UK Fintech News Roundup: The Latest Stories 12/04

Every Wednesday we delve into the latest fintech updates from across the UK. This week brings updates from Ryft, Ledgy, SeaO₂, Cohesity and Microsoft.

Ryft gets an FCA license

PSD2 compliant payment system Rift received a UK license from Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – after the fintech raised £1.5m in a seed round in August 2022.

Ryft enables automated next-day payouts for marketplace businesses and their sellers, for a single flat fee per transaction. The UK FCA license enables the fintech to expand its internal compliance team; which allows it to facilitate more complex payments, enabling B2B digital and marketplace platforms to monetize payments across their technology, as well as independently broker relationships with other organizations.

Sadra HosseiniCEO and founder of Ryft, said: “We are both incredibly proud to have secured our FCA license after a year and a half. This furthers our ability to provide support to marketplaces and sellers in the industry. Ryft was created to handle all so your business doesn’t need it.”

US insurers take the lead compared to UK counterparts

The insurtech landscape is set to experience a significant shift, after FCA recently imposed new operational resilience guidelines on UK insurers. Over the next two years, 42 per cent of UK firms plan to streamline their financial operations as a priority – a new report from financial services software provider revealed Auto Rec.

AutoRek’s report found that US insurance professionals were more likely to report that their firm was highly profitable than those in the UK. For 40 percent of respondents across both the UK and US markets, faster processing times are the key driver behind automation initiatives.

Gordon McHargCEO of AutoRek, said: “As the report shows, there are many challenges that companies have faced and will continue to face in the coming years, both from an external market perspective and competitive business-as-usual processes perspective. How well prepared firms to meet the challenges discussed throughout this report will define their success in the months and years to come.”

Investment for carbon extraction plant

Ledgya technology platform for capital markets, has entered into a partnership with the start-up of carbon capture in the sea SeaO₂ and makes a strategic investment to help fund the carbon capture startup’s first prototype carbon recovery plant.

Ledgy has initially invested €21,750; advance purchase of six tonnes of carbon captured from SeaO₂’s prototype, launched from the REDstack renewable energy facility at the Afsluitdijk dam in the Netherlands. The first prototype has the capacity to extract one tonne of carbon per year, with SeaO₂ on track to launch a second “pilot plant” that plans to extract 250 tonnes of carbon per year by the end of 2023.

Ben Brandt, co-founder and chief product officer at Ledgy, said: “Our commitment to SeaO₂ represents a price per tonne of €3,375 – which is quite high by market standards. But by validating SeaO₂’s commercial model, and investing in the research and development behind SeaO₂ next pilot plant, we are confident that the investment will mean that SeaO₂ can offer competitive prices in the future.Essentially, we are one of the Tesla Roadster customers pave the way for the development of Model 3.”

Context and Microsoft partnerships that want to protect business data

Data security and management company Context has expanded cooperation with Microsoft; as the companies aim to help companies around the world expand and tighten data security.

Cohesity’s DataProtect recovery solution will integrate with the cloud-based security information and event management (SIEM) platform: Microsoft Sentinel. This allows joint customers to benefit from streamlined access to incident reporting and ransomware alerts.

Sanjay PoonCEO and President of Cohesity, said: “Cohesity integrates with Microsoft’s broad platforms across security, cloud and AI – all to help mutual customers secure and protect their data against escalating cyber attacks. This expanded collaboration will make it easy for thousands of Microsoft customers and ecosystem partners to access Cohesity’s award-winning platform, including its differentiated benefits of scalability, simplicity and security, in hybrid cloud or multi-cloud scenarios.”

New “financial inclusion” podcast is launched

Dr Pål Vik and Andrew Wallaceresearchers at University of Salford Business Schoollaunching a new podcast: Innovation in financial inclusionWednesday 19 April.

The podcast episodes plan to explore issues facing low-income consumers in the current climate, including the realities of getting by on a low income, barriers to saving and accessing affordable credit.

Episodes are set to launch bi-weekly on all major podcast streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Dr Pål Vik said: “In this podcast series, we will discuss the issues and problems low-income consumers experience when it comes to savings, loans and debt. We will also focus on a number of innovative programs designed to help people save, balance consumption and repair the economy. Drawing on the latest research and lived experience, the podcast series will provide policy and practice recommendations for financial inclusion for practitioners, funders, decision makers and governments.”