Ebury, a leading global fintech specialising in international payments, FX solutions and business lending, announces plans to strengthen its proposition in Brazil and Latin America. 

Expansion in Latin America is a key area of Ebury’s global growth strategy and builds on its acquisition of Bexs, which was announced last year. Bexs is a Brazilian bank with over 30 years of experience in international payments and FX risk management. It also offers foreign trade solutions for SMEs and scalable technological solutions (API) to major digital players such as Nubank, Ebanx, Nuvei and PPRO. 

As part of its growth plans, Ebury will strengthen its team in Brazil and launch more products locally,  such as their multi-currency accounts, which will be a game-changer for Brazilian importers and exporters. 

Ebury will also be able to bring product upgrades to its Brazilian operations. It has invested heavily in scalable API solutions for businesses, such as its white-labelled proposition, which seamlessly integrates with third-party systems. Other launches include the expansion of their  Currency Account offering, increasing global coverage. 'Ebury recently launched its 11th local  Currency Account in Singapore (SGD), which positions them as a leading market player, offering the  most comprehensive suite of local collection accounts in the industry.' 

Ebury will announce its detailed plan as part of its participation in Money 20/20 Europe, to be held from June 6 to 8 in Amsterdam. The event brings together fintechs from around the world to exchange experiences and knowledge about the universe of payments and other innovations, such as cryptocurrencies, digital wallets, and artificial intelligence. 

Fernando Pierri, Global Chief Commercial Officer at Ebury based in Brazil commented: "We are delighted to be showcasing Ebury’s expansion plan and new digital solutions at Money 20/20. Brazil  is an important growth area for Ebury – it is a country of continental dimensions with over 170 million  people connected to the internet, offering tremendous potential for growth in international trade.” 

“As markets are increasingly connected globally, Ebury’s services are designed to deliver secure,  frictionless international transactions whilst giving businesses greater confidence to deal with FX  volatility. Our expansion will digitally connect Brazilian importers and exporters to Asia, North  America, Europe and other regions.”

Sumsub, a global verification platform providing customisable Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), transaction monitoring, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions for the whole customer journey, today releases new fraud statistics for the United Kingdom and Europe, highlighting that forced verification and deepfakes are on the rise. 

The findings, based on anonymised verification data collected by Sumsub from its clients, show forced verification has emerged as a growing trend worldwide. In Germany alone, forced verification grew by 1500% as a proportion of all fraud cases, from 0.3% in the full year 2022 to 5% of all fraud in Q1 2023. 

In Great Britain and Europe, as well as in North America, the proportion of deepfakes among all fraud cases grew considerably from 2022 to Q1 2023. This proportion jumped from 1.2% to 5.9% in the UK, from 1.5% to 7.6% in Germany, and from 0.5% to 5% in Italy. Simultaneously, printed forgeries, which represented 16% – 23% of all fraud in 2022, dropped to 0.1% and less last quarter. 

Industries impacted by fraud

Sumsub’s internal statistics highlight the following trends in digital fraud in Great Britain within various industries:

• The proportion of fraud cases within the consulting industry tripled (from 1% to 3%);

• Fraud rates in crypto services nearly doubled and reached 1.6% in Q1 2023, however fintech sector fraud figures decreased from 3% to 1%;

• The e-commerce industry showed 1.3% of fraud cases in 2022 - growing 1.5-fold;

• As for Q1 2023, IT service platforms demonstrated relatively high fraud rates of 1.5%.

Sumsub’s findings also found interesting trends across continental Europe:

• The shared mobility industry experienced the highest percentage of fraud cases (4% in Spain and 3.6% in France);

• From Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, like in the UK, fraud rates in consulting grew – from 1.3% to 4% in Germany, from 0.4% to 2.8% in France, and from 1.4% to 3.6% in Spain;

Last quarter the proportion of fraud in crypto and fintech was significant, constituting over 2% in Spain and over 1.1% in Germany, whereas in France crypto fraud grew from 1.8% to 3.8% in Q1 2023 compared to Q1 2022.

Sumsub’s internal experts have observed a rising trend of past-KYC stage scams across all industries, which underlines the importance of the full-cycle verification to protect the whole user journey.

Document fraud trends

As for the document types being used for online verification, according to Sumsub global data, the most popular document for identity checks in the UK, like in the US, is driver’s license, while in continental Europe ID cards are predominant. The least secure document type in the EU is passport (with fraud levels as high as 5% in Spain and 3.3% in Germany), but in the UK ID cards are being forged most often (3.4% of cases).

The dynamics with fraud types between Q1 2022–Q1 2023 is worthy of attention. Last year, the top three fraud types were:

• Liveness bypass, a method of fraud where criminals swapp-in or edit biometric data (23% of all fraud in the UK and France, 25% in Spain);

• Printed documents (over 17% in Britain and France and over 20% in Italy and Spain);

• Edited ID card (21% in the UK and 22% in Germany). 

Last quarter, the top three fraud types in both the UK and EU were identity document forgery (40% of all fraud in Britain and Italy, and over 25% – in Germany and Spain), liveness bypass (about 13-16% of all fraud cases) and edited ID card (14-16% in the UK, France and Germany).

Identifying who is committing fraud

The oldest fraudsters in the world are in the US. In Q1 2022, their average age was 43 years old and shifted to around 40 in Q1 2023. In the UK, the average age of fraudsters was 32 in Q1 2022 and 35 years old in Q1 2023.

As for the gender breakdown, in Q1 2022, a third (34%) of all fraudsters in the UK were female. In Q1 2023, females represented only 21% of fraudsters in Great Britain.

In 2022, the most popular hour for committing fraud in the UK was 2 p.m. GMT, and in Q1 2023, it was 12 p.m. In Great Britain, the lowest amount of fraud happened at 4-5 a.m. GMT in 2022–2023.

Commenting on the report, Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Head of AI & ML at Sumsub, said: “We’ve seen a pattern of forced verification globally, when it is visible that a person whose photo is taken or who’s passing the liveness check is doing so involuntarily while being held by others’ force. It is alarming that the proportion of such fraud is growing. Likewise, sometimes the person being verified is obviously unconscious—maybe sleeping, perhaps not feeling well, or potentially even under the influence of substances. This means that he or she is not actively and agreeably participating in the KYC process, which may lead to crime and financial fraud, for example, if not detected and stopped in time. Luckily, such cases are not yet very common, but their existence is a red flag.

“Deepfakes have become easier to make and, consequently, their quantity has multiplied, as is also evident from the statistics. To create a deepfake, a fraudster uses a real person’s document, taking a photo of it and turning it into a 3D persona. Anti-fraud and verification providers who do not work constantly to update deepfake detection technologies are lagging behind and put both businesses and users at risk. Upgrading deepfake detection technology is an essential part of modern effective verification and anti-fraud systems,” Goldman-Kalaydin added.

Money20/20, the world’s leading fintech show has officially welcomed Bangkok as the host city for Money20/20 Asia to be held on April 23-25th in 2024 at  Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. The destination city was chosen due to its growing global reputation as a hotbed of fintech growth in Asia. Bangkok becomes Money20/20’s third host city, joining Amsterdam and Las Vegas which welcome over 20, 000 fintech and financial services professionals globally.  

Founded by the industry, for the industry in 2011, Money20/20 has become the place where the world of money does business, featuring world-famous speakers drawn from a wide variety of sectors and thousands of companies from across the entire digital money ecosystem including the world’s largest banks, the largest digital payments companies, wealthtech, insure tech, neobanks, regulators, government agencies, and investment firms.  

More than 30 high-profile speakers and partners have already confirmed to participate in the  April 2024 show. Confirmed key speakers from Singapore include Grace Chong, Head of  Financial Regulatory, Singapore, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Oi-Yee Choo, Chief Executive  Officer at ADDX and Alfred Shang, Managing Partner at BitRock Capital.  

“I am honoured to be part of Money20/20 Asia, where industry leaders, regulators, and innovators will come together to discuss the latest trends and opportunities in fintech.,” said  Grace Chong, Head of Finanial Regualory at Giboson, Sunn and Crutcher LLP. “As Singapore  emerges as a leading fintech hub in Asia, it will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping the  region’s regulatory landscape, and Money 20/20 Asia provides a valuable platform to share  insights, exchange ideas and drive meaningful discussions on regulatory challenges and  opportunities in the ever-evolving financial ecosystem.” 

In Singapore, fintech continues to be a major driver of economic and societal growth and development. Key features of the growing industry include the rising penetration of digital financial technology, the accelerated adoption of online payment systems and its embeddedness into e-commerce. In line with Singapore’s ambitions of becoming a regional green financial hub, emerging fintech trends include the use of blockchain technologies and  Artificial Intelligence in the finance industry across diverse fronts. 

“Money20/20 was founded to help the world of digital money do business together. So I’m delighted that we are now officially welcoming Bangkok and the whole of Asia into our global community. Our view is that given the economic challenges faced by the rest of the world today, Asia has a real opportunity to drive the global narrative in fintech and financial services over the coming years and we’re humbled by the incredibly warm welcome that  Thailand, the Asia fintech community and our many Thai and regional partners have given us already. We can’t wait for next April”, said Tracey Davies, President of Money20/20.  

Money20/20 puts a strong emphasis on gender diversity and inclusion and is proud to present a speaker lineup from the entire ecosystem of digital money with close to 50% of the speakers being women. The diversity also extends to geography with representation from thirteen countries across APAC including Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia,  Singapore, Indonesia, China, Japan, India, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.  

When it comes to customer relationship management software, B2Core is the gold standard. The company just announced a new set of improvements that would drastically improve the efficiency of operations for financial companies. A series of four new features added to B2Core bring a host of new features to give brokers and exchanges an edge over their competitors.

Let's find out more about each of these intriguing features.

Feature #1: New Event Notifications Module

B2Core's first and most interesting new feature is a sophisticated Event Notification module, which gives admin users unprecedented control over notification settings. Administrators can customize event notifications by selecting from a wide variety of 27 different options, such as withdrawal requests, successful registrations, and more. 

Administrators are alerted instantly via push notifications whenever an incident occurs, allowing them to respond appropriately and quickly. Additionally, multiple admin users can be added in the "Users" section to receive specific notifications, which encourages teamwork and keeps everyone in the loop. Conveniently, you may get event alerts by email, SMS, Slack, or by the recently added Telegram. 

The "System-Templates" tab makes it simple for admins to set up their favorite channels. All the alerts for the user can be found in the user card, making it easy to always have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips.

For further details, consult the official B2Core documentation page for more information on the Event Notifications module. You can also access the How-To Guide and the References page to get a better understanding of the new functionality.

Feature #2: Seamless Telegram Integration

Another exciting and much-needed feature is the integration with the Telegram messaging app. To start receiving Telegram notifications, users need to link their Telegram chat ID with their B2Core Back Office account, which will allow instantaneous delivery of relevant information. You can do this in the admin's card under System — Users — Edit user.

Within the B2Core platform, customers can easily configure Telegram notifications by creating customized notification templates in the System — Templates — Telegram section. Telegram's event alerts help clients of B2Core be more responsive and make better decisions. 

You can get more detailed instructions on how to install Telegram templates and bots, as well as how to locate your unique chat ID with the official documentation by B2Core.

Feature #3: Advanced cTrader Data

The next feature is access to more advanced cTrader data, including detailed trading insights and analytic tools. Indicators, such as Equity, Balance, Leverage, Credit, and Free funds, are now available to traders, giving them a complete picture of their accounts. 

The improved understanding and decision-making capabilities resulting from these insights will be highly beneficial to traders. The platform also includes graphical interfaces for visualizing stock indicators over time, giving cTrader account users a new way to examine trends and performance over varying time intervals. 

Moreover, traders can now access real-time data on user orders, open positions, executed trades, and more in one convenient location, allowing them to fine-tune their strategies and reach their full potential.

Feature #4: Streamlined Bulk Deposit Functionality

Last but not least, B2Core has added the bulk deposit feature for customer accounts. The new tool lets admins perform bulk deposit operations by just uploading a CSV file — containing Email, ID, and precise amount of funds — to the "Update Balances" window within the "Accounts" section.

This improved functionality helps brokers and financial institutions save time and avoid different mistakes. Streamlined bulk deposits will help brokers to devote more time to strategic projects and provide superior service to their clients.

Final Verdict

B2Core's latest update marks a significant milestone in the evolution of CRM solutions for brokers and exchanges. By introducing Enhanced Event Notifications, Seamless Telegram Integration, Advanced cTrader Data Insights, and Streamlined Bulk Deposit Functionality, B2Core solidifies its position as the preferred choice for industry professionals worldwide. 

Keep up with the latest news as B2Core transforms CRM for the finance industry!

An agreement between BKN301, a Banking-as-a-Service fintech company with a focus on high-growth markets, and the municipality of Tbilisi enables, for the first time in the country, digital payments on taxis in the Georgian capital, on which until now it was only possible to pay in cash.

Through 'Keepz', citizens and tourists will be able to carry out transactions by simply scanning a QR code with their smartphone.

Every taxi driver in the city will be equipped with a QR code through which passengers will be able to pay for their ride, simply by scanning it with their smartphone and using Apple/Google Pay as a payment method, without the need to register with any platform. Payment is immediate and the taxi driver will receive the sum directly to their bank account.

With the evolution of technology, the increasing popularity of mobile devices and better internet connectivity, Georgia is experiencing significant growth in digital/card payments, which, from about total transaction number of 254 billion in 2018, surpassed 670 billion in 2022 averaging 28% CAGR in last 10 years. A growth that is also being contributed by the increase in the number of tourists, from around 6 million in 2015 to over 9 million in 2019 and an increase in the tourism revenues where 1Q23 level already surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 level by 37.5%, who are also looking for easy ways of payment in the Georgian capital that go beyond the traditional use of cash.

Kakha Kaladze, Mayor of Tbilisi, says "As of today, taxi fares can only be paid in cash, as drivers do not have the opportunity to purchase bank terminals. The company BKN301 offered us an interesting proposal. I think this is an innovative and fast method of receiving payments using QR code. QR codes will be placed on the backs of car seats or other places. The customer will scan the QR code with his mobile phone and easily pay the fare, and the taxi driver will instantly receive the money in his bank account".

Stiven Muccioli, CEO & Founder of BKN301, says: “The new solution developed for the municipality of Tbilisi demonstrates, once again, how a digital payment culture starts with projects that have a concrete impact on people's lives. Together with Mayor Kakha Kaladze, we have come up with a simple and user-friendly solution for both customers and taxi drivers that will help the City evolve starting from an extremely important sector such as mobility. The hope now is that, given the extreme usefulness of Keepz, the service will spread throughout all the cities of Georgia.”.

The Forex Traders Summit Dubai 2023 - Third Edition, a two-day event held on May 17-18, 2023, at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, was a resounding success. The event brought together more than 5,000 traders, investors, and industry experts from 46 countries, making it one of the largest forex trading events in the world.

Sponsored by more than 50 institutions, the event featured discussion sessions and seminars from more than 70 speakers, providing attendees with valuable insights into the forex trading industry. In addition to the educational aspect, the event also provided an opportunity for new clients to open live trading accounts, resulting in more than 233 contracts with a value of deposits of $5.2 million.

The B2B system was also a highlight of the event, with sponsors signing more than 80 IBs agency contracts, providing a platform for growth and expansion for all involved.

Dr. Mohammed Elnozamy, Chairman and Managing Director at Smart Vision said:

“We are thrilled by the turnout and excitement for this year’s Dubai Traders Summit. The record number of attendees, sponsors, and speaker sessions demonstrates the value of face-to-face events in this industry. Dubai has cemented its status as a global hub for traders and trading companies alike.”  

XS.com, the multinational global FinTech and financial services provider was the Global Partner of the event. The XS.com team also conducted two seminars across both days, and participated in multiple panels throughout the event. The Global Multi-Asset Broker was also awarded the “Best Multi Asset Broker” & “Best B2B broker awards at the closing ceremony of the event.

Andreea Ilies, the Global Head of Events at XS.com, said:

“I am delighted to see that our participation in the Dubai Traders Summit exceeded our expectations. The interest and response we received from attendees were phenomenal - a true testament to the relevance and impact of our work in the industry. This success reaffirms our belief in the power of shared ideas and interactive experiences as we look forward to carrying this momentum into all our future endeavours!”

The success of the event was a testament to the growing interest in forex trading and investment in the region, and for this, we thank all of our sponsors, speakers, and attendees for their support and participation in this year's event. 

We look forward to welcoming attendees to the next edition of the summit which will return in 2024 for its 4th edition, continuing its mission of educating traders, driving industry innovation, and facilitating collaboration across the trading world.

• 26.05.2023 -- 05:21 pm

Mastercard will foster game-changing conversations at Open Banking Expo Canada, which takes place in Toronto on June 15, 2023.

This marks the first year that Mastercard is headline partner of Open Banking Expo’s flagship Canadian event.

This year’s Canada Expo will bring together more than 500 Open Banking, Open Finance and Open Payments executives from the financial services and fintech ecosystem at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Darrell MacMullin, senior vice president, products and platforms of Mastercard Canada, said: “The announcement of Canada’s new Open Banking framework is the first step in the evolution of Canada’s financial system, which will transform the way Canadian businesses and consumers securely manage their data and finances. As a global company, we understand how to leverage the power of our network to deliver Open Banking solutions and look forward to sharing our expertise and engaging in conversations about the future of Open Banking in Canada at this year’s Open Banking Expo.”  

Mastercard, which has global expertise in consumer protections, data privacy, global fraud identification, and secure connectivity and is managing Open Banking solutions in a number of markets, will bring a holistic approach to the Open Banking discussion, helping to solve fintechs’ and banks’ need for great digital enablement with secured commercial scale.

Attendees and speakers will gather to debate how a “made-in-Canada” Open Banking roadmap is taking shape and answer the questions that remain, following a slower-than-desired start to implementation. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Mastercard onboard as headline partner of Open Banking Expo Canada,” said Adam Cox, co-founder of Open Banking Expo.

“With September’s announcement from Finance Canada fast approaching, the time is now for Canada’s Open Banking and Open Finance ecosystem to deliver change, choice and value for Canadian consumers and businesses.”

Cox added: “The team and I are hugely proud and excited to be playing a part in building Canada’s financial ecosystem of tomorrow, today.”

The first tranche of speakers from banks, credit unions, fintechs, solutions providers and industry bodies, have already been announced, including Finance Canada’s Open Banking Lead, Abraham Tachjian, who will deliver an update ahead of September’s Open Banking roadmap announcement.

Among those who have also been confirmed as speakers are Geetika Tiwari, business director, enterprise payments transformation at CIBC, Jamie Kruspel, Mainstreet’s chief transformation officer, Mauricio Deutsch, banking and capital markets leader at GFT and chief executive officer of Women Corporate Directors Foundation, Jennifer Reynolds.

Find out more about Open Banking Expo Canada here.

The European Central Bank has published today the summary and the lessons learned from the prototyping exercise it has conducted from July 2022 to February 2023 to test how design choices for the digital euro could be technically implemented and integrated into the existing European payments landscape.

The tests showed that it is possible to smoothly integrate them, while leaving ample scope for innovative features and technologies. The findings also confirmed that a digital euro would work both online and offline, using independent designs, thus increasing the resilience of the digital euro.

The prototyping exercise is an important part of the investigation phase of the digital euro project. This project was launched by the ECB and the euro area national central banks to ensure that central bank money remains accessible in the digital age. The investigation phase commenced in October 2021 and will be concluded in autumn 2023. It aims to address key issues relating to the design and distribution of a digital euro.

Nexi was selected in 2022 as one of the five companies to provide front-end prototypes to test different payment use cases. In particular, Nexi was chosen for the point-of-sale payments initiated by the payee use case.

“We are honoured to have been chosen to support the European Central Bank during the investigation phase of the digital euro”, commented Roberto Catanzaro, Chief Business Officer Merchant Solutions of Nexi Group and member of the Digital Euro Market Advisory Group. “An engaging user and merchant experience is paramount to ensure wide adoption of the digital euro and we have brought our best expertise in both acceptance and mobile payments technologies to set a clear way forward.”