Wednesday 26th March, 2014

Earlier this week, Tungsten provided a market update of their intended acquisition of First International Bank of Israel (FIBI) and the overall progress in integrating its financing and analytics capabilities into the e-invoicing network. The update was submitted to the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority.

The reports concludes that the board hopes to have the required approval by the end of May 2014.

The Bank board has been provisionally elected: Edi Truell chairs a board led by the CEO Phil Ashdown, Steven Clowes (CFO), Jonathan Mackay (CRO) and independent non-executives Robert Eddowes, Richard Olliver, Chris Coles and Tim Hall. In addition, Gordon Payne has joined Tungsten from Sumitomo to help lead the work on multinational Supply Chain Finance (“SCF”) provision.

Tungsten, who acquired OB10 last year, reported that they have made strong progress overall in integrating its financing and analytics capabilities into the e-invoicing network; and in organising the combined group to be capable of large-scale growth. They are now fully compliant in 44 countries, having successfully launched in Turkey and Brazil this year.

Tungsten has spent the first five months as a public company clarifying the offer: Digital Invoicing is at the core of their Network. They reported that the company continues to have a good pipeline of new potential clients and contracts. However, they have adopted a more conservative accounting policy, spreading revenues over the life of the contract.

The emphasis on purely digital invoicing means that Tungsten can be more certain of tax, regulatory and buyer compliance, in contrast to other invoice processing networks. They reported that the use of compliance culture is a strong differentiator that is becoming more appreciated in a world of cyber crime. Their focus on a purely digital approach means that we shall be shutting down the legacy inter-operability arrangements that benefit our competitors more than they benefit our customers and which could introduce non-compliant invoices into the network.

Edmund Truell, Group CEO of Tungsten Corporation plc, commented;  "At every step we are doing our utmost to ensure a compliant and secure Network, working also with highly respected partners across the world. Tungsten Corporation thus aims to transform the global supply chain."