Weavr, a London-headquartered technology provider that empowers businesses with plug-and-play embedded finance solutions, is today announcing its launch in Singapore.

Backed by a US$40m Series A round, led by American investment firm Tiger Global, the official launch of Weavr in Singapore signals the firm's continued global expansion.  

With rising economic uncertainty, inflation rates at decade highs, and escalating geopolitical tensions, companies are looking to reorient their business models to become more resilient.

Embedded finance can help businesses in this transition, enabling them to circumvent the usual complexity of integrating financial services, add new revenue opportunities and make their businesses more resilient and scalable in the future.

In doing so, digital businesses have the opportunity to add significant new revenue streams from their existing customer base - in other words increasing their revenues without the need to increase their marketing budgets.

According to a report by Bain & Co and Bain Capital, the embedded finance market is predicted to more than double to US$51 billion by 2026. The key driver is the removal of barriers to adoption for non-financial businesses that wish to deliver financial products that enhance customer experiences while also offering immediate opportunities to amplify their revenue per user.

Embedded finance, in a nutshell, is the seamless integration of financial services into the customer journey in non-financial applications wherever they are needed. For example, an application that enables gig workers to find work can also provide them with ways to get paid faster and help them keep their business finances separate from their personal money.

Applications like these that embed financial services intelligently can provide customers with unparalleled convenience and ease of use, thus enhancing the customer experience and building loyalty. With Weavr's radically simplified model, Plug-and-Play Finance, digital businesses can launch and monetise financial services quickly and efficiently, and at a fraction of the cost of the traditional Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model.

Making the announcement at Web Summit in Lisbon today, Alex Mifsud, Weavr’s CEO and co-founder, says: "We're excited to announce Weavr’s Singapore launch here at Web Summit. Further to our European expansion, we will now enable businesses in Singapore and the region to seamlessly and efficiently integrate financial services wherever their customers need them.”

Alex continues, “We see few better opportunities for deploying a significant portion of the US$40m of capital we raised earlier this year to bring the benefits of embedded finance to digital innovators and ultimately to their customers in the region. Having raised a total capital of US$55m and onboarded 1000+ clients since our inception in 2019, Weavr is on an upward trajectory to help businesses unlock their full potential.”

Aligned with the Financial Services Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025 announced in September 2022 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Weavr’s entry into Singapore comes amid an innovation drive powered by embedded finance, which will in turn enable the redefining of business models for greater resilience.

This availability of simple solutions to deploy financial services will further enable businesses in Singapore to drive innovation and create more value for all stakeholders. Singapore is well-positioned as a hub for digital and financial innovation in the region and a natural first stop on Weavr's mission to help online businesses and SMEs radically innovate through the simplicity of their embedded financial solution.

The move will also enable Weavr to contribute to meaningful advances in financial inclusion, green tech and more, as part of Weavr’s commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.

Weavr's unique Financial Plug-ins represent a simple solution for any business to seamlessly deploy financial services within its own platform with zero heavy liftings. Key benefits include:

• Pre-defined solutions for a range of use cases that reduce time to market to just 5 weeks and take care of compliance, data security and regulation.
• A low-code offering that allows brands to embed services quickly and seamlessly without compromising on quality and security.
• Extensible solutions that enable customers to add new financial services in new markets as they grow.

The British High Commissioner to Singapore, Kara Owen CMG, said, “It is fantastic to see Weavr expanding into Singapore. Their presence here will help more Singaporean businesses – and those in South East Asia, as it expands - to seamlessly integrate financial services for their customers. Our financial services trade with Singapore was £1.7bn in 2020.  This value is only set to grow as our countries grasp the opportunities of digital trade and technology innovation. The UK-Singapore Digital Economy Agreement, which entered into force in June this year, will support more companies to embark upon journeys like Weavr’s.  We are delighted to celebrate Weavr’s success.”

“I am delighted to see UK fintech Weavr expand into South East Asia with the opening of its office in Singapore as a launchpad into the region,” added Natalie Black, the UK's Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific.

Web Summit delegates are invited to watch Weavr’s CTO and co-founder Adrian Mizzi speak at a panel on the MoneyConf stage where he will be discussing “How do you build a unicorn?” amongst panellists on Wednesday 2nd November 2022 at 10.35 am.

• 02.11.2022 -- 06:35 am

MorganAsh, the leading support services provider, and Moneyhub, the market-leading Open Finance, Open Data, and payments platform, are working together to strengthen the ability of firms to understand, monitor and deliver good outcomes for vulnerable customers, in line with the requirements of Consumer Duty.

The partnership will see MorganAsh using Moneyhub’s advanced Open Banking and Open Finance platform to access customers' financial data with their explicit consent to assist with the real-time assessment and monitoring of consumer vulnerability. It will be included within MARS, the MorganAsh Resilience System and will help determine a customer’s ‘Resilience Rating’ – much like a credit score.

MorganAsh launched its MARS broker tool in March to enable firms to assess and monitor consumer vulnerability and stay compliant with the FCA’s upcoming Consumer Duty regulation.

Moneyhub will also be joining MorganAsh on its next webinar to explore the use of Open Finance data to meet the monitoring requirements of the new Duty. It will take place on Thursday, November 10th at 2 pm.

Gained through customer's explicit consent, the newly accessible data will help highlight changes in behaviour and specific lifestyle indicators such as gambling or changes in employment, which can all be triggers for intervention by financial services firms. Real-time monitoring of income, expenditure, assets, and liabilities can alert firms to changes in circumstances and identify vulnerable characteristics.

Andrew Gething, managing director of MorganAsh said: “Consumer Duty adds the onerous task to monitor customers through the product lifecycle to ensure the product is still suitable.  While our MARS tool can capture any direct contact from consumers and we can email consumers for annual updates, the potential to receive real-time data from Moneyhub will enable real-time monitoring so we can proactively contact consumers when their circumstances and needs change.  This delivers real competitive advantages to our customers.  

“We are delighted to be working with Moneyhub as they share our same vision and complement our aims for the MARS tool.”

Vaughan Jenkins, Business Development Director of Moneyhub added: “Consumer Duty and Open Finance herald a new era of customer-focused firms and financial resilience. Smart, forward-looking businesses will seize this moment and benefit from it. By truly understanding consumers and their ongoing needs, efficiency, productivity, and compliance will become positive side effects. We are immensely proud to be working together with MorganAsh and shine a light on the hidden value our technologies can unlock and ensure no harm is caused to any customers, especially the most vulnerable.”

The FCA finalised requirements on Consumer Duty in July 2022 with implementation for open products by July 2023.  It requires financial services firms to act in good faith, avoid causing foreseeable harm and enable and support customers to pursue their financial objectives.

This means firms need to urgently reappraise how they identify, assess and monitor the vulnerability of consumers throughout the product and relationship lifecycle.

As 50 per cent of consumers are potentially vulnerable, and consumers can become vulnerable at any time, there is a challenge for financial firms to understand the needs, characteristics and behaviours of vulnerable customers.  While some companies are using individual assessments, the reporting from this approach is inconsistent and does not provide consistent data to meet Consumer Duty requirements.  There is the need to have solid, consistent, timely and regular data.

U.S. startup Karta.io, the financial OS for e-commerce teams, today announced that it joined Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program. Through the program, Karta.io will have access to the tools and resources needed to scale its business using the reach, capabilities, and security that VisaNet, Visa’s global payment network, offers.

Through Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program, Karta.io is now able to build and expand new spend management experiences for business and build a financial ecosystem for managing company cash flows with advanced tools for organizing expenses and control over business finances.

Karta.io offers a single platform for e-commerce businesses to understand, run and grow their business. It works to give e-commerce budget automation, easy-to-understand insights over working capital, business accounts and unlimited virtual cards. Built to regain control of company budgets, it offers multiple virtual cards in one click, spending rules for every user, effortless team management, and real-time expense tracking.The service is built by serial e-commerce and fintech founders and strives to solve the problems e-commerce companies face in daily financial processes.

“The e-commerce market is exploding in terms of revenue and active businesses. E-commerce teams rely on patching together a finance stack from multiple providers for banking, accounting, tax, and credit — none of which is designed for their needs. When a business starts to grow, teams have to track the numbers daily. More transactions and budgets build complexity. Teams face problems with keeping track and cash forecasting becomes a huge challenge. This results in the teams going to the DIY solution realm, losing money on processes, departments, software, and software control. This is becoming a huge problem for the e-commerce global market, which is growing rapidly: eMarketer predicts it will reach $6 trillion by 2024,” said Nik Zimarkov, the CEO of Karta.io.

Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program will give Karta.io access to Visa’s growing partner network, and the support of experts who will help the company to reach the next level of functioning in the most efficient way. The program provides turnkey access to Visa’s ecosystem partners, online licensing and APIs, and extensive go-to-market toolkits, analytics and consulting platforms. Learn more about Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program at https://Partner.Visa.com.

“Karta.io has always placed an emphasis on innovation and our partnership with Visa now gives us the resources to support our initiatives as we quickly scale,” said Nik Zimarkov, the CEO of Karta.io. “Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program is a very strong project that could change the financial industry of the future. We are proud to be a part of this program”.

“At Visa, we understand a shift to e-commerce has impacted how businesses both spend and receive money,” said Vanessa Colella, SVP and Global Head of Innovation and Digital Partnerships at Visa.  “By joining Visa’s Fintech Fast Track program, exciting Fintechs like Karta.io gain unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, and resources to efficiently scale and bring innovative solutions to market.”

Money mule schemes, multi-customer cross-wallet activity and the use of crypto exchanges are the most common money laundering techniques, yet most firms are failing to make use of available technology to mitigate the threat, according to the latest research from Feedzai, the world’s first RiskOps platform for financial risk management.

The State of Global Anti Money Laundering Compliance Report surveyed 636 Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance experts, representing 77 companies around the world, most of them from the financial services industry, and overall 74% of respondents cited money mule schemes - both unwitting (44%) and witting (30%) - as the most common money laundering threats.

Furthermore, 56% said that multi-customer, cross-wallet payment activity – a favoured tactic of money launderers as it enables them to move funds between different accounts to avoid detection - is the second most common money laundering typology.

The research also found that the crypto market is increasingly being targeted by money launderers; more than half (51%) of the AML professionals surveyed said the use of crypto and other non-compliant exchanges is the most common money laundering threat, while 19% cited crypto ATMs.

When asked what they believe the biggest challenges to their AML programs will be over the next two years, the top answers were ever-changing AML regulations (17%) - specifically around emerging markets and multi-customer, cross-wallet activity - and crypto/blockchain (16%), followed by product implementation (7%).

However, despite citing crypto abuse as one of the biggest AML threats and one of the most significant challenges, just 26% of firms currently monitor crypto risks. Furthermore, AML professionals also believe data sharing bolsters AML efforts, but 19% admit their AML and fraud teams do not share data - even though a RiskOps approach helps identify money laundering sooner - and 15% ‘don’t know if they do.

Feedzai’s research found that most respondents believe a collaborative approach to data is vital in the fight against money laundering; 61% said automated collation of data from multiple vendors will be a top AML/KYC (Know Your Customer) trend over the next five years, while half (50%) said using a RiskOps approach for data sharing between FIs will bolster anti-money laundering efforts.

However, when asked what their main goals were for 2022, just 29% said creating a single customer view and less than a quarter (23%) said increasing data sharing between company departments. The top three priorities were achieving Perpetual Know Your Customer (pKYC) (54%), reducing false positives (54%) and accelerating AML investigations (45%).

Nick Parfitt, Principal, AML SME, at Feedzai said: “Money laundering threats are constantly evolving. Our data shows that multi-customer, cross-wallet payment activity to move funds between different accounts, and the use of crypto exchanges are the top money laundering tactics, and that doing more to address these challenges are all top concerns for AML compliance teams.

“Yet, most respondents named implementing pKYC and reducing false positives as their main goals for 2022, revealing there is still some misalignment on how to address AML going forward.”

“AML compliance professionals often feel like they are constantly catching up to address the latest financial crime patterns, frequently using yesterday's technology and tools to address tomorrow's money laundering challenges.” 

“Taking a RiskOps approach provides a path forward to make better use of data, do more to address the threat of cryptocurrency and enable AML teams to demonstrate their effectiveness and root out money mule activities.”

GBG, the global expert in digital identity, today announces it has achieved certification against the UK Government’s Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework (DIATF), authorised by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). 

Jonathan Jensen, Regulatory Policy Advisor at GBG, said: “This certification is not only a testament to our industry-leading technology and expertise at GBG, it also demonstrates our long-term commitment to compliance and regulation. 

“Policy surrounding digital identity is still very much in its infancy, but it is beginning to emerge around the globe as adoption of identity verification technology continues at pace. The DIATF represents a huge step forward in policy for digital identity in the UK but also sets an example for regulation around the globe that will improve compliance and build confidence in online Identity verification.”

For the second consecutive year, Florida Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit (“FBBS”), which is produced by Cutting Edge Events LLC, will be opening its doors on Nov. 4, 2022, at Holiday Inn Westshore in Tampa, Florida. FBBS is a truly unique gathering with the core aim of making Florida the leader in blockchain and financial technology.

FBBS is Florida’s first “blockchain & fintech in Florida” focused event, driving innovation and partnerships across the rapidly evolving financial technology sector. The event is designed to cater to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, established businesses, promising startups, energetic political leaders, influential policymakers, seasoned regulators, popular fintech communities and evangelists to spur the sector’s growth in Florida and beyond.

This conference is specially tailored to three types of attendees: those new to crypto investing and fintech interested in increasing their industry knowledge; stakeholders, institutions, or startups poised to define the future of blockchain and fintech; and individuals and organizations advocating Florida as the global leader in bitcoin, blockchain and associated digital assets.

The event commences with a welcome address by Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who became a household name last year by announcing at FBBS that she would receive a portion of her salary in bitcoin.

The summit will also host several well-known speakers in various formats, including exciting panel discussions, insightful Q&A sessions, speaker seminars and deep dives.

One of the highlights will be the session with Joe Hamilton, network head at Cityverse, which is a digital operating system for a physical city and publisher of the Catalyst, entitled CityVerse: Making the Metaverse Local. This promises to be a fascinating session with the announcement of a major new investor in Cityverse, fast on the heels of Tampa Bay Rays acquiring an equity stake in the organization.

Given the ongoing turmoil in financial markets worldwide, industry experts Chris Krimitsos, Chris Pizzo, Matt Rosen and Lucas Dimos will participate in a highly relevant panel discussion on Spotting Opportunities in A Bear Market.

Other featured speakers include Gabe Higgins and Rosa Shores, founders of Blockspaces, one of Florida’s oldest bitcoin meetups, who will share their deep expertise and sharp insights. Samuel Armes of the Florida Blockchain Business Association and Tortuga Web3 Fund will also be taking the stage.

On Thursday evening, Nov. 3, attendees are invited to join the Coinflip Opening Party – an invaluable opportunity to build rapport with industry peers, strengthen business networks and fully energize for the full-day schedule the following day.

A luncheon powered by Tortuga Web 3 Fund will be served from 11:30am to 1:00pm on Friday, Nov. 4.

The Florida Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit will also host a fundraiser during lunch for those impacted by Hurricane Ian.

After the summit’s final speaking session, the Signature Close Party kicks off at 5:30pm so delegates can kick back in an intimate and relaxed environment.

Attendees will be free to savour the vibrant Westshore market just a few meters away from the Holiday Inn Westshore. There are plenty of other fun-filled activities in the vicinity, including Tampa’s best shopping mall, entertainment district and gulf beaches. Lowry Park Zoo, Downtown Museums, Spring Training, Busch Gardens, Florida Aquarium and Raymond James Stadium are all accessible from the conference venue.

Award-winning Swiss FinTech NetGuardians, renowned for its enterprise risk platform combating bank fraud, today announced the launch of its anti-money-laundering (AML) transaction monitoring solution. 

NetGuardians has now extended its NG|Screener platform and applied it to money-laundering transaction monitoring in a new solution that stands to transform the outdated AML approaches to bring effectiveness and efficiency to financial institutions. 

NetGuardians is already a world leader in fraud prevention, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to protect more than $7 trillion of assets held by its clients. Those using NetGuardians’ software, including UOB Singapore and Swiss private banks Pictet and Lombard Odier, cut false alerts by 85 per cent or more, see a drop of at least 75 per cent in operating costs, and detect and stop more fraud, including new typologies. Such superior performance was recognized by Aite-Novarica when it named NetGuardians a global leader in its 2021 fraud and AML report. 

For many banks, AML can be a daunting task considering their obligations and the consequences of non-compliance. It is made all the harder by the increasing volume of digital transactions and real-time payments passing through their systems, the constantly evolving techniques used by the criminals, the silos of data within their legacy systems and their reliance on static rules. Consequently, laundering activities are missed and false alerts remain high, pushing up investigation costs. 

NetGuardians’ AML transaction monitoring solution integrates both internal and external sources of data to look for anomalies in behaviour. It is capable of monitoring large volumes of transactions highly accurately, significantly reducing false alerts to improve operational efficiency and cut costs. 

EBANX, a fintech company that specializes in international payments in rising markets, today announced the appointment of Greg Cornwell as the Brazilian unicorn’s new Vice President of Business Development. He will report directly to EBANX President of Global Payments, Paula Bellizia, and play a key role in co-leading the fintech’s global sales team, located across the Americas, Asia and Europe. Based in the U.S., in Dallas, Texas, Cornwell will leverage his vast payments and sales expertise in North America, a priority market for EBANX’s continued growth and expansion.

Cornwell has more than 20 years of experience and success with payments and financial services companies, including his most recent role as the EVP and global sales leader at Dallas-based Bluefin Payment Systems for more than seven years. During that time, he led the company’s revenue-growth strategy, developed new business and partnerships across Canada, Europe, and Latin America, and built a high-performance sales team that signed and activated 80+ integrated global partners and delivered 100 percent partner and customer retention.

“Greg has arrived at a significant moment in the history of EBANX as we continue to expand our business across new geographies and business sectors – including our recent expansion into Africa, and the launch of new payments tech innovation to help global SaaS players sell more services in Latin America,” said Paula Bellizia, President of Global Payments at EBANX. “His proven track record of leading the strategy and execution for complex sales, his mentorship skills that build and motivate high-performance teams, and his global leadership experience will help us reach our business-expansion goals in the years to come.”

Prior to joining EBANX, Cornwell also served as the EVP of Global Sales for Accertify where he led the development, management, and operations of the global sales organization. In addition, he served in senior executive roles for Chase Paymentech Solutions and Worldpay (FIS) from 2000 to 2009.

“Over the past few years, EBANX flourished into a global powerhouse, driving the payments industry to new heights in emerging markets and beyond through the careful application of advanced payments technologies – helping merchants to expand their efforts, without borders, in markets bursting with potential, including Latin America and Africa,” said Greg Cornwell, VP of Business Development at EBANX. “It will be an honor to join EBANX in its mission and bring my global network to support enterprise companies within verticals like SaaS Cloud, streaming, digital games, online retail among others, to address attractive international markets via EBANX’s vast expertise in cross-border payments and new capabilities, like the ability to handle both micropayments and high-ticket items to harness recurring revenue from processing SaaS subscription payments.”

Cornwell joins the EBANX executive team during a period of rapid growth and expansion. During the last year, the Brazilian fintech company announced its first expansion outside of Latin America to Africa, launching operations in three African countries, a flurry of new payment innovations, the opening of an office in Mexico, one of the 15 LatAm countries in which it has operations, and the acquisition of the Brazilian fintech Remessa Online that expanded and diversified its payments portfolio.

He arrives in the year in which EBANX completed 10 years since its founding, reinforcing the company's top leadership, which is once again prioritizing its core business of international payments and focusing on its product innovation and corporate structure as the basis for the next decade. His appointment follows the arrival of Paula Bellizia to lead EBANX's global Sales, Marketing, Operations and Expansion teams in February this year; Alexandre Dinkelmann as Chief Financial Officer and Ariel Patschiki, former Product Director who was appointed as Chief Product Officer in May 2021.