Online research from Equifax, the consumer and business insights expert, shows that using a debit or credit card with a pin number is still the preferred method of payment for 42% of people in the UK. Contactless methods followed at 34%, with the vast majority of these respondents (31%) preferring a contactless card to using their phone or wearable technology (3%).

The survey, conducted with Gorkana, also highlighted that the majority of consumers (66%) are happy with the current £30 contactless payment limit and only 16% think it should be increased. Of the people keen to see a higher limit, 13% would like to see it increased by a maximum of £10, and 39% would like the limit to be set between £40 and £50.

When asked why they would use contactless rather than cash, 34% see the speed of the transaction as the main advantage and 21% said it’s more convenient than making a trip to a cash point. Only 16% of people feel that contactless payments are more secure than carrying cash.

The research found that 45% of consumers withdraw cash just once a month or less, yet 28% of people surveyed said they would never choose contactless payments over cash. Despite the rising popularity of using wearable technology like watches to make payments, 36% of Brits don’t expect this payment method will ever overtake cards.

Sarah Lewis, Head of ID and Fraud UK at Equifax, said: “The rise in popularity of contactless and wearable payment methods is a hot topic right now but our research shows that retailers and service providers are going to have to accept a variety of payment types for some time to come. Many consumers have been early adopters of contactless and wearable payments, and really value the convenience of these options, but others remain wary and prefer the more traditional means.

“Contactless payment is not without its risks and these results show that consumers are well aware of this. There has been talk about increasing the contactless payment limit but this would simply increase the incentive for criminals to steal contactless cards, resulting in higher levels of related fraudulent activity. Contactless and wearable payments will continue to grow in popularity, but the financial services industry has a lot of work to do to make customers completely comfortable with these options.”

(Source: Equifax)

As a society, we cherish our right to privacy probably more than anything else. Sharing is great, and we all enjoy it, but there is always that other side, the untold story, the personal, the secret. Now, let’s extrapolate this to a societal level. How many information is out there, purposely being concealed for the sake of greater good, for the sake of our own safety? The number is probably unfathomable. Today, when everything is online, and our lives are intertwined with a world most of us know nothing about, privacy and safety become an issue of epic proportions.

That is why we need to talk about cybercrime and utilize the very best VPNs . However, instead of writing a tract of tedious length, here is an infographic that outlines the most important cybercrime facts all of us should be aware of in 2018.

www.Zagg.Com/Register for Zagg customers

(Source: BestVPNs)

Data released in Creditsafe’s Prompt Payment Formula 1 Standings, has revealed that, on average, Formula 1 teams pay 16% of their invoices late by an average of 10.5 DBT (days beyond the agreed payment terms), despite a combined turnover of over £3.6 billion.

Red Bull was found to be the worst offender, paying almost a third (31%) of its invoices to suppliers late by as many as 16 days beyond agreed terms. This is despite the team’s success, coming third in last season’s constructors’ standings, the exciting team rivalry between Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, and a turnover of close to £200 million.

In comparison, despite a disastrous 2017 season ending in ninth place and multiple engine failures affecting the team’s performance, McLaren was found to be the most prompt payer of the group, with 93% of its invoices paid on time. Of the 7% paid late, McLaren had a DBT of nine days.

Similarly, Torro Rosso, which came seventh in last season’s standings, was the second most prompt payer of the group, paying less than 10% (9.02%) of invoices late with a particularly low DBT of five days. While Ferrari joined Torro Rosso with the joint lowest DBT, 22% of its invoices were paid late, dragging it down the standings.

Led by Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes topped the F1 Standings in 2017, but in terms of late payments, the team sat firmly in the middle of the table with 11% of invoices paid late and a slightly below average DBT of 11.

Rachel Mainwaring, COO, Creditsafe Group said: “In recent years we have seen the emergence of a late payment culture in the UK. Even in Formula 1, with the huge amount of money that is available to teams, late payment is rife and noticeably, none of the teams pay their invoices on time.

“Late payments can be a huge problem for businesses, whether dealing with the huge sums of money in F1, or smaller amounts of daily business expenses. It can leave companies with a potentially dangerous financial shortfall and all businesses, particularly those at the top of the podium should be fulfilling their obligations to suppliers.

“However, it is interesting to see the lower performing teams, such as McLaren and Torro Rosso, beating out competitors when it comes to prompt payment. There’s no doubt that if McLaren’s reliability last season had been as good as its prompt payment rate (97%), Fernando Alonso would have been a happier driver!”

Creditsafe’s Prompt Payment Formula 1 Standings

Data not available for: Force India, Haas and Sauber.

(Source: Creditsafe Group)

One in two UK consumers would be happy to share transaction data with third parties if offered a more personalised service, whilst one in three would be happy to use banking services from technology companies, because of the personalisation they offer.

UK Banks that missed last month’s Open Banking deadline are facing up to the end of their extension period. Next week sees HSBC and Nationwide’s deadline to implement compliant payments functionality.

Until now, established financial services providers have been able to rely on large, mostly static customer bases. But once Open Banking gets into full swing, customers will be able to permit third-party access to their accounts and financial data, allowing tech companies to offer direct financial services, and giving increased visibility to consumers.

Open Banking will change the previously rigid rules of the game. It will make the financial services market more transparent, and put new and established providers on an equal footing. While new players will be looking to poach customers by offering them better deals and ultra-personalized service, traditional providers will have to prove that they are making efficient use of the data they already hold, by communicating in an increasingly personalised way.

Under Open Banking, financial institutions will have to adopt customer loyalty solutions in order to stay strategically ahead of competition. Only smart and precise communication could create such a relationship between a bank and its clients.

Pini Yakuel, CEO of relationship marketing platform Optimove, comments: “Banks and financial services providers will have to focus on giving the best possible value to the customer, to stop them switching to their competitors. Offering highly tailored communications will be key to this. Financial services firms will be looking at their existing data to find out what value means to each person, and adapting marketing strategies in an emotionally-intelligent way to make every customer feel special.

“Consumers are likely to see an increasingly personalised experience, as old and new financial companies move to distinguish their brand with promotions and rewards tailored to each individual, like retailers.”

(Source: Optimove)

Dun & Bradstreet and the Small BusinessResearch Centre have revealed a community of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are confident that the UK is a great place to start a small business (72%), but face a plethora of challenges in a rapidly changing political, regulatory and economic landscape. The study found that UK SMEs see late payments, uncertainty around Brexit and a fluctuating pound as potentially detrimental to growth, with 54% confident about future success.

Although keeping ahead of the competition and attracting new customers remains a key priority, SMEs are concerned about the impact of Brexit: almost one in three respondents (32%) said it has affected their confidence negatively. A third (35%) of those surveyed have cancelled or postponed expansion plans as a direct result of the Brexit vote, while 34% admit that they have rewritten their business plan in response to the ongoing economic and political uncertainty.

In this time of heightened uncertainty, over a quarter (26%) of SMEs also highlighted timely payments as the most critical factor for financial success. Respondents indicated that at any one time, they are owed an average of £63,881 in late payments, with 11% saying they are owed between £100,000 and £250,000. The consequences of late payments include cash flow difficulties (35%), delayed payments to suppliers (29%) and reduced profit performance (24%). Some respondents have even had to dip into their personal savings to cover the shortfall. And the problem is growing - more than half (51%) of SMEs say late payments are more of a problem than three years ago, with 58% going as far as to say this issue is putting their business at risk of failure.

“Late payment of debts is a perennial challenge for SMEs” explains Professor Robert Blackburn from Kingston University’s Small Business Research Centre, “This seems to worsen during difficult economic times. Although many SMEs are able to tighten their belts during an economic slowdown, late payment adds further pressure on cash flow.”

While SMEs face many challenges in the current environment, the study revealed a positive outlook amongst the small businesses surveyed. Even with the backdrop of unprecedented turbulence, most SMEs still have a clear business strategy prepared (70%). And they believe their business has a bright future in the UK, with three quarters (75%) saying they are confident they can achieve financial growth in the next five years.

“It was reassuring that the majority of respondents still think Britain is a great place to start a small business, and most believe they’ll enjoy success in the coming years.” says Edward Thorne, UK Managing Director of Dun & Bradstreet. “There’s no doubt there will be bumps along the road, but this is positive news for the overall health of the UK business environment.”

(Source: D&B)

Legacy systems are preventing nearly two thirds (64%) of US commercial banks from developing Fintech applications, research commissioned by Fintech provider Fraedom has revealed.

Interestingly, 82% of the respondents that highlighted this concern were shareholders. Over half of those polled also noted a lack of expertise within banks as an important concern (56%), just ahead of limited resources (53%).

The study included decision-makers in commercial banks including shareholders and senior managers as well as middle managers.

Commercial banks outsourcing services to a Fintech provider is clearly a trend on the rise, with only 22% of US banks revealing that they do not outsource any payment services compared to 30% of their UK counterparts.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO, Fraedom, said: “This research highlights that legacy systems are standing in the way of US commercial banks developing Fintech applications. This in turn is resulting in certain services such as commercial card and expenses being outsourced by more than three quarters of banks. It is now recognised that Fintech firms can help banks overcome these technical issues and benefit from previously untapped revenue-making opportunities.”

The research also discovered a growing inclination among commercial banks to partner with Fintech firms. The main reason for this shift is to help bring new products to market faster, as recognised by 94% of respondents.

The second most popular reason given for partnering with a Fintech was that to attract ‘new customer segments’ supported by 82% of respondents, followed by 76% who said it was to help ‘differentiate themselves from competitors’.

“US banks are beginning to see the rewards of partnering with a Fintech provider, especially when helping to bring products to market faster.” Ferguson added: “Established Fintech firms can understand the technical challenges that banks are struggling to cope with in local markets and provide an easy yet very effective solution while often differentiating them from their customers.”

(Source: Fraedom)

One third (32%) of Britons would apply for a job as a money mule, helping criminals to launder money. That’s the finding of an experiment carried out by Santander to shed light on just how convincing the ‘bogus job ad’ is: a technique which criminals use to lure people looking for work into transferring money connected to criminal activity.

Santander’s experiment involved presenting 2,000 British adults with a falsified job description to work at a fictitious company called Money Spark as a ‘Financial Transaction Control Analyst’. Details of the role included ‘receiving and processing of incoming cash funds’ and; ‘transferring of funds to accounts indicated by our managers’.

While some people were suspicious of the description of the role and spotted the tell-tale spelling mistakes and bogus link in the ad, one in three (32%) said they would definitely apply for the job if they were looking for work. What’s more, one in four (27%) said they would leave their current job to join the Money Spark Company. Alarmingly, upon learning the job was a front for criminal activity, seven% said they would still accept the job anyway. Only fifteen% correctly spotted the role was for a money mule.

Although 91% of Britons are familiar with the term money laundering, almost three quarters (71%) of those taking part had not heard of the term ‘money mule’. The research also suggests that many Britons are not aware of the true risks associated with becoming a money mule.

Sixty-nine% of the ‘applicants’ in the study did not think that becoming a money mule and partaking in the movement of stolen funds (unwittingly or not) could lead to a jail term in excess of three years (money launderers can face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years). While around a quarter of people thought the punishment would be no more than a fine or a warning.

This form of criminality is an increasing problem, with the latest official statistics showing that the number of Britons using their bank account for money mule activity has grown by 55% in the past year3. Around four% of respondents to Santander’s research believed they, or someone they knew had been approached by a criminal looking to recruit money mules, with this figure doubling to eight% for those in the age bracket 18-24 years – that’s around 453,3604 young adults across the UK.

Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Strategy at Santander UK, commented: “Santander is committed to helping consumers protect themselves against scams and fraud. Criminals often target vulnerable people, such as those desperate for a job, and our research illustrates how easily some people can be tricked into falling victim.

“We are seeing a rise in the number of fake job ads such as the one used in our experiment and raising awareness of the issue is key to preventing people unwittingly getting involved and ultimately facing life changing consequences for their actions.”

Other detail from the research revealed that flexible working was the most appealing aspect (80%) to those who were attracted to the job, followed by low working hours (62%) perceived career progression and personal development (44%).

Those aged 18-24 were the most likely to apply for the job, followed by those in the 25-34 year bracket. Regionally, those based in Northern Ireland came out as the most likely to apply for the job, followed closely by Yorkshire and Humber and West Wales.

Immediately following the conclusion of the experiment, 72% of those taking part have said they will now be more suspicious and cautious of these types of job descriptions in the future.

(Source: Santander)

Online research from Equifax, the consumer and business insights expert, reveals that 39% of Brits expect Brexit to negatively affect how they access and manage their finances.

The survey, conducted by YouGov, also highlighted the younger generations’ pessimism about Brexit with over half (56%) of 18-24 year olds believing exiting the EU will make it more difficult to access and manage their finances, compared to 30% of those 55 and over.

Of the overall 39% who think Brexit will make managing and accessing their finances more difficult, 34% believe it will make securing a loan or mortgage more difficult and 15% think it will be more difficult to get a credit card. In contrast, of the 19% of Brits who expect Brexit to have a positive impact on their ability to manage and access their finances, 9% think it will be easier to secure a loan or mortgage, and 8% think it will be easier to get a credit card.

Almost a quarter of Brits currently employed (24%) believe Brexit will worsen their employment situation, with potential job losses, pay cuts or reduced hours; only 5% of people think it will improve their employment situation. Among self-employed respondents, 26% expect Brexit to negatively impact their business, versus 8% who are positive about their business position in a post-Brexit environment.

Jake Ranson, Banking and Financial Institution expert at Equifax Ltd, said, “These findings highlight the very real consumer concerns and confusion about the impact of leaving the EU on finances. With conflicting information circulating on the issues of job security and the level of economic fallout, people are feeling very anxious. Exiting the EU is an incredibly complex process and so it’s important that people take steps to manage their finances in anticipation of unpredictable changes ahead.

“New developments in the banking sector next year, particularly Open Banking, will help people navigate the uncertain environment with new tools to manage their finances and better assess the services available to them. The industry must work together to encourage consumers to engage with these initiatives so that the full benefits are properly understood and realised.”

(Source: Equifax)

More than three quarters (77%) of commercial banks are preparing to increase fintech investment over the next three years as the rapidly growing sector shows no sign of slowing, with 86% of senior managers expecting an imminent rise in investment.

The in-depth research commissioned by Fraedom, polled 100 decision-makers in commercial banks including shareholders, middle managers and senior managers.

The survey also discovered that more than seven out of 10 (71%) respondents believe the rise of technology within commercial banks threatens traditional one-to-one banking and customer relationships. This was felt strongest among 95% of shareholders, as opposed to 67% of middle managers.

Kyle Ferguson, CEO, Fraedom, said: “The research reflects what is an upward curve for fintech organisations and to continue this trend it’s important for commercial banks to make the right choice when working with a fintech provider. By working with a trusted partner that understands the challenges of local markets, and equally how digitisation of commercial banks can support financial service offerings, this choice can often lead to further investment in the fintech industry.”

The research also revealed that despite an overall feeling that the future of the fintech sector is exceptionally bright, nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents believe commercial banks are more cautious than retail banks when it comes to adopting new technologies.

In addition, it was discovered that the most common reason for commercial banks lagging behind its retail counterpart was that ‘the market was settled and there was no strong competition from newcomers until now’. This was supported by 37% of respondents that felt retail banks surpassed commercial banking in the uptake of technologies.

“The commercial banking sector must become less cautious in embracing new technologies, especially when fintech firms can support areas of their service by outsourcing operations such as commercial cards,” adds Ferguson. “When technology is embraced at a faster pace, the gap between commercial and retail banks will become smaller and the collaboration between banks and fintech providers will help drive the future of finance, benefitting consumers, businesses and of course the industry as a whole.”

(Source: Fraedom)

For our October front cover story, Finance Monthly reached out to Joseph Pacini - the CEO and Co-Founder of XIO Group. He is responsible for the strategy and management of the global multibillion alternative investments and research. Headquartered in London, XIO Group also has operations in China, Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.

XIO Group’s strategy is to identify and invest in market-leading and high-preforming businesses located across Europe and North America, and to help these companies in capitalizing on untapped opportunities in fast-growing markets, especially those in Asia. Here Joseph tells us more about it.

What have been the alternative investment trends in Hong Kong and globally in the past twelve months.

What we have seen is that there has been a tremendous amount of competition in the market for high-quality assets. To differentiate ourselves from our competitors, we have sought to uncover untapped opportunities and proprietary deals, in order to generate substantial returns for our investors.

What were XIO Group’s beginnings?

I had known Athene Li for many years from Asia and from when I was Head of Alternative Investments at BlackRock. Initially, we were planning to work together under the BlackRock Alternatives team, but after a variety of personal/firm decisions, we decided that it would be a great opportunity to set up our own firm with a specific strategy to invest in market-leading businesses and take them to Asia.

What considerations do you look at when identifying a business to invest in?

When we look at businesses, we want to have a market leader that is already dominant in their home market, but may not have achieved that globalization to the degree that they want. We then assist the company and help them grow. We can help them grow in many regions, whether that’s in North America, Europe or Asia. However, our particular expertise is in growth into China.

What challenges would you say you and XIO encounter on a regular basis? How are these resolved?

The challenges that we and XIO face on a regular basis are connected to the intense competition on the market. There’s also a misconception that we focus solely on Chinese companies, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, we do not invest in China at all; our growth opportunities are bringing companies from the West into global high-growth markets – and specifically China.

How does your experience in alternative investments inform your decision-making strategy at XIO Group?

Having worked at large firms previously, such as Bain Capital, JP Morgan and Blackrock, I understood how large institutional players assess and go after certain markets for alternative investments, so this has given me a great foundation. However, I think running your own firm is very different, as you are an entrepreneur as well and it forces you to be “scrappy”. Effectively, you fight harder when it is your own firm because you own your destiny – whether it be success or failure.

As CEO, how do you ensure you are directing the company in the correct direction? How do you advise your team to make the correct decisions for the company?

I would simply state that as CEO, my job is to set broad goals and principals, and then allow my team to work within our framework to achieve those objectives. For example, looking at where we want to diversify our business, how we want to grow our platform, the types of businesses we look for and how we build out our portfolio – these are the strategic areas I focus on. For other decisions, we allow that to be done more on a deal team basis. I look to give our colleagues the knowledge and responsibility, as well as opportunity to bring forward their ideas on what a good investment platform would be. With that also comes the accountability.

What does a typical day look like for you? What daily challenges do you encounter and how do you overcome them?

I tend to be travelling for 2 weeks of the month but my days are similar. I start with calls to Asia for the first few hours, then I deal with meetings in the UK and in the afternoon, and then I deal with calls back to the USA. My time is divided between approximately a third spent on client type of items, a third on existing portfolios and a third on new and potential investment opportunities.

The main challenge as a CEO is how to prioritise. You have to take in a lot of information and really prioritise what’s the most important thing that only you can deal with at that time and then delegate the remaining tasks to others.

What are your strategic goals and vision for XIO’s future?

Our goal is to continue to grow out our platform, at first in private equity. Our long-term objectives are related to eventually diversifying into other alternative assets classes, similarly to how I have done it at other firms and overtime, really build a diversified alternative investments platform.

About XIO

XIO Group is a global multi-billion dollar alternative investments firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. XIO Group’s strategy is to identify and invest in market-leading and high-performing businesses located across Europe and North America and to partner with management to help these companies in capitalizing on untapped opportunities in fast growing markets, particularly those in Asia. XIO Group has operations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States of America.

 

About Joseph Pacini

Joseph Pacini is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of XIO Group. Prior to XIO Group, Joseph was Managing Director and Head of BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI) for Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Mr. Pacini was responsible for developing client-focused alternative investment strategies as well as the continued growth of BlackRock’s USD $24 billion alternatives platform and product offering in Asia.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2012, Joseph was the Head of JP Morgan Alternative Investments Group in Asia. In that capacity, Mr. Pacini’s responsibilities included the business development, origination, due diligence and structuring of hedge fund, private equity, real estate and direct deal opportunities for its USD$10 billion platform.

Before moving to Asia, Mr. Pacini was a member of the JP Morgan Private Bank Alternative Investments Due Diligence Team based in New York. Prior to joining JP Morgan in 2003, Joseph was an Analyst at the private equity firm Bain Capital, LLC. in London, England.

Joseph received a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Brigham Young University where he graduated with University Honours.

Website: http://www.xiogroup.com

A recent study from Forex Bonuses finds the countries among the 20 largest economies who are adapting quickest to using cashless systems like phones and contactless cards – revealing that Canada narrowly edges out Sweden for the top position.

The economies adopting the most cashless technology have been revealed in new research from global trading site Forex Bonuses.

Investigating twenty of the world’s most significant markets, the study looks into contactless card saturation, number of debit and credit cards issued per capita, usage of cashless methods, growth of these cashless payments, and the proportion of people who are aware of which mobile payment services are available. From these six metrics an overall ranking was calculated.

Cashless Economies

The top position has gone to Canada, who, while only having contactless functionality in 26% of their cards (compared to 41% in the UK and 56% in China) and the lowest number of debit cards per capita included in the research (0.7), were found to have over two credit cards per person, a figure only exceeded by their neighbours in the US, who had just under three.

Likewise, the majority of their payments were made using cashless means at 57% of transactions, outmatched only by 2% in both Sweden and France. The UK reached 52% on this scale, while China, despite the majority of cards being contactless, used cashless methods in only 10% of transactions. China were also the most educated on mobile payment services, with 77% of survey respondents claiming they were aware of the options available to them in this regard. In comparison, only 47% in the UK claimed the same.

(Source: Forex Bonuses)

As the traditional saying goes: In life, only two things are certain – death and taxes. Whilst death is inevitable, there are those who unfortunately try to avoid paying tax. This is evident from the ‘current list of deliberate tax defaulters’ collated by the Government (Gov.uk). It details 209 separate cases of businesses/individuals who have deliberately made errors in their tax returns or failed to comply with their tax obligations.

Turnerlittle.com, who provide financial services, assessed the governmental data by breaking it into eleven defined categories:

Manufacturing/wholesale, property, construction, transport, professional, retail/grocery/convenience, other, individual’s in multiple ventures, hospitality and health/animal health.

By breaking it into categories, the data revealed the following:

• Businesses/individuals working in manufacturing/wholesale, collectively avoided the most amount of tax at £12,128,233.71. Included in this figure was a wholesaler of alcoholic goods based in Eastleigh (Hampshire), who alone avoided paying an astonishing £5,527,014.00 in tax.
• Those businesses/individuals in property were the next biggest avoiders, collectively accumulating a hefty £7,215,182.44 tax bill - this figure includes property developers as well as landlords who have not paid tax on income earnt from a property or properties they manage. Information for immediate release Turnerlittle.com
• Anyone working in the field of health or animal care ranked at the bottom of the list, with the least amount of tax avoided at £194,243.06. The individuals cited in the list consisted of a surgeon and medical consultant, both from London, who together contributed £132,162.06 to this figure. Second from the bottom were those businesses/individuals working in hospitality (hotels, nightclub etc) who collectively avoided paying a total of £464,290.56 in tax.
• ‘Other’, which was mentioned on the list, included those businesses/individuals who could not be clearly identified in a specific category - such as a dancer, diver and a children’s play centre. ‘Individual’s in multiple ventures’ were those who had more than one occupation or traded/involved in multiple businesses of different kinds.

James Turner, Managing Director of Turnerlittle.com commented: “The findings from this research are certainly fascinating. The amount of tax purposely avoided is astronomical. It’s certainly unfair on those who pay their fair share of tax. From a greater perspective, tax revenue is now more important than ever to the government. With the uncertainty of Brexit lurking and the government struggling to effectively manage their resources, greater tax revenue would allow them to allocate more funding to improve essential public services such as the NHS. It’s therefore essential every business/individual be prudent with their accounting and lawfully adhere to their tax obligations.”

(Source: Turnerlittle.com)