FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 18 August 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Coinbase plans expansion into Canada
Coinbase announces expansion into Canada
The US crypto exchange is preparing to enter what it describes as the second most “crypto-aware” country among its international markets.
To prepare for its arrival and to sharpen its capabilities, the exchange has entered into a partnership with Peoples Trust Company, part of the Canadian financial services company Peoples Group, to instate Interac e-Transfers – a popular funds transfer service in Canada – into its platform.
This integration is set to allow its users to deposit and move money within their accounts in a secure and “almost instant” manner.
However, while Coinbase is paving the way for its entry into Canada, many of its peers, including Paxos and Binance, are following the path out, citing “regulatory uncertainty” as the main catalyst behind their decision.
Mastercard signs MoU to buy minority stake in MTN’s $5.2bn fintech business
According to the MoU, Mastercard will become a minority investor in MTN Group Fintech, valuing the business at about $5.2 billion.
In its H1 2023 report, MTN Group says it underwent a process to identify and introduce strategic minority investors to MTN Group Fintech, and signed commercial agreements with Mastercard to accelerate growth and profitability of its fintech services, including payments, remittance and technology infrastructure development.
The African mobile network operator says the partnership will enable its consumers to pay globally and businesses to digitise their payments and accept payments beyond users.
SEC brings the hatchet down on Wall Street’s bad recordkeeping
SEC fines 11 Wall Street firms for bad recordkeeping
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged 11 Wall Street firms for “pervasive and longstanding ‘off-channel’ communications” in offences dating back to 2019.
Employees from Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., BMO Capital Markets Corp. and Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc., among others, were found to be using messaging platforms on their personal devices to communicate matters of business.
Furthermore, the 11 offending firms failed to “maintain or preserve” these communications, as required by federal securities law, and as a result, have landed fines totalling $289 million.
Monzo tops CMA banking satisfaction survey once again
The UK challenger has come out on top following the publication of the latest banking satisfaction survey results from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) this week.
For overall service quality among personal and business customers, the digital bank scored an 80% and 84% approval rate, respectively.
On the other end of the scale however, Virgin Money, Royal Bank of Scotland and TBS were the worst rated personal current account providers for overall service quality.
The lowest ranked business current account providers were HSBC, The Co-operative Bank and Virgin Money again.
TerraPay lands EMI licence in Italy as it plots European expansion
TerraPay lands EMI licence in Italy
The UK-headquartered global payments infrastructure firm has landed an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) authorisation from the Bank of Italy, giving it the green light to expand its operations in the country and subsequently across the European Union.
“Securing this authorisation firmly establishes TerraPay as a trailblazer in the realm of electronic money within Italy, while also paving the way for exciting avenues of expansion and growth across both the Italian and European markets,” says Ram Sundaram, co-founder and COO of TerraPay.
The news of the EMI licence this week follows the company’s Series B round in April, when it landed $100 million in debt and equity funding, funds it plans to use to “build out” its regulatory and compliance infrastructure, including applying for new licences across the world.
