MasterCard

Finovate Global Hong Kong: Open Platforms, Web3, and New Opportunities for Octopus

Finovate Global Hong Kong: Open Platforms, Web3, and New Opportunities for Octopus
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Finovate Global, Mambu, MasterCard, Worldline

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 offer Octopus, 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 Worldwide teamed 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 with Mambu 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.

Photo by Arnie Chou

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Mastercard Acquires Minna Technologies

Mastercard Acquires Minna Technologies
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Mergers & Acquisitions, Minna Technologies
  • Mastercard has agreed to acquire subscription management platform Minna Technologies. Terms were not disclosed.
  • Minna Technologies offers technology that enables users to manage their subscriptions from within their bank app or website, saving users millions of dollars in spending on unwanted subscriptions.
  • Minna Technologies made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2019. The company is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Terms were not disclosed. But Mastercard announced today that it has agreed to acquire Swedish subscription management platform Minna Technologies. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, will bring greater simplicity and clarity to the subscription process and help enhance the engagement between merchants and their customers.

“This is significant recognition of the strength, growth, and impact of Minna Technologies in powering the global subscription economy, partnering with top-tier banks, fintechs, and subscription businesses,” Minna Technologies CEO and Chair Amanda Mesler said. “We look forward to joining Mastercard’s world-class team and helping businesses to empower consumers with control, convenience, and flexibility in managing their subscriptions and recurring payments.”

Minna Technologies offers banks and other financial institutions a subscription management platform that enables users to take control over their subscriptions via an automatically generated overview of all the user’s recurring expenses. Individuals can use Minna to cancel unwanted subscriptions as well as identify and quickly switch to new utility service providers. Mastercard’s acquisition comes as the number of subscriptions globally has climbed to 6.8 billion, with analysts at Juniper Research expecting that number to climb to 9.3 billion by 2028.

That said, the experience of our subscription economy can be a mixed one for consumers. Changing, extending, or canceling a subscription is often much more difficult than it needs to be. Additionally, the proliferation of subscription-based services means that many people have trouble keeping track of what they subscribe to, and when those subscriptions will be renewed. In the U.S., for example, the average person has 4.5 subscriptions. Additionally, more than 85% of Americans say that they have at least one paid subscription that goes unused each month.

Minna provides a payment-scheme agnostic service that empowers subscribers to manage their subscriptions from within their banking apps and websites. Bringing this technology into Mastercard’s suite of offerings is yet another example of how some of the biggest companies in financial services are leveraging acquisitions to add new solutions – from account-to-account payment functionality to enhanced cybersecurity – to their product mix. To that point, just last week, we shared news that Mastercard rival Visa had agreed to acquire fraud prevention company (and Finovate alum) Featurespace.

Founded in 2014, Minna Technologies demoed its technology at FinovateEurope in 2019. Today, the Sweden-based company has connected with more than 22,000 subscription businesses, served more than 120 million retail bank and fintech users, and saved customers more than $1 billion in spending on unwanted subscriptions.

Photo by Shvets Anna

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global Canada: Embedded Finance, Open Banking, and Helping Newcomers Access Credit

Finovate Global Canada: Embedded Finance, Open Banking, and Helping Newcomers Access Credit
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Finovate Global, MasterCard, Revolut

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent developments in the fintech scene in Canada.

First up, we head over to Toronto, Ontario, where embedded payroll software company Nmbr has secured $5.6 million (CAD$7.6 million) in seed funding. The round featured investors Panache Ventures, Golden Ventures, Motivate Venture Capital, and Luge Capital. In a statement, the company indicated it will use the funding to fuel growth and accelerate product development. And while focused presently on the Canadian market, Nmbr believes the investment will enable the firm to explore expansion opportunities in other countries.

“We’re incredibly grateful for our investors’ support and their confidence in our mission to empower businesses across the country with embedded payroll solutions,” Nmbr Co-Founder and CEO Simon Bourgeois said. “With these integrated systems already gaining traction in the U.S., we’re excited to extend these proven strategies to Canada.”

Founded in 2023, Nmbr simplifies complex financial products like payroll. The company’s technology enables businesses to embed Canadian payroll within their offering in days or weeks, rather than in years as is often the case with traditional payroll systems. Companies partnering with Nmbr have added payroll alongside operations such as AP/AR automation, employee scheduling, e-commerce, employee benefits management, and more. In addition to its funding announcement, Nmbr also reported that RBCx, the technology and innovation arm of Royal Bank of Canada, will serve as the company’s banking partner.

Staying in Ontario, but traveling 300 or so miles east, takes us to Ottawa and the home of Salt Edge, an open banking solution provider for banks, lenders, and other fintechs. This week, the Canadian fintech announced that it is helping Multitude Bank enhance its loan repayment processes to enable instant loan repayments.

“Salt Edge’s solution stood out due to its flexibility, competitive pricing, extensive coverage, and readiness to adapt to Multitude’s specific needs,” Multitude Bank CBO and Deputy CEO Dario Azzopardi said. “These factors were pivotal in choosing Salt Edge as a partner in this initiative.”

A core subsidiary of the Multitude Group, Multitude Bank will leverage Salt Edge’s technology, specifically using open banking method Pay-by-Link to provide customers with timely notifications about upcoming installments. The bank will use Salt Edge’s Payment Initiation solution to enable its customers to make instant loan repayments instead of relying on traditional online banking methods. The new process reduces transaction costs and connects bank clients with more than 2,300 banks across Europe.

“Open banking offers flexibility, and we’re happy to assist Multitude in supporting its clients with a safe and faster payment solution powered by open banking,” Salt Edge VP of Sales Erica Virlan said.

Salt Edge’s partnership with Multitude Bank comes just days after Moldova-based Victoriabank announced it was teaming up with Salt Edge to help ensure compliance with impending national legislation that will transpose European 2nd Payment Services Directive (PSD2) into Moldovan law. Also this month, the Canadian company forged new partnerships with international financial services company Ebury and Moldova’s Comertbank.

Salt Edge made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2018 in London. The company offers an Open Banking Gateway that enables financial institutions to secure instant access to accounts in 5,000 banks across Europe, GCC, APAC, and the Americas for account information and payment initiation. Salt Edge also offers an Open Banking and Compliance Solution that helps banks and Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) become compliant with PSD2 and open banking requirements.

Canada has a well-deserved reputation as a welcoming country. As of 2023, with more than eight million immigrants earning permanent residence status in Canada, immigrants currently make up approximately a fifth of the country’s population.

With this in mind, it is heartening to read news that Scotiabank has expanded its partnership with Canadian cross-border credit bureau Nova Credit. The two entities will work together to help newcomers from countries including Australia, India, Kenya, Mexico, and Nigeria to leverage their credit history from their home country to help them access higher credit limits when applying online for financing in Canada.

“Canada relies heavily on the success of our immigrant population and the contributions they make to our economy,” Scotiabank SVP for Retail Customers, Tanya Eisener said. “In an increasingly digital world, a person’s history doesn’t have to start over when they move to a new country. Being able to access their foreign credit report through Nova Credit’s credit service allows us to get a better understanding of their credit risk and ultimately help them settle in Canada faster.”

The expanded partnership between Scotiabank and Nova Credit is designed to tackle the challenge of “credit invisibility” or the absence of a credit record. In Canada, based on data from 2015 through 2019, more than 25% of those considered “credit invisible” were immigrants. Further, more recent immigrants, those who had been in the country for less than two years, were nearly twice as likely to be credit invisible compared to native-born Canadians.

Scotiabank is a multinational banking and financial services company based in Toronto, Ontario. The bank offers a range of services including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. The institution has more than 90,000 employees and assets of more than $1.3 trillion as of April 2023.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Nova Credit is a consumer-permissioned credit bureau that specializes in helping businesses make informed decisions on thin-file, no-credit history, and new-to-country credit applicants. Founded in 2016, Nova Credit expanded to Canada in 2023 as part of its initial partnership with Scotiabank.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Austria’s Bitpanda announced a collaboration with Societe Generale-FORGE.
  • Turkey-based Fibabanka launched the country’s first Banking-as-a-Service platform this week.
  • BNP Paribas acquired HSBC’s German private banking unit, enhancing its wealth management operations.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • UAE-based investor Mubadala announced that it has taken a “substantial stake” in all-in-one finance app Revolut.
  • Payment solutions provider PayerMax partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB).
  • Network International teamed up with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) provider Tabby to support e-commerce merchants in the UAE.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Pakistan-based Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) company Qist Bazaar secured $3.2 million in Series A funding.
  • Ant International forged a strategic partnership with Himalayan Bank to increase Alipay+ acceptance in Nepal.
  • A partnership between Mastercard and ZOOD will bring virtual Buy Now, Pay Later cards for consumers in Uzbekistan. Read more about fintech in Uzbekistan in our Finovate Global interview with Oliver Hughes of TBC Uzbekistan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal teamed up with Asia-based mobile wallet ShopeePay.
  • Proclaiming itself the first digital bank dedicated to customers with disabilities, Brazil’s Parabank partnered with Dock to launch a new suite of credit and prepaid cards.
  • MercadoLibre’s fintech division, Mercado Pago, has applied for a banking license in Mexico.

Asia-Pacific

  • Payments innovator NETSTARS teamed up with ACI Worldwide to boost development of cashless payments in Japan.
  • Singapore-based Bybit introduced new Shariah-compliant cryptocurrency accounts for Muslim investors.
  • HSBC launched new financing plan for SMEs in Hong Kong.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Africa-focused investment firm Helios Investment Partners led a $100 million Series D funding round in Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and infrastructure API provider M2P Fintech.
  • Coming to America! African paytech Flutterwave has expanded its Send App remittance service to 49 states in the U.S. courtesy of a partnership with MainStreet Bank.
  • PayZeep, a Nigerian fintech startup, partnered with the Amalgamated Union of App-based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON) to bring new payment options to drivers.

Photo by ennvisionn

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Parlay Wins Spot in Mastercard Start Path Small Business Program

Parlay Wins Spot in Mastercard Start Path Small Business Program
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Parlay Protocol
  • Loan intelligence system company Parlay will join Mastercard’s Start Path Small Business program. Parlay is one of eight companies selected.
  • Parlay’s technology complements a bank’s or credit union’s loan origination system to streamline and enhance small business loan processing.
  • Parlay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2024 in May as part of our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program.

Parlay, which offers an AI-powered Loan Intelligence System (LIS) to help community banks and credit unions boost small business loan volume, is one of eight startups selected to participate in Mastercard’s Start Path Small Business program.

The incoming cohort consists of startups that have shown “dedication to democratizing financial tools and providing cutting-edge services for SMEs,” Mastercard noted in a statement. The statement underscored specific functions – such as spend management, onboarding, risk monitoring, loan approvals, and embedded finance solutions – that innovative fintech startups are helping digitize for small businesses.

Joining Parlay in the upcoming cohort of the program are Ballerine, Boost, CredibleX, Digi, Merge, Prime Dash, and RedOwl. The four-month program will give these startups the opportunity to leverage Mastercard’s network and subject matter expertise to forge product partnerships that help small businesses digitize their operations.

Parlay’s embedded fintech software helps lenders achieve a 64% increase in approved loans and an 87% reduction in manual underwriting workload. A white-label solution that complements loan origination systems, Parlay’s technology enables lenders to generate high-quality loan packets and maximize the eligible applicant pool. The company’s LIS also offers readiness insights to help businesses improve their creditworthiness; pre-screening to identify prime, marginal, and ineligible candidate pools; and pipeline analytics to enable loan officers to monitor applicant progress and underwriting eligibility.

“After a decade of work in economic development, our team realized that 77% of small businesses still struggle to access affordable capital and lack the insights need to navigate the lending process,” Parlay founder and CEO Alex McLeod said in a statement announcing the final eight startups invited to join the program. “We envision a future where community lenders, powered by Parlay’s AI-driven loan intelligence system, can get millions more small businesses approved for loans using unique, personalized insights that help both lenders and borrowers.”

Parlay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in May as part of our Sustainability & Inclusion Scholarship program. The program is designed to spotlight underrepresented founders, as well as startups that are tackling issues such as climate change, diversity, and financial inclusion. Scholarships provide startups with complimentary demo participation, as well as the ability to network with our 2,000+ senior-level fintech attendees, fellow demoing companies, and more.

Past scholarship winners include Best of Show winning companies like Debbie, which won Best of Show at FinovateFall 2023, as well as Kobalt Labs and Remynt, both of which won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2024.

Founded in 2022, Parlay is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.

Photo by Tim Mossholder

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Daily news, Finastra, Fintech Rundown, Finzly, Klarna, MasterCard, Salt Edge, Trustly, Tyro, Weekly Alumni News, Weekly News

As 2024 works its way toward halftime, we’re seeing an uptick in partnership and collaboration activity from crypto to regtech. Check back all week long for updates on the latest in fintech news.

Payments

Payment orchestration platform Gr4vy extends its partnership with open banking payments company Trustly.

Tyro Payments teams up with StoreConnect to enable integrated payments for a Salesforce-based POS solution.

Intelligent verified payouts solutions provider Verituity closes $18.8 million funding round.

MENA and Africa-based consumer fintech Pyypl to issue prepaid Visa cards from its UAE headquarters as part of a new partnership with Visa.

Clair partners with Check to seamlessly offer on-demand pay. 

Tribe Payments appoints Andrew Hocking as CEO.

Frost Bank taps Finzly to provide FedNow and RTP instant payments to its business clients and consumers.

Digital banking

Mahalo Banking introduces its latest partner: Industrial Credit Union.

Bluevine teams up with Mastercard to launch its new Small Business Cashback Mastercard.

Bank Midwest partners with Finastra to launch its new digital bank, OnePlace.bank.

Tuum expands its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver its next generation core banking platform through the AWS Marketplace.

Quail Creek Bank chooses Jack Henry to stay competitive and enhance customer experience.

MoneyLion appoints Jon Kaplan as Chief Revenue Officer.

Avidia Bank partners with Q2 and Personetics to modernize its digital banking experience and strengthen engagement.

Eltropy announces key enhancements to unified conversations platform.

Fraud and Identity management

Risk-decisioning software provider Provenir launches onboarding fraud solution.

Email address intelligence firm AtData forges strategic partnership with unified identity platform Dodgeball.

DataVisor enhances multi-tenancy capabilities for scalable, secure, and flexible fraud and AML solutions.

E-Commerce

Klarna divests its Klarna Checkout (KCO) division for $520 million.

Regtech

E-document management platform A-Cube API announces collaboration with Salt Edge to facilitate compliant document digitization.

DeFi

Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform 1inch partners with Web3 security provider Blockaid.

Embedded finance

Cotribute, an embedded fintech platform serving credit unions, partners with APCU and Center Parc Credit Union to launch an automated digital account opening solution.

Embedded finance platform for technology purchases Gynger raises $20 million in a Series A round led by PayPal Ventures.

Banking-as-a-Service

Payments and financial solutions provider Finzly partners with Frost Bank to bring FedNow and RTP Instant Payments to business and retail customers.

Egyptian Banking-as-a-Service startup Connect Money secures $8 million.

Lending

USMI names Enact MI President and CEO Rohit Gupta as Chair of the Board.

Conotoxia makes loan applications and processing available in its mobile app.

Small business finance

Airwallex integrates with Intuit QuickBooks to provide seamless multicurrency reporting.

Photo by Nubia Navarro (nubikini)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Mastercard and Thought Machine Advance Their Partnership

Mastercard and Thought Machine Advance Their Partnership
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Thought Machine
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-mikhail-nilov-6969678-1-scaled.jpg
  • Thought Machine has extended its relationship with Mastercard.
  • The two are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions.
  • The two first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program.

Core banking platform Thought Machine announced today it has extended its relationship with Mastercard this week.

In this latest venture, the two companies are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions. Mastercard is integrating its network and digital solutions with Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking platform to help banks transition from their legacy core banking and payment technologies to cloud-native ones. Ultimately, the two hope the move will increase their efficiency, reduce costs, and create more integrated, personalized, and customer-centric experiences.

“As we expand our partnership with Mastercard, we plan to leverage their global presence and payment expertise to deliver our core banking and payment platforms to banks worldwide,” said Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor. “We are excited to simplify and enhance the modernization experience for complex banks worldwide and make it even easier for them to deliver sophisticated customer experiences.”

Today’s partnership also focuses on pay-now solutions. Specifically, the two will help financial institutions digitize debit cards linked to current accounts.

“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with Thought Machine, and they’re now our first strategic, end-to-end partner in the core banking space,” said Mastercard Europe President Mark Barnett. “We’re providing leading banks and financial institutions with a comprehensive core banking and card issuing solution that meets tomorrow’s payment needs, and we look forward to scaling our joint capabilities.”

Mastercard and Thought Machine first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program. In 2022, the two teamed up to develop Vault Payments, an issuer processing solution that leverages Mastercard’s cloud technology. Vault Payments supports various card and non-card use cases, tapping Mastercard’s extensive payment network with Thought Machine’s banking technology.

U.K.-based Thought Machine has raised $563 million in funding since it was founded in 2014. The company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. Among Thought Machine’s clients are Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Curve.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BBVA, Daily news, DriveWealth, Finastra, Fintech Rundown, Glia, MasterCard, nCino, Signicat

A holiday-filled week that began with Father’s Day, continues through Juneteenth, and brings us the first official day of summer.

Don’t be surprised if this week yields a lower than usual fintech news flow as the temperatures rise and the days stretch long. We’ll keep you posted if you decide to step outside and enjoy the season.

Payments

Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal forged a partnership with Lithuanian gaming marketplace Eneba.

eBay adds Venmo as a new payment option.

Qatar-based Doha Bank and Mastercard enter a long-term strategic partnership.

Digital payments platform CleverCards raises $8.5 million (€8 million).

Shift4 acquires a majority stake in Vectron Systems, one of the largest European suppliers of point-of-sale (POS) systems to the restaurant and hospitality verticals.

Cryptocurrency and DeFi

Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit unveils support for Apple Pay on its Bybit Card.

Dennis Winter becomes Chief Technology Officer of Boerse Stuttgart Digital.

Velmie and Bitlocus partner to bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi.

E-commerce

E-commerce accounting platform Finaloop raises $35 million in Series A funding.

Digital banking

Spring Labs launched its AI copilot for fintechs, Raia.

Glia brings unified interaction capabilities to the mobile version of NCR Yoyix’s mobile banking app.

nCino unveils its new AI banking tool, Banking Advisor.

BBVA plans to launch a consumer digital bank in Germany according to a report in Bloomberg.

Personetics recognized by Celent as a Global Leader in Personal Financial Engagement (PFE) for Retail Banking.

3Rivers Federal Credit Union taps MeridianLink to enhance the member experience by offering digital lending and account opening.

Apiture launches Data Portal to enable community financial institutions to provide a personalized banking experience.

Lending

Real-time lending and payments solution provider Momnt introduces new CEO Chris Bracken.

Taktile and Ocrolus partner to unlock real-time underwriting for small business lenders.

Nova Credit partners with Royal Bank of Canada to help newcomers to Canada leverage their international credit history in Canada. 

Gynger secures $20 million in Series A funding to revolutionize corporate technology purchasing.

Investing

Brokerage-as-a-Service platform DriveWealth introduces additions to its senior leadership team.

Investment data management firm Finbourne raised $69.8 million (£55 million) in Series B funding.

French wealth management and financial advisory firm Ramify secures $11.8 million (€11 million) in Series A funding.

Identity and fraud management

Digital identity and identity fraud prevention solutions provider Signicat launches Face Authentication on its flagship MobileID product.

Fideo launches to fight fraud using real-time intelligence.

Capital.com partners with Trulioo to deliver customer onboarding.

Compliance

Sumsub and Finastra partner to strengthen banking industry compliance.

Photo by Jonathan Petersson

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Trulioo Taps Into Mastercard’s Identity Solutions

Trulioo Taps Into Mastercard’s Identity Solutions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, Trulioo
  • Trulioo and Mastercard have partnered to help clients streamline onboarding while combatting fraud.
  • Trulioo will leverage Mastercard’s identity solutions to gain insight into identity and risk scores.
  • Mastercard will tap Trulioo’s global business identity verification services to enhance its Onboard Risk Check product by adding a layer of assurance to merchant and consumer onboarding solutions.

Global identity platform Trulioo announced today it has teamed up with Mastercard to help merchants streamline digital onboarding while helping them combat fraud.

Under the agreement, Trulioo will leverage Mastercard’s identity solutions to power two of its products– Person Match and Risk Intelligence. This will offer Trulioo insights into identity and risk scores through a customizable, intuitive dashboard, extending the company’s offerings beyond API-based products and further enhancing its onboarding processes.

“Trulioo is proud to partner with Mastercard and shares their dedication to industry-leading business verification and fraud prevention,” said Trulioo CEO Steve Munford. “As organizations navigate the complexities of the digital payments industry, fraud and business identity theft are constant threats. This is a pivotal milestone in our joint endeavor that will pave the way for a more secure global digital landscape.”

Mastercard will also see benefits from the strategic partnership. Trulioo’s global business identity verification services will enhance Mastercard’s Onboard Risk Check product by adding a layer of assurance to merchant and consumer onboarding solutions, helping to mitigate risk, reduce fraud, and increase trust in payments made across the globe.

“The digital economy thrives when people trust it and trust each other,” said Mastercard executive vice president, Identity Products, and Innovation Dennis Gamiello. “The ability to verify people are who they say they are instills confidence on both sides of digital interactions. Together with Trulioo, we are fueling the connections that make a vibrant digital economy possible.”

Canada-based Trulioo was founded in 2011 to help organizations navigate compliance by offering real-time verification of more than 13,000 ID documents and 700 million business entities across the globe, while checking against more than 6,000 watchlists. The company has raised $475 million.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: 10x Banking, Atomic FI, DriveWealth, Fenergo, Fintech Rundown, Insuritas, iProov, MasterCard, Meniga, Plaid, Sezzle, Temenos, VISA

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.

Digital banking

Cloud-native core banking operating system 10x Banking enters collaboration with Deloitte Australia.

Monzo reports first profitable year.

Genesis offers new tools and incentives to financial industry software developers.

Meniga partners with Handelsbanken in Norway to amplify digital banking experience.

Fraud prevention

iProov achieves FIDO Alliance certification for facial biometric identity verification.

Fenergo unveils new AI-powered Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool to help customers keep pace with evolving regulations.

U.K.-based digital compliance and AML solutions provider SmartSearch launches its International Individual Check solution.

Bunq improves its fraud-detection model’s training speed nearly 100x using NVIDIA AI.

Payments

Payouts orchestration PayQuicker launches its on-demand, earned income access product, Insta-Pay.

Uruguayan cross-border payment platform dLocal partners with cross-border money transfer firm Ria Money Transfer.

Payments leader Jacob Eisen named ICBA Payments President and CEO.

Forward announces $16 million seed round led by Commerce Ventures, Elefund, and Fiserv.

The Bank of London forms strategic partnership with allpay Limited to improve banking and payments in the U.K. Social Housing market.

Vallarta Supermarkets taps Sezzle to offer Buy Now, Pay Later for grocery purchases.

Onbe to power Eisen’s digital solution that issues funds to consumers following account closures. 

Temenos and Mastercard join forces to expand cross-border payment capabilities through Mastercard Move.

allpay partners with Enfuce to provide payments for the U.K. public service sector.

NCR Atleos launches U.K. ATM cash deposit service.

REPAY empowers credit unions with enhancements to CU*Answers integration.

Small business finance

Corporate card and spend management provider Torpago raises $10 million in Series B round co-led by Priority Tech Ventures and EJF Ventures.

Commercial lending software provider for U.S. financial institutions, Abrigo, launched its commercial loan origination solution for SME lending.

insightsoftware acquires Fiplana to strengthen Qlik’s extended planning, analysis, and write-back capabilities.

i2c and Affiniti Finance partner to expand financial access for America’s underserved small businesses.

Spend management company Ivalua forges a collaboration with Visa.

Credit Cards

Credit repayment fintech Incredible raises $1 million.

Pinnacle Bank partners with CorServ to implement a modern credit card program for commercial, business, and consumer customers.

Insurtech

Scott Credit Union selects BUNDLE by Insuritas to launch its insurance agency.

Investment and wealth management

Brokerage-as-a-Service innovator DriveWealth forges new partnership with Turkish fintech Papara.

Lending

Plaid unveils Consumer Report, a new solution that brings businesses real-time cash flow data along with credit risk insights through Plaid Check, its consumer reporting agency.

Open banking

Mastercard teams up with Atomic to launch new open banking solutions.

Financial inclusion

Visa teams up with non-profit Plain Numbers to support inclusive financial services for adults in the U.K./

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global France: Lydia Launches New Digital Brand, RockFi Raises Millions, Meet Finovate’s French Alums

Finovate Global France: Lydia Launches New Digital Brand, RockFi Raises Millions, Meet Finovate’s French Alums
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Backbase, Finovate Global, Klarna, MasterCard

This week, Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in France.

French start-up Lydia announced the launch of a new digital banking brand this week. Named Sumeria, Lydia plans to invest more than €100 million in the new initiative, as well as hire 400 people over the next three years. Sumeria, according to a post on LinkedIn, offers 4% interest and is designed to be a “simple and accessible banking super app.

“We are convinced that technology (cloud, mobile) is not an end in itself, but a way to simplify life, through everyday details,” the company noted in a statement on its website. Arguing that current accounts should be neither “trendy gadgets” nor make users captive to a given app, system, or institution, the company explained: “It should solve a real problem. This is why Lydia’s choices, with Sumeria, are motivated by common sense and its ambition to be universal: for everyone, for everything.”

Lydia’s brand announcement follows a decision by the company to split its digital banking app into two components. Originally launched in 2013 as a P2P payments app, Lydia’s solution scaled, adding more and more financial services features over the years. It was the launch of its Lydia Accounts offering convinced the company that a change was necessary to keep its early adopters – who relied heavily on the P2P service – onboard. The result was to offer the P2P services separately from Lydia’s digital banking proposition through the Lydia Accounts app. The original Lydia app will become Sumeria, with the new features mentioned above – such as stock trading, savings accounts and loans – to be ported to the new banking brand.

Headquartered in Paris, Lydia has raised more than $259 million in funding. The company’s investors include Accel and Echo Street Capital. In addition to the launch of Sumeria, Lydia is also seeking a credit institution license from the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority.

Paris, France-based private wealth management startup RockFi raised €3 million in funding this week. The round was led by Varsity I and featured the participation of numerous business angels in technology and private management. The company plans to use the capital to grow its workforce by 3x by the end of 2024 so as to provide private banking and wealth management expertise to clients throughout France.

“Since the beginning of the year, we have seen strong client traction eager for a new model to manage their wealth,” RockFi Co-Founder and CEO Pierre Marin said. “With a market of €4.8 trillion in assets ahead of us and no tech leader yet in France and Europe, our ambition is very high for the coming years.”

RockFi’s model combines human expertise and technology to offer services including banking, wealth management, life insurance, and pension savings. The firm has a targetable clientele with assets of more than €100,000, representing six million households in France.

“Three months after our official launch this is an important step that anchors a strong momentum and allows us to further accelerate the construction of the new private management,” the company wrote on its LinkedIn page this week. “The ambition remains: to surround ourselves with the best talent and partners in each field and to deploy a tech ecosystem to unleash the potential of independent wealth managers at the service of their clients.”

Meet Finovate’s French Alums!

Over the years, Finovate has been proud to showcase a number of fintech innovators based in France. Here’s a look at some of French fintechs that have demoed their technology on the Finovate stage in recent years.

Dotfile – FinovateEurope 2024 – demo

ShareID – FinovateEurope 2024 – demo

Numeral – FinovateEurope 2023 – demo

SESAMm – FinovateEurope 2023 – demo

Thread – FinovateEurope 2021 – demo

BLECKWEN – FinovateEurope 2020 – demo

Worldline – FinovateEurope 2017 – demo

Ledger – FinovateEurope 2016 – demo

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • German B2B payments provider Billie forged a strategic pan-European collaboration with BNP Paribas.
  • Klarna expanded its Pay in 3 service to Slovakia.
  • U.K.-based business financial platform Tide launched in Germany this week.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Emirates NBD and Pine Labs announced a collaboration to bring new payment solutions to businesses in the region.
  • A partnership between NymCard and Dellsons Associates will help bring embedded finance solutions to businesses in the Middle East and Pakistan.
  • Israel-based fintech Kima teamed up with Mastercard’s FinSec Innovation Lab to explore use cases for a “defi credit card.”

Central and Southern Asia

  • Indian digital payments company PhonePe partnered with LankaPay to bring UPI payment acceptance to Sri Lanka.
  • Kazakhstan announced the availability to 10+ new CBDC card services since the launch of its digital tenge.
  • U.K.-based startup Fintech Farm raised $32 million in funding to fuel its expansion to India.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • TransNetwork acquired Inswitch to bring cross-border digital payments options to Latin America.
  • Mexico-based BNPL platform Aplazo raised $70 million in new funding.
  • Uruguayan cross-border payments platform dLocal announced the expansion of its partnership with Deel.

Asia-Pacific

  • Backbase, digital enabler SmartOSC, and Vietnam-based OCB partnered to launch the OCB OMNI 4.0 app to enhance digital banking in Vietnam.
  • Philippines-based fintech Skyro teamed up with identity verification company ADVANCE.AI.
  • Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System (FPS) is facilitating the use of e-CNY wallets, launched this week.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Mastercard partnered with the Cooperative Bank of Oromia to improve financial inclusion in Ethiopia.
  • Payment processing solutions company PayRetailers went live in Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
  • The Financial Times recognized Africa’s Moniepoint as the fastest growing fintech in the region.

Photo by Martijn Adegeest

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Visa and Mastercard Settle Swipe Fee Lawsuit

Visa and Mastercard Settle Swipe Fee Lawsuit
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, MasterCard, VISA
  • Visa and Mastercard have reached a settlement that will lower interchange fess for U.S. merchants.
  • The settlement, which still must be approved by the court, calls for a five-year reduction in fees as well as changes that will enable greater optionality for merchants when it comes to credit card transaction surcharging.
  • U.S. merchants stand to save more than $29 billion over the next five years due to the settlement.

Chalk one up for U.S. merchants.

There are many factors that drive innovation in financial services: technological change, competition, regulatory adjustments … this week, recalled a fourth, less common method: the lawsuit.

Visa and Mastercard announced that they have reached a major settlement with merchants in the U.S. that will see interchange fees both lowered and capped. The settlement is the end result of a lawsuit that extends back to 2005. The lawsuit alleges that merchants paid excessive fees to accept Visa and Mastercard credit card transactions. Further, the suit claims that both companies and their member banks were in violation of antitrust laws in doing so.

Per the settlement, these interchange fees – also known as swipe fees – will be lowered and capped until 2030. Hilliard Shadowen, the law firm that represented the merchants in the case, estimates that U.S. merchants will save more than $29 billion over the next five years. Additionally, the settlement will also mark the end of “anti-steering restrictions” and potentially pave the way for more competitive pricing with regards to swipe fees.

Steve Shadowen, founding partner at Hilliard Shadowen, said the settlement represented “comprehensive market-based solutions to too-high swipe fees” as well as “immediate fee relief to merchants as they make these new competitive tools work for them.”

Looking under the hood, the settlement calls for a reduction in swipe fees of at least four basis points (0.04 percentage points) for three years. At the same time, these fees must be at least seven basis points below the current average for the next five years. These changes are still subject to court approval, and Mastercard has suggested that, once approved, they still would not go into effect until late this year or early next.

“This agreement brings closure to a long-standing dispute by delivering substantial certainty and value to business owners, including flexibility in how they manage acceptance of card programs,” Mastercard Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Head of Global Policy Rob Beard said.

“We are making these concessions while also maintaining the safety, security, innovation, and protections, rewards, and access to credit that are so important to millions of Americans and to our economy,” Kim Lawrence, President, North America, Visa, said in a statement.

The actual impact of these changes on consumers using credit cards is uncertain. The settlement will enable merchants to add surcharges to cards with higher swipe fees. This could discourage the use of some premium cards that are attractive to consumers because of their robust rewards, but can be costly to merchants, who may pay swipe fees of as much as 4% per transaction according to the National Retail Federation. Swipe fees currently average approximately 2% per transaction. Merchants will also be able to offer incentives and discounts to encourage consumers to use credit cards with less expensive fees.

Additionally, the settlement includes an allocation of $15 million for an independent merchant education program. Available for free, the program will help ensure that all merchants are aware of new changes.

Photo by Pixabay

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Global Mexico: Banorte’s Digital Bank, Amazon’s BNPL Partnership with Kueski Pay

Finovate Global Mexico: Banorte’s Digital Bank, Amazon’s BNPL Partnership with Kueski Pay
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finovate Global, Kuspit, MasterCard, Nufi, Prestadero, Sr. Pago, Temenos

This week in Finovate Global we take a look at some recent fintech developments in Mexico.

First up is news that Grupo Financiero Banorte has launched Mexico’s first fully digital bank, bineo. The company noted that it hopes to add 2.8 million new customers in the next five years.

“The launch of bineo is a great milestone in the history of Grupo Financiero Banorte that will allow us to meet all needs: those who prefer a human-digital combination and those who seek 100% digital banking, with the financial security that has always characterized the institution,” Grupo Financiero Banorte chairman Carlos Hank Gonzalez said.

Bimeo offers a pair of accounts for customers. The bimeo Total Account allows for unlimited deposits. The Light Account has a monthly cap of 3,000 UDIS (investment units), which equals approximately 24,000 Mexican pesos.

Account holders will have access to both a digital and a physical debit card that includes a feature that enables them to allocate their savings toward specific goals. Card holders can use their physical card at more than 10,000 Banorte ATMs. Additionally, in a nod to sustainability, the physical card consists of biodegradable materials.

The new digital bank also offers financing products for bineo account holders. Customers will be able to apply for digital loans in amounts ranging from 5,000 to 200,000 MXN. Repayment terms range from six to 24 months. The bank also pledges competitive rates and instant access to funds once loans are approved.

“We imagine a bank that puts people at the centre, and we created it!” bineo CEO Victor Moya said. “We think in a different way of managing finances, where personalization is the heart of what we do. Bineo will offer new products and services based on customer needs so as not to confine them to a product designed by us.”

A partnership between Amazon Mexico and Kueski Pay will bring a new, installment payment option to Mexican consumers. Currently available only to select Amazon customers, the payment option will be available to all eligible Amazon customers “soon.”

Pago en Quincenas with Kueski Pay is the name of the new payment option. It enables payment for purchases in biweekly installments, helping make shopping on Amazon more affordable to many Mexican consumers. The option also helps deal with the fact that less than a third of the adult population in Mexico has a credit card. By leveraging Kueski Pay, one of Mexico’s most popular buy now, pay later platforms, Amazon Mexico helps expand purchase financing beyond both credit as well as debit cards.

“Our agreement with Amazon demonstrates the need Mexicans have for more flexible , secure, and inclusive payment alternatives,” Kueski Pay SVP of Sales Lisset May said. “Kueski Pay enables merchants to deliver more innovative shopping experiences and help Mexican consumers live their personal finances with more excitement.”

Kueski Pay has provided nearly 15 million loans to date. The company notes that 1 in 4 of Mexico’s most relevant merchants offer the payment option. Customers who opt for Pago en Quincenas with Kueski Pay can choose from plans of up to four interest-free biweekly payments as part of an introductory offer, or as many as 12 biweekly payments. Payments can be made by linked bank account, debit card, or cash at participating networks. A one-time application must be completed during the Amazon checkout process the first time a customer chooses the Kueski Pay option.

Finovate has been happy to host a handful of fintechs from Mexico over the years. Some of our Mexico-based alums include:

Nufi

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Nufi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2021 in New York. The company demoed its Fintech Legos offering, a set of modular building blocks that enable firms to build their own financial solutions. At the conference, Nufi showed how its Fintech Legos could be used to build a modular, adaptable KYC process that could be deployed by any company.

Sr. Pago

Mexico City-based fintech Sr. Pago was founded in 2010 and made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014. At the conference, the company’s CEO and co-founder Pablo Gonzalez Vargas demoed the Sr. Pago Card + Reader, which help small businesses and individuals accept card payments for services and have those payments loaded onto the recipient’s Mastercard. The company was acquired by Mexico-based online lending platform Konfío in 2021.

Prestadero

Also headquartered in Mexico City, Prestadero made its Finovate debut in 2013 at FinovateSpring. Founded in 2011, Prestadero was the first fully legally compliant and operational P2P lending platform in Mexico. At FinovateSpring, the company demonstrated how its proprietary management software enabled Prestadero to parse out declined loans in seconds and offer rates for approved loans in less than a minute.

Kuspit

Founded in 2010 and based in Mexico City, Kuspit is a regulated broker/dealer in Mexico. The company targets retail investors with little investing experience and offers an investing community in which learning, sharing, and investing “dynamically integrate with one another.” Making its Finovate debut in 2012 at FinovateSpring, the company showed how it uses visualization to help investors understand the relationship between risk and return.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Regulators in India ordered digital payments provider Paytm to cease much of its business operations due to non-compliance issues.
  • Mastercard and SadaPay extended their partnership to support the financial needs of SMEs and freelancers in Pakistan.
  • Indian private sector bank Karnataka Bank teamed up with financial services platform Northern Arc Capital.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Paytech Paysecure announced its intention to expand into Latin America, with an initial focus on Brazil.
  • Mexican financial group Grupo Financiero Banorte launched its new digital bank, Bineo.
  • Mexico-based Kueski Pay teamed up with Amazon to launch a new deferred payment offering, Pago en Quincenas.

Asia-Pacific

  • China announced plans to revise its AML rules to accommodate cryptocurrency transactions.
  • Philippine-based Asia United Bank (AUB) announced that its HelloMoney e-wallet solution is now accepted in South Korea, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
  • KrAsia offered “seven key takeaways” about the fintech industry in Thailand.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian fintech Miden to join Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 cohort.
  • IT Web profiled South African fintech SOLmate amid growing demand for its digital wallet.
  • Fintech Futures interviewed Principal and Head of Africa at CommerzVentures Hangwi Muambadzi on the growth of fintech in Africa.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Digital engineering company Nagarro teamed up with Temenos to help build banks in Romania and Poland.
  • German payment processing provider Unzer launched its mobile POS solutions in Austria and Luxembourg this week.
  • Garanti BBVA, a financial services provider based in Turkey, introduced a new Request Payment feature via its mobile and online banking services.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook