Temenos today announced that it has achieved a market-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +54 following a survey of over 900 customer contacts. NPS, an industry standard KPI, measures the propensity of customers to promote Temenos to prospective customers. The score is reflective of Temenos’ status as the most trusted banking platform provider and leading position in the industry driving customer success and business growth.

Trust in Temenos is built on its experience working with 3,000 banking clients, from more than 150 countries, across all segments from the very largest banks to the nimblest new challengers, helping them gain business agility and launch products faster, deliver outstanding customer experiences and scale efficiently. Banks are putting their trust in Temenos to run their mission critical business as its banking platform has proven its robustness and resilience over the years.

By delivering tangible business value, Temenos continues to grow and lead the industry, with major new customer wins in 2023 including a top-30 US bank for core modernization in the cloud, a top 20 US regional bank for core banking in its UK commercial banking operations, and the largest non-bank global B2B payments provider selecting Temenos to modernize its payments infrastructure in the cloud to name but a few.

According to the NPS survey, one of the key factors driving customers to recommend Temenos to others is its product capabilities, which have been further enhanced in the past year with innovative product developments such as the launch of Temenos Enterprise Services. These end-to-end SaaS services for retail, business and corporate banking come with over 120 pre-packaged banking products and 700 pre-configured APIs, enabling banks to deploy software solutions in just 24 hours and significantly reduce modernization costs, complexity and risk while accelerating time to value. Temenos also recently announced Leap, a new AI-powered offering that helps customers to modernize faster and to seamlessly and quickly move to the latest cloud-native Temenos technology.

Andreas Andreades, Chief Executive Officer, Temenos, said: “We continue to invest relentlessly in our cloud-native banking platform with its single code and configuration base whether this is in core, payments or digital. This means that all banks, regardless of size and segment, can take advantage of our platform now and into the future.  Our consistent strategy and focus on the banking industry has allowed us to grow our customer base to 3000 banking clients, deliver sustainable growth and profitability and be recognised by industry analysts and benchmarks as the leading banking technology provider.  This impressive NPS result reflects the trust and loyalty that customers have towards Temenos and the market leadership we have built and developed over the last 30 years and for this I would like to thank them.”

As well as generating valuable feedback from Temenos clients, the NPS survey also resulted in the planting of 650 trees as part of an ESG initiative linked to customer participation in the survey. This is part of Temenos’ wider commitment to sustainability as reflected in its position in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook.

Temenos is consistently ranked the #1 best-selling banking software and was named the market leader across eight categories in the IBS Sales League Table 2023, including core banking, digital, and payments. Temenos was also recognized by Omdia as a market leader in Cloud-based Core Banking and Digital Banking Platforms in 2023, as well as receiving an investment grade rating from Fitch Ratings, with a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of ‘BBB’ with a stable outlook, and a senior unsecured rating of ‘BBB’.

Brite Payments, a leader in instant bank payments, today announced that it has joined The Payments Association EU as a Patron Member. The membership underlines Brite’s commitment to industry collaboration as it expands its product offering across Europe. 

Brite Payments enables instant account-to-account (A2A) payments and payouts, leveraging Europe’s open banking infrastructure. One of Sweden’s fastest-growing fintechs, Brite announced a $60 million fundraise in October 2023 and is expanding its presence in markets across Europe in 2024, while investing in its technology stack – most notably Brite Instant Payments Network (Brite IPN), the company’s proprietary network for processing instant payments. 

The Payments Association EU provides a forum for industry collaboration, where members can share best practices and work together to strengthen the broader payments sector. Together with its partner organisations in the UK and Asia, The Payments Association EU promotes secure, efficient, and innovative payment solutions, while safeguarding the interests of consumers and businesses. 

“Instant payments are shaking up the status quo in European payments and emerging as one of the most promising use cases for the open banking framework,” said Thibault de Barsy, Vice-Chairman & General Manager, The Payments Association EU. “Brite Payments are championing this emerging category of payments and we are thrilled to welcome them to The Payments Association EU.”

By collaborating with The Payments Association, Brite aims to support the Association's mission, as well as growing awareness of the potential of instant bank payments to address merchant pain points. In a macroeconomic environment that remains challenging, businesses are actively looking for ways to more effectively manage payments – including integrating payment methods that allow them to reduce operational costs and address fraud threats. 

“The Payments Association EU brings our industry together and advocates strongly for its members – and for the broader payments ecosystem,” said Lena Hackelöer, Founder & CEO, Brite Payments. “As instant payments gain traction across Europe, we are looking forward to playing an active role in the Association and addressing common challenges together, as well as sharing best practices on navigating the evolving regulatory landscape – this is more important than ever with PSD3 and the PSR on the horizon.”

Revolut, the financial global super app with over 35 million customers around the world, and 8+ million in the UK, has announced its latest scam data for 2023, revealing that the majority of all its reported scam cases in the UK started on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp).

Across its UK customer base in 2023, Revolut found that 60% of all of its reported UK scam cases originated from just three sources: Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp. Additionally, 33% of the total value of all money lost to scams began on Meta platforms across the same period. The use of Meta platforms as the primary originator of scams is only increasing, rising from 52% of all reported cases in the UK in the first half of the year, to 66% in the six months to the end of December 2023

The stark figures showed a similar trend across Revolut’s European markets, with 61% of all EEA (European Economic Area) reported scam cases originating from Meta, and 37% of the total value of all money lost to scams, starting from the social media giant.

Type of scams

Revolut found that a range of scams were being used to con people. The two most common types were Investment Scams, where individuals are promised “get-rich-quick” opportunities in exchange for “investing” large amounts of money, and Purchase Scams where people are conned into buying items that don’t exist or aren’t as advertised. 

Revolut’s data showed that 59% of all money lost to scams came through investment scams in 2023, despite only representing 17% of the total number of cases, showing that life-changing sums of money were being lost across comparatively few cases. Conversely, Purchase Scams were the most common type of scam, representing 50% of UK scam cases across the same period, but less than 6% of the overall value lost, showing that smaller scams were more common but with lower monetary losses.

Online vs Phone scams

Revolut found that criminals preferred using the internet as a way to con people out of their money, with 86% of all scams in H2 2023 committed online, whilst scams carried out over the phone represented just 11% of all cases.

Woody Malouf, Group Head of Financial Crime at Revolut, who yesterday spoke at a Home Affairs Select Committee on fraud, said: “At Revolut, we are committed to preventing scams and saving customers' money from ruthless criminals. However, it has become increasingly clear that Meta platforms are being used as a hotbed for scams. Our data not only shows that scams are being facilitated through social media platforms, but that investment scams in particular are resulting in life changing sums of money being stolen. We urge our customers to avoid so-called “investment opportunities'' promoted through such platforms. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

“We are fully determined to protect our customers as best we can through our fraud prevention technologies, but there is no denying that this is an issue that also needs to be tackled at source to have any hope of being beaten. 

“Banks and financial institutions should be the last line of defence, not the only line of defence.”

Revolut takes fraud and the industry-wide risk of customers being scammed by organised criminals, very seriously. Protected by a 2,500-strong, 24/7 dedicated team, Revolut saved its customers more than £200m in potentially fraudulent transactions in 2022 alone. Revolut has robust protections in place for its millions of customers and analyses over half a billion transactions each month. Its security features include AI models, trained anti-financial crime professionals and experienced data scientists. Where it detects signs of fraud, it intervenes and investigates, and where customers do sadly fall victim to fraud despite our interventions, Revolut has front-line staff on hand 24/7 to provide support via Revolut’s secure in-APP Chat. 

Please note, Revolut will never call any customer without first contacting them via the in-app Chat.

Sabre Corporation, a leading software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, and Revolut, a global fintech company that offers banking services, announced today the successful results of their partnership, which is propelling the B2B payments process for travel agencies.

The two tech companies were able to onboard over 40 customers in less than a year and together are changing the financial landscape for travel agencies. Revolut’s virtual cards are now generated within the Sabre Virtual Payments platform, allowing customers to easily pay airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers with enhanced flexibility and security. This allows travel agencies using Sabre Virtual Payments to enjoy more streamlined and agile practices, personalization and speed to market.

“Bringing the virtual payments solutions that our travel agencies value and need is a strategic focus area and always a top priority for us, and we are thrilled to see that this partnership is doing exactly that. I’m very proud of the great collaboration between our Sabre Virtual Payments team and Revolut, especially when it comes to implementation times, addressing operational efficiency and cross-border B2B payments needs for our customers,” said Celia Pereiro, Managing Director of Payments at Sabre.

Some of the pain points this partnership is helping solve for Sabre-connected agencies using Sabre Virtual Payments include:

• Rapid onboarding process that was reduced from months to just days, allowing customers to start transacting and paying suppliers swiftly and efficiently.
• Seamless integration of a flexible and secure virtual card technology into their existing workflows.
   
• Access to a comprehensive suite of commercial card products that improve payment acceptance rates.
• Preferential rates in the conversion of one country’s currency into another and real-time insights through a streamlined Foreign Exchange (FX) management, providing them with unparalleled transparency and visibility across international payments while facilitating informed decision-making.
• Allow the agencies to provide a better experience for travel suppliers, who now can get paid on time in their preferred currency, using negotiated payment acceptance rates.

“Revolut is excited to drive digitalization in the travel sector alongside our partners at Sabre. Together, we are streamlining transactions through our suite of virtual cards, real-time foreign exchange and API-based payment products. We brought our joint offering to dozens of businesses this year, and we look forward to delivering even more value to customers in 2024,” said Will Hannan, Global Head of Embedded Finance Sales for Revolut.

According to Future Market Insights, virtual cards market is predicted to reach a worth of US$ 1.3 trillion by 2032, with 12.2% projected growth between 2022 and 2032. The main drivers of this growth are the increasing adoption of API virtual card issuing platforms, the demand for secure and convenient payment solutions, and the growing penetration of smartphones and e-commerce.

Through its innovative platform, Sabre Virtual Payments facilitates a single point of integration between travel agencies, Revolut and various booking tools. It automates payment reconciliation and delivers comprehensive payment data reporting to offer secured and fully integrated end-to-end payment services.

MoneyGram International, Inc., a leading global financial technology company that connects the world's communities, is pleased to announce four strategic appointments to its senior management team, responsible for the acceleration of the Company's global digital strategy. These new leaders will partner closely with the Executive Leadership Team and report directly to Seth Ross, MoneyGram Chief Digital Officer.

Bringing decades of digital expertise to MoneyGram, the new leaders will help oversee the next level of digital growth for the Company, focusing on four strategic areas: MoneyGram Online (Edwina Johnson); MoneyGram Business (Arnoldo Reyes); Pricing Strategy (Vijay Raman); and Payments and Product Partnerships (Mike Tekulve).

"It's been a privilege to join the incredible team at MoneyGram amidst a remarkable digital transformation, and I'm extremely proud of the success we've achieved through our digital strategy to date," said Ross. "With the addition of these new leaders, we gain critical capacity to expand our digital business, reach aggressive growth goals and solidify our position as the global fintech that connects the world's communities. I am thrilled to have this experienced group on board with us for this journey."

Accelerating Direct-to-Consumer Digital Business

Edwina Johnson, MoneyGram Online International

MoneyGram is committed to the global expansion of MoneyGram Online ("MGO"), the Company's leading direct-to-consumer digital business, as the channel has proven to be an important growth driver, delivering consistent, double-digit revenue increases and improving customer loyalty to the MoneyGram Brand. With more than 15 years of experience in the technology start-up space, Johnson will lead the team responsible for driving international growth for MGO, partnering with the team accelerating the channel in the US and Canada.

Building on Leadership Position in B2B Cross-Border Payments

Arnoldo Reyes, MoneyGram Business
Reyes will utilize his 20 years of payments experience at companies like Visa, PayPal and Mastercard to lead and execute the strategy behind MoneyGram Business ("MGB"), the Company's B2B division. MGB offers enterprise customers the opportunity to connect to one of the only globally scaled money movement platforms, operating across more than 200 countries and territories with a network of over 5 billion digital endpoints and 440,000 agent locations. Through a set of world-class REST APIs, easy-to-use developer portal, and integration and onboarding, MGB helps clients set up payment solutions in weeks, not months.

Outpacing the Industry with Unparalleled Pricing Capabilities

Vijay Raman, Pricing Strategy 
Raman will lead a team dedicated to driving industry-leading pricing capabilities and revenue enhancements. A veteran leader in revenue management and pricing strategies at companies like American Airlines and Spirit Airlines, Raman has more than 20 years of experience in optimizing business strategy and technology to spur revenue growth and profitability.  

Building the MoneyGram Payments Ecosystem

Mike Tekulve, Payments and Product Partnerships 
Tekulve brings more than two decades of experience in financial technology with industry leaders such as Green Dot and Discover Financial Services. In his new role with MoneyGram, he will leverage his deep strategic expertise in fintech and payments to grow the Company's consumer financial service offerings and enhance its integration into the global digital payments ecosystem.  

CCData, an FCA-authorised benchmark administrator and leading provider of digital asset data solutions and settlement indices, is excited to announce its new partnership with BMLL Technologies, a premier and independent provider of harmonised level 3 historical data and analytics. This partnership brings together two market-leading data providers in their fields, empowering clients with access to advanced data and metrics across both traditional and digital asset markets.

Navigating both the digital asset and traditional financial markets presents a unique set of challenges, including diverse data solutions, varying trading mechanisms, and the volume of data available. This partnership streamlines access to critical data solutions, removing the complexities involved in managing, integrating, and processing large amounts of data for the end user.

The partnership arrives in response to the growing demand for institutionally tailored digital asset data solutions, following the approval of the first spot of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. CCData has established itself as a leading provider of digital asset L1/L2 Order Book data, continually expanding its offerings with new and enhanced metrics to provide insights into the digital asset markets.

BMLL offers financial market participants, academic institutions, and regulators immediate and flexible access to the most granular Level 3, T+1 order book data and analytics to understand market behaviour. By combining CCData's highly accurate and reliable digital asset data solutions with the BMLL granular order book data and advanced pre and post-trade analytics for ETFs and Futures on digital assets, market participants will benefit from highly accurate Crypto and FX data solutions, underpinned by mutual commitment to delivering reliable and accurate data solutions.

The partnership aligns with BMLL’s mission of delivering the highest quality, historical order book data to financial institutions.  BMLL has harmonised Level 3 Data across Equities, ETFs and Futures, including all Crypto ETFs, into a single consistent format, enabling users to seamlessly analyse traditional and digital asset markets.

Paul Humphrey, Chief Executive Officer, BMLL said ‘We are seeing increasing customer demand for high quality historical data and analytics in the digital asset markets. We are delighted to partner with CCData to provide institutional clients with institutional-grade Crypto data from traditional and digital asset markets. Digital asset traders are now able to access historical data and analytics for all Crypto ETFs and Futures from all traditional US Equity and Futures venues in a single consistent format via BMLL, enabling them to better understand traditional market microstructure on the Crypto markets.

"This partnership with BMLL Technologies marks a significant milestone for CCData, enhancing our capability to meet the escalating demand for comprehensive and reliable financial market data. By combining CCData's leading digital asset data solutions with BMLL's expertise in level three historical data and analytics, we are uniquely positioned to empower our clients with access to the advanced data and metrics necessary for navigating the complexities of both traditional and digital asset markets." said Charles Hayter, CEO and Co-Founder of CCData 

PPRO, the leading digital payment platform, has announced the appointment of two senior leaders: Eelco Dettingmeijer as Chief Commercial Officer and Mariette Ferreira as Chief Marketing Officer. These strategic hires come at a time when PPRO is gearing up for a new phase of growth.

Eelco brings over a decade of experience in payments, and over two decades in international sales roles with an impressive track record of driving commercial success. He spent seven years in commercial leadership roles at global payments processor Worldpay, served on the board of Icepay, and then spent three at Nuvei. Eelco's leadership experience is especially focused on EMEA markets, and he is recognized for building robust teams and strategic commercial growth. As CCO, Eelco will be spearheading growth in PPRO’s key strategic markets in Europe and the US, while also expanding its merchant network worldwide.

Mariette Ferreira joins PPRO as a CMO with over 15 years of B2B marketing experience, including ten years within the fintech industry. She has helped scale businesses such as payments platform FairFX (now Equals Group) and most recently served as CMO at fintech consultancy 11:FS. Mariette is poised to deliver a marketing strategy that drives commercial success and advances PPRO’s market position.

Eelco Dettingmeijer, CCO of PPRO said, "PPRO is well positioned to move up the value chain and has a unique value proposition that empowers growth for both payment companies and direct merchants. The payments industry is rapidly evolving, and I look forward to leveraging my experience and network to drive PPRO into the next stage of hyper-growth. There's a vast opportunity for PPRO to deepen relationships, double its revenue and boost commercial success by providing more and better services and products to our existing and prospective customers."

Mariette Ferreira, CMO of PPRO commented, "I am looking forward to taking PPRO to new heights from a marketing perspective. The payments landscape is continuously changing and PPRO has a fantastic opportunity to enhance its competitive offering and serve customers in new and interesting ways.”

Motie Bring, CEO of PPRO added “We’re thrilled to welcome Eelco and Mariette to PPRO. Eelco's extensive sales expertise and Mariette's strategic marketing insights will be instrumental in our mission to simplify access to local payments, and enable the sale of goods and services to anyone in the world using their preferred way to pay.”

Nuvei Corporation, the Canadian fintech company, announced today that it is launching its enhanced omnichannel payments solution for merchants and platforms. Nuvei's unified commerce offering, which is now available to customers operating outside of North America for the first time, is enabling businesses to develop new customer payment experiences with greater control and unified analytics effortlessly.

This proprietary, flexible solution supports merchants and partners by enhancing their payment offerings across various use cases. Businesses from diverse end markets including consumer retail, restaurant and hospitality, travel, and iGaming are leveraging Nuvei's omnichannel technology to offer their customers an enhanced, convenient experience at the checkout specifically tailored for each channel, however and wherever consumers want to pay.

Philip Fayer, Nuvei Chair and CEO, commented on the announcement: "A unified approach to payments across channels is increasingly critical for businesses to meet customer expectations, optimize revenues, and accelerate growth. Combining industry-leading technology in online and retail payments into a single, truly unified solution not only supports our existing customers to meet their growth goals, but also opens exciting new opportunities as we execute on our strategy to develop new use cases for the Nuvei platform and grow our total addressable market."

Nuvei's unified commerce omnichannel solution deeply aligns the best of its card-present ("CP") and card-not-present ("CNP") technology for eCommerce, mobile, and in-store transactions. This enables merchants to unify their online and retail payment acceptance into a single, seamless integration for multiple jurisdictions without compromising the agility required to customize and scale payments effortlessly to facilitate growth.

Additional features of unified commerce for consumers include the ability to buy or add products to the checkout basket through one channel and amend the purchase or request a refund through another. Businesses are also able to run separate pricing, loyalty, and incentive programs for online and physical channels.

Nuvei's platform features a single view of comprehensive reporting analytics and insights for CP and CNP transactions, equipping businesses with the data required to make the smarter, more informed decisions required to optimize their payment function holistically. Other streamlined operations through a common API optimize payments further, including a single consistent developer experience and centralizing payment processing across channels through tokenizing transactions.

Nuvei's flexible approach to retail payments hardware enables merchants to utilize its in-house, semi-integrated cloud solution Verifone Android terminals, or to adopt a 'bring your own device' model. Nuvei's in-house solutions are constructed using the latest hardware technology and are fully customizable, enabling businesses to craft custom value-added applications tailored to their unique needs.

In addition to accessing each element of its full-stack payments technology through the same single integration for multiple geographies, Nuvei's global reach, including local acquiring capabilities in 50 countries and connectivity to 680 alternative online payment methods (APMs), enables businesses to scale their omnichannel payments internationally as they expand into new markets. Nuvei's unique approach to global customer support from integration to geographic expansion simplifies the pursuit of growth further.

Fayer continued: "As businesses expand into new markets, they are increasingly looking to partner with payment providers that can remove complexity while still offering the agility and insights to optimize growth. Omnichannel payments are intricate, so customers must work with a partner that understands their business to optimize revenue and the customer experience. Our omnichannel solution enables businesses to reach customers through payments on every channel effortlessly."

ChargeAfter, the embedded lending platform for point-of-sale financing announced that Citi Retail Services, one of North America's largest and most experienced retail payments and credit solution providers, selected ChargeAfter as a technology provider for its Citi Pay® products, including Citi Pay® Credit and Citi Pay® Installment Loan.    

Citi Retail Services' collaboration with ChargeAfter gives participating online merchants the ability to seamlessly integrate Citi Pay products, which include a digital-only credit card and monthly installment loan, into their point-of-sale experience. Citi Pay products give customers flexibility in their budgets and put them in control of how they want to finance their purchases.

ChargeAfter's Lending Hub for banks bridges the gap between merchants and lending banks by streamlining the complex process from product creation and management to the deployment and distribution of lending products. The Lending Hub for banks also enables swift merchant onboarding and integration for bank lending partners, allowing them to offer various financing options to merchants and their customers at scale.

"We are excited to join forces with Citi Retail Services, leveraging elements of ChargeAfter's Lending Hub to empower and support the Citi Pay family of digital payment products to meet the evolving demands of the merchant community. This collaboration is an affirmation of the capabilities of our Lending Hub for leading payment providers," commented Meidad Sharon, founder and Chief Executive Officer of ChargeAfter. "Our nimble, cutting-edge technology and rapid go-to-market tools for banks position us to support Citi Retail Services in expanding its Citi Pay products and enhance the customer experience at checkout."

"Our collaboration with ChargeAfter enables us to quickly and seamlessly embed Citi Pay products into our merchant partners' point-of-sale, which furthers Citi's more than 30-year commitment to providing merchants and consumers with the secure and flexible payment options they desire," said Terry O'Neil, Head of Connected Commerce and Strategic Growth Initiatives for Citi Retail Services.

Artificial Labs, the leading algorithmic underwriting insurtech, is delighted to announce the completion of an £8M Series A+ funding round. The investment was led by Europe’s premier publicly listed fintech fund, Augmentum Fintech, with participation from existing investors MS&AD Ventures and FOMCAP IV.

In August 2023, Artificial announced its ground-breaking Smart Follow collaboration with insurer Apollo, which has since gone live in the London Market for several lines of business including Marine Hull, General Aviation and Marine Cargo.

The company unveiled its new broker tool, Contract Builder, to the market through its strategic partnership with Lockton in the UK in late 2023 and Placing Platform Limited in January 2024, making significant strides in the Lloyd’s of London market. Implementation with several other large London Market brokers is ongoing. The tool can be easily tailored to brokers’ requirements and generates configurable, structured and Lloyd’s Blueprint Two-compliant contracts.

Since its successful Series A funding round in June 2022, Artificial has achieved several significant milestones. The company has rapidly grown its team and bolstered its leadership with the appointments of Ascot founder Martin Reith as Chairman in 2022 and, in 2023, Deana Murfitt as Chief Operating Officer and Jen Tan as Head of Portfolio Strategy.

The latest funding round will allow Artificial to further its position as a leader in algorithmic underwriting and excel towards its vision of a digital insurance market through product development and continued expansion. It will also enable the acceleration of the development and deployment of innovative AI tools that Artificial is delivering to its brokers and underwriter partners.

David King, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Artificial, commented:

“Our latest funding round is a testament to the exciting work we’re doing at Artificial. We are thrilled to have the expertise and support of the Augmentum team and our committed existing investors on this next phase of our journey.

“This round of funding will enable us to accelerate our growth and continue to innovate in the algorithmic and augmented space. In 2024 we will further the development of our underwriting platform, exciting AI solutions and our Contract Builder product, which is already seeing great traction in the market.”

Reginald de Wasseige, Principal at Augmentum Fintech, said:

“We are delighted to lead Artificial’s latest investment round. We firmly believe that the era of algorithmic underwriting will redefine market dynamics in the insurance space. As more sophisticated 'smart follow' underwriters enter the London Market, we will see a significant transformation in the process of underwriting risk.

"The most adept lead underwriters, equipped with substantial auto-follow capacity, are poised to become highly sought-after by brokers seeking to place business. We look forward to working with David, Johnny and the entire Artificial team for this next phase of their journey. Our investment is a testament to our confidence in their vision and execution capabilities.”