New research from Trulioo, a leader in global identity verification, shows consumers consider identity verification vital and reassuring during onboarding and throughout their relationship with crypto exchanges.

The research, highlighted in the “Crypto customers call for reassurance in uncertain times” report, reveals that 70% of crypto users feel more at risk from cybercrime than they did two years ago, and 75% say they’re on higher alert when dealing with companies online. The long-standing goal has been to deliver near-frictionless customer onboarding, but consumer expectations are shifting toward some friction to provide security reassurance.

Consumers want evidence that online brands take security seriously, and crypto exchanges are taking steps to meet those expectations. The research found that 66% of crypto users are more tolerant of identity verification than they were three years ago, and 78% are comfortable with the process taking longer or involving more steps. 

The research also found:

• 62% of consumers say security is more important to them when opening accounts than it was two years ago

• 82% of crypto companies find it difficult to adjust their identity verification and onboarding approaches in response to shifting market conditions

• 87% of crypto leaders say identity verification needs to be a continuous process throughout the customer journey, rather than a single step during account creation

• 79% of crypto leaders believe building trust requires more agile and resilient onboarding and identity verification

“The world’s largest crypto exchanges turn to Trulioo for identity verification because we enable them to stay ahead of evolving global regulations and keep pace with shifting customer expectations,” said Steve Munford, Trulioo CEO. “Agile and proven identity verification is the foundation for building and maintaining trust as consumers open new digital wallets. That trust provides a competitive advantage for crypto exchanges and opens the door for global growth.”

Download the report for more insight into providing the experiences crypto customers expect. Visit Trulioo to learn how fast, accurate and secure identity verification can help companies optimize onboarding and build long-lasting relationships.

Wio Bank, the first platform bank regulated by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has announced its successful go-live on Mambu. Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform enables Wio Bank to achieve a faster time to market as it helps establish the UAE as a hub for the growing digital economy.

Wio Bank provides access to banking and business support services in a fast, convenient and fully digital manner. Its offering is tailor-made for start-ups, freelancers and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), groups that still largely rely on brick-and-mortar branches to open accounts and carry out business transactions.

Wio Bank aims to spearhead digital transformation in the financial sector in the region with high-quality, next-generation products that are secure, transparent and convenient. Leveraging Mambu’s API-driven, cloud platform, Wio Bank has been able to build and launch financial products quickly and at scale as it empowers business customers and individuals with its modern digital banking solutions. Features include streamlined account opening, eased managing and tracking of expenses and simplified invoicing and payment services, so SMEs can get up and running quickly with simple banking tools to better manage their business.

“Wio Bank exists to shift traditional banking operating models to enable digital businesses. On Mambu, we can design and deliver modern financial products and services to our customers to make their lives easier,” says Serge Terentyev, Chief Technology Officer at Wio Bank. “Together we can take an active role in embedding modern financial services in the region and empowering customers to access banking services effortlessly while allowing them to do more in their business and personal lives.”

The vast majority (90%) of UAE consumers state that the availability of online and digital banking services is important to them in a bank or financial institution. This is the largest percentage recorded globally, according to Mambu research. Out of all respondents surveyed, UAE consumers are also the most likely to pay a premium for financial services that offer greater flexibility (74%) and that save them time (68%).

Miljan Stamenkovic, General Manager MENA at Mambu, said: “Wio Bank is paving the way for a new era of world-class banking experiences in the UAE. The company is firmly focused on improving user experiences and catering to an audience that’s digitally savvy. We help Wio deliver innovative end-to-end customer-focused solutions with a faster time-to-market and ease. We look forward to supporting Wio in making money management easy and supporting businesses as well as individuals with seamless digital banking journeys.”

In a second phase, Mambu will support Wio Bank with Wio Business, its first digital banking application, and a suite of solutions in embedded finance and banking as a service (BaaS), which launched in September 2022. 

British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, today announces a commitment of up to £15m to Science Creates Ventures (SCV) through the Regional Angels Programme. The majority of this commitment will be allocated to invest alongside SCV Fund 2, while a smaller portion of the commitment will be used for co-investments through the existing SCV EIS Fund (SCV Fund 1).

The commitment will allow SCV to invest in deep tech companies at the Pre-seed, Seed and Series A stages, primarily supporting businesses which focus on improving healthcare, quality of life and the environment.

Science Creates Ventures, headquartered in Bristol and part of the Science Creates ecosystem, is an early stage investor focusing on UK-based deep tech companies. Science Creates also comprises two incubators in Bristol, supporting deep tech entrepreneurs with purpose-built laboratory space and is committed to helping scientific founders translate research out of the lab to deliver innovation and impact to society. Science Creates wants to ensure that new scientific discoveries with the potential to radically improve lives and the world make it off the shelf, no matter where they are found.

Judith Hartley, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “This commitment from British Business Investments will support early-stage UK deep tech businesses that are committed to improving healthcare, quality of life and the environment. Science Creates Ventures will be investing across the UK, with a particular focus on South West England, thereby helping to reduce regional imbalances in access to finance.

“The Regional Angels Programme plays a vital role in developing the early-stage funding eco-system across the UK regions and nations, bringing together finance, business experience and skills to support the development of high-growth smaller businesses.’’

Harry Destecroix, Managing Partner, Science Creates Ventures, said: “We are delighted to receive the support of British Business Investments towards our mission to support scientists to transition out of the lab to deliver solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. We believe there is an enormous amount of untapped potential sitting in universities across the UK and with the support of SCV and the broader Science Creates ecosystem, we believe we can help unlock this potential. We’ve enjoyed working with the British Business Investments team so far and value their support and enthusiasm and look forward to continuing to deliver on our mission across the broader UK deep tech ecosystem”

Acin, the pioneering operational risk data company, has announced that Serge De Coster has joined the company as Chief Client Officer, a new role for the organisation. Serge and his team will be responsible for the development of Acin's value proposition as well as generating and delivering insights derived from the Acin Network.

Serge is the latest senior figure to join Acin, whose solution has been widely adopted by the world's most significant financial institutions, three more of which have recently joined the data network.

Serge was recently the Head of Analytics and co-Head of CIB at Coalition Greenwich, a leading provider of Benchmarking Analytics to the financial service industry. Prior to Coalition Greenwich, Serge spent 4 years at Oliver Wyman, where he advised Global Corporate & Investment banks in Europe, US, and Asia. Serge has an educational background in Finance, Computer Science and is a qualified Actuary.

Serge brings deep expertise in Data Analytics, Benchmarking and Risk Management, acquired by advising most Global banks on Capital Management and Capital Optimisation.

Paul Ford, CEO at Acin, said: "We are delighted to join Serge to the Acin team as Chief Client Officer, his experience in risk analytics, benchmarking and capital are perfectly aligned with the Acin vision. Serge is also hugely experienced in working with top tier financial institutions at the highest level and in understanding their needs and delivering quantitative solutions to those needs."

Serge De Coster, Chief Client Officer at Acin, said: "Having worked extensively in consulting and benchmarking analytics, I was impressed with Acin's ability to build relationships with tier 1 institutions by leveraging both technology and expertise to deliver insights. Acin's approach to gather data, ensure like-for-like comparison and then extract valuable insights works well to support bank with their Operational Risk needs, but has wide possibilities beyond that."

Shieldpay, the market-leading fintech solving complex B2B payments, has today announced its partnership with Checkout.com, the global payments platform, to support customers that need more than just straight-through-processing.

This partnership will allow Checkout.com to leverage Shieldpay’s unique payment engine and digital escrow capabilities to address the payment challenges customers are facing around security, trust and transparency in high-value transactions online.

Shieldpay’s digital escrow offering will allow Checkout.com customers to hold funds in safeguarded accounts (which are PSR, Art. 23 compliant) until both buyer and seller are satisfied that the conditions of the transaction have been met. Monies are then paid out of the account to verified merchants or marketplace customers. In addition to this, Shieldpay is also able to help marketplaces disburse funds to sub merchants where needed – previously a challenge in the process.

Checkout.com and Shieldpay have been collaborating over the past 12 months to service online marketplace customers and emerging fintech companies to manage complex payments. Together, they provide the payment flow for KodyPay, a fast-growing in-person digital payment acceptance company. Checkout.com act as the acquirer, provide a payment gateway facility to accept payments in, and Shieldpay support with seller verification and disbursement. The collaboration of these payments companies enables fast, safe and trustworthy transactions between merchants and customers.

Following the initial successes of their offering to clients, such as KodyPay, the payments companies have now formally partnered. Going forward, Checkout.com and Shieldpay will jointly support the payments needs of high-value, B2B marketplaces and professional services industries with the view to expand across their customer bases.

Today’s announcement marks the start of a shared mission to empower online trade by reducing the key transactional risks to both buyers and sellers, in a bid to move the digital payments industry forward.

Daniel Dunne, Head of Partnerships at Shieldpay commented:

“We’re thrilled to formally announce our partnership with Checkout.com. We are both on a similar mission as payments innovators and the services that our platforms offer to the market work in perfect harmony. With these key drivers aligned, we are looking forward to the future of this partnership and growing together, and we are now envisioning new opportunities to further collaborate.”

Miyesa Hussain, Strategic Partnerships at Checkout.com commented “Together with Shieldpay, we’re bringing our merchants even more value and flexibility for their B2B transactions. Shieldpay's digital escrow technology is truly innovative and further enhances the payout process for our customers. We’re excited to see where this partnership takes us.”

Tradeteq, the technology provider for securitisation-as-a-service and bank asset distribution, has appointed Nils Behling to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer, responsible for implementing the strategic vision and values of the company as well as change and transformation initiatives. 

Nils previously held the position of CFO at Tradeteq. The new role is in response to the company’s continued growth in the trade finance market and its expanding network of bank and non-bank originators looking to securitise and distribute their trade finance assets. 

The new COO role formalises Nils’ already broadened remit beyond financial operations. He will continue to work closely with CEO Christoph Gugelmann, focussing on business performance, operational management and important transformation initiatives. This includes the ongoing development of Tradeteq’s legal, regulatory and client-serving infrastructure across multiple jurisdictions and entities. 

Nils co-founded Tradeteq alongside Christoph Gugelmann in 2016. His previous roles include trade finance investor and portfolio manager for Trafigura’s Galena Asset Management, and director in Merrill Lynch’s FICC business, where he structured complex funding and capital markets solutions for banks and real-money clients. 

Tradeteq provides a marketplace and platform for private debt and real assets. Through its securitisation-as-a-service, Tradeteq transforms these instruments into traditional capital markets products and into regulated security tokens, that can be easily bought by investors.

Christoph Gugelmann, CEO at Tradeteq comments: “As we continue to grow as an organisation, we are serving more clients and forging deeper relationships with our partners. Nils already spearheads many of our operational and strategic initiatives. Creating a dedicated leadership position is a natural and important step in Tradeteq’s evolution and, crucially, ensures we are well-positioned for continuing growth and success.”

Nils Behling adds: “I am excited to take on this new role. As COO, I will focus on developing our operating assets, processes, and structures to support Tradeteq’s growth, stay ahead of client expectations and lead the way in delivering Tradeteq’s mission and vision.” 

MANGOPAY, a major European payment solutions provider for marketplaces and platforms, announced the appointment of key additions to MANGOPAY’s executive leadership team. Ronen Benchetrit has been appointed as MANGOPAY’s Chief Technology Officer and joined the executive committee following the acquisition by Advent International. As a key appointment that underlines MANGOPAY's strong commitment to innovation, Ronen will be responsible for taking the scale-up into the next phase of its technology challenge, leading one of the fastest-growing tech teams in the payment industry.

The appointment of Ronen Benchetrit, who will report to CEO Romain Mazeries, is another step for MANGOPAY in becoming the most comprehensive payment ecosystem dedicated to platform businesses. Ronen will bring three decades of experience leading high-performing tech and engineering teams to help MANGOPAY build a modern, resilient and scalable tech.

Ronen’s career spans various industries, working and leading agile product engineering and cloud teams globally at scale-up companies. He joins MANGOPAY at a perfect time, during which the scale-up is planning its next phase of growth. Ronen will strategize and execute the tech evolution to support business growth, working closely with MANGOPAY’s leadership. He plans to double the team in the next 24 months, enlisting top-tier talent in all departments.

Based in the UK, Ronen Benchetrit joins MANGOPAY from Bumble, a dating and networking app, where he served as CTO. Prior to that, Ronen was the CTO for a UK challenger bank and pioneering peer-to-peer lender Zopa. He also served as CTO for leading online gaming operator PokerStars, where he led the tech function from the private company stage through to its initial public offering. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and holds a few granted patents in the computer science field.

“The platform economy is booming. Platforms have become an essential driver for e-commerce growth, as it brings so many benefits for both buyers and sellers. Mastering payments at scale in this field is complex yet key to all platforms. Compounded with the business growth, this creates an exciting tech journey for our tech team, and I’m thrilled to join MANGOPAY at such a key moment in its evolution”, said Ronen Benchetrit, Chief Technology Officer at MANGOPAY. “MANGOPAY’s potential is unrivalled and I am excited by the opportunity to build a best-in-class payment ecosystem and deliver even more value to our customers.”

MANGOPAY CEO, Romain Mazeries said: “I am excited to welcome Ronen Benchetrit.  Ronen’s experience will be game-changing to accelerate our growth. In the last couple of months, Ronen is already driving the company’s global technology strategy by fostering a strong engineering culture as well as by providing technical leadership across all areas of the business.” 

High-growth European investment trading platform, Capital.com, today announced a strategic agreement with Refinitiv, an (LSEG) London Stock Exchange Group Business, to provide investors and traders with environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.  With this agreement, traders can directly access ESG scores and financial data from the Capital.com platform to help them make sustainable investment and trading decisions. 

Refinitiv offers one of the most comprehensive ESG databases in the industry, underpinned by more than 450 different ESG metrics. It measures a company’s relative ESG performance, commitment and effectiveness across 10 main themes, including emissions, environmental product innovation, human rights and shareholders based on publicly-reported data. 

Commenting on the collaboration, Kypros Zoumidou, Chief Commercial Director, Capital.com, said: 

“More and more investments are now linked to ESG criteria but much of this remains under the exclusive purview of institutional fund managers.  Investors have to pay managers expensive fees if they want to participate in ESG investments. We do not think this should be the case." 

According to the findings of Capital.com’s recent survey, a lack of knowledge and high fees prevent retail investors from making more sustainable investment decisions.

“To further break down the barriers to investing and to empower more people to make sustainable investment decisions for themselves, we have incorporated Refinitiv’s market-leading ESG data into the platform. Traders will have comprehensive ESG data at their fingertips, at no cost, at the precise moment they need to make an investment decision,” added Zoumidou.

Refinitiv uses proprietary data feeds powered by artificial intelligence to provide a more timely view of a company and its ESG goals based on news and social media. This helps ensure the ESG data is accurate and free of corporate “greenwashing.”

Sune Mortensen, Head of Investment & Wealth Solutions, Data & Analytics, LSEG, said: 

“We are delighted to collaborate with Capital.com and offer users the ability to combine and analyse ESG data using cutting-edge applications for in-depth analysis. Together with Capital.com, we have decided to enhance the information accessible to traders by adding a layer of Artificial Intelligence. This will further ensure precision and relevance. Besides that, it enhances the overall user experience for the traders on the Capital.com platform."

In addition to Refinitiv’s real-time ESG data, traders will have access to economic calendars, quantitative stock reports, and global financial news services including access to Reuters news and exclusive insights, as well as AI-enabled sentiment analysis. 

Today’s announcement marks Capital.com’s commitment to supporting its clients with extensive education resources including data, analytics and research to help them make informed investment decisions.  

“With the provision of Refinitiv’s world-leading financial news content alongside Capital.com’s own cost-free educational resources,  our traders will not only be able to make sustainable investment choices but also lean on world-class financial data and news to better decipher the long-term direction of price movements. We are delighted to be able to partner with Refinitiv who share our commitment to provide investors with the tools they need to make better investment decisions,” added Zoumidou.

To help self-directed investors on their investment journey, Capital.com provides an extensive repository of information, insights and analysis including a free educational app that they can use on the go,  Investmate. The Capital.com platform also hosts a demo site, a regular news feed, as well as more than 5,000 pages of immersive financial content available on its website and through its YouTube trading channel, Capital.com TV.

The TripActions Group today announced that its premium brand, Reed & Mackay, has completed the acquisition of its long-standing partner, the high-end Spanish corporate travel, meetings & events company, Atlanta Agencia de Viajes, S.A., d.b.a Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants. This marks the fourth Europe-based acquisition by the TripActions Group in the past 18 months, adding Spain to the Group’s rapid expansion across Europe. 

“Not only does Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants bring deep-rooted knowledge of the Spanish corporate travel, meetings and events market, its values also closely align with Reed & Mackay’s uncompromising focus on high-touch service,” says Reed & Mackay CEO, Fred Stratford.

Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants has been part of global service leader Reed & Mackay’s international partnership for more than a decade and will now be positioned to meet the increasingly global needs of its client base. Both TripActions’ and Reed & Mackay’s clients will gain enhanced expertise and content for the region.

Reed & Mackay's Meetings & Events employee base has grown by 5x year-over-year to meet the explosion in demand. Meanwhile, Team Travel bookings on TripActions have averaged 38% month-over-month growth in 2022.  

“As people look to meet face-to-face, meetings and events — including team on-site and offsites — are driving a large share of the recovery,” says TripActions Co-founder and CEO, Ariel Cohen. “From TripActions’ self-serve Team Travel platform to the expanding reach of Reed & Mackay, the TripActions Group’s clear vision of post-pandemic travel continues to bear out. We’re excited to extend this vision and reach into Spain.”

The acquisition of Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel Consultants by Reed & Mackay is the latest in a quick succession of investments by the TripActions Group as it doubles down in Europe. TripActions acquired Reed & Mackay in May 2021 and followed that with the addition of Comtravo in Germany and Resia in Sweden in February and March of 2022, respectively. 

Founded more than 40 years ago as a family business, Atlanta Events & Corporate Travel is today recognised as a leading player in Spain. It now has offices in Andalucia, Barcelona, and Madrid and over 70 business travel and event experts on staff.

“We are delighted to lead the start of Reed & Mackay and TripActions in Spain, uniting strengths and guaranteeing the capability of offering all that companies need — now and in the future,” says Atlanta Events and Corporate Travel Consultants founder, Guillermo Fuster. 

FINOM, the fast-growing mobile-first financial management platform for SMEs and freelancers, has acquired Kapaga, a UK-based cross-border payment service facilitating international trade for SMEs. The transaction will solidify FINOM’s position as the leading financial services provider for SMEs, and bolster its expansion plans in the UK and across the continent. 

The B2B financial services for SMEs market in Europe is currently underserved. Just 3% of the 24 million European SMEs use digital platforms to manage their finances, emphasising the gap in the market. The majority of owner-managed businesses continue to use traditional banks, despite the growth of the fintech sector globally and the rise of platforms created for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs that offer services tailored to a diverse customer base.  

FINOM has developed a mobile-first platform, blending a wide range of high-quality financial management products into a holistic back-office solution for entrepreneurs and freelancers. The suite of features available includes e-invoicing, transactions within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and digital wallets. Since launching in 2019, FINOM has seen impressive growth in France, Italy and Germany, where it is the most downloaded fintech app for SMEs. The company has the highest customer scores across IOS, Android and Trustpilot compared to others in this space, such as Qonto and Revolut. FINOM is live in 27 countries and has plans to expand into other key European markets.

Founded in 2020 by Bloomberg alumna, Katya Dorofejeva, Kapaga has seen revenue growth surpassing £10m a year, serving more than 200 UK SMEs and corporate entities in managing their finances and operating internationally across multiple currencies. Kapaga’s cloud architecture offers companies transparency and efficiency in streamlining cross-border payments, allowing them to send and bill money to 190+ countries in numerous currencies via a single and secure application process. The acquisition demonstrates FINOM and Kapaga’s shared mission to provide innovative, accessible and tailored services for European  SMEs and to set a new standard for the industry. The idea for a partnership first emerged during a founders’ ski trip hosted by existing investor Target Global, a pan-European venture capital firm with a track record of backing leading fintech start-ups, including Revolut, Kuda, and Fintecture.

Kos Stiskin, Co-Founder of FINOM, commented: “Entrepreneurs and freelancers are the backbone of the European economy, producing $8 trillion of value annually, but costly and time-intensive bureaucracy means they cannot run their business as efficiently as possible. At FINOM, we truly believe in the value of collaboration, and working with Katya and her highly experienced team will enable us to create a product for SMEs that meets all our customers’ banking needs.”

Katya Dorofejeva, Founder and CEO of Kapaga, commented: “Joining forces with FINOM enables us to explore a unique and growing product. Entrepreneurs and freelancers are facing a plethora of challenges in setting up tactile business accounts that serve their needs. There is currently no continental fintech player that equally serves the UK and Europe in specifically targeting SMEs - until now! This merger solidifies the two companies’ pursuits of providing tailored payment services for the entire continent. Kos and the team really understand the market and the specific needs of small and medium-sized businesses. I am sure that we will benefit from each other’s knowledge and expertise to serve this crucial segment and grow the fintech arena.”

Mike Lebanov, Partner at Target Global, commented: “It is fantastic to see two of our most promising portfolio companies team up to bring innovative finance solutions to such a huge yet underserved market. FINOM and Kapaga have both demonstrated strong growth over the past two years, and I am confident that through their shared vision and understanding of the market, they will create a powerful product that has the potential to disrupt the B2B banking services market.”