FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 12 May 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
UBS announces leadership team shake-up following Credit Suisse takeover
UBS announces leadership team shake-up
UBS has announced a number of changes to its leadership team following its recent acquisition of Credit Suisse.
The most notable move will see Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Körner join the group’s executive board upon completion of the takeover, which the firm anticipates will officially close “in the next few weeks”.
Körner spent 11 years at UBS before rejoining Credit Suisse in April 2021 to lead the Swiss bank’s asset management division. He was made CEO at the firm in July last year.
Meanwhile, Todd Tuckner, who has been at UBS since 2004 and currently serves as CFO and head business performance and risk management for global wealth management, has been appointed as the firm’s new group CFO and member of the executive board, with current CFO Sarah Youngwood deciding to leave the firm once the Credit Suisse deal is completed.
Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy protection in the US
Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex’s US entity has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware.
The move comes just weeks after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the company and its co-founder and former CEO William Shihara for allegedly “operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency” on 17 April.
Following the SEC’s complaint, Bittrex had announced that it would be shutting down operations in the US effective 30 April, saying it was “not viable” to continue operations under the current US regulatory and economic environment.
The bankruptcy filing includes its Seattle-based entity Bittrex Inc and two Bittrex entities based in Malta, as well as an affiliated entity, Desolation Holdings LLC.
The firm says the announcement does not impact Liechtenstein-based Bittrex Global, which will continue operations “as normal” for its customers outside the US.
SEC fines HSBC and Scotia Capital over recordkeeping failures
SEC fines HSBC and Scotia Capital
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged HSBC Securities and Scotia Capital for “widespread and longstanding failures by both firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications”.
The SEC says both firms admitted its employees “often communicated off-channel” about securities business matters on personal devices and via messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, with neither firm maintaining a record of the “substantial majority” of those conversations.
HSBC and Scotia Capital have acknowledged the SEC’s action and agreed to pay penalties of $15 million and $7.5 million respectively. The SEC adds both firms self-reported the violations after gathering communications from the personal devices of a sample of their employees.
WhatsApp partners Stripe to enable in-app business payments in Singapore
Messaging giant WhatsApp has partnered up with Stripe to allow Singapore businesses to accept payments directly in WhatsApp chats.
By leveraging Stripe’s Connect and Checkout solutions, WhatsApp will provide Singapore customers and businesses with a new feature that allows them to buy and sell directly on WhatsApp, without having to go to another website or app to complete the transaction.
The new feature will support payment methods including credit and debit cards and PayNow, a real-time payments method used widely in Singapore.
Local businesses will be able to avail the new feature through the WhatsApp Business Platform, which will include a Stripe account. The feature is currently available to a small number of Singapore-based businesses, with a wider rollout planned in the coming months.
NCR names new chairman and CEO-designates as company separation gathers pace
NCR names new chairman and CEO-designates
US tech provider NCR has appointed SilverBox Capital co-founder and managing partner Joseph Reece as chairman of its board of directors and named the two CEO-designates who will lead the company’s separated entities as it pushes ahead with its plans to split into two publicly traded firms – one focused on digital commerce, the other on ATMs – by the end of 2023.
Tim Oliver, NCR’s current senior executive vice president and CFO, will take the reins of one of the companies, while David Wilkinson, the company’s executive vice president and president of the NCR Commerce business, will head up the other.
NCR announced its decision to split into two separate companies in September last year, with the company saying the move will “unlock value” for its shareholders by creating two firms that can pursue independent growth strategies.
