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FINASTRA SECURES SWIFT COMPATIBLE APPLICATION LABEL FOR TRADE FINANCE
Finastra today announced that it is the first technology provider to secure the SWIFT Compatible Application label 2021 for Trade Finance. The achievement proves that Fusion Trade Innovation, Finastra’s global trade and supply chain booking engine and processing solution, meets rigorous SWIFT industry standards. The solution is ready to support customers ahead of the SWIFT SR2021 go-live in November this year, which impacts Category 7 Guarantees and Standby Letters of Credit messages.
Anastasia McAlpine, Head of Product for Trade and Supply Chain Finance at Finastra said, “SWIFT SR2021 completes the cycle of the most significant set of changes to the trade finance messaging interface in nearly 30 years, with the updated message structures and the introduction of new message types. We are delighted to have secured this SWIFT Compatible Application label as it demonstrates Fusion Trade Innovation’s strong capabilities to align with the extensive and complex SWIFT standards. It is also testament to the solution’s ability to support customers as the industry evolves.
FUTURE FINTECH ESTABLISHES UK SUBSIDIARY TO DEVELOP DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS IN EUROPE
Future FinTech Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FTFT) (“hereinafter referred to as “Future FinTech”, “FTFT” or “the Company”), a leading blockchain-based e-commerce business and a fintech service provider, announced today that it has incorporated a new subsidiary, FTFT UK Limited (“FTFT UK”), as an operating base from which to develop fintech business in Europe.
FTFT UK plans to provide high-quality digital inclusive financial services to individual customers and businesses through financial technology by building a new digital banking ecosystem based on blockchain technology to create a highly competitive financial services platform relative to traditional banks. The first phase will be to focus on the development of a ‘super app’ that will include a wide range of personal digital financial products and services. FTFT UK plans upon designing this app to include functionality for mobile payments, international transfers, wealth management advisory services, membership rewards, etc., as well as proprietary industry-disruptive applications. We anticipate that our mobile app will enable customers to engage in a comprehensive suite of mobile banking capabilities anytime and anywhere.
DRIPS COMPLETES FINANCING WITH WELLS FARGO CAPITAL FINANCE
Drips, the founders of Conversational Texting®, today announced that, concurrently with its previously announced growth investment, they established a credit facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance’s Technology Finance group.
The Wells Fargo facility will support Drips’ intense growth as it expands its team and improves its already advanced conversational SMS messaging platform. Drips differentiates itself from its competitors by capturing intent and driving meaningful conversations designed to promote engagement.
GUIDEHOUSE AND ONESTREAM SOFTWARE ANNOUNCE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO HELP ORGANIZATIONS DRIVE FINANCE TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS
Guidehouse, a leading global provider of consulting services to the public and commercial markets, today announced it has entered into a strategic alliance with OneStream Software, a leader in corporate performance management (CPM) solutions for the world’s leading enterprises, to provide intelligent finance solutions that unify and streamline processes through one platform.
The strategic alliance will leverage Guidehouse’s expertise as a leading consulting services provider supporting clients in both the public and commercial markets and OneStream’s unified and cloud-based CPM software platform to support activities ranging from project delivery to marketing and strategic business collaboration. Through the alliance, clients can optimize their resources and accelerate delivery of a comprehensive solution to address their complex corporate performance needs.
AEP RELEASES SUSTAINABLE FINANCE FRAMEWORK
American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) has developed a Sustainable Finance Framework, which will allow the company and its subsidiaries to issue green, social and sustainability bonds, loans or other financial instruments and allocate the funds to investments that enable positive social and environmental change.
The framework strengthens the link between AEP’s finance strategy and its clean energy commitments and social values. Net proceeds from the instruments will be used by AEP or its subsidiaries to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, new or existing projects or assets that support renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, access to essential services and socioeconomic advancement and empowerment. The framework aligns with eight of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: quality education; gender equality; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; and climate action. AEP appointed Sustainalytics to provide a second-party opinion on the framework, and Credit Agricole CIB advised AEP on the development of the framework.
FINOS WELCOMES FIVE NEW MEMBERS BOLSTERING FINTECH, FINANCIAL SERVICES, OPEN SOURCE AND REGTECH REPRESENTATION AT THE FOUNDATION
Recent adoption of collaborative open source strategies across financial services and fintech is a direct result of the demand to solve business problems in order to stay competitive. The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) is the catalyst for this movement and today announced that five new members have joined the foundation, which is evidence of increased adoption. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, CloudLinux, Digital Asset and EGAR Global join as silver members and Canadian RegTech Association joins as an associate member. Each organization provides unique value in different ways from regtech leadership to cloud innovation to distributed ledger technology for the financial open source community and will ultimately further adoption of open source strategies within the industry.
SENSIBILL AND CAARY PARTNER TO BRING ROBUST DIGITAL FINANCE SOLUTION TO SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES
Sensibill, the leading provider of everyday financial tools and SKU-level insights, and CAARY, a new credit and financial platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), today announced their partnership. Together, the companies will offer a seamless, end-to-end financial services solution for SMEs that includes credit, payment solutions, receipt capture, expense management and automated reconciliation.
“We were looking for a strong partner with a progressive approach to round out our platform,” said John MacKinlay, CEO of CAARY. “With Sensibill, our customers have access to a leading digital receipt management solution as well as deep, contextual insights to proactively identify their financial needs and spending habits. This provides huge opportunities for SMEs to save money and optimize spend.”
FIGURE ANNOUNCES MERGER WITH TOP MORTGAGE LENDER HOMEBRIDGE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Figure Technologies, Inc. (Figure™), a leader in transforming financial services through the power of blockchain technology, today announced it has signed an agreement to merge with Homebridge Financial Services in a landmark deal that will reshape the technology landscape of the nation’s mortgage industry.
“We are bringing together the most robust, powerful and efficient technology ever seen in lending and pairing that with a $25 billion a year loan originator with 150,000 customers who we can introduce to new payment and lending products,” said Mike Cagney, co-founder and CEO of Figure. “We’re going to deliver to this all-star loan origination team at Homebridge a tech platform on Provenance Blockchain that is going to double their capacity for fulfilling loans.”
INNOVATION, FINTECH AND THE FUTURE OF INVESTING
The global reach of finance is undeniable. Around 15 billion shares of stock are traded every day, while 100 million credit card transactions occur daily. The incredible capacity of global monetary networks is only made possible by evolving, innovative technologies that connect parties around the world and create never-before-seen financial instruments.
As finance and technology continue to coalesce, the rise of new asset classes is set to change the industry forever. Not only are new alternative asset products being offered as a result of technology, the invest-tech platforms that make them possible have already altered the way ESG and impact investing is done.
HALLMARK FINANCIAL ANNOUNCES DECISION TO DISCONTINUE PURSUIT OF IPO TO SEPARATE SPECIALTY COMMERCIAL BUSINESS
Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. , a property and casualty insurance company comprised of three business segments (Specialty Commercial, Standard Commercial, and Personal), today announced that it is no longer actively pursuing the previously announced separation of its Specialty Commercial business segment. As a result, the Company does not intend to proceed with the previously announced initial public offering of the specialty commercial business.
Current evaluations by Hallmark’s board of directors note the significant progress achieved over the past 18 months, including the successful completion of a loss portfolio transfer transaction, improved underlying operating results (including pre-tax income of $14.6 million and 6% growth in book value per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2021), and A.M. Best’s recent affirmation of Hallmark’s Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent).
MOGO LAUNCHES MOGOTRADE COMMISSION-FREE STOCK TRADING APP
Mogo Inc., a digital payments and financial technology company, today announced the launch and phased rollout of MogoTrade, a stock trading app that sets a new bar for commission-free trading in Canada.
The MogoTrade app is now available for download through the App Store and on Google Play. Members get immediate access to free live-streaming stock prices and will be added to the waitlist for access to the commission-free trading feature, which is being released in a phased rollout through Q1 2022.
PCI PAL PROVIDES SECURE, COMPLIANT PAYMENTS FOR TALKDESK GLOBAL CUSTOMERS
PCI Pal® , the global provider of secure payment solutions, is working closely with Talkdesk, the global customer experience leader for customer-obsessed companies, to provide a growing list of customers with innovative customer service and security capabilities. The companies’ expanding customer list includes Air Business, Metabolic Living, Resideo, Scotts, Tucows, and Weekendesk.
As a Talkdesk AppConnect partner, PCI Pal offers secure payment solutions for Talkdesk to resell to thousands of customers worldwide, enhancing the Talkdesk suite of integrations, which includes more than 80 industry-leading applications that enable businesses to rapidly expand their contact center capabilities. With fraud on the rise – taking only 14 months to reach an added one million complaints according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) – companies are prioritizing their customers’ personal data more than ever and integrating additional security solutions into their contact centers. As Talkdesk helps companies build custom contact center solutions leveraging the Talkdesk CX Cloud platformTM, customers can further look to PCI Pal to ensure this process embeds advanced security practices into the solution to safeguard customers’ financial information.
BLUE OCEAN ATS ANNOUNCES DATA & TRADING CONNECTIVITY PARTNERSHIPS WITH ACTIV FINANCIAL SYSTEMS, LEK SECURITIES & RAPTOR TRADING SYSTEMS
Blue Ocean Technologies (BOT), a unique capital markets fintech leader in global afterhours trading, announced today new connectivity and data partners, along with new broker-dealer subscribers. Blue Ocean ATS, also known as BOATS announced it is partnering with ACTIV Financial Systems as a data provider and with Raptor Trading Systems as a trading provider. Also, BOATS welcomed new subscriber Lek Securities, continuing to grow its reach and providing broader access of its afterhours trading.
ACTIV Financial Systems will incorporate and display Blue Ocean ATS data feed content via its ActivFeed and its broad language support through the ACTIV API. The data will be implemented across ACTIV’s global backbone, over the public Internet, and through ACTIV’s AWS based ticker plant for regional and local access. Raptor Trading Systems, Inc., a leading global provider of trading technology with access to over 200 brokers and buyside networks, is now connected to Blue Ocean ATS. BOATS is now a part of Raptor’s Industry Leading Technologies and Global Trading Network, providing access 24 hours a day.
FISERV RESEARCH SHOWS DIGITAL WALLET USE SURGING, FINTECHS KEY TO CONSUMER FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE
With consumers leveraging digital tools more than ever, fintechs have become integral to the consumer financial experience according to the latest Expectations & Experiences consumer trends survey from Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions. Fintechs are playing a key part in enabling money management, often filling a need for specific capabilities such as checking credit scores and buying cryptocurrency.
“Consumers are steadily integrating third-party apps into their financial experience, a trend driven by tech-savvy millennial and Gen Z users,” said Sunil Sachdev, head of Fintech at Fiserv. “People have high expectations for their digital experiences, wanting innovative and intuitive solutions. With consumer demands shifting, more financial institutions are bringing fintechs into the fold and partnering with them to deliver the services customers want through their trusted banking relationship.”
MONEYLION TO ACQUIRE EVEN FINANCIAL, EXPANDING DISTRIBUTION NETWORK AND ENHANCING CONSUMERS’ FINANCIAL ACCESS AND DECISION MAKING
MoneyLion Inc., the award-winning digital financial platform, announced today that it has agreed to acquire Even Financial Inc. (“Even”), the category-leading embedded finance marketplace, to accelerate its mission of providing financial access and advice to hardworking Americans.
The transaction provides for total consideration to Even’s equity holders of up to $440 million, using a convertible financing structure that values MoneyLion at its initial public listing price of $10 per share. Even’s investors include Goldman Sachs, American Express Ventures, SoFi, F-Prime Capital, MassMutual Ventures, LendingClub, Canaan Partners, and GreatPoint Ventures.
NIUM LAUNCHES VIRTUAL CARD ISSUING SOLUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES TRAVEL INDUSTRY
Nium, a leader in global payments and card issuance for businesses, today launched its virtual card issuing solution in the United States, making it faster and easier for travel-related businesses to pay suppliers. The Nium virtual card solution enables online travel agencies (OTAs), travel management companies, travel tour operators, and corporations to streamline, revamp their spend management processes, and drive greater productivity and cost savings. Businesses can now digitize their supply chain, such as payments to suppliers and vendors, or internal processes, such as automated reconciliation – all with better rebates and higher levels of security.