Luno, the global investment app committed to providing a safe and secure platform for people to buy, store and explore cryptocurrency has today announced that it is adding two more crypto investment opportunities to its platform - Avalanche (AVAX), available from today and Polygon (MATIC) which will be available later this spring.
 
From today, customers can buy, sell and store AVAX on the Luno app and website, alongside its existing cryptocurrency offerings, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Luno is committed to rigorously vetting the coins we list to focus on security and potential application to empower customers in their investment opportunities. 
 
Avalanche is a decentralised, open-source proof-of-stake blockchain with smart contract functionality that is designed to be faster and cheaper than Ethereum, processing over 4,500 transactions per second. MATIC is a “layer two” or “sidechain” scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain - allowing for lower transaction costs. This means that both AVAX and MATIC are more scalable than other coins and appeal to developers who are looking for a cheaper platform to build on.
 
AVAX and MATIC are the latest cryptocurrencies that Luno is adding to its portfolio, following the additions of Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL) in 2022. It comes following a survey of over 6,800 Luno customers, the majority of which wanted to easily invest in AVAX and MATIC. As the crypto market matures, it will emerge as an essential part of a balanced long-term investment strategy. 
 

Sam Kopelman, UK Country Manager at Luno, commented, “At Luno we believe that empowering our customers in their investment decisions is important. That’s why we are giving them access to two more large-cap altcoins as an opportunity to further diversify their portfolios. Through our regular conversations with customers, we know that there is a need for a new and sensible approach to crypto, which is why we undertake such a rigorous process before adding assets to our exchange. These thorough processes allow us to provide our customers with the safe and trusted crypto experiences that they’re asking for.”

Luno conducts a thorough and rigorous process when adding assets for customers to invest in or trade, based on stringent technical and legal criteria. This process is not intended as an endorsement of a particular asset, or its potential as an investment. Before investing in any cryptocurrency, Luno recommends that customers should always do their own research and exercise good judgment. That’s why the Luno investment app is designed so that every customer has easy access to all the information they need in order to make the best decision for themselves. 

“Much of the recent attention around the market has focused on short-term swings, which actually distracts from its long-term investment potential. By adding these coins to our platform, we are giving users the chance to explore more of what crypto has to offer should they wish to,” concluded Kopelman.

Lumi, the global market leader in the provision of technology and services to facilitate the smooth running of AGMS, Investor events and member meetings, today announces the acquisition of Voting Partner, Germany.  Headquartered in Nuremberg, Voting Partner has been closely aligned with Lumi for a number of years, as an exclusive partner covering the German market.

Frank Schoonhoven, Managing Director of Lumi Netherlands comments “This acquisition cements what has been a very successful, long-standing partnership and we are delighted to welcome the team from Voting Partner into Lumi. From our perspective, this acquisition continues to support our global strategy, as well as the opportunity to further expand our client portfolio across Europe”.

Thomas Wehrmann from Voting Partner added “Having worked closely with Lumi for many years, we are pleased to formalise our relationship and create Lumi Germany. Our team recognises the opportunity to drive further growth across our market, and we are excited to capitalise on the demand for hybrid and virtual meetings with Lumi’s world-leading technology”.

The adoption of technology to facilitate virtual meeting participation accelerated significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has led to a hybrid meeting format emerging as the new normal for many organisations. Diversifying how shareholders, investors and members can attend and participate has led to increased engagement, with technology playing an increasingly integral part of ensuring accessibility and transparency.

Research from Twilio, the customer engagement platform that drives real-time, personalised experiences for today’s leading brands, shows that investment in customer engagement is a key driver of revenue growth.

Twilio’s fourth annual State of Customer Engagement Report reveals that, amid constrained resources and economic uncertainty, eight out of 10 (81%) companies that invested in customer engagement met their financial goals. In the UK, 94% of companies that invested in digital customer engagement saw revenues grow, with an average increase of 107%.

The data shows that effective customer engagement strengthens a brand’s ability to adapt to shifting market conditions and evolving consumer preferences. Customer engagement leaders report increased customer retention, conversion and long-term loyalty, while six in ten (58%) UK businesses report that investment in digital customer engagement has improved their ability to meet changing customer needs.

Twilio’s State of Customer Engagement Report is based on a survey of more than 4,700 B2C leaders in key sectors across the world, plus a parallel survey of over 6,000 global consumers. It also incorporates data from Twilio’s own customer engagement platform, including Twilio Segment, the leading customer data platform (CDP) for 2021 market share according to IDC.*  

Meeting consumer expectations 

The findings highlight an urgent need for brands to leverage zero- and first-party data  (meaning data collected directly from interactions with customers rather than a third party) in order to improve customer experience and increase customer lifetime value. 

The stakes of using that data effectively are high, with UK consumers reporting they will spend 15% more with brands that personalise engagements. Companies believe the impact is even bigger, reporting that consumers spend 41% more when engagement is personalised.

However, brands continue to overestimate how well they are meeting consumer expectations for communication preferences, protecting customer data privacy, and transparency around customer data usage. Additional UK consumer insights include:

·       Customer tolerance for impersonal experiences has never been lower. Nearly half (48%) of consumers report being frustrated with their interactions over the past year, rising from 44% the year before. More concerningly, 51% of consumers say they will stop using a brand if it doesn’t personalise their customer experience by taking into account their needs, expectations and preferences.

·       Consumers want a faster transition to a cookieless future. Nearly one-third (32%) of UK consumers always or often reject cookies on websites, while nearly two-thirds (64%) would prefer brands use only first-party data to personalise their experiences. Half (50%) of UK consumers have left a site in the past 12 months rather than accepting cookies. Meanwhile, 81% of global brands are still reliant on third-party data.

·       Real-time personalisation boosts customer lifetime value. Nearly three-quarters (71%) say that personalised experiences increase their loyalty to brands. However, UK respondents did emerge as the least loyal, suggesting that brands will have to work even harder to engage consumers in this market.

·       Consumers trust brands less than brands realise. UK consumers want more control over their customer data, placing top priority on “identity data” such as name, account login and location. Over a quarter (28%) consumers say they have stopped doing business with a brand after their expectations for data privacy and transparency weren’t met.

“When every penny is being scrutinised, businesses need to know they are putting their marketing spend in the right places,” said Sam Richardson, Customer Engagement Consultant at Twilio. “This research reinforces that when brands use first-party data to personalise engagement with customers, they will experience higher revenues, greater loyalty, and better ROI. Companies aren’t the only ones grappling with smaller resources, so are consumers. The brands that pay close attention to changing customer needs and ensuring they give them the experiences they crave, will be the ones that win this climate.” 

Twilio’s State of Consumer Engagement Report 2023 can be found at www.twilio.com/state-of-customer-engagement.

Twilio Segment Unify

Today, Twilio is also announcing a solution that enables businesses to drive down acquisition costs and increase customer lifetime value by delivering the kind of hyper-personalised experiences that consumers today are demanding. With this new solution, Segment Unify, businesses can easily merge the complete history of every customer into a single unified profile, freely sync identity-resolved customer profiles to their data warehouse, and activate these complete profiles in their customer experience tools of choice. Learn more about today’s launch and how brands likeSanofi, and MongoDB are powering cutting edge customer engagement experiences, here https://www.twilio.com/press/releases/twilio-segment-unify.

Onfido, the leading global provider of automated digital identity verification, today announced a partnership with The Co-operative Bank, the original ethical bank, enabling a streamlined, secure digital identity verification for its new customers. The partnership enables customers to prove their identity online, meaning they can onboard quicker, skipping going in-branch or posting documentation.  
  
Founded in 1872, The Co-operative Bank is a retail and commercial bank and the first to introduce a customer-led Ethical Policy. It continues to embed cooperative values and ethics into the organisation, putting people at the heart of the decisions they make. The Co-operative Bank wanted to enhance its onboarding process with a user-friendly identity verification process that meets regulatory requirements and mitigates fraud. By using Onfido Studio to set up its web application, The Co-operative Bank can verify new users’ identities in as little as 15 seconds, with accurate and automated identity verification, address verification and fraud prevention. 
  
During the onboarding process via The Co-operative Bank’s website, users are prompted to upload a picture of their government-issued identity document (ID) and a selfie. Onfido’s Atlas AI first checks that the ID is genuine and not fraudulent, and then matches it to the user’s face using sophisticated facial biometric technology. This ensures the person presenting the identity is its legitimate owner and is physically present. 
  
The Co-operative Bank has the assurance that the customer is who they say they are and can mitigate fraud attempts, while users can start their digital journey anywhere, anytime online. 
  

“Onfido is a complete identity-proofing product that we could plug into our application process without expensive IT engineering costs and without integrating it fully into our mainframe systems,” said Darren Prescott, Senior Manager Current Accounts & Credit Cards at The Co-operative Bank. “This meant we could implement a solution quickly, orchestrating workflows and automating decisions to improve the user experience and onboarding rate.” 

“In today’s digital era, users expect fast, convenient, and secure access to services,” said Mike Tuchen, CEO at Onfido. “We’re proud to work with leading UK banks such as The Co-operative Bank to help them meet regulatory requirements, including Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML), while meeting consumers’ changing digital preferences. Digital onboarding will help The Co-operative Bank customers spend less time waiting and more time spending, investing, and saving.”

On the new hires, Robert Schuijff, CEO of etika, commented: “I’m delighted to announce the latest additions to our leadership team. With their established expertise, strategic excellence and proven business success, Lara, James, Kevin, Emma, and Lucas will help our team and our services to expand rapidly. From considering the informed risk assessments that must take place with POS finance to ensuring diverse, sustainable and collaborative cultures, I am confident that their individual skills will benefit etika and its clients across the board. It’s fantastic to have them on board and I wish them a warm welcome into our team.”

iDenfy, a Lithuania-based RegTech offering ID verification and fraud prevention tools, announced joining forces with Fincapital Partners, a fintech offering a suite of tools from trading and crypto exchanges to banking services. From now on, iDenfy will provide a smooth onboarding process for the financial business while ensuring KYC/AML compliance. 

To compete with the digital experiences provided by other fintech players, Fincapital Partners looked for a Know Your Customer (KYC) solution that could shorten the time to onboard customers. At the same time, the financial service provider wanted to enhance its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures. To achieve this goal, Fincapital Partners searched for a third-party provider that could automate most of its compliance workflows and, this way, minimize the workload for its internal team. 

As a transparent financial company, Fincapital Partners prioritizes having an automated AML compliance program and achieves the highest level of security through integrating robust AI-powered fraud prevention measures. The company is best known for its feature-rich wealth management suite, which provides financial tools, including trading and investment options, crypto exchanges, and IBAN and Card services. According to fintech, its services simplify money transfers between platforms and eliminate inefficiencies.

As Fincapital Partners explains, its rapid growth demanded more significant security measures, which led the company to partner with iDenfy. According to the financial service provider, iDenfy ticked all its boxes and met the requirements of a reliable identity verification and compliance solutions provider based on easy implementation, user experience, and cost. 

Another factor that influenced Fincapital Partners’ decision to choose iDenfy was its unique billing model, which only charges when users successfully pass their identity verification. After trying several KYC providers, the company discovered that other IDV providers charged for each customer’s KYC attempt, even if unsuccessful. This led to Fincapital Partners’ invoices being from 50% to 100% higher than the advertised price. 

Fincapital Partners recognizes this as a critical element in successful customer onboarding. As iDenfy's new partner, the company manages administrative work by quickly sifting through large amounts of data to verify users' accounts in seconds. iDenfy reports that its AI algorithm has undergone testing with 5 million face data, achieving a 98.4% success rate. Additionally, the company's expert team manually reviews each verification result to ensure accuracy. iDenfy highlights the significance of a speedy and secure identity verification process.

Fincapital Partners has integrated iDenfy's AML screening solution into their system to obtain a more comprehensive view of each user's financial risk profile. The solution scans various global watchlists, sanctions lists, and PEPs. According to the financial platform, this integration is crucial, particularly with the tightening of sanctions regimes and the constant introduction of new AML measures and restrictions. 

To address both compliance and user experience challenges, Fincapital Partners also adopted iDenfy's Address Verification tool, automating the proof of address (PoA) process and creating a risk-free business flow. By implementing these solutions, Fincapital Partners hopes to achieve reduced verification processing times and concentrate on addressing other business needs.

“As a wealth management platform with a crypto and banking component, we face an increased risk of money laundering and sanction evasion. With iDenfy's assistance, we can effectively prevent any misuse of our platform while remaining compliant with applicable regulations." — said Adrien Brousse, the CEO of Fincapital Partners.

“Our team believes automated compliance processes help companies make more informed risk management decisions. We’re glad to help our newest partners at Fincapital Partners build a successful compliance program while focusing on providing the best possible experience for their customers.” — added Domantas Ciulde, the CEO of iDenfy. 

Medius, a leading provider of AP Automation and wider spend management solutions, has been selected by The PENTA Building Group to build an effective payments solution through Medius Pay as part of the company’s broader efforts to improve vendor relationships.

The PENTA Building Group selected Medius Pay to automate its manual payment system, and create a streamlined, end-to-end process for its 500-plus vendors. This move reflected PENTA’s need to improve an inefficient system that lacked transparency and often resulted in lost and delayed payments.

Through its seamless ERP integration, Medius Pay works with their existing accounting system to increase speed and visibility of payments and strengthen vendor relationships. Additionally,  by consolidating multiple payment processes into a single channel, the company has been able to increase staff productivity while reducing the risk of fraud. 

The finance department can now easily monitor payments through a single process and identify anomalies or duplicate transactions in real time, equipping managers with an accurate and holistic view of cash flow between The PENTA Building Group and its vendors. Through Medius’s virtual card system, vendors are paid almost immediately, especially important whenever early payment discounts or net 10 terms apply. Medius Pay’s Virtual card also generates revenue by delivering dividends from credit card payments back to PENTA.

Daryll Franco, Senior Accountant at The PENTA Building Group says: “With hundreds of invoices and in excess of 500 vendors, PENTA needed a reliable and feature-rich solution for processing payments. We conducted a search and compared Medius to at least three other providers. Other solutions made promises but only Medius could deliver what we needed.”

Mary Flynn Barton, Senior Vice President, Sales at Medius says: “We’re honored The PENTA Building Group selected Medius to digitally transform its manual payment process system. Through Medius Pay, we’ve seen a substantial reinvention and simplification of PENTA’s complex spend management process, where manual processing of hundreds of invoices for more than 500 vendors proved costly and time consuming. Medius also  understands the importance of strong vendor relationships and worked to eliminate manual invoices, increasing the efficiency and visibility of supplier payments in real-time.”

Tulipshare, is launching a new platform to encourage more retail investors globally to take ownership of their investments and learn how to effectively use their shareholder rights to drive positive ethical change at some of the largest companies in the world.

Launching at the end of Q1 2023, Tulipshare’s ‘Pledge Your Share’ (PYS) platform will provide retail investors with early access to shareholder proposals allowing them to show their support ahead of a company's annual general meeting (AGM). As Tulipshare’s brokerage platform is only available in the UK, PYS aims to unite retail investors around the world, allowing anyone who has exposure to US publicly listed companies to exercise their shareholder rights in a simple and transparent way, even if Tulipshare is not their primary broker.

The launch comes at a time when interest in shareholder activism is on the rise with the number of proposals increasing by 8% year on year with 868 proposals submitted in the 2022 proxy season. However, the percentage of proposals which find enough shareholder support to pass is still considerably low. 

Users who sign up to PYS and pledge their shares to a specific campaign or shareholder proposal will receive notifications around Tulipshare’s engagements with target companies, whilst also learning how to vote their shares ahead of a company’s AGM. This will comprise of regular newsletters containing the information investors need to know about all their holdings’ ESG commitments, company news and campaign updates. Users will also have access to a breakdown of what’s on a company’s proxy statement as well as a timeline of key dates ahead of the AGM to make sure investors know how and when to vote their shares.

Antoine Argouges, CEO and Founder of Tulipshare, comments: “As the world’s first platform to combine activism with investing, Tulipshare was founded with the mission of uniting investors globally around important environmental and social issues and causes, generating impact where others will not. We want to help like-minded activists and investors, no matter the size of their investments, go beyond traditional protests or petitions and use their money to create lasting, positive change - the change traditional brokers, asset managers and institutional investors are failing to prioritise.”

A recent survey conducted by Tulipshare found that 71% of US retail investors think companies should be held accountable for the damage they cause to the environment and society, however, only 40% have actually voted at a company’s AGM before. Tulipshare’s research also found that only 47% of surveyed investors said they had received a notification from their broker or investment platform informing them that they could vote at a company’s upcoming AGM.

“Most people, due to no fault of their own, do not know that every share has shareholder rights attached to it. When those shareholder rights are utilised in the correct way, they can be used to drive positive change in a company. By engaging with publicly-held companies, Tulipshare will look to help investors push for stronger environmental and social commitments and ensure the companies we invest our money in are being responsibly managed by accountable leadership. Our team’s expertise in the shareholder activism space has uniquely positioned us as a bridge between the individuals who care about ESG issues and the companies who need to act.”

Institutional investors hold a massive amount of power in influencing what proposals will pass at a company’s AGM, yet many are voting against shareholder proposals in favour of supporting management decisions. This meant that in 2022, institutions supported only 1 in every 75 proposals submitted.

“While ESG investing as a blanket term has been under attack as of late, with increased rhetoric, legislation, and lawsuits, it is naive for any investor, asset manager or financial institution to claim zero responsibility for the transition to a low-carbon economy, or find duty in voting against proposals that would ensure basic human rights are met across some of the biggest supply chains in the world,” Argouges concludes.

Tulipshare’s biggest success to date was a proposal at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) demanding that the company stop the sale of their talc-based powder globally due to its links to multiple cancers. Following J&J’s AGM in 2021, the multinational corporation confirmed they will be taking the talc-based powder off the shelves worldwide. More recently, Tulipshare led a successful campaign among Apple shareholders, which saw the world’s largest company commit to enhancing their reporting on App Store takedowns.

Once launched, PYS will allow Tulipshare to allocate more resources to shareholder campaigns in other markets around the world, whilst also providing an opportunity for users to file shareholder proposals and promote their campaigns to more retail investors. Tulipshare currently partners and sponsors shareholder proposals in collaboration with groups like As You Sow, Oxfam, NRDC, City to Sea, Advance ESG, Trillium Asset Management and The Sierra Club.

Newgen Software, a global provider of low code digital transformation platform, is pleased to announce its partnership with cloud banking platform, Mambu. The partnership enables financial institutions to leverage Newgen's lending solutions, built on NewgenONE digital transformation platform along with Mambu's core banking systems, ensuring flexibility and adaptability. 

"Newgen's solutions complement Mambu's core banking platform by streamlining lending functions across retail, commercial, SME, SBA, mortgage, and Islamic banking. The solutions align with Mambu's composable banking and lending approach to ensure faster market time and help financial institutions carve out their journey through customization options. With this listing on the Mambu marketplace, Newgen will enable more financial institutions in their digital journeys and impact more people and processes," said Rajvinder Singh Kohli, SVP, Sales, Newgen Software.

"Partnering with Newgen will bring value to customers by streamlining lending processes including onboarding, loan origination, and application management and underwriting. By combining the power of our cloud banking platform with Newgen's expertise in digital transformation, we can help more financial institutions offer modern lending experiences." - William Dale, Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific at Mambu

Newgen's lending solutions, backed with AI-enabled underwriting, rule-driven decisioning, real-time dashboards, and document management capabilities, enable streamlined loan application management, portfolio management, instant disbursements on channels, and better collaboration.

The British Business Bank has agreed a £100m guarantee facility with specialist business lender Cambridge & Counties Bank through its ENABLE Guarantee scheme, with the option of extending this to £150m in the future.

This builds on a separate facility secured in May 2018, which the bank has used to help a range of UK businesses over the past five years.

The ENABLE Guarantee programme, open to most lending institutions, is designed to encourage banks and other lenders to increase their lending to smaller businesses by reducing the amount of capital or junior funding required for such lending. Under an ENABLE Guarantee, the UK Government assumes a portion of the risk on a portfolio of loans to smaller businesses, in return for a fee. When working with non-bank financial institutions, this risk portion typically aligns with any senior funder.

The latest facility will allow the Leicester-based bank, which is jointly owned by Trinity Hall, a college of the University of Cambridge, and the Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund, to lend additional amounts to smaller businesses over and above its long-established, pan-UK lending programme.

Launched in 2012, the bank services the small business market with manually underwritten focused products in real estate and asset finance. Despite the significant economic headwinds in 2022, Cambridge & Counties Bank saw the value of loans to its clients reach a record last year, with growth driven by demand for its competitive, tailored lending solutions.

An important element of its recent growth and success has been a recognition of the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards and reporting. The bank achieved a net zero carbon rating in 2019 and has retained that rating since, as it remains at the forefront of the industry drive towards a more sustainable future.

This transaction will also include support for small business residential landlords who want to improve the Energy Performance Certificate ratings of properties through measures such as effective insulation. The focus is closely aligned with the British Business Bank’s objective of supporting the UK’s transition to a net zero economy.

Reinald de Monchy, Managing Director, Guarantee and Wholesale Solutions, British Business Bank, said: “We’re pleased to be announcing this additional ENABLE Guarantee facility with Cambridge & Counties Bank, which has shown its ability to help smaller businesses grow and succeed as well as help to reduce regional imbalances across the UK.”

“As well as fitting well with the British Business Bank’s objective of supporting the UK’s transition to a net zero economy, this will also support tenants at a time when their energy bills are a top priority for them.”

Mike Hudson, Chief Risk Officer, Cambridge & Counties Bank, said: “We’re delighted to be continuing our relationship with the British Business Bank and our support for the Government’s ENABLE scheme, which has a great track record of delivering positive outcomes for businesses. As sustainability and related issues have risen up the corporate agenda, including at Cambridge & Counties Bank, we are highly supportive of its ambition to help businesses transition to net zero.”