FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 3 November 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
US Federal Reserve proposes new single cap on interchange fees
The board of the US Federal Reserve has proposed a new cap on the maximum interchange fee a debit card issuer can receive for a transaction.
US Federal Reserve proposes interchange fee cap
The proposals, which represent the most significant update to the interchange cap since 2011, are an attempt to determine whether interchange fees for processing a transaction are “reasonable and proportional to certain issuer costs”.
The proposal also grants new powers to the Reserve to revise the cap with periodic updates.
While the amendments are poised to benefit both merchants and consumers with lower transactional costs, Reserve board member and governor Michelle Bowman expressed concern around the potential consequences of the revision.
In a statement, Bowman doubts whether the benefit to consumers via lower prices for merchants will be realised, and says that the proposal could ultimately increase the cost for banking products and services.
Revolut appoints former Molo chief Francesca Carlesi as UK CEO
British challenger Revolut has appointed Francesca Carlesi, the former CEO of digital mortgage lender Molo, as its new UK CEO.
Carlesi is to step down from her post at Molo, a company she co-founded, on 25 November, to lead Revolut NewCo UK from December.
She succeeds James Radford, who quit the firm in March after spending three years as the fintech’s CEO of banking.
Prior to founding Molo in London, Carlesi spent over three years as managing director, chief of staff and global head of regulatory affairs at Deutsche Bank, as part of her 15-year experience working in finance, banking and fintech.
Her arrival at Revolut also follows the recent resignation of Kitty Ussher, former economic secretary to the UK treasury, who stepped down as non-executive director of the fintech’s board earlier this week to take up a new role at Barclays as managing director.
Kasikorn Bank buys majority stake in Satang exchange
Bangkok-headquartered Kasikorn Bank (K-Bank), Thailand’s fourth largest bank by way of assets, has this week acquired a 97% stake in the Satang Corporation, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Satang, for 3.7 billion Thai baht ($102.8 million).
Kasikorn Bank acquires stake in Satang
The acquisition has been made through Unita Capital, the bank’s fully owned subsidiary and investment arm for digital asset companies.
Satang Corporation is to be rebranded to Orbix Trade Company once the deal has been completed, and will be further divided into three different subsidiaries.
These include Orbix Technology and Innovation, a blockchain infrastructure development company; Orbix Invest, a digital asset fund management company; and Orbix Custodian, a digital asset custodian.
Satang claims to be the oldest regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand and has operated in the country since 2017, offering asset tokenisation, customisable blockchain and digital asset exchange services.
Tabby lands $200m Series D at $1.5bn valuation ahead of IPO
Middle Eastern buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech Tabby has secured $200 million in its Series D funding round led by Wellington Management, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The round also saw participation from Bluepool Capital, STV, Mubadala Investment Capital, PayPal Ventures and Arbor Ventures.
Following the fresh fundraise this week, Tabby claims to have become the region’s first fintech unicorn ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO) in Saudi Arabia, where it is now headquartered.
It previously raised $58 million at the beginning of this year as part of its Series C, and was then valued at $660 million.
The fresh capital brings Tabby’s total equity and debt funding raised to date to over $950 million. It plans to use the new cash to meet “accelerating demand” for its BNPL product, in addition to developing its product offerings.
Regulators of UK, Singapore, Switzerland and Japan launch collaborative effort to explore digital asset use cases
Policymakers of four countries – Singapore, the UK, Japan and Switzerland – have come together in a joint initiative to explore new use cases for digital assets.
The FCA joins MAS’ Project Guardian
Project Guardian is helmed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) with participation from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
Through the joint collaboration, the regulators aim to share knowledge, facilitate discussions on the benefits and risks of asset and fund tokenisation, discuss legal, policy and accounting elements for digital assets, develop common standards and best practices, and conduct regulatory sandboxes for pilots.
As part of the project, MAS has partnered up with 15 financial institutions to conduct digital asset pilots in areas of fixed income, foreign exchange and asset management.
