Blockchain trade finance firm Marco Polo reportedly enters insolvency
According to The Irish Times, the firm’s liabilities have outstripped its assets by €2.5 million ($2.6m).
FinTech
Griffin secures UK banking licence with restrictions from PRA
Griffin will now be able to operate as a bank in the UK with deposit-taking restrictions.
ChatGPT and generative AI – what does banking have to do with it?
Ready or not, the generative AI genie is out of the bottle and there is no going back.
Nationwide Building Society in retail payments tech revamp with Form3 and Accenture
Nationwide will migrate all types of retail payments from an on-premise platform to the Form3 cloud.
French fintech N2F lands €24m funding to fuel expansion plans
N2F is looking to expand across Europe and will recruit 200 new employees over the next five years.
Executive panel: key banking cybersecurity developments for 2023
Ten executives from top firms, including Wells Fargo, Microsoft, TransUnion, and RBC, share their expert views.
Brazilian central bank gives Meta the go-ahead to launch WhatsApp business payments feature
Customers will soon be able to make payments to small businesses directly from WhatsApp.
RBI fines Amazon Pay’s India unit $374,000
The central bank claims Amazon Pay India didn’t comply with “certain provisions” of KYC and PPI directions.
PayTech Awards nominations close in two weeks!
The deadline for nominations is Friday 17 March, so don’t leave it too late!
US challenger Varo Bank reportedly raising funds at reduced valuation
Fintech Business Weekly reports the firm is raising $50m at a $1.8bn valuation, a 28% decline in value.
Budgeting app Buddy taps Klarna Kosma for automatic expense tracking
The partnership has resulted in 52% more monthly active users for Buddy, Klarna Kosma says.
The B-word
I have never known a technology to divide opinion as much as blockchain.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 3 March 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
German challenger N26 loses its chief risk officer
Thomas Grosse has quit the firm citing personal reasons. A successor has yet to be named.
TrueNorth appoints Doug Woolridge as new chief growth officer
Woolridge joins from EPAM Systems and brings over 25 years of experience to his new role.
Aussie BNPL firm Zip reportedly set to retreat from 10 international markets
Zip expects “significant” amounts of cash to roll in due to these exits, with positive cashflow expected by 2024.
Intesa Sanpaolo partners IBM to upgrade its IT infrastructure
Intesa Sanpaolo will utilise the IBM z16 platform to bolster its cybersecurity operations.
Dogs Trust taps Currensea to launch debit cards and boost donations
Customers will be able to make donations to the charity by rounding up spending from the card.
FinTech Futures Jobs: Can a four-day week succeed in fintech?
Explore thousands of open roles on the Fintech Futures Job Board today.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Archway, Finway, iLex and more
A handy round-up of all the latest funding endeavours by fintech companies across the world.
Aussie central bank reveals participants and use cases for CBDC pilot
The selected industry players will participate in use case proposals over the coming months, the central bank says.
Transforming transformation
According to McKinsey, 70% of digital transformation projects fail. So what is going wrong?
Thunes appoints Victor Lucena as new head of Latin America
Lucena has previously worked for financial services firms including Binance, Rapyd, Worldpay and PayU.
Canadian insurance and investment fintech Equisoft lands $125m in funding
The funding saw participation from new investors Investissement Québec and the government of Québec.
BNPL giant Klarna posts £1bn loss for 2022
Despite the loss, the firm says it is edging towards profitability thanks to growth in its gross merchandise volume.
Quantifind bags $23m in funding to help firms combat financial crime
Quantifind’s SaaS solutions help banks and financial institutions tackle money laundering and fraud.
Bahrain fintech Sinnad appoints Rana Almaeeli as CEO
Almaeeli has held several senior roles at Sinnad, most recently as general manager for more than 11 years.
Tudi taps ThetaRay for transaction monitoring solution
Through the partnership, ThetaRay will provide Tudi its Sonar transaction monitoring solution.
I ain’t talkin’ to some junior
Some people seek to establish their assumptions as facts and resort to a telling off as a power move.
Xero appoints former Google exec Diya Jolly as chief product officer
Jolly joins Xero from Okta, where she served as CPO.
Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology launches to boost UK fintech
CFIT will bring together “coalitions of experts” across finance, technology, academia and policy.
Revolut records first full year of profitability, plots global expansion
In its long-awaited annual report, Revolut says it recorded £26.3 million in profit for 2021.
Power to the people: How Zenus Bank aims to democratise access to banking
FinTech Futures sits down for a chat with Mushegh Tovmasyan, founder of Zenus Bank.
Nationwide taps Board to upgrade financial planning capabilities
Board will “replace and transform” Nationwide’s financial planning processes and systems.
Copal launches Egypt’s first family payments app with Mastercard
Copal aims to provide a “seamless and innovative” cashless payments experience for all family members.
Climate tech firm Doconomy acquires financial wellbeing fintech Dreams
Doconomy will fold Dreams’ behavioural science platform into its environmental impact measurement tools.
Should digital banking platforms be fraud prevention solutions by design?
Banks should look to use technology to not only curb financial crime but to gain a competitive advantage.
Banking Technology Magazine March 2023 issue out now
Cover story: FACE OFF – Confrontation can be a good thing.
How fintechs can prepare for Dodd-Frank Section 1071 with compliance automation
Learn how to be ready for any and all consequences once the 1071 regulations hit.
Remitly to wind down digital banking app Passbook
All Passbook accounts will be closed on 1 May 2023.
