Shanghai Commercial Bank (“ShaComBank”), an international bank based in Hong Kong offering banking and financial services across the world, including the UK, joined forces with Salt Edge, a pioneer in open banking, to leverage PSD2 possibilities and create a bespoke banking experience for its customers.

ShaComBank is one of the most prestigious local Chinese banks in Hong Kong. With a business network spanning all over the world, the bank offers a wide range of comprehensive banking products and services to individuals and corporations in the UK, mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, all designed and provided under the motto – “For Personalised Service”. It is ShaComBank’s commitment to innovation and customer protection that drives them to trust Salt Edge with PSD2 compliance. 

ShaComBank enables customers to securely connect their accounts to external apps through Salt Edge’s Compliance Solution, allowing them to stay abreast of their financial position in their preferred channels, whether on the go or in the comfort of their homes, stepping beyond traditional banking.

"In meeting the open banking compliance and regulatory requirements, we are delighted to have Salt Edge supporting us on implementing PSD2 capabilities to our online banking, enhancing our personalised service to customers and facilitating business growth." - Jerome Goh, Executive Vice President & General Manager, London Branch at ShaComBank

As part of the PSD2 Compliance Solution, Salt Edge offers APIs, a complete TPP developer portal, a TPP verification system, a client dashboard, and periodic API updates that keep up with any regulatory changes. Through the TPP verification system, only regulated institutions can access ShaComBank’s open banking channels, keeping the personal accounts of its clients always protected – one of the bank’s top priorities.

"Salt Edge is delighted to assist ShaComBank in becoming PSD2 compliant and serving TPPs to the fullest extent. We are thrilled that ShaComBank embraced the power of open banking by entrusting us with all the technical and regulatory challenges related to PSD2 compliance. Through this, the bank enables its customers to take charge of their finances and make informed decisions when managing their accounts." - Andrei Scutari, Country Manager at Salt Edge

Cybersecurity Platform CyberSmart Raises $15M

Cybersecurity platform for SMEs CyberSmart has reportedly collected $15m for its Series B funding round.The investment was led by European venture capital firm Oxx, according to a report from TechCrunch. Commitments also came from British Patient Capital, Legal & General Capital and Solano Partners. Existing CyberSmart backers IQ Capital, Eos Venture Partners, Winton Ventures and Seedcamp also joined Series B.

Indian FinTech Eko Lands $3.6M to Support Micro-entrepreneurs

Eko India Financial Services (Eko), a technology-based platform for financial transactions for micro-entrepreneurs, has raised $3.6m in Series B funding. According to a report from The Hindu Business Line, Eko received the ₹30 crores ($3.6m) from EXXORE, the family office of Sriram Natarajan. Founded in 2007, Eko enables digital product brands to tap the next billion customer through a platform of embedded-in-the-community micro-entrepreneurs as influencers, facilitators and resellers.

Ingka Investments Makes €9M Investment in DirectID

DirectID, a UK-based, global fintech specializing in credit risk, risk analytics and predictive modelling, using bank transaction data, announced that Ingka Investments, the investments arm of Ingka Group, has made a EUR 9m minority investment in the company. With a mission to promote financial inclusion through its global credit risk score, DirectID provides advanced data to optimize credit & risk decisions in a growing number of countries.

Car Finance Fintech Carmoola Raises £103.5 Million to Transform How You Pay for a Car

UK car finance fintech Carmoola has raised a £8.5 million Series A round and £95 million debt facility to revolutionise the way people pay for car purchases. The round was led by US-based fintech specialists QED Investors, with participation from existing investors VentureFriends and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover. It also includes a debt facility provided by Natwest, priming Carmoola for rapid growth in a lucrative market worth £120 billion in the UK alone.

DataMesh Group Raises $30 Million in Series A Oversubscribed Funding Round

DataMesh Group, a full-suite developer of interoperable, proprietary payments-processing, has secured $30m in an oversubscribed Series A funding round to execute on large-scale domestic opportunities as well as expanding its footprint in the high growth payments processing industry. The round was led by return investor NAB Ventures and featured significant first-time capital from Deutsche Bank’s corporate headquarters in Frankfurt along with 1835i Ventures, ANZ’s external innovation and venture capital arm.

Deutsche Bank Invests in Australian Paytech DataMesh

Deutsche Bank has acquired a strategic stake in Australian paytech DataMesh Group to accelerate the build-up and service offering of the bank’s merchant solutions business across Asia Pacific. Deutsche Bank and DataMesh did not disclose financial terms of the transaction. With DataMesh’s Unify payment orchestration layer, Deutsche Bank can operate seamlessly with individual acquirers in different countries, enabling merchants to accept payments through online methods within individually regulated currency zones.

Investments in Unbanked Soar as KingsCrowd Capital Invests After Unbanked Is Rated A “Top Deal”

It was announced today that KingsCrowd Capital, a data-driven venture capital fund, has invested in Unbanked Inc after the company achieved a “Top Deal” rating from the venture fund's parent company KingsCrowd. Unbanked is a US-based fintech startup that connects traditional banking products with blockchain and digital assets. 

HedgeFlows Launches with £2M Funding to Empower SMEs for International Trade

HedgeFlows, a fintech platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) launches following a £2m funding round. The HedgeFlows platform enables SMEs to seamlessly manage foreign payments, cashflows and invoices, giving ambitious companies access to services which are often denied by the big banks. The company is fully licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Partnerships 

Western Union and Beforepay Offer ‘Send Now, Pay Later’ Service to Consumers for International Money Transfers

Western Union and Beforepay announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration, allowing consumers to boost their cross-border money transfers by accessing reliable, ethical and affordable short-term lending. Consumers can ‘Send Now, Pay Later’ by borrowing up to AUD 2000 through Beforepay’s wage-advance product on Western Union’s digital channels.

Themis and Diligencia Announce Strategic Partnership to Help Fight Financial Crime

Themis announces a new strategic partnership with Diligencia, a leading provider of corporate data in the Middle East and Africa (MEA). This partnership reflects the ongoing, significant investment in Themis’ AML/CFT technology, and follows the recent announcement of successfully overfunding in their Pre-Series A round - raising a total of £3.1 million.

AMLYZE and iDenfy Sign a Partnership Agreement to Expand Their Clients' Reach and Gain New Ones

iDenfy, the end-to-end identity verification, compliance, and fraud prevention startup, announced a new partnership with AMLYZE, the SaaS Anti-Financial Crime solutions provider, helping small and medium-sized businesses combat financial crime. The referral Agreement signed by AMLYZE and iDenfy will enable mutual growth. iDenfy’s Referral Agreement helps its partners earn commissions while establishing better client relationships.

Ding Teams Up with Western Union to Offer Mobile TopUp Service from Canada to the World

Ding, the largest international mobile top-up platform, announced an agreement with Western Union that allows Western Union’s Canadian customers to send international top-up payments to the mobile phones of more than five billion prepaid customers around the world. The collaboration gives Western Union’s customers access to Ding’s network of over 600 mobile operators across more than 140 countries, covering 95 percent of the world’s population.

Tudi Selects ThetaRay AI Solution to Monitor Domestic Payments in Mexico

ThetaRay, a leading provider of AI-powered transaction monitoring technology, announced that Tudi, enabling a digital financial community through its mobile app, has chosen ThetaRay’s cloud-based AML solution to monitor its transactions in Mexico for financial crime. A Stella Tech technology company, Tudi is helping the Mexican payment market move to cashless services in a one-stop application that solves the end-user transactional needs, including paying bills, money transfers, top-ups, entertainment services, and government fees.

Cobo Establishes Partnership with Coincover to Provide Disaster Recovery

Coincover, the leading digital asset protection company, announces a new partnership with Cobo, the largest digital asset custodian and blockchain infrastructure provider in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. This news comes shortly after Coincover’s recent successful $30 million funding round. Cobo is a pioneer of blockchain technology and is therefore constantly looking for innovative ways to improve the industry's security standard, with security becoming increasingly imperative.

Kepler Cheuvreux Selects Opensee’s Trade Management and Execution Analytics Solution

Kepler Cheuvreux, the leading independent European financial services company, is the first financial institution to adopt Opensee's cloud service for trade management and execution analytics. Kepler Cheuvreux, through its Execution activity KCX, will deploy the solution developed and tailored to its needs by Opensee, the leading platform providing financial institutions with multi-dimensional, real-time access to their data.

UK Problem Debt Detection and Prevention App SuperFi Announces Variable Recurring Payments with TrueLayer

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, has announced its collaboration with the UK problem debt detection and prevention app SuperFi, which will provide open banking variable recurring payments (VRPs) to help customers repay borrowings and avoid fees. SuperFi’s platform connects to users’ bank accounts and credit cards to track borrowings and overdrafts in a single interface. Customers can then select and follow personalised plans that help them pay off debt faster.

Flywire Partners with FranConnect to Provide Integrated B2B Payments Solution to the Franchise Industry

Flywire Corporation (Flywire) (Nasdaq: FLYW) a global payments enablement and software company, partnered with FranConnect, the market leader in franchise management technology, to streamline the payment experience for franchisors looking to grow their businesses both domestically and internationally. FranConnect is expected to extend Flywire’s B2B payments platform through its marketplace to enable franchisors to easily collect royalties and fees from franchisees in different currencies around the world.

New Partnership Brings Glia’s Digital Customer Service Solution to ebankIT’s Digital Banking Platform

Glia, the leading provider of Digital Customer Service (DCS), and ebankIT announced a partnership aimed at humanizing the digital banking service experience for ebankIT clients. ebankIT will now offer Glia’s DCS solution for digital-first customer service as part of its digital banking platform. Pre-integration of Glia’s Digital Customer Service suite within the ebankIT digital banking platform accelerates deployment and time-to-market.

Banesco USA Selects AML RightSource’s AI-Powered Technology to Improve Enhanced Due Diligence Investigations

AML RightSource, the leading provider of Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”), Know Your Customer (“KYC”) and Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) compliance solutions, announced that Florida-based bank Banesco USA has selected its Automated EDD (Enhanced Due Diligence) solution for efficient, compliant customer risk reviews with streamlined, AI processes that deliver detailed assessments and reporting.

Wise and G-P Launch Integration to Power Faster, Lower Cost Global Contractor Payments

G-P (Globalization Partners), the leading Global Employment Platform™, and Wise, the global technology company building the best way to move money around the world, announced a partnership that will power the future of how businesses pay international freelancers and contractors. Through the integration with G-P and Wise, companies will have direct access within the G-P platform to an efficient payment system that ensures fairness and pay transparency for all talent.

Iliad Solutions Partners with Serquo to Add ATM Testing Capability

Iliad Solutions Ltd, the world’s foremost payment testing company, has announced a strategic partnership with Serquo Ltd, adding Serquo's leading ATM / Device testing to its t3 testing platform. Initially the companies will work together offering this extended capability to all existing customers, where relevant, providing an end-to-end testing capability. As both companies extend their international reach they will work in partnership on new customer opportunities.

ebankIT and Five Degrees Enter a Strategic Partnership with Global Ambition

ebankIT, an omnichannel digital banking platform, has signed a partnership with °neo by Five Degrees, the cloud-native core banking platform. The collaboration seeks to improve digital experiences by creating a more robust end-to-end banking platform for banks and other lenders. This gives them the modern financial tools to reduce their time-to-market and stay ahead of the competition.

Minima and stacuity Announce Partnership to Propel a Blockchain-Powered Revolution in IoT Connectivity

Blockchain and IoT connectivity leaders, Minima and stacuity are teaming up to revolutionise IoT installations across multiple industries. The partnership will integrate Minima's decentralised blockchain capabilities with stacuity's programmable core mobile network and SIM cards, providing an exciting set of tools for IoT customers.

Trading Technologies and Eurex Enter into Commercial Partnership to Offer EnLight Directly from TT® Platform

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions, and Eurex Frankfurt AG, the leading European derivatives exchange, announced that they have entered into a commercial partnership in which TT will offer direct access to the Eurex EnLight selective request-for-quote (RFQ) solution from within the TT platform.

Mastercard and Obopay Collaborate to Launch a Unique Prepaid Card to Power Financial Inclusion in Rural Communities

Mastercard and Obopay announced their collaboration to launch a financial inclusion card for smallholder farmers and rural communities. Powered by Mastercard’s Community Pass digital infrastructure, the prepaid card will allow farmers to receive the sale proceeds for their crop digitally, spend their earnings to make purchases even in remote locations that have poor or no connectivity.

Launches 

Revolut Launches Online Checkout Feature with One-click Payment - Revolut Pay

Revolut, the global financial super app with over 20 million retail customers, launched Revolut Pay - a new secure online checkout feature which allows UK and EEA merchants to present ‘Revolut Pay’ as a payment method across product, cart, and checkout pages. Revolut Pay aims to disrupt the payments ecosystem by making shopping online even easier as it facilitates direct payments, while providing best-in-class security for Revolut users.

IDT Introduces Zendit, a Global Prepaid-as-a-Service Platform

IDT Corporation, a global provider of fintech, cloud communications, and traditional communications services, announced the launch of its cloud-based prepaid-as-a-service platform, Zendit. Zendit will be introduced at the Mobile World Congress 2023 (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, from February 27th to March 2nd. With the Zendit platform, businesses of all sizes, entrepreneurs, and developers will be able to easily add a powerful, global monetization channel to their apps and websites.

Remitly Expands into the Middle East with United Arab Emirates Launch, Dubai Office

Remitly Global, Inc. (“Remitly”), a leading digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, announced it has expanded into the Middle East with the launch of its outbound remittance product in the UAE. Remitly has also opened an office in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), its first in the country. The company’s new presence in the UAE marks its 30th send country, contributing to its more than 4,300 corridors overall.

TransUnion Launches New Open Banking for Gaming Solution

Global information and insights provider, TransUnion, is leading the way in the gaming sector by unveiling its new Open Banking for Gaming solution. With a market-leading categorisation engine, built with over a billion transactions, this new solution incorporates more than 330 categories and sub-categories to give gaming operators a quick and easy way to manage their players and promote safer gaming.

Lava Network Testnet Launches, Aiming to Decentralize Blockchain Access and Power a Multichain Web

Lava Network, the first protocol for decentralized blockchain RPC and APIs, has launched its public testnet following over seven months of private testnet monitoring. They are addressing a longstanding problem in web3, using decentralization to offer high-uptime and scalable service. The protocol represents a one-stop shop for decentralized access to any chain. Lava Network already includes support for over 15 networks including the likes of Cosmos Hub, StarkNet, Polygon, Ethereum and Juno.

Stubben Edge Group Launches Three New Affinity Partnerships, Offering Personalised Insurance Products for 95,000+ Members

Stubben Edge (Risk) Limited (SERL), wholly owned subsidiary of UK-based FinTech Stubben Edge Group has announced that it has launched three new partnerships with the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), British Pest Control Association (BPCA) and the Association of Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP). The partnerships provide personalised insurance products for each associations’ members, through a fully white-labelled buying journey, and with 24-hour call-centre support.

Nexi and Jakala Announce CVM Martech Lab, the European Centre for Customer Engagement in Financial Services

Nexi, the European PayTech, in partnership with Jakala, the leading Italian Martech company, has foundedCVM Martech Lab, the new Customer Value Management centre for the financial services sector, which aims to provide banks and fintechs with the best data science, marketing know-how and technologies for CVM development, through solutions that leverage the key role of digital payments in customer engagement.

Liminal Launches ‘Vaults’ Mobile App for Web3 Businesses

Liminal, a leading wallet infrastructure platform, announced its new mobile application on the iOS platform. The app is powered by secure Multiparty Computation (MPC) technology, allowing crypto-native companies to make secure transactions on the go while improving organisational efficiency and productivity. The Liminal app provides organisations to set up secure transactions, enabling them to move assets quickly and securely.

Swedbank Launches Enterprise Analytics Platform to Prepare for Growth by Future-proofing Data Security with Immuta

Swedbank, one of the largest banking groups in Sweden serving more than 8 million customers, has become 100% data access compliant and has improved efficiency across the group five times over since upgrading their legacy data access. The new Enterprise Analytics Platform allows comprehensive, end-to-end data security across the organisation thanks to data security platform Immuta.

Bibby Financial Services and Coface Unveil a New Collaboration Offering Irish SMEs Access to Secure Funding Solutions 

Bibby Financial Services, a leading provider of financial support and funding solutions to Irish SMEs, and Coface, a global leader in trade credit insurance, have joined forces in a new collaboration to help SME’s in Ireland access securely structured funding solutions while also ensuring they are protected against potential lost revenue. 

Revolut Launches Credit Cards in Ireland

Revolut, the global financial super app with more than 2 million customers in Ireland, is starting to roll out its flexible and feature-filled Credit Card to existing customers in Ireland. Revolut continues to disrupt the credit industry, where it has launched Loans with the lowest rate in the Irish market for loans under €20,0001, and Pay Later, the only responsible payment instalments product of its type.

Merger & Acquisition

Noventiq Closes Saga Group Acquisition

Noventiq, the global digital transformation and cybersecurity solutions and services provider, announces that the acquisition of the majority stake of Saga Group has been closed. In September 2022, Noventiq signed an agreement to acquire Saga Group. The transaction strengthens Noventiq's presence in Eastern Europe as well as opening other markets such as Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.

ConsenSys Acquires HAL to Augment Infura's Blockchain Notification and Automation Capabilities

ConsenSys announced the acquisition of HAL, a no-code blockchain development tooling platform that helps individuals and organizations query and automate blockchain data. With this acquisition, Infura, the world's leading Web3 API provider from ConsenSys, will extend capabilities in its developer stack by using the strong configurable webhooks/notification service built by HAL. 

Job Moves

Paytech GPS Makes Several Board Appointments

Global Processing Services (“GPS”), a fast-growing next-gen global payments technology platform, announced the appointment of Paulette Rowe, Shane Happach, and Lynn McCreary as independent Non-Executive Directors. Paulette Rowe is one of the most influential women in payments, recognised by American Banker in its annual honours list for three consecutive years, and was formerly CEO of Paysafe’s Integrated and Ecommerce Solutions (IES) division.

Varo Bank Names Wook Chung Chief Product Officer

Varo Bank, N.A., the first all-digital, nationally chartered consumer techbank in the U.S., announced the appointment of Wook Chung as Chief Product Officer. Chung joins the bank at an exciting period of innovation, as it capitalizes on its bank charter, enabling agile product design that provides technology-first solutions to meet customers' most important banking and money management needs. 

MAP Welcomes Dan Ruppe as Senior Vice President of Product Services

Member Access Processing (MAP), the nation’s leading provider of the Visa DPS Debit, Credit, ATM, Prepaid, and Mobile Processing platform to credit unions, announced the appointment of Dan Ruppe as Senior Vice President of Product Services. Reporting to CEO Cyndie Martini, Ruppe will lead MAP’s growing suite of payment services, including the management of third-party solutions from the nation’s leading providers.

Creditinfo Hires Jakub Žalio as Director of Global Technology and Solutions

Creditinfo Group, a global service provider for credit information and risk management solutions, announcesthe appointment of Jakub Žalio as its new Director of Global Technology and Solutions. Žalio joins from Übank, the leading digital bank in Vietnam, whereas Chief Operating Officer he helped to onboard new customers quickly and securely through a fully digitised e-KYC onboarding process. He has also previously worked at APS Vietnam where he formalised and executed critical business strategy.  

Financial Software Ltd. Appoints New Managing Director

Financial Software Ltd. (FSL) has announced the appointment of Michael Edwards as its new Managing Director. The firm offers specialist investment tax solutions and has a proven track record for developing market-leading products since 1994, including the industry’s award-winning capital gains calculator CGiX. Michael joined FSL eight years ago as a member of the Application Support team, creating new app functionality and continuing to develop the capabilities of CGiX for SaaS and Service Bureau clients.

DKK Partners Appoints Former Citi FX Veteran Sandip Sen as Board Advisor

DKK Partners, an emerging markets (EM) foreign exchange (FX) liquidity provider, has appointed former Citi MD Sandip Sen as board advisor to accelerate its global growth. Sen, who held senior posts at Citi for almost three decades, will oversee DKK’s international expansion, and help develop the company’s FX capabilities and services in emerging markets. DKK, which has been seeing steep growth in volumes and revenues, recently announced the launch of its Ghana operation, headed by entrepreneur Sam Nti.

Nordigen Execs Join GoCardless Leadership Team

GoCardless, a global leader in bank payment solutions, has appointed three executives from open banking provider Nordigen, which it acquired last year, to its leadership team. Rolands Mesters, co-founder and former Chief Executive Officer at Nordigen, is now Vice President of Bank Account Data at GoCardless. Fellow co-founder Roberts Bernans, previously Chief Product Officer at Nordigen, has been named Vice President of Connectivity, and former Nordigen Chief Technology Officer Jake Sebastian-Jones has joined the Product team as a Director of Engineering.

Six in ten (63%) UK accounting and finance professionals are concerned over the accuracy of their company’s monthly financial statements, according to new research published by FloQast, a provider of accounting workflow automation. Accounting and finance teams are feeling the pressure of the recessionary environment, with 87% reporting greater stress during the month-end Close process – this is markedly up from the 70% figure reported in FloQast’s same research program a year ago. And, this leaves 69% of accounting and finance leaders concerned that their team would suffer from burnout as a result.  

These findings are highlighted in The State of Play in UK Accounting, Transformation in Uncertain Times, the second instalment of FloQast's research series exploring the most pressing issues and challenges facing UK accounting teams. The report collates responses from 500 finance directors and controllers to highlight the growing pressures facing British organisations as they navigate economic volatility. 

‘Work more’ mantra is contributing to burnout and acting as a barrier to accuracy 

This level of economic disruption is placing greater demands on accounting and finance leaders to deliver swift, accurate reporting to inform decision-making and maintain business performance. The fact that a high percentage of accountants would choose to “work more” when asked what they would do with a spare hour of time (32%) illustrates just how overwhelming their day-to-day workload has become. 

Recessionary environment, cash runway and staff retention top concerns 

Adding to the pressure on finance teams is the worry about the recessionary environment. When considering pressures impacting performance and capacity, cash flow is the biggest concern (35%). This is brought into sharp focus by the findings that one in three finance professionals reveal that their company has less than six months cash runway. 

Staff retention is also a significant concern for performance and capacity, with loss of team members (35%) and maintaining team morale (34%) falling in the top three reasons. And, justifiably so, with one in three respondents saying, both headcount (32%) and salaries (32%) will be frozen to manage operating expenses during the recessionary environment.

Adam Zoucha, MD EMEA FloQast, says: “Accounting teams are striving for operational excellence but falling short, with fiscal accuracy taking a hit. This uncertainty around the month-end Close puts organisations at undue risk whilst they are navigating economic uncertainty. And, given the limits on cash flow for some organisations, this could put them in dangerous territory.” 

Technology seen as the primary lever to improve accuracy and morale  

In the face of growing pressure, technology is seen as a primary investment organisations can make to alleviate these pain points – cited by 43% – ranking significantly higher than investment in people (24%), process (16%) and culture (12%).

Although accountants recognise how technology can help them deliver operational excellence, almost half of organisations (47%) have failed to invest in new financial software in the past year.

Accuracy, manual processes, and workload reduction are the primary drivers for tech investment 

With more than half of respondents concerned that insufficient or inaccurate data is impacting organisational performance, the merits of software investment are shared by a core group of accountants. Four in ten (43%) agree technology would most significantly impact accuracy, followed by reducing manual processes (39%) and reducing workload (31%).

“Technology is a crucial lever for organisations struggling with resource. It not only helps accounting teams bring clarity to their month-end numbers, but it also frees the team up to focus on the strategic imperatives,” concludes Zoucha. “By focusing on strategic initiatives, organisations can ride out the current economic climate and be better placed for success moving forward.”

Businesses and consumers alike are ready to embrace open banking, according to a survey from YouGov and GoCardless. 29% of UK consumers said they are likely to try open banking-powered Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) as they become more widely available, with 36% of that group agreeing that the technology sounded convenient. At the same time, one in three (33%) UK financial decision-makers stated they are likely to use VRPs in the future, with 23% of those citing convenience as their top reason for trying. 

Simplicity and security are also important factors driving payer preferences. Nearly four in 10 (39%) consumers said security is the most important factor in prompting them to try a new payment method. Almost one in six (16%) cited ‘simple to use’ as the top motivator.

The new insights bode well for the adoption of open banking, which reduces unnecessary friction at the checkout while increasing speed and security. Adoption is growing; the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) revealed last week that there are now 7 million active users. However, industry players believe there is more to be done as the market awaits recommendations from the Joint Regulatory Operating Committee (JROC) on the future of open banking in the UK.

Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO and co-founder at GoCardless, said: “Open banking has changed the face of financial services in the UK; from better, safer banking experiences for consumers to more affordable services for businesses that truly rival traditional costly payment methods like cards. However, we need to build on this momentum to maintain our position as a world leader in this space. There’s a lot to do but cracking on with establishing OBIE’s successor, ensuring the current standards apply across all market participants, fixing reliability and consistency issues, and building out Variable Recurring Payments would be a great place to start.”

Mobileware Technologies, a market leader offering UPI interoperability, scalable payment solutions, and seamless access to the payments ecosystem to businesses, has received the coveted International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 27001:2013 certification, demonstrating its dedication to security management best practices.

A prerequisite for the ISO certification is establishing, implementing, and maintaining an Information Security Management System (ISMS) in the organization. Mobileware received the prestigious ISO 27001 certification after completing a series of extensive audits by IRCLASS Systems and Solutions. 

Backed by innovation, Mobileware Technologies builds digital payments solutions for the rapidly evolving Fintech requirements of banks, NBFCs, fintech companies, merchants, and consumers. Its cutting-edge platform - TransXT - is a plug-and-play open banking API technology revolutionizing digital payments. Also called ‘bank in a box’ the TransXT platform allows businesses to go live instantly. Furthermore, the platform seamlessly integrates with international regulatory frameworks enabling TransXT to be rolled out to various countries.

Globally the ISO certification is recognized as the highest and most reputable standard an organization can achieve by reinstating its hold over security and data protection systems. ISMS pertains to the physical security of facilities, software product security, financial information, intellectual property, personnel, and management’s commitment to security and safety. ISMS enables organizations like Mobileware to manage the security of these assets.

Commenting on the achievement, the Co-Founder & CEO of Mobileware Technologies, Mr. Satyajit Kanekar, says, “The ISO 27001:2013 certification is a rigorous, independent audit that ensures processes and procedures of the organization are in place to protect customer data and that it is in active use. This certificate reestablishes our commitment to operational and customer service quality. We will continue to get industry certifications to maintain our customers' confidence in our products and our ability to deliver in the future.”

World-leading biometrics company Fingerprint Cards AB (Fingerprints™) and Flywallet, a biometric wearables technology startup, are collaborating to develop and launch biometric wearable products for the European market.

Flywallet has built a range of consumer products that support payments, mobility, access and health use cases in a single ecosystem. Among other uses, its products enable secure payments, ticketing and loyalty services; password-free login to online services; and building and car access control.

The wearable products from Flywallet will now feature Fingerprints’ biometric sensors, software and algorithm benefitting from their ultra-low-power consumption, leading performance, and the company’s years of experience in secure biometrics innovation. Fingerprints’ sensors are designed to be multifunctional to enable usage across a range of different form factors to enhance the security, privacy and user experience.

Roger Carrico, Vice President, Head of Sales for Payment & Access at Fingerprints, commented: “Collaborating with Flywallet will accelerate growth of the biometric wearables market in Europe and improve consumer access to new biometric products that enhance convenience and trust. For Fingerprints, this partnership is further evidence that our sensors can easily be integrated with other hardware devices to support the development of secure and innovative biometrics products.”

Lorenzo Frollini, Founder, CEO & CTO at Flywallet, said: “We are pleased to have established a strong partnership with Fingerprints, where we can share an innovative vision on biometric wearables. Together, we are enabling simple and secure biometric technology that people can use to enhance their everyday lives. In an ever-advancing and hyperconnected world, we believe companies that come together will thrive in providing a smooth and secure user experience to access digital services. Our partnership with Fingerprints follows our goal and direction of building a cyber risk-proof interface to connect physical and digital identities, based on the simplicity of biometrics.”

Demand for wearable devices is expected to continue increasing. Most wearables, however, do not have sufficient security measures required for activities such as making a payment or unlocking a car or front door.

By combining biometric authentication with wearable technology, Flywallet ensures only the owner of the device can use it. This enables new possibilities for wearable technology in verticals such as payments and access – key focus areas for Fingerprints, which has dedicated business divisions for improving the safety, security and convenience of payments and access through biometric technology.

Flywallet and Fingerprints will participate at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023 in Barcelona, Spain from 27 February through 2 of March, where they will showcase the proof-of-concept wearable product.

Mastercard and end-to-end fraud protection platform Vesta have announced a new strategic partnership to deliver state-of-the art fraud management solutions for merchants in Asia Pacific.

The partnership will involve the integration of Mastercard’s Cyber & Intelligence (C&I) products and solutions into Vesta’s transaction guarantee platform, and will allow merchants to eliminate online fraud, approve more transactions and grow their business.

Mastercard’s partnership with Vesta also reflects the company’s ongoing investments in market-leading cyber capabilities that bolster the wider ecosystem. The combination of cyber security solutions, including behavioural biometrics, pre-dispute resolution, and identity verification, and Mastercard’s market expertise, will provide merchants with 100% fraud chargeback protection, whilst also incorporating transactional insights such as payment risk scores and pre-emptive chargeback alerts.

According to a recent study from Juniper Research, the total cost of e-commerce fraud to merchants globally will exceed US$48 billion in 2023, from just over US$41 billion in 2022. The study found that Asia Pacific accounted for 22% of global fraud.

With an increasing number of consumers choosing to shop online, verifying identity, protecting against data leaks and tackling fraud in real-time has become a challenge for merchants.

The new partnership will address this problem and help simplify risk management for Asia Pacific-based merchants by providing Mastercard merchants with full protection before, during and after a transaction, while also offering an enhanced digital payment experience for consumers in the region and strengthening overall trust in e-commerce.

The service will be available to merchants in the second quarter of this year.

“The partnership with Vesta is a great example of Mastercard’s commitment to building strategic relationships with key players across the payments and technology ecosystems,” said Karthik Ramanathan, Senior Vice President, Cyber & Intelligence, Asia Pacific, Mastercard. “Mastercard is excited to have the opportunity to work together and deliver on the cybersecurity needs of its customers in Asia Pacific, making the region’s digital economy safer, more seamless and secure.”

“We are honoured to partner with Mastercard to innovate in the cyber and intelligence domain,” said Shabab Muhaddes, Vesta SVP and GM APAC. “Through this strategic partnership, merchants will benefit from one integration into Vesta’s decision engine to approve more legitimate transactions with zero fraud chargeback liability, allowing them to focus on growing sales and improving customer experience without the fear of fraud.”

DKK Partners, a leading fintech company which specialises in emerging markets (EM) and foreign exchange (FX) liquidity, has launched a Dubai operation to turbocharge the business economy in the Middle East.

The news comes following circa 60% per cent growth in 2022, surpassing £100 million in revenue, up from £63 million the previous year.

The office, based in the Dubai World Trade Centre, will act as a central hub for DKK in the region granting greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Asia trade corridors. The expansion will be led by senior associates within the region all with Tier 1 banking experience in forex, trade finance and structured products.

The day-to-day team, currently consists of three full-time staff, led by budding entrepreneur Asia Salvatore, with ambitious plans to hire and treble its headcount this year.

DKK’s Dubai operation has already obtained its World Trade Centre Free Zone licence and has plans to bolster with virtual assets licences through VARA (virtual assets regulatory authority) in the near future.

It will begin trading immediately, empowering local businesses and the local economy through access to FX services.

Asia Salvatore, Head of Sales for DKK in Dubai, said:

“We are excited to launch in Dubai and bring our mastery of FX to empower businesses and financial institutions who have previously lacked access to high-quality solutions. Dubai is a land of opportunities and DKK is perfectly poised to get out there and make a splash in the market.”

Khalid Talukder, Co-Founder & CEO of DKK Partners, commented:

“DKK has achieved fantastic growth over the past year and launching in Dubai is a natural step to continue our expansion and evolution as a frontier markets currency trading house. We have a passionate team with extensive knowledge of the local market ready to hit the ground running and deliver high-quality FX services to the region.”

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

Key services including virtual IBAN accounts, allowing customers to access new currencies and territories, as well as EM liquidity to prove direct access to real-time pricing and execution across frontier, emerging and G10 market currencies.