Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has partnered with multifi, the UK-based cashflow management platform, to provide UK-based small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with an enhanced international payment solution, allowing them to seamlessly convert and send funds to their global suppliers worldwide in more than 35 currencies at highly competitive rates.  

The partnership with Currencycloud enables multi-fi to enhance its service by providing its SMB clients with an efficient international foreign exchange payment solution where they can pay out locally to more than 180 countries. The new streamlined service will provide customers with more opportunities and flexibility when moving money around the world. In addition to a suite of local payment rails and competitive FX, customers will be able to access credit from multifi, giving them more opportunities to achieve their growth ambitions. 

Rob Keown-Boyd, CEO, multifi, stated, “We are committed to fuelling the growth of our SMB customers by simplifying access to business finance and helping them manage their cashflow. We have seen demand from our SMB clients for seamless, fast, cost-effective international payment capabilities, so we looked for the perfect partner to make this a reality. Currencycloud’s comprehensive suite of services has enabled us to offer an excellent solution to our clients, most of whom are importers or exporters. They now have a convenient and cost-effective way to pay their international suppliers.” 

Says Aleks Stefanofski, Chief Strategy Officer, Currencycloud, “Currencycloud is all about reimagining the way money flows around the world, making cross-border payments as smooth as local ones for businesses of all sizes. We are delighted that mulitifi has chosen us to help them achieve their goal of fuelling growth for their SMB clients who are increasingly making cross-border transactions in a growing global marketplace.”  

Five years after launch, Trade Republic has grown to Europe’s largest broker and leading savings platform. Currently, 4 million customers in 17 countries invest with Trade Republic, managing assets of around 35 billion euros. While passing ECB interest rates of currently 4 percent p.a. to customers, Trade Republic closed its financial and calendar year in 2023 with a net profit. Today, on its fifth birthday, Trade Republic opens the waitlist for its new Visa card, which combines spending and savings. Customers earn 1 percent Saveback reward back into their savings plan for every card payment. Additionally, customers can automatically round up their payments and invest their spare change into any asset.

“Over the past five years, 4 million people have started to let their money work for them with us. Today, they manage 35 billion euros with Trade Republic. This makes us one of the most important banks for a new generation of young savers in Europe”, says Christian Hecker, Co-Founder of Trade Republic. “With the Trade Republic card, these people can manage an additional part of their financial lives with us. Every act of spending is an act of savings. This empowers every individual, regardless of income, to start their savings plan and begin building wealth. On our fifth birthday, this is a key milestone on our mission.”

To mark the anniversary, Trade Republic is launching its biggest product innovation: the Trade Republic card. It seamlessly integrates spending with saving. Customers can use the debit card for online or offline payments. For every card payment, they earn a 1 percent Saveback reward, invested into a savings plan. Additionally, the card enables rounding up payments to invest the spare change into any asset.

“Trade Republic uniquely combines daily payments with investing. The partnership between Trade Republic and Visa ensures that every card payment counts towards wealth accumulation”, says Albrecht Kiel, Regional Managing Director Visa Central Europe.

Contrary to many banks, the Trade Republic card has no monthly fees. Customers can choose between a Mirror card or classic card for an issuance fee, or create a free virtual card. All cards offer identical benefits and allow worldwide unlimited and free withdrawals; for amounts under 100 euro occurs one euro fee. Today, existing and new customers can join a waitlist for the new card. The cards will be delivered to customers in the coming months.

“Since 2019 Trade Republic has made investing easier, more transparent, and more affordable than ever before in Europe. Today, we are doing the same with our card. The Trade Republic card comes with no monthly fees, offering all benefits such as free withdrawals or FX rates without surcharge. Additionally, users receive a 1 percent Saveback reward. Meanwhile, the free cash earns a market-leading 4 percent interest rate every month. That’s simply the most attractive card account in the European market”, says Marsel Nikaj, Vice President Product at Trade Republic.

In the past five years, Trade Republic has become the largest European broker and leading savings platform. It recently received a full banking license from the ECB. Meanwhile, Trade Republic generated net profits in the last financial year (ending 09/30/23), as well as the last calendar year, while passing on the current ECB interest rate of 4 percent to its customers. “Trade Republic is independent with a full banking license, has among the most innovative banking technology in Europe, extensive financing from globally leading investors, and is profitable. With our brokerage offering, cash interest rates, as well as the Trade Republic card, we now provide the best offer for retail money in Europe. With this foundation, we will continue to build one of the most important financial institutions in Europe”, says Co-Founder Christian Hecker.

Keepit has today announced HSBC Innovation Banking, the global, specialized banking partner for businesses in cutting-edge sectors, has provided a $40 million refinancing package in partnership with The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO). The new funding frees up capital for further investments in international expansion, hiring, business operations, and product development as Keepit continues to scale and build out its market-leading platform for SaaS data protection.

Founded in 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Keepit is a leader in SaaS backup and recovery and the world’s only vendor-independent cloud dedicated to SaaS data protection. The new $40 million refinancing package from HSBC Innovation Banking follows Keepit’s $30 million Series A funding round in 2020, and a total of $22 million debt financing in 2022 from Silicon Valley Bank UK, now HSBC Innovation Banking, and Vækstfonden, now the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), the national promotional bank and export credit agency of Denmark.

Keepit will use the fresh capital to sustain the current growth trajectory and continue its substantial expansion strategy. The organization has strategically leveraged funds to propel its growth by introducing innovative products and advancing platform development for cutting-edge data protection solutions.

The debt facilities have been instrumental in fortifying the company's offerings for future sustainability. Notably, Keepit has made substantial allocations to enhance its go-to-market strategy, including market expansion, targeted outreach to enterprise-scale clients, and the augmentation of its partner program. These initiatives collectively underscore Keepit's endeavors to solidify its standing within the global data protection industry.

Morten Felsvang, CEO and co-founder at Keepit, commented:

“We are very proud to have the continued backing of HSBC Innovation Banking. This refinancing is a long-term commitment – it not only strengthens our capital structure but is an infusion of confidence in our capabilities on all levels. And it means that we can continue our growth strategy at full throttle.”

Jean-Laurent Pelissier, Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Software at HSBC Innovation Banking UK commented:

“We’re delighted to continue our relationship with Keepit by providing this new facility, which will support Keepit to further its presence across new geographies, grow its team, and innovate across its product offering. Our agility, expertise, and international and robust network are also helping businesses like Keepit to scale and open up a world of opportunity as they reshape our world. This is an exciting milestone in our long-term partnership with Keepit and we’re proud to be part of this next step in the company’s journey alongside the EIFO.”

Anders Christian Andersen, Senior Director, SME Digital Platforms at EIFO, commented:

“Cybersecurity is among the Top 10 biggest risks in the world of today. Keepit provides a solution to how businesses around the world can address the issue and safely back up their data. We have been part of Keepit’s financial journey since 2019, and we see great potential for further growth in the company. Being part of this refinancing package, together with HSBC Innovation Banking, we reconfirm our trust in the company.”

Alkami Technology, Inc., a leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the U.S., announced today that it has partnered with Chimney™, a fintech transforming how financial institutions use property data. Through this strategic partnership, financial institutions can empower homeowners with the financial tools, data, and insights they need to manage their greatest financial asset within digital banking.  

Chimney provides homeowners with actionable advice about their home value, home equity, borrowing power, and personalized offers – regardless of which financial institution holds their mortgage. Until now, many financial institutions have relied on manual methods of activating property data, which restricted their ability to personalize loan offers and engage homeowners, who often leverage third-party real estate websites to track their home value and may be targeted with a competitive offer.  

Kassandra Martin, director, of digital experience at Direct FCU, an Alkami client and Chimney partner said, “Direct FCU is proud to partner with Chimney, the provider of an innovative user experience related to homeowner insights for our members. The Chimney team has been nothing short of incredible to work with and made this process so easy with Alkami. This partnership represents our commitment to delivering cutting-edge financial services and a best-in-class seamless digital experience to our members, and we couldn’t be more excited.” 

“Alkami believes innovation unlocks new growth opportunities and enhances account holder experiences. Chimney’s platform exemplifies this and delivers a tool that supports homeowners’ financial journeys and deepens relationships,” said Stephen Bohanon, co-founder, chief strategy and product officer at Alkami.

By combining financial health data and property data, Alkami and Chimney can help financial institutions drive user engagement, gain insights into competitive relationships, inform product offers, cross-sell, and verify property data faster than ever before. Chimney’s solution covers 98% of residential properties. 

“As consumers evaluate their credit options, a significant portion interested in home equity loans or lines of credit often bypass their local financial institution when researching products. Chimney has reimagined the way financial institutions can leverage property data to keep homeowners engaged with the digital banking experience by delivering home valuations and personalized offers in-platform; enabling them to compete in the home equity space and setting them on the path toward primary financial institution status,” said Matt Covi, co-founder and chief executive officer of Chimney.

Flexys has partnered with Thought Machine to integrate its industry-leading Control+ debt management platform with Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking platform, Vault Core.

Banks are under pressure with rising levels of consumer debt, tighter regulation, and slow digital transformation, resulting in inadequate innovation and poor customer experience. Those running on legacy technology, including debt management systems, face labor-intensive, costly, and inefficient processes.

Flexys and Thought Machine address these performance challenges through transformative cloud-native solutions that deliver considerable benefits and innovation to banking clients and their customers. The synergy between the two organizations’ missions and technologies will offer banks the ability to seamlessly evolve their debt management operation and fundamentally modernize their technology by replacing their core systems.

Flexys Control+ is a state-of-the-art debt collection product that maximizes the benefits of real-time streaming, digital engagement, and smart automation. Enterprise clients across the banking, financial services, and utility sectors include TSB, Virgin Money, MotoNovo Finance, Admiral Money, and Plata Finance. 

Commenting on the partnership, Flexys CEO James Hill said,

‘Working with the Thought Machine team to build a real-time integration between Vault Core and Control+ has been rewarding. Banks can now benefit from a seamless cloud-native ecosystem, leaving behind the constraints of legacy systems to improve efficiency, minimize friction, and vastly improve the experience for customers in arrears. 

With global economic factors affecting financial security and affordability, banks will be able to offer timely, responsive, and personalized service to help customers reach an appropriate and sustainable resolution to their debt episode. We look forward to a productive partnership that helps banks to realize their digital transformation goals.’
 

Randolph McFarlane, Global Head of Partnerships, commented,

‘With Flexys, we are solving the challenges faced by banks during the end-to-end collections journey by streamlining and ameliorating key pain points. By offering banks faster, less admin-heavy journeys, Thought Machine and Flexys are removing unnecessary burdens and human error. In turn, this enables banks to better serve their customers, providing a superior experience in a time when customer expectations are higher than ever.`

Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software, today announced the appointment of Lori Copeland as Chief People Officer.

In this role, Copeland will be responsible for developing and executing human resource strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization. She will provide leadership and guidance to all HR functions and develop recruiting plans to bring new talent to expand Provenir’s workforce, which spans 25 countries across the globe.

A senior human resources executive with more than 20 years of experience, Copeland has a proven ability to engage key stakeholders, deliver results, and drive initiatives across complex global matrix organizations. Before joining Provenir, Copeland was Global Vice President, Human Resources, with LGC, a private equity-owned leading, global life science technology company. Before this, Copeland was the Global Human Resources Leader at General Electric (GE), Digital, a growth IoT startup within GE.

“Lori has an impressive background in human resources and organizational development and brings a dynamic blend of passion and expertise to our leadership team,” said Larry Smith, Founder and CEO of Provenir. “Lori’s leadership will be instrumental in supporting our people operations and cultivating a high-impact workforce as we grow.”

“I am excited to join Provenir as the company grows globally and invests in its employee base to deliver innovative solutions to the financial services market,” said Copeland. “As Provenir continues to deliver the technology to power financial institutions and fintech success worldwide, I look forward to growing and nurturing the company’s biggest asset – its people.

After a year of challenges for the crypto industry, 2024 will be one of great importance for the sector with the new bitcoin halving among the events that will mark the course of the crypto world. The presidential elections in the United States and Mexico, as well as the recent presidential change in Argentina, are among the events that could also define the path of digital assets. Bitso —the leading financial services company powered by crypto in Latin America— shares some predictions for the industry in 2024.

• Regulation, regulatory compliance, and fraud prevention: After complicated events, the long-term impact of regulation will be positive on the credibility of the industry, as these actions will further encourage the adoption of cryptocurrencies in our region.
  In 2024, it is expected that conversations about regulation will continue to be part of the industry's objectives, the boom in the use of cryptocurrencies has driven important regulatory projects, with results in Brazil and the project to legislate it in Colombia. The need to promote local regulations that facilitate financial inclusion through crypto, maintaining the transparency of operations, as well as providing protection and certainty to users has become increasingly evident, because it will be the companies that have regulatory clarity that will remain in the financial ecosystem. Regulation and transparency are not optional, they are part of the future of the industry and there will surely be important advances this year. 
• Stablecoins continue to gain ground: The use of stablecoins to maintain liquidity in the face of financial volatility in some Latin American countries has driven the acquisition of stablecoins, which will continue to be a trend in 2024. Last December, USDT (stablecoin issued by Tether) set a historical record when it reached a market capitalization of 90,640 million dollars and is among the main stable currencies due to its parity with the dollar.
  The parity of stablecoins with fiat currencies or other assets such as gold allows them to maintain purchasing power and carry out operations in a simple way by converting them into the local currency, which has promoted their use among Bitso users in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia.
• Investment and protection of assets: The expectation of a new crypto summer continues to excite investors, and one of the trends for 2024 will be the increasingly widespread use of crypto as an investment tool and for the diversification of savings in different assets that help people preserve the value of their money and build wealth.
  To achieve this, the crypto world will continue to innovate with tools that facilitate tasks for users and that allow them to monitor the behavior and statistics of different currencies. Products based on data analysis or even the use of Artificial Intelligence to make informed decisions will be key to capturing the best opportunities. Functionalities are also available on the Bitso platform, such as allowing you to schedule the purchase or sale of currencies when they reach the target price, down or up.
• Decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3: For the consolidation of Web3, which will allow the decentralization of the Internet with greater control over the ownership and privacy of information, decentralized finance or DeFi will play a fundamental role. Built thanks to blockchain technology, DeFi has diversified the possibilities of an open and equitable financial system based on smart contracts and with traceable operations that will be part of the future of finance.
  Although this is not new, in 2024 we will see important players in the ecosystem join the Web3 era, and offer products in which people will have greater control of their assets and their identity. And the arrival to the market of instruments that will facilitate and protect operations on Web3, promoting its adoption and use.
• A new “bitcoin moment”: After the last bitcoin halving in 2020, this year the reward for miners of this cryptocurrency will be halved again, which on previous occasions has increased the price of bitcoin. There is no exact date for when the halving will occur, but it is estimated that it will be in the first half of the year, so the value derived from the interest in the currency could increase in the months following this event.
  In addition, bitcoin ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are currently under review and it is expected that, if approved, it will positively impact the interest of investors in the cryptocurrency.

GoCardless, the bank payment company, has extended its relationship with JustGiving to become the online donation platform’s exclusive open banking payment provider, replacing American Express. The move will see JustGiving use both the fintech’s Instant Bank Pay feature to collect instant, one-off gifts and its Direct Debit capabilities for recurring donations.

JustGiving estimates that 10% of its donations already go through open banking payments -- a proportion that it wants to grow. JustGiving does not charge a commission fee on donations to charity customers, instead relying on optional tips that donors use to cover its costs. The cost savings with Instant Bank Pay will help to sustain JustGiving’s business model and deliver more money to good causes. 

JustGiving also cites reduced fraud as another benefit of open banking payments, as well as fewer refunds: the immediate nature of these payments means a lower number of accidental transactions and duplicate payments.

Oliver Shaw-Latimer, Senior Director, Payments and Innovation, at JustGiving, said: “We’ve built a suite of products to support amazing causes and it is a privilege to be the payments platform powering fundraising behind the scenes. Fast forward 23 years and over $9 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world. We’re constantly looking for ways to make donations go further, and open banking payments play a pivotal role. 

After working with GoCardless for over a year on recurring donations, we were confident that its Instant Bank Pay feature would be perfect for one-off giving. Instant Bank Pay will not only help us to keep costs low but also provide a best-in-class fundraising experience for our customers and their donors.”

Pat Phelan, MD of UK & Ireland and Chief Customer Officer at GoCardless, said: “As open banking approaches its sixth anniversary in the UK, we’re proud to bring this emerging technology to everyone through Instant Bank Pay on JustGiving -- a household name and one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country. By using our unique combination of Direct Debit and open banking payments, JustGiving can give donors and charities more payment choice whilst lowering costs and reducing fraud. Ultimately, this means more money goes to worthy causes.”

The announcement adds to GoCardless’ list of open banking payment customers, which include credit card provider Yonder; Nude, the savings app for first-time buyers; Pillar, the new fintech platform breaking down credit borders; and ethical lender Plend.

AbbeyCross, the world’s first wholesale FX platform focused on improving the payment market infrastructure for Emerging Market currencies, announced today that it has raised US$6.5M in its seed funding round. The raise follows significant and growing interest in the company’s proposition from major financial services institutions globally. 

Working with banks, their Emerging Market liquidity providers, and other financial services participants, AbbeyCross brings deeper currency liquidity, price transparency, and market data to a fragmented Emerging Market currency payment industry.

The funding round led by Valar Ventures alongside investors including BNY Mellon, Third Prime, and Gaingels follows a pre-seed funding round led by Third Prime last year of US$2.47M. 

The funds raised will be used to further develop and deploy AbbeyCross’ ABX Sync platform. The platform enables banks, payment companies, and NGOs to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, enhance supervisory processes, and ensure regulatory compliance.

Mike Robertson, CEO and Co-Founder of AbbeyCross said: “We’re thrilled by the seed funding round’s success and grateful for Valar Ventures, BNY Mellon, Gaingels and Third Prime’s confidence in our solution. This is a significant milestone in the evolution of the business and will enable us to continue to refine and build the service, extending our reach and making the costs for Emerging Market payment transfers not only more transparent, but the overall environment more compliant and easier to administer for all market participants.”

James Fitzgerald, Founding Partner of Valar Ventures said: “Some 6 billion people and businesses are negatively impacted by ineffective Emerging Market currency infrastructure. Financial institutions are under huge pressure from regulators and customers to deliver better currency pricing and more transparency, which means enormous potential for AbbeyCross and its solution. We’re proud to have led AbbeyCross’ seed round to give them the fuel to go after this massive market.”  

 Jason Vitale, Head of Global Markets Trading, BNY Mellon said: “We’re proud to support AbbeyCross in their seed funding round. Their mission to improve execution quality and transparency for Emerging Markets is aligned with our desire to continue improving the FX market for our clients. It reflects our commitment to emerging technology partnerships that accelerate market structure enhancements and enable us to better serve our clients. We look forward to working with the AbbeyCross team and other market participants to unlock this potential.”