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: ZestMoney Launches Buy-Now-Pay-Later Offers For Apple Products In India
Lizzie Chapman, CEO and Co-Founder at ZestMoney, said in a LinkedIn post that her company had partnered with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to “drive affordability in India.” Though premium products, such as those from Apple had so far remained out of reach for India’s price-sensitive consumers, that would change now, Chapman wrote.
FinTech: Across The Pond, Property Finance Fintechs Report Record Business
LendInvest, a leading property finance platform that offers short-term, development and buy-to-let mortgages to intermediaries, landlords, and developers across the UK reported a record quarter in Q3 for property bridge loan applications. EstateGuru, a crowdfunding marketplace for property-backed loans, reported record loan volumes during August and September.
FinTech: Visa’s Tap-To-Phone Transforms Android Smartphones Into POS Terminals
Visa (NYSE: V) said Wednesday that its innovative new Tap to Phone product was now live in more than 15 markets. After extensive piloting, Visa’s simple new mobile app is now ready to enable millions of small scale businesses to receive contactless payments using no other equipment except an Android smartphone.
FinTech: Digitization And Fintechs Make Inroads Into Asia’s Retirement Funds
A report from Cerulli Associates shows that retirement funds in Asia are upping their game in a drive to become more transparent, streamline their administrative processes, and give fund members greater access to their accounts.
FinTech: Home Loans Get Quicker And Easier With Google’s Lending DocAI
Banks and mortgage brokers have to grapple with the hundreds of pages of paperwork for every home loan. Apart from being very time consuming, the highly manual process adds heavily to the cost of making the loan. Through its Document AI, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has already started to tackle some of the largest enterprise content problems plaguing the world. Lending DocAI is the first vertically specialized solution within Document AI and it addresses the mortgage industry.
FinTech: Ant Group Gets China’s Go-Ahead For Mammoth IPO in Hong Kong
The China Securities Regulatory Commission has cleared the Ant Group’s listing in Hong Kong of what may be the world’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO). Ant can now go ahead and request a listing hearing with the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.
FinTech: Stripe Buys Nigerian Payments Processor Paystack For $200M
Stripe, the fintech and payments processing giant last valued at $36 billion, has snapped up Paystack, the Nigeria-based international payments processor for a reported $200 million.
FinTech: PayPal Challenges Klarna In U.K. BNPL Tussle
Fresh from its “Pay in 4” launch in the U.S. last month, payments behemoth PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) ratcheted up the ante in the BNPL wars with its launch Wednesday of a “Pay in 3” offer in the Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) category in the U.K.
FinTech: Mining Giant Rio Tinto Ties With Chinsay To Digitize Commodity Contracts
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) has picked Chinsay, a firm specializing in the automation of systems for the commodities and freight markets, for digitizing its commercial contracting process. Rio Tinto will use Chinsay’s ICP to leverage blockchain technology and digitize the process from issue of a contract through to its completion.
Venture Capital: Razorpay Is India’s Latest Unicorn
Razorpay, which enables businesses in India to accept, process, and disburse payments with its product suite, has achieved the hallowed unicorn status. The fintech raised $100 million in a Series D funding round led by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia with participation from previous investors Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Y-Combinator, and Matrix Partners.
FinTech: Revolut Sets Sights On U.S. Banking License
Revolut, the European fintech giant and digital bank, is likely to apply for a U.S. banking license at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and California’s Division of Financial Institutions in the coming weeks
FinTech: U.K. Digital Lender Molo Raises £266M As The Pandemic Boosts Demand
Digital lender Molo, which focuses on buy-to-let purchases or remortgages only, raised £ 266 million to cater to a sharp rise in mortgage applications since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
FinTech: Banking Platform Mambu Ties Up With Digital Lending Platform Ranqx
Global, white-label, SaaS-on-cloud banking platform Mambu will parter with New Zealand-based digital banking platform Ranqx. According to an announcement, RanqX will utilize Mambu’s API-first digital banking platform for loan origination, decisioning, and monitoring as part of a frictionless digital lending experience for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Fintech: Fraudsters Use Fintechs To Milk The PPP Loan Program
After the virus pandemic broke, small businesses were desperate to get their hand on the forgivable loans offered under the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the Small Business Administration. As banks lumbered along with disbursements, often described as slow and cumbersome, the SBA roped in fintech companies to speed up payments. However, it appears that some checks and balances failed, because nearly three-quarters of the loans found fraudulent by the U.S. Deptt of Justice were processed by fintechs.
FinTech: BNPL Partnerships To The Fore As Holiday Shopping Looms
Macy’s (NYSE: M), the iconic American departmental store, has bought a stake in the Swedish payments group Klarna which is known for its BNPL service. The two companies have also inked a five-year partnership whereby Klarna will make its BNPL offer available to Macy’s online customers. Under the offer, shoppers can choose to pay for their purchases in four interest-free installments.
FinTech: Italian Payments Providers Nexi And SIA To Combine In €15B Deal
Nexi Spa and SIA Spa, both companies in the payments sector, announced Monday their merger by incorporation of SIA into Nexi. The transaction will create a digital behemoth with approximately €1.8 billion in annual revenues and about €1 billion of EBITDA. The market cap of the merged organization will be approximately €15 billion.
FinTech: Blackline Acquires Rimilia, Which Automates A/R Using AI
Blackline (NASDAQ: BL) helps businesses automate their manual accounting processes with its cloud-based solutions and customer service. It announced October 2 the acquisition of Rimilia, a SaaS platform that helps automate Accounts Receivable (A/R) using the cloud.
FinTech: Goldman Sachs Acquires GM Credit Cards In Continuing Consumer Thrust
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is making a second foray into credit cards after its partnership with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) for Apple Card. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the development, Goldman Sachs pipped Barclays plc (LON: BARC) to the finishing line with a bid of approximately $ 2.5 billion for the GM credit cards business.
FinTech: October, An Alternative Lender To European SMEs, Raises $300M
October is a pan-European lending platform founded in 2014. It focuses on European SMEs and connects them to private and institutional lenders for their financing requirements. It announced Wednesday its raise during summer of € 258 million in cooperation with major international investors.
FinTech: Blank Check Company Raises $230M In SPAC IPO
Fintech Acquisition Corp. IV (NASDAQ: FTIVU) began trading on the Nasdaq from September 25 after completing its IPO. It issued 23,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, including 3,000,000 units issued under the underwriters’ over-allotment option.
FinTech: Ant Bank, The All-New Virtual Bank From Ant Group, Is Live in HK
Hong Kong’s citizens can now look forward to bank with an arm of the largest fintech unicorn in the world. Ant Bank, a part of the Ant Group, has launched its virtual banking services after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted it a banking license. Ant Bank was one of eight such lucky applicants.
FinTech: Target To Test BNPL Waters With Sezzle
Shoppers are making a beeline for offers that allow them to pay for their purchases in instalments. Also known as BNPL products, these instalment facilities, generally interest- and fee-free, are grabbing share from credit cards. Sezzle (ASX: SZL) is a leading BNPL platform with 1.6 million customers across the U.S. and Canada. It announced today it’s launch of a Proof Of Concept (POC) with retailer Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT).
FinTech: Stripe To Process Cloud Payments For Salesforce’s Digital 360
CRM leader Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) announced that Stripe, the leader in global payments processing, will power its Commerce Cloud Payments for its all-new Digital 360 platform. The Digital 360 platform seeks to drive commerce and digital transformation in enterprises by bringing together marketing, commerce, and digital experience products.
Venture Capital: Greenlight Financial’s Series C Earns It $215M And Unicorn Badge
Greenlight’s mission to help kids save and spend smart with its debit cards received a $215 million boost Thursday via its Series C funding. Led by Canapi Ventures and TTV Capital, the round also received participation from new investors BOND, DST Global, Goodwater Capital, and Fin VC. Greenlight also welcomed aboard Relay Ventures as its first institutional investor.