The Philippines set for first digital-only bank as Tonik gets green light
Tonik Financial will set up the island nation’s first online bank.
Business-to-Consumer/B2C
Travelex ordered to pay $3m ransom by cybercriminals
The ailing FX firm is wrestling with a New Year’s ransomware attack.
Travelex quarantines website, internal systems after New Year’s Eve cyber-attack
Foreign exchange firm working “round the clock” to fix the attack.
Financing fintech Sezzle blocked from making loans in California
The Minnesota fintech deemed to be making “unregulated loans”.
The California Consumer Privacy Act kicks in
And it doesn’t look like anyone, even the state of California itself, is totally ready.
Reasons behind the rise of fintech companies popularising stock market investing
Being financially successful is ‘cool’ and is a growing aspiration for younger generations.
RBS recruits army of digital influencers to promote banking app Bó
The sponsored posts were published after RBS was accused of writing fake reviews for Bó.
Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers hit by system outage
The incident took place from around 4am on New Year’s Day.
Credit card challenger Koto to launch in UK come 2020
“We are offering credit with a fixed fee from day one,” says Koto’s CEO.
Top 10 challenger banks by valuation and funding
It’s been a record year for fundraising across the challenger bank space.
Top 7 banking outages in second half of 2019
Banking outages have hit headlines thick and fast this year.
Deutsche Bank launches motion code Calma Card with Mastercard in Spain
The major companies say it’s the first Spanish card to use motion code technology.
Next year looks bright for community banking
Credit unions and community banks raise their game in 2020.
Australia delay open banking regulation by six months over cybersecurity concerns
Banks are “extremely concerned about cybersecurity”, says ACCC.
Virtual ATM provider Sonect raises $8.6m in Series A
The start-up raised CHF 8.45 million from existing investors in this round, which was oversubscribed.
Adflex CEO: Cards are definitely fighting back
Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) will disrupt the age old four-player system.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 20 December 2019
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
Starling and Monzo hike up overdraft charges for bad credit scorers
Starling is currently the cheapest option only going as high as 35%.
ANZ overcharges 3.4 million customers, only 30% paid back
One million customers have been reimbursed so far with an average of $60 each.
Metro Bank’s founding chairman Vernon Hill steps down as non-exec director
Hill steps down from the position ahead of the 31 December 2019 date.
B-North outsources deposit taking with Newcastle Strategic Solutions
Prospective SME bank aims to streamline its SME loan process.
Robinhood does fractional shares, users can invest just 1 cent
An Amazon stock, which would cost $1,700, suddenly becomes as cheap as $1.
Mexico’s neobank Albo raises $26.4m Series A total
The round was led by Valar Ventures, PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s fund.
12 days of payment predictions
Tis the season to be knowledgeable!
Portify raises £7m to offer gig economy and freelancers access to credit
The UK start-up landed a partnership with Deliveroo earlier this year.
Berlin-based insurtech Wefox raises $110m Series B extension
The CEO puts success down to its technical understanding of risk.
Mexican challenger Fondeadora nabs $2.5m in funding
Neobank seeks to reach underbanked with smartphones.
Three more UK payday lenders collapse before Christmas: MMP and PiggyBank
The collapses follow regulatory clamp downs on affordability checks and compliance.
JP Morgan embroiled in yet another racism scandal
The New York Times obtained two recordings highlighting racial discrimination in the bank.
Apple Card fees pinch retailers’ profits this Christmas
Supermarkets are taking a stand against the fees.
First Direct founder leaves retirement to join mortgage platform Dashly
Mike Harris becomes chairman of the company.
Freetrade brings first native full stack solution to UK
The exec team come from Snapchat, Google and KPMG.
Montréal’s FlexPay raises $6m in seed round
The fintech says 24% of recurring credit card transactions are falsely declined.
UK remittance fintech Paysend secures Canadian MSB licence
The paytech says its card-to-card service is now used by more than 1.2 million customers.
How to choose the right jurisdiction for opening a company
Brigewest explores how the Middle East has become an attractive region for businesses.
Findexable report: London bests other European fintech hubs despite Brexit
San Francisco secured the top spot – up from eleventh place last year.
Barclays Partner Finance offers 24-month interest-free contract on iPhone 11
The financing subsidiary says it can save consumers up to £270.
Nets pilots facial recognition for payments with Danish office workers
Office workers will pay for their lunch using their face.
US challenger Unifimoney launched by former Samsung Pay exec
The new bank is aiming for a 2020 launch.
JP Morgan Chase partners with Envestnet Yodlee giving customers more visibility on their data
All customer data will now funnel through the bank’s “secure API”.
