Digital Banking Snapshot: Insha wins top prize, Yolt integrates with Revolut, new rollouts and new expansions throughout Europe
Insha wins top prize, Yolt integrates with Revolut, new rollouts and new expansions throughout Europe
The Swedish fintech P.F.C. reaches 60 000 users less than one year after launch. P.F.C. is currently adding 10 000 users per month. P.F.C. is currently adding 10 000 users per month and will expand into the Nordics during 2020.
Yolt has completed an integration with Revolut; allowing customers will be able to use the Yolt app to analyse all their transactions, including those made outside of the UK – as well as set budgets, monitor spending and manage their investments all within one central place. Also, Revolut has seen its number of users in Romania growing beyond expectations; it currently has 850,000 customers and could reach one million users by the end of this year. Further good news, Revolut reached 250,000 users in Hungary, registering an eightfold increase in monthly transaction value since the beginning of the year.
Robinhood rolled out the waiting list to UK investors, with a formal launch penned for early next year. Users will be able to invest in more than 3,500 US-denominated stocks, including Apple, Amazon and Tesla.
OakNorth’s Amir Nooriala, its chief strategy officer, has left the firm. As Chief Strategy Office he was instrumental in developing and leading partnership including with Monzo, Moneybox, Shieldpay, Docusign, Clearbank, and Smarterly. These partnerships and future ones will be run by Ania Walker, Director of Partnerships.
Monzo is the brand most recommended by Brits, according to YouGov’s Brand Advocacy Rankings.
Tinkoff is rolling out the Tinkoff fuel station mobile app enabling customers to pay for petrol from a smartphone. The Tinkoff fuel station app allows customers to pay for fuel at BP outlets in Moscow and Smolensk regions.
German challenger bank Insha took the top prize at AltFi’s Berlin Summit this week, after winning the event’s fintech Pitch Off Competition. Insha’s Growth and Partnership Lead Mehmet Burak Dikmen told attendees how the bank, built with the support of Istanbul’s Albaraka Türk Participation Bank, was developing a “moral” current account also designed to serve the Islamic banking market.
Financial technology firm Plaid has launched in three more European countries, in its latest expansion drive. Speaking specifically about its new markets, Perret said that Ireland has seen impressive levels of fintech adoption, with Spain trailing behind it and France lagging somewhat.
Royal Bank of Scotland's new digital challenger bank Bó is now available for sign-ups. The bank, which comes with a bright yellow card and a separate chief executive but uses NatWest's banking license, has been touted as RBS's response to challenger rivals like Monzo and Starling. The move is the latest one from NatWest to embrace digital banking.
Aspiration struggles to find investors, Unifimoney will launch next year, and Citibank launches new checking account
San Francisco-based Unifimoney will launch its banking service next year. The start-up does not hold a banking licence. It offers a single account that integrates a “high interest” checking (current) account, credit card and investment account.
Stash is offering customers fractional shares of stocks as purchase rewards when they use the Stash debit card. The subscription-based investing, banking and financial planning platform company this week confirmed that it’s offered 5 million stock-back rewards since the program’s inception five months ago.
Citibank announced the launch of a new digital high-yield checking account, dubbed "Citi Elevate Checking," available to US customers outside its branch network.
BlueVine, an online lender and Fintech bank, has raised $102.5 million in Series F funding. The round was led by ION Crossover Partners with participation from all major existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, SVB Capital, Nationwide, Citi Ventures, Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, and private investors.
Galileo announced, in collaboration with Mastercard, Galileo Instant Issuing, a lightning fast, frictionless option for fintechs and other businesses to open bank accounts and issue debit cards to power digital payment solutions—with no long-term contracts or high startup fees.
Aspiration was launched with great fanfare in 2015, is suddenly struggling to find additional funding. Sources told CNBC that so far, the startup cannot get enough investors on board for a new round of funding.
Senior executives at Goldman Sachs have privately discussed the possibility of two major deals: One involves the acquisition of retail brokerage E-Trade Financial Corporation, and the other involves a merger with US Bank. The bank may be seeking to shake up its retail banking strategy after encountering some headwinds with its proprietary products.
KOHO, Canada’s leading challenger bank, is proud to announce it has partnered with TransferWise to help Canadians uncover the true cost (fees) of sending money overseas. KOHO’s fee tracker will now allow consumers to calculate exactly how much they lose from inflated foreign exchange rates.
Neon, which operates a digital bank in Brazil, has reportedly raised $94 million in funding in a round led by Banco Votorantim and General Atlantic. The company plans to use the new capital to triple the number of its customers in 2020.
Marcio Orlandi Jr., chief executive of Pride Bank, Brazil’s first bank for gay and trans people, said that he aimed to tap into an overlooked market, combat prejudice and support social issues that matter to LGBT+ people.
Ualá, an Argentine personal finance management app, has raised a $150 million Series C led by Tencent and SoftBank’s Latin America-focused Innovation Fund. Ualá is a mobile banking app and lending platform with services similar to Revolut, Monzo and Nubank.
Bank Zero has officially gone live with its debit card. Following this launch, the bank will conduct rigorous security and system tests by simulating card attacks and testing card fraud detection. South African card holders suffered R873 million in theft last year. Bank Zero said its patented card offers security to protect customers from this danger.
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