Digital Banking Weekly | 2021 #42
BLOG
NEWSLETTER
PODCAST
The podcast recommendation of the week belongs to The Financial Brands’ series Banking Transformed with host Jim Mouras and host Tom Chang, of Salesforce.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S DIGITAL BANKING SPACE
NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Chime is in talks to go public at a valuation of $35 to $45 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, and it’s targeting March of 2022 for the IPO.
The company’s revenue will likely reach $900 million to $1 billion this year, the person said.
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Wells Fargo is the latest Wall Street giant to back Volante Technologies, investing $10 million in the cloud payments and financial messaging firm. Link here.
⭐️ Fintech startup Revolut wants to foster usage in the U.S. with better free accounts. Link here.
⭐️ HSBC is working with Oracle NetSuite to launch a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offering that will enable customers to create and provide business banking services through their own platforms. Link here.
⭐️ Money management app Chip has closed the biggest ever equity crowdfund on Crowdcube, raising £11.5 million from 12,954 investors. Link here.
UNITED KINGDOM
Revolut has acquired the team behind the New York-based talent sourcing marketplace Wanted. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal brings Wanted's five founders - Balazs Alexa, Guillaume Breux, Mario Eguiluz, Jean Meyer, and Eva Peris - to fintech giant Revolut. Link here.
Financial consultancy 11:FS Foundry has teamed up with Google Cloud to create a new platform for its clients. Google Cloud will power 11:FS Foundry’s end-to-end solution, building a host of new financial services offerings that allow customers to ‘plug and play’ with some of the best fintech solutions on the market. Link here.
Goldman Sachs teamed up with American Express to deploy a cloud-based payment service for large corporate clients. Since launching in the US last June, Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking has attracted more than 250 clients, taking on over $35 billion in deposits and processing trillions of dollars through its systems. Link here.
Leading integrated payments platform, Paysafe Group, announced that it has extended its partnership with payments provider ZEN.COM.Link here.
UK digital bank Zopa has raised £220 million from a clutch of investors led by Softbank Vision Fund 2. Zopa in March landed £20 million from existing investors following the launch of its app-only bank last year. Link here.
GoHenry, a pioneer in kids’ debit cards, money management, and financial education, has introduced Money Missions, accelerating the company’s ambitions to close the gap in early financial literacy for Gen Z and Gen Alpha with a gamified educational experience integrated into the GoHenry app. Link here.
WealthKernel, a wealthtech provider for digital investment services, announced it has extended its partnership with inclusive investment service, Wealth8, which has migrated its investment offering to WealthKernel’s trusted APIs. Link here.
EUROPE
Spanish giant BBVA is making a push into the Italian retail banking market with the launch of a digital-only service. BBVA has had a wholesale banking presence in Italy for over three decades but is now targeting consumers with an app-based offering. Link here.
Europe has a new core banking software firm in Hungary-based Perfinal, which claims to offer “full financial automation” for clients. Founded in late 2020, the software firm believes that the digitization of manual processes is key for “future first” banks in the market. Link here.
In a blog post to customers, N26 has sought to gloss over a move by Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, to impose a temporary cap on the number of new customers the digital challenger is allowed to onboard each month. Link here.
Also, Fintech startup N26 has raised a $900 million Series E round at a $9 billion valuation. That represents a big jump from the company’s Series D valuation of $3.5 billion. The Berlin-based startup operates a digital bank with 7 million clients across 25 countries. Link here.
Startup Bling Card has joined forces with SocGen-owned BaaS player Treezor to develop a prepaid pocket money card and financial education app for kids in Germany. With the Bling Card, children and teens can pay independently and securely throughout Germany, including online. Link here.
FIBR, the connected digital bank, has launched with the sole focus of servicing European SMEs, through combining the stability of a bank with the agility and technology of a fintech. Link here.
US
Bond, the leading enterprise-grade platform for embedded finance, announces the availability of its latest product, Bond Embedded Credit. Current and new customers can now build and launch personalized credit products with a single integration, including underwriting, risk management, servicing, and compliance. Link here.
Sokin, a global payments provider, has announced a new multi-year partnership with the Miami Dolphins. The three-year deal is Sokin’s first substantial sponsorship agreement in North America and its first with an NFL team. Link here.
Arival Bank, which won Best of Show in its FinovateAsia debut in 2018, is now a fully licensed and regulated bank. The company was granted its U.S.-based banking license in Puerto Rico and will leverage its “U.S.-based but internationally friendly” license to work with customers around the world. Link here.
ASIA
Asia Digital Bank (ADB) has partnered with blockchain tech provider Bianjie to build out the bank’s new digital infrastructure designed to bridge the gap between centralized and decentralized finance. Link here.
Temenos Transact core banking will enable fast product innovation and massive scalability and efficiency for Pakistan’s leading digital payments platform Easypaisa. Link here.
The technology arm of Thailand's Kasikorn Bank. KBTG, has established an incubator and venture builder to create new decentralised finance businesses. Dubbed Kasikorn X, the new unit will serve as a DeFi factory, churning out startups that can be spun off as independent businesses. Link here.
LATAM
The Central Bank of Brazil announced another date to discuss the issuance of the digital Real, an event that will feature a Nubank representative. This is one of the fintech companies that stood out the most in Brazil in recent years, especially among the younger ones. Nubank’s customer base, for example, is already used to handling money in a virtual format, with the bank’s services being offered by application only. Link here.
Pismo, a Brazilian core banking and payments systems provider, has raised $108 million in Series B funding from Amazon, SoftBank, and Accel. The round also included participation from Falabella Ventures, Headline, PruVen, and Redpoint eventures. Link here.
Bradesco, Brazil’s third-largest bank, announced its purchase of a 49.99% stake in digital bank Digio for $113.2 million. Digio offers a bank account, credit card and personal loans to 2.7 million customers. The transaction is subject to approval by the Brazilian Central Bank and other authorities. Link here.
AUSTRALIA
RegTech company Napier, provider of advanced anti-financial crime compliance solutions, announced that specialist core banking and digital services provider Data Action will use the full Napier platform to strengthen its anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) defenses in servicing Australia’s alternative banking industry. Link here.
Douugh, the responsible financial super app helping customers autonomously manage and grow their money to live financially healthier lives, today announced it has partnered with Zero Hash to integrate cryptocurrency wallet and trading capabilities into the Douugh app. Link here.
The formation of Parpera, a money-management app for microbusinesses that will also hold deposits, shows you can operate just like a bank in Australia without actually becoming a bank. Link here.
AFRICA
In a country-first for Malawi, mobile money service provider TNM Mpamba launched a Mastercard debit card, enabling its customers – even those without bank accounts – to make safe and seamless in-person and online digital payments on the Mastercard network. Dubbed “Khadi Mbambande”, the new card is expected to enhance financial inclusion and improve access to the digital economy. Link here.
Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders, and fast-growing businesses. Link here.
Asante Financial Services Group (“Asante”) announced $7.5 million Series A investment anchored by Goodwell Investments with participation by other investors including Sorenson Impact Foundation and Forsage Holdings. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
Revolut, the UK-head-quartered financial superapp valued at $33 billion in September 2021, announced the appointment of Juan Miguel Guerra Dávila as its CEO in Mexico, following the launch of its US-Mexico remittance corridor in July 2021. Link here.
Community Fintech start-up 11Onze has appointed Raul Arribas, who has led engineering, IT, and cybersecurity projects for leading platforms such as Amazon, on-demand courier service Glovo, and Blueliv as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Link here.
Ilya Kretov has joined the Tinkoff Bank team as Director of E-commerce. In this role, he will lead the new business line of Tinkoff E-commerce, an ecosystem of services for online businesses that operate within the scope of Tinkoff Business. Link here.
Mettle, the NatWest-backed business account, has appointed Andrea Himmelbaeur as the company's first Culture and People Lead. Link here.
Irish foreign exchange technology firm Assure Hedge announced the appointment of John to its Board of Directors. John Schlesinger, Chief Enterprise Architect at Temenos, brings additional deep technology expertise to the company. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES:
Revolut is on the hunt for a new CEO for its business in the United States, a key market for the $33 billion fintech firm. Link here.