Lithuanian paytech kevin. raises €1.5m in seed funding
Lithuanian firm plans availability across Europe by Q4 2021.
Europe
Waqfinity launches in UK to provide “impact focused” Islamic finance
Former Rizq founder sets up new Islamic wallet app.
ECB launches climate change unit
The central bank has previously been criticised over its bond purchasing.
Mastercard plans to raise fees for UK purchases from EU
“This smacks of opportunism,” says Kevin Hollinrake, chair of Fair Business Banking.
UK fintech TrueLayer launches its payments API to rival cards
PayDirect claims just a 3.5% payment failure rate.
Crypto liquidity firm Wintermute raises $20m in Series B round
Firm plans to expand into derivatives and new markets in Asia.
Starling experienced “major outage” on its app last week
The temporary outage, though “short-lived”, was severe.
Contactless usage surges to 88.6% of in-store card transactions
The over-65s were most likely to embrace the technology for the first time.
Fintech funding deals globally 18-24 January 2021
Featuring PPRO, iSTOX, Indy, Mercado Bitcoin, and Brigit.
Wealthtech Elinvar raises €25 million funding
Founded in 2016 in Berlin, Elinvar has “the vision to connect the entire wealth management ecosystem”.
Minna Technologies raises €15.5m in Series B funding round
Minna says the investment will be used for global expansion, “with requests from all continents”.
DNA Payments Group acquires Active Merchant Services
The deal brings DNA’s customer base up to around 30,000 merchants.
Female-led tax reporting fintech KAWC takes tech into own hands
“We approached male investors, but they were so condescending,” says CEO.
RBI invests in Romanian open banking start-up Finqware
Finqware initiated account aggregation for seven Croatian banks last year.
Tom Blomfield exits Monzo and opens up about mental health
“COVID-19 just exacerbated things,” says Blomfield.
Spectrum Equity invests $51m in OTC firm Quantile Technologies
Spectrum’s MD joins the Quantile board of directors.
SimCorp SFTR solution goes live at Denmark’s ATP
Danish pensions fund goes live in time for the third phase of SFTR.
VC investment for UK’s female fintech founders up 6% in 2020
Female-led fintechs entered COVID-19 with the longest funding runway of the sector.
Santander hires HSBC’s Rakshit Kapoor as new chief data officer
Kapoor joins after three years at the major international bank.
The five p’s of banking
Banks have relied on the “five p’s” – people, physical cash, premises, processes and paper.
FinTech Futures Jobs: new year, new job – five tech companies that are hiring now
Featuring CGI, Cleo AI, Freetrade, Market Finance, and Monzo.
Under the hood of London payments platform Currencycloud
Currencycloud talks tech, structure, product development and bank relationships.
Corporate credit card start-up Moss raises €21 million in Series A
Moss wants to change the way companies track expenses.
PPRO reaches $1bn valuation on back of $180m venture raise
Payments infrastructure firm plans “global expansion” with new cash.
Czech BNPL Twitso nabs €16 million in Series C funding
Investors include Aussie BNPL unicorn Zip.
HSBC closes 82 branches as in-person banking continues to decline
The bank says no jobs will be cut in the closures.
What the Fintech? | S.2 Episode 1 | Innovation in commercial lending
Innovation in commercial lending with special guest, Dean Snyder, EVP at AFS.
Aion Bank signs payments processing deal with Form3
Form3 to provide real-time payment processing, clearing and settlement.
The end to end benefits of cloud first transformation
Cloud has become a go-to technology for many in the financial services industry.
Prospective UK challenger Perenna lands $10m ahead of Q3 launch
The fintech lodged its banking licence in the last quarter of 2020.
UK fintech Just lands court backing to undercut bailiff industry
Currently, Just’s virtual offering is in beta.
Goldman picks Marqeta to power Marcus current account rollout
Marcus plans to launch its new accounts later this year.
Konsentus acquires Open Banking Europe initiative from EBA Clearing subsidiary
Open Banking Europe (OBE) will remain a separate operating entity.
Fintech funding deals globally 11-17 January 2021
Featuring Checkout.com, MX, Blend, Creditas, and Enfusion.
Goldman Sachs mulls acquisitions to bulk up Marcus
Goldman’s CEO intends to make Marcus a pillar of the US bank’s growth.
Temenos shakes up executive team with changes at the top
Promotions and hires for the Swiss banking vendor.
Tandem quotes same “material uncertainty” as Monzo in 2019 financials
Tandem’s plan is to be profitable by July or September 2021.
Understanding the three key trends in SME banking for 2021
The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in banks’ lending platforms.
Italy’s BNL goes live on Tink open banking service
The implementation is part of an extended deal with BNP Paribas.
The Cambridge Building Society migrates to Azure cloud with DPR
DPR provides its mortgages and savings platform on the cloud for the society.
