The FinTech Five – 27th August 2021
27 August, 2021
Welcome to the FinTech Five, the part of the week where we take a closer look at the best articles, news, and features from over the past week from our FinTech Wales members.
1. 8-month Data/AI graduate fast-track programme from Graduate Programme Wales
First this week, Graduate Programme Wales are seeking a selection of smaller fintech companies located in South East Wales to join the employer consortium for their second eight-month Data/AI graduate fast-track programme, which is set to begin in January 2022.
The Fast Track Programme has evolved from the highly successful Financial Services & Data Science Graduate Programme model, managed by the Welsh Contact Centre Forum and delivered in collaboration with industry since 2013.
The Fast-Track Initiative will recruit STEM graduates and provide an intensive, 8-month programme of work experience, reinforced by applied academic study. The aim is to develop data/ai professionals, equipped with the following skillsets:
- Ability to use data in different ways and create new business models.
- Enable the transition into a digital, rapid service to support the business.
- Understand and use technology effectively to serve the business.
- Help predict the impact of future business disruption.
The qualification aims to give a balance between the analytical and computing skills required to become proficient in the fundamentals of data, in particular to understand, interpret, research, and manage complex data. As such, delivery is focused on practical examples and real-world cases supporting the application of tools and techniques rather than only theory, with the graduates continuing to develop their applied skills.
For more information on the programme or to apply, click here. FinTech’s looking to join the employer consortium should contact: [email protected]
2. LexisNexis Risk Solutions Acquires TruNarrative
Next, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions UK Limited, part of RELX, has acquired TruNarrative, which provides a cloud-based orchestration platform that detects and prevents financial crime and fraud. TruNarrative will become a part of the Business Services group of LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions uses data, technology, linking and analytics to deliver actionable insights that enable businesses to improve analysis and risk assessment. Financial crime compliance solutions from LexisNexis Risk Solutions help companies navigate the increasingly complex regulatory landscape, stay compliant and reduce their risk of fines and reputational damage. In addition, fraud and identity solutions from LexisNexis Risk Solutions provide extensive data insights and a seamless platform to help solve fraud and authentication challenges and maximize revenue across every customer touchpoint.
“Organizations are seeking solutions that help them comply more easily with evolving regulations and prevent financial crime, so they can focus more on growing their businesses,” said Rick Trainor, CEO of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Business Services.
“The TruNarrative platform aligns with our financial crime compliance and fraud solutions, since it allows regulated organizations, such as banks, payment companies, non-bank financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses, to orchestrate their end-to-end compliance obligations, meeting onboarding and transaction monitoring requirements with lower customer friction.
“This acquisition positions us well to help a wide range of businesses select the financial crime prevention components they need, then quickly enable and utilize these tools within high functioning, easy-to-use workflows,” Trainor added.
“The team at TruNarrative have worked tirelessly over the past four years building the fastest growing SaaS platform for risk and financial crime,’’ said John Lord, CEO and founder of TruNarrative.
“As we reached our high growth, this inflection point helped us focus on seeking a true international partner who could help drive global adoption of TruNarrative’s leading technology. The leading capability from LexisNexis Risk Solutions in data and analytics and the high quality of their team made them an obvious choice to help us deliver the next chapter of our amazing journey.”
Read the full announcement on LexisNexis’ website, here.
3. Delio’s investment structuring solution bridges gap between capital raisers, financial institutions and HNW investors
Next, Delio’s configurable private markets investment structuring vehicle is bridging the gap between capital raisers and financial institutions that want to offer a broader range of alternative investments to their clients.
With more firms looking to raise capital and close funding rounds in a shorter space of time, the investment structuring solution uses technology to meet all regulatory requirements quickly and in a more robust manner.
Firms receive greater flexibility when raising capital for their clients as they can expand the distribution of opportunities beyond traditional institutional investors. At the same time, the creation of investment baskets is enabling leading private banks, such as Barclays, to offer previously inaccessible opportunities in emerging, high-growth sectors to some of its HNW clients.
One of the first investment advisers to benefit from this new private markets investment structuring service is Future Planet Capital. Future Planet is a global university venture investor focused on investing in companies emerging from some of the world’s most prestigious educational institutions, including Harvard, Cambridge and Berkeley. As many of these ventures operate in cutting-edge industries like technology and life sciences, there is often a need for Future Planet Capital to raise investment rapidly to support their clients’ accelerated growth.
Alessandra Ricagno, who leads Delio Structuring Solutions, said:
“Many firms are looking to raise capital and close funding rounds against tight deadlines, while ensuring that they still meet all of their regulatory requirements. This means that they need to consider different ways of engaging with investors, particularly through new distribution channels. A well-constructed investment structuring framework can help firms like Future Planet Capital to accelerate their fund raising through collaboration with other financial institutions who are seeking investment opportunities for their clients.”
Read the full article on Delio’s website, here.
4. Yoello’s mobile ordering helps festivals and big events evolve
Next, Yoello has been the leading technology for festivals and events looking to open up after COVID.
Mobile ordering is one of the most highly adopted and successful technologies in the hospitality sector. As events open back up, it is now helping festivals and large events run in a COVID-safe manner.
Without digital transformation, businesses fall behind. This has been especially true in industries like hospitality, where technology has been vital to opening safely. Without it, businesses have struggled to open up, run events and invite the public into their spaces.
The good news is mobile ordering technology has helped the industry accelerate and remain in business over the past 2 years.
Mobile ordering technology is a match made in heaven for festivals, clubs and large events. Many venues and spaces are opting to use mobile ordering technology that utilises QR codes in order to host large events safely.
Here’s why mobile ordering works so well at events:
- It makes running an event 10x easier
- No touching of a buzzer, menu or ticket
- It puts the customer’s mind at ease
- Reduces queuing time
Yoello powered Wales’ first large music event back in May, and since then their mobile technology has helped plenty of other festivals and events find their feet. For event runners, it can seem like a minefield learning how to comply with COVID rules. But with an experienced team of Yoello mobile ordering experts on hand, remaining compliant is much easier.
Read the full article here, or chat to Yoello today to find out how they can help power your next event.
5. Trust Payments release blog on ‘How to Reduce Customer Churn in Your eCommerce Store’
Last but not least this week, Trust Payments have released a blog on ‘How to Reduce Customer Churn in Your eCommerce Store’.
Winning customers is no easy feat. Keeping them is even harder. In fact, the average eCommerce store loses 76% of its customers within a year. While some churn is expected and can even be beneficial to your business, it’s essential to avoid losing valuable customers prematurely.
No matter how much you optimise your marketing and sales funnel, if you don’t tackle customer retention strategies from the beginning, you may struggle with customer churn. Here are five ways to reduce churn as your business grows:
1) Increase customer lifetime value
Customer lifetime value is the amount of revenue you generate for your eCommerce store with each customer that spends with you. This value can be tough to measure as you are building your eCommerce business. However, a quick check of online sales metrics can help you assess the average amounts customers spend with you.
2) Provide excellent customer service
Possibly one of the best allies in securing loyal clients, excellent customer service has a crucial role in reducing churn. A positive interaction with a client goes a long way, but equally, poor customer service can damage your relationship more than any other factor. Even if they’re only having a minor problem, some customers may just close their browser tab before you’ve had a chance to help them.
3) Offer up-selling and cross-selling opportunities
Customers often shop online to save money. That said, if you aren’t offering up-selling and cross-selling opportunities, you could be losing out on a considerable chunk of the market. If you have a clearance section, don’t forget to take advantage of customer impulse purchases – you can make these work by offering an incentive for customers to buy the discounted products.
4) Give customers a reason to come back
While offering great products and customer service can be a powerful way to retain customers, sometimes your clients simply won’t return. To tackle this problem, start by looking for pressure points and customer complaints in your store and try to address them in the next version of your site.
5) Get creative with your product offerings
Your customer acquisition funnel can never end, but it can begin to resemble a monster of your own creation. If customers only come to your store for one thing, and you start catering to them, what should you do next? Diversify your product offerings! Remember customers aren’t automatically going to buy everything you offer in your store.
Read the full blog on Trust Payments’ website, here.
Until Next Week
And that’s it for the FinTech Five this week. Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to join us next week for more of the best content from across our FinTech Wales membership.