Consumer Duty Regulation Could Drive Competitiveness in the Banking Sector

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The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) final rules and guidance for a new Consumer Duty will set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and require firms to put their customers’ needs first. The breadth of the requirements means changes have been made by financial services providers enterprise wide. More personalized journeys, processes and decisions now take centre stage as customer needs, characteristics and vulnerabilities become key actionable insights. This provides the potential to significantly enhance competitiveness within the banking and financial services sector, with the implementation of the regulations anticipated to introduce key changes in pricing, additional charges, and overall market dynamics.

By emphasizing the importance of fair value outcomes, the regulations are set to influence pricing strategies and the levying of charges at various stages of the customer lifecycle. This will foster a more competitive environment, likely exerting downward pressure on loan pricing and upward pressure on savings rates. Banking and financial organizations are expected to carefully assess their market positioning and aim to strategically manage their market share in response to these evolving dynamics.

Moreover, the regulations will further underscore the alignment of good outcomes, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation throughout the customer lifecycle.

We expect to see foundational changes made in how banks manage data and use analytics, including AI. The ability to ingest more types of data is key, as is the breaking down of product silos to get a fuller picture of each customer. AI and machine learning models will help lenders analyse much more data from different sources to get a better picture of customer needs and vulnerabilities.

An essential aspect of the new regulatory framework is the establishment of a robust feedback loop and adaptability measures. As such, ongoing monitoring and testing will play a crucial role. The availability of comprehensive outcome data will enable banks to identify areas of improvement, as well as potential issues requiring remediation. Streamlining this process and ensuring easy access to relevant data will be pivotal in maintaining agility and staying on par with industry standards. Flexibility in decision-making, communication strategies, and customer-centric channels will become critical factors in achieving a competitive edge.

As consumer duty regulations come into effect, the changes that firms have been implementing will undoubtedly create a more competitive environment. Those with the technologies that make it easy to leverage disparate customer characteristic, event and outcome data sources, and which support flexibility and optimisation of product pricing, customer decisioning and treatments, will clearly emerge as leaders.

FICO Platform revolutionizes how organizations make decisions and apply intelligence across the customer lifecycle. It provides an open architecture and an integrated set of composable capabilities that span the applied intelligence value chain — from organizing data, to discovering deep new insights, putting this into motion with actions to achieve the desired outcomes.

Peter Lemon, FICO Consultant

R3 responds to June 2023 insolvency statistics

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Corporate insolvencies decreased by 15.3% in June 2023 to a total of 2,163 compared to May’s total of 2,553, and increased by 27.4% compared to June 2022’s figure of 1,698.

  • Corporate insolvencies increased by 79.4% from June 2021’s total of 1,206, by 191.9% from June 2020’s total of 741, and 47.5% compared to June 2019 (1,466).

Personal insolvencies decreased by 18.7% in June 2023 to a total of 8,119 compared to May’s total of 9,990, and decreased by 22.9% compared to June 2022’s figure of 10,534.

  • Personal insolvencies decreased by 17.6% from June 2021’s total of 9,852, decreased by 2% from June 2020’s total of 8,282, and decreased by 16.5% compared to pre-pandemic levels in June 2019 (9,722).

Nicky Fisher, President of R3, the UK’s insolvency and restructuring trade body, responds to the publication of the June 2023 personal and corporate insolvency statistics for England and Wales: “The monthly fall in corporate insolvencies is driven by a reduction in Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations, but numbers for this process are still higher than they were pre-pandemic as a sizeable number of directors are still choosing to close their businesses while the choice is still theirs to make.

“Despite the monthly fall in corporate insolvencies, levels are higher than they were this time last year – and well above what they were this time two, three and four years ago, as the hangover from the pandemic combines with a challenging trading climate caused by a number of economic issues.

“Firms are trading in a time of cautious consumer spending and rising costs, which are hitting margins and profits hard. Directors expect costs and wages to rise further as the year goes on, and if these don’t translate into more demands for goods and services, it could be the final blow for those businesses that are just managing to survive.

“Rising interest rates are another potential challenge, as that will make the cost of borrowing more expensive and may price some firms out of the survival funding they’ll need.

“Given the economic and business climate, we urge directors to be alert to the signs of financial distress, and seek advice if they find themselves facing issues like rising stock levels, problems with cashflow or difficulties paying staff, taxes or suppliers.

“Turning to personal insolvencies, the monthly fall is driven by a reduction in all types of personal insolvency process, but the financial picture is still a difficult one for many in England and Wales.

“People are worried about the economy and reluctant to spend on anything more than the essentials. The cost of living and concerns about job security are front of mind for many, and with wages failing to keep pace with inflation households are tightening their purse-strings.

“Personal debt and credit card debt have both increased, and credit cards are increasingly being used to pay for basics like food shopping. It’s understandable why people would do this, but it isn’t a sustainable or sensible move, so I suggest anyone in this position looks at their outgoings and sees where they could make changes – especially as rising interest rates are going to increase the costs of borrowing.

“It is really hard to talk about your concerns with money, but I would encourage anyone with financial concerns – whether they’re personal or business ones – to be brave and seek advice as soon as possible.

“There are a number of options out there for resolving personal or corporate financial issues, but these options dwindle the more time elapses before the problem is addressed, and seeking advice when your worries are new – or at least fresh – nearly always results in a better outcome than if you’d waited until the problem became more severe.”

New report reveals 61% of banks still need to update their technology systems within the next 5 years

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A new report by leading supply chain finance platform Demica reveals the state of trade finance technology in 2023.

The 2023 Benchmark Report for Banks in Trade Finance reveals findings from a survey of 190 supply chain finance professionals from around the world. As well as covering a variety of topics including staffing changes, asset growth, product priorities and ESG, the report reveals the state of play for platform and technology in trade finance.

Keeping trade finance platforms and technology up to date is crucial. Not only does upgrading technology enable trade finance teams to automate manual processes and streamline workflows, but outdated platforms may lack the necessary functionalities to ensure compliance with changing regulations and mitigate risks effectively.

Fortunately Demica’s report shows that overall, investment is being made in both internal and third-party systems, and the level of investment seems to be growing year on year with an increasing number of trade transformation projects getting funded across the market.

And whilst many trade finance banks are still operating on old tech, the industry appears to be in a procurement super-cycle, as most look to replace legacy platforms within the next five years.

Interestingly, 45 per cent of respondents are still using platforms more than 10 years old, but 61 per cent are looking to replace their technology within the next five years.

Also, 51 per cent of respondents expect technology budgets to increase in the next 12 months, indicating that it will be an immediate priority for many businesses in the trade finance industry.

A crucial point to bear in mind here is the long cycle times for these projects, particularly when banks are building their own technology rather than partnering with a fintech. This is because banks can face additional challenges competing for IT resource across products and building on top of, rather than replacing, legacy technology.

Another cause for delay can be lengthy bank RFP processes, which can take 18 months to complete.

Matt Wreford, CEO of Demica says: “We are witnessing a replacement super-cycle for trade finance technology, with significant investment planned in 2023 and beyond.

”In last year’s survey 71 per cent of respondents indicated that they intended to replace their existing platform in less than five years and 55 per cent expected their technology budget to increase.

“This year, those numbers have fallen to 60 per cent and 51 per cent respectively, potentially indicating that the trend is underway, and investment is being made in both internal and third-party systems.”

For more information, download Demica’s 2023 Benchmark Report for Banks in Trade Finance here: https://www.demica.com/resource/demicas-2023-benchmark-report-for-banks-in-trade-finance/

Summer surge for UK insolvencies

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The number of registered company insolvencies in June 2023 was 2,163 – a 27% increase from the same month last year (1,698 in June 2022) according to new figures.

There were 260 compulsory liquidations in June 2023, up 77% year-on-year. Numbers of compulsory liquidations have increased from historical lows seen during the coronavirus pandemic, partly as a result of an increase in winding-up petitions presented by HMRC.

The breakdown of June 2023 figures show there were 1,759 Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations (CVLs), 21% higher than in June 2022. Numbers of administrations (up 44%) and Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs) (up 75%) were higher than in June 2022.

Commenting on the latest figures, Gareth Harris, partner at RSM UK Restructuring Advisory, said: ‘The monthly figures confirm what we are seeing on the ground – that UK corporates are struggling to cope with a challenging combination of rising interest rates, sticky inflation, higher wage expectations whilst recovering from a hangover of Covid debt. The disappointingly high level of both types of liquidation processes shows that HMRC is increasingly active, and that many directors are facing the very difficult decision to shut their businesses – with the construction and retail sectors being hit hardest*.

‘Despite the levels of insolvency being higher than historic averages we do believe there is some room for optimism. By the end of 2023, we predict overall insolvency numbers will decrease by around 11-16% in Q4 2023. The drop is likely to come mainly from a fall in ‘shut down’ Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations where the catch-up from low points of Covid and Government support will largely be flushed out.’

* The Construction industry (11 insolvencies per day in Q1 2023); and Retail (c10 insolvencies per day in Q1 2023).

A third of lenders report increasing numbers of defaulted loans over the last 12 months

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A third (32%) of lenders have seen an increase in borrower defaults over the last 12 months, according to new research from AI powered transaction analytics firm, Fuse.

In a new report, Fuse has found that consumers are increasingly reliant on credit amidst rising living costs – with young people struggling the most. Over four in ten (43%) of 18-34 year olds are reliant on credit to pay for everyday expenses and a similar number (42%) will need to borrow money in the next six months to get by.

The research also shows that a third (31%) of borrowers have been rejected by lenders due to failing affordability checks in the last 12 months. Two thirds (65%) of lenders warn that this rejection rate has increased compared to the previous year.

The rising proportion of rejected applications has sparked concern that these potentially vulnerable borrowers may be forced to turn to higher-cost or illegal credit options – recent research from Fair4All Finance revealed that over three million people have borrowed from illegal lenders in the last three years.

It is vital that mainstream lenders are able to accurately evaluate the financial situation of prospective borrowers to ensure they have access to affordable credit options during the cost of living crisis – a time where they are likely to be most in need. Without this, many of the UK’s vulnerable borrowers could be at increased risk of longer-term debt.

With the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new Consumer Duty rules becoming effective on 31st July, lenders are required to provide consumers with higher and clearer standards of support and protection to promote good outcomes.

Lenders must ensure they are adequately equipped to deliver the support that consumers so desperately need. However, over half of lenders (55%) admit to not being ready for the incoming rules and two-thirds of lenders (67%) claim there hasn’t been enough support from the FCA regarding the implementation of the new rules.

A key aspect of providing support to borrowers is to leverage more effective insights into borrower vulnerability and affordability, allowing lenders to identify those at financial risk, at a much earlier stage.

Products, such as Fuse’s Health Signals, have been designed to support lenders meet the upcoming Consumer Duty requirements and provide risk and compliance teams with greater insights into areas of vulnerability as well as predict arrears risk and monitor the impact of financial products on their customers.

Sho Sugihara, CEO and Co-Founder of Fuse, comments: “It is hugely concerning that defaults are spiking – with the cost of living showing little signs of easing, the situation seems set to only worsen for many. Reliance on credit is on the rise and there are potentially millions across the UK who are at real risk of falling into long-term debt and being excluded from mainstream credit options.

“In order to more accurately analyse borrower affordability and vulnerability, lenders must ensure that they are fully utilising a wider range of insights which can not only protect borrowers from defaulting but also unlock access to personalised and more appropriate credit products.

“The new Consumer Duty rules will require many lenders to consider new approaches to support borrowers and take a more outcomes-based view throughout the affordability process. However, the Consumer Duty is likely to just be the tip of the iceberg – the financial system is in immediate need of an overhaul to create a fairer, more inclusive model with vulnerable borrowers at its heart. In order for this to happen, lenders need to utilise insights into borrower vulnerability to help them identify points of need before it is too late.”

 

The Health Signals platform is highly-scalable and easily integrated with an organisation’s current systems. The algorithms have been trained on over 400 million proprietary data points collected specifically for retail lending, including transactions, lending decisions, and credit reports.

Buy-to-let arrears worsening at faster rate than residential

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The latest research by specialist property lending experts, Octane Capital, has shown that landlords are feeling the pinch, as cases of arrears in the buy-to-let sector are worsening at a faster rate than for homeowners.

Octane Capital analysed industry figures on the number of mortgages that have fallen into arrears by 2.5% or more of the mortgage balance, comparing the split between the buy-to-let and residential sectors and how each compares to the pre-pandemic market.

Buy-to-Let Arrears Increasing

Cases of buy-to-let arrears of more than 2.5% of the loan amount have risen by 42.6% in four years, rising from 4,930 in Q1 2019 to 7,030 in Q1 2023.

Over the same period cases of arrears for homeowners of more than 2.5% have actually declined by -8.6%, from 83,870 in the first quarter of 2019 to 76,630 in the equivalent quarter this year.

This suggests that fewer landlords are being shielded from the current economic climate, with both mortgage rates and energy prices increasing at a faster rate than rents.

Homeowners still more at risk

It’s still more common for residential homeowners to struggle however.

In the first quarter of this year there were some 76,630 homeowners in arrears of 2.5% or more of their mortgage balance. While small, this accounted for 0.87% of total homeowner loans outstanding.

This proportion has hovered around this mark for the past four years, peaking at 0.94% during the first quarter of 2021.

In contrast, the number of landlords in arrears of 2.5% or more of their mortgage balance totalled 7,030 during Q1 of this year and accounted for 0.34% of total outstanding buy-to-let loans.

However, while this proportion is more than half that of owner-occupiers, it is the highest total number seen since Q1 2019, as well as the highest proportion of all buy-to-let loans, with the exception of Q4, 2022, when it also sat at 0.34%.

Mortgage forbearance

While arrears are far from out of control, a number of mortgage holders are likely to struggle when they remortgage, with typical 5-year fixed mortgage rates now climbing above 6%.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is introducing a mortgage charter in a bid to reassure mortgage holders that their lenders will support them in these difficult times.

As part of the measures, anybody worried about their mortgage repayments will be able to switch to an interest-only mortgage for six months without impacting their credit score.

Meanwhile no customer can be repossessed until 12 months after their first missed payment, giving them time to get their finances back in order.

CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, commented: “It’s certainly a worrisome time for the property market, with mortgage rates and high inflation stretching people’s affordability to the limit.

“It’s striking that buy-to-let landlords are becoming less shielded over time from the economic conditions, suggesting they are unable to entirely recoup their lost income in the form of higher rents.

The research suggests levels of arrears are in no way out of control however, so there’s no need to be too doom and gloom about the state of the housing market.

The Chancellor’s mortgage forbearance measures are designed to reassure people who are worried about the impact of rising rates, and it’s welcome these measures have been introduced before the horse has bolted – cases of arrears need to be tackled before people fall into trouble.

We’d still recommend mortgage holders to keep paying their loans as normal unless they are in need of emergency action, as measures like interest-only loans will only result in higher payments down the line to compensate.”

97% of European companies experience problems with their current payment systems, new Numeral research shows

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Paris — Numeral, the leading bank orchestration platform, published new research conducted in partnership with research company OpinionWay, showing that 97% of European finance executives experience pain points in their companies’ payment operations. As companies grow, decision makers encounter challenges, including ensuring that payments initiated are correctly executed, managing payment errors, and managing payment returns.

As a result, 90% of decision makers share that their company plans to invest in upgrading their payment operations in the next 18 months, with 55% of companies planning to invest €100,000 or more, this number going up to 88% for decision makers describing their payment operations as primarily manual. 18% of them plan to invest more than €1,000,000.

Finance and treasury executives have significant hopes for these investments, with 88% expecting to capture very or extremely important benefits from improving their payment operations.

In addition, the more payments companies manage, the more payments become an IT topic, with involvement from engineering teams growing from 9% for companies managing less than 100,000 payments per year to 43% for companies managing more than 100 million payments per year.

“When the volume of payments grows, manual or semi-automated systems fall short. They introduce too many manual errors that are harder to identify and fix as volumes grow, require more resources for low added-value tasks, and make straight-through processing, instant payments, or timely reconciliation impossible. As few solutions enabling end-to-end automation are available on the market, companies turn to their product and engineering teams to bridge the gap, which might, in turn, deviate these resources for technical projects more core to companies’ businesses,” adds Édouard Mandon.

Full report: https://go.numeral.io/payops-report

New Enhancements to FICO Platform Power Customer Connections, Enable Enterprise-Wide Transformation and Drive Strategic Business Outcomes

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Global analytics software firm, FICO, unveils 19 major enhancements to its industry-leading FICO® Platform, the most powerful and proven foundation for applied intelligence. FICO Platform powers enterprises to drive the most critical, strategic business outcomes across the customer lifecycle.

FICO® Platform’s rich enhancements span the digital innovation lifecycle from data to insights to actions to business outcomes, and further advance FICO’s capabilities for analytics and machine learning, decision automation, mathematical optimization, and business simulation. These new and improved tools are designed to sharpen enterprises’ competitive advantage and power exceptional customer experiences. The new capabilities include:

  • Transactional Analytics – empowers enterprises to know their customers and business environment better with real-time intelligence, data aggregation, profiling and feature management that can power multiple use cases. This makes it possible to operationalize analytics built with FICO’s patented approaches, as well as open source and third-party models built with Python, PMML, and other standards.
  • Optimization – powers enterprises to experience substantial performance improvements and offers improved data visualization. FICO’s solver performance has increased by 11% over the last year and 25% over the last two years on mixed integer programming. FICO has further enriched the open-source industry-standard Mosel optimization modeling language.
  • Simulation – provides tools for business staff to experiment, test and learn without the risk of negatively impacting the customer experience. Continuing to enrich this market-leading capability, FICO has made major improvements to the performance of action-effect-modeling with a 70-90% increase in performance, developed innovative improvements to the component architecture for simulation and made it more efficient to create new simulation applications and put them in the hands of business users.
  • Composability and Decisions – provides unified platform orchestration, highly advanced decision modeling, and flexible dataflow with a rich pallet of applied intelligence tools and services, allowing customers to rapidly deploy across the enterprise to address new and emerging uses cases and scenarios.

“FICO Platform allows our analytics team to be creative and build models and strategies that would have been too complex in the past,” said Elizabeth Billyard, Head, North American Retail Credit and Chief Risk Officer for Canadian P&C at BMO Financial Group. “The platform technology has been instrumental in enabling us to leverage the power of data and analytics to make more informed business decisions and improve our overall performance.”

FICO® Platform is designed to sharpen businesses’ competitive advantage with an unparalleled depth of insights for applied intelligence, powering customer connections and strategic business outcomes. These innovations break down silos across teams and power your talent force to achieve customer-focused digital transformation, while giving enterprises greater agility and collaboration.

“FICO has seen 14 consecutive quarters of greater than 40% year-over-year growth of FICO Platform. The increased adoption is only possible with intensely customer-focused innovation. This further differentiates our industry-leading capabilities, including Decisions, Mathematical Optimization and Business Simulation,” said Bill Waid, Chief Product and Technology Officer at FICO. “FICO Platform is uniquely positioned to ensure every action taken drives the desired outcomes, both for the business and for the customer. FICO is proud to be leading the market in deriving business value through applied intelligence.”

Sidetrade acquires US-based CreditPoint Software to disrupt B2B credit risk market

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Sidetrade (Euronext Growth: ALBFR.PA), the global leader in AI-powered Order-to-Cash solutions, has announced that it has finalized an agreement to acquire the entire business of CreditPoint Software, a leading provider of real time B2B credit risk management solutions.

Two years on from the Amalto takeover, Sidetrade gains a stronger foothold in North America with the acquisition of CreditPoint Software activities.

Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade, said: “By acquiring CreditPoint Software, Sidetrade has undoubtedly enhanced its solution for B2B credit risk management and we are in pole position to take advantage of the boom in B2B e-commerce. After placing artificial intelligence at the core of our Collection, Disputes and CashApps solutions, we are now shaping the future of B2B credit risk management together with CreditPoint Software’s teams as we build on the analysis from our Data Lake of over $4.6 billion worth of B2B transactions. Our technological advantage in AI over our competitors will only continue to assert itself and become even more evident. Working in tandem, the talents and technologies of both groups will enable Sidetrade to cement its global leadership position in Order-to-Cash.”

Introducing CreditPoint Software and its state-of-the-art platform for instant credit risk management

Founded in 2006 in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, CreditPoint Software is an American software company specializing in comprehensive B2B credit risk management solutions.

Following a decade of substantial R&D investment, CreditPoint Software has developed one of the world-leading cloud-based platforms that leverages real time connection and monitoring for over 20 credit rating agencies worldwide including Dun & BradstreetTM, CreditsafeTM, ExperianTM, EquifaxTM, TransUnionTM as well as S&P and MoodysTM. By standardizing external data from multiple sources within a single repository, CreditPoint Software makes it possible for companies to combine this information with their internal financial and customer data on credit risk exposure. This enables Credit Management teams to automate and streamline decision-making, thanks to the platform’s unlimited configuration options, resulting in the ability to auto decide up to 100% of initial, increase and renewal decisions. The CreditPoint suite of products also includes highly configurable personalized credit application templates.

Supported by customizable business rules and data points, the decision engine within CreditPoint Software secures compliance with internal credit delegations based on delegation of authority. CreditPoint Software also schedules regular reviews of current credit limits for existing clientele, while providing the option for sales teams and organizations to be made aware of credit availability so they may potentially generate additional sales. The end result: selling more to the best customers and pricing risk into the customers that may not be as healthy financially as others.

What’s more, CreditPoint Software’s “Onboarding Credit Application” facilitates the initial process for customers to apply for a credit line, irrespective of whether the B2B purchasing experience is delivered offline or online. In an increasingly digitalized landscape, where digital transformation is key, providing real-time credit approval during the onboarding process of new customers becomes an essential competitive advantage for all businesses.

To date, CreditPoint Software has an active portfolio of around 30 customers in North America and serves multinationals such as Nutrien, BP, Edelman and Caterpillar.

In the fiscal year 2023, CreditPoint Software expects to break even, with revenue topping the $2 million mark.

John C. Powers, CEO of CreditPoint Software, commented: “This deal with Sidetrade is a major step forward in our commitment to providing leading-edge solutions for B2B credit risk management. In today’s uncertain economic environment, companies seek efficient solutions that anticipate risks and automate decisions to secure and increase their revenue streams. By leveraging Sidetrade’s Data Lake with its predictive payment intelligence map of 21 million companies worldwide, we will deploy artificial intelligence in all our decisioning to provide companies with the risk management solution of the future. Propelled by Sidetrade’s sales force and implementation resources, we will further expand this new offering throughout the United States and bring it to the European market for the first time.”

Contextualizing CreditPoint Software, the solution designed for the B2B e-commerce boom

While McKinsey & Company estimated that the majority of B2B corporations had next to no e-commerce capabilities at the start of the pandemic, the past two years have seen a rapid trend reversal. In its 2021 B2B Pulse Report, the US consulting firm found that 65% of B2B companies across all sectors offer e-commerce capabilities.

A DHL study also reported that by 2025, 80% of all B2B sales interactions between suppliers and professional buyers will take place digitally, representing a giant and unprecedented leap forward. And in its 2022 report, Statista expects total B2B e-commerce purchases to exceed $4.6 trillion in 2025. Clearly, e-commerce is no longer just a trendy new channel for B2B companies to discover, but instead an essential effective and strategic sales tool.

Compared to B2C e-commerce, B2B e-commerce places more importance on credit and payment terms. A series of checks must be performed in real time to validate an order. However, managing such procedures instantly requires a step-by-step process. The latter involves identifying the company, integrating external financial data, decision-making and delegating approval based on the total order amount.

Nevertheless, across the globe, very few companies can implement a solution to overcome the limitations of B2B e-commerce and offer a customer experience to match the B2C shopping experience.

“The boom in e-commerce has revolutionized sales and consumption patterns. In B2B, the growth of e-commerce requires companies to find the right solution for the right emerging expectation. You need to determine an acceptable payment delay to minimize risk and instantly maximize sales.” commented Olivier Novasque, CEO of Sidetrade. “For B2B companies that want to continue leading the way in their sectors, e-commerce is no longer just a nice to have, but an essential requirement. We will support them by utilizing our teams and the technology of CreditPoint Software. No matter the sector, it is a pressing need.”

Focusing on the accretive acquisition of CreditPoint Software asset

This acquisition will be made in cash for an estimated €3 million and paid in part on the signing of the agreement with the rest scheduled for end-2023, which is subject to certain customer renewals. The amount includes an earn out based on the sales achieved by Sidetrade for CreditPoint Software’s solution over the next three years.

Sidetrade is financing the transaction through its cash position, which totaled €36 million (€12 million in treasury shares) as of June 30, 2023.

The transaction is part of the Group’s Fusion 100 strategic plan which targets Annual Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) of $100 million by end-2025. Not only is it a catalyst for Sidetrade’s product strategy, but also its target revenue for North America of close to $14 million in 2023 which will bolster the Group’s presence in the United States.

Ebury expands currency capabilities with addition of 11th local currency account

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Ebury, the global financial technology firm and FX risk management specialist, is delighted to announce the expansion of its local collection accounts to Singapore allowing clients to collect Singapore Dollar from anywhere in the world like a local.

Clients requesting a SGD account will also benefit from access to a unique virtual account, helping them speed up the collection process without hassle.

The addition marks a further expansion of Ebury’s foreign exchange capabilities and is well-positioned to offer the most comprehensive suite of local collection accounts in the industry. In addition to Singapore, clients can collect in AUD, BGN, CAD, EUR, HKD, CNY (in Hong Kong), GBP, NZD, PLN and USD.

The breadth of FX coverage supports is one of Ebury’s core strengths supporting its mission to serve its clients better and become the preferred partner for businesses wanting to trade and scale globally. For example, e-commerce sellers can utilise these local currency accounts to collect payments effortlessly and securely from marketplaces and repatriate them to their home countries.

Ebury has the ability to settle in over 200 countries across 130+ currencies with a geographical footprint spanning 32 global offices. It has transacted over $21 billion in the last 12 months.

Enrique Colin – SVP of Product at Ebury, commented: “Our objective has always been about simplifying international trade – by further expanding our local collection account capabilities we aim to reduce friction and help businesses transfer funds more efficiently.

“Not only will our clients benefit from our ever-increasing FX coverage and bespoke treasury services but also gain access to our innovative platform including a virtual, always-on portal that speeds up the transaction process.”