The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group, is providing two guarantees totalling €50 million to illimity Bank to improve access to finance small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Italy. These SMEs primarily focus on sustainability, innovation and digitalisation. The EIF transactions are backed by the InvestEU programme. 

Thanks to the InvestEU Innovation and Digitalisation guarantee of €25 million, illimity Bank will be able to further support innovation and digitalisation-driven enterprises. This support will enhance access to finance for research and innovation-intensive SMEs and small mid-caps, as well as supporting the uptake of digital technologies and the digital transformation of enterprises. On the other hand, the InvestEU Sustainability guarantee of €25 million will enable illimity Bank to boost the green and sustainable transition of the economy, encouraging environmentally friendly, green, and inclusive investments of the target final recipients. 

The transaction announced today will empower small and medium businesses to secure vital financing, enabling them to expand their operations, invest in innovation, and create new job opportunities. With a long-standing commitment to supporting small and medium businesses, illimity Bank continues its collaboration with EIF, which started in December 2021, to leverage these funds effectively and drive economic growth in Italy. 

EIF Chair Gelsomina Vigliotti said: "We are pleased to partner with illimity Bank in providing substantial support to Italian small and medium businesses. Through this collaboration, we aim to address the financing challenges faced by smaller businesses and stimulate their growth. The EIF €50 million investment guarantees, backed by InvestEU, will significantly contribute to enhancing access to credit and fostering economic development in Italy.” 

European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said: “These two guarantees are part of the InvestEU programme, which aims to encourage sustainable, digital, innovative and inclusive investments across Europe. InvestEU is playing an important role in helping small and medium-sized companies gain access to the finance they need to grow and create jobs. Thanks to this agreement, an increasing number of Italian small and medium businesses will be able to secure crucial financing to do so and drive the green and digital transitions.” 

CEO and Founder of illimity Corrado Passera stated: "illimity was born out of a commitment to support and bolster the entrepreneurial landscape in Italy. Our dedication to small and medium businesses is underscored by this agreement, which facilitates not only the provision of fresh liquidity during a challenging period, but also supports the funding of research, sustainable and inclusive projects, and the digitalisation of businesses. By partnering with the EIF, we can further empower companies with high-growth potential to boost their own growth and contribute to a positive transformation at an economic, social and environmental level across the country.”

Over a third (35%) of finance organisations across UK critical national infrastructure (CNI) anticipate a rise in cybercrime as a direct result of the current economic crisis, according to new research by leading cyber security services firm Bridewell.

Bridewell’s ‘Cyber Security in CNI: 2023’ research report surveyed 500 cyber security decision makers across the UK’s CNI comprising of the transport and aviation, utilities, government, communications, and finance sectors. Within the finance sector, 38% of respondents anticipate a greater risk of employees turning to cybercrime as a consequence of economic hardship. The findings come as the UK economy dips into recession, inflation remains stubbornly high and interest rates continue to rise.

Against this perfect storm of increased borrowing, energy and food costs after a prolonged period of low-interest rates, almost a quarter (24%) of finance decision-makers now rank employee sabotage among the biggest risks to their organisation’s IT environment. The average number of security incidents in the finance sector relating to employee sabotage has already increased by nearly two-thirds (63%) over the last 12 months – up from at least once every six weeks, to once a month.

Approximately 38% of decision-makers also believe that the prevalence of phishing and social engineering attacks will grow due to the economic downturn, suggesting that threat actors could prey on employees’ vulnerabilities and financial fears to gain illicit access to sensitive data and systems.

The findings reflect a longer-term rise in cyber security risk from insiders (both malicious and negligent) over the past three years, with 72% of finance decision-makers reporting an increase in insider threats since 2020. However, after a period of increased security spend last year, 62% of finance organisations are now seeing a reduction in their security budgets due to the economic downturn, potentially opening the sector to more insider risks.

Emma Leith, Director of Consulting at Bridewell, commented: “With current economic pressures taking their toll, cybercriminals are increasing their efforts to exploit vulnerable individuals within financial services organisations – whether through deliberate or negligent employee actions, or through sophisticated social engineering techniques, which offer a financial incentive. To address this rising threat, organisations must continue to invest in robust cyber defences, encompassing the monitoring, patching and testing of systems and access controls, user behavioural monitoring, ongoing staff awareness exercises, and vigorous data loss prevention measures to minimise the impacts of a successful insider attack.”

TeamLease HRtech, a leading provider of comprehensive HCM solutions, has launched Paylief, a one-click payroll platform that is a part of its end-to-end HCM platform. Paylief allows organisations to efficiently handle their Payroll as a unified SaaS platform. Users can utilize it as an integral part with talent acquisition, workforce management, employee benefits, and legal compliances.

With seamless integration with leading banking platforms, Paylief enables employers to instantly disburse salaries to their employees with a single click. The product boasts numerous features, including user-friendly tax calculators, a mobile-centric interface, employee self-service capabilities, and a comprehensive Document Management System ensuring updated compliance with latest pan-India statutory regulations.

Paylief's USP lies in its seamless integration with existing workforce management systems, benefits administration systems, and applicant tracking platforms. This integration positions Paylief as one of the select end-to-end Human Capital Management (HCM) platforms that encompass the entire employee journey, spanning from pre-hire to post-retirement.

Furthermore, Paylief offers high configurability to accommodate compliant salary structures and pay elements across the spectrum, catering to small, medium, and large organisations. The technology stack employed by Paylief is cutting-edge, facilitating differential employee experiences, swift processing, and accurate outputs, all while ensuring full compliance with evolving labour regulations and employee benefits.

Sumit Sabharwal, CEO of TeamLease HR Tech, said, “We are excited to unveil Paylief, our game-changing one-click payroll platform. With Paylief, we're revolutionising the way organisations handle their payroll, manage their workforce, attract top talent, and ensure compliance—all from a single, user-friendly SaaS platform. Imagine the power of effortlessly disbursing salaries to your hardworking employees with just a simple click! Paylief's mobile-centric interface, along with its comprehensive Document Management System, keeps you on top of pan-India statutory regulations, ensuring a hassle-free experience. From small startups to large enterprises, Paylief's versatility and cutting-edge technology make it a go-to solution for all your payroll needs.”

The sectors that this product will most benefit are large enterprises with a geographically spread workforce, small and medium enterprises, telecommunications, financial services, e-commerce, information technology, retail, education, logistics, knowledge, process outsourcing, media and entertainment, travel and hospitality, marketing, advertising, manufacturing and more.

Market Pay Group (“Market Pay”) today announces that it has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Polish fintech Novelpay, including its French subsidiary PAX France Novelpay, to further accelerate the development of its pan-European payments platform.

Novelpay is one of Europe’s fastest-growing players for the development of independent software vertical (“ISV”) solutions for payment terminals and associated terminal distribution.

Novelpay currently deploys its products and services in 14 European countries with customers comprising banks/acquirers, processors and value-added services (“VAS”) solution providers. Market Pay will benefit from a number of Novelpay’s already successful operational activities, such as:

• Development of applications for payment devices with a leading-edge expertise covering different operating environments (Android, Linux, RTOS). Today, Novelpay has a market-leading capability that enables the functioning of many critical standards (examples: Nexo or CB6), including level three device certification;

• Distribution of PAX Technology (“PAX”) terminals. PAX is the second largest vendor of payment terminals worldwide and a market leader in the Android point of sales (“POS”) terminals. It currently offers the largest range of certified Android-based devices globally.

This acquisition will enable Market Pay to further strengthen and develop its existing strong product offering, as well as accelerating the deployment of its unified payment platform across Europe. It will also benefit an ongoing strategy to internalise the majority of in-store technology bricks, following the successful integration of dejamobile and its softPOS technology.

Market Pay and Novelpay will work together on the development of new in-store solutions that will be offered to Market Pay's European customer base. This will be supported by Novelpay's highly talented product development team to bolster Market Pay's R&D platform, thereby giving the company an extended technological expertise for its in-store offering, with the combined group now reaching over 300 employees.

Novelpay is the third bolt-on acquisition for Market Pay in less than 2 years, following the acquisition of payment platforms Acoustic and dejamobile. These strategic expansions demonstrate Market Pay's ability to successfully execute its ambitious growth development plan supported by AnaCap who invested in April 2021 alongside the existing entrepreneurial management team and its historical shareholder Carrefour.

Frédéric Mazurier, President of Market Pay, added: "This acquisition of Novelpay represents an important part of a process we started in 2021 designed to strengthen our market position on a truly pan-European scale. With more than 300 employees and more than half of whom are developers, Market Pay is heavily focused on strengthening its technological expertise for the development of payment solutions in support of its growth objectives alongside AnaCap."

Jean-Paul Hildebrandt, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Novelpay, commented: "We are delighted to join Market Pay, a development that will strongly contribute to cementing our position as a leading PAX Technology distributor in Europe, with a highly specialised software focus. We will further enhance our overall expertise as a highly skilled one-stop shop for all acquirers and PSPs."

Nassim Cherchali, Co-Managing Partner at AnaCap, commented: “This transaction is the third bolt-on acquisition for Market Pay in less than 2 years and gives further momentum for its intention to become the leading pan-European integrated payments platform. These carefully targeted acquisitions demonstrate Market Pay's ability to successfully execute its ambitious growth development plan, supported by AnaCap alongside the existing entrepreneurial management team.”

Alberto Sainaghi, Investment Director at AnaCap, concluded: “We are very pleased to support this transaction which complements the high growth trajectory of Market Pay while also enabling further geographic expansion. This acquisition provides the opportunity to expand Market Pay’s suite of innovative payments software solutions as well as additional value-added services through a seamless in-store experience.”

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary antitrust approval.

Broadstone, a leading independent pensions, investment and employee benefits consultancy, announces the appointment of Sarah Edwards as a Transformation and Delivery Consultant. 

Sarah arrives at a time of rapid expansion. Alongside sustainable organic growth,  Broadstone has also made numerous acquisitions which include H&C Consulting  Actuaries and OAC joining the business this year. 

Sarah bolsters a strengthening team dedicated to integrating existing acquisitions within the business. This aims to ensure the business operates at the highest level of consistency across its eight offices in the UK to support excellent outcomes for clients and members.  

The Transformation and Delivery team will also identify and implement areas of opportunity to drive continued performance improvements and establish the framework for future acquisitions. 

Sarah joins Broadstone with over three decades of wide-ranging experience across operational, project, and change management roles at Aviva.  

After leaving Aviva in 2013, she worked with small financial service enterprises, as well  as Pension Wise, to highlight the challenges both small businesses and society face.  This was particularly around delivering a cost-effective service, empowering employees, helping people to understand and plan for their retirement, and supporting those most vulnerable. 

Sarah Edwards, Transformation & Delivery consultant at Broadstone, said: “I have watched the evolution of Broadstone over the past few years and been impressed by  its corporate journey story as it combines organic growth with strategic acquisitions.  

“With the business announcing several acquisitions over the past few years, there is  an exciting opportunity to combine their relevant skills and unique selling points to a  single, unified offering. Through this process, we will be particularly keen to identify  areas where Broadstone can further elevate its high-quality proposition and set the  ground for future acquisitions as we execute against our strategic aims.” 

Kylie Arbon, Head of Transformation at Broadstone, stated: “The Transformation and Development team is critical to embedding our acquisition strategy and continuing to optimise Broadstone’s offering. 

“Sarah brings significant experience across the change management and pension sectors and will be a huge asset as we continually look to refine our methods. 

“Constant improvement is the hallmark of any dynamic business and Sarah will be  hugely beneficial to supporting our progression.” 

Regulated blockchain platform Swarm today announces seven companies its community selected are live for trading.

Following a community vote, seven real-world assets were selected to be tokenized and added to Swarm's decentralized trading platform. The selection includes Blackrock, Coinbase, Coupang, Intel, Microsoft, Microstrategy and NVIDIA.

Philipp Pieper, Co-founder of Swarm said: "Swarm is a hybrid between the wild west of crypto and traditional centralized exchanges. Whilst we need to satisfy compliance concerns, we are a DeFi community at heart and it is imperative our users' voices help drive product innovation. This is the first step to ensure our platform is continually responding to investors' desires both on the retail and institutional side."

Swarm launched tokenized stocks and bond ETFs on February 24th 2023, including Apple, Tesla, iShares US treasury bond 0-1 year ETF and iShare US treasury bond 1-3 year ETF.

Between February 24th and May 23rd, three months after launching, Swarm's user base grew by nearly one fifth (17.6 percent). Active token holders increased 16 percent in month two, from March 24th to April 23rd compared to month one 24 February to 23 March, and 4 percent in month three, from April 24th to May 23rd.

Timo Lehes, Co-founder of Swarm said: "Tokenization is drastically expanding the DeFi landscape. By trading tokenized real-world assets, investors can access 24/7 markets that have greater flexibility. The significant growth of users and demand seen in the first quarter is a testament to this and highlights investor demand for a more diverse set of assets available on chain."

Underlying assets are held by institutional custodians and tokens can be redeemed for the value of the underlying asset anytime. Monthly disclosures of assets in reserve are made publicly available.

Temenos today announced Omdia, a leading technology analyst and consulting firm, recognized Temenos as a market leader in the report “Omdia Universe: Digital Banking Platforms, 2023”. Temenos achieved leadership status due to its comprehensive capabilities, solution breadth, strategy and product roadmap across functionalities such as onboarding, digital marketing, analytics, and digital banking. Download the report here.

Temenos Infinity is an AI-powered digital banking solution that helps banks acquire, service, retain and cross-sell on multiple channels and devices and deliver real benefits to consumers and businesses. The solution is part of the Temenos banking platform and its capabilities can be consumed separately or together with other Temenos banking capabilities. The capabilities are packaged which means they are upgradeable but allow the bank flexibility to innovate at the app level with low code/no code. Temenos provides its clients with the choice to run the platform themselves on-premise, in a hybrid environment, on the cloud or as a SaaS solution on Temenos Banking Cloud.

In the report, Temenos Infinity scored consistently well in all areas, thanks to a comprehensive platform that can be adapted for all types of financial institutions, including corporate, retail and private banks, incumbents and neobanks, in all geographies. This contributed to Temenos achieving the highest score for market presence, with clients of all sizes and regions from global tier-1s to new challengers. Banks choosing Temenos Infinity include Credem, one of the top 10 banks in Italy, Sacombank, one of the largest banks in Vietnam with over 15 million customers, United Bank Limited (UBL) serving more than 4 million customers, as well as a variety of banks across North and South America, from large banks to credit unions.

In the Omdia report, Temenos also achieved top scores for its solution capabilities and customer experience, with customer feedback praising the adaptability of the platform, the strong business benefits in terms of enabling new feature launches, and a superior user experience.

Philip Benton, Principal Analyst, Omdia, commented: “Despite an uncertain economic outlook, enhancing digital customer experience will be critical to incumbents and neobanks alike, with the need for banks to provide a fully digital journey. Digital banking is no longer seen as simply a channel but as the central interaction engine with which the customer engages the bank on a daily basis. The pace of technological advancement and increasing customer expectations mean that banks must incorporate and harness newer technologies quickly to remain competitive. Temenos offers banks the choice of opting for a full-featured digital banking engagement platform via Infinity, or they can choose to consume these capabilities as SaaS via Temenos Banking Cloud. Our research showed that Temenos supports banks in every region of the world and serves banks of all types. Infinity scored consistently well in all areas, thanks to a comprehensive platform that can be adapted for all types of bank or geography, which contributed to the vendor achieving the highest score for market presence. Vendors like Temenos should appear on your shortlist, particularly if you are seeking a platform that enables rapid new product launches and an excellent user experience.”

Prema Varadhan, President Product and COO, Temenos, said: “We are proud to be recognized as a leader by Omdia. With Temenos Infinity, banks can deliver the same kind of responsive experience as e-commerce brands and keep ahead of changing customer expectations. And with more than 850 clients, we have the scale to evolve the solution much faster than any competitor in the market.”

Temenos Infinity offers rich functionality for all retail, business, corporate and private banks as well as wealth management firms. It provides SaaS solutions for digital onboarding, origination and servicing to incumbents and non-incumbents which gives great agility while reducing time to market and improving cost efficiency. Temenos offers end-to-end solutions with Temenos Infinity and Transact core banking but gives banks choice through its composable architecture.

Trust & Safety platform, Pasabi, has hired PJ Rohall as VP of Fraud Strategy to lead the company’s US expansion.

Rohall, who is based in Atlanta, Georgia, is an industry veteran with extensive experience in the fraud prevention market. Prior to joining the team, he previously founded knowledge hub About-Fraud & Fraud Fight Club. In his new role, he will be tasked with driving Pasabi’s commercial growth strategy in the US, overseeing brand awareness, strategy, and services.

The appointment comes following the news that Pasabi has secured multi-million-dollar funding to expand internationally. The funding was provided by global technology consultancy VeUP, as part of its €100m growth fund which is designed to support high-potential Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) using Amazon Web Services. 

In addition to hiring Rohall, the Edinburgh-based firm, originally co-founded by entrepreneurs Chris Downie and Martin Spinks, will invest heavily in hiring specialist staff across key functions of engineering, product development, sales, and marketing. Pasabi is also preparing to develop and launch a new version of its product on AWS Marketplace. 

Recently published data from the US Federal Trade Commission revealed that US consumers reported losing nearly $8.8 billion to scams in 2022. Pasabi’s solution uses AI-powered behavioural analytics to identify patterns of suspicious online activity and identify multiple fraud threats, including scams, fake accounts, fake reviews and counterfeit. 

PJ Rohall, VP of Fraud Strategy, Pasabi said: “The emergence of powerful generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, means fraudsters are well equipped to scale their crimes and perpetuate scams at a velocity never seen before. The Pasabi team is ready to tackle this threat head-on. The company has a powerful product suite, harnessing the power of AI and behavioural analytics to identify the bad actors and fraud rings behind these fraudulent activities and help businesses fight back.

I’m thrilled to be leading the company’s US expansion and we look forward to growing our market share and helping businesses protect their customers, preserve authenticity and restore trust.”

Chris Downie, CEO and Co-founder, Pasabi said: “As Pasabi continues its global expansion, we are very excited to welcome an industry veteran like PJ to the team. He has the energy, insights, and expertise to excite new and existing customers, as well as the network and skills to take our brand to the next level.”

Paxos, the regulated blockchain infrastructure platform for enterprises, continues driving value for its commodities market clients through its Post-Trade and Settlement solutions. Financial institutions that deploy Paxos’ Post-Trade and Settlement solutions see an average 300% return on investment (ROI) within two years due to enhanced back-office efficiency, new data has revealed.

The solution enables firms to fully automate the management of their entire precious metals post-trade lifecycle, with Paxos’ platform offering multilateral payment netting and simultaneous settlement for the unallocated, over-the-counter (OTC) precious metals market. This boosts operational efficiency, reduces the amount of funds leaving accounts, unlocks working capital and greatly reduces counterparty risk.

Historic and live precious metal trade data indicates companies that engage with Paxos Post-Trade and Settlement can reduce obligations by an average 80%, while achieving cost savings equivalent to five basis points of their annual settlement obligations as a result of increased network efficiency – similar figures to those generated by continuous linked settlement (CLS) in foreign exchange markets.

The cost-saving potential of Paxos’ offering comes at a particularly challenging time for the back-office departments of financial institutions, with many scrambling to ensure they can facilitate the surging precious metals trading volumes witnessed over the last three years. A recent study conducted by the strategic consulting and market research firm BlueWeave Consulting revealed the global precious metals market is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.1%, offering market participants record revenues of around $415.3bn by the end of 2028 and driving trading volumes yet higher.

The cost of borrowing has also increased substantially, with inter-bank rates rising from 0.06% to 4.9% - meaning the cost of borrowing metal is now almost equal to borrowing cash. Additionally, fast-evolving industry regulations, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s determination to reduce the securities settlement period from T+2 to T+1, is dominating resource focus and squeezing company balance sheets. The budgets of many firms have subsequently come under increasing scrutiny over recent months, with funding for strategic projects typically subject to robust ROI requirements.

Anousha Rayner, Head of Commodities Growth at Paxos, commented, “The commodities market has lagged the likes of equities in terms of settlement infrastructure and efficiency for far too long – but the tides are now turning. Paxos is leading the way in achieving greater efficiency in the precious metals market, with some of our clients already realising billions of dollars’ worth of reductions in their settled trades and millions on funding cost savings. Our solution is also helping to future-proof users against rapidly shifting regulations around settlement, such as the move to T+1 settlement in the US, with Paxos’ technology permitting clients to settle precious metal trades within a day. Indeed, as pressure mounts on back-office departments across the industry, Paxos’ solution offers much-needed relief at a crucial time.”

Global private market exchange ADDX has appointed Mr Chew Sutat, former senior managing director at the Singapore Exchange (SGX), as its chairman. He has sat on the board of ICHX Tech since 2018 and chaired the ADDX platform’s listing committee since 2019. 

ADDX Pte Ltd began regulated activities in September 2022, after it was approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to take over operations of the ADDX platform from ICHX Tech. Mr Chew will serve as chairman of ADDX Pte Ltd and board member of ICHX Tech concurrently. Mr Danny Toe will remain chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICHX Tech, while Ms Oi-Yee Choo will remain CEO of ADDX. 

As chairman, Mr Chew will provide high-level guidance and leadership to help entrench ADDX’s position in the global private market space. He will work closely with the executive team to set the company's strategic direction as well as drive growth and innovation, as the business looks toward regional expansion.

Mr Chew has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, having served in various leadership roles throughout his career. With extensive experience at SGX, where he headed the global sales and origination team and managed the bourse's international offices across 10 cities, he brings a wealth of strategic thinking and expertise to ADDX. 

Prior to SGX, he held senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, OCBC Securities and DBS Bank. He is currently a lead independent director at Yangzijiang Financial Holding and board member at Income Insurance. He also serves actively in the social sector through various National Council of Social Service committees.

Headquartered in Singapore, ADDX is on a mission to make investing fairer by democratising private markets. Using blockchain and smart contract technology, ADDX reduces manual interventions in the issuance, custody and distribution of private market products. The resulting efficiency from the use of digital securities allows the platform to fractionalise investments in a scalable and commercially viable manner, bringing minimum investment sizes down from US$1 million to as low as US$1,000 and thereby widening investor access to the private markets. 

To date, ADDX has listed more than 70 deals on its platform and worked with blue-chip names such as Hamilton Lane, Partners Group, Investcorp, Singtel, UOB, CGS-CIMB, as well as Temasek-owned entities Mapletree, Azalea, SeaTown and Fullerton Fund Management. Asset classes available on ADDX include private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, private credit, real estate, debt and structured products.  

Mr Danny Toe, CEO of ICHX Tech, said: “Sutat has demonstrated his ability to drive innovation and growth in a highly competitive and regulated industry – the transformation of SGX from an Asian gateway into a global multi-asset exchange over his 14 years of service is testament to that. His regulatory know-how, experience and expertise from his time at SGX will be invaluable as we set our sights on regional expansion. Sutat will play a critical role in ensuring ADDX is well-governed and positioned for long-term success. I am confident that he will provide the high-level strategic thinking and leadership needed to help ADDX penetrate and navigate markets beyond Singapore’s shores.”

Mr Chew Sutat said: "I am delighted to join ADDX as chairman and to work with the team on strategies to increase liquidity and scale in the private market sector. ADDX has already made significant strides in this area, and I am excited to work with the team to build on this success and bridge the gulf between public and private markets. Together, we will continue to drive growth and innovation to democratise private markets and unlock opportunities for investors.”