FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 28 October 2022
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Credit Suisse to cut 9,000 jobs, raise $4bn in capital as part of new transformation plan
Credit Suisse unveils transformation plan
Credit Suisse is set to cut around 9,000 jobs and “radically restructure” its investment banking business as part of a new strategy and transformation plan as it looks to “deliver a new, more integrated business model, with the goal of creating value for shareholders”.
The reorganisation follows a comprehensive strategic review announced earlier this year alongside the appointment of Ulrich Körner as group chief executive officer (CEO) following the resignation of Thomas Gottstein.
Credit Suisse, which currently has around 52,000 full-time employees, says it expects to run the bank with a headcount of 43,000 by the end of 2025, with 2,700 jobs set to be cut before the end of this year.
Wise lands £300m debt facility to fuel growth plans
Global money transfer firm Wise has secured £300 million in debt financing to support its future growth plans.
The syndicated debt facility was arranged and led by Silicon Valley Bank UK with six other banks also participating.
Matt Briers, chief financial officer at Wise, says the new facility led by Silicon Valley Bank UK “will offer us flexible and efficient access to working capital” as it looks to invest in the development and improvement of its payments services.
European Commission aims to speed up the rollout of instant payments across the EU
European Commission proposes new legislation
The European Commission has proposed new legislation to make instant payments in euros universally available for individuals and businesses with a bank account in the EU and EEA countries.
The Commission has decided to step in with legislation as the availability of instant payments and the fees involved currently vary widely across different member states.
It says its new proposal is designed to “ensure that instant payments in euros are affordable, secure, and processed without hindrance across the EU”.
“Instant payments allow people to transfer money at any time of any day within ten seconds. This is much faster compared to traditional credit transfers, which are received by payment service providers only during business hours and arrive at the payee’s account only by the following business day, which could take up to three calendar days,” it says.
Wells Fargo partners Google Cloud for AI virtual assistant, Fargo
US multinational Wells Fargo is set to rollout a new virtual assistant, named Fargo, which will leverage Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to offer a personalised banking experience for customers.
Fargo will be built on Google Cloud’s conversational AI platform Dialogflow, leveraging the language processing capabilities of the platform to understand customers’ intents and provide a tailored response.
Catering to a “dramatic surge” in digital banking, Fargo will provide customers with an “intuitive banking journey”, offering instant card freezing capabilities, transaction searches, “meaningful conversations” around financial wellness including budgeting and savings tips, as well as Spanish language capabilities next year.
BNY Mellon launches new aggregated payments platform Vaia
BNY Mellon launches Vaia
US multinational BNY Mellon has launched a new aggregated payments platform called Vaia, built to provide American firms access to the most up-to-date digital payment options for disbursements.
Via a single integration, institutions can offer payees a suite of payment choices, including real-time payments (RTP), same-day ACH, tokenised payments with Zelle and debit cards.
BNY Mellon says the Vaia platform, which was built in collaboration with Verituity, a cloud-based solution that connects banks, payers and payees to first-time and on-time digital payouts, will cut the time and resources needed for businesses to connect with any available payment rails.
