OKX, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, today announced a strategic partnership with DappRadar, a global app store for decentralized applications (DApps), to offer OKX users new ways to connect, discover, and interact with Web3.

Japan-based fintech Smartpay has launched Smartpay Bank Direct, the country's first digital consumer finance service that allows customers to pay for online instalment purchases straight from their bank accounts. Smartpay Bank Direct emphasizes user security while delivering convenience for the consumer, through a network of 67 partner banks across Japan. Smartpay is Japan's first digital consumer finance company to utilize Japan's open banking system.

Akulaku ("the Company"), a leading banking and digital finance platform in Southeast Asia, today announced a $200 million investment from Japanese megabank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). The investment provides additional support for Akulaku's projected growth as it advances towards its mission of providing banking services across Southeast Asia with an emphasis on reaching underserved customers and markets.

LexisNexis® Risk Solutions announced today that its suite of payment reference and validation solutions— LexisNexis® Bankers Almanac® Payments — has been named the Best Payment Solution at the AMTD DigFin Innovation Awards. The 2022 AMTD DigFin Innovation Awards, organized by DigFin, recognizes outstanding industrial leaders that excel in the fields of asset management, insurance, capital markets, banking and payments.

On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined 16 of Wall Street's major financial organisations $1.1 billion for failing to supervise employee correspondence. 

Barclays Capital, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America will pay SEC recordkeeping law penalties. These companies' investment banking executives, equity, and debt traders have violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by using unmonitored personal devices to discuss business.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated: 

Three months after its CEO, Vishal Garg, fired over 900 employees on a Zoom call, Better.com announced on Tuesday that it will terminate more than a third of its staff this week. 

When mortgage rates were low and the online lending business developed, the SoftBank-backed company, which has just over 9,000 employees in the US and India, quadrupled in size. However, real estate market fluctuations and the likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate hike this month have hurt it.

Brex raised $300 million in a Series D-2 round in the latest fintech megaround, raising its valuation to $12.3 billion. 

Brex initially offered credit cards to entrepreneurs and SMBs. It has evolved to become a one-stop funding shop for these enterprises. Brex Premium, a $49-per-month service, combines credit cards, company cash accounts, and new spend control and bill pay software under a single dashboard last April. Since its founding, the company has concentrated on corporate cards, banking, and cost management. Its goal is to be a "financial operating system" for clients.

PayPal is closing its San Francisco headquarters to assess its global footprint. 

Multiple sources suggest the payments giant is closing its Xoom facility on 425 Market St. in San Francisco. In 2015, PayPal bought online money transfer company Xoom. According to a corporate insider, personnel from that office will work remotely from the San Jose headquarters. The decision affects an unknown number of employees.

British shoppers plan to spend just four per cent less per person compared to last year, despite rising cost pressures, as the lure of festive bargains means retailers are forecast a busy end to 2022.

New research from Barclaycard Payments, which processes £1 in every £3 spent on credit and debit cards in the UK, shows that the average shopper intends to buy £229 worth of items in the post-Christmas sales period, a reduction of £18 compared to 2021’s figures.

Astar Network, the smart contract platform for multichain, has been awarded the Product of the Year at the 4th annual Blockchain Award by the Japan Blockchain Association. Astar Network’s founder and CEO Sota Watanabe bagged the Person of the Year award for the second consecutive year at the same event.