TransUnion, a global information and insights provider, has appointed Dominic Goslett as chief revenue officer in the UK, where he will be leading the go-to-market strategy, driving sales and overseeing client relationships.

Having held senior leadership roles with TransUnion since 2018, Dominic has been responsible for defining and delivering strategies across a range of sectors, including government, gaming, e-commerce, telecommunications, debt market and utilities. Most recently, he has spearheaded the fintech strategy across all TransUnion’s international markets.

Prior to this, Dominic held positions at Thomson Reuters in both Europe and Africa. His extensive experience in the data field has proved a valuable asset in helping TransUnion deliver on its commitment of using Information for Good®. Dominic has led pioneering initiatives that have supported both private and public sector clients through unique challenges.

He will work with UK CEO Satrajit “Satty” Saha and the UK executive team to deliver on the strategic objectives for long-term growth, continuing on the trajectory which has seen TransUnion named Credit Information Provider of the Year for the second year running.

Speaking of his appointment, Dominic Goslett commented: “The past couple of years have brought many challenges for our clients, with the pandemic and the rising cost of living, and it’s been a privilege for me to help find and implement data-led solutions to address these. I’m really looking forward to continuing on this path, focusing on how we can utilise the power of data and analytics to help businesses flourish by making better decisions and delivering the smooth customer journeys that today’s consumers expect.” 

Satty Saha, CEO of TransUnion in the UK said: “I’m delighted to welcome Dominic to the UK executive team as our chief revenue officer. He’s known within the business for his drive and tenacity and I’m looking forward to working alongside him as we continue to deliver innovative products and solutions to make trust possible between businesses and consumers and to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations.

“I’d also like to thank David Finch for his tenure in this position over the past three years as he moves on to an international role within the wider business. We wish him every success.”

VizyPay, a leading payment processing company, is supercharging the Midwestern economy with its recent hiring blitz – adding 60 new employees over the past four months. The hires are across all job functions, with 75% in customer-facing positions and 23% in technology roles. VizyPay also added 30 remote account managers in eight states, including Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

VizyPay’s growth allows it to invest back into the local community, providing new tech jobs in the Midwest and keeping homegrown talent employed locally. The recruits will work in operations, marketing, human resources, social media, technology development and more, with the majority focusing on business-to-business sales as account managers. This staffing expansion will help VizyPay maintain its personalized customer service as it expands its merchant base, providing transparent and tailored payment solutions to America’s mom-and-pop shops in the years to come.

“We’ve retained so much top talent in Iowa because they believe in us and our mission,” CEO and Founder Austin Mac Nab said. “As VizyPay continues our growth journey, I’m honored to have these people by my side as we level up together.”

Throughout this growth, VizyPay retained its award-winning culture via its unique hiring process. Every interview ends with a deep dive into a candidate’s background, personal life and motivators with Mac Nab and Managing Partner Frank Pagano. These conversations ensure all of VizyPay’s team members truly believe in the company’s success and fit in with the company’s “work hard, play hard” mentality. VizyPay’s focus on developing its employees also recently earned it the distinction as a certified Most Loved Workplace^®.

“With VizyPay I can pursue my career, engage with my interests, contribute to a growing tech hub and make a real difference in people’s lives – all while staying close to home,” said Application Developer Tristan Lutgen, a new hire who came to VizyPay from a multinational financial services company.

VizyPay’s hiring process also lends itself to unparalleled diversity within the payments industry. 95% of hires are recruited from outside payments processing, over 50% of the team are minorities and over 25% are women. Additionally, nine languages are fluently spoken at the headquarters office, including Vietnamese, Khmer, Tai Dam, Spanish, French, Bosnian, Lao, Romanian and Thai. These impressive statistics showcase VizyPay’s dedication to opening up technology jobs to people traditionally overlooked by large companies – with the ultimate goal of fostering a tech hub in the Midwest

TS Imagine, a global leader in trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions for capital markets, is expanding its presence in Canada with new facilities in Montréal to boost its North American operations and drive its international growth. TS Imagine opened its Montréal development hub in 2019 and is expanding to a new facility in July to help the firm serve clients worldwide.

TS Imagine’s Montréal team comprises more than 50 people who develop software and analyze data across the firm's trading, risk, and portfolio management software platform, which connects to a network of brokers, banks, and exchanges across North America.

Rob Flatley, CEO of TS Imagine said: “Montréal is a thriving global FinTech hub. Since opening our office in the city three years ago, we have gone from strength to strength, scaling rapidly in response to client demand from across the North American market.”

Henri Tremblay, General Manager of TS Imagine Canada, added: “Montréal’s vitality as an international FinTech hub attracts some of the world’s leading financial firms. TS Imagine is part of this, we look forward to growing in the city and leveraging the strengths of its thriving business community and world-class talent.”

Since the company’s arrival in Quebec, TS Imagine has benefited from the support and guidance of economic development agencies including Investissement Québec International and Montréal International. The company is actively recruiting as it continues to grow its Montreal team.

FrontFundr, Canada’s leading equity crowdfunding platform, is excited to announce it will represent Canada at 2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week, an international entrepreneurship and investment conference, this fall. Hosted by StartupStarter, 2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week is a three-day experiential event showcasing the most innovative companies raising capital in the private markets from the US, Canada and beyond.

Entrepreneurs and investors from around the globe will come together for the second annual event, taking place in Los Angeles from September 21–23, 2022. The immersive experience will have a strong focus on issuers actively raising capital and investors seeking the next unicorn while embracing the city of L.A.

“We look forward to representing Canada at 2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week,” said Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, Founder and CEO of FrontFundr. “As Canada’s leading equity crowdfunding platform, it’s important for us to be at the forefront of industry innovation. We’re excited to see the companies raising capital, connect with global industry experts and share our experience and lessons as well.”

Since 2015, FrontFundr has hosted over 100 successful equity crowdfunding campaigns that have helped startups and growing companies raise more than $120 million collectively. It’s built a community of nearly 35,000 investors and is eager to take learnings from the conference to create an even better experience for its investors and issuers alike.

With the rise of innovative startups looking to raise capital, 2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week provides a unique opportunity to position the industry as a safe haven for retail investors in an increasing financial downturn. Additionally, the event is designed to increase investment opportunities for startups looking to learn more about launching an equity crowdfunding campaign and the future of retail investing.

“2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week is our answer to the economic downturn. As the world is bracing for impact and the financial markets are being shaken up, Equity Crowdfunding is uniquely positioned to highlight some of the most innovative companies in the private markets while helping thousands of entrepreneurs weather the storm. As a business dedicated to democratizing entrepreneurship, this is how we are able to help our audience access capital at scale,” said Lorel Scott, Co-Founder & COO of StartupStarter.

The 2022 Equity Crowdfunding Week immersive experience includes three days of hybrid programming and activations throughout the city of L.A., with startup exhibitions across five immersive domes and will cover six industry tracks to include Startups, Cleantech, Real Estate, Cannabis, E-Commerce and Web3.

Xalles Holdings Inc., a fintech holding company providing technology and financial services solutions, will acquire AIgrowthHUB Inc. (“AIgrowthHUB”) in a share exchange agreement. AIgrowthHUB Inc. will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Xalles Technology Inc, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xalles Holdings Inc.

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, AIgrowthHUB provides business solutions that focus on acquiring customers and enriching the customer experience. AIgrowthHUB is bringing proprietary and third-party solutions to the marketplace that enhance the digital customer experience. The machine learning advertising audience software will increase client profitability by 30% in 30 days. AIgrowthHUB sees this as the cornerstone offering, taking advantage of a projected 1.8 trillion-dollar artificial intelligence market by the end of the decade. 

“AIgrowthHUB looks to grow through by being a part of the Xalles corporate structure while helping the existing Xalles operating companies expand by enhancing their outreach and business development processes,” commented Joshua Harris, CEO of AIgrowthHUB Inc.

“We believe that artificial intelligence is just beginning to be implemented in a number of business processes and Xalles plans to assemble a group of companies that will support internal companies and external clients with process-changing services,” stated Thomas Nash, CEO of Xalles Holdings.

AIgrowthHUB expects to contribute approximately $7 million in revenue to the company over the next 12 months. The acquisition transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, 2022.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing a crucial role in improving the efficiency and security of international cross-border transactions in the payments industry, according to Buckzy Payments Inc. 

Once regarded as a futuristic technology confined to the realm of films and comic books, AI’s science-fiction reputation has given way to practical usage in a fast-growing range of everyday business processes in the finance industry. This extends to cross-border payments, where AI is already automating processes to speed up transactions, strengthen security and improve the quality of service for customers. 

Abdul Naushad, President and CEO of Buckzy Payments first commented on AI’s capabilities in the payments space in January of this year, when he explained its value in reducing human error and instantly calculating credit ratings for customers. But the rapid evolution of AI technology since then means that decision-makers in the payments space are now exploring how AI can help them solve other payment headaches. 

Recent research by IBM shows global uptake of AI is becoming more prevalent across all industries, with over a third (35 per cent) of businesses reporting its use in 2022 - a four-point increase from the previous year. Another study by Nvidia has found that 37 per cent of financial services companies plan to use AI in order to gain a competitive advantage. What’s clear from these figures is how AI has spread across multiple business practices, with fintechs investing time and resources in AI as a means to differentiate themselves from competitors. 

According to Nashaud, fintechs that don’t embrace AI and incorporate it across their entire operating strategy risk putting themselves at a significant disadvantage and being left behind by their rivals.

“We already see fintechs implementing AI-based solutions for a range of functions - many are installing AI-powered chatbots on their websites or apps to offer instant, personalised responses to customer queries,” Naushad explained. “But customer expectations are constantly evolving, and efficiency and quality of service are at the top of the list of their demands. Expect, therefore, to see next fintechs leverage AI-based smart speaker technology to enable users to complete transactions verbally on any device, without first needing to dial a number.”

“And in the cross-border payments space, AI is accelerating the resolution of transactions by accurately predicting FX rates,” Nashaud continued. “Predictive analysis can arrive at a predetermined FX rate, meaning transactions can be processed in real-time. Costs remain transparent for all parties involved.”

“AI is set to play an important role in improving the security of transactions,” he added. “Demand for global payments is growing, and with this growth, the risk of an asset or information theft increases. AI’s ability to identify suspicious patterns or irregular behaviour across a payments network enables the swift detection of fraudulent activity. With AI’s help, financial providers can put in place measures that neutralise the threat of fraudsters and keep funds and their customers’ sensitive data safe.”

“AI’s value from a security perspective extends to Anti Money Laundering (AML) screening processes. Financial providers are now developing technology that can verify transactions automatically, which removes the possibility of human error and also reduces processing time since manual checks are no longer required,”. 

Naushad concluded, “AI is now established as an essential component for financial services and the companies that provide them. Companies that downplay AI’s significance will quickly be left behind by more enlightened, forward-thinking competitors who have taken the time and the effort to invest in and integrate AI into both their customer-facing products and services and their back-end systems.”

Financial technology leader FIS^® has announced it has enhanced its wealth management solutions with the addition of self-invested personal pension (SIPP) servicing in the United Kingdom. By launching retirement services in the U.K., FIS is greatly expanding its offerings to wealth managers in this market.

The new SIPP offering is made possible by partnering with Quai Digital, a leading U.K. investment and pension services provider.  The partnership means that Quai will benefit from utilizing the wealth management and service solutions from FIS via Platform Securities Limited to enhance the operation of its savings and investment business.

FIS Wealth as a Service is a comprehensive solution that handles portfolio management, order management, execution, clearing, custody administration and settlement, and can be fine-tuned and tailored for an investment firm’s unique needs. Further, firms that source their wealth platform through FIS will see reduced operational overhead found in using a managed technology solution.

“The U.K. is a world leader in wealth management with £1.3 trillion in assets under management, and with the advanced offerings from FIS, we’re poised to help these firms operate more efficiently,” said John Beeston, Head of Platform Securities at FIS. “The FIS wealth platform offers a broad set of capabilities for wealth managers across the globe, and by adding such critical services like SIPP for our U.K. market, we are committed to becoming the provider of choice for wealth and retirement managers everywhere.”

“The industry of pension and retirement investing is moving faster than ever with new technology and new demands from our clients, a partnership with FIS works very well for both parties and allows Quai to enhance its already market leading infrastructure and services, which is why we sought a solution that we knew would carry us into the future,” said Tony Webb, CEO at Quai Digital. “FIS will allow us to redouble our focus on our clients while we can trust the technology can meet our needs as we continue to grow our business and support the FIS expansion into Pensions.”

Zoodpay signed exclusive partnerships with FARGO, BTS Express, STAR EXPRESS, EMU, and DPD, the top 5 leading logistics companies in Uzbekistan, accounting for more than 70% of last-mile parcel delivery, for the launch of the largest network of 1,500 pick-up lockers.

The gradual rollout will begin with an initial installation of 50 lockers in Tashkent and major regional cities by the end of August, followed by the deployment of 500 lockers nationwide by the end of September and the remaining 950 lockers by the end of 2022.

Customers will receive an SMS with a code they enter on the locker's screen to open their compartment. Thanks to a user-friendly interface, the average time to receive an order in a locker is 20 seconds. ZoodPay is the exclusive and only payment provider at these parcel terminals. Customers can pay for their purchases in full at the time of receipt with any bank card or in ZoodPay instalments simply by scanning a QR code on the screen.