Global information services company, Experian, has announced it is expanding its employer services suite in a move that aims to encourage more organisations to share employee payslips digitally.  

Through the interactive payslip platform PayDashboard, recently acquired by Experian, employees can better engage with and understand their payslip information, offering HR teams and outsourced payroll service providers greater access to payroll insights through interactive dashboards.

The solution can integrate with existing payroll software to deliver online payslips, PAYE forms and payroll data.

Alongside access to their digital monthly payslip, the solution also offers a host of additional features to help engage and educate staff, reduce payroll-related queries, and make payday easier for payroll teams.

Recent research revealed that 62% of employees said they have at one time felt confused about their payslips. Through the use of digital payslips, payroll teams can effectively communicate useful information to their employees about what their payslip means and support the whole workforce, particularly those who don’t feel comfortable reaching out for personal help.

Emma Davies, Strategy, Markets and Portfolio Director at Experian UK&I, said: “At a time of continued business uncertainty and financial pressures, gaining a better understanding of the information provided on your payslip has never been more important. PayDashboard’s solution allows employers to leverage the knowledge of their payroll team, along with the best digital technology, that supports the workforce through the economic turbulence we’re all currently facing.

“We’re excited to be leading the market in moving these processes into the digital age and continuing our mission to improve the nation’s financial health”

Paul Gibbons, Operations Director at PayDashboard, said: “Payday is a critical moment for employees to map out how they manage their finances, and an often-missed opportunity for businesses to connect with and support the people they pay. This investment will see PayDashboard accelerate the demand for a truly digital payday experience that will encapsulate other services offered by Experian that gives employees the power to share their verified data. Together we will help to improve access to various financial services via the payslip so that people can make better decisions about their finances and businesses can improve the financial wellness of their staff.”

FSS Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., a leading provider of banking and payment technology solutions, announced a partnership with ACLEDA Bank, Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, in a multi-product deal to consolidate and digitally transform its nationwide merchant operations and automate its terminal monitoring, reconciliation and settlement processes.

With a massive base of 150,000+ merchants and an increasing number of POS terminals, ACLEDA was already handling one of the largest merchant portfolios in the country. The bank needed a reconciliation and transaction settlement solution that could match up to the scale and growth of the bank. FSS’ multi-product solution comprising of FSS Merchant, FSS ADM (Active Device Monitoring) and FSS Smart Recon will help ACLEDA consolidate all merchant-related data across multiple systems under one application, providing real-time insights into their multi-estate POS network and reducing downtime. FSS Solution will help ACLEDA in bringing merchant operations under one interface that would lead to significant TAT gains (Turn Around Time) and cost rationalizations.

“It was imperative for us to first streamline and consolidate our merchant management systems before we could focus on the next phase of growth in our business. ACLEDA was looking for a reliable technology provider who could not only provide a comprehensive solution but could also handle the scale and help us optimize our current operations. FSS was quick to understand our core issues and identify business needs. FSS’ years of experience providing similar technology solutions, product credentials, demos, and a strong relationship with our regional partner Conscala, gave us the confidence to go ahead and partner with FSS and transform our merchant systems and reconciliation operations.” –Dr. In Channy, President & Group Managing Director of ACLEDA Bank Plc.

Conscala is one of the growing technology consulting and services companies in Singapore, specializing in the banking and payments domain and have a dedicated focus on the emerging markets of the Asia Pacific. Conscala had an existing partnership with ACLEDA, and further entered a partnership with FSS to provide local account management support and ensure timely completion of milestones while working closely with FSS’ delivery team.

Commenting on the latest partnership, Jaishankar A L, CEO FSS said “We have ambitious plans for the ASEAN region and are proud to have ACLEDA Bank as our first client in Cambodia. To have ACLEDA as the latest addition to our customer base is a testament to FSS’ capability to deliver in new and growing markets. We, along with our partner Conscala, are determined to deliver a strong merchant management system that not only transforms bank’s current merchant business operations but also provides a strong base for scalability for its future business growth.”

Profile Software, a leading financial solutions provider, announced today the release of its new banking platform Finuevo Core which is the evolution of FMS.next, the internationally implemented core banking platform. Finuevo Core incorporates a new logic in Banking and offers a unique user experience through a brand new front-end. FMS.next is an award-winning banking system and with this in mind, the Finuevo Core aims at delivering a more advanced native web, state-of-the-art, cross-device and OS functionality through a responsive layout, offering the same look and feel across all devices.

The platform has been redesigned to deliver an optimal user experience, improve user productivity and provide superior customer service. Through straightforward and intuitive navigation within a modern interface, users have instant access to information and actions. Combined with high levels of process automation and streamlining, users interact as little as possible with the system, performing more tasks in the same amount of time.

Significant and competitive new features have also been incorporated such as voice-activated commands, user alerting, chat and powerful workflow setup and management across all functions. Coupled with personalisation capabilities, such as dashboards, shortcuts and navigation history, the new Finuevo Core is a truly forward-looking platform to cover the needs of the modern Bank.

Finuevo Core is the next-generation banking platform developed to meet current and future market trends. It can easily integrate through its API layer with any 3^rd party system, and it can be used as the backbone of the bank’s operations offering a unified approach. Finuevo Core is seamlessly integrated with Finuevo Digital, Profile’s new digital banking platform, both parts of the Finuevo Suite that delivers front-to-back, cloud- and SaaS-enabled, end-to-end banking operations targeted to banks and financial organisations (e.g., EMIs, MFIs, Digital Lenders, etc.) that want to advance their digital transformation and offered services.

The launch of ‘Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap 2020-2023’ by the Central bank of the Philippines (BSP) has been driving major fintech investments in the country. To give an estimate, the first half of 2021 witnessed total funding of $342 million garnered by the country’s fintech firms, more than double what was raised throughout 2020.

To provide common networking and intelligence-sharing platform to the Philippines’ burgeoning FSI community, Tradepass is hosting World Financial Innovation Series (WFIS) for the first time in the Philippines at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila on 16 – 17 August 2022.

The event will attract 600+ technology and business heads from the leading Banks, Insurance & Micro-Finance institutions across the Philippines.

In a statement issued, following her participation announcement as a speaker, Dr. Adrienne Heinrich (Vice President & Head of AI Center of Excellence, Union Bank of the Philippines) explained the pivotal nature of AI in her organisation, “AI is a major driver of the Aboitiz Group's Great Transformation into being the Philippines' first techglomerate. At Union Bank of the Philippines, an Aboitiz-led universal bank, we leverage technologies like AI to deliver innovative models and solutions allowing us to provide tailor-fit recommendations on products and services that truly address our customers’ needs. AI also enables us to unlock new potential and opportunities across industries in the Group including banking and financial services, power, manufacturing, and beyond.”

WFIS 2022 – Philippines, will host the top 30+ thought leaders and experts from the industry who will shed light on the most pressing FSI topics focused on the latest tech innovations. The two-day event will also feature a live showcase of the best FSI solutions from the leading organizations and a lot more.

One of the confirmed speakers, Lito Villanueva (Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation & Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation) while talking about the event expressed, “The bridge between the now and the future can only be built by disrupting the current conversation on technology and finance. These conversations spark limitless collaboration between leaders and trailblazers that create boundless innovation. The event is an opportunity to create not only innovation and disruption but ‘disrupt-innovation’.”

Roy Joseph Roberto (Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Digital Transformation, Citibank Philippines) while appreciating the WFIS platform to address crucial CX challenges mentioned, “CX has now become the key differentiator while choosing a financial service platform. Realizing its inseparable nature with data science and AI, the financial services industry is gearing up with bigger investments in AI-enabled solutions. In that regard, World Financial Innovation Series serves as an ideal avenue for business and tech leaders to address the most pressing CX challenges and share how disruptive tech like AI can help bridge these gaps and transform DCX as we know it.”

Organizer and CEO of Tradepass, Sudhir Jena, expressed “With the Philippines witnessing record-high investments in fintech and the Filipinos becoming savvier and savvier with digitization, WFIS 2022 – Philippines will be the perfect opportunity for the fintech providers to collaborate with the traditional financial institutions and other seeking organizations that want to incorporate fintech into their core infrastructure.”

Some of the confirmed speakers from the event include DR. ADRIENNE HEINRICH, Vice President and Head of AI Center of Excellence, Union Bank of the Philippines; DHARMESH PATEL, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, East West Bank; LITO VILLANUEVA, EVP and Chief Innovation & Inclusion Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation; RONALDO BATISAN, Vice President - Customer Experience, Union Bank of the Philippines; ARIVUVEL RAMU, Group Chief Technology Officer, Tonik (Digital Bank); CARLOS TENGKIAT, Chief Information Security Officer, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and many others.

For more information about the event, log on to:

https://philippines.worldfis.com/

PhilSec 2022, a two-day event focused on the Philippines’ cybersecurity, will provide a common congregation point for the leading cybersecurity providers and many seeking organisations to network, collaborate and share the latest intel from cybersecurity. The event will also reward the best security minds who have well-established their expertise, leadership and excellence in the industry.

Philippines’ premier cybersecurity event - PhilSec 2022, which aims to support The Department of Information and Communications Technology, will also acknowledge the best cybersecurity talents at its award segment i.e., PhilSec Awards 2022.

Scheduled to go live on 12 – 13 July 2022 at Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila, the 2^nd edition of PhilSec will feature six different award categories - Cyber Woman of the Year; CISO of the Year; Best Security Professional (Public Sector); Best Security Professional (Private Sector); Digital Leader of the Year; and GRC Leader of the Year.

To ensure the best participation and recognition for the event and its awards segment, PhilSec 2022 has the most influential body of Advisory Board and Jury Members that include - Allan S Cabanlong, Advisor & Former Assistant Secretary - Cybersecurity & Enabling Technologies, DICT; BGen. Jess Lomeda (Ret), Cybersecurity Specialist, Former Head of the Cyber Division, Department of National Defense – Philippines; Carrine Teoh, Chief Strategy Officer, Bond Holdings & Vice President, ASEAN CIO Association; Joey Fontiveros, Deputy Commander - Cyber Battalion, Philippines Army; and Steven Sim Kok Leong, President, ISACA Singapore Chapter.

As one of the esteemed jury members, Joey Fontiveros, Deputy Commander, Cyber Battalion, Philippines Army is of the opinion, “PhilSec Awards 2022 serves as a fusion of the best and explorative minds of technology and security. It provides the impetus for shaping the environment of synergy and dynamism toward emerging technologies and the growing concern of cybersecurity. “

This award program will dive into the rich talent pool of myriad cybersecurity experts and bestow honour upon their groundbreaking work that has empowered and uplifted the entire cybersecurity landscape.

For more information about the event, log on to:

https://philsecsummit.com/

Nexi and Alpha Bank today confirmed that they have joined forces to transform merchant solutions in Greece and pave the way for a new era of digital payments in the country. The two Groups announced the creation of a new company, Nexi Payments Greece, which will provide innovative merchant solutions and payment acceptance products and services to the Greek market.

The announcement was made during a Press Conference earlier today in the presence of Minister of State Akis Skertsos, and Her Excellency the Ambassador of Italy, Patrizia Falcinelli. The launch of the new company was hosted by the CEO of Nexi Group Paolo Bertoluzzo, the Alpha Bank Group CEO Vassilios Psaltis and the Nexi Payments Greece CEO Dionysis Grigoratos. 

Enhancing the digitalization of businesses in Greece

The integrated solutions offered by the joint venture between Nexi and Alpha Bank, will allow merchants, citizens and public sector organizations to benefit from innovative and state-of-the-art services that will encourage the uptake of digital payment services in Greece.

Digital payments acceptance will be drastically upgraded to become faster, easier and more secure for merchants and businesses, through the provision of ready-to-use tools that will allow them to develop and manage their customers’ payments more easily. At the same time, end consumers will enjoy a new, simplified and cashless shopping experience.

Promoting a cashless payments culture

Nexi Payments Greece aspires to bring Greece a step closer to digital transformation and a cashless payments culture, by boosting payments digitalization, simplifying transactions and empowering merchants and consumers for a new era of payments.

At the Press Event, Akis Skertsos, Minister of State, said: "Today, we welcome the partnership of two 'national champions', two leading groups in their sectors and countries, which aims to contribute to the digital transformation of the Greek economy. The digital transformation of the State and the economy is a national priority, with the main objective of making Greek society fairer and the Greek democracy stronger. By adopting digital technologies, transactions of citizens and businesses become easier, thus increasing their trust to the State and Institutions. At the same time, digitization enhances the reforms in our tax administration to reduce tax evasion (e.g. universal connection of modern cash registers with the State, to reduce the gap in VAT collection), creating a virtuous circle, where increased tax revenues lead to further reduction of tax rates and thus enhancing our country's investment prospects.

The steps taken in recent years towards digitization are complemented by the efforts of the private sector, such as in the cases of Alpha Bank and Nexi, which is another important foreign investor to give a vote of confidence in the Greek economy".

Paolo Bertoluzzo, CEO of Nexi Group said: “Today we are proud to announce the launch of a strategic partnership with Alpha Bank in Greece, resulting in the joint creation of Nexi Payments Greece, which will allow us to accelerate the process of modernization and digitalization of payments in the country. Together we will be providing citizens, merchants and public administration with an offer of innovative and technologically advanced solutions and services with the aim of making digital payments a daily experience that benefits the whole system. The partnership is a further demonstration of our commitment to Greece, where we already have more than a thousand people and where we have recently created in Athens a centre of excellence for the development of the issuing technology platform that will serve the entire Nexi Group. Over the next 5 years, we will be investing more than €100 million in Greece and we plan to hire 100 talented people to work on the new generation of open platforms. This partnership with Alpha Bank, in line with our selective investment strategy in markets with high-growth potential such as Greece, for Nexi Group represents a further step in our path of creating value in a highly competitive and rapidly consolidating market”.

Vassilios Psaltis, Alpha Bank Group CEO stated: "Alpha Bank's partnership with Nexi in the area of payments should be viewed in the context of our strategy to form alliances with global partners so as to provide top quality solutions to our Customers. We are excited with the level of engagement with our partners, and we are confident that our endeavor will transform the experience of digital payments in Greece, where our customers are rapidly embracing cashless payments”.

Dionysis Grigoratos, CEO of Nexi Payments Greece commented: “Today marks an important milestone, as both Alpha Bank and Nexi are entering into a new era of cooperation and strategic partnership. We are confident that through Nexi Payments Greece, we will be able to accelerate the transition into a cashless society. Today is also an important day because we announce the commencement of our actions that will turn our vision to reality. In the next days, in selected Alpha Bank stores initially and across the country soon after, two new innovative market solutions are being made available to merchants: the Nexi SoftPOS, for small and larger merchants, allowing them to turn their smartphone into a POS terminal that accepts all contactless payment methods, and the Smart POS Terminals, for larger merchants, enabling them to better manage their accounts, through new functionalities. In our first day, we are already providing solutions that are game-changers, and we are confident of the role we have to play in the revolution of the digital payments space in Greece”.

Nexi Payments Greece: an overview of the transaction and the new company

The closing of the transaction between Nexi and Alpha Bank that marked the initiation of Nexi Payments Greece was completed on June 30, 2022. Alpha Bank has carved out its merchant acquiring business unit, by way of a spin-off, to a new entity that received a payment institution license.

Nexi holds a 51% stake in the new entity, while, through the execution of a long-term marketing and distribution agreement by the parties, Alpha Bank remains committed to the payments sector and will be the exclusive distributor for products and services in the Greek market through its widespread Branch Network across Greece.

Nexi will consolidate the new company, which is expected to contribute over 196,000 POS terminals and Euro 12 billion in volumes. Nexi Payments Greece is expected to generate approximately Euro 94 million of revenues in 2022, on a pro-forma basis and pre-synergies. Nexi will finance the Transaction entirely through existing cash resources.

Following the finalization of this milestone transaction, Alpha Bank concludes its capital strengthening actions announced in its “Project Tomorrow” business plan, which will fully offset the impact from the NPE transactions that will mature in Q2, thus facilitating the achievement of its strategic target of reaching a single-digit NPE ratio in the first half of 2022.

With the completion of the Transaction, which is consistent with its strategic vision, Nexi establishes a market-leading position in the fast-growing Greek payments market, further expanding its merchant acquiring operations, while increasing revenue diversification across highly attractive and underpenetrated European countries. The new company will also be well-positioned to capture further organic and inorganic growth opportunities in the country.

From $46billion to $6.5billion - Klarna's Valuation Will Fall in the Company's Next Funding Round

According to the Wall Street Journal, Klarna is nearing a capital round that would reduce the BNPL giant's valuation from $45.6 billion to roughly $6.5 billion. The Journal reports that Klarna is attempting to raise $650 million, most of which will come from Sequoia Capital, the company's largest investor. When the company was riding the buy now, pay later wave, its $639 million investment round in June of last year's valuation represented a significant discount.

Sustainable Crypto Yields with MoHash as it Raises $6M for DeFi Protocol

Penetration of global capital into emerging market private debt is minimal and liquidity is non-existent. MoHash is providing access to global capital and liquidity to debt issued by non-bank lenders using DeFi as a tool. Crypto already has close to $150B balances in stablecoin earning high risk, unsustainable and crypto correlated yields thus providing the intersection for MoHash to unlock value as it announces a $6M seed funding round.

UK Unicorn Zilch Extends Series C by $50M Bringing Total to $160M

Zilch, the London-based double unicorn, announced it has secured an additional $50m in funding, taking the total raise for its Series C to $160m. The extension brings Zilch’s total funding to more than $460m in debt and equity and sees the fintech company maintain its valuation. The additional capital will be used to further fund business growth, with a focus on the US market where Zilch recently opened its Miami office.

FNZ Leads Series-A Investment in Fintech Start-up Bondsmith

FNZ, the leading global wealth management platform, has led a Series-A investment in Bondsmith, the fintech providing innovative cash management and savings solutions for the wealth industry. The investment forms part of a wider partnership that sees Bondsmith’s market-leading solutions integrated into FNZ’s cutting-edge global wealth management platform, further enhancing the technology that supports over 650 of the world’s leading financial institutions and 8,000 wealth management firms in 21 countries.

Ophelos Raises £5M in Seed Funding Led by AlbionVC to Revolutionise the Debt Collection Industry in the UK

Ophelos, the technology firm and pending B-corp using AI to radically rethink the debt resolution process in the UK, has raised its Seed round, totalling £5 million (GBP). The funding round was led by AlbionVC, which has previously invested in fintechs such as Quantexa and Credit Kudos. Contributions were also made by Vast Ventures, an early investor in Coinbase and Tala, regulatory and public policy experts Form Ventures, as well as existing investors Connect Ventures and Fly Ventures.

Circulor Raises $25M, Demonstrating Growing Global Demand for Transparent, Secure, and Responsible Supply Chains

Circulor announces that it has raised $25 million (20 million GBP) in Series B funding, signalling growing market demand for more transparent and secure industrial supply chains. Circulor provides the most proven and mature solution for increasing supply chain visibility. A growing number of companies are turning to Circulor to gain data-driven insights into their business risks, greater accuracy in responsible sourcing, and digital proof to enable circular business models. 

Fintech Currensea Smashes Crowdfunding Target in Less than Two Hours as it Raises over £1m on Seedrs – Already Raised 135% of Target

Fintech Currensea has surpassed its crowdfunding target in under two hours after launching on the Seedrs platform. Currensea, a money-saving travel card linked to existing current accounts, has already raised £1.35m from over 350 investors – 135% of its initial target. Due to high demand, Currensea has reappraised its crowdfunding target and is currently continuing to accept investment from UK investors for a short time on the Seedrs platform.

A French Digital Asset Tech Company Flowdesk has Raised $30million

Active in the cryptocurrency sector for several years, the four co-founders of Flowdesk, Guilhem Chaumont, Paul Bugnot, François Cluzeau and Balthazar Giraux have been working in this sector since 2017 after careers in banking, algorithmic trading, engineering and entrepreneurship. During their respective experiences, they were marked by the siloing and fracturing of marketplaces and the technological barrier to properly handle the liquidity of crypto-asset projects.

Partnerships

Derivative Path Teams Up with Goldman Sachs to Deliver FX and Global Payments to US Regional and Community Banks

Derivative Path, a leading provider of capital markets technology and derivatives execution services to regional and community banks, announced it is collaborating with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking (TxB) to offer an automated, digital-first payments platform to help financial institutions with spot foreign exchange and international payments. 

Clearwater Analytics and Liquiditybook to Offer End-To-End Portfolio Investment and Operations

Clearwater Analytics, a leading provider of SaaS-based investment accounting, reporting, and analytics solutions, and LiquidityBook, a leading provider of cloud-native trading solutions for the buy and sell sides, announced that they will leverage their proven connectivity to offer clients an end-to-end portfolio investment and operations experience.

Esusu and BH Partnership Puts Over 9,800 Residents on the Path to Financial Success

Esusu, the leading financial technology company advancing rent reporting and data solutions for credit building, and BH, a leading vertically integrated multifamily property owner and operator, announced new data showing that 9,800+ residents that participated in their pilot rent reporting program saw an improvement in their credit scores in the first 6 months (December 2021 through May 2022), with credit score averages improving to 677 points.

Hargreaves Lansdown Moves into Open Banking with Ecospend

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has selected Ecospend, the UK’s leading Open Banking provider, to provide a “pay by bank” service for its clients. Ecospend’s solution will allow HL’s clients to make payments directly to their HL accounts more easily and securely and without the need for cards. The payment journey removes the need to enter card details when adding money to an account, significantly reducing data entry errors and card fraud risk. 

Ivalua Partners With C2FO to Complete the Strategic Payments Journey and Enhance Access to Capital

Ivalua, a global leader in Cloud Spend Management solutions, announced a strategic partnership with C2FO, the largest global platform for working capital, to empower Ivalua customers with enhanced supplier selection and the ability to streamline costs and drive targeted bottom-line growth. Early payments are a powerful liquidity tool that allows suppliers to be paid before terms. However, executing the classic invoice-driven approach after the contracting event prevents such programs from realizing their full cash potential.

Virgin Money Teams up with Untied to Power Tax for SMEs

Virgin Money has announced that it is linking up with untied, the UK personal tax app, to offer tax capabilities for sole traders who have a Virgin Money business current account. The new partnership means Virgin Money’s self-employed customers will be able to access untied, enabling them to better manage their businesses, get on top of their taxes and file to HMRC directly from untied quickly and easily.

FintechOS Partners with Huddl Team to Deliver Innovative Technology Solutions for UK Building Societies

FintechOS, the global leader in high-productivity fintech infrastructure for the financial services and retail industries, has announced a partnership with Huddl Team. The collaboration with the programme and project management consultancy will help provide innovative technology solutions to building societies within the UK financial services sector.   

Receeve Partners with Paylink Solutions Technology to Support Financially Vulnerable Customers

The collections & recovery platform, receeve, has announced a new partnership with Paylink Solutions to provide a simple, efficient way to carry out affordability assessments for its customers across Europe. Through Paylink’s technology, receeve clients will benefit from a quicker and more accurate service, which will maximise agent output. On average, clients will see a 75% improvement in the time it takes to complete an affordability assessment.

UK Payments Leader Shieldpay Announces Partnership with Open Banking and Risk Specialists DirectID

Shieldpay, the secure digital payments market leader, and global credit and risk specialists DirectID, have announced a partnership to implement DirectID’s open banking-powered bank account verification into the Shieldpay payments engine. Working together, DirectID’s Connect widget and Shieldpay's payment engine allow customers to transfer funds online with digital escrow and trust services. 

ABTOT Chooses Trust Payments to be its Newest Payments Partner

The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust (ABTOT) has selected Trust Payments, the disruptive leader in frictionless payments and value-added services for merchants, as its newest payments platform provider across its broad membership base. As a partner to ABTOT, members will now have access to the full range of Trust Payments’ Converged Commerce™ offerings including online payment solutions from its dedicated payments gateway, acquiring services, multicurrency solutions and fraud screening.

FullCircl Partners with Codat to Create a Frictionless and Personalised Experience for Financial Service Providers Onboarding and Serving SME Customers

FullCircl, the Customer Lifecycle Intelligence (CLI) platform that helps B2B companies in financially regulated industries do better business, faster, announced a partnership with Codat, the universal API for small business data. FullCircl’s mission is to help banks and financial service providers overcome their biggest challenges. Getting the right data on small business customers is one of those challenges.

The Swedish Fintech Juni Joins Forces with Startup to Fight Online Fraud

The Lithuanian identity verification and compliance company iDenfy, joined forces with Juni, the financial management platform made for e-commerce. iDenfy’s mix of built-in identity verification and Business Verification services will protect Juni from fraud. Reduced costs, personalization, greater convenience, or speed are all factors that make e-commerce and fintech players successful in today’s digital sphere. 

Ethical Equity Partners With Streets Consulting To Help Underserved Startup Founders Become ‘Investor-Ready’

Ethical Equity, the UK’s first ethically compliant investment platform, announced a partnership with Streets Consulting, the financial services and technology business development, marketing and communications consultancy, to deliver a one-day Founder Workshop. To be held on 8 July 2022 at Origin Workspace, Bristol, the workshop is designed to fulfil three critical needs for entrepreneurs hoping to list on investment platforms like Ethical Equity.

Superapp Bano Partners with Currencycloud to Simplify Finance for Australia's Gen Z

Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has been chosen by Bano, the new Australia-based financial super app aimed at making finances easier for Millennials and GenZ internationals, to launch its FX Converter to make remittance easier and less costly for its users and their families. The newly-launched FX Converter is integral to Bano’s goal of simplifying finances for Millennials and GenZers and their friends and family, wherever they are.

Canadian Banks Partner with CanDeal to Deliver Industry-wide KYC Solution

CanDeal Group (“CanDeal”), a leading operator of Canadian market and infrastructure services, has partneredwith five of Canada’s largest domestic banks to deliver a comprehensive, centralized Know Your Client (“KYC”) solution to the Capital Markets Industry. The landmark collaboration mutualizes many of the costs and efforts of complying with KYC requirements and The Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (“PCMLTFA”) and delivers unparalleled operational efficiencies.

SME Bank Partners with kevin. to create One-stop-shop for Online Payments and Revenue-based Growth Financing

SME Bank, the bank making life simpler for small- and medium-sized enterprises, has partnered with next-generation payment infrastructure provider kevin. to create an easy-access one-stop-shop for e-commerce business owners seeking a range of online payment capabilities for customers, with payments into a single business account, combined with collateral-free growth financing.

Fintech Company Paysend uses airfocus to Create and Deliver Better Products for its Customers

UK fintech company Paysend is using airfocus to create and share product roadmaps across the company, providing greater transparency around priorities and enabling it to deliver better products to its seven million customers. Next-generation global payment ecosystem Paysend works with businesses and consumers alike, helping them to send money to more than 150 countries worldwide. 

Launches 

Finastra Launches Embedded Consumer Lending Solution

Finastra unveiled its embedded consumer lending solution, enabling access to traditional regulated lending options for consumers at point-of-sale (POS). Financial institutions, distributors and merchants will benefit from a platform that makes it easy for their customers to access lending options. For end consumers, Finastra Embedded Consumer Lending aims to make the buying process as frictionless as possible. 

Aliaswire Announces Advanced B2B Invoicing and Payment Capabilities for Manufacturers and Distributors

Aliaswire, a provider of bill payment and credit solutions for businesses and banks, announced the general availability of new invoicing and payment capabilities for manufacturers and distributors in its DirectBiller® platform. The advanced features address the unique requirements of business-to-business (B2B) customer relationships and transactions in manufacturing and distribution.

NatWest Launches Digital Carbon Planner to Help UK Businesses Manage Future Fuel and Operational Costs

NatWest announced the launch of its Carbon Planner, a free-to-use digital platform designed to help UK businesses manage their future fuel and operational costs, and reduce their carbon footprint to help them go and grow greener. The launch follows the bank’s broader commitment to lend £100bn to businesses in Climate and Sustainable Funding and Financing by 2025.

MCO launches Know Your Risk (KYR) to Provide Financial Services Firms with Comprehensive Compliance Governance and Oversight

Global conduct risk and compliance technology provider MCO (MyComplianceOffice), announced the launch of its new Governance and Oversight suite, Know Your Risk (KYR). KYR is a modular solution that enables firms to set regulatory priorities, identify policy and procedure gaps, and deliver proof of adherence with metrics and documentation.

Fenergo Launches ESG Offering to Support Mandatory Regulatory Requirements

Fenergo, the leading provider of digital solutions for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Client Lifecycle Management (CLM), has launched a new solution to enable financial institutions to reduce regulatory and reputational risk and streamline operations for ESG compliance. This allows firms to automatically calculate climate, reputational and complementary ESG risks and efficiently fulfil regulatory obligations.

Gatehouse Bank Introduces New Savings App

Gatehouse Bank has launched a mobile app, available on iOS and Android, to support customers in managing their personal savings accounts. The app allows users to view their account balance, recent transactions, and personal information held for the account. Users can also view and delete pending, unprocessed transactions and withdraw or transfer funds between Gatehouse Bank savings accounts (if their account(s) allow this).

Airwallex Launches Global Payment Services in New Zealand; Drives Business Growth in the ANZ Region

Leading financial platform Airwallex announced the launch of its global payment services in New Zealand. The launch will enable businesses in New Zealand to tap into Airwallex’s global payments services, offering a faster, more cost-effective and transparent alternative to traditional banks. Businesses in New Zealand now have access to key Airwallex offerings including international collections, multi-currency wallets in over 11 currencies, and local payouts in over 30 currencies.

Hyland Releases Latest Content Services Product Enhancements, Including New Integration with SAP SuccessFactors

Hyland, recognised by Gartner as a content services industry leader for 12 consecutive years, has launched its latest product enhancements and innovative solutions that will help customers in their digital evolution journeys. The new product functionality, which encompasses an array of Hyland’s content services offerings, empowers organisations to advance employee and customer experience initiatives while benefiting from improved platform scalability, administration and user interface enhancements.

Fusion Risk Management Launches Intelligent Incident Manager and Expands Dynamic Response Capability

Fusion Risk Management, Inc. (“Fusion”), a leading provider of operational resilience, risk management, and business continuity software and services, announced the expanded functionality of its Dynamic Response capability as well as the launch of Fusion Intelligent Incident Manager to deliver resilience that is both agile and interactive. The new Intelligent Incident Manager is a purpose-built solution that enables organizations to identify the full scope of an incident and recognize impacted assets or known outages.

Velexa Launches Embedded Investing as a Service Platform

Velexa, a recently launched WealthTech, announced the launch of their Investing Platform as a Service with embedded API and front-to-back B2B2X technology. With this launch, Velexa aims to impact the way in which wealth management products are created and distributed, empowering incumbent banks, neo banks, brokerage companies and disruptive players to offer a unified experience to end consumers.

The Bank of London and SAP Fioneer Join Forces to Disrupt Global Clearing and Transaction Banking

The Bank of London, the world's first purpose-built global clearing, agency and transaction bank, has teamed up with SAP Fioneer, a leading global provider of financial services software solutions and platforms, to transform and simplify global clearing and transaction banking. The Bank of London is the UK's second clearing bank authorised in the last 250 years. Its technology platform is engineered to be a foundational building block of the borderless economic infrastructure of the future.

New PayPal Cashback Business Credit Card Launches for US Small Businesses

PayPal Holdings announced it is expanding its suite of credit offerings to include a new business credit card to better meet the everyday financing needs of small business owners. The PayPal Business Cashback Mastercard, issued by WebBank and powered by the Mastercard network, is the first business credit card offered through PayPal.

Investment Platform Qooore Launches Paper Trading and Reveals New Name

Qooore, the social investment platform for Gen Z, announces the launch of paper trading in its iOS app, enabling users to carry out risk-free trades based on insights from leading finfluencers. To mark this exciting new chapter in the company’s development, Qooore is also rebranding as Qure.Finance, while reaffirming its focus on becoming the leading investment platform for Gen Z, with a total addressable market of $84 bln.

UK Insurtech Superscript Expands into the Netherlands

London-based insurtech Superscript announces its expansion to the Netherlands today, in the latest development towards its goal of becoming a global leader in SME insurance. Supercript’s advisory service, SuperscriptQ, will be helping the next leaders in Europe with emerging technologies secure the right cover. The focus will initially be on medtech, fintech and digital asset businesses, before expanding its scope to other high-growth tech sectors.

Chargebacks911 Celebrates 3x Boost to its Automated Dispute Response Platform With the Addition of Data-Driven AI Enablement

Chargebacks911, the leading dispute technology specialist that powers chargeback remediation for the largest global eCommerce businesses, as well as the world's financial institutions, celebrates a 3x boost to its automated dispute response platform. The addition of AI further propels Chargebacks911’s worldwide market advantage, as the leading dispute technology platform.

Merger & Acquisition

GoCardless to Acquire Open Banking Platform Nordigen, Combining Broad Open Banking Connectivity with Bank Payment Expertise

GoCardless, the global leader in direct bank payments, has announced its plans to acquire Nordigen, the freemium open banking data provider, as it builds on its vision to become the world’s bank payment network. GoCardless will incorporate Nordigen’s next-generation open banking connectivity -- offering the widest coverage in Europe, connecting to more than 2,300 banks in 31 countries -- into its account-to-account network.

Lentra Acquires AI Startup TheDataTeam to Accelerate Digital Lending Platform Business

Lentra AI Private Limited, one of the fastest-growing digital lending cloud platforms, has announced the acquisition of Chennai and Singapore-based AI company TheDataTeam (TDT). Lentra will deploy TDT’s flagship behaviour intelligence platform Cadenz to help banks and financial institutions make better data-driven decisions on customer creditworthiness based on their unique financial journey. 

FTX Nears $25million Bargain Deal for BlockFi

CNBC reports that less than a year after raising capital at a valuation of $3 billion, bitcoin player BlockFi is on the verge of being acquired by FTX for as little as $25 million. Friday could see the signing of an agreement before the end of the quarter, according to sources cited by CNBC. Only days earlier, FTX had provided BlockFi with an emergency $250 million line of credit.

Job Moves

Payments Specialist Kenswitch Appoints Karimi Ithau as Managing Director

Kenswitch, the leading Payments Service Provider (PSP) in Kenya, has appointed Karimi Ithau as its new managing director, replacing George Wainaina who left a few months ago. Ithau previously served as the head of the sales network at Interswitch for the last five years prior to the new role. Ithau previously worked as the general manager and head of business development at Paynet. 

Medius Builds Senior Team with Appointment of Two Channel Leaders

Medius, a leading provider of AP Automation and wider spend management solutions, announces the appointment of two new Channel Leaders to its senior team. Tanya Wills joins as VP of Channel Sales and Alliances for North America and Mandi Lapointe joins as Director of Global Partner Marketing. The new hires follow a string of senior leadership hires made in 2021 and 2022, including, CEO Jim Lucier, CSO Branden Jenkins, CMO Kim Albrecht, CRO Jeff Swan, and Matt Rhodus, VP of Business Development & Strategic Initiatives – all tasked with growing the business globally.

GPS Announces New Senior Leadership Changes

Global Processing Services (GPS), a leading global payment technology platform, announced the promotion of Joanne Dewar to Vice-Chair. Kevin Schultz has also been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Joanne will maintain her position on the GPS board, where she will focus on the group’s growth and global profile, and continue to work alongside Chair, Gene Lockhart, in a newly created Office of the Chair.

Resolve Expands Leadership Team to Fuel Growth and Meet Rising Demand of B2B Customers

Resolve, the B2B payments solution offering net-terms-as-a service announced key new hires to accelerate growth and meet the escalating demand for its embedded payments and accounts receivables tools. New additions to the leadership team include Amazon’s former Senior Portfolio Manager Maria Schmeiser as Head of Risk and Podsight’s former Head of People Marnie Robbins as Head of People Operations. 

FinTech West Establishes Further Credibility with the Appointment of Professor of International Management

Jonathan Beaverstock, Professor of International Management at the University of Bristol, joins FinTech West as Knowledge Exchange Fellow, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, bringing social science expertise to the team supporting Bristol, Bath and the Southwest to become a FinTech superpower.The fellowship role has been funded to facilitate knowledge exchange between academia and industry leaders in the FinTech cluster.

Debite Appoints Fintech Specialist Uma Balachandra as Head of Revenue

Debite, the financing platform for early-stage companies, announced the appointment of Uma Balachandra as its first Head of Revenue. Uma most recently served as General Manager, UK & Europe at Jeeves, an all-in-one credit and expense management platform. During his time at Jeeves, Uma led the expansion of the fintech to new markets and established a local cross-functional team, while at the same time driving revenue growth through business development and partnerships.

Monite Appoints Alex Akimov, Formerly Adyen’s Head of API

Embedded finance startup Monite has appointed Alex Akimov as Head of API, formerly also Head of API of Adyen, in the latest move in its platform scaling strategy. Like Adyen, currently capitalized at nearly $40 billion, Monite’s embedded finance strategy is built on API interconnectivity. Monite’s embeddable API enables B2B brands to add new finance automation features, such as invoicing, accounts payable, expense management, and more, directly into their existing interface.

nCino Hires Chief People Officer to Lead Company’s Strategic People Functions Through Next Phase of Global Growth and Maturation

nCino, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNO), a pioneer in cloud banking and digital transformation solutions for the global financial services industry, announced that Chris Ainsworth has joined the Company as its first Chief People Officer, serving as a member of the nCino Executive Leadership Team. For the past 25 years, Ainsworth has led people functions and teams in a range of industries including insurance, cards and payments, banking and capital markets.

Fintech Griffin Appoints Maria Campbell as its New Chief Operating Officer

Griffin, the UK-based Banking as a Service firm, announces the promotion of Maria Campbell to Chief Operating Officer. Campbell first joined Griffin in 2021 as Vice President of People. Campbell will be responsible for executing the firm's commercial growth strategy in this new role, and embedding operational excellence and resilience into the business as it scales. Her appointment as COO comes after Adam Moulson was announced as interim CEO, while David Jarvis takes parental leave.

Chargebacks911, the leading dispute technology specialist that powers chargeback remediation for the largest global eCommerce businesses, as well as the world's financial institutions, today celebrates a 3x boost to its automated dispute response platform.

The addition of AI further propels Chargebacks911’s worldwide market advantage, as the leading dispute technology platform. 

The utilization of data from a vast consortium of businesses across a number of verticals, enables the technology to be ‘trained’ to dynamically identify data points related to post transaction fraud, including first party fraud. This is then enriched to exponentially improve underlying dispute intelligence and insights for merchants.

First party fraud, also known as ‘Friendly Fraud’, refers to an illegitimate chargeback filed on a legitimate transaction and costs the eCommerce industry staggering amounts each year. This accounts for up to 25% of a merchant's profits, highlighting how catastrophic this problem is for the global economy. Post transaction fraud surged by 23% in 2021** however, first party fraud, a subset within this category, has surged 56%*** making it one of the fastest growing fraud types on record. 

One of the primary reasons for the growth in first party fraud is due to unavailable feedback from the merchant. As a result of the mammoth quantity of chargeback data that online merchants receive, and the time it takes for a human operator to investigate each chargeback and determine whether it is legitimate or not; the vast majority of cases expire, inadvertently contributing to this negative trend and its unintended consequences.

To slow this worrying growth trajectory, and keep pace with evolving data sets, the industry needs to adopt more intelligent automation in order to scale. In contrast to a costly human led strategy, Chargebacks911 revolutionizes the data collection process, transforming the concept of end to end automation by digitizing even the most complex and unstructured formats to maximize data insights and leverage rule-based data driven automation. 

Monica Eaton-Cardone, Founder of Chargebacks911, says: 

“We know that chargebacks are out of control and this can be devastating, especially in today’s desperate economic climate. However, by further fueling the power of AI in our digitization of the disputes management process, the heavy lift of data aggregation is optimized, providing insight and flexibility that easily accommodates the changing landscape of chargeback rules and payments. Creating a more sustainable ecosystem is all about replacing friction with intelligence, and applies to all stakeholders - merchants included. This is really something to celebrate!”

Chargeback911’s AI enabled automated dispute response platform allows merchants of all sizes across dozens of verticals to intelligently fill the knowledge gap and thwart growth in first party fraud. Without an in depth understanding of the post transaction data types, chargeback rules, and dispute reason codes, which differ between card networks and alternative payment methods, merchants risk becoming victims to increasing chargeback fraud. Chargeback911’s platform acts as a multidimensional orchestration layer, powering rules based logic, Machine Learning (ML), and AI driven calculations that work in unison, to dynamically analyze and classify data input and compile a dispute response. When compared to automation alone, a yield of up to 3X results are achieved with the addition of data driven AI enablement, further enhancing the added benefit of rich data analytics.