OakNorth taps Coconut founder Sam O’Connor to lead business banking unit
O’Connor joined the bank five months ago following GoSimpleTax’s acquisition of Coconut.
Europe
UK challenger Monument Bank completes £40m Series B raise, eyes more funding
Dubai Investments has acquired an additional 7.68% equity stake in the bank.
SimCorp in merger with Axioma following Deutsche Börse takeover
SimCorp and Axioma are both subsidiaries of the Deutsche Börse Group.
UK payments app Cardeo to shut down
In an announcement on its website, Cardeo says it failed to secure funding “required to continue as a business”.
N26 to cease operations in Brazil within the next two months
The challenger bank wants to focus its efforts on its “core markets”, namely Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Travelex names ex-HSBC exec Jackie Uhi as global retail director
Travelex CCO Cameron Hume is also transitioning into the role of global wholesale director.
The Bank of London names Frankie Woodhead as new chief product officer
Woodhead joins from 10x Banking, where he worked for over five years following a decade-long stint at Barclays.
Italian fintech Qomodo lands €34.5m pre-seed funding
The start-up aims to bring SmartPOS, Tap-to-Phone and BNPL payment solutions to physical merchants.
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UK challenger bank OakNorth launches new business banking offering
OakNorth’s new product is currently in a phased beta, with businesses being invited to sign up to a waitlist.
UK paytech Volt brings in former Stripe Europe CEO Matt Henderson as special advisor
Volt says Henderson joins at a “critical inflection point” for the company.
Monzo hires Brolly founder Phoebe Chibuzo Hugh to lead its “charge into insurance”
Hugh founded digital insurance platform Brolly in 2016, which was acquired by Direct Line Group in 2020.
Tandem Bank co-founders team up to launch low-fee wealth management app Prosper
Currently operating as an invite-only service, Prosper is slated for public launch in Q1 2024.
German insurtech Wefox secures $55m debt financing from Deutsche Bank and UniCredit
Wefox plans to boost its global expansion efforts, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions.
Klarna to establish UK holding company in preparation for billion-dollar IPO
Klarna describes the UK holding company as “an important early step on a journey towards an eventual IPO”.
NatWest engages IBM to revamp chatbot service with generative AI
Cora+ leverages generative AI to draw on multiple different information sources to answer customer queries.
BNPL fintech Jifiti lands European EMI licence from Swedish regulator
Jifiti says it can now provide clients with a broader range of payment products and pan-European solutions.
National Bank of Georgia taps Ripple for CBDC pilot
With Ripple, Georgia’s central bank aims to explore use cases and potential benefits of having a digital currency.
Regtech Qomply hires former FCA regulator as director of transaction reporting
The company describes Sophia Fulugunya as “a front-line expert in transaction reporting”.
TAS appoints former Accenture executive Fabio Benasso as president
A long-standing Accenture employee, Benasso began his career at the software firm in 1984.
UK agriculture-focused challenger Oxbury Bank lands £100m from British Business Bank
Oxbury Bank provides flexible lending and asset finance solutions specifically for the needs of farming businesses.
Qatar’s CQUR Bank partners Finastra to power new online corporate banking portal
The bank’s new portal will service its corporate clients with digital workflows and host-to-host integration solutions.
European Payments Initiative completes acquisitions of iDEAL and Payconiq International
The acquired solutions will boost the development of EPI’s digital wallet Wero, which is launching next year.
Wealthtech platform Allfunds appoints former Citi exec Antonio Varela as new COO
Varela previously spent more than 16 years at Credit Suisse in a number of senior tech-focused positions.
Atom Bank on track for balance sheet growth following £100m equity raise
The bank’s “long-term” shareholders, BBVA, Toscafund and Infinity Investment Partners, participated in the raise.
Dutch paytech Mollie receives UK payment institution licence from the FCA
Mollie CEO Koen Köppen says securing the new licence is “a huge milestone”.
Revolut appoints former Molo chief Francesca Carlesi as new UK CEO
Carlesi will lead Revolut NewCo UK, the entity that has applied for the fintech’s UK banking licence.
UK Finance calls on government to form new quantum computing taskforce
The taskforce would seek to explore the “multibillion-pound opportunities” of a quantum-enabled economy.
Deutsche Bank plans to cut Postbank branch network by nearly half
The bank is reportedly planning to close around 250 of its 550 Postbank branches within the next three years.
Mangopay secures UK EMI licence from the FCA
The authorisation will enable Mangopay to offer its full suite of services to new and existing UK customers.
HM Treasury sets out phased regulatory approach for stablecoins
Legislation covering “activities relating to fiat-backed stablecoins” will arrive early next year.
Chloé Mayenobe joins paytech Thunes as chief operating officer
Mayenobe’s appointment follows the company’s $72 million Series C funding round.
Regulators of UK, Singapore, Switzerland and Japan launch collaborative effort to explore digital asset use cases
Project Guardian aims to share knowledge about the benefits and risks of asset and fund tokenisation.
UK core banking tech vendor Thought Machine cuts workforce by 8%
The job cuts are expected to impact around 50 roles predominantly in its sales and marketing departments.
Ziglu founder Mark Hipperson rejoins company as executive chairman
Kevin Hanley and Mark Jenkinson are also joining Ziglu as co-CEOs.
UK fintech Railsr gets back on track with $24m funding
The capital came from existing investors including D Squared Capital and Moneta Venture Capital.
LSEG ditches legacy finance systems for Oracle Cloud
The group aims to make use of Oracle’s enterprise performance management and planning functions.
BNP Paribas taps Lenvi to manage risk for factoring and receivables finance
BNP Paribas will deploy Lenvi’s Riskfactor product portfolio in eight countries across Europe.
UK challenger Monzo reportedly in talks to sell £300m stake at £3.5bn valuation
According to Sky News, Monzo is in discussions with a number of blue-chip investment funds over a share sale.
Saudi fintech Hala names former Revolut exec Saleem Arshad as CTO
Hala says Arshad’s experience will be “pivotal” to its expansion efforts in the UK and Europe.
