Leveraging Infosys Cobalt to deliver industry-leading infrastructure-managed services

BENGALURU, India, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced a multi-year strategic collaboration with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to optimize and modernize FAB’s IT infrastructure services.

As part of this collaboration, Infosys will leverage Infosys Cobalt, a set of services, solutions, and platforms for enterprises to accelerate their cloud journey, to deliver industry-leading, infrastructure-managed services, including service desk capabilities, to transform FAB’s IT infrastructure. Infosys will help integrate a suite of enterprise tools to drive significant improvements in FAB’s service quality, risk reduction, and business outcomes. These include:

• Artificial Intelligence- (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)-based automation, providing self-healing and self-help capabilities.
• Proactive and prognostic monitoring and observability, improving the resilience of the infrastructure estate.
• Blueprint-based environment provisioning, helping to reduce provisioning time exponentially, allowing faster time to market.
• Leveraging Infosys Topaz, an AI-first set of services, solutions, and platforms, using generative AI technologies to improve productivity and efficiency.

The collaboration aims to transition to an outcome-oriented, automated-managed services model that delivers high-quality, compliant IT services with increased speed and agility. In the long term, it will also establish a highly scalable and flexible IT infrastructure. 

The Middle East is a strategic growth market for Infosys, and this collaboration furthers Infosys’ committed focus in the region to enable large enterprises to navigate their cloud-first, digital-first, and AI-first journeys.

Suhail Bin Tarraf, Group Chief Operating Officer, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), said, “At FAB, we are committed to transforming our IT organization and delivering world-class services that drive tangible business outcomes. After a thorough evaluation, we selected Infosys as our strategic partner due to their proven expertise, innovative solutions, and the strong trust they built at all levels. Infosys’ outcome-oriented managed services model coupled with their automation-powered delivery approach will help us significantly improve service quality, compliance, and operational efficiency.”

Dennis Gada, Executive Vice President and Global Head of Banking & Financial Services, Infosys, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with First Abu Dhabi Bank to optimize and modernize their IT infrastructure services, by leveraging Infosys Cobalt and Infosys Topaz. FAB recognized the need to transform their IT operating model, and entrusted Infosys with their IT infrastructure, enabling their digital journey to proceed faster and with more resilience on the backend. By leveraging our global expertise and investments in AI, cloud and infra, Infosys will also enable FAB to transition to an outcome-oriented, automation-driven execution model and help position it as a digital leader in the financial services industry.”

About First Abu Dhabi Bank:

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi with a strategic global footprint across 20 markets, FAB is the finance and trade gateway to the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). With total assets of AED 1.2 trillion (USD 323 billion), FAB is among the top 50 banks globally by market capitalisation and one of the world’s largest banking groups. The bank provides financial expertise to its wholesale and retail client franchise across four business units: Investment Banking, Corporate and Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking, and Global Private Banking. FAB is listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and rated Aa3/AA-/AA- by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch, respectively, with a stable outlook. On sustainability, FAB holds an MSCI rating of ‘A’, also ranked among the top 10% of banks globally by Refinitiv’s ESG Scores and the best performer in the MENA region.

For further information, visit: www.bankfab.com

About Infosys

Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 300,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses and communities. We enable clients in more than 56 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by cloud and AI. We enable them with an AI-first core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace.

Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next.

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, or our future financial or operating performance, are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the ‘safe harbor’ under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the execution of our business strategy, our ability to attract and retain personnel, our transition to hybrid work model, economic uncertainties, technological innovations such as Generative AI, the complex and evolving regulatory landscape including immigration regulation changes, our ESG vision, our capital allocation policy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity, capital resources, our corporate actions including acquisitions, and cybersecurity matters. Important factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our US Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

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LONDON, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IRIS Software Group, a leading global software provider of accounting, edtech, payroll and HR solutions, today released the results of its anonymous poll of UK-based accountants, conducted during February and March 2024. Accountants responded to 13 multiple-choice questions pertaining to pricing, AML compliance, and cybersecurity confidence.

How much do accountants charge across the UK?

• Tax returns: 90% of respondents charge between £126 and £400 for a tax return. The remainder charge £400 to £600 with 1% charging over £600.
• Bookkeeping: 84% charge between £25 and £40 for bookkeeping per hour. The remainder charge more than £40 per hour.
• Set of accounts: 78% charge between £500 and £1000 for a set of accounts, with 22% charging more than £1000.
• Advisory services: 38% of accountants offer advisory services are part of their compliance work. 60% charge separately and 2% do not offer advisory services.

Process and efficiency
63% of survey respondents indicated that they need to strengthen their efficiency, yet 56% still use paper-based processes to handle anti-money laundering (AML) compliance, 72% have not mapped out and documented their processes in over 18 months, and 53% still monitor and manage workflow tasks in spreadsheets.

Cybersecurity preparedness

• High cybersecurity confidence: The majority of accountants feel confident that their firms are protected against potential cybersecurity attacks, with accountants in the North West feeling the most confident (77%) and accountants in the Midlands feeling least confident (46%).
• Multi-factor authentication: Accountants in Scotland are more likely (62%) to utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) than those in Northern Ireland (35%). For accountants in the North West, the Midlands and the South East, MFA usage was split down the middle, with 55%, 48%, and 45%, respectively.
• Reliability: Only 6% of respondents in Northern Ireland experienced ‘slow downs’ in the speed of their internet connection during peak times of usage, compared with 36% in Scotland.

Commenting on the research, Mark Chambers, Managing Director for Accountancy at IRIS said: “Digitisation and automation not only help accountants work smarter and spend less time on manual tasks and compliance obligations, but also free up capacity to take on higher-value advisory roles. This said, in a landscape of cybersecurity threats, it’s essential for accountancy practices to adopt multi-factor authentication and conduct rigorous evaluations of technology suppliers. The Government’s Cyber Essentials self-assessment and certification is a strong benchmark and standard to adopt.”

Notes to editors:

The anonymous IRIS poll received 139 responses.  The full dataset is available on request.

About IRIS Software Group
IRIS Software Group is a global provider of mission critical software and one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies. IRIS provides software solutions and services for finance, HR and payroll teams, educational organizations, and accountancy firms that takes the pain out of processes and lets professionals focus on the work they love. Through simplifying, automating and providing insights on everyday mission critical tasks for organizations of all shapes and sizes, IRIS ensures customers can look forward with certainty and confidence.

IRIS is the largest third-party online filer with the UK Government. Ninety-three of the top 100 UK accountancy firms use IRIS software. One in six of the UK’s workforce is paid by IRIS payroll offerings, and globally, six million employees receive their payslip via IRIS software every month. More than 850,000 UK employees are managed by IRIS HR solutions. Over 12,000 UK schools and academies use IRIS, with four million parents and guardians using IRIS apps to connect with their children’s school; 300 million messages are delivered between schools and parents each year, and over £15 million transactional payments are processed every month. IRIS is certified as a Great Place to Work® and recognized as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality in 2023. IRIS is also recognized as one of the Best Workplaces for Wellbeing, one of the Best Workplaces in Tech and one of the Best Workplaces for Women.

To see how IRIS helps organisations get things right first time, every time, visit www.iris.co.uk or follow IRIS Software Group on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

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LONDON, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, leading embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, OpenPayd announces its partnership with Wirex, a prominent Web3 money app, to provide named virtual IBANs to its customers across the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) strengthening Wirex’s core mission to provide easy, fast and secure payment methods to its customers.

The partnership will see OpenPayd issue virtual IBANs to Wirex customers in 30+ countries across the UK and EEA. Customers will have access to the Faster Payments network in the UK and Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant payments for Euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals.

The service will be fully embedded into Wirex’s infrastructure via OpenPayd’s single, developer-friendly API. Wirex customers will receive a unique, named IBAN, enabling them to seamlessly transfer EUR and GBP between their Wirex and bank accounts. Payments across OpenPayd’s SEPA Instant and Faster Payments rails take place in real-time, 24/7, 365 days of the year, leading to a significant improvement in customer experience.

“High-growth digital assets businesses need reliable, scalable banking and payments partners to deliver a seamless user experience without incurring delays or prohibitive fees,” said Iana Dimitrova, CEO of OpenPayd. “Wirex is a trusted, established and growing player in the digital assets market. Our reliable platform, with 99.99% uptime, will support Wirex in its mission to make cryptocurrency more secure, accessible and available to everyone.”

“At Wirex, we strive to bridge the gap between the traditional and digital economies, so it’s vital that our customers can easily make and receive payments via SEPA Instant and Faster Payments. OpenPayd’s tech stack is not only state of the art and easy to integrate, it’s also proven at scale – processing millions of transactions monthly,” said Pavel Matveev, CEO and Co-Founder of Wirex. “Named IBANs offer our customers an improved user experience and an even more personalised service. They also enable our teams to completely automate back office account reconciliation. OpenPayd is the perfect partner to facilitate the instant, accessible and secure payments our customers need.”

About OpenPayd

OpenPayd builds embedded finance and banking-as-a-service infrastructure that powers business growth. With OpenPayd’s financial services infrastructure, innovative companies can build new products, streamline their operations and manage their payments on a global scale.

The OpenPayd platform delivers a full suite of banking and payments infrastructure: accounts, FX, international and domestic payments and Open Banking services – all via a single API. With a growing network of licences across the UK, Europe and North America, OpenPayd is providing the banking infrastructure digital businesses need to thrive.

For additional information on OpenPayd, please visit https://openpayd.com/.

About Wirex 

Wirex is a prominent UK-based digital payments platform with over 6 million customers spread across 130 countries. It offers secure accounts, making it easy for users to store, purchase, and exchange multiple currencies seamlessly. 

As a principal member of both Visa and Mastercard, Wirex goes beyond traditional services, embracing the evolving trends of Web3 to provide mainstream access to digital finance and wealth management.

Having processed transactions totalling $20 billion, Wirex aims to contribute to the adoption of a cashless society by facilitating straightforward transactions in various currencies worldwide. Wirex is simplifying digital payments, making it more accessible and convenient for people across the globe.

For additional information on Wirex, please visit https://wirexapp.com/

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