This Week in Fintech: 27 Apr-02 May 2019
Preamble (#TWIF)
Every week on Saturday, I publish a short article summarising the key events of the week from the Fintech segments from across the world.
In order to keep a balanced view on the segment, I capture happenings that drive our hope and counter that with a few not-so-happy events as well to allow us to be wary of the hype. In the final section, I capture key fintech investment rounds of the week.
Fintech: The Bright Side
This week in the fintech world, nations took big steps in payments and open banking
- The Bank of Canada (BoC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) jointly announced the successful trial of cross-border payments using blockchain technology and central bank digital currencies. This transaction was the first of its kind between two central banks and showed “great potential to increase efficiencies and reduce risks for cross-border payments.”
- Amazon Pay, the digital payments arm of e-commerce major Amazon, is now foraying into peer-to-peer transactions through Unified Payments Interface, the real-time inter-bank settlement mechanism. With P2P payments, the company intends to offer the entire suite of payment products to its UPI users.
- The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA – Finanstilsynet) has become the latest Nordic regulator, after Norway, to roll out an ambitious sandbox initiative targeting Denmark’s most innovative fintech startups.
- Brazil’s central bank has approved the implementation of open banking and set out information sharing guidelines. Timescales will be released in the second half of 2019.
- A blockchain-based digital identity network designed by Toronto-based SecureKey Technologies Inc. and supported by the top banks in Canada announced its official launch on Wednesday. Bank supporting the initiative are - CIBC, Desjardins, RBC, Scotiabank, and TD Bank.
Fintech: The Dark Side
Misaligned expectations and regulatory pushdown, affected some fintechs this week
- Regulators from New York got the nod from a judge to move forward with their lawsuit aimed at stopping FinTechs from offering banking services on a national level.
- Roberto Mancone, co-founder and chief operating officer of blockchain trade finance platform we.trade, is leaving the company and reveals his doubts about blockchain technology’s promises to transform the industry.
- Investment Alert Tax Force of Jakarta found 144 unlicensed peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms, including those operating from foreign countries such as China, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.
- Square shares dropped more than 6% after the company reported weaker-than-expected gross payment volume and lower-than-expected guidance for the second quarter. The payments processor beat analysts’ estimates on earnings and revenue.
Fintech: Fuel the tank
- With its third funding in 12 months, automated expense reporting system provider, Divvy raised the bar with its latest $200M funding.
- Mumbai-based NBFC InCred raised $86M, while cloud-based open banking platform Tink scored $62.5M
- Technisys, a leading digital banking software provider raised $50M, while insurtech Indio Technologies raised $20M.
- Indian digital SME lender Happy successfully closed a $20M round and in the UK payment software firm Masabi raised $20M.
- Thai fintech firm Silot snapped up $10.8M in series A, while data-tools provider Mosaic Smart Data closed $9M from top FX dealers.
Other notable funding this week have been:
- MSME digital payments firm, ftcash ($7.2M)
- Sydney-based invoicing fintech, EarlyTrade ($6M)
- Alternate lending investments platform, Finitive ($6M)
- Challenger banking startup Dozens - $4.9M through Seedrs crowdfunding
- AI powered fintech chatbot provider, Plum ($4.5M )
See you next Saturday, with more fintech trends!