HeavyFinance, a European climate tech investment marketplace, has partnered with automated soil carbon measurement company, Agricarbon, for a European climate project to measure carbon impact.

The strategic partnership, centred on the launch of a 20,000ha project in Lithuania, will see the companies align on a shared vision of making the transition to sustainable farming practices and the measurement of changes in soil carbon stock.

The deal forms part of HeavyFinance’s progress of removing one gigaton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050. Both companies believe that cost-effectiveness, along with data accuracy, is key to unlocking participation in the soil carbon offset market.

The companies will work together to test new stratification methodologies and remove previous barriers to direct measurement of thousands of hectares, all under a major international protocol for offsets.

Laimonas Noreika, Founder of HeavyFinance comments: “By combining the innovative financing models from HeavyFinance, including Green Loans, with Agricarbon's innovative soil carbon measurement technology, we can begin to champion the transition to regenerative farming, achieving greater ROI for investors and making best practices more accessible to farmers. Collaboration is key to driving climate progress through the carbon credits market and we are excited to be working with Agricarbon to promote greater sustainability.”

Stewart Arbuckle, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of Agricarbon comments: “We are excited to be working with HeavyFinance as their innovative business model and understanding of and ability to deploy a direct measurement project will be extremely helpful across thousands of hectares, feeding into the ever-important sustainability agenda and promoting better financial opportunities for farmers everywhere.”

The companies plan to scale the project across wider European companies over the next 12 months, increasing accessibility for farmers and investors in key markets.

The news comes following the launch of Green Loans by HeavyFinance, a debt instrument that enables retail and institutional investors to get returns on the sale of CO2 removal credits generated from European farmland.

FOO, an award-winning B2B fintech solutions provider headquartered in the UAE, has unveiled its latest innovation: a customisable, out-of-the-box travel card solution. The prepaid card and digital wallet enables banks to harness the power of fintech to deliver a seamless and cost-effective purchasing experience for their customers, whether at home or abroad.

The travel card solution includes an instantly issued prepaid card that can be topped up from anywhere and at any time. It also includes a white label digital wallet app, equipped with sub-wallets for multiple foreign currencies, to facilitate real-time card and currency management. To cater to the specific requirements of the partnered bank, additional modules can also be seamlessly integrated. These optional modules encompass a range of features such as digital onboarding and ATM withdrawals, enhancing the overall offering.

Consumers will be able to instantly transfer funds from their main bank account onto the prepaid card and convert their money into various currencies using the accompanying app, without incurring costly transaction or exchange fees. They can conveniently monitor expenses and manage their multiple sub-wallets within one easy-to-use app. When it comes to making purchases in different currencies, the card will automatically draw funds from the corresponding sub-wallet, streamlining the process for the cardholders.

This solution will help banks meet consumer demands for cost-effective, secure, and convenient methods of conducting purchases while traveling. What’s more, FOO specializes in offering financial microservices developed in-house, employing a modular ‘plug and play’ model. As a result, FOO’s super-personalized products provide the added advantage of an exceptionally fast time-to-market. Depending on the desired level of customization, FOO’s travel card solution can be ready to launch in as little as 6 weeks.

Ghady Rayess, Managing Partner at FOO, comments: “With the boom in business and leisure travel since the pandemic, the multi-currency prepaid card has emerged as an indispensable digital payment solution for travelers. As such, global payment solutions are no longer simply a value added benefit. Consumers expect a seamless experience across various touchpoints, both in their daily life and while traveling abroad. We are excited about the opportunities this innovation brings to the industry and look forward to helping partner banks thrive in today’s dynamic market.”

Eaton, CEO and Founder of Chargebacks911, commented on the appointments; “I couldn't be more excited to bring onboard Guy Harris and Eric Hoffman. It is rare to find two financial powerhouses with such acumen, leadership, talent and unparalleled success; and with such diverse backgrounds. We have approached an era that is transforming at an unprecedented rate, both in terms of technology and as an industry. To continue to remain a market leader requires grit, diversity, and contagious passion. Guy and Eric deliver on all three, bringing unmatched expertise to this new era as we propel our award winning platform, to continue our mission.” 

Eaton added; “As chairman, Guy will help steer our strategic vision and global expansion efforts, and Eric is set to make his mark across the business with his hands-on experience and Go-To-Market prowess. I look forward to this next phase in our journey as we continue to challenge the status quo."

“To be named chairman of the world’s leading chargeback management platform with best-in-class technology and blue-chip clients is an incredible honor. I was attracted to the business by Monica’s entrepreneurial talent, and vision to solve the pain points that chargebacks cause for the entire industry,” said Harris. “I am excited to grasp this exciting opportunity to transpose my experience into viable solutions for merchants and financial institutions around the globe and look forward to working with Monica and the leadership team to solidify Chargebacks911 as the undisputed market leader during this exciting period.” 

Hoffman joins Chargebacks911 as President of Interbank Solutions and Board Member to lead new strategic initiatives and scale out the go to market strategy globally. Hoffman arrives straight from Apple, where he was Director of Apple Pay Business Development, and one of the first hires by Apple in 2014 to scale Apple Pay. During his 8 plus years at Apple, he built and managed the business development payment partnerships teams responsible for driving Apple Pay success across the Americas. Hoffman is the current ETA president of the board of directors for 2023, having been on the board for the last eight years. He will continue to drive the ETA’s combined passion for advocacy and education helping to guide the vision and policy agenda of the association for its extensive membership base. 

“I’m thrilled to be entering an entrepreneurial environment with an incredible leadership team to build and scale world class solutions that meet the needs of businesses on a global scale,” said Hoffman. “Monica is a brilliant and dynamic leader with a tremendous vision for the tech that serves merchants, PSPs and card issuers. This combined with Guy, who I’ve worked with for a decade and admired his success at both Bank of America and Elavon, provides a winning formula for our high growth goals.” 

Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payments technology company, has collaborated with Token.io, Europe’s leading account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure provider, to power Pay By Bank transfer capabilities for Flutterwave’s platform. The announcement was made today at the Money20/20 Europe fintech conference in Amsterdam.

A2A payments (often called ‘Pay By Bank’) are a fast and secure way to move money between bank accounts. Open banking-powered A2A payments do not require registration or error-prone data entry, making them a seamless payment method. End-users authenticate A2A payments directly with their bank for a frictionless experience that also delivers higher success rates than market standards. A2A payments offer merchants cost savings compared to traditional payment methods and settle instantly to improve cash flow.

“Our partnership with Token.io will make it even faster and easier for individuals and businesses to pay and receive money,” commented Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave. “By partnering with Token.io to provide Account-to-Account payments to our customers, Flutterwave will advance its mission of connecting Africa to the global economy,” he added.  

“We're confident that Token.io’s infrastructure will help Flutterwave offer its customers a more comprehensive payment solution, with A2A payments being a key part of this for UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa corridors,” said Todd Clyde, CEO of Token.io. “This partnership underscores our commitment to enabling payment providers to grow with open banking powered A2A payments, which are projected to exceed 6.5 billion in annual global volumes by 2027.”

Powered by open banking, Token.io’s A2A infrastructure enables payment providers to launch their own A2A payment capabilities to grow their market share. Token.io offers the highest performing and deepest connectivity for open banking-powered A2A payments in the industry, reaching over 567 million bank accounts (80%+ of accounts per market) in 16 European countries.

Flutterwave is a payments technology company that enables customers including Uber to send and collect payments, process payments, and build financial products. Flutterwave currently supports over a million customers across 34 countries in Africa. Enabled by Token.io’s technology, A2A payment capabilities are now available through Flutterwave’s Collect Payments product for businesses.

Pay By Bank capabilities will also be available on Send by Flutterwave, Flutterwave’s cross-border payment platform, in Q3. This will further simplify money transfer for Africans in the UK/EU looking to send money back home.

Reale Group, a renowned player in the insurance industry which operates in Italy, Spain, and Chile, has selected Fabrick, a pioneer in the Open Finance sector, as its preferred partner to digitise its offerings and enhance the customer experience. Following a successful initial collaboration between the two companies, the partnership has evolved into a strong strategic alliance, marked by Reale Group's investment in Fabrick's shareholding with the acquisition of a minority stake in Fabrick, demonstrating the value recognised in Fabrick and its platform model. 

With the integration of Fabrick's collection and payment management platform by Reale Mutua, Italiana Assicurazioni, and Blue Assistance, the collaboration has yielded numerous benefits for retail customers. To enhance accessibility, the new instant loan product, "Credito assicurativo," has been launched, facilitating monthly premium payments for policyholders, and simplifying proposal and distribution processes within insurance agencies. 

Commenting on the partnership, Massimo Luviè, General Manager of Banca Reale and Co-General Manager of Reale Mutua Assicurazioni, stated:"Reale Group has been actively engaged in digitising its processes and offerings, and we have experienced the tangible benefits of Fabrick's platform model and its innovative capabilities at the highest market levels. By integrating Fabrick's platform into our Reale Ites systems, we have established a robust technological architecture that has digitized operational processes, from premium payment systems to agency accounting. This integration ensures an excellent user experience for our clients and agencies. The flexibility of the front-end systems will also enable us to rapidly evolve and simplify administrative procedures to meet our customers' needs. Our investment in Fabrick's capital confirms our commitment to forging a valuable industrial partnership, with the goal of making financial and insurance services more accessible and user-friendly for our customers." 

Paolo Zaccardi, CEO and co-founder of Fabrick, added: "We are extremely pleased with Reale Group's investment in our company, as it highlights the concrete advantages that Open Finance brings to organisations embracing innovation. Reale Group has first-hand experience of how collaborating with a partner like Fabrick, using an innovative platform that combines open banking with collection, payment, and digital lending services, drives a virtuous transformation process and enables rapid responses to evolving market demands. I am confident that this elevated level of partnership will drive further innovation and simplify financial and insurance services, enhancing the end-customer experience and bringing mutual benefits to both parties." 

Financial institutions (FIs) that run on a true SaaS platform bounce back from market disruption nearly 2.5x faster than their industry peers, according to new research from cloud banking platform Mambu.

The Turning turbulence into triumph report examines how personal lenders, SME lenders and neobanks have navigated disruption in the last three years and highlights the ways financial institutions can develop their resilience moving forward. 

The analysis shows that SaaS-powered financial institutions are more resilient, able to better withstand market shocks and return to growth more quickly - as demonstrated during the pandemic period.

In 2019, financial institutions using a true SaaS platform averaged 47% revenue growth, dropping to 14% when the pandemic hit in 2020. Though growth temporarily dipped, it was still dramatically greater than the rest of the market in 2020: other comparable financial institutions experienced just 1% growth during that year.

This was followed by a steep return to form in 2021, with SaaS FIs achieving 34% growth versus just 10% growth among their non-SaaS peers.

Ben Thomas, Head of Customer Value at Mambu said: “The benchmarking data demonstrates how SaaS technology has aided financial institutions all around the world in developing resilience, protecting them from the most severe economic shocks and enabling them to continue growing in the face of ongoing change. What’s more, the benefits of adaptability are inexpensive. Use of a SaaS platform offers a comparative reduction in core operating expenses, allowing extra funds to be redirected into product innovation - which drives a better customer experience - while building resilience for banks that helps them retain and attract new customers.”

A U-shaped recovery was evident among SaaS-powered financial institutions across personal lending, SME lending and neobank segments. 

The most stark difference in growth was visible in the personal lending sector, with traditional upper tier lenders seeing their loan growth sink from 3% in 2019 to -22% in 2020. In contrast, their SaaS-powered counterparts saw a much shallower drop from 52% to 44% over the same period. 

SME lenders fared better than their personal lending counterparts in keeping revenues above the line in 2020, with those run on a SaaS core achieving annual loans growth rate of 7%. Their traditional counterparts didn’t reach this level of growth until 2021, by which point SaaS-powered SME lenders had pulled ahead to 28% growth. 

The benchmarks were created using internal Mambu data on the annual financial results of existing customers and publicly available financial reports from external parties (S&P Capital IQ). The data was drawn from the year ends 2019, 2020 and 2021 across EMEA, APAC and LATAM. 

The findings demonstrate that the pandemic’s disruption created the necessary conditions for change in the banking industry, and that financial institutions built on a SaaS core are better positioned to convert disruption into commercial opportunity. 

To read the full Turning turbulence into triumph report, please visit - https://mambu.com/insights/reports/disruption-diaries-turning-turbulence-into-triumph.

Onfido, the global leader in automated identity verification, today announced it has achieved ETSI TS 119 461 certification, the latest European technical standards for identity proofing and trust services by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). This allows Onfido to act as an Identity Proofing Service Provider (IPSP) for Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSP) and support know your customer (KYC) for anti-money laundering (AML) regulated businesses. The independent certification establishes Onfido as the first global provider to support customers’ international expansion ambitions with ETSI and the UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework certification.

ETSI Standards

ETSI supports EU regulations, such as Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services (eIDAS), that standardise electronic trust services and digital identity across the EU. Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing Customer Due Diligence requires KYC, which can be achieved using ETSI-compliant remote identity proofing solutions. Certifying for ETSI TS 119 461 distinguishes Onfido’s ability to serve globally and comply locally. 

Onfido achieved the comprehensive certification by completing an extensive audit process, meeting strict criteria which verifies both that the solutions adhere to the highest security, interoperability and assurance standards, and that Onfido is a mature, reputable and established provider.

Organisations, especially those subject to AML requirements, can partner with Onfido when expanding into European markets, keeping their business and customers safe from emerging fraud attack vectors, such as synthetic fraud, and future-proofing against evolving regulation.

Onfido is the identity verification provider of choice for leading, established European financial services and fintechs such as Bank Millennium, HYPE, Mollie and BUX, and mobility providers Europcar, Voi, Bolt and Hely.

“Conforming to local standards allows us to maintain business continuity. It enables us to innovate locally and achieve a competitive advantage with a frictionless KYC experience for our customers,” said Tomasz Brzostowski, Head of Digital Sales, Bank Millennium.

Navigating compliance to unlock new markets

The regulatory landscape is challenging for organisations to navigate with a patchwork of local and global compliance standards and the continuously evolving sophistication of fraud. ETSI TS 119 461 ensures that providers and their solutions are secure and deliver a higher level of assurance to be deployed and accepted across the EU. 

“Regulation is essential for ensuring secure access to online services, preventing fraudulent activity and encouraging innovation,” said Francesca Porter, General Counsel at Onfido. “ETSI TS 119 461 for identity verification provides a new standard for security, interoperability and assurance across the industry while setting the foundation for issuing trust services in future, such as qualified electronic signatures (QES). We will continue to support organisations in meeting their compliance needs with resources dedicated to tracking regulation as it evolves and factoring it into our product roadmap.”

With the emergence of new forms of digital identity, such as eIDs, and an evolving fraud landscape, regulations are periodically updated to reflect business and consumer needs. Download the EU KYC requirements whitepaper to get a digest on what the future looks like for navigating regulation and compliance.

Organisations can integrate Onfido’s end-to-end identity platform for verifying user identity for the purposes of meeting compliance requirements and preventing fraud. It combines a comprehensive suite of products, including:

• Verification Suite featuring document and biometric verification, trust data sources, and fraud detection signals.
• Smart Capture SDKs that make it simple to integrate best-in-class capture experiences to web and mobile applications.
• Onfido Studio that enables businesses to coordinate the identity platform and build tailored workflows in a drag-and-drop interface to meet their unique requirements.

Zumo, the B2B digital assets infrastructure, today announces the launch of Oxygen, a world-first decarbonising crypto solution for financial institutions prioritising ESG.

The launch, held at Money 2020 Europe in Amsterdam, comes one year after Zumo and its partner Zero Labs, a renewable-energy-as-a-service company building programmable decarbonisation technologies, were awarded a grant by Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, to fund research into the decarbonisation of crypto, specifically finding practical ways in which wallets and platforms can scale the use of renewable energy. 

Oxygen enables Zumo’s clients, including banks and asset managers, to provide ESG-aligned, future-proofed crypto offerings to their customers. The targeted solution combines the forecasting and calculation of crypto electricity consumption with standard industry data, and uses renewable energy procurement in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to ensure crypto or blockchain activities are transparently and verifiably powered by renewables. This helps Zumo’s clients reduce the electricity-based Scope 3 emissions associated with their crypto offerings and prove it.

The launch of Oxygen follows the successful completion of Zumo’s Zero Hero pilot project, a live trial to buy RECs to compensate for the electricity usage of Bitcoin bought via a direct-to-consumer crypto app, which is powered by Zumo’s infrastructure. 

£1.5 million worth of Bitcoin was covered by Zero Hero REC purchases, with a total of 850 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity compensated via the programme – enough energy to drive an electric vehicle for over 2.6 million miles*. Zumo also bought 126.36 MWh for the purpose of decarbonising Ethereum’s historical emissions (and Zumo’s ETH holdings), participating in the Blocks.garden initiative. 

Nick Jones, Co-Founder and CEO, Zumo, said: 

“The associated carbon footprint can be a huge elephant in the room when it comes to rolling out a digital asset product. With Oxygen, the first solution of its type, we’re offering businesses practical ways to meet customer demand for digital assets whilst mitigating environmental challenges, and demonstrating positive, ESG-aligned action.”

“Oxygen empowers banks, asset managers, and other financial institutions to align their digital asset offering with their wider net zero strategy and make verifiable decarbonisation claims. We’re extremely proud of today’s launch, which follows a lot of hard work together with our friends at Zero Labs. I hope it sends a positive signal to the rest of the market about exactly what’s possible.”

Beltran Berrocal, Co-Founder and CEO, Zero Labs, added: 

“We’re excited to expand our work with Zumo, who is at the forefront of programmable decarbonisation, creating new green and smart services to provably decarbonise the crypto and financial industries, while also upholding maximum transparency and following industry best practices and sustainability reporting standards.”

“Oxygen’s launch is interesting because, firstly, it showcases the power of digital renewable energy, and secondly it corrects the historically bad reputation of crypto’s energy consumption by showing that buying crypto can actually become a source of new demand for renewable energy.”

The decarbonisation of crypto is one of the most pressing challenges facing the nascent digital assets sector. Zumo has taken a lead in the industry response, and has released a series of seminal reports that are shaping the direction of travel [available at zumo.tech/crypto-knowledge-hub]. Zumo has also won a number of awards for its work, including ‘Best Application of ESG’ at City AM’s 2022 ‘Crypto AM’ awards.

In October 2022, Zumo became a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Crypto Sustainability Coalition. Part of the wider Crypto Impact and Sustainability Accelerator, the Coalition explored how blockchain tools can be better leveraged to contribute to meaningful progress towards positive climate action. In April 2023, the WEF released a subsequent insight report, entitled ‘Guidelines for improving blockchain’s environmental, social and economic impact’ which featured Zumo’s Zero Hero project as an industry case study. 

NetDania, part of United Fintech, today announced it has been selected by Citi to provide advanced charting and data visualisation on its platform, Velocity 3.0.

“The Velocity OS was purpose-built to allow for an ecosystem of partnerships; and we see our clients benefitting greatly from NetDania’s rich data visualisation and advanced charting tools”, said David O’Byrne, Global Product Head of FX Platforms and Distribution at Citi.

Client-Centric Innovation: Accelerating the Development of Cutting-Edge Solutions

As a leader in charting and data visualisation solutions for the financial industry, NetDania empowers institutional customers with innovative tools for optimal data analysis, decision-making and customer value creation. With expertise in Market Data Solutions and Trading Technology, NetDania shapes the status quo and future of the industry through unparalleled capabilities, and according to NetDania’s co-CEO Rasmus A. Bagger, the ability to accelerate development is what he believes prompts financial institutions to expand their engagement with NetDania:

“NetDania provides high-performance charting and data management services. With our flexible Open API structure, we offer full customisation to meet diverse needs and we're very thrilled to bring these capabilities to Citi’s Velocity 3.0 platform”, he concludes.

Established in 1998, NetDania has emerged as a leading figure in financial technology. With a firm foothold in the industry, NetDania specialises in providing cutting-edge solutions to meet the evolving needs of the financial sector. NetDania’s core pillars Market Data Solutions, Data Visualisation, and Trading Technology, form the backbone of its offerings. 

Ryft, an FCA-licensed UK fintech providing PSD2-compliant payments systems for marketplaces and their merchants, has worked with St Helena Government to enable businesses on the island to accept in-person, real-time electronic Visa and Mastercard card payments for the first time. St Helena Government aims to have multiple businesses and Government departments onboarded in the coming months, and it is hoped that the move will drive up visitor spending by 10 per cent by the end of 2024 as part of Government’s digital transformation and tourism recovery strategies.

St Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean more than 1,200 miles off the west coast of southern Africa, has a population of under 4,500 and its economy is heavily dependent on tourism, predominantly from the UK and South Africa. The island’s remoteness and small size have meant it has historically struggled to access international merchant payment platforms. As a result, visitors have previously only been able to conduct transactions in cash (using either Sterling or St Helena Pounds, which are tied to GBP) – and with cash withdrawals only possible in person at the Bank of St Helena on the island and neighbouring Ascension, and incurring a five per cent fee, this has been a drag on tourist spending. 

By making it easier for visitors to spend money around the island, the ability for local businesses and organisations to accept Visa and Mastercard payments should improve the visitor experience and contribute to economic growth on the island.

Mark Brooks, Minister for the Treasury, Infrastructure, and Sustainable Development Portfolio at St Helena Government, said: “Barriers resulting from our remoteness have meant that technology adoption has always been delayed on our small and isolated island – the internet didn’t arrive until 1995, and mobile phones weren’t commonplace until 2015. But digital transformation is at the heart of our plans for economic growth as we work hard to recover from the hammer blows dealt to the tourism industry by the Covid-19 pandemic. We couldn’t accept any longer the barriers our cash-based economy put in front of cruise passengers and other tourists, limiting their ability and appetite to spend with our local businesses. Many larger companies simply aren’t interested in the challenge of solving problems like these in circumstances like ours – we’re pleased to be working with Ryft, who were innovative and agile enough to take an interest and find a solution.”

Businesses on St Helena can now apply directly to Ryft to be able to accept Visa and Mastercard payments, with funds able to be deposited in Bank of St Helena and UK bank accounts. Ryft has worked to develop a bespoke and streamlined application and onboarding process to account for the fact that St Helena’s local laws and practices differ from the UK’s, preventing businesses from supplying some of the documentation that would usually be required, while maintaining compliance standards.

“We often find ourselves being approached to solve problems for partners where nobody else has been able to, so we were excited to support St Helena Government in this important and ambitious drive to transform the island’s economy. As tourist destinations around the world continue to adapt and rebound in the post-pandemic world, reducing barriers to spending and supporting local businesses is a critical part of the recovery and regrowth process. We’re pleased to be part of that for St Helena, and look forward to working together to see what we can achieve next,” said Sadra Hosseini, co-founder and CEO at Ryft.

Ryft announced its £1.2 million seed funding round, led by SFC Capital, in September 2022, and secured its FCA licence in April 2023.