These are the findings of analysts from Robocash Group who have studied search requests for lending products. They have also revealed that the fastest growing segment of lending is related to online loans. Since January 2020, the number of these queries has increased by 96.4%. 

The study considers Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei. It is based on monthly data from Google Ads for the period from January 2020 to April 2023 and included 88 keyword combinations related to lending. 

Strengthening its focus on core business and markets, Saxo Bank divests its stake in Saxo Geely Tech Holding A/S (Saxo Fintech) with the sale to Geely Group and receives Saxo Bank shares as part of the transaction.

After a process of diligent evaluation and strategic assessment, Saxo Bank can today announce the sale of its stake in the joint venture Saxo Geely Tech Holding A/S (Saxo Fintech) to Geely Group.

As part of this transaction, Saxo Bank will receive its own shares in return - equivalent to approximately 2% of the outstanding Saxo Bank shares. Consequently, the new ownership structure of Saxo Bank will consist of:

• Geely Financials Denmark: 49.88%
• Fournais Holding: 28.09%
• Sampo: 19.83%
• Minority shareholders: 2.20%

With this agreement, Geely Group will acquire all shares previously held by Saxo Bank in Saxo Fintech, resulting in Geely Group holding 100% ownership of Saxo Fintech.

Saxo Fintech was established in 2019 as a technology joint venture with its own separate technology stack to provide financial and regulatory technology solutions to financial institutions such as banks, brokers, and fintechs in Mainland China. The ownership of the joint venture was evenly split between Saxo Bank and Geely Group.

This strategic decision aligns with Saxo Bank's ongoing commitment to optimise its business operations and focus on core markets and clients.

The sale is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

Worldline, a global leader in payment services, announces that its UK&I entity has been listed as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2023, for its commitment to addressing gender inequalities in the workplace.

Business in the Community* (BITC) has been running The Times Top 50 for 13 years, and this year, received more applications than ever before, with a significant number of new organisations appearing on the list. In 2023 the name of the list, previously The Times Top 50 Employers for Women, has been updated to better reflect that addressing gender equality in the workplace requires achieving equality for all, and engagement from everyone.

This year’s applicants were assessed on the work they do to remove gender inequalities in the workplace, from flexible working to family-friendly policies to pay, reward, and progression at work. All applicants submitted a case study alongside their application, evaluating their approach and impact in the field of gender equality.

This is the second year in a row that Worldline UK&I has achieved this prestigious accolade. The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality is the UK’s most highly profile and well-established listing of employers taking action and making gender equality part of their business strategy at all levels. While progress has been made, gender inequalities are still prevalent in UK workplaces today, especially in times of economic disruption, such as the aftermath of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.

Worldline is committed to making sure every Worldliner feels included and accepted. In 2020, Worldline UK&I established its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Networks. At Group level, the Worldline UNITE networks are also open to all and aim to contribute to creating an inclusive culture, raise issues and share ideas, raise awareness of the challenges facing specific groups and to provide information about Worldline’s strategy, policy and developments. Employees across the UK have embraced these networks, with numerous events and webinars organised over the last three years to give people the chance to learn more about other people.

Worldline’s priority is to ensure that employees feel empowered and are encouraged to perform at their best in a diverse, inclusive and inspiring workplace. Worldline has developed a comprehensive action plan to anchor fairness and transparency in its employees’ journey to better attract, retain, empower and develop women in the company, supported by its Trust 2025 CSR program.

Johnny Astbury, CEO of Worldline UK&I said: “We’re really humbled to receive a place on The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality, having received the same last year on The Times Top 50 Employers for women. This is something close to our heart, and public recognition highlights our pursuit of creating an environment in the workplace that truly is one of inclusion and diversity.”

Mary Macleod, Chief Executive at Business in the Community said: “We know that when women succeed, the UK succeeds, enabling our communities and planet to thrive. Worldline UK&I is one of the companies leading the way in building a culture where women can reach their full potential by showing real commitment to addressing gender inequalities in the workplace.”

Rimes is pleased to announce the appointment of Sam Barber as Head of Data Services. Sam has over nine years’ experience operating at the Executive Director level for S&P Global and brings a wealth of specialist data and client management experience. A key highlight of Sam's career was spearheading S&P’s global business development unit, selling ETF and index products to tier-one banks, asset managers, market makers and ETF issuers.

The Rimes data services team is focused on creating a unique range of best-of-breed solutions for existing and future users. Drawing on Sam's extensive product development experience and deep understanding of the industry, he brings a fresh perspective as Rimes looks to build out their service offerings creating modern, fast-to-deploy solutions catering for all types of buy-side and insurance organizations. 

Sam commented. "Rimes enjoys a stellar reputation for delivering highly customized, high-quality data services. However, while providing bespoke offerings remains on our agenda, our clients share common challenges that hamper business growth. For example, the extreme pressure to reduce costs, the ability to meet growing regulatory obligations, and simultaneously provide their clients with modern, innovative new services. My role is to enhance the excellent capabilities Rimes is renowned for and deliver the innovation our clients need at an attractive price point. I am excited to be part of this forward-thinking and highly collaborative group and create a suite of next-generation data services that consistently support our clients' fast-changing requirements."

Justin Brickwood, Chief Product Officer at Rimes, concluded, "Rimes is experiencing an unprecedented demand for our data solutions, so I am delighted to welcome someone of Sam's calibre to the business. His deep understanding of user needs has injected invaluable insight to the team enabling us to accelerate the deployment of our unique data service offerings. With his drive and enthusiasm in the mix, there are no limits to what we can achieve."

Lyfeguard, a life planning assistant and document management platform, has selected Centropy PR to handle its external communications following a competitive pitch process.

Lyfeguard, co-founded by Fraser Stewart and his father Gary Stewart, enables users to store, share and organise important financial information, as well as legal documents, birth certificates, and wills, all through one platform. It then allows this information to be passed securely onto friends, family and trusted advisors, making life and end-of-life management far simpler.

Centropy will lead the company’s external communications programme, which includes media strategy, journalist relations, thought leadership and content creation. The Shoreditch-based agency has seen rapid growth in recent months, hiring an additional five staff into its fintech practice.

Fraser Stewart, co-founder, and CEO of Lyfeguard said: “We needed a proactive PR partner to launch our brand to the media. The Centropy team demonstrated extensive industry knowledge, amazing journalist connections and a real passion for our business.”

Steven George-Hilley, founder, Centropy PR said: “Fraser and Gary are true entrepreneurs, with an incredible offering that can completely transform the market. We are very proud to be working with such an innovative fintech company with such high growth potential. 

The International Stock Exchange (TISE), the innovative provider of financial markets and securities services, and Shieldpay, the market leader in high-value B2B payments, today announce their strategic partnership to transform private market trading with automated payments.

TISE, renowned for its successful public market service, recently expanded its offering to introduce a complementary private market platform, TISE Private Markets, with the mission to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their investors with a viable alternative to traditional market infrastructure providers. 

TISE Private Markets provides SMEs with an innovative suite of trading, settlement and registry management services, revolutionising the way private market transactions are conducted.

Shieldpay’s all-in-one digital payments platform facilitates seamless and secure high-value, complex transactions, bringing enhanced value to the payment process for TISE Private Markets. With streamlined verification checks, safeguarding of funds and automated payouts, Shieldpay will enable efficient, cost-effective, and secure transactions for customers of TISE Private Markets. 

Through the automation of funds flow, the time taken for trade settlement will be drastically reduced, enabling funds to be transferred from buyer to seller in a matter of days instead of weeks. This accelerated process, placing utmost importance on security and compliance, will unlock liquidity and enhance financial flexibility for businesses and investors alike.

Cees Vermaas, CEO of TISE, said: “Our collaboration with Shieldpay represents a significant milestone in our delivery of TISE Private Markets. Together, we will transform the private market landscape, empowering SMEs and their investors with a more efficient and secure platform for trading and settlement. We’re excited to see our partnership evolve and expand its reach, empowering businesses and investors across borders.”

Peter Janes, Founder and Group CEO of Shieldpay, said: “We are delighted to partner with TISE and leverage our respective strengths to deliver a game-changing solution for the private market. By combining our technologies and expertise, we aim to redefine the way private transactions are conducted, fostering growth and innovation for businesses globally. By partnering with us, TISE can revolutionise private market trading and payments, providing unlisted companies with a seamless and cost-effective solution.”

Through this partnership, more businesses will have the opportunity to benefit from the efficiency and cost-effectiveness the integrated platform offers, while adhering to high transaction security standards. 

Bdeo, a fast-growing technology company providing Visual Intelligence for the insurance and fleet industries, has raised an additional €7.5 million to accelerate its international expansion and strengthen its position across Europe and Latin America. 

The new financing came from new investors Armilar, Hollard, The Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), and Íope Ventures, a new investment vehicle launched by Wayra and Telefónica Seguros. Existing investors K Fund and Blackfin also participated in the investment. 

Bdeo was recently awarded the European Innovation Council's ‘Seal of Excellence’, a recognition that the European Commission grants to only 160 companies each year, in the context of which grants were received from the Comunidad de Madrid and red.es as part of this new investment. 

Reinforcing Bdeo’s reliable solution and user experience

Bdeo’s AI-powered Visual Intelligence solution remotely assesses damage to vehicles and homes to accelerate insurance claims and underwriting processes. The ease of integrating Bdeo's technology into insurer operations, as well as the reliability of the results it delivers, are just some of the key factors that helped drive this new investment. The digital and agile experience Bdeo provides its users was another important factor, as policyholders everywhere now expect an agile, remote, and immediate experience throughout the insurance process. 

“Based on the impressive results we have achieved and our capital efficiency given the challenging times we’re living in, it is reassuring to receive this trust from investors,” said Julio Pernía, CEO of Bdeo. “It is a significant boost of confidence for our team, and we are proud to continue working closely with the insurance sector and adapting to its needs and priorities, as we always have.”

"While insurers continue to test new process automation technologies, aiming to decrease their loss ratios while increasing customer satisfaction, few solutions have the potential to become widely adopted. Particularly for underwriting and claims, there are key challenges related to the heterogeneous nature of the assets (such as vehicles and properties) and the scenarios being inspected, feeding a complex pipeline of external parties and systems. 

Bdeo has successfully created an easy-to-integrate platform that brings together the latest computer vision technologies coupled with proprietary data and intelligence from third-party systems. This assures an immediate impact on the insurer’s bottom line, which has been recognized over time by Bdeo’s clients,” said João Dias, Principal at Armilar. 

"At Wayra, we are delighted to invest in Bdeo through Íope Ventures with our partners at Telefónica Seguros. We believe in the disruptive potential of insurtech based on AI, which, as we know, is revolutionising the business ecosystem and, in this case, will enable greater agility and efficiency throughout insurance operations, thus providing a better service to the end user,” said Paloma Castellano, Director of Wayra Madrid.

"We at K Fund believe that Bdeo's potential goes beyond the insurance industry; its damage detection and cost estimation technology can be applied to other use cases such as vehicle fleet management or property management, use cases that the company is already making progress with. We have no doubt that Bdeo will become one of the major references in artificial intelligence in Europe,” said Marc Clemente, Partner at K Fund. 

“We’re more than happy to continue supporting Bdeo in its growth journey. We have immense confidence in Bdeo’s team and are enthusiastic about continuing to collaborate with them on their expansion. Since day one, we have been deeply convinced of the pivotal role that Bdeo's technology plays in empowering insurers to effectively manage claims and optimize their operational processes,” said Gabrielle Thomas, Investment Director at BlackFin Tech.

Growing presence in more than 25 countries

Over 50 insurers across more than 25 countries are already using Bdeo's technology. The company has a growing presence across Latin America and Europe, particularly in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. Bdeo is proud to work with global insurance leaders such as Reale, Mapfre and Generali in Spain, Ageas in Portugal, Fidelidade in Portugal, Zurich, Allianz and BBVA in the Latin American market, and Hollard in South Africa.

In Spain, Bdeo already manages more than 50% of motor insurance underwriting and works with 8 of the 10 leading motor insurers in the market. In addition to accelerating its international expansion, Bdeo plans to continue developing its Visual Intelligence solutions to cover new use cases.

According to the annual Climate Fintech report from Tenity (formerly F10), analyzing data of a total of 607 startups globally, Europe takes the lead in total funding secured across the sector in 2022. This report features a cross-section of data from Climate Fintech startups around the world working to decarbonize using digital financial technology. 

While 2022 saw a slowdown in activity across other areas, new data shows the Climate Fintech sector bucked this trend, with funding increasing across all regions surveyed.

Total funding secured in Europe equalled just below $1 billion, compared to $640 million in North America. While the number of startups identified in LATAM and APAC are substantially lower, funding activity still accelerated too.

With regards to the classification of startups, market demand for ESG Data and Analytics Solutions remains a top priority, with 225 startups now catering to this. This reflects the slightly more developed nature of the ESG (environmental, social and governance) regulatory landscape, with more structured guidelines in place across Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America that require access to quality, reliable data. Further, the number of startups supplying digital assets solutions has increased from 46 to 72, in line with the increasing demand for these types of investments.

The report also highlights an increase in female founders - more than a third of all Climate Fintechs have a female CEO or Co-Founder. For startups founded between 2019 and 2022, this rate is at 37% versus startups founded the three years previous with 35% (2016-2018).

Commenting on the findings, Co-Founder and CEO of Tenity Andreas Iten said: “There is increasing pressure on both companies and governments to bolster their sustainability commitments in response to growing demands for environmental action. The different use-cases and applications, on top of growing relevance in financial markets, means the role of Climate Fintech is more important than ever. Tenity is well positioned to support this growth.”

To read the full report, download here.

Walking With The Wounded, a charity to help injured British Armed Forces veterans in their career transition from the military to civilian life, has launched a debit card in partnership with Currensea, enabling supporters to make charitable donations each time they spend at home or abroad, boosting donations during the cost of living crisis.

The new Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) Currensea card links to supporters’ existing bank accounts and will be available to both members and supporters wishing to donate to WWTW. Donations can be made by rounding up spending to the nearest 50p or £1 in the UK, and also when spending abroad.

The Currensea card also allows users to save money when using the card abroad. People save at least 85% - and up to 100% - on every transaction abroad by removing the normal fees leveraged by banks and other card providers, and Walking With The Wounded supporters are able to donate some or all of these savings on top of the donations on UK spending. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA can choose to contribute 50% of their savings – which would equate to more than £20 – while still saving money.

Walking With The Wounded delivers employment, mental health and care coordination programmes in collaboration with the NHS to support those who served, and their families, enabling them to make a positive contribution once more

All of the donations made using the new Walking With The Wounded card will enable the charity to provide vital support to get veterans who are struggling back on their feet by providing employment, mental health and care coordination programmes which are saving jobs, homes and relationships. Since the charity was founded in 2010, it has supported over 16,000 veterans and family members.

The cost of living crisis has severely impacted charity donations over the last 12 months – figures from Benefact Group indicate that total donations fell £5bn in 2022, down from £9.3bn in 2021 to £4.3bn last year.

Similarly, research from Charities Aid Foundation revealed that six in ten charity leaders are concerned that people will not continue to or begin to donate to their charity due to the cost of living crisis – in such a climate it is vital that charities diversify their donation streams.

Andy Sloan, Head of Business Development at Walking With The Wounded commented: “Times are really hard for so many at the moment so we are always looking for innovative ways our fantastic supporters can fuel the incredible work of our frontline staff in communities around the UK. This card not only saves you money but keeps a reminder in your wallet of the sacrifice and determination of our beneficiaries which can be a daily source of strength too.”

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments: “This partnership offers a unique fundraising tool to boost donations to support the integral work Walking With The Wounded provides the UK’s veterans.

“The charity has already supported over 16,000 veterans and their families to date. To continue this fantastic work in a challenging climate where many charities are seeing donations decline due to the cost of living crisis, unlocking access to a wider supporter base is vital.

“This new card not only makes donating much more simple for supporters, it also offers users savings each time they spend in the UK or abroad. Charity donations can be made instantly and automatically as the card connects directly to existing current accounts, with users able to simply change the proportion of their savings they wish to donate.

“Our innovative powered by programme provides charities with a unique way to increase engagement with existing supporters, boost donations and attract new donors.”

Walking With The Wounded is the latest charity to partner with Currensea’s unique ‘powered by’ programme, launched in Q4 2021, which allows charities to issue branded cards to supporters and increase donations.

Currensea adds that one of the charities offering its own card through its ‘powered by’ programme has raised four times as much via donations from Currensea users compared to donations via Amazon Smile which closed recently.

Other ‘powered by’ partners include:

• Dogs Trust - one of the UK’s largest animal welfare charities
• Royal Marines Charity - the membership body supporting serving and veteran Royal Marines and their families
• Royal Society of Medicine - a global membership organisation of 20,000 healthcare professionals
• Royal Trinity Hospice - the oldest hospice in the UK
• St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust - which works with many of London’s most vulnerable communities

To find out more and sign up for a Walking With The Wounded powered by Currensea card visit: https://www.currensea.com/partner/walking-with-the-wounded

Federato, the insurance industry’s first RiskOps underwriting platform, today announced that it has raised $25M in Series B funding, led by Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Emergence Capital and Pear VC. This round comes less than a year after the company announced its Series A. 

"Since leading their Seed round two years ago, we have been privileged to see the Federato team build something exceptional in P&C insurance," said Varun Gupta, Partner at Caffeinated Capital, who joins the company's board. "Federato's software is so valuable that billion-dollar global insurance companies and startup MGAs alike buy, use, and evangelize it. After hearing rave reviews from those customers, seeing the company's strong growth, and observing the team's march towards building the Industry Cloud for P&C, we are excited to triple down." 

Critical to Federato’s strategy has been its application of AI and Reinforcement Learning to the problem of portfolio optimization. “Federato’s foundation lies in deep research around how AI can work together with humans towards complex end goals,” said William Steenbergen, CTO and Co-Founder of Federato, whose graduate work at Stanford’s Human-Computer Interaction Group centred around these algorithms. “Our customers are proving that while generative AI has created recent buzz, many other AI use cases are benefitting from the same underpinning innovations. In insurance, the impact of helping a group of underwriters work towards the coordinated end goal of a balanced, growing risk portfolio is crucial. We are excited to be several years ahead of the curve in applying a broad range of machine learning techniques to ensure AI makes an impact in this important industry.”

Federato’s RiskOps provides a real-time platform for both individual risk underwriting and portfolio optimization. Key to the platform’s efficacy is the underlying federated data graph, which enables a single pane of glass view of client information and allows for AI to proactively recommend next best actions to users, bridging the art and science of underwriting. Since the company’s Series A, Federato has tripled its customer base, doubled spend within existing customers, and entered several new segments across both commercial and personal lines.

“The difference between RiskOps and what has traditionally been called an ‘underwriting workbench’ is as big as the difference between ChatGPT and the Google Search we’ve used the last 25 years,” said Deb Smallwood, Founder of Strategy Meets Action, and longtime insurance technology analyst. “Bringing the power of AI to portfolio management represents a fundamental step forward, and we believe insurance is about to have its 'AI Moment' with Federato at its core.”