FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
bestinvestmentsnow | December 15, 2021
Voyager Digital Ltd. (“Voyager” or the “Firm”) (TSX: VOYG) (OTCQX: VYGVF) (FRA: UCD2), one of many fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platforms in the USA, as we speak introduced a multi-year settlement with The Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League, making Voyager the NWSL’s first-ever cryptocurrency brokerage companion, additional extending the league’s world advertising attain, and offering gamers with direct monetary assist, crypto training and rewards. “We’re extraordinarily proud to companion with the NWSL, particularly to assist the league develop and supply its gamers with crypto training and direct monetary assist, paid in crypto,” stated Steve Ehrlich, CEO, and co-founder of Voyager. “We imagine strongly in the way forward for these gamers and this league, and we won’t wait to get began.”
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FUNDING
Astra, Inc. | December 17, 2021
Astra, Inc. (“Astra”), the automation platform for money movement, today announced the launch of its first-ever card-to-card instant payment API. Through a strategic partnership with Cross River Bank (“Cross River”), a technology-driven financial services organization that provides core infrastructure and embedded financial solutions, Astra is providing the critical infrastructure that will, for the first time, enable fintech developers to fund accounts and facilitate deposits via the debit card payment rails.
“Astra’s new instant payment API gives fintech developers the ability to easily embed card-to-card transfers into their own application, for the first time without the need for any additional infrastructure. The funds are instantly applied to the destination card,” said Gil Akos, CEO of Astra, Inc. “Never before have developers been able to leverage card payment rails like Visa to instantly transfer cash between debit cards. We are extremely excited about the product innovations our team, together with Cross River, have been able to build on our platform that will transform the industry.”
Financial technology products have the ability to choose several payment options when processing account-to-account (A2A) transactions via ACH or traditional card processing services. With this new solution, developers can process a transaction instantly, directly from one debit card onto a second debit card, without the need for settlement accounts or developing reconciliation operations. The solution is also PCI compliant by default. Astra’s secure API integration ensures developers will have limited liability for sensitive card data.
“Astra chose to partner with Cross River to develop this innovative solution and with our new product, we can leverage the experience of Cross River and combine it with our work in risk mitigation and automation to make fast transfers on the debit network more streamlined and efficient than ever before,” said Sam Morgan, COO of Astra, Inc.
Cross River provides leading technology and deep banking expertise which has become the foundation on which dozens of partners build their ecosystems and fuel their brands. This partnership will add new functionality to Astra’s payments API while increasing the speed of transfers and the accessibility of the debit card system for developers across the United States, all through Cross River’s comprehensive, one-stop-shop platform that provides streamlined access to the payment rails, core infrastructure, and a robust compliance framework.
We are excited to partner with Astra as they bring their innovative payments solution to market. Cross River’s payments and banking API infrastructure allows fintechs like Astra to create value for their clients. Gil, Sam, and the entire Astra team have created a unique and differentiated way to move money, leveraging our core competency in card payments.”
Keith Vander Leest, Director of Payments at Cross River.
About Astra
Astra is a leading provider of advanced bank-to-bank transfer technology for financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises. With headquarters in San Francisco, the company was founded in 2016 by co-founders Gil Akos and Sam Morgan. Astra’s proprietary, vertically integrated API allows developers to easily embed financial automation within their existing products. For more information, visit https://astra.finance.
About Cross River
Cross River is a fast-growing financial services organization that merges the forward-thinking offerings of a technology company with the established expertise and traditional services of a bank. Since its founding in 2008, Cross River has developed strategic partnerships with leading technology companies, marketplace lenders and payment providers, while maintaining a strong focus on regulatory compliance and consumer protection. Cross River provides a highly secure, API-based banking platform and comprehensive suite of products encompassing lending, payments, risk management and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offerings to deliver responsible financial solutions that empower businesses and consumers anytime, anywhere. Cross River Bank is a New Jersey state-chartered FDIC insured bank.
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PAYMENTS
Sphere | May 21, 2022
Sphere, a leading provider of end-to-end integrated healthcare payments and security software, today announced that it has launched a new payment solution for Independent Software Vendor (ISVs) that features integration with PAX terminals. PAX is the world's preferred payment terminal solutions provider and has delivered over 60 million terminals to more than 120 countries across the globe.
The new solution enables ISVs to integrate their core Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products with a secure cloud-based payment solution that accepts payments on PAX terminals for a wide range of payment methods and industry standards including Europay, MasterCard and Visa, (EMV), Near-Field Communications (NFC), Google Pay, and Apple Pay. This semi-integrated solution allows software vendors to integrate payments through a pre-certified, pre-integrated device that communicates directly with the gateway. Benefits include:
Reduced development costs
Easily add EMV, NFC without complex certifications
Faster time to market
Payment card industry security standards scope reduction
We are extremely excited to bring a solution to market that solves all of the challenges that ISV providers face when trying to enhance their core product to accept EMV, NFC, Apple Pay, and Google Pay transactions, With a simple integration, plug-and-play customer implementation, reducing PCI PA-DSS scope, all through a single application programming interface integration that works harmoniously with our eCommerce solutions, this is truly a significant evolutionary step in payments that will benefit any ISV provider."
Curtis Bauer, Chief Innovation Officer, Sphere.
Sphere provides an end-to-end payments platform that provides software vendors with broad payment acceptance functionality, merchant services, elite-level security, and expert support throughout the payments lifecycle. PAX terminals feature modern, intuitive design, as well as a developer-friendly Android-based system that allows for rapid, simple integration and implementation.
SaaS providers need a simple, convenient method of integrating payment-acceptance functionality into their core offerings, Through PAX's partnership with Sphere, ISVs now have a cloud-based option to accept payments via the industry's widest portfolio of innovative and secure payment devices."
Heather Mlachnik, Senior Vice President of Acquiring and ISO Sales, PAX.
About Sphere
Sphere is a cloud-based, vertically integrated software and payments technology company serving a variety of complex end markets with an established market leading presence in the healthcare and non-profit sectors. Sphere was formed in 2017 after a few strategic acquisitions, and today offers benefits to our partners and customers via three key sub-brand companies that have been established for over 20 years.
Sphere is trusted by more than a third of the 100 largest health systems in the US and thousands of independent medical providers across the country to facilitate and drive secure payments by having our software solutions highly integrated into our clients' workflows, patient billing systems, and electronic health records. Our integrated software and payments suite helps organizations increase payment collection while delivering best in class security, compliance instruments, and a single payment stack standardized for reporting and reconciliation. Sphere also provides fundraising software solutions and tools to 8,000 nonprofits in the US and Canada and maintains key integrations in high growth verticals like insurance, parking and transportation.
About PAX
PAX Technology, Inc. is one of the largest electronic payment solution providers in the world, supplying value-added payment solutions since 2001. As a leading global manufacturer of payment solutions, we are committed to delivering innovative, high-quality, and secure payment solutions to businesses, large and small, worldwide, with payment terminals built on security and optimized for performance.
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CORE BANKING
BancTrust | May 13, 2022
BancTrust & Co. Investment Bank (BancTrust), a leading global emerging markets investment bank, today announced the launch of BancTrust Securities USA (BancTrust USA), its U.S. broker-dealer affiliate. BancTrust USA is a member of Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
BancTrust USA is based in New York City and will represent BancTrust with U.S. institutional investors and major U.S. institutional investors under a chaperoning agreement in compliance with SEC Rule 15a-6.
The initial New York-based team is comprised of Jack Thomas, MD Fixed Income Trading; Erik Berg, MD Debt Capital Markets; Rafael Elias, MD LatAm Corporate Credit Strategy; Dan Bowers, ED Fixed Income Sales; and Maurice Batista, ED Fixed Income Sales.
Prior to joining BancTrust USA, Jack was the Head of Emerging Market Trading - New York at Intesa Sanpaolo IMI Securities. He previously held positions at UBS Investment Bank, Santander, Societe Generale and ING Financial Markets. Jack has nearly 20 years of experience trading EM fixed income and has specialized in both Latin American and Asian credit markets. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting from the College of the Holy Cross.
Erik has over 25 years of experience in international capital markets. He has had senior capital markets roles in New York at Deutsche Bank, ING, ABN Amro, Standard Bank of South Africa, Commerzbank, and Natixis, and been responsible for debt origination across Latin America including new bond issues, debt restructurings, debt buybacks and public and private sector debt exchanges. Mr. Berg is a graduate of Wesleyan University, Connecticut and holds an MBA from the IAE /Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires.
Rafael (Rafa) was previously a Director of Research for Latin America at StoneX and formerly at Tellimer Markets. His experience spans over 25 years of being responsible for macro and corporate strategy at Cantor Fitzgerald, Credit Agricole, Knight Libertas, UBS, Deutsche Bank, ING, and Credit Suisse. Rafa holds a Master's degree in Public and Private Management (MPPM) from Yale University's School of Management and a Civil Engineering Bachelor's degree from Universidad Anahuac in Mexico.
Dan is an investment professional with 20 plus years of experience in emerging markets. Before joining BancTrust USA, he held senior EM sales roles with Unicredit and Societe Generale. Previously Dan had trading roles at Moore Capital, Depfa Investment Bank and Galileo Asset Management. He has an MBA in Business Administration and Bachelors in Banking and Finance from Hofstra University.
Maurice has over 20 years of experience in financial services, with a focus on global EM. Prior to joining BancTrust USA, he worked in EM institutional sales at Torino Capital and Stifel Financial. Previously, at Renaissance Capital Securities, he headed FICC sales in New York, focusing on Russia, CIS and Africa. He began his career in emerging markets at Chase Securities and has also worked in sales at BBVA and Cantor Fitzgerald. He holds an MBA from NYU Stern School and a BA in Political Science from UCLA.
I am thrilled to announce the expansion of the BancTrust group in the U.S. We have assembled a senior team with extensive experience in dealing in frontier and emerging markets. Our New York presence will enable us to better serve and grow our current U.S. client base as we aim to be their trusted partner in emerging markets."
CEO Carlos Fuenmayor.
About BancTrust & Co.
BancTrust & Co. Investment Bank is a leading London-based global emerging markets investment bank that offers corporate and investment banking, securities dealing and financing, investment research products and services to a diversified client base mainly comprised of emerging and frontier markets-based corporations, financial institutions, governments, and dedicated global EM asset managers.
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