Bibby Financial Services’s (“BFS”) asset finance division, Bibby Leasing, has announced a series of new hires and a refocused growth strategy to increase lending throughout the UK.

With over 50 years’ combined experience in asset finance, the new team will support the business’s strategy, led by Managing Director, Sean Neville.

Speaking of the business’s ambitious plans, Sean Neville, Managing Director of Bibby Leasing said: “As a business, we’re in a fantastic position to support UK SMEs in 2023 and beyond. We have a refocused strategy designed to bolster our support for brokers, build new vendor partnerships and to uncover new opportunities by working more closely with colleagues across Bibby Financial Services to develop ABL transactions.

“The depth and breadth of experience of our new team, combined with our existing asset finance expertise is testament to our growth strategy, which saw us almost double new business volumes in 2022 alongside 20 percent growth in our portfolio during in the same period.”

Sean Taylor joins as Head of National Broker Sales from Renaissance Asset Finance where he was Senior Corporate Sales Executive. With over 16 years’ experience in asset finance, Sean has held sales roles with Five Arrows Business Finance and State Securities.

James Pegler joins as Senior Risk Manager - Specialised and Structured Transactions. He previously held underwriting, credit and client-facing roles at Renaissance Asset Finance, Shawbrook Bank and Barclays UK.

Jonathan Sollitt has held credit and underwriting positions with CSI Leasing Europe and HSBC, and joins Bibby Leasing as Credit Manager.

Lauren Davis, joins as Manager for Bibby Leasing’s newly created Sales Support team from Renaissance Asset Finance where she spent almost seven years developing such a unit.  

The new hires follow the appointment of Brian Cartwright as Director of Strategic Partnerships & Market Expansion last year and the return of Rebekah Middleton as Head of Corporate & Structured Transactions, after almost two years with Time Finance.

Sean Neville added: “This is a really exciting time for Bibby Leasing and the wider Bibby Financial Services family. We have highly experienced people, a great range of products to support SMEs and brokers, and are well positioned for growth.”

BFS supports nearly 8,500 SME clients globally through its asset finance and invoice finance solutions. In addition, its product range includes Foreign Exchange, Export and Trade Finance, as well as specialist finance for the construction sector.

Danish neobank, Lunar, has raised €35 million to invest in and develop the business in order to continue Nordic expansion and expedite its path to profitability.

A press release from the bank states that the “vast majority” of existing shareholders contributed to the raise. Lunar’s last raise of 212 million DKK (approx. €28 million) in August 2022 came alongside a +500% increase in income during H1 2022.

The bank’s plans to acquire Norwegian Bank, Instabank, failed in September last year, due to the August raise proving insufficient to cover “capital needed to meet the capital requirements and obtain the approved from the Norwegian FSA.” Lunar had offered €132 million in March 2022 to purchase Instabank, in effort to increase Lunar’s footprint in Norway and open the door to the Finnish market.

On today’s €35 million raise, founder and CEO of Lunar Group, Ken Villum Klausen, stated: "The capital markets that we and other similar companies raise money in have changed completely, with earnings now becoming the key focus. Last year we improved our product, attracted more customers, and increased our revenue streams significantly. We will continue to do so in 2023 and the years to come because the market needs a serious challenger in the industry."

"We are very humbled by the trust our shareholders and customers place in us. They want to help us build a new financial ecosystem and deliver banking services in a whole new way. This proves the strength of the concept we offer to bank customers throughout the Nordic region and we remain committed to this approach despite this period of turmoil in the financial markets,” Villum Klausen continued.

Tazapay, a leading fintech company specialising in cross-border payments, announced today that it has raised USD 16.9 million in its Series A funding round.

Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia led the round, with EscapeVelocity (escp.vc), PayPal Alumni Fund, as well as renowned angel investor Gokul Rajaram, joining as new investors. Existing investors Foundamental, January Capital, RTP Global and Saison Capital also participated in this round.

Tazapay plans to use the funds to further scale its business across Asia and expand in other regions where the company is receiving strong demand for its services, such as the Middle East and Europe. This includes the application of payment licenses in major markets that will broaden Tazapay’s payment network globally. The company will also be beefing up its core capabilities and adding more local payment methods to better serve the growing list of verticals that includes cross-border e-commerce, education technology (EdTech), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and travel.

With the advent of open banking and maturing of real-time payment networks like the PayNow service in Singapore and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in India, there is an increase in expectations from businesses and end consumers for payments to be done in real-time and through a payment method they are familiar with. With Tazapay, businesses now have access to the firm’s global network of over 170 markets for its card coverage and 85 markets for its local payments collection coverage through a single API integration, thereby allowing them to accept low-cost and secure payments from their customers without having to create local entities everywhere. The company plans to expand its real-time local collection channels to above 100 by the end of this year with this round of funding.

Several of Tazapay’s global customers are already reaping the benefits of this integration, including IndiaMART, India’s leading online B2B marketplace connecting more than 7.4 million sellers and 165 million buyers on its platform; BrightCHAMPS, a leading global live-learning platform with presence in over 30 countries; WTX, a used trucks marketplace platform; Rezlive, a global travel platform and Advantage Club, an employee engagement SaaS platform. In addition, Tazapay has also partnered with Standard Chartered to offer innovative commerce-enabling payment solutions for enterprise marketplaces.

"After Surge, we are thrilled to have Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia show faith and conviction in our business by leading and participating in this round. We also welcome EscapeVelocity and PayPal Alumni Fund who are joining us as new investors. These partners will help us realise our vision to be the foremost cross-border infrastructure for global platforms as we double down on growing our market presence and consolidating every real-time banking network in the world under one API. We are grateful to both our new and existing investors for acknowledging the evolving needs of our ecosystem and supporting our aspirations," said Tazapay CEO and co-founder Rahul Shinghal.

"Tazapay is building the payments and compliance infrastructure for cross-border commerce and services. This is a large space which is seeing another inflection point. Buyers increasingly prefer to use local real-time payments over traditional networks and businesses are keen to expand globally without going through the hassle of a local set-up. The Tazapay team has unique insights and experience to leverage this tailwind, and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia is excited to partner with them as they double down on the opportunity," Aakash Kapoor, Vice President, Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia.  

In the face of a shrinking economy, founders of early-stage software companies are looking for safety in numbers when it comes to co-founding teams; investors are more discerning, with a focus on quality over quantity; and start-up growth is moving away from HR and employee collaboration tools and towards the finance, compliance, DevOps and productivity categories. These are some of the trends identified in the latest “Notion Cloud Challengers Report”, published today by leading European B2B SaaS investor, Notion Capital. 

The study, the second of its kind, was designed to identify and analyse Europe’s top 100 early-stage B2B SaaS/cloud companies, and examine their challenges and opportunities.

Jos White, General Partner of Notion Capital, says, “Based on the Top 100 list from 2022, we think we’re doing a decent job of identifying the emerging stars of European SaaS. From last year's list, nearly half the companies have already raised follow-on funding, a conversion rate that after only 12 months, far surpasses market averages.”

He adds, “Conditions are undoubtedly challenging for tech companies right now, but there are a couple of things that give me more optimism heading into 2023. First, businesses continue to move to the cloud and this is not a trend that’s going away any time soon. The cloud sector represents around 30% of the total software industry so there is still a very large untapped market to go after. Cloud is growing by more than 20% a year and is expected to have 70% market share of a trillion dollar market by 2027. Awash with easy money, and further propelled by Covid, the market clearly got way ahead of itself. But the growth and the opportunities are still there.”

“Second, a recession is a great time to build a company. Costs are down, talent is more available and many of your competitors will be weakened or even go out of business altogether. Many of the most successful companies were started in challenging times, including Amazon, Google and Uber.”

The Cloud Challenger 100

The report also includes the “Cloud Challenger 100”, a list of Europe’s top 100 early-stage B2B SaaS/cloud companies. The rankings are based on three main categories: founders, funding and project. We believe these are the areas that provide the best signals for future success.

Founders and their backgrounds are becoming increasingly important. Key findings in this area include: 

• 77% of companies have more than one founder; 73% have at least one technical founder. 

• 94% of founders decided to build their companies together as a co-founding team. Sole founders were rare in the cohort. 

• There’s still plenty of work to be done on gender diversity since just 13% of founders and co-founders are female, though this is up 2% from last year’s report. Of this percentage, only 3% had solely female founding teams. 

• Out of the three leading geos, UK-based founders tend to raise the most, followed by those in Germany, who usually raise 20% less ahead of the Series A, and then France, which raises 30% less than the UK.

Five key trends

These are some of the most significant trends in the cloud/SaaS industry, as outlined in the report.

The co-founding craze

The size of a co-founding team is becoming more important. Solo founders are rarer and the trend is towards dual or multiple founders, with at least one of these being a technical founder. 

According to Michelle Cheng, Notion Capital’s Head of Talent, “Only 13 out of the 224 founders in our research opted to build their company as a sole founder. This is significantly lower than a 2016 study of global data examining prevalence of sole founders that raised over $10M. In those companies, over 45% were sole founders. On average, Cloud Challengers had 2.26 compared to a global average of 1.74. Considering the volatility of the current market, it’s unsurprising that most founders in the cohort have opted not to go solo.”

Jos White adds, “The data shows having more than one founder - and complementary skills within a founder team - meaningfully increases the chances of success.”

Quality over quantity 

With an unprecedented amount of dry powder in the VC market, there’s money available to cloud and SaaS startups, but the macro-economic environment is very uncertain. This is causing a shift toward investors being more cautious with funds and choosing quality over quantity. Jos White asserts that startups now need to be: category leaders, truly innovative and come from founders with good track records. They also need to perform well in terms of metrics, especially growth, gross margin, NRR, ACV, CAC payback, burn multiple and revenue per head.

He adds: “startups should aim to become an essential part of the customer’s operations - something they can no longer live without. In this way it will still resonate well in a cash-constrained environment and not be singled out in any product streamlining that many businesses will be going through right now.”

Sector shifts

Last year, HR/employee collaboration tools made up the largest contribution to the top 100. While these remain attractive areas for start-up growth (21%), this year sees companies building products in the finance, compliance, DevOps and productivity categories, which represent more than 50% of the total list.

Stephanie Opdam, Principal at Notion Capital, proposes: “Considering fears for a recession continue, finance software will focus on cost control and budgeting accuracy. Like LiveFlow (#29), for example. Compliance software will be in demand as online risks continue to be high and might increase down market, while DevOps software will further reduce the number of tech staff needed to develop or maintain tech, as talent shortages continue.”

Steadfast customer demand 

The report includes results from a survey of 35 founders from the Top 100 list. These indicate how they’ve been reacting to the market downturn and their attitudes towards fundraising, growth and customer demand. Notably, 80% reported no decrease in the latter. Pipeline conversion rates remained consistent with earlier in the year, with some respondents noting an increase in the length of the sales cycle. 

Notion Capital investor Radu Bozga explains, “Those who did report a decrease in customer demand were primarily startups selling to other startups or scaleups: this is a customer profile that has been significantly impacted by restructuring or cost-cutting measures.”

Vayana TradeXchange (VTX) the leading International Trade Finance Services (ITFS) platform conducted a roadshow in association with International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) the unified regulator at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City - International Financial Services Centre (GIFT-IFSC).

The event was presided over by Shri Dipesh Shah, ED, IFSCA, other senior IFSCA representatives along with senior members from various Export Promotion Councils, Banks, Factoring & insurance companies, exporters/importers, CFOs of large corporates, MSMEs, and senior officials from Trade Credit Insurance companies.

Shri Dipesh Shah hailed ITFS as one of its kind and unique platform which in the coming days will completely change the way exporters in India access trade finance. It aims to democratise the trade finance space by providing an electronic platform that connects exporters, importers and financiers across the globe. 

Shri Ram Iyer, Founder & CEO of Vayana Network, addressed the MSME exporters at the event and from his experience of running India's largest supply chain finance platform shared how VTX platform has been built keeping Vayana's ethos of a zero change in processes for the customer at its core thereby, reducing acquisition and servicing costs and allowing the smallest of businesses to secure finance from the largest of lenders at affordable rates.

As the world increasingly moves towards open account trade, trust is the most critical factor in keeping the supply chains moving.

With India increasingly becoming an important manufacturing destination coupled with the government's push-through schemes such as Make in India, PLI, it is critical that factoring is adopted as a means to build trust and minimise risk in a transaction to increase trade velocity.

World over, for the global economy to completely recover from the shock of the disruptions caused by the pandemic and for supply chains to become resilient, ITFS platforms such as VTX are need of the hour.

Shri Kalyan Basu, MD & CEO of Vayana TradeXchange shared, “Transactions on the platform are moments of truth and VTX platform is well past that stage with 6 financiers from India and abroad, 10 sellers (exporters), from India and 7 buyers (importers) outside India. This end-to-end digital auction-based cross-border trade platform has no precedence across the globe and putting it together has been an amazing journey that has just begun.”

The platform offers a win-win for buyers sellers and financiers as they simply enter into a one-time agreement with VTX, enabling them to access new markets and grow their business.

Mr. Vinod Parmar, Director, Vayana TradeXchange, gave the closing remarks and said, "Through ITFS we envision a future where Indian exporters will be emboldened to grow their ambitions and expand their footprint across the world deepening their presence across global supply chains. This is India's decade and VTX will play a pivotal role in making India the leading manufacturing hub."

The ITFS platforms like VTX will in near future allow buyers and sellers from anywhere in the world to access trade finance from multiple financiers through a unique bidding mechanism that will help them discover the best possible rates.

Vayana TradeXchange will soon sign MOUs with various Export Promotion Councils and trade associations to further create awareness about the platform among their members.

The Fintech Meetup’s 5^th edition of the annual Fintech Yatra is set to flag off in Mumbai from today. At least 25 VCs have tied up with Fintech Yatra 2023, which will offer $100 million in capital and identify and explore investments in the most promising fintech startups. The team this year shall undertake a 12,000 km journey across 20 cities, interacting with an estimated 400+ fintech startups.

A select few startups shall be incubated via more comprehensive exposure to financial institutions and pilots, and the best ones amongst them shall get funded. The Yatra includes esteemed Venture Investors such as DMI Sparkle Fund, Pentathlon Ventures, IIFL Fintech Fund, BEENEXT, July Ventures, Disruptors Capital, Piper Serica, Eximus Ventures, Inflexor Ventures, Ideaspring Capital, Crowdinvest, Arali Ventures, Anicut Capital, Capital-A, Varanium, Impact Investor - Omidyar Network India and more.

Founded by Abhishant Pant, a career banker and fintech expert, the Fintech Yatra has so far interacted with over 2500+ fintech startups helping them reshape their ideas and access financial institutions to co-create innovative products as well as raise much-needed capital.

Abhishant Pant, Founder, The Fintech Meetup, and General Partner, YAN Angel Fund, said, “We started Fintech Yatra as an experiment back in 2018 to interact with founders and understand the entrepreneurial zeal to solve big and complex problems. We have seen the growth of India’s fintech movement over the last 5 years, not just in the major cities but also at the grassroots level. We strongly believe  that with the right building blocks, first-time entrepreneurs can create a superlative impact and aim to provide the same through the Yatra and beyond..”

Fintech Yatra has so far invested in 16 fintech startups namely Onecard, M2P Fintech, Vayana Network, ShopSe, Payglocal, Riskcovry, Tartan, DataSutram, PhiCommerce, Finvu, Converj, Savart, 42 Cards, and a few more. Quite a few others are currently being mentored and are on the road to raising money.

“Fintech Yatra is India’s biggest fintech outreach initiative set up for fintech founders to accelerate their journey. Fintech is a key focus area for our fund, and we look forward to adding value to some of the interesting ideas that emerge from this year’s Fintech Yatra,” said Abhay Agarwal, Founder and Fund Manager, Piper Serica.

“Fintech Yatra is a great initiative for fintech startups to get access to all three immediate requirements that a startup founder needs - mentoring, network access, and venture capital. In addition, our association helps the most promising ideas and founders from the Fintech Yatra to scale as they go through their startup journey,” said Gireendra Kasmalkar, Managing Partner, Pentathlon Ventures.

“The Fintech segment has a great potential to bring impact at a larger scale for all stakeholders by efficiently leveraging capital and technology. An association with a program like Fintech Yatra is a great avenue for us to back innovative ideas that address the large market,” said TR Suresh, Managing Partner, July Ventures.

Prizeout Corp. (Prizeout), the ad-tech company that turns cash withdrawals into growth solutions, announces the launch of a partnership with Pockit, a financial services app based in the United Kingdom.

Pockit customers will be able to instantly increase their purchasing power on everyday items — from petrol to groceries to fashion and restaurants — directly from their Pockit account, making their money go even further.

Prizeout’s online marketplace has more than 1,000 international and local brands that bid for customers' business by offering gift cards loaded with bonus values. The average bonus shown to customers is 11%.

Prizeout customers can browse the platform for offers from top high-street retailers. Once a particular brand is chosen, the gift card is delivered instantaneously via email with no associated fees.

“Pockit is focused on driving value and opportunities for our customers to save money on their everyday expenses,” said Virraj Jatania, Founder and CEO of Pockit. “Through our partnership with Prizeout, Pockit customers will be able to make substantial savings when shopping for essentials on popular high street grocers and brands, which is a timely benefit with the recent cost of living increase in the UK.”

The partnership with Pockit expands the demographics and geography of Prizeout’s customer base.

“When talking to any new partner, we always want to make sure the fit is perfect not just for our companies, but our customers,” said CEO and Founder of Prizeout, David Metz. “From the beginning, we could tell Pockit would be a great addition to Prizeout’s partners. They have a strong user base and an excellent concept, and we can’t wait to welcome their customers to our platform.”

Prizeout is now live for all Pockit customers.

Bridging loans and fintech are alike in that they both provide alternative forms of financing for individuals and businesses. Bridging loans, also known as bridge loans, are short-term loans that are used to bridge the gap between the purchase of a new property and the sale of an existing one. They are typically used by real estate investors and developers to finance the purchase of a property before they have sold their current one.

Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the use of technology to improve and automate financial services. This includes a wide range of financial products and services, such as online lending, crowdfunding and digital payments. Fintech companies often use digital platforms and technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data to improve the efficiency, accessibility and security of financial services.

Both bridging loans and fintech provide alternative forms of financing that can help individuals and businesses access the funds they need more quickly and easily than traditional financial institutions. For example, online lending platforms, which are a form of fintech, can offer faster and more flexible loan approvals compared to traditional banks. Additionally, blockchain technology, which is used by some fintech companies, can provide added security and transparency for financial transactions.

What is Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain technology is a decentralized, digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers. It is used to create a permanent and unchangeable record of transactions, known as blocks, that are linked together to form a chain. This chain of blocks is called a blockchain.

Blockchains are maintained by a network of users, rather than a central authority, which ensures that the data is not controlled by any single entity. This decentralized structure makes blockchains highly secure and resistant to tampering or hacking.

Blockchains use cryptography to secure the data stored on the network. Each block in the blockchain contains a unique code, called a "hash," that is generated using complex mathematical algorithms. This hash code is used to link the block to the previous one in the chain, creating a secure and unbreakable link.

One of the most well-known application of blockchain technology is the digital currency Bitcoin. Bitcoin is based on a blockchain, which is used to record and verify transactions. However, blockchain technology has many other potential uses beyond digital currency, such as in supply chain management, voting systems and record keeping.

Blockchains are also considered to be a form of distributed ledger technology (DLT), which allows multiple parties to have access to the same information in a secure way. This can be useful in various industries and can help to increase transparency, security and efficiency in transactions.

In addition, both bridging loans and fintech can also help to increase financial inclusion by providing access to financial services for individuals and businesses that may have been previously underserved by traditional financial institutions. This is particularly true for fintech companies that focus on providing financial services to underbanked and unbanked populations.

Furthermore, both bridging loans and fintech can also provide cost savings for consumers. For example, online lending platforms often have lower overhead costs than traditional banks and can pass on these savings to consumers in the form of lower interest rates or fees. Similarly, a bridging loan can be a more cost-effective option for real estate investors and developers than traditional forms of financing, as they can be obtained more quickly and with fewer requirements.

In conclusion, both bridging loans and fintech provide alternative forms of financing that can be more efficient, accessible, and cost-effective than traditional financial institutions. They can also increase financial inclusion by providing access to financial services for previously underserved individuals and businesses. The use of technology in fintech can also provide added security and transparency for financial transactions, while bridging loans can bridge the gap between the purchase of a new property and the sale of an existing one. 

With transaction volumes, customer expectations, and competitive threats at an all-time high, banks must adapt quickly to keep pace. To address these challenges, Oracle today launched Oracle Banking Cloud Services, a new suite of componentized, composable cloud-native services.

The six new services available today provide banks with highly scalable corporate demand deposit account processing; enterprise-wide limits and collateral management; real-time ISO20022 global payment processing; API management; retail onboarding and originations; and new self-service digital experience capabilities. Built on a microservices architecture, they help banks renovate and modernize their business capabilities faster and with less risk.

"Banks must innovate to succeed in today's hyper-competitive environment," said Sonny Singh, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Financial Services. "We have built one of the world's most comprehensive suites of cloud-native SaaS solutions so that banks of all sizes can innovate with speed, security, and scale without compromising their existing environments."

The services can run standalone, work seamlessly together, and coexist with existing applications to help banks lower cost and risk while increasing innovation. Banks benefit from faster provisioning and availability – which can be achieved in a matter of minutes – and gain automated patching and reduced disaster recovery switchover times that lower IT costs and burden.

"The most recent IDC 2022 Worldwide Industry CloudPath Survey shows that nearly all banks surveyed plan to increase spending on all cloud deployment models," said Jerry Silva, Program Vice President, IDC. "Including private cloud and public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS), public cloud services are expected to grow at twice the rate of overall IT spending at 15% CAGR over the same five-year period, gaining a larger share of banks' IT budgets."

The new services are built and running on the high performance, scalability, security, and compliance of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, including OCI's Oracle Kubernetes Engine. With most cloud regions available globally, in addition to the most extensive set of distributed options, Oracle Banking Cloud Services can be deployed based on sovereignty or data residency needs. New services include:

Oracle Banking Accounts Cloud Service
Current corporate demand deposit account (DDA) solutions are ill-equipped to handle the explosion of e-commerce and digital payments that have caused a massive increase in global banking transactions. PwC estimates the global volume of cashless payments is expected to increase by more than 80% between 2020 and 2025, reaching nearly 1.9 trillion transactions. Oracle Banking Accounts Cloud Service provides highly scalable demand deposit account processing on Oracle Coherence Datagrid Infrastructure. The service has been tested for extreme performance and recorded over 200 TPS per CPU on commodity hardware. It also integrates with a bank's existing process flows and technology so they can modernize their core banking DDA systems to deliver new offerings to the market without disrupting their operation.

Oracle Banking Payments Cloud Service
Legacy systems can't scale and manage the growing volume and velocity of digital payments from e-commerce and new transaction types. Oracle Banking Payments provides a single engine for real-time payment processing, including cross-border, high-value, bulk, retail, and 24x7 payments. The service is built from the ground up based on an ISO20022 canonical data model and more than 15 leading global payment schemes such as SWIFT, SEPA, and others out of the box.

Oracle Banking Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management Cloud Service
With the absence of an enterprise-wide system, inefficient monitoring, and poor controls, corporate banks are struggling to manage the influx of defaults. McKinsey estimates that banks using improved models could see a 20-40% decrease in their credit losses. Oracle Banking Enterprise Limits and Collateral Management enables banks to gain a holistic view of their exposure by centralizing the limits definition process and collateral management. The service reduces risk by providing banks with a real-time solution for exposure tracking, credit underwriting, decisions, and approvals.

Oracle Banking Origination Cloud Service
Today, instant gratification is redefining banking, as customers now expect accounts to be opened quickly, loans to be processed in minutes, and cash disbursed in a matter of hours, all with a high level of process transparency. Oracle Banking Origination offers streamlined processes and automated decisioning that helps bankers deliver tailored onboarding and originations experiences for retail and small business customers. With the service, banks can quickly scale originations across retail asset and liability business lines to efficiently drive higher deposit and credit volumes.

Oracle Banking Digital Experience Cloud Service
Oracle Banking Digital Experience Cloud Service is a digital banking solution that provides ready-to-go corporate and retail banking experiences that enhance customer service. The solution offers customer and product acquisition in addition to omnichannel contextual digital experiences supported by video, chatbot, AI, and natural language processing (NLP)-based engagement tools. The service also works with the bank's existing technology and third-party services to drive seamless processes.

Oracle Banking APIs Cloud Service
With more than 1,800 ready-to-deploy business and foundational banking APIs, Oracle Banking APIs Cloud Service empowers banks to establish an open banking platform to accelerate innovation while complying with regulations. The solution equips banks to improve the customer experience and revenue opportunities by embedding their services across a growing ecosystem of partners including e-commerce portals, enterprise software, and more.

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) reported financial results today for the full year and three months that ended December 31, 2022. Full-year and fourth-quarter results and other recent highlights include:  

• Delivered strong full-year and fourth-quarter 2022 results 

• Full-year revenue of $7.8 billion, up 10%; up 13% on a constant currency basis  

◦ Full-year recurring revenue of $4.8 billion, up 16% and up 20% on a constant currency basis • Full-year net income from continuing operations attributable to NCR of $64 million, down 34% ◦ Full year Adjusted EBITDA of $1,370 million, up 10% and up 16% on a constant currency basis • Full year GAAP diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.34, down 41% 

◦ Full year Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.62, up 2% 

• Expect 2023 to be another strong year executing strategic initiatives, with improved profitability • Company continues to move forward with the previously announced plan to separate into two companies 

“Our fourth quarter results represented a good finish to a year where we executed extremely well even with the challenging macroeconomic environment throughout 2022,” said Michael Hayford, Chief Executive Officer. “We delivered solid financial performance, made progress on our strategy to NCR becoming a software-led as-a-service company with higher recurring revenue streams, and demonstrated our unwavering commitment to our customers with further increases in our customer satisfaction metrics. We enter 2023 with products winning in the market and  positive momentum.”  

Hayford continued, “We are making good progress on our plans to separate NCR into two public companies. We  continue to believe the separation will unlock significant value for our customers and stockholders.”  

In this release, we use certain non-GAAP measures, including presenting certain measures on a constant currency basis. These non-GAAP measures include “free cash flow,” “Adjusted EBITDA,” and others with the words “non GAAP” or "constant currency" in their titles. These non-GAAP measures are listed, described and reconciled to their most directly comparable GAAP measures under the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” later in this release.

Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2022 Operating Results 

Effective January 1, 2022, the Company realigned its reportable segments to correspond with changes to its operating model, management structure and organizational responsibilities. Prior periods have been reclassified in order to  conform to current period presentation. 

Revenue 

Fourth quarter revenue of $2,009 million decreased 1% year over year. On a constant currency basis, fourth-quarter revenue was up 2% year over year. Full year revenue of $7,844 million increased 10% year over year. On a constant  currency basis, full-year revenue was up 13% year over year. The following tables show revenue for the fourth quarter  and full year: 

% Increase  

$ in millions Q4 2022 Q4 2021% Increase  (Decrease) 

(Decrease) Constant  Currency 

Retail $ 575 $ 608 (5) % (1) % Hospitality 239 231 3 % 5 % Digital Banking 139 133 5 % 5 % Payments & Network 319 295 8 % 11 % Self-Service Banking 691 707 (2) % 2 % Other 57 68 (16) % (14) % Eliminations (1) (11) (8) 38 % 38 % Total revenue $ 2,009 $ 2,034 (1) % 2 % 

Recurring revenue $ 1,223 $ 1,182 3 % 7 % Recurring revenue % 61 % 58 % 

% Increase  

$ in millions FY 2022 FY 2021% Increase  (Decrease) 

(Decrease) Constant  Currency 

Retail $ 2,258 $ 2,231 1 % 5 % Hospitality 926 849 9 % 10 % Digital Banking 543 513 6 % 6 % Payments & Network 1,286 675 91 % 96 % Self-Service Banking 2,621 2,617 — % 4 % Other 244 297 (18) % (14) % Eliminations (1) (43) (26) 65 % 65 % 

Total segment revenue $ 7,835 $ 7,156 9 % 13 % Other adjustment (2) 9 —  

Total revenue $ 7,844 $ 7,156 10 % 13 % 

Recurring revenue $ 4,841 $ 4,166 16 % 20 % Recurring revenue % 62 % 58 % 

(1) Eliminations include revenues from contracts with customers and the related costs that are reported in the Payments & Network segment as well as in the Retail  or Hospitality segments, including merchant acquiring services that are monetized via payments. 

(2) Other adjustment reflects the revenue attributable to the Company's operations in Russia for the twelve months ending December 31, 2022 that were excluded  from management's measure of revenue due to our announcement to suspend sales to Russia and anticipated orderly wind down of our operations in Russia.  The revenue attributable to Russian operations for the three and twelve months ending December 31, 2021 of $15 million and $48 million, respectively, is included in the respective segments. Refer to section entitled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for additional information.  

• Fourth quarter gross margin of $485 million decreased from $503 million in the prior year period. Gross  margin rate was 24.1%, compared to 24.7% in the prior period. Fourth quarter gross margin (non-GAAP) of  $520 million decreased from $549 million in the prior year period. Gross margin rate (non-GAAP) was  25.9%, compared to 27.0% in the prior period.  

• Fourth quarter income from operations of $166 million increased from $123 million in the prior year period.  Fourth quarter operating income (non-GAAP) of $232 million increased from $215 million in the prior year  period. 

• Fourth quarter net loss from continuing operations attributable to NCR of $7 million decreased from net  income from continuing operations attributable to NCR of $64 million in the prior year period. 

• Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $380 million increased from $353 million in the prior year period.  Foreign currency fluctuations had an unfavorable impact on the Adjusted EBITDA comparison of 6%.  Adjusted EBITDA margin rate was 18.9%, compared to 17.4% in the prior year period. 

• Fourth quarter cash provided by operating activities of $202 million decreased from cash provided by  operating activities of $270 million in the prior year period. Fourth quarter free cash flow was $202 million,  compared to free cash flow of $100 million in the prior year period. 

• Full year 2022 net income from continuing operations attributable to NCR of $64 million decreased from net  income from continuing operations attributable to NCR of $97 million in the prior year period. 

• Full year 2022 Adjusted EBITDA increased to $1,370 million from $1,244 million in the prior year period. 

• Full year 2022 cash provided by operating activities was $447 million compared to $1.08 billion in the prior  year period. Full year 2022 free cash flow was $164 million compared to $460 million in the prior year  period. 

2023 Outlook 

For the full year 2023, we are forecasting: 

• Revenue - $7.8 billion to $8.0 billion 

• Adjusted EBITDA - $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion 

• Non-GAAP diluted EPS(1) - $3.30 - $3.50 

• Non-GAAP diluted EPS (prior convention)(1) - $2.55 to $2.75 

• Free cash flow - $400 million to $500 million 

For the first quarter of 2023, we are forecasting: 

• Revenue - $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion 

• Adjusted EBITDA - approximately $300 million 

• Non-GAAP diluted EPS(1) - $0.55 - $0.60 

• Non-GAAP diluted EPS (prior convention)(1) - $0.35 to $0.40 

• Free cash flow - $100 million to $200 million 

(1) Our Non-GAAP diluted EPS calculation previously included stock-based compensation expense. Beginning in  2023, we will exclude the impact of stock-based compensation expense from our Non-GAAP diluted EPS calculation,  which in 2022 would have resulted in Non-GAAP diluted EPS of approximately $3.32. 

With respect to our Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share guidance, we do  not provide a reconciliation of the respective GAAP measures because we are not able to predict with reasonable  certainty the reconciling items that may affect the GAAP net income from continuing operations, GAAP cash flow  from operating activities and GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations without unreasonable  effort. The reconciling items are primarily the future impact of special tax items, capital structure transactions,  restructuring, pension mark-to-market transactions, acquisitions or divestitures, or other events. These reconciling  items are uncertain, depend on various factors and could significantly impact, either individually or in the aggregate,  the GAAP measures. Refer to the heading “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for additional information regarding our  use of non-GAAP financial measures. 

 Separation Update 

On September 15, 2022, NCR announced a plan to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies – one  focused on digital commerce, the other on ATMs. The separation is intended to be structured in a tax-free manner.  The separation transaction will follow the satisfaction of customary conditions, including effectiveness of appropriate  filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the completion of audited financial statements. The  current target is to complete the separation by the end of 2023. 

Should alternative options become available in the future that could deliver superior value to our shareholders than the  planned separation, such as a whole or partial company sale of NCR, the Board remains open to considering  alternative scenarios. 

2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call 

A conference call is scheduled for today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the full year and fourth quarter 2022 results.  Access to the conference call and accompanying slides, as well as a replay of the call, are available on NCR's web site at  http://investor.ncr.com. Additionally, the live call can be accessed by dialing 888-820-9413 (United States/Canada Toll free) or 786-460-7169 (International Toll) and entering the participant passcode 4153583.