Digital Banking | 2022 #2
Weekly news up to Monday, January 10th, 2022
MVO BLOG
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Apptopia’s annual leader charts are ready!
As it pertains to US banking apps, there is a good mix of mobile-first banks on the list with Chime leading all apps for the second year in a row.
👉 Read the full article, with more stats, here.
📰 ARTICLE
Like it or not, whether it’s abundant or missing, money is an inescapable subject for the times in which we live.
Sometimes you get the impression that everything revolves around him; in others, despite the attention and importance given to them, we still don’t know how to deal with it.
What if we started talking about money earlier, with human beings fresh out of diapers? A bunch of fintechs believes that’s the right moment for them to get started.
👉 Read the full LABS article by Rodrigo Ghedin here.
👨💻 BLOG
In the next five years, the global neobank market is slated to grow at 47.1% and hit $333.4 billion market size.
Competing heavily on customer-centricity and deep tech, neobanks bridge the experiential gap between traditional banking services and evolving customer expectations.
Free from legacy infrastructure hurdles, complex value chains, and stringent regulatory requirements, neobanks deliver super-fast, mobile-first services by leveraging advanced, agile, and lean business models.
So, if you are looking to set foot in the neobanking industry, this is the opportune time for you.
👉 Read the full article by M2P Fintech here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Insider Intelligence talked with Adam Hadi, vice president of marketing at Current, about how marketing a neobank differs from promoting a traditional bank, how high retention among banking customers can be a “double-edged sword,” and how being digital-only was one of Current’s advantages during the pandemic.
👉Read the full interview, written by Sherry Fairchok here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden confirmed the upcoming global launch of Starling’s banking-as-a-service offering. Link here.
⭐️ The future of Black banking in the US. Link here.
⭐️ Dave is poised to debut as a publicly-traded company via a SPAC deal this week and has plans to use some of the proceeds to wade into the crypto waters. Link here.
⭐️ Community Fintech 11Onze and Mastercard have announced they join hands to offer financial services. Link here.
UK 🇬🇧
Lloyds Banking Group is following Barclays and taking a stake in fintech loyalty platform Bink. Britain’s biggest high street bank is close to investing millions of pounds in return for a minority stake in the fintech. Link here.
Virgin Money has formed a new fintech partnership with Expend, adding an expense management service to its new business banking proposition. London-based Expend has designed its service to be a one-stop-shop for SMEs and employees to submit and manage their expenses. Link here.
EUROPE 🇪🇺
Unibo, a neobank for property management, is set to launch imminently in Spain. The start-up says it will provide a personalized digital-first platform for online banking in the real estate sector, starting with a checking account for landlords and other property managers. Link here.
Sygnum, a digital asset technology group with a Swiss banking license and a Singapore asset management license, has raised USD 90 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round led by Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited. Link here.
ZEN.COM, powered by Mastercard, has introduced the conversion of fiat money into digital assets, as well as the transfer of fiat currencies to digital wallets servicing BTC, ETH, or USD-T (ERC-20), with more currencies coming up in the nearest future, such as BNB or support for USD-T (TRC-20). Link here.
Banca Generali’s over 300,000 customers will soon be able to create a bitcoin wallet directly in their bank account, a feature made possible by Conio, a fintech founded in San Francisco by two Italians in which Banca Generali is a major investor. The two companies started a partnership in December 2020 and will soon launch the new function. Link here.
USA 🇺🇸
Step, the all-in-one financial solution for the next generation, announced Step Savings Goals, a free financial product built specifically for the way teens want to save. In addition, Step customers can now instantly deposit their cash at one of 65,000 retail locations like 7-Eleven, CVS or Walgreens, to put towards their savings goals. Link here.
Unifimoney, a turnkey digital wealth management platform, announced its availability within the Q2 Innovation Studio, making its trading platform pre-enabled to 450+ financial institutions (FIs) on the Q2 digital banking platform. Link here.
LATAM
Nubank has added three new product categories – Games, Travel, and Pet – and ten new partner stores to its recently launched in-app e-commerce vertical. Nubank has been aiming to expand the range of products offered in the app and add more and more categories in the marketplace. Link here.
ASIA
Digital bank Timo Vietnam secures $20 million fresh funding. Established in 2015, Timo is Vietnam’s first digital bank and has steadily evolved to become the country’s leader in digital banking. Link here.
Taipei Fubon Bank is implementing new core banking software, provided by Avaloq, for its private banking business. The roll-out will start in Hong Kong and Singapore, followed by the onshore market of Taiwan. Link here.
British FinTech company Revolut has obtained approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer its customers exposure to gold and silver through its app. Singapore users can start investing from US$1, and purchases are backed by real, physical gold, or silver, says Revolut in a Jan 5 announcement. Link here.
AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺
Flamingo Tech launches its personalized financial platform helping users to set, track and optimize financial goals based on their desired lifestyle. The app introduces new waves of innovation in personal finance management, focusing on financial forecasting. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Challenger bank Monument has appointed a new chief executive officer (CEO), Ian Rand. Rand was formerly CEO of the business banking division of Barclays Bank. Rand takes over from Mintoo Bhandari, Monument co-founder and current CEO, who is moving to the role of global head of corporate development at the bank. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES
Deel has 220 open positions! As the market leader in international payroll and compliance, Deel's officially raised Series D of $425 million, bringing their valuation to $5.5 billion. There's never been a more exciting time to join the Deel team.
👉 Check them out here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.