Paratus to write the world’s first policy for renewable power price protection

GUERNSEY and LONDON, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Paratus Holdings Limited (“Paratus”), the world’s first (re)insurance group underwriting energy price risk, today announces that Paratus Renewables Insurance Limited has been granted regulatory approval by the Guernsey Financial Services Authority (“GFSC”) to provide insurance cover to the renewable power industry.

Paratus provides innovative and commercially viable insurance solutions to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and sustainable fuels. The licence approval will expand the product offering beyond aviation, maritime, and freight to renewable power including wind, solar, biofuels, and hydrogen.

Paratus renewable power insurance protects generators from adverse energy price risk, improving the competitiveness of renewable assets when compared to traditional price risk mitigation solutions. Equally, their policies enable power consumers to better manage operating costs and protect balance-sheets in a highly opaque marketplace. Through a deep understanding of the renewables energy sector, Paratus partners with clients to navigate a complex energy market.

The regulatory approval by the GFSC marks another significant milestone for the business. In January 2023, Paratus announced the completion of a growth equity investment from Ara Partners (“Ara”), a global private equity and infrastructure firm focused on industrial decarbonisation. The Ara investment has provided the capital required for Paratus to significantly scale and enhance the product offering.

Gus Majed, Group CEO and Founder, Paratus, commented: “The renewable power licence is central to our future growth. We are writing the world’s first policy for renewable power price protection and our product will have a transformative impact on the renewable energy industry. It will help catalyse the growth and competitiveness of renewable power assets, as Paratus expands across the U.K., Europe and the U.S.

Our focus is on providing clear, simple and transparent solutions that transform how firms mitigate adverse energy price volatility. This is a crucial step forward for the business and for the industry, as our world first renewable power price insurance policy will accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources and sustainable fuels.”

Paratus has further enhanced its offering by partnering with px Group, a fully licenced Ofgem supply business that provides power balancing capabilities. This partnership enables Paratus & Partners, the Group’s insurance brokerage division, to leverage px Group’s capability to provide Paratus and clients with compelling economics for physical offtake and 24/7 monitoring services, when they take out an insurance policy.

Gus added: “px Group has long standing experience and a first-class reputation for working with customers in the renewable energy space, and we are confident that this strategic partnership will help to support renewable power producers even more effectively, as they drive the transition to net zero. With px Group, we can deliver an end-to-end complete solution for renewable power generators.”

About Paratus

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Paratus is the world’s first (re)insurer underwriting energy price risk with innovative solutions to protect against adverse energy price volatility and accelerate the transition to net-zero. A unique partnership of world-class experts in energy, insurance, and technology, Paratus is backed by Ara Partners, a $6.2 billion global private equity and infrastructure firm focused on industrial decarbonisation, and underwritten by globally rated financial institutions.

About px Group

px Group is a fully integrated infrastructure solutions business delivering innovative management services for high hazard and highly regulated environments. px Group manages, operates and maintains some of the largest industrial facilities in the UK and in Norway, and owns the world-renowned Saltend Chemicals Park at the heart of the UK’s Energy Estuary. 

With over 25 years’ experience, and operations in the UK, Norway, Germany and the Americas, px Group delivers end-to-end specialist services in operations & maintenance, engineering services and energy solutions across the industrial and energy infrastructure sectors. 

About Ara Partners 

Ara Partners is a global private equity and infrastructure investment firm focused on industrial decarbonization. Founded in 2017, Ara Partners seeks to build and scale companies with significant decarbonization impact across the industrial and manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green fuels, and food and agriculture sectors. The company operates from offices in Houston, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Dublin. Ara Partners closed its third private equity fund in December 2023 with over $2.8 billion in capital commitments. As of March 31, 2024, Ara Partners had approximately $6.2 billion of assets under management. For more information about Ara Partners, please visit www.arapartners.com.

Media contacts 

Kapil Arya / Ed Shelley
Lansons
[email protected]
07550044000

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EDINBURGH, Scotland and LONDON, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Zumo, the B2B digital assets infrastructure, has launched a new out-of-box feature that enables crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) active in the European Union (EU) to comply with the upcoming sustainability requirements of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.

Recent industry research has suggested that more than 80% of CASPs may be unaware of the need to report sustainability indicators from ESMA’s end-of-year deadline.

Under new rules, CASPs with a EU client footprint – including exchanges, brokerages, custodians and trading firms – will need to provide a compliant website disclosure covering the environmental impact of offered crypto-assets from 30 December 2024.

Amidst a flurry of incoming requirements, Zumo’s new Oxygen MiCA compliance module will help CASPs across the EU to streamline and simplify their sustainability compliance through auto-generated MiCA website disclosure reports, and allows CASPs to easily access MiCA-compliant sustainability metrics for their listed crypto-assets.

The solution draws on best-in-class sustainability data from Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI), one of Zumo’s strategic partners, and further builds on Zumo’s Oxygen proposition, first introduced to help providers of crypto-asset services better align their digital asset activities with net zero principles. 

Nick Jones, Founder and CEO, Zumo, said: “MiCA’s sustainability requirements are going live to a tight deadline, and bring with them complex data questions and unfamiliar compliance requirements at a time when the industry is already having to confront a wide range of new operational mandates.”

“It’s become clear that CASPs across Europe simply aren’t ready. With our MiCA solution, we’re removing one small headache by providing the single interface that helps CASPs cut through the hassle of pulling sustainability data together, formatting an appropriate template, and providing the output that ESMA is looking for.”

“It’s another important step on our sustainability journey to develop the tools that will enable service providers to comply with current and future sustainability compliance requirements.”

Zumo is widely seen as a pioneer for its sustainability work in the digital assets sphere. The company was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Crypto Sustainability Coalition, recently signed the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration and has been recognised via a number of prestigious awards programmes.

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Built to meet the needs of global travel companies and their customers, the APM Hub delivers fast, simplified access to critical alternative payment solutions in every market

LONDON, Sept. 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — CellPoint Digital, the leading provider of payment solutions to the airline industry and a global pioneer of Payment Orchestration, is launching its new APM Hub, a comprehensive suite of 168 global alternative payment methods (APMs) available to existing CellPoint Digital clients through a centralised contracting and onboarding process. Recognising the business-critical role APMs play for airlines and travel providers, the APM Hub streamlines and accelerates access to these important payment options, offering a faster time-to-market and simplified integration.

The APM Hub officially launches in early Q4 2024, giving CellPoint Digital customers access to 168 of the most critical alternative payment methods worldwide. By partnering closely with merchants, CellPoint Digital ensures a simplified, single-integration solution and built-in redundancy across its entire ecosystem, providing merchants with a more reliable and resilient payment infrastructure.

Latin America and the EU will be the first regions to go live, with further expansion into the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific planned for late 2024 and continuing into 2025. Airlines such as Arajet, along with many others, are set to benefit significantly from the launch of the APM Hub, enhancing their payment capabilities and customer experience.

Tom Randklev, Global Head of Product at CellPoint Digital, said: “The launch of the APM Hub underscores the growing importance of APMs in what merchants need to offer. We’re committed to investing in these solutions today to help drive future business growth—for our partners and ourselves.”

Growing Demand and Opportunity for APMs in Travel

APMs, including digital wallets, cash vouchers, bank transfers, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), are rapidly gaining popularity with consumers worldwide. This surge in demand is prompting merchants across industries to offer more APMs to their customers, spurring innovation in the payments sector with new options continuously emerging.

The need to support APMs is especially urgent in the travel industry. According to CellPoint Digital’s airline payments report, Payments Come of Age, one in three full-service carriers (FSCs) and nearly half of low-cost carriers (LCCs) currently do not accept APMs. Moreover, three in ten airlines cited the lack of available APMs and regional payment methods as their biggest payment-related challenge.

CellPoint Digital’s new APM Hub is designed to help merchants in aviation and other travel sectors close these gaps by expanding the range of payment options they can offer travellers. By supporting local payment preferences, merchants can increase conversion rates, improve acceptance rates, and reduce cart abandonment.

The APM Hub will also enable faster and easier entry into new markets. Available to all CellPoint Digital clients and users of its Payment Orchestration Platform, the APM Hub offers access to global APMs through a single processing platform, with simplified contract addendums and partner click-through terms. CellPoint Digital provides support at every stage—from pricing and integration to onboarding and first-level customer service.

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A Bridge for APM Providers to Connect with Leading Travel Brands

The hub opens new opportunities for APM providers to reach customers from many leading airline and travel brands. Head of Partnerships at CellPoint Digital, Andy Sale, said: “By consolidating all APMs into a single hub, we’ll drive greater adoption among our merchants and further solidify CellPoint Digital’s position as the go-to provider for APMs in the airline and travel industry”.

“We’re excited to lead the way and partner with leading players in the APM space, which we believe will quickly become a key player in the alternative payments ecosystem.”

For more information about CellPoint Digital’s APM Hub or to schedule an interview with Global Head of Product Tom Randklev, please get in touch with Steven Osei at [email protected] 

About CellPoint Digital   
CellPoint Digital is a fintech leader whose main solution is a Payment Orchestration Platform optimising digital payment transactions. Merchants can scale their payment ecosystem across the world, unify the customer payment experience across their website and other channels and optimise the routing of each transaction. Visit www.cellpointdigital.com to learn more. 

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