BNY Mellon announces it has successfully facilitated the first-of-its-kind, fully-transparent payment transaction between Egypt and China. Previously, low-value international payments experienced limited cost transparency and uncertainty over settlement timelines. Leveraging the new SWIFT Go service, BNY Mellon acted as an intermediary for payment between QNB AlAhli Egypt, the remitting bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the beneficiary bank. Delivery of funds to the beneficiary and confirmation to the originating bank was achieved in less than three hours. A cross-border transaction between Egypt and China had previously taken over two days.

Businesses and consumers around the world have faced challenges when making smaller international payments, which include limited transparency over costs and uncertainty over when the funds will be delivered. In July 2021, BNY Mellon announced it was the first US bank to support SWIFT Go, a new service that allows financial institutions to facilitate efficient and reliable cross-border payments between consumers or small- and medium-sized companies.

"We're thrilled to introduce cost-effective solutions for a better payment experience," said Isabel Schmidt, Co-Head of Global Payments Products at BNY Mellon. "Thanks to this collaboration, our clients in the region will see a wide range of benefits, including faster speeds, more predictable fees, and greater security."

"QNB AlAhli is pleased to be the first bank in Egypt to participate in this innovative initiative to introduce a better cross-border payment experience for our clients," said Mohamed Bedeir, CEO of QNB AlAhli. "With this successful collaboration, we are not only facilitating and enhancing the payment industry but also supporting financial inclusion."

The payment from Egypt to China is the latest milestone in BNY Mellon's commitment to streamline and transform global payments. In May 2021, BNY Mellon launched the first-of-its-kind real-time electronic bill (e-bill) and payment solution. BNY Mellon was also the first bank to provide Request for Payment (RFP) messaging capabilities.

Goldman Sachs is recognizing Glia’s CEO and Co-Founder Dan Michaeli as one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2022 at its Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California.

Goldman Sachs selected Michaeli from multiple industries to be honoured at the two-day event. He launched Glia with co-founders Justin DiPietro and Carlos Paniagua 10 years ago to help businesses reinvent how they support customers in a digital-first world. A growing list of financial institutions has adopted Glia’s Digital Customer Service (DCS) platform to improve the customer experience and accelerate value through seamless on-screen support. 

“We’re delighted to recognize Glia CEO and Co-Founder Dan Michaeli as one of the most exceptional entrepreneurs of 2022,” said David M. Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. “They have made extraordinary contributions to a wide range of fields, and all of us are looking forward to meeting with these innovative thinkers.”

In addition to honouring the most exceptional entrepreneurs, the Summit consists of general sessions and clinics led by seasoned entrepreneurs, academics and business leaders as well as resident scholars.

Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities and digital infrastructure, will be at Money 20/20 USA, October 23-26 in Las Vegas, to demonstrate a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that enable financial institutions to provide a seamless, secure and unified payments experience for their customers.

Consumers expect to exchange money and access their accounts easily. When it comes to enabling the end-to-end payments journey – from remote account opening to mobile banking, e-commerce, in-store payments and more – the stakes are that much higher. Purchasing power, access to funds and the ability to move through daily life hinges on having secure, seamless access to payment credentials when, where and how consumers prefer them. Financial institutions that prioritize a unified digital and physical approach to payments that enables customers from mobile application to transaction increases the likelihood of reaching top of wallet status and driving more revenues.

At Money 20/20, Entrust will welcome guests to a tailored meeting space, where they can see solutions that allow financial institutions to realize a unified digital-first strategy. These demonstrations include:

• Digital Card Solution: The Entrust Digital Card Solution allows financial institutions to quickly and easily give customers what they want: an instant and simplified, digital-first experience. With a single software development kit, adding the latest digital card features to your mobile banking application is easy.

• Click-to-Pay: With Click-to-Pay, consumers are enabled to pay via one click on their mobile phone, sending a tokenized version of their data to complete the payment securely. The Entrust solution allows financial institutions to use push provisioning to Click-to-Pay from their branded banking app in a more seamless, instant and secure way. And, with more payment giants like Mastercard pushing out Click-to-Pay enablement mandates to issuers, Entrust helps make compliance easier than ever.

• Instant Financial Issuance: The Entrust Instant Financial Issuance Solution allows financial institutions to distribute trusted payment credentials at a rapid speed before they leave their bank’s branch or self-service Interactive Teller Machine (ITMs). This allows consumers to use their cards immediately upon approval, either contactlessly or via EMV chip insert. Furthermore, Entrust will display its newly released Durable Graphics Light Curing Module, which allows for greater flat card durability and bolder personalization. Increased durability extends card life at a time when EMV chip shortages are driving up costs, while the industry also looks to improve sustainability. 

Entrust will welcome event attendees in the Entrust Sky Lounge (Meeting Room #3604), which will emulate the design of an airport terminal in line with Entrust’s mission to secure an ever-moving world. The room design will emulate an airport lounge, complete with runway flooring, screens that simulate flying, and couture aviation-themed furniture. Guests will be able to talk to a team of experts and experience Entrust’s industry-leading financial issuance and payments enablement portfolio in this meeting room.

“Entrust is looking forward to attending Money 20/20 for the opportunity to engage with the world’s banking and payments leaders,” said Tony Ball, SVP & GM Payments & Identity Instant Issuance at Entrust. “We are eager to show our industry peers how we are leading the way in enabling and securing the world’s most important transactions through our digital and physical financial solutions. We’ll be showcasing why a unified, digital-first payments program is critical to delivering best-in-class experiences that  wow customers, reduce risk and increase revenues.”

Additionally, Entrust is one of Money 20/20’s four sponsors for the conference’s “Top Drone” experience, themed after the Top Gun movie franchise. The event, which will feature a large drone course complete with lighting & music, will be built into the expo floor and open to all attendees.

All guests are welcome to stop by the Entrust “Sky Lounge” in Meeting Room #3604 to connect with Entrust experts and experience its financial product portfolio as the company continues its mission to secure a world in motion. To learn more and sign up to connect with Entrust at Money 20/20 for a fully guided walk through its products on display here: www.entrust.com/events/money-2020-vegas. 

Farmers State Bank and Teslar Software today announced their partnership to automate the bank’s commercial lending processes. Teslar’s technology will help the bank efficiently manage their loan portfolio as they continue to grow.

The Quinton, Okla.-based bank partnered with Teslar Software after being impressed by the sophisticated technology and hearing many positive experiences from peer banks. Farmers State Bank plans to first leverage Teslar to better manage exceptions and past-due loans and then gradually add other modules.

“Our bank has steadily grown over the past decade, and it was time to automate the manual loan processes we had relied upon for years to effectively support that scale,” said Chris Jordan, president of Farmers State Bank. “Much of our new business is organic, a result of positive customer experiences and positive word of mouth; with Teslar’s automated workflow and portfolio management tools, we’ll be able to maintain exceptional customer relationships even as we expand. Part of our strategic plan is to remain independent, and Teslar’s technology directly supports that goal.”

Farmers State Bank offers a wide variety of loans including agricultural lending, consumer lending and small business lending. With Teslar, the bank can better serve all segments. Teslar’s dashboard will enable loan officers to keep a closer pulse on customer needs and give the loan ops staff a central, intuitive location for completing each step in the lending process.

“We’re proud to partner with Farmers State Bank and be a part of their technology strategy,” said Joe Ehrhardt, CEO and founder of Teslar Software. “By automating and streamlining their loan processes, they can continue to provide Oklahoma communities the financial support and guidance they need while also empowering employees with greater visibility into customer relationships and increasing operational efficiencies.”

Financial professionals estimate over £295,000 is lost to invoice fraud per business, every year in the UK. Even more shocking is the fact that 1 in 5 (20%) finance professionals are unaware or unable to even estimate the cost of invoice fraud to their business. This lack of visibility is likely due to the messy paper trails that continue to plague the invoice process.

With invoice fraud on the rise, the question arises, who in the business is responsible for preventing invoice and payment fraud? In over half of organisations (56%), the responsibility is not shared between finance and IT.

To paint a complete picture of the challenges facing finance departments, Medius, in partnership with Censuswide, recently surveyed 2,750 senior finance executives globally, including 501 finance executives in the UK. 

UK finance teams face highest churn globally

With mounting pressure on finance teams, they have the added struggle of high employee churn and challenges recruiting qualified staff - a problem that’s particularly acute in the UK. Almost 20% of finance professionals in the UK leave after 7-11 months, almost 10% higher than any other market surveyed. Across the globe, the average tenure in finance teams is 30 months.

As businesses struggle with high staff turnover, finance professionals are a particular flight risk. In the UK, 27% say their finance department is so busy they are concerned colleagues are on the cusp of leaving, and 26% report having a high churn rate in the team. One of the problems reported by finance teams is the nature of the job - 21% feel their job is dominated by monotonous and boring tasks, and 36% of professionals think they are working with outdated payments software.

London lags behind UK for automation in finance with implications for payments

At the same time, London lags behind the rest of the UK when it comes to automating finance departments, where only 25% of respondents track and measure their automation practices. In contrast, 31% of UK finance departments track and measure automation, rising to 33% in large companies, and to 43% in the US - which is leading globally for automation practices.

As a result, over a third of finance professionals (39%) say they can’t close their books on time and paying supplier invoices remains the biggest challenge for the finance department in 39% of UK businesses. Furthermore, in the UK, businesses take the longest time globally to process invoices, coming in at 27 days, 13 days longer than Denmark, where it only takes an average of 14 days.

Account professionals admit 51% of supplier payments are late

In the UK, account professionals admit that the majority (51%) of supplier payments are late, lower than the global average of 56%, but with significant room for improvement compared to Finland, where only 44% of supplier payments are late. At the same time, 98% of UK businesses say they would like to take advantage of early payment discounts, and 79% offer early payment discounts themselves.

Deciding when to pay a supplier has a direct impact on cash flow but can also damage supplier relationships and the external reputation of a business. To increase transparency and aid decision-making for businesses, in 2017, the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy introduced new requirements for large businesses to self-declare supplier payments data.

Relationship troubles: 39% say it’s costing the business cash

The report revealed that one of the most prominent issues leading to late supplier payments is the relationship between procurement and finance. A healthy relationship between procurement and finance can transform an organisation, whereas a bad relationship can lead to missed opportunities for supplier discounts, increased errors and time spent managing payments, a lack of transparency and oversight, and damage relationships with suppliers.

In the UK, 72% of respondents stated that they either didn’t work with procurement at all (32%), or only occasionally worked with procurement (40%). When they do work together, 51% of respondents in the UK claim they are not satisfied with the cooperation, the highest level of dissatisfaction across markets - at the other end of the scale is Denmark, with only 4% of respondents dissatisfied with the relationship. 

Jim Lucier, CEO, Medius, said: “Invoice fraud is on the rise, while global supply chains are becoming more complex. Finance and AP teams face numerous challenges in an increasingly complex business environment. They need technology to move from automation to elimination – eliminating the invoice, fraud, and wasted time on needless manual tasks. As a technology provider, we still have work to do to help them solve these challenges and we’re 100% focused on doing just that.”

Kevin Permenter, Research Director, Financial Applications at IDC, comments: “For the past three to five years, we’ve seen finance and procurement teams play a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ as they respond to global economic fluctuations and the rapid digitisation of processes. Not surprisingly, they are struggling to keep up with the ever-evolving shift in customer expectations, heightened risk and vulnerabilities, and challenges caused by global supply chain issues. It’s a tough environment for even the strongest of teams.”

Moody’s Analytics today announced that Clara Pensions will be using the PFaroe™ DB pension risk modelling technology to model and manage the liabilities and risks it faces as part of Clara’s ‘Member-first’ approach. Clara takes members on a safer journey to buyout after transacting with the trustees and sponsors of their pension plan.

Clara is the first and so far the only DB pension consolidator to successfully complete the Pensions Regulator’s assessment process. Its model serves as a ‘bridge to buyout’ for pension plans and their members.

The PFaroe DB solution is aiding Clara in undertaking its first transactions. Clara will use the PFaroe DB system to model future risk scenarios for liabilities and assets both within the Clara Pension Trust and its capital buffers (financial reserves). In addition to having its own pension modelling capabilities, Clara’s fiduciary manager, Kempen Capital Management, also uses PFaroe DB, enabling further efficiencies around information transfer and reporting.

“In order to fully assess the risks which our members and our capital are exposed to, we need to understand how liabilities and assets could change based on a range of future scenarios,” said Luke Stratford-Higton, Chief Pricing Officer at Clara Pensions. “The PFaroe technology will help greatly in our ability to do so and is another important step in preparing Clara to welcome its first members and create safer pensions.”

Nikesh Patel, Head of Client Solutions UK at Kempen, added: “With the information flows between Kempen and Clara Pensions already strong, using the same product gives us further commonality. There is now a single clear view of the liability and asset modelling from Clara right the way through to Kempen and vice versa.”

Simon Robinson, Director, Product Management, at Moody’s Analytics, concluded: “We are very excited to be working with Clara Pensions to help support their innovative offering. Our relationship reinforces the value the PFaroe DB solution has to offer in supporting pension plans to deliver the best possible outcomes for plans’ members and how our mutual clients can benefit from both using PFaroe DB.”

Solar Staff, an international payment and task management solution for companies and contractors have announced its launch in the United States. Solar Staff automates interaction between 700,000 independent contractors and more than 1,600 businesses from 45 markets including SPLAT, SumSub, Atomic Wallet and Adguard.

The company was founded using only the founders' money, with an estimated $1.5 million invested at the launch and revenues topping $950 thousand in July 2022. The company targets startups and small- to medium-sized businesses and provides them with talent onboarding, task management, security checks, payment availability for 190+ countries and territories, copyright transactions and tax payments for freelancers from different jurisdictions. Solar Staff complies with all countries KYC requirements, and financial and legal sanctions and does not work with not internationally recognized territories.

Solar Staff was founded by Pavel Shynkarenko, an experienced entrepreneur with over 20 years of practice in legal and financial services, and a team of over 75 professionals from six countries with backgrounds in the UN, UniCredit Bank and RSM International. Company development, finance, IT, tax, client support and marketing departments are based in Cyprus, and a local team of experts provides client onboarding and legal support services from the New York office.    

"With the launch of Solar Staff in the U.S. market, we aim to create a bridge between businesses from sustainable economies and independent contractors from emerging markets. Our solution will allow U.S based companies to work with skilled freelancers from emerging regions as fast and simple as with local ones. Also, our clients will reduce their costs of cross-border transactions, and increase their team effectiveness with a complex of tools that fully automate paperwork and settlements with freelance forces. We aim to triple our revenue and double the number of independent contractors in 2023," – notes Pavel Shynkarenko, cofounder and CEO at Solar Staff.

Circa 5 000 tasks have been processed through Solar Staff from U.S.-based companies in 2022. They primarily hire freelancers from Russia and Belarus for IT, project management and analytics tasks. In total U.S. companies paid over $2.9 million to cross-border freelancers via Solar Staff in 2022. Eighty per cent of medium and large businesses who work with freelancers on a permanent basis via Solar Staff used the service for over two years with a large number of companies using it for over five years. Client commissions vary from 3.5 to 6 per cent for U.S. businesses. The commission depends on the number of tasks managed via Solar Staff,  and freelancers use the service at no cost to them.

Service provides dispute mediation for both client and contractor rights compliance with only one out of a thousand debates getting out of moderation unresolved. According to MGI’s projections, the global freelance economy will hit $1.3 trillion annually by 2025, with freelancers making up over 50 per cent of the U.S. workforce by 2027.        

OKX, the world-leading cryptocurrency platform, has offered updates for the week beginning October 10, 2022.

OKX now supports BNB Smart Chain (BEP20) network hard fork

OKX now supports the Ethereum hard fork and upgrade, which took place at the block height of 22,107,423, or approximately at 08:00 am UTC on Oct.12.

Deposits and withdrawals on BNB Smart Chain (BEP20) were suspended starting from approximately 07:00 am UTC on Oct.12, and will reopen once the upgraded network is deemed to be stable.

OKX Wallet to Support the Upcoming Aptos Network

The Aptos Mainnet launch is planned for Autumn. To better promote the new network and the multi-chain ecosystem, OKX Wallet will become one of the first multi-chain wallets to integrate the Aptos network.

Users will be able to view and trade Aptos tokens in the OKX Mobile App and OKX Wallet Web Extension. On top of that, a series of Gas Airdrop events and DEX trading bonuses are expected.

OKX adjusts position tiers of LUNC/USDT perpetual swaps and LUNC/USDT margin trading

In order to improve market liquidity and mitigate risks, OKX has adjusted the position tiers of LUNC/USDT perpetual swaps and LUNC/USDT margin trading on Oct. 11.

OKX to Enable USDC-Margin Trading for ETHW, UNI, LINK, ALGO

OKX is pleased to announce that USDC-margin trading for the above assets have been enabled as of 7:00 am UTC on Oct. 12.

Sage, the leader in accounting, financial, HR and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), today announces that it now provides customers with enhanced capabilities integrated into Microsoft Teams that help simplify and automate workflows.

Customers can now take the friction out of day-to-day tasks by submitting and approving accounting and people processes directly through Teams, rather than in the Sage Intacct or Sage People application, reducing the need to toggle between solutions. This means customers can simply and securely approve expenses and review leave requests via a Teams notification.  

Making Sage Intacct and Sage Active available on Microsoft Azure will give Microsoft customers access to Sage’s award-winning cloud financial solutions in an easy-to-use, secure environment. This gives SMBs the opportunity to benefit from the flexibility and scalability that Microsoft’s cloud provides when choosing Sage products. 

“Multi-cloud access to Sage’s flagship products is a cornerstone of our strategy – meeting customers where they work is key to providing SMBs with new and innovative ways to be more productive,” says Walid Abu-Hadba, Chief Product Officer at Sage.

“Earlier this year we expanded our relationship with Microsoft by committing to hosting Sage Intacct and Sage Active on Microsoft Azure. Now Microsoft customers can access to Sage solutions directly from the Azure cloud, as well as gain the productivity that the Sage Intacct and Sage People app for Teams provides. We are proud to innovate for our customers and deliver value through partnership – this is just the start.” 

"SMBs are the cornerstone of every community, and we are committed to providing them with the platforms and tools they need to thrive in today’s macroeconomic environment,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI, Microsoft. “That’s why Microsoft and Sage are bringing together Sage Intacct and Sage Active with the Microsoft Cloud to help SMBs simplify workflows, cut costs, and improve efficiency.”  

Sage is committed to providing capabilities to customers through Teams applications that simplify and automate workflows including:  

With the Sage Intacct app for Microsoft Teams, SMBs will be able to:  

·                Manage expenses, hassle-free: Simplify expense management for employees. The in-app Sage Digital Assistant guides easy expense entry within Microsoft Teams.   

·                Submit expenses on the go: Create expense entries from a mobile app and upload images of receipts from merchants, automatically populating expense information.  

·                Save time and improve efficiency: Freeing up teams from manual expense processes, with instant visibility into expenses once they are submitted. 

With the Sage People, HR & Payroll app for Microsoft Teams supports SMBs to:  

·                Simplify workflows: Managers can make decisions about leave requests with ease and team members are automatically notified of decisions, within Microsoft Teams.   

·                Collaborate effortlessly: Employee absence requests logged in Sage People automatically generate Microsoft Teams notifications for leaders.  

·                Keep up to date, at a glance: Managers and team members can list their own time off balances in Microsoft Teams, to improve awareness and support team planning. 

The partnership also connects Sage customers to Microsoft’s partner network of developers, offering opportunities to expand value for customers through added product functionality.  

This announcement was shared today at the annual Sage Transform event, designed for the Sage Intacct community of customers and partners, taking place in Orlando, Florida, from October 10-14 2022.