Swedish fintech Qred lands full banking licence
Qred operates an AI-led financing platform to offer loans, credit cards and factoring for small businesses.
Digital
Anne Boden to step down as CEO of Starling Bank
Boden will remain on the board as a non-execu director, with COO John Mountain taking over as interim CEO.
UK challenger bank Atom appoints new chairman, Lee Rochford
He will replace Bridget Rosewell when she steps down in September this year.
Embedded payments platform Rize Money acquired by Fifth Third
Fifth Third says embedded payments are “a core component” of its treasury management business.
US fintech Episode Six secures $48m in Series C funding
The round was led by Avenir, with participation from existing investor Anthos Capital.
OpenFin lands $35m in Series D funding
The funding will be used to accelerate the adoption of OpenFin’s software across the financial services industry.
US LGBTQ+ neobank Daylight to close down
The final day of Daylight’s banking operations will be 30 June.
FinovateSpring 2023: The top trends shaping the future of financial services
This year’s FinovateSpring conference has put digital transformation and innovation at the top of the agenda.
Aviva migrates equity release service from legacy to Phoebus
Aviva will migrate its entire portfolio of 300,000 accounts, equating to £13bn of assets, onto Phoebus’ system.
Payment orchestration platform Paydock raises £25m Series A
Paydock claims its platform “substantially” reduces costs, risks and efforts in a merchant’s payment experience.
Meet B4B Payments & Banking Circle at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam!
B4B Payments to showcase innovative payment solutions at Money20/20 Europe on 6-8 June.
Digital banking group Tyme lands $77.8m in pre-Series C funding
Existing investor Tencent also increased its stake to become Tyme’s third-largest stakeholder.
Australian government set to regulate BNPL industry
Australia aims to introduce the final BNPL bill in the parliament by the end of 2023.
Monese to offer “coreless” banking platform through new entity, XYB
XYB is available in the UK and Europe, with plans to also launch in North America and Asia Pacific.
HSBC unveils AI Markets for institutional investors and corporates
AI Markets “has been built from the ground up with user experience in mind”, HSBC says.
Swedish paytech Trustly strengthens risk management with new hires
Anna Bjurefeldt joins Trustly as head of internal audit and Mia Bjurkell as director of risk and compliance.
Restaurant365 lands $135m funding at unicorn valuation
The round takes the Restaurant365 valuation to over $1 billion.
India’s PhonePe secures another $100m from General Atlantic
With the latest funding, PhonePe has raised a total of $850 million in the current round.
Wise CFO Matt Briers to leave money transfer firm next year
Wise will start the search for its next CFO immediately.
Sonata Bank taps Plinqit to help restaurant workers meet savings goals
Through the partnership, Sonata will provide customers with ways to save and plan for future financial needs.
Airbnb taps Stripe to enable bank payments for US customers
The feature will be available for customers with a US bank account.
Sonata Bank aims to boost quick service restaurant employees’ financial health
The challenger has raised more than $20 million in its initial round of funding.
American Bank & Trust taps Marstone for digital wealth management offering
With the partnership, the bank aims to retain existing client deposits and attract new retail bank customers.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 19 May 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Singapore’s Whampoa Group selects Bahrain as HQ for new digital bank
Launching end of 2023, the new digital bank aims to support the adoption of digital assets worldwide.
Bank of England reportedly planning to reject Revolut banking licence
The PRA reportedly intended to issue a warning notice to Revolut over its balance sheet.
Meridian Bank taps Corserv to launch business credit card programme
With Corserv, Meridian Bank will be able to offer credit cards with a variety of APRs, rewards and features.
Spain’s CaixaBank partners Google Cloud to drive digitalisation
The partnership will see the bank leverage Google Cloud’s cloud computing, data analytics and AI/ML capabilities.
Low-code AI integration platform AI Squared names Michelle Bonat as new CTO
Bonat will be responsible for software engineering, data science, AI research, IT and product management.
Banking on data
As a coder, I always thought that software was key, but I soon realised the value was really in the data.
Financial health app VeraScore names Scott Waldron as new president
In his new role, Waldron will lead VeraScore’s business development and customer acquisition strategies.
Westpac New Zealand taps Finastra to accelerate ISO 20022 compliance
Finastra says its tech will enable the bank to leverage the benefits of ISO 20022’s data-rich MX messaging format.
Private credit marketplace platform Percent lands $29.7m Series B funding
Percent will use the funding to further develop its platform and propel its next phase of growth.
Core banking tech challenger Tuum appoints new CEO, eyes global expansion
Myles Bertrand was previously managing director, APAC, at Tuum’s rival, Mambu.
North East Small Finance Bank migrates to new core, Turing CBS from M2P
Turing CBS is understood to have replaced FIS’ Profile core banking system at NESFB.
Credit union North Carolina SECU selects NCR for digital banking upgrade
Using NCR Digital Banking, SECU will be able to upgrade its mobile and online banking capabilities.
Standard Chartered partners Worldpay from FIS to expand payment collections offering
With the partnership, the bank aims to expand the footprint of its solution across Asia and other markets.
BKN301 Group taps Finastra for digital payments solution Essence
BKN301 Group’s long term strategy is to bring a BaaS payments solution to corporates in the MENA region.
Ripple acquires Metaco in $250m deal
Ripple’s CEO says the deal is “monumental for our growing product suite and expanding global footprint”.
Aussie banks launch new digital platform to stop fraudsters from receiving payments
In its trial phase, the platform cut down the time taken to resolve scam cases by more than half.
