S&P Global (SPGI) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Quant House SAS (QuantHouse) to a company owned by Pierre Feligioni, one of QuantHouse's original founders. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
QuantHouse provides end-to-end systematic trading solutions including ultra-low latency market data, algo trading development frameworks, proximity hosting and order routing to hedge funds, market makers, proprietary desks, brokers and sell-side firms.

"We are pleased to have agreed to sell QuantHouse to one of its original founders, Pierre Feligioni," says S&P Global Market Intelligence President, Mike Chinn. "Mr. Feligioni's extensive familiarity with QuantHouse provides the business and its employees with the best opportunity to invest in product enhancements and even more effectively serve clients while allowing S&P Global Market Intelligence to focus its resources on growth opportunities that most closely align with our vision."

"QuantHouse is an innovative next generation company that has changed how capital markets participants trade, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead QuantHouse again," says Pierre Feligioni. "While we leveraged S&P Global's reach together for several years, we collectively believe that the time is right for QuantHouse to regain focus and flexibility to exploit growing market opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia. I am very excited to work with our staff and partners to make QuantHouse the leading provider of ultra-low latency trading solutions, and I look forward to connecting with our customers around the world to present the roadmap for our core solutions and our plan to invest in new products and services."

QuantHouse has developed a strong global platform in recent years, with its expansion into new geographies such as Asia and the delivery of a series of market innovations in ultra-low latency market data and algorithmic trading. QuantHouse's talented management team will remain with the company as it enters this new phase of its growth.

 USA Technologies, Inc., a payment technology provider of cashless and mobile transactions in self-serve retail, today announced it plans to integrate its MORE. loyalty and payroll deduct platform with Apple Pay, for use at up to 300,000 machines nationwide. Following the integration, unattended operators will be able to offer an enhanced experience to their customers using Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient. In turn, consumers making a purchase will be able to take advantage of exclusive offers, promotions and discounts toward future purchases at participating self-serve machines connected to USAT’s ePort Connect platform. USA Technologies plans to roll out the technology to select unattended retail locations nationwide over the coming months. USAT will be demonstrating the technology on January 5th at The Digital Money Forum at CES 2017.

Integrating the MORE. loyalty program with Apple Pay would allow operators in the unattended market to give consumers a nearly frictionless loyalty and payment experience. Rather than going through a cumbersome process to swipe a physical card or pay with cash, consumers paying with Apple Pay at participating ePort merchant locations would simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch to the contactless reader to pay, earn and redeem loyalty points with a single motion if they are already participating in USAT’s MORE. program. If they are not yet participating in MORE., they will have the opportunity to instantly enroll and have the digital loyalty card added right to Apple Pay. The experience from start to finish is much more efficient for both operators and consumers.

“Consumers are getting more accustomed to paying with their phones, and with all of the digital noise coming at consumers 24/7, loyalty and rewards programs that easily integrate into popular payment methods like Apple Pay are a win/win,” said Maeve McKenna Duska, senior vice president of sales and marketing, USA Technologies. “By offering MORE. with Apple Pay we are giving consumers a loyalty program that seamlessly integrates with their lifestyle, rewarding them for using the one thing they always have on hand, their iPhone or Apple Watch. We expect the MORE. integration with Apple Pay will not only fuel participation in the unattended loyalty program, but also underscore the ease, security and simplicity of Apple Pay transactions for everyday purchases like those made at vending machines, laundromats, self-serve kiosks, parking and more.”

Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When a consumer uses a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on the consumer’s device. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

In connection with the integration of the MORE. Loyalty program with Apple Pay, USAT is collaborating with Urban Airship, a mobile growth company, to bring enhanced consumer marketing solutions to the mobile wallet demo of the MORE Loyalty program, via Urban Airship Reach, a simple but powerful platform that creates virtual cards for and manages the loyalty program user experience design (UX), promotions, point balances, etc. The work USAT is doing on the Apple Pay integration also makes registration to USAT’s MORE. program easier than ever before. Any consumer that presents an iPhone or Apple Watch at a participating merchant location will receive an electronic prompt to join USAT’s MORE. program. Consumers that opt in can then add a MORE. loyalty card right to Apple Wallet and immediately begin reaping benefits every time they use Apple Pay at a participating machine, as the loyalty information will be automatically shared with the transaction.

MORE. was originally designed to provide USAT merchant customers the ability to offer custom rewards and discount offers for products purchased at its ePort-enabled locations. We believe that many unattended operations have successfully leveraged the program to drive loyalty, encourage repeat business and help our customers gain a greater understanding of consumers' purchasing preferences to better meet consumer needs. In recent years, USAT expanded its MORE. program to offer rewards to consumers who register their preferred credit card with MORE. and to companies interested in offering a payroll deduct program to their population. By integrating with Apple Pay, USAT continues to evolve the MORE. loyalty program, making it more relevant to its customers and easier for them to present their loyalty information.

FinancialForce, the leading Cloud ERP vendor on the Salesforce Platform, today announced the appointment of Tod Nielsen as Chief Executive Officer and President. The appointment comes on the back of another strong year in which the company grew more than 40% and is rapidly approaching the $100 million annual revenue run rate milestone.

Nielsen, the former Executive Vice President of Platform at Salesforce, is a seasoned leader with a proven record of taking technology companies to the next level by accelerating their innovation and revenue growth.

As the Chief Executive Officer of Heroku, which Salesforce acquired in 2011, Nielsen redefined the company’s enterprise strategy, driving significant growth. As the Co-president of the Applications Platform Group and Chief Operating Officer at VMware, he helped drive a 9-fold increase in the company’s market cap to over 50 billion dollars.

Nielsen has held additional high profile positions throughout his career. Prior to VMware, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Borland Corporation. Earlier, Nielsen served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Global Sales Support for Oracle and Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for BEA Systems. Prior to BEA, he spent 12 years with Microsoft in various executive roles, including General Manager of Database and Developer Tools and Vice President of Microsoft's Platform group.  

“Business applications and cloud computing platforms are reaching historically significant inflection points,” said Nielsen. “Cloud platforms have matured, setting the stage for businesses to run their entire application portfolio in the cloud because it is the smartest, safest and most efficient way to deploy business applications, especially ERP. Now companies can transform their business models, the way they engage with customers, and their applications to compete and thrive in the digital economy. FinancialForce was quick to recognize this opportunity and delivers on the promise of cloud applications.  I’m excited to build on the company’s explosive growth and look forward to further innovating and redefining cloud ERP.”

“With more than two decades of experience leading high-growth business units at large technology vendors like Salesforce, VMware, Oracle and Microsoft, Tod has the knowledge, business sense, and leadership skills that will help FinancialForce thrive,” said Mike Rosenbaum, FinancialForce board member and Executive Vice President of CRM Applications at Salesforce. “He’s grown organizations to billions in revenue and I’m excited to have an executive of his caliber at the helm during this pivotal stage of FinancialForce’s growth.”

Jeremy Roche, former CEO of FinancialForce, will serve as Founder and special advisor to the management team and continue to work with FinancialForce investor Unit4 in an executive position to be formally announced next week. “Jeremy was one of the first to see the potential of building ERP applications on the Salesforce platform and has created a thriving company,” said Kevin Costello, chairman of the FinancialForce board of directors.  “We thank him for paving the way and creating a great business for Tod and the team to scale.”

“Starting FinancialForce and having the chance to build and work with such a great team has been one of the most incredible and rewarding experiences of my career,” said Roche.  “Together, we set out to do for the back office what Salesforce did for the front office, and we are well on our way.  I’m delighted to hand over the reins to an executive of Tod’s experience to help us achieve the next stage of exponential growth.” said Roche.

 Synechron Inc., the digital, business consulting and technology services provider, has today announced its predictions of top Financial Services Trends for 2017, supported by survey data from TABB Group. The survey of over 200 senior-level, global financial services business and IT decision-makers across the U.S. U.K. and Europe found 38% of respondents placed Regulation as their top priority for 2017, followed by Data Management (14.4%), Systems Integration (10.6%), Artificial Intelligence (AI) (9.7%) and IT Business Transformation (8.3%). These results clearly show that while digital innovation remains a long-term priority over the next five years, businesses need these programs to achieve pragmatic results for them in 2017.

Faisal Husain, Co-founder & CEO of Synechron, commented: “While digital innovation is at the heart of our business, financial services firms need immediate solutions to the problems they are facing today. Regulation, cost-pressure and out-dated technology systems and operations are part of almost every client conversation, so it is no surprise these items toped their 2017 priorities list. MiFID II, Dodd Frank, Basel II and FRTB are all driving data and IT changes within organizations and have paved the way for firms to reimagine their business architectures and embrace established techniques in artificial intelligence, systems integration best practices and design thinking. 2017 will be a year where technology is asked to offer tangible business value at an enterprise level.”  

Given these survey results and input from Synechron’s global clients across digital, business consulting and technology engagements, Synechron has outlined its predictions on top ten trends and priorities to expect in 2017:

1.       Regulatory Reigns Supreme – Given that 38% of firms cite Regulation as their top priority for 2017 and Data Management came in #2 at 14.4%, expect data-driven regulations to be a hot-button topic over the next year. This includes regulations like MiFID II and Dodd-Frank which topped the list at 42.6% and 29.6% respectively but also others like the DOL Fiduciary Rule and Basel III which 15.3% of respondents said they’d be focused on over the next year. Regulatory uncertainty related to technology Innovations like blockchain and AI are also a top concern (29.2%).

2.       Uncertainty Remains - Regulations related to technology Innovations like Blockchain and AI are also a top concern (29.2%) according to the survey; however, in this case, it is the uncertainty of future regulations that could be prompting inaction or staving off innovation. Global events like Brexit, the results of the U.S. election, the threat of Frexit and more, have also created an environment of regulatory uncertainty that will prompt more steering committees in 2017 to assess options and develop plans that can be quickly enacted at the trigger moment. 

3.       Data Management & the Chief Data Officer (CDO) – With 14.4% of respondents focused on enhancing their data management initiatives, we also expect the role of the CDO to continue to gain prominence within the business organization. This will mean a louder voice in the boardroom and stronger authority across the organization to drive forward initiatives and invest in technologies like AI and Blockchain. 8.8% of firms have even designated Blockchain initiatives to sit within their data function.

4.       Systems Integration – The #3 priority that respondents highlighted as a focus for 2017 was Systems Integration at 10.6%. As one of the leading experts in systems integration related to trading technologies like Murex, Calypso, Summit, and others, Synechron is seeing an interest in enhancing systems responsible for liquidity risk management, credit risk management, counterparty-risk and collateral management whereby nearshoring, smartshoring and offshoring can be employed along with an agile development methodology.

5.       The Year of the Chatbot - 2017 will be the year of the ‘BOT’. In one chat, banks can do everything from help someone onboard and make an important financial decision, to apply for a mortgage, personal loan or process an insurance policy. By combining hands-on service with some element of automation, alert notifications and auto-dialers, for example—financial institutions can manage customer relationships easier and with a degree of personalization. Expect to see a whole range of customer service and virtual assistant bots going live in 2017 to enhance banking, trading and insurance interactions.

6.      Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Machine Learning – With 9.7% of firms citing AI as a top priority for 2017, AI has reached a critical tipping point and will be at the heart of a convergence of technologies including Data Science, Internet of Things (IoT), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Programming (NLP) and Blockchain. In 2017 Robotic Process Automation will become a key priority for bank executives looking to do more with less and unique combinations of AI techniques will power new applications. Throughout the year expect the industry to launch a range of hybrid robo-advisor services targeted at millennials and high-net-worths. Also expect that AI will continue to and increasingly be used to address one of the industry’s greatest concerns across the enterprise – cyber security.

7.       The Future of FinTech – In 2017, we can also expect to see the fall of what were hoped to be future fintech unicorns – as several significant fintech startups will have received more than 3 to 4 years of funding and if the market is not conducive to a healthy IPO, or results are not showing the massive potential once envisaged, the taps are likely to get turned off.  This trend will be no surprise given that most technology VCs expect only 1 in 10 investments to pay-off, but it means that the fintech startup scene, and associated hype cycle, may get a little dose of commercial reality and start to feel deflated in 2017. 

8.       Bank APIs and The Cloud - As the Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) industry moves towards an environment that is fast and agile, runs in the cloud, and where customer acquisition is expected to be lightning fast, many firms will begin to launch their own app marketplaces through Open API programs in 2017.  Over the past 12 months there has been a consistent uptake in such platform solutions from leading organizations like Citi and BBVA, and pioneering leaders like Santander have established reliable business models for fintech banking borne out of open APIs. In 2017 open, unified solutions will continue to be launched by banks and insurers and make it possible to deliver new digital products and services, whilst still maintaining a multidimensional customer experience across all digital channels. We are also seeing a rise of the usage of Public cloud technologies in Banking, with firms moving or considering moving risk and IT infrastructure to Google or Amazon.  This indicates a major shift, after a gradual adoption of private cloud technologies and recent FCA guidance green-lighting cloud computing.  

9.       Design Thinking - Many financial institutions have embraced a mobile-first strategy or omni-channel strategy, placing mobile design as a critical component of their UX and CX strategies.  Design Thinking, which has been around now for over a decade, is a design methodology that helps businesses understand their problem statements better by rooting them in end user research and using that research to influence a more impactful design solution. As financial services organizations look to elevate their brands, communicate authenticity and engage with their customers, design thinking can deliver meaningful data to support those initiatives and is being considered by many as part of an integrated digital strategy.

10.   More Blockchain - 2017 will continue to be a year of Blockchain experimentation, and whilst we are likely to see the rise and fall of some blockchain consortiums, one trend that will remain is the appetite for banks to work together and leverage blockchain accelerators to run proof of concepts or controlled pilot programs.  The biggest challenge facing the industry today is the scarcity of Blockchain talent, not only from an application development perspective, but also from a domain expertise angle in which business use cases are validated and earmarked for blockchain transformation – making real development experience a unique asset. In fact, when asked if their company currently has enough talent capable of implementing blockchain technology, our survey results found 39.3% of respondents answered No – Blockchain technology talent is still difficult to find and 31.3% said No – We’re working with partners, vendors to supplement – as compared with 23.4% saying they would reallocate resources and 6.1% support training.

Baker Hill, a leading provider of technology solutions for common loan origination, risk management, relationship management and smart data analytics, will launch its new platform, Baker Hill NextGen™, on January 31, 2017. Baker Hill NextGen™, a unified, mobile responsive, SaaS platform, combines the best of Baker Hill solutions into one common loan origination, portfolio risk management and decision support system to streamline the loan origination process and portfolio risk management, improve accuracy and enable a better customer experience to help financial institutions exceed the growing demands of today’s marketplace.

Baker Hill NextGen™ is the industry’s only end-to-end, integrated loan origination, relationship management, business intelligence and risk management platform designed specifically to meet the current and future needs of progressive financial institutions in a single platform. The platform boasts an intelligent, persona-based, mobile responsive user interface developed to provide maximum convenience and the best user experience possible. Users enjoy a more streamlined, fluid workflow with access to one source of data, decisions and insight through intuitive roles-based dashboards using any smart device.

“Today’s financial institutions face a number of critical challenges, including a constantly changing economic environment, increased competition, shifting client expectations and growing regulatory requirements,” said Naseer Nasim, CEO of Baker Hill. “We invested in the development of Baker Hill NextGen™ to help financial institutions compete and win, as the solution offers users mobility, ease of use, improved processes through workflow automation, and the ability to quickly evaluate and monitor the entire institution’s performance. By providing a holistic view of customer needs and risks through easily consumable data, Baker Hill NextGen™ empowers financial institutions to strengthen relationships with account holders, boost productivity, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.”

According to a recent report by Capgemini and Informatica, 39 percent of organizations that strategically leveraged data analytics experienced an improvement in decision-making. Additionally, 35 percent of organizations increased their productivity and 33 percent enhanced their ability to quickly react to changes in the market and identify profitable opportunities. Financial institutions can harness the power of such data-backed decision support with Baker Hill NextGen™ to maintain compliance, mitigate risk and satisfy evolving client demands.  

To determine which features and functionalities are most valuable for today’s financial institutions, Baker Hill partnered with West Monroe Partners, a consulting firm dedicated to building solutions that address technology and business challenges. With the help of West Monroe Partners, Baker Hill gathered input from a selection of financial institution clients through focus groups and surveys and leveraged that insight to develop the Baker Hill NextGen™ platform.

“Financial institutions are pressured to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market while complying with numerous complex regulatory requirements,” said Lora Barry, executive vice president and bank operations division manager at Emprise Bank. “Today’s institutions, including Emprise Bank, are looking for technology providers that understand these challenges and proactively advise on best practices and products that are most likely to help them meet their goals. Baker Hill has demonstrated its commitment to helping financial institutions succeed by developing Baker Hill NextGen™, which combines their existing origination channels into one database. Customers and employees can enter applications for multiple loan types into one central application point, and support associates can maneuver the loan through proper underwriting protocol based on loan type and credit risk without re-entering data. We think the results will be faster answers for customers and enhanced risk mitigation and operational efficiency for the bank.”

Accountancy and human capital management software provider IRIS Software Group, is today announcing it has acquired financial management software firm PS Financials.

Peterborough-headquartered PS Financials provides accounting, purchasing, budgeting and reporting software to more than 2,900 organisations. The acquisition brings 136 highly skilled and experienced staff into IRIS across two locations – Peterborough and London.

The company services a range of markets with its award winning unified ledger solution, including commercial, finance, hospitality, health & social care and not-for-profit. The business is particularly strong in the education sector where it has operated for more than ten years successfully selling on premise and cloud-based installations to primary and secondary school academies.

The acquisition reflects the IRIS strategic growth plan to extend its proposition through a broad portfolio of accounting, HR, payroll, budgeting and forecasting software to best serve the needs of a fast growing and dynamic UK market.

Kevin Dady, CEO of IRIS Software Group, says, “I am delighted to announce this acquisition of such a successful and well-respected business which will enable IRIS to further expand its service offering.

“It’s clear the educational technology market is undergoing substantial transformation. Despite a value of £130bn and UK schools spending £900m every year on education technology, there are 16,000 schools still operating under Local Education Authorities. With the Government currently driving the agenda to increase the rate of conversion of schools to academies, this acquisition represents a significant opportunity for IRIS to help oil the cogs of another critical UK industry.”

Richard Pierce, managing director of PS Financials, says, “The IRIS team impressed us with its deep understanding of our market and business. The core PS Financials solution has been long recognised as a market leader in the financial management software sector and this move will create a Group with unrivalled breadth and depth in its portfolio. We therefore very much look forward to working with IRIS during the next chapter of our growth.”

The Allstate Corporation today announced that it has obtained all required regulatory approvals and closed its acquisition of SquareTrade, a consumer protection plan provider that distributes through many of America's major retailers.

"The addition of SquareTrade to the Allstate family of companies supports our customer-focused strategy and lives into Our Shared Purpose to protect people from life's uncertainties," said Tom Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of Allstate. "As a rapidly growing consumer protection plan provider that distributes through many of America's major retailers, SquareTrade broadens our protection product portfolio and expands our customer relationships. SquareTrade will become even stronger as part of Allstate, enabling it to serve additional retailers and expand its product offering and market reach."