PRA fines Standard Chartered £46.55m for reporting failures
The penalty is the PRA’s highest ever fine in a PRA-only enforcement case.
Europe
ING announces exit from French retail banking market
The firm has been active in the French retail banking market since 2000.
European tax compliance platform Taxdoo lands $64m in Series B funding
Brexit and VAT reform in the EU made 2021 an “eventful year”, says Taxdoo CEO.
British Business Bank backs SME-focused lender Simply with £300m funding line boost
Simply has provided £650 million worth of support to businesses since it was founded in April 2017.
FCA fines HSBC £64m for failings in its AML processes
The FCA says HSBC’s transaction monitoring systems showed “serious weaknesses” between 2010 and 2018.
Challenger banking player Monese makes its first acquisition
Monese has acquired Trezeo, a specialist financial services platform for the self-employed.
Why start-ups, not incumbents, will be the engines of post-pandemic SME growth
Many lendtechs are looking to leverage the digital revolution to help drive post-pandemic recovery in the UK.
AIB signs €65m deal with IBM for hybrid cloud transformation
IBM will help the bank achieve its 2023 digital transformation strategy goals.
Citi spin-out Proxymity raises $31m in Series B funding round
Proxymity says it has delivered significant growth since launch in April 2020.
SweepBank launches in Europe to provide “Netflix experience” in banking
SweepBank is underpinned by Tuum’s core banking platform.
Polish subsidiary of ING opts for Thought Machine’s core banking tech
ING Bank Śląski is now live on Vault for a new consumer lending product.
Dear Luc: What fintech trends should I prepare to see in 2022?
Four trends that FinTech Futures’ Agony Uncle predicts will occur in 2022.
NatWest and TrueLayer conduct first series of variable recurring payment transactions
NatWest is the first of the nine largest UK banks to conduct VRP transactions in a live environment.
ICYMI funding round-up: Novus, Bumper, topi, Toucan, & Raison
With the fast-paced nature of the fintech world, it’s easy to let announcements slip by from time to time.
Crypto infrastructure start-up Ramp raises $52.7m in Series A round
Ramp will use the cash to drive expansion and further product development.
Russian digital bank Tinkoff taps Finastra for Asian expansion
Finastra’s Fusion Essence Cloud solution will power the bank’s planned subsidiary in the Philippines.
US paytech Flywire enters UK education market with WPM acquisition
The acquisition will build on Flywire’s existing education payments business.
Report: Safety in numbers – levelling the playing field for green finance
Turning up the volume on green finance – read & download the full report for free.
Global paytech PPRO hires e-commerce tech veteran Bernie Miles as CTO
Miles will lead a global team based across Europe, South America and Asia.
Zopa shutters P2P retail investment business to focus on banking offering
Zopa CEO says erosion of consumer trust and regulatory burdens are to blame.
NatWest hit with £264.8m fine from FCA for money laundering failures
The fine includes a 33% discount thanks to the bank’s early guilty plea.
Nuvei partners Visa to launch branded crypto debit cards across Europe
The programme plays “a vital role in expanding the crypto ecosystem”, Nuvei CEO says.
Collateral analytics platform Cassini secures $20.5m financing round
“With this latest investment, we look forward to deepening and expanding our solutions,” CEO says.
UK SME lender OakNorth acquires cashflow forecasting solution Fluidly
Since its launch in September 2015, OakNorth Bank has lent over £6.5 billion to SMEs.
Aussie fintech Finder secures first capital injection worth $22m
Finder co-founder Fred Schebesta says the company has been “bootstrapped since day one”.
Curve appoints new CTO, Eric Molitor
Molitor replaces Matt Collinge, who left Curve after almost four years.
CBI: Collaborative open finance ecosystems for a market success story
80% of the Italian banking market (around 300 PSPs) has adopted CBI Globe to meet the requirements of the PSD2.
Mambu valued at €4.9bn after bumper €235m Series E round
The round is the largest private fundraise for a banking software platform to date.
B2B spend management platform Pleo adds $200m to Series C funding round
The new funds will facilitate the company’s “massive roll-out across Europe” in 2022.
Monzo raises more than $500m from investors at $4.5bn valuation
The neobank has already closed the first batch of money — $480 million — with more expected soon.
Payroll start-up Pento raises $35m in Series B
The Series B was co-led by new investor Tiger Global and existing investor Avid Ventures.
Paytech Recharge.com hires David Lindheimer as CPTO
The appointment will bolster the paytech’s global expansion plans, CEO says.
Dutch digital bank Bunq partners with Tulp to offer mortgages
Challenger says it will become “the first European digital bank to start offering mortgages”.
Nordic bank SEB to automate billing ops globally with SunTec
SunTec’s Xelerate platform will digitise SEB’s sales process globally.
Battle for crypto supremacy like tortoise and hare fable, says Hyphe CEO
With regulation comes legitimacy, clearing the way for traditional FIs to offer digital currencies to their clients.
Financial services app Lydia hits unicorn status with latest funding
Paris-based Lydia has raised over $100 million in new funding.
Brewin Dolphin goes live with Avaloq’s core banking system
One of the UK’s largest wealth managers has gone live with new SaaS-based core.
Accounting software firm Tipalti hits $8.3bn valuation with $270m Series F round
Tipalti says new funding places it “among the most valuable private fintech companies in the world”.
APIs, open banking and the changing face of financial services
The pandemic played a substantial role in boosting the adoption of open banking and APIs.
TripActions partners with Stripe for European launch
TripActions is an all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management solution.
