Ebury completes first acquisition with Frontierpay purchase
Ebury will use deal to expand and boost payments capabilities.
UK
CYBG kicks off long-awaited Virgin Money rebrand
CYBG to assimilate all products and services under one name by December 2020.
Dutch challenger bank bunq reveals Brexit delayed its ‘wish list’ UK launch
The UK was the first country on bunq’s launch “wish list”.
Lemon Way nabs €25 million investment from Toscafund
Parisian payments firm plans geographic expansion with new funds.
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 18 October 2019
FinTech Future’s weekly news round-up.
Help-to-buy fintech Proportunity raises £2m, offers alternative to UK government
The fintech provides first-time buyers with an equity loan of up to 15%.
Wealthtech Genuine Impact plans new app launch with fresh design
It launched its first app back in February 2019.
FCA should overhaul EMIR supervision, says ESMA review
FCA ranks bottom among six major EU competent authorities for EMIR data supervision.
Yorkshire Building Society opts for OutSystems
Installation of a new integrated development environment underway.
Bank of England finds two-thirds of industry using machine learning
Firms would like to see more guidance around ML regulations.
Santander leads €35m funding round in digital debt marketplace CrossLend
Lakestar, ABN AMRO Ventures and Earlybird will also be investing.
FCA will ‘take appropriate action’ against product greenwashing which misleads customers
The regulator will work on “common standards and product disclosures”.
Link extends Vocalink infrastructure contract to 2031
Vocalink emerges winner of competitive bid process.
Calastone takes on ex-BNY Mellon exec Dan Kramer for US expansion
Kramer managed end-to-end customer experience at BNY Mellon.
How to thrive in an ever changing market, a conversation with the COO of Qualco
Spyros Retzekas, COO at Qualco says agility is the key.
DIS 2019: OBIE trustee says business-consumer adoption figures in ‘hundreds of thousands’
The ‘big nine’ UK banks still represent around 95% of the market, says OBIE.
DIS 2019: Lendtech OpenWrks says it can predict divorce and relationship breakdown
OpenWrks can determine when gambling will become a health issue too.
UK lendtech Zopa brings transparency to credit score calculations
Zopa says it’s the first lender to show how it determines who to lend to.
UK cybersecurity firm Sophos bought by America’s Thoma Bravo for $3.8bn
Sophos houses more than 3,400 staff and a turnover of $710.6 million.
Nine UK fintechs land in Australia under the countries’ bridge programme
The companies will be showcased at Melbourne’s Intersekt conference.
Queen’s Speech reinforces UK’s aim to be world-leading regulator
The report found London has the world’s highest concentration of finserv firms.
Revolut hires JP Morgan to manage $500m funding round and issue a $1b loan
The loan will turn into shares if Revolut receive a US banking licence.
UK’s Royal Mint unveils first 18-carat gold payment card
The card enables limitless spending and zero foreign exchange fees.
Metro Bank brings fintech to UK SMEs with £120m funding
The bank wants to inject “much needed competition” into the SME space.
Bank of England reveals new £20 note featuring artist Turner
The new polymer note will be the first to utilise two transparent windows.
DPR and ClearBank complete partnership, savings meet APIs
DPR’s core banking technology will serve Clear Bank’s savings customers.
World Federation of Exchanges outlines opposition to FCA crypto-derivative ban
UK watchdog wants to protect retail customers from scams
SME challenger bank Recognise partners with nCino
Recognise plans a 2020 launch for SME banking.
Yolt gets closer to all-in-one banking app with Raisin
Yolt’s UK, France and Italy-based users can now open a Raisin account.
HKEX drops £32bn bid for London Stock Exchange
“We only regret the chances we didn’t take,” says HKEX CEO
PayExpo 2019: Europe will catch the UK’s open banking lead up in a year, says Danske Bank
Danske says the European landscape lends to more unique businesses.
Bottomline’s merger with EPG sparks UK regulators to investigate impact to competition
The CMA worries the merger will “result in a substantial lessening of competition”.
ACS19: Bank execs need cybersecurity safe space
90% of breaches at firms are still attributed to employees clicking on phishing emails.
PayExpo 2019: Monzo COO not so sure it needed to be a bank for its success
His reasons boil down to expensive, slow and heavy hoops since its licence.
PayExpo 2019: We will be taking action, says FCA on insufficient safeguarding
The regulators found banks are delaying safeguarding precautions.
ACS19: Banks still face cybersecurity challenges despite improvements
“Cybercrime-as-a-service” within the dark web makes the task for law enforcement harder.
Consumer champion app Snoop goes live, founded by ex-Virgin Money execs
The UK-based fintech is accepting sign ups on its waiting list.
UK challenger bank Tide gets investment from Japan’s SBI
The Telegraph says the SBI splashed £44 million on the British fintech.
NatWest first UK bank to use fingerprint contactless credit card with £100 limit
Bank trials fingerprint-linked cards with 150 people.
UK government appoints fintech envoy for Northern Ireland
Andrew Jenkins to become lead ambassador for fintech in the country
