Indirect industrial cooperation in the acquisition of F-35 fighters will strengthen the cybersecurity of Finnish security of supply. The Finnish Ministry of Defense commissioned Nixu to assemble a cybersecurity ecosystem that includes dozens of companies, higher education institutions and research institutes. Nixu will be working with Lockheed Martin to develop national cyber-capabilities in several projects.

Finland’s acquisition of fighter jets involves EUR 2.5 billion in direct industrial cooperation and EUR 500 million in indirect industrial cooperation between Finnish companies and the manufacturer of the fighters, Lockheed Martin.

Just over two years ago, the Ministry of Defense requested Nixu to coordinate an ecosystem of cyber experts – consisting of companies, higher education institutions and research institutes – well in advance before the fighter manufacturers submitted their bids. Over thirty companies and seven higher education institutions or research institutes were interested in industrial cooperation in the cyber sector, requiring a commitment of several years.

“The goal is that the ecosystem partners will engage in genuine collaboration to create a new product or service that will benefit all of Finnish society in terms of digital security of supply and cyber self-sufficiency,” says Kim Westerlund, Head of Cybersecurity Solutions at Nixu.

“The digitalization of society exposes us to situations in which we must have expertise in areas critical to security of supply under all circumstances. For this reason, it’s very important to bolster resilience – that is, to build capabilities and tolerance to incidents. At the same time, this creates new Finnish business and new jobs in the cyber sector.”

Technology transfer from the United States to Finland

Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the fighters, has now selected the participating organizations and the presented projects (and the Minister of Defense signed the related agreement in February 2022). The company is also a major player in cybersecurity – and provides projects with its own expertise and technological capabilities. This represents a valuable transfer of technology from the United States to Finland, serving to enhance Finnish expertise.

“In the cyber sector, it’s difficult to predict what you intend to develop four years down the line – but everyone had to submit such a forecast to Lockheed Martin. This calls for foresight,” says Westerlund. “We’re grateful to be involved in developing Finnish cyber self-sufficiency and critical digital infrastructure.”

The theme of Nixu’s projects is national cyber resilience in critical digital infrastructure. This involves the development of capabilities in areas such as vulnerability research, the automation of threat intelligence, and advanced attack detection.

Fintech Week London – a week-long series of events celebrating London's innovative fintech ecosystem and global connections – makes a welcome return in July attracting top-of-the-line speakers and delegates from around the world.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will share learnings on how Chicago's commitment to equality and inclusion is helping the US city’s fintech ecosystem realise a more diverse talent pool; while Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business will outline how London continues to attract global investors.

Back as an in-person event, Fintech Week London 2022 takes place from Monday 11 to Friday 15 July combining the best of learning and networking and covering the fintech industry’s hottest topics - with a 2022 theme of ‘The coming of age of the fintech industry.

More than 2,000 attendees are expected to attend the week and will be treated to a series of engaging and insightful presentations from other respected industry keynote speakers, including Rich Fox, Director International at the FCA, and Rita Liu, CEO at Mode, as well as lively panel discussions and debates with the likes of techpassport.io, Morgan Stanley, Lloyds Bank, UBS and Zopa.

Content for Fintech Week London is curated and led by an illustrious panel that includes Chris Skinner (Chair), Ghela Boskovich (Financial Data and Technology Association), Susanne Chishti (FINTECH Circle), Leda Glyptis (10x Banking), Theo Lau (Unconventional Ventures) and Huy Nguyen Trieu (CFTE).

The week kicks off with a flagship two-day conference at etc. venues 133 Houndsditch on Liverpool Street. Further activity taking place over the five days includes the Open Source Finance Forum and The FinTech Awards London ceremony at The Underglobe on Wednesday evening, which will recognise and celebrate fintech professionals and companies making a difference in London.

There will be plenty of in-person networking activities, before the week culminates with a virtual event connecting key industry figures from global fintech hubs, including New York, Dubai and Singapore.

Raf De Kimpe, CEO of Fintech Week London, says: “It’s brilliant that Fintech Week London 2022 is back as an in-person event this year with tickets in huge demand. Last year’s hybrid event was limited to 50 per cent in-person capacity but still secured impressive interactivity scores. With high-quality speakers and fantastic sponsors already confirmed for 2022 – and even more, to be revealed – this year’s event is going to be bigger and better than ever before.

“Fintech Week London is more than just an opportunity to ‘show and tell’ using infomercials dressed up as discussion panels, instead we’ll have the industry’s very best delving deep into fascinating, hot topics for an honest reflection on the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of the fintech industry.

“This year will also be far more dynamic, with a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style opportunity for five amazing companies, who will pitch their ideas to a panel of angel investors all in front of a live audience and audience interaction. We can’t wait to showcase some of the best that London and global fintech have to offer.”

Fintech Week London 2022 will focus on six key themes, including:

• Open Banking / Banking as a Service: exploring the momentum and future potential of open banking in the UK and beyond as it hits its four-year milestone in the UK.
• Digital Sovereignty: discussing the impact of a world that is ever more digital and data orientated and will explore the importance of cybersecurity, privacy and fraud prevention in the quest for digital sovereignty.
• Big Tech and Big Banks: Coopetition: highlighting the numerous mergers, acquisitions and partnerships taking place, and how the ‘coopetition’ (collaboration vs competition) between big tech and big banks has never been more relevant as the fintech industry comes of age.
• Trending in Fintech: covering a host of hot topics, from Buy Now Pay Later to Web 3.0, looking into a time of great innovation and the levelling up of the fintech world.
• Crypto: diving deep into the world of cryptocurrency to explore crypto and payments, as well as the ever-popular NFTs that show no signs of slowing down. Also, analysing the arguments for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and examining the opportunities and challenges a UK CBDC would bring.
• Fintech for good: investigating advancements in climate and ethical finance in an ESG-focused world, as well as understanding the need for further change.

Fintech Week London 2022 takes place from Monday 11 July to Friday 15 July. Headline sponsors include Crypto.com, Mambu, Workato, Twilio and The Fintech Power 50. An exclusive recording of the event’s key highlights and the content will also be available to attendees.

Menlo Security, a leader in cloud security, today announced that it has joined the CrowdStrike CrowdXDR Alliance, a unified and open Extended Detection and Response (XDR) coalition formed with security and IT operations leaders and best-of-breed solutions. As a member of the CrowdXDR Alliance, Menlo Security’s solution will be integrated into CrowdStrike Falcon XDR to provide protection from malware being delivered by Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats (HEAT). CrowdStrike Falcon XDR enables customers to integrate security solutions from different vendors for unified, threat-centric detection and response across an organisation’s entire security and technology ecosystem.

Menlo Security enables organisations to outsmart threats and attacks to maximise productivity.  The Menlo extensible Cloud Security Platform - built on a patented Isolation Core - is one of the only solutions to deliver on the promise of cloud security by providing the most secure zero-trust approach to preventing malicious attacks. This is accomplished by making security invisible to end users while they work online, and by alleviating the operational burden on security teams and help desks. The Menlo Cloud Security Platform enables organisations to provide a safe online experience while empowering users to keep business moving forward without worrying about security threats.

"Users are spending the majority of their working day on the internet and on SaaS applications that are exposed to an onslaught of new modern-day threats. Cybercriminals and other threat actors are exploiting browser and internet vulnerabilities to deploy increasingly sophisticated malware, including Highly Evasive Adaptive Threats that fuel ransomware and other malicious threats,” said Poornima DeBolle, Menlo Security co-founder and Chief Product Officer. “We need to stop malware and zero-day exploits from ever getting to the network and endpoints. Menlo Security is excited to join the CrowdXDR Alliance and our integration with CrowdStrike Falcon XDR will enable organisations to offer a safe online experience, without having to sacrifice productivity for security."

In a recent survey, Menlo Security found that almost two-thirds of organisations were compromised by browser-based attacks in the last 12 months. The report suggests that organisations are not being proactive enough in mitigating the risk of these threats, with 45 per cent failing to add strength to their network security stack over the past year. As a member of the CrowdStrike’s CrowdXDR Alliance, CrowdStrike and Menlo Security will provide customers a way to mitigate such attacks.

“CrowdStrike pioneered the CrowdXDR Alliance with the goal of bringing elite partners together to stop breaches,” said Geoff Swaine, vice president, global programs at CrowdStrike. “We are thrilled to welcome Menlo Security as a strategic partner into the CrowdXDR Alliance and look forward to working closely to provide end-to-end visibility and protection for our customers.”

Currencycloud, the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has partnered with Swiss-based Velanis AG to launch Swinto, a financial app that offers easy, accessible instant money transfers to Swiss-based Kosovars, at no charge to them.
 
The people-friendly Swinto app cuts out the time and complexity that the Kosovar population usually endure when sending money home through Swiss-based banks, and means they will no longer be stung by high fees associated with other providers. The Swinto app offers Swiss-based Kosovars the opportunity to instantly transfer money to their families and friends back home at no cost. At the same time, users can make retail and online purchases with the Swinto app. 
 
Swinto uses Currencycloud’s APIs to offer its low-cost FX conversions to its customers; enabling them to instantly convert money between CHF, EUR, GBP and USD currencies anytime, anywhere. The partnership will also allow Swinto to increase its currency offerings as it expands to other regions in Western Europe and the Western Balkans, including Albania.

Says Alban Nevzati, CEO of Swinto Group: “Swinto was created to financially serve the underserved, to include unbanked customers in the financial system, and to contribute to the formalization of the Kosova economy. We aim to connect Kosovars living in different countries via the Swinto app for sending and receiving the almost one billion euros that flows through Kosova annually. Swinto is the only company that offers free, outsourced transactions and is creating an ecosystem to generate added value for all participants, starting with individuals, then to businesses and partner banks; adding value to each.”

Nick Cheetham, Chief Revenue Officer at Currencycloud commented: “One of our goals at Currencycloud is to democratize money. The partnership with Velanis is a superb example of this. We’re supporting Swinto in their quest to make sending money home easy for Kosovars and look forward to working with them as they expand.”

The company plans to expand to the Western Balkans and Western Europe and is currently also available to Albanians.

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, today announces its collaboration with Watches of Mayfair, the luxury London-based watch and jewellery boutique, to build a checkout fit for modern e-commerce, by enabling customers to pay via instant account-to-account payments. Through this approach, Watches of Mayfair is delivering a smoother checkout experience for its customers, reducing the burden of heavy card fees and mitigating the risk of fraud and payment failure.

Like many luxury retailers dealing with high order values, high costs associated with payments and the risk of fraud present significant burdens. YouGov research has revealed the cost of card payments to businesses - and in particular chargeback fraud - that have a disproportionate impact on retailers with high order values. 38% of merchants with an average order value greater than £500 report costs of £100-500k a year on chargeback fraud, while 11% reported costs in excess of £500k.

Watches of Mayfair has built a successful brand by focussing on high-quality customer service through its team of experts delivering a memorable, tailor-made buying experience, both in-store and online. Part of delivering that luxury service online is a modern, efficient payment method to deliver better experiences for customers while avoiding cart abandonment and failed transactions.

Powered by TrueLayer’s market-leading open banking platform, Watches of Mayfair now offers a frictionless checkout process, as instant account-to-account payments give customers a way to pay without having to input card details or share sensitive data. Instead, they use their online banking service to make a direct payment, using biometric authentication to confirm their identity, with every transaction authorised by bank-level security.

With TrueLayer, Watches of Mayfair benefits from a more cost-effective payment option where funds settle instantly, providing added assurance that it can ship orders to the customer without the risk of fraud and chargebacks.

Anton Zvarych, founder of Watches of Mayfair said: “Due to the security challenges of trading in high-end goods, we were experiencing a significant number of rejected card transactions by our payment processing providers. That was having a material impact on us so we started looking at options that can make a difference, both for us and for our customers. Discovering open banking payments has been transformational for us, combining enhanced security and greater comfort for our customers at a much lower cost to the business. This is a game-changer in how luxury retail businesses approach payments.

“I can’t think of a better payment method than open banking provided by TrueLayer. It is superior in every possible way to the alternatives, being faster, more efficient and far more cost-effective. It removes the issue of chargebacks and we can see the funds in our account in a matter of seconds. That means less time chasing failed or stuck payment by customer support teams, and more time on what matters: building our business and ensuring the best experience for our customers.”

Roger De'Ath, Head of UK at TrueLayer, commented: “Retailers like Watches of Mayfair are looking to optimise their checkout and ensure the best possible customer experience. They’ve found this impossible while attempting to manage legacy payment methods like cards that weren’t designed for digital commerce and which don’t suit the needs of retailers today.

“Mounting transaction fees and chargebacks make cards costly while low conversion impacts retailers’ bottom line and affects customer satisfaction. Today’s announcement demonstrates how open banking can make a difference for retailers of all sizes and across categories. By implementing payments with TrueLayer, Anton and the team at Watches of Mayfair are protecting a brand they have spent years building by delivering a superior customer experience. We’re delighted to be working with them and look forward to evolving our relationship over the coming months.”

• 15.06.2022 -- 09:44 am

payabl., the European payments expert that enables businesses to take payments easily, reliably and securely, announces it has promoted Oleg Stefanets to Chief Risk Officer. 

With vast risk management experience in the online payments industry, particularly in card schemes acquiring, merchant underwriting, mitigation of risk and fraud management, Oleg has showcased his expertise to achieve two promotions at payabl. in under two years. With risk-protection being a fundamental pillar of payabl.’s payments, Oleg is perfectly positioned to lead the organisation's risk strategies. 

Ugne Buracience, CEO, payabl. comments, “At payabl. we’re passionate about two things, payments and people. Oleg is an asset to our team, and we’re delighted to be able to support his career development. We truly believe that our team is our greatest asset, which is why we are strong advocates for promoting from within. Oleg brings ambition and attention to detail to the Chief Risk Officer role, supporting businesses through risk-free payments.” 

As Chief Risk Officer, Oleg will provide overall leadership, governance, and management necessary to identify, evaluate, mitigate and monitor risks throughout the company. Oleg will also be responsible for advising other departments on risk issues, developing risk processes and providing risk training for the team.

Oleg Stefanets, Chief Risk Officer, adds, “The internet should be detective, and online payments play a huge part in that as they come with the most risk. My passion is investigating money flow, detecting fraudulent transactions and implementing systems and products to enable risk-free payments. In my new role, I can do just that. There are new sophisticated techniques used by fraudsters each day, but there are also new fraud prevention tools. My job is to keep abreast of the latest developments, supporting businesses to enable risk-free payments.”

Established in 2011, payabl. is a merchant payment solution provider that enables businesses to take payments easily, reliably and securely. Experiencing 182.5% volume growth year on year from 2020 to 2021, payabl. credits its success to its team of employees. Processing over 100 million transactions last year, payabl. has a bold mission to be the platform that takes care of payments and powers growth for each and every client.

Delta Payment Solutions, the management arm of Delta Payment Cooperative, is thrilled to share they have added Biller Genie as a software cooperative provider partner.

Delta Cooperative Members utilizing QuickBooks, Xero or Accounting Suite software can now seamlessly integrate Biller Genie’s cloud-based platform with their Delta merchant or ACH processing accounts to automate Accounts Receivable billing and reconciliation without having to change their current system. This allows our cooperative members to receive payments faster, reduce overdue invoices, and save multiple hours per week on administrative work.

“Biller Genie is a game-changer for our cooperative members with excessive A/R management overhead, those considered high-risk merchants getting kicked off QuickBooks Payments or businesses that struggle with ageing invoices and reconciliation,” says Stacey Wiles, CEO of Delta Payment Solutions. “There are many small and medium-sized businesses still managing A/R through a manual process. Those of us in the payments industry need to do a better job of delivering easy-to-use, low-cost payment solutions like Biller Genie to those businesses,” she went on to share. “We are excited to add Biller Genie to our cooperative partner line-up. The solution is a great fit for a number of our vertical markets; including our start-up and emerging franchise vertical.

The integration of Biller Genie gives Delta Payment Cooperative Members the ability to connect their accounting software directly with their payment processor to offer customers secure and flexible payment options, including traditional credit cards, ACH and Apple Pay. Invoice notifications, customized customer portals, and frictionless one-click payments give cooperative members the ability to automate accounts receivable from bill presentment, to follow-up, collection and reconciliation.

"Delta Payment Solutions brings decades of experience in the payments industry to their customers and we are excited to partner with a payment provider who values giving SMBs the most comprehensive tools they need to help their businesses thrive financially," says Hank Papale, Vice President of Partner Sales at Biller Genie. "With this partnership, businesses will get the complete package for their payment processing and A/R needs, the buying power of Delta Payment Solutions combined with the seamless automation of their accounts receivable, they will see a healthier, happier, financial side of their business."

Spectra Logic, a global leader in data management and data storage solutions, today announced several enhancements to Spectra Vail^®, a multi-cloud data management software, that further enriches Vail’s ability to combine any storage into a single global namespace -- delivering universal access and placement of data across multi-site and multi-cloud storage no matter where the data resides. Spectra Vail centralises data management across on-premises and multi-cloud architectures, simplifying the access, sharing, usage and protection of data. 

Delivering policy-based data orchestration, Vail streamlines workflows and reduces overall costs and complexities for organisations that want to leverage the power of the cloud. With Vail and Vail-enabled BlackPearl^® S3, organisations can take full advantage of cloud services -- no matter where data is created or located, whether in the cloud or on-premises. 

New Vail Enhancements Provide: 

• The industry’s only fully qualified on-premises glacier-like* solution that enables any software with an S3 interface to have direct access to local tape or nearline object storage with the use of S3 glacier-like commands that mimic AWS 
• Simple S3 disk and S3 glacier tape to modernise data protection and backup applications  
• Flexible implementation of either a global cloud-based object database for universal access or a local on-premises object database for optimised performance 
• Support for AWS Object Lock using on-premises storage targets to protect data against ransomware and malicious activity 
• Direct integration of any cloud services, including artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), with on-premises data using intelligent object synchronisation 
• Scheduled and instant data placement and orchestration using lifecycle rules and staging interfaces 
• Global object placement and visibility to optimise the performance, economics and location of data  

“Today’s data-driven organisations are generating, sharing, and protecting petabytes of data both locally and in the cloud to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges,” said David Feller, Spectra Logic's vice president of product management solutions engineering. “Vail elegantly manages data globally, providing universal access and data placement while offering a seamless connection to multiple sites and clouds. Organisations can focus on the value and usage of data while still meeting corporate cloud-first directives and lowering total cost of ownership.” 

Benefits of Vail Software: 

• Unifies on-premises and cloud storage into a single global namespace 
• Automates data placement to the tier of storage that matches the value of the data 
• Provides global search and access to data, no matter where the data resides 
• Eliminates vendor lock-in by facilitating the movement of data across different cloud providers 
• Unlocks access to any cloud service from any provider using a single standard S3 interface 
• Eliminates data sovereignty concerns by placing data within the required cloud region 

Vail Earns Industry Accolades 

Vail has been honoured with several industry awards, including the 2022 NAB Show Product of the Year Award in the Cloud Computing and Storage category; as a finalist in the 2022 DCS Awards for Storage Innovation of the Year; and as a finalist in the 2021 Cloud Computing Awards for Best Cloud Migration Solution.

SME funding provider Accelerated Payments has made another strategic appointment in North America as it beefs up its local presence in the region. Industry veteran Carolyn McClure has joined as Vice President of Business Development and will be responsible for implementing growth strategies and customer acquisition for alternative financing services during a time of global economic uncertainty. 

Carolyn brings over two decades of broad finance experience to the role, enabling her to find the best lending solutions to small business owners and middle-market companies through Invoice Factoring, ABL, leasing, and Purchase Order Funding. Prior to joining Accelerated Payments, Carolyn spent years working in several business development roles for large international corporate finance companies. More recently, she headed up business development for smaller homegrown lending firms, making her intimately familiar with risk management and underwriting, which has undeniably set her apart in the business development space.

Welcoming the appointment, Ian Duffy, CEO of Accelerated Payments said: “Carolyn has an impressive track record in finding the best working capital solutions for American businesses from coast to coast. Her extensive US  network, coupled with her strong customer relationships and networking skills, makes her an ideal person to lead our business expansion in the region. As we ramp up our efforts across America, Carolyn will be instrumental in managing the requirements of our clients and her expertise and insight, along with her commitment to supporting small businesses, will play a critical role in our success.”

Duffy added: "Given our focus on supporting global business expansion, we are passionate about establishing a company that reflects the natures of the companies and people we are aiming to serve. Therefore, expanding our executive team and hiring people that are passionate about championing the same values is very important to us and we are thrilled to have Carolyn on board. Carolyn brings exceptional leadership experience and commitment to the role and will be a great asset to us."

Accelerated Payments is one of Europe's fastest-growing financing providers, topping €/$750 million worth of invoice financing this year. Based in Dublin, with offices in London and Toronto, the company has reported more than 56,000 invoices financed to over 300 companies since it began. 

The new hire comes hot on the heels of the recent appointments of Steven Conrad as Vice President of Business Development for North America and industry veteran Neil McMillan as Head of North America. The boost in local staff will help to advance the company’s regional dominance in the alternative finance sector.  

“This is an exciting opportunity to work with a company that truly cares about helping businesses with their liquidity challenges.  More than ever before,  companies are grappling with working capital, as soaring business costs and global inflation rates start to bite. Managing cash flow will be critical to overcoming these and other economic challenges -  and Accelerated Payments have the solutions to help. I look forward to playing a role in bringing greater awareness about the fantastic service that this fintech offers to entrepreneurs- and to ensure that companies can leverage the support they need to grow their businesses in the US and beyond.”