LiquidShare selects BTP’s Sextant for Daml platform
LiquidShare has selected Sextant for Daml, a platform provided by Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP), the blockchain and smart contract management and operations platform.
LiquidShare, created in 2017 by eight major European financial institutions (AFS Group, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Caceis, Caisse des Dépôts, Euroclear, Euronext, S2iEM and Société Générale), was established with the mission to build a European post-trading blockchain infrastructure for the financial industry. The company’s post-trade offering secures and streamlines back-office operations in financial markets, whilst also enhancing transparency and trustworthiness of post-trading operations, leveraging the open-source distributed ledger Hyperledger Besu, and Daml, an application platform.
“We chose Daml as our smart-contract language for its strong potential to embed business logic, and because it enables us to build multiparty business processes easily and rapidly. The fact that it is supported by BTP on our ledger of choice, Hyperledger Besu, was also a main driver for us,” said Jean-Marc Eyssautier, CEO of LiquidShare. “Sextant for Daml has accelerated our time to market by allowing us to focus on customer needs.”
BTP’s Sextant for Daml solution simplifies the deployment and management of the Daml runtime environment on distributed ledgers, enabling innovators such as so LiquidShare to focus on the application rather than the underlying infrastructure.
“We are delighted to facilitate such financial innovation by freeing LiquidShare from technology infrastructure frustrations,” said Duncan Johnston-Watt, CEO & Co-founder of BTP. “This is a great use case that showcases the business value of distributed ledgers and smart contracts, by lowering the barrier to entry to capital markets.”
Digital Asset’s Daml is an application platform purpose-built for coding complex multiparty business processes. It provides a robust framework to better manage transactional workflows for improved operational efficiency without compromising privacy and trust. This is particularly relevant to capital markets.
“LiquidShare is at the forefront of innovation in post-trade markets,” said Yuval Rooz, Co-founder & CEO at Digital Asset. “Post-trade processes can significantly benefit from the efficiency and trust provided by distributed ledgers and Daml, which is quickly becoming the de facto standard in capital markets. It’s great to see LiquidShare using Sextant for Daml. It is the right platform to help LiquidShare bring its new blockchain-enabled offering to the market.”
Paymob Launch Tap-to-Phone in the US with ZmBIZI
Paymob is launching in the US through our partner ZmBIZI and their smartphone app. Alongside ZmBIZI, Paymob will be speedier and more accessible to small businesses.
Their US launch coincides with Visa launching its very first US Tap to Phone pilot in Washington D.C. as a method of supporting the region’s black-owned small businesses. This will see Visa providing ZmBIZIZ’s Z1 devices with Tap to Phone technology empowered by Paymob, on a six-city SMB revitalisation initiative, which also includes Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami.
“With the ZmBIZI Smartphone integrated with the Paymob SoftPOS we are now able to create the next generation of mobile merchants who are doing business on the go’.
This is how we empower communities across the globe to become truly self-sufficient . A one stop business solution that is also a verified partner for Visa Global Small Business Solutions” says Alpesh Patel, Co Founder of ZmBIZI
This has been a long-term project for Paymob, this such a significant and exciting milestone for the company. The Co Founder and CEO, Kosta Du notes;
“This is a huge leap for the paytech space, the move will allow more independent businesses across the country to accept payments without the upfront costs for external POS hardware, meaning small businesses and gig economy workers can accept card and digital payments quickly, on the go, anytime.”
The ZmBIZI app enables business owners and their employees to use the app to type the amount they wish to charge, the customer simply taps their contactless card or e-wallet on their smartphone and finally, it will send them an e-receipt to the customer in the matter of seconds. For Paymob this project with Visa is the necessary place to start as we launch our solution in the US, enabling those who will feel the benefit of Paymobs SoftPOS technology the most.
Aveni acquires much needed investment
Edinburgh based Fintech, Aveni, has acquired their much needed £1.1. million investment – this will be used to establish an AI platform focused on supporting speech analytics for modern businesses.
Aveni Detect reportedly uses the latest artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP) technologies to fully automate processes directly from the customer’s voice. This will help the firm to obtain greater levels of efficiency when it comes to quality assurance whilst simultaneously enhancing employee training, consumer experience and the ability to identify vulnerable users.
TRICAPITAL Angel syndicate headed the investment into Aveni’s operations, with the proceeds being directed towards Aveni’s ongoing growth. The company seek to move beyond simply offering financial services into other regulated areas, as well as building a team to facilitate its UK expansion efforts.
Joseph Twigg, CEO at Aveni stated:
“Consumer behavior and business needs have changed significantly over the past 18 months as the service industry digitised in response to the pandemic. This created a new base of consumers comfortable with video conferencing led, digital-first services. But it also created a major challenge for firms to monitor and assess these calls, especially as an increasing number of them were from vulnerable customers who needed additional attention.”
The work behind the scenes to ensure that Avnei direct was implemented properly is thanks to Aveni’s team of NLP scientists and engineers working with the various UK businesses.
Whether a business or company meets clients in-person or face-to-face, through video conference or via phone, Aveni Detect is able to reliably and accurately convert the conversation to text before processing it via its NLP pipeline to offer key insights and automation. This leads to new opportunities for businesses to lower the cost to serve customers, while building a well-trained workforce and also identify key opportunities for new products.
Twigg further noted:
“Aveni Detect automates a significant part of these requirements, driving efficiency into a business, whilst meeting regulatory requirements and protecting the consumer. It is a great example of AI for good’ as the technology is being used to make a positive impact and will help to better protect those that are vulnerable within our society.”
The round was also joined by Scottish Enterprise’s Growth Investments, Old College Capital ”“ the University of Edinburgh’s in-house venture fund and Wallace Equity.
Jan Robertson, Interim Director of Growth Investments at Scottish Enterprise, added:
“The evolution of Aveni’s game-changing products will enhance Scotland’s proud association with the development of AI solutions and strengthen the country’s growing reputation as a global leader in fintech innovation. Our continued investment in and support for Aveni will help the company grow and scale and underscores Scottish Enterprise’s commitment to nurturing an environment that encourages cutting-edge tech businesses to thrive and flourish.”
Fintech Week London Welcomes International Industry
London ”“ 10th June 2021: Fintech Week London is taking place at a number of select venues in London and online between 12th and 16th July 2021.
The event comprises a two-day conference, breakout sessions, an awards ceremony and is topped off with a long-awaited industry party, celebrating some of the biggest names in the Fintech sector. Fintech Week London will also be live-streamed for any of those unable to be present on-site, presenting the opportunity for online intelligent matchmaking and networking.
Whether you’re attending in person or joining virtually, the agenda is set to be packed – topics on the table include Sustainable Banking and Green Finance, CryptoCurrency, Big Tech & Big Banks and Digital Identity. With a variety of keynote speakers and industry leaders, Chris Skinner opens the vent with the future of Fintech and emerging trends, followed by a discussion on Green Finance and Sustainability and Social Inclusion.
Ghela Boskovich and Imran Gulamhuseinwala will lead the morning session on Open Banking / Banking as a Service on Tuesday 13th July. David Birch (Consult Hyperion), honorary president of EEMA, the European e-ID Association and Matt Warman MP will later host a session around UK Digital Identity Framework, discussing any new requirements for businesses.
Big Tech and Big Banks leads the way for the morning session on Wednesday 14th July, curated by Theo Lau. Joining a panel session will be Dr Leda Glydis (10x) and Joanne Dewar (GPS). Lord Chris Holmes and Martin Boyd (FIS) will then lead the discussion on open finance and financial health.
The afternoon will see the Next Big Things in Fintech, hosted by Chris Skinner and Suzanne Chisti looking at the power of fintech founders and the importance of diversity in a changing world, as well as how the pandemic and fintech have impacted each other.
The breakout sessions on Thursday will be hosted at Level39, and will focus on hot topics including raising capital for fintechs, cybersecurity, payments and AI. In the afternoon, together with Market Across and main partner crypto.com, the topic will be cryptocurrencies and blockchain, looking at innovations such as DeFi, NFTs and what is happening to Bitcoin.
Speakers throughout the week will also include Alex March, head of Klarna UK, Dan Morgan, policy lead ”“ Europe, of Plaid and Sophie Guibaud, chief growth officer of OpenPayd.
Guests, media and conference attendees will be treated to an industry party on Tuesday 12th July and The Open Banking Expo Awards will take place on Thursday evening, where experts and innovators from the world of financial technology will receive recognition. Awards include Best Open Finance Innovation, Open Banking for Good and Best Open Banking Partnership.
Raf De Kimpe, CEO of Fintech Week London, said: “We have been blown away by the interest and support that we have received from the Fintech industry in London and internationally. This has come from sponsors, speakers, partners and now we are seeing a surge in interest from attendees. Over the course of five days, we will welcome over 2,000 executives from high-street banks, digital challengers, technology giants, and new disruptors. Fintech Week London will host many of these industry leaders in person for the first time in so long, and we can’t wait to hear the fantastic discussions that will undoubtedly emerge. London still sits at the centre of global Fintech, and we can clearly see the evidence of this as our event draws closer.”
De Kimpe continues: “Planning an event like this right now definitely comes with added pressure, but it is going to be worth it – this is an industry that feeds off of collaboration, and we want to help bring that back. In terms of mitigating potential risk, we are constantly monitoring the situation and government guidelines. We will take appropriate precautions and our terms and conditions on tickets are very flexible, we urge everyone that has symptoms or had a high-risk contact to join from the safety of their home. We’ll provide a costless swap from a physical to an online ticket (with partial refund). Additionally, we urge all our physical attendees to take a lateral flow test less than 24 hours prior to the event, these tests are available free of charge to UK residents.”
As a minimum, all visitors will be asked to scan the NHS Track & Trace QR code at the reception and temperature checks will be performed on entry. All visitors will be asked to wear a mask as much as possible and wash hands regularly. There will be extra hand sanitising stations throughout the venue and common areas will be disinfected regularly.
Registration for Fintech Week London is now open, and partner submissions are still being considered.
Click on the link below for further information on Fintech Week London:
Terminal V goes cashless with Event Genius Pay
Terminal V, Scotland’s largest electronic music event brand, has joined an ever-growing list and decided to go cashless with Event Genius.
All five of the brand’s UK events are going cashless with Event Genius – this includes four 5000 capacity summer events featuring the most popular names in techno, like Patrick Topping, Floorplan, Adam Beyer and Ben Klock.
Even after the festival taking place in summer, the flagship Terminal V Halloween festival will deploy egPay cashless technology over its two days run on the 30th-31st, with 40,000 fans attending.
Prior to the events, ticket holders can create an online account to pre-purchase credits as a way of replacing cash across the festival sites so that when it comes to attending the festival, the credits are loaded onto an RFID enabled wristband that can be received in exchange for their ticket. With a quick tap, they can use this system to pay for food, drink and more.
What happens when they run out of credits? Fans can top-up credits on-site whenever they run low, and can even reclaim any unspent credits once the event is finished.
Not only will this payment method reduce fan to staff contact points, making it safer, but it will speed up transactions by up to 80%.
Speaking about the partnership, Reshad Hossenally, Event Genius Founder and Festicket CSO commented: “egPay offers a win-win scenario for Terminal V’s fans and organisers. Without having to worry about carrying money or wasting time waiting in line to be served, Terminal V attendees can enjoy more of the events while the Terminal V team can expect a reduction in cash handling, fan to staff contact points and potential virus transmission, as well as a significant boost to their revenues.”
“This will also be our first egPay roll out in Scotland, so we’re extra excited to meet the team, get onsite and help deliver some great events.”
Survey – FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation roadmap
Whitecap Consulting is supporting FinTech Scotland in the development of a ten-year research and innovation roadmap to support the growth of Scotland’s digital economy and the wider development of FinTech innovation across the UK.
This roadmap will build on the work of FinTech Scotland to date, and inform priority focus research themes and the unmet needs of consumers, businesses and society.
This survey will help us identify appropriate opportunities for cross-sector enablement of FinTech innovations to achieve the UK’s overall industrial strategy.
Take the survey
Thank you for your participation. Any answers you give in this online survey may be attributed to individuals or organisations within the report, however only with your prior approval.
NFP Partners with Fintech Firm Legado
Two fintechs, NFP and Legado, have partnered to digitise the life planning process for NFP clients.
A market leader in corporate benefits, wealth management and commercial insurance, NFP has forged this partnership with Legado, a fintech dedicated to helping consumers prepare for key life moments, as its suite of tools enables the organisation, storage and sharing of personal data with those who choose. Not only this but it is presented and communicated in such a way that makes it easily understandable to the client, enabling them to maintain complete control over everything. Legado’s platform is GDPR-compliant, with consumers safe in the knowledge that their documents are safe and easy to find.
Announced today, the partnership enables NFP clients to use Legado’s life-planning platform, giving them instant access to statements and information, storing them in a secure location – no hassle or fuss.
Richard Basford, Managing Director for NFP Wealth Management, said: “Client engagement and intergenerational planning are emerging as two of the most important considerations in the financial advice sector. Our clients expect us to provide them with more than just financial advice, with an increasing number coming to us about other areas of life planning. We had already been looking to digitise areas of our client experience, with a focus on solutions that would let us work closely with our clients in a secure and simple manner, and that does not add complexity to what can already be highly complex situations.
“When we saw Legado, we knew it was the right solution for our business. Not only does it provide a secure way to exchange key documents, but it provides a relevant and engaging service to help our clients plan for the future and key life events. We hope that by providing this service our clients will recognise the additional value we are providing to them to ensure they are prepared for the future.”
Josif Grace, CEO of Legado, said: “NFP is a great example of a company that is not only looking to digitise their client experience, but modernise and personalise it. By utilising the Legado platform, NFP is creating new opportunities on which they can engage clients, and their families, at key life moments. With Legado’s combination of insight, personal planning tools and technology, clients have a truly holistic view of how prepared they are for the future, while smart, actionable nudges can help people make small changes that can make a big long-term difference. We are delighted to be working with NFP to put them at the forefront of innovation in this space.”
NFP’s Basford added: “Legado gives NFP clients full control over the entire experience, and so puts NFP and its advisers at the forefront of both client experience and safety. This will be the industry standard in a year or two, and we are excited to be leading the way in showing how all professional services businesses will be working in the future.”
The Legado planning API will enable NFP to quickly and easily NFP to integrate the platform into their existing technology estate, and the pilot will initially give NFP’s advisers and clients full access to a co-branded version of Legado’s life planning platform.
“NFP is a leading insurance broker and consultant providing specialised commercial insurance, in-country and global employee benefits, and individual solutions through its licensed subsidiaries and affiliates. NFP enables client success through the expertise of more than 6,000 employees in the UK, Ireland and across the globe. Our professionals support diverse client needs through investments in innovative technologies and enduring relationships with highly rated insurers, vendors and financial institutions. NFP is the 5th largest benefits broker by global revenue (Business Insurance), 10th largest property and casualty agency (Insurance Journal) and 12th largest global insurance broker (Best’s Review).
Visit nfp.co.uk to discover how NFP empowers clients to meet their goals.”
Polydigi Tech selected as UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME
Polydigi Tech, the Edinburgh based cybersecurity startup, was selected along with 14 other SMEs as the UK’s Most Innovative Cyber Security SME in the sixth competition held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in collaboration with Inforsecurity Europe.
Polydigi Tech is the only Scottish company among the winners. After ranking 12th in BusinessCloud’s Scotland Tech 50 for 2020, Polydigi Tech is now ready for the UK market.
This year’s record number of applicants were judged by three industry experts: Innovate UK’s Deputy Challenge Director Agata Samojlowicz CISSP, Global Transatlantic CEO Andy Williams, and Infosecurity Magazine Editorial Editor, Eleanor Dalloway.
Polydigi Tech is being offered the chance to exhibit at the DCMS Innovation Zone during Infosecurity Europe 2021 on July 13th-15th in Olympia, London. This opportunity will allow Polydigi Tech to demonstrate its world-class innovation identity authentication solution for EU market expansion.
Paysend Sets Sights on Global Expansion
Paysend, the international payments platform, has announced a $125m Series B funding round, which will help contribute to funding its global expansion plans.
“This $125m B Round investment will allow us to take our platform to the next stage, innovating and expanding geographically to target the $133tn opportunity in cross-border payment flows,” Ronnie Millar, CEO of Paysend said.
“Paysend’s vision is to develop the next generation integrated global payment ecosystem for consumers and SMEs. Our innovative technology is connecting 12bn cards worldwide to pay and send instantly anywhere, anyhow and any currency ”“ we call this Money for the Future.”
Led by One Peak, the funding round had additional input from Infravia Growth Capital, Hermes GPE Innovation Fund and existing Silicon Valley-based investor Plug and Play.
“There remain significant barriers to entry for consumers and SMEs to pay and send money globally; our platform aims to democratise the service by providing a one-stop-shop to pay and send money to families, suppliers, employees and partners in any currency anywhere in the world at a significantly reduced cost,” Millar went on.
It’s Paysend’s global network of banks, international and local payment systems that allows its customers to send money online from any location in any currency.
“We are excited by Paysend’s enormous growth potential in a massive market, benefiting from a rapid acceleration in the adoption of digital payments,” Humbert de Liedekerke, Managing Partner at One Peak, added.
“In particular, we are seeing strong opportunities as Paysend moves beyond consumers to serve business customers and expands its international footprint to address a growing need for fast, easy and low-cost cross border digital payments.”
In the past four years, the payments fintech has grown to more than 3.7 million consumers across 60 countries.
AutoRek nominated for duo of awards
AutoRek, the leading software provider to global financial service firms, has been shortlisted for the Best CASS Solution’ and Best Wealth Management Solution’ categories at the Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards 2021.
This isn’t the first time AutoRek has won the Best CASS Solution award, after winning the title last year – the first time the award ceremony has been held virtually in its 18-year history.
Lyn Canavan, Head of Marketing at AutoRek, commented, “We are delighted to be recognised again as a provider of the Best CASS Solution’, and also in the Best Wealth Management Solution’ category by the Systems in the City Financial Technology Awards judging panel ”“ this is testimony to the team’s continued hard work in consistently striving to offer superior solutions.”
Goodacre, a specialist business and technology consultancy, organised the awards as an endorsement for suppliers of systems and services to the regulated financial services sector, with three independent judges overseeing the selection prciess.
The Awards provide an important point of reference for user firms assessing the suitability of their operational infrastructure