Connect with us
MARE BALTICUM Gaming & TECH Summit 2024

Fintech

Ocumetics Announces Completion of Qualifying Transaction

Published

on

Calgary, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – August 31, 2021) – Ocumetics Technology Corp. (formerly Quantum Blockchain Technologies Ltd.) (TSXV: OTC) (the “Corporation“) announces that it has completed its transaction (the “Transaction“) with Ocumetics Technology Inc. (formerly Ocumetics Technology Corp.) (“Ocumetics“).

The Transaction comprised a three-cornered amalgamation among the Corporation, Ocumetics and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation (the “Amalgamation“) and a private placement described below.

The Transaction was an arm’s length transaction. The Transaction constitutes the Corporation’s Qualifying Transaction and a Reverse Takeover under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange“).

Pursuant to the Amalgamation, each of the issued and outstanding shares of Ocumetics was exchanged for three common shares of the Corporation, and each of the issued and outstanding warrants of Ocumetics were exchanged for three warrants of the Corporation having the same or similar terms. Pursuant to the Amalgamation, 80,918,502 common shares of Corporation, at a deemed price of $0.125 per share, and 2,134,251 warrants, at a deemed price of $nil, were issued pursuant to the Amalgamation, for a total deemed purchase price of $10,114,813. Of these shares, 73,650,000 common shares were subject to escrow and trading restrictions whereby 10% of such shares would be released upon the issuance by the Exchange of a final exchange bulletin with respect to the Transaction and additional tranches of 15% will be released every six months thereafter.

The Corporation issued 200,000 common shares to Haywood Securities Inc. in exchange for its services as the sponsor for the Amalgamation (the “Sponsor Shares“).

In connection with the Amalgamation, the Corporation completed a non-brokered private placement whereby an aggregate of 21,604,800 common shares were issued at a price of $0.125 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,700,600.00 (the “Private Placement“). The Corporation paid finders fees to Leede Jones Gable Inc. consisting of cash commissions of $36,750.00 and warrants to purchase up to 294,000 common shares of the Corporation at a price of $0.125 per share for 24 months. Proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to fund the research and development and upcoming clinical trials for the Bionic Lens as well as for general administrative and working capital purposes.

The Sponsor Shares and all securities issued under the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance. Shares issued under the Amalgamation were not subject to any statutory hold periods.

Immediately upon completion of the Transaction, the Corporation completed a vertical amalgamation whereby it amalgamated with the corporation formed by the Amalgamation, which was then its wholly-owned subsidiary.

In connection with the Transaction, Keith Erickson resigned as a director and officer of the Corporation, and Dr. Garth Webb and Dayton Marks were appointed directors of the Corporation. The Board of Directors of the Corporation now consists of Dr. Garth Webb, Dayton Marks, Roger Jewett, Johannes Kingma and Robert Quinn. Dr. Mark Lee was appointed the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, Xin Hui (Sandey) Wang was appointed the Chief Financial Officer and Dr. Garth Webb was appointed the Corporation’s Chief Scientific Officer. Please see the Corporation’s press release dated March 1, 2021 for a description of the qualifications and backgrounds of the directors and officers.

Following the completion of the Transaction, the Corporation issued an aggregate of 8,870,800 incentive stock options to the following directors, officers and consultants pursuant to the terms of the Stock Option Plan of the Corporation:

Optionee Position with Corporation Number of Options
Mark Lee President and Chief Executive Officer 1,623,950
Garth Webb Director and Chief Scientific Officer 1,623,950
Xin Hui (Sandey) Chief Financial Officer 250,000
Roger Jewett Director and Consultant 1,623,950
Dayton Marks Director 2,000,000
Johannes Kingma Director 125,000
Robert Quinn Director 541,317
Doyle Stulting Consultant 1,082,633
TOTAL:   8,870,800

 

Each option entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share in the capital of the Corporation, at an exercise price per common share of $0.125 for a period of five years. The options of Mark Lee, Garth Webb, Roger Jewett, Dayton Marks, Robert Quinn and Doyle Stulting will vest over a period of three years, with 15% of the options vesting six months after the date of issuance, another 15% vesting after 12 months, another 35% after 24 months and the remaining 35% after 36 months. 50% of the options of Sandey Wang will vest six months after the date of issuance and the remaining six months will vest 12 months after the date of issuance. The options of Johannes Kingma will vest immediately.

The stock options are not transferrable. The common shares issued upon exercise of the stock options will be subject to a four-month resale restriction from the date of grant.

Manning Elliott LLP, the auditor of Ocumetics, will be the auditor of the Corporation. Alliance Trust Company will continue as the transfer agent and registrar of the Corporation’s common shares.

Early Warning

As a result of the Transaction, Dr. Garth Webb, through his holding company, Ventura Holdings Ltd., now holds an aggregate of 43,200,000 Common Shares of the Corporation, or 39.90% of the Common Shares currently issued and outstanding in the share capital of the Corporation (36.11% fully diluted). Dr. Webb also holds options to purchase up to 1,623,950 Common Shares of the Corporation at a price of $0.125 per share for a period of five years. Prior to the Transaction, neither Ventura nor Dr. Webb held any shares of the Corporation.

In the future, depending on economic or market conditions or matters relating to the Corporation Dr. Webb may choose to either acquire additional securities or dispose of securities of the Corporation. Dr. Webb has no present intention to acquire additional securities of the Corporation.

About the Corporation

The Corporation is a Canadian research and product development company that specializes in adaptive lens designs, based in British Columbia. It is now in the pre-clinical stage of a game-changing technology for the ophthalmic industry – the Bionic Lens. The Bionic Lens is an expandable intraocular lens that fits within the natural lens compartment of the eye to completely eliminate the need for corrective lenses. It re-establishes the natural kinetics of the eye muscles to facilitate the eye’s ability to shift focus effortlessly from distance to near and very near range.

Resumption of Trading

Pursuant to the policies of the Exchange, trading of the shares of the Corporation has been halted. Trading of the shares of the Corporation will resume under the trading symbol, “OTC”, on September 10, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Dr. Mark Lee
President and CEO
(604) 832-6052

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

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/95066.

Fintech

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

Published

on

central-banks-and-the-fintech-sector-unite-to-change-global-payments-space

 

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.

Continue Reading

Fintech

TD Bank inks multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud

Published

on

td-bank-inks-multi-year-strategic-partnership-with-google-cloud

 

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.

Continue Reading

Fintech

MAS launches transformative platform to combat money laundering

Published

on

mas-launches-transformative-platform-to-combat-money-laundering

 

The MAS has unveiled Cosmic, an acronym for Collaborative Sharing of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and Cases, a new money laundering platform.

According to Business Times, launched on April 1, Cosmic stands out as the first centralised digital platform dedicated to combating money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing on a worldwide scale. This move follows the enactment of the Financial Services and Markets (Amendment) Act 2023, which, along with its subsidiary legislation, commenced on the same day to provide a solid legal foundation and safeguards for information sharing among financial institutions (FIs).

Cosmic enables participating FIs to exchange customer information when certain “red flags” indicate potential suspicious activities. The platform’s introduction is a testament to MAS’s commitment to ensuring the integrity of the financial sector, mandating participants to establish stringent policies and operational safeguards to maintain the confidentiality of the shared information. This strategic approach allows for the efficient exchange of intelligence on potential criminal activities while protecting legitimate customers.

Significantly, Cosmic was co-developed by MAS and six leading commercial banks in Singapore—OCBC, UOB, DBS, Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered—which will serve as participant FIs during its initial phase. The initiative emphasizes voluntary information sharing focused on addressing key financial crime risks within the commercial banking sector, such as the misuse of legal persons, trade finance, and proliferation financing.

Loo Siew Yee, assistant managing director for policy, payments, and financial crime at MAS, highlighted that Cosmic enhances the existing collaboration between the industry and law enforcement authorities, fortifying Singapore’s reputation as a well-regulated and trusted financial hub. Similarly, Pua Xiao Wei of Citi Singapore and Loretta Yuen of OCBC have expressed their institutions’ support for Cosmic, noting its potential to ramp up anti-money laundering efforts and its significance as a development in the banking sector’s ability to combat financial crimes efficiently. DBS’ Lam Chee Kin also praised Cosmic as a “game changer,” emphasizing the careful balance between combating financial crime and ensuring legitimate customers’ access to financial services.

Source: fintech.global

The post MAS launches transformative platform to combat money laundering appeared first on HIPTHER Alerts.

Continue Reading

Trending