Deutsche Bank announces above-market expectations for Q1 2020

Deutsche Bank expects to report group profit before tax of €206m and net income of €66m, above market expectations. Revenues are expected to be €6.4bn with noninterest expenses of €5.6bn, including contributions to the Single Resolution Fund of €0.5bn. Provisions for credit losses are expected to be €0.5bn, or 44 basis points of loans. Consensus estimates showed a wide range around each of these results.

Deutsche Bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio was 12.8% at quarter end, down from 13.6% at year end. The decline in the CET1 ratio in the quarter included approximately a 30 basis points negative impact from the revised securitisation framework as expected, and approximately 40 basis points of items precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

AvidXchange secures additional US$128m funding

AvidXchange, a provider of accounts payable (AP) and payment automation solutions for the middle market, has announced it has raised an additional US$128m in equity capital. This latest financing effort was oversubscribed with a total of more than US$388m raised and includes AvidXchange’s previously announced closing of US$260m in equity financing earlier this year. Contributing investors include Lone Pine Capital, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, Pivot Investment Partners, Mastercard, Sixth Street Partners and Neuberger Berman on behalf of clients.

AvidXchange says it will use the new capital to support strategic growth initiatives and continued innovation, helping both buyers and suppliers automate their AP and payments processes. The company’s growth has been fuelled by the adoption of its AP automation solution, a single SaaS based platform that allows businesses to gain efficiency and visibility into payments by eliminating the paper invoice and paper cheque. The solution also offers multiple e-payment options through the AvidPay Network of more than 600,000 suppliers.

Financial Technology Partners LP and FTP Securities LLC (FT Partners) served as the exclusive financial and strategic advisor to AvidXchange in this transaction.

 

Western Union expands global real-time payments network

Western Union has announced continued expansion of its Global Network for real-time money-movement and payments, across its branded money transfer and payments business as well as its expanding white-label business.

The company is expanding capability to send cross-border, cross-currency money transfers and payments real-time to 50 countries when paid into select banks and digital wallets. The expansion has been fast-tracked since the beginning of this year with the goal of assessing as many as 100 countries for real-time capabilities by the end of 2020. Western Union’s global network now includes more than four billion bank account and wallets.

Western Union’s expansion of digital pay-in and pay-out, a strategic pillar for years, has become an especially critical capability as people around the world continue making business payments and sending money to their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the crisis, Western Union has focused on accelerating the expansion of its digital money transfer capabilities so more businesses and consumers can make essential cross-border payments and transfers from the safety of their homes.

 

SurePayd tackles COVID-19 office displacement with free migration audit

SurePayd, an accounts receivable cloud platform, is offering a free remote migration audit for accounts receivable back office that needs to go cloud-based and remote to meet current demands.  

The company has taken the action because it is seeing a spike in demand across multiple industries as CFOs and other executive management scramble to make critical back office functions remote. Unfortunately, in the process and at a moment of critical cash flow needs delays in going remote have negatively impacted cash flow.

SurePayd will do the audit and also offer the ability to take card payments in the field or remotely from payees, asking for monthly hosting costs and transactions fees only and the first 2 months of service free.