Leading financial institutions around the world are continuing to join the Mastercard Digital First™ Card Program enabling entirely digital payment experiences for consumers – from card issuance and usage to financial management and benefits, with an optional physical card. Banco Santander and Citibanamex in Mexico, Chase in the U.K., ING in Spain, Mox by Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, Nubank in Brazil, and Providus Bank in Nigeria are amongst the most recent customers to launch a Mastercard Digital First portfolio, adding to the nearly 200 customers that now offer seamless, end-to-end Digital First solutions in markets around the world.

“Accelerated by COVID-19, consumers are relying on digital options for their everyday financial tasks that require a safe, seamless and secure payments experience,” said Luigi Zanghellini, executive vice president, Consumer Solutions at Mastercard. “The dramatic growth of the Mastercard Digital First Card program and traction with key customers are a testament to the frictionless journey it provides across the entire financial lifecycle, making it easier for cardholders to pay and enjoy the customized benefits that matter personally to them.”

Mastercard Digital First modernizes the payments experience by providing a comprehensive, consistent set of digital functionalities across the entire consumer journey – embedding Mastercard solutions such as Ekata for smarter identity verification to streamline onboarding; Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) for more secure, frictionless transactions using tokenization; Consumer Controls for intelligent alerts and controls that increase engagement; Mastercard Installments to enable greater flexibility, transparency and payment choice; and Ethoca Consumer Clarity TM which delivers more insights to reduce fraud and disputes. In addition, Mastercard’s strong network of qualified technology providers including Thales, Entrust and i2c, inc. can easily integrate key features to bring Digital First solutions to market quickly and reach more consumers. As consumers spend more on digital channels, Mastercard Digital First also offers the delivery of relevant, digital everyday value benefits in popular spending categories – from marketplaces and rideshare to entertainment and food delivery.

In addition to relevance, a secure, best-in-class user experience with products and solutions that can be accessed anytime, anywhere is critical to building consumer trust and loyalty. More than half (53%) of global consumers say security is top of mind when deciding which payment method to use and 37% cite ease of use, according to the 2022 Mastercard New Payments Index.* Mastercard data also shows Digital First solutions are leading to increased approval rates by 2 percentage points and increased usage by 10% on average. As expectations for ease and immediacy continue to rise and security remains paramount, Mastercard Digital First provides a premier digital banking experience with near-instant access to card information, relevant benefits and the peace of mind to securely transact.

Learn more about the Mastercard Digital First Card Program, enablement tools, qualified providers and additional benefits here.

Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software, today announced it has entered into a global partnership with Sekura Mobile Intelligence, a global provider of mobile data solutions. This partnership enables Provenir to provide customers access to trusted mobile data, direct from mobile operators through the Provenir Marketplace.

Sekura provides real-time mobile identity data signals direct from global mobile operators, providing trusted, secure and easy-to-consume solutions for identity (ID) verification, anti-fraud and secure online authentication use cases.

The Sekura ‘SAFr’ API, built to deliver industry-leading data, performance and reliability, enables Provenir customers to consume a suite of ID verification and fraud protection data attributes in real-time. Sekura’s mobile solutions are available across five continents, spanning key global markets such as the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, U.S., India and South Africa.

The combination of Sekura and Provenir is ideal to support customer use cases including BNPL, SME lending, retail and POS, new customer onboarding, auto financing, and banking and loan origination, delivering world-class user experiences and secure fraud protection for existing and new user workflows.

“With fraud incidents escalating, all organizations must be laser-focused on preventing fraud,” said Carol Hamilton, Senior Vice President, Global Solutions at Provenir. “Sekura provides a comprehensive suite of mobile intelligence and identity data services that help Provenir customers identify fraudsters faster and protect their organizations from threatening activity.”

“The Sekura team is delighted to partner with Provenir and excited about the opportunities to combine the industry-leading skills and knowledge on both sides to create significant value for Provenir’s customers and their end users,” said Jim Small, Chief Operations Officer at Sekura.

A survey conducted at the Alternative Investment Management Association’s CyberTech Virtual Forum in April revealed the majority of financial services professionals believe that their mental health has improved as firms have adopted a range of flexible working practices. 72% of respondents said flexible working has had a positive impact on the mental health of their teams (17% believe it has had a negative impact and 11% are unsure).

The UK is among the top nations embracing hybrid working for the long-term, with desk-based workers,  including those in the alternative investment sector, expressing the desire to retain these freedoms.

A study conducted by AIMA in 2021 called Gaining an Edge: How hedge funds are navigating the new talent landscape, revealed that fund managers are taking this trend seriously. When asked how they are seeking to retain talent, 69% of fund managers surveyed said they are focused on improving the work/life balance of their employees, with 49% offering mental health guidance and support.

Many global studies point to the same link between flexible working and improved mental health. A study conducted by FlexJobs in association with Mental Health America (MHA) surveyed 3,000 professionals in 2018, to find that more than 97% of people believe that having a more flexible job has a “positive” impact on their quality of life.

The AIMA report goes on to point out that facilitating flexible working in the financial services sector requires a greater reliance on technology that enables compliant communications and data sharing in a virtual world. This is creating a surge in demand for digital compliance solutions and platforms.

“Because of the benefits to mental health, flexible working should and can be facilitated in financial services, but without exposing individuals and businesses to the risk of non-compliance,” said Matt Smith, CEO of compliance technology and data analytics firm, SteelEye.

“Communications record keeping and monitoring rules are a key component of financial regulation and exist to ensure fair trading and stable markets. Firms with weak information barriers and internal controls governing the use of eComms and other digital platforms need to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment and ensure they have oversight over all business-related communications.” Smith added.

Commenting on how firms can support flexible working while ensuring compliance, CEO of compliance chat solution, DeepView, Catherine Parry, notes that modern technology is key:

“Before enabling flexible working, firms must enhance their policies and processes with the capabilities they require to monitor the spread of information and identify potential instances of compliance breaches, with a particular focus on WhatsApp given the recent news of SEC and CTFC penalties for tier-one banks.”

In the UK, the FCA has been clear that its expectations around capturing, monitoring, and archiving communications data apply equally to employees who are working from home or other remote locations. In the US, the SEC has emphasised the need for firms to prioritise monitoring for MNPI leakages and insider trading. Consequently, firms should improve their internal controls or information barriers for digital communications if they want to continue to support flexible working. 

ICS Financial Systems Limited - ICSFS , the global software and services provider for banks and financial institutions, participated at the 3rd Edition of Future Banks Summit - KSA, as a Networking Sponsor. ICSFS shared the latest technological innovations of its ICS BANKS Digital Banking software application.

The 3rd Edition of Future Banks Summit was held at the Marriott Riyadh Airport Hotel -Al Hamra Hall, on 27th and 28th September, 2022. The conference focused on the future of the financial industry in KSA, driven by innovation and digital advancements, with adoption of technologies such as AI, intelligent automation, regtech, data analytics, cloud migration, cyber security, digital payment models, along with tech-driven redefined business continuity planning strategies.

Executive Director of ICSFS; Wael Malkawi stated: “Saudi Arabia has advanced exponentially in the technological innovation space. And with no doubt, it will be the hub for any enterprise that desires to excel in this space. The event successfully showcased the future of banking in Saudi Arabia, and it is our privilege to be part of this success, through sharing our expertise and awards-winning innovative solution; ICS BANKS Digital, which address the digital strategy for any type of; bank, financial institution or financial enterprise.”

ICSFS was recently named Best Islamic Banking & Finance Software Provider by World Finance Magazine, and has signed with the First Neo Financial Institution in KSA for its ICS BANKS Digital Platform.  It is also worth to mention, that Al Rajhi Bank Jordan has opted for ICS BANKS Business Suite.

ICSFS invests in its software suites, by utilising modern technology, in launching new products. Constructing a secured and agile integration, and keeping pace with new standards, and regulations worldwide. ICS BANKS software suite, future-proofs banking activities, by providing a broad range of features, and capabilities with more agility, and flexibility, to enrich customers' journey experience. Hence improving the trust and confidentiality between the customer and the bank. ICS BANKS has always been a pioneer in utilising the latest technology, to serve financial institutions. In addition to its embedded Service-Oriented-Architecture (SOA), it can be deployed on-premises, hybrid or cloud.

In an effort to help brokerages and exchanges get the most out of its B2Core REST API, B2Broker has launched the release of its latest version v2.1. The API provides new methods for managing users, verifying KYC, and creating currency wallets for back-office and front-office operations. By doing so, brokers will be able to gain more flexibility and control over their operations, as well as provide their customers with a more enjoyable and exciting experience. 

Back-Office API

There has been an extension made to the back-office API so that more user information can be retrieved. Using the API, users can now be identified based on their type (individual or corporate), their phone number, address, as well as their device parameters (IP address of the device,  time zone, operating system, browser, etc.). With this change, organizations will have a better understanding of their clients and will be able to target their marketing efforts more effectively. As well as being useful for customer service and fraud prevention purposes, the new data will serve as a valuable resource. As a result of the increased insight into the behavior of clients, all B2Core users will be able to get a better service.

As part of the team's work, we added methods for the back-office user management, such as creating, updating, and deleting users. As a result, brokers who require the management of their back-office users will have more options and convenience, as well as better control over their user base. Further, by using these methods, it will be able to control the data being stored in the back-office and delete user accounts that aren't needed anymore.

It is now possible to obtain the current exchange rates from the new Rest API by using the new methods provided. In a matter of seconds, you can obtain the rates of multiple currencies using these methods. Users can also make confident and informed financial decisions based on the accurate and reliable information provided by the API.  

In the new REST API update, the KYC methods are a major highlight of the current update. As a result of these methods, B2Core's verification functionality, including front- and back-end functionality, is easier to handle than ever before. In addition to fully customizing verification documents and verification levels, admin users can also control the general verification of end-users using these new KYC methods. 

Front-Office API

Due to API technology, it is now possible for front-office users to create currency wallets according to their needs. A new world of possibilities opens up for these users in terms of how they interact with the platform with the advent of this exciting development. Their funds may now be securely stored and managed by creating wallets for various currencies. Moreover, the API allows users to create multiple wallets per user, giving them a greater level of control over their finances.

Conclusion

This new release of B2Core API v2.1 is a great achievement for the B2Broker team! The team of developers has worked hard to pack in a number of new features and improvements into this update in order to provide clients with an even better experience. B2Broker is dedicated to providing you with the best possible service and will continue enhancing B2Core solutions to meet the demanding requirements of your business.

Starling Bank is to be the official principal partner for Southampton FC Women for the 2022-2023 season. Starting Sunday 30th October with a match against Sunderland AFC Ladies, Starling’s logo will feature on the front of players' shirts.

This sponsorship is a continuation of Starling’s celebration of women’s football, following the bank’s national sponsorship of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, which saw it launch the first fantasy football game for women’s football in the UK and award £23,000 in grants to women’s grassroots teams.

The bank, which has 400 employees in Southampton as well as offices in London and Cardiff, aims to keep the momentum going in women’s football to highlight the glass ceilings that have been smashed for women in sports, technology and banking.

The partnership comes at an exciting time for the club, with its football team now playing in the FA Women's Championship following back-to-back promotions.

Southampton FC is on a mission to encourage more fans to support the women's game and has seen a 120% increase in season ticket sales compared to last season. As part of this drive to grow the women's game, all Southampton FC Women's games will be played at St Mary's Stadium. The team also trains at Staplewood Campus, the same facilities as the men's side, and are now full-time professionals.

The team is managed by Marieanne Spacey-Cale, MBE, an English former international women's footballer. Having played 91 times for England, she is currently Head of Girls and Women's football at Southampton F.C. and head coach of Southampton FC Women.

Marieanne Spacey-Cale, Head coach of Southampton FC Women said: “We’re all delighted to welcome Starling onboard as our Official Principal Partner. This is an exciting time for the team as our first season in the championship. To have the backing and support of Starling, an organisation that’s fully committed to growing the women’s game is really motivating. We look forward to our first match showcasing Starling and beyond as the season goes on.”

As part of the partnership, together Starling and Southampton will also launch an initiative to develop grassroots coaches at local clubs throughout Hampshire to grow the pipeline of female footballing talent.

Jill Scott MBE, former Lioness and ambassador for Starling Bank said: “It’s fantastic to see the investment and passion for women’s football continue. Funding, training and development at the grassroots level are essential to help take the game to the next level.”  

Rachel Kerrone, Brand & Marketing Director at Starling Bank adds: “Sponsoring Southampton Women’s Football Club reinforces Starling’s commitment to  supporting up-and-coming female football players as we try to level the playing field through equal training opportunities and dedicated resources.”

Sarah Batters, Director of Marketing and Partnerships at Southampton FC comments: “It was important for us to find a partner that was prepared to invest in the women's game - going further than just putting a logo on a shirt. From the moment we started conversations with Starling Bank, their commitment to making an impact to the success of the women's game with their sponsorship was clear - and we can't wait to get started. We hope to see a record attendance for this Sunday’s big game against Sunderland where we will showcase Starling Bank on the front of our women's shirt for the very first time.”

Win 4 pairs of tickets with hospitality  
To mark the launch of this partnership, Southampton FC Women will be running a competition to give away four pairs of tickets to the Sunderland game on the 30th of October. The four lucky winners and their plus ones will be able to experience the game in style, with hospitality in a club box. After the match, the winners will also have the chance to meet with some special guests.

The competition will be live from 9 am until 6 pm on Thursday 27th October.

Global retail e-commerce sales are set to reach $8.1T in 2026 and brands will be vying for e-commerce store conversions and growth to capture this revenue opportunity. Helping them to achieve this, retail tech platform mason is today announcing a $7.5M seed round to offer an Amazon-grade store infrastructure storefront to help them sell better and faster without exorbitant Amazon fees. The funding round was led by Accel and Ideaspring Capital with participation from  Lightspeed India Partners as well as Mana VC, Gaingels, Core91 and VH Capital.

mason brings a high-performance Amazon-grade sales engine to a brand’s own store. It reduces the onus on online brands to rely on Amazon and relieves them of the ‘Amazon tax’.

Having spent decades building solutions in Myntra, Flipkart, Walmart, Paytm (an Alibaba company) which help merchants break free from the Amazon model, mason founders Barada Sahu and Kausambi Manjita are bringing their multi-decade experience to power growth for brands & founders.

They met at Myntra - Walmart’s fashion arm in Asia - where they had been building a custom engine to run stores, improve revenue and drive conversions for over 1000+ brands on the Myntra marketplace. The penny dropped when they realised that growth was not a one-size fits all opportunity but that it had to have bespoke store engines that would run online stores to sell

Kausambi Manjita, Co-Founder heading Product & Customer Experience at mason commented: “This changes the game fundamentally on how brands think about their D2C store today. Most brands are left with no option but to sell at marketplaces like Amazon and pay 35c for every dollar simply because running a profitable standalone D2C store is just too hard. With access to their own growth engine like mason, brands can actually transform their D2C storefront into their most profitable channel, getting 50% uplift in their margins from day one. By democratising access to a complex tech stack, from data-driven merchandising, to sales automation, to personalization - the team is helping more entrepreneurs stay independent, become profitable, and not sell out to a Thrasio.”

Barada Sahu, Co-Founder and head of Revenue & Growth added: “Traditionally, only big retail has had the technology muscle to implement complex infrastructure while the rest of the market has been left stitching together fragmented solutions that simply do not work well with each other. mason simplifies this with an all-in-one no-code solution that powers marketers, product managers and founders to upgrade their stores from storytelling to selling from day one. Paying an upfront cost for a large headless implementation or a sophisticated merchandising engine is beyond what most brands can work on. For small and medium businesses an all-in-one solution with a commission-based model is easier to understand.”

Today, mason has over 1,000 customers and powers more than 8,000 brands worldwide with a pay-as-you-grow pricing model. Their customers currently include companies in fashion & apparels, beauty & grooming, health & fitness and food & beverage categories with others such as pets, baby care and home products coming on board too. In just over 2 years since launch, mason has helped global brands make their stores as efficient in sales as Amazon. A typical store improves average order value by 23% in 30 days, improves session time by 17% and improves sell-through by 35% in just 60 days

Subrata Mitra, Partner at Accel commented: “In order to build a truly scalable outcome, the team is on the journey to create a self-serve platform wherein eCommerce brand owners could use it to create, communicate and grow. An upside to this: it allows them to go global.”

Kausambi Manjita remarked: “Commerce is about selling - not storing. The previous generation of commerce has helped brands set up their stores online and have great systems for storing business information. What brands now need is a technology layer that helps convert this information in action. We are building the world’s first commerce-engine. We will be doubling our investment into category specific AI-based playbooks to help brands grow simply.”

Envestnet, Inc., a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness, today announced that it is partnering with FNZ, a leading global wealth platform, to create a fully digital, integrated wealth management experience for the U.S.  market. The integration of Envestnet’s and FNZ’s platforms will allow for real-time account opening and funding along with digitally automated servicing and maintenance capabilities for the full lifecycle of the client account. 

Also, the partnership will enable unique insights and experiences generated by  Envestnet Data & Analytics’ Wealth Data Platform (WDP) to be integrated as part of FNZ’s platform and distributed to FNZ’s global customer base. Leveraging FNZ’s international scale and data sets, Envestnet’s WDP will help enterprises, advisors,  and asset managers more effectively run their businesses with advanced predictive models.  

“At Envestnet, we are focused on enabling financial institutions, enterprises,  advisors and their clients to make well-informed financial decisions. This exciting partnership will advance that mission and enhances our ability to empower advisors to deliver deeper insights to clients. We look forward to working closely with FNZ to provide scaled, streamlined, deeply connected experiences that will deliver greater intelligence and value for all our clients,” said Bill Crager, Co-Founder and CEO of Envestnet.  

“We are very excited about our partnership with Envestnet. Both of our companies have a shared vision to open up wealth, helping everyone invest in their future on their terms,” said Adrian Durham, CEO of FNZ. “The integrated solution will help our partners accelerate innovation and create outstanding client  experiences.”

India’s first listed platform and payments infrastructure company, Infibeam Avenues Limited (“Infibeam” or “The Company” or “IAL”), has received “in-principle” approval from RBI to operate as a Payment Aggregator. Under this provision, the fintech major will get a substantial boost to further expand its reach in multiple business segments for both online and recently launched offline digital transactions. The positive nod from RBI will reiterate Infibeam’s flagship brand CCAvenue’s position as one of India’s most experienced and secured digital payment gateways.

As a leading digital payment player, Infibeam has the highest portfolio of payment options for merchants with over 200 plus multi-currency payment options in India alone with run rate of 4 lakh crore annually across the platform. Given its wide network across industry verticals and quantum of transaction processing volume (TPV), Infibeam's flagship brand CCAvenue is well placed to leverage the new role as a payment aggregator and help bring a greater number of micro-entrepreneurs under the fold of e-commerce.

Mr Vishal Mehta, Managing Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd, said, “It's a vital development as it energises our vision and mission to build India's biggest digital payment infrastructure company. Our flagship payments brand CCAvenue is already one of the top payment gateway brand in India, delivering superior digital products & services to majority of the financial institutions, SMEs, MSMEs and merchants. With regulators entrusting faith in us, we promise to ourselves to make all Indian kiranas and merchants Digital, Credible & Bankable(DCB). As more merchants transact digitally, the more they gain financial credibility and more they will be bankable for banks to offer loans, as this boosts their business and the nation's economy.”

In March 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a framework for payment aggregators in India. Under this framework, payment aggregators are mandated to obtain a license for acquiring merchants and provide them with digital payments acceptance solutions. This was done primarily to ensure the safety of merchants and consumers. Payment aggregator also provides an easy and affordable way of accepting payments to help small business adapt to digital ways in a streamlined manner.

Emphasising the possibilities that a PA licence brings, Mr Vishwas Patel, Executive Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd., said, “Having been a frontrunner in digital payments and led this fintech revolution through innovative payment solutions for the past two decades, we are super excited as we see new possibilities lying ahead with this Payment Aggregator license. CCAvenue, one of the most experienced payment gateway players in the country and known for building several first innovative payment products to date, is honoured to be entrusted with this responsibility. We will ensure more secure digital payment innovations are delivered to serve and help to grow millions of Indian merchants and simultaneously make India a digital nation.”

Since more than a decade, Infibeam Avenues Ltd. has been at the forefront of simplifying digital transactions for business across sectors though innovation and tech adaptation. Company has received RBI approval to act as an Operating Unit under Bharat Bill Pay license and now Payment Aggregator license.  Recently, the Company has launched CCAvenue mobile app, which is among the world’s most advanced omni-channel payment app. The app features India’s first pin-on-glass SoftPoS solution – CCAvenue TapPay for Merchants and Kiranas across the country. Since it is an app, the merchant can download it for free on any Android phone, and convert any Android phone into a payment acceptance terminal without the need for Point of Sale machine. Merchants can accept payments in multiple ways like QR code, link-based payments, as well as Tap-to-Pay, and more. This innovation will help reach out to more number of offline merchants in India’s hinterland, complementing the overall vision of RBI to help small businesses.  Company provides Marketplace software technology to large enterprises and institutions incluing Government eMarketplace (GeM) as well as Jiomart.

Currently, 6.4 million merchants are on Infibeam’s platform (double from last year), which increased at an average 8,000 per day in Q1’23 and could grow significantly due to the mass adoption of digitalization. This merchant base along with the insights we generate from their transactions will help us to monetise on this rich data by offering financial services to merchants.

InComm Payments, a global payments technology company, today announced it has acquired The Card Network (TCN), an Australian-based gift card provider known for its suite of creatively themed, multi-brand gift cards. The acquisition enhances InComm Payments’ ability to create personable gift card products that consumers seek while supporting business growth for its brand and retail partners.

“TCN is a pioneer of the multi-brand gift card category with a proven record of delivering reliable products to both the gift giver and their recipient,” said Adam Brault, Senior Vice President of Financial Services and Asia-Pacific at InComm Payments. “We could not be more excited to welcome TCN’s expertise and creativity to our global team.”

Founded in 2019 by Nick Sims and Richard Hewitt, TCN’s multi-brand gift card products aggregate leading consumer brands onto one card, providing greater flexibility and choice to the recipient. The gift card line includes several offerings based around a creative theme, such as The Active Card, which is redeemable at dozens of sporting apparel retailers, The Home Card, which can be used at a wide range of homeware stores, and many more.

“InComm Payments has been a great partner to TCN, and we couldn’t be happier to be officially joining the family,” said Nick Sims, co-founder of TCN. “Together, InComm Payments and TCN have reinvented the gift card market in Australia, and we look forward to continuing to provide customers and channels with the best product selection in the market.”

TCN’s gift card products are available for purchase online and in-store at many of Australia’s leading retailers. The company also sells gift cards directly through its card.gift website, which enables consumers to purchase personalized gift card packages paired with a customized photo or video messages. In addition to consumer-facing products, TCN serves Australian companies with gift products for incentive, loyalty and rewards programs, as well as business-to-business (B2B) gifting opportunities.

InComm Payments first entered Australia and New Zealand in 2010, introducing international brands to the gift card market that were previously unavailable to consumers in the region. Today, the company delivers end-to-end payment platforms and financial technology solutions supported by a network of more than 525,000 points of retail and online distribution.