“What are we getting for our tech spending?”
Research has shown there is no industry-level correlation between spending on tech and growth.
BankingTech
US neobank Oxygen switches focus from banking to health in new strategy
Consumers and business users have been informed that their accounts will be closed on 29 March.
Griffin receives full UK banking licence and $24m investment to spur growth
The licence approval from the FCA and PRA ends the platform’s year-long mobilisation period.
US Federal Reserve “nowhere near recommending, let alone adopting” a CBDC, chairman tells Congress
Fed chairman Jerome Powell tells Congress that “people don’t need to worry”.
Going for gold: when fintech meets the Olympics
With the Paris Olympics on the horizon, we take a look at the relationship between the event and fintech.
US digital bank Green Dot hires Melissa Douros as new CPO
The new CPO will head product design and team development for the Texas-based fintech.
CFPB to cap credit card late fees at $8 and increase accountability among issuers
The new limit is poised to save US consumers more than $14 billion a year.
Forget the accolades and the pleasantries and pay us
For this International Women’s Day, and for all the days that follow, my message is simple: pay us.
From start-up to unicorn – the rise of Revolut
Vytautas Danta, CCO and deputy CEO of Revolut’s European entity, discusses the fintech’s remarkable rise.
Finastra appoints Mike Stawchansky as new senior VP and CTIO
Stawchansky will be responsible for guiding the firm’s customer technology and GenAI development plans.
New York Community Bancorp secures $1bn equity boost following Q4 2023 losses
NYCB has also made several high-profile appointments to its board of directors.
Société Générale deploys iGTB’s Corporate Treasury eXchange solution
The French bank plans to leverage CTX’s real-time liquidity management capabilities.
Nationwide Building Society set for £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money
The deal has yet to be finalised and Nationwide has until 4 April to put a final offer forward.
US neobank Dave achieves profitability over Q4 2023
In Q4 2023, the LA-based neobank generated a GAAP net income of $200,000 and EBITDA of $10 million.
Egypt’s Alexbank partners Mastercard to advance payments strategy
The partnership will focus on expanding Alexbank’s acquiring business and credit card base.
Crabs and KPIs
The majority of organisations fail because they allow folks to see what other teams do as ‘not my problem’.
Qatar Central Bank to enable instant payments with new Fawran service
Fawran is due to launch in March and forms part of the bank’s Third Financial Sector strategy, announced last year.
Cotribute tapped by Clearwater Credit Union to streamline digital account opening and loan origination processes
The partnership will see Clearwater leverage Cotribute’s consumer and business digital account opening modules.
UK challenger OneBanx appoints Javed Anjum as new CEO
Anjum’s joins directly from the Glory Group, where he served as innovation programme director.
Banking Technology Magazine March 2024 issue out now
Cover story: CREATIVE THINKING – How a borefest could lead to the best ideas.
BaaS vendor Synctera lands additional $18.6m Series A cash injection
Going forward into 2024, Synctera plans to launch its new payment product SyncteraPay.
Monzo’s valuation tops $5bn with $430m Alphabet-led funding round
The round was led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG.
GFT Technologies names Ian Oswald as new executive director
Oswald joins GFT from EY, where he was a partner in the company’s technology consulting team.
California’s Edwards Federal Credit Union taps Apiture for consumer banking solution
The 62-year-old credit union has around 12,500 members across California’s Antelope Valley region.
Barclays welcomes back Steve Weston as head of everyday money management
Weston left the UK bank in December 2015 to found the now-defunct Aussie challenger Volt Bank.
Avenue Bank lands full banking licence from Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
The approval comes less than three years after the bank was first awarded a restricted banking licence.
Lloyds Bank backs new £62m community development fund
The Community Investment Enterprise Fund aims to support around 800 small businesses in the UK.
Banking veteran Marc Page hired by Metro Bank as CFO
Page will take the reins from interim CFO Cristina Alba Ochoa.
Treasury Prime trims workforce amid strategic pivot to focus on direct-to-bank partnerships
The pivot comes a year after the firm completed a $40 million Series C fundraising round.
OTP Bank partners Iliad Solutions for payments testing platform
The Budapest-based bank is to leverage its new partner’s payments testing and certification platform, t3.
ABN Amro partners Dutch paytech Buckaroo for merchant payment services
Utrecht-based PSP Buckaroo will assume management of the bank’s debit card acquiring contracts.
ClearBank promotes risk and compliance chief Emma Hagan to UK CEO
Hagan has been tasked with leading the platform’s UK operations and market expansion efforts.
VyStar Credit Union partners NCR Atleos for Allpoint ATM Network access
The Allpoint Network currently supports around 40,000 ATMs across the United States.
The history of banking technology vs the history of banking experience
Over time, the transactional aspects of banking have been solved, but not the emotional ones.
Green Dot receives proposed consent order from US Federal Reserve
Green Dot says the consent order relates “principally to various aspects of compliance risk management”.
State of play: banking
Banks are facing a myriad of challenges, from transformative technological shifts to increasing competition.
Citi names former JP Morgan exec Viswas Raghavan as new head of banking
Raghavan is due to take charge of the group’s investment, corporate and commercial banking unit.
Cross River Bank Group launches new investment banking unit
The group’s new investment banking unit will be co-led by Benjamin Samuels and Henry Pinnell.
Wishful thinking
The job is still about new technology, but it’s not about the ‘if’. It’s about the ‘how’.
Blackstone buys $1.1bn of US credit card debt from Barclays
Barclays says it will use the proceeds of the sale to fund an extension of its US lending activities.
