The Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (Seca) has named Gian Reto à Porta its 20th Business Angel of the Year. The pioneering Swiss fintech entrepreneur impressed the jury with his commitment as a fintech networker and successful angel investor in Swiss scaleups. He brings not only smart money to companies but also delivers personal added value.
Thomas Landis has been appointed as the operational head of Swiss FinTech Sonect. Landis is considered a pioneer of the Swiss fintech scene. He was involved in the first local payment apps Paymit and Twint, as head of innovation and also headed F10, the incubator of stock exchange operator SIX. He will now support Sonect under CEO Sandipan Chakraborty in positioning the brand in the European market.
Nasdaq-listed US Software firm MicroStrategy, like Elon Musk's Tesla, is one of the major Bitcoin players within the Bitcoin segment. The company has a market cap of some $2.7 billion. The company has purchased over 129,000 bitcoins since August 2020. The company, co-founded by CEO Michael Saylor in 1989, first bought the cryptocurrency by converting $250 million of its cash holdings into 21,454 BTC. Since then, it has converted proceeds from the software business and €2.4 billion in debts to acquire Bitcoins.
FCA-regulated e-Money Institute (EMI) has appointed Salma Kamaly as an additional director, effective May 23, 2022. Kamaly, born in September 1986, is reportedly a compliance expert who also serves as the sole director of JS Compliance Consultants Limited (JSCC). The company operates a rather strange website with the domain www.jslc.co.uk which certainly does not comply with the applicable compliance rules - there is no imprint and no information about the operators.
Keynote speeches by Estonia's Finance Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus and Rostyslav Dyuk, Chairman of the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovation Companies, were among the highlights of the first Global Government Fintech Lab. The Global Government FinTech Lab (www.globalgovernmentforum.com), which brought together senior officials to explore the opportunities created by fintech, took place on 1 June 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia.
Mariame McIntosh Robinson is leaving First Global Bank (FGB) next month to take a new position as managing director of a fintech company. The job she is taking up is with an undisclosed US fintech, but she will continue to operate from Jamaica. Since 2016, she has served as President and CEO of the Grace Kennedy-owned commercial bank and resigned with a success story.
Many of us have been following the trial between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard. It was streamed live from the courtroom in Virginia and was more reality TV and soap opera than trial. Amber Heard lost and now has to pay $8.35 million to Johnny Depp which she claims she doesn't have. This of course attracts scammers and rip-off artists. GoFundMe shut down a fake fundraiser seeking to raise $1 million to help Amber Heard to pay off Johnny Depp.
The Israeli PayTech BridgerPay (PC42 profile) has announced Laoura Salveta engagement as Head of Marketing. According to her LinkedIn profile, Laoura comes from the Forex field and therefore has experience in financial marketing. Most recently, she served as Chief Marketing Officer and Director at 120advertising.com in Cyprus.
The FCA-regulated digital payments processor PPRO has appointed former SWIFT CEO Lázaro Campos as its first independent chairman to strengthen its board and governance in the next phase of the company’s growth trajectory. According to his LinkedIn profile, Campos is also a Non-Executive Director at the UK-based FinTech unicorn Starling Bank.
