Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), a leading corporate and investment bank in Austria and CEE, today announced its agreement with Finsmart Ltd, an international financial technology company that develops digital applications for primary capital markets.

The complete digital deal hub, DealPro, provides RBI’s market participants a unique secure digital platform enabling bookrunners to boost deal execution, transforming the experience for both bookrunners and issuers. It will empower deal teams to add significant value, 24/7 from desktop or mobile. The tool provides secure access to data, live roadshow details, seamless communication, live updates and alerts and a document vault.

Annamaria Branschädel, Deputy Head DCM Corporate, Raiffeisen, said: “We are delighted to be working with Finsmart to deliver a digital solution to debt capital markets issuance. Continuous innovation is critical both to sustain effective client management and to elevate our offer to tomorrow’s issuers”.

Sotiris Manderis, CEO & Founder, Finsmart, said: “Now more than ever debt capital markets professionals must be enabled to manage the entire deal flow in real-time. DealPro has been built with that idea in mind and we are delighted to be working with Raiffeisen to further their efforts in this space. Their cutting-edge approach to adopting new technologies sets a high bar across the banking realm.”

GoCardless, a global leader in bank payment solutions, has launched Protect+, an end-to-end fraud prevention solution that detects fraudulent activity and protects merchants from potential losses through enhanced payer verification, 24/7 fraud monitoring and chargeback challenges. With Protect+, merchants will be able to improve their overall percentage of successful payments, significantly reduce the costs associated with managing payer fraud and protect both their revenue and reputation.

With 46% of UK businesses citing fraud as a ‘top threat’ and 79% saying the current economic conditions motivate them to reduce the amount of revenue they lose due to fraud, the introduction of Protect+ offers an alternative to existing fraud prevention options, which many merchants find frustrating due to high costs (27%), the time required to administer (26%) and poor customer experience (21%).

Protect+, the second ‘payment intelligence’ product from GoCardless, combines data from the billions of transactions processed on its global bank payment network with custom parameters set by merchants to match their risk appetite. Protect+ detects and prevents three types of fraud:

• Identity fraud, when a fraudulent payer uses stolen or purchased bank account details (that may be valid or invalid).
• No intent to pay, when a fraudulent payer uses their own bank account, but has no intention to pay for the goods or services received.
• Unfair chargebacks, when a fraudulent payer uses their own bank account, but submits a chargeback after receiving the service or goods.

The launch of Protect+ comes as UK businesses face a particularly challenging time. 93% of merchants reveal the cost of running their business is higher than it was a year ago and a similar proportion (91%) are actively looking to cut costs. The most popular tactic to improve their financial position over the next six months is to renegotiate more favourable terms with suppliers, with 43% saying it’s “one of the first things” they’d consider. This is followed closely by addressing sources of lost revenue, such as finding ways to increase conversion or reduce revenue lost to fraud (42%).

Duncan Barrigan, Chief Product Officer and Chief Growth Officer at GoCardless, said: “We’re excited to launch Protect+ to help businesses not only weather the current macroeconomic climate, but also put themselves in a stronger position for the future. Protect+ identifies fraudulent payers and stops them in their tracks, protecting a company’s reputation, revenue and the experience for genuine payers. And because Protect+ is built into our global bank payment network, you can manage your payments and protect against fraud, all on one platform.”

Clare Bennett, Product Manager at Capital on Tap, said: “We’ve been closely involved in the development and pilot of Protect+, specifically for chargebacks which is very important to us as a company. So far we’ve been able to dispute 26 charges at a value of £36k, which we would have lost without GoCardless. We believe Protect+ will be a vital part of our payment strategy in the years ahead, helping to ensure we protect our revenue to power our growth."

Protect+ follows the launch earlier this year of another fraud prevention tool, Verified Mandates, which combines the Account Information Services (AIS) capabilities of open banking with direct debit to provide account verification at the point of sign-up.

Protect+ is also the second product in the 'payment intelligence' suite from GoCardless, a set of services which use proprietary machine learning models to optimise the way companies collect and retain their bank payments -- ensuring more successful payments, lower failure rates and less fraud. The first payment intelligence product, Success+, automatically optimises failed payment retries. Since launch, Success+ has helped businesses recover, on average, 70% of payments that initially fail.

Bookkeep Secures $6.6 Million Investment Led by Fin Capital

Bookkeep, the smarter accounting automation platform, announced a $6.6 million seed+ round of funding led by Fin Capital, with participation from existing investors TTV Capital, Argonautic Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Haymaker Ventures, and others. This round brings Bookkeep’s total funding to $10 million, following a $3.3 million seed round in 2021 led by Lerer Hippeau. The new funding will help accountants and businesses of all sizes automate their operations.

Turnkey Secures £2.5M Capital Investment Raise from Maven VCTs

Global technology company, Turnkey Group Ltd. (“Turnkey”), has announced it has secured a £2.5m GBP cash injection from leading private equity firm, Maven Capital Partners (“Maven”), one of the UK’s most active investors in growing businesses. Facilitated by a corporate finance company, Ragnar Capital, the funding will accelerate a five-year growth plan, with the first round released in September 2022 and the second round set to be released in early 2023.

Swiss FinTech vestr Closes Oversubscribed Series A Led by Elevator Ventures

Swiss FinTech vestr provides issuers of Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs) with the first independent software engine to digitize the value chain of active investment products. The platform empowers issuers to scale their AMC business, allowing them to focus on their core competencies. Discretionary investment managers use AMCs as a fast, flexible, and cost-efficient alternative to investment funds.

ChainSafe Raises US$18.75 Million in Series A Funding

ChainSafe Systems, one of the world's top blockchain infrastructure firms, announced that it has secured US$18.75 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round. Round13 led the investment with NGC Ventures, HashKey Capital, Sfermion, Jsquare, and returning investors ConsenSys, Digital Finance Group, and Fenbushi Capital. Khaled Verjee, managing partner of Round13's Digital Asset Fund, joins ChainSafe's board of directors with Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.

Paytrix Secures One of the Largest Pre-seed Investments in Fintech to Enable Online Businesses to Scale Globally

Paytrix, a payments curation platform for global marketplaces, announces that it has secured £5 million of new capital. The investment round was led by Hambro Perks, an international investment firm focused on private investing, alongside investment from Bain Capital Ventures, Fin VC, Better Tomorrow Ventures, The Fintech Fund and a number of notable angel investors. Global firms face complex payment infrastructures, high prices, payment acceptance challenges, and a changing legal framework.

Singapore-based Insurtech bolttech Secures Series B Investment to Continue the Company’s Rapid Global Growth

bolttech, one of the world’s fastest-growing international insurtech companies, announced Tokio Marine, alongside other shareholders, will lead bolttech’s Series B funding round. The investment values bolttech, Singapore’s only homegrown insurtech unicorn, at an up-round valuation of approximately US$1.5 billion, one year after it closed the largest ever Series A funding round for an insurtech.

Passiv Closes $2.2 Million USD Seed Round to Build SnapTrade: A Unified API for Aggregating Trading Accounts

Passiv, the Atlantic Canadian fintech company known for their portfolio management software that caters to retail investors, has closed a $2.2 million USD seed round. This investment followed the company's graduation from Y Combinator, a three-month startup accelerator programme that invested in the company alongside Mistral Venture Partners, Uncorrelated Ventures, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF), East Valley Ventures and other angel investors.

Partnerships 

Computop Adds Open Banking Payments for Merchants with Token

Open banking payments platform, Token, and leading Payment Service Provider (PSP), Computop Paygate, have joined forces to answer the growing demand for Open Banking payments in Europe. Using Token’s Open Banking connectivity and platform, Computop enables account-to-account (A2A) payments for eCommerce merchants, Whitelabel partners and resellers using its Paygate platform.

NatWest Makes Agreements with Three More Payment Providers to Offer VRP

NatWest Group has made agreements with Token, Tink and Yapily to offer Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) as a new and convenient payment option for businesses and consumers. This means NatWest Group now has agreements with six payment providers to offer VRP as a new payment method – after previously making agreements with TrueLayer, GoCardless and Crezco.

Jack Henry and Mastercard Expand Collaboration to Address Financial Fragmentation

Jack Henry announced an expansion of its existing relationship with Mastercard® that will enable credit unions and banks to provide their account holders with the ability to securely see all of their financial accounts – within and outside their primary financial institution – in one place. Together, the companies establish a partnership that makes secure, API-based data-gathering affordable for community and regional financial institutions.

Apto Adds Patriot Bank as Bank Partner

Card issuer and service provider Apto Payments announced the addition of Patriot National Bancorp, Inc., a Connecticut corporation as a new bank partner to help customers bring card products to market with ease and confidence. Patriot is a bank that is committed to supporting purpose-driven, digital-first financial products and will support Apto’s wide range of card use cases, including disbursements, small business cards, corporate expense cards, and more.

Canoe Intelligence Enables VRGL to Streamline Multi-Asset Analysis for Wealth Management Clients

Canoe Intelligence (“Canoe”), the financial technology company powering alternative investment intelligence, announced a new partnership with VRGL, a provider of institutional-grade analytics and automated data extraction to the wealth management industry. This cooperation allows wealth managers to explain their value to prospective and current clients using traditional and alternative investment data and portfolio analytics.

NatWest Group and the Vodeno Group Enter into a Strategic Partnership to Create Banking-as-a-Service Business

NatWest Group plc (“NatWest Group”) has entered into a strategic partnership with the Vodeno Group (comprising of Vodeno Limited and its subsidiaries) which will see the creation of a Banking-as-a-Service (“BaaS”) business in the UK. This cooperation will allow businesses to embed financial services products such as payments, deposits, point-of-sale credit, and merchant cash advances directly in their ecosystem. 

ADSS Partners with Real-time Analytics Leader KX to Accelerate Transformational Growth Strategy

ADSS, the Abu Dhabi and London-based financial services firm, has partnered with leading real-time analytics company KX to increase operational efficiency as it rolls out its transformational growth strategy and offers clients greater access to liquidity and a broader range of financial instruments. ADSS, one of the largest CFD trading platforms in the Middle East, is investing heavily in proprietary data processes and multi-asset trading platforms.

Abymap Teams Up With Nordigen For Direct Access To Client Financial Data

Abymap has partnered with freemium open banking provider Nordigen for direct access to customer bank accounts.  Abymap is a French financial software firm that was launched in 2020 by accountant Agnès Bichon and IT specialist Matthieu Paris. The two experts identified common challenges within existing accounting systems and the lack of clarity that was often present in these solutions.

Tuum Strengthens AML Compliance Offering Through a Partnership with Salv

Tuum, an API-first and modular core banking platform, joins with Salv to combat financial crime. The cooperation adds AML to Tuum's primary banking infrastructure. The cooperation also solves time-to-market and AML compliance issues. Tuum's customers now have access to a rapid, flexible, transparent AML platform with comprehensive monitoring, screening, and risk-scoring solutions.

Zero Hash Partners with Current to Provide Access to No-fee Crypto Trading

Zero Hash, the leading global B2B2C crypto-as-a-service infrastructure provider, announced it has partnered with Current, a leading U.S. financial technology platform, to provide access to no-fee crypto trading for its over four million members. The integration with Zero Hash allows Current members access to buy and sell dozens of crypto assets without trading fees, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, in the Current app.

Currencycloud Becomes Preferred FX Provider for Integrated Finance

Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has become a preferred FX partner for Integrated Finance, the London-based Fintech infrastructure platform that helps businesses build, expand and manage the financial infrastructure, delivering easily integrate FX products for existing payment platforms. Integrated Finance helps Fintechs begin and develop their business by providing basic banking products and a marketplace of pre-built connectors via a single API.

Nexi and Illimity: A New Partnership to Support Italian SMEs

Nexi, the European PayTech, and Illimity Bank S.p.A. (“Illimity” or the “Bank”), a high-tech Banking Group, announce a new partnership to support Italian SMEs: b-ilty, Illimity's digital store for SMEs, adds Nexi's digital collection solutions. Italian SMEs can rent or buy Nexi's collection goods and services through the b-ilty platform, allowing them to accept any method of payment in a straightforward, rapid, and secure manner.

Wio Bank Announces Partnership with Stripe

Wio Bank PJSC, the region’s first platform bank, has announced a partnership with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, which will enable SMEs in the UAE to access the power of e-commerce faster and more easily and conveniently. Wio Business, the first digital banking software from Wio, will let SMEs and freelancers get into e-commerce faster with an easy-to-create Stripe account.

Launches 

In Response to Spiking Insurance Rates, Marble Launches Rate Watch

Marble, the free platform that makes it easy and rewarding to take control of all your insurance in one place, announced the launch of its new Rate Watch feature. Marble members can be alerted if their insurance carrier files for a rate hike in their state. This service gives Marble members professional-grade insights into their insurance costs, a first for the industry as Americans face practically unprecedented rate increases, especially for personal auto policies.

Planet Introduces its New Online Payment Gateway

Planet, a global technology leader providing integrated software and payment services, announced the launch of a new Online Payment Gateway as part of its connected commerce platform. The new Online Payment Gateway fully integrates the specialist digital payment capabilities of Datatrans, which Planet acquired in November 2021, with its global connected commerce platform.

TransUnion Launches New Eligibility for Retail E-commerce Solution

TransUnion, a global information and insights company, has unveiled its new Eligibility for Retail E-commerce solution that offers retailers a view of customer eligibility prior to starting the credit checking process. This solution intends to equip retail businesses to make smarter and more robust decisions as consumers change their spending habits due to current cost of living pressures.

Signifyd Launches Fearless Payments, a New Optimization Solution to Propel the Digital Transformation of Payment

Signifyd, the leading digital commerce protection provider, launched Fearless Payments for payment providers, a suite of innovative solutions that empowers payment service providers (PSPs) to significantly increase authorization rates while lowering their operating costs and providing their customers with a full financial guarantee against all types of chargebacks.

Plaid Unveils ‘Wallet Onboard’ Tool, Promises Crypto Product Push

Plaid is bringing new technology and experience to web3 through Wallet Onboard, a safe and easy way for developers to onboard their consumers through a seamless wallet-linking experience. Wallet Onboard enables developers to connect to more than 300 self-custody crypto wallets through a single integration. Wallet Onboard is built on top of Plaid Link, a familiar and trusted user interface used by almost one in four Americans today.

Brazil's Nubank to Introduce Cryptocurrency as Part of Rewards Pro

Brazilian digital banking behemoth Nubank is developing its own cryptocurrency, called Nucoin, for its millions of customers. The Nucoin token will be the basis for a rewards programme when it launches next year, distributed for free to the bank's 70 million customers for discounts and other perks. However, Nubank says that in the future it also wants to see Nucoins traded in the crypto market.

Fenergo Launches Perpetual KYC Offering

Fenergo, the leading provider of digital solutions for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Client Lifecycle Management (CLM), has launched a new perpetual KYC solution to enable financial institutions to streamline periodic KYC review processes and reduce costs through automation. Fenergo Smart Review automates KYC compliance monitoring by spotting changes to entity data, transactions, and AML screening.

PPRO’s New Orchestration Layer Enables Customers to Deploy, Control and Scale Hundreds of Payment Services Through One Connection

PPRO, the leading provider of digital payments infrastructure, has completed the rollout of its new, no-code service orchestration layer, uniting hundreds of payment, acquiring, and risk products from dozens of providers - all of which can be deployed and scaled through one connection. PPRO's orchestration layer helps businesses launch new products and tools faster, replace outdated systems more simply, and eliminate costly RFP processes and single-provider dependencies. 

Cloud Processing Powerhouse Enfuce Launches Real-time Card Spending Control Tool

Enfuce, the pioneering issuer processing powerhouse, has announced the launch of its dynamic spend management tool Authorisation Control, which empowers companies of any size, in any sector, to set transaction and spending controls for any card in real-time. Authorisation Govern enables card providers unequalled flexibility to define sophisticated criteria for approving and refusing transactions in real-time and to control how, where, and when cards can be used.

Sun Finance Launches BNPL Product

One of Europe’s most rapidly growing fintech companies, Sun Finance, is expanding its product range with BNPL (buy-now-pay-later). The first market in which this new product is being launched in Latvia, where the company’s headquarters are located. Sun Finance works in seven countries and has 9 million registered consumers who employ instalment loans, lines of credit, and microloans. Sun Finance now offers BNPL.

GBG Launches GO-no-code Onboarding for Optimised Customer Experience

GBG, the global expert in digital identity, launched GBG GO, its third-generation simple, cloud-hosted solution that enables businesses of all sizes to verify the identity of new customers. GO provides ready-to-go customer journey templates, an easy, drag-and-drop journey builder, and a smooth UI editor with a built-in customer consent check, enabling organisations to go to market in minutes, not days.

Cion Digital Launches Wealth Advisor Lending Platform

Cion Digital, developers of the first enterprise SaaS blockchain orchestration and payments platform, announced the company is expanding their operations to offer its suite of services to a broader portion of the financial services and retail sectors. Through this expansion, Cion Digital will support traditional asset and securities-backed financial products in addition to crypto assets through their lending platform.

B2B Marketplace Solv Launches in Kenya to Unlock MSMEs’ Growth Potential

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya will now be able to access working capital financing and a wide range of other business solutions following the launch of Solv in Kenya. The full-stack platform claims to benefit businesses by offering access to new markets in Kenya and resolving critical operational difficulties. Solv is backed by Standard Chartered's fintech, innovation, and enterprises arm, SC Ventures.

Revolut Challenger Atlantic Money Launches in Ireland

New international money transfer provider, Atlantic Money, announces its official launch in Ireland, continuing its expansion in Europe after Belgium and Germany. For the first time, Irish consumers can transfer up to €100,000 internationally for €3 at the current exchange rate. Atlantic Money's iOS app offers low-cost transfers. The company, co-founded by two early Robinhood workers, undercuts PayPal, Revolut, and Wise.

ION Launches XTP Spark to Simplify Post-trade Processing

ION, a global leader in trading, analytics, treasury, and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, launched XTP Spark, a turn-key trade processing solution for Cleared Derivatives. XTP Spark is ION's quick-to-deploy, easy-to-use XTP solution. It's suitable for banks and brokers, commodity trading organisations, or specialist clearers starting their digitalization journey and needing rapid, accurate back-office capability that meets client, regulatory, and exchange standards.

Nutanix Launches Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Microsoft Azure

Nutanix has announced  the general availability of Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Microsoft Azure, extending its hybrid cloud environment to Microsoft Azure dedicated bare metal nodes.  NC2 on Azure enables seamless hyperconverged infrastructure and unified administration to speed hybrid cloud adoption. NC2 on Azure allows users to install and manage workloads under their own Azure account and VNet, simplifying and ensuring consistency across Azure and on-premises.

Merger & Acquisition

Moneff Has Acquired Financial Lifestyle App, StormPay

Moneff announced that Moneff has formally acquired the financial lifestyle app, StormPay. Founded in 2020 by Otabek Nuritdinov and Aziz Makhmudov, StormPay was developed specifically for businesses and consumers to better manage their money, grow their assets, and improve their well-being through financial health.Through its ecosystem of fintech services, StormPay provides a tailored solution to users’ needs and financial goals.

Job Moves

Atom Announces the Appointment of Andrew Marshall as CFO

Atom bank announced the appointment of Andrew Marshall as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Atom co-founder David McCarthy. Andrew has worked with Atom for six years as a Group Financial Controller, Deputy CFO, and Director of Corporate Finance.Prior to Atom, he worked at Barclays and EY. Andrew was involved in Atom's first securitization issue, capital raises, and Banking Competition Remedies bid.

Chargebacks911 Appoints Industry Veteran Pel Faquiryan as Chief Growth Officer

Chargebacks911, the leading dispute technology specialist that powers chargeback remediation for the largest global eCommerce businesses as well as the world's financial institutions has appointed long-time finance leader Pelwasha ‘Pel’ Faquiryan as its Chief Growth Officer, responsible for the delivery of superior, personalized customer experiences and measurable business results.

Marika Fredriksson Appointed to Saxo Bank’s Board of Directors

At the extraordinary general meeting of Saxo Bank, Marika Frederiksson was elected to the Board of Directors.Previously, Frederiksson served as CFO and Group Executive Vice President of Vestas Wind Systems A/S, a global leader in sustainable energy solutions. She has also held various leadership positions including CFO of Gambro AB, CFO of Autoliv Inc., CFO and Senior Vice President Finance and Strategy at Volvo Construction Equipment International AB.

Vance Sherard Promoted to Vice President of Investor Relations

Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. announced the promotion of Vance Sherard, who leads Investor Relations, to vice president. Sherard has been with Jack Henry for 25 years and has led Investor Relations since 2015. His additional roles at Jack Henry include experience in sales, corporate development and finance. Sherard is a CFA charterholder. He obtained a BBA from Missouri-Columbia and an MBA in Finance from Rollins College. 

Flutterwave Appoints Marshall Lux, Former Chief Risk Officer at JPMorgan Chase, as Senior Advisor

Flutterwave, Africa's leading payments technology company, announced the appointment of Marshall Lux, former JP Morgan Chase Chief Risk Officer of all consumer products, BCG and McKinsey Senior Partner, as Senior Advisor. He has extensive experience in model building, stress testing, portfolio management and optimization, line setting and increases, fraud, regulation, cyber, operations risk, and the like.

LPA Appoints Matthias Schulz as Chief Technology Officer

LPA, the financial markets software and advisory firm, announced that it had appointed Matthias Schulz as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to oversee the development of LPA’s technology stack and support clients along their digital transformation journeys. Matthias joins LPA with a wealth of experience, ranging from ITERGO to Solera, Ingenico and ING.

Coinbase Hires Fintech Executive to Lead European Expansion

Crypto exchange Coinbase has raided German digital assets firm Solaris to appoint its chief operating officer Daniel Seifert as regional managing director for Europe. The new appointee will be expected to lead Coinbase's expansion in the European crypto market. In a statement reported by Bloomberg, Coinbase said it would fill a number of core positions within its European team. The crypto exchange has already secured licences to operate in Italy and the Netherlands.

JPMorgan Names Kalyan as Head of Payments for Asia Pacific

Madhav Kalyan has been appointed as head of Asia Pacific payments for JP Morgan as part of a reshuffle of the bank's senior management in the region. Based in Mumbai, he succeeds Sridhar Kanthadai who will remain with the firm as the newly appointed co-head of global payment rails and payment VAS. Kalyan joined JP Morgan in 2009 as head of corporate banking for India and became a senior country officer for India in early 2021.

Paystand, the leader in blockchain-enabled B2B payments, today announced that businesses can have access to their revenue the next business day, and at zero cost by using the Paystand Network and the DeFi Corporate Card. 

Irrespective of market conditions, businesses want faster access to their funds. In today's market characterized by rising inflation, volatility, and early signs of slowdown in important economic sectors - housing, construction, and industries sensitive to interest rates - it is especially crucial for businesses to have nearer-term visibility into and access to their cash flows. 

For most commercial enterprises serving other businesses, it can take 45-90 business days for a business payer to complete payment. Merchants then must wait anywhere from 2-14 business days beyond that to gain access to their funds and pay transaction fees of 3% or more, depending on the payment methods their customers used. 

In response to these conditions and utilizing its unique, defi-based B2B payment network, Paystand is able to deliver functionality that gives businesses access to their revenue the next day at zero fees. 

The Paystand functionality works through its recently launched, full-featured DeFi Corporate Card Account, which every Paystand AR customer will automatically receive. The Card enables customers to receive and manage their cash with the least amount of friction; using their cash quickly to make AP and vendor payments. Finance teams can select which payments go to the DeFi Card, and then can create unlimited, prepaid virtual and physical cards with custom spend controls.  

"This is a tremendous breakthrough for the industry. Never before have merchants been able to receive their revenue automatically, at zero cost, and then be able to use it the next day," said Jeremy Almond, Founder and CEO, Paystand. "We have delivered A/R automation at massive scale - processing more than $5 billion in revenue payments for our merchants. Today, the DeFi Card allows merchants to use those revenue payments next banking day with next-gen spend management tools."

In addition to speeding up time-to-cash, the new DeFi Card payment process allows merchants to encourage better spending behaviour among their teams, and streamline their online vendor payments. Here is how it works:

• When a business pays a Paystand merchant using the Bank Network payment method, the merchant is notified the next day that the funds are available 
• The merchant can decide to transfer a portion or the full amount of those funds to their DeFi Card, making the funds instantly available 
• They can create virtual and physical cards that draw on those funds and use them wherever Visa is accepted

This unique DeFi Corporate Card also offers precise spend controls, real-time visibility into expenses, and 1% back in bitcoin on every transaction. 

For those attending Money20/20 2022, which is being held in Las Vegas from October 23-26, Paystand's payment experts will be available to showcase how DeFi Corporate Card can help finance team leaders gain faster access to cash and get their company's spend under control. Please come see us at booth 4716. 

Paylink Solutions has entered into an exciting new partnership with benefits digital solution provider, Inbest, to deliver precise information to customers about benefits and social funding.

Over 8 million households in the UK are currently missing out on benefits worth £16bn. The most common reason for this is that people are either unaware of the benefits they’re entitled to – or they assume they’re not eligible.

This partnership means that every single customer completing a budget through Paylink’s Embark software will automatically know what they’re entitled to when it comes to benefits, grants, and social funding, and they can access all the information they need, simply, in one place.

As funding is regularly changing and new initiatives to support the cost of living are being introduced, Inbest accesses the latest information to ensure an accurate reflection of eligibility is always provided.

The benefit amount will automatically update within Embark, with both the customer and the agent able to see the benefit figure. This, of course, is subject to the client wanting the agent as well as the customer to see the figure.

For Paylink clients, who make up some of the UK’s leading financial services organisations, the new integration will fit seamlessly into existing digital journeys, significantly improving customer outcomes, and providing a great tool for agents to help their customers, particularly those who are vulnerable.

“Benefit applications are overly complex and require vulnerable customers to search for financial information in their bank statements,” said Paylink Solutions CEO Susan Rann.

“Through our new partnership with Inbest, we’ll take the pain away from this process, ensuring the most up-to-date information is being provided to our clients and their customers to create the best possible financial outcomes.  We’re absolutely committed to improving the financial well-being and resilience of UK households.

“The timing has never been more crucial as we continue to face a cost-of-living crisis and rising interest rates.”

Atom bank has today announced the appointment of Andrew Marshall as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing Atom co-founder David McCarthy.

Andrew has been working at Atom for over six years, holding the positions of Group Financial Controller, Deputy CFO and Director of Corporate Finance during that time. Prior to Atom, he worked at Barclays and EY.

Andrew has been involved with some key milestones at Atom, including the inaugural securitisation issuance, previous capital raises, and the successful Banking Competition Remedies bid.

Andrew replaces long-standing CFO David McCarthy, who co-founded Atom in 2014 and is leaving for personal reasons. The move represents the next stage of Atom’s development as a business, and follows the recent appointments of Andy Sturrock and Rebecca Cartwright to the roles of Chief Technology Officer and Chief Risk Officer respectively.

In his new role, Andrew will focus on ensuring Atom continues on its journey towards long-term profitability while preparing the bank for a large capital event in the future.

Andrew Marshall, CFO at Atom, said: “I am incredibly proud and excited to take this opportunity and to join the Atom board.  We have built the foundations of a great business and I will now focus on accelerating our profitable growth for the benefit of all our stakeholders. In such a volatile period, our mission to make the experience of borrowing and saving simpler, faster and better value is more important than ever.

“On a personal note, as someone who grew up in the North East of England, I share Atom’s passion for developing local talent and offering learning opportunities from our hub in Durham.”

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at Atom, said: “David has been instrumental in making Atom what it is today. This is his company as much as it will ever belong to anybody and I want to thank him for his fantastic contribution over the last eight years.

“Andrew is an extremely talented member of our team and his appointment is part of the next phase in Atom’s journey. In recent months we’ve made other changes to re-energise the senior team as we continue to evolve our business. All companies must transition from being ‘start-ups’ to ‘started-ups’ and Atom is well along that road.”

Open banking payments platform, Token, and leading Payment Service Provider (PSP), Computop Paygate, have joined forces to answer the growing demand for Open Banking payments in Europe. Using Token’s Open Banking connectivity and platform, Computop enables account-to-account (A2A) payments for eCommerce merchants, Whitelabel partners and resellers using its Paygate platform.

Token is the Open Banking enabler for the payments industry. It offers the broadest out-of-the-box Open Banking connectivity in the UK and Europe, providing the fastest and simplest way for payment service providers, gateways and acquirers to launch and manage A2A payment propositions. Computop is a global payments company and the leading payment service provider in Germany with a 38% market share and customers across Europe, the UK, China and USA. The Paygate platform enables integrated payment processes for eCommerce merchants, features over 350 payment types from all over the world, and transfers payments totalling a value of $36 billion last year.

Computop’s new Open Banking payments service, which is already being used by a major tier-one bank, is empowering merchants to respond to the growing appetite for a fast and convenient alternative to card payments. Juniper Research predicts Open Banking payments will exceed $116 billion in 2026, and a study by Token has illustrated growing consumer appetite is driving this uptake in Europe. In Germany alone, 85% of consumers said they would likely use A2A payment methods in the future, meaning PSPs and merchants must act now to ready themselves for future demand.

“Computop has always been a pioneer in eCommerce payments. For over 25 years, we have provided omnichannel payment solutions that empower merchants to meet the different payment preferences of customers worldwide,” comments Computop CEO, Stephan Kück. “With Open Banking now an industry mega trend, and adoption of A2A payments accelerating, Token’s technology is a valuable addition to our platform.”

“Open Banking payments are an opportunity for merchants to reduce their dependence on cards. They are processed instantly, providing a clearer view of funds, eliminating the risk of chargebacks and can reach anyone with a bank account across a significant proportion of the world,” comments Todd Clyde, CEO of Token. “With Token’s Open Banking platform, PSPs can also streamline customer onboarding, provide a seamless and secure checkout experience, and enable personalised loyalty reward programmes.”

Today, the Token platform covers 14 UK and EU countries representing 250 million potential end-users of Open Banking services. The company is processing millions of Open Banking payments annually for the UK and Europe’s payment service providers (PSPs), gateways, banks and large merchants.

“Computop already has 38% of the market share in Germany and our global customer base is growing rapidly. At peak times, we are handling up to five million ecommerce transactions per day,” adds Kück. “As our Open Banking partner, Token will enable us to scale our A2A capabilities to expand the benefits of Open Banking payments to more merchants.”

“Token is committed to helping PSPs like Computop lower costs, drive revenue and reinvent financial experiences,” adds Clyde. “Open Banking payments are fast becoming a mainstream payment method. We look forward to working with Computop to ensure the Paygate platform continues to drive the future of payments forward as the Open Banking landscape evolves.”

The Juniper Future Digital Awards have awarded Token the prestigious Open Banking Innovation Platinum Award. Customers can plug and play, Whitelabel or use Token’s award-winning Open Banking platform to launch and manage their own A2A payment capabilities.

• The top 10 were searched for 1.7 million times on average between them, and average a ‘Fintech Score’ of 6.95 - taking into account all the variables included in the study.

• The fintech company with the highest valuation is FTX; the Bahamian cryptocurrency firm is the only contender outside the US to feature in the top 10. The company is currently valued at a whopping £28.2 billion, with funding at £1.6 billion.

• Chime is the most influential company in the fintech market in 2022, returning a score of 7.22 out of 10 in our index. The personal finance giant ranks second for funding (£2 billion) and latest valuation (£22 billion), behind Stripe and FTX respectively. 

• Between the 50 fintech giants included in the study, an average Fintech score of 4.99 was awarded, with overall funding for the industry leaders standing at over £25 billion.

• Trading in NFTs increased by 21,000% in 2021, and OpenSea - the world’s largest NFT marketplace - ranked second in the study. They boast the most twitter followers (1.8 million), as well as receiving 2,889,600 Google searches in the last 12 months. 

The Open Banking Expo UK kicked off yesterday (20^th October) at the Business Design Centre in London. Over 650 industry experts and enthusiasts gathered to hear over 100 key speakers across 9 stages throughout the day.

Ola Atose, CEO and Founder of KoinKoin, a digital assets exchange platform dedicated to creating a ‘bordeless Africa, was one such speaker who took to the ‘Meet the CEO’ stage mid-afternoon, where he was interviewed on the journey of the company to date, and the market opportunity for an Africa-focussed cryptocurrency firm.

During the interview talk, Ola Atose, Founder of KoinKoin, commented:

“Funding for Africa-focussed cryptocurrency firms grew by 11 times year-over-year from the first quarter of 2021 to 2022 – a total of 304 million US dollars – so clearly there is significant appetite for access to digital assets across the continent. This is because cryptocurrency solves key real world problems relating to remittance and access to assets that store value, and enable firms to hedge against local fiat currency risk.

“Therefore, bringing innovative financial solutions that solve real world issues is a key market demand that must be tapped in to. It is also important to provide education in this space, so that key African businesses, particularly SMEs, are aware of the support and financial solutions available to them through digital currencies.

“In fact we have noticed that a majority of firms have cross-border payment issues in Africa, which keeps them from moving as fast they would like. Access to Stablecoins, such as USDT, also helps to significantly widen a means of trade amongst Africa’s 55 countries, whilst simultaneously boosting their balance sheets, and enabling them to pay local and international invoices in a lightning fast manner.”