Tandem Bank acquired Loop Money
Terrific Thursday FinTech Fanatic,
Let’s kick off today's newsletter with a follow-up on a story from the beginning of this year, when news came out JPMorgan Chase & Co . filed a lawsuit against Frank executives Charlie Javice and Olivier Amar for allegedly concocting millions of fake customers.
This week The US Justice Department criminally charged Charlie Javice, founder of college financial planning platform Frank, with defrauding JPMorgan Chase out of $175 million .
They accuse Javice of “falsely and dramatically” inflating the number of customers Frank actually had in a scheme to “fraudulently induce” the bank to acquire the startup for $175 million in 2021, according to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. A lawyer for the founder, Charlie Javice, has disputed the allegations.
JPMorgan coincidentally found out about the alleged fraud when it sent out marketing test emails to a list of Frank’s customers provided by Frank and more than 70% of those mails bounced back. JPMorgan shut down the startup in January.
This is probably not the last we hear about this case.
Another notable news fact is Tandem Bank making its first acquisition of 2023 . AltFi exclusively revealed the takeover of recently launched money-sharing app Loop Money .
Loop was founded in 2021 by Mirko Giacco , Ankit Tharwani and Paul Pester , who is also the chair and co-founder of Tandem Bank.
Before we go to the other FinTech news, I think its worth mentioning that we saw 14 European FinTech deals for a total of €194 million raised last week , according to research by BlackFin Tech .?
The last six months have been such a tricky time for a lot of startups looking to raise money, but we still can see some money flowing through the scene. Congrats to all the teams!
Thanks for bearing with me, and please find the other FinTech news listed below??
#FINTECHREPORT
As global payments continue to become faster and more cost-effective, it will be increasingly challenging for banks to distinguish their offerings for end clients. Read “Innovation of payments - Programmable Money,” report by Centiglobe and learn more
INSIGHTS
Take a look at the latest report from The Nordics in “Nordic Fintech Snippets – March 2023” by Helsinki FinTech Farm , and find the industry highlights , including funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, and new launches.
How will the restructuring of Alibaba affect Ant Group ? Although degrees of separation between both companies have been increasing since last year, there is no decoupling this restructuring from Ant’s fortunes. Indeed, Alibaba still owns 33% of Ant, and it wants the Ant IPO to get back on track.
Top 5 Tech Trends in Asia in 2023. In 2022, though the region was not immune to the global tech funding pullback, the tech sector remained a dominant theme for private capital investors, securing a total of US$145.7 billion in investments.?
FinTechs that went public since 2020 trading at half listed price. The FinTechs that have gone public since March 2020 have had a turbulent time on Wall Street. The average name on the list trades 54% below the offer price. Read more
FINTECH NEWS
Fintech Scotland hits growth targets. A year on from publishing the FinTech Research and Innovation Roadmap, FinTech Scotland announced today that it is on track to hit its targets for economic growth. Read more
Alaan becomes the first Middle Eastern FinTech to integrate OpenAI . With the integration of OpenAI, Alaan can leverage natural language processing (NLP) capabilities to provide users with a more intelligent, intuitive, and efficient expense management experience.?
Spark Financial launches Spark Invest, a direct investment solution affirming its mission to improve the financial wellbeing of everyday Australians. Moreover, the solution is flexible for use by investors who may not be ready for an advised experience, but instead, seek access to a quality, self-driven investment solution.
This messaging app with 73M users is emerging as Vietnam’s 2nd most used e-wallet. ZaloPay is a payment platform that allows users to make payments, transfers, pay their bills, add credit to their mobile phone, and more, and is now the second most popular e-wallet service in the country.
Malaysian BNPL firms may be subject to RM2 million minimum requirement. The CCOB is seeking public feedback on the proposed regulatory framework for credit businesses. Its immediate focus in Phase 1 will be on non-bank credit providers and service providers which are currently unregulated including those carrying on BNPL activities.
PayPal adds Apple Pay support for small merchants using Advanced Checkout. Companies that have opted for the latter option can now accept Apple Pay payments from their customers. The checkout tool already offers multiple options to customers such as PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later, as well as credit cards.
领英推荐
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
Moneyhub 's open banking APIs now available via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. Moneyhub is offering its Open Banking APIs, Open Banking Affordability, and Categorisation services through the marketplace, alongside a host of its other capabilities .?
Credit Suisse collapse may put Singapore in the spotlight. Singapore’s political stability, transparent government policies and pro-business environment remain intact, said Citibank Singapore CEO Brendan Carney .
Mind the gap: Revolut 's mean gender pay differential increases. The firm’s attempts to bridge the gender pay gap at its business appears to be going into reverse, with the mean differential between women and men increasing from 22.7% last year to 25.4% as of April 2022.
Zurp launches new credit card and banking platform. The Zurp Card is available for individuals 18 years and older and is specifically built with Gen Z in mind. The card does not have an annual fee and does not charge any ATM fees. Read more
BLOCKCHAIN
Brazilian investment Bank BTG Pactual unveils dollar-backed stablecoin. The bank has introduced a dollar-backed stablecoin through its crypto platform, Mynt.The stablecoin, BTG Dol, is the world's first dollar-backed stablecoin issued by a bank, BTG Pactual said in an announcement.
BUX offers 2.01% interest on cash for all customers. BUX is the first and only brokerage firm in the Netherlands offering an interest rate of more than 2% on cash balances. The offer is valid as of 5 April 2023 and has no timing restrictions or fixed holding periods.
M&As
BezoMoney acquires Tigerforce Microfinance . The acquisition is aligned with BezoMoney’s mission to provide affordable and convenient financial services to unbanked and young individuals in Africa.?
Verto claims a quarter of SVB customers operating in Africa are opening accounts on its platform. Verto said it has acquired a quarter of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) customers from Africa and the MENA region . According to the startup’s own data, SVB had nearly 250 clients operating in both regions before its collapse.
PARTNERSHIPS
North American Bancard unlocks insights from payment data with Virtualitics . The partnership will enable NAB to explore and understand payments intelligence to identify complex patterns within the data with greater efficiency, providing business owners data-driven insights to make better decisions.
GAM International and SBK Foundation have formally launched the first Sharia-based digital microcredit in Bangladesh. The partnership will provide financial access to unbanked and underserved communities, including Ready-made Garment (RMG) factory workers, small business owners and gig-economy workers.
#DONEDEAL
South Africa’s Peach Payments lands $31m series A funding. With the new investment, Peach Payments plans to expand across new markets in Africa and strengthen its product offering.
MUFG Bank invests US$232 million in Indian FinTech DMI Finance . DMI is committed to promoting financial inclusion through its people, products, services, and relationships. Link here
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Token names finleap's Dr. Lea Maria Siering as managing director. Lea will be responsible for driving Token GmbH’s growth strategy, leading its Berlin operations, and expanding its presence in the region.
Visa , EQ Bank join board of Canadian Prepaid Providers Organization . Visa’s representative on the board is Brian Weiner , VP, Head of Product and Digital for Visa Canada. EQ Bank will be represented by Kartik Kamat , VP, Payments and Digital Banking Analytics for EQ Bank. Link here
Looking to work with me in any of the following areas?
Cheers,
Marcel van Oost