Payments firm IbanFirst has raised €10 million for its growth plans and launched Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) for SMEs in Europe. IbanFirst offers an online multi-currency platform “in BaaS mode” – which it calls “an alternative to banks”. It was founded in 2013 by Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier (former head of Western Europe at Saxo Bank) under the name […]
Amicus Finance, a UK financial services group, has submitted a banking licence application to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It hopes to get the banking licence in 2017. In advance of authorisation, Amicus will convert £30 million of the debt currently used to fund its lending activities into equity […]
Acorn Financial Partners (AFP) has submitted a banking licence application to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). On authorisation, AFP will be called Redwood Bank, a new UK-based SME challenger bank, and it anticipates receiving its licence early in 2017 and opening to customers later the same year. AFP’s majority […]
Indian firm Aditya Birla has chosen the Infosys Finacle core banking system for its upcoming joint venture (JV), Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank. Aditya Birla has got in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India and plans to set up the new payments bank by the end of its financial year (2016-17). Aditya Birla will […]
San Francisco-based start-up lender Affirm has got a $100 million credit line from Morgan Stanley as it looks to boost its business, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm is “adding debt” as it “seeks to grow its loans for tickets, trips, and other big online purchases as an alternative to paying with credit […]
Silicon Valley Bank and MasterCard have selected six start-ups to participate in Class 5 of Commerce.Innovated, a virtual accelerator designed to help commerce, payments and fintech start-ups grow their businesses. The six US start-ups will go through the four-month virtual programme and are in various stages of funding and development: Domuso, a payment financing platform […]
Fintech funding without the tub-thumping. A realistic and brief round-up of key events. ComplyAdvantage, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help firms manage compliance, has revealed an $8.2 million Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital. The funding will allow the regtech firm to do the usual stuff – growth and […]
LendingWell, a single-platform P2P lending partner, is the winner of the first PitchIt @ LendIt Europe, a competition aiming to find a future star within the online lending and fintech space. LendingWell provides access for retail investors and independent financial advisors to the broader P2P lending market. Co-founded with Liberum Alternative Finance, it provides customers […]
“We have the licence, we have the technology, now we have the card.” New UK challenger bank Starling has got its first batch of debit cards as it continues to build its infrastructure. Like some kind of shopaholic’s symbolic frolic, the bank detailed its London shopping adventure with a blog post. This had a point […]
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 […]
When time is tight, the reading can be light. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. US-based Payoneer has completed the first closing of a growth equity financing. Proceeds from the $180 million financing will be used to “accelerate global growth”. This year, the firm opened new offices in India, Japan and the Philippines, […]
There’s nothing better than going all the way. Challenger bank Atom is now fully open for all customers in the UK. Atom initially launched with an “invitation only” phase, but as of today (6 October) anyone can download the Atom App, both in IoS and Android, and open an account. The App is available to […]
Berlin-based fintech incubator FinLeap has teamed up with fintech analyst Devie Mohan to launch Burnmark, an independent research company focusing on trends in the financial technology industry. Finleap will support Burnmark with network, knowhow and research capabilities. Mohan works closely with traditional banks, consulting firms, innovation teams, start-up accelerators and investors, advising them on fintech […]
Bank of Lithuania, the country’s central bank and regulator, has signed a memorandum of understanding with UK-based payments and fintech start-up Revolut. Revolut intends to set up a financial institution in Lithuania and obtain a banking licence. Bank of Lithuania will provide Revolut with access to its managed payment systems enabling cross-border payments in euro. […]
Innovation gets more adoration as Avaloq is opening up to developers with a new portal activation. It says freelancers, start-ups, fintechs and banks will be able to innovate jointly using a dedicated online portal. Through this site, the developer community can commercialise technologies and share results within the community and the “entire Avaloq community”, which […]
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and five local polytechnics have teamed up to get students up to speed for fintech jobs of the future. They have agreed to work on a framework to review and improve the polytechnics’ curricula in the next three years to prepare and equip their graduates with the skill sets […]
A decade ago, cities fought to be financial hubs; today they fight to be financial technology (fintech) hubs. While London, New York and Silicon Valley claim strong status as fintech hubs, Sibos has proved that there are plenty of emergent centres snapping at their heels. Innotribe’s Startup Challenge, which brings fintech companies to the attention […]
Innotribe’s Industry Challenge – the results of which have been just unveiled – was all about blockchain and disruptive technologies. Three star-ups won the challenge to introduce blockchain to the securities sector: SmartContract, Rise and Coin Sciences.
Credit Union Australia (CUA) can now onboard a customer in two minutes, including ID verification, offer generation and account generation to the core. The underpinning solution is provided by a domestic fintech start-up, Cloudcase Software Solutions.
Start-up Form3 Financial Cloud will offer payment and core banking solutions through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model. These are the Dovetail payments system and a new core banking system recently launched by Thought Machine.
TEB (Türk Ekonomi Bankası) in Turkey has launched a fintech programme and wants the nation’s entrepreneurs and start-ups to get in touch. Why? TEB says: “Because the day will arrive when a technology giant will come from Turkey too.” TEB will provide start-ups with its infrastructure, experience, financial support for their first project, and “even […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Harrods Bank in search of new core banking system EXCLUSIVE. The FIS Profile project is dead. Long live a new project! Deutsche Bank GTB builds new payments platform EXCLUSIVE. Dovetail to deliver? Misys unveils Platform-as-a-Service strategy Opens up […]
Ukrainian start-up Attic Lab has revealed its lofty ambitions with the launch of an open source blockchain platform. The banking platform will offer the issuance of e-money and Attic Lab claims it will be a “full-fledged alternative” to systems like Visa and MasterCard. The company was founded in early 2016 with Sergey Vasilchiuk taking the […]
Too many words can be absurd. A round-up of some key events in fintech funding. UK payments start-up Curve has announced a further tranche of fundraising taking its total investment to $5 million. The firm says this puts it on a “trajectory for a sizeable” Series A round by the end of December ahead of […]
A new challenger has joined the UK’s banking market, Community Savings Bank Association (CSBA). The association is working with an established bank, Airdrie Savings Bank, to set up a UK-wide network of independent, customer-owned, regional banks. These banks will support local communities and businesses.
The full authorisation by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) covers all of AvantCredit’s credit and lending operations and includes permissions for credit broking, debt collection and debt administration.
Standard Chartered and SuperCharger are inviting applications from start-ups for its SuperCharger Fintech Accelerator 2.0. For the second year running, SuperCharger says it offers access to market entry resources, mentors, technology advice from industry experts and joint venture opportunities. The selection panel is looking for start-ups for supply chain and trade finance, wealth management, distributed […]
Deutsche Bank is partnering with start-up accelerator Axel Springer Plug and Play to select, develop and finance up-and-coming firms from sectors such as banking and insurance. Deutsche Bank will be an exclusive Axel Springer Plug and Play partner – the latter a joint venture between the media company Axel Springer and California-based Plug and Play […]
Six start-ups have signed contracts with Barclays after using its New York accelerator programme to showcase their innovations. After thirteen weeks of product development, mentoring and networking, the demo day in New York marked the culmination of the second class of the Barclays Accelerator. In total. ten teams were selected from a pool of nearly […]
The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.
Fintech start-up Clinc says it has created “the world’s first” open source platform for building artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning-based personal assistants. Clinc calls it “the financial genie” or “Finie”. It is pitched to banks, financial institutions and personal finance managers. The solution was developed by a group of professors at the University of Michigan, […]
Lessons learned from Lego’s business renaissance could be the way of the future for fintech innovation. At yesterday’s (7 September 2016) Avaloq Community Conference at the Seminarhotel Bocken in Horgen, Switzerland, the private banking software specialist held an open day as it looks to the future. Our first report included an exclusive interview with CEO […]
Consumers and businesses alike will often consider a company’s reputation before entering an agreement with them. After all, why would anyone choose an organisation which has history of letting its customers down, over another with a spotless track record? It’s unsurprising then that once the reputation of traditional banks in the UK was tarnished by […]
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is planning to launch a regulatory sandbox and innovation hub as part of ambitions to boost its fintech brand. At the Treasury Markets Summit 2016, jointly organised by the HKMA and the Treasury Markets Association (TMA), Norman Chan, chief executive of the HKMA, says it wants to build a […]
Lend me your ears… and eyes. LendIt and Capital One are to co-host PitchIt @ LendIt, a competition to “find a future star of the fintech world”. The competition is aimed at firms innovating within the online lending and fintech space. It provides a showcase for eight firms to pitch their business case to a […]
Luxembourg-based start-up SnapSwap, which offers blockchain-based payments, has received authorisation to operate as an electronic money institution (EMI). The firm says the EMI licence, provided by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg, allows it to issue debit cards and other payment instruments linked to Gloneta accounts. The latter combines a mobile messenger (chat) with cross-currency […]
French software firm Dassault Systemes is inviting start-ups to apply to its “3D Fintech Challenge” to address anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) issues. As part of its overall 3DExperience Lab initiative, the seven-week programme will identify and help nurture six start-ups that can provide systemic warnings and a 360-degree view of customer/support […]
A group of volunteers is in the process of setting up a new credit union in the Isle of Man – Manx Credit Union. The Manx Credit Union Working Party has been set up, chaired by David Talbot, a retired accountant. “It is non-political and non-denominational,” the Manx Credit Union website states. The volunteers come from […]
Changing your name from Mondo to Monzo does not warrant a news story – unless a rival challenger bank makes some fun out of it. A trademark dispute with another Mondo entailed the new moniker and much unnecessary fanfare. While Monzo revelled in its new name and ignored media queries, Starling Bank decided to do […]
They said it. We read it. We edit. A round-up of some key events in funding. Singapore-based MC Payment has raised SGD $6 million ($4.5 million) in a Series B round. The funds will be used to “drive market expansion” into Australia and in southeast Asia, as well as “enhance” its product offerings, including Xaavan, […]
