Metro Bank founder launches acceleration partner Archie for early-stage fintechs
Archie is led by serial fintech entrepreneur Anthony Thomson and Steve Brennen, a former PayPal director.
Australasia
Splitit plans to go private for stringent $60m capital commitment
Part of the commitment requires the US BNPL vendor to redomicile to the Cayman Islands.
ANZ invests in mule account detection solution to help fight fraud
ANZ says it conducted a successful pilot in April, identifying nearly 1,400 high-risk accounts.
Nexi buys 30% stake in German PSP Computop
Computop’s founders, Frank Arnoldt and Ralf Gladis, previously held 50% of the company’s shares each.
The Republic of Palau taps Ripple for first stablecoin pilot
The pilot is expected to last for three months between selected merchants and government employees.
Wealthtech GBST strengthens cloud portfolio with Advice Intelligence acquisition
The deal follows GBST’s acquisition of WealthConnect, the Salesforce-based CRM solution, in May.
Swiss SME lender TP24 secures £345m debt funding from Barclays, M&G
The funding will be used to lend to SMEs in the UK, Australia and Netherlands.
Grow Finance joins Pismo as its first Australian client for card issuance
Launching this September, Grow seeks to provide businesses with better cash flow, management and capital.
Rimes supports digital transformation of Jana with Matrix solution
Jana has gone live with the solution in an effort to streamline and automate its operational processes.
Wise to offer its infrastructure to help fintechs issue accounts and cards
Wise Platform will roll out the new features in Australia initially, and has already signed two clients.
Aussie fintech Stables launches APAC’s first stablecoin virtual card
Stables’ CEO says the company wants to simplify stablecoin usage and drive its global adoption.
ClearScore launches in New Zealand
ClearScore says it will be adding new financial partners in New Zealand over the coming months.
UK paytech GoCardless lays off 15% of its workforce
GoCardless cites the current economic environment as the reason behind the layoffs.
Marqeta closes Australia office in bid to cut costs
Marqeta is undertaking “restructuring actions” in Q2 this year to reduce operating expenses.
Tradeweb acquires Aussie trading platform Yieldbroker in AU$125m deal
The Yieldbroker platform claims to facilitate trading of approximately AUD 6 trillion annually.
Australian government set to regulate BNPL industry
Australia aims to introduce the final BNPL bill in the parliament by the end of 2023.
Westpac New Zealand taps Finastra to accelerate ISO 20022 compliance
Finastra says its tech will enable the bank to leverage the benefits of ISO 20022’s data-rich MX messaging format.
Aussie banks launch new digital platform to stop fraudsters from receiving payments
In its trial phase, the platform cut down the time taken to resolve scam cases by more than half.
Heritage and People’s Choice appoints Penny Iverach as head of technology integration
Iverach will develop and lead the newly merged organisation’s tech integration roadmap.
Tradeweb in advanced takeover talks with Aussie trading platform Yieldbroker
The AUD 125 million ($84m) deal remains subject to Yieldbroker stockholder approval.
IOUpay goes into voluntary administration over suspected fraud
It took this step due to a “number of outstanding debts” with “no reasonable prospect” of repaying them.
NZ wealth manager JBWere taps Duco for cash and asset reconciliations
JBWere NZ will use Duco to reconcile cash and securities held with sub-custodians, share registries and banks.
Aussie paytech EML Payments mulls sale as CEO resigns
The company is conducting a review as it looks to “transition away” from its previous long-term strategy.
Aussie financial software firm Iress to cut 10% of staff amid business restructure
The cuts come as the company looks to form “a more efficient and focused organisational structure”, Iress says.
Finbots.ai credit modelling platform to power Argenic’s SME lending
The partnership will support Argenic’s financial inclusion drive for underserved Australian SMEs.
IFGS 2023: UK has the opportunity to take the lead on tailored BNPL regulation
Klarna and Block discussed how the UK can set the tone for BNPL regulation at IFGS 2023.
ASX creates dedicated CIO role to lead standalone technology division
The new CIO will be tasked with delivering the firm’s enterprise-wide technology renewal programme.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Synctera, Natech, Basiq, Payabli
Our weekly fintech round-up for you to get the latest funding news from around the world.
Crypto paytech Wirex launches multi-currency card in Australia
With one of the highest levels of crypto adoption in the world, Australia is an “important market” for Wirex.
Aussie paytech Till Payments lands $46m Series D funding
The fresh funding comes just weeks after the firm’s decision in January to lay off 120 staff.
Aussie BNPL firm Zip reportedly set to retreat from 10 international markets
Zip expects “significant” amounts of cash to roll in due to these exits, with positive cashflow expected by 2024.
Aussie central bank reveals participants and use cases for CBDC pilot
The selected industry players will participate in use case proposals over the coming months, the central bank says.
Westpac pens five-year cloud deal with AWS to boost digital transformation
Westpac aims to leverage AWS’ tech to accelerate its digital transformation.
Stripe unveils Tap to Pay for Android devices
Tap to Pay allows businesses to accept contactless payments using an NFC-enabled Android device.
Aussie paytech DataMesh lands $30m Series A led by NAB Ventures
Additional investors in the Series A round were Deutsche Bank and 1835i Ventures.
Aussie fintech Shift lands $18m in Series C funding
Shift provides a credit and payments platform for Australian businesses.
TISA signs for Flexcube core banking system & applies for banking licence
The project will be delivered by Oracle FS’s implementation partner, Profinch.
Aussie BNPL fintech Openpay enters receivership
The firm’s assets, operations and trading activities are now under the stewardship of McGrathNicol.
Nano sells home loan book to AMP Bank as it pivots to tech focus
Nano plans to wind down its home loan services and focus on providing technology to financial services companies.
New Zealand accounting fintech Hnry bags $24.5m in Series B funding
Hnry provides invoicing, tax, insurance and compliance services to self-employed contractors and freelancers.
