CellPoint Digital, the pioneer of payment orchestration, today announces a new partnership with BillingPlatform, the market leader in cloud-based revenue management solutions. CellPoint Digital’s multi-gateway offer creates more choice for BillingPlatform’s global enterprise customer base to grow with global payment options in a single source relationship through integration that provides connectivity to – and orchestration between – multiple gateways, including Adyen, Stripe and Cybersource.

BillingPlatform provides the power needed to automate enterprise-grade quote-to-cash processes. From subscriptions to sophisticated usage-based pricing models and everything in between, BillingPlatform’s cloud-based solution can flex to meet the requirements of any business while adapting to the challenges of modern revenue management and monetization. By using its platform, finance teams can customize billing operations around their hybrid business models and easily deploy the pricing structure required to meet the needs of different customers.

Thanks to the new partnership, BillingPlatform is now one of CellPoint Digital’s partners of choice for payment billing services – all enhanced and optimized by CellPoint Digital’s orchestration capabilities.

Greg Worch, Head of Revenue at CellPoint Digital, said: “BillingPlatform is a worldwide leader in revenue lifecycle management solutions, offering merchants the ease and simplicity of a single digital platform to manage all their billing types and strategies. Its services are a perfect match for CellPoint Digital’s offering, and we’re confident that the combination of automated quote-to-cash and payment orchestration will create a powerful end-to-end solution for optimizing modern monetization and payments revenue.”

CellPoint Digital’s partnership with BillingPlatform is the latest in its ongoing commitment to offer easy-to-implement solutions that help merchants solve cross-border, operational and technological challenges and simplify back-office complexities.

Commenting on the announcement, Mark Swanholm, Vice President of Partnerships and Alliances at BillingPlatform, said: “As a leader in Payment Orchestration, CellPoint Digital shares our vision of disrupting the legacy financial and payments industry and its outdated processes. Together we have the technology, tools and insights to help our customers maximize revenue and minimize costs – as well as ease operational headaches – through a shared commitment to offering merchants an end-to-end solution for optimizing payments revenue.”

This is the latest in a long line of high-profile partnership announcements for CellPoint Digital, which in 2022 includes Reach, Radisson Hotel Group, MikroElektronika and Akwaaba.

JCB International Co. Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., Japan's only international payment brand, and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank), a major commercial bank in Vietnam, announced the launch of VPBank JCB Credit Card in Vietnam.

The new VPBank JCB Credit Card is the first credit card which is focused on Generation Z in the Vietnam market. Holders of VPBank JCB Credit Card can access JCB's acceptance network with about 41 million merchants around the world.

From the launch date, VPBank is also starting to offer many promotion programs and benefits that meet with the needs of this special target segment of cardholders.

The VPBank JCB Credit Card brings special offers to customers, including 10% cash back on everyday spending in F&B, entertainment, fitness, food delivery & transportation; welcome gifts for new cardholders; a 0% instalment program that is applicable for transactions at any stores as well as many other special promotions.

Experian Boost data will now be included in Zopa Bank’s credit card decisioning process – giving customers better rates and offering them reduced APR for a fixed period. Regardless of whether consumers apply for a Zopa credit card through Experian, Zopa itself, or any other third-party site, their boosted Experian credit scores will be considered.    
 
Experian Boost is the UK’s first service to help consumers improve their credit scores using transactional information like total current account incomings and outgoings, as well as regular payments to digital streaming providers, savings accounts, and council tax. The partnership with Zopa supports Experian’s mission to improve financial inclusion for consumers as Boost users will have access to even better credit options. 
 
Experian and Zopa customers will receive a reduced APR when they apply for a Zopa Credit Card using Experian Boost data. Customers can also connect to Experian Boost via Open Banking1, voluntarily adding new, relevant, and real-time information to take control of their credit score. 
 
Zopa’s credit card is managed via a unique app and offers a range of features. This includes a ‘Credit Cushion’ option which allows users to set aside some of their available credit balance for a rainy day. Customers can also stay in control of their spending through instant payment notifications and real-time balance updates. The simple app makes managing money easy with options to see a PIN, download statements, instant freezing, and unfreezing of a card, and adding a card to digital wallets.  

Sigga Sigurdardottir, Managing Director, Consumer Services at Experian, said:  "The addition of Zopa is another great step towards allowing more Boost users to improve their creditworthiness and access the right financial products for them. With a reduction in APR, this partnership provides consumers with improved access to the best possible credit options when they need them the most.  
 
Experian Boost was launched to make affordable credit more inclusive for all consumers across the UK, and we’re glad that our partnership with Zopa is enabling us to continue to work towards this goal.” 

Tim Waterman, Chief Commerical Officer at Zopa, said:  “Zopa always puts customer fairness and transparency at the heart of its offering and this partnership with Experian is true to that vision, giving people access to fair and good-value credit. Experian Boost is an important resource for users to potentially increase their credit scores and take further steps to improve their score over time. 
 
The collaboration, alongside our range of other tools, makes Zopa Bank a highly competitive choice for consumers.”

Freedom Finance, one of the UK’s leading digital lending marketplaces, is delighted to announce the continued development of its platform with more products and providers joining the panel.

Well-known brands like Santander, ASDA Money and Admiral (please see a full list below this press release) have joined or extended their offering on the marketplace and added more personal loans, mortgages, credit cards, auto finance and other lending products.

Freedom Finance already partners with over 100 of the UK’s leading lenders and providers, helping consumers navigate borrowing with its proprietary matching platform. These latest additions further strengthen its offering, giving consumers access to a wide variety of reputable providers and products.

David Hendry, Chief Marketing Officer at Freedom Finance, commented: “At the heart of our offering is the belief that all people in the UK deserve to be able to quickly and easily search for credit products that they know they are eligible for. 

“The best way to achieve this is to secure access to the widest possible range of providers and products so that we are able to match all types of consumers with lending solutions to suit their circumstances. 

“In difficult times, it is even more important that consumers looking for credit are taking advantage of the technologies that underpin our marketplace. That means shopping around among trusted brands and using soft-search capabilities, so consumers only see products they are eligible for to increase confidence in acceptance and to avoid declines or confusion from an overload of options.”

Recent additions to the Freedom Finance Panel:

• Ratesetter

• Admiral

• ASDA Money

• Santander

• The AA

• Cahoot

• The Post Office

• Bank of Ireland

• Oakbrook

• Finio

• Little Loans

• Zable 

• Zopa 

• Moneybarn

• Zuto

• Oodle

• Planesaver

• UK Credit

• Sharemyloan

• 1plus1 Loans

• Plata

• Fintern

Xceptor, the financial sector’s leading data automation platform provider, today announced the appointment of Neal Chatrath as Head of Sales for North America. Neal brings close to 20 years of experience in financial services including time at MUFG, King Street Capital, and most recently, as Head of North America Sales and Account Management at FIS. 

Based in Xceptor’s New York office, Neal will capitalise on the firm’s impressive client base across the region that includes State Street, US Bancorp, BNY Mellon, Northern Trust and Citi and help it meet a core objective of becoming the driving force behind a more automated and efficient North American financial ecosystem. 

Neal’s appointment comes against a backdrop of ongoing economic pressures and ahead of the industry-wide transition to a T+1 settlement cycle. Both factors have stimulated significant market appetite in North America for technologies that can automate middle and back office functions, and drive post-trade efficiencies.

Commenting on his new role, Neal Chatrath said: “I’m delighted to be joining Xceptor at such a pivotal time for the company. As leaders in data automation and having one of the most transformational platforms in the sector, the opportunities in North America are abundant. I am confident we can build on Xceptor’s remarkable growth in the region to become the natural choice for firms requiring data automation services.”

Joshua Monroe, Chief Revenue Officer at Xceptor added: “It’s great to have Neal join us at a time when our growth across North America is accelerating at such a rapid pace. Neal’s appointment is a demonstration of our reinforced commitment to this region and our desire to become a key enabler of more efficient, value-added financial services.”

International fraud prevention company SEON has announced the acquisition of compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) specialist firm, Complytron. The acquisition instantly adds AML capabilities to SEON’s fraud-fighting toolkit and signals a new focus on holistic FinCrime prevention for the growing business.  

As a result of the acquisition, SEON now offers a vital single source for FinCrime intelligence combined with decision functionality to help address evolving regulatory requirements. The deal, which officially completed in January 2023, also signifies SEON’s impressive expansion since its record-breaking $94M Series B investment in early 2022. 

This industry-changing move by SEON is in direct response to an urgent demand for robust AML solutions, as the world adjusts to an increasingly volatile political and humanitarian landscape. This shift is clearly underlined by a global surge in AML fines, which rose by 50% in the past year alone [1]. 

The innovative combination of fraud, AML and data enrichment solutions is set to help nations and businesses to break down obstructive information silos. SEON’s existing anti-fraud APIs, together with new AML functionality, creates a powerful united platform. This will monitor financial transactions in real-time to detect signs of fraud and money laundering, all while enabling onboarding checks to run silently in the background, minimizing false positives and improving the experience of genuine transactors. 

SEON's rule editing options, together with Complytron's data, will also bring a significant competitive advantage in the money laundering prevention market. By leveraging powerful machine learning AI automation and real-time checks, the company is eliminating the need for separate searches across different databases, by combining intelligence from multiple sources. This includes all the international sanctions and crime lists, a global Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) database, and watch lists of supervisory authorities and national law enforcement from more than a hundred sources around the globe, such as Interpol and the FBI.

Speaking on the acquisition, and the launch of the AML capability, Tamas Kadar, co-founder and CEO of SEON commented: “Less than a year on from our $94M Series B, we’re executing on our mission to fight fraud and combat money laundering. Our goal at SEON has always been to deliver the best solutions to our customers. Rather than building an AML solution from the ground up, it made perfect sense for us to acquire Complytron’s extensive and innovative algorithms and worldwide databases – as well as the expertise of its talented team. 

“By completing this acquisition, we have increased our total addressable market by approximately $6BN. This means we are instantly able to solve the challenges of risk and compliance management for even more businesses. It’s a milestone for our company and a strong signal for our customers and partners that we will continue enhancing our product to combat evolving threats. In today’s landscape, having this 360° view of individuals and business partners isn’t an option, it’s a regulatory must.” 

Oliver Lebhardt, former co-founder and CEO of Complytron and current Product Manager of AML at SEON commented: “We’ve watched the SEON story unfold, keeping up with the business alongside its exciting growth trajectory. It’s now great to be a part of the mission, and to play a role in combining fraud prevention and AML tools into a single source. This acquisition represents a major step in the battle to reduce FinCrime and will help sectors such as fintech, online lending, gaming, neobanking, e-commerce and travel, to prevent criminal activity via their platforms.” 

The new solution, which is already available for use, is quick to install and delivers immediate benefits, combining APIs for essential real-time insights, instantly sending out notifications should an individual’s risk status change. Offering a sophisticated know-your-customer (KYC) check, SEON’s platform can now discover hidden, risky relationships on behalf of clients by assessing not only customers, but the people they’re connected to. The easy-to-integrate solution has been built with legacy and digital native systems in mind and features an intuitive product dashboard for ease of use in any environment.  

As part of the deal, SEON acquires full rights to Complytron’s innovative technologies, as well as the company’s staff, including its dedicated AML team. Notably, Complytron’s co-founder and CEO, Oliver Lebhardt, will join SEON along with co-founder and UX lead, Abris Gryllus and his expert team. SEON is now perfectly positioned for further growth in 2023, including its inception into the US and bolstering its 300-strong team growth.

One of the major concerns faced by new corporations and small-scale businesses is being able to set up a bank account to start making business transactions. The key reason is that most standard banks have a ton of paperwork that business owners must go through and policies to comply with before issuing them accounts.  

This seemingly small delay in getting a functioning bank account can cost new businesses a lot in terms of customers or finances. Thankfully, the world is fast becoming digitized, simplifying tedious processes like these into shorter and simpler solutions.

wamo has come into the finance domain as a solution for business owners who find it difficult to secure a business account from physical banks in their locality. wamo leverages fintech and innovations to defy the norm, break location barriers, and erase the limits on account creation to provide a limitless business account for business owners in Europe and other parts of the world.

Find out all about wamo in this all-encompassing review. We answer pressing questions about creating an account with wamo, its safety, and the fees involved.

Is wamo a Bank?

No, wamo is not a bank. wamo is a fintech organization operational continentally but headquartered in London. The organization is registered in the United Kingdom and the EEA to enable it to provide digital banking services. Although the headquarter of wamo is in the UK, it is virtually accessible to millions of users in Europe.

wamo is a company that works as an alternative to banks, opens a business account for companies, allows them to send and receive money, make their payments, and issue debit cards.

You can open a business account on wamo if you register a company in the United Kingdom or European Union. You must have a registered office address in these locations; however, you don’t have to be a resident there.

The brains behind this tech, and founder, is CEO Yanki Önen. A financial leader with 20+ years of experience in the banking and finance industry.

What Does wamo Do?

wamo provides business accounts for businesses to help them grow quickly. Within 10 minutes, you can set up your wamo account and provide a payment option for your customers and client.

wamo also offers physical and virtual Visa debit cards for you and members of your business team. Whichever type of card you prefer is available with your wamo account, allowing you to make purchases anywhere across the continent.

With its multiple accounts and IBANs, there’s no restriction to the purchases you can make anywhere in the world. It appears the main focus of the fintech company is to provide you with the banking freedom that regular or traditional banks may not be able to offer you.

In addition, wamo allows users to register a business in the UK from anywhere they are in the world. You don’t have to be present in the cities; sign up with wamo.

Is wamo Safe?

Yes, wamo is as safe as can be. It is regulated by the Bank of Lithuania and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Now, because wamo is not a regular bank, it does not protect your money with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

But fear not, whatever amount you hold with wamo has its equivalent stored in a segregated bank account. So, if ever wamo goes bankrupt or stops doing business, you can’t lose your money. You’ll get your money back from the segregated bank account. 

What Services Does wamo Provide?

wamo provides a business account for business owners in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Gibraltar, or the UK. This business account mainly functions like a regular bank account. However, it also offers a variety of different services that make it special. Here are a few of them:

• Paperless applications: Unlike regular banks, where you have to fill in countless forms and information before you can be issued a bank account, wamo only requires your ID and a few basic pieces of information to get you started. In as quickly as 10 minutes, you can get your wamo business account.
• Sub-accounts: Opening an account with a regular bank usually only gives you access to one account number. With wamo, however, you may open multiple sub-accounts to help you manage your finances expertly. You can open a sub-account to handle taxes, for instance, or salaries for your employees — it’s up to you.
• Company registration in the UK: For people who dream of owning a business overseas, wamo makes your dreams come true. It helps interested users set up a company in their preferred city (UK) in just a few steps.
• Visa cards with spending insights: All wamo accounts are eligible for visa debit cards for every member of the team. The team members can link this card to a sub-account in their name as well.
• Multiple payment options: You can use wamo to make payments in different ways. You can use payment links, bank transfers, a POS card reader from wamo, Pay via SEPA or SWIFT, or QR code payment technology.

Is It Safe to Create a Sub-Account With wamo?

It is safe to create a sub-account because it is directly linked to your main wamo account and, thus, enjoys the same protection your main account does. The wamo sub-accounts are unique because you can get reports and analytics for each account to keep an eye on how money goes out of and into them.

How Can I Create a wamo Account?

Opening a wamo account is straightforward — it doesn’t matter whether you are a small, medium or large-scale business. Limited Liability Companies (LLC) can get a wamo business account and start using it on the same day. Sole traders, freelancers, or partnership companies can also create a wamo account.

However, there are some categories of businesses and nationalities that are not eligible to open an account. More on this will be discussed in the next section.

Here are the steps involved in creating a wamo account:

• Prepare your ID and basic details of your business, such as your registered name and registration number.
• Download the wamo app.
• Fill in your details.
• Verify your identity.
• Leave it up to wamo to handle the rest.

It’s important to note that LLCs will require more supporting documents to create an account. They are:

• Shareholder structure
• Articles of Association (AoA) and The Memorandum of Associations (MoA)
• Proof of identity for directors, shareholders, and Unique Beneficial Owners (UBOs)

Who Can Open a wamo Account?

wamo is available to businesses registered in the UK, European Economic Area (EEA), Gibraltar, and Switzerland. It’s open to freelancers, sole traders, limited companies, and partnerships.

However, the following list of businesses cannot open an account on wamo:

• Charities,
• Cooperatives,
• Public sector businesses,
• Private foundations,
• Trusts,
• Gaming and crypto businesses.

Here is a full list of ineligible applicants, countries, business types, nationalities, and industries inclusive. 

How Could wamo Virtual and Physical Visa Debit Cards Make My Business Easier?

wamo’s physical and virtual debit cards are eligible for every member of the team, meaning anyone can use these cards wherever they are without restriction. wamo physical cards can be used to also make contactless payments in addition to withdrawing from ATMs.

wamo cards help keep your business flowing. The virtual cards have high spending limits to enable you to take care of every aspect of your business without stress. This includes paying for subscriptions, setting budgets, and making online payments.

You can also keep an eye on your team’s spending, as you can set daily, weekly, or monthly limits on a card from your dashboard. You can even freeze a card if you no longer want a team member to use the card. 

The wamo business cards can also be connected to EU or GB IBANs to enable you to spend online like a local, no matter where you are.

Is wamo the Right Choice for Payment Solutions?

wamo is a great payment solution with the freedom it gives you to plan and manage your expenses. Not only are you able to keep track of the spending of your team members, but you can also use wamo for money transfers and exchanges in multiple currencies.

You can transfer to accounts in these currencies: Euro, Pound Sterling, US Dollar, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Japanese Yen, New Zealand Dollar, Norwegian Kroner, Swedish Krona, and Swiss Franc. However, you can receive transfers only in Euro or British Pound Sterling.

It offers you the ability to use QR code payment technology, pay using a POS card reader you request from wamo, and make regular wamo money transfers. Also, you can use payment links or pay via SEPA or SWIFT.

Are There Any Packages wamo Offers?

Yes, wamo offers 3 major packages. These include Start, Grow, and Scale.

1. Start: This plan or package is best for micro or small businesses. It costs €19.99 per month.
2. Grow: Best plan for growing or small-to-medium-sized businesses and starts at €49.99 per month.
3. Scale: Perfect for medium-to-large businesses. It starts at €99.99.

Here’s what the fees for each paid package look like:

Each of these packages comes with different features inclusive such as card spending limits, the option to add team members or schedule payments, create a bank statement, and set up recurring payments.

Again, all these plans can access stand-by personal support to assist with any hitches that may occur.

How Can I Create a Company In the UK With The Help of wamo?

To open a UK company with wamo, here’s what you need to do:

• Select a distinct and original company name in line with your business
• Fill in a few business and personal details, including your address, date of birth, and nationality.
• Have a registered office address in the UK, Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland. It can be virtual if you don’t have a physical address (wamo offers you one during the registration process.)
• Register for a wamo business account.
• Receive your certificate from wamo.

To set up a company in the UK with wamo costs £99 and comes with a virtual office address.

Can Foreign People Open a Company In the UK With wamo?

Yes, you don’t have to be a UK resident to open a company in the UK with wamo. In 2 days, you can set up a UK company via the wamo mobile or desktop app and have a functioning business account in 24 short hours.

All that’s required is that your identity can be verified, you have a business address in any of the following countries: UK, Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, and you can provide the relevant documents needed.

To register your UK company, you must have a director who is at least over 16 years old and does not have any issue that can disqualify them from being a director. Also, your director does not have to be a UK resident.