indó, an Icelandic mobile-first advanced neo-bank, has selected Lucinity as its AML compliance software, including its Transaction Monitoring and Case Manager solutions.

Established in 2018, indó is the first neobank to operate in Iceland. It was created to restore faith in the banking system by being open with customers about how their money is used. The company received its Icelandic banking license in February 2022, the first new license issued in more than 30 years, aiming to capitalize on the country’s highly digitalized banking market where 95% of the population uses an electronic ID, banking apps, or digital currencies. It is looking to emulate the success and significant international growth of challenger banks in the UK and Nordics.

The announcement comes during a busy period of expansion in Iceland for Lucinity, which now serves more than a quarter of the Icelandic market after Arion Bank selected Lucinity to provide its AML solutions in November.

Lucinity’s AML platform leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to augment human expertise, allowing compliance teams to make smarter decisions faster and enjoy modernized AML processes. Lucinity’s approach of creating augmented intelligence, combining the best of technology and human insights, has helped various banks and FinTechs increase their compliance productivity by more than 50%.

indó will use Lucinity’s Transaction Monitoring to provide its compliance team with behaviour-based risk screening and explainable artificial intelligence. Transaction Monitoring also enables AML teams to receive a manageable caseload and enjoyable user experience. Lucinity’s Case Manager offers indó contextual data visualizations, resulting in data-driven decision-making and boosting efficiency and productivity.

In selecting Lucinity, indó was looking for a compelling AML solution that could integrate seamlessly into its existing technology and scale along with its rapidly growing customer base.

Haukur Skúlason, CEO of indó says:

“We are a new contender in the banking space, and we were looking for a modern solution that can support our ambition and standards. Lucinity is not merely a vendor but a partner, capable of matching our tech stack and agile way of working. Lucinity also understands our priorities, including our zero-tolerance policy for money laundering.”

Guðdmundur Kristjánsson, Founder & CEO of Lucinity, says:

“We are excited to be partnering with indó to help them realize their mission of restoring trust and regaining transparency in the banking industry in Iceland and beyond.”

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. The Revolut Credit Card is designed with a focus on transparency, control, responsibility, and rewards. With a 0% balance transfer offer for the first three months, applying for the Revolut Credit Card is an easy and simple process with an immediate approval process for those eligible. To apply for a Revolut Credit Card, customers in Ireland should go to ‘Hub’ and click on ‘Credit Cards’ in the Revolut app.

Additionally, there is no interest for the first three months as long as the user makes monthly minimum payments; after that, the APR is a competitive 17.99%2.

Revolut is helping its customers get more out of Credit Cards with cashback and offers. The Revolut Credit Card rewards users with 1% cashback on purchases for the first three months (up to €30) and an unlimited 0.1% thereafter. Customers who have a Metal account can enjoy an additional 0.1% cashback, 1% cashback outside of the EU (including transactions made with any merchant outside the EU).

With spend control features for everyday spending and for spreading costs of big purchases, the Revolut Credit Card gives users control and transparency as part of Revolut’s mission to simplify money and empower customers with their finances. Furthermore, the Revolut app gives users the option to set a budget for credit spending.

Along with transaction history, statement download/view, and setting recurring payments, the accompanying Revolut app offers real time balance updates and push notifications to help customers stay on top of their spending.

Revolut’s Credit Cards offer a responsible way to use credit, with a heavy emphasis on customer affordability. Revolut checks customer affordability by linking to customers’ existing bank accounts through Open Banking. The current credit limits are between €500 to €10,000, but each customer will have their own bespoke affordable limit as decided by Revolut's credit assessment.

Through peer-to-peer transfers, the Revolut Credit Card provides additional flexibility and control as customers are able to send money directly from their credit card to other bank accounts or recipients.

Focussed on transparency, fairness and value, the Credit Card has no annual fees, and is the only Credit Card in the market that does not charge punitive over-limit or returned payment fees.

Metal customers will receive a Metal Credit Card. If a customer is on any of the Revolut paid plans, all the benefits they enjoy apply if they spend with the Revolut Credit Card too, such as insurance.

Customers have the ability to create virtual credit cards while waiting for physical cards to arrive, and these cards can be added to mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Additionally, customers can choose to use disposable virtual credit cards which can help to deter fraud when shopping online.

Joe Heneghan, CEO Revolut Europe, said: “We’re delighted to add Revolut Credit Cards to our financial superapp, giving our customers in Ireland more control and flexibility over their personal finances in a responsible way. We’ve developed the technology to provide Credit Cards to approved customers with limits tailored to affordability, so they can get the credit they need, when they need it.

“With flexible perks, cashback and bonus rewards, we’re looking forward to hearing feedback from our customers over the coming weeks.”

Utimaco, a leading global provider of IT security solutions, and Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, today announced a collaboration that enables both partners to offer certified cloud environments for mission-critical cyber security services.
 
Utimaco and Digital Realty have been working together for the past year to create a blueprint for how colocation environments in Digital Realty’s data centres can be Payment Card Industry (PCI) PIN certified to provide solutions with the highest security requirements for the payment/financial services industry. Additional sectors, such as automotive, pharma and health, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and manufacturing, are also being explored.
 
In a first step, joint environments in two of Digital Realty’s data centres in North America (Santa Clara, CA and Ashburn, VA) were certified and operated in accordance with PCI PIN. The blueprint was developed for global applications to support customers as they scale. Utimaco and Digital Realty are also exploring the opportunity to certify additional data centres in Europe. 
 
In addition to implementation support, Utimaco and Digital Realty continue to offer access to already established services for the payment/Financial services industry, such as:
 
PCI PIN-certified key generation and exchange service
PCI PIN-certified remote key loading service
Synchronized Digital Identity Management with high availability and failover
Certified key custodians

The certified environment is also used to provide a Hardware Security Module (HSM) as a service to facilitate the infrastructure migration of traditional on-premise customers to cloud service providers and colocation environments by continuing to use auditable and certifiable HSMs from Utimaco.
 
As part of the collaboration, Utimaco will offer the highest cloud availability for mission-critical cyber security services at Digital Realty’s 300+ data centres around the globe, a key element of Utimaco’s Trust-as-a-Service strategy.

”This collaboration secures current and future security demands for Utimaco as a service provider, as well for future customer demands. It also gives us a global footprint with the globally recognized data centre provider, Digital Realty,” says Håcan Tiwemark, Chief Operating Officer at Utimaco. “Having the first data centres in North America certified for PCI PIN is inspiring, and we look forward to the further expansion.”

Philip Barnett, Senior Vice President, Sales, EMEA at Digital Realty, adds: “Data has swiftly become one of the most valuable commodities in the world and a critical area of focus for businesses everywhere.” 

Barnett continues: “As the meeting place for the world’s data, we have a unique role to play in working alongside our customers and partners to maintain the security and compliance of that data in the face of an ever-evolving cyber security landscape. With the needs of our customers front of mind, we’re excited to be collaborating with Utimaco and offering new, innovative security and connectivity services through our global data centre platform, PlatformDIGITAL®.”

BharatPe Group today announced a new addition to its leadership team with the appointment of Aparna Kuppuswamy as its Chief Risk Officer. A seasoned leader with almost 3 decades of experience in the Consumer Banking Industry with extensive expertise in managing portfolios across all major product lines including credit cards, mortgages, and unsecured personal loans. Aparna will be leading the risk portfolio across the BharatPe Group of companies, including the merchant and consumer businesses. She will be working closely with the CFO and interim CEO, Nalin Negi, to further build a robust lending vertical at BharatPe.

Aparna is one of the highly respectable professionals in the banking and financial services industry. Prior to joining BharatPe, Aparna was the Chief Risk Officer at SBI Cards for 14+ years, where she led a number of key projects. Under her able leadership, the company’s portfolio grew by more than 20X. She was also a part of the leadership team that took SBI Cards public. Aparna managed the entire spectrum of risks facing the company in a fast changing and unpredictable environment. She also defined the risk appetite framework for the company in partnership with frontline business and operational groups as well as working closely with the Risk Management Committee of the Board. She also ensured that Credit, Operational, Fraud, Regulatory and Information security risks are defined, measured, reported, and monitored closely. Aparna also managed the Technology Risk function through the CISO organization by managing the physical and cyber security policies and practices. She also worked extensively on improving the security architecture and posture of the company. Prior to working with SBI Cards, Aparna was Director, Credit Policy, at Ameriprise Financial. She has also held leadership roles at ABN AMRO Bank and Bank of America. Aparna is a Masters in Finance & Control from the University of Delhi.

Commenting on the appointment, Nalin Negi, CFO and interim CEO, BharatPe said, “ At BharatPe, we are committed to addressing the US$ 380bn credit gap for MSMEs and small merchants. In the coming months, we will aggressively focus on building the lending business across Bharat as well as roll out a range of credit products for our merchant partners and consumers. Aparna with her in-depth understanding of all facets of risk strategy, credit policy and portfolio management, as well as extensive industry and product knowledge, will play a vital role in the next phase of our growth story as well as helping us in becoming IPO ready. Additionally, Aparna’s understanding of the consumer side of financial services will help us build cutting-edge products that are not only relevant, but also are risk aversive. Lastly, her expertise in managing the technology risk will ensure we build highly secure products for our merchant partners and consumers. On behalf of the leadership team at BharatPe, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Aparna.”

Amit Jain, who is currently the Chief Risk Officer of BharatPe will be working closely with Aparna and will be investing more of his time on collections and underwriting, from a merchant standpoint.

Added Aparna, “BharatPe’s success story in the fintech industry is a case study in itself. In just 4+ years, the company has emerged as one of the biggest flag bearers of digital payments and B2B lending in the country. Today, it has an entrenched network of over 1 crore merchants in 400+ cities. The company has also done phenomenal work in facilitating credit to merchants – with over Rs. 8000 crores worth of loans facilitated to lakhs of merchants across the country. I am really excited to be a part of the promising organization and spearhead the risk and credit strategy for the BharatPe Group of companies. I look forward to working with the team to build new products, that will make a huge impact on millions of unbanked and underserved businesses and play a key role in making India a truly Digital economy.”

FINBOURNE Technology today announces a new partnership with market-leading investor voting Fintech, Tumelo. Integrating Tumelo’s voting technology into FINBOURNE’s cloud-native investment management data management platform, LUSID, will help fund managers better understand and reflect investors’ voting interests.

The partnership aims to contribute to greater shareholder democracy, as investors seek to become more active owners of the companies that form their pensions and investments. With increasingly diverse views on sustainable investing, investors are now demanding more say over the issues that matter to them; from board elections to climate change.

Backed by Fidelity International Strategic Ventures (FISV), Tumelo’s API-driven platform delivers fund managers a cost-effective way to provide voting capabilities for retail and institutional investors. Armed with real-time vote reporting, fund managers can leverage Tumelo’s flexible voting products to establish more robust stewardship communication and alignment with investors, as well as stay ahead of anticipated regulatory changes.

Made available through FINBOURNE’s Modern Financial Data Stack, the partnership enables fund managers to understand the issues and resolutions that matter to underlying investors, by capturing investor preferences, through pass-through voting or expression of wish. This ability will prove invaluable as they look to forge long-term relationships with existing clients and attract new investors.

The integration will deliver unrivalled access to aggregated investor vote preference data, vote policy information and investor voting insights. Importantly, it will not only support managers in meeting their fiduciary duties efficiently but also opens the door for investment firms to consider the role they may play in addressing ESG and sustainability challenges.

Will Goodwin, a co-founder at Tumelo, commented: “Tumelo was created with the ambition to achieve greater shareholder democracy for all investors. Having worked very closely with the industry to build a suite of products that solves a real problem for the industry, it’s clear that effective stewardship is at the heart of achieving this vision. We provide fund managers with an unmatched opportunity to better understand and build trust with investors, adding value to the relationship and helping them to attract and retain a diverse client base.”

Alokik Advani, Managing Partner, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures (FISV), commented: “What is exciting about Tumelo is the use of cloud technology to increase shareholder engagement. This has mass appeal across a growing global community of members, trustees and investors who want to express their views and values. Integrating this capability within FINBOURNE’s open investment data management platform, provides a valuable tool for fund managers, to respond to increased investor demands for democracy and greater dialogue, in a controlled and intuitive way.”

Matthew Luff, Head of Partnerships at FINBOURNE Technology, adds: “Fund managers perform best when they create products their customers want and can meaningfully engage with. In an industry where transparency and accountability are becoming paramount, enabling our clients to understand what investors are prepared to vote on is both an exciting and a necessary step. We are pleased to offer this service through our partnership with Tumelo and enable our clients to create positive change through valuable data insights.”

OKX, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume and leading Web3 technology company, today published its fourth monthly Proof of Reserves (PoR) showing $8.6 billion USD held by the exchange in BTC, ETH and USDT.

OKX users showed significant interest in viewing the reserves as well as using open-source tools to check their liabilities, with over 175,000 unique users visiting the PoR page and over 90,000 unique users verifying their liabilities are accounted for in the PoR. Third party data again shows that OKX holds the largest 100% clean asset reserves among major exchanges.

Current OKX reserve ratios:

• BTC: 104%
• ETH: 104%
• USDT: 102%

As with all OKX PoR reports, users are able to view OKX’s February PoR on its website, including reserve ratios for new and historical data. Reserves and liabilities can be self-verified with trustless tools on the OKX website.

OKX Managing Director of Financial Markets Lennix Lai said: “We are proud to continue the monthly publishing of our Proof of Reserves in line with our unwavering commitment to transparency and trust here at OKX. Our data shows that hundreds of thousands of our users have taken an active interest in viewing our historical reserves and using open-source tools to verify their liabilities are included. Proof of Reserves is far from a niche topic - it is of vital importance to building user trust and we are dedicated to ensuring OKX shows continued leadership in this area.”

OKX has published thousands of addresses for its Merkle Tree PoR program, and will continue to use these addresses to allow the public to view asset flows. The OKX PoR protocol is open source and available to the public on Github. Additional OKX holdings can be viewed on the OKX Nansen Dashboard.

As part of its commitment to transparency, OKX will continue to publish PoR monthly.

For further information, please contact: media@okx.com

What is Proof-of-Reserves?

Proof of Reserves is a report of crypto assets that ensures the custodian (OKX) holds the assets it claims to hold on behalf of its users. OKX uses the Merkle tree (hash tree) to prove this claim in two ways. First, users can find their balance in the tree and prove their assets are held in the total OKX balance. Second, the total OKX balance is compared to the publicized OKX on-chain wallet balance to determine Proof-of Reserves.

What are 'Clean' Reserves?

Assets are considered “clean” in PoR when a third-party analysis determines they do not include an exchange's platform token, and are solely made up of high market cap “traditional” crypto assets such as BTC, ETH and USDT. Blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant monitors PoR across the industry, and found OKX’s assets to be “100% clean.”

Nordigen, an open banking data provider and a GoCardless company, has teamed up with Fintellect, a financial app that helps businesses to manage and forecast their finances.  

Through Nordigen's APIs, businesses can use open banking to connect their bank accounts to the Fintellect app. This will allow them to see their bank balance and expenditure in real-time in one easy-to-use dashboard. 

The Nordigen integration allows Fintellect to incorporate bank data from more than 2,400 European banks in one step -- cutting down a process that could take days or even weeks to just a few seconds -- to ensure their users across more than 10 countries can easily and efficiently access bank account data. Thanks to the Nordigen integration, Fintellect users can see up to two years of their account history in addition to current transactions, enabling them to better manage and forecast their finances. 

"Open banking is at the heart of our app; it's the pipe that feeds the bank account data into our dashboard. That's why it was vital to choose the best provider, one with reliable, high-quality APIs, a simple integration, and the ability to serve multiple markets. That led us to Nordigen. Thanks to its open banking connections, Fintellect users can access an up-to-the-minute picture of their financial position and forecast future cash flow, both of which will help them improve the quality and speed of their decision-making," says Danylo Golota, co-founder and CMO at Fintellect.

"At Nordigen, we are passionate about empowering small businesses to reach their full potential. Our collaboration with Fintellect is a testament to our commitment to helping small businesses increase the efficiency of their operations and make better, more informed decisions powered by open banking data. We are proud to be a part of Fintellect's journey and we look forward to supporting its growth and success," says Rolands Mesters, co-founder and CEO of Nordigen.