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.

Iliad Solutions’ products and services, used by leading financial institutions around the globe, help to minimise the risk when deploying new payments technology, reducing the costs associated with testing and improve the speed of launching new systems.

t3, with its new ATM application testing capability, orchestrates and simplifies the process of payment testing and certification. Sophisticated controls can be applied to projects at every level, with real-time data available via intuitive dashboard views. Customers can test complex transactions with schemes simply and with efficiency - tests are fully automated and can run at up to 5000 transactions per second. 

Serquo is a global company with experience in technology, banking and payment solutions for over 30 years.  The high quality of its developments and products as well as the flexibility of its team are some of the reasons for Serquo's success.

Atmirage is a simulator for ATMs and other self-service machines. In addition to developing applications with no need for a physical ATM/hardware, it allows the user to automate all the tests, generating detailed reports.

Anthony Walton, Iliad Solutions CEO commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with Serquo, it’s a collaboration which will benefit both businesses and our respective customers. Interfacing with an established ATM simulator effectively extends t3’s end-to-end capability allowing us to be a one stop, payments testing provider for our roster of international financial institutions.”

Walton adds: “Those licensing the enhanced t3 testing platform will be able to bring their digital payments and transaction solutions to market quicker and more efficiently via the high-level of automation and configurability the t3 platform provides.”

Galia Gómez, CEO of Serquo added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Iliad. Their payment testing solutions are world class, making them a perfect choice to integrate with our ATM simulator and propose a complete solution to clients and prospects. This collaboration will open doors in new markets for both parties.”

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.

ebankIT, with its headquarters in Porto, Portugal complements Five Degrees’ cloud-native core banking which has a robust lending and account engines to enable the banks to deliver more humanized, personalized, and accessible digital experiences across all channels. ebankIT found a committed partner in °neo by Five Degrees, which also has a dedicated team in Lisbon, Portugal and is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The core of the collaboration is built around the need of today’s banks and lenders to continuously innovate to stay ahead in the market. In this environment, institutions can only remain competitive if they quickly adapt and fully embrace the digital banking transformation. The collaboration between °neo by Five Degrees and ebankIT delivers on this need, providing a best-of-breed approach and an expedited time-to-market.

Larissa Cavalcante, Alliances & Partnerships Manager at ebankIT said: “At ebankIT, we have no doubts that cloud solutions, combined with omnichannel technology, will represent a crucial role in the future of the banking industry. That's why we are very pleased to partner with °neo by Five Degrees on what we believe will be a very fruitful and innovative collaboration. With the joint portfolio of both companies, our labs will be able to offer increasingly powerful solutions to banks and credit unions all over the world."

Stefan Wittens, Platform Experience & Ecosystem lead at °neo by Five Degrees said: "We are excited to announce a partnership with ebankIT for our cloud-native core banking offering °neo. Together with ebankIT, we pursue opportunities to make the life of our clients more straightforward and more efficient with the best of both worlds, a best-of-breed core banking offering with a complete digital banking platform on top. ebankIT's impressive portfolio, footprint, and strive for digital transformation make our collaboration a natural fit. Our partnership will improve the time-to-market and speed up innovation for the many joint clients to come."

Nexi, the European PayTech, in partnership with Jakala, the leading Italian Martech company, has founded CVM 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.

Established in Milan but with a European reach, CVM Martech Lab stems from the desire of the two companies to pool engagement best practices within the evolution of digital payments for the benefit of banks and financial service institutions. Banks, fintechs and industry players will be able to tap into the significant economies of scale and scope guaranteed by CVM Martech Lab, while also benefiting from the complementary nature of the tools and practices that Nexi and Jakala plan to bring into the mix.

"Customer Value Management today has a strategic value in financial services for both traditional players and newcomers - for the former it is an essential acquisition lever, almost always as an investment in and subsequent development of customer value, while for the latter it is a key retention and loyalty driver. In this scenario, digital payments play a key role because they are, together with bank current accounts, the most widespread service, they are used on a daily basis and they carry useful data,” said Flaminio Francisci, Customer Value Management Director at Nexi.

“CVM Martech Lab aims to be a powerful accelerator to develop customer engagement at a systemic level. We at Nexi, after more than six years of work to develop multiple solutions for a large number of banks, have built up a wealth of experience and processes that, together with those of Jakala, represent a real value for Italy and we intend to export this value to Europe."

In fact, currently over 150 Italian banks already have access to the cutting-edge CVM solutions and methodologies offered by Nexi and Jakala, which result in engaged customers, high value-added services and products that enable the development of healthy customer value throughout the customer lifecycle from acquisition to retention, engagement programs included.

Similarly, Jakala, on the back of its know-how in combining marketing and technology, has set out on a specific path that in recent years has seen the company bring together centres of expertise that are unique in the Italian and European market scenario.

Gabriele Pozzi, Managing Director of Jakala commented: "At Jakala we drive technological transformation and promote innovation through a mix of talent, technology, data and analytics. The success of any engagement program is closely linked to an understanding of its target market. We are proud of the partnership with Nexi, because it allows us to apply our know-how in the field of engagement, intervening in a key moment of the customer engagement process like digital payments. Indeed, in this process it is essential to implement a data-driven profiling approach and real-time interaction aimed at being relevant when it counts."

Digital payments represent, therefore, the best possible customer engagement opportunity, both because of the large amount of data and information they carry, and because of their cross-generational nature and ease of use. Nexi's CVM Martech Lab enables organisations offering products and services based on the payment experience to maximise the value of their customers by engaging them through digital payments and developing new business propositions aimed at the customers themselves.

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.

Launched only ten months ago, Carmoola is liberating the archaic, slow, and backwards car finance market with a new, straightforward “neo car finance” product that is effortless to use and reduces the time taken to complete a car purchase from days to just minutes. Carmoola’s exclusive proprietary technology and systems enable a streamlined process that provides buyers with a budget, generates a free history check on the car, and allows payment to be made both instantly online and at the showroom within just 60 seconds using a Carmoola virtual card for a seamless consumer experience.

Carmoola CEO Aidan Rushby said: “Used-car finance couldn’t be more ready for a fintech revolution. Consumers want the freedom to go shopping anywhere, knowing what they can spend, without sending off reams of forms and payslips.

“Frustrated consumers are being put in a corner with excessive rates, manipulated commission, and poor customer service, but it’s the very process of getting finance that is at the heart of the problem. It’s full of paperwork, lengthy processes, and lack of certainty, but most importantly, car finance is obtained after the consumer has fallen in love with the car they want, which wholly puts them on the back foot. Until now, that is.”  

With 7.5 million used car purchases being completed in the UK alone in 2022 - at an average price of £13,705, Carmoola is serving a £120 billion market for pre-approved car finance.  

Yusuf Özdalga, Partner and Head of Europe at QED Investors, the backer of finance unicorns Remitly and NuBank that led the round into Carmoola, said: “Having not adapted to modern expectations for the consumer, the car finance industry has been caught off guard by the new neo-car finance brand Carmoola, who champion the consumer at every part of the process. Carmoola is on track to dominate the car finance sector with a game-changing approach to purchasing.”

The funding will be immediately deployed to continue to scale the business and support the rapid customer adoption Carmoola has seen since launching just ten months ago. The plan is to grow the team to 20 people to meet demand, with the customer at the heart of their business. This championing of customer service and experience has earned Carmoola ratings at a minimum of 4.9 out of 5 across all review platforms. 

Rushby added: “This funding will not only drive our ambitious growth aspirations but enable us to continue putting the customer at the forefront of everything we do.”

Carmoola will also be launching green discounts in the coming months, which aim to incentivise consumers to utilise more sustainable choices. Pure-electric cars rose by 57% to take a 1% share of the used market, which will become a continuing trend for Carmoola to capitalise on.

Medius, a leading provider of AP Automation and wider spend management solutions, has been selected by clothing and lifestyle retailer  White Stuff, to automate its Accounts Payable process, in a move to improve visibility and autonomy across its invoice processing.

White Stuff selected Medius’s AP Automation solution to boost efficiency and transparency across the finance department, recognising that Medius’s “plug-and-play” solution could be integrated seamlessly into White Stuff’s ERP system, thereby replacing manual processes.

Implementation was delivered on time and on schedule and with Medius’ pre-built connectors, White Stuff was able to integrate seamlessly. “The process was smooth, fast and well managed and we were able to plug into our ERP system,” noted Rory Whitman.

Rory Whitman, Accounts Payable and Receivable Manager at White Stuff, says: “Switching to Medius has been a game changer for our accounts team, who are now able to process our invoice volumes with greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency by automating manual systems. The team was also impressed by how easy the system is to use and the seamless integration into our existing payment processes. We have established an automated workflow, which has increased visibility and tracking, enabling us to reach a level of unprecedented efficiency!”

Daniel Ball, Executive Vice President of Product at Medius says: “We are delighted that Medius has helped White Stuff to operate more sustainably and with more transparency and efficiency - and it’s been a privilege to work alongside them in achieving this.” 

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.

This collaboration between Minima and stacuity is set to democratise access to mobile connectivity by combining their powerful and complementary technology, making it easier for telecom operators, service providers, and IoT solution developers to innovate at the intersection of blockchain and IoT.

The partnership will provide IoT customers with the tools they need to enhance their IoT installations across numerous industries, including smart buildings, energy, automotive, health, logistics, and water.

By combining the strengths of their respective networks, Minima and stacuity are opening up new possibilities for IoT connectivity, security, identity, and decentralisation. This partnership has the potential to accelerate innovation in the IoT market by making these technologies more accessible and user-friendly.

"We are excited to partner with stacuity to offer a powerful set of tools for industrial IoT installations in a secure decentralised manner,” said Hugo Feiler, CEO of Minima. “By integrating Minima's blockchain technology with stacuity's programmable core mobile network, we can offer telecom operators secure data handling and users a simple SIM-based product."

"This partnership has the potential to democratise access to two powerful and complementary sets of technology," says Mike Bromwich, stacuity's founder and a telecom industry veteran. "We are excited by this partnership to accelerate innovation in the IoT market and offer our customers the tools they need to succeed in the IoT industry."

Working together, the two companies have the potential to change the way IoT devices are connected and managed, allowing IoT customers to innovate more easily and quickly.

Minima and stacuity will be attending the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2.

Computop, the international payment service provider (PSP), will be presenting its new series of card terminals at the EuroShop 2023 trade fair in Dusseldorf (26 Feb – 2 Mar). The Linux-based devices from Swiss partner, PayTec, expand the existing range with three options for the most typical use cases in retail.
 
With the support of ZVT and OPI, the new Computop models have been designed for the most common international connection protocols of POS terminals. They enable card acceptance via magnetic stripe, chip and contactless NFC transmission and are certified according to the PCI PTS* 5.x and 6.x security standards. This guarantees that they can be used for at least 10 years.
 
Direct connection to omnichannel platform
The new terminals are fully installed with software and communicate directly with the Computop Paygate payment platform. On this platform, Computop, as an authorised girocard network operator, combines POS and e-commerce payments into a uniform omnichannel payment. POS customers also benefit from the acquirer-agnostic approach of Computop Paygate, as they are not tied to a specific acquirer for card acceptance.
For the first time, Computop is using hardware manufactured by Castle to underpin the hardware of its new POS terminals, an indicator that it is continuing to diversify its supplier relationships. Like all other Computop terminals, the new series will also be approved according to the PCI P2PE* security standard and is suitable for highly secure encrypted data transmission.
 
The devices in detail:
- The V3 PIN Pad is a compact card terminal for stationary use at the checkout, which is connected via an Ethernet connection.
- The V3 Countertop is equipped with a thermal printer and can be connected via Ethernet or optionally via Wi-Fi. It is suitable for both cash register connection and as a standalone device.
- The V3 Mobile is a portable terminal with thermal printer that can be accessed via Wi-Fi or 4G / LTE / 3G.
 
All three card terminals can be updated via remote maintenance. The new devices will be available from June 2023.

Stephan Kück, Managing Director of Computop, said of the new terminal launch: "The requirements of various major customers have prompted us to supplement our offering. The three new terminals are extremely powerful and very secure due to the upcoming P2PE approval. With them, we cover all important application scenarios in retail."

As part of its continuing Whole Office™ strategy to serve client needs across the entire investment lifecycle, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) has reached an agreement with SimCorp®, a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) investment management solutions, to enable integration for efficient data exchange for clients using the SimCorp Dimension® platform.

Designed to streamline processes, the two companies will automate custody data file exchange for Northern Trust clients via two different methods: direct integration of files which can be delivered to SimCorp, as well as integration with SimCorp’s recently launched cloud-based Asset Service Hub.

By leveraging these direct integration models, mutual clients can benefit from a more standardized data transfer process and choose which methodology best supports their current needs and long-term goals. The interoperability enhances operating model resilience and incorporates new product features from both SimCorp and Northern Trust.

“Through this collaboration, our clients can leverage SimCorp’s state-of-the-art software with pre-established connectivity and Northern Trust’s support for data management,” said James Wright, head of Asset Owners, EMEA at Northern Trust. “With SimCorp’s large presence in the Middle East and Nordics, this alliance will help us better serve our clients in those regions.”  

“Our mission is to support our clients’ entire business as a strategic partner, which includes integration with leading third-party providers to help clients design their ideal target operating model,” said Marc Mallett, global head of Platform Strategy at Northern Trust. “By entering this joint agreement with SimCorp, we are answering client demand for technological integration that delivers solutions across our Whole Office™ ecosystem.”  

“Digitization of products and services is driving the trend towards data interoperability between companies within the same ecosystem,” said Jaki Walsh, Vice President, Operations & Accounting at SimCorp. “This integration between Northern Trust and SimCorp enables the buy side with plug-and-play access to align with their specific and evolving needs.”

Northern Trust Whole Office™ is an advanced open architecture, multi-asset class solution serving diverse market participants including asset managers, asset owners, investors and third-party administrators. By integrating proprietary architecture with innovative partners, Northern Trust Whole Office facilitates client access to new technologies and capabilities across the spectrum of Strategy and Trading, Operational, Data and Digital and Analytics solutions.

bondIT, a leading provider of next-generation investment technology, announced today that Fundamentum Investment Management has begun using bondIT’s portfolio optimization and credit research solution integrated with Orion’s advisor technology platform. 

Fundamentum was looking for technology to help them efficiently scale their fixed-income business and optimize risk-return outcomes. They selected bondIT’s Frontier portfolio construction technology to position client portfolios systematically on the efficient frontier and later incorporated bondIT’s Scorable AI-based credit research solution to enable credit-aware portfolio construction and rebalancing.  

Using Scorable and Frontier together has allowed Fundamentum to systematically reduce exposure to deteriorating credits while substituting higher-quality bonds with equal or better yield. The final piece of the puzzle for efficiency and scale gains was Fundamentum’s integration of bondIT’s technology with the Orion platform.  

Fundamentum’s Robert Armagno, CFA, said, “Using bondIT integrated with Orion has allowed us to move our fixed income portfolio management to levels we couldn’t reach without this technology. We can generate and rebalance proposals in seconds while adhering to the objectives and constraints that advisors and their clients have formulated. bondIT is a proposal generation machine for us, and a huge competitive advantage when it comes to managing and growing our fixed income business.”  

Dan Taylor, Head of Americas at bondIT, said, “We’re delighted that Fundamentum has opted for bondIT’s technology to help them expand their fixed income business and attract new clients. Our platform enables Fundamentum to automate crucial parts of their portfolio management and research process, improving efficiency, performance and scale.“ 

Frontier is bondIT's cutting-edge portfolio construction and management platform that helps investment professionals make data-driven decisions and streamline their workflows. It allows users to generate and rebalance portfolios based on different optimization criteria, individually configurable portfolio objectives and bond-level constraints within minutes.  

Scorable is bondIT's innovative technology for evaluating and projecting credit rating changes in fixed-income securities. It utilizes machine learning algorithms to analyze a wide range of data points and provides actionable insights.  

Mr. Armagno adds, "Frontier has been a game changer for our team. It has significantly improved our ability to analyze and construct portfolios and has saved us a tremendous amount of time. Scorable has revolutionized the way we approach credit and relative value analysis. It’s a consistent and reliable framework and has enhanced our ability to identify risk as well as attractive investment opportunities.” 

Women founded more than 150,000 new companies last year despite a more challenging economic environment. The resilience of female entrepreneurs is underlined by data which shows that female founders started more firms in 2022 than ever before. The figures are published today in the Rose Review Progress Report 2023, which sets fresh goals to provide record levels of support for female entrepreneurs and drive up the numbers of female angel investors.

The Report illustrates the advances made since the Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship was launched in 2019. More than twice as many companies led by women were created last year as in 2018.

However, the report sets out the importance of increasing the support available for female founders in the face of economic headwinds.                                                                

A total of 190 financial services institutions have now made formal commitments to improve female entrepreneurs’ chances of success by signing the Investing in Women Code, up from 134 in the previous year. New signatories include savings and investment company M&G, lender Funding Circle and technology venture capital firm IQ Capital. Backers of the Code represent over £1 trillion in assets under management. The code requires them to adopt best practices to benefit female entrepreneurs and share data on their performance with government.

The Rose Review announces today that we will aim to provide female entrepreneurs with three million places on programmes and opportunities to access direct support over three years. Last year our partners created 800,000 opportunities to access schemes and support including networking events, mentorship and masterclasses.

The Rose Review is also committing to grow the pool of female angel investors from 14% to 30% of the total number of UK angels by 2030 through the work of the Women Angel Investment Taskforce, such as the Women Backing Women campaign. Work is underway across the country to support more women in offering early-stage investment.

A fifth of new incorporations last year were all-female led, a figure that has risen from 16% in 2018. The biggest leap in new female-led firms was among those established by 16-25-year-old founders, numbers of which rose by almost a quarter.

Alison Rose, CEO NatWest Group and author of the Rose Review, commented:

“It’s a testament to the resilience and entrepreneurialism of female founders that they are creating more companies than ever before, and the Rose Review is expanding its support for their work. Across the UK our partners have provided more than 800,000 opportunities for female entrepreneurs to get the help they need to thrive.

“In the coming year we will continue to provide fresh initiatives offering mentorship, guidance and inspiration for founders, alongside securing new commitments from financial services institutions to make it easier for female-led companies to access vital capital. By listening closely to entrepreneurs and acting on what they tell us, we will provide backing to help them grow their networks, secure finance and achieve their goals.”

Small business minister Kevin Hollinrake said:

“It’s great news over 150,000 women started new businesses last year – more than ever before - and seeing the number of businesses started by 16 to 25-year-olds increase by a quarter reaffirms the UK as a place of opportunity for all.

“We’re backing entrepreneurs and innovators all the way with a range of support. Our Start Up Loans scheme recently granted its 100,000th loan with 40% of awards going to women, and our Help to Grow Management Scheme is providing business leaders with the skills they need to succeed."