Fathom4sight Newsletter: Weekly FinTech news curated by Fathom4sight!
Tuesday October 29, 2024
Top FinTech News Headlines this Week
???Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?issues final rule to enforce Open Banking in the US
???Wealthsimple cash accounts now have up to $1M in CDIC coverage
???Toronto-based OneVest launches cutting-edge wealth management technology platform in the U.S. market, delivering unparalleled configurability
???Toronto-based?Parachute closes $1.5M to help struggling Canadians improve their financial health
?? Calgary-based digital asset custodian Balance Trust becomes qualified custodian for Canadian and US Crypto markets
?? Vancouver’s MyFO garners investment to modernize wealth management for family offices
?? Toronto-based PropTech firm Mave raises $2M to revolutionize real estate with AI assistant
?? Santander launches Openbank in the US, expanding its retail business nationwide
???METRO Inc. unveils proprietary loyalty program, Moi Rewards, and the expansion of its partnership with RBC and Avion Rewards in Ontario
Payments
McLane most recently served as COO of Americas at Swedish FinTech firm Trustly. He brings over 20 years of experience in enterprise software across private equity, finance, strategy, and operations to Plooto, which offers cash flow management and payments automation software to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and their accounting firms. | BetaKit
The Ontario launch is an evolution of the Moi Program and follows the successful 2023 launch of METRO's Moi coalition loyalty program in Quebec. Most recently, the 2024 Leger Wow Survey ranked Moi as the most widely used loyalty program in Quebec, with 79% of Metro customers actively engaging with the program and experiencing its benefits. | RBC
Financial Institutions
The Bank of Canada has announced that it will cut its overnight interest rate by 0.5 per cent, bringing the central bank’s policy interest rate down to 3.75 per cent. The announcement comes after a September CPI print that surprised to the downside, coming in at 1.6 per cent, well below the BoC’s target rate of 2 per cent. | Wealth Professional
CIBC Innovation Banking announced that it has provided credit facilities to support Vertu’s strategic investment in Toronto-based LumiQ, a leading technology-enabled education platform offering accredited professional development courses and content to accounting and finance professionals. | BusinessWire
Openbank will offer a high yield savings product at a competitive rate, with additional products to follow during 2025. The digital offering is built on Santander’s proprietary technology platform which it is rolling out across all the group’s Retail and Consumer businesses allowing for both an excellent customer experience, and a lower cost-to-serve. | Santander
Digital bank and FinTech provider, Green Dot, has introduced a new embedded finance brand and service platform called "Arc by Green Dot." This new unit offers a unified platform that integrates secure banking and money processing services in one streamlined solution. | Finextra
Open Banking
Under the new rule - financial institutions, credit card issuers, and other financial providers will be required to “unlock” an individual’s personal financial data and transfer it to another provider at the consumer’s request for free. Consumers will be able to access, or authorise a third party to access, their data associated with bank accounts, credit cards, mobile wallets, payment apps, and other financial products, such as transaction information, account balance information, information needed to initiate payments, upcoming bill information, and basic account verification information. | Open Banking Expo
Lending
Financeit announced that it has added Goldman Sachs to its Securitization Warehouse, increasing its capacity by $200 million to a total of $700 million. Combined with the Canadian fintech’s existing loan funding arrangements, Financeit now claims nearly $2.5 billion in annual loan financing capacity. | Fintech.ca
Wealth Management and PFM
Wealthsimple have partnered with a number of CDIC-member, Canadian Financial Institutions to take advantage of a combined CDIC-eligible coverage amount (up to $1,000,000 CAD) for our clients across all of their Cash accounts. This means that we hold our clients’ Cash account balances over $100,000 CAD in trust with multiple members of the CDIC, allowing the extension of coverage to funds in your cash accounts for up to $1,000,000 CAD, against failure of any of Wealthsimple’s partner banks. | Wealthsimple Newsroom
领英推荐
The company’s highly configurable platform is designed to empower financial institutions by enabling them to easily tailor and scale their wealth management services, ensuring a more personalized and efficient client experience. Several prominent U.S. financial institutions have already signed on as customers. | Global Private Banker
The round brings Parachute’s total funding to more than $2.1 million CAD, a figure that includes approximately $650,000 in previously unannounced pre-seed financing provided by Highline Beta, Lunny, and other angels through a simple agreement for future equity in 2022. | BetaKit
MyFO has received investment through Rhino Ventures, the Vancouver companies recently announced. Family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals manage trillions of dollars—more than the entire hedge fund industry. The number of family offices has tripled since 2019 to more than 10,000 worldwide. | Fintech.ca
Wealthsimple has launched an exclusive rewards program for its Premium and Generation clients. This new program, targeted at clients with assets over $200,000, features partnerships with prominent lifestyle brands across travel, wellness, and culture. These rewards include an UberOne membership, airport lounge access through DragonPass, and subscriptions with wellness and media platforms like Strava and The Globe and Mail. | Fintech.ca
“This accomplishment reflects our firm’s commitment to building a platform that empowers Canada’s elite investment advisors to deliver personalized financial solutions and seamless service to their clients,” stated Stuart Raftus, chief executive officer, Canaccord Genuity Corp. | Wealth Professional
Crypto & DeFi
This registration, approved by Alberta’s Treasury Board and Finance (ATBF), allows Balance Trust Company to operate as a qualified custodian in both Canada and the United States. With this certification, Balance Trust Company is now equipped to serve a broad range of regulated entities, including public ETF and mutual fund issuers, registered investment advisers, restricted dealer cryptoasset trading platforms (CTPs), and stablecoin providers. The custodian can also accommodate other accredited investors in both countries. | Fintech.ca
Coinbase has identified Canada as a key market, ranking second among the company’s international markets in terms of crypto awareness. With approximately 13% of the population—an estimated five million Canadians—holding cryptocurrency, Coinbase sees tremendous growth potential in the region. | Fintech.ca
After a year in the US, Coinbase’s “Stand with Crypto” campaign recently expanded north to Canada‘s five million coin holders. The move was part of the FinTech titan’s mission “towards driving regulatory clarity in Canada,” according to Coinbase Canada chief executive Lucas Matheson. | Fintech.ca
FI Tech & Software
Surecomp has revealed that the new additions to the RIVO ecosystem include Crédit Agricole CIB in France, Danske Bank in Denmark, and Mizuho in Europe, all of which are now using this collaborative trade finance platform. | The Paypers
Zafin, a global provider of SaaS core modernization and transformation solutions, announced its new Tiering capability. Zafin’s Tiering capability represents a significant advancement that builds on the company’s Dynamic Cohorts to enable banks move from static segmentation to behavior-based customer management. | Zafin
Venture Capital
Brightspark, which launched Brightspark Canadian Opportunities Fund II (BCOF II) in May 2023 with?$60 million, held its final close last month. With BCOF II, which marks the industry-agnostic 25-year-old firm’s fourth overall fund, Brightspark plans to keep leading seed to Series A rounds for tech startups across Canada as it looks to hit more “home runs.” | BetaKit
Others
The funding round, led by Relay Ventures and N49P, also saw participation from Alate Partners, Clarim Ventures, Gambit Partners, and several angel investors, including a former president of the Toronto Real Estate Board. | Fintech.ca
Developed in conjunction with Western University researchers, the image annotation model uses generative AI to filter properties for sale using images. For example, homebuyers can search for homes by using search terms that relate to the characteristics of an image, such as “renovated kitchen” or “finished basement” to find listings that include those attributes.?| Wahi
Alexi has expanded its features, introducing cutting-edge AI technology designed to streamline workflows for litigators. By applying its proprietary AI to core legal tasks, Alexi offers a strategic advantage to legal professionals, helping them simplify litigation processes and achieve better outcomes for clients. | Fintech.ca
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has slapped an $89 million penalty on Apple and Goldman Sachs for illegally mishandling credit card transaction disputes and misleading iPhone purchasers about interest-free payment options. | Finextra
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