ApprovalMax, a leading provider of automated approval workflows for invoices and purchase orders, has partnered with Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, to offer a powerful integration that enables users to prepare and approve payments for execution (including batch and multi-currency payments), without leaving ApprovalMax. 

The integration offers a seamless solution for businesses seeking greater control over their payments by streamlining the preparation and approval of payments. The integration also gives firms the ability to manage client payments without handling manual file uploads, thereby saving time and reducing errors.

ApprovalMax has named the new functionality ‘Payments with Airwallex,’ which will be live in beta starting April 2023 for organisations in the UK. 

Using Airwallex’s financial technology, businesses like ApprovalMax can seamlessly scale their business across borders. This solution provides ApprovalMax’s accounting partners and customers with an all-in-one solution that can easily automate the approval and processing of international payments.

“When batch payment approvals are managed by ApprovalMax, it transforms the way finance teams collect duly authorised invoices for batch payments while ensuring a controlled and seamless integrated data flow," said Helmut Heptner, Co-Founder and Director of Operations, ApprovalMax. 

"The vision behind our collaboration was for ApprovalMax and Airwallex to work together in order to take away the burden of manual approvals and payments. Businesses are required to implement robust financial controls in a world of connected digital processes where cyber security threats are increasing. Helping our customers get to a stage where they can approve and make faster payments leads to better business efficiency and happier suppliers in the long run.”

“It also allows us to take our partners' service to the next level, by significantly improving their clients’ experience while not taking on any additional risks.”

“As SMEs look to expand globally, they need an end-to-end financial solution to facilitate fast, affordable payments while creating a frictionless customer experience,” said Pranav Sood, GM, EMEA at Airwallex. “Together ApprovalMax and Airwallex are making this a reality. This integration will not only simplify batch payments but also enable businesses to save on FX when paying employees and suppliers in their preferred currency. We’re excited to be partnering with ApprovalMax to further support SMEs as they look to scale globally.”

About the integration:
If your organisation manages significant payment volumes, especially those involving international transactions in local or foreign currencies, then using Airwallex for payments within ApprovalMax is an excellent option. This integration is particularly beneficial for businesses that are already using Airwallex, as well as for partners who provide or intend to offer treasury services. To take advantage of this integration, you must have active accounts with both ApprovalMax and Airwallex.

Together ApprovalMax and Airwallex:

• Eliminates any breaks in the chain between payments preparation and completion
• Enables an improved cash flow management process by ensuring payments are authorised by the correct stakeholders
• An easy and affordable way to make international payments to more than 150 countries in over 40 currencies
• Organises payment reconciliation with transparency
• Automates audit trail creation
• Provides a way for accountants to make payments without needing access to client bank accounts
• Enables seamless synchronisation of data to Xero, including payment information and bank feeds

Nasdaq today announced it has made a series of enhancements to its risk technology platform, which is widely used by the banking and broker-dealer community to manage liquidity and market risk. The upgrades will help firms better navigate extreme market conditions, providing a live view of risk across proprietary and client trading portfolios with detailed analytics to support real-time decision-making.

The latest major release of the Nasdaq Risk Platform adds fixed-income securities including Government Bonds, Corporate Bonds and Convertible Bonds to offer users a consolidated view of risk across a broad range of asset classes including Fixed Income, Equities and Equity Options, Exchange Traded Derivatives and Foreign Exchange. It also significantly enhances multi-factor and intraday stress testing tools that are capable of isolating and managing specific risks within large and complex scenario sets.

“The extreme volatility in recent weeks has demonstrated the consequences of firms not understanding their intra-day liquidity and market risk. We’ve seen a significant increase in demand from banks and broker-dealers who recognize the importance of being able to distill, analyze, interpret, and act on signals in a genuinely live environment,” said Roland Chai, Executive Vice President and Head of Marketplace Technology at Nasdaq. “Our position as both a technology and markets infrastructure provider means that we are uniquely placed to help firms navigate these unprecedented headwinds.”

Other significant enhancements include adding an open-source distributed streaming system, Kafka, to feed live risk analytics, and fully incorporating Nasdaq Derivatives Pricing into the platform. Delivered via the Nasdaq Risk Platform or standalone, Nasdaq Derivatives Pricing provides streaming option analytics including theoretical prices, greeks and recalibrated option volatilities to clients. The integration enables firms to conduct P&L, Value at Risk (VaR) and stress testing calculations on option portfolios which is done using recalibrated intraday volatility surfaces, a three-dimensional plot mapping option values against the possible strike prices of an underlying stock. 

The platform is a key growth area for of Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business, with the company increasing its customer base by 50% over the last 12 months.

Timely Capabilities to Navigate a Volatile Environment

Magnus Haglind, Senior Vice President and Head of Products for Marketplace Technology at Nasdaq said: “Many firms still rely on receiving end-of-day pricing and margin calls, leaving them exposed to significant intraday volatility and the risk of a liquidity crunch. This threat is only going to increase as we move into a higher interest rate environment with even greater risk embedded in bond and derivative portfolios. Nasdaq Risk Platform provides firms with a consolidated and real-time view of risk across asset-classes, exchanges and CCPs and brings wider benefits in the form of more efficient collateral management, which can help unlock liquidity and boost returns.”

Built-in the cloud, and deployed via SaaS, the platform has the ability to scale rapidly at times of high market volatility. It is developed and maintained by Nasdaq, applying the same high standards and levels of monitoring and support the company applies to its own marketplaces.

Leading RegTech provider Know Your Customer is proud to announce its latest strategic client wins in Singapore: Volopay and Coda Payments.

Know Your Customer’s innovative compliance platform will streamline client onboarding and periodic review tasks for both clients, delivering a more seamless due diligence experience to their vast pool of SME and corporate clients.

Volopay was founded in 2020, in Singapore, to help businesses better manage their finances to achieve their strategic growth. The product employs corporate cards and  receivable and payable management software in order to streamline approvals and expense workflows, lending complete control and visibility over business expenses. Since then, it has expanded globally to Australia, Indonesia, and India, as well. 

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Singapore, Coda Payments is one of the world’s leading providers of secure, cross-border monetisation solutions for digital products and services. The company helps digital content publishers, including some of the biggest names in gaming such as Activision Blizzard, Riot Games and Tencent, unlock new revenue for their games, apps, and services in more than 60 markets worldwide.

The double client win comes in the context of an unprecedented growth of the digital payments industry in Southeast Asia, which is expected to reach an astonishing USD1.5 trillion by 2030. In this environment, the next frontier of innovation is to provide financial services to entrepreneurs, SMEs and corporates in a seamless way, similar to what has now become the standard for consumers.

To support payment providers in their dual objective of seamless onboarding and iron-clad compliance, Know Your Customer has developed a highly modular compliance platform that supports clients’ need for cross-border verification and Know Your Business (KYB) automation. By providing live access to company registries in 127 countries worldwide and an end-to-end digital compliance platform, Know Your Customer empowers Fintech businesses to safely onboard clients across borders, unravel complex company structure charts and constantly stay in control of their regulatory obligations through automated periodic reviews.

Claus Christensen, CEO of Know Your Customer, commented:

"In a constant effort to lower the cost of compliance and provide access to essential payment services to SMEs and entrepreneurs, more and more Fintech companies are turning to RegTech providers to help them achieve this goal in a shorter timeframe. We are proud that both Volopay and Coda Payments have chosen to partner with Know Your Customer to bring to life their ambitious vision for seamless onboarding and periodic reviews and we look forward to working with them to deliver the best possible experience to their vast range of local and international clients.”

Rohit Bhageria, Founding Member at Volopay, added:

“We at Volopay were looking for a comprehensive Identification and Verification software suite coupled with strong watchlist management and enhanced security features, and we have found that Know Your Customer checks all the boxes of our requirements.”

Finally, Abhi Sharma, Chief Financial Officer at Coda Payments, said:

“At Coda Payments, we’ve always been a solution-focused company that is constantly looking for ways to improve productivity and strengthen our compliance commitments. We’re confident that our partnership with Know Your Customer will allow us to do exactly that, and look forward to working together to streamline our compliance processes and boost efficiencies across the business.”

Both client wins were celebrated during an official signing ceremony hosted at the Tower Club Singapore, organised in partnership with the Ireland Ambassador to Singapore and Enterprise Ireland. The event marks another significant milestone for Know Your Customer in Singapore, as it continues to drive RegTech innovation in the region.

Paynetics UK has received its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). One of Europe’s leading providers of embedded finance and digital banking solutions, Paynetics now holds EMI licences in Europe and the UK. This further strengthens Paynetics’ capabilities by allowing its business partners and customers to seamlessly build programmes that can be deployed throughout Europe and the UK.

Since the UK voted to leave the EU, Paynetics, which is headquartered in Bulgaria, has been operating under the FCA’s Temporary Permission Regime (TPR). The TPR scheme is due to end in December 2023, so the grant of the EMI licence allows Paynetics to transfer its UK-based customers onto its UK EMI licence.

Executive Chairman, Paynetics, Ivo Gueorguiev said, “Securing the UK EMI licence is a key element in our strategy to provide embedded finance across all of Europe and the UK. We are now able to offer the full range of our products to our UK customers and are particularly excited to be able to support a wider range of consumer-based programs in the UK. We believe this licence will further add to our growth, and we look forward to investing further in our UK business.”

Mike Peplow, CEO, Paynetics UK: “Securing the UK EMI license gives our customers and partners the confidence to expand their business with Paynetics. We believe that by having dual license capability Paynetics is the natural partner for UK-based organisations who want to deploy in Europe or European-based organisations who want to enter the UK market. We are already building out the UK team and will offer the full range of our embedded finance capability to the UK market.”

Paynetics is a regulated e-money institution that provides end-to-end payment services across the UK, European Union and globally. They are principal members of Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay International, SWIFT and SEPA and can offer both IBANs and UK Sort Codes. Paynetics meets the complex payment needs of both B2B and B2B2C customers safely in one place, including card acceptance and issuance, across mobile and e-wallet, online, digital and physical cards, and POS channels. 

iDenfy, a global identity verification and fraud prevention service provider, announced joining forces with Investors Club, a private acquisition marketplace for online businesses. iDenfy will conduct ID verification checks while helping onboard sellers and buyers onto the fastly growing Investors Club platform. 

Being an online trading platform, according to iDenfy, there is a possibility that some users might attempt to use fraudulent payment methods or misrepresent the businesses they are selling. Investors Club conducts thorough security checks on the services being sold to prevent this. Additionally, the company decided to enhance security and implemented iDenfy’s AI-powered identity verification solution. 

Investors Club facilitates the trade of viable online businesses through its platform that connects buyers and sellers. The private marketplace for online companies stands out in its niche by providing comprehensive transaction services, including conducting exhaustive due diligence on all businesses listed on the platform, offering escrow services, verifying the authenticity of buyers and sellers, and providing complete site migration services from seller to buyer upon a successful sale.

However, with rapid growth comes an increased risk of fraud. Investors Club recognized the need to reduce these risks while providing its services at scale without compromising the user experience. For this reason, the platform had manual internal verification checks designed to verify buyers and sellers to reduce the risk for both sides participating in a transaction and to have a high-quality pool of participants on the Investors Club platform. 

Before using iDenfy, Investors Club's internal team carried out verification checks through various means. Since the company’s buyers and sellers are worldwide, verifying identities for multiple countries was a big challenge, claimed Investors Club officials, especially considering the various identity documents in each country and state. That’s when the online platform started looking for a user-friendly ID verification solution to verify its users quickly without needing manual internal document reviews. 

According to the online marketplace, the goal of this new partnership was to save time on identity verifications while improving the quality and credibility of its Know Your Customer (KYC) process. iDenfy offered a privacy-first approach to ensure that all data on the Investors Club platform was securely stored. In addition, the ID verification provider facilitated a seamless integration process, minimizing the complexity of integrating its KYC solution to meet the specific needs of the Investors Club platform. 

Investors Club aims to reduce verification processing times and focus on addressing other business needs by implementing the biometric ID verification service. iDenfy’s AI and machine-learning algorithms safeguard Investors Club against document fraud while ensuring the owner is physically present and alive.

According to iDenfy, the partnership will enable Investors Club to maintain low operating costs while facilitating platform growth. Currently, iDenfy prevents unwanted registrations during the customer onboarding process. Its full-stack identity verification solution is certified by ISO/IEC 27001 standards guaranteeing that Investors Club data is handled with the highest security protocols. 

“Our new partnership has increased security for our users, as iDenfy only handles the data they submit for verification and is only viewed by selected personnel on our team. Our verification process has become more fluid and has improved the experience for our users,”  — commented Daniel Buetler, Managing Partner at Investors Club. 

Domantas Ciulde, the CEO of iDenfy, added: “We are proud to assist Investors Club in ensuring that both buyers and sellers have confidence in the safety and security of their transactions with a robust, compliant ID verification system.”

Hakbah, the Saudi-based fintech savings platform, announces its successful closing of a US$2 million, pre-Series A, funding round. 

Global Ventures - MENA’s leading venture capital firm and DIFC-based Aditum Investment Management participated in the round, providing Hakbah with its first institutional capital. The funding follows approval granted by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

Proceeds will be used to accelerate Hakbah’s presence in Saudi Arabia, improve the user journey, and enhance its savings engine algorithm - to optimally serve customers seeking to save in an innovative, accessible manner, with a social impact.

Hakbah is one of the fastest-growing companies in the region. Organic growth in 2022 was over 20x, as it helped 18,000 customers save over US$35 million. Hakbah strengthens financial inclusion via social savings, and a solid value proposition - which has driven unprecedented demand from 120,000 active, verified and ready-to-serve customers on its platform. 

Hakbah is tackling the Middle East savings crisis; innovatively digitizing financial habits, leveraging data, needs and behaviours. In Saudi Arabia, 70% of Saudis do not have emergency savings, with the household savings rate averaging 1.6% only.  

Naif AbuSaida, Founder of Hakbah, said: 

"We are proud to have two strong financial institutions, Global Ventures and Aditum, as our primary investors. They share our values, vision, and ambition to elevate the savings industry to the next level. Savings are an important pillar of the Financial Sector Development Program and increasing them is a key focus for Saudi Vision 2030.”

“Hakbah will play a key role in supporting this goal by widening its savings offering and partnerships for employees, gig-workers, students, housewives, and many others." 

Noor Sweid, Managing Partner of Global Ventures, commented: 

“While savings groups are the most popular form of alternative borrowing for unbanked groups in emerging economies, various pain points still define the user experience. These include inefficiencies in identifying and managing savings groups, to a lack of transparency, flexibility and consistency in payments. Hakbah is stepping in to digitize the $6 billion ROSCA market in Saudi Arabia, and the wider region. We are thrilled to partner with Naif and the team on their mission to modernize financial savings and boost financial inclusion in the Kingdom and beyond.”

Lachlan Hughes, Head of Venture Capital at Aditum Investment Management, said: 

“We are thrilled to partner with Hakbah in their mission to drive financial inclusion and promote savings in the Gulf region. The powerful combination of Hakbah’s exceptional user experience, sophisticated back-end technology and partnerships with leading regional brands will empower millions of users to meet their savings goals. We are impressed with Naif's vision and leadership and look forward to supporting Hakbah as they continue to scale and make a meaningful impact in the region.”

Hakbah’s platform provides access to finance via savings in a legal and digital way; elevating traditional savings behavior; enabling users to save for purpose; and increasing financial inclusion and literacy. Savings Groups are a popular and traditional savings behavior in over 60 countries worldwide.

Today, absolute labs – the first Wallet Relationship Management™ (WRM™) platform that is revolutionizing how growth and marketing teams acquire, engage, convert, and retain customers in the next Internet – announces the close of a $8 million Seed fundraising round including Aglaé Ventures, Alpha Praetorian Capital, The Luxury Fund, Near Foundation, MoonPay, Plassa Capital, Punja Global Ventures, Samsung Next, Sparkle Ventures (Animoca Brands), and W3i.

The Web3 CRM platform, which is already trusted by trailblazers such as LVMH, MoonPay, The Sandbox, Mocaverse (Animoca Brands), and others, is enabling brands to embrace and leverage wallet data on public blockchains to gain deep data insights, build actionable segments, and automate cross-channel campaigns including NFT air drops, nurture social community engagement, and more.

“WRM™ was born from the realization that existing Web2 CRM solutions are neither capable or positioned to meet the requirements and opportunities of blockchain-based marketing,” says absolute labs CEO and co-founder, Samir Addamine. “Wallets hold the keys to everything Web3 – from proving identity, providing access to value-rich brand experiences, facilitating payments, creating “ownership” opportunities for customers and more. We’re proud to have an incredible range of partners who share our belief that any brand that recognizes the awesome potential of Web3 must have absolute WRM™ as a core component of its martech stack.”

Speaking on their partnership with absolute labs, Vanessa Grellet, Managing Partner at Aglaé Ventures, said - “We are delighted to support a pioneer that is directly at the crossroads of Web2 and Web3 technologies. absolute labs' innovative ways to leverage data  analytics, CRM and marketing automation supports the adoption of Web3 and creates opportunities for brand engagement.”

Franck Le Moal, Chief Information Officer, LVMH commented: “We are delighted to work with absolute labs to explore Web3 data and how this can enhance client experience. Their solution will be pivotal as luxury and FMCG brands push further into Web3.”

Speaking on their long-standing collaboration with absolute labs, Julien Pageaud of Sparkle Ventures said - “We have been a proud supporter of absolute labs since the beginning and are thrilled at the potential to purposefully bridge the largest and most successful Web2 companies to Web3 technologies. absolute WRM platform promises to provide an intuitive pathway for leading brands and emerging companies to engage with the growing number of Web3 customers.”

Abhay Mav, Head of Moonpay Ventures, said “Absolute labs’ vision of the WRM™ platform aligns strongly with our mission of making it easier for millions of users to experience Web3 and thereby onboard a billion users to Web3. We see their WRM platform as an essential component of the marketing ecosystem to support both native Web3 and Web2 brands into this incredible, evolving, new space and we are proud to be their partner."

Quentin Reyes, Managing Director of Alpha Praetorian Capital, said "Absolute Labs is poised to address a critical need in the market with their groundbreaking Web3 CRM software. With the rise of decentralized communities, businesses are in dire need of a comprehensive solution that can effectively manage their marketing and community needs. Absolute Labs has the vision and expertise to deliver on this promise, and we’re thrilled to support their efforts to revolutionize the way companies engage with their customers."

FV Bank, the U.S. licensed global digital bank that offers a vertically-integrated suite of traditional and digital asset banking and custody services, has appointed Frank J. Serra as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective immediately.

Serra is a seasoned financial executive with over 26 years of experience and brings his considerable experience in asset management, regulatory compliance, and financial performance management to FV Bank. As CFO, Serra joins the FV Bank executive team and oversees the financial operations of the bank, including reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and strategic planning.

"I'm very pleased to have Frank join FV Bank as our new CFO," said FV Bank CEO Miles Paschini. "Frank's leadership and exceptional experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand our banking services and explore exciting new opportunities within the traditional finance and digital asset sectors. With his extensive expertise in asset management and financial leadership, we are confident in his ability to lead the financial operations of FV Bank and support our ambitious growth plans."

Serra has previously held numerous strategic leadership positions such as CEO, COO, and Director of Operations, and most recently served as CEO of Santander Asset Management LLC, where he was responsible for the administration of $4.5 billion in Assets Under Management. He also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Trust Division at Banco Santander Puerto Rico leading bank trust operations, corporate trust and custody services, and risk management. Prior to that he served as Assistant Vice President and Assistant Manager of the Trust Division at Banco Popular de Puerto Rico.

"I'm excited to join FV Bank at this pivotal moment in its growth trajectory," said Frank J. Serra. "I look forward to working with Miles and the entire team to build on the bank's solid financial foundation and deliver strong results for our customers and shareholders. FV Bank has a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on its unique market position and I'm eager to contribute to the bank's continued success."

ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, today bolstered its product line with the launch of ACA Vantage for Cyber, to help private markets (“PM,” i.e., private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital) firms discover, prevent, and remediate critical cyber vulnerabilities across their portfolio. This unique offering is powered by ACA Aponix^®, ACA’s cybersecurity division. The offering combines an executive advisory service with ACA’s technology, ComplianceAlpha^®, to help operating partners and sponsors at PM firms globally to build and operate a formal program of cybersecurity portfolio oversight and conduct an ongoing, effective assessment of their portfolio companies’ cyber posture over the entire investment lifecycle.

ACA Vantage for Cyber comes at a time of growing cyber risk, especially with the proliferation of ransomware-as-a-service, sophisticated business email compromise schemes, and supply-chain attacks. As cyber risk proliferates, PM firms are moving from an ad-hoc approach to overseeing their portfolio companies' cyber programs with a more systematic approach. For example, according to a survey conducted by ACA Group in March 2023, when it comes to their portfolio companies, 73% of PM firms do not have a minimum-security baseline, and 68% do not perform annual risk assessments when it comes to their portfolio companies.

“When a company within the private equity firm’s portfolio suffers a breach, this results in financial and operational losses to the portfolio business but equally to the sponsors and investors,” said Kavitha Venkita, Partner at ACA. “What’s needed is a programmatic approach to cybersecurity across all portfolio companies, designed to be formally governed and applied consistently. A confidence-building portfolio oversight program is a competitive advantage today for attracting and retaining investment from Limited Partners; tomorrow, it will likely be table stakes.”

ACA Vantage for Cyber helps firms with fewer internal resources to keep pace with industry changes, apply best practices, and reduce costs while managing downside risk, creating value, and increasing investment from Limited Partners. Risks and remediation efforts are displayed in real-time via ACA’s award-winning GRC and regulatory technology platform, ComplianceAlpha, giving operating partners and sponsors accessible and digestible results to help guide and prioritize further action steps across their portfolios. This solution set helps meet investors’ expectations and supports the safeguarding and growth of the valuation of investments.

Jeremy Bergsman, Managing Director at ACA, shared, "Firms are constantly navigating what “good” cyber oversight looks like. We are excited about how ACA Vantage for Cyber can help private markets firms create or improve their oversight programs. And ACA Vantage for Cyber has flexible risk assessment and monitoring that can be scaled up or down to meet the risk management needs of every company in the portfolio."

The key elements of the offering include the following:

• Continuous, portfolio-wide cybersecurity monitoring and assessment.
• A methodology that enables “apples-to-apples” comparison of a firm’s risk and need for attention across the portfolio.
• Expert support to build an oversight program that is formally governed, applied consistently, and designed to grow valuations.

ACA Vantage for Cyber is the latest cybersecurity offering from ACA. ACA Aponix, the cybersecurity division of ACA Group, has helped more than 100 private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds improve cybersecurity oversight of their investments. In addition to ACA Vantage for Cyber, ACA’s Aponix team provides due diligence services to PE sponsors and cybersecurity assessment and remediation services to their portfolio companies.

ACA continues to develop and enhance services that empower PM firms to monitor and react to their portfolio companies’ risk. Further developments include ACA Vantage for ESG which will allow firms to monitor, assess, and gather data and insights on the ESG posture of their portfolio companies.

Magnolia State Bank and Teslar Software today announced their partnership to help manage exceptions volume and enhance the lending process. The $420 million-asset community bank will leverage Teslar’s sophisticated exceptions tracking tools to save time and boost efficiencies. 

“In a world full of big bank brands, we’re proud to be a community bank focused on serving our customers and their unique needs. However, we needed the technology to stay ahead and optimize our existing resources,” said Curt Jones, CCO of Magnolia State Bank. “By automating and streamlining some of our loan documentation and tracking processes, we will be able to empower our front line with the most up-to-date information necessary to better serve customers. We are confident the Teslar platform can grow with us and we look forward to expanding our relationship.”

With Teslar, Magnolia State Bank can better track exceptions and manage documents, providing lenders with easier access to relevant borrower and portfolio data. Teslar’s technology reduces the time spent on cumbersome manual tasks and enables lenders to focus on more strategic initiatives such as deepening customer relationships.

“Now more than ever, community banks need to remain strong and continue growing,” said Joe Ehrhardt, CEO and founder of Teslar Software. “Magnolia State Bank is being proactive in ensuring they have transparency and accessibility to their bank’s data and loan and deposit portfolios. We are proud to partner with Magnolia State Bank to help them achieve this as they continue to grow and serve their community with a personal touch.”