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CIBC ADDS EQUIPMENT FINANCE TO THEIR COMMERCIAL BANKING SERVICES
CIBC today announced its new Equipment Finance team within its US Commercial Banking group, its 16th specialty banking area.
“At CIBC, we know how important machinery and equipment are in order to successfully deliver products and services to our clients,” says Bruce Hague, president, US Commercial Banking. “We’re pleased to offer client-centric solutions that are applicable to all business profiles in order to help our clients achieve their ambitions.”
CION DIGITAL RAISES $12 MILLION SEED FUNDING ROUND
Cion Digital, developers of the first enterprise SaaS blockchain orchestration platform, today announced it has closed a $12 million Seed Capital raise.
The capital will be utilized to expand R&D resources and accelerate the rollout of crypto financing and payment solutions tailored for Financial Services companies (Lenders, RIA’s, Banks and Neobanks) and Big Ticket Retailers (Auto, RV/Marine, Jewelry and Luxury Goods) and to expand the capabilities of the firm’s proprietary Blockchain Orchestration Platform for other industries.
FIRST WESTERN FINANCIAL, INC. COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF TETON FINANCIAL SERVICES
First Western Financial, Inc., parent company of First Western Trust Bank, (the Bank), today announced the completion of its acquisition of Teton Financial Services, Inc. (Teton Financial Services), parent company of Rocky Mountain Bank, effective December 31, 2021. The closing of this transaction merges Teton Financial Services’ three branches in the state of Wyoming, total assets of $449.6 million, total deposits of $402.9 million, and total loans of $261.1 million as of September 30, 2021, with First Western Trust Bank. Teton Financial Services also offers trust and wealth management services and had $306.8 million in assets under management as of September 30, 2021. As part of its long-term growth strategy, the merger expands First Western’s presence in Wyoming and allows the Bank to deliver its unique approach to private and commercial banking to more clients in the region.
AMADOR BIOSCIENCE ANNOUNCES THE COMPLETION OF $60 MILLION SERIES B+ ROUND FINANCING
Amador Bioscience, a global translational sciences and clinical pharmacology CRO, announced today that it has completed 60MM USD Series B+ financing led by MSA Capital, a global private equity firm. Other participating investors include Series B Co-leads GL Ventures (venture capital arm of Hillhouse Group) and Sequoia Capital, and Series A lead VC Co-win Ventures.
“Amador’s vision is to be a leading global partner for biotherapeutics R&D success,” said Dr. Bing Wang, Amador CEO and Chairman of the Board. “We strive to provide global-standard translational sciences and clinical pharmacology services to biopharmaceutical companies in the US, China and EU. Completion of the back-to-back Series B and B+ financing marks a key milestone mirroring the End-of-Phase 2 (EOP2) in drug development. With this achievement, we’re committed to expanding our team and business, while keeping Amador’s pledge to provide efficient and high-quality work. We are blessed with the trust and support of our biopharmaceutical clients, employees, collaborators, and in particular our distinguished institutional investors. Together we continue building an innovative and efficient engine to accelerate the global R&D of novel drugs.”
SEABANK ENHANCES DIGITAL BANKING EXPERIENCES WITH GOOGLE CLOUD
Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank has chosen Google Cloud as its primary cloud provider to enhance the service quality and customer experiences delivered on its SeAMobile/SeANet digital banking platform. With Google Cloud’s enterprise-grade and cutting-edge technologies, SeABank can optimize costs, strengthen security and accelerate innovation.
MODYO AND TODO1/IUVITY SIGN AGREEMENT TO POWER A NEW BREED OF DIGITAL FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
It gives us great pleasure to announce today that TODO1/iuvity’s solutions will have the frontend digital financial experience powered by Modyo integrated with TODO1/iuvity’s Open Service Platform. With more than 20 years of digital financial experience, TODO1 is an industry leader powering important financial institutions in Latin America that have served more than 21 million digital customers in the past 12 months.
TODO1/iuvity and Modyo are providing clients and partners with a very compelling value proposition. Modyo’s frontend financial platform combined with TODO1/iuvity’s Open Service Platform’s APIs will give our clients flexibility and acceleration. Time to market can be reduced dramatically while helping to power next-gen digital financial solutions, leveraging the right architecture in the cloud.
FIRSTDIGITAL TELECOM COMPLETES SENIOR DEBT FINANCING
FirstDigital Telecom , a leading fiber-based carrier in the western United States, today announced that it has raise debt financing from a group of leading investors (“the lenders”), including AllianceBernstein, Deutsche Bank, Guggenheim and Webster Bank.
As a result of the transaction, FirstDigital has recapitalized its balance sheet with high-quality institutional lenders and consolidated its common equity ownership under President and CEO Wesley McDougal. This follows the recent $200 million preferred equity investment by infrastructure funds managed by Apollo (NYSE: APO), as FirstDigital continues to attract blue-chip capital partners and prepares the business to scale. Having successfully executed these series of transactions, the Company is optimally positioned to execute on its ambitious growth plans.
TERMINUS CAPITAL PARTNERS ACQUIRES POOLED INVESTMENT FUND SOFTWARE COMPANY DELTA DATA
TAP Software Holdings, an enterprise software investment vehicle managed by Terminus Capital Partners, today announced the acquisition of Delta Data, a leading FinTech company specializing in providing back-end solutions processing trillions of dollars in assets for the mutual fund, collective investment trust, and broader public pooled investment fund industry. Founded in 1985, Delta Data technology supports four of the top 10 US banks, four of the top five US retirement recordkeepers, and four of the top five US investment managers.
“Pooled investment funds like mutual funds and collective investment trusts are a $35T industry with complex transfer and trading, data tracking, regulatory compliance, and counterparty management challenges. As the largest pure-play and full-suite provider in pooled fund administration software, Delta Data is uniquely positioned for leadership in this important and dynamic market. We look forward to partnering with everyone on the Delta Data team to maximize customer success, to drive profitable growth, and to achieve Delta Data’s vision of being the best pooled fund software company in the world,” says Alex Western, Managing Director at Terminus Capital Partners.
MINDTREE AND SAPIENS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO DIGITALLY TRANSFORM THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Mindtree, global technology services, and digital transformation company, and Sapiens International Corporation and a leading global provider of software solutions for the insurance, banking, and financial services industries, today announced a partnership to help insurance companies drive digital transformation.
The combination of Sapiens’ industry-leading, cloud-native, a core suite of banking and insurance applications, and Mindtree’s deep domain knowledge and expansive delivery capabilities will enable insurance companies to increase scale, speed-to-market, and customer satisfaction as they embrace digital. Initially designed to support insurance system implementations, the partnership will first focus on North America and subsequently grow into Europe and Asia.
“We are delighted to partner with Mindtree in the Property & Casualty and Life & Annuity insurance markets. Our collective insurance industry and digital transformation experience will further strengthen our delivery capabilities and scale, which will drive continued growth and customer satisfaction,”
“Together, we will power insurers with the competitive edge to meet market demands and succeed in the digital age of insurance.”
Jamie Yoder, North America President and General Manager at Sapiens.
“Our partnership with Sapiens emphasizes our longstanding commitment to innovation,”
“Digital technologies have unlocked a significant opportunity for banking, financial services, and insurance companies to not just streamline processes, but also drive new business and operating models centered on engaging and disruptive experiences. The combined strengths of Mindtree and Sapiens will enable these companies to maximize digital transformation and business outcomes.”
Mukund Rao, CBO for Banking, Financial Services, & Insurance at Mindtree.
Sapiens’ full set of offerings for P&C, L&A, and banking empowers customers to improve operational efficiency, expand revenue streams, and increase customer engagement and satisfaction using digital and omnichannel experiences. Sapiens CoreSuite enables P&C insurers to rapidly deploy core systems on the cloud, including business intelligence, reinsurance, and portal solutions for all lines of business.
By combining Sapiens’ knowledge acquired through years of customer engagements around the world with Mindtree’s industry-leading, digital-first implementation processes and global scale, the two companies will help customers lower risk and speed up implementations and integrations.
GR4VY SIMPLIFIES INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION FOR MERCHANTS WITH NEW GLOBAL PAYMENT PARTNERSHIPS
Gr4vy, a cloud-native payments company, today announced new partnerships with Boku and EBANX to quickly give merchants access to local payment methods in new geographies. These partnerships will fuel international growth and revenue while reducing risk, resource burden, and the overall total cost of ownership.
Merchants can now access billions of emerging market consumers across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Importantly, this comes at a time when the transaction value of digital commerce in Latin America is projected to increase 73%, and payment revenue in APAC is forecasted to reach $935 billion by 2025.
“Until now, merchants have had to build individual integrations for each new local payment method they wish to support in each new market they enter. At Gr4vy, we wanted to make it easy for merchants to expand their payments strategy into new markets,”
“Bringing these new partnerships to the Gr4vy platform means merchants can now easily offer localized payment methods and services in new geographies, without writing code or the need for large developer teams.”
John Lunn, Founder, and CEO of Gr4vy.
Through its partnership with EBANX, a payments platform that works with large global brands such as Shein, Amazon, Shopee, and Uber, Gr4vy merchants now have access to one of the biggest user bases in Latin America (an estimated 100 million customers by the end of 2022). EBANX and Gr4vy will enable merchants to increase revenue in the fast-growth region with an end-to-end local payment solution that meets local consumer payment preferences, including debit and credit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets.
With Gr4vy’s Boku connector, merchants can access its M1ST Payments Network, consisting of 350+ local mobile payment methods, including popular app-based payments such as Alipay, WeChatPay, GrabPay, and ShopeePay, as well as ubiquitous SIM-based payments that can place charges against any mobile phone bill in the world. Merchants will be able to access customers in over 91 countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Gr4vy’s cloud-native infrastructure platform modernizes payment orchestration. The only payment orchestration platform (POP) built natively in the Cloud, Gr4vy’s platform empowers merchants to manage payment methods, services, and transactions while eliminating single points of failure and shared infrastructure risks. Gr4vy can also spin up an Edge to any instance and deploy it where needed, regardless of location, to help merchants meet regional data privacy and protection regulations.
FINASTRA TEAMS UP WITH ECOTREE TO PROVIDE A GREEN OFFERING FOR BANKS ON THE JOURNEY TO NET-ZERO EMISSIONS
Finastra today announced that it has teamed up with EcoTree, a specialized forestry company focused on carbon removal and biodiversity preservation through tree planting and sustainable forestry management. The initiative provides Finastra customers the opportunity to remove the carbon footprint associated with both the running and implementation of technological solutions, an important step as banks and financial institutions move towards net-zero carbon emissions. Finastra will also use the service to balance its emissions, supporting its goal to become carbon neutral by 2030.
“Finastra has a strong ESG framework, a commitment to helping the financial services industry do better for the environment, and a clear dedication to becoming carbon neutral itself. We are proud to work with them and their customers on this journey,”
“This move will reduce the environmental impact of vital technological solutions and stands out from traditional offsetting programs as we focus on eliminating carbon from the atmosphere for good. It is encouraging to see companies taking accountability for their footprints and building partnerships that have the potential to help save our planet and humanity from the devastating impact of climate change.”
Thomas Canguilhem, International CEO at EcoTree.
Customers of Finastra’s solutions opting for this service benefit from a simple green partnership that enables them to be allocated trees from Finastra’s Forest to remove any emissions associated with both the implementation and running of Finastra’s software. EcoTree’s unique approach provides a nature-based carbon removal program that, rather than avoiding emissions like many offsetting projects, results in a net carbon reduction through sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. The business rationale of the model is tied up in the natural growth of a tree as a physical asset, which also creates a safe home for forest animals and captures carbon along the way.
“Our partnership with EcoTree means that our customers’ supply chain carbon footprint or “Scope 3″ emissions with Finastra can be completely balanced,”
“This is an exciting and highly collaborative initiative to reduce the environmental impacts that the financial services sector as a whole contributes to climate change. Given our large global customer base, removing the digital carbon footprint both for our customers and for our business through our 10-year commitment to EcoTree’s sustainable forestry management initiative is a significant step, as we move towards our own carbon-neutral goal by 2030. We are delighted to announce this news around Earth Day, which this year is focused on investing in our planet – a fitting call to action that aligns so closely with the environmental value we endeavor to create through our ESG strategy and green partnerships.”
Jay Mukhey, Senior Director, ESG at Finastra.
EcoTree’s methodology for calculating carbon capture and storage (sequestration) is verified by Bureau Veritas. Participating banks receive a certificate that proves a carbon removal contribution.
PYMNTS LAUNCHES THE CONNECTEDECONOMY INDEX
PYMNTS today launched the ConnectedEconomy (CE) Index, supported by Stripe, a metric that benchmarks the progress of the world’s digital transformation. The CE Index is the first-of-its-kind global research endeavor that uses in-depth consumer surveys to examine their digital engagement in 40 activities across 10 pillars that represent the Connected Economy.
The CE Index methodology is based on a framework that PYMNTS created in January 2020 called the ConnectedEconomy that organizes a consumer’s daily routine into 10 categories — called “pillars” — and the 40 activities they perform to complete them. How people all over the world use connected devices, payments, and new technologies to work, live, bank, pay and be paid, have a fun, shop, eat, stay healthy, connect with others and move from point A to point B will determine the depth, breadth, and speed of the world’s digital transformation.
The CE Index rankings reflect a study conducted by PYMNTS of more than 15,000 consumers across 11 countries between January 13 and February 16, 2022, to learn how and how often consumers engage in each of the 40 activities, and the purchases they made, and the payment methods they used. The countries surveyed—United States, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Japan, and Singapore—together account for roughly half of global GDP.
The CE Index measures how much progress each country has made in its digital transformation journey. A 100 is a perfect score — meaning that every person in a country uses digital methods to engage in each of the 40 activities we measure with great frequency.
Key findings of the first study for Q1 2022, including
- 87% of consumers studied are connected to the internet, yet only 19% are highly engaged in digital activities
- Digital engagement worldwide has reached 27% of its full potential
- The US ranks in fourth place with a CE Index ranking of 30, Singapore ranks highest with a CE Index score of 35
- The digital transformation has to engage people of all ages to reach its full potential.
- Digital transformation’s “flywheel” spins more rapidly when consumers engage in one digital activity and expand to ones with similar digital characteristics
- Consumers are nearly 1.5 times more likely to be engaged in activities purpose-built for digital than those that are purely transactional, like banking or making retail purchases.
- Cards power the digital transformation today, but consumers worldwide are warming to alternatives.
“Finally, an objective benchmark for how and at what pace the digital transformation of countries and their economies are progressing,”
“What we find is that, in many ways, we’re just getting started – which means there’s enormous upside for innovators to create the experiences that will blend the digital and physical worlds in new and powerful ways — accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime in the world.”Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS.
VERSAPAY ACQUIRES LEADING CASH APPLICATION FINTECH COMPANY DADESYSTEMS
Versapay, the leader in Collaborative Accounts Receivable, announced today it has completed its acquisition of U.S.-based fintech company DadeSystems. The acquisition broadens Versapay’s suite of accounts receivable (AR) automation solutions and expands its AI and machine learning capabilities. It also expands the company’s enterprise and mid-market footprint while adding key talent to the growing Versapay team.
“We are very excited to welcome DadeSystems’ employees, customers, and partners to Versapay,”
“Versapay and DadeSystems have enjoyed a successful partnership for some time, and most importantly we share a common vision for the digitization of the AR process. Together, we can accomplish even more to close the digital transformation gap in AR, optimizing our clients’ cash flow and driving operational efficiencies.”
Craig O’Neill, CEO, of Versapay.
DadeSystems has been a long-term technology partner of Versapay. The company’s flagship DadePay cash application software automates one of the most challenging parts of AR by streamlining the receipt, matching, and reconciliation of payments no matter how they are received, and is already embedded in Versapay’s cloud-based, automated AR platform. Now, all DadeSystems solutions, including mobile offerings, will be available to Versapay’s clients and partners. By adding DadePay solutions to Versapay’s Collaborative AR Network, enterprises can digitize and automate all their customer payments, including checks, bank-to-bank transfers, credit cards, and mobile payments.
The combined company automates more than $60 billion in payment volume annually and has achieved rapid revenue growth in the past 12 months. DadeSystems investor, Ten Coves Capital, is rolling its stake into Great Hill Partners-backed Versapay, while both Great Hill Partners and Ten Coves Capital are contributing additional capital to fund the acquisition.
“This acquisition will give Versapay an unmatched, comprehensive suite of AR automation solutions, perfectly positioning the company to capture the growing market opportunities,”
“We look forward to a successful partnership as these innovators come together to revolutionize the way accounts receivable teams work.”
Matt Vettel, Managing Director, Great Hill Partners.
DadeSystems predominantly serves upper mid-market and enterprise customers, including two of the ten largest U.S. food distributors, two of the ten largest U.S. building materials, and nine of the sixty-five largest U.S. banks in addition to being a technology provider for Wells Fargo‘s and Fifth Third’s accounts receivable automation solutions. DadeSystems also brings important partners to Versapay, such as Fiserv, to support the company’s rapid growth.
“We are thrilled to become part of Versapay,”
“The accounts receivable function has been desperately in need of a workflow revolution. The cloud-based solutions that both our teams have introduced are making this happen. By joining forces, we will see even faster growth and a bigger impact on the industry’s digital transformation.”
Bill Zayas, CEO, DadeSystems.
The DadeSystems team will continue to operate in Miami and will be fully integrated with Versapay’s North American teams.
Alston & Bird LLP acted as legal advisor to Versapay. William Blair acted as exclusive financial advisor and Morris; Manning & Martin LLP acted as legal advisor to DadeSystems.
CUSO HOME LENDING SIGNS CONTRACT WITH MAINESTREAM FINANCE
CUSO Home Lending, a licensed mortgage company owned by credit unions and The Maine Credit Union League, has announced that they have signed a contract with MaineStream Finance to manage the servicing of their current portfolio of loans and take on servicing of any new loans they close going forward.
MaineStream Finance is a non-profit organization that helps low- to moderate-income borrowers. The company is dedicated to economic development by providing credit, capital, and financial services that are often unavailable from traditional financial institutions. Since 1999, MaineStream has served Maine homeowners, homebuyers, consumers, and entrepreneurs in securing the advice and financing they need to grow and thrive. Services include lending, savings products, classes, and one-on-one advisory support. They work closely with federal and state agencies, foundations, and local financial institutions, including banks, to help them meet Community Reinvestment Act goals through financial education programs, loan capital, and volunteering opportunities for homeowners and small businesses.
MaineStream Finance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penquis, which was established in 1967 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting Maine families in becoming healthy, safe, connected, and financially secure. Penquis is Maine’s largest community action agency serving primarily low- and moderate-income individuals in Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Knox counties, with an even broader impact across all 16 Maine counties. Penquis programs focus on five areas: affordable housing, economic security, school readiness, reliable transportation, and healthy lives. Penquis touches the lives of approximately 6,000 people every day and more than 30,000 each year.
“We are committed to ensuring a top-tier level of services to MaineStream’s existing customers as well as to new customers going forward. We are proud to have supported and served communities across Maine for the past nearly three decades and we look forward to helping even more of our neighbors achieve the dream of homeownership in the years to come.”
Russell Cole, president, and CEO of CUSO Home Lending
“We are excited about this transition,”
“It allows our team to focus on meeting the needs of our new home and business borrowers while being assured that our existing clients are well cared for by CUSO’s talented team and our commitment to customer service.”
Jason Bird, director of Housing Development, Penquis, MaineStream Finance
MX AND BOSS INSIGHTS PARTNER TO ACCELERATE BUSINESS LENDING AND INSIGHTS WITH ACCESS TO REAL-TIME FINANCIAL DATA
MX, the leader in Open Finance, and Boss Insights, a leader in business data aggregation, are partnering to provide small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) access to real-time financial business data. This access bridges the data gap between SMBs and their banks — accelerating the speed and accuracy of SMB lending, funding, and payments services so they can spend less time collecting data and more time delighting their customers.
Fintechs, private lenders, and financial institutions often struggle with reliable and efficient access to data in a world where speed is paramount. Boss Insights provides technology that lets service providers increase the speed of decision, speed to monitor, and the cost savings of financial services for SMBs and commercial businesses.
“Boss Insights shares MX’s view that finances should be simple, useful, and intuitive,”
“Together, MX and Boss will empower fintechs, private lenders, and financial institutions with a platform to originate, decide, and monitor the business requests of their SMB and commercial business customers. This will help them make faster, more accurate lending, funding, and payment decisions.”
Keren Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer of Boss Insights.
The partnership between MX and Boss Insights gives SMB owners a 360-degree view of their business customers’ financial health through a single application programming interface (API). The API provides real-time access and integration with accounting, banking, and commerce data from more than 1,000 data sources — such as QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify, Stripe, and Amazon.
“At the 2021 Money Experience Summit, MX announced an expansion of our data offerings to provide solutions for those looking to delight SMBs,”
“Today’s partnership with Boss Insights is an important part of that expansion and our ongoing commitment to help small and mid-size businesses achieve better success.”
Don Parker, Executive Vice President of Partnerships, MX.
Through this partnership, Boss Insights can securely and reliably access financial accounts on the MX financial data platform while MX clients gain better, more in-depth financial insights to manage their finances.
MASTERCARD AND INTEROS LAUNCHED A PARTNERSHIP TO ADDRESS THE FAST-CHANGING GLOBAL RISK LANDSCAPE
Mastercard today announced a new partnership with Interos, the hyper-growth operational resilience company, to further expand its security strategy and bring Interos’ multi-tier risk monitoring capabilities to financial institutions. This new offering allows organizations to proactively detect and eliminate risk across multiple areas – including cyber, financial, ESG, restrictions, geopolitical and operational – throughout their network of business and merchant relationships.
Risk has taken on new dimensions in recent months. A growing number of complex and interconnected supplier and merchant business relationships mean threats can develop anywhere in an organization’s third-party business network. Many enterprises cannot track and mitigate these risks: according to Interos research, just 11% of organizations monitor their third-party risk continuously. However, according to a study by RiskRecon, a Mastercard company, 63% of organizations say managing third-party risk is a growing priority for their organization.
“The threat landscape is evolving rapidly, and financial institutions are being exposed to potential disruption across multiple dimensions,”
“External risks are becoming more sophisticated and complex. Our partnership with Interos makes it simpler for financial institutions to continuously evaluate risk, helping advance security and trust in the digital ecosystem.”
Johan Gerber, EVP, Cyber and Security Products at Mastercard.
Systemic Risk Assessment is the first fully automated platform using artificial intelligence and machine learning to map, monitor, and model the complex web of business relationships that power global trade. The platform features an aggregate operational resilience risk score that allows organizations to quickly evaluate companies they do business with for vulnerabilities based on multiple risk dimensions, providing timely insights that they can act on before they impact a business. It provides the most advanced visibility into global nth party business relationships, spanning over 345 million entities and 18 billion business relationships.
“Systemic risk in our business ecosystems is a challenge that impacts every aspect of our global economy,”
“This partnership with Mastercard is important in providing the ability to pre-solve issues before they become costly crises. Together, we’re excited to bring real-time, continuous insights and operational resilience to every market around the world.”
Jennifer Bisceglie, CEO, and Founder of Interos.