Enfuce wins State Treasury of Finland contract to modernise prepaid cards
The five-year contract was signed on 15 February 2023.
FinTech
UK car finance fintech Carmoola secures £95m debt facility from NatWest
The firm has also bagged £8.5 million in a Series A funding round led by QED Investors.
Mizuho International taps SymphonyAI to help fight financial crime
Mizuho will use SymphonyAI Sensa to boost AML protection within its European capital markets division.
Riyad Bank taps SunTec for e-invoicing integration with Saudi tax office
The integration allows banks to share standardised e-invoices with Saudi tax office Fatoora.
Chetwood’s SmartSave Bank partners cash deposit platform Flagstone
Under the new partnership, SmartSave’s fixed rate accounts will be made available to Flagstone clients.
National Australia Bank builds its own fintechs
A closer look at how National Australia Bank’s approach to innovation has evolved in recent years.
Indian SaaS fintech Mintoak bags $20m in Series A funding
PayPal Ventures led the funding round, with new and existing investors also participating.
Singapore and India link up PayNow and UPI for real-time cross-border payments
The MAS and RBI will use a scalable cloud-based infrastructure to manage future increases in remittance volumes.
Dutch challenger Bunq becomes first EU neobank to report a quarterly profit
Bunq reported a pre-tax profit of €2.3 million over Q4 2022.
European Commission launches blockchain regulatory sandbox
While blockchain is known for crypto, the Commission says the tech has a “wider utility” beyond financial services.
Icelandic neobank Indó taps Lucinity for AML protection
With the partnership, Indó will have access to Lucinity’s transaction monitoring and case manager solutions.
Bank of Russia to launch digital ruble pilot in April
Olga Skorobogatova, first deputy chair of the central bank, announced the news.
State of play: neobanks
Neobanks as a sector are now approaching their teenage years and quickly maturing.
Interview: How Opus is leading the financial services sector forward to a more sustainable future
“The way I see it, the fintech landscape has never looked better,” says TM Praveen, CEO of Opus.
Pliant raises $28m in Series A funding
Founded in 2020 and based in Berlin, Pliant offers a B2B credit card platform.
Extended deadline announced for Banking Tech Awards USA 2023 nominations
The new deadline for nominations is now Friday, 24 February 2023. Apply today!
Tesco reportedly exploring sale of banking business
According to Sky News, Tesco is launching a review of its UK banking activities.
Lithuania’s central bank reportedly investigating Railsr over AML failures
The Telegraph reports that Railsr’s Lithuanian subsidiary is being investigated by the country’s central bank.
Bank of Japan to launch CBDC pilot programme in April
The pilot will test the technical feasibility of a CBDC and leverage the “skills and insights” of private industry.
FSB to study DeFi’s potential stability risks and vulnerabilities
The FSB states that “specific features” of DeFi may see some of its vulnerabilities “play out differently”.
PPRO extends payments infrastructure to South Korea
This integration “opens up a gateway” for PPRO’s global partners to reach South Korean consumers, PPRO says.
Cartoon: What recession?
A new cartoon illustrating how private market valuations have been impacted in the current environment.
Facing the FCA armed with data
Fintechs are finding themselves subject to increasing scrutiny by regulators regarding AML compliance.
WealthKernel names Michael Rigby as new chief compliance officer
Rigby joins from Investec Wealth and Investment and brings over 30 years’ worth of experience to the role.
North America fintech funding round-up: Vexi, Comun, ModernFi & more
A round-up of the latest funding endeavours of fintech start-ups from across North America.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 17 February 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Financial market data provider Quodd acquires Xignite
The combined business will serve more than 2,200 companies.
Solving the cybersecurity puzzle
FinTech Futures speaks to City University of London’s Raj Muttukrishnan and Crossword’s Stuart Jubb.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Ledge, AdalFi and Power
Our weekly fintech round-up for you to get the latest funding news from around the world.
UK fintech funding round-up: Omnio, Landytech & Sikoia
A handy round-up of the recent funding endeavours of fintech companies across the UK.
Demystifying digital transformation
There are a lot of parallels among the big banks in terms of why digital transformation is so complicated.
Video: Highlights from the exclusive global launch of Leda Glyptis’ book, Bankers Like Us
Take a look at the highlights from Leda Glyptis’ global book launch.
Global fintech investment drops 31% in 2022 from record 2021 high
Despite the drop, it was still the third-best year for fintech investment ever.
Zopa acquires DivideBuy in “BNPL 2.0” push
Zopa’s “BNPL 2.0” offering will allow consumers to spread the cost of purchases worth between £250 and £30,000.
Ecuador’s first digital bank goes live with Temenos core
Diners Club Ecuador has gone live on Temenos’ cloud-native banking platform with AWS.
Saudi fintech Hala acquires UAE paytech Paymennt.com
Maher Loubieh, co-founder of Hala, says Paymennt’s product was a “clear fit” with their own strategy.
UK fintech Deko hires Joseph Tucker as new CFO
Tucker joins from NewDay, which acquired Deko in January 2020.
Dubai’s VARA outlines new virtual asset framework
VARA says the new framework will offer “regulatory certainty”, giving market participants greater clarity.
Confronting confrontation
If you don’t like confrontation, get better at it. So you can at least only have it once and move on.
African ID verification platform Smile Identity nabs $20m Series B
The latest funding round brings Smile Identity’s total capital raised to date to $31 million.
