FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 11 November 2022
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
UK embedded finance firm Railsr reportedly considering sale
Railsr CEO and co-founder Nigel Verdon
UK-based embedded finance platform Railsr is exploring a potential sale just weeks after it raised fresh capital in a Series C funding round, according to a Sky News report.
Sources told Sky News that the company is discussing a number of strategic options with US investment banking firm FT Partners, including the possibility of a sale. The report adds that while further fundraising is an option on the table, it currently does not look likely.
Last month, Railsr raised $46 million in a Series C funding round, which CEO and co-founder Nigel Verdon said at the time was a “significant step on our route to profitability”.
Binance nixes mooted FTX acquisition deal
The mooted acquisition deal between crypto exchanges Binance and FTX has fallen through just days after it was initially proposed.
Announcing the news on Twitter, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, says: “As a result of corporate due diligence, as well as the latest news reports regarding mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations, we have decided that we will not pursue the potential acquisition of FTX.com.”
Reuters reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating FTX’s handling of customer funds and its crypto-lending activities.
Earlier this week, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao tweeted that his firm had signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX to help protect users’ holdings amid a “liquidity crunch”.
Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology launches to support UK fintech
CFIT chair Charlotte Crosswell
A new private sector-led body, the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT), has been set up to nurture the UK’s fintech scene.
The CFIT will be chaired by Charlotte Crosswell, a former CEO of both Innovate Finance and Nasdaq NLX. She currently chairs the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE).
Among her “vast experience”, Crosswell has also served as a board director at LCH, UK Finance and TheCityUK, and headed up international business development at the London Stock Exchange Group. She will start her new role on 4 January 2023.
Borne out of the 2021 Kalifa Review, the CFIT’s mission is to support UK fintechs looking to scale and to ensure the UK remains a “global leader for financial innovation”.
Worldline to buy Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for €100m
Global payment services provider Worldline is set to acquire 100% of Banco Desio’s merchant acquiring activities for €100 million and forge a commercial partnership with the Italian bank.
With the partnership, Worldline aims to leverage Banco Desio’s network so as to distribute its payment products and services to the bank’s merchant customers in Italy.
Banco Desio Group has a network of more than 230 branches in Italy and claims to deliver payment services to 15,000 merchants, generating 40 million transactions every year.
Goldman, MSCI, Coin Metrics partner for digital asset taxonomy framework
Goldman partners MSCI and Coin Metrics
US multinational Goldman Sachs, global investment solutions provider MSCI and crypto financial intelligence firm Coin Metrics have partnered to create a taxonomy framework for digital assets.
Datonomy is designed to provide investors, service providers, developers, and researchers a way to monitor market trends, analyse portfolio risk and returns, and help build new products.
Billed as a standardised way to help market participants view and analyse the digital assets ecosystem, Datonomy will help create an increased level of transparency into how the market is moving, Goldman says.
