Barclays fined £8.4m by payments regulator for breaking interchange fee rule
The PSR has fined banking heavyweight Barclays £8.4 million for failing to comply with the IFR.
Europe
Banque de France and Banque centrale du Luxembourg conduct wholesale CBDC test
The test shows “how digital assets can be issued, distributed and settled within the Eurozone in a single day”.
UBS taps ID verification firm Regula to streamline customer onboarding
Regula says its tech will enable UBS customers to open new accounts “in less than five minutes”.
Wealth Wizards names Ben Hampton as new chief executive
Hampton will take up the role on 1 January 2023, succeeding founder Andrew Firth.
HSBC UK set to close 114 bank branches next year
HSBC cites customer migration to digital banking as a reason for the closures.
Singapore’s Trust Bank taps Thought Machine for core banking tech
Trust has picked the vendor’s Vault Core solution to power its new digital banking offering.
UK and Singapore strengthen fintech ties
The two countries signed an MoU to remove regulatory barriers to fintech trade.
Weathering the storm: how savings providers can utilise tech to support their customers through the cost of living crisis
Putting in place the transformational changes needed to keep up with customer needs and expectations.
PagoNxt names Amazon VP of finance Olatz Urroz as new CFO
Urroz, who has worked at Amazon since 2019, will start her new role in December.
UK BNPL fintech Zilch reportedly planning to lay off around 10% of its workforce
According to The Evening Standard, Zilch is planning a restructuring that could see dozens of jobs cut.
Mangopay acquires fraud detection and prevention firm Nethone
Mangopay intends to develop and offer anti-fraud solutions designed specifically for marketplaces.
Swiss digital banking start-up Swiss4 bags FINMA fintech licence
The licence provides authorisation for the company to act as a deposit-taking financial institution.
Tide to acquire SME finance marketplace Funding Options
The deal will see Tide’s 475,000 SME customers gain access to more credit options.
ClearBank taps ThetaRay for cloud-native Sonar AML solution
ClearBank will utilise ThetaRay’s tech for AML monitoring, providing flexibility as it scales.
UK fintech start-up Paytrix appoints David Sola as new CFO
Sola has previously served as a managing director at UBS, Houlihan Lokey and Softbank Europe.
Equals Group to acquire open banking payments platform Roqqett in £2.25m deal
Equals will pick up Roqqett’s AISP and PISP licenses through the acquisition.
UK’s ClearBank hits profitability as revenues soar
The firm says it has generated £45.4 million in revenue since the beginning of this year.
UK challenger Tandem partners Cogo to help customers track their carbon footprint
Cogo’s tech will feature on Tandem’s green living hub, with plans to integrate directly into the bank’s app in 2023.
Conversational AI firm Boost.ai hires Jerry Haywood as new CEO
Haywood joins from LivePerson and succeeds Boost.ai founder and current CEO Lars Ropeid Selsås.
Danish financial edtech Female Invest buys trading platform Gaia
Gaia Investments is a trading platform with a focus on sustainable and ethical investing.
Pleo and TravelPerk team up for travel expense automation
TravelPerk’s platform will simplify and automate the travel expense experience for Pleo’s users.
Thought Machine’s core banking system to “reinvent” Payset
The go-live of Thought Machine’s Vault Core is expected in April 2023 at Payset.
BVNK acquires fellow paytech System Pay Services
SPS is registered as an electronic money institution in the UK.
Atom Bank lands £30m funding to boost lending and fuel growth
The new cash means the Durham-based challenger bank has now raised £105 million over 2022.
Danish fintech Pleo hires Meri Williams as new CTO
Williams was formerly CTO at Monzo where they helped scale the engineering and data team by 500%.
UK wealthtech Wealthify makes three senior appointments
Wealthify has announced the appointments of three women on its senior leadership team.
Spanish employee benefits platform Cobee raises €40m Series B
Cobee plans to expand throughout southern Europe and into Latin America, particularly Mexico.
Quantifeed to acquire fellow wealthtech Alpima
Together, Quantifeed and Alpima will create “a world-class technology platform”.
Nationwide Building Society appoints new COO, Suresh Viswanathan
Nationwide says it is moving to “the next chapter in its digital ambitions” with Viswanathan’s appointment.
Two suspects arrested in Estonia accused of $575m crypto fraud
Both defendants appeared in court in Tallin and are being held pending extradition to the US.
The Bank of London hires new group CTO and group CISO, Phil Knight
Knight will oversee the firm’s technology, IT operations and information security.
Featurespace bags funding from US, UK govs to build new financial crime detection solution
Featurespace is developing an AI-powered system to help banks and PSPs detect financial crime.
SaaS start-up Taktile lands $20m to boost US expansion
The firm claims it has seen “rapid growth” in the US and has tripled its revenues over the last 12 months.
Q&A with Griffin: “We’ve built a purpose-built bank just for fintechs”
FinTech Futures speaks with Griffin’s CCO Adam Moulson about the company’s growth.
FCA warns stock trading apps against gamification
The regulator is “concerned about problem behaviours” linked to trading app design.
Santander UK picks NCR to run its self-service ATM network
NCR will upgrade, connect and run Santander UK’s network of more than 1,700 ATMs.
Social trading platform Naga taps TrueLayer for A2A payments
Naga users will be able to top up their accounts using A2A payments authenticated via biometrics.
UK challenger Tandem appoints new CFO and CRO to bolster its leadership team
David McCarthy has been named as the firm’s new CFO with Wahid Ali joining as CRO.
UBS partners iProov for automated customer biometric ID onboarding
With face verification tech, UBS key4 customers can onboard remotely in five minutes, iProov says.
Sella launches pilot of biometric credit card in Italy
The biometric card is being issued by Sella on the Visa scheme, developed in partnership with Idemia.
