Daily news

Revolut Unveils Roboadvisor in the U.S.

Revolut Unveils Roboadvisor in the U.S.
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Revolut
  • Revolut is launching a roboadvisor in the U.S.
  • The new capability will complement Revolut’s other wealth management options, including savings and stock trading.
  • The automated investing tool will charge a 0.25% annual fee with a monthly minimum of $0.25.

Global financial services innovator Revolut has launched a roboadvisor in the U.S. The new automated investing tool manages users’ investment portfolios, and is therefore able to charge lower fees than traditional wealth management firms.

Revolut users can invest in one of five diversified portfolios based on their risk tolerance. After the client deposits funds into their portfolio, Revolut’s roboadvisor will automatically invest the money and then monitor and manage the portfolio. When necessary, the roboadvisor will automatically rebalance the portfolio to stay in-tune with the user’s risk tolerance. Revolut roboadvisor will charge a 0.25% annual fee with a monthly minimum of $0.25.

“We are excited to add a Robo-advisor to our superapp’s suite of wealth and investment products and services,” said Revolut U.S. Head of Wealth and Trading Jack Callahan. “We know that many of our customers do not have the time to manage a portfolio or invest in individual securities. Built to make investing more accessible, we want to give our customers the ability to make their money work for them in what we believe will be a tailored and stress-free way.”

Originally founded as a mobile banking and international card payments company, Revolut has recently set its sights on becoming a super app. Since it launched in 2015, Revolut has added business cards and spend mangement tools, as well as a range of solutions to fit its users’ personal financial needs.

Today’s roboadvisor launch will push Revolut further towards super app status. Additionally, the new capability will complement the company’s other wealth management tools, including its savings account, savings goals, and stock trading.

While the launch of Revolut’s roboadvisor will be a value-added product, the company may be a bit late to the game. The roboadvisor boom in fintech took place about eight years ago and it is unlikely Revolut’s roboadvisor will be the determining factor for a user to make the jump to Revolut. The new product will, however, be attractive to existing Revolut clients and may help draw in Gen Z users as they look to begin their investing journeys.

Revolut has raised around $2 billion. While the company was once considered one of Europe’s most valuable fintechs, Revolut took a hit earlier this spring when company shareholder Schroders Capital Global Innovation Trust disclosed a $5.8 million (£4.7 million) writedown, shaking the value of its stake from $12.6 million (£10.1 million) in 2021 to $6.7 million (£5.4 million) in 2022.

Photo by Digital Buggu

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Visa Acquires Pismo to Become Core Banking Provider

Visa Acquires Pismo to Become Core Banking Provider
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, VISA
  • Visa is acquiring Brazil-based Pismo for $1 billion in an all-cash deal.
  • The purchase will help Visa add core banking capabilities and support banks in connecting to emerging payment rails.
  • Pismo has raised $118 million.

Visa is doubling down on financial infrastructure with its latest acquisition. The company announced today it has purchased payments infrastructure platform Pismo for $1 billion. The all-cash deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

Brazil-based Pismo was founded in 2016 and offers its core banking, payments, and lending solutions across Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. The company has seen an impressive amount of growth since 2020. In total, the company services almost 80 million accounts and 40+ million payment cards for its end customers. Annually, Pismo processes around 50 billion API calls for transactions totaling $40 billion. Among its clients are Citi, Itaú, Revolut, N26, Nubank, and Cora. Prior to today’s acquisition, Pismo had raised $118 million.

Visa anticipates Pismo will help it in providing core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit and commercial cards via cloud native APIs. Visa will also be able to leverage Pismo’s platform to provide banks support and connectivity to emerging payment rails.

“Through the acquisition of Pismo, Visa can better serve our financial institution and fintech clients with more differentiated core banking and issuer solutions they can offer their customers,” said Visa Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell.

The Pismo deal marks Visa’s first acquisition in two years. Prior to today’s announcement, Pismo’s most recent acquisitions took place in 2021, when the company bought Currencycloud for $883 million (£700 million) and Tink for $2.15 billion (£1.8 billion).

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New from PayPal: Tap to Pay for Venmo and Zettle’s Android-Based Merchants

New from PayPal: Tap to Pay for Venmo and Zettle’s Android-Based Merchants
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, PayPal, Venmo
  • PayPal is launching Tap to Pay on Android for U.S. Venmo and Zettle business users.
  • The new capability will enable merchants to accept contactless payments without additional hardware.
  • All Venmo business users will have access to Tap to Pay in the coming months.

PayPal has been on a quest to improve the checkout experience since its launch in 1998. The California-based company is continuing that journey today by rolling out Tap to Pay on Android for the U.S. business users of two of its subsidiaries– Venmo and Zettle.

The new capability enables merchants to accept contactless payments on their Android mobile devices without additional hardware. After a short onboarding process, Venmo business users can use the Venmo app to manage funds received via both Venmo and card. Regardless of the transaction type, all funds will settle into the business’ Venmo account to facilitate cash flow management.

“Tap to Pay is the last milestone in the democratization of in-person card payments, where users can start taking card payments with no setup cost in a matter of minutes,” said PayPal Head of Product, Microbusiness Ed Hallett. “We’re unlocking access to this capability for the millions of businesses using Venmo and PayPal Zettle, helping them drive sales with frictionless payment options.”

All Venmo business users will have access to Tap to Pay in the coming months, but the new capability is also currently available by request.

PayPal-owned Zettle first launched Tap to Pay on Android for Zettle users in the U.K., Sweden, and the Netherlands last May, and has since rolled out the technology for Zettle users in more regions– including in the U.S.

While Apple unveiled Tap to Pay on iPhone last April, Stripe was the first company to bring the technology to merchants with Android devices. The payment service provider launched Tap to Pay in February of this year for merchants in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.

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Socure Makes $70 Million Acquisition

Socure Makes $70 Million Acquisition
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Socure
  • Socure is acquiring automated identity verification solution provider Berbix for $70 million.
  • Socure has used Berbix’s technology to launch its Predictive Document Verification (DocV) 3.0 solution.
  • The new acquisition will also help Socure accelerate its international expansion.

Digital identity verification company Socure has acquired automated identity verification solution Berbix for $70 million. The deal marks the first-ever acquisition for Nevada-based Socure.

Founded in 2018, Berbix launched a document verification solution with a forensics engine that detects spoofed IDs – including AI-generated fake IDs. Socure will leverage this technology to accelerate its international expansion by providing global coverage of ICAO-compliant travel documents, passports, and national ID cards. 

“I’m extremely proud of what we built at Berbix to advance state-of-the-art document verification,” said Berbix CEO and co-founder Eric Levine. “Moving forward with Socure, we are able to multiply our impact on day one by leveraging our technology with Socure’s substantial customer base, reach, and reputation. Combining our independent investments in document verification is yielding stunning results – and we’re just getting started.”

Socure has already integrated Berbix’s technology into its own to launch its Predictive Document Verification (DocV) 3.0 solution. The new tool combines Berbix’s forensics engine and data extraction with Socure’s image capture app. The company has found that DocV 3.0 has been able to increase first-attempt auto approvals of good consumers by 26% and increase fraudulent document capture by 27%.

While DocV 3.0 is used within Socure’s integrated identity platform, it is also available as a standalone solution.

“DocV 3.0 represents a significant departure from legacy providers whose document verification models rely on simple template checks and rules to determine if a document is legitimate,” said Socure Founder and CEO Johnny Ayers. “Without running sophisticated fraud models on related personally identifiable information (PII), or pairing the documentary check with rich device, phone ownership, geolocation, and behavioral data, customers see far less accurate decisions, resulting in higher fraud and lower customer acceptance. This prohibits companies from using document verification solutions for high-risk onboarding, authentication, or transactions. It’s a real gap in how ID document verification can be used.”

Socure has more than 1,800+ customers across a range of industries. The company serves four of the top five banks, 13 of the top 15 card issuers, over 400 of the largest fintechs, and more. Among Socure’s customers are Chime, SoFi, Robinhood, Gusto, Poshmark, and the State of California. Since it was founded in 2012, the company has raised $742 million from the likes of Citi Ventures, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Capital One Ventures, Synchrony, and others.

Photo by Jeswin Thomas

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Novobanco Taps Feedzai for Risk-Ops platform

Novobanco Taps Feedzai for Risk-Ops platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Feedzai
Novobanco Taps Feedzai for Risk-Ops platform
  • Feedzai has partnered with Novobanco to offer the bank’s clients protection from financial crime.
  • Novobanco wil leverage the Digital Trust (DT) and Transaction Fraud for Banking (TFB) solutions within Feedzai’s Risk-Ops.
  • Novobanco anticipates the new technology will enhance trust, optimize customer engagement, and ultimately boost customer satisfaction.

Feedzai inked a partnership with Portuguese bank Novobanco this week. The risk management and fraud prevention company has agreed to protect the bank’s clients from financial crimes while not detracting from the customer experience.

Specifically, Novobanco will leverage the Digital Trust (DT) and Transaction Fraud for Banking (TFB) solutions within Feedzai’s Risk-Ops, a platform that helps firms protect users from financial crime. The tool is embedded into firms’ existing workflows to help uncover hidden criminal activity while not disrupting the customer experience.

“The Digital Trust and Transaction Fraud for Banking solutions which are part of our RiskOps platform will empower Novobanco to further enhance its fantastic service whilst providing the highest level of financial security for its customers,” said Feedzai Global Head of Sales Nuno Pires.

With 1.5 million clients and $47.8 billion (€43.8 billion) in assets, Novobank is the 4th largest bank in its domestic market. The bank maintains a customer-centric culture by offering an omnichannel customer experience and transparent, simple products.

Novobanco anticipates that DT and TFB will enhance trust, optimize customer engagement, and ultimately boost customer satisfaction. Combined, the two solutions will help Novobank analyze and understand customer behavior, flag security threats, and block fraud attempts in real time.

Also based in Portugal, Feedzai was founded in 2011. The company’s solutions help fight fraud in more than 190 countries. In 2021, Feedzai was valued at more than one billion dollars after receiving a $200 million funding round that boosted its total funding to $277 million. There is no word on an updated valuation.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

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Robinhood Acquires Credit Card Upstart X1 for $95 Million

Robinhood Acquires Credit Card Upstart X1 for $95 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Robinhood has acquired credit card company X1 for $95 million.
  • X1 launched an in-app stock purchasing capability late last year.
  • Robinhood CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev said that the acquisition will bring his company closer to serving the entirety of customers’ critical financial needs.

Stock brokerage app Robinhood signed an agreement this week to acquire six-year-old credit card startup X1. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year for $95 million in cash.

Prior to the acquisition, X1 had raised $62 million. The company, which was founded in 2017 by Deepak Rao and Siddharth Batra, refers to its credit card as “the smartest card ever made.” The no-fee Visa credit card has many features that customers have come to expect of a modern card. It offers competitive rewards, instant payment notifications via a tandem mobile app, a virtual card number, and it allows customers to turn the card on and off within the app.

There are a handful of features that set the card apart, however. The first is the physical card itself– it is made of 17 grams of stainless steel. The card also allows users to create a single-use card number that is automatically cancelled after one use, which can come in handy for subscriptions users don’t want to forget to cancel. Users can also create a card number for free trials that is cancelled after 24 hours.

Robinhood CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev explained the reasoning behind today’s buy. “This acquisition will bring us closer towards our goal of serving the entirety of our customers’ critical financial needs. Together with X1, Robinhood will now be able to offer our customers access to credit,” he said.

The acquisition aligns with X1’s direction, as well. The company launched an in-app stock purchasing capability that enables cardholders to buy stocks in the X1 app using their rewards points. X1 guides investors by recommending stocks based on the cardholder’s spending habits, risk preferences, investment goals, income, and time horizon.

Logistically the X1 team will join the Robinhood team. Rao and Batra will oversee Robinhood’s new card business. Rao will serve as GM of Credit Cards and will report to Tenev.

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StockRepublic Raises $2.81 Million for Social Trading Platform

StockRepublic Raises $2.81 Million for Social Trading Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, StockRepublic
  • StockRepublic has raised $2.81 million (SEK 30 million).
  • The round was led by Avanza subsidiary Placera Media, which contributed $1.4 million (SEK 15 million).
  • The relationship between Placera Media and StockRepublic began at the start of this year when StockRepublic helped Placera Media operate and modernize its stock forum.

B2B social trading platform StockRepublic has raised $2.81 million (SEK 30 million) this week. The new investment is more than double the company’s existing funding and brings its total to $5.2 million (SEK 55.6 million).

Leading the round is Avanza’s subsidiary Placera Media, which contributed $1.4 million (SEK 15 million). The remaining $1.4 million (SEK 15 million) comes from existing investors and business angels.

Founded in 1999, Avanza is one of Sweden’s largest financial websites. The firm’s media subsidiary, Placera Media, covers news and updates on equities, funds, and savings. The company publishes articles, produces podcasts, and launches several TV segments each week.

StockRepublic’s partnership with Placera Media began earlier this year. The social trading company operated and modernized Placera Media’s stock forum. Today’s strategic partnership between the two will help StockRepublic ramp up hiring, further develop its service offering, and continue its expansion.

“We are very proud to have Sweden’s leading savings platform on board, both as customers and investors,” said StockRepublic CEO Fabian Grapengiesser. “StockRepublic has previously raised capital from customers, so it is a proven and successful model for us. This collaboration brings Avanza closer to us in a very positive way and allows us to continue to develop Avanza’s platform with exciting new services.”

Sweden-based StockRepublic was founded in 2018 and demoed its technology at FinovateEurope earlier this year.. The company’s platform offers customized apps and APIs to help banks and financial services providers increase customer engagement. Specifically, StockRepublic’s technology allows investors to leverage the experience and knowledge of other investors and, in turn, share their success. The company’s platform is currently available in six markets. Commerzbank is among its clients.

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Open Payments Gateway Volt Raises $60 Million to Fuel Asia Pacific Expansion

Open Payments Gateway Volt Raises $60 Million to Fuel Asia Pacific Expansion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • London-based open payments gateway Volt has raised $60 million in Series B funding.
  • IVP led the round, which featured participation from both new and existing investors.
  • Volt will use the capital to power its expansion into the Asia Pacific region, the Americas, and Australia later this year.

Volt, an open payments gateway based in London, has raised $60 million in Series B funding. IVP led the round, which also featured participation from CommerzVentures, EQT Ventures, Augmentum Fintech, and Fuel Ventures. The investment comes as the company announced plans for an expansion into the Asia Pacific region and the Americas.

The investment also takes Volt’s total equity funding to more than $87 million. New valuation information was not immediately available.

Founded in 2019, Volt currently operates in Europe, the U.K., and Brazil. The company connects more than 5,000 banks, bringing together a generation of account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure to a single point of access. Volt’s aggregation model offers a wide-ranging open payments reach and maximizes the speed, security, and resilience of transactions. Volt’s product suite includes Checkout, a unified ommichannel commerce experience; Circuit Breaker, a dedicated fraud prevention solution, Fuzebox, a real-time payments control center for notifications and reporting; Connect, a cash cycle management solution and real-time orchestration engine; Verify, an account ownership authentication tool; and Transformer, a solution to help consumers transition to account-to-account payments.

IVP Partner Angela Zhu praised Volt as “well positioned to redefine the future of payments on a global scale.” Zhu explained: “as over 70 countries, including the U.S., transition to RTP systems, merchants are experiencing the immense benefits of instant, secure, and cost-effective A2A payments.”

In addition to its expansion plans for Asia Pacific and the Americas, Volt is also planning to enter the Australian market later this year. The company will also use the new capital to build out its acceptance network and global reach, as well as enhance its product suite to include cash management. Volt also announced that it will “significantly” bolster its product and engineering teams.

“Testament to our progress and our vision for real-time payments everywhere, we’re thrilled to be working with our new partners at IVP, joining their portfolio of leading global brands” Volt CEO Tom Greenwood said. “We’re staying focused, and humble, as we embark on this next chapter.”

Volt’s funding and expansion news comes just days after Volt announced that it secured approval as a Shopify open banking partner. Also this month, Volt teamed up with SEPAexpress to offer Request to Pay services across Europe, and partnered with Worldpay from FIS to help merchants take advantage of open banking.

Photo by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS

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Tyfone Inks Strategic Partnership with Star One Credit Union to Boost Instant Payments

Tyfone Inks Strategic Partnership with Star One Credit Union to Boost Instant Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Tyfone
  • Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone has inked a strategic partnership with Star One Credit Union.
  • Tyfone will help Star One CU implement its instant payments solution.
  • Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, Tyfone made its Finovate debut in 2008.

Digital banking solutions provider Tyfone has forged a strategic partnership with Silicon Valley-based Star One Credit Union. Tyfone, a Finovate alum since 2008, will help the FedNow certified-credit union implement its new, instant payments solution.

“Today’s consumers and businesses not only want quick, simple, and instant ways to facilitate payments, but they expect a unified, consistent user experience,” Tyfone CEO Dr. Siva Narendra said. “Our partnership with Star One Credit Union allows us to build a solution that aligns with financial institutions’ unique needs and ensures greater accessibility. Our goal is to help scale this service and unlock the tremendous potential instant payments offers financial institutions and account holders.”

Tyfone’s technology helps financial institutions regardless of size connect directly to the FedNow Service for credit transfer send and receive message sets. The new solution developed by Star One Credit Union, in partnership with Tyfone, will integrate the core processing systems of FIs and leverage Tyfone’s open APIs to enable connectivity to payment originators and digital banking providers. The solution, combined with participation in the FedNow Service, will empower account holders to send and receive payments any time, any where, and have full and immediate access to transferred funds.

“Together with Tyfone, we are advancing instant payments adoption in the United States and helping to fulfill the end-to-end instant payment ecosystem,” Star One Credit Union VP of Remote Services Minai Gupta said. “We look forward to working with Tyfone’s team to create a solution for financial institutions of all sizes, regardless of what payment providers or digital banking platform they use.”

To date, more than 100 community financial institutions in the U.S. have adopted Tyfone’s platform and technology. For its part, Star One Credit Union is one of the largest FIs in Silicon Valley with more than 123,000 members. Launched more than 60 years ago, Star One CU today has assets of more than $10.2 billion. The financial institution offers membership to employees of some of Silicon Valley’s most notable companies such as Lockheed Martin and Juniper Networks.

Founded in 2004, Tyfone made its Finovate debut in 2008. This April, the company announced a “significant investment” from Demopolis Equity Partners and a merger with digital banking provider Cubus Solutions. In a statement, Tyfone’s Narendra discussed the transaction in the context of enabling financial institutions of different sizes to provide their customers with equally compelling digital experiences.

“Today success in digital banking – in fact, success in any financial technology – is all about engaged digital experiences and the ability to scale,” Narendra said. “That means scaling up to power digital growth for larger institutions and scaling down to facilitate the smaller one stay relevant.”

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood

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Baker Hill Acquired by Private Equity Firm

Baker Hill Acquired by Private Equity Firm
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Baker Hill, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Baker Hill is being acquired by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • Company President and CEO John M. Deignan will continue to lead the business.

Lending-as-a-Service provider Baker Hill has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Flexpoint Ford. Riverside-owned Baker Hill has not released financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close upon the receipt of regulatory approvals.

Baker Hill will tap into the Flexpoint team’s experience and fintech knowledge and will be able to leverage the private equity firm’s capital to fund product developments and acquisitions. The Indiana-based company will also be able to benefit from Flexpoint’s insight into the needs of bank and credit union clients. As Vilas Nair, Flexpoint Principal explained, the firm can “support Baker Hill’s mission of helping banks and credit unions foster more profitable relationships with their customers and drive economic development in their communities.”

“Baker Hill has a long-standing reputation for being a trusted provider of differentiated loan origination and risk management software, which has helped fuel our consistent growth each year. This ongoing market validation is a source of inspiration for our team and by partnering with Flexpoint we can continue to elevate the lending experience for our bank and credit union clients,” said Baker Hill President and CEO John M. Deignan. “Our team is confident this partnership will provide new opportunities to deliver more value for our clients and the communities they serve.”

Deignan, along with the company’s existing leadership team, will continue to lead the business and remain shareholders.

With $7.5 billion of regulatory assets under management, Flexpoint Ford’s portfolio is comprised of companies in the financial services and healthcare industries. The firm has invested in more than 40 companies since 2005.

Founded in 1983, Baker Hill offers banks and credit unions a SaaS solution for commercial, small business, and consumer loan origination, as well as risk management tools. The company, which most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2021, has received numerous awards in recent years. The IndyStar selected it as a top workplace in Central Indiana, Aite-Novarica recognized Baker Hill NextGen as best in class product, and, most recently, the company received a Product Innovation of the Year Mira Award nomination.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki

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Thought Machine to Power Jordan Ahli Bank’s Social Payment App

Thought Machine to Power Jordan Ahli Bank’s Social Payment App
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Thought Machine
  • Jordan Ahli Bank has tapped Thought Machine to launch its new social payments app.
  • Qawn, the new app, is built on Thought Machine’s Vault Core cloud-native core banking platform.
  • Using Vault Core’s Universal Product Engine, Jordan Ahli Bank was able to tailor the new app to its diverse customer base.

Core banking technology provider Thought Machine is helping Jordan Ahli Bank launch Qawn, its new social payments app.

Powering Qawn is Thought Machine’s Vault Core cloud-native core banking platform. The banking technology provider’s Universal Product Engine enabled Jordan Ahli Bank to customize the tool based on its customers’ needs.

“Our aim is to help people prosper by creating a social financial experience that addresses real-life problems with cutting-edge technology,” said Jordan Ahli Bank Chief Innovation Officer Nidal Khalifeh. “Money is inherently social, and we want to reinvent digital money with a social aspect. Our app is designed to be secure, user-friendly, and to offer guidance with a focus on technology.”

With Qawn, Jordan Ahli Bank is helping a diverse group of users to send and receive money, request payments through chat, or scan a QR code for hassle-free money management. The app, which supports both Arabic and English languages, is also aimed at commercial banking users and can function as a payment acceptance tool.

Thought Machine was founded in 2014 and has since raised $563 million in funding. The U.K.-based company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. 

“Bringing Qawn to the market is just the start – we look forward to expanding our partnership with Jordan Ahli Bank to bring further innovative financial solutions to Jordan, and elsewhere in the MENA region,” said Thought Machine CEO and Founder Paul Taylor.

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

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Virtusa Partners with Payments Consultancy and Technology Provider Icon Solutions

Virtusa Partners with Payments Consultancy and Technology Provider Icon Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Icon Solutions
  • Payment consultancy and technology provider Icon Solutions announced a strategic partnership with Virtusa Corporation.
  • The partnership combines Virtusa’s payments implementation expertise with Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF).
  • Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2017.

U.K.-based Icon Solutions announced a strategic partnership with data strategy, data engineering, and IT services and solutions provider Virtusa Corporation. The collaboration will bring Virtusa’s payments implementation expertise to Icon Solutions’ Icon Payments Framework (IPF).

The goal of the partnership is to create an ecosystem in which banks and other financial institutions can achieve their payment transformation objectives. Icon’s IPF offers a low-code, cloud-native, open-source framework that empowers FIs to build their own payment processing solutions. IPF’s software development kit and optional modules give financial institutions the ability to take advantage of Icon’s payment strategy and architecture without the danger of being “locked-in” to a given vendor’s technology.

“Icon is committed to empowering banks to regain control of their payments and transform with confidence,” Icon Solutions Sales Director Liam Jeffs said. “With Virtusa, we are expanding our partner network to provide even more rich, collaborative opportunities to equip global banks with unique infrastructure that both streamlines their payments processing capabilities and helps them grow revenue streams.”

Founded in 2009, Icon Solutions made its Finovate debut in 2017 at FinovateEurope. At the conference, the company showed how its technology helped institutions in the U.K. adopt and deploy instant payments. Via its IPF platform and its team of advisors, Icon Solutions enabled financial institutions that did not have the budgets and platforms of their larger rivals to successfully upgrade their payments technology and transition to instant payments.

Since then, the company has grown 20% year-on-year. The firm also has partnered with financial institutions such as BNP Paribas, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, and HSBC. Tier 1 banks around the world use Icon Solutions’ IPF to accelerate their payment transformations and introduce instant payments to their customers.

Last month, Icon Solutions appointed Donal Fleming as its new Chief Technology Officer. Fleming brings more than 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry to the company. He previously served as CTO for Credit Benchmark and payments company Modulr.

Virtusa was founded in 1996. The company serves businesses in life sciences and health care, as well as in banking and financial services. Virtusa has more than 220 clients, and operates in more than 25 countries. Baring Private Equity Asia acquired the Massachusetts-based firm in 2020 in an all-cash deal valued at $2 billion. Virtusa co-founder Kris Canekeratne is Chairman and CEO.

Photo by Expect Best

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