NICE Actimize, a NICE business, today announced the launch of its breakthrough Suspicious Activity Monitoring (SAM-10) solution. Built to detect more suspicious activity while reducing false positives, NICE Actimize’s SAM-10 introduces significant enhancements to its award-winning anti-money laundering solution, incorporating multiple layers of defense which strengthen the others and offer comprehensive coverage and detection of suspicious activity for financial institutions.

Part of NICE Actimize’s Anti-Money Laundering suite of solutions, the new SAM-10 solution’s entity-centric AML approach delivers data to enrich profiles and multiple layers to segment, monitor, and ensure that only true suspicious activity is identified. With SAM-10, suspicious activity can be intricately understood, accurately monitored, and detected more quickly.

NICE Actimize’s SAM-10 also offers next-generation analytics, including machine learning for advanced anomaly detection, model optimization, and network risk analytics, detecting suspicious relationships and transaction patterns accurately.

“NICE Actimize’s unique, multilayered approach is a true industry differentiator that brings transaction monitoring to the next level. For financial institutions to be more effective, monitoring technology that explores relationships with connected parties, understands suspicious connections, and accurately follows the flows of funds has become increasingly important,” said Craig Costigan, CEO, NICE Actimize. 

Groundbreaking Collective Intelligence

With its groundbreaking collective intelligence capability, SAM-10 optimizes detection thresholds. It can quickly develop new models based on industry-wide learnings, with all artifacts delivered for easy explainability and model risk management reviews.

While increasing the identification of suspicious activity, SAM-10 supports regulatory compliance and improves alignment to a risk-based approach to transaction monitoring. This approach means fewer false positives and more meaningful, truly suspicious alerts so that investigation teams can focus their efforts on risk.

Other benefits of NICE Actimize’s SAM-10 Suspicious Activity Monitoring solution include:

• Enhanced Coverage: With NICE Actimize's extensive catalog of out-of-the-box detection models, advanced analytics, and network risk detection, SAM-10 extends and enhances detection coverage across all industry verticals, especially in helping identify suspicious connections between transaction counterparties using new network risk analysis detection.  
• Faster Investigations: Improved entity insights provide richer information and improved UI. The solution also offers network exploration capabilities for a visual understanding of relationships. 
• Flexible Deployment: Deployment options include on-premise or SaaS. 

Exploring network relationships down to granular information on connections, investigators are provided with all the tools and knowledge required to make a highly accurate judgment on any suspicious activity and act accordingly.

Dmitry Tokarev, Chief Executive Officer, Copper, said: “With these hires, Copper is now in an even stronger position to fully capitalise on the innovation and opportunities within the digital assets space. These appointments bring with them a wealth of experience in high- growth companies and will enable Copper to further develop our core product offerings and strengthen the scalability of the business. 

“Following the appointment of Lord Hammond as Chair at the beginning of the year, I am thrilled that Copper continues to attract best-in-class talent from across the financial and technology sectors.” 

Banks are selecting software to maximise the efficiency and functionality of their ATMs

Deployers increasingly aware of the advantages of multivendor set-ups

Profiling nearly 40 operators across the world, RBR’s ATM Software 2023 study examines some of the key decision-making processes behind ATM software procurement. The study shows that the majority of the banks surveyed have now separated ATM hardware from software purchasing, and are opting for multivendor set-ups that allow them to secure better pricing from a competitive hardware market, support advanced ATM functionalities, and maintain unified platforms across hardware from multiple manufacturers – a key requirement for many of the profiled deployers. 

Some banks nevertheless continue to choose to buy ATM software and hardware from the same vendor – either as part of a package, or separately – which can save both time and money. Suppliers may offer attractive package deals that can be rolled out immediately, leading to lower licensing and development costs, and potentially fewer integration problems than with multivendor solutions, which may not always run smoothly out-of-the-box on all hardware.

Advanced software facilitates more sophisticated authentication

As banks seek to optimise the self-service channel, they require software platforms that can support increasingly sophisticated authentication methods and are procuring solutions with this in mind. Alternatives to standard chip and PIN authentication, such as contactless and NFC withdrawals, are becoming increasingly common. A growing number of deployers are also offering pre-staged withdrawals, where customers can schedule the transaction on their mobile banking app and then perform it using a one-time passcode or a QR code.

The research shows that biometric authentication is less common, with banks concerned about the high cost of implementation and customers’ reluctance to share biometric data. This functionality has seen widespread adoption in certain markets, however. Banks in Brazil, for example, report that biometric authentication is now used for virtually all ATM transactions.

Transaction and predictive analytics ensure smooth operation

Managing and monitoring ATM networks is key to providing a seamless customer experience, and software has a crucial role to play. Deployers frequently utilise dedicated solutions to monitor ATM uptime, device status, cash usage, and levels of consumables including printer paper and ink. A growing number have also been introducing transaction and predictive analytics to review previous ATM activity and troubleshoot potential problems. Some banks choose to outsource the management of their ATM networks, while others keep it in-house.

Mandy Eagle, who led RBR’s ATM Software 2023 research, remarked: “Deployers are increasingly seeking to optimise their ATM networks, and software is a key consideration in this strategy. They are choosing solutions that can support advanced functionalities, and identify issues that threaten smooth operation, with the ability to run on any hardware often also an important requirement. Software suppliers are adapting to meet these evolving expectations”.

Mosaic Smart Data (Mosaic), the real-time capital markets data analytics company, has added support for repo instruments to its innovative AI-powered platform. The service is already in live deployment across the sales and trading desks of global banks.

The new repo addition was developed in response to the growing demand from banks for the ability to optimise their balance sheets by having a real-time and historical view of repo transaction data across all client accounts – and being able to convert this data into actionable intelligence at the click of a button.

The Mosaic platform aggregates the entirety of a bank’s repo data (electronic and voice), normalises it and applies machine learning and advanced AI to extract actionable insight from it. The net result for the bank is the construction of a real-time and historical balance sheet that enables its staff to suggest appropriate opportunities to clients at exactly the right time, driving deeper relationships and more profitable trades.

According to ICMA, the total value of outstanding repo contracts in Europe hit a new high of EUR 10,374 billion in December 2022, up 12.8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, it reported a continued acceleration in the growth of turnover on automatic trading systems in the interdealer segment.

The shift to automated and often ultra-low latency electronic trading and the increase of new diverse participants, combined with the ever-growing amount of data generated from increasing volumes, has emphasised the urgency for banks to be able to view all repo transaction data from across the organisation and external sources, and react in real-time.

Mosaic offers real-time custom alerts and automated reporting, seasonality alerts (for example end of month, quarter or year), flow insights, client defection alerts, profitability-based insights, and anomaly detection. This helps identify anomalous behaviour of gross and net balance sheet consumption compared to an average over a 30-day look-back period, and enables banks to drill down to granular detail about client activity and business performance.

Matthew Hodgson, CEO and founder of Mosaic Smart Data, said: “The bond markets have been under the global spotlight in light of recent events in the banking sector, highlighting once again the importance of being able to react incredibly quickly, equipped the right insights, when the chips are down. We’ve already helped many leading global banks optimise their FICC trading operations with real-time, cutting-edge analytics tools, and now we’ve extended that support to the repo market at a time when digitisation and trading volume growth continue at pace.”

Concordium announces its partnership with Digitalsocial.ID Ltd helps users authenticate their digital actions and enhance confidence in digital interactions using blockchain technology. The partners will co-development and launch a novel user-centric identity management solution called Digitalsocial.id (DSID). DSID will allow users to collect digital attestation tokens to prove their reputation and aggregate them into a measurable and comparable personal score. These scores will reflect different aspects of the user's digital lives and provide provable credentials, integrity, and trustworthiness without revealing sensitive personal information. 

Digitalsocial.ID identified self-sovereignty and security as core values for their project and found its perfect partner in Concordium, the only layer-1 blockchain with a built-in self-sovereign ID framework. Concordium was designed to give internet users control over the personal information they choose to share while safekeeping their privacy in every other aspect. 

DSID will leverage the blockchain’s infrastructure to authenticate users’ identities and allow them to mint social accreditation as a reward for their actions or status on different platforms. The collected social accreditation tokens (SATs) can be used as on-chain verifiable credentials when proving credit scores, social media presence, or involvement.

Additionally, curated ecosystem partners will get their own tokens that users can store reputational data on, ensuring that partnering businesses receive substantial advantages and user's behavioural incentives.

In the DSID Hub, the dApp of the DSID Ecosystem, users can check their collection of dynamic SAT tokens. A leaderboard of all DSID Ecosystem partners and service providers will be listed in the Hub to easily identify use cases for users’ reputations. 

Signalling a move towards a better digital world and a safer, more authentic and ethical internet of the future. A verified on-chain social identity is a central element of the Web3 vision, and every user will benefit from the abiding proof of credibility that Digitalsocial.ID and Concordium can attest to. The partnership between Concordium and Digitalsocial.id (DSID) is the latest step taken to combat deep fake technology and digital fraud. 

Simon Molitor, co-founder, and CEO of Digitalsocial.id, says: “We at DSID have a simple conviction: navigating Web3 will require sophisticated identity solutions that are not in place yet elsewhere. We need to re-think identity to integrate it into the world of decentralized applications and digital wallets. Concordium is one step ahead - and hence a great place for DSID to build on. Concordium's on-chain identity layer helps to securely store our reputation metrics with the right individual.”

Torben Kaaber, Head of Business Solutions at Concordium, says: “The mission and values of Digitalsocial.id are strongly aligned with ours at Concordium. The small but highly skilled team leverages Concordium’s strengths to showcase how convenient and beneficial digital trustworthiness can be and we are thrilled to welcome them to our ecosystem. We are convinced that numerous Web2 and Web3 services will recognize the value DSID can add to their own customer experience and are looking forward to a great partnership.”

Nexi Greece, a member of Nexi Group, the leading PayTech in Europe, has entered a partnership with Greenpeace, one of the largest environmental organisations in the world. Nexi Greece will provide payment security services that meet the highest standards of data security and compliance to ensure the protection of Greenpeace supporters’ payment data.

The solution replaces the valuable payment data of Greek Greenpeace supporters with unique identification symbols (tokens) across card, remote and mobile payments. This preserves full payment functionality in a completely secure way, as the token can be used throughout the payment process instead of the original data. This avoids the exposure of sensitive data and enables the easy protection and storage of card numbers in Nexi’s certified data centres.

Nexi’s Tokenisation Solution is an easy-to-implement, comprehensive payment card security solution which is designed to prevent the growing threat of payment card theft and reduce the risk of data breaches. This allows Greenpeace to ensure the full security of its supporters’ data, reducing the risk of data theft or fraud, in compliance with all payment security requirements, including PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).

“In today's world, where data breaches and cyber threats are becoming increasingly common, payment security has become a top priority for businesses across all industries,” said Dionysis Grigoratos, Managing Director at Nexi Greece. "Tokenisation has emerged as a powerful tool for enhancing payment security. Nexi’s innovative solution enables businesses like Greenpeace to replace critical card data with tokens, while the actual sensitive payment information will be stored in our protected infrastructure. This solution allows clients and partners to maintain compliance with regulatory requirements and focus on their core businesses by relying on Nexi for payment security.”

finova, the UK’s largest cloud-based mortgages and savings software provider, today announces its new product switch functionality within its cloud-first origination platform, Apprivo².

Apprivo² supports lenders with digital customer onboarding and facilitates complex affordability modelling for lenders. As a configurable SaaS banking originations platform, it is designed for lenders operating a multi-sales channel model.

The new retention offering is designed to facilitate the complete product switch journey. The solution benefits from giving the control to the existing borrower to switch their product effortlessly and securely, allowing your customers complete control of when they process their change of product. The journey is almost entirely automated which also and reduces lenders team’s requirement to support the journey.

To access the new portal the borrower is required to provide some personal details to verify their identity, they can then choose a new product and switch on a date of their choice. All legally required declarations such as the offer acceptance are included in the journey and responses are stored in the system for audit purposes. In addition, all documentation such as the ESIS are automatically generated by the system and downloadable. Borrowers also have the option to pay any product fees upfront and make the payment or add it to their overall loan amount.

Andrew Mckenzie, Product Manager at finova, commented:

“Retention is undoubtedly a key focus for many lenders this year due to increasing economic pressures and rising rates taking their toll on the entire mortgage market. As many as 1.8 million fixed-rate mortgages are scheduled to end in 2023, presenting a real opportunity for lenders to bolster their bottom lines. Our new retention offering should help plug this gap, and is designed to facilitate the complete product switch journey to help lenders run more seamless operations all while retaining client attention.

“On top of this, we’re excited to see Apprivo² evolve into this new function area as we continue to help mortgage lenders overcome many of the challenges our sector faces today. Providing our clients an offering that not only benefits their customers but retains them with limited operational costs is a win-win.”

Montonio, an e-commerce checkout orchestration platform, has today announced a partnership with payments technology company, Episode Six, to bolster its open banking offering in the Nordics. Leveraging Episode Six’s Tritium® platform, Montonio is creating a modern, future-ready payments ecosystem that breaks the barriers of traditional card processing and acquiring. It will enable Montonio’s merchant customers to reduce the cost of payments and dramatically reduce payment times.

Montonio offers e-commerce merchants a payment solution based on open banking which can considerably cut costs compared to traditional payment methods. In the Nordics, a region renowned for payments innovation, Montonio holds a strong position in open banking, having established bilateral agreements with many of the major banks in the area. However, for Montonio and its customers to really reap the rewards, it was essential for them to reach and recruit merchants with larger transaction volumes. To do that, they needed a payment technology partner to provide them with a digital ledger that ensures payments can flow instantly between buyer and merchant accounts and support chargebacks when troublesome transactions occur.

Episode Six’s platform, Tritium®, is built from scratch and offers unmatched flexibility. Tritium is equipped with over 550 APIs that help develop, customise, and launch tailored payments products and services. Episode Six will enable Montonio to effect chargebacks automatically and efficiently for any problematic transaction. As these payments are irrevocable, there’s no chargeback risk for merchants and banks. Fraud becomes a non-issue as account-to-account payments rely on the banks’ own security. This minimises costs associated with reconciliation and chargebacks.

“To help us unlock further growth, we needed a payment technology provider that could support our open banking service,” said Kristofer Turmen, co-founder and CTO at Montonio. “We’re constantly looking to provide our merchant customers a more positive and innovative payments experience. By partnering with Episode Six and leveraging its flexible solution, we’re now able to do just that. This partnership also means we can cater to larger merchants with higher transaction volumes.”

“Our partnership employs open banking and the concept of a digital marketplace to create a modern payments ecosystem that breaks the barriers of traditional card processing and acquiring. The project particularly excites us because it aligns with Episode Six’s vision of redefining possible in payments,” said John Mitchell CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six. “It’s also a key milestone for Episode Six, as we’re marking our expansion into the Nordics, a highly progressive region for payments. We’re looking forward to working with a brand such as Montonio, and excited for this partnership to flourish.”