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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.”
HUAWEI VOWS TO ENABLE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM-BASED FINANCE IN APAC
Huawei on July 29, 2021 held its first virtual Asia-Pacific Intelligent Finance Summit 2021, with the theme “Accelerate Digital Transformation in Banking, New Value Together”. As economies across the Asia-Pacific region continue to recover and rebound, leading banks and financial institutions are accelerating digital transformation, seizing new digitalization opportunities to reinvent themselves for what the future holds.
This event attracted more than 1,300 financial industry customers, partners, industry experts and media across Asia-Pacific regions. Huawei is honored to invite financial industry core customers and partners like BDO Unibank, KASIKORN Business – Technology Group (KBTG), PwC and IDC to participate in the panel discussion and share their experiences on how they utilize technology to upgrade the industry and range of services on offer by constructing an ecosystem that is agile and intelligent, and ultimately transform themselves into digital-capable eco-enterprises.
SYMPHONY ACQUIRES STREETLINX TO OFFER THE MOST COMPLETE AND SECURE VERIFIED IDENTITY DIRECTORY IN FINANCIAL SERVICES
Symphony- the leading markets’ infrastructure and technology platform – will now offer the most complete and secure verified directory in the financial services industry as it has acquired the counterparty mapping platform StreetLinx. This acquisition adds over 200 institutional counterparties to the more than 1000 institutions already served by Symphony.
“As we accelerate from directory to identity solutions, Streetlinx brings Symphony a full spectrum of identity-verified investment professionals, including portfolio managers, traders, research analysts and sales teams that will enrich Symphony’s already established and active community of over half a million financial professionals. We are proud to continue to add value to our user community and the industry as a whole”, said Symphony CEO Brad Levy.
TERRANOVA CAPITAL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF SPAC BACKSTOP AND DESPAC FINANCE PLATFORM.
TerraNova Capital Structured Finance (“TerraNova Capital”), the credit advisory and special purpose finance division of TerraNova Capital Equities, Inc. today announced the launch of their SPAC Backstop and deSPAC finance platform. The TerraNova finance platform will help SPACs identify structured finance solutions in conjunction or in place of PIPE financing and redemption shortfalls.
“With over 200 SPACs seeking to execute completion of their target deSPAC and mergers, many SPACs are concerned about the ongoing constraints in the PIPE Market as well as redemptions,” stated Todd Coffin, Head of Structured Finance.
FINITIVE HONORED ON FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY REPORT’S 2021 LIST OF TOP 100 FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES
Finitive, the leading data-driven private credit marketplace, today announced that it has been named one of the Top 100 Financial Technology Companies of 2021 by the Financial Technology Report.
Founded in 2017, Finitive’s tech-enabled platform offers institutional investors access to a multi-trillion-dollar market of private credit opportunities across multiple asset classes and structures, including specialty finance, online lending, marketplace lending, and private credit funds. Using Finitive, borrowers have opportunities to access private credit funding from over 700 institutional investors with over $6 trillion in AUM.
AIZEN ‘CREDITCONNECT’, NEW PARADIGM FOR AI BANKING
People can see the banking democratization trend, where bigtechs and fintechs present a new form of threat to traditional banks. AIZEN, which ranked second in the Global Category of MAS FinTech Awards 2020 (Singapore FinTech Festival, MAS FinTech Awards) alongside Swiss Re (insurance) and BNY Mellon (banking), announced that it would provide banking-as-a-service for banks and data platforms.
AIZEN is a financial techonology (fintech) company that made Artificial Intelligence (AI) financial innovations in Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam within five years since its establishment by the financial and AI experts from global companies. AIZEN developed the finance-specialized, machine-learning automated solution called “ABACUS” to commence the digitization project for financial companies. AIZEN has been selected as the second placer globally at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) FinTech Awards, the first placer at the 2020 Hong Kong FinTech Week, the Top Ten FinTechs by Standard Chartered Hong Kong, and the cool vendor in AI for FinTech at the Gartner Cool Vendor 2018, accelerating its potential growth rapidly. Furthermore, AIZEN has been selected as the Top Ten FinTechs for responsible AI companies, along with VISA Inc., Suite of analytics software (SAS) Institute, Experian PLC, and Ernst & Young Global Ltd. AIZEN is expanding its businesses into Vietnam and Indonesia with the “CreditConnect” launch, an AI-based data-combined banking service that enlarges the business model.
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.