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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.
IBM AND SAP TO HELP FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ACCELERATE CLOUD ADOPTION TO MODERNIZE OPERATIONS IN A SECURED ENVIRONMENT
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that SAP intends to onboard two of its finance and data management solutions to IBM Cloud for Financial Services to help accelerate IBM cloud adoption within the financial services industry. The collaboration will be designed to help the companies address the industry’s stringent compliance, security and resiliency requirements, while supporting business transformation and innovation for financial services institutions.
As banks and insurers balance the need to deliver innovative services and meeting the industry’s strict security and compliance requirements, hybrid cloud environments have become increasingly important. To fuel industry-wide innovation, IBM introduced the IBM Cloud for Financial Services with built-in security and compliance controls that help companies reduce risk and regulatory barriers impeding IT landscape modernization, transformation, and innovation.
THE UK RETAINS RANKING AS EUROPE’S MOST ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES INVESTMENT
According to data from EY, the UK acquired 99 investment projects in financial services in 2019. However, in 2020, just 49 were acquired, a significant drop that puts the country only 14% ahead of France.
The latest EY UK Attractiveness Survey for Financial Services found that foreign investment fell by 23% across Europe in 2020, as the pandemic impacted business confidence and foreign travel.
THE EVER-INCREASING NEED TO APPLY FRICTIONLESS BANKING TECHNOLOGY TO CROSS-BORDER TRANSACTIONS
There has been a real drive towards ‘frictionless’ banking in Western countries, giving rise to the question: why aren’t cross-border payments equally frictionless? Especially for those in emerging markets, who have everything to lose and much to contribute.
BUSINESS TRENDS WHICH WILL DEFINE THE NEXT NORMAL
2021 is expected to be a year of change, with businesses around the world optimistic that the months ahead will be brighter than what 2020 dealt us. Many of the micro trends that companies thought would be temporary measures throughout the pandemic have become macro trends that are here to stay. These are a few of the trends that small businesses and entrepreneurs should be watchful of in order to maximise their efforts and enhance the likelihood of success.
UK GOVERNMENT APPOINTS NEW TASK FORCE TO TACKLE GREENWASHING IN FINANCIAL SECTOR
Members of trade bodies, academia, and NGOs will make up the task force, known as the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG). The GTAF will be responsible for overseeing the government’s delivery of a “Green Taxonomy”. This common framework will offer comprehensible standards that lay out when a financial product or investment can be classed as environmentally sustainable.
FRENCH AND SWISS CENTRAL BANKS TO TRIAL DIGITAL CURRENCIES
A statement made on Thursday announced that the Swiss National Bank and the Banque De France will look into the feasibility of a cross-national arrangement of two wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on blockchain. The SNB has enlisted a private sector consortium (including R3, UBS, and Credit Suisse) which will be led by Accenture.
EL SALVADOR HAS BECOME THE FIRST COUNTRY TO ADOPT BITCOIN AS LEGAL TENDER
After a supermajority vote, in which Bitcoin Law received 62 out of 84 of the legislature’s vote, the digital currency will become legal tender in El Salvador. The Republic of El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, with the price of bitcoin up by 5% soon after the vote.
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.
M1 FINANCE SELECTS FORMPIPE AS PART OF ITS ROLLOUT OF THE TEMENOS BANKING CLOUD
Formpipe Software announced today that M1 Finance, The Finance Super App™, has selected Lasernet to support its output and document management requirements as it rolls out its Invest, Borrow and Spend products for its hundreds of thousands of clients on the Temenos Banking Cloud.
Brian Barnes, founder and CEO of M1 Finance recently announced his purchase agreement of The First National Bank of Buhl, a nationally chartered bank, and M1’s partnership agreement with Temenos. Both agreements are part of a strategic growth and product diversification plan that adds retail banking to M1’s brokerage platform.
EASYCASH: AN INTEROPERABLE EPAYMENT SUITE POWERED BY WALLET FACTORY LAUNCHED IN EGYPT
EasyCash, a revolutionary digital wallet solution for effortless online payments, has been recently soft-launched for iOS and Android users in Egypt.
EasyCash has become the first mobile payment application for Wallet Factory that was made to align with the Egyptian interoperability market standards for QR code-based digital payments and acceptance. Via seamless integration through Mastercard and Meeza, the nationwide payment network system, EasyCash enables users to make online payments and access funds wherever, whenever and however they choose.
MAJOR INVESTORS BACK TRADESHIFT’S COMBINED SAAS AND FINTECH PLATFORM CONNECTING THE WORLD’S SUPPLY CHAINS
Tradeshift has secured more than $200m in funding and debt from a combination of existing and new investors, including Koch Industries, one of the largest privately held companies in the US. Participation also came from IDC Ventures, LUN Partners, Private Shares, and Fuel Capital who increased their existing stake in Tradeshift’s combined portfolio of enterprise SaaS, marketplace, and fintech products serving the world’s most dynamic B2B community of digitally connected buyers and suppliers. The capital will be used to optimize Tradeshift growth and balance sheet to continue scaling the business.