Mamo, a homegrown UAE-based FinTech and financial services platform for SMEs, has been granted regulatory approval to operate from Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. The licence has been granted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the independent regulator of financial services conducted in or from DIFC, to carry out the regulated activity of providing money services. The licence allows Mamo to further expand its products and services without user restrictions and provide unmatched security while fully complying with DFSA rules.

As the global future of finance and innovation hub, DIFC offers one of the region’s most comprehensive FinTech and venture capital environments, which includes cost-effective licensing solutions, fit-for-purpose regulation, innovative accelerator programmes, and funding for growth-stage start-ups.   The Centre continues to attract companies to establish operations in Dubai by providing the ideal environment to help them shape the future of finance.

Mamo received DFSA authorisation to operate within the Innovation Testing Licence (ITL) programme in June 2021, which enabled it to operate in a controlled regulatory environment to test its business model. What makes this announcement significant is the diligent work by Mamo to successfully exit the ITL Programme and receive Authorised Firm status. The regulation provides frameworks requiring transparency, fairness, and efficiency, that all regulated firms must follow. It also aims to protect businesses, consumers and users of financial (and other) services offered by regulated companies, such as Mamo.

Mamo has built a reputation for being radically customer-centric, with incredibly fast product development times – often launching and announcing multiple new features in a matter of weeks – a refreshing approach from a regional start-up. Presently, Mamo has two products; the rapidly growing Mamo Pay for Business product which has seen exponential uptake in recent months from SMEs and is predicted to grow further with the formal regulatory green light and Mamo Pay, a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) wallet for consumers.

Mamo has its own internally built systems, including cryptographic security protocols, a fraud detection and prevention engine, and a standardised and automated financial transaction management system, minimising human errors and protecting against fraud. On the front end, Mamo has implemented digital Know Your Customer (KYC) that allows users to identify themselves quickly through a user experience that puts the user in control of their personal and private information.

Commenting on the announcement, Imad Gharazeddine, CEO and Co-Founder of Mamo, said:

“We've built a financial services platform that enables both SMEs and consumers to move money faster, more efficiently and more securely in the UAE. Today marks a crucial milestone for our business and a major inflection point in our growth trajectory. Receiving full regulatory approval in DIFC allows us to continue to expand our product stack, offering new features and functionality to our customers. Today’s achievement marks the culmination of years of hard work and innovation, and to have the recognition by a leading regulator inthe DFSA is testament to the quality of our product, providing Mamo and its users security, safety, and peace of mind by licensing us. We are making sure we set a new example for compliance and regulation and are incredibly grateful to the DFSA for their support and guidance through the process.”

Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, said: “DIFC’s ongoing commitment to providing MEASA’s most enabling platform for FinTech firms has involved working with the DFSA on the UAE’s first comprehensive money services regime. We are pleased that Mamo, one of our FinTech clients, has been granted approval from the DFSA to operate as an authorised money services firm in the Centre. DIFC will continue to help Mamo and other FinTech firms grow by harnessing opportunities in the region.”

Delio has been named Fintech Exporter of the Year and Fintech Company of the Year at the Fintech Award Wales 2022.

The awards, which celebrate the achievements of companies and individuals operating within Wales’ thriving fintech ecosystem, took place in front of a capacity audience at Tramshed in Cardiff on 6 October.

Representatives of the Delio team, including chief executive and co-founder Gareth Lewis, were on hand to receive the awards which acknowledged their growing international presence and significant growth over the last 12 months.

On receiving the award, Gareth Lewis said; “It’s always humbling to receive recognition of Delio’s achievements, particularly when it comes from highly respected industry colleagues and peers. I get to see the hard work and effort that’s put in by my team on a daily basis and I would like to thank everyone that has contributed to Delio’s progress over the last seven years. These two awards are for everyone that has played a part in that journey.”

Formed in 2015, Delio has expanded rapidly to become one of Wales’ fastest-growing companies. Its highly configurable technology is used by more than 90 of the world’s most respected financial institutions to digitise and streamline their private market propositions. From Delio’s head office in Cardiff, the fintech now serves clients in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America, including the likes of Barclays, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and ING. 

Matt Hyde, Managing Director of The Fintech Awards Wales, said: “Few areas of the Welsh economy have experienced the rapid rate of growth we have seen within the Fintech sector over the last few years, even during the challenging times we have had. The Awards place the spotlight fully on the emerging and established tech companies and entrepreneurs who are driving growth for Wales and the whole of the UK.”

Tangibly reducing the environmental impact on the planet while ensuring a more sustainable future for marine ecosystems - these are the goals of CheBanca! and Nexi, who, from today is providing the bank's customers with new international debit cards and classic credit cards made of recycled plastic recovered from the oceans. These are the first cards of this kind issued by Nexi.

This agreement will make it possible to recycle some of the plastic dumped in the seas and reduce the quantity ending up there each year, which amounts to around 79 million kilograms. This is a real benefit for the ecosystem in addition to that which is already guaranteed by digital payments, as their impact on the environment is already lower than that of cash.

"Being a driver of sustainable growth is a concrete commitment of CheBanca! and the entire Mediobanca Group," commented Marta Giaretta, Marketing Director of CheBanca!. “The reduction of our impact on the environment, both direct and indirect, is an integral part of our business objectives. With this in mind, the creation of the new payment cards produced from plastics recovered from the oceans, in collaboration with Nexi, is a practical example of how we can combine a business initiative with growing concern for our planet."                                                                                                   

The agreement, which further strengthens the collaboration between the two players - already strategic partners in the digital payments sector - is consistent with the wide-ranging sustainability plan for a responsible business that Nexi recently presented at its Capital Markets Day, and allows the PayTech to pursue its path of sustainability by adding new environmentally friendly card production solutions to its core digital payments business.

"This latest partnership agreement with CheBanca! is perfectly in line with our policy in terms of ESG," said Erika Fattori, Group Brand Strategy Director of Nexi. "It enables us to reduce our footprint as well as that of CheBanca! customers and puts us on target to achieve our Net Zero goal in 2040, while already becoming Climate Neutral in 2022, allowing us to further accelerate our plan to foster more environmentally friendly consumer behaviour.”

The new cards, are already available to CheBanca! customers, will thus make an important contribution to the proper disposal of plastics and increase citizens' awareness about the impact their daily activities, such as a purchase, have on the planet.

Ecospend, the UK’s leading open banking payment provider, today announces that it has launched a marketplace payments solution through its ‘pay by bank’ product for Bumper, the leading payment platform specialising in car repairs, accessories, and sales products. Ecospend will provide a best-in-class closed-loop payment system, connecting customers with car dealers.

Bumper is the latest platform to use Ecospend’s payment system allowing payment to be split between Bumper and over 3,500 local partners that supply the motor parts. The ‘Pay-by-Bank’ option will initiate a direct bank transfer with prepopulated payment details including Bumper’s – removing the chance for human error.

The payment solution will also provide an efficient and cost-effective way of redirecting payments between customers and merchants within the Bumper platform. Bumper will also minimise card fraud and chargebacks by using Ecospend’s open banking payments that are authenticated using customers' biometric ID.

James Hickman, CCO, Ecospend, said: “Our closed-loop payment system will provide Bumper with the ability to significantly reduce card transaction costs while minimising the chance for card fraud and chargebacks. The benefits that this can bring to both Bumper and its clients are far-reaching, and we are excited to help them reach the next step in their payments journey. With each open banking payment being authenticated using customer biometric IDs, the solution is incredibly secure as well as efficient.” 

James Jackson, CEO & Co-Founder, Bumper, said: “We are very excited to partner with Ecospend and embrace the latest technology this market has to offer. This partnership will allow us to improve and evolve our service, and we know that Ecospend will provide quality new technology that will, most importantly, provide a safe and secure method of payments for our customers.”

Our team at B2Broker is thrilled to announce that the latest 1.2.0 version of the B2Core app for Android is now available. The platform has been enhanced with a range of new features and improvements aimed at making cryptocurrency handling more effortless than ever. The latest version of the app offers a redesigned user experience and enhanced functionality for depositing, withdrawing, transferring, and trading crypto on the go. To make life easier for our clients, we have also added a module for exchanging currencies and a module for tracking the transaction history.

This new wallet version facilitates transactions and includes a number of other further improvements, like multi-registering accounts as individuals or companies. Moreover, the first screen for the Funds module is now available, making it easier for users to navigate through all the data.

Deposit Module

Despite the fact that the deposit module should accommodate extensive functionality, our developers have successfully integrated all necessary aspects into the B2Core app for Android so that clients can use it in a compact and convenient way. The deposit module's features include support for bank transfers, cryptocurrency deposits via a QR code or bank information, and more. The module allows users to fund their accounts using any of the accepted deposit methods. When depositing assets other than those in the wallet, the currency can be converted to the chosen one on the same screen.

Withdrawal Module

You can withdraw money from your smartphone to bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets on the go with the withdrawal module. It has a comprehensive withdrawal screen that shows currency conversions and indicative pricing, so users will always understand how much they'll get and how much they'll spend when withdrawing. The new withdrawal module makes management of withdrawal operations on the go a convenient and easy process.

Transfer Module

The transfer module is a valuable feature that allows users to quickly and easily transfer assets or funds between accounts. This can be a massive time-saver for users who need to manage their finances across multiple wallets, and it provides a much-needed level of flexibility and convenience. Whether you're allocating personal funds for different tasks or simply transferring assets between accounts, the transfer module is an essential tool.

Currency Exchange Module

If you want to convert a currency easily, the currency exchange module will help you do just that. During the data entry phase, the module shows you the amount of money you will receive, as well as the conversion rate. It allows you to get a reasonable estimate of the amount of money you will receive. Additionally, the indicative pricing feature allows you to see an approximate amount before finalizing the transaction.

Transaction History Module

You can now track your finances on your device more quickly than before, thanks to the transaction history module. This screen allows you to view your complete transaction history, filtered by executed and pending transactions. You may also filter operations by type so that you always know where your money is and what is going on with it. The ease of access to this information allows you to feel confident that you are making the right financial decisions when it comes to managing your money.

More Upgrades

We have also added some further improvements to the B2Core Android app.

Deposits and Withdrawals from the Wallet Details Screen

The newly designed wallet information page makes it much easier for users to deposit and withdraw funds. Previously, these operations were carried out on separate pages, but we have now integrated them so that all wallet operations can be seen on one screen. This saves our clients the hassle of having to choose the correct wallet for each operation, and they can now access wallet information more easily and quickly.

New Funds Module Screen

Our new funds module screen makes it easy to view all of the account funds modules you have access to. With just a few taps, you can move assets between accounts, deposit or withdraw money, and more. So whether you're looking to make a quick transaction or manage your finances more broadly, this new feature will make all things easier for you.

Registration for Individual and Corporate Users

It is now possible to create both corporate and individual accounts within the app! This enables you to streamline your registration process and organize all of your information in one place. Moreover, it contributes to our app's user-friendliness and efficiency. 

Final Thoughts

The new B2Core app update makes it easier than ever to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies on the go, making everyday tasks much more manageable for our clients. We aim to make our clients' experience with us as smooth as possible by providing them with every feature they need.

Be sure to download the B2Core app from the Google Play store to try the new features yourself! Also, stay tuned for more exciting updates in the future! Let us know what you think by contacting us. We are happy to receive your feedback and suggestions.

nexo standards, the not-for-profit global organization which defines, publishes and promotes global payment acceptance standards, is bringing together leading experts from the payment acceptance value chain for its 11^th annual conference on 26 October 2022.

Taking place at the Melia Madrid Princesa Hotel, the in-person conference centres around the future of standardized transactions in an ever-changing payment landscape. Attendees can join four roundtable sessions throughout the day, with experts from around the world discussing topics such as SoftPOS, standardization in Europe, financial investments, and predictions for the future of the payments industry.

The speakers represent more than 20 companies and organizations including (in alphabetical order): Afsol, Amadis, Bizum, Caisse Fédérale de Crédit Mutuel, Castles Technology, Crédit Agricole Payment Services, Diebold Nixdorf, Discover, Famoco, fime, Fiserv, Ingenico, KAL, NCR, Nexi Payments, Novelpay, PagoNxt (Banco Santander), Partelya Consulting, Redsys, SIBS, TotalEnergies, Verifone and of course nexo standards.

Jacques Soussana, Secretary-General of nexo standards, comments: “We are living in a world where customers have come to expect a range of flexible payment options. Implementation, management and evolution of such services can be complex, due to the intricate upgrades needed, fragmentation between different stakeholders and increasing regulation. The upcoming annual conference is key to bringing the entire value chain together to ensure the ecosystem evolves to suit everyone’s needs.”

Chairman of the nexo Board, Patrice Hertzog, adds: “Our conference provides a crucial platform to allow the payment community to align ambitions towards simplified payments acceptance everywhere. In the beautiful city of Madrid - which offers a fresh, dynamic and diverse financial setting - our agenda is firmly set on the future of payments, as we identify adaptability as the key to success.”

As SIBOS, the world’s premier financial services industry conference gets underway, Global Screening Services (GSS), a regulatory technology company conceived at, and incubated by, global consulting firm AlixPartners, has launched with the promise of bringing enhanced efficiency, reduced costs, and improved customer satisfaction in the face of ever-increasing industry-wide risk and compliance demands.

Founded in 2021 GSS uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to streamline transaction and information processing. With an initial and immediate focus on sanctions compliance, the business is developing a full suite of offerings to assist global financial services institutions to meet evolving regulatory obligations, managing risk and increasing efficiency.

GSS now operates as a standalone company with approximately 120 financial services and technology experts currently engaged in the new company’s activities. To date this team has worked alongside over thirty financial institutions, payment infrastructure providers and international regulatory bodies across the globe to bring its initial sanctions screening service to market, culminating in a recently announced partnership with SWIFT, the global provider of secure financial messaging services. Further details of this partnership can be found here at the SWIFT website.

Tom Scampion, formerly of AlixPartners and the newly appointed CEO of GSS, added: “Financial institutions the world over are facing constantly increasing complexity as they have to manage the threats of ever more sophisticated criminality, the fallout from geo-political events and the risks that related non-compliance or additional processing time bring. Failure to manage these is severely detrimental to an organization’s reputation, can significantly dent its revenues and undoubtedly impacts upon the quality of its customer relationships.

We believe the best way to meet these challenges is through collaboration, and our mantra of “By the industry, for the industry” is something we have witnessed first-hand as we have worked closely with banks, regulators and other stakeholders to bring GSS’ first sanctions-focused offering to market. The level of interest, support and commitment we have experienced throughout this process underlines just how much appetite there is to do things differently, do things faster, do things better and above all do things together.

We are delighted to be partnering with SWIFT, and our collaboration reflects both the need and desire in the industry for our solutions. Over the coming weeks we will making further announcements relating to key industry partnerships and deployment of our sanctions screening product as we take our first exciting steps as a new business.”

GSS will be attending several of the world’s leading financial services events over the coming months as it shares its industry-leading solutions with clients, partners, regulators, and industry commentators. This starts at Sibos, where the team will be in attendance in Amsterdam for the full schedule from October 10 to October 13. The team will be located at booth DIS23 in the Discovery Hall at Sibos for the duration of the event.

European branded payments company Recharge.com today announced the launch of a one-stop global marketplace for people to buy branded gift cards and mobile top-up cards in a move to become the leading digital payments and branded payments player in the world.

The fast-growing fintech firm, which specialises in the distribution of digital gift and prepaid cards for local and global brands, including Netflix, Spotify and Xbox, has hailed the new card as a milestone for the company, which is on track to transform itself from a branded payments firm into a global prepaid payments platform for leading financial services products.

Hosting 75 brands, including AT&T, Apple, Google and Sony Playstation, the platform will be available in 180 different countries, with consumers able to shop in 17 different languages. Unlike competitors focused on one particular category of retail, the platform launches as a true one-stop shop hosting credit, gaming, entertainment, shopping, prepaid money, and more.

With this move, the firm is emerging as a specialist company enabling consumers to have the opportunity to buy gift cards and these branded payment cards across an impressive range of categories. To date, the fast-growing fintech firm has become one of the world’s leading payments distributors of prepaid cards, with annual revenues of over 500 million euros.

The firm is also reinventing the concept of the prepaid card to enable consumers to control their budgets and security online, promoting the idea of Pay Now Buy Later (PNBL), which enables upfront prepaid payments so consumers can buy a product or asset in the future. PNBL increases the amount of control people have over their money management and gives much more financial visibility by indicating exactly how much they are earning and spending each month.

By using prepaid cards for their subscriptions and daily needs, customers also have added protection over their financial details, as cybersecurity and identity theft only continue to increase worldwide.

Commenting on the launch, Günther Vogelpoel, CEO of Recharge.com, said:  “This is an exciting new move for the company as we become the world’s one-stop shop for branded payments. We are proud to offer the broadest possible choice to a huge range of consumers worldwide while helping people to protect their details online. We are also thrilled to lead the way in helping people manage their household budgets and spending during uncertain times.”

Recharge.com initially entered the scene as a mobile top-up card company before becoming a one-stop shop for various categories of branded payments, including call credit, data bundles, shopping, entertainment, gaming, and prepaid money.

They have set themselves apart from other competitors with their focus on developing globally as well as local products for people to choose from and customer service support in both English and the language of the nations they do business in. 

Form3, the leading cloud payment technology provider, today announces its plans to launch a cloud-native API solution to connect financial institutions globally to the SWIFT network.

The Swift as a service solution will help banks, fintechs and payment service providers to gain API access to SWIFT for payments and cash management services.

The solution will allow institutions to reduce operational costs and overheads by leveraging scalable cloud-based services. Form3’s fully managed service shields customers from annual standards releases, including the upcoming ISO 20022 migration, alongside backwards compatibility for receiving MT messages.

Customers of the service will benefit from a zero-footprint solution, removing the need to implement and manage software and hardware for connecting to SWIFT. Form3’s platform offers highly scalable and resilient cloud-based services that will future-proof organisations to support evolving customer demand. The new service provides increased speed and security over traditional connectivity models, which is critical to scale and meet customer expectations in today’s financial services environment.

Michael Mueller, Form3’s CEO, comments: “Form3’s new solution is easy-to-operate, cost-effective, and highly reliable, allowing financial institutions of all sizes to access SWIFT. This is at the heart of our mission to democratise and digitise reliable payment solutions. Working with SWIFT clearly demonstrates our desire to grow our global footprint in cloud-based payment technology.”

The Form3 SWIFT as a service solution will go live for customers towards the end of 2022.

Independent research conducted by Celent on behalf of Icon Solutions has revealed that, in response to commercial pressures and changing the scheme and regulatory requirements, payment processing is transforming from a commodity to a business, creating compelling new value opportunities for banks.

The survey, launched today at Sibos, found that the current payments processing model for account-to-account (A2A) payments is unsustainable, with 86% of Tier 1 banks finding margins on payments challenging to maintain – up from 59% in 2021. In response, banks are increasingly turning to vendors and third parties for payment processing, enabling focus to remain on other strategic priorities. According to the report, 57% of tier 2 and 3 banks currently partner with vendors in order to dedicate internal resources to business innovation initiatives.

This market dynamic presents a sizeable opportunity for banks to adopt Payments Processing as a Business (PPaaB) strategies. Although many banks already provide payment and banking services to other banks through existing correspondent banking models, there is significant potential to expand these opportunities further. The data indicates that 22% of tier 2 and 3 banks would now consider another bank as their full strategic payments sourcing partner. This comes as 87% of tier 1 banks have actively considered spinning out payments as a separate business.

“The payment processing landscape is highly dynamic, but any bank wishing to enter this space has the potential to bring new value to the market”, comments Kieran Hines, Principal Analyst at Celent. “As regulated entities, banks are uniquely positioned to offer something closer to an end-to-end service to other banks, potentially including services around compliance, customer care, liquidity, and settlement. This would be a compelling proposition for mid-sized banks to consume and represents a clear opportunity for larger institutions to grow revenue, increase processing scale, and accelerate the pace of their own payment systems modernisation plans.”

Despite the importance of easing margin pressures, the survey also found that PPaaB strategies must go further and be focused on supporting the delivery of value-added services that deliver innovative offerings to customers. Banks attempting to enter this market will need to invest in new capabilities as well as adopt the mindset of a vendor or fintech, with regard to service delivery and improvement.

Toine van Beusekom, Strategy Director at Icon, explains: “Emerging requirements are creating new value opportunities. For example, open banking regulation is driving significant increases in the adoption of A2A payments as a cheaper, faster alternative to card-based payments. But as competition around A2A payments intensifies, banks will come under pressure from fintech players and big tech. This affords banks the opportunity to leverage their unique technological and regulatory assets to deliver the value-added services, such as credit, dispute handling and insurance, needed for A2A payments to truly match card products and not cede ground to new market entrants.”

The report notes that capitalising on the transformation of payments processing will require banks to undergo a payments transformation of their own. To succeed, banks will have to modernise and adopt a cloud-based, elastic and connectivity-focused approach. Investment in skills and new capabilities will also be crucial.

Beusekom adds: “Bringing a competitive PPaaB offering to the market and running payments as a profit centre is not straightforward. It demands a clear strategy that is built on sustainability, resilience and independence, underpinned by technology solutions that put banks back in control and allow them to grow their offering at their own pace to meet new requirements. And for banks on the journey to choosing a PPaaB provider, it is imperative the demand side is effectively planned and prepared to ensure a smooth vendor selection process.”

Icon will be discussing payments processing strategies in more depth at Sibos. Find the team at Dis36 to learn how Icon’s expertise, solutions and pedigree can support banks in defining and executing a ‘greenhouse approach’ to payments processing for sustainable control.