Fintech funding round-up: 24 November 2016
Let’s put the fun in funding by keeping it mercifully brief. Money seekers are PayKey, Euklid and Flender.
Mergers & Acquisitions/M&A
Klarna gets sweet on Cookies payments start-up
German start-up Cookies crumbled, but Swedish payments provider Klarna has rumbled into action to take on its tech assets and employees. As Banking Technology reported this month, Cookies ended its short life as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payment app and applied for insolvency. At that time, Cookies co-founder Lamine Cheloufi said the other co-founder, Garry Krugljakow, […]
IBM closes Promontory acquisition
IBM has completed the acquisition of Promontory Financial Group, a risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm. As Banking Technology reported in September, IBM planned the purchase to boost IBM Watson’s cognitive technology. IBM adds that the acquisition complements its industry platforms business. These platforms will integrate IBM Cloud, Watson and capabilities from across “digital […]
LSE to acquire financial data provider Mergent
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of business and financial data provider Mergent. The Mergent business will form part of LSE’s information services division, which includes FTSE Russell, a provider of indexes, and real-time and reference data products. Mark Makepeace, group director of information services and CEO of […]
DBS to acquire ANZ retail and wealth business in Asia
Singapore-based DBS Bank is buying the retail and wealth business of Australia and New Zealand-based banking group, ANZ, in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia for about SGD 110 million ($79 million) “above book value”. The exact figure has not been disclosed, but the portfolio represents total deposits of SGD 17 billion ($12.2 billion), […]
SS&C to acquire CRM software provider Salentica
SS&C Technologies will acquire customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Salentica. Canada-based Salentica will become a platform partner to the firm’s Black Diamond wealth platform and so provide more support to SS&C – such as its Global Wealth Platform. The latter recently went live at Seattle-based Smead Capital Management. Dave Welling, managing director and co-general […]
TD Ameritrade to buy Scottrade for $4bn
Nebraska-based online broker TD Ameritrade is to acquire US discount brokerage firm Scottrade in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4 billion, resulting in its branch network more than quadrupling in size. For TD Ameritrade, it says it will get a network of nearly 500 branches employing more than 1,000 investment consultants. It will […]
Wipro to buy cloud firm Appirio
IT services integrator Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire US-based Appirio, a cloud services company, for $500 million. With the acquisition, Wipro will get Topcoder, a crowdsourcing marketplace for designers, developers and data scientists; and expand its cloud offerings. Abidali Neemuchwala, CEO and member of the board at Wipro, says it will “consolidate” […]
Fintech funding round-up: 19 October 2016
Want to save some time but be in the know of the latest funding initiatives in the fintech space? Then read on.
Accenture acquires Allen International for digital banking push
Accenture has acquired London-based design consultancy Allen International as it looks to boost its digital banking ambitions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Accenture says Allen International has worked with more than 350 banks around the world including nine of the top 20 banks. Customers include Emirates NBD, Bank of Ireland, CIBC, Banorte, […]
MasterCard to buy French payment firm Stet?
MasterCard is believed to be mulling the acquisition of French payments processor Stet. MasterCard told Banking Technology it “does not comment on rumours or speculation”. Stet responded saying that “these are unfounded rumours” and that it “has no discussions of this type with MasterCard.” Stet was set up in 2004 and is currently owned by […]
LzLabs to buy Eranea’s IP and tech assets
Swiss software start-up LzLabs will acquire the intellectual property (IP) and technology assets from compatriot Eranea. The tech, that specifically enables the conversion of Cobol to Java, has been acquired as LzLabs looks to boost the growth of its software-defined mainframe. Banking Technology reported on the mainframe’s launch in March and LzLabs’ partnership with Cobol-IT. […]
Capital One buys online price tracker Paribus
Capital One continues its fintech acquisition spree with the purchase of price tracking service Paribus. Emilia Lopez, managing vice-president, US Card at Capital One, says its “focus right now is on merging Paribus into the broader Capital One family”. Paribus will also be added into its broader set of technology and tools, such as CreditWise […]
IBM Watson learns compliance in Promontory purchase
IBM plans to acquire Promontory Financial Group, a risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm, to boost IBM Watson’s cognitive technology. Upon close of the deal, Promontory’s employees will train Watson, which will learn by “continuously ingesting regulatory information as it is created and through interaction in real-world applications”. Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice-president, IBM […]
Nordic payments firm Nets to IPO
Nordic payments firm Nets has successfully IPO-ed on Nasdaq Copenhagen Exchange the tune of DKK 30 billion ($4.5 billion).
M&A round-up: 15 September 2016
Welcome to the world of mergers and acquisitions – and our mission to provide a quick round-up. Ant Financial, Alibaba’s payments arm, has bought Missouri-based EyeVerify, a biometric security technology company. The big deal here is that its tech is used by Wells Fargo – and regional banks and credit unions in the US. Also, […]
PayU acquires India’s Citrus Pay for $130m
PayU has bought Citrus Pay for $130 million – the “largest ever M&A cash deal” in India’s fintech space. The deal is part of PayU’s growth plans and it claims its number of customers in India will grow to more than 30 million, processing a forecasted 150 million transactions in 2016 worth a combined $4.2 […]
PriceMetrix acquired by McKinsey
McKinsey has bought PriceMetrix, a Toronto-based data and analytics company focused on the wealth and asset management sector. McKinsey says that “PriceMetrix will retain its management team, brand and identity, and will work in close collaboration with McKinsey’s wealth and asset management team”. PriceMetrix’s tools – ValueOne, CommissionCheck and FeeCheck – are complementary to McKinsey’s […]
TerraPay buys Pay2Global for European payments push
TerraPay, a mobile-first international network, has bought UK-based Pay2Global Limited to boost its ambitions for European expansion in payments. Pay2Global is being rebranded as Terra Payment Services. In an outright purchase, Netherlands-based TerraPay, which is part of the Mahindra Group, has acquired 100% of Pay2Global for an undisclosed amount. Pay2Global is a digital international money […]
Randolph Savings Bank in early contract renewal with Fiserv
Massachusetts-based community bank, Randolph Savings Bank, has renewed its long-term contract with Fiserv for a host of back and front office solutions. The renewal was spurred on by the bank’s IPO. Randolph Savings Bank floated its shares in July. It also completed the integration of its earlier acquisition – First Eastern Bankshares Corporation and its […]
Nordea and DNB to unite banking ops in Baltics
Nordea and DNB will bring together their operations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to create a new bank. The two banks say their Baltic operations are “a great match”, with Nordea’s strength being in the large corporate segment, while DNB’s is in the SME segment. Both banks also have significant presence in the retail space. […]
Parity Treasury Management System business sold to Eurobase
Eurobase International has acquired the Parity Treasury Management Software from Manex Treasury Systems, its flagship product. Parity clients and Manex staff will move to Eurobase as part of the deal. Parity users will continue to be supported but will be encouraged to move to Eurobase’s own offering, Siena. Manex is a long-standing software supplier to the […]
Misys appoints advisers for £5.5 billion IPO
Banking technology vendor Misys – currently residing in the hands of US-based Vista Equity Partners – is understood to be gearing up for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. According to City AM, Misys is planning a £5.5 billion float and has appointed investment advisory firm Moelis to oversee it. In its current form, […]
Lunar Way gets new investor and banking partner, Nykredit
Nykredit, Denmark’s largest mortgage provider, has invested in a minority stake in a new mobile banking service, Lunar Way, and has become its banking partner. In two months’ time Nykredit will replace Københavns Andelskasse (Copenhagen Cooperative Bank), the start-up’s initial banking partner. Mark Dissing Bækgaard, head of marketing and communications at Lunar Way, tells Banking […]
Selling VocaLink to MasterCard will kill innovation in UK payments
The proposed sale of Vocalink to MasterCard, threatens to “kill innovation” in UK payments. This is the damning verdict of AccessPay CEO, Anish Kapoor, who is calling on payments experts to come together to voice their opinions and thoughts, before a final decision is reached. In the time it takes you to read this blog […]
Diebold completes Wincor Nixdorf acquisition
ATM maker Diebold has completed its $1.8-billion acquisition of Wincor Nixdorf. As Banking Technology reported in March, US-based Diebold announced it had met the tender condition for its German rival Wincor Nixdorf. The combined organisation will begin operating as Diebold Nixdorf tomorrow (16 August). The market share of the combined company will be about 35%. […]
RBS scraps Williams & Glyn banking platform plans, writes off £345m
Royal Bank of Scotland has scrapped its plans to carve out the Williams & Glyn (W&G) subsidiarity – and instead it is likely to be sold to Santander. W&G has a network of 300 branches, 1.4 million retail and 200,000 SME clients – effectively the country’s seventh largest bank. It has been dormant for a […]
SIA buys e-money processing unit of Unicredit
Unicredit is selling its e-money processing unit to payments vendor SIA. The unit – part of Unicredit Business Integrated Solutions (UBIS) – processes around 13.5 million payment cards and manages 206,000 POS terminals and 12,000 ATMs in Italy, Germany and Austria. SIA has also got a ten-year outsourcing contract from UBIS for the supply of […]
Mitratech acquires Hitec Laboratories
Mitratech, a provider of legal, compliance, and operational risk solutions, has acquired Hitec Laboratories, a governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) software provider. This is the firm’s fifth acquisition in the past year and the “second major” one in the GRC market. It recently bought CMO Software in June. The financial terms of this latest deal […]
Accenture buys mobile payments start-up Mobgen
Accenture has acquired 100% of the shares in Amsterdam-based start-up Mobgen. Mobgen says with Accenture it can expand its “end-to-end mobile approach”. The Dutch firm will be part of Accenture Digital, but will keep the same brand, culture and operate from its offices in Amsterdam, London, and A Coruña and Malaga in Spain. It has […]
BPCE acquires Fidor Bank
BPCE, the second largest banking group in France, has acquired German challenger bank Fidor. Fidor will remain as an independent business and says it will “capitalise on the support” of BPCE to expand and continue the development of its proprietary digital banking technology. Founder and CEO Matthias Kröner will continue as the chief executive of […]
Sopra Steria acquires Cassiopae
Paris-based Sopra Steria has completed its acquisition of Cassiopae, a developer of specialised finance management software. The firm, through its subsidiary Sopra Banking Software, has bought 75% of the share capital of Cassiopae. The planned tie-up was first announced in February, as Banking Technology reported. Cassiopae’s founder and his family, and certain managers including current […]
SIA partners with Politecnico di Milano for payments innovation
Italian payments firm SIA has invested in a 3.17% stake in technical university Politecnico di Milano (MIP). SIA is the third new partner to join in 2016 after Microsoft and Whirlpool, and says it has already been collaborating with MIP for several years on international innovation and development projects. “Being close to companies and to […]
Top fintech stories this week – 22 July 2016
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! BBA records dramatic increase in mobile banking usage Digital banking is in a “consumer-led revolution”. MasterCard buys VocaLink for $920 million Current owners Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS will receive a handy windfall. Cidel Bank implementing ERI’S Olympic […]
Société Générale’s African mobile banking underway with TagPay
Société Générale has acquired a stake in TagPay, a French mobile banking firm, as it looks to develop mobile banking in Africa. Société Générale says the deal will support the development of TagPay on the market and it will roll out the service to its African subsidiaries. TagPay’s mobile-centric core banking system, also called TagPay, […]
MasterCard buys VocaLink for $920m
MasterCard has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 92.4% of VocaLink for $920 million. As Banking Technology reported in March and April, MasterCard was in “exclusive” talks with VocaLink over the acquisition. VocaLink’s existing shareholders have the potential for an earn-out of up to an additional $220 million, if performance targets are met. This […]
Cloud tech: how to support cross-border M&A
Merging tech, avoiding “turf wars”, embracing change, careful planning and ensuring alignment between the companies – there is plenty to think about in any merger and acquisition (M&A) deal to ensure its success. Some relief, however, might come in the form of a cloud. When and how should this technology be applied? Banking Technology contributor, Graham Jarvis, […]
Softbank to buy mobile chip designer ARM in £24.3 billion IoT bet
Japanese operator group Softbank has successfully bid £24.3 billion to buy UK mobile chip designer ARM in a bid to position itself at the centre of the IoT revolution, reports Scott Bicheno at Telecoms.com. The bid represents a 43% premium to the ARM share price at close of trading on Friday last week and the […]
Wirecard moves into North America with Citi Prepaid Card Services acquisition
Wirecard has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Citi Prepaid Card Services – giving it an expansion into North America. The firm says Citi Prepaid card services have launched over 2,500 client programmes, associated with global companies and brands, but primarily in North America. Subject to the usual regulatory approvals, the deal is expected to […]
FICO acquires QuadMetrics for cyber risk score development
FICO, an analytics and decision management software provider, has acquired US cyber risk security scoring firm QuadMetrics. The deal will help FICO further develop its Enterprise Security Score, which ranks an organisation’s level of cybersecurity risk. The transaction has closed and terms have not been disclosed. Doug Clare, vice-president of cybersecurity solutions at FICO, says […]
