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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Transferwisegoes live with new debit cad for customers in Australia and New Zealand.
Finastrainks cloud banking deal with U.K. neo bank Gravity.
Argentina’s largest national private bank Banco Galicia integrates PFM technology from Strands.
Overbond to open three AI analytics labs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to support R&D in bond pricing.
Vymohires Rajesh Sabhlok as its new Chief Customer Officer, with an emphasis on Japan and APAC.
BlueRushannounces strategic partnership with InfoSlips.
Artivestnames Martin Bealieu, formerly executive chairman, as new CEO.
Lendio’s marketplace lending franchise program tops $50 million in loans facilitated via its platform.
Ignite Salesunveils the latest version of its customer engagement platform, Ignite Neuro 2.0.
Salt Edgeincreases the total number of connected banks in the E.U. to more than 300.
Experianunveils new configurations of its Ascend Analytical Sandbox.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Alternative banking provider Revolutannounced the roll out of commission-free stock trading on its app today. Starting today Revolut Metal customers in the U.K. and Europe can buy and hold shares of 300+ stocks listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ directly from the Revolut app.
The feature is powered by DriveWealth, which is registered as a full-carrying and clearing broker-dealer and will help Revolut navigate the complexities of brokerage. New Jersey-based DriveWealth offers a suite of APIs that allow companies across the globe to help their users invest in the U.S. stock market. The firm provides digital investment products for brokerages to offer clients as well as a brokerage service offering dollar-based, real-time investing.
Overall, Revolut is making stock market investing more inclusive. Trades are free, the annual custodian fee totals 0.01% (when others in the industry charge 0.25% to 1.5%), and there are no account minimums. At launch, all fees are waived for eligible customers during the beta period. The company did not specify when it plans to implement fees but said, “These will come into effect later, and we will communicate with you in advance about when that will be.”
Revolut said it is most proud of integrating the ability to buy partial shares of stock. Fractional share investing, one of DriveWealth’s flagship features, allows users to purchase a small portion of a stock. This democratizes investing by making a stock like Amazon, which trades at almost $1,900 per share, more accessible to investors with lower capital.
Another badge of honor is that trades can be made instantly, meaning users will pay the asking price of a stock when their order hits the market. And, specific to Revolut, users can fund their trading account in multiple currencies and benefit from the interbank exchange rate.
The trading feature not only helps Revolut compete with banks, but also helps the company build its user base for its Metal account. Launched last August, the Metal account offers users 100 free trades per month, along with a host of other features, for $14.99 per month.
In the future, Revolut plans to open trading to users outside of Europe, offer ETFs and other new products, and introduce European stocks. Additionally, the company will open up free trades to Premium and Standard customers, who will be able to make 8 free trades per month and three free trades per month, respectively. This variance is representative of Revolut’s tiered pricing model, which offers free Standard accounts while charging $9.99 per month for a Premium account.
Revolut debuted at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. The company’s CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky showed off the app’s money transfer capabilities that help users avoid banking fees without actually using a bank.
Adding Revolut as a client is another notch in the belt for DriveWealth, which last month partnered with Sigma Securities and Trove Technologies to offer digital U.S. equities trading in Nigeria. Last August, DriveWealth collaborated with fellow Finovate alum Bambu to launch a white-label roboadvisory platform for U.S. wealth managers. Other DriveWealth clients include MoneyLion, Vested Finance, and INVSTR.
At FinovateAsia 2016, DriveWealth released a new API to enable partners to offer a robo advisory product suite and a self-directed equity investing platform. Robert Cortright is CEO.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Central and Southern Asia
Indian financial services marketplace MyMoneyMantra raises $15 million in funding.
Razorpay, a payments solutions provider based in India, reports a 40% increase in the number of digital transactions in the country during the second quarter of 2019.
Credit Suisse and NASSCOM agree to promote the growth of Indian fintech startups.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Mambuforges partnership with its first Brazilian customer, Acesso.
MercadoLibre announces plan to allow users of its e-wallet in Mexico to earn interest on funds saved on the app.
Bloomberg looks at Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group and its pursuit of investment opportunities among Latin American fintechs.
Asia-Pacific
China Merchant Bank to deploy regulatory reporting technology from Wolters Kluwer.
Philippines Union Bank picks Refinitiv to power its electronic trading business.
Samsungpartners with a cohort of South Korean banks on a blockchain-based digital identity project.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Central Bank of Kenya reaches fintech cooperation agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Standard Bank leverages mobile teller technology from Infosys Finacle.
Kenyan payment solutions provider WAPI Pay pledges to support faster adoption of Wechat Pay and Alipay across Africa.
Central and Eastern Europe
Czech Republic’s Twistoannounces plans to expand to Poland this fall, with expansion to Romania to follow.
Revolutmakes Apple Pay available to its customers in Hungary.
Austrian insurtech Bsurance and fintech Cashpresso team up to provide automatic buyer protection Cashpresso customers.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Nasdaq and Iraq Stock Exchange ink new market technology agreement.
Emirates NBD’s Liv leverages gamification to raise money for charity.
Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority issues guidelines for robo advisors operating in ADGM.
TrueLayer, provider of financial APIs, has integrated with Revolut to enable the secure access of financial data via open banking, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Money management app, Emma, will be one of the first companies to use the new integration. Emma’s customers will now be able to use their Revolut account information to track their spending in real time.
Account information will only be accessible when a customer chooses to use a new product and actively agrees to share their information.
Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLayer, said: “We’re increasingly seeing how open banking is uniting successful companies so that they can offer more and more great services to consumers.”
Edoardo Moreni, CEO and co-founder of Emma, added: “Our users can now have access to all their balances, see the exact conversion in pound and manage their money like never before.”
TrueLayer’s partnership is its latest milestone in 2019, with the recent announcement of a $35 million funding round led by Tencent and Temasek.
It recently expanded across Europe to Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the launch of payment initiation capabilities and partnerships with companies including Zopa, ClearScore, Plum, CreditLadder, Canopy, and ANNA Money.
Revolut demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2015. Founded in 2013 and based in London, U.K., the company has raised more than $336 million in funding. Future Fifty, DST Global, and Draper Esprit are among the firm’s investors.
Ritholtz Wealth turns toBetterment’sBetterment for Advisors, a white label online investing solution, to power its Liftoff automated investment platform.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
ClickSWITCH to Power Digital Direct Deposit Switch for Current.
Standard Bank Leverages Mobile Teller Tech from Infosys Finacle.
Fiserv to Enhance Risk Management for Pan-American Life.
Around the web
New integration between Revolut and TrueLayer brings Open Banking to money management app Emma.
Via its Mastercard Send push payments solution, Mastercard and Evolve Bank & Trust team up to back Branch and similar companies to ensure prompt payment for gig workers.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Apex Clearingpartners with Apex Crypto to launch cryptocurrency platform that helps financial advisors introduce digital currency trading into their clients’ portfolios.
Revoluttaps banking veteran Richard Davies as Chief Operating Officer.
Klarna and BigCommerce expand partnership to also include Klarna’s European core markets.
eToro’s cryptocurrency wallet adds support for 120 ERC-20 standard tokens.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Backbase is named a leader in the Forrester Wave for Digital Banking Engagement Platforms for the third year in a row.
InCommbecomes exclusive distributor of Amex prepaid cards in Canada.
TradeshiftlaunchesTradeshift Go 2.0, a payments product offering that increases visibility into employee spending.
Gustopartners with Accelo to sync time-off requests from Gusto to Accelo’s real-time scheduling and resource management module.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Revolutgoes live with support for Apple Pay in 12 additional countries in Europe.
TransferWiseunveils its borderless account in the U.S.
Salt Edgeannounces integrations with more than 200 banks across Europe.
CardFlightoffers Level 2 credit card processing support for SwipeSimple.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
