Finovate Global

Settle Launches Mobile App in Croatia; Sr. Pago Partners with American Express

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • RISQ Teams Up with Aion Digital to Boost SME Lending in MENA.
  • ACI Worldwide teams up with Egyptian Banks Company, which will leverage ACI’s UP Retail Payments solution.
  • The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has begun issuing digital banking licenses.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Bangalore-based neobank for workers NiYO raises $35 million in new funding.
  • WebMoney Transfer goes live with its WMY wallet in Uzbekistan.
  • India’s Recko, a company that provides AI-powered digital transaction reconciliation, picks up $1 million in seed capital.
  • Swiss payments technology company BPC opens offices in Pakistan.
  • Nikkei Asian Review highlights Vymo and its entrance to the Japanese market.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Jumio to power digital identity for Brazil-based BTG Pactual.
  • Mexico’s Sr.Pago announces partnership with American Express.
  • Mastercard Brazil partners with Airfox and banQi to bring lower-cost banking options to Brazilian customers.

Asia-Pacific

  • Bank of Thailand implements SimCorp Dimension to manage its reserve management and monetary policy operations.
  • Vietnam’s central bank warns against fraud in the P2P lending market.
  • Regulators in the Philippines introduce new rules governing crowdfunding.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Temenos to power digital transformation for Rwanda’s Bank of Kigali. The company will also replace core and front office legacy systems for South African microfinancier Barko
  • Ghana to launch universal QR code payment method later this year.
  • Mobile payments startup OPay raises $50 million in funding in round led by Sequoia China, IDG Capital, and Source Code Capital.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Settle launches its mobile payments app in Croatia.
  • Czech-based fintech developer Turing Technology closes second round of funding.
  • Slovenia’s Telekom Slovenije introduces its mobile wallet.

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DriveWealth Democratizes Investing in Nigeria; Meniga Sets Up Shop in Singapore

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • VTB Factoring and Venture Engineering Lab introduces end-to-end multifactor digital supply chain finance platform, GetFinance, to Russian market.
  • Austrian telecom Hutchison Drei Austria teams up with Revolut to offer prepaid debit cards and banking services.
  • Coinspeaker profiles Slovakian cryptocurrency trading platform, StockPoint.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) announces four new fintech additions to its summer sandbox.
  • Morocco’s CIMR to use Daon to make sure its clients are still living.
  • Beirut, Lebanon-based ecommerce management platform Ecomz raises $4 million in Series A funding.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to build blockchain-based banking platform.
  • New partnership between ICICI Bank and IndoStar Capital Finance to bring financing options to help underserved Indian SMEs purchase commercial vehicles.
  • Fidor Solutions inks memorandum of understanding with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) to promote fintech innovation in Kazakhstan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Ingenico ePayments to provide advanced payment services to online Latin American marketplace Linio Colombia.
  • Jamaican wealth manager Proven Wealth to deploy core banking system from ERI.
  • BNAmericas takes a look at the emerging fintech scene in Costa Rica.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japanese payment app Kyash raises $14 million in Series B round led by Goodwater Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
  • WeInvest sets up shop in Thailand.
  • Singaporean cross-border payments company Instarem to pursue banking license.
  • Meniga opens new office in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • DriveWealth to help democratize investing in Nigeria.
  • Ventureburn features eight Kenyan fintech startups “to keep an eye on.”
  • CNBC Africa presents a roundtable discussion on the future of fintech and blockchain technology in Nigeria.

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How Facebook’s Libra Looks from Latin America; Indian Neobank Raises $30 Million

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Capetown, South Africa-based digital lender Lulalend raises $6.5 million in Series A.
  • Techpoint Africa looks at how fintechs are “democratizing investment opportunities” for Nigerians across the income spectrum.
  • The Catalyst Fund announces that three Africa-based fintechs – Turaco, Chipper Cash, and Salutat – will join its accelerator program.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Estonia’s Tallinn Business Bank (TBB) partners with Icefire and Token to deliver PSD2 compliance.
  • Cointelegraph profiles Warsaw, Poland’s Alior Bank leverages Ethereum blockchain to authenticate client documents.
  • Polish Netflix subscribers will soon be able to pay for their viewing via the country’s Blik payment system.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Bahrain’s Bank ABC partners with Jumio, making it the first bank in the MENA region to offer biometric-based, digital KYC.
  • Egypt’s Banque du Caire to deploy omni-channel banking technology from Temenos.
  • Wamda interviews Elie Nasr founder of Lebanese fintech startup FOO.

Central and Southern Asia

  • The Bank of Mongolia will implement Intellect Design Arena’s Quantum Central Banking Solution as part of its digital transformation.
  • Indian SME-based neobank Open raises $30 million in Series B funding.
  • India’s Wizely introduces a new mobile savings account.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Contxto looks at the current fintech landscape of Mexico.
  • How will Facebook’s Libra project impact Latin America?
  • BBVA announces major changes to mortgage portfolio, including a rate reduction.

Asia-Pacific

  • U.K. regtech firm ClauseMatch teams up with Singapore-based consultancy Ingenia, the company’s first client in the country.
  • Axinan to work with PT Sompo Insurance to provide on-demand insurance options to Indonesian millennials.
  • The Monetary Authority of Singapore to issue as many as five new digital bank licenses.

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CallVU Boosts Mobile Banking in Romania; Fintech Adoption in Colombia Surges

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia-Pacific

  • CIMB Niaga and Liquid Group forge strategic partnership to drive cross-border QR payments between Singapore and Indonesia.
  • Active.Ai, developers of a conversational AI platform for financial services companies, raises $3 million in Series A funding.
  • Dianrong, a Chinese P2P lender, completes its latest funding round. The amount raised was not disclosed.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian lender Kudimoney rebrands as Kuda; picks up banking license from the country’s central bank.
  • Virgin Money South Africa to launch zero monthly fee bank account and low-cost cross border payments via its app.
  • Sixteen companies, fully one-third, in the Inclusive Fintech 50 of early-stage startups working on solutions to advance financial inclusion, hail from sub-Saharan Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • CallVU teams up with Banca Transilvania to boost mobile banking.
  • Romanian consumer app Beez picks up more than $284,000 (€250,000) in new funding.
  • Russia’s Sberbank acquires stake in Islamic charity platform, PayZakat.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Egyptian fintech startup Paynas wins Visa’s FinTech pitch-off competition at the Seamless North Africa 2019 conference, taking home a prize of $50,000.
  • Libya’s Yaqeen Bank partners with Oracle FSS to deploy its core platform and digital banking experience.
  • What is the future of the bank branch in MENA? Khaleej Times takes a look.

Central and Southern Asia

  • National Bank of Pakistan partners with financial systems supplier Autosoft Dynamics to automate the branch’s operations in Bahrain.
  • India’s central bank to revisit regulations on the storage of payments data.
  • Could the success of Kenya’s M-Pesa show the way to higher fintech adoption in India?

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazil launches regulatory sandbox for fintech and blockchain-related projects.
  • Colombian consumers are adopting fintech solutions at a faster rate than consumers in any other Latin American country according to the latest survey from EY Global.
  • Celcoin, a Brazilizian fintech that enables users to their smartphone into a hub for reselling mobile phone recharges, earns a spot in the Inclusive 50 list.

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Fintechs Merge and Rebrand in Vietnam; Tinkoff Launches New Voice Assistant Oleg

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Cross-border digital payments company PPRO acquires Latin American payments provider allpago.
  • Executives from financial cooperatives in Latin America meet with Denver, Colorado-area credit union leaders as part of immersion program sponsored by the World Council of Credit Unions’ Pasantia Tecnica.
  • Brazilian government and bank and insurance regulators agree to establish a regulatory sandbox to support fintech and insurtech development.

Asia-Pacific

  • Vietnam-based payments firms Vimo Technology and Vietnam MPOS Technology merge to become NextPay.
  • Learn more about Vietnam’s fintech ecosystem in this Fintech Startup Vietnam Map.
  • Indonesian fintech provider Achiko announces plans for direct listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • African Development Bank launches £100 million fintech fund focused on growing financial inclusion.
  • Ventureburn takes a look at the Nigerian fintech startup scene.
  • African payment service provider (PSP), DPO Group, introduces Africa’s first B2B prepaid, virtual and physical payment card: the DumaCard.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • “Hi Oleg!” Russia’s Tinkoff launches new voice assistant for its banking app.
  • Fintech Futures features Poland’s Braintri in a discussion of how fintechs are leveraging real-time data to help banks improve the customer experience.
  • Are regulations in Hungary an obstacle to fintech innovation? BNE Intellinews considers the case of Hungarian payments company Barion.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • S&P Global Ratings gives Gulf Cooperation Council countries the edge over their neighbors in the Middle East and Africa when it comes to the fintech adoption rates.
  • PayU acquires Turkish fintech Iyzico for $165 million.
  • Citi launches its MENA 2019 Challenge.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian challenger bank, Payzello, goes live.
  • Tez, a digital, non-bank microfinance startup based in Pakistan, took home $100,000 in prize money after winning the FinTech Challenge at the inaugural Visa Everywhere Initiative for Women.
  • Inc42 looks at the how India’s current fintech boom is contributing to financial inclusion.

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ACI Invests in Indian Payments; Brazilian Fintech Picks Up $200M from Japan

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Southern Asia

  • ACI Worldwide invests in Mumbai, India-based payments innovator, Mindgate Solutions.
  • Pakistan’s Bank of Khyber to deploy new core banking system from Temenos.
  • Infosys earns recognition as a ‘leader’ in the IDC MarketSpace: Worldwide IT Service Management (ITSM) Implementation Services 2019 Vendor Assessment.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian fintech Creditas picks up $200 million investment from Japan’s Softbank, boosting the company’s valuation to $700 million.
  • Crowdfund Insider reveals the 3 Biggest Fintech Trends Shaping Latin America.
  • Amero-Isatek to open its first brick and mortar cryptocurrency exchange in Mexico’s Nuevo Leon, Monterrey.

Asia-Pacific

  • Splitit partners with EFTPay to bring installment payments to merchants in Hong Kong and Macau.
  • Vietnam’s MSB (Maritime Bank) picks SunTec for its customer centricity system.
  • Morocco-based BMCE Bank of Africa to leverage technology from Temenos to drive new corporate banking and trade finance operation in China.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Global Finance investigates the rise of Africa’s entrepreneurial class in the private banking industry.
  • Finextra looks at three reasons why fintech is driving change in Africa.
  • Standard Bank introduces new Mastercard-powered ditital trade solution, SimplyBlu, for SMEs in South Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Wallet, the PFM app from Prague-based fintech BudgetBakers, earns license from Czech National Bank to join the bank’s APIs.
  • New lending platform for “multi-credit” services, Omnicredit, goes live in Romania.
  • Global Finance interviews Alexey Krgulov, Acting Director of Digital Business Platform with Sberbank.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Turkey’s Isbank partners with Russian PSP Yandex.Checkout to support e-commerce between the two companies.
  • Disrupt Africa features MerQ, an Egyptian startup that leverages AI to promote financial literacy.
  • AMEinfo publishes its report on banking and fintech in the Middle East and Africa.

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Qatar Backs SoFi; Ripple Powers Cross-Border Payments in Brazil

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • SoFi announces $500 million investment led by Qatar.
  • Emirates NBD to leverage technology from Amazon Web Services to build an AI-enabled “bank of the future”.
  • New partnership between Turkey’s Isbank and Yandex.Checkout to support transactions in rubles for Russians shopping online in Turkey.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Strands strikes digital banking deal with India’s Tech Mahindra.
  • BankBazaar to offer financing options for customers of furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry.
  • Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, a premier think tank of the Indian government, sees a $31 billion Indian fintech market by 2020.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Brazilian exchange brokerage, Frente Corretora de Cambio, goes live with cross-border remittance solution powered by Ripple technology.
  • World Finance features Sao Paulo among its Top 5 Emerging Fintech Hubs.
  • IMFBlog looks at how fintech can lower remittance costs in Latin America.

Asia-Pacific

  • The central bank of Indonesia, Bank Indonesia, unveils its Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS), a new QR code system.
  • Mastercard and UOB partner to introduce the UOB Retail Business Metal Card designed for APAC SMEs.
  • B2B cross border payments company TransferMate picks up payment license in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Ghana’s ARB Apex Bank reups with Temenos.
  • Titan Trust Bank of Nigeria chooses Oracle FSS for its core and digital banking technology.
  • CNBCAfrica profiles South African payments and merchant acquiring solutions provider Crossfin.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuania fintech Paysera goes live in Romania.
  • Polish “credit of fintech-as-a-service” innovator Symmetrical.ai raises $1.5 million (€1.3m) in funding.
  • Billon Solutions and Microsoft announce partnership with the University of Warsaw to develop academic use cases for DLT technology.

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Brazil-Mexico Fintech Bromance Continues; Iran to Build Blockchain Network

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • FintechOS of Romania raises $1.23 million (€1.1 million) in post-seed funding.
  • Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Central Bank of Russia, talks about the state of Russian fintech.
  • Lithuania’s Evarest to launch a stock trading app in the second half of the year.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • B.R. Shetty’s BRS Ventures Investment backs Dubai-based NewBridge Fintech Solutions.
  • A partnership between Alipay and Turkish payment platform ininal will help Chinese shoppers transact with Turkish merchants.
  • Iran to develop national blockchain network based on IBM Hyperledger Fabric.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian B2B payments firm PayMate announces plans to expand to the Middle East
  • Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, bans Chinese digital wallet Alipay and WeChat Pay over foreign currency earnings concerns.
  • Myanmar’s Global Treasure Bank (GTB) implements Infosys Finacle’s core banking solution.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • The fintech relationship between Mexico and Brazil grows stronger as Startup Mexico opens its first overseas campus in Sao Paulo.
  • The Association of Fintech Companies of Chile (FinteChile) reports on the “four pillars” of Chilean fintech: Talent, Capital, Regulation, and Demand.
  • The Financial Times looks at Brazil’s Nubank and its efforts to grow in the Mexican market.

Asia-Pacific

  • Temenos partners with UBX to bring digital banking to underserved communities in the Philippines.
  • Singapore-based cross-border payments firm Instarem teams up with Thailand’s KBank.
  • Bank of Shanghai and OCBC deepen strategic partnership.
  • Boku integrates with digital payments solution Grab in order to expand payment options in Southeast Asia.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Equities.com features Flutterwave, the company that designed the payments platform for newly-public African e-commerce startup Jumia.
  • Nigeria’s OPay Mobile Money solution reaches 20,000 agents.
  • Safaricom teams up with Vodacom to acquire intellectual property rights to M-Pesa’s mobile financial service platform.

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Revolut Seeks Banking License in Russia; Mastercard Pledges Partnerships with Indian Fintechs

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • DisruptAfrica profiles TeamApt and its role as the “go to” fintech startup for Nigeria banks.
  • Nairobi, Kenya-based CarePay International raises $44.7 million (€40 million) for expansion into new markets.
  • expressPay goes live with Visa on mobile in Ghana.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Austrian fintech Bitpanda launches gold and silver trading on its platform.
  • Revolut announces plans to pursue banking license in Russia.
  • Nayax introduces its new cashless payment integration, the Bluecode payments solution, in Austria and Germany.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Visa teams up with Bahrain FinTech Bay to drive fintech innovation in the country.
  • Saudi Payments inks memorandum of understanding to introduce QR code-based national payment system in Saudi Arabia.
  • National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) says it is the first MENA-based bank to launch an open banking offering.

Central and Southern Asia

  • PayPal India unveils its OneTouch feature which, integrated with Google Smart Lock, enables users to register their Android device with PayPal and remain logged in for all subsequent PayPall purchases on that device.
  • Mastercard pledges partnerships with Indian fintechs via its India Investment Fund.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Descendants of the Medici banking family launch a digital bank, Medici Bank, in Puerto Rico.
  • Japan’s SoftBank invests $20 million in Mexican payments innovator Clip.
  • Scotiabank’s fintech accelerator, FactoryA, introduces its incoming cohort of startups from Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based YouTrip raises $25.5 million for its multi-currency payments app.
  • Hong Kong Monetary Authority issues another four virtual bank licenses.
  • South Korea unveils new regulations to empower robo-advisory services.

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Temenos in Tunisia; Fenergo Backs Blockchain-based KYC in Bahrain

By David Penn Posted on

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As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based financial supermarket GoBear scoops up $80 million in new funding.
  • Wipro builds prototype for central bank digital currency project in Thailand.
  • Chinese fintech Pintec Technology opens international headquarters in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Chipper Cash, an African cross-border payment startup, raiseded $2.4 million in funding – including a contribution from football Hall of Famer Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures.
  • Central Bank of Kenya and the Monetary Authority of Singapore to launch the first Afro-Asia Fintech Festival.
  • Remoney wins Innovation in Lending award at the Nigerian Fintech Awards.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Twisto closes $15.7 million capital raise.
  • Estonia tightens regulations on granting virtual currency licenses.
  • Partnership between Wirecard and Orange Money to bring digital payment services to Eastern Europe.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Fenergo supports Bahrain’s blockchain-based KYC.
  • ACI extends partnership with Vocalink into Saudi Arabia to facilitate the adoption of real-time payments through ACI’s UP Real-Time Payments solution.
  • Tunisian bank selects Temenos to drive digital transformation and future growth.

Central and Southern Asia

  • New Indian Express features digital piggy bank, Wizely.
  • Zawya looks at the potential for Islamic banking and finance in Uzbekistan.
  • YourStory profiles year-old fintech startup, Nira.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Mastercard partners with Edenred and northern Mexico state of Sonora to trial biometric cards.
  • Brazilian fintech Nubank goes live in Mexico.
  • Bolivia launches interoperable payment solution using QR codes.

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