Your Daily FinTech News - March 4th, 2022

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

FINTECH NEWS

• Google is reportedly launching a new blockchain division as part of its Labs group.?The blockchain division will be led by?Shivakumar Venkataraman, an engineering vice president for Google. While the company has been involved in certain blockchain projects, it has been very wary of being associated with any cryptocurrency in particular.?The new blockchain division will be directed to the experimentation with these decentralized technologies under the umbrella of the Labs group.?This development is seen by some analysts as a response to how other companies like?Meta?(formerly Facebook) are growing to include more of these new developments into their business model. Read it here
• London-based?Your Juno?is a financial education platform focused on the financial empowerment of women and non-binary people. The company just picked up $2.2 million in a seed funding round. Link here
• M-KOPA, the fintech platform that provides connected financing and digital financial services to underbanked consumers across four markets in Africa, announced its $75M Growth Equity round. Link here
• Jiye Technologies, the fastest growing Agri-Tech platform in Pakistan has announced a first of its kind business-to-business (B2B) buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) feature through a digital financing product for farmers and businesses across Pakistan under its program called ‘Jiye Khushhaal Karobar’. Link here
• Freetrade, the investment platform that is on a mission to get everyone investing, is pleased to announce its imminent launch in Sweden. Link here
• PollenPay, a Manchester-based fintech company has now officially launched and had over 1000 downloads in its first few days live. Link here
• CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, announced that it plans to launch options on Micro?Bitcoin?and Micro Ether futures on March 28, pending regulatory review. Link here
• Hack VC, a San Francisco, CA-based crypto-native investment firm, launched a $200M Crypto Seed Fund. Link here
• Paceline?launched the first credit card powered by movement – rewarding cardmembers not only for spending but for staying active by hitting their weekly "streak" of 150-minutes of exercise. Link here

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

• A select group of Russian banks are to be excluded from the Swift financial messaging system as part of a package of new financial sanctions agreed by Western allies. Pressure had been building on EU leaders to cut Russia off from Swift in response to the escalating military crisis in Ukraine. The banks affected were not immediately named, but a German spokesman said they?would include "all those already sanctioned by the international community, as well as other institutions, if necessary". Read it here
• Europe’s biggest loan marketplace?Mintos?has taken the “next steps to protect investors”, and is excluding all loans from Russia and Ukraine from its main market.?Mintos is taking a series of measures to shield investors from the potential financial fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Link here
• Qatar FinTech Hub?(QFTH), founded by?Qatar Development Bank?(QDB) to support the growth of the FinTech industry in Qatar, is inviting all entrepreneurs and FinTechs from Qatar and around the world to apply to its fourth Hackathon. Link here
• US challenger?Finch?is set to launch this year, billing itself as a banking and investing platform that enables customers to earn investment returns directly on their account balance. Link here
• Bank of America?will roll all of its product lines into one app that is slated to roll out in December, according to?American Banker.?The bank’s main app will incorporate retail banking, investing, and mortgage services, giving users a single location for all of their financial needs. Link here

This ends Your Daily Fintech News. Let me know if there are any questions or comments. Until the next!

Regards,

Marcel van Oost

marcelvanoost.com