• 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.”

Under the sponsorship of the Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT); the Kuwait Digital Transformation Conference takes place from the 2nd to the 3rd of November 2022, which aims to provide a national platform for Kuwait’s digitalization stakeholders and ICT experts, game changers, and leading international solution providers and consultants to discuss the latest plans and innovations in the country’s digital transformation journey, global best practices, and innovative solutions to overcome challenges faced in achieving a successful and secure digitalization.

With the participation of more than 250 IT executives and specialists, the two-day high-level international conference is set to address key advances and pressing challenges in Kuwait’s digital transformation journey through a series of insightful presentations and panel discussions from some of Kuwait’s industry leaders.

Working to consolidate public and private sector efforts to achieve the "Kuwait Vision 2035", there is a rise in investment in Kuwait’s ICT market which is expected to reach 10B USD by 2024 (Global Data). With access to accurate data, easier and timely communication, efficient services, and informed decision-making, digitalization can transform how governments and companies run their operations and services.

Haya Alwadani, Director General, Kuwait's Central Agency for Information Technology (CAIT) said, "Kuwait's Central Agency for Information Technology assumes many responsibilities; most notably, overseeing all IT projects and the mechanisms for pushing forward their development within the government sector, in addition to implementing and activating the e-government project across all government agencies, as well as managing the official electronic portal for the state of Kuwait. With a view to formulating a strategic framework for Kuwait's digital transformation that keeps pace with the progress of digital transformation globally."

"Conferences like Digital Transformation Kuwait give great insights into realities and challenges, which positively reflects on improving the delivery of digital government services and contributes to the upgrading their levels, in order to enhance the efficiency of government performance. CAIT also plays a key role in enabling government entities to migrate to the cloud, powering the country’s digital transformation through training IT talent within the public sector, noting that the training component is one of the main tasks that CAIT undertakes through developing Integrated training programs, which enhances the skills of national competencies and supports building a balanced digital culture associated with sustainability in its mechanisms." She added. 

Ooredoo business, the trusted technology partner for business solutions will participate in the “Digital Transformation Kuwait Conference” as a headline sponsor. On this occasion, Essa Al-Moosa, Executive Director of Business and Consumer Sales at Ooredoo Kuwait in a statement said “This sponsorship comes with Ooredoo’s strategy of being a leader in digital transformation. At Ooredoo, we aspire to continuously create products and services to enrich the digital transformation journey of our customers. Our efforts go in line with Kuwait’s 2035 vision “New Kuwait” which aims at strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure and achieving digital transformation.

Al- Moosa added, “We continuously aim to enrich people’s digital lives and keep them connected in this Digital era through the latest connectivity and security innovative solutions that provide businesses with more opportunities to accelerate the digitalization process of their business with the highest levels of security and the latest technologies through the cloud and cyber security services. Ooredoo business will continue to provide the best distinguished digital services for companies to enrich their digital lives and enable them to keep pace with the acceleration occurring in digital transformation.

Badih Hakim, SAP Managing Director for Kuwait, said, “SAP’s role as Government Digital Transformation Partner for this conference is aligned with our commitment to support Kuwaiti organizations to become intelligent enterprises that consistently apply advanced technologies within agile, integrated business processes. The conference enables us to highlight SAP’s comprehensive range of digital solutions that address the main challenges businesses face today, namely, building resilient supply chains, creating sustainable enterprises, and transforming in the cloud. Cloud transformation is particularly important in Kuwait as, in line with Vision 2025, businesses are increasingly keen to embrace cloud solutions at speed. RISE with SAP enables them to accelerate their journey, regardless of size or starting point.”

Supporting government digital transformation initiatives, the conference's key themes will highlight updates on Kuwait 2035 Vision and national digital transformation plan, driving the country’s plan to transform into a digital society and economy, driving government performance through digital transformation, building a robust cyber security infrastructure to prevent attacks and protect digital assets.

Themes also include Digital transformation in the banking and financial sector, adopting advanced analytics to improve decision-making, utilizing cloud computing to improve storage capacity and efficiency, improving healthcare through e-health and remote healthcare services and building Kuwait’s national digital capacity and ICT skills.

The event will be attended by experts working in areas of Information Technology, Digital and e-Transformation, Technology Innovation, Digital Research and Development, Smart and e-Services, Data Management and Analysis, Data Science, Cloud and Data Storage, New Technologies, HR & Shared Services, Operations, Customer Experience and Service Excellence and Quality.

The conference will have high-profile attendees from different sectors including Ministries and Government Authorities, National Cyber Security Centers, Banking and Finance, Oil and Gas, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Telecom and Aviation and enhanced networking opportunities with stakeholders.

More than 25 experts from several ministries and industries will brainstorm new ideas and discuss the roadmap for the future of digital transformation of the country to over 250 attendees at the conference.

This event is bringing experts together with digital solution providers to discuss the latest developments and best practices for digital transformation to improve operational efficiency. It will help industries involved to get access to key digital transformation stakeholders of ongoing and upcoming projects in Kuwait and get insights into their plans to invest in new technologies and spot opportunities.

Planet, a global technology leader providing integrated software and payment services, has today announced it is connecting payments with the HotSoft Property Management System (PMS) and Volante’s Food & Beverage (F&B) Point of Sale (POS). This will deliver an enhanced connected commerce experience for hoteliers, all through a cost-efficient single-technology partnership.

The European hotel industry is continuing to gain momentum with Planet’s most recent Intelligence Report showing that European hotel payments are now moving ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

The pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of the hotel industry and consumer expectations are greater than ever. Hoteliers are looking for more ways to wow their guests and are keen to offer a more consistent, personalised, and enjoyable experience.

Planet’s move empowers hoteliers to deliver a truly connected experience for their guests by embedding payments with HotSoft PMS and Volante’s F&B software. This makes for a smoother transition throughout their guests’ stay, from booking to check-in, bar, restaurant and check-out. It means that hoteliers can effortlessly deliver an enhanced level of service across all touchpoints, whether guests choose to pay at the counter or book services to their rooms.

Thanks to the single technology partnership offered by Planet, hoteliers no longer need to communicate with multiple suppliers or manage numerous contracts. At the same time, it relieves the operational and accounting burden with more efficient payment reconciliation across the front office and F&B, lowering error rates and providing access to all KPIs through a single system. Planet’s solution also helps hoteliers ease the pressure on their busy staff by automating time-consuming administration tasks, meaning that staff can reallocate their time to improve the guest experience.

HotSoft PMS’ all-in-one dashboard allows hoteliers to benchmark their hotel’s performance against the market averages. It also forecasts bookings based on industry trends and manages all their daily hotel operations easily, giving hoteliers control of the booking process as well as the guest journey. It implements an end-to-end mobile guest journey including online reservation, mobile check-in, and check-out as well as mobile room keys.

Volante’s F&B POS solution helps hoteliers to streamline all points of sale. The integration of payments helps hotels pick up on-site revenue by making it easy for customers to pay where and when they want. In addition, it generates insights and data on all transactions, stock management and hotel operations to provide hoteliers with a full-picture view of all transactions across a resort.

The move is part of Planet’s busy product and technology innovation agenda, aimed at further strengthening its leadership position in the European hospitality sector.

Discussing the announcement, Tim Goodwin, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Planet, said, “Our connected commerce hospitality platform is designed to bring together previously fragmented systems. This removes friction for guests, ensuring they have a more enjoyable stay while freeing-up time for hotel staff which helps hoteliers overcome some of the staffing challenges they’re facing.

“Connecting payments with PMS and F&B POS enables hoteliers to make decisions rooted in data – quickly and efficiently. We’re giving hotels the tools to deliver an excellent experience for guests, all through a single partnership. Real time access to customer spending preferences, performance and forecasting data is game-changing for hoteliers and their employees.”

Planet completed the acquisition of Hoist including their PMS: HotSoft in December 2021, with the aim to extend its reach in the hotel industry.

BNY Mellon, in collaboration with Aite-Novarica Group, today released a report finding that financial institutions (FIs) servicing business clients are being disintermediated by fintech payment providers. But it also found that banks are slowing the trend by partnering with larger banks that have already built connections to fintechs.

The report – The Forces Disrupting Payments – showed that banks, community banks and credit unions continue to be at risk of disintermediation – when businesses circumvent their banks by engaging directly with fintechs – with only a third of businesses surveyed believing their FIs fully understand their payment needs. In fact, 62% of the business respondents said they are already working with a fintech provider.

Overall, however, businesses said that they would rather partner with another bank than have to seek third-party fintech providers. Smaller banks, in particular, are finding it beneficial to partner with larger FIs that have already vetted and validated the numerous fintech payment options available.

"Banks need to solve for points of friction as their business customers show a greater expectation for robust, real-time capabilities," says Isabel Schmidt, Co-Head of Global Payments at BNY Mellon. "Our experience is that clients who partner with financial institutions that are connected to fintechs and their capabilities stand a greater chance of success."

"The threat of disintermediation is the impetus for a lot of innovation among banks as they collaborate with fintechs on new ways to drive growth," says Erika Baumann, author of the report at Aite-Novarica Group. "This leads to a market opportunity for fintechs, as well as FIs that have reacted to market demand by developing robust services to fill the biggest gaps in their payment strategies."

The report also reveals that 87% of businesses have made significant or somewhat significant investments in improving their own organization's payment technology or processes. Despite this, those still planning to make an investment is still very high (88%), presenting an abundance of market opportunities for fintechs and FIs who, together, come to market with effective, comprehensive payment services that can cater to a spectrum of client needs.

The findings of the report – produced in collaboration with Aite – are based on feedback from a survey of 790 employees of midsized and large organizations in seven North American and European countries.

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.

NatWest Group will also be piloting VRP through Payit™ – its open banking payments proposition – by offering VRP as a payment option for NatWest Rapid Cash customers.

NatWest Group is the first UK bank to go beyond the requirement for banks to provide VRP for sweeping – the automatic transfer of money between two accounts belonging to the same person.

The bank is going further by offering VRP as a new and convenient payment option for businesses and consumers – complementing existing payment options such as Direct Debits and online card payments.NatWest Group’s VRP offering enables payment providers to give businesses a new option for managing customer payments for a range of services, including utility bills, subscriptions and charitable donations.

It offers a smarter payment experience for consumers, enabling them to easily set up regular payments through their bank app, create maximum payment limits or cancel them altogether – all with the tap of a button.

Customers will be able to enjoy a smoother buying experience, with real-time notifications, and will be able to see all their payments in one place.

VRP offers a smarter experience for merchants, too, as they let merchants collect customer payments faster, in near-real time.

And, because VRPs are set up digitally, there’s no paperwork involved, saving time and reducing the risk of fraud and manual error.

Daniel Globerson, Head of Bank of APIs at NatWest Group, commented: “As a relationship bank for a digital world, we’re committed to offering innovative and convenient payment methods to businesses and consumers. VRP brings greater simplicity, control and flexibility to payments. It’s fast, cost-efficient and uses the very latest in bank API technology.”

NatWest Group previously announced that the first non-sweeping VRP payments were made earlier this year by NatWest customers to Charity Right, an international charity that provides children with nutritious daily school meals, and to Pink Chilli, a lettings software provider.

Now, by teaming up with Token, NatWest Group will be able to unlock a wider range of use cases for VRP. What’s more, by collaborating with Tink – a Visa-owned payments platform – NatWest Group will bring the speed and transparency of VRP to a range of use cases, starting with bill payments. And, by working with open banking infrastructure platform Yapily, NatWest Group will soon be offering VRP to merchant customers of Volume – a one-click checkout payments platform – such as NerdApp.          

Todd Clyde, CEO, Token, added: “This is a massive development for Token, and for the future of payments. We’re delighted to be working with NatWest Group to unlock the full potential of VRP and look forward to engaging with more industry players. If financial institutions and fintechs work together, we have a tremendous opportunity to create a balanced, practical approach that will deliver on the promise for VRP to enhance consumers’ and businesses’ financial lives. Get it right, and VRP will ignite explosive growth for Open Banking-enabled account-to-account (A2A) payments. I think 2023 will be a very exciting year.”

Tom Pope, Head of Payments and Platforms at Tink, said: “At Tink we’ve been optimistic about the potential of VRPs to change the face of online payments for a long time, but to fulfil VRP’s market-changing potential, we need to go beyond sweeping, and enable commercial VRPs, as a better alternative to Direct Debits. We are proud to be working with NatWest in pioneering VRP for the UK market.”     

Stefano Vaccino, Founder and CEO, Yapily, said: “VRP is the evolution of Direct Debit and card-on-file payments, where the movement of money is quick, cheap, and reliable. With NatWest, we are unlocking new and exciting open banking use cases for our customers, helping to build a healthy payments landscape that works for everyone. NatWest is paving the way in open banking partnerships and we look forward to enabling the wider ecosystem to be a part of this innovation.”

Kristiane Mandraki, director of marketing and business development at Austin-based Praxent and head of conference partnerships for the Women in Fintech group, will speak on a panel focused on building a network at Money20/20 as part of RiseUp, a program for female leaders. The panel will be held Sunday, October 23rd at 10:15 a.m. PT in the Do Better Venetian Ballroom. 

Other panelists include Wendy Holliday, CEO of PayTech Women, Keily Blair, chief strategy & operations officer of OnlyFans, and Fazir Ali, domain information officer, experience design of Toyota Financial Services. 

“Building a solid, inclusive community goes a long way in helping you grow professionally as well as advancing the fintech industry as a whole,” said Mandraki. “Networking can enable you to stay on top of new trends, meet potential partners, collaborate on industry challenges and find your next role. I look forward to discussing tips and best practices for how to build a genuine and impactful network with the other impressive panelists. I hope to see you there.” 

At Praxent, a fintech product agency with more than two decades of experience, and the Women in Fintech group, a non-profit with over 2,000 members dedicated to helping women progress in the fintech industry, Kristiane has helped both organizations grow and build partnerships with leading fintech organizations. 

Long-awaited price solutions for B2Core, MarksMan, and B2Trader, three of B2Broker's core products, have now been successfully launched! In order to make all three goods more affordable for a wider variety of enterprises, the company has changed the pricing of its great deals for all three products. Moreover, this action demonstrates B2Broker's dedication to offering top-notch software that satisfies the requirements of brokers and traders worldwide. We would like to thank you for your cooperativeness and loyalty. 

Changes in Fees

Clients of B2Trader, MarksMan, and B2Core will be very pleased to hear that they don't need to pay for setup fees anymore. None of the three products require a setup cost. Users who would have formerly had to pay a one-time fee of $25,000 for B2Trader and $2,000 for MarksMan will now enjoy huge discounts. Removing setup costs will simplify the onboarding process for consumers and result in long-term financial savings. Additionally, by removing away setup fees, clients will find it simpler to scale their usage of these solutions as their needs change too. 

B2Broker has modified the service contract to do away with upfront costs and provide our customers with this kind of impressive reduction. However, for all new customers of B2Trader, Marksman Liquidity Hub, or B2Core, a three-month advance payment is now required. This adjustment will help our billing procedure run more smoothly while also offering our clients considerable cost savings and creative alternatives.

Also, the AWS invoice is no longer a separate payment for B2Trader clients. B2Broker will keep offering this first-rate service at no cost because we are paying for it. Our clients merely have to make the payment each month. We anticipate that this adjustment will help our clients save more money and make it simpler for them to control their money.

Products Improvements

We have revised our packaging system for B2Trader to make it more transparent and more appealing in order to give our clients the most outstanding trading possible experience. Now that all packages provide complete capability, it is straightforward to tell them apart based on the number of trading instruments and order book depth. If you only need a certain number of pairings and a detailed order book, you can choose the Standard package. But remember that the Enterprise version with 100 pairings and a 100x100 order book is the best option for you if you intend to offer several currencies and tokens.

Additionally, we have lifted the restriction on approved external liquidity providers in the MarksMan Liquidity Hub's Advanced package. Customers will find it more manageable thanks to this modification, giving them more freedom and options. All clients may now subscribe to an infinite number of external liquidity providers thanks to this upgrade, giving them the freedom to securely supply trading services, understanding they have access to the best pricing available.

Customer Support Queues have also been introduced by the B2Core team! We are focused on providing our clients with the highest quality service, which is why we have a standard Customer Queue available for the Standard and Advanced subscriptions and a separate Queue for the Enterprise plan. We have already notified every team, and we are presently reviewing requests. But, after approval, all work for the Enterprise package will take priority. We believe that the new method will significantly improve our potential to provide for our clients.

In order to be more honest and explicit about what we provide and what we do not, we have also eliminated any "coming soon" package additions. It implies that a feature will not be accessible if it is not part of a package until a later update makes it accessible. In order for our clients to choose the plan that is best for them, we want to be as open and truthful with them as possible. 

To appropriately portray the products, we have revised all interfaces and included more contemporary options. We believe that these improvements will enhance and enhance your trading journey.

The Costs

Our pricing structure has also been modified to be more precise and open. Our three main offerings are B2Trader, MarksMan, and B2Core. The pricing is as follows (because there are no more setup fees or other extra expenses for services, only a monthly rate):

• The monthly prices for B2Core's Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise packages are $1,000, $1,500, and $2,500, respectively.

• The Standard plan for B2Trader costs $6,000 per month, the Advanced package costs $8,000 per month, and the Enterprise package costs $10,000 per month.

• The monthly costs for MarksMan's Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise packages are $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000, respectively, including Hedging Trade Volume.

Note that by subscribing to a whole year, you will save money by acquiring three months as a bonus! That said, you will only need to pay for nine months instead of twelve. 

Bottom Line

B2Broker is thrilled to offer our loyal clients even more benefits at a reduced price. A more comprehensive range of organizations can now use B2Core, MarksMan, and B2Trader, thanks to the most recent price alternatives. B2Broker is maintaining its dedication to providing its clients with the finest quality service by implementing these modifications. Do not hesitate to take advantage of these amazing opportunities at an even better price by signing up immediately! Also, do not forget to look out for future upgrades and additions for even more benefits. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us, should you have any queries. We will be happy to give you some recommendations and offer our help. 

• 21.10.2022 -- 07:03 am