FCA calls on banks to reconsider branch closures during pandemic
HSBC announced the closure of 82 branches in January.
Business-to-Consumer/B2C
Has JP Morgan Chase learnt the lessons of Finn and Bó?
This isn’t its first challenger start-up foray.
Online brokers halt GameStop trades as SEC investigates
The SEC is “actively monitoring” the “ongoing market volatility”.
VTB deputy chairman discloses exasperation over Yandex, Sber and Tinkoff competition
In 2020, VTB launched a total of 1,280 software development teams.
JOFF Fintech Acquisition Spac files for $300m IPO
The Spac is eyeing up fintech, wealth management and gaming sectors.
N26 lands Zalando’s former financial chief as CFO
The former Zalando chief isn’t the only executive addition in recent months.
Starling experienced “major outage” on its app last week
The temporary outage, though “short-lived”, was severe.
Contactless usage surges to 88.6% of in-store card transactions
The over-65s were most likely to embrace the technology for the first time.
Rapyd raises $300m in Series D, plans more acquisitions
It will double the engineering and product teams and expand the “self-service” element of the platform.
Wealthtech Elinvar raises €25 million funding
Founded in 2016 in Berlin, Elinvar has “the vision to connect the entire wealth management ecosystem”.
Robinhood hires two execs from US regulator Finra
Former Finra execs Anthony Cavallaro and Josh Drobnyk join the fold.
Singapore’s iSTOX lands $50m from heavyweight Japanese backers
n the past decade, global private equity returned 13.2% on average.
Plaid launches incubator FinRise for fintech founders of colour
The incubator is looking to accept just three-to-five start-ups.
Pyypl’s regulation-first approach to MENA starts to pay off
“The options today are mobile money or banks,” says CEO.
Retailer Uniqlo cuts out middlemen with own payments integration
Uniqlo Pay has partnered with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
HSBC closes 82 branches as in-person banking continues to decline
The bank says no jobs will be cut in the closures.
New York cash advance app Brigit reveals $35m Series A
Brigit’s CEO is a former Deutsche Bank and Infosys executive.
Prospective UK challenger Perenna lands $10m ahead of Q3 launch
The fintech lodged its banking licence in the last quarter of 2020.
Biden reshuffles US financial regulators to reign in corporates
Consumer protection fines against financial corporates have declined under Trump.
UK fintech Just lands court backing to undercut bailiff industry
Currently, Just’s virtual offering is in beta.
Capital One’s “wilful” AML failures land the bank a $290m penalty
Some $16 billion in reportable transactions passed through the bank’s platform.
Goldman Sachs mulls acquisitions to bulk up Marcus
Goldman’s CEO intends to make Marcus a pillar of the US bank’s growth.
Tandem quotes same “material uncertainty” as Monzo in 2019 financials
Tandem’s plan is to be profitable by July or September 2021.
Vietnamese “super app” hopeful MoMo lands $100m Series D
The fintech’s registered users doubled to 23 million in 2020.
Grab’s fintech arm lands $300m Series A
Grab Financial Group saw its total revenues jump up by more than 40% in 2020.
CoinSwitch Kuber’s $15m Series A marks Ribbit Capital’s first Indian crypto deal
CoinSwitch Kuber is gunning for ten million users this year.
Starling renews search for non-bank European lender
Starling is seeing the benefits of fully utilising its UK banking licence.
Freetrade pauses trading for US stocks following technical issues
Some investors woke up to their US stocks up over 2000%.
Saudi Arabia’s central bank plans open banking go-live for 2022
SAMA has already “collected the local financial market participants’ feedback”.
UK payments acquirer Unlimint powers on with “aggressive” LatAm expansion
In November, the fintech rebranded to Unlimint from ‘Cardpay’ as part of its expansion plans.
Curve lands $95m as it reveals losses have quadrupled
The fintech claims to have two million customers.
PAYMYNT Financial buys crypto e-wallet LettucePay
LettucePay operates on top of Stellar Network, an open source blockchain platform.
BBVA shutters Simple after paying $117m for it in 2014
The bank is cutting out standalone entities which no longer make sense to operate solo.
SoFi set to go public via merger with Palihapitiya’s fourth Spac
The IPO will value SoFi at $8.65 billion.
Lloyds & Santander among major banks struggling with online security
Lloyds and Santander also fell behind NatWest, Nationwide, Metro Bank, and Virgin Money.
FCA: Thousands of financial firms risk failing as pandemic persists
Payments and e-money firms experienced an 11% decrease in available liquidity.
Customer service start-up Glia lands $78m to help banks and credit unions
The round was led by Shopify and Checkout.com backer Insight Partners.
Trump bans transactions through Chinese apps including Alipay
The applications have 45 days to prepare for the ban.
JP Morgan in talks with China Merchants Bank over another wealthtech venture
JP Morgan already holds a majority stake in a Chinese venture.
UK challenger Cashplus buys icount’s current account portfolio
“I remember acquiring our first cardholder,” says icount founder.
