Video: Top fintech stories this week – 17 January 2020
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
Payments
When it comes to supporting the underbanked, the best solution might be a little old school
Community banks and the underbanked need one another.
Fundbox hires “Swiss army knife” CFO signalling IPO
CFO Marten Abrahamsen is a former investment banker.
US challenger Unifimoney signs integration deal with UMB Bank
US challenger inks deal with UMB for account infrastructure.
How start-up Minka is building LatAm’s plumbing for real-time payments
Exclusive interview: “We’re a small start-up doing the work of big players,” says Minka CEO.
Union Bank picks FIS to underpin digital transformation
MUFG-owned bank the first user of new FIS platform.
TransferGo partners with Currencycloud to reach Kenya, Singapore and Japan
It will facilitate cross-border payments & enable them to launch in 14 new markets over Q1.
Payments industry underestimates Facebook Pay at its own peril
Tony Craddock, director general of the EPA tells FinTech Futures his views on the tech giant.
EPA publishes guide promoting transparency for paytech account holders
Barclays, Natwest and Starling all took part.
Travelex cyberattack drags into third week
FX firm claims its systems are slowly coming back online.
Salaam African Bank in tech overhaul with Oracle
EXCLUSIVE: The deal includes Flexcube core, digital banking, payments and trade finance solutions.
Thai blockchain start-up Lightnet gains $31.2m in Series A funding
Lightnet plans to dislodge cross-border giants like Swift.
PayU nabs controlling stake in PaySense, plans merger with LazyPay
PayU splashes $185 million on new acquisition.
Samsung and Syniverse develop wallet-agnostic payments platform
Your phone number is your easiest payment method, says Samsung and Syniverse.
How telco VEON is tapping mobile payments in South and Central Asia
The telco’s off-shoot financial services are fast becoming serious revenue streams.
Tencent brings third player UnionPay to China’s mobile payments arena
UnionPay’s QuickPass serves just 240m users, whilst 1.2bn use Tencent’s WeChat.
UK SMEs chasing £50bn in late payments, fintech opportunity ripe
SMEs are on average chasing five outstanding invoices at any one time.
Nets acquires Finnish firms Poplatek and Poplapay
Nordic payments group snaps up new firms to boost terminal services.
Payments app KogoPay crowdfunds £200k and hits £10m valuation
The London and Bangkok-based start-up tallied 281 investors.
Standard Chartered “first” bank to offer public platform to track payment status
The bank is ready for Swift’s November 2020 payments confirmation deadline.
The extension of SCA: a sensible move or an unnecessary delay?
UK Finance notes more than 75% of merchants are unaware of SCA.
White paper: Next-generation acquiring in Mediterranean countries
What merchant acquirers should do to outperform increasing competition from new entrants.
Travelex quarantines website, internal systems after New Year’s Eve cyber-attack
Foreign exchange firm working “round the clock” to fix the attack.
Financing fintech Sezzle blocked from making loans in California
The Minnesota fintech deemed to be making “unregulated loans”.
Qatar International Islamic Bank picks IBM for fraud prevention
QIIB selects Big Blue for its mobile and online banking channels.
Razer Fintech, Grab and Singtel bid for Singapore digital banking licence
There are only five of the new licences up for grabs.
Mastercard reveals acquisition of AI-based risk firm RiskRecon
The deal with RiskRecon is expected to close in Q1 2020.
PSD2 in 2019: A year of yet more delays
Ultimately, PSD2 promises to transform the financial services payments landscape, but when?
A 2019 challenger bank review
B-North’s COO takes a look back at what 2019 had in store for banks.
Ripple raises $200m in Series C funding round
Ripple says the investment marks its “record year”.
Deutsche Bank launches motion code Calma Card with Mastercard in Spain
The major companies say it’s the first Spanish card to use motion code technology.
Gen Z are the bank customers of the near future
Learn how banks can balance engaging with this group, millennials and older customers.
Virtual ATM provider Sonect raises $8.6m in Series A
The start-up raised CHF 8.45 million from existing investors in this round, which was oversubscribed.
Adflex CEO: Cards are definitely fighting back
Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) will disrupt the age old four-player system.
FinTech Futures Industry Survey 2020
We are calling on our readers to provide us their views!
How the Grinch stole my identity: Three tips for fraud prevention this Christmas
As many as 8% of US consumers are affected by identity fraud at Christmas time.
Financial Stability Board warns of bigtech banking risk
Tech firms’ relationship with finance could create instability, says FSB.
B-North outsources deposit taking with Newcastle Strategic Solutions
Prospective SME bank aims to streamline its SME loan process.
7 fintech and financial services trends for 2020
“This decade has seen rapid growth in the fintech industry, and the next is sure to be no different.”
Supplement: the 2019 fintech review
Ruby Hinchliffe dissects her top five 2019 fintech trends from this year’s top stories!
