Token, Inc., a crypto-payment software provider that enables Banks to establish dominance in the digital transactions market, and Fidor AG, the software and services provider of banking solutions for the financial, telecom and retail industries, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU will see Token’s software made available within Fidor OS, Fidor AG’s digital banking and open community middleware solution, enabling Banks to offer secure digital payment services to third parties.

When PSD2, the revised European directive on Payment Services, comes into force, Banks will be required to grant third party providers access to their customers’ data. In this context, Banks must now establish how they will accomplish this task while ensuring their data remains highly secure throughout the process.  

Together, Token and Fidor AG will bring a uniquely valuable turnkey solution to Banks and licensees of the Fidor OS platform.  While using Token and Fidor OS, Banks not only benefit from Fidor’s open banking middleware platform, saving them the cost, effort and time required to design a new open banking interface, it can also use Token to generate new sources of revenue from Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) via the execution of digital transactions and fulfilment of account data requests. This puts Banks in total control of the digital transaction chain, mitigating disintermediation from today’s payment-enabling third parties, like payment schemes and token service providers.

Steve Kirsch, founder and CEO, Token, comments: “Token’s software enables Banks to call the shots in digital payments by launching their own transaction network. This capability, when combined with Fidor’s digital banking and open community middleware, creates a seriously compelling proposition for Banks looking to get ahead in the digital age.”

Steve Kirsch added: “Banks will be able to tap into a comprehensive and fully operational API banking infrastructure complete with the transformative attributes offered by programmable money. In the short-term our platform can be used as a springboard to generate revenues from PSD2 and XS2A. In the longer term, it can be applied to enhance the security, speed, cost and efficiency of a massive range of transaction-based banking functions which currently rely on traditional legacy processes, from bill pay, to e-commerce checkouts, international money transfers, B2B payments, intra-bank transfers and more. Ultimately, we enable Banks to launch programmable money services and new methods of transacting, the use-cases for which are yet to be defined.”

“Fidor OS is a true enabler of next-generation banking, so it makes perfect sense for us to team up with Token,” said Matthias Kröner, CEO, FidorAG. “Like Token, our OS is modern, modular, open, API-based and free of legacy code. This enables Banks to use our suite of technologies to tailor their digital infrastructure to the precise needs of their customers. Adding Token to the mix simply extends the power and control we give to Banks in the digital age. Token’s technology has the potential to revolutionise how transactions, of all kinds, are performed. We want to give our customers this competitive edge as quickly as we can.”

Token combines smart tokenisation and public-key cryptography to provide the industry's simplest and most secure transaction-based open banking API. In practice, Banks use Token’s software to issue and redeem payment authorisations as smart tokens which can be programmed with any number of terms and conditions in accordance with the instructions of the account holder. This enables each smart token to be uniquely specified to the transaction it represents. They can also execute API callouts to external web services, enabling value added services to be integrated in just the same manner. Sensitive card or account data never leaves the Bank’s systems, masked or otherwise, vastly reducing the Bank’s security vulnerabilities.

By putting a Bank in sole charge of their own digital payment network, Token eliminates the Bank’s need to rely on partners to execute digital transactions and launch new services, making them immune to competitive encroachment and disintermediation. The respective Bank’s brand remains front and centre at all times.

Today we're delighted to announce the release of Curve 1.0 on Android! We've launched on Android with a brand new interface and a host of great features that current Curve users have been enjoying since we launched on iOS earlier this year, and we're excited to bring it to Android users.

Senjō Group (“Senjō”), a global payments operator and FinTech investment firm, has entered into an agreement with GVC Holdings PLC to acquire its payments processing business Kalixa Group (“Kalixa”) for a total consideration of €29.0 million payable in cash on completion, subject to a completion accounts adjustment. The total consideration is capped at €35.5 million.

Completion of the transaction (“Completion”) is subject to a number of domestic and international regulatory approvals but is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017.

Kalixa is one of the leading providers of payment services in the world and enables consumers, small business and merchants to make and accept payments. The Company processes transactions worth €11 billion annually for more than 800 merchants and supports 100 of the world’s most popular payment methods. In addition to acquiring and gateway capabilities, Kalixa has innovative wallet and issuing technologies and operations. It has offices in London and Vienna. Kalixa generated revenue in the financial year ended 31 December 2015 of €22.7 million.

Senjō is a privately-held global payments investment company specialising in providing innovative and disruptive solutions in global electronic payments, trade finance and e-commerce. It was established by a team of experienced payments and corporate finance experts bringing together a portfolio of companies with a presence in over 32 countries.

Gavin Lock, Chief Operation Officer, Senjō, noted: “The acquisition of Kalixa fits well within Senjō Group’s strategy of building out a global payments ecosystem. We believe Kalixa will be complementary to our existing portfolio of payments businesses around the world and will create a combined group that leverages the best of both companies. This transaction will provide Senjō with a significant bridgehead in Europe supported by a strong Kalixa management team. In return Senjō Group will provide Kalixa with access to a network in Asia and the benefits of being a part of a global specialist payments operator. We look forward to working with the Kalixa team.”

Kalixa will continue to process payments for GVC and its customers post-Completion.

Daniel Stewart & Company Plc, Linklaters LLP and BTG Financial Consulting are Senjō Group’s advisers for the transaction.

On December 5, Diasoft opened a new office in Hanoi, Vietnam. This is a fully-fledged representative office of the company in this country.

Diasoft has been actively promoting its software products in the global market for the recent years. Establishment of a representative office in Vietnam is a logical step of the company global development strategy and is aimed at strengthening of the company's positions as an international vendor. The main goal of the Hanoi office is to make the company closer to its customers and support Diasoft's projects in Vietnamese banks.

The established Representative Office will support Diasoft`s ongoing project at TP Bank, one of the leading commercial banks in Vietnam. The bank selected FLEXTERA components – FLEXTERA Loan Origination and FLEXTERA Debt Collection – to create a comprehensive credit workflow system. The components are to be integrated with the bank's CRM, core banking and processing solutions.

Diasoft has built a significant expertise and achieved great success at international markets. The company's achievements have been recognized and highly appraised by the leading international market surveys and ratings (Gartner, IDC, FinTech, Forrester, etc.). Diasoft has also been recognized as the “Best Core Banking Solutions Provider South Asia 2015” by Global Banking and Finance Review. Within its global development strategy, the company plans to establish representative offices in other Asian countries.

 Mahindra Comviva, the global leader in providing mobility solutions, has released “The Business of Tomorrows” survey report. The survey was carried out in collaboration with Mobile World Live, an online communication hub for the global mobile industry.  Operators across various segments, including the overall industry landscape, mobile payments, 5G, content, customer analytics and mobile broadband were surveyed. The report provides in-depth analysis of the impact of current and emerging new technologies on the wider telecom ecosystem

As per the survey, IOT holds tremendous potential, For 75 per cent of respondents, IoT will drive growth for the internet space in the future,.  For 32 per cent of respondents, smart city deployment could emerge as the biggest usage case for 5G, enabling cities around the world to connect to various types of infrastructure and amenities. 

Customer Experience Management will form an integral part of this strategy too, as identified in the survey. There is also a strong likelihood that operators will start to invest, or step up their interests in solutions that monitor how people are dealing with an ongoing transformation. 63 per cent of respondents expected to invest in proactive customer experience, due to the rise of predictive, descriptive and prescriptive analytics.    

As per the survey, there is no clear winner in the mobile payments space. A number of segments have emerged in the field, and while technology continues to evolve, financial inclusion for the masses must remain the key benefit and priority.

Commenting on the study Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Mahindra Comviva said, “Fueled by booming demand for mobile data, the opportunities in the digital content and mobile financial services and under pinned by the promise of 5G, operators clearly have a major role in shaping the Business of Tomorrows driven by new technologies adoption leading to innovations and growth. We are committed to work in this ecosystem to drive future readiness of the operators, leading to the next level industry transformation.”

The reports also stresses that considering the huge scale, and additional benefits, mobile services can provide, mobile broadband needs to be made more affordable to truly achieve global scale and mass adoption.

There remain numerous challenges, though. As per the survey, operators will need to fine tune their strategies to address challenges like affordability, CAPEX and OPEX related issues, customer retention, and a comprehensive strategy to cash in on the data opportunity

The full survey is available for download on Mahindra Comviva website at: https://mahindracomviva.viewpage.co/TBOT_survey

Commerce Bank (Commerce), a wholly owned subsidiary of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBSH), and Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the software specialist for banking and finance have announced that they have signed an agreement in which Temenos will provide to Commerce its world-class core deposit banking system. With Commerce’s selection of the Temenos platform, the bank will acquire a new, innovative, real-time core processor to drive strong customer relationships and faster speed-to-market of consumer and commercial products.

David Roller, Chief Information Officer, Commerce Bank said: “Commerce invests in our people and technology to deliver innovative solutions and convenience for our customers.  The Temenos solution will enable Commerce to bring innovative products to market more quickly and efficiently.  The modern software architecture and real-time features will provide the foundation for our digital business.  Temenos has the people, culture, and technology to fulfill our vision, which is why we’ve chosen them as our strategic technology partner.”

Commerce has received industry recognition for its strong financial performance, innovative products and focus on customer service.  The bank selected Temenos’ customer and deposits platform to power portions of its retail, commercial and private banking lines of business. By selecting Temenos, Commerce is aligning itself with over 2,000 financial institutions using Temenos technology throughout the world. Commerce will deploy the US Model Bank, a pre-configured and packaged version of Temenos’ market-leading core banking software that incorporates functionality to handle US-specific regulations and services.

Jay Mossman, President & CEO of North America, Temenos, commented: “We are honored to be working side-by-side with Commerce in this initiative to transform core processing at the bank. While this marks a major milestone for Temenos, we are embarking on this endeavor with Commerce as strategic partners, both aligned in our vision for innovative technology to deliver a superior customer experience.”

David Arnott, Temenos Group CEO, added: “This is a highly strategic win for Temenos. We have great ambitions for the US market, which is undergoing the same digital shift as the rest of the world. In this deal, Commerce thoroughly evaluated our platform against the large incumbent technology providers and judged our value proposition to be superior. In particular, the bank was impressed by our advanced technology as well as by our US Model Bank, which allows the same award-winning platform that is used by hundreds of banks across the world to also work in a completely pre-configured way for US customers. On the back of this win, we see the potential to build significant market share here in the US.”