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Fintech

Bastion Square Partners Inc. Obtains Receipt for Its Final Prospectus

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Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – August 5, 2021) – Bastion Square Partners Inc. (the “Company“) is pleased to announce that it has filed and obtained a receipt for its final prospectus in connection with its $1.5 million initial public offering (the “IPO“). Haywood Securities Inc. is acting as the Company’s agent for the offering of 15 million common shares at a price of $0.10 per share. A copy of the final prospectus can be found on the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

The Company has received conditional approval to list its common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange pursuant to the “capital pool company” program, subject to the completion of the IPO. On completion of the $1.5 million financing, the common shares of the Company will commence trading as a capital pool company under the ticker symbol “BASQ.P”. After the payment of fees and expenses, the Company clarifies that it will have an estimated $1,824,750 for identifying and evaluating assets or business prospects.

About Bastion Square Partners Inc.

The Company’s directors and officers completed a $500,000 seed round at $0.05 per share prior to the IPO. The members of the board are Peter Gustavson, (CEO and Chairman), Briony Bayer (CFO and Corporate Secretary), Tim McElvaine, Jeremy South, Mark Longo and Dr. Hannes Blum. To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.bastionsquarepartners.com.

Peter Gustavson, FCPA, FCA, is the founder, CEO and sole director of Gustavson Capital Corporation (“GCC“), a private equity firm with a head office in Victoria, BC. Peter is also the founder, former President and CEO of Custom House Ltd. one of the world’s largest non-bank foreign exchange companies with offices in seven countries, customers in 115 countries, more than $35 billion in transactions and more than 40,000 corporate customers worldwide. In September 2009, Custom House was purchased by Western Union for US$370 million. Under Peter’s leadership Custom House was named one of the 50 best-managed companies in Canada eight years in a row by Deloitte. Peter is a recipient of an Ernst & Young Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vancouver Island Business Excellence Society in 2005. Peter is a commerce graduate with honours from the University of Manitoba in 1979 and obtained his Chartered Accountancy designation in 1982, and was awarded the title “Fellow Chartered Accountant” by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC in 2005.

Peter’s past board membership and community service include Member of the Board of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, President of the Canadian Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association, Member of the University of Victoria School of Business Advisory Board, Participant in the Prime Minister’s Federal Trade missions (Moscow /Berlin /Munich and China, respectively) in 2002 and 2005, Consultant to the federal government on the creation of anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime legislation, Director and Chair Finance and Audit Committee Member of the Royal BC Museum, Chair of the Gustavson School of Business Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Committee and Governor of the University of Victoria Board of Governors. In 2010 the University of Victoria recognized Peter’s contributions to the University by renaming the Faculty of Business to the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business

Briony Bayer is a CPA, CA with over 15 years’ experience in senior finance roles. Briony is currently CFO of GCC where she has oversight responsibility for GCC’s assets, including securities portfolios, alternative investments, real estate assets, and subsidiaries. She is also responsible for due diligence and investment recommendation on the various private equity opportunities presented to GCC. Prior to joining GCC, Briony held senior finance roles at Custom House Ltd. (2005 – 2010) and ACD Systems International Inc., a publicly traded company listed on the TSX (2003 – 2005). Briony has also held board positions with privately held companies and not-for-profit organizations.

Tim McElvaine, CPA, CA, CFA, is the founder and President of McElvaine Investment Management Ltd., investment advisor to The McElvaine Investment Trust. Tim developed his value-oriented philosophy during his 12-year career with Peter Cundill & Associates Ltd. where, amongst other positions, he served as Manager of the Cundill Security Fund (1992-1999), Co-Manager of the Cundill Value Fund (1998-2003) and Chief Investment Officer (1998-2003). Tim has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University in 1986, qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1988 and as a Chartered Financial Analyst in 1992. After working at Touche Ross in Toronto (1986-1989), Tim started his investment career with Bank of N.T. Butterfield in Bermuda (1989-1991) and joined Peter Cundill in 1991. Tim is currently a director of WeCommerce Holdings Ltd. and has served on the boards of Glacier Media Inc (2014-2019), Wow Unlimited Media Inc. (formerly Rainmaker Entertainment Inc.) (2007-2016), Humpty Dumpty Snack Foods (2005-2006) and Sun-Rype Products (2001-2005). Tim has been a speaker at value investing conferences including the Value Investing Seminar in Italy, Institute of Advanced Financial Planners Annual Symposium and The Ben Graham Centre’s Value Investing Conference in Toronto. In addition, Tim has appeared on BNN, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, Outstanding Investor Digest, Manual of Ideas and has been featured in the investment book Stock Market Superstars.

Jeremy South, CA, ICD.D, is a senior finance and M&A professional with over 35 years of experience with leading global organizations including Deutsche Bank and Deloitte. He has held senior positions with leading private equity and investment banking firms in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Jeremy is a qualified chartered accountant and was joint Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Second City Capital where he successfully invested in a number of private businesses across North America. From 2006 to 2016 Jeremy was an M&A partner at Deloitte where he founded the British Columbia mid-market M&A practice. While at Deloitte he spent four years in Beijing, where he built a global M&A practice and assembled a strong network of investors and corporate relationships across Asia. Jeremy has deep experience in the C suite across multiple sectors including technology, consumer business, financial services and mining. In 2017, Jeremy co-founded SouthPac Partners Inc., a private investment group focused on operating businesses and real estate assets. He is an experienced corporate director and board Chair, with public and private companies, and he holds the ICD.D designation.

Mark Longo, LL.B, MBA, is Co-Chair of the Emerging and High Growth Companies Group at the full-service, national law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. Mark founded the Osler Vancouver office in 2015 and has been the Vancouver office Managing Partner from inception and is a member of Osler’s national Operations Committee. Mark has over 25 years of experience in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and technology law focused on the technology sector. Prior to joining Osler, Mark founded and was a Partner in the Vancouver office of the law firm LaBarge Weinstein LLP from 2012 to 2015. From 2009 to 2012, Mark was a Partner in the Corporate Finance and Technology groups of the Vancouver law firm Clark Wilson LLP. Previous to his return to private practice, Mark spent 15 years as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and in senior executive positions for private and publicly traded multinational technology companies, including Intrinsyc Technologies Corp. from 2007 to 2009 (TSX-listed technology company headquartered in Vancouver acquired by Lantronix), Datawire Communication Networks Inc. from 2001 to 2007 (venture backed fintech company headquartered in Toronto acquired by First Data Corp.) and Star Data Systems Inc. from 1996 to 2001 (TSX-listed fintech company headquartered in Toronto acquired by CGI Group).

Mark is a founding Director and member of the Audit Committee of the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre and is formerly a Director and Chair of the Governance Committee of the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council (VIATEC). Mark is ranked as a leading lawyer in the areas of startups and emerging companies, corporate mid-market, technology and capital markets by legal ranking publications Chambers & Partners, Lexpert and IFLR. Mark obtained his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, his LL.B. from Queen’s University and his Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Political Science) from McGill University.

Dr. Hannes Blum, PhD, is a seasoned executive with a broad know-how in the digital world from start-ups to large scale operations. He started his career with The Boston Consulting Group working with multinationals in the Financial and Industrial Goods sector after finishing his Masters in Business and Engineering in Germany. In 1999, Hannes founded his first internet company in Europe and merged it with Canada based AbeBooks Inc. in 2001. Hannes then took over as CEO of AbeBooks in 2003, scaled the business and acquired five companies before selling AbeBooks to Amazon.com in 2008. Hannes continued to serve as a VP for Amazon.com for seven years before joining Munich based Growth Venture Fund Acton Capital Partners as a Venture Partner for North America in 2015. Hannes has served on the board of directors of a number of private companies, including Codename Entertainment, Maple Telehealth, Mobify, Chef’s Plate and Knix Wear

For further information about the Company, please contact:

Mr. Peter Gustavson, CEO, Chairman & Director
Email: [email protected]

Ms. Briony Bayer, CEO, Corporate Secretary & Director
Telephone: 250-412-1292
Email: [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities described herein have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements under the U.S. Securities Act and any applicable state securities laws.

Certain information contained herein constitutes “forward-looking information” under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the final prospectus, completion of the offering and listing the Company’s common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “will” or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results “will” occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, use of proceeds from the financing, capital expenditures and other costs, and financing and additional capital requirements. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that is incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE US OR TO US NEWSIRE SERVICES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/91737

Fintech

How to identify authenticity in crypto influencer channels

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Modern brands stake on influencer marketing, with 76% of users making a purchase after seeing a product on social media.The cryptocurrency industry is no exception to this trend. However, promoting crypto products through influencer marketing can be particularly challenging. Crypto influencers pose a significant risk to a brand’s reputation and ROI due to rampant scams. Approximately 80% of channels provide fake statistics, including followers counts and engagement metrics. Additionally, this niche is characterized by high CPMs, which can increase the risk of financial loss for brands.

In this article Nadia Bubennnikova, Head of agency Famesters, will explore the most important things to look for in crypto channels to find the perfect match for influencer marketing collaborations.

 

  1. Comments 

There are several levels related to this point.

 

LEVEL 1

Analyze approximately 10 of the channel’s latest videos, looking through the comments to ensure they are not purchased from dubious sources. For example, such comments as “Yes sir, great video!”; “Thanks!”; “Love you man!”; “Quality content”, and others most certainly are bot-generated and should be avoided.

Just to compare: 

LEVEL 2

Don’t rush to conclude that you’ve discovered the perfect crypto channel just because you’ve come across some logical comments that align with the video’s topic. This may seem controversial, but it’s important to dive deeper. When you encounter a channel with logical comments, ensure that they are unique and not duplicated under the description box. Some creators are smarter than just buying comments from the first link that Google shows you when you search “buy YouTube comments”. They generate topics, provide multiple examples, or upload lists of examples, all produced by AI. You can either manually review the comments or use a script to parse all the YouTube comments into an Excel file. Then, add a formula to highlight any duplicates.

LEVEL 3

It is also a must to check the names of the profiles that leave the comments: most of the bot-generated comments are easy to track: they will all have the usernames made of random symbols and numbers, random first and last name combinations, “Habibi”, etc. No profile pictures on all comments is also a red flag.

 

LEVEL 4

Another important factor to consider when assessing comment authenticity is the posting date. If all the comments were posted on the same day, it’s likely that the traffic was purchased.

 

2. Average views number per video

This is indeed one of the key metrics to consider when selecting an influencer for collaboration, regardless of the product type. What specific factors should we focus on?

First & foremost: the views dynamics on the channel. The most desirable type of YouTube channel in terms of views is one that maintains stable viewership across all of its videos. This stability serves as proof of an active and loyal audience genuinely interested in the creator’s content, unlike channels where views vary significantly from one video to another.

Many unauthentic crypto channels not only buy YouTube comments but also invest in increasing video views to create the impression of stability. So, what exactly should we look at in terms of views? Firstly, calculate the average number of views based on the ten latest videos. Then, compare this figure to the views of the most recent videos posted within the past week. If you notice that these new videos have nearly the same number of views as those posted a month or two ago, it’s a clear red flag. Typically, a YouTube channel experiences lower views on new videos, with the number increasing organically each day as the audience engages with the content. If you see a video posted just three days ago already garnering 30k views, matching the total views of older videos, it’s a sign of fraudulent traffic purchased to create the illusion of view stability.

 

3. Influencer’s channel statistics

The primary statistics of interest are region and demographic split, and sometimes the device types of the viewers.

LEVEL 1

When reviewing the shared statistics, the first step is to request a video screencast instead of a simple screenshot. This is because it takes more time to organically edit a video than a screenshot, making it harder to manipulate the statistics. If the creator refuses, step two (if only screenshots are provided) is to download them and check the file’s properties on your computer. Look for details such as whether it was created with Adobe Photoshop or the color profile, typically Adobe RGB, to determine if the screenshot has been edited.

LEVEL 2

After confirming the authenticity of the stats screenshot, it’s crucial to analyze the data. For instance, if you’re examining a channel conducted in Spanish with all videos filmed in the same language, it would raise concerns to find a significant audience from countries like India or Turkey. This discrepancy, where the audience doesn’t align with regions known for speaking the language, is a red flag.

If we’re considering an English-language crypto channel, it typically suggests an international audience, as English’s global use for quality educational content on niche topics like crypto. However, certain considerations apply. For instance, if an English-speaking channel shows a significant percentage of Polish viewers (15% to 30%) without any mention of the Polish language, it could indicate fake followers and views. However, if the channel’s creator is Polish, occasionally posts videos in Polish alongside English, and receives Polish comments, it’s important not to rush to conclusions.

Example of statistics

 

Wrapping up

These are the main factors to consider when selecting an influencer to promote your crypto product. Once you’ve launched the campaign, there are also some markers to show which creators did bring the authentic traffic and which used some tools to create the illusion of an active and engaged audience. While this may seem obvious, it’s still worth mentioning. After the video is posted, allow 5-7 days for it to accumulate a basic number of views, then check performance metrics such as views, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), signups, and conversion rate (CR) from clicks to signups.

If you overlooked some red flags when selecting crypto channels for your launch, you might find the following outcomes: channels with high views numbers and high CTRs, demonstrating the real interest of the audience, yet with remarkably low conversion rates. In the worst-case scenario, you might witness thousands of clicks resulting in zero to just a few signups. While this might suggest technical issues in other industries, in crypto campaigns it indicates that the creator engaged in the campaign not only bought fake views and comments but also link clicks. And this happens more often than you may realize.

Summing up, choosing the right crypto creator to promote your product is indeed a tricky job that requires a lot of resources to be put into the search process. 

Author Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency  at Famesters

Author

Nadia Bubennikova, Head of agency at Famesters

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Fintech

Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space

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The BIS, along with seven leading central banks and a cohort of private financial firms, has embarked on an ambitious venture known as Project Agorá.

Named after the Greek word for “marketplace,” this initiative stands at the forefront of exploring the potential of tokenisation to significantly enhance the operational efficiency of the monetary system worldwide.

Central to this pioneering project are the Bank of France (on behalf of the Eurosystem), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. These institutions have joined forces under the banner of Project Agorá, in partnership with an extensive assembly of private financial entities convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

At the heart of Project Agorá is the pursuit of integrating tokenised commercial bank deposits with tokenised wholesale central bank money within a unified, public-private programmable financial platform. By harnessing the advanced capabilities of smart contracts and programmability, the project aspires to unlock new transactional possibilities that were previously infeasible or impractical, thereby fostering novel opportunities that could benefit businesses and consumers alike.

The collaborative effort seeks to address and surmount a variety of structural inefficiencies that currently plague cross-border payments. These challenges include disparate legal, regulatory, and technical standards; varying operating hours and time zones; and the heightened complexity associated with conducting financial integrity checks (such as anti-money laundering and customer verification procedures), which are often redundantly executed across multiple stages of a single transaction due to the involvement of several intermediaries.

As a beacon of experimental and exploratory projects, the BIS Innovation Hub is committed to delivering public goods to the global central banking community through initiatives like Project Agorá. In line with this mission, the BIS will soon issue a call for expressions of interest from private financial institutions eager to contribute to this ground-breaking project. The IIF will facilitate the involvement of private sector participants, extending an invitation to regulated financial institutions representing each of the seven aforementioned currencies to partake in this transformative endeavour.

Source: fintech.globa

The post Central banks and the FinTech sector unite to change global payments space appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

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TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud

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TD Bank has inked a multi-year deal with Google Cloud as it looks to streamline the development and deployment of new products and services.

The deal will see the Canadian banking group integrate the vendor’s cloud services into a wider portion of its technology solutions portfolio, a move which TD expects will enable it “to respond quickly to changing customer expectations by rolling out new features, updates, or entirely new financial products at an accelerated pace”.

This marks an expansion of the already established relationship between TD Bank and Google Cloud after the group previously adopted the vendor’s Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) for TD Securities Automated Trading (TDSAT), the Chicago-based subsidiary of its investment banking unit, TD Securities.

TDSAT uses GKE for process automation and quantitative modelling across fixed income markets, resulting in the development of a “data-driven research platform” capable of processing large research workloads in trading.

Dan Bosman, SVP and CIO of TD Securities, claims the infrastructure has so far supported TDSAT with “compute-intensive quantitative analysis” while expanding the subsidiary’s “trading volumes and portfolio size”.

TD’s new partnership with Google Cloud will see the group attempt to replicate the same level of success across its entire portfolio.

Source: fintechfutures.com

The post TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

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