Ailleron, a software house specializing in financial technology services, and Nethone, a global machine learning-powered fraud prevention SaaS company, have announced a technology partnership to enhance digital retail banking services and further develop KYC offers. Cooperation with Nethone will further amplify Ailleron’s cybersecurity, AML (anti-money laundering) and fraud prevention capabilities.

The partnership comes when cybersecurity threats remain ever-present challenges and become more sophisticated. Cybercriminals are becoming more skilled at adapting their tools and techniques to bypass fraud detection and AML measures. With Nethone’s solutions, Ailleron can face these challenges head-on while simultaneously improving the customer experience with efficient and frictionless authentication of all users.

“Our clients' common challenges are streamlining customer interactions during identity verification (IDV) and improving customers’ digital enrollment and authentication experiences. Partnership with Nethone allows us to deliver highly anticipated software solutions in these areas. In 2023 we bring further machine learning adoption to support security, risk, AML, fraud management, and compliance professionals. Algorithms that can look at hundreds of contextual parameters and learn from investigator feedback are becoming the norm” – emphasizes Michał Walerowski Business Unit Director AI/ML & Data Solutions at Ailleron.

Cooperation between the two companies follows Nethone joining MangoPay Group, resulting in the fraud fighters now having access to EUR 75 million in capital investment. In addition, Nethone has been successfully cooperating with over 100 global eCommerce, digital goods, and financial services organizations since its foundation in 2016.

“We are delighted to be working with Ailleron to help bring them and their clients success through innovation. Our solutions not only aid cybersecurity measures and effectively detect and prevent fraud, but they impact the overall customer user experience – something that both of our companies place great importance on. This approach is the key to success" - said Hubert Rachwalski, CEO of Nethone.

The alarming rate of global identity fraud and online financial transactions continues to climb, with research indicating a 30% year-over-year increase in document fraud ID theft, authorised push payment scams, fake documentation and deepfakes. 
 
According to Shufti Pro’s 2022 Identity Fraud Report, 2.9 million cases of fraud were reported, with 1.43 million of those being related to ID theft. In the UK specifically, 1 in 4 businesses were affected by biometric fraud and document forgery (25%) in 2022. 
 
Shufti Pro’s report reveals new types of fraud and industrial trends, explaining methods of the document and digital ID manipulation, and providing recommendations for how businesses can protect themselves from fraud in 2023. The research shows document and biometrics fraud as the top categories of scammers leverage the power of AI to tamper with bills, ID cards, and use deepfake technologies to bypass KYC measures. With the closures of over 600 banks in the UK, the adoption rate of digital channels has immensely accelerated, whilst directly impacting bank fraud and ID theft.
 
Digital businesses are not only compromising millions of pounds when they fall victim to fraud but also suffer irreparable reputational damage and experience a significant drop in customer trust. Although £1.4 billion of fraud was prevented in 2021, criminals managed to steal £1.3 billion, continuing into 2022 with consumers losing over £609 million in the first half of the year. 

“As technology continues to advance, scammers are becoming increasingly creative in their tactics to overthrow security measures and protocols,” said Victor Fredung, CEO of Shufti Pro. “Although businesses are pushing their customers to use techniques, such as MFA and KYC, scammers are counteracting these safety mechanisms by duplicating and stealing IDs, and using fake liveness tech.”

Victor Fredung continues “businesses cannot compromise when it comes to their security needs - ensuring the safety and security of their customers must be at the forefront. Using techniques such as 2FA with liveness checks, implementing account deduplication, and consistently monitoring customer accounts for suspicious activity are indisputable steps businesses must take to fight document fraud and theft.”

Shufti Pro’s findings raise important questions about the current processes UK businesses are using to protect their funds, customers, and business from malicious attacks. As the battle against financial crime continues, businesses are urged to consistently review their approach towards document fraud, and implement successful AML and KYC processes to combat fraudsters. 
 
Discover the full findings from the 2022 Identity Fraud Report, ready to download now.

InvestCloud, the global leader in digital transformation for the financial industry with over $6 trillion in assets, has today announced the release of the next evolution of InvestCloud White, called InvestCloud White FMB+. The new product offering includes integrated front, middle and back-office InvestCloud solutions, plus simple multi-channel wealth management services to provide comprehensive tools to advisors and other wealth managers.

The front-to-back InvestCloud solution marks InvestCloud’s continued investment to support greater operational efficiency and simplify the complexity of business as usual for wealth management clients. FMB+ includes the best of InvestCloud’s apps for client communication, planning, trading and accounting, plus business process outsourcing (BPO). InvestCloud’s BPO centre is in Carlsbad, California, and is currently used by clients such as William Blair in their SYSTM offering.

Mark Trousdale, Chief Marketing Officer of InvestCloud, said of the new White FMB+ offering: “There is a massive opportunity to provide huge gains in efficiency to wealth management clients due to the failures of existing players in this market. Many have made claims of offering an integrated platform, but in reality, they lack having a single platform. Their solutions are dispersed across numerous platforms, and each client implementation is a different version, meaning many branches of different code – which is the height of inefficiency. This is why implementations of these platforms often last 3-4 years, with a high failure rate.”

Yaela Shamberg, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Digital Wealth, of InvestCloud, said: “We are excited to bring this important offering to market. Most players are still dealing with legacy hard-coding issues that plague this industry. What that means for clients is a cobbled-together version of their code, making it impossible to maintain.” Shamberg continued: “We are proud that White FMB+ totally disrupts these norms and showcases what the power of true digital can offer. Our single end-to-end platform handles the technology and servicing needs, with a cloud-native, no-code approach, enabling personalization and efficiency at scale.”

Dogs Trust, one of the UK’s largest animal welfare charities, has launched a debit card in partnership with Currensea, enabling members to make charitable donations each time they spend at home or abroad, helping raise vital funds for the charity to help dogs in need.

Using open banking, the new Dogs Trust by Currensea card links to existing bank accounts and will be available to anyone wishing to support Dogs Trust, by opting to donate to the charity when spending in the UK and overseas. Donations can be made by rounding up spending to the nearest 50p or £1 in the UK, and also when spending abroad.  

Currensea allows users to save at least 85% - and up to 100% - on every transaction abroad by removing the normal fees leveraged by banks and other card providers, and Dog’s Trust supporters are able to donate some or all of these savings. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA can choose to contribute 50% of their savings – which would equate to more than £20 – while still saving money.

All of the donations made using the new Dogs Trust by Currensea card will help the charity care for dogs in need of a loving home. The UK’s largest canine charity cares for around 14,000 dogs every year, and also provides support and guidance from training and behaviour experts to dog-owners who need a helping hand.  

Owen Sharp, CEO at Dogs Trust, said: “We have always been incredibly grateful to our supporters enabling us to be there for dogs, and we understand that donating to charity in the current climate may be an additional financial stretch. Through the new Dogs Trust by Currensea card, our supporters have the option to easily donate by rounding up their spending, without having the pressure of a regular contribution.  

“This new way of giving from small change will make a big difference to dogs lives, ensuring that we are here to offer the advice, training and support dog owners need to care for their dogs, and to help dogs in need of new homes.”  

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments: “The cost-of-living crisis is piling pressure on charities such as Dogs Trust – forcing desperate owners to give up their beloved pets due to financial struggles whilst simultaneously seeing existing donors reduce their donations. This partnership will be vital in driving funding to support the charity’s welfare and rehoming work, whilst also acting as a useful benefit for supporters ensuring they can both save money and donate to a cause they care about.

“As a nation, we love our dogs - there are an estimated 12 million in the UK so we know they have a special space in the hearts of many. This is a great opportunity for dog-lovers to support dogs in need through donations to Dogs Trust, whilst saving themselves money.

“Supporters can donate to Dogs Trust when using the Currensea card at home and abroad - by rounding up UK transactions and donating a portion of the foreign exchange fee savings they make on overseas transactions. Importantly, as the card connects directly to existing current accounts, users can simply opt to donate savings to charity instantly and automatically. Partnering with Currensea’s powered by programme is an innovative option for charities looking to increase engagement with their existing supporters, boost donations and attract donors.”

Dogs Trust is the latest charity to partner with Currensea’s unique ‘powered by’ programme, launched in Q4 2021, which allows charities to issue branded cards to supporters and increase donations. Other partners include:

• Royal Society of Medicine - a global membership organisation of 20,000 healthcare professionals
• Royal Trinity Hospice - the oldest hospice in the UK
• St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust - which works with many of London’s most vulnerable communities

Alibaba Cloud has been named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems (DBMS) for the third consecutive year in 2022, as well as a Challenger in its Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls for the second consecutive year. 

Alibaba Cloud believes the recognition shows its strengths in Cloud DBMS and Network Firewall offerings. The reports identified the most relevant providers in particular markets and evaluated their Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute based on a variety of factors.

Delivering cloud database management systems

The diversity of Alibaba Cloud’s DBMS provides versatile support that can handle operational, analytical, multimodal and real-time use cases. Alibaba Cloud’s DBMS business has grown significantly on the back of these strengths, supported by success stories across a wide range of industries and organisations. Core database products such as the cloud-native relational database PolarDB also stood out for their ability to handle extremely high concurrency and elasticity scenarios, such as the world’s biggest shopping festival 11.11.

“As the global demand for public and hybrid cloud solutions has grown, the need for reliable solutions to manage data has also increased. We’re delighted to be recognised as a Leader by Gartner in Cloud Database Management Systems, and believe the inclusion reflects our commitment to innovating scalable and accessible solutions for our customers.” said Selina Yuan, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of International Business for Alibaba Cloud Intelligence. “We will continue to expand our partner ecosystem and look forward to further working with our global customers to meet their evolving cloud needs.”

Alibaba Cloud provides a range of cloud database offerings, including PolarDB and PolarDB-X for operational use cases, and AnalyticDB and MaxCompute for analytical use cases. For non-relational and real-time use cases, Alibaba Cloud provides the multi-model database Lindorm and cloud-native in-memory database Tair.

Building network firewalls

The cloud service provider has a comprehensive security product portfolio, while the ability to centrally manage these products via the Alibaba Security Center has made network management and vendor consolidation easier. 

“Network security has always been a priority for us, especially now as cyber threats have become increasingly sophisticated. Our continuous work in the area of Network Firewalls shows our commitment to helping clients to stay ahead of these threats and continue to use cloud solutions confidently,” Yuan said.

Alibaba Cloud Firewall is one of the first Software-as-a-Service firewalls deployed on the public cloud. It can be activated without complex network configurations or installation, acting as an all-in-one solution capable of managing various security features. These include inbound and outbound traffic from IP addresses, access control between VPC networks and visualisation of traffic between security groups for customers to secure the traffic and meet compliance requirements. 

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organisation and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Gartner and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service marks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Nearly a third (31%) of Brits have investing high on their financial agenda this year, wanting to make their money work harder and get better returns in the long term, as the cost of living pressures persist.

Despite the extreme volatility in the stock market in the last year, interestingly, consumer confidence in investing appears to be improving, with 35% of respondents feeling more confident about investing in 2022 than before. 32% of those surveyed chose to invest their money last year, 66% of these for the first time.

When looking at the reasons people chose to invest, four in 10 (41%) want to grow their money and wealth over time, a third want to benefit from better returns than savings rates (36%) and 32% want to do what they can to achieve their longer-term goals as quickly as possible. 

In the survey of 2000 people commissioned by saving and investing app Moneybox, only 19% of respondents said they didn't want to invest.  Among those yet to invest, a third (34%) said they can't afford to right now. 3 in 10 are worried about losing their money and over a fifth (22%) are hesitant because they don't feel confident enough.

Moneybox also asked respondents about the impact the cost of living challenges endured to date have had on their approach to money management.  A third (34%) of Brits say the experience has prompted them to take better control of their finances.  Four in 10 (41%) are now prioritising becoming more financially resilient and a quarter (26%) are planning for the future more than they did before the crisis. 

Nearly three in ten (29%) say they are better at managing their money now and other positive financial habits that have been nurtured during this time include: making a budget for the first time (27%), negotiating a better contract with a current provider for the first time (25%), switching bank / financial services provider to get a better deal (19%).

Brian Byrnes, Head of Personal Finance at Moneybox, commented: “The benefits of building positive financial behaviours early in life can not be overstated and it's positive to see the financial challenges endured in the last year have prompted so many to take more control of their finances and start planning for their future.

“We know that investing, for many, can still be daunting but it is an increasingly essential part of any financial plan to help mitigate the impact of inflation over time and build wealth for the future to help achieve longer-term financial goals. 

“Market volatility is not unexpected or even a bad thing for investors and investing in a downturn can give you more bang for your buck. In fact, Moneybox investing customers have chosen to invest 30% more year over year.

“Often the best way to learn is by doing and you can open a Moneybox Stocks & Shares ISA for just £1 to get started. You can choose one of the starter options that have been created by experts to help weather any market volatility and help you grow your money over time.”

Sustainable investment solution provider u impact has joined forces with specialised green banking software provider ecolytiq to introduce innovative sustainable investment products to a wider branch of private investors. 

Through a combination of u impact’s interactive investment sustainability analysis and the ecolytiq Sustainability-as-a-Service^® software, this partnership will see two sustainability fintech specialists join forces to increase the accessibility and transparency of sustainable investing.  

The market for sustainable investments has experienced an extraordinary boom in the last few years with estimates from Bloomberg that the market could grow to $53 trillion by 2025. ESG ratings have come under scrutiny as demand for real-world impact metrics grows. 

The ecolytiq and u impact partnership infuses this market with a much-needed dose of transparency. The collaboration will empower the traditional investor with transparency around sustainability factors as well as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for current and future investment products. 

Lesley Li, Co-founder and CEO at u impact: “The sustainable investment market should be focusing on tackling the problem of information overflow and how the information is communicated to the end investors. More importantly, finance is also about people and their behaviours. The future of this market should be about empowering the end investors for a fundamental behavioural shift. We are excited to team up with ecolytiq to accelerate our mission of ‘mobilising capital towards sustainability’ together!”  

“The ESG market is well-intentioned but misguided,” said ecolytiq Co-founder and Managing Director David Lais. “Private investors want to align their portfolios with a better future. What they currently lack is clear and reliable impact information about their investment choices and how their investments affect the world around them. Our partnership will push the market into that direction by adding climate-friendly investments to the list of actions consumers can take in order to increase their positive impact.”  

u impact provides its commercial clients with a white-label solution that offers an intuitive fund exploration tool designed to bring transparency, paired with powerful behavioural analytics. With the u impact solution, institutional clients can empower their private investors to become sustainable, confident investors and to make investment decisions as easily as shopping online. Friction in the investment selection process is reduced through gamification, resulting in improved user conversion and retention. 

ecolytiq offers technology that calculates the environmental impact of individual banking transactions and provides additional content to guide consumers into leading a more sustainable lifestyle. Comprising of three modules: ecoAware, ecoEngage and ecoAction, ecolytiq’s product suite offers an end-to-end solution to help banks advance their sustainability initiatives. 

Through its smart climate software – enhanced by its behavioural nudging technologies – ecolytiq enables banks, fintechs and financial institutions to take the first step towards sustainable banking, by improving customer loyalty and engagement through a personalised impact experience. 

PBZ Card d.o.o. and Nexi Croatia d.o.o. have announced a new strategic partnership for payment card acceptance at the point of sale (POS), starting from March 1. The joint approach of Nexi Croatia, a member of the Nexi Group - the leading European PayTech company - and PBZ Card - the leading card company in Croatia and part of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, one of the top banking players in Europe - brings simple, fast and reliable payment solutions, which are already being used by more than two million merchants Europe-wide, to the point of sale.

"PBZ Card is one of the pioneers of the card industry on our market. During more than fifty years, we have built the strongest sales network and acquired the status of the largest card acceptance service provider on the Croatian market. All this is unthinkable without a good knowledge of our market, continuous introduction of innovative solutions and conveniences for points of sale, strong support for their daily business but, most of all, nurturing of long-term partnership relationships, based on mutual trust. In the new model, PBZ Card will retain an active role and in the future we will be the first contact for our points of sale, and we will give additional momentum to their sales achievements with various sales and marketing activities. In addition, cooperation with a leading European PayTech such as Nexi will bring advanced payment solutions to the points of sale that will improve their business even more," said Mislav Blažić, president of the PBZ Card Management Board.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce our strategic partnership with PBZ Card. Nexi Croatia is a provider of payment solutions that process an average of 1.5 million payment transactions per day. With this partnership Nexi Croatia now becomes an acceptor of payment cards. Thanks to the size, expertise and presence of Nexi Group in numerous European markets, we are able to offer simple, fast and safe payment solutions that can improve merchant sales activities by making payment acceptance more attractive on the Croatian market. PBZ Card and Nexi, now united in a strong joint approach, look forward to future cooperation and the benefits it will bring," said Irina Bručić, CEO of Nexi Croatia.

In the new model of card acceptance, PBZ Card remains in charge of concluding agreements on card acceptance and maintaining business relations with merchants. PBZ Card will do so as a provider of payment transaction acceptance in the name, and on behalf, of Nexi Croatia.

Nexi Croatia, as a new provider of payment card acceptance services, will be focused on the development of products and functionalities within the acceptance network, devices and channels, and the provision of operational support for card acceptance.

A new business model will be implemented while ensuring continuity in the provision of card acceptance services at the POS for contractual partners/merchants, without the need for additional technological adjustments. Nexi Croatia has obtained all the necessary authorizations of payment schemes and competent authorities for the performance of card acceptance operations.

Dinko Lucić, President of the Management Board of PBZ and President of the Supervisory Board of PBZ Card, Irina Bručić, CEO of Nexi Croatia, and Mislav Blažić, President of the Management Board of PBZ Card presented the mentioned new business model today convening in a panel discussing the future of payments with prominent Croatian and European experts in finance and card business and e-commerce. The panel included also: Rozana Grgorinić, Director of Nexi Croatia's Merchant Solutions; Eugenio Tornaghi, Regional Director of Nexi Group Central, Southern and Eastern Europe; Giulio de Taddeo, Director of Corporate Clients Nexi Italy; Vedrana Pribičević, economic analyst of ZŠEM; Vedrana Jelušić Kašić, member of the PBZ Management Board; Draženko Kopljar, member of the PBZ Management Board and Ivan Ivičić, deputy president of the PBZ Card Management Board.

As regulatory reporting becomes increasingly complex, we summarise the key points discussed in our recent webinar: Regulatory Reporting 2023: Regulatory updates, key trends and data challenges. 

AutoRek’s CASS Consultant Murray Campbell and CBS’s Consulting Director Grant McKenzie talked about the major trends for 2023, industry insights, the challenges facing firms and how to overcome them.

They also gave some top tips on how to achieve compliance in 2023 and beyond.

Five key regulatory trends

The five main trends firms should be aware of in 2023 are:

1. Post-Brexit divergence

The UK’s Financial Services and Markets (FSM) bill, currently in its second reading, was introduced in the House of Commons in July 2022. Its goal is to boost international competitiveness and attract the investment and talent needed for growth.

The bill is a positive step for UK firms, but regulatory and reporting obligations might become more complex for firms operating across various jurisdictions.

2. Extending the regulatory perimeter 

New types of firms are being regulated, including crypto and BNPL organisations. These firms will need to identify and interpret the relevant regulatory changes and reporting obligations. This will require specialist expertise and investment – particularly in the back-office. 

3. Ethics and inclusion

The financial services industry is driving the ESG agenda. Consumer Duty will embed a culture and set of ethical practices within firms to make finance fairer.

Financial inclusion is a key feature of the FSM bill, which proposes new obligations for the provision of cash.

4. Proportionality

The FCA is aware that not all firms have the same resources to handle the rising number of obligations. This is a positive step.

5. Regulations are becoming more data-driven

The FCA’s data-driven approach will push firms towards greater automation and reduce reliance on manual processes.

What’s the FCA’s data strategy?

Financial services, data and regulations are becoming increasingly inseparable.

The regulator’s 2022 update puts data at the heart of its work. The FCA used to look at how it gathered data from regulated firms, but its goal is now to invest in tech and data analytics to enhance its own capabilities.

The FCA indicates this focus will continue as it strives to become a digital regulator. Recent communications also concentrate on big tech’s growing involvement in financial services, as well as research into AI and machine learning.

To build or to buy?

While building back-office processes in-house might seem straightforward, IT departments have competing demands. So, any change requests or actions will have to be prioritised. 

Engaging with a third party means firms receive immediate focus and have the use of a best-in-class solution. Third-party automation also frees up internal IT teams so they can focus on enhancing the front end. 

There’s also a perception that self-built systems are more cost-effective, but this depends on the success of the build. IT teams might run into unforeseen challenges, which often leads firms to seek third-party support anyway.

Challenges

The main challenges facing firms are: legacy systems; a need for clarity on golden source; manual, spreadsheet-based processes; and a lack of transparency and clarity in systems.

Firms with legacy systems rely on multiple systems for gathering data, which hinders data collection. It leads to inconsistencies, outdated data and a lack of complete data sets for reporting. Capturing different information from different sources will also result in increased employee workloads and impact governance.

Relying on spreadsheets complicates things further as firms need to transform or clean data. And there are many inherent challenges involved with spreadsheets, including the lack of an audit trail, volume limits, ease of manipulation and file corruption. On the other hand, automation will help capture and manage the data required for reporting.

Often, when data is ingested, it’s unclear what the source data was or what transformation has been performed. Granular data is essential for reporting, so firms using manual processes will need to reverse-engineer the data, which only adds to the complexity. 

Top tips

• Preparation is key. Horizon scan and estimate the impact of regulations, which will be different for every firm. Use trade bodies (e.g. UK Finance) to discuss challenges and engage with regulators early

• Smaller companies: Don’t bury your head in the sand. Speak to your legal advisors about their opinion on which regulations will impact your firm. Engage with professional services support if you don’t have the internal capabilities. And do this as early as possible

• Consider a data strategy. If the FCA is ramping up its data strategy, your firms should consider doing the same

• Keep up with regulatory changes. Stay on top of FCA correspondence and check the FCA Regulatory Initiatives Grid for a two-year look ahead. Check europa.eu for updates on EU regulations and take advantage of free webinars and reports from professional advisors or trade bodies

For more information, you can download our join paper with CBS: The regulatory reporting handbook 2023: Regulatory updates, key trends and data challenges.