The event featured a panel of FinanceMalta members sharing their views and Malta’s strategy in this area. FinanceMalta is a non-profit public-private initiative that was set up to promote Malta as an international business and financial centre within in and out of Malta.

FinanceMalta says it played a “prominent role” at the summit by hosting the two-day event’s first panel discussion: “Putting DLT and Legal on the same page”. FinanceMalta also had an exhibition stand throughout the summit.

“We are proud to have played an important role in this event in Amsterdam. Throughout the year, FinanceMalta promotes Malta’s thought-leadership and experience in various financial services forums, including the areas of Fintech and Blockchain. Through such FinanceMalta-sponsored events, our members can gain exposure, share their views and connect effectively with other players from all around the world,” said Ivan Grech, Chief Operations Officer of FinanceMalta.

“It was an informative panel session about bringing together DLT and Legal on the same page, whilst focusing on Malta as a jurisdiction for such innovation,” he added.

FinanceMalta works on bringing together and harnessing the resources of the industry and government to ensure Malta maintains a modern and effective legal, regulatory and fiscal framework in which the “financial services sector can continue to grow and prosper”.

The FinanceMalta panel speakers were Ian Gauci, Managing Partner at Caleda, GTG Advocates & Afilexion Alliace; Diane Bugeja, Senior Associate at Camilleri Preziosi Advocates; Nicholas Warren, Head of Regulatory at Francis J. Vassallo & Associates; and Joseph Woods, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Creolabs Ltd, who moderated the panel.

FinanceMalta founding associations: the Malta Funds Industry Association, the College of Stockbroking Firms, the Malta Bankers’ Association, the Malta Insurance Association, the Association of Insurance Brokers, the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners, and the Malta Insurance Management Association.

The post FinanceMalta sponsors fintech summit in Amsterdam first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The workshop was held following the publication of Pillar 1 Regulations Consultation Document presented under the fintech strategy and issued by the MFSA earlier in July.

During the session, which was attended by over 120 delegates, the MFSA discussed its proposals on the Regulatory Sandbox as well as the framework for Regulatory and Supervisory Technology solutions being developed by interested parties. 

Attendees were asked to provide feedback and propose questions in relation to how the Regulatory Sandbox will operate in practice, the eligibility criteria and participation structure.

“In line with our vision to be a forward-looking financial services regulator, this consultation process is key to establish Malta as a global fintech hub. Through the proposed regulatory framework, our aim is to encourage businesses to apply new and innovative business models and give them the opportunity to test the commercial and regulatory viability of their innovations, while containing risks to consumers and the financial system,” said Christopher P. Buttigieg, Chief Officer Strategy, Policy and Innovation of MFSA.

The post Workshop encourages fintech innovation in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Change happens so fast that a company either innovates or can easily find itself in a position that it might need to close shutters. There is no middle ground, nor there is time to waste thinking about a future strategy, as the disruption of fintech firms and technology is already happening. Mobile wallets are becoming the norm and millions of clients turn to cutting-edge technologies that allow bank accounts to be opened with just a few taps on smart devices and portables.

Meanwhile, Big Tech has also started flexing its financial services muscle. Apple recently introduced its first ever Apple Card, showing its appetite to turn into financial services as its next big opportunity. Google Pay and Amazon Pay are also pushing their own payment platforms, while Facebook has confirmed rumours about issuing their very own cryptocurrency: Libra Coin. Their huge reach and well-utilised big data can be considered a serious threat to banking as we know it, as such fintech firms can leverage loyal customers and possess a truly global reach that cannot be easily matched by traditional banking institutions.

Up until today, fintech startups have been trying to disrupt banking with their innovative products and services. However, they have not been able to become particularly profitable as their immense growth has been fuelled not by earnings, but billions of dollars in funding from venture capitalists, who have been betting on future returns. At the same time, they have not been able to convince their clients to deposit large sums of money for two reasons. Firstly, they are seen as a secondary account used primarily when travelling or for fast international fund transfers. Secondly, emoney institutions (EMIs) cannot offer interest on deposits as the EU directive forces them to keep client funds on segregated accounts, not being able to reinvest them for business loans, for instance.

Partnerships in the air

The new era of financial services will see banks partnering with fintech firms for complimentary services. Instead of building their own product, banks can now outsource entire functions to more flexible startups that can deploy services in a much quicker and more efficient manner, while keeping the benefits of running it on bank rails, thus being able to protect client funds and provide interest. Therefore, deVere Group is among the first such companies that have grabbed this opportunity and can offer a fast go-to-market for mobile wallet implementation where speed is important.

This revaluation led to the creation of the Vault app for iOS and Android users in Europe, while international expansion in Israel, Turkey and the Philippines is already underway. We believe that this is a unique winning strategy that will accelerate digital transformation in emerging markets by securing a super-fast go-to-market that brings significant competitive advantage to the group’s valued partners. With a network of more than 70 offices across the world, over 80,000 clients and $12b under advisement, deVere has the ability to drive change in this sector and provide its clients with cutting-edge support and solutions. As part of this focus, the group is constantly working to recruit the very best talent from across the world.

Another key aspect of the group’s offering is its crypto services, which were launched in 2018 as the trend for online currencies began to really take off. Today, deVere Crypto is a pioneering cryptocurrency app, available for Apple and Android. It allows users to store, transfer and exchange major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Litecoin.

The group also offers deVere Core, a solution that responds to the seismic shift in client expectations currently being experienced by the financial advisory industry. Increasingly, clients not only want bespoke financial advice from an adviser but they also demand personal instant access to their portfolio anywhere and at any time. They want all their financial services needs to be dealt with online, preferably via their mobile devices. They want to be more hands-on than ever before. As such, the group created the Core app, which provides immediate access, communication, and monitoring ability, to meet expectations in terms of customer experience.

Overall, these developments will drive deVere Group to even greater success over the coming years and cement its position as a leader in the financial services and fintech. A testament to this investment is winning the “Most Innovative Financial Services Provider” at the FinTech Awards 2019, solidifying the group’s position into the fintech space.

BIO: Dimitris Litsikakis holds a BSc in Information Technology from Piraeus University and an MSc in Project Management from Lancaster University. He worked at IBM UK as a Project Manager delivering large-scale IT projects. He then joined Edenred Greece as Digital Transformation Manager where he led the entire digitalisation of the solutions offered by the company; issuing hundreds of thousands of prepaid cards to beneficiaries. In 2018, he was appointed Country Manager for Greece, Cyprus and Malta for Revolut. Now he is spearheading the digital transformation of deVere Group, a financial consultancy with a global presence, delivering fintech solutions. Since 2014, he has also acted as Athens Chapter Director for Startup Grind, which is an independent startup community actively educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs.

The post Banks need to buckle up to keep pace with fintech firms first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“Fintech is truly revolutionising the way we deal with money and do business. Continuing to use its considerable resources, deVere has proven to be one of the global leaders in this exciting and burgeoning sector — and it is a pleasure to be joining their teams across the world as we move ahead into the next chapter in the success story,” Mr Litsikakis commented.

The initial primary focus of Mr Litsikakis, who starts with immediate effect and who will report directly to CEO Nigel Green and COO Beverley Yeomans, will be deVere Vault; the firm’s global multicurrency e-money app. Users of deVere E-Money’s app and its Prepaid Mastercard can spend, receive, store and transfer money in up to 27 different currencies.

“We are delighted to welcome someone of Dimitris’ calibre, expertise and experience to the company to help us develop our financial technology propositions even further,” says CEO Nigel Green. “Fintech is a major growth area of our business model — we understand and value that there is a growing need and want for it in an increasingly globalised and digitalised world. “Dimitris will help us dominate the market moving forward.”

“I am looking forward to expediting current enhancements and developments to the product in order to further enhance the client experience. In addition to this, one of my first tasks will be looking at B2B opportunities and looking at other ways to differentiate this already much in-demand e-money app,” added Mr Litsikakis.

The post New fintech head comes to deVere Group from Revolut first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The payment operator and prepaid card issuer is also licensed by the United Kingdom’s financial watchdog; the Financial Conduct Authority. This means that PFS will continue to operate as usual throughout the European Economic Area post-Brexit, the company says.

“The future looks even brighter now for PFS with this announcement. It ensures that no matter what happens with regards to Brexit, our business is prepared for all scenarios and there will be no impact to our customers and partners. We look forward to enjoying an excellent working relationship with the Central Bank of Ireland in the years to come,” says Noel Moran, CEO at PFS.

The company operates from the Innovation Hub in Ireland and its Technology Centre in Malta.

The post Irish fintech PFS bags local licence prepping for Brexit first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

With the delayed deadline for a Brexit deal to 31 October, uncertainties around the United Kingdom leaving the bloc have not settled yet. Nevertheless, Revolut says they prepared for any possible scenario. “If the United Kingdom and the European Union strike a deal, or if there’s a period of transitional relief, then we would continue to passport our UK-authorised permissions — via Revolut Ltd — across Europe, and there would be no action required on our customers’ side,” Mr Litsikakis tells BM.

Should the two parties be unable to reach a deal, Revolut has plans in the pipeline. Last year, Revolut Payments UAB was set up in preparation for a no-deal Brexit scenario. Revolut says that although this entity is fully operational, it is only a precautionary measure, for now. “We are pleased to confirm that this new entity is now in beta phase. As we all sit and wait to see what happens, mitigating any disruption to your services is our paramount concern. We will only switch our EEA-based customers over to this new entity in the event of a no-deal scenario,” the country manager responsible for Malta says.

Although an uncertain environment might linger on until at least the 31 October deadline, Revolut says that European customers should rest assured. “We want to assure all of our customers in Europe that we have taken the necessary preparations to ensure that they can continue to use Revolut in the same way, whatever the outcome,” the country manager underscores.

A market of ‘phenomenal’ growth

It is almost impossible to line up for payment at any POS in Malta, seeing not a single individual flashing a Revolut card. It is equally unlikely to carry out a conversation with acquaintances without bumping into Revolut card holders, or people who have at least heard about the concept. What makes the Maltese land such fertile soil for a fintech company such as Revolut?

“The Maltese market is extremely important to Revolut due to a large number of expats, migrant workers and professionals transferring money in and out of the country. So far, Revolut has proved to be incredibly popular in Malta, with over 90,000 customers signed up to date, that is around one-fifth of the population. We are signing up around 200 customers per day and only expect that to increase. Six months ago we only had around 30,000 customers in Malta, so the growth has been phenomenal,” Mr Litsikakis says.

“Revolut has proved to be incredibly popular in Malta, with over 90,000 customers signed up to date, that is around one-fifth of the population. We are signing up around 200 customers per day,”

says Revolut’s Dimitris Litsikakis.

Revolut believes its popularity lies in the “modern design” that their mobile application offers for users, as well as the fact that they issue no hidden fees and sport responsive customer service. Additional features such as instant payment notifications, automatic spending categorisation, budgeting tools, spare change saving and enhanced security further boost their prestige in the eyes of users, the company believes.

Furthermore, Revolut allows users to buy and sell a selection of cryptocurrencies, as well as to get pay-per-day travel insurance through their app. Registration for a Revolut account takes places in approximately ten minutes, and once an account is opened, users can send, spend and exchange 29 currencies in-app and spend fee-free globally in over 150 currencies, up to a threshold of £200 every month on the free plan.

Revolut’s expansion comes in a time when people appear, albeit slowly, to become more open to fintech solutions, as well as they are becoming more conscious about taking elevated control over their finances. “Fintechs are gaining in popularity across the world due to a growing shift of consumers using their phones to handle their finances and demanding more from their banks. They are no longer happy to accept rubbish exchange rates and monthly fees. Fintechs, such as Revolut, offer an alternative to the big banks,” Mr Litsikakis says.

For fuelling further growth, Revolut is planning to host more RevRally [awareness-raising promotional] events this year in Malta to encourage more consumers to open accounts with the company. “In Europe, we currently have over 4.6 million customers and are building a European Growth Machine that will help us scale at speed in every European country where Revolut’s service is currently available to further boost our customer numbers,” the country manager tells BM.

Additionally, Revolut aims to grow out of Europe. They expect to expand into a number of global markets in the coming months, with foreseen launches in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand planned in 2019.

Revolut insists on unshaken compliance

The Telegraph broke the news on 28 February that Revolut was “accused of violating basic banking rules by failing to block thousands of potentially suspicious transactions on its platform,” the report writes. Citing documents The Telegraph says had acquired, the online daily reported that Revolut switched off its system flagging suspicious transfers.

This was briefly followed by news that CFO Peter O’Higgins had resigned from his position at the company. On top of this, Revolut ran into technical issues on 1 March, affecting their app’s functionality including top-ups, exchanges and other features. Revolut’s engineers fixed the issues in a matter of minutes. Nevertheless, some Maltese customers, reading international news and swiftly jumping to unsubstantiated conclusions, ran to ATMs quickly withdrawing money, in the belief that Revolut was going down.

Nikolay Storonsky, the founding CEO of Revolut, soon after the news broke denied reports suggesting that his company would have been involved in activities raising the issue of possible “money laundering”. He also said that no connection could be found between the resignation of his company’s finance chief and the alleged “money laundering”, despite what news reports suggested.

Business Malta asked Revolut to explain the events of end-February and early-March from their perspective. “In the middle of last year, we rolled out a new sanctions screening system in parallel with our existing systems and controls. The new system required recalibration on the basis that it was creating some false positive cases (pending payments),” Mr Litsikakis tells BM about the roots of the events. During this period, Revolut says their 200-strong compliance team reviewed all payments on their platform. “The new system and subsequent recalibration had nothing to do with money laundering, and we want to make it abundantly clear that there were no breaches,” Mr Litsikakis puts his feet down.

“The new system and subsequent recalibration had nothing to do with money laundering, and we want to make it abundantly clear that there were no breaches,”

says Revolut’s Dimitris Litsikakis.

By the second week of March, the Telegraph substantially amended its article and issued a correction statement both online and in their print edition related to news they broke about Revolut.

“We would like to clarify that there never was any lapse in our anti-money laundering controls or our sanction screening process. It is also important to note that a number of articles erroneously conflated our anti-money laundering systems and our sanctions screening process,” Mr Litsikakis insists.

Business Malta was interested to learn about the magnitude of cash withdrawal in Malta at the time of unfavourable news stirring waters among its local users about the company; however, Revolut declined to disclose figures. “We do not share details of how much money is deposited in Revolut,” the company says.

The post Revolut readies intact services regardless of Brexit outcome, eyes further expansion first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

The guidance aims to facilitate the process for providers opening accounts for fintechs. The recently announced initiative complements a more comprehensive effort to develop and regulate the financial technology industry in Malta, the press statement says.

At the same time, the MFSA says it stays committed to ensuring investor protection, financial market integrity and financial stability.

The consultation document is available for public view at the official website of the MFSA.

The post MFSA’s consultation aims to support fintech investments first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) is working on laying the necessary fundamentals and providing established firms and start-ups with a complete platform to explore their business concepts and solutions, accounting and advisory form RSM Malta says. The advisory business believes that such a platform would boost innovation and growth while providing regulatory objectives to protect investors and promote market integrity.

The MFSA identified six pillars for creating a holistic approach leading to the exploration of new technologies and innovations within the financial services sector, as follows: regulations, ecosystem, architecture, international links, knowledge and security. With the combination of these facets, fintech businesses in Malta will be able to address consumer needs by focusing on innovative product design, ease of use, accessibility and faster services, the RSM Malta press statement says.

The MFSA’s “FinTech Strategy” document is available for public view at the official webpage of the authority.

The post MFSA’s strategy aims to turn Malta into fintech hub first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Under the memorandum, BANKEX will facilitate the introduction of blockchain technology to all government agencies in Uzbekistan with the intentions of minimising the potential for human error and precluding corruption.

“The present memorandum is directed at establishing a legal framework on which the parties can base the mutual cooperation necessary to ensure the quality as well as the qualified undertaking of tasks assigned to the parties,” says the memorandum.

The parties also agreed “to study the prospects for the introduction of innovative technologies, including blockchain technology” as well as to “exchange all necessary information and work experience, including through mutual internships and consultations,” according to the press statement.

The two parties are also planning to hold joint educational events, such as workshops, seminars, roundtable discussions and conferences on the principles of digital economy development, as well as the advantages of utilising the blockchain.

BANKEX is a New York-based and closely-held global fintech company providing a blockchain-based securitisation framework. BANKEX group companies legally operate within Class 3 and Class 4 licenses for Virtual Financial Assets on Malta, and therefore in the European Union.

The post BANKEX eyes introducing blockchain solutions in Uzbekistan first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Blackmoon expects the close ties to enable them working together with the network of attorneys, experts for international compliance and international tax law, accountants and financial advisors on the ETx, which is planned to be directly linked to Dr. Werner & Partner’s client base.

Blackmoon, a blockchain investment platform, issues branded ETxs on behalf of its partners in order to incentivise traders and speculators to take the risk in the market, by offering them a fungible financial product to arbitrage for profit — further adding bids and provides to a security token offering (STO) that would otherwise not exist. Blackmoon swears this practice effectively creates a balanced and stable price.

“The partnership with Blackmoon will enable us to extend our (already advanced) crypto advisory services with security token offerings. The amount of interest for that sector is overwhelming, and together with Blackmoon we will provide a state-of-the-art-service, that will enable the right client to launch an STO from A-Z,” says Philipp Sauerborn, a senior employee at Dr. Werner & Partner.

“We are pleased to have discovered such an incredible company to partner with, and we foresee releasing the Dr. Werner & Partner ETx as soon as possible to offer this creative investment opportunity to investors across the globe,” says Oleg Seydak, CEO of Blackmoon.

The strategic partnership with Dr. Werner & Partner is one of many that Blackmoon intends to form over the coming months, en route to their ultimate goal to have an entire suite of innovative ETxs to offer their clients as well as those of their partners.

The post Blackmoon partners up with Dr. Werner & Partner in creating ETx first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.