Furness Building Society Selects Backbase for Digital Banking Overhaul

?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Sabadell CEO says 2024 full-year profit could top 1.6 bln euros.

The CEO of Spain's Sabadell, opens new tab, Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno, on Thursday said the bank could earn more than 1.6 billion euros ($1.76 billion) in net profit in 2024 if it manages to perform as well in the second half of the year as it did in the first.

Sabadell is trying to fend off an around 12 billion euro hostile takeover by rival BBVA.

In July, Sabadell said it expected to end 2024 with a net profit above 1.4 billion euros, taking into account a target of above 13% for the year's return on tangible equity ratio, a measure of profitability.

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??ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

• Now we know that Revolut and Nubank are looking to enter the MENA Region, let's have a look at a digital banking market map from the region.

NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S?NEWS

?? DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS

?? Furness Building Society selects Backbase for digital banking overhaul.

?? Bank of Hangzhou partners Malaysia’s Maybank to support cross-border businesses in China.

?? UK Banks Now Have Up to Four Days to Check for Scam Payments.

?? AMINA Bank participates with Tenity as global innovation partner.

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?? REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

UK ????

Clearbank eyes flurry of new products amid ‘huge demand’ for FinTech. The London-based firm is planning to hire new staff and tap into fresh revenue streams for its next phase of growth, CEO Emma Hagan told City AM. Read more

Chase launches major new campaign to help customers ‘See What Their Money Can Do’. The new platform and campaign – which comes three years after Chase’s launch in the UK – signifies the next step in Chase’s growth as it continues to broaden its product offer and supports a wider range of customers’ financial needs.

Bank of England and FCA joint approach to the Digital Securities Sandbox. The Digital Securities Sandbox policy statement sets out the Bank and the FCA’s joint approach to safely adopting new technologies in the operation of financial market infrastructure.

Nationwide announced the complete acquisition of Virgin Money, with the move allowing the financial institution to augment its offering. ?By concluding this deal, Nationwide intends to provide increased value to its members, as well as to optimise customer satisfaction and deliver competitive savings and lending rates.

HSBC says investment in former British FinTech star Monese is worthless. The banking group wrote off its $5.86 million minority stake in Monese in March and April, as the company underwent restructuring. Monese's BaaS platform, now rebranded as XYB, has become a standalone business. Find out more

HSBC launches embedded finance venture SemFi with Tradeshift. Initial offerings include AI-powered digital invoice financing for SME suppliers and virtual business cards, launching in the UK and Hong Kong, with future plans for digital wallets and purchase order financing.

UK banks divided over charging scam victims ￡100 for reimbursement. The new fraud rules will see some lenders dock customers’ compensation while others waive charges. Banks will have to reimburse the majority of fraud victims within just five working days.

FCA Fines Starling Bank ￡29m for Failings in Their Financial Crime Systems and Controls. Starling repeatedly breached FCA requirements, including a restriction on opening high-risk accounts. In January 2023, it found its screening system had been faulty since 2017, failing to check customers against full sanctions lists. Find out more

Saxo expands offerings for “Buy-and-Hold Investors”: Launches SaxoInvestor in the UK. The new platform offers access to more than 70,000 instruments, including stocks, ETFs, bonds, and mutual funds. The SaxoInvestor platform is offering low commissions and 0.25 percent FX fees. It will also allow extended market access hours.

“It Simply Isn’t Good Enough” – Revolut calls for Meta to commit to sharing reimbursement of fraud victims, arguing that its recently announced data-sharing partnership with UK banks and financial institutions falls woefully short of what’s required to tackle fraud globally.

Meta teams up with UK banks to fight scammers. The collaboration through the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) aims to enhance Meta's ability to detect and dismantle scam networks on its platforms by enabling UK banks to share information directly, helping identify and take down fraudulent accounts. NatWest and Metro Bank are the first ones to join the FIRE initiative, with Meta anticipating that more will join soon.

UK banks now have up to four days to check payments for scams. The UK government will give banks more time to investigate payments they suspect are fraudulent in a welcome reprieve for lenders as they prepare for new rules that will require them to reimburse many customers that fall victim to scams.

Polish FinTech company Zen.com has announced that it has obtained an EMI license in the UK. A key factor in this achievement was the collaboration with ClearBank, which provided the necessary infrastructure and regulatory support, allowing Zen.com to expand its financial services offering to UK users.

Revolut has boosted its crypto team amid an expansion in its portfolio of digital assets products. The firm now has more than 100 people in its crypto team, up by more than 60% since January, a Revolut spokesperson told Financial News.

EUROPE ????

Complytek partners with Advapay to provide core banking solutions. By teaming up, Complytek and Advapay intend to ensure that, even if they maintain their unique offerings, FinTech companies can benefit from an integrated solution. More here

Revolut is launching personal loans for it's 2 Million customers in Italy as part of its strategy to become the “primary bank account for customers,” according to Maurizio Talarico. The new offering allows customers to apply for a loan between €1,000 and €50,000 with a repayment plan spanning from six months to seven years.

Backbase unveils new Amsterdam headquarters, amplifying its culture of innovation. This move is more than just a change of address; it represents another step forward in Backbase’s mission to re-architect banking around the customer and reaffirms its strong commitment to a culture of collaboration and a can-do mentality.

The Moscow Region Arbitration Court froze about $372 million in funds from U.S. banks JP Morgan Chase and BNY Mellon held by their Russian affiliates. This decision, initiated by Russia's deputy prosecutor "in defense of the interests of the Russian Federation," follows the Ukrainian central bank's withdrawal of MR Bank's license, with plans to close it by 2025.

USA ????

JP Morgan and Trustpair join forces to offer global bank account validation service. This collaboration combines Trustpair’s leading fraud prevention platform with Confirm, an application developed by Onyx by JP Morgan, greatly improving the verification of global bank accounts and protecting against fraud.?

Backbase and Middesk partner to boost KYB verification for banks and credit unions. Together with Middesk, Backbase is continuing to implement modern, flexible, scalable and API-first solutions to banks and credit unions, helping them deliver the best-in-class digital experiences to their business clients.

JP Morgan Chase announced plans to hire an additional 75 community managers by 2030 to provide greater access to banking, tools and advice, and help customers get on a path to financial health and resilience. Read the full piece

Visa launches platform to help banks issue stablecoins globally. The product, which will be known as the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform or VTAP, will allow banks to “mint, burn and transfer” tokens. While still in the testing stage, the plan is to go live next year, according to a Thursday statement.

CANADA ????

TD Bank in talks about money laundering plea. The Canadian bank is in discussions with U.S. prosecutors over the agreement, stemming from criminal charges that its American arm failed to prevent money laundering, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sept. 27.

ASIA

BUSINESSNEXT and MongoDB team up to accelerate autonomous operations in financial services. The collaboration will empower banking and financial services with the technology needed to deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive autonomous operations.

TymeBank reaches 10m customers amid record deposits, less than six years since inception, as the digital-only bank’s small business finance service continues to grow. According to a statement, the bank has disbursed more than $600 million (R12 billion) in funding to over 80 000 small businesses in SA.

AUSTRALIA ????

Open banking limps to life with ANZ customers seeking full picture. The open banking regime has been jolted back to life by the addition of 15,000 ANZ customers who last week linked accounts they hold at other banks to their ANZ Plus profiles using consumer rights afforded by the federal government-backed scheme.