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REPORT

• Last week we saw 15 FinTech deals in Europe for a total of 96m€ raised:

4 deals in the UK, 3 in France, 2 in Romania, and 1 in Spain, Sweden, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, and Switzerland.

• Embedded Finance - How can financial institutions use embedded financial services to prosper?

?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Airwallex is building up its new office in Israel and aiming to expand its reach to the Arab Gulf states.

Digital payment processor worth $5.5 billion eyes growing population in Mideast with disposable income its young people like to spend online

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?? ?? BLOG

• The rebirth of Banking-as-a-Service in Europe: The European BaaS opportunity remains largely untapped.

Banking-as-a-service (“BaaS”) platforms enable non-bank businesses to offer financial products to their clients. Their capabilities typically include accounts, payments, cards or lending.

?? INTERVIEW

• Interview: Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski will never play by the rule book.

The chief executive and co-founder of Swedish fintech juggernaut Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, once said it’s not that crazy to lose $100 million a month while building a business.

??INSIGHTS

• From high-yield savings accounts and credit cards to installment loans and contactless payments, tech giant Apple is growing its footprint in financial services.

CB Insights mined Apple's acquisitions and partnerships to discern its strategic priorities.

• Millions of people in the UK already use at least?one of the challenger banks. If your current account already?offers similarly-priced transfers, what's the incentive to switch?

We all know Peter Ramsey for his famous UX case studies and the time has come to put Wise under the microscope.

?? ANALYSIS

• An analysis shows that Zalando Payments generated EUR 268 million (in German only) in revenue and EUR 5 million in profit in 2021. BNPL and invoice payment were likely the focus of efforts in the past years.

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

?? FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS

?? Wise has launched a new instant access savings account with a 4.12 per cent rate.?

?? Banked links with Tillo to drive merchants’ customer engagement.

?? Sonovate expands globally with new funding hub in Netherlands.

?? Berlin to host international fintech festival.

PAYMENTS

Okoora launches AI-powered platform for payments, banking, and risk management.

Modulr launches in Spain and France, unlocking opportunities for businesses with embedded payments.

TreasurySpring raised $29 million in a Series B funding round led by Balderton Capital.

Unlimit and PayWings join forces to empower next-gen digital payments.

OPEN BANKING

Bankable has acquired of Arex Markets, giving the combined company the ability to embed credit and working capital into the payment flows of established neobanks, multinational brands and fintech platforms.

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) has partnered up with Pismo to help strengthen its corporate demand deposit accounts (DDA) globally.

Associazione Bancaria Italiana (ABI) has brought together a group of banks in a pilot program for a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

JP Morgan’s Chase ups savings account rate to 3.8% after Bank of England ‘super-hike’.

CaixaBank has partnered with EPC-approved European Clearing & Settlement Mechanism (CSM) Iberpay to introduce the SEPA Request-to-Pay (SRTP) service in Europe.

CRYPTO

Crypto.com has been granted virtual asset service provider (Vasp) registration by the Bank of Spain. The move will allow the firm to offer crypto trading and payment services in Spain.

Bybit has been granted a crypto exchange and custody services licence in Cyprus.

Jimdo from Germany has launched a banking product powered by Solaris.

INVESTMENT

ClearScore group is taking its credit score reporting to New Zealand.

Compass acquires HeidiPay Switzerland. The acquisition will enable Compass to become a consumer credit operator in the Swiss market through HeidiPay Switzerland’s distribution licence.

Froda has partnered with Lunar and Visa to launch its card-based embedded lending solution for small businesses in Denmark.

Amazon partners with YouLend for a flexible financing programme. The new programme allows merchants to grow their businesses and expand their operations, secure new equipment or ramp up their marketing efforts.

Volt in talks to raise fresh funds from Coinbase-backer IVP.

Tuum and Marqeta have partnered to offer a pre-integrated fintech solution, accelerating time to market for Tuum’s customers by working with Marqeta’s open API platform.

Mypinpad has raised $13 million in a round led by Crossfin Holdings. The investment will fuel expansion of the SaaS offering and open doors to relationships with Crossfin’s other portfolio companies.

Lloyds Banking Group has invested ￡2m seed funding in a London-based B2B fintech which uses cloud-based tech to automate businesses’ finance processes.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Alex Marsh, has joined the board of the Treasury-backed fintech body, the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT).

Cashplus Bank has appointed Julia Warrack and Barbara Gottardi to its board, in the role of non-executive directors.

Anton Langbroek joins Bitpanda as Global VP of Commercial at Bitpanda Technology Solutions.?