Digital Banking Weekly | 2021 #44
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PODCAST
The Podcast recommendation of the week belongs to 40-Minute Mentor and their latest episode on “Unlocking Global Opportunites with Chipper Cash’s Ham Serunjogi.”
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S DIGITAL BANKING SPACE
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Square has announced that people over 13 years old can use Cash App to deposit and spend money or send it to friends. Link here.
⭐️ Virgin Money is preparing to jump on the buy now, pay later bandwagon through the development of a digital wallet in collaboration with Global Payments. Link here.
⭐️ Argentine financial services startup Ualá has reached an agreement to buy Mexican bank ABC Capital SA, as part of its bid to keep growing abroad. Link here.
⭐️ Nu Holdings is seeking a valuation of as much as $50.6 billion in its initial public offering, making it one of Latin America’s biggest companies. Link here.
⭐️ ING is to shut down Payvision, the controversial international card acquirer and payments platform that the Dutch bank acquired in 2018 for €360 million. Link here.
⭐️ British digital bank Starling expects to go public in two years’ time, CEO and founder Anne Boden said Tuesday. Link here. Also, Anne Boden reflects on the past year as her book is released as a paperback. Link here.
UNITED KINGDOM
Sokin, the next-generation global payments provider, has launched its Global Currency Account in four additional languages, to support those on the outside of the English-centric financial ecosystem. Link here.
Frost, Manchester's coolest FinTech startup, gets the FCA's green light. It's all systems go for Frost, the Manchester-based startup that's building the first fully intelligent account on the market. The FCA has approved their e-money license. Link here.
Revolut cardholders can now create a design of their own choice, using images, texts, emojis, and even freehand sketches, to be rendered in monochrome on a chosen card. Link here.
Digital lender Jaja Finance Ltd (“Jaja”) announces that a consortium of investors, led by existing shareholder KKR and including entities owned by investment funds managed by TDR Capital LLP, has reached an agreement with Jaja to become majority shareholders of the business. Link here.
Whether it’s paying suppliers in Italy or receiving payment from clients in the US, Starling’s multi-currency business bank accounts can make payments simpler, especially now that we’ve expanded our integration with Xero. Link here.
Following the recent press speculation, Metro Bank confirms that it has received an approach from funds affiliated with The Carlyle Group regarding a possible offer to acquire the entire issued share capital of Metro Bank. Link here.
Northern Bank Ltd, trading as Danske Bank UK is announcing that it has partnered up with the European open banking platform, Aiia (recently acquired by Mastercard) to deliver innovative digital solutions to help its more than 20.000 business and corporate customers through its business banking platform, District. Link here.
Crypto trading firm Ziglu revealed it has now surpassed £6mln in its crowdfunding efforts. Link here.
Juno’s app is aimed specifically at women and non-binary users to learn more about a range of financial topics, from cryptocurrency to mortgages, to investing, and much more. Link here.
Railsbank unveiled a refreshed strategy and brand to boost its bet on an embedded future for financial services. The company is positioning itself to help non-financial brands with ‘experiences’. Link here.
Starling Bank has launched what it says is “one of the most requested” features from its customers, the ability to pay bills from a separate Savings Space. Link here.
OakNorth, which counts the former chancellor Philip Hammond among its advisers, has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a share sale that would be its first primary fundraising for nearly three years. Link here.
Supermarket giant Tesco and neobank Zopa are working together on a new hire purchase car finance product. Link here.
If you’ve been waiting to try out J.P. Morgan’s Chase challenger bank, Morgan, in the UK, now is probably a good time, as the waitlist for new customers has just been switched off. Link here.
EUROPE
Raisin Bank, the company owned by Raisin DS, has officially launched its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform in collaboration with Mambu. The bank will use Mambu’s cloud banking platform to become one of Germany’s only cloud-based banks. Link here.
Ukrainians living overseas can now send money instantly to their loved ones back home. That’s thanks to a partnership between Azimo, Europe’s leading digital money transfer service, and Privatbank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine. Link here.
Tech rental group Grover is launching a Visa debit card for its 1 million users as it expands into the digital banking sector. Link here.
Dateio, Czech pioneer in payment data enrichment, has partnered with YAP, the leading fintech revolutionizing the digital banking experience in MENASA, to provide YAP’s clients with clarity around their spending. Link here.
In the spring of last year (i.e., in the middle of the Corona crisis), Penta became one of the first neobanks to eliminate the free account. Link here.
Paysafe has completed its acquisition of German fintech company viafintech. Founded in 2011, viafintech integrates with digital banking apps to offer a “mobile ATM” concept which enables consumers to make deposits or withdraw cash from digital bank accounts at retail stores using a barcode. Link here.
Under new leadership and with new technology, Amsterdam Trade Bank pivoted from shipping loans to offering digital lending to SMEs across Europe. Link here.
Tinkoff Investments is researching cryptocurrency investment services despite the Bank of Russia withholding the bank from launching such tools. Link here. Also, Tinkoff Bank has launched a new service enabling clients of foreign banks to make transfers using their phone numbers. Link here.
Saldo Finance UAB has been granted ECB’s specialized banking license in Lithuania. Link here.
US
Jiko, the fintech startup that made headlines last year when it gained a national charter after purchasing a small Minnesota-based community bank, said it is pivoting from its consumer-focused model and accelerating its business-to-business strategy. Link here.
Capchase, a New York-based provider of non-dilutive capital for recurring-revenue companies, announced today that it has launched Capchase Earn, an innovative account for fast-growing companies that generates a 3% return and is designed to significantly reduce the overall cost of capital. Link here.
Challenger business bank Qonto is expected to raise fresh funds from US hedge fund Tiger Global in a deal that could increase its valuation five-fold, multiple sources told Insider. Link here.
Moven has teamed up with ApexEdge in order to add breadth and depth to Moven’s financial wellness platform. Link here.
A new financial wellness app developed specifically for athletes has been launched in the US. Scout offers personalized financial “game plans” to help users manage their finances and aims to connect budding athletes with “the world’s top athletes and business minds”, who will provide users with money insights. Link here.
“We are licensed as a bank and a digital-asset custodian,” said Miles Paschini, FV Bank’s chief executive. FV’s style of account that combines fiat and digital currencies is unusual, even as traditional banks and financial services companies explore crypto custody. Link here.
Cross River is expanding its mission to provide access to financial services with a new acquisition. On Nov. 2, the Fort Lee-based lender said it acquired Betterfin, a financial platform that offers small business owners a range of financial products, capital markets data, and the ability to manage their own lending and cash flow processes. Link here.
ASIA
Mox Bank, a virtual lender backed by Standard Chartered, has the best mobile banking app in Hong Kong and Asia but lags behind its Western peers, according to a study carried out by a management consultancy firm. Link here.
DriveWealth, LLC, a pioneer in fractional investing and embedded finance, announced its partnership with Toss Securities to offer safe and easy international investing services for Millennials and stock trading beginners. Link here.
Zolve, a FinTech startup based in India and San Francisco, has raised $40 million in Series A funding to expand its neobank, streamlining mobile banking for thousands of immigrants. Link here.
Fi, a new-age, app-only banking startup founded by former Google Pay executives, announced that it has raised $50 million in a round led by B Capital Group and Falcon Edge Capital, LP, valuing the two-year-old startup at $315 million. Link here.
LATAM
Nubank revealed that its customers skew younger than those at established banks, per findings included in its newly disclosed US initial public offering (IPO) filing. Link here.
Also, Nubank and Sequoia Capital have partnered up to invest in Latin American startups. Latin America has been experiencing a boom in venture capital deals after it created several high-return startups. Link here.
AUSTRALIA
Financial app Douugh has sealed a Banking-as-a-Service arrangement with Railsbank to expand its footprint in Australia, followed by a commercial rollout to the UK, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Link here.
SME-focussed neobank Judo Bank hit the ASX on Monday morning in what is thought to be the first time that an ADI has arrived on the Australian stock exchange since Macquarie Bank hit in 1996. Link here.
Volt Bank has partnered with one of Australia's largest mortgage aggregators AFG to launch a personal finance app ‘Handl. by AFG’, and a white-label home loan product, ‘AFG Home Loans Sparc’, both powered by Volt’s BaaS platform. Link here.
Commonwealth Bank will allow its customers to hold and use bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via its 6.5 million-user banking app in a bid to appeal to young customers and keep pace with rivals such as Square and PayPal, which already allow users to trade and spend bitcoin. Link here.
Also, Commonwealth Bank has announced a new strategic partnership with gift card disrupter Karta to revolutionize the gifting experience for consumers and businesses. Link here.
AFRICA
Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payments company, has raised $150 million in a Series C extension round led by Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. Link here.
Last Monday the long-awaited Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency (eNaira) launched. One word that should resonate with Nigerians is “e-wallet” because it is the pivot on which all transactions of the digital currency revolve. Link here.
MIDDLE EAST
Edfundo, a youth-focused neobank, will be launching in the UAE early next year, according to a statement from the company. Link here.
Digital banking is becoming increasingly competitive in the UAE, with new players, new banking models, and an eager market. Studies indicate that 72% of UAE residents use digital banking services at least once a week, with nearly a fourth using these services at least once a day. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
Cognizant is pleased to welcome John Weisel to the company as Market Leader, Banking and Financial Services North America. Link here.
Sandile Shabalala, former CEO of digital bank TymeBank, has joined financial services group Sasfin as chief executive of business and commercial banking, effective January 2022. Link here.
Digital bank Zopa has appointed Graham Robinson as its new Chief Risk Officer. Graham joins Zopa as it completes its successful first year as a digital bank and sets its sights on further growth. Link here.
Cameron Meindl, Westpac's chief platform officer who has been overseeing the bank's move into the banking-as-a-services arena, has quit after 13 years with the Australian lender. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES:
Revolut is recruiting a technical lead to build a crypto exchange. According to a job ad posted on LinkedIn, the successful candidate "will be leading a technical team to architect and build Revolut Crypto exchange". Link here.