Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) specialist LendKey raised $13 million in Series C funding this week, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The round consisted of both equity and debt financing ($8 million of the former, $5 million of the latter) and was led by Maine-based North Atlantic Capital. Also participating in the investment were existing investors DFJ, Gotham […]
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Data Pitch has unleashed its new accelerator in the search for start-ups and SMEs across Europe with fresh ideas for data products and services. The plan is to connect data providers “with nagging business problems” to firms with the right solutions. It’s not limited to fintech, but successful applicants will receive up to €100,000 equity […]
In payments, the big guys just keep getting bigger and more diversified. Ingenico Group on July 20 announced its €1.5 billion (US$1.74 billion) purchase of Sweden-based payments company Bambora from Nordic Capital.
Singapore’s OCBC Bank has piloted two fintech solutions from a pair of start-ups as it looks to combat money laundering and terrorism financing via artificial intelligence (AI). The two firms involved – BlackSwan Technologies and Silent Eight – were part of OCBC’s second fintech accelerator programme, Open Vault, which was launched last year. Both companies […]
Pay Award-winning Karmic, which offers an integrated payment and expense management solution, has raised $17.2 million in a Series B round of financing. Wei Hopeman and Jim Whims have joined its board of directors.
Oracle has continued its journey into the cloud, expanding an interesting proposition to target the data sensitive and paranoid.
It’s a treble yell! Following quickly on from 18 July and 19 July, this latest fintech funding round-up features Receipt Bank, Billon Group and TickSmith. Receipt Bank, a bookkeeping automation platform (not an actual bank), has raised $50 million in Series B funding from Insight Venture Partners. The investment will be used to accelerate growth […]
Inlaks, a banking software provider in Nigeria and West Africa, has built a core banking solution together with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the country’s microfinance sector.
The UK’s House of Lords wants you to come clean on the rise of the machines – with a call for feedback on the economic, ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI). The House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is asking for contributions to its inquiry and is looking for pragmatic solutions […]
Less than two months following the initial announcement from partners Netspend, a TSYS Company, and United Airlines, the prepaid industry’s first air miles rewards card is now available online. Paybefore readers believe more prepaid providers will follow suit with air miles rewards of their own.
The fintech world has been left breathless and bewitched by the stunning revelation that UK-based challenger Jargon Bank has appointed a sales director. As reported last year, the “game changer” bank launched offering “compelling and innovative” products. This was followed in February with a payments app update; an office move in March; and a cat […]
EquityZen, a secondary marketplace for trading pre-IPO shares, has taken in $3 million in funding this week, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). This Series A round brings the company’s total funding to $6.5 million. Draper Associates led the round, with WorldQuant Ventures also participating. The EquityZen marketplace connects shareholders of private companies with its current pool of […]
The buzz for biometrics gets bigger with TSB now eyeing up the launch of iris scanning tech to let users login into bank accounts by glancing at their phone. According to the BBC, some TSB customers will be able to do this from September when the bank introduces iris recognition to its mobile banking app. […]
The average cost of a Notice of Proposed Penalty is estimated at $150,000 including the penalty itself and the added costs for consultants, personnel, remediation of legacy records, etc. Compliance is far less expensive than the alternative.
It’s been a busy week for mobile wallet partnerships – and this round-up can help. Features Apple Pay, ANZ, CaixaBank, Starling and Samsung Pay. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. Australia and New Zealand-based banking group, ANZ, is rolling out Samsung Pay to customers in Australia. The bank says it’s the only major Australian bank […]
Melissa Global Intelligence, a provider of global contact data quality and identity-verification solutions, announced that its technology is fueling know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) initiatives for Meta Payment Systems, one of the largest prepaid card issuers in the US. Meta relies on Melissa to provide “a 360-degree view” of the customer, including […]
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion, a software company specialising in artificial intelligence (AI), reports Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore. This acquisition follows Mastercard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security”. Brighterion’s portfolio of AI and machine learning technologies provide real-time […]
The UK’s HM Treasury is banning surcharges on credit and debit card payments. For prepaid card providers, the new rules put significant fee income related to card-loading at risk, according to Polymath Consulting. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore reports that the HM Treasury is putting an end to “rip-off” fees related to paying with a […]
Payments software technology provider, Episode Six, is opening an office in Tokyo to meet “the growing demand” for fintech solutions in Asia. The company also announced that payments and finance industry veteran, Oko Okamoto, will oversee Episode Six’s new Tokyo office as general manager. Episode Six, which launched in 2016, offers payments software platform technology […]
Following on from yesterday’s fintech funding fun, here’s our latest round-up. Features Finstar Financial Group, Adjoint, Karmic and Trupay. Finstar Financial Group will invest $150 million into new start-ups over the next five years, Oleg Boyko, the chairman of Finstar, has confirmed. The money will also be used for research and development (R&D) within the […]
The Bank of England (BoE) is opening up access to settlement accounts in its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system with the goal to promote fintech innovation and competition. The bank says it’s extending access to non-bank payment service providers (PSPs), offering direct access to the UK’s sterling payment systems. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), […]
Here’s a twist on the usual cybersecurity stuff. Advisory firm Willis Towers Watson has launched a new diagnostic tool designed to assess people’s cyber readiness. The firm says its tool can be used to “recruit, lead and engage a more cyber-savvy workforce”. It reckons that roles in cybersecurity are “some of the most in-demand across […]
Despite a big push in its cloud-coated ambitions, IBM has revealed a drop in revenues for its technology services and cloud platforms. For its Q2 2017 results, revenues for this largest part of its business (including infrastructure services, technical support services and integration software) was $8.4 billion, down 5.1%. However, in its “strategic imperatives”, IBM […]
The U.K.’s HM Treasury is banning surcharges on credit and debit card payments. For prepaid card providers, the new rules put significant fee income related to card-loading at risk, according to Polymath Consulting.
Mastercard has entered into an agreement to acquire Brighterion Inc., a software company specializing in artificial intelligence. This acquisition follows Masterdard’s March acquisition of NuData Security and will further expand Mastercard’s capabilities to “deliver an enhanced customer experience and security.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be baked into nearly every new software product and service by 2020, but the rush to claim AI integration today is causing confusion, according to a new report from analyst firm Gartner. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that while virtually every company across industry verticals is busy today figuring out […]
UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has revealed the 20 fintech firms who will participate in its Open Up Challenge as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs – with a £5 million prize fund on offer. As reported in March, Nesta launched its challenge – open to entries from anywhere in the world that […]
Swiss financial services provider SIX has selected Synechron as the systems integrator for the Calypso v15 solution as an update to its post-trade services. The deal is part of the SFR (securities finance renewal) programme, with the objective to revamp SIX’s post-trade services where it acts as a contractual triparty agent for its clients to […]
Italy’s only stock exchange Borsa Italiana, part of London Stock Exchange Group, and IBM are building a blockchain solution to digitise the issuance of securities for unlisted small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. The aim is to simplify the tracking and management of shareholding information, and create a distributed shared registry containing a record […]
Consumer data contextualisation company Flybits pulled in $6.5 million this week, bringing the Toronto-based firm’s total funds to $14 million, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The Series B funding was led by Information Venture Partners. New investor Portag3 Ventures LP also participated along with existing investors Robert Bosch Venture and Trellis Capital. As a part […]
It’s been a busy week for mobile wallet partnerships. Several companies announced deals to offer mobile wallets to their customers in the U.K., Australia and Europe. Challenger bank Starling says it’s the first in the U.K. to offer in-app provisioning.
Mobile banking technology provider Urban FT has completed its acquisition of US software firm iParse, which, CEO Richard Steggall tells Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore, will help the company provide a “mobile plug-in” for financial institutions. Steggall says the quicker, cheaper option compared with core processing integration will open up feature-rich mobile banking apps to […]
The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has implemented Deutsche Börse’s new T7 trading platform for the Irish equity market. According to Deutsche Börse, this new platform reduces cost for international trading firms to connect and trade equities on the ISE, due to lower development and maintenance costs for firms, which are active on T7 across multiple […]
Absa Bank, a subsidiary of Barclays Africa, has partnered with multilingual text analytics and big data firm, Hello Soda, as it looks to tap into the millennial market. The bank says it wants to make sense of unstructured social data to better understand its consumer base. According to Absa, Hello Soda provides new ways for […]
You’ve come to the right section for cash injection. Today’s fintech funding round-up features Contego, Privitar, Form3 and Barclays. Maven Capital Partners, a UK private equity house, has led the £3.5 million investment in Contego Fraud Solutions to support its growth plans. Maven is putting in £1.8 million, NVM Private Equity is investing £1.5 million, […]
BNP Paribas has been hit with a $246 million fine by the US Federal Reserve System relating to past misconduct in its foreign exchange (FX) business. The Paris-based bank says it will pay the fine and has settled Federal Reserve allegations that it failed to keep its FX traders from using electronic chatrooms to manipulate […]
Daily News at Sibos, the highest profile news publication at Sibos 2017, is written and produced by Banking Technology for the duration of the event. A flagship Sibos publication does not only bring the most important news and happenings of the day, but is also a great way for companies to showcase thought leadership, breaking news, feature articles or exclusive interviews with […]
Blend, a start-up that helps lenders make mortgage lending decisions, has unveiled a native mobile app, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The San Francisco-based company’s launch of Blend Mobile aims to let loan officers manage borrower requests and applications on their mobile device in order to facilitate communication between the two parties. Founded in 2012, […]
The partnerships keep coming for PayPal. Following recent news that the company is partnering with Apple for payments on iTunes and in the App Store, among other places, the company is now expanding its partnership with Samsung to enable PayPal as a payment method in any channel Samsung Pay is accepted, according to the PayPal blog. Banking […]
