John Gidla

Alert MFB Launches Mobile App to Enhance Customer’s Banking Experience Alert MFB, a subsidiary of Alert Group, has announced the release of its innovative new mobile app, designed to set a new standard for app users. According to the bank, the sleek and fast app goes beyond normal functions, offering a comprehensive suite of banking services including funds transfer, bill payments, airtime recharge, and account management. Read more👇 #alert #bankingapp Hachem Bdeir Rotimi Ajibade, FCA ,MCIB Teni Wilson

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Digital Banking in Action, UK 🇬🇧: A Transformative Year for Zempler Bank (formerly Cashplus Bank) 🌟 2024 has been a milestone year for Zempler Bank, showcasing impressive growth and solidifying its role as a trusted partner for the UK’s microbusinesses and startups. 💼 Key Highlights: £70 million revenue 📈 £3.3 million pre-tax profit 💰 169,000 new customer accounts, marking a 10% year-on-year increase 🚀 14% growth in sales of the flagship microbusiness current account product 🏢 23% growth in loans and advances Zempler Bank is helping drive financial inclusion & empowerment by focusing on a vital and often underserved sector, ensuring microbusinesses and startups have the tools and support they need to survive & thrive. 👏 #DigitalBanking #FinancialInclusion #MSME #Microbusiness #ZemplerBank #Innovation #UKBanking

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UK Regulator Plans Cap on Cross-Border Card Fees The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is moving forward with plans to cap fees that Visa and Mastercard charge UK merchants for online purchases made by European shoppers. This intervention comes after Visa and Mastercard increased cross-border interchange fees fivefold over 2021-2022, which has cost UK businesses an additional £150-200 million annually. David Geale, Managing Director at PSR, emphasized: "Our findings confirm that, due to a lack of competition, Mastercard and Visa were able to raise cross-border interchange fees to an unduly high level, costing UK businesses hundreds of millions of pounds." Key Points: 💳 Interim Cap: The PSR is proposing an immediate, temporary cap on fees, reverting them to pre-increase levels while further analysis is conducted. 💳 Long-Term Solution: A more permanent cap will be established based on detailed research and industry feedback. 💳 Stakeholder Reactions: ➡️ Mastercard: Welcomes collaboration but warns against potential negative impacts of artificial fee controls. ➡️ British Retail Consortium: Applauds the move, highlighting longstanding issues in the cards payment market. This regulatory move aims to balance competition and fairness, ensuring that fees remain reasonable and that businesses can thrive without undue financial burdens. How do you think this cap will impact the UK payments landscape?  #payments #Interchange #PSR

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QUBE Events is honoured to announce Socrates Maanian, Head of Compliance at Worldline, as a speaker at the 18th NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum on 10-11 October 2024, at the Marriott Hotel, Athens, Greece. Socrates will join us for an insightful panel discussion titled: “The Rise of A2A Payments and Its Effects on the Payments Industry.” Topics include: » What are the driving factors behind the rising popularity of A2A payments » Pay By Bank Trend as a next front in merchants » Impact on financial institutions Book now to enjoy a 10% discount before it expires! Contact QUBE Events at [email protected] to claim the discount! To register and access the agenda: https://bit.ly/47NmLO4 For more information on registration, please contact [email protected] #qubevents #Greece #Worldline #Athens #Fintech #NPF #Payments #Regtech #Event2024 #Limassol #Cyprus #CEO #AI #Finance #Sponsor #Europe #Cyprus #DigitalPayments #Conference #Networking #Speakers #Forum #Regulatory #NextGen #AML #JoinUs #Compliance #Trends

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“What has FCA ever done for us?” New government law in 2026 will let #FCA oblige #BNPL providers to: -       Give consumers clear information about risks involved -       Run repayment affordability checks on BNPL users -       Give Section 75 protection on purchases made via BNPL meaning -       Give BNPL consumers right to take complaints to #FINACIALOMBUDSMAN If you are an innovative, customer centric BNPL provider Elifinty can help you right now to run affordability checks, and give consumers information on risks plus the tools they need to sensibly budget for their next purchases. Check out Elifinty

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🤺 In the fight against authorised push payments fraud, the UK leads the way with Confirmation of Payee as a pivotal fraud fighting tool. As financial institutions globally seek to stem fraud, it's crucial to take lessons from CoP implementation. Here, Bottomline's Mark Bish and Erez Nounou share some key lessons.

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Moniepoint Introduces Multi-Factor Authentication to Enhance Payment Security Nigeria’s leading digital bank, Moniepoint Group, has introduced multi-factor authentication (MFA) to strengthen security and streamline the payment experience for its customers. According to a statement from the company, the new authentication feature is now available on both its mobile and web applications, aimed at increasing transaction success rates and ensuring top-tier security for both individual consumers and businesses. Read more 👇 Tosin Eniolorunda Peter Oriaifo Moses Uloko Okechukwu Eke Alex Mwaura Muriu Babatunde Olofin

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PIB EXPLAINED  The primary role of the Payments Industry Body (PIB) is to ensure that you can safely move money from a store of value held at an institution to a store of value held at another organisation. This is known as interoperability and applies to all steps in the payment process, including payment initiation (e.g. QR codes) and post payment elements (e.g. disputes). It is in the interest of payments, financial inclusion and the economy in general that interoperability is expanded to many participating organisations, making it possible to move money safely between stores of value, irrespective of the organisation where such stores of value are held. While individual operators and schemes create interoperability between their participants and members, the PIB aims to create interoperability across entire payment systems by creating interoperability rules which supersede those created by individual operators and schemes. #PIB #Payments #Impact

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Hear how CBI has leveraged Payment Pre-validation to take local confirmation of payee global and give customers confidence that their payments will complete the first time they’re sent. Liliana Fratini Passi, Managing Director at CBI S.c.p.a. Società Benefit, explains. Hear what other users think of Payment Pre-validation: 👉 https://okt.to/SyOkWg #testimonials #payments #prevalidation #swift

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How to build a card program/biz as easy as 123.

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The UK government recently unveiled its National Payments Vision, a strategic framework aimed at fostering innovation, enhancing security, and maintaining the UK's leadership in the global payments sector. Here is a brief summary: 🔑 Key Highlights: 📜 Clear Regulation: A predictable, proportionate regulatory environment to support sustainable growth and innovation. 🤝 Enhanced Coordination: Formation of the Payments Vision Delivery Committee to align efforts across regulators and stakeholders. 🔧 Infrastructure Modernisation: Plans to upgrade retail payments infrastructure, including the Faster Payments System (Another NPA???), with potential reforms to Pay.UK. 🌐 Innovation Focus: Driving seamless account-to-account payments and advancing Open Banking to give consumers and businesses more options. 📈 Competitive Ecosystem: Encouraging a diverse payment landscape with sustainable commercial models. 🔒 Security & Consumer Protection: Strengthened measures to ensure safety, efficiency, and fraud prevention in payments. 🤝 Collaborative Approach: Public and private sectors joining forces to deliver a world-leading payments ecosystem. This vision sets a clear path for growth, positioning the UK as a leader in financial services and payments innovation while supporting businesses and consumers alike. 💬 What are your thoughts on the future of payments? #Payments #Fintech #Innovation #Regulation #OpenBanking #Finance You can find the paper here https://lnkd.in/exKghPDD

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There’s lots to like about the now published #NationalPaymentsVision for the UK… I can recognise a number of priorities and challenges The Payments Association (and others) have been talking about for some time. That in itself, is hugely encouraging. The Government is listening. A UK Government making a commitment to collaboration, and that sees the importance and opportunity of the Payments industry, is incredibly positive and something I applaud. On initial reading, some key points within the detail: The vision - “A trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.” ·      “Payments Vision Delivery Committee” – Senior representatives from the FCA, PSR, Bank of England, and chaired by HM Treasury. ·      Innovation, Competition and Security (3 key pillars driving all activity) ·      BoE and PSR will lead on requirements for upgrades/replacements for FPS and UK retail payments infrastructure. Approach agreed no later than end Q2 2025 ·      Reforming of PAY.UK ·      Coordination between regulators needs to improve - the government is concerned that the collective impact is hampering the sector’s capacity for innovation and growth. ·      Commitments to ‘explore’ CBDCs and a Digital Pound ·      Government support for adoption of digital identities in financial services ·      Priority initiatives in Open Banking and Fraud (Financial Crime) o  PSR commits to 12 month review of APP R after 12 months (plus recognition of role of tech and telcos) o  Regulators to examine data sharing initiatives across the financial services sector. o  Adequate consumer protection must be delivered for Open Banking payments, and the government intends to address this through introduction of a dispute resolution process o  The FCA is to be the UK’s regulator on Open Banking ·      A push to boost cross-border activity and international interoperability, but not at the expense of consumer protection or financial stability. Now is the time for #action and #delivery.  The Payments Association will play it’s role, and looking forward to working with government, regulators and the wider industry to support this vision. https://lnkd.in/e6RsUU7r

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The APPG on Fair Business Banking launched its SME Manifesto in Parliament on Monday. There is cross party consensus around prioritising the growth of the CDFI sector and having policies in place that support investment into CDFIs, in recognition of the vital role CDFIs play in supporting SMEs that are underserved by mainstream finance. 👉 The SME Manifesto mentions CDFIs several times, including as part of three of its recommendations: ⭐ Turbocharging the challenger and non-bank lending sector - The new Government should set a target to increase finance supply to social purpose lenders, such as CDFIs, with potential future mandates through a 'Fair Banking Act'. - The Manifesto emphasises the importance of supporting regionally based lending with a social purpose, highlighting CDFIs' role in targeting deprived areas. - Urges collaboration with Better Society Capital (previously Big Society Capital) and other organisations to encourage banks to invest in CDFIs, including setting a target for additional capital within the first 100 days. ⭐Overhaul the bank referral scheme - Many firms declined by mainstream banks could access credit from alternative lenders, highlighting the need for an effective referrals system. - The current Bank Referral Scheme (BRS) has had limited success in addressing the UK's growth challenge. - New platforms could improve signposting to Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), which have a strong track record of lending to firms rejected by major banks. ⭐ Longer term British Business Bank (BBB) support schemes - Extend the Growth Guarantee Scheme to a 5-year funding period to enable long-term planning and investment by lenders. - This extension is crucial for non-bank lenders, like CDFIs, to scale their offerings and improve lending access for underserved SMEs. - The current 2-year scheme limits the impact due to its short duration, preventing finance providers from planning and investing effectively. You can access the Manifesto here https://lnkd.in/eBJAaWqx #SMEManifesto #SMELending #CDFIs

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Interesting panel at #PLS24 #Paymentleaderssummit in London. Merchants discussing the importance of standardising #payment information from different #paymentmethods and different regions as well as keeping in mind multiple internal touchpoints within a merchant organisation that payments need to condider its impact upon : finance, marketing, risk, operations, customer happiness.. the list goes on!!. Thanks for the insights! Tania Ziegler David Morgan Rafael Vianna and Matt Sykes PhD

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BridgeFund Partners With Mambu To Bring Working Capital to More SMEs Nick Lawler, Market Director, EMEA at Mambu, said: “At Mambu, we are able to take BridgeFund to the next level, helping it build and deploy financial offerings at scale, with ease of use and speed in mind. Supporting SMEs has always been a passion point for us at Mambu. Our research revealed that more than two thirds of SMEs globally (67%) have been unable to secure sufficient, or any, funding on at least one or more occasions. Small businesses are the lifeblood of every economy. Their success is our future, so we need to ensure they’re being looked after – and BridgeFund does just that.” https://lnkd.in/ep5Uu7nz #fintech #finance #banking #paytech #payments #fintechnews #paymentsnews

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UK fintech sector keen for ‘momentum’ on public sector open banking use. Fintech sector representatives have said they are hoping to see momentum in the UK public sector’s use of open banking, just over six months after the government’s procurement agency launched a ‘dynamic purchasing system’ to encourage it. The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) – an executive agency of the Cabinet Office – set up the ‘Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)’ as 2024 dawned with the ultimate aim of ‘reducing the costs of receiving money into public sector organisations, as well as reducing fraud’. Twenty companies – all looking to supply open banking-related services to the UK public sector – have appeared (one by one) since then on a UK open banking ‘appointed suppliers’ webpage. Lenvi #openbanking #fintech #lending #lendingplatforms #consumerlending https://lnkd.in/egK7NPGn

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I'm pleased to share that the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) led SME Finance Taskforce has published a comprehensive action plan designed to transform the UK economy by enhancing access to finance for SMEs. The report, developed in collaboration with leading banks, fintechs and industry experts, highlights the critical role of SMEs in driving economic growth and proposes strategic recommendations to bridge the current funding gap. SMEs are the backbone of the UK economy, employing over 60% of the private-sector workforce and contributing over 50% of the UK’s economic turnover. However, lending to SMEs declined by 20% in real terms over the past decade, creating a significant funding gap, estimated at £22 billion. The taskforce’s recommendations aim to reverse this trend, making it easier for SMEs to obtain the financing they need to grow, innovate and thrive. By implementing the suggested recommendations, we can enhance the financial landscape for SMEs, fostering a more dynamic, resilient and inclusive economy. A big thank you to the Open Banking secretariat for their support, as well as all the other taskforce partners and contributors for their dedication and insightful contributions. Read the full report below 👇

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The cross-border payments industry is at a turning point, driven by growing customer demands - across retail, corporate and financial institutions - for speed, transparency, cost efficiency and greater access. To address these changing needs, G20 members endorsed the Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments in November 2020, which sets quantitative targets to address the associated challenges and frictions. This white paper explores these dynamics, highlights recent developments, and assesses the future steps needed to modernise cross-border payments. https://lnkd.in/gzHNYAN2 #payments #banking #g20 #iso20022

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