French watchdog says banks risk “marginalisation” by Big Tech payment apps
The paper focuses on Big Tech-associated threats to competition.
Europe
UK eco-banking challenger Tred lands £1m in Crowdcube raise
Tred partners with Forest Carbon to deliver on its tree planting promise.
AZA Finance acquires Exchange4Free to become largest non-bank FX firm in Africa
Trading firm says it can double its transaction volume to $2.5 billion by 2021.
Sendit.Money chooses Lerex Technology for prepaid payments tech
Mobile wallet provider picks UK prepaid firm in preparation for launch.
Greek fintech Viva Wallet lands $80m from Tencent, EBRD
Viva is in the midst of launching a credit service for merchant customers.
Hampshire Trust Bank picks DPR platform to outfit origination
HTB is replacing a long-standing legacy system with the cloud-based DPR solution.
Thought Machine plugs into Wise’s money transfer API
Thought Machine is plugging into via its own ‘Vault’ platform.
HSBC CEO Colin Bell joins board of AML fintech Quantexa
HSBC has used Quantexa to develop an AI solution to better identify financial crime.
New fintech Wisely Money aims to connect lenders and borrowers
New start-up offers an “all-in-one” app for short term lending.
New Swiss fintech Klarpay targets digital entrepreneurs
The start-up aims to bridge the gap between business banking and e-commerce.
11Onze launches Facebook-style private social network
Customers can also access over 200 informational videos via 11Onze TV.
Payhawk closes $20m Series A investment round
The platform has seen rapid growth since its $3.6 million seed round a year ago.
UK fintech industry bounces back with record $2.9bn Q1 investment
2021 starts strong at 153% higher investment than Q4 2020.
Implementation of regulatory changes in lending
The EBA guidelines on loan origination and monitoring are coming into force on 30 June 2021.
VTB Bank values ongoing digital transformation at $1.5bn
Russian bank expects change programme to reap rewards in the next few years.
Bux raises $80m to boost European zero commission investing app
The neo-broker targets younger generations with further roll-out of BUX Zero.
Banca Sella and Workinvoice form Italy’s first open banking partnership
The partners will provide end-to-end digital financial services to corporates.
Tinkoff launches Russia’s first digital BNPL service
Dolyame.ru offers interest-free instalment payments for FMCG goods.
Penta co-founder Jessica Holzbach exits fintech after four years
She exits “at her own request to seek a new professional challenge”.
Danish neobank Lunar acquires Swedish lender Lendify
The deal, which is pending regulatory approval, is expected to close by mid-May.
Identity verification firm Veriff raises $69m in Series B funding round
Estonian identity firm plans to use cash to expand in the US.
Hospitality payment app Sunday raises record €20m seed round for Europe
The start-up claims to cut the costs for operators to 0.5% per transaction.
Development Bank of Wales picks EQ Credit Services for lending
The bank reports a 72% increase in loan customers since 2020.
Low-code start-up FintechOS lands €51m Series B
The round will fund FintechOS’ international expansion beyond the UK and Europe.
Santander migrates 60% of IT infrastructure to the cloud
Santander is “very well placed against large European banks”, says the bank’s global CTO.
UK takes first steps towards CBDC with launch of new taskforce
The taskforce will now set out to identify the UK’s use cases for a CBDC.
SAP spins out financial services operations in deal with Dediq
SAP launches new FSI Unit to deal in financial services, with a 20% stake in it.
UK challenger Starling lands £50m investment from Goldman Sachs
Starling now claiming to hold a 6% share of the UK SME banking market.
Lending start-up Fintern raises £32m in equity and debt funding
UK fintech backed by German institution Varengold Bank
Solarisbank among first German fintechs mulling Spac deal
The BaaS provider is aiming for a billion-dollar valuation.
TSB taps ApTap to help customers manage bills
Deal follows trial period featuring 10,000 TSB customers, who saved an average of £150 a year using the service.
Goldman Sachs settles on Birmingham for second major UK office
Goldman says it picked Birmingham because of its talent pool and proximity to London.
Dear Luc: To give my customers cards I just need an issuer – right?
Our anonymous fintech problem asks if issuers are all you need to provide cards to customers.
Russian e-commerce giant Ozon acquires Oney Bank in $10m deal
Firm known as “the Amazon of Russia” steps into fintech space.
Railsbank reunites Currencycloud founding team with John Hammond hire
John Hammond joins former colleagues at the firm as its new CCO.
Auxmoney secures €250m in debt financing from Citi and Chenavari
New round tips total raised by auxmoney above $3 billion.
Barclays to close Pingit after 10 years’ service
Long-serving payments app to be shut down by major UK bank.
Modulr lands undisclosed investment from FIS Ventures
“Modulr lowers the barriers to bringing payments into a platform”.
Mobiquity hires former BNP Paribas COO Howard Moore
Digital transformation firm plans to expand globally this year and beyond.
Dutch personal finance app Paynote goes live with beta
Unlike its rivals, Paynote launches without bank support.
