The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 23 May brings you the latest appointments, partnerships and funding updates.
Fintech hires
Finverity, the trade and supply chain finance digital ecosystem, appoints Lina Brooks as head of customer success. Brooks will drive product adoption by Finverity’s growing customer and partner base. She will also manage customer onboarding and training programmes and work with the product team on customer requirements and initiatives.
Lumon Pay, the overseas payments and currency exchange platform, hires Vic Darvey as CEO. He most recently held senior roles at Purplebricks and MoneySuperMarket.com, while his early career included positions at CMC Markets and lastminute.com.
FinTech Wales, the independent membership association, has recruited Ollie Vincent as its office and community manager. Vincent joins from DESG, where he spent over two years as head of operations. The not-for-profit organisation has also moved to its first office in the centre of Cardiff. It offers event spaces that are available to members and advocates of the Welsh fintech ecosystem.
Crypto app Tap Global Group appoints David Hunter as non-executive chairman. He takes over the role from John Taylor who will also remain on the company’s board as a non-executive director. Hunter has also spent nearly 10 years on the board of The Payments Association, most recently as chairman.
Checkout.com, the global payments solution provider, has appointed Patrick Starkman, as its new director-general. The hire coincides with the opening of its new, larger office for its 150 employees in Paris, France. The expansion marks Checkout.com’s continued commitment and investment in the French market as it also bolsters operations across Europe.
More appointments
Trustly hires Anna Bjurefeldt as head of internal audit and Mia Bjurkell as director of risk & compliance. The recruitments reinforce the company’s ambition to strengthen its compliance and risk management competencies as it continues its sustainable growth journey.
AI provder Axyon AI has named Andrea Gentilini as its latest advisory committee member. Gentilini will support the fintech with its growth and development. He is also head of Vescore, Vontobel’s asset management boutique.
African digital payments company DPO Pay has hired Isabella Marira as group head of operations, while Daisy Shipwoni joins as head of marketing. DPO Pay said their extensive knowledge and experience working across Africa’s digital payments ecosystem “will be crucial to furthering DPO’s vision of driving economic growth across the continent”.
Company updates
Global video game commerce company Xsolla has unveiled a new tool to augment its existing Xsolla Partner Network solution, called Xsolla Drops. Xsolla Drops provides an added layer of marketing support for game developers to increase user acquisition and incremental sales by streamlining the ability to promote their digital items, including virtual currencies, skins and NFTs.
Vernost Group, the technology solutions provider, has launched a white-label solution, VePay. It harnesses the power of advanced AI routing, blockchain, analytics, and cloud computing and has been designed especially for banks, payment platforms, fintechs, as well as e-commerce companies to not only significantly increases business margins but also ensure uninterrupted operations for enhanced business continuity.
Insly, the no code software provider, has launched BrokerFlow, a tool enabling brokers to digitise their sales workflow. It also marks the first time that Insly has brought it technology to the global broker market. BrokerFlow will enable brokers to streamline their sales funnel, as well as help clients to make better insurance decisions.
11Onze, a community fintech in Europe, enters the litigation funding arena in the UK with 11Onze Recomana. Recomma promises to shield investment devalued by inflation in the checking account. Explaining the rationale behind the launch, James Sène, chairman, said, “Our litigation funds are mainly focused on lawsuits against banks. This not only helps fight for justice; it also offers great returns on your savings above inflation thanks to the compensation the banks will have to pay.”
GitLab Inc, the enterprise DevSecOps platform, has unveiled GitLab 16, its latest major release aimed at empowering software development teams. The launch of GitLab 16 introduces new platform-wide features for DevSecOps, with additional updates planned throughout the year.
Funding and investments
Digital banking group Tyme has raised $77.8million from Norrsken22 and Blue Earth Capital as part of its pre-Series C capital raise. Tencent has also increased its shareholding to become Tyme’s third largest shareholder. The funds will help further operations in South Africa and the Philippines as well as for future expansion in Southeast Asia. The group’s TymeBank also recently celebrated a seven million customer milestone.
Partnerships
AXA Insurance PCL and CoverGo, the no-code insurance SaaS core platform for health, are collaborating to improve AXA’s health insurance ecosystem in Thailand. The partnership harnesses advanced technology to enhance and expand the utilisation of technology within the health insurance system and related products, resulting in optimal efficiency.
Fintech Broadridge Financial Solutions has revealed DRW, Societe Generale and another global tier 1 bank have successfully executed intraday repo transactions on Broadridge’s Distributed Ledger Repo (DLR) platform. The platform provides a utility where market participants can agree, execute, as well as settle repo transactions, providing flexible settlement cycles based on counterparties’ needs.
Sapiens, a provider of software solutions for the insurance industry, will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. With the integration it can provide generative AI solutions for insurance companies, allowing customers to navigate complex documents including policies, terms and conditions, and more, using natural large language AI models.
OTP Bank, the largest bank in Hungary, chooses Intellect’s Intellect Digital Core (IDC) Banking platform to provide a contextual banking experience for its customers. The cloud native solution built on API-first micro-services architecture will enable the bank to launch signature financial products rapidly in the market with a comprehensive digital suite.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has collaborated with Nomura Research Institute (NRI) to provide automated central matching capabilities for cash securities transactions in Japan. Regional firms in Japan will be able to leverage CTM, DTCC’s platform for the central matching of cash securities transactions.
Hokodo, a provider of digital trade credit, has teamed up with Mangopay, the payment infrastructure provider. This cooperation will allow B2B marketplaces to foster their growth and scale their payments capability.
