FinTech
Digital payments alone could become a $100 trillion industry, according to PwC. And that’s just one component of the global Fintech industry. This channel tackles the lenders and buyers, the obstacles and achievements, and the trends and trend makers leading the ongoing technological evolution in global finance.
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Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) has launched its Crypto app in the European Union (EU), allowing eligible customers to engage in crypto trading with the added incentive of earning Bitcoin rewards. Customers stand to receive up to 1 BTC as a reward when signing up and can earn an additional 1 BTC for each successful referral. The platform claims to be the sole custodial crypto platform in the EU offering customers a percentage of their trading volume back every month, paid in Bitcoin.
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More Stories on FinTech
FinTech: Stere Pay Introduces Buy-Now-Pay-Later Gateway For Insurance Premium Payments
Stere Pay has taken a significant step toward enhancing financial inclusivity in the insurance sector with the introduction of its groundbreaking Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) gateway. This initiative is designed to empower insurers and distribution partners by providing flexible financing options for premium payments, alleviating the financial burden that policyholders often face upfront.
FinTech: Hokodo And Balance Join So Global B2B Sellers Can Offer Favorable Credit Terms
Hokodo, a European company, and Balance, based in the United States, have jointly announced a groundbreaking partnership that will reshape global payment terms in B2B transactions, opening new horizons for buyers and sellers. This collaboration creates a comprehensive solution for payment terms, allowing worldwide B2B enterprises to effortlessly extend flexible payment options to clients across Europe and North America. Merchants, seeking growth and customer attraction, recognize that offering favorable payment terms is key. Additionally, easy credit access is essential for cultivating loyal customers.
FinTech: Marqeta’s New Credit Card Platform Allows Its Customers To Build Innovative Card Products
Marqeta (NYSE: MQ) has unveiled its new credit card platform, aiming to revolutionize credit card innovation and customer loyalty. This platform offers brands the ability to seamlessly integrate commercial or consumer credit cards into their digital experiences while tailoring rewards to cardholders. Marqeta, known for its global card issuing platform, now provides intuitive credit card program management tools, offering a comprehensive solution for launching consumer and commercial credit programs. The goal is to boost customer loyalty by allowing brands to personalize the credit card experience end-to-end.
Fintech: J.P. Morgan Payments’ Pay-By-Bank, Powered By Mastercard’s Open Banking Technology, Goes Live
In a significant development, J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) Payments has launched its Pay-by-bank solution in the United States. This innovative offering allows billers to enable their customers to pay bills directly from their bank accounts. It leverages Mastercard’s (NYSE: MA) open banking technology to enhance J.P. Morgan Payments’ ACH capabilities, providing a secure and convenient payment choice for customers, especially for recurring payments such as rent, utilities, healthcare, and more. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is planning to pilot this service with U.S. customers in the near future.
FinTech: Square Places Generative AI In The Hands Of Businesses
Square unveiled 10 cutting-edge generative AI features on Wednesday, designed to revolutionize operations for businesses of all sizes. These innovative tools are seamlessly integrated into Square’s robust business software, offering entrepreneurs a helping hand to navigate the intricate challenges of running a company.
FinTech: Marqeta And Italy’s Scalapay Join To Boost BNPL Use In Europe
Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) has unveiled an exciting partnership with Scalapay, the leading Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) provider in Southern Europe. This collaboration aims to deliver BNPL services across Europe, catering to over five million customers.
FinTech: Revolut Doubles Its Financial Crimes Headcount
Revolut has significantly expanded its Financial Crime (FinCrime) department, doubling its headcount since 2021. This expansion is in response to the growing threat of financial fraud. In the face of over £1.12 billion in fraud losses in the UK in 2022, Revolut is investing in top-tier talent to combat this menace. Currently, more than a third of Revolut’s workforce is dedicated to fighting financial crime, with over 2,500 FinCrime experts across six markets, spanning various functions.
FinTech: LendingClub Fires 14% Of Employees Citing Difficult Economic Conditions
LendingClub (NYSE: LC), a prominent player in the financial industry, has unveiled a comprehensive plan aimed at aligning its cost structure with the rapidly changing, and increasingly adverse, macroeconomic landscape. In light of persistent macroeconomic challenges, driven primarily by rising interest rates, the company has decided to take proactive measures. Scott Sanborn, the Chief Executive Officer of LendingClub, acknowledges the difficulties ahead and highlights the need to streamline their workforce. This tough but necessary decision will result in a reduction of about 14% of the company’s workforce, equating to 172 employees. Importantly, this move is expected to yield substantial annualized cost savings, ranging from $30 to $35 million compared to the second quarter of 2023.
FinTech: Goldman Sachs Jettisons GreenSky; To Focus On Core Businesses
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has announced its plan to sell the GreenSky platform and associated loan assets to a consortium of institutional investors led by Sixth Street. This significant transaction is set to be completed in the first quarter of 2024, subject to usual closing conditions. David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, emphasized that this move aligns with their strategy of narrowing their focus on core franchises in Global Banking & Markets and Asset & Wealth Management.
FinTech: Revolut Launches Version 10 Of Its App – “The Era Of Ease”
Revolut 10 has launched on a significant day, 10.10, is set to redefine customers’ money management experience. This latest version of the Revolut app brings a fresh, streamlined look and a host of features designed to make handling finances a breeze.
Artificial Intelligence: Klarna Unveils AI Image Recognition Tool For Shopping
Klarna, the AI-powered global payments network and shopping assistant, recently introduced 13 innovative products as part of its Spotlight Fall launch. The flagship feature, the Shopping Lens, empowers users to capture images of items in their surroundings, instantly identify where to purchase them, and secure the best deal using Klarna’s search and comparison tool.
FinTech: UK-Based kennek Gets €11.8M Seed Capital To Boost Private Credit With SaaS Product
London-based fintech company kennek has secured an impressive €11.8 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by HV Capital and saw support from Dutch Founders Fund, AlbionVC, FFVC, Plug & Play Ventures, and Syndicate One. Founded in 2021, kennek’s primary mission is to simplify and enhance the non-bank lending sector, which has long grappled with complexity and inefficiency. Traditionally, lenders have had to rely on disjointed tools and data, resulting in significant costs and time consumption. Moreover, this approach has failed to capitalize on recent innovations like Open Banking, Open Finance, and Payments.
FinTech: Real Time Capital Market Data Provider TMX Datalinx Launches ESG Hub
TMX Datalinx, the information services division of TMX Group (TSE: X), has unveiled its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) data hub, a significant step towards integrating ESG considerations into the investment decision-making process for TMX’s clients.
FinTech: Mastercard To Offer Benefits And Rewards To Subscribers Of Instacart And Peacock
Mastercard (NYSE: MA) has unveiled strategic partnerships with Instacart (NASDAQ: CART) and Peacock, aiming to offer added value and convenience to their U.S. consumer credit cardholders. With the cost of essential goods like groceries and fuel steadily rising, access to Mastercard’s extensive rewards and benefits, totaling over $60 billion, has become increasingly important.
FinTech: Eyeing A UK Banking License, Revolut And SoftBank Bury The Hatchet On Share Structure
Revolut has reached an agreement with its largest investor, SoftBank (TYO: 9984), to simplify its ownership structure, a move that helps clear a significant obstacle in its quest to obtain a crucial banking license in the UK. This development follows months of negotiations between the two parties, internally referred to as “Project Swan.” SoftBank had initially sought substantial compensation for relinquishing its priority class of shares.
FinTech: Visa’s Venture Arm To Spearhead $100M Generative AI Initiative
Visa (NYSE: V), a prominent player in the realm of payments, has unveiled an ambitious initiative with a commitment of $100 million to ventures in Generative AI. It would involve significant investments in the upcoming wave of companies dedicated to advancing generative AI technologies and their applications. The overarching goal is to shape the future of commerce and payments through groundbreaking innovations.
FinTech: Revolut Under Regulatory Glare For Releasing Funds From ‘Suspicious’ Accounts
Revolut, the fintech giant, is currently under the scrutiny of the UK’s financial regulator due to alleged failures that allowed money to be withdrawn from accounts that had been flagged by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as suspicious. This issue, which occurred between July and August, has raised concerns as up to £1.7 million was reportedly released from these flagged accounts. Revolut reported the problem to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which oversees its payments business, in recent weeks, but one source claims that only £500,000 was released.
FinTech: Ant’s Chongqing Consumer Finance Arm Raising $616M To Ramp Up Loans
Chongqing Consumer Finance, the consumer finance arm of Ant Group, a prominent player in China’s financial technology landscape, is currently in the process of raising a substantial sum of fresh capital. Approximately $616 million is being sourced from the company’s existing shareholders and one new investor, marking a strategic move to bolster its financial capabilities.
FinTech: Atom Bank And Kamma To Partner For Greening UK Mortgage Assets
Atom bank and Kamma have formed a significant partnership aimed at addressing the pressing concerns of climate change. This collaboration brings together Atom bank’s cutting-edge banking technology with Kamma’s climate tech expertise, creating a comprehensive approach to understanding and mitigating climate risks associated with Atom bank’s mortgage portfolio.
FinTech: Visa Commercial Pay Virtual Cards Now Available To Lloyds Bank Customers
Visa (NYSE: V) and Lloyds Bank (LON: LLOY) have joined forces to introduce a cutting-edge virtual card solution, designed to cater to businesses of all sizes. This innovative product, known as Visa Commercial Pay, is now accessible to Lloyds Bank customers. It addresses a range of challenges faced by businesses in payment and procurement administration, including spend control, process simplification, invoice reconciliation, and expenditure reporting.
FinTech: Mercedes-Benz And Mastercard Launch In-Car Fingerprint Payments System In Germany
Mercedes-Benz (ETR: MBG) has teamed up with Mastercard (NYSE: MA) to introduce an innovative in-car payment system for customers in Germany. This groundbreaking technology allows drivers to initiate the fueling process directly from their vehicle and make digital payments using their fingerprint. This eliminates the need for PINs or mobile device authentication, providing a convenient and secure in-car payment experience.
FinTech: European Businesses Get Loans Paid Faster Via Three-Way Collaboration Between Froda, Visa, And Checkout.com
Froda, a rapidly growing fintech based in Sweden, has entered into a transformative partnership with Visa (NYSE: V) and Checkout.com, heralding a new era for Visa Direct. This collaboration introduces innovative push-payment capabilities for business loans, paving the way for effortless transactions for European businesses.
FinTech: Square Preps Entry Into Canadian Weed POS Through Tie-Up With Jane Technologies
Square has entered the Canadian cannabis market through a strategic partnership with Jane Technologies, a prominent online ordering platform for cannabis dispensaries. This collaboration aims to address the needs of cannabis sellers in Canada, particularly by providing reliable and integrated commerce solutions.
FinTech: Brazilian Agro-Focused Fintech Nagro Raises $49M
Brazil’s agro fintech company Nagro has secured $49 million in funding from equity and debt sources, including Kinea Ventures and Revolution. The funding will be used to expand Nagro’s credit solutions for rural producers, focusing on credit analysis, risk monitoring, and digital credit allocations.