FinTech Futures: Top five news stories of the week – 16 February 2024
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week, featuring Monese, Bank of America, Bold, Virgin Money and more.
European Parliament authorises new regulations for instant money transfers
European regulators set rules for instant payments
The updated regulations, which will come into effect 20 days after their publication in the EU Official Journal, are aimed at improving the speed and safety of financial transfers and revise the current single Euro payments area (SEPA) protocols.
Banks and other payment service providers (PSPs) will now be responsible for the immediate processing of credit transfers. Regardless of the time of day, PSPs must ensure that when transferring funds the recipient receives the money into their account within ten seconds.
Moreover, the payer must be informed, within the same timeframe, whether or not the money has been successfully transferred to the recipient. These regulations will be enforced across all member states.
MEPs have also announced that PSPs, “without any additional charges or fees”, must implement a set of ID verification and fraud detection solutions to avoid transfers going into incorrect accounts due to error or fraud.
Bank of America customers impacted by data breach through Infosys McCamish Systems hack
The incident is thought to have occurred “on or around November 3, 2023”, according to a customer notice posted by IMS, when an “unauthorised third party” was able to access its systems.
IMS, which services Bank of America’s deferred compensation plans, says that it is “unlikely” to be able to identify exactly which personal information was accessed during the breach, but that customers’ first and last names, addresses, business email addresses, date of birth and social security number could be among the information exposed.
A further filing with the Office of the Maine Attorney General reveals that 57,028 of Bank of America’s customers are thought to have been affected.
Kinnevik writes off Monese investment in full
Kinnevik writes off investment in Monese
The Swedish VC firm says it has “sought to make large write-downs or write-offs in our portfolio’s long-tail of companies where our conviction has come down”, a move that includes “a full write-off” of its 21% stake in Monese.
“In this quarter, we have written off the entire carrying value of our investment in Monese,” its Q4 2023 report says. “While there is still significant value in the company, the nature of our participation in its future is uncertain. This is what underpins our decision to write off our investment in full.”
Describing 2023 as “a challenging year”, Georgi Ganev, CEO of Kinnevik, says the firm has now “doubled down in our highest-conviction companies” in the hope of creating “a stronger and more concentrated portfolio”.
As for Monese, the fintech aims to attract more funding in 2024 after recording a £30.5 million loss for the 2022 financial year.
Virgin Money buys out Abrdn stake in investments joint venture
The banking brand initially joined hands with the UK asset management firm Abrdn to start developing Virgin Money Investments in 2019 with an equal share, before launching the venture for retail investors in the UK in April last year.
Having achieved what it describes as “significant milestones” throughout the venture’s origin story, the pair have agreed that Virgin Money will seize full control of the venture, with the aim to double its AUM by 2029. Although stepping away in part, Abrdn is expected to guide the venture with investment advice.
The cash transaction is totalled at £20 million and will see Virgin Money take control of the remaining 50% stake in the holding company, Virgin Money Unit Trust Managers Ltd, from Abrdn, in a move it expects to complete in April, subject to customary approvals.
Colombia’s Bold bags $50m Series C for next phase of growth
Colombia’s Bold raises $50m Series C
The funding round was led by US growth equity firm General Atlantic and builds on the $55 million secured by Bold through its Series B of February 2022.
In the two years since, the Bogotá-based start-up, which was founded in 2019, has expanded its team from 380 to around 800 employees and has increased its number of active merchant customers by 50% to approximately 150,000.
The initial scope of its services, which enable small business merchants to accept electronic payments through online and offline payment terminals, was extended last year after the SFC approved Bold as a financial institution.
With this, its offering now includes merchant accounts, debit cards and short-term working capital loans. It says that it plans to use its latest funding to “bolster its product roadmap and offerings”, and double down on its position as a merchant-acquirer in the country.
