FinTech


Fintech funding round-up: 23 March 2017

Fintech funding news comes thick and fast, so here are four stories in one to save you time. Featuring Revolut, Jirnexu, Airpay and Quantexa. UK-based payments start-up Revolut has launched its 2017 funding round. The latest bout takes place almost a year after it raised £1 million with 10,000 investors registering, pledging in excess of […]

EdgeVerve calls for fintech’s magnificent seven

EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys, has launched Finacle FinTech Connect and the chance for firms to integrate their solutions into Finacle’s banking suite. Companies are invited to register for a partnership evaluation process and stand a chance to present at its event Infosys Confluence 2017 in May in San Francisco; along with joint […]

Nesta calls for SME innovation with £5m prize fund

UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has launched its “Open Up Challenge” as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs. The competition is now open for entries. A £5 million prize fund is on offer and it is looking for 20 entries from anywhere in the world that will use open banking APIs – “newly […]

Diamonds and blockchain are forever for SAP Ariba

SAP Ariba has unveiled its plans to use blockchain across its cloud-based applications and business network for trading goods and services. Among the first applications that SAP Ariba sees potential in involves the tracking and tracing of goods. SAP Ariba will join forces with Everledger, a London-based fintech firm. The latter captures the defining characteristics […]

Earthport revenue and payment volume power up

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has reported a massive rise in its number of transactions and payment volume for the six-month period ended 31 December 2016. The number of transactions reached five million, a growth of about 85% over the prior year period. Payment volume increased by 97% to $7.80 billion and revenue per […]

Tug of love turns to group hug for banks and fintechs

With the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and open architecture framework set to come into force next year, regulation may well tip the scales between banks and fintechs for customer loyalty, according to a new report conducted for Temenos by the Economist Intelligence Unit. In the 36-page study, “Symbiosis: Your bank has your trust. […]

Samsung moves on Siri with Bixby AI

Watch out Siri and Alexa, Samsung has unveiled its own artificial intelligence (AI) solution called Bixby. This will be a new interface on Samsung’s devices – with the imminent Galaxy S8 getting it first – and when an application becomes Bixby-enabled, it will be able to support “almost every task” that the application is capable […]

Survey: how regtech savvy are you?

Banking Technology and BearingPoint are conducting a brief survey to find out the industry view on regtech and its implications for all parties involved.

ZrCoin crowdfunds first ever commodities option on blockchain

A new initiative will hold an initial coin offering (ICO) for the production of an industrial material using green technologies – creating the “first” commodity-backed cryptographic token in the process. Called ZrCoin, this will be a derivative – and with the option to buy an equivalent amount of synthetic Zirconium Dioxide (ZrO2). The latter may […]

Be Guess’s young, sexy, and adventurous guest

Are you young, sexy, and adventurous? No, me neither. It’s OK. Grab a hot chocolate, put your slippers and glasses on… and read on. Guess Watches has released watches (well, yeah) powered by Android Wear, Google’s smartwatch platform, to their Guess Connect wearable tech timepiece category, available late 2017. The global fashion powerhouse says, with […]

IBM Cloud launches enterprise-ready blockchain for Hyperledger Fabric

IBM has unveiled its new release of IBM Blockchain, the “first” enterprise-ready blockchain service based on the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0. The service enables developers to build and host production blockchain networks on the IBM Cloud, and is underpinned by the IBM server LinuxONE. This development follows on from late last year when […]

The Monday mindset: 20 March 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, Banking Technology deputy editor Antony Peyton doesn’t offer up one view, but the views of many. While Twitter in general may often […]

IBM Cloud launches new developer tools for financial services

IBM has unveiled its IBM Cloud for Financial Services for creating finserv apps. Users will get access to APIs, data and content to build and monetise cognitive-enabled apps for fintech firms, banks, wealth management firms and insurance companies. Initially available in beta, developers will also have the ability to build in customer insights, regulatory compliance […]

IBM Cloud comes to China

Wanda Internet Technology and IBM have signed an agreement for the former to enter the public cloud business in China. This will be done via a new firm – Wanda Cloud Company – built on the IBM Cloud Platform.

Inter-American Development Bank launches Finconecta ecosystem

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Florida-based fintech firm Above & Beyond (A&B) have unveiled “Finconecta”, a ten-month programme which integrates fintechs and financial institutions (FI) in an interconnected ecosystem. The technology platform behind it is called “Forward”, which was built by A&B, and is described as an app store-styled marketplace that allows firms to expose […]

BBVA launches fintech challenge for start-ups

BBVA has launched the ninth edition of its “Open Talent” fintech competition – and is looking for start-ups from across the globe. The Spanish bank says this year its programme has grown from one competition to five. It will be hosting three focused world-wide competitions, more than a dozen country-specific opportunities, two specialist challenges for […]

Cachet Prices Public Offering, Looks toward a $9.3 Million Payday

Cachet Financial Solutions expects to raise nearly $9.3 million in its public offering this week, according to an SEC filing. The Minneapolis-based financial technology provider and Pay Award winner, which priced its offering at $4.50 per share, plans to use the proceeds for working capital, to pay down debt and other, unspecified purposes.

Investment Roundup: Fintech Financing Heats Up

With funds flowing from some of the biggest names in payments, including PayPal and Ant Financial, March got off to a hot start for worldwide e-commerce and fintech investment. Providers around the globe have landed hefty financing rounds from some venture capital, payments and financial services heavyweights during the first half of the month.

Fintech funding round-up: 14 March 2017

Life needs less noise. So here words are destroyed. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. Featuring Autobooks, University of British Columbia, Scotiabank and more. Michigan-based start-up Autobooks has raised $5.5 million in funding. This follows an earlier $2 million seed funding round. Draper Triangle Ventures led the latest round and was joined by […]

Barclaycard gets Uber momentum

Barclaycard and Uber have agreed a new commercial agreement that will see Barclaycard customers get “exclusive offers” when they use their personal card to pay for their Uber rides. The deal means Barclaycard’s personal credit card customers can get a free Uber ride, up to the value of £15, for every ten that they take […]

Chase Pay Acquires MCX Mobile Payments Technology

Another bell has tolled for the mobile payment service operated by the nearly 3-year-old MCX, a consortium of large retailers. JPMorgan Chase, whose own Chase Pay mobile wallet has been making serious strides, has acquired the technology that underpins CurrentC, the MCX mobile payment product that never went beyond pilot stage.

The Monday mindset: 13 March 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 we welcome the views of our editor, Tanya Andreasyan, as she gives us the lowdown on going digital.

Fintech funding round-up: 10 March 2017

When time is tight, the reading can be light. A round-up of key events in fintech funding. Featuring Dimebox, NAB Ventures, Currencycloud and more.                          Amsterdam-based start-up Dimebox has raised €5 million in a series A round from payment processor Billpro Group. Dimebox says its modular, white label Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution includes risk management, artificial intelligence […]

New global fintech group for standardisation launches

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) Financial Services Committee (TC/68) has unveiled its new global committee, the Fintech Technical Advisory Group (TAG), to act as a sounding board for data and technology standards. The group’s goal is to establish a “proactive dialogue” with financial institutions, their regulators, and supply chain and fintech firm. TAG’s objectives are […]

Misys goes gaming for banking tech

Misys is introducing gamification capabilities into its FusionBanking Essence Digital platform with Moroku’s GameSystem (also known as Gameo).

Mobile wallet users want more incentives, new study says

Payments pundits for years have been saying consumers need incentives to use mobile wallets, and a new survey report from Auriemma Consulting Group has numbers to back up the claim. Paybefore (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports that a survey of 1,505 consumers found that 25% of those who have an eligible smartphone use mobile pay services.Those […]

Will 2017 be the year financial services improve their UX?

2016 has been a big year for user experience (UX). The web, as a whole, became easier to use, apps became more intuitive, and services became a lot more engaging and purposeful. But could the same be said for financial services? Perhaps…

Emerging payments hot topic on social media, Mastercard study finds

Consumers are expressing interest in and enthusiasm for emerging payment methods in their social media conversations, according to a new Mastercard report. Paybefore (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports that Mastercard’s fifth annual Digital Payments Study analysed more than 3.5 million public interactions in 2016 between consumers on social media channels – including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter […]

Symantec ventures into cybersecurity start-up space

Symantec has created a venture capital arm, Symantec Ventures, as it looks to work with cybersecurity start-ups. Its plan is to get start-ups to build on its Integrated Cyber Defence Platform and save them time. It will also talk to start-ups and academic communities through sponsorship of activities such as innovation challenges and hackathons. These […]

IBM and Maersk first for cross-border supply chain on blockchain

Maersk and IBM have unveiled the “first industry-wide” cross-border supply chain solution on blockchain. According to IBM, 90% of goods in global trade are carried by the ocean shipping industry each year. Their new blockchain solution will do the usual things – help manage and track the paper trail of shipping containers across the world […]

Financial services consulting firm Arthur Andersen is back

Accounting and consulting firm Arthur Andersen, the folks who audited Enron, is back with 26 offices in 16 countries on five continents. In case you had forgotten; back in 2002, the company voluntarily surrendered its licences to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the US after being found guilty of criminal charges relating to the […]