FinTech Futures: Top five news stories of the week – 26 July 2024
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of fintech this week, featuring Revolut, UniCredit, Modulr and more.
Revolut secures UK banking licence with restrictions, enters mobilisation stage
Revolut lands UK banking licence with restrictions
After a three-year wait, fintech firm Revolut has finally secured a UK banking licence with restrictions from the country’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
The fintech confirmed in a statement on Thursday that it is now entering the “mobilisation stage”, during which time it’ll be limited to holding only £50,000 of total deposits for customers.
“Nothing changes for UK customers during this restricted period, which is to allow new banks like Revolut to complete the build out of their UK banking operations ahead of launching in the market,” Revolut says.
“Until then, UK customers can continue to use their Revolut e-money account as they always have.”
Revolut has been in pursuit of a UK banking licence since 2021, when it first lodged its application with the regulator.
Egypt’s MNT-Halan raises $157.5 million, plots regional expansion
MNT-Halan, an Egypt-based fintech, has raised $157.5 million in its latest funding round.
The funding is comprised of $40 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), while the remaining amount was drawn from Development Partners International (DPI), Lorax Capital Partners, funds managed by Apis Partners LLP, Lunate and GB Corp.
MNT-Halan says it is now “extremely well positioned to further expand regionally”, with founder and CEO Mounir Nakhla stating that the international expansion will be aided by both M&As and partnerships.
Founded in 2018 and based in Giza, MNT-Halan has developed a financial services mobile app that offers loans to consumers, micro and small businesses, pre-paid cards, payments, savings, e-wallets, e-commerce, gold and money market fund investments.
FCA lifts partner onboarding restrictions on UK fintech Modulr
FCA lifts partner onboarding restrictions on Modulr
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has lifted the temporary partner onboarding restrictions it previously placed on embedded payments platform Modulr last year.
This development means that Modulr can once again enlist agent and distributor (A&D) partners to issue electronic money on its behalf to expand the reach of its payment services.
The FCA says in a notice that Modulr has agreed with the regulator to provide “prior written notification to the Authority of at least 10 business days” when onboarding any new A&D partners.
“Following a temporary pause in onboarding new Agent & Distributor (A&D) Partners in the UK, we have made a number of enhancements to our A&D Partner onboarding and oversight processes,” Modulr tells FinTech Futures in a statement.
“Having now implemented these changes as well as undertaking extensive internal and external testing and assurance, we have agreed with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to recommence new A&D Partner onboarding subject to providing advanced notice of each A&D Partner.”
UniCredit set to acquire Aion Bank and BaaS provider Vodeno for €370 million
Italian bank UniCredit has inked a binding agreement to acquire Belgian digital native Aion Bank and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider Vodeno for the sum of approximately €370 million.
The Milan-based commercial bank says its purchase brings a “next generation core banking technology” and an improved embedded finance offering into its remit “without any dependencies from third-party core banking providers”.
The deal includes the entire share capital of both companies, along with 200 engineers, developers and data scientists, and is expected to close in Q4 2024.
Explaining the rationale behind the purchases, UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel says the bank plans to leverage Vodeno in a sandbox capacity to “develop, test and innovate for the benefit of our broader group”.
He adds that the technology combination with Aion Bank will pave UniCredit’s entry into “targeted client segments and entire markets across Europe” with “additional opportunities to attractively deploy our excess capital”.
Morgan Stanley buys stake in UK business payments start-up Sokin
Morgan Stanley secures “significant” stake in Sokin
US investment banking heavyweight Morgan Stanley has acquired a “significant” stake in Sokin, a UK-founded business payments start-up.
The transaction was led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, the bank’s growth-oriented investment platform operating as part of its investment management unit.
Although the value of the deal has not been officially disclosed, Business Insider reports that the total investment in the start-up is $31 million.
The deal also includes investment from Aurum Partners as well as Gary Marino and Mark Britto, former chief commercial officer and chief product officer of PayPal, respectively.
As part of his involvement, Marino is now also set to join the Sokin board.
