EU agrees need for rule book on labeling financial products ‘green’
The EU hopes to validate the market and tackle issues of ‘greenwashing’.
Financial Services/Finserv
UK regulators take aim at banks’ IT failures
The FCA, PRA and Bank of England have published a paper on operational resilience
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 06 December 2019
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
US neobank Chime quadruples valuation to $5.8b, raises $500m Series E
Chime soars ahead of Brazilian challenger NuBank’s $400 million record fundraise.
Nationwide invests in charity app Percent to support local British communities
The investment is part of the UK bank’s £50 million venture fund.
UK start-up StorkCard launches joint account for parents to manage childcare
Each carer is issued their own card linked to the joint account.
API builder Tink launches in Italy and Portugal, opens Madrid and Milan offices
Tink has bagged transaction data from 32 FIs across the regions.
State Street cuts blockchain developers in potential strategy change
The firm looks to be moving away from a front-to-back DLT implementation.
French challenger Moneway aims to help users control their finances
Countryside neobank preparing to move out of beta.
Ant Financial to raise $1 billion fund for Southeast Asian and India start-ups
The fund is for payments and online finance start-ups.
The driverless bank
A truly digital organisation can live without one of the five P’s that typically creates friction.
Mexican lendtech start-up Konfio bags $100m investment led by SoftBank
This is the Latin American start-up’s fourth financing round.
Banking app Monese launches “first” cross-border joint account in Europe
Monese wants to offer an alternative to traditional banks’ “red tape”.
Temenos inks deal with Egyptian National Post
The firm will be replacing 20 legacy systems in the process.
Portag3 Ventures closes $320m fund for early-stage investment
Venture capital firm plans to focus on the US and Canada, as well as overseas
Staying the course: CTOs in shining armour
Corporate troublemakers, dreamers and challengers rely on a good CTO.
Fintech API platform Rapyd raises $20m and hits $1.2bn valuation
The company is gearing up to make two acquisitions.
German SME challenger Penta teams up with card reader SumUp to tap offline businesses
Penta is breaking out of its online-savvy customer niche.
Toucan “first” to test bank account alert to help mental health sufferers
96% of UK mental health sufferers say the alert will be useful.
Singapore’s FinAccel raises $90m to make financing more accessible in Southeast Asia
FinAccel hits $500 million evaluation.
Mike Cagney’s Figure Technologies set to raise $103m in Series C
Figure is also edging into the student financing space.
BCBS: Bank supervisors must pay greater attention to APIs and open banking risks
Open banking comes with benefits to banks but also various challenges.
Wells Fargo hires Santander’s US chief as new COO
Scott Powell will be the bank’s new chief operating officer.
Berlin’s Raisin partners with Credorax to offer its German users retail deposits
Raisin is the first – and currently the only – company to offer Credorax’s retail deposits.
Ask the expert: when should a company founder step aside?
When should a founder CEO step back to let their business reach the next level?
Diversity-focused VC fund Harlem Capital debuts with $40m
The over-arching goal: invest in 1,000 diverse founders over the next 20 years.
Appreciate Group and CleverGift collaborate on UK digital gift card
The card will be UK’s first multi-brand digital gift card.
Monzo hires Visa exec to lead US push
TS Anil will join the digital bank early next year.
Canada’s neobank Koho secures extra $18.8m in Series B to diversify investors
The round was led by Drive Capital and National Bank of Canada’s VC arm, NAventures.
French start-up Pixpay raises €3.1m to tap younger banking generation
The funding round was led by seed and growth investor Global Founders Capital.
Reserve Bank anticipates cardless retail landscape in Australia
Merchant fees on card payments in Australia came to AUS $4.3 billion last year.
South Korea to launch open banking system this month
5.51 million open banking accounts have now been registered.
What’s next for investment in tech?
Will fintech firms re-evaluate the costs & benefits of public and private ownership?
Klarna selects Amazon Web Services as preferred cloud provider
Swedish banking and payment firm puts AWS at the centre of new strategy.
UK start-up Student Finance raises €1.15m to tackle university loans
The firm will cover fees and get a future share of students’ future incomes.
TCS migrates ABCUL credit unions to Bancs on the cloud
Voyager Alliance, East London and RetailCURe moved to the new platform.
CMFG Ventures hands BankBI Series A investment to tap US market
BankBi will use CMFG Ventures’ US credit union connections.
Hastee raises £208m to boost on-demand payroll systems
The firm will use this new capital to increase its scale.
Private bank for YouTubers and high-net-worth youngsters 220 to launch for users next year
There is strict criteria to join the private banking community.
Emirates NBD slashes 400 staff to cut costs
Dubai-based bank has been on a technology tear of late.
