Digital account provider, Frost has confirmed that it has exceeded its fundraising target on crowdfunding platform, Seedrs. Over a four-week period, the Manchester-based startup has raised a total of £1.87 million. 

LHV Bank, a leading provider of Banking Services and SME Lending solutions, announces it has been authorised as a credit institution by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), becoming the first institution to receive a banking licence without restrictions in 2023.

This milestone achievement allows LHV Bank to accept customer deposits and transition from operating under the temporary permissions regime as a branch of Estonian retail bank AS LHV Pank (LHV Pank) to being a fully authorised and regulated bank by both the PRA and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The decision to pursue a UK banking licence was made in 2021, and LHV submitted its application in March 2022. Following a close collaboration with the PRA and the FCA, the bank has secured the licence in just over a year, demonstrating its commitment to regulatory compliance and high standards.

Madis Toomsalu, Chairman of LHV Bank, stated, “Receiving the licence without restrictions in just over a year since submitting our application validates the exceptional work of our team and the professional operation we’ve built. We expect LHV Bank to achieve profitability by the end of our first year of operations. Our ability to generate additional capital internally positions us strongly for further growth in the dynamic UK banking market.”

Erki Kilu, the CEO of LHV Bank, added, “In addition to our existing Banking Services and SME Lending activities, we plan to start accepting retail deposits later this year and expand our banking solutions offering to e-commerce businesses, maintaining the same level of convenience, reliability, and security that our existing clients have come to expect.”

Connecting Traditional Banking and New-Generation Financial Services

LHV Bank connects the traditional banking sector with cutting-edge financial services, delivering best-in-class, cloud-native payments and banking infrastructure. Operating in the UK since 2018, LHV is a member of all major UK and EU payment schemes and, as such, its extensive offering includes real-time multi-currency payments, current and savings accounts, acquiring, indirect scheme access, open banking, and FX solutions, which are used by over 200 leading fintechs like Airwallex, Currencycloud, Truelayer, and Wise.

With a team of 130 employees and offices in London, Leeds, Manchester and Tallinn, LHV Bank enables its portfolio companies to serve over 10 million end-customers. Through its offering, its client base has access to a pool of 500 million potential clients across the UK and Europe, making LHV Bank one of the largest providers of Banking Services. Last year, the bank processed over 25 million payments valued at over £90 billion.

Technological Expertise

LHV Bank has made significant investments in technology, implementing the best-in-class core-banking solution, developing leading cloud-native services and building in-house payments modules and API solutions tailored to fintech clients.

Commitment to Reliability, Security, and Financial Performance

With an emphasis on reliability and security, LHV Bank employs prudent risk and liquidity management practices. LHV’s diverse service offerings and broad customer base have helped to de-risk its revenue streams, contributing to the consistent profitability of the Banking Services business line – last year, it generated £11.5m profit for LHV Pank.

As a result of the banking licence, the company is currently undergoing the Business Transfer process to move all operations to the new bank. After the transfer, the UK branch of LHV Pank will be deregistered, and LHV Bank will continue to operate as a separate entity. The underlying strong financial performance of the business line means that LHV Bank’s financial plan projects profitability by the end of its first year of operations. 

AS LHV Group (LHV Group), the parent company of LHV Bank and LHV Pank, decided to pursue a UK banking licence to better highlight the financial performance and value proposition of its Banking Services business line to investors. LHV Group is a fast-growing Estonian financial group with over £10 billion in financial assets, operating in the banking, asset management, and insurance sectors, serving nearly 400,000 direct customers and employing over 900 professionals.

SME Lending Offerings

Last year, LHV Bank acquired Bank North’s SME Lending business line and received regulatory clearance from the FCA to start issuing SME loans. SME Lending has been a key strength of LHV Group, which has delivered 15 years of consecutive growth in this space. LHV Bank offers commercial real estate investment loans and trading loans starting from £0.5m to SMEs in the UK, with loan brokers serving as the primary sales channel for SME loans. LHV Bank’s strengths lie in its faster lending process, loan managers’ long-term experience, and understanding of local entrepreneurs’ needs. Leveraging its expertise, strong balance sheet and the proven demand for SME loans, LHV Bank plans to establish a robust lending business quickly, with operations in Manchester and London.

Growth Plans

With its banking licence, LHV Bank plans to expand its offering to a broader audience. This includes accepting retail deposits, which will be available later this year, as well as introducing Banking Services to e-commerce businesses. LHV Bank is fully capitalised, and customer deposits are protected under the FSCS up to a limit of £85,000.

Spectrum Markets (‘Spectrum’), the pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives, today announced UniCredit Bank AG (hereafter referred to as ‘UniCredit’) as its newest member.

The pan-European bank will initially list a series of constant leverage warrants and covered warrant products, making these available to retail investors across Europe via their broker or bank.

UniCredit’s eventual product mix will be comprised of short-term, leveraged, and longer-term investment products – with the bank providing liquidity as a market maker.

Underlyings will include the most popular European and US equities and indices, with a particular focus on Germany.

Spectrum has scaled up its flexible infrastructure to handle the additional volume of order flow and quote data, increasing capacity by over 400% – with today’s announcement underlining the venue’s strategy of hosting a focused suite of products linked to the most actively traded underlyings.

UniCredit is a pan-European commercial bank with a unique service offering in Italy, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, serving over fifteen million customers worldwide. Through its onemarkets brand in investment and leverage products, it offers a wide range of instruments representing different levels of risk tolerance and investment time horizon.

By listing its products on Spectrum, UniCredit will be able to reach more customers through the expanding network of third-party European financial services firms that are members of the venue.

Nicky Maan, CEO of Spectrum Markets, said: “UniCredit’s vision for its business going forward is very closely aligned with our own, in terms of providing innovative solutions for retail investors, harmonising pan-European trading and making new markets and services more widely accessible.”

He added: “A key focus for us right now is rounding out the suite of securitised derivatives listed on Spectrum, with a particular emphasis on the most in-demand products and underlyings. UniCredit joining us as a member marks an important next step in that ambition.”

Marco Formaggio, Head of Equity & Brokerage Sales, UniCredit, remarked: “As retail investors increase in both number and sophistication, it is more important than ever that we stay agile around their needs – developing innovative, tailored investment solutions that enable them to take varied exposures over different time horizons. Our partnership with Spectrum Markets is the next step in this journey”.

Philly-based insurtech startup, Propeller Inc., is pleased to announce its partnership with the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) as a recommended surety and fidelity bond platform. 

“I’m excited for our company to be aligned with the PIA organization. In my opinion, PIA is the leading trade association for insurance agents and brokers and will only continue to grow under the leadership of Mike Becker,” said Aaron Steffey, CEO and Co-Founder of Propeller. “It's our privilege to be associated with PIA for surety and fidelity bonding to their membership. We look forward to a great partnership.”

Propeller offers agents a white-labeled URL that houses 7,000 surety bond obligations and allows agents and customers to quote, pay and receive their bonds within minutes. Beyond this, Propeller provides underwriting expertise via proprietary programs, making the solution a “bolt-on” surety department for agents, brokers and carriers who partner with Propeller. 

PIA is a national organization supporting the growth and development of independent insurance agencies across the country. For decades, PIA has been known as “the education association,” offering a wide array of education and professional development through its nationwide network of state and regional affiliate associations.

Through this partnership, Propeller and PIA will work together with PIA affiliates to modernize and digitize how PIA members sell surety bonds. The partnership will be rolled out to all PIA state members and their member agencies starting in May 2023.

“PIA is excited to expand our member offerings and support agents in growing competitive commissions and surety revenue,” said Robert Holt, VP of Products and Services at PIA. “We look forward to a rewarding partnership with Propeller.”

Corserv, a company that empowers banks and fintechs with innovative payment card issuing solutions, announces that inbanx, a modern platform to manage business budgets and digital payments, will integrate Corserv’s modern payment card issuing platform, Payment Cards as a Service API (PCaaSA), to launch Visa commercial credit cards.

inbanx automates expense reporting and budget tracking to allow businesses to prevent overspend and achieve unprecedented real-time visibility into spending. To service their business customers, a modern payment card solution with real-time spend controls and cooperative authorization was needed.

Corserv’s advanced API technology empowers inbanx to issue commercial credit cards with flexible features including highly configurable spend controls. Corserv’s PCaaSA platform is secure, configurable, and developer-friendly to offer embedded payment card solutions that integrate seamlessly with inbanx’s innovative capabilities.

“We serve our customers with an innovative and easy-to-use solution that adopts the next generation of payment capabilities to allow businesses and their employees to spend efficiently,” said Rob Kaczmarek, CEO of inbanx. “Corserv’s payment card platform was the only solution that afforded us the customizability and flexibility to build exactly what we needed for our customers.”

“Our highly configurable PCaaSA platform simplifies complex processes for inbanx to launch and embed commercial cards in a secure, compliant and flexible way,” said Anil Goyal, CEO of Corserv. “We are thrilled to work with inbanx to integrate with their innovative budget and expense management solution.”

Nomba, a payment services provider aimed at African businesses, has raised $30m for its pre-Series B funding round.

The investment was led by San Francisco-based Base10 Partners, with commitments also coming from Helios Digital Ventures, Shopify, Partech and Khosla Ventures.

Nomba is on a mission to create a bespoke payment solution for African businesses. It stated that despite growth in digital payments across Africa, most companies only have access to generic point-of-sale machines for transactions. These machines operate in isolation from the rest of the business operations.

This pre-Series B capital will enable Nomba to build payment solutions that are aimed at specific services that companies provide. It claims this will allow them to plug gaps in their payment processes, operate more efficiently and improve customer experiences.

As an example, restaurants could access menus, manage inventory, receive payments and conduct other business functions through the hardware. Elsewhere, transport and logistics companies could use the solution to directly connect their transactions to payments, creating a more seamless experience that increases sales and profitability.

Nomba is starting in Nigeria and will offer a variety of business tools. These include invoicing and order management solutions to improve efficiency and reduce cost of operations for businesses across the continent.

Funds from the pre-Series B round will also help Nomba expand across Africa and other markets.

Nomba CEO and co-founder Yinka Adewale said, “We see payment as a business model, not just a product and we want to make it easier for businesses to take advantage of all that is possible in their payment processes to support their continued growth and success.

“We have a long list of products we have been working on and the funds we have raised as well as the investors that have backed us gives us a lot of confidence about what can be achieved with more effective payment solutions in the hands of business owners.”

Gappify, Inc., a leading provider of next-generation accounting automation solutions for corporate accounting teams, announced today that it has raised $10 million in Series B financing. The round was led by FINTOP Capital, with participation from Rally Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, SaaS Ventures, and Pasudeco & Co. As part of the transaction, FINTOP’s Jared Winegrad, General Partner, will join Gappify’s Board of Directors.

"Accountants are frustrated with the lack of automation offerings available to help them perform their core duties effectively,” said Jotham Ty, CEO and Founder of Gappify. “Our business is strongly positioned to fill more of these voids and better serve the community we care very deeply about.”

"The accounting industry is undergoing tectonic shifts, and Gappify is mapping the way," added FINTOP Capital’s Jared Winegrad. "We’re excited to lead this round and support Gappify’s innovative vision to transform and evolve the profession.”

The new investment comes in the midst of significant growth for Gappify and brings the company’s total funding to more than $22 million.

Businesses worldwide are embracing the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to provide personalised customer experiences, but customers remain cynical. That’s according to the fourth annual State of Personalisation Report from Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for today’s leading brands.

This year’s report shines a light on how businesses are experimenting with AI to differentiate and drive business growth, and provides guidance on how to get this right, starting with the critical need to raise consumer confidence in the technology.

Stark disconnect in AI confidence

To power even more sophisticated real-time customer experiences, businesses are turning to AI to harness high volumes of real-time data and power their personalisation efforts. 

According to the report, 92% of global businesses are now using AI-driven personalisation to drive business growth. Four in five (81%) organisations also believe recent AI technology has the potential to positively impact customer experiences.

However, a disconnect exists between this enthusiasm and the comfort level of consumers: only 36% of European consumers are comfortable with companies using AI to personalise their experiences, and under half (49%) trust brands to keep their personal data secure and use it responsibly. 

Quality and Privacy: Getting AI-driven personalisation right

AI-driven personalisation is only as good as its underlying dataset and, without robust data, customer experiences will likely miss the mark for consumers. 

It’s a real challenge: half (50%) of global companies report that getting accurate data for personalisation is a struggle, an increase of ten percentage points compared to 2022, and 31% of businesses cite poor quality data as a major obstacle in leveraging AI. Further, four in ten (42%) European business leaders cited data silos as one of the biggest challenges to personalisation, compared to 26% globally.

Encouragingly, almost all the companies surveyed (97%) are taking steps to address consumer privacy concerns, demonstrating a commitment to responsible data use. The most popular step is investing in better technology, such as Customer Data Platforms, to manage customer data.

To maximise the potential of AI thoughtfully and responsibly, companies need to invest in data quality, leveraging effective, real-time data management tools and continuing to increase their use of first-party data. Sam Richardson, Customer Engagement Consultant at Twilio comments:

“AI has the potential to enhance the toolkit of every marketer and CX professional so they can meet growing customer demand for personalisation. However, there is still a lot of work to do for brands to reassure consumers and they must prioritise building trust and transparency. Real-time, first-party data will be key here for brands to maximise the potential of AI thoughtfully and responsibly.”

Appetite for AI: Gen Z call for AI-infused experiences

As digital natives, Gen Z are both more influenced by personalisation and more willing to embrace AI. In fact, a third of Gen Z consumers already expect AI to be used in their experiences with brands. For example, nearly three quarters (72%) of Gen Z consumers say that personalised experiences have influenced them to make a purchase. This compares to 66% of millennials, 57% of gen X and 42% of boomers.

Meanwhile, only 15% of Gen Z consumers report being uncomfortable with AI being used to help brands personalise their experiences. This is notably lower than millennials (24%), gen X (34%) and boomers (43%).

The benefits of AI-driven personalisation

This year’s report underscores the value of an AI-driven personalisation strategy for brands looking to both retain existing customers and acquire new ones, especially in today’s competitive market. 

Sixty-two percent of business leaders cite customer retention as a top benefit of personalisation, while nearly 60% say personalisation is an effective strategy for acquiring new customers. Consumers also increasingly confirm the value of personalisation, with over half (51%) of European respondents saying they will become repeat buyers after a personalised experience. 

Richardson concludes: “There is a big opportunity for brands to build customer loyalty and lifetime value by engaging consumers with tailored experiences. And, ultimately, companies that provide a clear understanding of how customer data is being used will be best equipped to establish a strong foundation for successful personalisation efforts.”

The full State of Personalisation Report can be downloaded here.

Taly for digital payments, a new Payment Service Provider and Third-Party Processor recently announced the launch of its full-fledged ecosystem for digital payment solutions. Using BPC’s SmartVista Platform, Taly will provide innovative solutions and market offerings for banks, fintech’s, corporates, merchants, and consumers throughout Egypt. 

Taly is the first of its kind in the region and represents the latest in technological innovation, offering advanced digital payment solutions. Its launch in Egypt will help to expand digital transformation services and play a key role in supporting financial inclusion, in line with the directives of the state and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to achieve Egypt Vision 2030. 

BPC was chosen due to its track record serving some of the world's largest and most forward-looking financial institutions and fintech’s globally. Taly sought a reliable partner with robust and highly advanced technology.  By opting for BPC’s SmartVista, Taly acquired not only a state-of-the-art and future proof payment platform but also a long-term strategic partner.

Commenting on the partnership, Magdy Hassan, CEO of Taly, said:  

“Our journey with BPC has been seamless. BPC has been impressively agile, with their technology providing the flexibility we were looking for to build some of the most innovative digital-first solutions for Egyptian consumers. Some of BPC’s solutions include Card Management, Tokenization, Acquiring, Merchant Management and a full-fledged Payment Gateway – all of which will help shape the future of financial services in the region.”

Usama ElSayed, COO MEA at BPC, said: 

“We firmly believe Taly is curated to be a true game changer in the payment industry, not only in Egypt but also throughout the region. Its exceptional vision and innovative value proposition have the potential to significantly transform the way people interact with financial services. We are excited to see the positive impact that Taly will have on the financial industry, and we look forward to witnessing its continued growth and success in the future."

BPC has been leading the way in the digital revolution for more than 25 years by providing advanced banking and payment solutions to more than 350 financial institutions across 100 countries. The SmartVista Platform is a cutting-edge solution that can be utilised as micro-services as a standalone or as a full end-to-end banking and payment experience, either on-premise or as a service.

Due to the dedicated efforts of the Central Bank of Egypt, the financial technology sector in Egypt is rapidly expanding, with the number of digital payment users expected to amount to 84.13m users by 2027. Taly aims to play a crucial role in advancing the sector by providing fintech startups as well as established payment service providers with the appropriate infrastructure to bring their innovative ideas to life.

The American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct lending and borrowing for American banks and financial institutions, today announced that the exchange has appointed veteran financial services executive John Shay as CEO, effective immediately. AFX recently announced that 100% of the company was acquired by 7RIDGE, a specialized growth equity firm invested in transformative technologies for financial services.

Shay has decades of experience in leadership roles at some of the world’s leading financial institutions and as an advisor to U.S. regulators governing the financial industry. Under 7RIDGE’s ownership and Shay’s leadership, the exchange will accelerate its growth trajectory, expanding the network of members and furthering adoption of the AMERIBOR^® benchmark created by AFX. AMERIBOR is the only credit-sensitive interest rate index based on real activity that takes place on a transparent market.

Shay said: “I’m thrilled to take the helm of AFX at a time that is truly fortuitous for bringing significant value to this vital sector of the economy. The health and safety of regional and local banks – and their continued ability to source deposits, lend, borrow and manage their risk – are critical to ensuring that the small businesses driving the U.S. economy can thrive. At the same time, AMERIBOR will provide instrumental hedging opportunities, particularly as the world adapts to the retirement of Libor in June and as we introduce new products. I’m looking forward to collaborating with the outstanding AFX team which has established strong equity in relationships with our members and a loyal following.”

Dr. Richard L. Sandor, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of AFX, will continue to serve in an advisory capacity to the exchange.

Reed Whitman, Treasurer of Brookline Bancorp and member of AFX, said: “We are a founding member and enthusiastic supporter of AFX and the valuable contributions it makes to regional banks in the U.S. The purchase by 7RIDGE and John Shay’s seasoned leadership will help drive the exchange’s ambitious agenda for growth and more offerings while continuing to provide the market with both a funding platform and the AMERIBOR benchmark rate which reflects regional banks’ true cost of funds.”

Shay has a record of building leading industry consortium-based firms – composed of and serving major buy-side, sell-side and exchange participants – along with extensive experience in banking and deposits, over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded derivatives markets, clearing and brokerage.

Shay founded and served as Managing Partner of Capital Market Services Inc., (CMSI), a clearing and execution services business designed to improve market access for non-bank participants in the OTC and exchange-traded space. He was Chairman of Acadia (formerly AcadiaSoft), a leading industry provider of post-trade services and financial market infrastructure for the non-cleared derivatives community, from 2019 until it was acquired last month by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Since 2007, he has been part of leading global market making firm Virtu Financial, most recently as Senior Advisor to the CEO. He co-founded IDCG, the market’s first OTC interest rate Designated Clearing Organization (DCO), sold in 2012 to the London Clearing House (LCH) and then LSEG.

Shay’s experience has also included serving as Global Head of Fixed Income and Commodities at Nasdaq, Executive Chairman at TruSight Solutions LLC and Senior Advisor at Broadway Technology following a 25-year career at ICAP, a major voice and electronic broker in the OTC space.

Shay also served on the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) and as a Board member of LCH (now part of LSEG).