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PARALLEL FINANCE ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH ACALA NETWORK ON aUSD ECOSYSTEM FUND, ENABLING BRIDGELESS PARACHAIN TRANSFER
Parallel Finance, the leading decentralized lending and staking protocol that aims to bring decentralized finance to the mainstream, today announced its partnership with Acala Network on its new aUSD Ecosystem Fund that supports and invests in early-stage startups building on any parachain with a strong aUSD use case. Acala is a decentralized finance hub and stablecoin platform powering cross-blockchain liquidity and applications.
BOND PARTNERS WITH TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER; INTRODUCES EMBEDDED FINANCE FOR THE HEALTHCARE VERTICAL
Bond Financial Technologies, Inc. announces its partnership with Texas Medical Center (TMC) and TMC-backed Tanaflow to enter the healthcare payments space with the launch of Bond Treasury. Nearly all healthcare transactions and tasks involve health insurance, payments, and finance yet financial technology specialized for healthcare is not widely available.
FINANCIALFORCE INTRODUCES ALL-ON-ONE PLATFORM FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS SOLUTION
FinancialForce, the leading provider of customer-centric business applications across finance, services, and customer success teams, today announced the release of FinancialForce Planning, an all-on-one platform financial planning & analysis solution that empowers teams to run a digital business and become valuable partners to the entire organization. Combined with a unified, 360-degree view of customers, the new solution delivers enterprise-wide agility and collaboration needed for planning, forecasting, and reporting that accelerates decision-making and company growth.
EMPRO INSURANCE RECORDS ANOTHER YEAR OF STRONG FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE; SETS SIGHTS ON EXPANSION IN NORTHEAST REGION
EmPRO Insurance Company and its parent company (“EmPRO” or collectively “the Company”), the third largest admitted medical malpractice insurer in New York State, today announced that the Company recorded another year of outstanding financial performance in 2021, growing its surplus by $29 million, achieving $16 million in underwriting gains, and achieving a combined ratio of 78.9 percent.
CONNECT SEARCH DOUBLES CHICAGO PRESENCE, LAUNCHES FINANCIAL CONSULTING PRACTICE
Connect Search, LLC., a finance, accounting, and IT professional recruitment firm, is proud to announce the launch of its new financial consulting practice, Connect Financial Consulting (CFC), rounding out its offerings in staffing and placement services within its finance & accounting vertical. Additionally, as the company marks its 10-year anniversary in Chicago, the firm announces its April 1, 2022 move from 222 South Riverside Plaza to 311 South Wacker Drive, nearly doubling its office space to 15,000 square feet to accommodate its rapid growth. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal.
U.S. BANK INCREASES PRIME LENDING RATE TO 3.50 PERCENT
U.S. Bancorp announced it has increased its prime lending rate to 3.50 percent from 3.25 percent, effective tomorrow, March 17, 2022, at all U.S. Bank locations. U.S. Bancorp, with nearly 70,000 employees and $573 billion in assets as of December 31, 2021, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. The Minneapolis-based company serves millions of customers locally, nationally and globally through a diversified mix of businesses: Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; Corporate & Commercial Banking; and Wealth Management and Investment Services.
CLOUDPAY PARTNERS WITH VISA TO DELIVER FASTER, DIGITAL PAY OPTIONS
Leading global employee pay provider CloudPay today announced a new partnership with Visa to reduce payroll payment cycles that typically take 2-3 days through banking systems, down to seconds. The new digital payment method makes salary payments direct to employees’ debit or credit cards using Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time push payment platform. Visa Direct leverages the payment provider’s powerful, global network to facilitate fast digital payments worldwide, with state-of-the-art security and compliance controls.
IDT CORPORATION ACQUIRES LEAF GLOBAL FINTECH
IDT Corporation, a global provider of fintech, cloud communications, and traditional communications services, announced today that it has acquired Leaf Global Fintech Corporation (Leaf), an award-winning provider of digital wallet services in emerging markets currently serving unbanked customers in Rwanda, Uganda, and Kenya.
NATWEST ANNOUNCED THE LAUNCH OF ITS DIGITAL CARBON PLANNER
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 £100 billion to businesses in Climate and Sustainable Funding and Financing by 2025.
“Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges we face today, and small businesses have a critical role to play in helping the UK realize its green ambition. NatWest Group is committed to supporting its customers to understand and reduce their emissions. The launch of Carbon Planner is an important example of how we are putting tools in the hands of our customers to use their own data to cut costs and carbon emissions.”
Alison Rose, Chief Executive of NatWest Group.
The NatWest Carbon Planner is a tailored solution that provides personalized actions based on customer- data, enabling customers to make decisions as part of their plan when looking to reduce their carbon emissions while outlining the financial impact of adopting such actions. NatWest’s A Springboard to Sustainability report estimated that 55-70% of business cases to reduce emissions will make financial sense for SMEs by 2030.
NatWest suggests that businesses better understand the commercial and carbon impact of their business operations, they will be in a stronger position to navigate the current inflationary challenges and make decisions about reducing their carbon emissions. With an ever-increasing focus on climate, the Carbon Planner can also help businesses with the ongoing management of their carbon reduction strategies.
“Businesses are coming under increasing pressure due to rising costs. Many are fundamentally strong businesses that are experiencing a massive shock in input prices. As a bank, we can help businesses invest to save by switching from volatile commodities to renewable sources with predictable prices and support businesses in taking actions to measure, evaluate and act to reduce their climate impact. Every business should consider if cutting carbon could cut costs, and it’s important that we support the business community explore their options through access to finance to invest in cost-reducing measures like energy efficiency.”
Solange Chamberlain, COO, Commercial & Institutional Banking, NatWest Group.
The bank’s research also revealed that 87% of the UK SMEs are unaware of their business’s total carbon emissions, despite good intentions – with almost half (45%) of UK SMEs recognizing it is important to lower their emissions in the next five years. NatWest engaged with environmental management consultancy Green Element to develop the questions, actions, and model. The bank also worked with other 3rd parties to develop the tool, including consultancies and academic experts.
“Working with NatWest on this project has been a phenomenal experience. Being a part of the solution and solving problems is at the core of what Green Element does. Having worked in this space for 20+ years, seeing a large banking group push boundaries and help with the 1.5-degree goal we are all trying to reach is just brilliant to be a part of.”
Will Richardson, CEO of Green Element.
“Achieving a company-wide transformation plan to reach net-zero requires clear direction from leadership. We are therefore excited to see how NatWest brings customers along in their net-zero journey by facilitating a tailored data-driven tool to support their transition to a low carbon economy. From identifying priority areas and actions for reducing emissions and tracking progress to connecting businesses to the funding needed to deliver their net-zero transition plans, NatWest’s Carbon Planner will help unlock some of the barriers businesses face when determining which low-carbon choices are worth making while building up collective climate action.”
John Bamford, Head of Advisory, Northern Europe, EcoAct, an Atos company.
CITCON AND BOLD COMMERCE OPEN UP OVER 150 DIGITAL WALLETS FOR RETAILERS AND DTC BRANDS
Citcon Inc., the leading mobile wallet payment provider, enabling global commerce at scale, recently announced it has completed the integration of its unified payments API into the Bold Commerce headless checkout experience. The combined Citcon and Bold Commerce solution will enable leading retailers and DTC brands to accept and process more than 150 payment methods, including popular digital wallets, local payment schemes, and credit cards preferred by overseas customers through one integration.
According to the Bold Commerce Checkout Benchmark report, more than half (53%) of shoppers who proceed to checkout abandon the process before completing their purchase. In the booming Asia Pacific e-commerce market, carts are often abandoned during checkout when customers can’t utilize their preferred local payment method. Prioritizing the checkout experience, which includes providing easy access to preferred payment methods, can dramatically decrease cart abandonment issues, driving greater revenues and improved customer experience.
The Citcon full-stack payments solution encompasses payment processing and gateway services, as well as reporting and fund settlement, all through a single API integration. Integrating this capability into the Bold Commerce checkout platform enables merchants eager to serve overseas markets from the Asia Pacific to Latin America and domestic consumers who use these payment methods to accept and process transactions seamlessly and securely.
“Ecommerce is, by definition, a global marketplace,”
“By making it easy for businesses to accept the digital wallets and payment schemes preferred by consumers in countries like China, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Latin America, we enable any business to operate as a global business and reach these previously untapped markets.”
Wei Jiang President & COO of Citcon.
“As brands and retailers seek to expand their businesses into new markets, our integration with Citcon will allow them to extend Bold Checkout capabilities internationally, with expanded payment options across channels,”
“Bold Commerce and Citcon recognize that when retailers offer shoppers their preferred payment options and a seamless checkout experience, they see increased conversion rates as a result.”
Yvan Boisjoli, Co-founder and CEO of Bold Commerce.
IBANFIRST ACQUIRES CORNHILL, A FOREIGN EXCHANGE PROVIDER IN THE UK
iBanFirst announced the acquisition of the London-based FX provider, Cornhill. The acquisition builds on iBanFirst’s long-term funding partnership with private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners, established in June 2021. The acquisition is a testament to the company’s focus on accelerating its international expansion, strengthening partnerships, and cementing market leadership across Europe.
Following the post-Brexit transition, UK and EU clients are becoming more reliant on industry partners who have a firm footing on both sides of the Channel. The acquisition represents an opportunity for iBanFirst to expand its international footprint and extend its European PSP license to the UK.
“Following regulatory approval, our acquisition of London-based foreign exchange (FX) provider, Cornhill, will strengthen iBanFirst’s value proposition to SMEs, simplifying GBP exchanges in a post-Brexit context, and offering Cornhill clients access to its state-of-the-art cross-border technology.”
“We’re really impressed by the quality of service that Cornhill provides. Our success is driven by partnering with like-minded businesses that have the same values as us. Cornhill’s business model fits perfectly within our philosophy at iBanFirst, where we believe in cross-border cooperation and first-rate client service. The acquisition supports our ambition to become a global leader in multi-currency payments for SMBs. Our arrival in the UK represents a key milestone and marks our presence in 10 countries. In the future, we plan to continue growing across Europe, turning our attention to Switzerland, Scandinavia, and North America.”
Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, CEO of iBanFirst.
“We’re proud and eager to be joining iBanFirst. The pandemic has underlined the importance of digitizing payment processes and combining strong FX risk management with technological know-how. After considering various options, iBanFirst’s innovative platform and technological expertise are the best solutions to meet the needs of our clients and the British market as a whole. The acquisition will enable our clients to benefit from an enhanced cross-border experience with features like the Payment Tracker to trace payments the same way consumers can track parcels. The acquisition will also create a payment corridor to facilitate and accelerate incoming and outgoing GBP payments.”
Vivek Savani, Executive Director of iBanFirst UK.
THE BANK OF LONDON ANNOUNCED A PARTNERSHIP WITH SAP FIONEER
The Bank of London, the world’s purpose-built global clearing, agency, and transaction bank has teamed up with SAP Fioneer, a 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 authorized in the last 250 years. Its technology platform is engineered to be a foundational building block of the borderless economic infrastructure of the future. The solution combines The Bank of London’s own unique patented technologies in parallel with SAP Fioneer’s proven hyper-scalable cloud banking platform.
SAP Fioneer’s Cloud for Banking platform (C4B) is seamlessly integrated with The Bank of London’s API, providing the UK’s first fully integrated real-time, friction-free compliance, clearance, settlement, and payments solution designed to service banks, FinTechs and corporates. After the expected go live in October 2022, the solution will provide the fastest connection to payment schemes in the market.
“Combining our offering will provide the world’s leading solution for compliance, clearing, payments and settlement in GBP, EUR and USD. Now banks, FinTechs and corporates gain significant advantages over their competitors, benefiting from near-instant clearing, settlement and payments without liquidity constraints or financial intermediary friction in the flow of funds.”
Anthony Watson, Group Chief Executive & Founder of The Bank of London.
“To achieve real innovation and disrupt the global clearing and transaction market at the heart of banking, The Bank of London needed a partner who could deliver stable solutions at hyper-scale. SAP Fioneer provided exactly that: rooted in world-class technology coupled with the agility to co-innovate and seamlessly integrate with our customers’ systems. We are excited to partner with The Bank of London to achieve its goals and support its growth journey as a major player in the market.”
Dirk Kruse, CEO at SAP Fioneer.
Recently reported that COMO, a global automated PayTech company, has selected SAP Fioneer’s Cloud for Banking (C4B) application. This partnership will allow COMO’s customers immediate access to rich core banking functionality while enabling real-time payment transactions and reducing costs by up to 60% for corporates.
SINGLETRACK RECEIVES CAPITAL INVESTMENT FROM ACCEL-KKR TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL EXPANSION
Singletrack, the capital markets client engagement, and analytics expert, announced a significant capital growth investment from Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity firm. The investment will enable Singletrack to accelerate expansion plans into global markets and execute on strategic M&A. Founded in 2009, Singletrack is an engagement, research management, and analytics platform purpose-built by industry professionals for capital markets, helping clients on both the sell and buy sides maximize revenue, efficiency, and profitability.
“Our success within the space can be measured in several ways: from our client base, which includes top-performing independent investment banks, to our 29-country global footprint and our expanded product offerings, which serve both buy and sell sides,”
“As the capital markets grow in opportunity and complexity, we are poised for aggressive market expansion. This investment from Accel-KKR is a great catalyst for Singletrack and our mission.”
Stuart Berwick, Co-Founder, and CEO of Singletrack.
Singletrack’s heritage is rooted in capital markets. Founders Stuart Berwick and Paul Dyson have decades of experience driving innovation at global investment banks. They developed Singletrack in 2009 as a radical new approach to capital markets CRM. Singletrack’s sell-side platform leverages assets and information for sales and trading, research, events, and corporate finance, using an array of advanced tools, including AI and machine learning to surface deep client behavior insights and inform client strategy. The company offers a vendor relationship platform that seamlessly captures interactions of all types with brokers and other research providers, handles voting, manages contracts, and more. The resultant data informs research acquisition strategies, vendor management, and allocation of research finance.
“Singletrack recognized early on the potential in combining on-demand technology and advanced analytics for a purpose-built CRM solution for capital markets. Seasoned leaders like Paul and Stuart draw on deep experience within the global investment banking industry, and their informed approach has differentiated the company, propelling Singletrack to the forefront of financial CRM tools and positioning it to capitalize on a fragmented marketplace. We are excited to partner with Singletrack as they grow,”
Phil Cunningham,MD at Accel-KKR & Lead for the firm Emerging Buyout Partners fund.
PAYSEND USES AIRFOCUS TO CREATE AND DELIVER BETTER PRODUCTS FOR ITS CUSTOMERS
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, helping them send money to more than 150 countries worldwide. The product team focuses on delivering the features and functionality that will provide the most value for customers.
Paysend faced a lack of transparency and collaboration among its product teams regarding what they should focus on to enhance the customer experience. Without that, the leadership team then lacked confidence it was doing the right thing for customers.
“We were struggling to deliver new functionality as quickly as we wanted, but using airfocus to create and share product roadmaps has meant that the entire organization is clear on priorities for products and features. airfocus gives us that single view of what to focus on, offering understanding and full transparency, which allows us to ship the right features faster and provide more impact for our customers.”
Ben Chisell, Chief Product Officer, Paysend.
As a fully remote company with more than 600 employees in 20+ countries, a modern product management tool is vital for Paysend to keep delivering innovative and valuable products and features, such as its recent launches to help customers improve their financial health – Credit Builder and Pay Later, which are part of the Paysend Grow product suite.
Using airfocus’ roadmap functionality means that Paysend product teams can meet virtually once a week and run through the latest board with everything currently being built by the engineering team, explored by the design team, and thought through and defined by the product team. Having done so, the Paysend product team can then understand what issues it has in each area and go and help where it is most needed.
“Unquestionably, the main benefit we’ve seen from airfocus has been the improved transparency and clarity about what’s being worked on for our products,”
“But it also comes with powerful tools that allow us to ask specific questions to our customers and use their feedback to support the decisions that we’re making.”
“Some product management platforms dictate how you should use them, but because airfocus is fully customizable and modular, we can use it in the ways that best suit our specific needs. Another thing we have noticed is the increase in the impact that we’ve had on the objectives and key results that we set at the start of each quarter. Product OKRs are important to us and give us the direction and clarity we need.”
Ben Chisell, Chief Product Officer, Paysend.
airfocus is the world’s first fully customizable, flexible, and modular product management platform and is used by organizations worldwide, including Flowe, eBay, and Shopify.
“We know that not every company has the same requirements from a product management platform, so we’ve made airfocus fully modular, scalable, and customizable so that users can use only the features that will make a difference to them,”
“A fintech leader such as Paysend is fully committed to delivering the best products and features for its customers, and for them to have chosen airfocus to support this shows the value our modular approach can bring.”
Malte Scholz, CEO, airfocus.
ASTROPAY ANNOUNCED LAUNCHING A VISA DEBIT CARD
AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice for over six million users worldwide, has launched its new product in Europe, a VISA debit card. This move expands the reach of AstroPay’s user base while simultaneously providing existing customers with more benefits. The product will be available in Europe, with the launch in other markets expected in the next few months.
“AstroPay partners with a white label card issuer, Wallester, that provides the technology and enables transaction processing services on VISA for AstroPay users.”
“Working with Wallester allows us to launch a competitive product in record time and helps us accelerate our growth. Together, we co-create tech solutions and launch new innovative products to serve the needs of our users.”
Mikael Lijtenstein, CEO of AstroPay.
The launch of this new debit card signifies a strategic partnership with VISA, the most widely accepted payment network in European markets, which aims to continue providing simple, safe, and secure solutions. Users can now apply for a VISA debit card through the AstroPay application, which is issued instantly and can be used to make payments both online and in-store by using a passthrough wallet in the end. Users can also use their balance in any merchant that accepts VISA without the need for intermediaries, making the payment journey simpler and more straightforward.
“Our partnership with VISA and Wallester advances our ambition to meet the unique needs of our users who remain at the center of AstroPay’s work. We are focused on constantly improving our solutions and providing our users with new digital payment services that are secure, seamless, and convenient. The new debit card will save people’s time and effort in making transactions wherever they are.”
Mikael Lijtenstein, CEO of AstroPay.
“Wallester team is extremely excited that cooperation with AstroPay has become such a successful and valuable experience for both companies. We are pleased that our product fully met the needs of AstroPay customers, who will now be able to make payments in a more convenient way, using effective solutions in practice. Wallester is looking forward to new successful launches of innovative FinTech products in partnership with AstroPay.”
Dmitri Logvinenko, Technical Founder of Wallesters.
AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice for over six million users globally, has inked a new sponsorship deal with English Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, also known as Wolves.
DEEL ENTERS PUBLIC OFFER TO ACQUIRE PAYGROUP LIMITED
Deel entered into a public offer to acquire Australian-based payroll company PayGroup. The offer will enable the creation of a truly global payroll platform and further Deel’s mission of helping millions of people work for the best companies in the world.
PayGroup is a leading global payroll provider with a strong foothold in APAC, processing roughly $AU 11 billion in payroll per year for over 2,800 businesses. Its payroll and human capital management (HCM) expertise, combined with an enterprise client base spanning the corporate, workforce management, and retail sectors, will extend Deel’s payroll and compliance capabilities to more industries and customers across APAC in particular.
To meet the demands of an increasingly distributed and remote workforce, Deel is working on a payroll offering that lets businesses consolidate their local entity payroll solutions into one easy-to-use dashboard for both contractors and employees. PayGroup’s services perfectly complement these efforts.
“Together we will build the first truly global solution in the payroll industry, giving businesses around the world the ability to hire, pay, and manage the best talent, no matter where they’re located. PayGroup’s strong presence in countries like Australia, India, Singapore, and Japan will expand our customer base and reinforce our leadership in the global payroll space.”
Philippe Bouaziz, co-founder and CFO, Deel.
PayGroup has about 400 team members across Asia who will be joining Deel. The deal approval process will take about three months to complete.