Video: Top fintech stories this week – 13 December 2019
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
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Time is now: US investors seek fintech opportunities abroad
Fintech investors are looking outside of the US for greater returns.
Mexican neobank Flink gains seed funding from Spanish firm Latina
The Spanish technology company sees a bright future in Flink.
Mexican challenger Fondeadora nabs $2.5m in funding
Neobank seeks to reach underbanked with smartphones.
Banking Technology December 2019 / January 2020 issue out now
A year in review.
Freetrade brings first native full stack solution to UK
The exec team come from Snapchat, Google and KPMG.
Jumia to close Rwandan business
It comes just weeks after it exited Cameroon and Tanzania.
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.
Barclays Partner Finance offers 24-month interest-free contract on iPhone 11
The financing subsidiary says it can save consumers up to £270.
The 20th Banking Technology Awards winners have been announced
It was a brilliant celebration of excellence and innovation in the banking industry.
Unpacking Europe’s 2019’s major tech milestones with NIIT
FinTech Futures breaks down this year’s trends with Gautam Samanta at NIIT.
Fintech API platform Rapyd raises $20m and hits $1.2bn valuation
The company is gearing up to make two acquisitions.
Appreciate Group and CleverGift collaborate on UK digital gift card
The card will be UK’s first multi-brand digital gift card.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Bank to unveil 600 cardless ATMs
The ATMs will use contactless technology and QR codes.
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.
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.
HSBC and Santander to refund customers after breaking CMA rules
The banks failed to message users going into their overdrafts.
Leaked numbers show only 16% of Curve’s users are active
The UK start-up still insists it will reach 4 million customers by 2020.
Fibank first in Bulgaria to launch PSD2-compliant open banking platform
Fibank customers will be able to move all accounts to My Fibank app.
NatWest ‘planned maintenance’ stops customers applying for Help to Buy ISA days before deadline
Customers took to social media to vent their frustrations.
Argentine money manager Ualá raises $150m in round led by SoftBank and Tencent
Bloomberg says Ualá is close to a $1 billion valuation.
Tandem Bank signs up TrueLayer for account aggregation
The UK challenger’s 800,000 customers will gain access to their other accounts in-app.
Epiphany CEO: We’re the only “truly open” banking platform in the industry
The CEO says other banking technology providers are “not really open”.
PayPal sweetens e-shopping processing with Honey deal
The acquisition is PayPal’s largest to date.
Money20/20 USA: How Tangerine champions personalised digital banking with Meniga’s tech
From proof-of-concept to market launch, results, and lessons learnt.
Brazil’s digital bank Neon raises $94m led by General Atlantic
Neon currently has 2 million active users.
Amica emerges as latest challenger in Indian banking market
The neobank remains in stealth mode for the time being.
Ex-Virgin Money execs’ venture Snoop gets FCA approval
It can now receive financial data from banks as a registered third party.
Opera-owned OPay raises $120m in Series B funding round
The Nigerian start-up will use the fresh cash to expand in the region.
Swedish neobank Northmill appoints new chief analytics officer from Swedbank
Georges Mansourati spent eleven years at Swedbank.
Bank Millennium to deploy OneSpan Cronto verification system
The Polish bank chose OneSpan after surveying its customers.
CSConnect UK 2019: Round-up of key cybersecurity trends
The conference brought together chief information security officers (CISOs).
AI savings assistant Plum raises $3 million and launches Android app
This is in addition to its $4.5 million raised this summer.
Challenger banks in Hong Kong
A free guide to help our readers navigate Hong Kong’s challenger banking space.
HSBC and RBS race to launch new digital banking platforms
HSBC Kinetic is in beta testing, RBS’ neobank Bó is to launch this month.
Lendtech firm Snapdocs raises $25m in Series B funding
Snapdocs claims to power 10% of US mortgage transactions.
Visa sends Nigerian fintech Interswitch to unicorn status
Sources say Visa paid $200 million for a 20% stake.
Hungary’s National Bank fintech strategy combats digitisation lag
The national bank has drawn up its own fintech guidelines “to speed things up”.
Banco Inter plans super app to boost borrowing
SoftBank bought a 14.9% stake in Banco Inter earlier this year.
