Investment strategy platform, Stratiphy, has announced the launch of its new investment application on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The solution provides users with bespoke investment strategies and insights, democratising access to the approach of professional investors. 

With merchants estimated to suffer more than US$48 billion in eCommerce fraud globally in 2023 – 22% of that in Asia – Mastercard today announced the expansion of its partnership with Vesta, the global leader in payment fraud protection. Building on the two firms’ existing fraud detection collaboration, Mastercard will be integrating Vesta’s iron-clad Payment Guarantee™ and Payment Protect risk scoring solution into its Mastercard Payment Gateway Services (MGPS) platform. Starting in the second half of 2023, MPGS customers in the Asia Pacific region will be given optional access to both fraud-fighting solutions which would offer total protection for their eCommerce transactions and take their cost of fraud to zero.

With 200+ global acquirer connections, and the ability to seamlessly process safe, secure payments in 170+ currencies across 30+ payment methods online, in-person or in-app, MPGS is a powerful omnichannel payments platform that enables merchants – large and small – to easily accept payment from anywhere in the world, helping businesses to grow and expand into new markets.

“To provide MPGS customers with the toughest, most impenetrable fraud protection available, Mastercard is committed to nurturing strategic partnerships with the most trusted service providers in the payments, technology and security industries – like Vesta,” said Sandeep Malhotra, Executive Vice President, Products & Innovation, Asia Pacific, Mastercard. “Through this first-of-its-kind solution combining the scale and reach of MPGS with Vesta’s unrivalled fraud protection powers in a single integration, merchants can enjoy the peace of mind – and extra time in their day – that comes from knowing that their eCommerce transactions are fully protected from fraud and financial risk.” 

With Vesta Payment Guarantee™, transactions are 100% guaranteed against fraud. This means that if a fraudulent order approved by Vesta’s rigorous risk-scoring engine makes it through the checkout process, Vesta will absorb the full cost of the transaction. By eliminating a merchant’s risk and liability from fraudulent chargebacks, it takes their cost of fraud to zero, letting them focus on growing their online business instead of worrying about trying to stop fraud attacks themselves.

From the moment a customer selects "Place order" to the final order confirmation, Payment Guarantee™ is fast, frictionless and accurate, analyzing thousands of individual signals across the user journey to uncover fraud patterns while simultaneously increasing approvals of legitimate online sales, driving revenue growth.

"Our promise: Every approved transaction is covered by Vesta's 100% fraud chargeback guarantee. If we're wrong, it’s on us.  We are excited to enable all MPGS customers and their businesses to focus on what matters – growing sales without the fear of fraud,” said Shabab Muhaddes, SVP and GM APAC for Vesta.

Decentro, a leading financial infrastructure company, has launched Flow and Fabric, two complete end-to-end payments and embedded banking stacks, to help businesses with a smooth onboarding experience and management of financial products. The new modules have been introduced to offer a full-stack experience to Decentro’s growing customer base, which now has 400+ companies.

The Flow module eases the money movement journey for platforms.  The full-stack payment suite enables platforms to automate payment collections and money transfers via any bank-to-bank protocol (e.g., UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS), enable reconciliation via virtual accounts, and help set up recurring payment methods such as NACH & UPI Autopay. With existing partnerships with three leading banks in India - Yes Bank, Axis, and ICICI, Decentro is now looking to ramp up its market share in the payments infrastructure space. 

The Fabric module, on the other hand, is a first-of-its-kind module offering a comprehensive Banking as a Service (BaaS) stack. The module embeds a fully orchestrated KYC, onboarding, and credit into a platform or company's workflow. Tailor-made for evolving needs of newer products entering the market, Fabric enables a seamless user journey in onboarding for any financial product, card issuance, and lending. 

The company introduced SDKs to its product catalog, making it 2X simpler for companies to integrate and go live. Effectively, the integration time now gets reduced to a few hours instead of a few days with the help of SDKs versus APIs. 

Regarding this new branding and launch, Rohit Taneja, Co-Founder and CEO of Decentro, said, “Until now, we at Decentro have been solving for dedicated use cases. The need to solve for a complete user journey was the obvious next step that paved the way for the bifurcation and launch of Fabric and Flow. With every new customer, the need to present a comprehensive Banking as a Service solution became more prominent, and we are happy to be moving forward in the same direction.”

The launch aligns with the new age use cases and companies needing a relatively well-evolved, stitched stack suited to enable white label and embedded workflows for financial products rather than standard payment gateways in the market. The new age use case could be about enabling financing or putting an end-to-end lending workflow in line with the RBI guidelines.

“Flow and Fabric - our full stack solutions for payment and embedded finance align with the Government's push to further penetrate the adoption of digital infrastructure, such as Digilocker, India stack, a new global economic model for UPI, and more. The need of the hour is a fully compliant and scalable tech bridge that can thrive in this sandbox while leaving immense room for innovation for startups and incumbents. We are excited to see how Flow & Fabric shape up as our two product suites and business lines across the BFSI sector,” Pratik Daudkhane, Co-founder, added.

Decentro is currently processing monthly about 15 Mn API transactions per month, registering close to 50% Quarter-on-quarter growth in its business across various domains such as consumer Platforms, Non-Banking Financial Firms (NBFCs), Loan Service Providers (LSPs), Prepaid Issuers (PPIs), Neobanks, Wealth Managers and more. 

The firm closed its Series A funding round of $4.7 million late last year from marquee investors such as Rapyd Ventures, Leonis VC from Europe, and Uncorrelated Ventures based out of California, US. It has also expanded its footprint in the APAC region via Singapore.

XS.com, the multinational global FinTech and financial services provider has today announced that it will be the Global Partner of the Traders Summit taking place on the 17th – 18th May at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre, in partnership with event organisers Smart Vision.

The Global Multi-Asset Broker will also be conducting two seminars across both days, held by team members Elie Nachawaty (the Senior Business Development Manager – MENA) and Ahmed Negm (the Head of Research – MENA) who will also be participating in multiple panels throughout the event.

Andreea Ilies, the Global Head of Events at XS.com, commented on the sponsorship of the upcoming event, saying:

“Dubai offers many advantages for hosting an event such as the Traders Summit and serves as a gateway for investment and financial transactions between Europe, Asia, and Africa, thus providing easy access to a large market. The UAE is strategically located between these regions, making it an ideal hub for events and we expect to welcome many international visitors to our booth. We’re delighted to be announcing that XS.com is once again the Global Partner of a strategically located industry-leading event such as the Traders Summit. We would also like to add that we will be having an exclusive XS VIP Lounge – come and visit our booth to learn more!”

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

“We are delighted to be welcoming XS.com once again as our trusted Global Partner. We have worked together for many years and are always happy to have them on board. Smart Vision expects the Traders Summit in the UAE to be an outstanding success as Dubai is a financial hub and it’s a sold-out exhibition. We will be welcoming many local and international businesses and visitors to the UAE as the Emirate has established a business-friendly environment by implementing policies that encourage foreign investment and entrepreneurship. The government has introduced measures such as tax incentives, streamlined regulations, and simplified licensing procedures, making it easier to set up and operate a financial institution.”

Dubai has emerged as a major financial centre in the Middle East, attracting multinational companies, banks, and financial institutions. 

XS.com welcomes all attendees to join their team of skilled professionals for engaging discussions and personalised query resolution. The XS Group is excited to establish connections with participants, showcasing the broker's cutting-edge trading solutions and services.

Investment platform Third Financial (Third) has launched a market-leading integration with Wealth Dynamix (WDX), as it continues its campaign against fragmented technology in the wealth management and advice sector.

Third’s two-way integration with CLMi, WDX’s client lifecycle management software, means the two platforms work together intelligently as a single system, freeing up time for discretionary wealth managers to focus on clients.

Wealth managers using CLMi are now able to harness the full Third Financial investment platform, including whole-of-market asset coverage, custody and asset servicing, and an advanced suite of portfolio management functions. The integration further increases the flexibility of the Third platform.

The partnership with WDX is the latest example of Third’s efforts to help wealth managers and financial advisers simplify and scale their businesses. Third has recently announced a number of market-leading platform integrations with other systems in the IFA and Wealth space. 

Third client, Whitman Asset Management (Whitman), is a strong advocate of the integration with CLMi. Araminta Le Flufy, chief executive at Whitman comments: “Leveraging off Third’s partnership with WDX is an essential differentiator for any growing business to attract talented Investment Managers, and scale in the most efficient and intelligent way in an increasingly homogeneous industry. Whitman is delighted to be pioneering CLMi with other Third clients.”

Ian Partington, group chief executive officer at Third Financial commented: “Firms see Third’s platform as the beating heart of their investment operations.

“At a time where many are facing increased pressure on margins, it’s crucial we enable frictionless communication between our services and other software applications. Such integrations help improve client engagement, driving increased revenues while minimising costs via the avoidance of dual keying.”

Gary Linieres, chief executive of Wealth Dynamix comments: “This is the first integration of its kind in the UK providing Discretionary Wealth Managers with a turnkey solution which enables them to seamlessly manage both their business and their clients via a single platform. The partnership therefore eliminates operational inefficiencies on the one hand and provides the highest levels of client service on the other.”

Criminals have never had more avenues through which to defraud people. This has been fueled by the proliferation of technology ranging from instant messaging to new forms of remittance, like P2P and real-time payments. That’s why ComplyAdvantage, the leader in financial crime intelligence, today announces the launch of Fraud Detection, its new solution that uses machine learning algorithms to detect and prevent the menace of transaction-related fraud. 

“Fraudsters are fast and creative, always looking for new vulnerabilities they can exploit. That’s why fraud is one of the most commonly experienced crimes affecting people every day, causing billions in losses to consumers and businesses,” says Oliver Furniss, Chief Product Officer for ComplyAdvantage. “Banks and other financial institutions are constantly playing catch-up. Fraud Detection gives them an effective new way to monitor the millions of transactions they process every day and stop criminal activity in its tracks.”

Catching All Major Payment Fraud Scenarios

Fraud Detection identifies over 50 of the most prevalent payment fraud scenarios faced by banks and other financial institutions through the millions of transactions they process every day. The product detects and flags fraud typologies including Account Take Over (ATO), Authorized Push Payment Fraud (APP), Synthetic Identity, and Relationship Fraud. Fraud Detection’s advanced capabilities can also identify “unknown unknowns,” such as fraud typologies that do not match current rule-based scenarios.

When businesses receive an alert to suspicious activity, it comes with a full explanation, streamlining the transaction’s resolution. For example, a transaction could have been flagged because it followed a failed password attempt or because it was at a time of day that wasn’t in keeping with the customer’s location. This feature sets Fraud Detection by ComplyAdvantage apart in the marketplace.

Holvi, the digital banking service for small businesses, uses Fraud Detection as part of a holistic approach to financial crime risk detection with ComplyAdvantage. Valentina Butera, Head of AML and AFC Operations at Holvi, said:

“The convenience of digital banking benefits customers and criminals alike. Technology is developing fast, but so are fraudsters. That’s why selecting Fraud Detection by ComplyAdvantage was a very easy decision for us. We immediately saw that it had the latest machine learning technology and knew that the implementation would be extremely smooth.” 

Fighting Crime Using AI & Machine Learning

Fraud Detection uses AI and machine learning algorithms to monitor monetary and non-monetary events and look for patterns that indicate possible risks. This includes identity clustering, using behavioural and personal characteristics to identify accounts that are, for example, controlled by a single individual. It also combines financial and non-financial events with natural language processing and machine learning, meaning factors such as location and time can be used to identify suspicious transactions in real-time. 

“Integrity is key to a functioning, successful financial system. Institutions need to know that the transactions they facilitate are legal,” continued Furniss. “Our Fraud Detection solution helps payment providers, banks, and other institutions provide a strong first line of defence, protecting their customers and alleviating the stress and loss criminals cause.”

Xapo Bank, a fully licensed private bank that combines traditional banking with access to Bitcoin and stablecoins, has become the first bank in the world to integrate Tether (USDT) payment rails. Beginning with a phased rollout, the payment rails will be fully available to all members by the end of the month. Building on its existing USDC rails that were launched in March, the bank is now enabling members to leverage the world’s most widely adopted stablecoin for payments as an alternative to time-consuming and costly SWIFT rails.

With a market cap of $82 billion USD, USDT is the world’s most used stablecoin and one of the most traded cryptocurrencies by volume, having pioneered the digital dollar concept. It empowers growing ventures and innovation throughout the blockchain space, providing a quicker and more efficient way for millions of people across the globe to send and receive money for remittances and other payments. It is also particularly popular in emerging markets suffering from hyperinflation and economic uncertainty.

Xapo Bank has seen a strong appetite for the efficiency of stablecoin deposits and withdrawals amongst its members, many of whom are based in emerging markets. Since enabling USDC deposits in November, it has received $48 Million in USDC deposits and enabled $4.5M in USDC withdrawals since the function went live in March. It has also experienced a 19%*** increase in member onboarding requests since the USDC withdrawal function went live in March.

By allowing members to deposit and withdraw using USDT with no fees charged, Xapo Bank is bringing its attractive 4.1% annual interest rate return on deposits to the attention of a new cohort of potential members looking for an alternative to SWIFT payments. Similarly to its USDC offering, Xapo Bank offers a 1:1 conversion rate from USDT to USD. All USDT deposits received by Xapo Bank are automatically converted to USD, meaning that members can benefit from a 4.1% annual interest rate on USD deposits.

A fully licensed and regulated bank, Xapo Bank is a member of the Gibraltar Deposit Guarantee Scheme, meaning that Xapo Bank guarantees its members’ USD deposits up to the US dollar equivalent of €100,000. Xapo Bank does not take any risks with deposits received using USDT. All such deposits are automatically converted to USD and deposited into the member's account. Unlike traditional banks, Xapo Bank does not lend and therefore does not rely on fractional reserve banking to make money as its core business model. Instead, it has all its customers' funds in reserve and invested in short-term liquid assets to pass the benefit of that interest earned to its customers.

Seamus Rocca, CEO of Xapo Bank, said: “Xapo Bank is the only regulated bank in the world which offers a USD account with stablecoin rails. This unique offering combines the compliance and safety of a traditional bank with the speed, efficiency and breadth of use of USDT. By growing our payment rail options, we are committed to eliminating the timely and often expensive deposit and withdrawal processes into regular banks. We are empowering our members to grow their wealth and access and spend it seamlessly.”

Xapo Bank is constantly striving to grow its payment rails options, offering members additional currency choices managed with the security of a fully-regulated Bank. Reflecting this, in addition to the USDC and USDT payment rails, Xapo Bank previously integrated with the Faster Payment System (FPS) to activate support for GBP settlement for account deposits and withdrawals. Earlier this month, it also announced an integration with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, in collaboration with Lightspark.