Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 7 August 2018
Visa and Branch form micro-credit partnership
Visa and international mobile financial services firm Branch have announced a partnership under which Branch will offer custom financing to merchants who accept payment via Visa.
The loans will provide merchants with funds to grow their business through supplemental stock, infrastructure investment, and other key operational needs. Loans will be disbursed directly to the merchants’ phones.
“We are happy to work with Branch to offer seamless access to finance through our Visa network, as they seek to provide micro-credit facilities to merchants across Kenya“, said Visa General Manager for East Africa, Sunny Walia. “With this partnership, we seek to offer value beyond just transactions. We would like to help the merchants grow their business and drive financial inclusion among the small merchant segments that are often unable to access quick loans,” he added.
House onboards Actant to API ecosystem
QuantHouse, an independent global provider of end-to-end systematic trading solutions including innovative market data services, algo trading platform and infrastructure solutions, today announced that Actant’s derivative trading solutions have now been added to the ever-growing QuantHouse API Ecosystem.
Actant’s trading solutions deliver unique algorithmic programming flexibility and control to proprietary trading firms, market makers, investment banks and hedge funds trading the world’s major derivative and equity exchanges.
By combining their automated trading services with QuantHouse’s market data and underlying infrastructure, Actant can now offer fully hosted solutions globally, while QuantHouse API Ecosystem participants can access advanced derivative and risk analytics services in real-time, via a single API.
John Superson, Head of Strategy, QuantHouse, said, “We have been actively building out our one stop API ecosystem shop for Quant traders to ensure our clients have access to a broad range of new technologies which they leverage and add to their tailor-made solutions. Adding Actant, an automated trading solution for the financial markets, delivers what we believe are critical components for today’s sophisticated quant trader.”
AxiCorp to acquire One Financial Markets
Australian-owned Forex and Contracts For Difference trading provider AxiCorp has announced that it will acquire UK-headquartered One Financial Markets.
The deal is predominantly cash-based and will be subject to customary regulatory approvals.
“We established AxiCorp a decade ago to provide Australian FX and CFD traders with a home-grown option. Our clients now span the globe, so we see the acquisition of a London-based competitor as a milestone both for us and the industry as a whole,” said Rajesh Yohannan, AxiCorp’s Chief Executive.
Founded in 2007, AxiCorp is a global online trading platform for FX, CFDs, Commodities and other financial instruments. It now ranks among the top trading companies in the world with presence in Australia, the UK, Middle East and Asia.
The deal is a result of more than 12 months of talks between the two companies. The move also comes amid anticipation of further consolidation in the global CFD and FX industry due to upcoming regulatory changes.
