. We will offer different options to interact with the system in order to ensure that any type of user from anywhere in Europe can access the platform."

“The on-time delivery of complex pan-European payment infrastructure projects is the core value of the long-standing partnership between EBA CLEARING and SIA. We are pleased to have added another chapter to this successful track record with the prompt implementation of their new realtime platform in our test environment,” said Massimo Arrighetti, CEO of SIA. “We are delighted to support EBA CLEARING as well as banks and other payment service providers across SEPA in this major pan-European cooperative endeavour with our international expertise and experience in delivering highly resilient, secure, scalable and flexible payment  About EBA CLEARING infrastructure and with our wide range of innovative solutions. We are fully committed to facilitating the onboarding by the future users and helping to pave the way for the timely launch of a new generation of payment products and services.”

EBA CLEARING’s new infrastructure platform will provide a real-time payment processing facility, which will be available around the clock on any day of the year. Account-servicing payment service providers (AS-PSPs) from all over Europe will be able to use this highly flexible solution for any payment product in euro that will be fully compliant with the instant payment scheme (“SCT Inst Scheme”) of the European Payments Council (EPC) and in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for real-time payments. The pan-European instant payment service of EBA CLEARING is scheduled to go live in November 2017 on the launch date of the SCT Inst Scheme.

SIX x-clear Ltd – the clearing arm of SIX Securities Services – is now able to provide clearing services for the Nasdaq Nordic cash equity markets (including ETFs). From 20th February, 2017, SIX x-clear offers an enhanced and interoperable clearing solution for Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

After regulatory and operational arrangements are finalized, Nasdaq Nordic will confirm SIX x-clear Ltd as a third interoperating Central Counterparty (CCP). As of February 20th, 2017, SIX x-clear will offer comprehensive clearing services for trades executed on Nasdaq Nordic trading platforms. The Nasdaq Nordic cash equity markets include the trading venues Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and First North Sweden, operated by Nasdaq Stockholm. Settlement will take place in the relevant home market of the securities.

SIX Securities Services centrally manages counterparty risk and reduces post-trade costs. The new clearing services allow members to have one net settlement for all trades across all platforms cleared by SIX x-clear. Cross-platform netting and cross-margining of risk combined with a tiered pricing structure offer clients the best suited solution for their needs in terms of scale, cost, risk and liquidity. Clearing members of SIX x-clear can use the clearing services seamlessly by switching the trade flow to clear through SIX x-clear.

Valerio Roncone, Head Markets & Clients SIX Securities Services, adds: «We are delighted to be able to provide comprehensive clearing services in the Nordic region. This is an important step which offers clients an opportunity to extend their clearing consolidation with SIX x-clear and further optimize their post trade processing.»

smartTradeTechnologies, a multi-asset electronic trading solutions pioneer,has been working with a number of institutions on MiFIR/MiFID II implementations.

Transparency, best execution, algorithmic trading and transaction reporting are some of the key areas of concern identified. With less than a year before the 3-Jan-2018 deadline, smartTrade announces that it is ready for MiFID II challenges.

smartTrade provides banks and dealers with cross-asset solutions for sales-trader workflow management, record keeping, best execution and transaction reporting, as well as platform resiliency.

In order to help investment firms electronify their sales-trader workflow and address their pre-trade and post-trade transparency requirements, smartTrade provides a unique and truly cross-asset single-dealer platform supporting both FX and Fixed income instruments, including derivatives. The platform allows users to visualize key regulatory information based on dynamic rules and can be integrated with upstream and downstream sources, such as a pricing engine, internal website or Approved Public Arrangement (APA) provider.

For Best Execution and Transaction reporting, smartTrade’s clients can leverage the market leading smartAnalytics solution. This solution addresses big data analytics requirements, facilitating the storage of all trading information (quotes, RFQs, orders and trades, including intermediate states) as well as generating numerous business and regulatory reports.

The smartTrade MiFID II solutions can be delivered as a fully hosted and managed certified platform, as well as software only. The hosted option reduces time to market and costs. It also meets algorithmic trading requirements, in particular for high-frequency trading (HFT), such as microsecond timestamping.

“Many financial firms have approached us looking for a partner to help them get ready in time for MiFID II.” says David Vincent, CEO of smartTrade Technologies. “With less than a year to go, clients appreciate our regulatory expertise, proven delivery record and our hosted and managed solution which allows for a quick yet assured time to market.”

 Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) announces the appointment of Frieda Lewis to Managing Director, Chief Commercial Diversity Officer at Broadridge.

In her expanded role at Broadridge, Lewis will focus on advancing the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts by developing and executing a strategy that enables Broadridge to better understand and serve its diverse, global marketplace.

Lewis joined Broadridge in 2008, serving as Managing Director, Global Relationship Management. In addition to her responsibilities in Relationship Management, Lewis has demonstrated a long-term commitment to Broadridge's diversity and inclusion initiatives.  She is credited with launching the Women's Leadership Forum at Broadridge, and is a member of Broadridge’s Executive Diversity Committee. Outside of Broadridge, Lewis is a member of the Board of the Women's Bond Club, Governing Member of the Wall Street Women's Alliance, member of the SIFMA Diversity Board and a member of the Bank Insurance & Securities Diversity Board. 

“The best business practices are made better through diversity of people, opinion, and inclusion,” said Chris Perry, President of Global Sales, Marketing and Client Solutions, Broadridge. “Frieda will help Broadridge build on its progress in integrating diversity into every aspect of our business—including our workforce, clients, suppliers, products, and services—to improve our relationships with clients and prospects, and the overall client and stakeholder experience.” 

“The future of diversity leadership is enabling colleagues to better engage clients and the community, which will drive business growth and improve the bottom line,” said Frieda Lewis, Managing Director, Chief Commercial Diversity Officer at Broadridge.

Prior to joining Broadridge, Lewis spent 25 years in the financial services industry, holding senior executive positions at Sun Life Financial and Mellon Financial. She had a 16 year tenure with Fleet Financial Group, where she served as President and CEO of Fleet Brokerage Securities and its wholly owned subsidiary Fleet Clearing Corporation.

Broadridge has long been recognized for its diversity and inclusion efforts, including being named one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” for five consecutive years by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The company was named to Fortune Magazine’s 2016 list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” and was also ranked among the 30 “Best Companies to Work for in New York State” for nine consecutive years by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management.

Oracle Financial Services Analytical Applications and PwC announced today a global collaboration to offer premium technology, implementation and consulting solutions to help financial institutions meet near-term and ongoing compliance with the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) new IFRS9 and FASB’s proposed CECL reporting standards.