Partnerships 

FinGo Partners with VMC to Introduce Interface for World’s First Vein ID Enabled Vending Machines

FinGo, a UK fintech behind the world’s first biometric identity authentication and payments platform, has struck a partnership with cashless solution experts VMC. It will see the companies create a world-first retail vending technology, where users can pay and prove their age through a simple scan of their finger. FinGo’s vein mapping technology works by taking a simple scan of a person’s unique vein pattern through an infrared device. This scan is connected to a person’s registered FinGo account, which can be linked to their verified ID or a digital wallet to enable payments. Registered users can then scan their veins to prove identity, age, or make payments in any venue offering the FinGo system.

EY and Microsoft Announce Collaboration to Help Businesses Use Technology to Tackle Complex Legal and Compliance Challenges

EY and Microsoft announced a new initiative to help businesses around the world use technology to tackle a range of increasingly complex challenges faced by legal and compliance teams. By combining EY leading technology and intelligence with Microsoft Cloud technologies, the organizations will help businesses’ legal and compliance teams to identify and mitigate ethical and reputational risks; investigate and manage regulatory challenges; detect fraud; and manage privacy and security risks.

Railsbank Partners with Sodexo Engage

Railsbank, the leading global Embedded Finance Experience platform, is now the BIN sponsor for the Sodexo Engage Spree Card program. Sodexo Engage is the UK’s leading employee engagement expert. Its Spree card is a prepaid card that can be loaded up by an employer with bonuses, referrals, and incentive rewards and used in exactly the same way as a debit card. Used by organizations to build employee engagement through incentives and recognition and support financial wellbeing, it also gives employees access to exclusive cashback offers, helping wages stretch even further.

Tesco Bank Partners With Onfido to Enable Secure, Streamlined Onboarding for Tesco Clubcard Pay+ Customers

Tesco Bank today announces a partnership with Onfido, the global identity verification and authentication provider. Onfido provides a secure application process for new Tesco Clubcard Pay+ customers, following the launch of the new product in January. Tesco Clubcard Pay+ is an innovative first for the UK market, allowing Clubcard members to pay with their Clubcard and pick up extra Tesco Clubcard points wherever they shop. Shoppers can add money and ringfence their grocery spend from any UK bank account into their Tesco Clubcard Pay+ account, using the free Tesco Bank mobile banking app.

Ayoconnect Partners With Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) on Open Banking to Boost Financial Inclusion

Ayoconnect, Southeast Asia's largest open finance platform, and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Indonesia’s largest bank by total assets, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to leverage Ayoconnect’s open finance technology in BRI’s digital banking solutions with the intention to generate greater financial inclusivity and economic growth in the world’s fourth-largest country by population. Ayoconnect’s open finance platform makes it easier, faster, and more economic for BRI and its business customers to launch new financial services, accelerating the availability of affordable access to finance for all Indonesian citizens.

UK SMEs set to Benefit as Growth Lending Partners with Currencycloud

The B2B alternative finance provider Growth Lending has partnered with Currencycloud, the experts simplifying business in a multi-currency world. Clients will enjoy rapid access to funds, greater flexibility, and access to leading FX solutions. Growth Lending’s Portfolio and Business Operations Director Faye McDonough says of the partnership: “We are always looking for ways to offer UK SMEs access to exceptional products as they scale. Currencycloud was the only provider that had all the features we needed to do this.

Wirex Wallet and Paraswap Partner for Unrivalled DeFi Access

Leading crypto platform, Wirex, has partnered with DEX aggregator, Paraswap, to make DeFi more accessible than ever before. Using Paraswap’s market-leading price algorithm, Wirex Wallet users will now be able to seamlessly exchange multiple tokens, saving users large amounts of money and effort. Since its inception in 2014, Wirex has endeavored to break down barriers to access for crypto, blockchain, and DeFi.

BankiFi Joins Visa Fintech Partner Connect to Bring SME Business Banking Solution to Visa’s Clients and Partners

BankiFi, the Manchester-based tech company on a mission to put banks at the heart of the business has announced that it has joined Visa Fintech Partner Connect in Europe – a program that helps Visa`s clients deliver the next generation of digital banking solutions. The partner program focuses on Visa’s clients who have shown an interest in improving their digital proposition for SMEs.

Launches 

Astropay Launches Payment Links Capability for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia

AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice of over five million users in the world, announced the expansion of Payment Links across Latin America, now launching in Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia. This is part of the company’s plans to introduce it worldwide following the first launch in Brazil in December 2021.Payment Links is AstroPay’s newest capability, designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enable business owners to collect online and remote payments by simply sharing the link with their customers, and get paid instantly in an easy and secure way.

Tot Launches Its Digital Banking Solution Tailor-made for Micro Enterprises and Self-employed

Tot, an Italian fintech banking platform that simplifies administrative and financial management through digital tools for self-employed professionals and micro-businesses with up to 10 employees, announces its market debut in March. Tot specializes in microenterprises, amid growing attention to this segment, because of the strong role these companies play in the Italian economy. Tot’s initial rollout offer is a bank account and a payment card, followed by the gradual addition of digital planning and monitoring tools that will help small companies easily keep track of their expenditure, accounts payable, earnings, and provisions for tax purposes.

ACI Worldwide Launches Innovative ACI Fraud Scoring for Financial Institutions

ACI Worldwide, the global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, announced the launch of ACI Fraud Scoring, an industry-first fraud scoring platform delivering next-generation machine learning capabilities for financial institutions of all sizes to deliver real-time fraud detection and prevention. Underpinned by ACI’s award-winning patented Incremental Learning technology, ACI Fraud Scoring enables banks to reduce fraud losses by up to 75 percent. The service is being rolled out in North America and Europe first, with plans to expand globally in the coming months.  

TreasuryTech Major IBSFINtech Launches 'VNDZY®', AI-powered SaaS Solution for Supply Chain Finance

IBSFINtech, India's leading TreasuryTech solutions provider for corporates, has extended its product offerings with the launch of VNDZY®- an integrated SaaS solution for Supply Chain Finance. IBSFINtech is a globally renowned treasury, risk, and trade finance management enterprise that provides digitized solutions for end-to-end automation of the corporates' cash flow, liquidity, treasury, risk, and trade finance functions. Powered by AI, SaaS platform VNDZY® offers a connected ecosystem for Corporations, Suppliers, and Financial Institutions, creating a win-win solution backed by cutting-edge technologies.

Merger & Acquisition

Visa Completes Acquisition of Tink 

Visa today announced it has completed its acquisition of Tink – an open banking platform that enables financial institutions, fintechs, and merchants to build financial products and services and move money. Through a single API, Tink enables its customers to move money, access aggregated financial data, and use smart financial services such as risk insights and account verification. Tink is integrated with more than 3,400 banks and financial institutions, reaching millions of bank customers across Europe.

Google Announces Intent to Acquire Mandiant

Google LLC announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mandiant, Inc., a leader in dynamic cyber defense and response, for $23.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.4 billion, inclusive of Mandiant’s net cash. Upon the close of the acquisition, Mandiant will join Google Cloud. The cloud represents a new way to change the security paradigm by helping organizations address and protect themselves against entire classes of cyber threats, while also rapidly accelerating digital transformation.

PPRO acquires Alpha Fintech in game-changing deal

PPRO, the leading provider of digital payments infrastructure, announced the acquisition of Alpha Fintech, a next-gen payments technology company. The deal will expand PPRO’s offering, strengthen its presence and networks in Asia Pacific (APAC), and allow it to deliver products and services faster to its customers. Alpha Fintech’s cloud-based platform allows for the seamless integration of digital payments products and services, from payment processing and merchant management to risk management, fraud prevention, and data analytics.

Job Moves

Hyland hires Dan Dennis as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer

Hyland, recognized as a leading content services provider by Gartner for 12 consecutive years, has hired Dan Dennis as its senior vice president and chief information security officer (CISO). In his role, Dan is responsible for leading Hyland’s security vision, evolving the information security programs and practices, and protecting all customer, partner, and employee assets and data. Building on almost 25 years dedicated to security, developing programs from the ground up, and providing oversight of enterprise SaaS solutions for organizations of all sizes, Dennis’ focus at Hyland will be the centralization and evolution of its security programs into a unified strategy.

Digital Insurance Platform EIS Appoints Rory Yates to Drive Strategy in EMEA

EIS, a core and digital platform provider for insurers, announced digital pioneer Rory Yates as Head of Strategy for EMEA. The region is fast becoming a thriving market for EIS as it makes its second key senior hire in six months. Yates is set to help the company grow operations and go-to-market working in close collaboration with partners and clients. Yates has a diverse background, with 24 years of experience across sectors such as technology and banking at industry heavyweights WPP, Cognizant and Santander. He joins EIS from DXC where he transformed client businesses with in-depth analytics & AI, consulting, UX & UI and digital engineering.

OpenPayd Embarks On Expansion With New Head Of Payments Infrastructure Appointment

OpenPayd, leading global payments and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform has announced the appointment of Barry O’Sullivan as its Head of Payments Infrastructure. Bringing over 19 years of experience in financial services and technology, O’Sullivan will be responsible for enhancing OpenPayd's product offering, adding new payment capabilities that enable the business to reach its ambitious growth targets. Prior to OpenPayd, O’Sullivan has held senior positions across a number of payment and FX providers. O’Sullivan was Head of Global Payment Solutions at foreign exchange company, HiFX (now known as XE) and more recently, was responsible for building strategic relationships at Vitesse PSP Limited, where he served as Director of Corporate Payment Solutions and at SaaS company Kyriba, as Strategic Payments Director.

Delta Capita Appoints Steven Hargreaves as Head of UK Consulting

Delta Capita, a leading global Capital Markets consulting, managed services, and technology provider announced that it has appointed Steve Hargreaves as its new Head of Consulting, UK. The appointment of a new UK Consulting lead underlines Delta Capita’s continued focus and investment in its high-performing UK and global consulting business. Delta Capita’s mission is to reinvent the Financial Services Value Chain. The role of the consulting business is to create long-term partnerships with Financial Services clients, design and deliver the change that they need right now and develop new businesses that will meet their needs for the future.

B2B Fintech Unicorn Pleo Welcomes New Chief People Officer to Its Boosted Executive Team, to Steer Ambitious Employee Growth and Market Expansion

Fintech scale-up Pleo, which offers simplified spend management and smart company cards, boosts its executive team with the induction of Mette Hindborg Gade, functioning as the company’s Chief People Officer. As a former Partner in McKinsey & Company with an educational background in Engineering, Mette is an experienced leader and problem-solver, with a specialism in driving people-first organizational transformations and rapid growth companies within the financial sector. Her position as Head of People for the consultancy firm’s Copenhagen outfit saw Mette nurturing a diverse range of high-performing talent.

Totallymoney Hires Head of Data in Credit Personalisation Drive

TotallyMoney, the credit app that helps everyone move their finances forward, has appointed Henry Pearce as Head of Data, as it ramps up the use of technology to help consumers improve their financial situation. Having recently hit four million customers, TotallyMoney helps its customers understand, track and improve their credit score, using multiple data sources to offer tailored solutions and bespoke recommendations.

Provenir Appoints Francisco Franch to Lead Expansion in Spain

Provenir, a global leader in AI-powered risk decisioning software, announced Francisco Franch will be leading Sales in Spain to serve the growing number of financial services organizations seeking AI-powered risk decisioning solutions. Franch will oversee sales operations, business development, and go-to-market strategies for Spain.

ADDX To Appoint New CEO: Investment Banking Veteran Oi-Yee Choo Aims To Build Asia’s Largest Private Market Exchange And Record US$1 Billion In Transactions By 2023

Singapore Exchange-backed private market platform ADDX has announced that Oi-Yee Choo will be appointed its Chief Executive Officer, subject to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) approval. The ADDX platform was founded in 2017 and began full commercial operations in 2020 after becoming one of the first digital securities exchanges to graduate from the MAS Fintech Regulatory Sandbox. Leading the company into its next phase of growth, Ms Choo projects that the ADDX platform will record US$1 billion in transactions by 2023, entrenching its position as Asia’s largest private market exchange.