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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Cloud banking platform Mambu has made its first acquisition, acquiring French fintech Numeral to enhance its payment capabilities and expand its market reach.
Numeral’s cloud-native platform will enable Mambu to offer end-to-end payment workflows, support multiple payment methods, and deliver real-time transaction capabilities to its clients.
With growing demand for embedded payments and real-time payment experiences, this acquisition will help Mambu better serve its clients.
Cloud banking platform Mambu has acquired French fintech Numeral this week in a deal that is expected to advance Mambu’s payment capabilities, helping it capture a wider audience. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“This acquisition marks a considered move to deliver a more modern, comprehensive payment offering which is now an integrated part of Mambu’s product portfolio,” said Mambu CEO Fernando Zandona. “Numeral’s advanced payments platform will enable us to address changing customer demands, strengthen existing product lines, and expand our market reach, while offering businesses advanced capabilities to meet an extensive range of needs.”
France-based Numeral offers a cloud-native, universal payment gateway to help fintechs and banks automate payment processing. The company’s API allows organizations to access payment schemes and connect to partner banks, including BNP Paribas, Barclays, HSBC, and ABN AMRO. Founded in 2021, Numeral has raised $13.8 million (€13 million). The company currently processes more than $10.6 billion (€10 billion) in payments annually.
“Numeral’s values, proven agility, and robust onboarding processes match perfectly with our growth mindset as a business,” Zandona added.
Mambu was founded in 2011 and emerged as one of the pioneering players to move banking software to the cloud. The company’s composable banking approach offers a plug-and-play approach to help organizations shift away from legacy core banking platforms and future proof their operations. Among Mambu’s recent partnerships are payments processor Kuady, Latvia-based INDEXO Bank, and travel payments company Outpayce. Today’s deal marks the Amsterdam-based company’s first acquisition.
By integrating Numeral’s payment platform with its own, Mambu will help its clients manage end-to-end payment workflows, support multiple payment methods, and provide real-time transaction capabilities. The company notes that its existing clients will be able to upgrade to a more sophisticated set of payments capabilities.
For Mambu, enhancing its payments capabilities is a strategic move that aligns with the growing demand for embedded payments. As businesses increasingly seek to integrate embedded payments into their offerings, the ability to manage seamless, real-time payment workflows is becoming a key competitive advantage.
At the same time, consumers are demanding faster, more transparent payment experiences, pushing financial institutions and fintechs to adopt more sophisticated technologies. By integrating Numeral’s advanced platform, Mambu not only strengthens its value proposition but also positions itself as a leader in the modern, scalable payments space.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global features news from the fintech industry in Nigeria.
Africa’s newest fintech unicorn raises $110 million
African fintech Moniepoint is the continent’s latest fintech unicorn. The firm, Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer, announced this week that it has raised $110 million in a funding round led by private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI). The round also featured participation from Google’s Africa Investment Fund, Verod Capital, and Lightrock. The infusion of capital boosts Moniepoint’s valuation above $1 billion, and is providing a positive light at a time when many fintechs in Africa are struggling to secure funding.
The funding takes Moniepoint’s total capital to more than $180 million.
Formerly known as TeamApt, the nine-year-old fintech will use the capital to accelerate the company’s growth across the continent. Moniepoint is building an all-in-one, seamlessly integrated platform for African businesses that features services including digital payments, banking, foreign exchange, credit, and business management tools. Speaking on behalf of DPI, Adefolarin Ogunsanya praised the company for its “combination of innovative technology, fast growth, and positive impact on the continent.”
CEO Tosin Eniolorunda co-founded the company in 2015. In the years since then, Moniepoint has grown into an all-in-one financial ecosystem that serves 10 million businesses and individuals. The company powers most of the point of sale transactions in Nigeria and, via its subsidiaries, processes $17 billion a month for its customers. Headquartered in London, Moniepoint maintains offices in Lagos, Nigeria; and Nairobi, Kenya, as well as in the U.S.
“This milestone validates the work we’ve put in for almost a decade,” the company noted in a post on its LinkedIn page. “And with this raise, we’ll be making financial happiness a reality for every African, everywhere. This is just Day One, and we’re excited for where this takes us.”
CB Insights also named Moniepoint to its 100 most promising startups roster for 2024. The Nigerian fintech is one of seven African startups to make this year’s list.
MTN Nigeria aims for higher quality mobile wallet users
There’s good news and bad news in the latest financial report from African telecommunications company MTN Nigeria. The bad news is that the company reported a significant after-tax loss of $312.7 million (₦514.9 billion), due largely to volatility in the currency market. MTN also noted that though active data users grew by more than 5% to 45.3 million, the company’s mobile money wallet business declined by more than 21%.
The good news? MTN’s fintech division grew revenues by 18%, with much of the gains coming from its mobile money service, MoMo. The decline in active mobile money wallets noted above was attributed in part to a shift in the company’s sales strategy to focus more on “high-quality wallet users” rather than just maximizing the number of users in general. MTN Nigeria also noted that its MoMo service has recently added functionality to support cross-border transactions.
“In the fintech business, we focused on executing our growth strategy, prioritizing increasing wallet quality, focusing on advanced services, and the MoMo PSB app to enhance the user experience and engagement,” MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola explained. “We have introduced cross-border remittances with 13 fellow African countries to boost adoption and monetization. Taking advantage of their interoperability, we are now leveraging the existing network of agents and merchants … in the industry to bring our services closer to our customers.”
PalmPay wins recognition for financial inclusion
Lagos, Nigeria-based fintech platform PalmPay was recognized as the “Most Outstanding Fintech Driving Financial Inclusion” at the 2024 BrandCom Awards held late last month. Sponsored by Brand Communicator, the award acknowledges the fintech’s work in bridging financial gaps and promoting financial inclusion in Nigeria.
“At PalmPay, we believe financial inclusion is the foundation for economic empowerment, and we’re dedicated to ensuring that every Nigerian has access to secure, user-friendly, and reliable financial services,” PalmPay Head of Marketing and Communications, Hanson Femi said.
Founded in 2019, PalmPay has more than 35 million users. The company connects more than one million businesses via its mobile money agent and merchant network, and provides services ranging from instant transfers and billpay to its new USSD feature. This feature enables customers to perform a variety of banking transactions without needing internet connectivity by dialing *861# on their mobile phones.
“We aim to bridge the gap in digital access, and the introduction of our USSD service aligns with that mission,” PalmPay Managing Director for Nigeria, Chika Nwosu, said when the service was launched in September.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
South Korean fintech unicorn, Viva Republica, which operates the mobile financial super app Toss, announced plans to debut in the U.S. market.
Singapore has established a “Global Finance & Technology Network” (GFTN) to support the region’s reputation as an international fintech hub.
Wise became the first non-bank operating in Japan to earn approval to join the country’s domestic payment network, Zegin.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Stanbic Bank Kenya, in partnership with Mastercard, has launched a pair of new credit cards designed to serve the institution’s affluent customers.
Nigeria-based fintech Moniepoint achieved unicorn status after raising $110 million in new funding.
Côte d’Ivoire-based investment platform Daba Finance won the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.
Central and Eastern Europe
Lithuanian identity verification and fraud prevention company iDenfy partnered with O2Factoring.
Erste Group teamed up with Neterium to help the firm bring its transaction screening solution to markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
Tech Times profiled Germany fintech billionaire and founder of Black Banx, Michael Gastauer.
Cloud banking platform Mambu has teamed up with payments service processor Kuady.
Mambu is powering Kuady’s digital wallet offering, which has just launched in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico.
Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Mambu made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia in 2013.
Courtesy of a new partnership with cloud banking platform Mambu, payments service processor Kuady has launched its digital wallet in Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. The launch comes less than nine months after the beginning of the partnership between the two companies, and sets the stage for further expansion in Latin America, as well as in Africa and Europe.
“We’re proud to support Kuady in its mission to enhance financial inclusion and transform how people manage their money,” Mambu Chief Revenue Officer Mark Geneste said. “As the adoption of digital wallets continues to grow globally, consumers are seeking smart alternatives to cash that provide flexible and ready-to-use spending, and we are here to support financial institutions and fintechs looking to expand and innovate in this space. We can offer the speed to market, future-proofing, and flexibility needed to stay ahead of the competition.”
Kuady’s new offering is powered by Mambu’s cloud banking platform and supported by Microsoft Azure. The company’s digital wallet will help consumers readily access their funds and manage their finances. Kuady’s wallet also empowers merchants to easily scale across borders, enabling instant payouts, chargeback protection, and more. Launched in July, the digital wallet arrives at a time when demand for digital wallets is surging. Mambu reported that the digital wallet market, which stood at 2.8 billion wallets and $5.5 trillion in spending globally in 2020, is expected to top $10 trillion in global spending by 2025. “One in every two people will choose to pay this way,” Mambu’s research into digital wallets revealed.
“With the tech foundation provided by Mambu, we’ve experienced incredible speed and flexibility allowing us to launch and expand our digital wallet across key Latin American markets in just under nine months,” Open Payment Technologies Ltd. Managing Director Mario Ricciardi said. Kuady is the registered business name of Open Payment Technologies. “As we look to enter more countries in Latin America and eventually expand across Africa and Europe,” Ricciardi added, “we’re excited about growing our business together with Mambu.”
Mambu made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore, and most recently demoed its technology for Finovate audiences at FinovateFall 2021 and again in partnership with Persistent Systems, at FinovateEurope 2022. In addition to its partnership with Kuady, the Berlin, Germany-based firm this month teamed up with INDEXO Bank. The financial institution, which recently secured a banking license from the European Central Bank, leveraged technology from Mambu to launch banking operations in Latvia.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global features news from the fintech scene in Hong Kong.
Worldline partners with BOCHK
International payment services company Worldline has forged a partnership with the Bank of China (Hong Kong), also known as BOCHK. The partnership makes the bank the first Hong Kong-based customer of Worldline’s open platform card solution, Paysuite Essential Edition. Previously called “Cardlite,” the solution will enable BOCHK to enhance the customer experience with new offerings, including its multi-currency Mastercard debit card.
“We are excited to partner with BOCHK, a prestigious bank in the region, to launch our new innovative Paysuite Essential Edition in Hong Kong,” Worldline’s Head of Financial Services Asia-Pacific, Noel Chow, said. “The partnership highlights the trust and confidence from leading financial institutions in our innovative open platform solutions. We believe the partnership paves the way for other banks to modernize their card systems and migrate from legacy systems to open systems.”
BOCHK’s partnership with Worldline reflects the trend in the payments industry toward open platform solutions. Already available in other markets, Worldline’s Paysuite Essential Edition offers issuing, acquiring, authorization, switching, and routing functionality. The technology supports Mastercard’s multi-currency card, and provides an infrastructure that accelerates time-to-market and deployment of new products and services.
Additionally, Worldline will provide a local support team with local expertise to assist BOCHK as it scales its operations in the future. This team will also help ensure the institution will meet Hong Kong banking industry compliance requirements.
“As open platform solutions are the future in digital payments, BOCHK is pleased to partner with Worldline, known for its comprehensive innovative fintech solution and unparalleled local support it offers, to provide our customers with the Mastercard multi-currency debit card powered by its Paysuite Essential Edition,” said Daniel Li, Chief Digital Officer of Personal Banking & Wealth Management, BOCHK. “This collaboration marks a significant step forward in our commitment to delivering seamless payment experiences to our valued customers and promote the wider use of digital payments.”
Worldline made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017. At the conference, the company demoed its Connected Piggy Bank, which helps parents provide financial education for their young children via a “playful” end-to-end savings solution. Today, Worldline processes more than 43 billion payment transactions a year, serves more than 14 million merchants, and is active in 170 countries. Founded in 1972, Worldline is headquartered in Bezons, France.
RD Technologies secures $7.8 million investment
RD Technologies, a Hong Kong-based financial platform that seeks to “bridge the worlds of Web2 and Web3,” has raised $7.8 million in Series A1 financing. Participating in the round were HongShan, Hivemind Capital, Aptos Labs, Hash Global, SNZ Capital, Solana Foundation, Anagram, and Upward Capital. The company will use the funds to further build out its financial platform and help encourage the development of the Web3 ecosystem in Hong Kong.
“The legacy payment industry is ripe to be disrupted using blockchain technology and stablecoins to provide more efficient and cheaper cross-border payment networks,” RD Technologies CEO Rita Liu said. “Hong Kong is leading the world in virtual asset regulation. We are confident that compliant and transparent stablecoins will invigorate the market and address the pain points of traditional payments and finance to bring in institutions and help Hong Kong become a global Web3 hub.”
Founded in 2020, RD Technologies offers two primary solutions via its subsidiaries: the RD Wallet and the HKDR stablecoin (HKDR). RD Wallet is a licensed Stored Value Facility that enables businesses around the world to open multi-currency fiat accounts via mobile device anywhere and at any time. The wallet supports eight currencies — HKD, CNY, USD, JPY, SGD, EUR, GBP, and AUD — that are commonly used in the region, offers fund transfer via TT and CHATS, and provides competitive FX rates with a 0% fee.
Issued by RD InnoTech Limited, the HKDR stablecoin is backed 1:1 by the Hong Kong dollar, with high-quality, liquid assets kept in segregated custody accounts with licensed financial institutions. In July, the firm was one of the first companies to be admitted to the stablecoin issuer sandbox by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
“Hivemind is thrilled to support RD Technologies as they seek to lead the future of stablecoins and cross-border payments,” Hivemind Partner and Head of Asia Stanley Huo said. “We believe regulated stablecoins are a critical growth area in crypto, offering real product-market fit, particularly as global demand for regulated stablecoins rises among enterprises and institutions.”
Checkout.com launches Octopus in Hong Kong
London-based Checkout.com is the first international payment services provider (PSP) to offerOctopus, the leading payment method in Hong Kong, as a payment option at checkout.
With 98% penetration in a region with 7.5 million residents, Octopus is Hong Kong’s first, “homegrown” fintech. Octopus was launched in 1997 as a contactless card for multimodal transportation. In the years since, the solution has grown into a popular and versatile payment system, used for retail and shopping as well as food and beverage transactions both in Hong Kong and abroad. The company introduced its mobile app in 2012 and now reports that there are more than 4.5 million Octopus digital wallets.
“At Octopus, we pride ourselves (on) making everyday life easier,” Octopus Head of Business Development and International Business Edwin Lai said. “This partnership with Checkout.com will enhance and broaden the payment experience not just for our customers, but also merchants within Hong Kong and beyond. We anticipate robust demand from global and local businesses eager to access Hong Kong’s consumers. We hope this collaboration will help support the growth of the city’s digital commerce.”
“Catering to local payment preferences is crucial for success in the Hong Kong market,” Checkout.com General Manager of APAC Brian Sze said. “Our strategic partnership with Octopus underscores Checkout.com’s commitment to investing in our Asia footprint, delivering localized payment solutions that empower merchants to thrive in this dynamic region.”
Founded in 2012, Checkout.com processes payments for thousands of companies around the world. The company’s international digital payments network supports more than 145 currencies, and processes billions of transactions a year. Checkout.com’s technology helps merchants increase acceptance rates, lower processing costs, fight fraud, and transform payments into a significant source of revenues. The company has raised $1.8 billion in funding, most recently closing a $1 billion Series D round in January 2022. Guillaume Pousaz is founder and CEO.
Hong Kong’s fintech celebration only weeks away
Some of the biggest fintech news in Hong Kong is likely less than three weeks away. Hong Kong Fintech Week begins on October 28 and extends through November 1. The event expects to host 30,000 participants and feature 800 speakers and 500 startups. Finovate participated in the city’s Fintech Week back in 2018 as part of FinovateAsia.
We’ll have more to say about fintech in Hong Kong in the wake of the city’s conference. For now, check out this interview with Lareina Wang, who was appointed chair of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) in August. In this interview, Wang — who is also executive director, head of digital and innovation at DBS Bank Hong Kong — talks about some of the major issues facing both the growth of the association as well as fintechs in Hong Kong.
“We have some of the world’s best universities in town, while, overall, the fintech industry is short of fintech talent,” Wang told FinanceAsia. “Advocating for policies and reaching collaborations might not appeal to them, but they are interested in being educated around fintech topics.”
Founded in 2017, the FTAHK has 300 corporate members.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
86400, a payments technology firm based in India and formerly known as Mobileware Technologies, raised $1.8 million (INR 15.6 crore).
The New South Wales (NSW) government teamed up with Indian incubator Afthonia Labs to help NSW fintech startups enter the Indian market.
An industry organization consisting of fintech lenders, Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), secured “self-regulatory organization” status from the Reserve Bank of India.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian paytech Barte raised $8 million in Series A funding in a round led by AlleyCorp.
Norway’s MeaWallet partnered with Peru-based neobank B89.
Grupo Bancolombia’s crypto platform, Wenia, launched its WeniaCard that lets users pay with cryptocurrency at any merchant that accepts Mastercard.
Asia-Pacific
Singapore-based fintech Surfin announced a $12.5 million Series A investment from Insignia Ventures Partners.
JCB enabled Google Pay for customers in Japan starting on September 6.
Checkout.com added Octopus as a payment method in Hong Kong.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mastercard and ACI Worldwideteamed up to bring real-time card payments to South Africa.
Network International went live with new payments services in Kenya.
Nigerian’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a crackdown on fraud in the country’s fintech industry.
Central and Eastern Europe
INDEXO Bank partnered withMambu as part of its launch in Latvia.
Austrian payment orchestration platform IXOPAY introduced new CTO Ronnie Thomson.
Croatia-based fintech Fonoa acquired PwC UK’s GITC product to faciliate management of partial tax exemptions.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Calcalist interviewed former CEO of Bank Leumi and current Managing Partner at Team8 Rakefet Russak-Aminoach on the current state of fintech in Israel.
The UAE announced that cryptocurrency transactions will be exempt from value-added tax (VAT) effective November 15.
American Express Middle East forged a partnership with Dubai-based payment gateway Telr.
Partnerships in digital banking, identity management, and payments lead off the fintech news headlines as July begins in earnest. Be sure to check back all week long for updates and fresh announcements on the latest industry happenings.
Payments infrastructure solution for software companies Payablisecures $20 million in Series A funding.
Instant payments solutions company Zimplerannounced a new technical partnership with Swedish payments app, Swish.
Lending
ClearScoresecures $4.4 million (£3.4 million) in funding from Fair4All Finance to develop debt consolidation loan technology for the financially vulnerable.
Ireland’s CreditLogicraises $3.8 million (EUR 3.5 million) from Riverside Acceleration Capital (RAC).
Crypto / DeFi / Web3
Crypto payments company Kulipapartners with cryptocurrency wallet provider Argent and Mastercard to launch its new crypto-based payment card.
MoonPay and Meshink an exclusive partnership to ease the process of depositing and transferring crypto from exchanges.
Swiss layer-1 blockchain Shardeumpartners with Web3 security services platform Immunefi to launch bug bounty program.
Fraud and identity management
Fraud prevention specialist GBGunveils its KYB solution, GBG Detected.
Germany’s IDnow unveils a pair of new e-signature solutions, InstantSign and eID eSign.
NatWest partners with digital identity identity solutions provider OneID.
iDenfy and UAE-based SIMPal forge strategic partnership to enhance security in the telecom industry.
Insurtech
AutoRekpartners with JP Morgan Payments to enhance premium processing for insurance companies.
Digital banking
U.K.-based digital bank and BaaS platform Griffinreceives B Corp certification.
First Federal Bank of Kansas turns to Jack Henry for its hosted core processing solution.
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.
Our final Finovate Global column of 2023 celebrates the conversations we’ve had this year with fintech innovators from around the world.
Stay tuned in 2024 for more interviews with some of the most interesting founders, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders in fintech and financial services.
“We developed BehaviorQuant because every financial decision is ultimately made by a person or a team. BehaviorQuant solves a core problem that underlies the entire investment industry: we don’t have systematic knowledge about the people and teams behind investment decisions. And that’s true for financial professionals and clients alike.” Dr. Thomas Oberlechner, founder and CEO of BehaviorQuant. Interview.
“Moniepoint solves the problem of fragmented, inaccessible, and low-quality financial services for businesses in emerging markets. It is a full-service business banking platform seeking to provide all the digital financial services a typical business needs.” Tosin Eniolorunda, founder and CEO of Moniepoint. Interview.
“Eight hundred million voice conversations are recorded daily in Europe and many more worldwide. A tiny 1% of these conversations are checked for quality control, employee training, and business results improvement. Ender Turing is a conversations intelligence and automation platform to close 99% of the conversation gap for business growth.” Olena Iosifova, CEO of Ender Turing. Interview.
“Capital raising is broken. Private companies spend months and even years in the fundraising process, learning how to raise capital and repeating the same mistakes, approaching the wrong investors and often spamming them with irrelevant investment opportunities.” Ulyana Shtybel, CEO of Quoroom. Interview.
“At Refine intelligence, our mission is to help banks regain that superpower of really knowing their customers’ life stories, so their financial crime teams can quickly clear AML or scam alerts triggered by legitimate customer activity. We work with Risk, Financial Crime, BSA and AML teams. Fraud teams look at our technology to help with scam operations.” Uri Rivner, co-founder and CEO of Refine Intelligence. Interview.
“It was an honor to be ranked by CB Insights in its Fintech 250 list and, as one of only seven African start-ups featured, it speaks to the pioneering approach we are introducing to the world – revolutionizing payments and creating a financial services ecosystem for Africa.”
“As sub-Saharan Africa gains recognition on the global stage, we are seeing innovative and pioneering products emerge and rise in popularity amongst consumers, diversifying the products they can choose from.” Tayo Oviosu, founder and CEO of Paga. Interview.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Asia-Pacific
Singaporean fiat-to-crypto payment gateway Alchemy Pay forged a partnership with Worldpay from FIS.
Indonesian P2P fintech JULO added insurance coverage with the launch of its JULO Cares solution.
Hungary’s OTP Bank partnered with Intellect Global Consumer banking (iGCB), the consumer banking arm of Indian banking technology copany Intelltect Design Arena.
This week’s edition of Finovate Global takes a look at recent fintech developments involving companies headquartered in France.
First up is news that European Buy Now, Pay Later firm Alma has partnered with BNP Paribas and new Finovate alum Numeral to automate payments.
“As part of our goal to create the most fluid and seamless experience for both merchants and customers, paying our 11,000 and growing merchants reliably and efficiently is critical,” Alma COO and co-founder Guillaume Desloges said. “Numeral enables us to scale with confidence and focus on our core business.”
Alma Finance and Strategy Senior Manager Simon Shohet explained that the integration of Numeral into both its systems as well as BNP Paribas’ systems, audit trails, and approval rules will enable automation of the process of managing “thousands of daily payments at scale.” Shohet added, “Thanks to Numeral, we can focus on the most critical incidents and rapidly solve merchant’s issues.”
Alma plans to eventually use Numeral’s platform to become a SEPA participant via BNP Paribas. This would enable Alma to issue IBANs in its own name, a strategic advantage for the firm.
Numeral made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in London earlier this year. At the conference, the Paris-based company showed how financial institutions can leverage Numeral’s platform to automatically send, receive, and reconcile SEPA payments. The platform also enables financial institutions to manage payment errors via SEPA R transactions. The company is on track to process €5B in 2023.
Also this week, we learned that Revolut will begin offering customer credit products in France at the end of the month. The company announced that consumer loans will be available to Revolut’s more than two million French users starting on May 30th.
Revolut currently offers lending products in other European markets. These markets include Ireland, Lithuania, and Romania. Mortgage products are not part of the current package. But Revolut VP of Growth Antoine Le Nel said that these products are in the pipeline.
Thanks to Revolut’s embrace of open banking, prospective borrowers will be able to apply for loans without having to deal with hardcopy paperwork. Instead, applicants will get virtual “instant feedback” on their loan requests. Loans come with zero opening fees and are available from as low as €1,000 to as high as €50,000. Terms range from three months to 84 months and interest rates range from a low of 3.9% to 21.12%.
France has earned a reputation for being friendly to the cryptocurrency industry. This week’s news of a partnership between Canada’s Advanced Payment Solutions (APS), Cyprus’ Armenotech, and France’s Tempo France is another modest testament to this.
Back in at the beginning of the year, Armenotech and payments company Tempo Finance teamed up to develop an ecosystem supported by the Stellar blockchain. This week, we learn that London-based Advanced Payment Solutions has joined the pact.
APS CEO Serik Igbayev highlighted the importance of giving businesses the ability to work with traditional and digital assets. And in a statement, Igbayev praised the partnership with Armenotech for playing a key role in making this happen. “Clients increasingly demonstrate a demand for services that would enable them to operate both traditional and digital assets, combining various payment methods,” Igbayev said. “We have successfully been using state-of-the-art Armenotech solutions to meet this demand.” These solutions included tools that facilitate the conversion between fiat and digital assets, as well as products for fraud protection, security, KYC, and ALM.
Tempo France is serving as the corporate payment operator for the alliance. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Paris, Tempo France provides a fast and secure bridge between cash and cryptocurrencies. The company offers online, offline, and digitally backed remittances to nearly 100 countries with more than 300 physical agent locations. Alla Zhedik is CEO.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Good news for fintech startups in developing markets! Quona Capital recently announced that it has closed its latest fintech fund, its third, at $332 million. The venture capital firm, which specializes in emerging markets, noted that the amount raised topped its target of $250 million. The new fund, Fund III, will be focused on companies that are developing technologies that expand access to financial services for consumers and businesses in regions ranging from Latin America and India to Southeast Asia, MENA, and Africa.
“Since our earliest days, Quona has been dedicated to expanding the frontiers of financial inclusion – investing with conviction in markets and technology-enabled models improving access and quality of financial services for the masses,” Quona co-founding managing partner Monica Brand Engel said in a statement. “Our prior fund performance, robust pipeline of inclusive fintechs, and growing LP interest in our offerings are ringing endorsements of our view on the prospects of impact-oriented venture investing in emerging markets.”
With aggregate capital of more than $745 million, Fund II is the firm’s third fund since Quona Capital was launched in 2015. Those contributing to the fund as investors include global asset managers, insurance companies, both investment and commercial banks, endowments, foundations, family offices, and more. And while many of the investors in Fund III have invested in Quona Capital funds previously, the new fund did receive capital from 20 new investors, as well.
According to Quona Capital, the startups in its portfolio have served nearly nine million small and medium-sized businesses and over 30 million retail customers. Quona Capital startups have raised nearly $4 billion in capital and generated more than $800 million in revenues. Among these firms are India-based consumer lending company ZestMoney, Southeast Asia-based fintech marketplace ula, and long-time international remittance firm and long-time Finovate alum Azimo – which was acquired by Papaya Global earlier this year.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian neobank ZikZuk acquired tax e-filing platform TaxSpanner.
National Bank of Pakistan turned to Finastra to enhance its trade finance operations.
Lentra, a fintech based in India, secured $60 million in Series B funding for its loans-as-a-service business for banks.
Latin America and the Caribbean
AstroPay introduced its Mastercard prepaid card in Brazil.
Mexico-based B2B payments company Mendel raised $60 million in new funding.
Brazil’s Agrolend, which provides credit to the country’s farmers, secured $27 million in Series B funding.
Asia-Pacific
Ant Group introduced its Buy Now, Pay later offering in Hong Kong.
Vietnam-based Sacombank partnered with Temenos to enhance digital banking.
Philippines-based neobank Tonik unveiled its all-digital lending products, Flex Loan and Big Loan.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigerian fintech Paga unveiled its Visa-branded card this week.
Pan-African paytech Cellulant secured a Payment Systems Operator license from the National Bank of Uganda
Samsung South Africa launched its digital wallet, Samsung Wallet.
Central and Eastern Europe
Polish fintech Ramp locked in $70 million in Series B funding to build payment rails for cryptocurrency investors.
Co-investment platform for European startups SeedBlink secured licensing from the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).
Genome, an Electronic Money Institution based in Lithuania, partnered with Entrust to simplify digital payments.
Middle East and Northern Africa
UAE-based Wio Bank went live with Mambu’s cloud-native banking platform.
Pyppl, a financial services platform based in the UAE, raised $20 million in Series B funding.
Saudi Arabia’s central bank presented its open banking framework.
One of the many fascinating conversations I enjoyed at FinovateEurope last week was my chat with Trulioo Chief Technology Officer Hal Lonas. Among the topics we discussed was the way evolving regulations were impacting the business of keeping financial services companies compliant with regard to KYC and AML requirements.
This week we learned that the European parliament is moving closer to embracing another measure to tighten rules with regard to financial services – in this case, cryptocurrency transactions. Members of two parliamentary committees this week approved new rules to ban anonymous cryptocurrency transactions as part of an overall European Union-wide anti-money laundering campaign.
The new regulations will require all transfers of cryptocurrencies, regardless of size, to include information on the source and the beneficiary of the assets involved. This information, which will be made available to regulators, would cover transactions from wallet addresses that are held by private users (“unhosted wallets”). The new requirements, however, would not apply to P2P transfers made without an intervening provider.
“Illicit flows in crypto assets move largely undetected across Europe and the world,” Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs co-rapporteur Ernest Urtasun explained. “(This) makes them an ideal instrument for ensuring anonymity.”
The new policy has its critics. Supporters such as Urtasun have pointed to the disclosures of the Panama and Pandora Papers as good reasons for bringing additional scrutiny to cryptocurrency transactions. But critics such as Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer with Coinbase, suggest that the new regulations are based on a false premise: that cryptocurrencies represent a significant vehicle for illegal activity.
“The truth is that digital assets are in generally a markedly inferior way for criminals to hide their illicit financial activity,” Grewal wrote in a blog post earlier this week. “That’s why, according to the best research available, by far the most popular way to hide illicit financial activity remains cash.”
By contrast, Grewal noted “digital assets and the immutable nature of their blockchain technology actually enhances the ability to detect and deter illicit activity.”
The proposed legislation will now be voted on by the full parliament and national ministers.
April is Financial Literacy Month. Be sure to check out our themed coverage of financial literacy both on the Finovate blog in general and here in Finovate Global in specific all month long.
To this end, we found news of the Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by the Abu Dhabi Global Market Academy (ADGMA) and the National University of Singapore’s Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF) to be especially noteworthy.
The goal of the pact is to help bring thought leadership to the fintech community and bolster the fintech ecosystem in Abu Dhabi “and beyond.” There are three main pillars to the agreement: research and publication, technology development, and knowledge dissemination – each of which contributes differently toward the goal of facilitating knowledge exchange across regions and encouraging research collaboration.
What’s interesting about this initiative is the way it supports financial literacy and education among professionals already in the field of financial services. “We, at AIDF, look forward to the close collaborations with ADGMA in research advancements, the education of skilled professionals, and nurturing of FinTech entrepreneurs,” Duan Jin-Chuan, Executive Director of the Asian Institute of Digital Finance at the National University of Singapore, said. “We see these activities as a vital component in pursing a better future for our countries.”
The ADGM Academy, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was established in 2018 to build expertise, financial education, and literacy in the region. The Academy is part of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial center, and features coursework areas including banking and finance, digital and fintech, and entrepreneurship, as well as national, personal, and professional development.
FinovateEurope ended just a few days ago. Of all our events, our London conference often provides the best showcase for international fintech innovation – especially from developing economies and parts of the world not always considered to be fintech hubs in spite of their economies.
Below is a quick run-down of companies in this category that demoed their latest solutions at FinovateEurope last month.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope on March 15 digitally and in London on March 22 and 23, 2022. Register today and save your spot.
Persistent Systems and Mambu will demo an intuitive solution that gives customers the ability to manage multiple financial accounts and enables seamless transfers to and from accounts using different currencies.
Features
Consolidated account balances from multiple accounts and currencies
Transfer of funds from one currency account to another
Transfer to third party accounts
Why it’s great
Customers are seeking digital wallets to hold and spend in different currencies. The Persistent solution and Mambu integration enables multi-currency wallets, quickly and globally.
Presenters
Rowhit Bhosale, Digital Banking Specialist at Persistent Systems Bhosale is a digital banking specialist with over 10 years experience working in the financial services sector, evangelizing and supporting transformative initiatives for the global enterprises. LinkedIn
Harjit Kang, Account Executive at Mambu Focusing on supporting financial organisations to break away from monolithic managed services and move towards a best of breed composable ecosystem. Having been an early joiner at Mambu, Kang has real life use cases of such journeys. LinkedIn
According to a report from Medici, nearly 168 million people in the MENA region (Middle East and Northern Africa) do not have a bank account. In this environment, opportunities for both traditional financial institutions and new entrants are numerous. In some instances, financial services companies have launched their own digital banking portals in order to reach out beyond their current customer bases. In other cases, these firms have teamed up with challenger banks and innovative fintechs to help bridge the gap between the banked and the unbanked.
One of the challenges to reaching more potential customers in the MENA region has been regulatory, which makes this week’s news from the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) all the more notable. The CBK issued a set of guidelines for digital banks as part of a campaign to improve financial stability, encourage innovation, and help the country respond to its economic needs.
In drawing up its guidelines, the CBK relied on a study of the regulatory approaches taken by 25 central banks and 40 digital bank business models. The CBK noted that there were three main models for digital banking: as a unit within a traditional bank, a partnership between a bank and a digitally-based institution in which the bank manages core banking operations while the partnering institution manages customer relations and other operations, and as a standalone digital bank.
“The guidelines come in five parts covering the definition of digital banks, their legal framework, and licensed activities, as well as phases and procedures for establishment of digital banks,” CBK Governor Dr. Mohammad Y. Al-Hashel said. The new guidelines pave the way for interested parties to apply from now until June 30th. Initial approvals, according to the CBK governor, will be made by the end of the year.
For more on the digital banking landscape in the Middle East, with a particular focus on neobanks, check out this overview from Medici.
Speaking of central banks, the head of Argentina’s central bank, Miguel Ángel Pesce, recently gave an interview with the Buenos Aires Times. The main focus of the conversation was a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund to deal with the country’s $44.5 billion debt to the organization. The agreement, which includes a pledge to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit as well as other measures, comes after a two-year negotiation process and still requires the approval of both Argentina’s congress as well as the IMF board of directors.
Yet it was Pesce’s separate conversation with Buenos Aires reporter Jorge Fontevecchia – published this week – that may be of greater interest to followers of international fintech. In that interview, Pesce explained some of the more controversial policies of Argentina’s central bank toward fintechs, including deposit insurance requirements for payment service companies. Pesce defended the practice as a way of “making more independent the assets of companies lending out the assets deposited in them” and of assuring that companies that serve as financial intermediaries are regulated as such. Pesce acknowledged that while this policy has engendered “some resentment in the short term,” it is necessary to ensure a “solid system” that banking services customers can rely upon.
In terms of innovation, Pesce spoke positively about the launch and adoption of interoperable QR codes, which were made mandatory in Argentina for all electronic invoices starting in late December 2020. He noted that interoperable QR codes could do to physical cash what electronic checks have done to paper checks (“a very important step in this direction”). And while he offered no timetable on the transition, “it’s going to end up happening,” Pesce insisted.
FinovateEurope 2022 is right around the corner. If you are an innovative fintech company with new technology to show, then there’s no better time than now and no better forum than FinovateEurope. To learn more about how to demo your latest innovation at FinovateEurope 2022 in London, March 22-23, visit our FinovateEurope hub today!
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
