Utimaco, a leading global provider of IT security solutions and public warning systems is pleased to announce that the Danish Ministry of Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) has adopted Utimaco’s u.warn solution module Command Post as the Cell Broadcast Entity (CBE) to manage and control early warnings dissemination in Denmark. 

Command Post is integrated with the 3 Cell Broadcast Centers (CBCs) of the 3 mobile operators in the country. Utimaco u.warn CBC has been also adopted by 3 Denmark as part of the overall S!RENEN system.

u.warn is a public warning suite of products that caters for governments, enterprises and other organizations, which seek an emergency mass communication system. u.warn adapts to the various needs of each entity via a variety of delivery channels, including cell broadcast, location-based SMS, customized apps, desktop alerts, email and more.

Features of the u.warn solution and services include:

• Realtime & location-based alerts
• Works also when the network is jammed
• Does not exhaust network resources
• Does not require data
• Does not require citizens to download nor enable anything
• Full geo-redundancy
• Compatible with all networks - 5G; 4G; 3G; 2G
• Supports all RAN/core vendors

Stefan Auerbach, CEO of Utimaco, said: “Creating Trust is the core of our mission, and we are very proud that DALO entrusted us with the paramount task of delivering time critical alert messages to safeguard and protect their citizens at all times. Our public warning system will now contribute to increasing public safety and creating trust for Danish citizens.”

Colonel Claus Brixensen, acting Director of the Cyberdivision of the Danish Defence, said: ”For any society it is mandatory to have an efficient and quick way of warning the public, should a crisis occur. In collaboration between Utimaco, The Danish Emergency Management Agency, The Danish Police and The Danish Acquisition and Logistics Organization, a new emergency phone warning system has been established in Denmark. We have had a great collaboration with Utimaco. They have worked with dedication and agility to make this project happen.”

WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity, announced today it has hired HoJin Kim as the company’s new senior vice president and chief revenue officer. In this role, HoJin will lead WatchGuard’s worldwide sales organisation and be responsible for driving revenue growth, scaling and expanding the global sales organization, and driving the adoption of WatchGuard’s Unified Security Platform framework within the MSP community.

With over 25 years of experience leading and growing IT channel organisations, HoJin has led global and regional partner teams in developing and implementing channel strategies that build sustained competitive advantage for those companies.

“HoJin’s depth of experience in all facets of the channel industry, combined with his knowledge of the security market, makes him a perfect fit for WatchGuard as we embark on our next phase of growth, focused on expanding our MSP ecosystem and driving adoption of our Unified Security Platform framework,” said Prakash Panjwani, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies. “HoJin is the ideal addition to our leadership team, and I look forward to seeing his contributions towards accelerating our stated company vision – to be the security platform provider for the MSP community.”

Prior to joining WatchGuard, HoJin was the chief revenue officer for The Channel Company where he was responsible for driving revenue growth and delivering on the company’s quarterly goals and long-term strategy. Previously, he’s served as vice president of worldwide channels for companies such as SonicWall, Samsung, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Prior to that, he held regional roles managing partner programs and relationships at Juniper Networks and IBM. 

“I’m thrilled to join WatchGuard. I’ve spent my career working throughout all aspects of the channel, and WatchGuard’s singular focus on enabling the MSP with its Unified Security Platform approach is just what the industry needs to succeed in this cybersecurity landscape,” said HoJin Kim, new SVP and chief revenue officer at WatchGuard Technologies. “During the company’s more than 25 years in operation, WatchGuard has built an enviable partner community that has achieved success through trust, listening, and innovation. I’m honored to have the opportunity to work with this community to extend that success for many years to come.”

“I want to thank Sean Price for his seven years of excellent service at WatchGuard. It’s been a journey of unparalleled growth for WatchGuard and strong relationship building with our MSP community, and we’ve had a great time in the process,” said Prakash Panjwani. “We’ve worked closely together on this transition, and I wish Sean nothing but the best as he pursues what’s next personally and professionally.” 

Six in ten (56%) small and medium-sized businesses in London have seen an increase in permanent staff requesting to move to contract roles in the years following the pandemic – far higher than the UK average of 35%. 

Research from business finance lender Sonovate also shows that firms in the capital are increasingly reliant on a contract or freelance workers – three quarters (75%) of employers report an increase in the proportion of temporary workers, compared to 67% of firms across the UK which have seen a similar trend.  

Meanwhile almost a third (29%) of London businesses say they’re more cautious about recruiting permanent staff, compared to 22% across the UK.  

The research suggests that businesses in London are more focused on the benefits of contract or freelance workers - three quarters (73%) say contractors and freelancers contribute to a positive company culture, higher than the UK average of 66%. 

Similarly, over two-thirds (67%) of London firms believe offering flexibility to workers helps the business attract and retain talent – higher than the 55% UK average. 

Research from the Policy Institute and King’s College London in 2022 revealed that three-quarters of London’s workers didn’t think they’d return to the office full-time. For many, the cost of commuting was a major factor. 

Richard Prime, co-CEO of Sonovate, comments: “London’s business community has a proud history of innovation and firms across the capital are demonstrating this once again as they overhaul their traditional working structures to attract and retain talent as well as boost competitiveness. Businesses in other regions should consider following London’s lead otherwise they risk getting left behind. 

“Rising living costs are forcing people to reassess how they work and how they can maximise their income – for an increasing number, this means moving to freelance or contract work so they can have more control over their finances. For Londoners facing the highest costs in the UK – from commuting and housing prices to nursery fees and the soaring cost of leisure activities – having this control is essential during the cost of living crisis.  

“Businesses who can help facilitate their employees’ shift to contract work are likely to reap the rewards in retaining key talent but also boosting commercial performance. However, it is not without its challenges. Initially, in order to implement these changes within an organisation, businesses will often need reliable access to funding to help to manage cashflow and allow them to be more agile when responding to upcoming projects or workload.”   

Business lender Sonovate provides embedded finance and payment solutions for the contingent workforce – including contract and freelance workers - serving recruitment businesses, consultancies and labour marketplaces globally to smooth cashflow and ensure workers get paid on time. 

Sonovate recently announced that it surpassed £3.5bn in total funding and £1 billion in annual funding for the first time as rising costs force businesses to seek finance to manage cashflow and drive growth. During 2022, Sonovate provided businesses with £1.1 billion in finance, a 58% increase on the £700 million lent in the previous year and £312 million in Q4 2022 alone. 

To date, more than 33,000 freelancers, contractors and gig workers in 44 countries have received payments from over 3,300 businesses supported by Sonovate. 

Financial Risk Solutions (FRS), provider of the investment administration software InvestPro to life, annuity, and pensions companies worldwide, is proud to announce they have been selected to feature on the Fifth annual FinTech Global WealthTech100 list.

The prestigious ranking recognises the world's most innovative technology solution providers that address the digital transformation challenges and opportunities faced by investment firms, private banks and financial advisors. FRS was selected by an independent panel of analysts and experts from an initial list of over 1,200 businesses. FinTech Global work hard to identify the world’s most innovative WealthTech companies which they believe every leader in the wealth and asset management industries needs to know about in 2023

FRS CMO Frank Carr commented:

“FRS is pleased to be selected for the 2023 Global WealthTech 100. Being recognised for inclusion on this list is a great honour. Our InvestPro software continues to add significant value by automating and scaling our wealth and asset management client’s business, from initial onboarding to ongoing self-service across funds, open architecture investments and model portfolios."

A full list of WealthTech100 and detailed information about each company is available to download for free at www.WealthTech100.com.

DKK Partners, a leading fintech company specialising in emerging markets (EM) and foreign exchange (FX) liquidity, has announced a circa 60 per cent growth in revenue in 2022, surpassing £100 million, up from £63 million the previous year.

Fuelled by its global expansion, opening new offices in Ghana, Dubai, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, DKK has increased its client base by 250 per cent over the past 12 months, providing FX liquidity in emerging and frontier markets to enable fast and simple transactions for customers. The company has seen its headcount grow by 20 per cent over the last year and has ambitious plans to further increase staff by an additional 50 per cent in 2023.

DKK has become a significant market maker in the XOF and XAF markets with GHS to follow, with a focus on automation technology to deliver a ‘mobile first’ strategy for the market through an app launch in late Q4 2023.

To continue its rapid scale, the firm is embarking on a Series A investment round in order to strengthen its compliance processes and systems by implementing innovative RegTech solutions.

Following its growth, DKK has further plans to open its doors in Spain, Cameroon, Senegal and India this year, to empower local businesses with access to first-class FX services.

Khalid Talukder, Co-Founder of DKK Partners, said: “2023 is the year of scale for DKK Partners after a brilliant 2022, which saw us expand our reach in key frontier markets and deliver world-class consultancy and services to our rapidly growing client base. We are at an exciting stage of our journey with plans to open more offices in Europe, Africa and Asia to expand our global footprint, supported by the strategic hires of industry experts and an increase in automation technology to continue delivering our world-class offering.”

Dominic Duru, Co-Founder of DKK Partners, said: “Emerging markets are at the core of DKK’s values, and our heritage in these regions makes us proud to empower local businesses and local economies to thrive. We will continue investing in our services and products, as well as collaborating with key partners in the banking industry to support both our own growth journey and the journeys of our customers to tailor our platform to their business needs.”

During 2022, DKK also joined the London Chamber of Commerce, working with members to offer its suite of services for overseas training on behalf of London’s business community.

DKK was founded by capital markets specialist Khalid Talukder, formally of UBS, Citi & Deutsche Bank, and Dominic Duru of RBS and Citi, facilitating businesses to manage currency risks in frontier markets.

Key DKK services including virtual IBAN accounts, enabling customers to access new currencies and territories, alongside EM liquidity to provide direct access to real-time pricing and execution across frontier, emerging and G10 market currencies.

Delta Capita, a leading global capital markets consulting, managed services and technology provider, today announces that it has partnered with Aveni, an award-winning RegTech company, to advance its Consumer Duty offering by providing their clients with access to Aveni’s cutting-edge AI technology solutions.

Delta Capita currently offers tailored Consumer Duty consulting services, including readiness health checks, vulnerability policy and framework development, advice on how to accelerate implementation processes and training.

In addition to this, Delta Capita’s clients now have the option to leverage Aveni’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) platform to monitor and analyse customer interactions. Aveni’s platform identifies trends and actionable outcomes to drive a range of business improvements including automatic risk assurance, Consumer Duty KPI monitoring, the identification of vulnerable customers, improved data analytics and management information for the regulator.

The partnership comes at an important time for the industry. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Consumer Duty proposition comes into effect from July 31^st which sets high and clear standards of consumer protection across financial services to improve the standard of care that customers receive. At the end of January, the FCA issued a statement to highlight its concern that the industry is running behind schedule in terms of preparation.

“At Delta Capita, we are passionate about solving our clients’ problems by combining quality advisory services with the latest technology solutions, and so the decision to team up with Aveni was an easy one.” said Karan Kapoor, Head of Risk and Regulatory Consulting at Delta Capita. “Aveni’s market leading NLP platform is fast and easy to implement and has been tailored specifically to support firms with the fast-approaching Consumer Duty regulation. This is why it has already been adopted by a number of credible clients.”

Joseph Twigg, CEO of Aveni, comments: “Consumer Duty regulation is a game changer and technology deployment is essential for financial services firms in the UK to meet the level of data-driven demands expected. We are really pleased to be working alongside Delta Capita, a team whose culture and commitment to finding solutions aligns with ours, so we can support its clients to meet the July 31st deadline.”

A year on from publishing the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, FinTech Scotland announced today that it is on track to hit its targets for economic growth.

In March 2022, FinTech Scotland, the independent cluster body, published a strategic FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, identifying industry priorities for the UK to accelerate its fintech ambition through research and development (R&D) and targeted innovation. 

The Roadmap was developed in close coordination with fintech entrepreneurs, the financial services sector, academia, regulators, Government bodies and consumer groups, and provides a pathway and action-oriented framework to increase the positive impact of FinTech Innovation across Scotland and the UK.

The Roadmap also supports the recommendation in the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech, for increased R&D investment in fintech innovation to accelerate fintech cluster excellence, and was positively welcomed by Ron Kalifa, the financial services sector, UK and Scottish Government and the City of London Corporation.

The priorities laid out in the Roadmap centred on four strategic innovation themes:

• Climate Finance

• Open Finance Data

• Payments and Transactions; and

• Financial Regulation

Over a ten-year period, the ambition is to significantly increase fintech related jobs across Scotland and the UK, as well as produce an increase in economic gross value add (GVA) through fintech innovation.

One year on, industry-led collaborations have driven growing action against each of the strategic innovation themes. These collaborations, at the cutting edge of innovation, are driving results. Examples include:

• Climate Finance

  • 100% increase in fintech enterprises in Scotland focused on climate finance

  • Accelerated fintech partnerships and fintech adoption through new innovation labs launched with Lloyds Banking Group and TSB with outcomes helping UK customers towards carbon efficiency

  • Climate finance enabled through cross-sector collaboration with Space Scotland, accelerating innovations in ESG using data from satellite sources

• Open Finance Data

  • 26% increase in fintech enterprises developing innovative solutions using Open Banking

  • Accelerated fintech adoption and creation of commercial opportunities through the launch of Phoenix’s innovation forum to build greater engagement and support the well-being of its customers, driving forward greater financial inclusion

  • The Smart Data Foundry’s research on vulnerability in the pension market, the impact of late payments on the SME market, and on the net zero agenda, all enabled through Open Finance Data

• Payments & Transactions

  • 19% increase in fintech enterprises in Scotland developing payment solutions

  • Investment of £94m into fintech enterprises focused on payment innovation in the last 12 months

  • Development of Cryptofinance, blockchain and Distributed ledger courses at leading Scottish universities

• Financial regulation

  • 13% increase in fintech enterprises specialising financial regulation innovation

  • Investment of £83m into fintech enterprises focused on financial regulation innovation in the last 12 months

  • Confirmed government and industry support to accelerate innovation in financial regulation enabling the creation of the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, said: “By enabling collaborative innovation across the fintech ecosystem not just in Scotland but the whole of the UK and beyond, we can see how the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap is already making a real difference – helping businesses to build economic growth, create jobs, work through climate finance to enable a future net zero economy, and helping to alleviate the cost of living crisis.

“The FinTech R&I Roadmap demonstrates how collaboration and innovation can change people’s lives, driving positive outcomes for both business and citizens both in Scotland and across the UK.”

Charlotte Crosswell OBE, Chair of the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, said: "The UK Fintech Sector Review clearly set out recommendations to ensure the country retains its global leadership position in financial innovation. An important component of that success is increased investment in fintech, and ensuring the brightest minds across the UK are involved. It’s encouraging to see that in just one year, the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap has enabled more of that important R&D collaboration and aligns with our approach at CFIT.”

Damian Nussbaum, Executive Director, Innovation and Growth City of London Corporation, said: “FinTech continues to be a major success story for the UK, and its development is critical to ensuring the UK maintains its position as a global financial hub. The UK has a unique innovation ecosystem where research and development play a critical role. The Roadmap highlights the power and potential of that ecosystem and the transformative impact that collaboration in this sector can have across society. The City of London Corporation welcomes the progress made and we look forward to working with Scotland and the other nations and regions of the UK to drive further fintech growth.” 

Jane Martin, Managing Director of Innovation and Investment at Scottish Enterprise, said: "Strong, effective and purposeful collaboration between industry, academia and the public sector is key to delivering much needed innovation and growth for Scotland. The FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap is a demonstration of how collaborative action through purposeful strategic action can drive good economic outcomes and accelerate future growth.”

Catherine Martin, Vice Principal Corporate Services at the University of Edinburgh, said: "As a founding partner of FinTech Scotland the University of Edinburgh is fully committed to the role R&D plays in developing fintech economic opportunities in Scotland and across the UK. Our experience and academic excellence in both disruptive technologies and other sectors has shown how strategic and purposeful partnerships can shape the future direction of vital industries and sectors in our economy and society. We're committed to playing our role as a leader and as a collaborator in fintech and financial services innovation, pushing forward the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap priorities". 

Pardeep Cassells, Head of Securities and Claims at AccessFintech, said: "Fintech innovation can't afford to slow down. Technologies advance fast, customer expectations faster and the need for a fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable financial sector is still to be fulfilled. The fintech community has welcomed the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap. It focuses the mind, helping fintech businesses like AccessFintech accelerate through understanding the points of convergence across the sector which in turn enables more collaborations and innovations."

Eleanor Shaw, Associate Principal at the University of Strathclyde, said: "Strathclyde is proud of its role in shaping the future of fintech. It was one of the first universities to launch an MSc in fintech in the UK. Very early on we understood the importance of financial innovation to re-invent a sector that was built to benefit the many, not the few. R&D is key and the Roadmap is a fundamental tool. It’s been a key component in advancing our fintech strategy at Strathclyde. As a result we're working in collaboration with FinTech Scotland, the University of Glasgow and the industry to establish the Financial Regulation Innovation Lab, to advance innovation in financial regulation.”

Frank Gauld, CEO at Smart Data Foundry, who sponsored the Roadmap, said: “When it comes to data and innovation, the potential is exciting and unlimited. The FinTech R&I Roadmap focuses the mind and provides a clear industry view on innovation priorities. In the last year we've worked closely with FinTech Scotland, progressing research and innovation to unlock the power of financial data to improve people’s lives across society, the economy and the environment. Examples include our work with the FCA to innovate in the area of APP Fraud, research on consumer vulnerability in the pension market, the impact of late payments on the SME market, and working with Bankers for Net Zero to support the initiative to transition to a zero carbon economy. The insights are used across the industry and by regulators to change outcomes for people and businesses for the better".

Opensee, which provides complete data access and real-time analytics to financial institutions, has appointed Emmanuel Richard as Chief Growth Officer - a role which includes Global Marketing, Business Development and Partnerships - and as Managing Director of North American operations, headquartered in New York.

Emmanuel has 25 years of operational and commercial experience in the technology industry, gained at industry giants to start-ups in Europe and the U.S., where he has worked since 2016. He joins Opensee from Rimini Street, the Nasdaq-listed enterprise software support company, where he was Senior Vice President and General Manager for Americas. Before this, Emmanuel spent more than 12 years in the Data & Analytics space working at MicroStrategy, a leader in Business Intelligence, where he led numerous sales leadership functions internationally before taking over the Global Partners responsibilities and growing a network of over 700 corporate members. 

In his new role, Emmanuel joins Rodrigo Medgenberg, VP of Sales, to accelerate Opensee’s go-to-market strategy and its execution.

Stephane Rio, Founder and CEO of Opensee, said: “Emmanuel brings huge experience in international sales and in running operations, so he will add fresh impetus to our drive to achieve the growth objectives we set late last year, at the time of our successful Series A funding round. In particular, Emmanuel will be working on all aspects to drive our growth through a comprehensive marketing function, including Digital strategy, Product Marketing, Demand Creation, Analysts and Press Relations, and developing our community of Opensee users.”

Opensee allows financial institutions to unlock the valuable business and risk intelligence hidden within the vast quantities of data they collect and store. 

Emmanuel Richard said: “I’m delighted to be joining Opensee at this exciting stage in its development in such a hot market. Never has there been such demand from the sell-side and buy-side for smart data consumption, for regulatory and internal requirements. Private and public cloud architectures are facilitating the storage of an unprecedented volume of historical and real-time data, but getting substantial value from these architectures remains a challenge for most organisations. This is precisely what Opensee is addressing, with its fully integrated platform designed by Finance for Finance, leveraging the power of the golden source with the freedom of self service.” 

Opensee is also confirming with Richard’s nomination its strategy to invest in partners as a key growth driver. 

Emmanuel Richard concluded: “With its no code / low code integration capabilities and open API architecture, the Opensee platform is designed to allow integrators to deliver bespoke, cost efficient, hybrid and scalable solutions to the Risk, Finance and Trading functions across the financial industry - where there’s a need to focus on consuming the data without being exposed to the complexity of its underlying infrastructure.”

Tarabut Gateway, MENA’s leading regulated open banking platform, announces the appointment of Chun Ong as its new Chief Operating Officer.

With extensive experience in consulting, legal, operations, and business development, Chun is a seasoned C-suite leader with expertise in helping businesses scale.

Chun's experience in focusing on the end-to-end customer experience and operational efficiency will be invaluable in his new role at Tarabut Gateway, where he will lead the company's operations as it continues to expand across multiple jurisdictions.

This latest senior appointment follows the Company’s recent hiring of two new Vice Presidents in Customer Success and Engineering. The new appointments are part of Tarabut Gateway’s investment in a team of trailblazing international and regionally based leaders, to transform MENA’s Open Banking landscape.

Abdulla Almoayed, Chief Executive Officer of Tarabut Gateway, said:

"We are thrilled to welcome Chun to our rapidly expanding team. His extensive experience in optimising operations and strengthening fintech teams on a global scale makes him an invaluable addition to our leadership. With Tarabut Gateway's continued growth in the Middle East, we are committed to building a team of innovators and experts to ensure an exceptional customer experience."

Chun Ong, Chief Operating Officer of Tarabut Gateway, commented:

"I am thrilled to join Tarabut Gateway, a leader in open banking in the MENA region. I look forward to working with the team to drive operational excellence, maintain the company's collaborative culture, and deliver innovative solutions to our clients."

Chun previously served as Vice President of Customer Insights and Operations at WorldRemit, a UK Fintech transforming how people send money abroad. He set up, scaled and led the company’s Business Analytics and Global Operations teams.

Tarabut Gateway plays a vital role in building the infrastructure for the open banking ecosystem in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Using the company’s platform-agnostic solutions, traditional financial institutions and fintechs can connect and build their own apps in tandem with Tarabut Gateway’s platform, to power payment services, digital wallets, and other use cases, plus a unified and easy-to-use developer portal.

Working closely with regulators, Tarabut Gateway enables seamless and secure data flows and connectivity between banks and fintechs, supports the creation of a thriving ecosystem, and ultimately provides a better consumer experience.