Saxo UK appoints Andrew Bresler as CEO
Weekly news up to Monday, 3rd of June 2024
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Saxo, the leader in online trading and investment, announces the appointment of Andrew Bresler as CEO of Saxo UK, effective June 3rd. He takes over from interim CEO Simon Camilleri.
Andrew brings a wealth of experience within the financial sector, having been a key member of Saxo's APAC leadership team and Deputy Head of Sales Trading in Singapore from 2016 to 2018.
📰 ARTICLE
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🔦 DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ CMA to investigate £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money by Nationwide.
⭐️ British FinTech Revolut Views Asia Pacific as Key for Expansion.
⭐️ PhonePe launches secured lending platform with banks, FinTech firms.
⭐️ N26 welcomes BaFin’s lift of its growth restriction CEO valentin Stalf.
🌎 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
UK 🇬🇧
Kroo bans customers from performing crypto transactions. The bank cited the increasing use of cryptocurrencies by fraudsters to scam individuals as the reason behind its decision.
UK digital bank Starling Bank could fetch a valuation of close to £10bn within the next few years as it rolls out its banking software globally for lucrative fees, according to one of its top investors.
Revolut Introduces Fiat-to-Crypto On-Ramp to MetaMask Wallets. Digital bank Revolut has reportedly integrated with self-custody crypto wallet MetaMask, allowing clients to replenish their holdings with crypto-asset purchases via their Revolut accounts.
Revolut Expands Mobile Wallets With Airtel, Orange Money and MTN, Allowing for Faster Transfers From Europe to Africa. Extends its international transfers feature Mobile Wallets with 14 new payment corridors, 9 new countries and 3 digital wallets.
Martin Gilbert, the chair of Revolut and founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, has said the British FinTech giant is mulling a move into the fund management industry. Speaking about the company’s expansion plans, Gilbert acknowledged that until the FinTech sorted out its UK banking license and gained the trust of customers, particularly of older people, growth was going to be “tricky”.
Swift and global banks launch AI pilots to tackle cross-border payments fraud. In a separate experiment, Swift has convened 10 leading financial institutions to test how it can use advanced AI technology to analyse anonymously-shared data from different sources.
The Bank of London announces a strategic partnership with payments specialists, allpay Limited, to simplify and expedite payments for everyone, whether they have a bank account or not, through easily manageable prepaid cards.
EUROPE 🇪🇺
Years of regulatory action against N26 for its poor anti-money laundering controls may have cost the business billions of euros, co-founder Valentin Stalf told Financial Times, as authorities finally remove a cap on its growth.
The Netherlands has a new "bank" that promises to distribute its excess profits among customers, the environment, and shareholders. Named GoDutch, the bank hopes to attract ten thousand startup entrepreneurs this year. The company, which uses the license of the French firm Swan, targets payment services for small entrepreneurs.
Copenhagen-based ZTLment secures €2.4 million to replace outdated banking infrastructures. With the fresh capital, ZTLment aims to eliminate the need for outdated banking infrastructures once and for all and make it easy to make programmable and peer-to-peer payments.
USA 🇺🇸
Mastercard just launched Crypto Credential, which allows you to send Bitcoin to any customer at an exchange with a simple username, instead of a wallet address.
Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay $197 million to settle a long-running class action lawsuit accusing them of keeping ATM fees artificially high. According to court documents, reported by Reuters, Visa has agreed to pay $104.6 million to settle and Mastercard $92.8 million.
LATAM
Nu announces sending and receiving Cryptocurrencies directly through the platform. Now, customers can send and receive crypto assets directly from their wallets. The solution, which is being gradually rolled out, is available for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
Nu Launches Travel eSIM with Gigs. As I shared last month Nubank is making its foray into the mobile network sector with the introduction of an eSIM (embedded SIM) service designed for travelers.
Nu is launching a travel booking platform for its high-income Nubank Ultravioleta customers. “NuViagens” will be available to the customers over the next few months offering air and hotel bookings.
ASIA
FinTech app Revolut has announced Flexible Accounts, its first interest-bearing product in Singapore, offering customers up to 5.21% in annual percentage yield (APY) with no minimum sum. This interest is paid daily and available for withdrawal anytime, says Revolut on May 29.
Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank, SeABank and Visa further tightens their comprehensive cooperative partnership by a strategic cooperation agreement on developing digital payments.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Ualá Lays Off 9% of Staff Amid Regional Reorganization. The layoffs, impacting 140 employees, aim to enhance efficiency and product development, according to a company statement.
XYB names Derek Joyce as CEO. Joyce’s commercial strategic acumen and deep knowledge of the FinTech ecosystem will help to position XYB as the go-to provider for cloud-based modular banking.