FinTech


Fintech funding round-up: 18 July 2017

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, […]

Blend launches native mobile app for lending

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, […]

Worldline buys Digital River World Payments

France-based payments technology provider Worldline is expanding its global footprint with a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of Digital River World Payments (DRWP), an online global payment service provider from Digital River Inc. Banking Technology‘s sister publication Paybefore reports that the acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter […]

More human than human: banking’s AI future is all in the voice

Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]

IBM unveils data protection engine for cloud era

IBM has unveiled IBM Z, a new transaction system, capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions per day and designed for use in the cloud. The firm is looking to address data breaches, which it reckons are a major factor in the $2 trillion cybercrime impact on the global economy by 2019. IBM […]

The Monday mindset: 17 July 2017

Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, David Siegel, CEO of Twenty Thirty, a Swiss-based blockchain company, offers up “Ten Simple Rules for Crypto-Investing”. 1. Put a small amount […]

Behavioural black magic

In 1957 the US market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get moviegoers to “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” by flashing messages onscreen for such a short time that viewers were unaware they had seen them. The term “subliminal advertising” was coined to describe this unnerving practice and it was subsequently banned in many countries.

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 14 July 2017

From a mystery to a European duet. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up features the secretive SafeToken, China’s Asset Collection Chain, Swissquote and Bitstamp. A former (and anonymous) Goldman Sachs employee has launched the first “anti-bubble” derivative for Bitcoin. They didn’t reveal their name in their email or on the website. A search around hasn’t […]

Turnkey Lender raises $2m in Series A funding

In a round led by Vertex Ventures, the venture capital wing of Temasek Holdings, Turnkey Lender has picked up $2 million in funding, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). The Singapore-based company specialises in loan management technology, delivered over the cloud, that automates all stages of the lending life cycle – from application processing to collections […]

New partnership turns PayPal into Apple App Store payment option

One small step for consumer choice in e-commerce. One giant leap in PayPal’s quest to be the payment option of choice for shoppers online, reports Finovate (Banking Technology’s sister company). This week the company announced a partnership with Apple to allow shoppers pay for their purchases at the App Store using PayPal. The feature will be available for users […]

Top fintech stories this week – 14 July 2017

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Aktia Bank finally live with Temenos T24 core banking system “Some system repairs will be carried out during the following weeks.” HSBC and Barclays pilot banking without borders Testing use of a citizen’s national digital identity. ANZ, Westpac […]

Vote for the Best Challenger Banks

Vote for the challenger banks (licensed or not) that should make Paybefore’s top 5 Best Challenger Banks list. Share your opinions through Aug. 1. The top 5 vote-getters will be profiled on Paybefore.com. 

Altice puts squeeze on Orange with bank move

In a copycat move that will come as a blow to Orange, rival Altice plans to launch its own online bank by early 2019 in the countries in its network footprint, according to a report from Reuters that cites a source close to the matter. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that the launch of […]

LCH SwapAgent opts for Murex capital markets platform

LCH SwapAgent has selected Murex’s MX.3 capital markets platform for trade processing, valuation, margining and member reporting. LCH SwapAgent was launched last year by LCH, a central counterparty clearing house, as a new centralised service for the non-cleared derivatives market. In this latest deal with Murex, LCH SwapAgent “aims to improve efficiencies” in the bilateral […]

Allfunds unveils API platform for wealth management

Allfunds Bank Group is all for APIs with the launch of a new platform targetting the wealth management industry. The platform offers a “fully digitised way” of accessing Allfunds services by providing access to third party applications using standardised APIs which it says comply with emerging regulatory norms such as MiFiD II. Like many other […]

Fintech funding round-up: 13 July 2017

And the money keeps rolling in for fintech! Features Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye and Gridspace. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. UK challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital, which the company will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. […]

Google extends long arm of influence further into AI

Google has launched a new initiative, Gradient Ventures, its own VC arm to seek out artificial intelligence (AI) talent and invest in start-ups, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The initiative itself is a simple one. Google will provide funds and access to experienced engineers to help the start-ups develop to the next level. AI […]

Fintech Funding Roundup: Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye, Gridspace

And the money keeps rolling in for fintech. U.K. challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment it will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. Meanwhile, Santander InnoVentures, the bank’s fintech venture capital fund, has added U.K.-based Pixoneye and Curve and U.S.-based Gridspace to its portfolio.

R3 brings the Intel to Corda DLT platform

Enterprise software firm R3 is working with Intel to beef up its data privacy and security for Corda, its distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. R3, which used to call itself a blockchain consortium, says Corda only sends data to those who have a “need to know”. According to the company, this feature emerged from the […]

Bold statement three: statements from around the bleeding edge of innovation

Hello all and apologies it’s taken a little while to get to the third instalment of the series about “pet peeve statements”. For those who are new, I am talking about those bold, declaratory statements that puff up the chest and make people feel awfully progressive and far sighted – and as I have said before, all sound and fury, signifying stormy waters ahead!

Finicity and JP Morgan Chase pair for data share

Data aggregation provider Finicity has signed an agreement with JP Morgan Chase to let the bank’s customers choose data to share with apps. The companies will use a direct API to allow Chase customers to share information with the apps and services that Finicity supports. According to the firms, this tokenised access will eliminate the […]

Broadridge buys data and intelligence firm Spence Johnson

Broadridge Financial Solutions will acquire Spence Johnson, a provider of institutional data and intelligence, for its asset management market ambitions. With the purchase, Broadridge says its Global Market Intelligence, a platform for retail cross-border fund data and analytics, will be able to use Spence Johnson’s Money in Motion dataset that provides analytics on assets, flows […]

Santander and Tradeshift partner for supply chain finance

Santander is partnering with business commerce platform Tradeshift, for a digital capital solution, the first of which will be supply chain finance (SCF). As reported last year, Tradeshift got an investment from Santander InnoVentures. At that time, Mariano Belinky, managing partner at Santander InnoVentures, said the company “is at the forefront of tackling a very […]

Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 10 July 2017

Reading doesn’t have to be a trial. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up keeps it ultra-brief. Featuring Mt. Gox, less than smooth criminals, the Council of the European Union and Coinsource. Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of collapsed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, will go on trial in Tokyo next week on charges stemming from the […]

UK competition watchdog tells ICE to sell Trayport

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has finally decided that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) should sell Trayport to preserve competition in wholesale energy trading. As Banking Technology reported in August, the CMA “provisionally” found ICE’s acquisition of Trayport may give rise to competition concerns. After lengthy investigation, CMA says: “As a result, ICE will now […]

ANZ, Westpac and IBM trial blockchain for bank guarantees

Australia and New Zealand-based banking group, ANZ, and Westpac have teamed with IBM and shopping centre operator Scentre Group to use blockchain to digitise the bank guarantee process for commercial property leasing. The trial used distributed ledger technology (DLT) to eliminate the need for current paper-based bank guarantee documents, resulting in a “single source of […]

Japan to unveil fintech testing hub for start-ups

The Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) is setting up a hub for fintech start-ups to test new services, according to Nikkei. The hub will help “identify legal complications and risks standing in the way of industry’s growth” and is seen as a precursor to a regulatory sandbox. Nikkei says the sandbox could be in […]

Quantum of solace with Atos simulator launch

Prepare for cybersecurity impact! IT services corporation Atos has launched the “world’s first commercially available” machine-system capable of simulating up to 40 quantum bits (Qubits). The simulator, named Atos Quantum Learning Machine (Atos QLM), is powered by an ultra-compact supercomputer and a universal programming language. Its uses naturally extend far beyond fintech, such as for […]

Card payments problems bring down the fintech house

A whole swathe of fintech firms and challenger banks have been hit by tech issues – with card payments failing. The names include mobile-only challenger bank Monzo, Revolut, Starling Bank, Curve and payments start-up Fire. The problem is understood to be due to provider Global Processing Services (GPS), which as usual offers no updates on […]

More banks nuzzle up to Swift’s nostro blockchain project

Swift has revealed that 22 additional banks have joined its blockchain proof of concept (PoC), designed to validate whether the technology can help banks reconcile their international nostro accounts in real time. The PoC is part of the Swift gpi (global payments innovation) service, its new standard for cross-border payments. As reported previously, gpi has […]

BNP Paribas and SmartAngels develop share register tool on blockchain

BNP Paribas Securities Services and SmartAngels have developed a share register management tool using blockchain. The platform enables unlisted companies to digitalise their financial securities and to manage their shareholder register using a decentralised, distributed ledger. It was developed as part of their partnership formed last year. During testing, BNP Paribas Securities Services and SmartAngels […]