Banking Technology Magazine March 2024 issue out now
Cover story: CREATIVE THINKING – How a borefest could lead to the best ideas.
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Welcome to the March edition of the magazine, containing the most interesting stories and happenings, punchy opinions, comprehensive analysis and much more from the world of banking, payments and finance.
This month brings spring shoots in fintech. Avenue Bank, a digital business bank in Sydney, has received an unrestricted banking licence. Founded in 2018, it specialises in providing bank guarantees for Australian SMEs looking to secure commercial leases from landlords.
In the UK, Enfuce, a Finnish issuer processor, has bagged a UK electronic money institution (EMI) licence. It has also appointed fintech veteran Laurence Krieger as chairman of its UK board of directors. Krieger is also CEO of a new digital retail challenger bank that’s currently in stealth mode – a spring bulb, perhaps.
Another paytech, Volt, has also been granted a UK EMI licence, adding to its existing European licence in Poland. Its offering includes providing virtual accounts as a standalone product.
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But spring also brings pruning. Treasury Prime, a California-based Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider is “reorienting its business” to focus on selling its tech directly to banks and no longer to fintechs. “It’s become increasingly clear to me that the future of embedded banking is through bank-direct, fintech partnerships,” states CEO Chris Dean.
He emphasises though that its existing fintech clients will not be affected. “There should be no impact on their business,” he says. “Literally none. In fact, we are putting additional, dedicated resources in place so that we can respond to fintech clients more quickly.” Yet there will be job cuts, of course. Around half of Treasury Prime’s 100 employees reportedly could be affected. Turn to p7 of the magazine to see who else is doing similar spring pruning.
As always, we’ll continue to keep a watchful eye and report on the industry as the year marches on. Check out the news section on our website and also subscribe to our free newsletter for your daily dose of fintech!
