Wise delists Atlantic Money from price comparison tool

Fantastic Friday, fellow FinTech Fanatic!

Today we kick off with some interesting news, as London FinTech Wise has come under fire after it allegedly delisted its cheaper competitor Atlantic Money from its price comparison tool.

Wise publishes a daily exchange rate comparison on its website for multiple currencies. Now rival Atlantic Money says it was dropped from Wise’s comparison after its own rates were seen to be lower.

Remarkable detail: Wise and Atlantic are both backed by the same top-tier venture capital firm Index Ventures .

“Wise’s foundation is built on the promise of trust, transparency and doing the best for the people”, according to Neeraj Baid , co-founder of fixed-fee money transfer provider Atlantic Money, in a press release. “It’s disappointing to see now that they become what they have always fought against. We are even more convinced now that we are on the right track.”

Atlantic Money has formally raised its concerns in a letter to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK competition regulator.?

This is probably not the last we’ll hear about this ‘fitty’.

There’s also some fresh news from the payments-front, as Australia-based Airwallex deepens its presence in the European market .

In May 2021, Global FinTech unicorn Airwallex received a license in the Netherlands, giving them access to the European market.

Airwallex also had a presence in the UK, and after obtaining an electronic money institution (EMI) licence from the Bank of Lithuania in 2022, the company set up a service hub in Vilnius.

Now, Airwallex is looking to expand its team in Lithuania to over 20, to support future growth in the country and across the EMEA-region. Established in 2015, Airwallex has raised more than US$900 million to date and is valued at US$5.5 billion.

Please find the other FinTech news listed below??

NEWS HIGHLIGHT

ZoodPay and Mastercard launch virtual BNPL card. The new card will allow ZoodPay to scale its offerings and provide BNPL solutions to customers and merchants without being restricted to the ZoodPay network.

#FINTECHREPORT

Check out Klarna Kosma ’s recent report, and read more about open banking developments in Europe.

Take a look at The Digital Dollar Project FinTech report’s exploration of a U.S. central bank digital currency.

INSIGHTS

Dutch central bank fines Coinbase €3.3m for providing crypto services in the Netherlands without securing registration with the country's central bank.

Over 800 FinTech investors participated in European funding rounds in Q4 2022, according to Fintech Global .?

SPONSORED CONTENT

FINTECH NEWS

Luno retrenching 35% of staff. Luno confirmed that its South African workforce would be affected. It did not disclose details of the severance packages Luno would offer, but its CEO said they would handle the departures with the empathy, generosity, and gratitude they all deserve.

HelloGold shutters its consumer business. The company has become the latest casualty of adverse market forces and will be closing down its core business in Malaysia and Thailand.

Launching into new markets has long been a common strategy for money transfer and remittances players looking to increase the size of their business. Learn more in this FXC Intelligence article.

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

Starling and Monzo lead the neobanks as current account switching booms . In the last quarter of 2022, the Current Account Switch Service saw its highest number of switches.

BLOCKCHAIN

Mercado Pago launches fresh crypto adoption drive. Mercado Libre has taken another step into the world of crypto – and will pay its customers to refer friends to the crypto trading service on Mercado Pago, its e-pay app. Link here

M&As

CrowdX acquires JP Jenkins as a wholly owned subsidiary. CrowdX’s proven technology will afford JP Jenkins clients’ access to a cutting edge venue, which any broker or institution can connect into using a standard API.?

PARTNERSHIPS

XPAY selects Finastra to support expansion of services and rapid growth plans. Discover how the combined offering enables XPAY to deliver differentiated end-user experiences here

PrimaryBid and Winterflood partner to offer API access. The partnership came at a time when pressure was growing in the industry to provide more retail access within capital markets.

#DONEDEAL

Hawk AI accelerates global expansion with $17 Million Series B. “This funding will allow us to reach our ambition to become a leading global surveillance platform faster,” said Tobias Schweiger , Hawk AI CEO. Link here

iSeller raises $12 million Series B. With the funds, iSeller plans to release a new version of its flagship products focusing on improved user experience, and faster performance and reliability.

Regtech startup Salv raises €4 Million. The funds will allow the company to add further functionality to its modular AML toolset and expand to new markets.

Lloyds invests ￡4m in driving payments app Caura . Caura's iOS and Android apps promise to help simplify driving-related payments for Britain's 30 million motorists, who often find themselves having to use up to 10 apps and websites to manage their vehicles.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

PayMongo appoints Jojo Malolos as president, CEO. Malolos leads PayMongo as it enters a scale-up period amid a challenging environment in the fintech space.?

Copper appoints former chancellor Philip Hammond as chair. Hammond has held a senior adviser role at the crypto firm since October 2021, providing strategic advice to the Copper team. Link here

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Cheers,

Marcel van Oost

Connecting the dots in FinTech

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