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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Fresh from FinovateFall in New York, we’ve got a raft of fintech news to share and catch up on. Be sure to check Finovate’s Fintech Rundown all week long for the latest in industry news, announcements, and headlines.
This week’s edition of Finovate Globalhighlights recent fintech headlines from Ireland.
Dublin-based regtech Fenergo has inked a partnership with Caribbean-based PROVEN Bank. The financial institution will leverage Fenergo’s transaction monitoring solution to enhance and streamline its anti-money laundering (AML) compliance operations.
PROVEN Bank Deputy Chief Executive Officer Nikita Kissoon underscored increasing regulatory pressure on financial institutions as one of the reasons the bank sought the partnership with Fenergo. Kissoon praised the company’s “excellent reputation for expertise in both AML regulations and cutting-edge compliance technology,” and said that enhanced AML compliance “aligns with our commitment to combat financial crime and remain future-proofed against fast-evolving regulatory changes across our offshore locations.”
Fenergo’s technology will help boost operational efficiency for the Caribbean-based financial institution. PROVEN Bank will benefit from the automation of multiple manual AML processes, which will reduce the number of false positives and free up compliance resources to focus on more complex situations and higher-risk customers. The bank will begin deploying the technology at its Cayman Islands location and subsequently expand the solution to its offices in St. Lucia and its affiliate company, PROVEN Wealth, based in Jamaica.
The partnership is especially timely. The Cayman Islands, where PROVEN Bank is based, was only recently removed from the Financial Action Task force’s AML grey list and the European Union’s black list earlier this year.
Fenergo Chief Strategy Officer Stella Clarke pointed out that banks like PROVEN that operate in multiple jurisdictions often struggle to keep up with local regulations with regards to AML. “Our transaction monitoring solutions offers PROVEN Bank the flexibility to seamlessly adapt to fast-evolving regulatory environments, while empowering it to more effectively cross-sell services to existing customers based on rich data insights,” Clarke said.
Fenergo made its Finovate debut 12 years ago at FinovateEurope in London. The company has raised more than $760 million in funding, and includes TLG Capital and Bridgepoint among its investors. Fenergo’s partnership news comes at the same time that the firm announced that it had formed an alliance with Deloitte Ireland to help deliver Fenergo’s CLM solutions to financial institutions throughout EMEA.
The Bank of Ireland wants you!
If you are a technology specialist looking to drive fintech innovation in the Republic, that is.
The Bank of Ireland just announced that it is recruiting for 100 technology roles in a variety of digital projects, including fighting fraud and advanced data analytics. The Bank is specifically looking for talent with experience in data, delivery management, engineering, resilience and cybersecurity. Open banking, cloud computing, APIs, and AI are also among the areas of emphasis.
“We continue to invest in our talent, technology, and infrastructure to ensure customers have the very best banking services,” Bank of Ireland Group Chief Operating Officer Ciarán Coyle said, “We’re currently progressing a range of innovative digital projects across the Group and we want to recruit talented specialists who can enhance the banking experience for our customers.”
The bank’s search for tech talent comes as the institution has increased its investment in financial technology. After making more than 60 enhancements to its mobile banking app, including biometrics and fraud monitoring, the bank saw an 18% year-on-year increase in active digital users. The bank announced the largest single investment in ATMs in the last decade earlier this year, as well as an investment of €15 million on new fraud prevention technology.
“We are looking for the very best talent to join our technology team as we continue to deliver improvements for customers and colleagues across the organization,” Coyle said.
Ireland’s PTSB has extended its agreement with Worldpay, giving the bank’s customers access to an additional range of services from the company, including e-commerce and ePOS. PTSB will also gain access to Worldpay DCC, a dynamic currency conversion solution that allows cardholders to pay in the currency of their choice.
PTSB Head of Personal Banking at PTSB Jeff Harbourne said that the ability to offer “a best-in-class merchant services solution” was key to the bank’s “ambition of becoming Ireland’s best personal and business bank.” Harbourne added, “By partnering with Worldpay, we’re offering a competitive advanced payments solution to our existing and new customers that enables them to grow their businesses and accept payment across all channels.”
With more than 1.2 million customers, PTSB has a presence in 98 locations throughout Ireland. Founded in 1816, the financial institution rebranded from Permanent TSB last fall following its acquisition of a sizable portion of Ulster Bank, including the firm’s Retail, SME, and Asset Finance businesses.
A Finovate alum since 2015, WorldPay today is a major payments technology and solutions company that processes more than 40 billion transactions across 146 countries and 135 currencies. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and founded in 1971, WorldPay announced an extension of its strategic partnership with fellow Finovate alum ACI Worldwide in July, and inked a new partnership with another Finovate alum, American Express, in May.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Colombian payment orchestration platform Yuno teamed up with Medellin-based financial services app Nequi.
Mexico City-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitso partnered with blockchain company Coincover for its non-custodial disaster recovery service.
Peruvian investment and asset management arm of Credicorp, Credicorp Capital, went live with Temenos’Multifonds accounting and investor servicing solution.
Financial Times profiled Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao and one of the richest men in South Korea, who was recently arrested on stock manipulation charges.
Digital identity verification provider ADVANCE.AI signed an agreement with the Credit Information Corporation (CIC) to become the newest credit bureau in the Philippines. Read more about fintech in the Philippines in last week’s edition of Finovate Global.
Estonian payments and e-commerce solution provider Montonio introduced its new CEO Johan Nord.
Payments infrastructure company Kevin has been blocked from serving new clients by the Bank of Lithuania, which has also appointed a “temporary representative to oversee” the firm’s activities.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Singapore’s Prytek bought a controlling stake in Israeli fintech Tip Ranks, giving the company a valuation of $200 million.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global highlights recent fintech news from India.
A strategic partnership between financial software applications and marketplace company Finastra and Tech Mahindra, announced today, will help corporate banks accelerate their digital transformation journeys. Specifically, the partnership will make Tech Mahindra the exclusive global implementation partner for Finastra’s Cash Management platform. Tech Mahindra will also become the preferred partner for Finastra’s Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels solutions in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
“This is an important partnership that aligns closely with our commitment to helping our customers navigate today’s challenges and embrace much needed digitalization,” Finastra CEO Simon Paris said. “The broad portfolio of services and deep experience offered by Tech Mahindra are a valuable complement to our modern and open software. With this combination, we look forward to propelling the digital transformation of even more banks and financial institutions around the world.”
The partnership will enable the two companies to offer a variety of cross-functional solutions across digital advisory, system integration, integrated infrastructure, and cloud services. These solutions will help corporate and institutional banks streamline and digitalize their operations. Financial institutions will further benefit from faster time to value for customers courtesy of faster implementations and upgrades.
“This partnership brings together two global leaders in digital transformation and financial services applications to help corporate banks scale at speed,” said Tech Mahindra CEO and Managing Director Mohit Joshi. “We believe our joint efforts will redefine the way banks digitize to improve their profit margins.”
Founded in 1986, Tech Mahindra is an international IT services and consulting company, headquartered in Pune, India. Part of the Mahindra Group, Tech Mahindra has more than 147,000 employees in 90+ countries serving 1,100+ clients. The firm offers solutions and expertise in verticals ranging from banking, insurance, and telecommunications, to media, entertainment, and retail. The first Indian company to earn the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Terra Carta Seal, Tech Mahindra is publicly traded on India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) and has a market capitalization of $17.8 billion (₹1.5 trillion).
The product of a union between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra offers software and solutions for financial institutions across lending, payments, treasury and capital markets, as well as retail, digital, and commercial banking. The company’s technology for banks helps them develop their direct banking relationships and to grow through new channels such as Banking-as-a-Service and embedded finance. More than 8,000 institutions – including 45 of the world’s top 50 banks – rely on Finastra’s technology.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been making fintech, financial, and economic news of late. On the fintech side, the RBI has granted cross-border payment licenses to three fintechs: BillDesk, Amazon Pay, and Adyen. These licenses will enable these companies to operate as cross-border payment aggregators and, ultimately, to offer their customers payment services for both imports and exports.
The RBI has been actively encouraging many fintechs to secure payment aggregator licenses; more than 20 companies have been granted PA licenses to date. In many of these instances, the RBI has suggested that companies interested in cross-border payments in particular apply for these licenses. Another firm that recently secured its PA license for cross-border payments for import and export from the RBI is Cashfree Payments.
In order to secure PA licenses, fintechs must register under the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) in order to become authorized to process transactions. Fintechs must also maintain a minimum net worth of Rs 15 Cr ($1.8 million) during application, a sum that will increase to Rs 25 Cr ($2.9 million) after March 2026.
Speaking of payments, the RBI is now a part of Project Nexus. The first project from the payments sector of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the project seeks to connect the Faster Payment Systems of four Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand – and India. While India’s RBI has collaborated with a number of other countries via its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to support bilateral payments, RBI’s participation in Project Nexus is the first time the bank has officially joined a multilateral project of this scope.
Additional countries are expected to be added over time. The project will help small and medium-sized businesses in India make faster, less expensive, and more reliable cross-border payments. To this end, the project will also make it easier for Indian banks to offer cross-border payment services to a broader range of countries. Speed and greater transparency are also among the benefits highlighted by observers.
Are you a fan of CBDCs? This week, the RBI reported that its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot has five million users and 420,000 participating merchants as of June 30. According to Reuters, transactions in the digital rupee are running at a pace of 100,000 a day, significantly below lofty expectations and hopes of one million transactions a day by 2023. It has also been pointed out that the digital rupee may suffer from competition with the country’s popular faster payments system, UPI.
Nevertheless, the digital rupee may be getting a bit of a boost courtesy of cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, which launched digital rupee payments on its platform this week. According to Cointelegraph, the digital rupee will be available as a wallet-based payment option, along with the exchange’s payment options in rupees via bank transfer, third-parties such as Paytm, and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
“By incorporating the eRupee payment, Bybit aims to elevate the payment experience for INR (Indian rupee) users, fostering trust and reliability in every transaction,” said Bybit sales and marketing director Joan Han. “Furthermore, this initiative is expected to attract a wider pool of merchants to the platform, driving business growth and expanding the reach of Bybit’s services within the market.”
Founded in 2018, Bybit is the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume in the world, with more than 37 million users.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Faye, an insurtech startup based in Israel, raised $31 million in Series B funding.
Egyptian B2B platform Cartona secured $8.1 million in a Series A extension round led by Algebra Ventures.
Israel-based financial crime detection company ThetaRayacquired screening company Screena.
Central and Southern Asia
Bangladesh-based fintech Nagad teamed up with Huawei Technologies.
The Reserve Bank of India approved cross-border payment licenses for BillDesk, Amazon Pay, and Adyen.
Texas-based migration fintech Vesti announced an expansion to Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Caribbean-based PROVEN Bank partnered with Ireland’s Fenergo to enhance its transaction monitoring and AML operations.
Mexican fintech platform for the underbanked and microbusinesses Aviva raised $5.5 million in funding.
Rippleteamed up with the National Federation of Associations of Central Bank Servers (Fenasbac) to promote fintech innovation in Brazil.
Asia-Pacific
ADVANCE.AI launched its KYB business intelligence service to enhance its operations in Singapore and Malaysia.
The summer fintech news slowdown is coming soon, but it hasn’t taken hold yet. Fintech news picked up last week, with multiple funding rounds and product announcements. Stay tuned to read this week’s news as we post updates and evolutions.
Embedded finance
Cross-border payments platform PingPongunveils its embedded lending solution.
Will the new month bring new challenges in fintech? Or will the news cycle take a much-needed vacation as summer approaches? Stay tuned to this week’s news for updates and evolutions throughout the week.
Pinnacle Bankpartners with CorServ to implement a modern credit card program for commercial, business, and consumer customers.
Insurtech
Scott Credit Union selectsBUNDLE by Insuritas to launch its insurance agency.
Investment and wealth management
Brokerage-as-a-Service innovator DriveWealthforges new partnership with Turkish fintech Papara.
Lending
PlaidunveilsConsumer Report, a new solution that brings businesses real-time cash flow data along with credit risk insights through Plaid Check, its consumer reporting agency.
Irish regtech Fenergo has agreed to be acquired by a pair of private equity firms, Astorg of Paris and Bridgepoint of London. The deal, which involved selling a majority take worth $600 million, values Fenergo at $1.1 billion (€900m), and will give the company additional capacity to “make strategic acquisitions and stay ahead of the competition.”
“We are delighted that Astorg and Bridgepoint have chosen to invest in our company, providing us with the financial strength required to pursue our ambitious high-growth strategy,” Fenergo founder and CEO Marc Murphy said. “Both Astorg and Bridgepoint have enormous experience and credibility in our sector, something I am keen to leverage over the coming years. Ultimately, we only exist to serve the needs of our customers. We are looking forward to partnering with them in the next phase of our development.”
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Dublin, Fenergo made its Finovate debut three years later, demonstrating its innovative client onboarding and account opening management solution. Since then, Fenergo has established itself as a major player in the space, partnering with 32 of the world’s top 50 financial institutions, as well as technology companies like IBM, PwC, and Luxoft. The company says its technology has provided clients with 82% reduction in onboarding times, 34% savings in audit costs, and 7x ROI in four years or less.
Fenergo began the year with the launch of its KYC & Onboarding for Salesforce solution, connecting its client lifecycle management (CLM) technology and regulatory intelligence with Salesforce’s CRM. The integration makes it easier for banks and other financial institutions to enhance the customer experience by providing a more seamless onboarding process.
“In today’s highly challenging business environment, there is no margin for error in delivering exceptional, digital, and joined-up customer experiences,” Murphy explained when the new offering was launched. “Automation is key so that customers can be onboarded without unnecessary manual intervention in the back-end processes. Salesforce is the launchpad for automated onboarding while Fenergo ensures compliance by design through API-powered multi-channel orchestration.”
Fenergo was awarded top honors in the Client Lifecycle Management Solution category at the Ninth Annual WealthBriefing European Awards this month, echoing the recognition the company received at the beginning of the year from Asian Private Banker. So far in 2021, Fenergo has forged partnerships with Anglo-Gulf Trade Bank and Mizuho Americas.
Revolut has added a new feature to its Revolut Junior app for youth aged seven to seventeen that will help parents teach the value of saving to their children. Goals enables both parents and child users to set and track financial savings objectives, and leverages the app’s other main features – Allowances and Tasks – to provide a more comprehensive financial wellness solution that works for kids and their parents.
Available to Revolut’s Premium and Metal customers, the new option can be used by parents to create financial savings goals and monitor their child’s progress as savings accrue. Kids can set their own savings goals as well, which can be supervised via the parent’s app. Goals can be funded directly by parents or by child users via their Allowances or by completing assigned tasks and chores.
“Goals, along with payments, allowances, and tasks, was one of our customers’ top requested and valued features,” Revolut Head of Premium Product Felix Jamestin said in a statement. “(We’re) excited to be building a product that is making saving fun and easy for both kids and parents.”
Revolut launched its Revolut Junior app earlier this year, and now boasts more than 200,000 children signed up for the program. Currently available in the EEA and the U.S., Revolut plans to offer the solution in Singapore, Japan, and Australia “in the near future.”
Alumni News Updates
LendingClub sheds P2P lending en route to bank rebirth: You would be forgiven for thinking the first rule of a company called “LendingClub” is to lend money. But LendingClub’s pivot away from its origins as an innovator in the P2P space 14 years ago continues as it announces that it will shut down its retail P2P platform as of the end of the year. The move comes more than a year after LendingClub shuttered its small business lending arm, and is widely understood to be a path-clearing effort en route to LendingClub incarnation as a bank.
Fenergo, IBM partner to bring AI to customer onboarding: A new integration between IBM Watson, the IBM Cloud, and Fenergo’s client lifestyle management technology will improve the efficiency of the onboarding process for financial institutions. IBM Customer Lifecycle Management with Fenergo combines Fenergo’s leadership in customer journey and digital transformation with IBM’s AI-enabled, AML and KYC solutions to provide better personalization, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance.
Eigen Technologies hires its first CFO: London-based NLP technology innovator Eigen Technologies has selected Spyros Karageorgis as its first Chief Financial Officer. Karageorgis comes to Eigen after tenures as CFO and COO at image recognition company Cortexica Vision Systems, and as CFO at SaaS e-commerce platform Venda. Karageorgis is one of two new members of Eigen’s C-suite: the company also announced new Chief Revenue Officer Tony Ehrens.
What do mid-tier and boutique banks need in order to enhance their ability to onboard new customers quickly and efficiently? What solutions are available to enable them to remain compliant with an ever-changing set of regulations while at the same time keeping up with even faster changes in customer expectations? And how has the global health pandemic made these challenges all the more complicated for financial institutions of all sizes?
We caught up with James Follette, Head of North American Sales and Global Head of Commercial, Business, and Retail Banking with Fenergo. A Finovate alum since 2012, the Dublin, Ireland-based company specializes digital transformation, customer journey, and client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions for banks and other financial institutions.
Finovate: Fenergo secured a major investment earlier this year – the largest in the company’s history, I believe. What was the significance of this fundraising in terms of helping Fenergo reach its goals for 2020 and beyond?
James Follette: Fenergo received $80 million in funding from DXC Technology and our client, ABN AMRO at a valuation of just under $1 billion, so it was of huge significance for the business. Both firms’ pedigrees, deep experience and industry knowledge made them the ideal investment partners for Fenergo. Apart from the continuous enhancement of our product, the funding will go towards recruitment and growth initiatives.
Finovate: The company just released a cloud-based version of its CLM solution, Fen-Xcelerate. What does the technology do? Who does it do it for? And why make the solution available now?
Follette: Fen-Xcelerate is a lower cost, cloud-based SaaS version of Fenergo’s client lifecycle and journey management (CLM) solution. It is tailored specifically to mid-tier, community and boutique commercial, business and retail banks seeking to accelerate digital transformation, so they can offer digital services and open accounts remotely.
Fenergo launched Fen-Xcelerate in response to a growing demand amongst mid-tier and boutique banks for a digitally enabled CLM solution that could be up and running in weeks. This cohort of banks, heavily reliant on manual processes for onboarding and compliance, were also looking for an off-the-shelf solution that was plugged into Customer Relationship Management (CRM), data and screening providers such as Salesforce, Microsoft, Refinitiv and RDC, at a price point more suited to their budgets. Fen-Xcelerate addresses these challenges, enabling banks to more readily step up and support businesses and the community in their hour of need.
Finovate: What is required on the bank’s part in terms of deployment and integration? How much work and how much time is involved?
Follette: With minimum customization, Fen-Xcelerate can be deployed in six to twelve weeks. It removes the need for banks to spend time and resources plugging into services such as Salesforce, RDC and World-Check One. As a result, banks can very quickly switch to a digital onboarding and client journey management model, while performing client due diligence (CDD) for KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance, digitally and seamlessly. Deployment will typically be carried out by Fenergo’s professional services team.
Finovate: The combination of rapid technological advancement, accelerating customer expectations, and ever-changing regulatory obligations can create a challenging environment for mid-tier business and retail banks. How does Fenergo, both specifically with Fen-Xcelerate and more generally, help these FIs successfully navigate this territory?
Follette: Many mid-tier commercial, business and retail banks lack the wholistic solution required to offer digital services and open accounts remotely, while being able to meet regulatory obligations and detect financial crime. With Fen-Xcelerate, mid-tier and boutique banks can benefit from Fenergo’s deep financial services heritage and best-in-class CRM, data, screening and identity and verification (ID&V) integrations in one solution. Validated by the industry, Fen-Xcelerate can be quickly deployed to digitalize account opening while delivering a seamless customer experience and regulatory compliance across 100+ jurisdictions and offering access to Fenergo’s community of global banks and regulators. By leveraging Fen-Xcelerate, the goal posts for digitalization within these banks could move from months to just weeks.
Finovate: This territory has become all the more complicated with the global public health crisis – and the economic consequences of fighting it. What has Fenergo done to help its customers and partners manage this challenge specifically?
Follette: Our community of clients, partners, regulatory and financial services experts means that we are very tuned in to the needs of the industry. We are continuously enhancing our solution according to the rapidly evolving technology and regulatory needs of financial institutions – and today is no different. Many of our clients have had to pivot to a remote account opening model overnight, this is why we brought forward the launch of Fen-Xcelerate. Banks need to be up and running with a client onboarding and journey management solution very quickly, so that they can provide support to their customers when they need it most.
Finovate: This year Fenergo has introduced its remote account opening solution, partnered with the likes of IBM, PwC, and Aviva, and of course, released Fen-Xcelerate. What can we expect to see from Fenergo in the second half of 2020?
Follette: We are experiencing very high demand and have signed 16 new clients since the beginning of the year. The second half of the year will be spent doubling down on supporting our clients in their digital transformation journeys, as they navigate uncertain territory.
Mambu, the cloud-based banking platform based in Germany, is partnering with U.K. business banking platform Tide to power the company’s revolving credit facilities and overdrafts for small businesses.
“There is a need to be flexible, agile, and customer-centric in the design of financial products,” Managing Director of Mambu EMEA Eelco-Jan Boonstra explained. “Legacy technology constraints can undermine even the best innovation strategy.”
The collaboration will enable Tide to overhaul its product suite in order to better serve customers in a number of locations around the world. This includes offering larger overdrafts, credit cards, and invoice financing, as well as enabling Tide members to lend to each other leveraging solutions managed by Mambu.
“When today’s customers evaluate financial institutions, they no longer compare different banks, they compare experiences,” Boonstra said. “We see this partnership approach as the future of banking technology.”
Regtech is all the rage in fintech these days. From helping businesses negotiate a wave of new regulation – from GDPR to PSD2 – to empowering firms to combat fraud, companies involved in developing technologies to ensure that businesses are getting and staying compliant are enjoying rare attention from the rest of the industry.
A recent review of top regtech startups in Europe in Fintech News was an example of the light increasingly shining on these companies and their vital role in supporting a fintech industry that a growing number of financial services customers – and other businesses – are relying on.
The review cited research from KPMG that anticipates regtech spending in 2022 climbing to $76 billion. Analysis from XAnge, a European VC firm, finds approximately 140 regtech startups in the E.U., divided fairly equally between compliance management, KYC/AML, and risk management solutions.
We were especially please to see that, of the ten regtech startups highlighted in the feature, four of the companies are Finovate alums. Apiax and NetGuardians, which most recently demoed at FinovateEurope and at FinovateAsia respectively, both hail from Switzerland. Apiax, recently profiled here on the Finovate blog, offers a comprehensive compliance solution that leverages APIs to integrate its compliance rules into digital processes. NetGuardians focuses on Big Data and uses it to help banks fight fraud and automate compliance.
Also earning recognition on the top European regtech list was Ireland’s Fenergo. The company, founded in 2009 and having made its Finovate debut back in 2012, specializes in client onboarding and account opening solutions for banks and financial services companies. Just this week, Fenergo announced that it was launching a new remote account opening solution in both the EMEA and APAC regions.
Half of the companies on Fintech News’ regtech roster are from the U.K. The Finovate alum among this group, Onfido, leverages automated machine learning, optical character recognition (OCR), and other technologies to provide identity verification to combat fraud. Demoing its technology at both FinovateEurope and FinovateFall in 2018, the company earlier this month announced a major $100 million fundraising that brought the company’s total capital to more than $182 million.
“We’ve naturally chosen the grow-fast path because we strongly feel that the time to solve the digital access problem is overdue, and urgently needs to be solved, for good,” Onfido CEO and co-founder Husayn Kassai said. “We didn’t fundraise to just get to the next milestone, we need the funding as we’re changing the world.”
The Buy Now Pay Later Revolution is sweeping the world. Check out Finovate Senior Research Analyst Julie Muhn’s coverage of Tencent’s $300 million investment in Australia-based Afterpay this week:
Tencent’s move comes shortly after its rival Ant Financial took a minority stake in Afterpay competitor Klarna. Afterpay has 3x the web traffic of Klarna and 1.5x the traffic of its other major competitor Affirm.
The buy-now-pay-later segment of fintech has been heating up this year, despite– or perhaps because of– the current economic and health crises.
Here is our weekly look at fintech around the world.
Asia-Pacific
V Capital, and advisory firm based in Malaysia, and U.S.-based Cross River Bank partner to apply for a digital banking license in the country.
Hong Kong-based Oriente, a fintech that provides digital infrastructure for financial services, secures $50 million in its still-open Series B round.
South Korean cryptocurrency startup Childly teams up with blockchain analysis company Chainalysis.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigerian fintech startup Okra, which facilitates the exchange of real-time financial between banks, customers, and apps, locks in $1 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by TLcom Capital.
Flutterwave, based in San Francisco, California and Lagos, Nigeria, introduces new portal for African e-commerce merchants.
Visa and Kenya’s Pesapal team up to support connected digital payments.
Central and Eastern Europe
Resistant AI, a cybersecurity startup based in the Czech Republic, raises $2.75 million in funding.
Azer Turk Bank (ATB), based in Azerbaijan, deploys technology from Lithuania’s Ashburn to manage EFTPOS networks.
Germany’s Celonis leverages its process mining platform to develop new AI-powered accounts payable solution.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Egypt’s Commercial International Bank acquires 51% stake in Kenya’s Mayfair Bank.
BenefitPay, Bahrain’s national electronic wallet, announces 1257% increase in remittance volume in March.
Tata Consultancy Services to launch a digital only bank in Israel.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX announces trading availability of two native tokens from Crypto.com, MCO and CRO, on its platform.
Amazon launches new credit service, AmazonPay Later, in India.
India-based ecommerce firm Paytm unveils contactless dining solution for restaurants in the coronavirus era.
Latin America and the Caribbean
paysafecard brings its payments platform, Paysafe, to Paraguay.
Latin Post looks at the use of fintech apps in Mexico.
Digital banking and client lifecycle management solutions provider Fenergobrought in $80 million in funding today, bringing its total raised to $155 million and boosting its valuation to $800 million.
The funds come from new investor ABN AMRO Ventures and existing investor DXC Technology, which have taken a 10% stake in Fenergo. “We are very happy to add Fenergo to our investment portfolio,” said Hugo Bongers, Director at ABN AMRO Ventures. “This investment will contribute to ABN AMRO’s strategic priority to build a future proof bank and fight financial crime. We are impressed with the management team and solution Fenergo offers. In addition, this gives us additional exposure to a group of tier one investors.”
Fenergo will use the funds to bolster its products and hinted that the money will also fuel future company and product acquisitions.
Founded in 2009, Fenergo aims to help financial institutions revamp their client onboarding process by creating a seamless user experience while maintaining regulatory compliance. Demand for the company’s modern onboarding tools can be seen in the growth of its bottom line; last year, Fenergo grew its revenue by 21%.
The Dublin-based company boasts 70 clients, including two of its investors, ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas. Also on the list are ANZ, PNC, Banc of California, National Australia Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, UBS Asset Management, Anglo Gulf Trading Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Tricor, Exos Financial and Mizuho.
Fenergoteams up with PwC to provide KYC compliance and client onboarding as managed services.
SumUpforges partnership with German fintech Penta which will offer the company’s card reader to its customers.
Personeticsjoins Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) Global Startups Program.
Temenosinks partnership with Egyptian National Post Organization.
Maybank Group, the fourth largest bank by assets in Southeast Asia, goes live with Avaloq’s banking suite.
Installment payment specialist Splititpartners with smart bed solution provider ReST.
SoFiscores New York BitLicense, which will permit the company to offer crytocurrency trading services in the state.
Jack Henry to provide a comprehensive technology upgrade, including deployment of its SilverLake core system, for Parkside Financial Bank & Trust.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Tinkhires Stripe’s former head of EMEA banking as its new Country Manager for the U.K. and Ireland.
DemystDatamakesEquifax data assets available on its marketplace in expansion of current partnership.
Fenergoearns recognition from Chartis Research in its RiskTech 100 2020 report as a category leader for Client Lifestyle Management and Know Your Customer.
RISQ Intelligent Software International and Compliywin finalist spots in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Global FinTech Hackcelerator.
Sensibillnamed a “Company to Watch” in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Awards.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
