Santander Appoints Ignacio Juliá As New CEO Of Santander Spain

?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Santander appoints Ignacio Juliá as new CEO of Santander Spain.

Banco Santander is to appoint Ignacio Juliá, formerly CEO of ING for Spain and Portugal, as CEO of Santander Spain. Juliá will replace ángel Rivera from 1 October 2024, pending necessary regulatory approvals.

His appointment will help progress in transforming the business model to provide better customer service and, at the same time, generate further growth and efficiency.

Ignacio Juliá has been key in ING's journey since its launch as the first digital bank in Spain in 1999. Serving as CEO of ING for Spain and Portugal since 2021, he previously held roles as Chief Financial and Risk Officer and head of retail business.

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??INSIGHTS

In the face of growing government and industry pressure, the UK's Payment Systems Regulator (PRS) is set to bow to demands to reduce the reimbursement limit offered by banks to victims of authorised push payment fraud from ￡450,000 to just ￡85,000. PSR confirms implementation date for APP scam protections as 7 October, and publishes high value APP scams review and consultation.

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

?? DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS

?? Deutsche Bank settles longest-running claim over Postbank.

?? MidwestOne Bank streamlines customer onboarding with Temenos.

?? Bad Loans Pile Up at Nubank, Latin America’s New No. 1 Bank.

?? JPMorgan expands Morgan Money platform with new treasury and cash management capabilities.

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?? REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

UK ????

Atlantic Money provides low-cost alternative to Swift with app-less money transfers. Money movement firm Atlantic Money is to make it possible for users to forsake its app and instead send and receive currencies directly from within their own bank accounts.

Waafi Bank selects The Bank of London as its UK services provider. Waafi Bank is dedicated to offering financial products that align with Islamic principles, ensuring that all financial dealings are Shariah-compliant, making this partnership crucial for its mission.

Revolut is rolling out dedicated crypto payment cards for spending on everyday items. Integrated with Apple Pay and Google Pay, the new virtual cards enable users to pay in person and online for shopping using crypto, from big budget items to everyday essentials, such as the daily commute and morning coffee.

UK-based business bank Allica has announced its acquisition of bridging lending Tuscan Capital, aiming to further extend its commercial finance product offering. The financial institutions are expected to share more insights on how they will be developing their bridging proposition in the following weeks.

Revolut is launching Billpay, which automates payments and is designed to save businesses time managing and paying bills. BillPay integrates with major accounting software packages, including QuickBooks, Xero, and FreeAgent and will enable users to manage and pay bills to suppliers in over 150 countries, the company says

Tide hits one million customer milestone. This includes 650,000 members in the UK, and 350,000 in India, where it launched in December 2022. Tide entered the German market in May, where it has started to roll out its product proposition.

Income Group taps Griffin for savings accounts. This partnership allows Income Group to enhance IGsend by integrating Griffin’s savings account, promoting a culture of saving among its users. Continue reading

EUROPE ????

Revolut has told potential business partners in Ireland that it will introduce its first home loans in the second quarter of 2025, marking a significant expansion of its offering. Learn more

Poland’s BLIK payment system looks to expand abroad with Revolut. Blik, the payment system that has taken Poland by storm, is reportedly working on making its instant payment services available to Revolut’s banking clients in Poland and subsequently roll out its service internationally with the help of the U.K.-based financial platform. Continue reading

Saldo Bank to launch its first credit cards with support from Enfuce. This announcement underscores Enfuce’s commitment to supporting both digital and legacy banks across Europe, as Saldo Bank expands its operations into payment services through a new VISA credit card programme under this partnership.

USA ????

Ingo Payments Acquires Deposits Inc. to Redefine Money Mobility for Banks and Corporates.

There’s moving money and then there’s money mobility. One represents the current state of how money moves in and out of accounts. The latter is the cornerstone of yesterday’s announcement that money mobility platform Ingo Payments has acquired cloud-based banking platform Deposits Inc.

The Deposits integration into the Ingo Payments platform will create a modern, bank-grade, money movement platform that connects “money in and money out” functionality with an embedded, proprietary “money stack.” Ingo Payments now gives bank and non-bank issuers new plug-and-play capabilities to fund and monetize existing account relationships or to establish new virtual ones — by turning payments into new feature-rich accounts.

U.S. Bank works to simplify SMB banking, payments. A recent survey by the bank is leading it to bring its payments and banking tools together to work for small and mid-size business clients in a more simplified way. Read more

Banked selected to support Visa A2A launch, an open system to boost consumer protection with smarter bank transfer payments. Banked will use Visa's A2A platform to facilitate variable recurring payments (VRP), enabling automatic transfers from payer to merchant for seamless one-click or scheduled payments.

LATAM

Brazilian neobank Neon Raises over ??$ ?????? ?????????????? in new funding round. The raise occurred in two tranches – one worth R$ 310 million (US$ 64 million) in December 2023, and another R$ 208 million (US$ 38 million) in August 2024.

ASIA

Warba Bank announced the launch of Warba Advisor, the first personal banking advisor powered by AI as part of its strategic digital transformation. This initiative aims to improve customer service by using AI for personalized banking consultations. Warba Bank is the first in Kuwait to offer this service.

NEO, a new mobile banking brand, is being launched in Saudi Arabia by SNB. Described as a “lifestyle digital banking and financial ecosystem”, the banking app comes with a multi-currency debit card (supporting up to 20 different currencies with fixed currency rates), a rewards programme, gift cards, and additional services.

Egypt to launch first digital bank by Q4 2024 following CBE’s approval. This information was revealed in an IDSC report, which explains that digital banks are a type of FinTech institution offering many of the same services as traditional banks, with the key difference being that digital banks operate without physical branches.

Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has announced the issuance of the second release under the Open Banking Framework, focused on the Payment Initiation Service (PIS). According to the announcement, the new release is part of SAMA's ongoing efforts to strengthen Saudi Arabia's FinTech ecosystem.

SAMA permitted three new FinTech startups to test their innovative solutions in SAMA's regulatory sandbox. “XSquare" and “NeotTek" are authorized to launch an Open Banking platform, and “MoneyMoon" is authorized to launch a peer-to-peer lending platform. More here

Digital challenger barq signs up 1 million users within 21 days of launch. This remarkable achievement positions barq as the fastest-growing private wallet globally, outside of China. Continue reading

ZA Bank becomes Hong Kong's first virtual bank to declare monthly net profitability. This accomplishment underscores ZA Bank's robust growth and positions Hong Kong at the forefront of digital banking.?

Mox becomes the first virtual bank in Hong Kong to offer crypto investments. The service lets users invest in crypto through a regulated platform without managing a personal wallet, making Mox the first virtual bank in Hong Kong to offer crypto-related investments.?

AFRICA

Sanlam buys 25% stake in unit that owns Motsepe’s TymeBank. Sanlam’s Life unit will acquire the stake in African Rainbow Capital Financial Services Holdings, which controls African Rainbow Capital Investments Ltd.’s holdings in TymeBank, AI Fund, CrossFin Holdings and Ooba, in a deal valued at 3.9 billion rand ($218 million), according a regulatory filing.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Wise executive joins OakNorth board. Digital business bank OakNorth has appointed Nilan Peiris, the chief product officer of Wise as a non-executive director. Peiris, who has been working with the global remittance FinTech for more than a decade, will join the board at OakNorth as it expands internationally.

The Bank of London has announced that Anthony Watson is stepping down as chief executive eight years after founding the firm. The bank announced that Watson will transition to a new role as “founder & senior adviser” and remain a non-executive director of The Bank of London Group, as well as a shareholder. Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Stephen Bell has been appointed as the new CEO, subject to regulatory approval.