Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 30 October 2017
Getswish makes strategic partnership Tieto and Bontouch on mobile payments
Getswish, the company behind real-time payment solution Swish, is partnering with Tieto and Bontouch to take the next step in the development of mobile payments.
The aim is to make the payment experience even easier and to develop new functions to benefit the companies, organisations and about six million Swedish consumers who use Swish. The new deal runs over three years with an option for an additional two years.
Getswish is a company owned by Swedish banks that launched Swish in 2012 for payments between private individuals. Since then it has also developed payment functions for companies, organisations and e-retailers. After an extensive procurement process, the company has now chosen Tieto and Bontouch as long-term strategic partners for the continued development of Swish.
Fleetcor hires Mastercard vets
Fleetcor UK, a leading provider of commercial payment solutions, has strengthened its leadership team with two senior management hires.
Thore Vestergaard joins as SVP & MD, Commercial Cards, Europe and Allister Mitchell as VP, Core Products. Both will report to Alan King, Group President, FLEETCOR UK & Australasia.
The new appointments will apply more than 40 years of experience in commercial cards, banking and B2B payments to advance the business’s core fuel and payments propositions, and support further expansion into broader expense management solutions for SMEs and corporates.
Thore joins FLEETCOR UK from Mastercard, where he most recently served as MD, Prepaid Management Services, EMEAA, having previously held a variety of positions including Global Commercial Product Head and Product & Marketing Head, also in the Prepaid Management Services division. Prior to joining Mastercard, he spent 8 years working in senior positions within the Global Transactional Services Division at Citi both in London and Singapore, including as Wholesale Cards Head for Asia Pacific. Thore also worked at Visa for over 11 years in senior positions including Head of Commercial and Government solutions in the CEMEA region.
Regions Bank goes live on SEI Wealth Platform
SEI announced that Regions Bank, one of the nation’s largest providers of consumer, wealth management, and commercial banking solutions, is live on the SEI Wealth PlatformSM (the Platform), SEI’s fully-integrated, single-infrastructure solution that supports an end-to-end experience for wealth management providers and their clients.
The October 2 launch culminated an 18-month transition of Regions’ growing private wealth, asset management and institutional services businesses to the Platform. Regions selected the Platform because it provides a unified solution that is fully-integrated across the advisor and client experience, including front-office, trust-accounting, and securities-processing services – all within a single infrastructure.
Australian and Swiss watchdogs ink fintech pact
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Swiss Financial Markets Authority (FINMA) entered a new agreement to cooperate on innovation in the financial sector.
The agreement aims to encourage innovation in financial services in Switzerland and Australia, and to support financial services innovators in meeting legal requirements when operating in each country.
Investment is a key element of contemporary ties between Australia and Switzerland. Switzerland is Australia’s tenth-largest source of foreign investment, worth $50.2 billion at the end of 2015. Swiss cities Zürich and Geneva have a long history as financial centres, and the fintech industry in Switzerland has recently gained a lot of momentum on the back of government initiatives to encourage growth in this sector. On current estimates, there are more than two hundred fintech startups in Switzerland, specialising in areas like wealth management, comparative consulting, crypto finance, data management, payment services and lending.
Efma appoints Citi Fintech CEO Yolande Piazza as chairwoman
Efma, the leading non-profit global networking forum for senior decision makers across banking and insurance industries, is delighted to announce the appointment of its first chairwoman, Yolande Piazza, CEO of Citi FinTech. In this leadership role, Piazza brings decades of expertise in financial services technology to her leadership role to connect Efma members with Fintechs and the broader financial services ecosystem. Piazza, who is based in New York, will also be Efma’s first chair from an American bank.
Commenting on her appointment, Piazza said: “I am honored and delighted to serve as Chairwoman of Efma. Efma is ideally placed at the center of innovation, customers, and financial services, to drive progress across the industry. I look forward to collaborating with Efma’s members and the Efma leadership team in my new role.”
