Biz Builder Mike

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UK Finance, Which?, City of London Police Sign Letter Asking Government to Add Online Scams to “Online Safety” Bill

UK Finance (a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector that represents around 300 firms in the UK providing credit, banking, markets and payment-related services), Which? (an organization that reviews products and services, so that you “make the best purchase decisions” for your requirements) and City of London Police are among several other organizations that have signed a letter asking the UK government to add online or Internet scams to its latest “Online Safety” bill.

The new “Online Safety” bill will require companies  – through the threat of huge fines – to enhance Internet safety in key areas like terrorist content, child sex abuse, hate crimes, cyber-bullying and the circulation of fake or misleading news updates.

But financial fraud has not been added to the bill – which may be announced in the upcoming Queen’s Speech – leading 17 organizations (representing civil society and business) to ask the Home Secretary Priti Patel and Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden to include online scams on the list.

As stated in the letter:

“Online platforms play a pivotal role in enabling criminals to reach and defraud internet users through the hosting, promotion and targeting of fake and fraudulent content on their sites, including adverts that they make significant profits from. Yet platforms have very little legal responsibility for protecting their users, despite often being the best placed to tackle harmful content.”

The letter has now been signed by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, Carnegie UK Trust, PIMFA, MoneySavingExpert and Age UK, among several other organizations.

The letter also states:

“We believe that fake and fraudulent content that leads to scams must be included in scope of the proposed Online Safety Bill. This would require online platforms to identify, remove and prevent fake and fraudulent content from being hosted on their sites, putting in place incentives for platforms to work together with the telecoms, banking and finance sectors to tackle economic crime.”

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Leading UK Fintech Firms Now Working with PwC to Streamline Digital Financial Services with AI, Data Analytics

Ten of the United Kingdom’s leading Fintech companies are now working with Big Four auditing firm PwC in order to showcase how the future of banking will focus on both collaboration and innovation, along with greater personalization.

After 3 years of ongoing development, the 10 Fintechs have managed to contribute to the company’s “Tysl” ecosystem which includes various solutions related to software, automation, AI, data management and analytics.

These solutions aim to make it easier or more convenient for clients to open new bank accounts, obtain specialized financing services, move house and digitally sign official documents.

By leveraging an API-powered approach, which lets software apps communicate with each other, Tysl has enabled these firms to work cooperatively and innovate together with PwC to create a banking tech proposition that helps organizations with significantly enhancing performance across several different measures.

This includes dealing with complex customer or user experience journeys like advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Know Your Customer (KYC), Credit Decisioning, and in life account and loan servicing across several key areas such as mortgages, savings and corporate lending.

By leveraging Tysl, PwC can effectively develop all-digital solutions through an innovative, affordable, and user-centric online lending platform. This can help the company’s customers with enhancing their customer-facing business operations and improve products and services in order to meet the speed and multi-channel expectations required by companies today.

James Morgan, Lead Partner on Tysl stated:

“Banking is changing, people expect more and require personalised digital interactions. Based on the needs and expectations of tomorrow’s customers, we have developed our Tysl platform. This is helping our clients reach new customers, upsell and grow topline revenue by delivering enhanced capabilities whilst significantly reducing the costs of servicing the client from onboarding to in life servicing.”

The companies or businesses that are now integrated with the Tysl platform include:

Mambu – is a software-as-a-service or SaaS financial services platform supporting innovation in banking, lending, and – a Cloud-native alternative to more traditional core banking systems.

Yoti – is a global identity platform that makes it more seamless and safer for banking clients to prove who they are via ID verification and biometrics

Kompli Global – created a remote due diligence solution that harnesses artificial intelligence and “human expertise” to provide intelligence on organizations and their workers.

DueDil – is an insights provider assisting financial services organizations and insurers with a better understanding of their client base to handle digital or online onboarding, manage compliance, risk, and in-life monitoring.

Just Move In – provides a home setup experience for people moving home that arranges essential services including council tax, insurance, and broadband.

SignNow – is a legally binding eSignature application, allows users to create and complete legally binding electronic signatures on any device.

Codat – connects the tools and services that small businesses need for their operations to their financial service providers and takes care of the “heavy lifting” of those integrations.

Flexys – is a specialist tech firm focused on enhancing the value and performance of debt management and collection systems with a low-code, Cloud-native platform.

Saltedge – develops PSD2-powered solutions that are used by Fintech firms, banking institutions, and other financial institutions across the globe. The company provides connectivity to over 2500 banks across Europe for data aggregation and payment initiation capabilities – through a single API.

Credit Kudos -an open banking credit reference agency that uses real-time financial behavior to “measure creditworthiness” and “affordability” to assist lenders when unwriting consumer and commercial loans.

Lendingmetrics – Auto Decision Platform (ADP) is a decision engine environment that may be applied across “unlimited” brands, products or lending journeys under a single license and offers a comprehensive (no-code) editor, helping non-technical staff to make real-time changes to credit risk logic

Gazeal – enables the seller of a property to provide key details required to meet the estate agent’s Consumer Protection Regulations requirements, and, as a Licensed Provider of the Law Society, all of the requirements of the Conveyancing Quality Scheme. By using Gazeal’s reservation service, it will “almost” completely eliminate abortive transactions.

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US CFTC Orders Ponzi Scheme Operator To Pay $32 Million Fine

A US District Court for the District of Nevada has fined Circle Society and owner David Gilbert Saffron for operating a cryptocurrency ponzi scheme. This is according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Circle Society Ponzi Scheme

The regulator stated that both the Nevada-based corporation and its operator have to pay $32 million as ordered by the court.

Saffron, an Australian citizen, residing in the US, started the firm Circle society to offer binary options on forex and cryptocurrency pairs. Both he and the company allegedly deceived investors to send funds in order to participate in a commodity pool, with promises of high returns.

Since 2017 when Circle society was created, Saffron has reportedly duped investors of at least $15.8 million from about 179 people. According to the CFTC, he diverted investor funds to his crypto wallet to pay other participants “in the manner of a Ponzi scheme.”

The court’s final judgment requires defendants Saffron and Circle Society, jointly and severally, to pay restitution claims of more than $14.8 million to defrauded pool participants and disgorgement fine of $15.8 million, and a civil monetary fine of over $1.48 million.

The judgment also enjoined the defendants from registering with the CFTC or trading on any other CFTC-regulated entities.

However, the CFTC has told victims not to expect much as they might not be able to get their full funds back.

“The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of any money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets,” the statement read.

The regulator filed the civil enforcement action against Saffron and Circle Society in 2019, alleging that Saffron solicited and accepted a minimum of $11 million in Bitcoin and US dollars with other defendants’ help in the company.

The CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert had then said that fraudulent schemes like Saffron and his company do not only cheat innocent people out of their hard-earned money, but they also threaten to undermine the development of new and innovative markets.

Spike In Crypto-Related Scams

Cybercrime seems to have increased since the advent of cryptocurrency as it is constantly being used to scam people. Even though regulators continue to warn users against crypto scams and, in fact, scams in general, people are still falling victims.

Even though fraudulent activities had existed before crypto came along a decade ago, many crypto owners are falling victims because many retail investors have knowledge gaps. With the fear of missing out (FOMO) surrounding digital tokens, crypto investors are readily suckered into deals with these fraudsters promising huge returns.

Last month, the CFTC ordered fraudulent Bitcoin trader Benjamin Reynolds to pay $572 million in penalty and restitution for a crime he committed in 2017. He was ordered to pay a $429 Million fine penalty and an additional $142 million as restitution to victims.

US CFTC Orders Ponzi Scheme Operator To Pay $32 Million Fine

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Spiral Acquires $14M in Capital and Launches a Banking App for Charitable Causes, and Individuals “Committed to Giving”

Spiral, the banking solution developed specifically for the charitable sector, revealed on April 1, 2021 that it has acquired $14 million in capital via a round led by venture group Team8 along with with participation from Communitas Capital, Phoenix, Nidoco AB, MTVO, and several other  financial industry professionals.

Spiral’s management noted that they’ll use the funds secured to launch an ethical banking app that allows clients to “effortlessly support any charitable cause they care about while earning attractive rates and monthly cash bonuses on their deposits,” according to a release.

The release further noted:

“Spiral will even match their donations, up to a limit. Nonprofits can use the app to share engaging content with supporters, increase donations and collect funds without fees. The app is live and will launch to the public next quarter.”

Shawn Melamed, CEO and Co-Founder of Spiral, added that “the future belongs to socially-conscious brands that care as much about giving back to society as they do about generating profits and growth.”

Melamed also mentioned Spiral aims to “pioneer” the ethical banking sector by “creating a new ecosystem solution for more than 100 million charitable givers and 1.5 million non-profit businesses. ” He pointed out that “not only does Spiral make it easy and engaging for people to support causes they care about but we also financially reward them so they can personally thrive.”

Dan Blumbenfeld, President and Co-Founder at Spiral, remarked:

“People are increasingly supporting brands that align with their values. And they expect a simple and effortless user experience. Spiral will offer customers both a personalized banking experience and a deeper connection to the charities they support.”

The US ranks high as one of the world’s most generous countries, according to the 10th Annual World Giving Index. The vast majority of US consumers —around 80%—”donate to charities each year. In 2019 alone, that amounted to almost $450 billion,” the announcement revealed.

Spiral has developed a banking app that aims to make it more convenient for these US residents “to do good—supported by a full range of personalized banking services and excellent customer care.”

As noted in the release, Spiral customers can take advantage of the following:

  • Up to “15x more on savings than the average bank (based upon an FDIC-determined national average and including the maximum in cash bonuses)”
  • Effortless “giving to 1 million+ charities and nonprofits”
  • Donation “matching of up to $150 per year”
  • Automatic donation reports “for tax returns”
  • Rewards for “spending, saving and giving, plus cash bonuses”
  • No required “minimum balance”
  • No monthly fees “for active accounts or fees for transferring money by ACH”
  • Spiral deposit accounts are “issued by nbkc bank, Overland Park, KS, and deposits are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000”
  • Built “to help nonprofits raise donations better”

Spiral also “makes it easier for nonprofits to grow their support base and increase donations from existing donors,” the announcement noted.

Nonprofits that work with Spiral may get donations “without any fees and share content directly through the app to engage supporters,” the release added while noting that the app also “connects to social media, so Spiral customers can promote the causes they support and the donations they make.”

Spiral’s nonprofit partners include: F4C Foundation for Climate Restoration, David Ortiz Children’s Foundation, CultureForOne, HERHealthEQ, Wayuu Taya, Cerebral Palsy Research Alliance Foundation, Annie Cannon, Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus, Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Baltimore, The Forbes Funds, Games for Change, Opportunity Junction, Knock Knock Give a Sock, Backpacks for Life, and Foundation Tournesol.

Sarit Firon, Managing Partner of Team8 Capital, stated:

“We’re excited to back Spiral’s unique vision and incredible growth potential. Brands like Tesla, Whole Foods and Lemonade have galvanized specific demographics to become the front-runners of their industries. Spiral is on a mission to do the same in the world of banking.”

The app is currently live in beta, and the waiting list is open and accessible here.

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Norway Central Bank Chief Calls Bitcoin Unstable and Resource Intensive

Norway’s Central Bank does not seem so keen on cryptocurrencies despite being known as a cashless society. This was deduced from the recent comments made by the Governor of Norges Bank, Oystein Olsen.

Norway’s Problem With Bitcoin

Olsen described Bitcoin as being too resource-intensive, far too costly, and unstable. These features are enough reason not to recommend Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat or a government-backed currency.

“The basic property and task for a central bank and central bank currency is to provide stability in the value of money and the system, and that is not done by Bitcoin,” Olsen told Bloomberg.

The apex bank chief said Bitcoin wouldn’t replace the money currently controlled by central banks. Olsen also doesn’t see cryptos like Bitcoin disrupting the operations of banks.

Although Olsen is not interested in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, he’s not dismissing emerging technologies’ potential monetary applications. According to him, digital currencies are the new wine, and it gets better now that central banks are entering the scene.

The bank supports the cashless idea fully. We can see this in Norway’s mode of operations and payments. The Central Bank’s Deputy Governor, Ida Wolden Bache, revealed that only 4% of all payments are made with physical banknotes and coins.

While Norway’s apex banks won’t budge on crypto, Norwegian firms are embracing Bitcoin. Norwegian multinational Aker ASA launched a crypto-facing business unit, Settee AS, earlier this month.

Settee AS would invest in Bitcoin companies operating and hold its liquid assets in the BTC.

Norway’s CBDC Plans

While Norway welcomes the idea of developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the country is not one of the first front-runners on the scene. Countries like China and Sweden are taking the lead.

Bache had disclosed in November that the central bank was exploring the need for a CBDC. But, they’re in no hurry to push out a prototype.

“The lack of urgency reflects our view so far that there is no acute need to introduce a CBDC. The introduction of a CBDC could have considerable consequences in a number of areas. Our decision must be well-informed.”

Just like the United States, Norway believes that CBDCs would not replace cash. Bache said that a CBDC would not change the private sector credit intermediation. 

Norway Central Bank Chief Calls Bitcoin Unstable and Resource Intensive

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