NEWS
Featured News
Trending News
PWC UK Picks Ai Quality Leader TruEra To Collaborate On Ai Risk Management
TruEra, a leading provider of AI quality management solutions for testing, interpreting, debugging, and monitoring machine learning (ML) models, today announced that it has been selected by PwC to integrate AI risk management in the UK and Ireland.
Key elements of the collaboration include:
• Using TruEra’s software to validate AI/ML models (e.g., analyzing robustness and performance, explainability, and bias and fairness) as part of PWC’s AI risk methodologies
• Enabling PwC’s clients to adapt the PwC AI Risk methodologies through hands-on, iterative experimentation
• Providing PwC’s clients the option to operationalize their AI risk methodologies using TruEra’s software
“As companies make the transition from AI exploration to adoption at scale, managing the risks associated with this transition becomes increasingly important. PwC is ideally suited to support clients in this journey, with the breadth of perspectives brought by our diverse teams, skills and market-leading experience in AI risk management,”
“We believe that this collaboration with TruEra will result in the right combination of human expertise and tech to allow our clients to embed AI risk considerations as an integral part of their model lifecycle.”
Leigh Bates, Partner, Financial Services Technology and Data and Analytics Leader at PwC UK.
“Model quality and governance are vexing issues for any company leveraging AI,”
“Automated testing and monitoring are essential for ensuring that models are high performing and functioning as intended, and that bias is minimised and adequately managed, even when market conditions change. We’re incredibly excited to be collaborating with PwC to help clients navigate the AI quality challenge.”
Shameek Kundu, Chief Strategy Officer of TruEra.
PwC UK provides professional services including auditing, tax and legal advice, trading and risk advisory and consulting in the UK, the Middle East and the Channel Islands. PwC AI experts assist clients in the areas of natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, data engineering, automated ML, digital twin, representational AI, responsible AI, etc. PwC helps clients align their AI strategies with their business strategies, build enterprise-wide AI capabilities, and establish appropriate governance for security and risk reduction.
TruEra has been selected as the preferred supplier by several Fortune 1000 companies. In March 2022, the company was named to Fast Company’s World Change Ideas list for the second year in a row. In June 2021, TruEra was analyzed by Gartner, Inc. honored as a “Great Vendor” in the “Excellent Provider in Responsible AI and AI Governance” report. Members of the firm have also served on the AI risk advisory board for the Bank of England and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, among other government agencies.
HSBC buys Silicon Valley Bank UK
The collapse of the US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) HSBC has bought its UK subsidiary, SVB UK, for £1. Customers and businesses who have deposited funds into SVB UK will have normal access. Taxes were irrelevant.
“Continue to bank as usual, safe in the knowledge that their deposits are backed by the strength, safety and security of HSBC”.
HSBC CEO Noel Quinn,
Besides HSBC, potential buyers of SVB UK included JP Morgan, Lloyd’s, digital financier Oaknorth Bank, two-year-old Bank of London and ADQ, a fund backed by the Abu Dhabi government.
The US government ensures that SVB US customers have access to cash on Monday morning.
Apparently, SVB’s U.S. parent invested $80 billion of customer cash in mortgage-backed securities, which averaged 1.56% yield, but fell in value when the Fed hiked interest rates, making government bonds more attractive. has become an investment target.
Customers are said to have started withdrawing funds and closing SVB accounts in December last year, and from April 2022 to January 2023, SVB, which had no chief risk officer, was forced to sell securities at a loss to meet its obligations. When the bank realized it had to sell the securities, the value of the securities fell below its obligation and the bank was technically insolvent.
Things took a turn for the better when the VC instructed the portfolio company to switch bank accounts from his SVB to a larger bank.
“This morning, the Government and the Bank of England facilitated a private sale of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC Deposits will be protected, with no taxpayer support I said yesterday that we would look after our tech sector, and we have worked urgently to deliver that promise,”
“There is a serious risk to our technology and life sciences sectors,”
“happens to look after the money of some of our most promising and exciting businesses and so I want to reassure people.”
‘We are working at pace on a solution. We will bring forward very soon plans to make sure people are able to meet their cashflow requirements, pay their staff,”
“but obviously what we want to do is to find a longer-term solution that minimises or even avoids completely losses to some of our most promising companies.”
UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Partnership Between Carrefour Italia And Nexi: Postal Payment Slips And Pagopa Notices Payable At The Checkout
Carrefour Italia and Nexi have announced a partnership to enable citizens to pay postal payment slips and PagoPA notifications at the cashiers of over 190 stores in Italy, including Carrefour Hypermarkets and Carrefour Supermarkets. Developed in collaboration with Poste Italiane, the service allows payment in any way.
The solution, based on the Nexi technology platform, is the only one of its kind in Italy and ensures that Carrefour can manage the interface of the POS system with the PagoPA node and his Poste Italiane system with his single integration. increase. This allows you to collect postal transfer slips and PagoPA messages at the same time.
Available 24 hours a day during store hours, the service enables barcode scanning of payment slips and QR code scanning of PagoPA messages, allowing bills, utility bills, taxes, fines, school benefits, and other payments to government agencies. It enables payments to be paid and guarantees simple and reliable payments. A secure payment experience.
“Our customers are always the focus of our strategy, and thanks to the partnership with Nexi, we will be able to meet their needs further, improving their shopping experience in our stores,”
“In fact, in addition to postal payment slips, it will be possible to make payments to Public Administration bodies at the checkout, in a simple, fast and secure manner.”
Alessandra Grendele, Director of E-Commerce, Marketing, Data and Digital Transformation at Carrefour Italia.
“This agreement with Carrefour Italia allows us to continue to support the modernization of the country, contributing to the further spread of digital payments, specifically towards Public Administration,”
“This partnership also allows us to take another step in the digitalization of points of sale, while guaranteeing large-scale retail trade the opportunity to expand the range of services they offer their customers without increasing complexity at the checkout. We are the only player in Italy, in fact, that offers the integrated management of both postal payment slips and PagoPA payment notices.”
Andrea Pennacchia, Head of Banking & PA Solutions at Nexi.
Weavr acquires Comma to combine embedded and open banking
Weavr, the London-based startup that allows businesses to integrate banking and payments into their mobile apps or SaaS platforms, has acquired open banking B2B platform, Comma Payments.
With Comma, Weavr claims to have become the first integrated finance provider to combine Banking as a Service (BaaS) and Open Banking in one integrated payments solution for B2B applications, from payroll, accounts payable and other major forms of payment.
“Open Banking and BaaS represent the two most innovative trends in finance right now, and it’s exciting to finally bring them together into one powerful solution. As a company committed to breaking new ground in this field, we’re delighted to be the first to offer a solution of this kind and feel confident that our customers will immediately benefit from greater functionality and a more seamless onboarding process.”
Alex Mifsud, co-founder and CEO of Weavr.
He says the combination will allow customers to seamlessly transfer payments through their own existing bank accounts to do so through Weavr-powered accounts, providing Richer payment options and controls.
The deal follows Weavr’s $40 million Series A deal last February. Since then, the company has tripled its user base and seen a 340% increase in the number of transactions through its platform.
The largely equity-based acquisition will allow Weavr to retain much of Comma’s current workforce, including the company’s CEO and founder, Tom Beckenham, and chief technical officer Gianluca pengo.
Investcloud Launches White Fmb+
InvestCloud, the global leader in digital transformation for the financial industry with over $6 trillion in assets, today announced the release of the next evolution of InvestCloud White, called InvestCloud White FMB+. The new product offering includes integrated front, middle and back-end InvestCloud solutions, as well as simple multi-channel asset management services to provide comprehensive tools for advisors and investors. other property management.
The InvestCloud Front-to-Back solution marks InvestCloud’s continued investment in supporting greater operational efficiency and simplifying business-as-usual complexity for wealth management clients. FMB+ includes InvestCloud’s best applications for customer communication, planning, trading and accounting, and business process outsourcing (BPO). InvestCloud’s BPO Center is located in Carlsbad, CA and is currently being used by clients such as William Blair in their SYSTM provisioning.
“There is a massive opportunity to provide huge gains in efficiency to wealth management clients due to the failures of existing players in this market. Many have made claims of offering an integrated platform, but in reality, they lack having a single platform. Their solutions are dispersed across numerous platforms, and each client implementation is a different version, meaning many branches of different code – which is the height of inefficiency. This is why implementations of these platforms often last 3-4 years, with a high failure rate.”
Mark Trousdale, Chief Marketing Officer of InvestCloud.
“We are excited to bring this important offering to market. Most players are still dealing with legacy hard-coding issues that plague this industry. What that means for clients is a cobbled-together version of their code, making it impossible to maintain.” Shamberg continued: “We are proud that White FMB+ totally disrupts these norms and showcases what the power of true digital can offer. Our single end-to-end platform handles the technology and servicing needs, with a cloud-native, no-code approach, enabling personalization and efficiency at scale.”
Yaela Shamberg, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer, Digital Wealth, of InvestCloud.
Funding Circle and Sage partner to streamline SME finance
UK-based lending platform Funding Circle has partnered with Sage, the accounting, finance, HR and payroll technology company for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). This partnership aims to simplify secure financing for small businesses.
With the integration of Sage Accounting and Funding Circle API, businesses will now be able to apply for loans and manage their cash easily.
Initially launched in the UK, SMEs using Sage Accounting software can apply for business loans of between £10,000 and £500,000, with the option to repay the loan between 6 months to 6 years. They will also have access to Funding Circle’s new product, FlexiPay, which is an interest-free line of credit that helps small businesses manage their cash flow. With more than 130,000 businesses reaching over £14.5 billion through the Funding Circle and one million Sage customers, this partnership aims to revolutionize access to finance for small and medium businesses. small. Additionally, the two companies plan to expand their partnership internationally, including in the United States, where Funding Circle has a growing presence as a loan provider.
“We are proud to team up with Sage and launch another partnership via our API, increasing access to funding for more small businesses in the UK. We are really looking forward to building our relationship with Sage and its customers, with the potential to expand into the US in the future too.”
Alexander Allen, UK Managing Director at Funding Circle.
“Our partnership with Funding Circle is exciting as it simplifies access to loans and funding for SMBs so they can focus on running their businesses. Managing cash flow can be a source of anxiety for customers and this partnership will relieve that stress by reducing waiting time on loan decisions and giving SMB owners peace of mind.”
Neal Watkins, Executive Vice President of Product at Sage.
Revolut Launches Online Checkout Feature With One-click Payment – Revolut Pay
Revolut, the global financial super app with over 20 million retail customers, today launched Revolut Pay – a new secure online payment feature enabling merchants across the UK and EEA to showcase ” Revolut Pay” as a payment method on product, cart and checkout page.
Revolut Pay aims to disrupt the payment ecosystem by making online shopping easier as it facilitates direct payments while providing top-notch security for Revolut users: payments will be authenticated through security features like Face ID or fingerprint unlock, and no account numbers will be shared. In turn, this will help prevent fraud and protect users’ funds when shopping.
Revolut Pay is a fast, easy and secure way to pay online or on mobile. Consumers can pay with one click and earn money on purchases as they spend. Existing Revolut users can use Revolut Pay and pay via their saved card or directly through their Revolut account balance. Non-Revolut users can easily pay with a registered Mastercard or Visa card issued by other vendors.
Revolut Pay will solve problems for sellers as well as buyers: Online merchants lose up to 80% of their sales due to customers abandoning their shopping carts. Shoppers often cite lengthy and confusing online checkout processes and limited payment method choices as reasons for leaving the site before making a purchase. Revolut Pay minimizes cart abandonment with quick and easy checkout. Revolut Pay merchants can accept low-fee payments in more than 20 currencies. Revolut Pay follows the launch of Revolut Reader, a card reader payment terminal in July, as well as the launch of Revolut’s payment acceptance platform in 2020 to make it easier for businesses to accept payments.
Since launching Revolut Business in 2017, Revolut has developed 20 products designed to empower businesses looking to increase conversions and manage finances more efficiently. Revolut Pay is already used by sellers like Shopify, Prestashop, WH Smith and Funky Pigeon and will be available from other sellers in the coming months, including Club L London and flight booking company FlyGo.
Revolut Pay is fully powered by Revolut’s payment technology and is a step towards building Revolut’s payments ecosystem, where Revolut enables transactions between retail and corporate customers. Revolut’s new direct payments solution will also reduce costs for its corporate customers.
“With its speed, convenience, security and low pricing, Revolut Pay gives merchants a competitive advantage in a rapidly growing e-commerce market. At Revolut, we constantly strive to make it faster, easier and cheaper for merchants of all sizes to accept payments, wherever they are, and to make it more convenient and secure for customers to pay. That’s why we’re launching Revolut Pay.”
Nikolay Storonsky, Founder & CEO of Revolut.
Revolut Pay features include:
- A new way to pay that’s fast and frictionless
- Best-in-class security, leveraging two-factor authentication when needed
- Low transaction fees with no hidden or monthly charges
- With Revolut Pay, funds will be settled directly into a merchant’s Revolut Business account within 24 hours at no extra cost (compared to businesses typically receiving funds settled to their account in up to seven days and having to pay for quicker funds arriving)
- SMEs can add Revolut Pay to web and mobile checkout pages and be up and running in minutes via our easy-to-install plug-ins
- For larger businesses and start-ups, Revolut Pay has a set of easy-to-integrate plug-in API and SDKs (Software Development Kits) that allows enterprises to go live in a matter of days
- Option to incentivize customers with cashback on their purchases
Revolut Business is a super borderless finance app for businesses – rapidly improving the way startups, scalers and large enterprises accept and make payments, control costs and hold their team accountable. Our mission is to help companies do business globally, from day one, from anywhere. Launched in 2017, hundreds of thousands of businesses now rely on Revolut Business as a platform for growth.
Citi Foundation Announces Inaugural Global Innovation Challenge To Empower Nonprofits Improving Food Security Around The World
The Citi Foundation announced the first-ever Global Innovation Challenge to help scale the impact of nonprofits around the world developing innovative solutions to improve food security. This first challenge will provide a total of $25 million to 50 organizations to support piloting or scaling up ideas and projects designed to address this issue and strengthen physical and financial health. of low-income families and communities.
With 770 million people undernourished worldwide, food insecurity is one of the major global crises today. A recent study by Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions (GPS) found that the estimated impact of malnutrition on the global economy could be as high as $3.5 trillion per year – or almost $500. for every person on the planet – due to record-high food prices. and other macroeconomic factors have led to civil unrest, global displacement, etc.
“Far too many families around the world face the daily struggle of not knowing when and where their next meal will come from,”
“We understand the economic factors that contribute to this ever-growing crisis, and our goal with this RFP is to help empower diverse, mission-driven nonprofits that are pioneering game-changing, scalable solutions in their communities.”
Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation and Head of Citi Community Investing and Development.
For this RFP, the Citi Foundation will prioritize projects in four areas:
- Access: Support efforts that increase access to affordable and healthy food in low-income communities.
- Affordability: Improve food affordability through community finance efforts that help reduce the financial burden placed on low-income communities.
- Availability: Address challenges in the food supply chain that lead to positive community benefits, such as the creation of new jobs and businesses.
- Resilience: Increase the number of available resources that enable low-income communities to more effectively prepare for and respond to disruptions in food security during crises.
“The food security crisis is one of the most urgent issues our world is facing today,”
“Having proudly partnered with Citi for over 10 years, we have seen first-hand the positive impact the Citi Foundation has had in helping lift underserved communities out of poverty. This global initiative is going to provide much-needed funding to industrious organizations working to combat food scarcity with the innovative solutions we desperately need.”
Liza Henshaw, President, Global Citizen.
The first Global Innovation Challenge builds upon Citi and the Foundation’s history of support of addressing food security:
- Citi and Citi Foundation’s support has helped No Kid Hungry provide 300 million meals for kids facing hunger since 2014.
- Citi volunteers have packed over 1.7 million meals on behalf of U.S. Hunger since 2017.
- In 2020 during the height of the pandemic, the Foundation supported the Global FoodBanking Network’s COVID-19 relief efforts across Central and South America.
- In Asia, the Foundation’s support for Think City in 2020 helped them partner with four community organizations in Malaysia to ensure vulnerable populations received food and medical supplies.
- Most recently in Europe, financial support from the Foundation helped Crown Agents International Development purchase and deliver nutritional support for premature infants in Ukraine amidst the conflict.
The deadline to register is March 22, 2023, at 4 p.m. EDT.
Global Payments Leader, Convera Chooses Temenos to Modernize Payments in the Cloud
Temenos announced that Convera, the largest non-bank global B2B payments provider, has selected Temenos Payments Hub running in the Temenos Cloud to modernize its payments infrastructure.
The move to Temenos Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will help Convera to drive efficiency in payment processing from inbound funding to outbound disbursements and massively scale with the aim to double its payments volumes in the next five years and expand its payment rails. Temenos SaaS will help enable Convera to compete in the highly dynamic payments market.
Convera will overhaul its payments engine by progressively replacing legacy systems with Temenos’ robust, scalable platform to standardize its international commercial payments on a single platform. Temenos’ platform capability to intelligently route payments over Convera’s global partner bank network will allow for greater efficiencies and improved customer service. Convera will also use Temenos’ data hub capabilities for real-time data management. Temenos’ composable platform can easily integrate with Convera’s existing infrastructure which includes integrated compliance systems and payment gateways, increasing automation and time to value.
Temenos’ highly scalable platform with proven localization and ongoing investment in US and global compliance will enable Convera to process payments in a highly efficient and standardized manner. Temenos’ cloud-native platform will offer real-time payments and resilience giving Convera the business agility required to benefit from new market initiatives such as instant payments and ISO 20022. With Temenos payments platform, Convera will also continue to enhance its straight through processing (STP) rates through advanced exception handling.
Convera – which was previously part of Western Union – is the largest non-bank fintech in global B2B payments and makes cross-border money transfers simple by allowing its customers to transact globally with ease. Convera offers services ranging from currency exchange to hedging solutions and has capabilities in 140+ currencies across 200+ countries and territories. The company serves more than 30,000 customers, which range from small business owners and enterprise treasurers to educational institutions, financial institutions, law firms and NGOs.
Convera selected Temenos after a competitive process including US incumbent vendors and specialized payment vendors. Temenos offers a single platform across all banking verticals, fintechs, and associated business segments including payments and core banking, and as a result it benefits from higher investment in R&D.
“Temenos payments platform will underpin Convera’s growth strategy as it transforms into a modern, technology-led, global B2B payments organization, focused on innovation, value, and exceptional customer service. After extensive assessment, we selected Temenos both for its superior cloud technology capabilities and the trust in the team and its local operations. Temenos is the platform of choice for massive scale; we have a clear path for global expansion and look forward to partnering with Temenos with its global expertise to support us along the way.”
Patrick Gauthier, Chief Executive Officer, Convera.
“We are excited to be selected by Convera, one of the largest fintechs, to modernize its payments infrastructure. We see tremendous growth opportunities in the payments space, and we continue to heavily invest in our single code base across core banking and payments making our offering the most compelling in the market. With Temenos Payments Hub running on Temenos SaaS, Convera will have a modern payments platform which can scale massively and propel its expansion plans. With our SaaS solution, Convera will stay agile and at the forefront of innovation and deliver fast, reliable, and transparent payment services to its corporate customers. Temenos offers a proven SaaS model together with robust US pre-configured capabilities, which is compelling for financial institutions of all sizes to move to Temenos.”
Philip Barnett, President Americas, Temenos.
Temenos Payments is ranked #1 best-selling payments system in the IBS Sales League Table 2022.
Marqeta announces expansion into Brazil with Fitbank partnership
Marqueta, a global card issuance platform, has announced an expansion into Brazil. The company cooperates with Latin American banking platform Fitbank and certifies the network with Visa
As part of Marqeta’s partnership with Fitbank, the company will be a Marqeta customer, use it as a payment processor, and will act as a BIN sponsor for Marqeta customers who want to get started in the area.
“We have followed Marqeta’s growth and global expansion for some time now, and given we are also expanding globally, there couldn’t be a more natural card issuing partner for Fitbank in Brazil,”
“Through our partnership, I believe we can enable global companies and local innovators to bring amazing payment products to market, amplifying the strengths of each of our companies.”
Otávio Farah, co-founder and CEO at Fitbank.
Fitbank provides a complete and personalized cloud banking and credit infrastructure to thousands of customers, and is one of the state-of-the-art platforms licensed and integrated by the Central Bank. Direct integration with PIX, Brazil’s real-time payment system.
They are currently a key member of Visa with plans to expand the network. Marqeta will serve as Fitbank’s technology platform to support payment processing and local card issuance in Brazil. It will also use Marqeta’s real-time decision engine to enhance its fraud management capabilities. Fitbank will also act as the local BIN sponsor and banking service provider of Marqeta.
“We are thrilled to be announcing our launch in Brazil to bring the Marqeta platform to one of the most exciting FinTech markets in the world,”
“Our new partnership with Fitbank puts us on a great footing in Brazil. The two companies have great DNA fit. Fitbank is a tech-forward platform interested in building innovative payment solutions.”
Todd Pollak, Chief Revenue Officer at Marqeta.
Citi Commercial Bank launches new digital client platform, CitiDirect Commercial Banking
Citi has announced the launch of a new platform, CitiDirect® Commercial Banking, specifically to address the needs of Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) clients. This is part of Citi’s significant strategic investment plan to meet the growing global needs of these clients by delivering a single-entry point digital platform.
CitiDirect® Commercial Banking brings together Citi’s global products and services into a single digital platform, providing clients with a 360° consolidated view of their Citi banking relationship across Cash, Loans, Trade, FX, Servicing and Onboarding.
The platform is currently live in the U.S., with over two thirds of our U.S. client base actively using the platform, and CCB plans to pilot it in the second half of 2023 across Hong Kong, India, Singapore, and the U.K.
The CitiDirect® Commercial Banking platform has been created in close collaboration with CCB clients, and as a result offers an intuitive and seamless digital experience. Key features include access to data driven insights necessary to help inform decision making, efficient management of day-to-day banking interactions with Citi in one place. Clients can also digitally open accounts and request new products and services, extending our self-service features, which significantly enhances the experience for clients as they grow, and their needs evolve.
“This is an important milestone in delivering on our commitments set out during Citi’s 2022 Investor Day. At the time, we spoke about our intention to deliver on a differentiated client experience through a single digital platform, that will empower clients and save them time, while offering them complete visibility and control. We anticipate that CitiDirect® Commercial Banking will continue to evolve to support our clients as they grow their businesses globally.”
Tasnim Ghiawadwala, Global Head of CCB.
“Our new banking platform has been designed and built with a client-centric focus. The outcome is an innovative platform that responds to our clients’ complex needs and their expectations of a simple and intuitive digital banking experience. We are delighted with the response from clients and continue to invest whilst targeting key market roll outs throughout 2023 and beyond.”
Mark Sugden, Head of CitiDirect Commercial Banking & Digital Transformation.
“The launch of CitiDirect Commercial Banking demonstrates how our Institutional Clients Group ecosystem works together to deliver excellence for our clients. We are very pleased that our partnership with our colleagues in Commercial Banking has resulted in this new and differentiated service.”
Shahmir Khaliq, Global Head of Treasury and Trade Solutions.
Francisco Partners Acquires Macrobond from Nordic Capital; Focuses on Growing its Global Presence
Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm specializing in partnerships with technology companies, today announced the acquisition of Macrobond, a leading financial data and technology innovation company, from Nordic Capital, one of Europe’s leading private equity investors. Macrobond founder Tomas Liljeborg will continue as chief executive officer and remain an important shareholder of the company.
Since 2008, Macrobond has transformed the workflow of economists, analysts and strategists worldwide, increasing productivity, fostering deeper collaboration, and enabling them to analyze and forecast financial and macroeconomic data more efficiently. Macrobond partnered with Nordic Capital in 2018 and has experienced significant growth since then, with 230 employees operating from offices in Europe, Asia and the US.
Today, Macrobond provides the world’s largest macroeconomic and financial database, providing nearly 300 million time series, as well as tools and technologies to rapidly analyze, visualize, and analyze Share information from an intuitive integrated workflow platform. Macrobond serves more than 800 institutions worldwide, including some of the world’s largest banks and asset managers, as well as hedge funds, central banks and research firms.
“When I founded Macrobond in 2008, our goal was to deliver the world’s most comprehensive source of economic and financial intelligence for financial professionals that helps them quickly comprehend relevant data. Now in 2023, we are focused on further expanding our presence and customer personas across the globe, as well as accelerating technological innovation and growth across new datasets,”
“Partnering with Francisco Partners will help Macrobond increase our growth and innovation across our market-leading product suite.”
Tomas Liljeborg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Macrobond.
“Customers attest that the Macrobond platform, through its highly reliable, current and comprehensive data as well as its easy-to-use search, visualization, and analytics engine, helps them do their jobs better. Tomas and the team have grown the business by continuously improving the value they deliver to these customers, and we are delighted to back Macrobond to further improve its growth and impact,”
Mario Razzini and Ashley Evans, Partners at Francisco Partners, and Quentin Lathuille, Principal at Francisco Partners.
“We’re delighted to have been on this journey with Macrobond and are proud of their tireless devotion during this period. Together with Tomas and the rest of the management team, Nordic Capital has focused on expanding the company’s offering to support its focus on becoming the platform of choice for people working in financial and economic research worldwide. We are proud of Macrobond’s achievements and remain convinced that they will continue to deliver outstanding services to customers around the world and see this transaction as a start of an exciting next phase for Macrobond,”
Emil Anderson, Partner, Nordic Capital Advisors. The investment is subject to customary closing conditions.
Moelis & Company served as financial advisor and Paul Hastings served as legal counsel for Francisco Partners. Arma Partners, PWC and White & Case act as advisors to Nordic Capital and Macrobond.
Alfii secures $2.5m pre-seed funding to launch FinTech-powered HR Platform
Dubai-based technology startup Alfii has announced an upfront funding of $2.5 million to expand its team and further expand its FinTech-based HR automation platform.
The round was led by Preface Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on US-based infrastructure companies. Kayan Ventures, UAE-based Aditum Ventures and Wayfinders, and a number of local and regional angel investors participated in the round.
Alfii will use this funding to further develop and enhance its FinTech-based software platform. In the short term, a revolutionary payroll that gives customers a smarter and faster way to manage payroll and payroll, greatly simplifying what would otherwise be a tedious and time-consuming process for HR leaders. We will continue to focus on building out our feature suite.
“We are looking to build the next generation of this product class, and we are building it entirely in-house, which means we need to bring on world-class talent to grow our business and better serve our customers,”
Yousef Albarqawi, alfii’s CEO and Co-founder.
Alfii’s advances are part of a larger trend in the SaaS world, adapting tools originally offered to the enterprise, making them accessible and suitable for small businesses and start-ups. However, especially when it comes to HR software, there are many weaknesses to be overcome by existing solutions in the MENA region.
“Data interoperability is an industry-wide challenge in the HR stack, but in developing regions like MENA, those challenges are further exacerbated by local and regulatory infrastructure,”
“With alfii’s all-in-one software suite, companies will be able to understand better and manage their human capital resources while improving the user experience for employees with features like digital-to-cash remittances, benefits selection, and more.”
Farooq Abbasi, General Partner of Preface Ventures.
Resistant AI extends Series A to $27.6m with new funding
Resistant AI, a RiskTech company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, has expanded its Series A funding to $27.6 million, after raising an additional $11 million in investment la from Notion Capital. This is in addition to existing funding from investors such as GV, Index Ventures, Credo Ventures and Seedcamp.
The new investment builds on Resistant AI’s product expansion, team, and geographic presence to help financial institutions protect their trading and referral systems from malicious attacks.
Resilient AI machine learning techniques protect financial services firms against growing threats, deter criminals from using AI, and adapt as their methods evolve. The company’s solutions scan for anomalies in documents, transactions, and behavior to provide a 360-degree view of every customer, which can double the number of threats detected. The company’s solutions have protected a number of banks and fintech companies throughout the customer lifecycle. Clients include Dun & Bradstreet, Payoneer, Habito, Planet42 and ComplyAdvantage; and Resistant AI currently have more than 80 team members working in offices in Prague, London, Brussels and New York.
“With this investment from Notion Capital we are able to bring our solution to more institutions in the face of these increasingly pernicious threats. We are excited to be working with Notion Capital, particularly because of their expertise and track record in successfully growing computer security companies.”
Martin Rehak, CEO and Founder of Resistant AI.
“Security and FinTech are two of the largest areas of focus for Notion and we love how the Resistant AI proposition ties them together. Synthetic identity fraud has been named the fastest-growing financial crime in the US, with $6 billion in total losses to the banking sector in 2021 alone, and the Resistant AI product is the only comprehensive solution out there that moves as fast as the fraudsters do. We’re excited to be working with them so they can meet the growing demand for their solution.”
Kamil Mieczakowski, Principal at Notion Capital.
mBank and KUKE will jointly finance domestic investments of Polish exporters
mBank signed an agreement with KUKE, thanks to which the bank’s offer will be enriched with loans for exporters to strengthen their production potential and using payment insurance guarantees. They secure the bank up to 80 percent. financing granted for the investment carried out in Poland.
– Cooperation with KUKE allows our customers to develop. Guarantees allow us to reduce the risk, thanks to which we can grant more loans –
– Thanks to this, customers will be able to increase investments and expand the base of foreign contractors. This is crucial during a slowdown in the economy and global trade. Historical experience shows that Polish entrepreneurs find themselves very well in difficult times.
Adam Pers, vice-president of mBank.
Investment financing repayment guarantees for exporters are an important element of KUKE’s comprehensive export support system consisting of innovative instruments offered only by a few export credit agencies in the world. Some solutions, such as guarantees for investment or working capital financing, support exporters through bank credit instruments. Other tools most often used by exporters include guarantees of repayment of liabilities to suppliers, which are useful in looking for new sources of supply, as well as guarantees of financing the supply chain, helping, among others, obtain additional liquidity from banks and factoring companies.
KUKE instruments build greater financial capacity of the enterprise and have a positive impact on its relations with financing banks and contractors, which enables a significant increase in the scale of operations. KUKE’s offer has already been used by many companies from various sectors, from the automotive and steel industries, through the food and chemical industries, to the shipbuilding industry.
Allfunds Tech Solutions announces partnership with CCLA
Allfunds Tech Solutions, Allfunds’ digital solutions arm, has partnered with CCLA Investment Management (CCLA), a pioneer in sustainable investing to drive real-world change through active ownership pole.
The Allfunds Tech Solutions customer portal, a fully streamlined end-to-end solution, will be integrated with existing ACLC customer interfaces. By leveraging Allfunds’ technology expertise and data management capabilities, the partnership will enable ACLC to offer enhanced portfolio management tools to its professional clients who will benefit more from:
- A fully digitised web interface, layered with improved financial reporting tools that increase transparency and understanding of the investment performance.
- Access to a centralised system of reliable, trustworthy, and easily-leveraged operational data delivered via Allfunds’ Data Hub, optimising clients’ ability to access comprehensive information about their investments in CCLA’s strategies.
Allfunds will also become the latest platform for professional investors to access ACLC’s Better Global Funds, a great opportunity to access ACLC’s investment expertise that, until recently, only for ACLC’s not-for-profit clients and benefit from 60 years of leading UK ESG investment experience.
ACLC works with grantees to promote greater sustainability in the real world economy, evaluating companies against their environmental, social and governance criteria, and invest in a way that aligns with customer values.
“At Allfunds, we are always dedicated to solving problems and helping our clients in the financial services industry become more efficient, closer to their clients, and move their business forward. This partnership is a testament to our continuous efforts to innovate and collaborate with industry leaders, as we strive to revolutionise the financial services industry and deliver exceptional value to our clients.”
Juan de Palacios, Chief Strategy and Product Officer at Allfunds.
“Partnering with Allfunds for the delivery of the new client portal will significantly enhance how we can interact with our clients allowing them to access details of their holdings with us anytime, eliminating the constraints of traditional office hours and supporting CCLA in giving the best possible service to our clients.”
Elizabeth Sheldon, COO at CCLA.