Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
Laptop and phone being simultaneously used.
iStock_poike_ti_AWEB

Tech Lowdown: Ecosia, ACCA, Capitalise, BrightPay, AccountsIQ and more

by

This week, our tech round-up features a new, wooden eco-card from Ecosia, ACCA's partnership with Capitalise, BrightPay's integration with AccountsIQ and Monument receives its banking licence in record time.

12th Nov 2020
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Ecosia invests in wooden payment card startup

Eco-friendly search engine Ecosia, known for planting trees in exchange for searches ad revenue generated from user searched, has invested in a payment card. The search engine has invested £1m for a 20% stake in wooden payment card TreeCard, which uses its profits from merchant surcharges towards reforestation programmes.

The wooden card uses 80% of profits to plant trees through Ecosia's 38 reforestation projects. The cards use sustainably sourced FSC cherry woods which produce over 300,000 cards from one tree.

For every £45 spend using TreeCard, a new tree will be planted. TreeCard's app allows users to monitor how many trees have been planted, track spending and split bills with friends.

 

TreeCard Ecosia payment card
TreeCard_Ecosia

“We’re looking to get at least 100,000 people on board,’ said TreeCard co-founder Jamie Cox. “We estimate that this would help us fund the planting of six million trees. TreeCard will be launching in the US and a number of EU markets over the next twelve months, but so much depends on the interest and sign-ups we get from Ecosia’s users around the world.’

****

ACCA partner with Capitalise 

As part of ACCA's partnership with Capitalise, UK fintech Capitalise.com is offering ACCA UK members access to its two CPD certified Learn courses:

  • Core: An introduction to funding, the changing role of the bank manager, an overview of the funding market, and insight on compliance and your new role (approx. 1.5 hours CPD)
  • Adviser: Teaches how banks approach lending, how to have confident conversations with clients and takes a closer look at the different types of funding available (approx. 3 hours CPD).

Each course has its own certification, is designed in bite-sized chunks that can be done in one go or across different sessions and includes a range of documents and links to help with further support.  

“Having collaborated on the #LeaveNoBusinessBehind campaign, Capitalise is thrilled to be working once again with ACCA by providing education materials for the benefit of ACCA members,” said Capitalise CEO and co-founder Paul Surtees. “With further restrictions upon the economy, SMEs will continue to need our collective support through the quarters ahead. Business owners will need further capital, these tools are designed to help you in those conversations.”

“Obtaining finance now and in the future is a vital step towards business recovery,” said ACCA head of technical advisory Glenn Collins. “We’ve worked with our partner Capitalise to provide ACCA members with access to Capitalise's CPD certified Learn courses, which will deepen knowledge around finance options, while also providing important insights into how lenders and banks work, putting professional accountants in the best position to support clients at this difficult time.”

***

BrightPay – AccountsIQ integration

BrightPay recently announced its partnership with AccountsIQ to launch integrated payroll and accounts for UK customers.

The integration allows respective customers to automatically send payroll journal figures from BrightPay into their AccountsIQ general ledger. The API imports the payroll journal to a unique file format, allowing accountants to send their payroll to AccountsIQ.

The payroll journal can include records for payslips across multiple pay frequencies. Users have the option to include individual records for each employee or they can merge the records for each unique payment date. 

“It’s great to partner with BrightPay, a fellow award-winning software company,” said  AccountsIQ’s COO Darren Cran. “This seamless one-click integration between both software, using our dynamic API, will not only save time and speed up payroll but it will also enable users to analyse their monthly payroll by GL code and multiple BI codes.”

****

Monument receives banking licence from UK regulators

New digital bank Monument has received an ‘authorisation with restriction’ (AWR) banking licence from the UK regulatory authorities, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. It has achieved this milestone in just over 18 months – rating in the fastest timelines for progress for a new bank.

 

Tech Pulse episode

Replies (1)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

Anthony Constantinou
By anthonyconstantinou
12th Nov 2020 11:36

I think this seems to be the best part of payment system "The integration allows respective customers to automatically send payroll journal figures from BrightPay into their AccountsIQ general ledger. "

Thanks (1)