UK’s Financial Conduct Authority hands out £568m worth of fines in 2021
The scrutiny of large financial services giants formed part of the FCA’s broader strategy.
UK
Retail finance platform Divido appoints Todd Latham as CEO
Latham has also held senior positions at American Express and Microsoft.
Matt Collinge joins start-up Sequence as CTO
UK-based start-up Sequence is “creating a new category of software”.
Ebury appoints HSBC innovation head Louise Chan as new COO
Chan is taking on an expanded role, covering operations, product, data and regulatory reporting.
GPS adds $100m to its latest funding round, appoints new chair
Global Processing Services (GPS) closes its latest funding round at over $400 million.
United Fintech acquires 25% stake in asset management platform Athena
The multi-stage acquisition deal is the company’s fourth acquisition in 14 months.
UK consumer lender Oplo acquired by challenger bank Tandem
Together, Tandem and Oplo will “create a fairer, greener digital bank”.
Travel BNPL fintech Fly Now Pay Later lands $75m debt funding package
The funding package will finance the UK fintech’s expansion into the United States.
Checkout.com secures bumper $1bn Series D round at $40bn valuation to boost US growth
The paytech has now raised around $1.8 billion in total funding to date.
Fintech start-up Twig raises $35m to support Web 3.0 plans
The London-based fintech intends to expand into the EU and US in 2022.
The impact of the contactless limit increase on financial inclusion
What does the contactless limit increase mean for the future of the payments industry and financial services?
SmartSearch appoints ex-Dow Jones exec as CEO as company founder steps down
SmartSearch founder and CEO John Dobson will be a non-executive director.
UK fintech sees record investment in 2021 following pandemic slump in 2020
Nearly half of all fintech investment in Europe was made in UK, Innovate Finance data shows.
Payroll automation start-up PayFit achieves unicorn status after €254m Series E
The fintech intends to hire 400 new employees across Europe in 2022.
How will the Green Claims Code affect you as a fintech?
The Green Claims Code legislation aims to eradicate greenwashing once and for all.
Challenger bank Monument appoints new CEO as co-founder moves to corporate dev role
Ex-Barclays Ian Rand is Monument’s new chief executive officer.
UK paytech CellPoint raises $25m to expand internationally
The investment will also support the platform’s expansion into new market verticals.
How does the open banking initiative turn into a revolution?
For open banking to really flourish, it must address issues relating to consumer awareness.
2021: Top five mergers and acquisitions
FinTech Futures takes a look back at some of the year’s top mergers and acquisitions.
2021: Top five movers and shakers
FinTech Futures takes a look back at some of the year’s seminal hires and appointments.
ICYMI funding round-up: pliant, CreditBook, CIRCA5000, and LiveFlow
Our weekly ‘In Case You Missed It’ funding round-up for you to get the latest funding news.
PRA fines Standard Chartered £46.55m for reporting failures
The penalty is the PRA’s highest ever fine in a PRA-only enforcement case.
British Business Bank backs SME-focused lender Simply with £300m funding line boost
Simply has provided £650 million worth of support to businesses since it was founded in April 2017.
FCA fines HSBC £64m for failings in its AML processes
The FCA says HSBC’s transaction monitoring systems showed “serious weaknesses” between 2010 and 2018.
Challenger banking player Monese makes its first acquisition
Monese has acquired Trezeo, a specialist financial services platform for the self-employed.
Why start-ups, not incumbents, will be the engines of post-pandemic SME growth
Many lendtechs are looking to leverage the digital revolution to help drive post-pandemic recovery in the UK.
Citi spin-out Proxymity raises $31m in Series B funding round
Proxymity says it has delivered significant growth since launch in April 2020.
Dear Luc: What fintech trends should I prepare to see in 2022?
Four trends that FinTech Futures’ Agony Uncle predicts will occur in 2022.
NatWest and TrueLayer conduct first series of variable recurring payment transactions
NatWest is the first of the nine largest UK banks to conduct VRP transactions in a live environment.
ICYMI funding round-up: Novus, Bumper, topi, Toucan, & Raison
With the fast-paced nature of the fintech world, it’s easy to let announcements slip by from time to time.
US paytech Flywire enters UK education market with WPM acquisition
The acquisition will build on Flywire’s existing education payments business.
Report: Safety in numbers – levelling the playing field for green finance
Turning up the volume on green finance – read & download the full report for free.
Global paytech PPRO hires e-commerce tech veteran Bernie Miles as CTO
Miles will lead a global team based across Europe, South America and Asia.
Zopa shutters P2P retail investment business to focus on banking offering
Zopa CEO says erosion of consumer trust and regulatory burdens are to blame.
NatWest hit with £264.8m fine from FCA for money laundering failures
The fine includes a 33% discount thanks to the bank’s early guilty plea.
Nuvei partners Visa to launch branded crypto debit cards across Europe
The programme plays “a vital role in expanding the crypto ecosystem”, Nuvei CEO says.
Collateral analytics platform Cassini secures $20.5m financing round
“With this latest investment, we look forward to deepening and expanding our solutions,” CEO says.
UK SME lender OakNorth acquires cashflow forecasting solution Fluidly
Since its launch in September 2015, OakNorth Bank has lent over £6.5 billion to SMEs.
Aussie fintech Finder secures first capital injection worth $22m
Finder co-founder Fred Schebesta says the company has been “bootstrapped since day one”.
Curve appoints new CTO, Eric Molitor
Molitor replaces Matt Collinge, who left Curve after almost four years.
