05/09 – Weekly Fintech Recap

  • Lending , Open Banking , FinTech StartUps , M&A Deals , People Moves
  • 05.09.2022 09:00 am

Partnerships 

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Bybit delivers rapid fiat deposits across Europe with TrueLayer

TrueLayer, Europe’s leading open banking platform, announces its collaboration with Bybit, the world's third most visited cryptocurrency exchange with more than 10 million users. Bybit was established in 2018 as a crypto derivatives trading platform where retail investors and traders could benefit from an ultra-fast matching engine for purchasing major cryptocurrencies, coupled with multilingual community support.

Rabobank Australia and New Zealand Inks Deal with nCino

nCino, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNO), a pioneer in cloud banking and digital transformation solutions for the global financial services industry, announced that Rabobank Australia and New Zealand (RANZ) has selected the nCino Bank Operating System®, leveraging nCino’s Automated Spreading solution, powered by nCino IQ (nIQ). This partnership will benefit the bank’s Australian and New Zealand employees and customers. 

NEAR Foundation Launches Learn and Earn Programme With Coinbase

NEAR Foundation, the Swiss non-profit that oversees the development of the NEAR Protocol, a next-generation high-speed, low-fee, carbon-neutral blockchain, announced a new campaign to help educate people on the utility of its native NEAR token with Coinbase. At its core, this educational series will leverage Coinbase’s Earn initiatives to educate Coinbase users about NEAR’s utility through video tutorials and learning programs.

peaq Integrates with AllianceBlock’s Fundrs Platform, Unlocking Cross-Chain Peer-to-Peer Fundraising for dApp

peaq, the Web3 network powering the Economy of Things (EoT), announces its integration with Fundrs, a fully-decentralized peer-to-peer funding platform. Launched by end-to-end decentralized finance solutions provider AllianceBlock, Fundrs enables developers building decentralized applications (dApps) on peaq to raise funds on a cross-chain platform based on reputation and merit.

African Bank Partners with Loylogic and Pinnacle Rewards to Introduce a New, World Class, Loyalty Program for its Customers

African Bank is taking a definitive step towards improving the financial well-being of its customers with the introduction of a new, world-class, loyalty program, called Audacious Rewards. The new program is being delivered with the support of Loylogic, the global leader in loyalty and engagement solutions, and Pinnacle Rewards, an established loyalty marketing powerhouse.

Pinewood and Vyne Drive Open Banking Adoption in Automotive Sector

Vyne, the specialist account-to-account payments platform, announces that it has been selected to deliver Open Banking payments to Pinewood, one of the leading global solutions for automotive dealer management. Vyne is now integrated with Pinewood DMS – providing dealers with an instant payment added to their digital omnichannel offering. The integration between Vyne and Pinewood eliminates the need for manual bank transfers by leveraging Open Banking Technology.

Quota Chooses Nordigen As Their Open Banking Provider, Enriching Their Screening And Scoring Algorithms

Quota has tapped into Nordigen’s open banking network, improving its client screening and scoring mechanism. Madrid-based Quota is a property management company focused on bringing transparency, protection, and speed to the rental process. They do this by simplifying agent screening procedures, removing the initial high deposit fees for tenants, and providing protection and security to the landlord with a rent guarantee.

Bybit Partners With Circle, Plans to Launch USDC Spot Pairs and Offer Integrations for Clients

Bybit, the third largest crypto derivatives exchange in the world by volume, has partnered with Circle Internet Financial, a global digital financial technology firm and the issuer of USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EUROC) to help accelerate the growth of Bybit as a gateway for retail and institutional USDC-settled products. Bybit aims to become a one-stop gateway for USDC-settled options.

CellPoint Digital Teams Up with Cybersource to Help Merchants Fight Fraud

CellPoint Digital, the global leader in payment orchestration, announces it has teamed up with Cybersource, a Visa solution and a recognized worldwide leader in payments management, to provide merchants with a holistic solution for fraud management capable of aggregating transaction data across multiple acquirers. The announcement comes as merchants everywhere are faced with rising levels of fraud. 

Thunes and Alipay+ Partner to Connect European Merchants with Hundreds of Millions of Asian Consumers

Thunes, a global cross-border payments company, announced a partnership with Alipay+, a suite of cross-border payments and marketing solutions operated by Ant Group. Thanks to this collaboration, Thunes’ customers and merchants in Europe will now be able to accept Asia’s most popular mobile wallets. Merchants that work with Thunes will be able to serve online consumers from Asian markets and accept mobile wallet payments during checkout.

Surecomp Partners with BIDV to Streamline Trade Finance

Surecomp today announced that the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, commonly known as BIDV, has gone live with its DOKA™ and allNETT™ solutions to fully digitize trade finance processing. Supported by local partner, CMC Technology and Solution (CMC TS) in Vietnam, Surecomp was selected by BIDV to deliver its next-generation trade finance platform as part of a broader digital transformation strategy.

Highnote Partners with Visa to Enable Next Generation of Card Issuance

Highnote, a fully cloud-native card issuance and program management platform, has expanded its partnership with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, which includes full certification as a Visa issuer processor. This significant milestone paves the way for innovative enterprises to leverage the Visa network to bring to market differentiated consumer or commercial card programs across prepaid, debit, and credit use cases.

Spreedly and PPRO Partner to Offer Access to Extensive Local Payment Methods Portfolio

Spreedly, the provider of the leading Payment Orchestration platform, and PPRO, the leading provider of digital payments infrastructure, announced a partnership to offer a diverse portfolio of alternative / local payment methods (APM / LPMs) through the Spreedly platform. Spreedly and PPRO have partnered to offer joint customers the ability to easily access a catalogue of LPM offerings via one connection to Spreedly’s Payments Orchestration platform.

 

Launches 

Chip Launches Prize Savings Account

Chip, the saving and investing app on a mission to build wealth for our generation, has launched the Prize Savings Account - the first fintech to offer a savings account of this kind. The new easy-access account will allow users to win one Grand Prize of £10,000 and 250 smaller prizes of £10 each month. Chip, which has saved over £1 billion for its users, will run a monthly prize draw and will get entries by simply holding money in the account at the end of the month.

BoB Financial and Snapdeal Launch Co-Branded JCB RuPay Contactless Credit Card

BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), the wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Snapdeal in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and JCB International Co. Ltd. have announced the launch of the Snapdeal BoB JCB RuPay Credit Card. The card is designed keeping in mind the purchase behaviour of shopping enthusiasts and will offer a host of attractive benefits and rewards. 

Dragonfly Financial Technologies Launches as a Market Leader in Digital Business Banking Solutions

Dragonfly Financial Technologies Corp., a digital banking and treasury management fintech, announced its official launch as an independent company following the completion of One Equity Partners’ acquisition of ACI Worldwide’s Corporate Online Banking unit. Operating in a global market forecast to be $1.1 billion by 2023, according to Omdia, Dragonfly Financial Technologies now has the autonomy and resources to deliver innovations across its product portfolio, expand its customer success team. 

SumUp Launches Digital Wallet with Integrated Loyalty Scheme to Boost Support for Local Businesses

SumUp, the financial partner for over 4 million small businesses worldwide, announced the launch of SumUp Pay, the first digital wallet that makes shopping locally easier and more rewarding. As the first-ever direct-to-consumer offering launched by SumUp, the SumUp Pay app offers a secure payment mechanism for consumers across Europe and is equipped with several features designed to enhance the user experience and make everyday purchases as seamless and convenient as possible.

Moneycorp Expands European Footprint with Launch of Moneycorp France

Moneycorp - a leading global payments services provider - announced its launch in France as part of its rapidly expanding European business. Headquartered in Paris and headed up by Cyril Léger, Moneycorp France will provide integrated payment solutions to corporate clients, including financial institutions, banks and businesses. Cyril has 20 years of experience in the French market, working in treasury and FX for both fintechs and banks. 

Tink Launches Expense Check to Improve Affordability Analysis

Europe’s leading open banking platform, Tink, announced the launch of its new product Expense Check, designed to simplify and streamline the customer affordability verification process for lenders. Powered by open banking, the solution lets banks and lenders seamlessly verify customers’ affordability in a matter of minutes at the point of application. By linking to applicants’ bank accounts, it provides lenders an up-to-date and verified view of fixed and discretionary spending.

PayEd Launches World’s First Global Payments Education Platform

PayEd – Education in Payments has launched today, offering the world’s first comprehensive online learning platform for the payments sector.  Established by Irish payments veteran John Ryan, the new educational service aims to fill the knowledge gap in the sector and help people launch a career in payments and to offer practical training for the disadvantaged, and those who operate and manage payments systems and want better outcomes.

ADDX Launches Cash Management Solution, in Tie-up with Lion Global Investors

Asia’s largest private market exchange ADDX has launched a cash management tool that allows investors with excess funds in their wallets to earn interest, instead of letting their cash sit idle. Named ADDX Earn, the solution aims to withstand short-term volatility while preserving capital.  The product line was curated to boost the returns of investors who have deposited money in their ADDX wallets but have yet to decide on which private market product to take part in.

FIS Launches Tools For Central Bank To Create Digital Currencies (CBDC)

FIS has launched a new central infrastructure payment solution, RealNet Central, to help central banks transform their markets to digital-first, real-time payment economies. The company has also launched a virtual lab to allow central banks and commercial banks to experiment with digital currencies, said Julia Demidova, head of the strategy for real-time payments and central bank digital currencies at FIS.

 

Merger & Acquisition

Cornerstone FS Acquires Specialist FX and Treasury Consultancy Pangea FX Limited

Cornerstone FS, the cloud-based provider of international payment, currency risk management and electronic account services to SMEs, announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued and be issued share capital of Pangea FX Limited (“Pangea”), a specialist FX and treasury consultancy (the “Acquisition”). The total consideration payable for the Acquisition is up to £200,000, which is to be satisfied by cash and loan notes.

Wave Financial Acquires Geneva-Based Criptonite Asset Management

Wave Financial LLC (Wave), the SEC-regulated digital asset investment management company, announcedthat it has acquired a minority stake in FINMA-regulated Swiss-based crypto investment manager Criptonite Asset Management. This is the first step of a planned full acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, expected to be completed by the end of 2022. By acquiring Criptonite, Wave will be able to take advantage of the increasing demand for regulated digital asset investment fund products in Europe.

 

Job Moves

Changes at the Top for NeoXam as COO Takes on Group MD Role

NeoXam, a leading financial software company, has announced a senior leadership promotion, with Florent Fabre stepping into the position of Group Managing Director. With more than 20 years in the financial software industry, Florent has served as NeoXam Chief Operating Officer and member of the Executive Committee since April 2015.

Martin Bradford Joins FairXchange As COO

Martin Bradford has been appointed COO of FX liquidity analytics firm, FairXchange, part of United Fintech.Martin Bradford joins the London-based firm from London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), where he was Solutions Business Director within the Data & Analytics division, responsible for leading, transforming and delivering solutions with data platforms and services. Prior to that, he held senior roles in the financial services divisions at Google Cloud and Microsoft.

Ranqx Appoints Ex-JPMorgan Chase CIO and Treasurer, John Horner, as Chairman

The appointment of New York-based retired banker John Horner as Director and Board Chair of Ranqx, is a major coup for the specialist fintech firm who provides banks, credit unions and lenders with real-time data, straight-through credit underwriting, and the intelligence and speed needed to transform the world of small to medium-sized business (SMB) lending.

Zimpler Strengthens Senior Leadership with a New Chairwoman and Chief Growth Officer

Zimpler, a leading fintech company born in Sweden, has – with immediate effect – appointed Katarina Bonde as their new chair of the board, and Nicolas Köllerstedt as Chief Growth Officer. Bonde will replace Peo Nilsson, who will remain on as a board member. Katarina Bonde brings over 20 years of experience holding board positions for scale-up companies.

Coremont Appoints New Deputy Head of Product

Coremont LLP (“Coremont”), a leading FCA-regulated financial services firm that provides complete front-to-back portfolio management support for hedge funds and institutional asset managers, has appointed Yu Xu as Deputy Head of Product. Yu joins with a particular focus on infusing a product-led culture within the organisation and delivering on an ambitious product roadmap to accelerate the firm’s growth trajectory.

 

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