UK Digital Bank Monzo Weighs Deal for Nordic Rival Lunar
Good morning,
Welcome to your daily FinTech news!
Check out FIS' “Global Payments Report for 2023.” When it comes to global payments, there’s no standard consumer or one-size-fits-all solution. Each market’s payment landscape is unique, and so are its participants. How do you decide what’s relevant to your business? This report helps you make sense of it all. Download full report here
INSIGHTS
Emerging opportunities in global trade: goods, money and data. In our increasingly interconnected world, global trade plays a vital role. At its core, international trade is a complex interplay of these three components. Read the comprehensive article by Camila K. from QED Investors?
A new survey carried out by Mercado Bitcoin of just over 1,000 respondents estimates that around 10 million Brazilians, roughly 5 percent of the country’s population, are invested in cryptocurrencies. Download here
Stripe vs Adyen showdown. Together, these players have the potential to propel Embedded Finance across businesses of all sizes, elevating its success to new heights on a global scale. I highly recommend reading the complete comparison WhiteSight article by Kshitija Kaur and Sanjeev Kumar to learn more
FINTECH NEWS
Flutterwave moves into tuition finance. The company has launched Tuition, a new payment product, to allow African users to conveniently pay various fees to educational institutions within Africa and overseas using their local currencies.
Mesh Payments introduces ProcurePay. “Companies no longer have to suffer through manual and expensive procurement processes that lack the flexibility and real-time capabilities of modern spend management,” said Mesh Payments CEO.
Payoneer to cut nine percent of staff. In a filing with the SEC, the firm says the workfroce reduction plan is expected to "enhance productivity and efficiency and streamline the company’s organizational structure to better align operations with its growth".
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
UK digital bank Monzo weighs deal for Nordic rival Lunar. Monzo has been holding preliminary discussions with the Danish company about the structure of a possible deal, according to anonymous sources familiar with the matter.?
NAB removes links in text messages as part of fraud remediation efforts. This is the latest move in NAB’s fight against criminals, with 64 projects completed or underway across the bank to help address the global scam epidemic.
Bank of America hit with multiple fines over banking malpractice. The CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay $100M+ to customers for fee double-dipping, withholding rewards, and unauthorized account openings with personal information misuse.??
CaixaBank introduces bill splitting feature for online debit payments. The biggest advantage is the enhanced user experience, since in just one click the customer can activate the entire transaction and have the total amount on screen, without having to remember it, to split as he or she sees fit.
Emirates NBD expands WhatsApp banking channel. The company has launched an enhanced and upgraded version of its WhatsApp banking service, providing customers with a convenient, secure and reliable digital banking experience like never before.
BLOCKCHAIN
Argentina-based crypto exchange Ripio cut 18 percent of its staff in a round of layoffs, Portal do Bitcoin reported. Roughly 60-70 of company’s 300 total employees worldwide were let go. Read more
FCA continues crackdown on crypto ATMs in the UK. This action follows the FCA’s previous inspections of a number of sites across the UK including East London, and Leeds, Exeter, Sheffield and Nottingham that were suspected of hosting unregistered crypto ATMs.?
UK Government to set up Digital Securities Sandbox. This will enable firms to model the operations of a central securities depository and trading venue using distributed ledger technology to accommodate digital assets.
领英推荐
M&As
NAB completes transfer of 86 400 customers to Ubank technology platform. “With migration complete, we’re now working off a platform that can handle eight times the scale to support growth of customer numbers and deposits,” Ubank CEO Philippa Watson said.
PARTNERSHIPS
Marqeta expands into Brazil with Fitbank support. As part of Marqeta’s partnership with Fitbank, the company will both be a Marqeta customer, using it as a payment processor, and serve as a BIN sponsor for Marqeta’s customers looking to launch in the region.
Google Calendar now allows users to take paid appointments. The new feature lets professionals or freelancers allow their customers to book paid appointments. The company has partnered with Stripe for the facility, so users will need to connect their Stripe account to Google Calendar to start accepting payments.?
MassPay joins Visa FinTech Fast Track Program to enhance global payout services, expand capabilities, access Visa's partner ecosystem, and benefit from accelerated onboarding and implementation support.
Stax connects with PayPal. The collaboration offers Stax customers near instant access to funds, fraud detection, Seller Protection on eligible transactions and the built-in compliance standards PayPal is known for.
EBANX partners with Nubank to offer payment service to customers. Ebanx will now offer corporate customers the option of paying via NuPay, an alternative payment method developed by Nubank for international purchases. Ebanx's 1,600 corporate clients include Airbnb, Shopee and Uber.
Bitstamp and Qi Digital to help banks integrate crypto currency payments. Through this partnership, companies, banks and payment providers can accept cryptocurrency stored on Bitstamp as regular payment. Read more
Solaris secures €38 million capital raise. The new funding follows a testing period for Solaris, which rebranded from its initial positioning as a neo bank, as part of a wider organisational overhaul that also saw a reshuffle of the management board under new CEO Carsten H?ltkemeyer. Read more
Instant bank payments startup Ivy secured $7.7M. Ivy’s solution is to allow merchants to accept instant bank payments literally at the checkout. That means the “middle-men” transaction fees can be substantially reduced, and the transaction speed increased, claims the startup.?
FinRes secures €4.1M funding, revolutionises agricultural finance decision-making with AI. The new funds will empower finres to accelerate the launch of its platform, ResADM, which is already in an advanced stage of development.
Mindigital completes CNY 50M series A financing. The newly raised funds will be mainly used for further upgrading of products and systems and expansion of overseas markets. Link here
OakNorth reached ￡900m of business lending in H1 2023. “With the current cost-of-living crisis set to continue well into next year, we want to reassure businesses that we’re here to support them whether they need debt for growth, M&A, a management buy-out or buy-in, working capital or anything else,” said OakNorth Bank’s head of debt finance Ben Barbanel.
Vietnamese digital bank Timo said to have raised 10 million from existing investors. Before this latest round, Timo had raised a substantial $20 million during a venture round in 2022. Read more
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Binance announces the appointment of Min Lin as Head of Latin America. In this new role, Lin will lead teams across the region to enhance Binance’s products and services, with a focus on optimizing user experience in this key market.?
FINBOURNE Technology appoints Neil Ryan in the role of Head of Product Marketing and Solution Positioning. In his new role, Neil will collaborate with FINBOURNE's development teams and senior stakeholders to align product and marketing strategies with business objectives during an anticipated growth phase.
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Cheers,
Marcel van Oost
The Payment Solutions Guy — I'll help you decrease processing fees by 20%, and improve approval rates (guaranteed) by finding the best Payment Providers for your business | Visit my website to learn how
1 年Great stuff, Marcel! Always appreciate your updates. Thanks :)
Sales Associate at American Airlines
1 年Great opportunity