Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 14, 2022

Credisense, a no-code origination, workflow and credit decisioning platform, has partnered with cloud-native SaaS banking and financial services platform Mambu, “to accelerate the modernization of lending systems in the Asia Pacific market.”

The partnership will “provide lenders of all sizes with a flexible end-to-end lending platform that supports loan origination through to loan collections, all via a no-code, configuration-based technology stack.”

The Mambu / Credisense lending solution will “help lenders to keep costs down while enabling them to modernise their technology systems, launch new products and services at pace, and provide their customers with exceptional experiences.”

#Fintech

Fintech Asia, Posted November 14, 2022

Bank Indonesia, Bank Negara Malaysia, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Bank of Thailand (BOT) have agreed to make payments across countries faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more inclusive.

The banks signed the memorandum of understanding on Cooperation in Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) on November 14 in Indonesia, which saw President Widodo highlighting the importance of collaborations during the event.

According to a joint statement, RPC is expected to boost regional economic recovery and promote growth through boosted cross-border payment support. The cooperation will include initiatives centered around QR codes and fast payments, among others.

#Fintech

Fintech Asia, Posted November 14, 2022

Google Wallet is now available in 57 countries in total. It has already launched in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
The e-wallet allows users to pay for transportation and products in supported stores. Google has also partnered with ticketing companies, such as Thaiticketmajor in Thailand, to allow users to add event tickets to their wallets.
Additionally, Google joined hands with airlines, including AirAsia and China Air, allowing boarding passes to be saved in Google Wallet.

#Payments

Fintech News, Posted November 17, 2022

The world of financial services is in a state of constant change, with many traditional banks across the Asia Pacific, and indeed the world, now actively pursuing digital transformation strategies. For many of these organisations, it has been the impact of disruptive technologies and digital-only challengers that have compelled traditional financial institutions to actively begin to reinvent themselves from being bureaucratic, machine-like organisations into agile organisms which have people – employees and customers – at the centre.

#Fintech

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 16, 2022

Atom bank and Phoebus Software Limited (PSL) have reportedly signed a new 3-year contract.

The digital bank which streamlined the mortgage market by introducing the use of mobile apps in order to support its lending processes, has been a Phoebus user since Atom Bank’s official launch in 2016.

Atom bank leverages the complete suite of Phoebus account servicing functionality such as primary and special servicing. The banking platform also uses the Phoebus securitization module in order to handle its wholesale funding requirements. The solution handles residential as well as commercial lending.

There are now more than £85 billion worth of assets being serviced via Phoebus in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and customers reportedly include specialist banks and lenders, outsourcers, later life lenders and building societies.

#Fintech

Finextra, Posted November 17, 2022

Dapio, a London-based pay-tech turning Android smartphones into card readers without extra hardware, has launched its Tap to Pay app for small businesses and sellers across the UK.

Dapio helps small businesses accept contactless card and e-wallet payments with just one tap on the back of any NFC-enabled Android phone. The payments app also comes with its own SDK for partners to integrate into their own Android applications as a new payment option for their business customers.

Kosta Du, Dapio’s CEO and Co-Founder, says: “The payments landscape is evolving toward a mobile-first mindset, and we believe businesses should have the same opportunity to take payments with their phones, as their customers do when making them. Tap to Pay on Android will unlock safe and secure payment experiences for businesses who want less friction and demand more flexibility from their Point of Sale system.”

#Paytech

Finextra, Posted November 17, 2022

Klarna’s open banking unit, Klarna Kosma, has unveiled an initiative to help startups develop Proofs of Concepts in the e-commerce, data analytics and fintech space.

The “autopilot” initiative will let a selection of startups as well as more established firms access all the Klarna Kosma products and 15,000 banks for three months, free of charge.

Klarna says it hopes this will accelerate open banking innovation by providing players in the space with a zero-cost product development ‘sandbox’ built on the world’s largest bank aggregation platform.

Wilko Klaassen, VP, open banking, Klarna, says: “Open Banking was introduced to wrest control of consumer data away from the big banks and make it securely available to drive innovation.

#Fintech

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 16, 2022

Revolut, a UK-based neobank with global ambitions, has announced topping 25 million retail customers after reporting 20 million customers this past July. Revolut is a Fintech that offers modern digital banking services minus costly physical locations.

The “financial super app” added that its expansion plans continue with the launch in Brazil, India, and New Zealand in the coming months.

Revolut revealed that it was adding 2000 new active business accounts and fulfilling over 330 million transactions each month.

Launched in the UK in 2015, Revolut shared the segmentation of its new users since July:

UK – 1.1 million; Poland – 460,000; Romania – 450,000; France – 340,000; Spain – 320,000; Ireland – 230,000; US – 125,000

Revolut did not break down total users by country.

The company added that it now has more than 500,000 users in the US while employing more than 150 individuals in North America.

#Fintech

Altfi, Posted November 16, 2022

The payments giant is taking another step towards everyone being able to use their true name on their cards.

Mastercard is extending its inclusive card offerings with two new European partnerships: bpost and Nickel.

The main feature that the payments giant is expanding is “True Name” which allows customers to personalise the name on their bank cards.

This is particularly important for trans and non-binary people whose names might not match their legal birth name or the name they have listed on government documents.

Mastercard first launched the feature in the US in 2019, in Europe the following year, and in Canada earlier this year. 

Now, partnering with postal operator bpost will bring the name functionality to Belgium for the first time.

#Mastercard

Intesa Sanpaolo offloads entire stake in Nexi

USA

The Paypers, Posted November 15, 2022

Brightwell, an Atlanta-based global payments technology company, announced a new cross-border payments solution, Brightwell’s ReadyRemit, powered by The Bancorp Bank, N.A., and Mastercard’s Cross-Border Services.

ReadyRemit allows fintechs, businesses and program managers “to increase revenue and loyalty by offering a user-friendly, cross-border payments solution that also features compliance capabilities.” The partnership will “enable access to funds, including near real-time and same-day service where available.”

According to Mastercard’s 2022 Borderless Payments Report, 42 percent of people globally “are making or receiving more cross-border payments than 12 months ago, driving demand for a more frictionless, connected and reliable payments experience.”

ReadyRemit gives clients “access to payments to over 100 countries and 280,000 cash payout locations, including near real-time and same-day service (where available).” The service reportedly “supports several delivery channels (bank accounts, mobile wallets and cash-out locations) and payment types (B2B, B2P, P2P, and P2B).”

#StartUp

Altfi, Posted November 15, 2022

Mastercard and JP Morgan are hoping to take the pain out of paying bills with open banking ACH payments.

With the way we move our money changing, JP Morgan and MasterCard are stepping in to provide an alternative payment method in “the latest twist on ACH payments”.

Bringing open banking technology into the equation, the two companies are introducing ‘Pay-by-Bank’, an ACH payment that will enable consumers to give permission for their financial data to be shared across platforms to pay directly from their bank account.

The most obvious use case for ‘Pay-by-Bank’ will be for recurring payments, such as rent and utilities, where ACH is the primary medium for payment.

“[Mastercard’s] open banking capabilities will transform the payment experience,” JP Morgan head of payments and commerce solutions Max Neukirchen said.

#Mastercard

Bank of the West, Extend to Enhance B2B Payments with Virtual Card Distribution, Management

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 16, 2022

Extend, a virtual card and spend management platform, announced a collaboration with Bank of the West, which has more than 600 branches and Commercial Banking Offices across the Midwest and Western United States.

Bank of the West small and mid-size clients can “begin using Extend in minutes, without any technical integration or additional application process required.”

The pairing gives users “a simple, powerful way to control company credit cards and streamline spend management.”

Businesses are often “challenged by tedious, manual processes for managing essential payment tasks, from paying vendors to reconciliation.”

Virtual cards “solve many of these challenges, but access to virtual cards has traditionally been limited to enterprise-sized clients.” That is “no longer true with Extend, which brings the benefits of virtual cards to any business.” When businesses pay with Extend, they can “automate otherwise time-consuming finance operations and get real-time control and insights on company card spending.”

#Virtual Card

Visa Report: Even Savvy Consumers Get “Tripped Up” by Language of Fraud

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 16, 2022

It’s not your “imagination.” Digital scams are “everywhere in our daily lives.” And as the holiday season approaches, fraudsters are “counting on you to let your guard down and take the bait,” according to an update from Visa (NYSE: V).

Whether in the workplace or on the go, we’re “peppered by phone, text and email with offers for ‘free gifts’ and traps to ‘act now’ to supply personal information before a vital service gets cut off.” And this barrage of “fraudulese” is working, Visa reveals in a new report.

A research report out from Visa, in partnership with Wakefield Research, “Fraudulese: The Language of Fraud,” brings to light that “when it comes to spotting scams, cybercriminals are finding vulnerabilities among even the most tech-savvy consumers.”

While nearly half of the population are confident they can recognize a scam, 73% are “likely to miss the requisite red flags in digital communications.”

#Fintech

Former PayPal CEO Harris shuts down latest startup weeks after launch

Finextra, Posted November 17, 2022

Nirvana Money, a fintech startup founded by former PayPal and Intuit CEO Bill Harris, has shut down less than a month after its launch.

Nirvana was officially unveiled last month, promising a hybrid product combining a credit and debit in one “to simplify the way people earn, save and spend”.

Based in Miami, the startup has at least 50 employees, according to LinkedIn. Last May, Harris boasted that he would have 200 staffers onboard by the end of 2022.

Instead, the company is shutting up shop, with a brief notice on its website stating: “The Nirvana Money service is being discontinued. Thank you for participating in the beta program of Nirvana Money. All accounts will be closed on December 1, 2022.”

#Fintech

Square partners AmEx on credit card for sellers

Insider Intelligence, Posted November 17, 2022

Square is joining forces with American Express to launch a credit card built specifically for Square sellers.

The first credit card Square offers to its small business users will integrate directly with the firm’s broader ecosystem, helping sellers to organise their finances and manage their cash flow from the same platform they use to run their business.

Available to Square sellers in the US, the card will run on the AmEx network, be powered by i2c and issued by Celtic Bank.

Luke Voiles, GM, Square Banking, says: “We wanted to create a product on a payment network that has a strong track record of supporting small merchants, making this card a natural progression of our existing relationship with American Express.”

#Fintech

Former PayPal CEO Harris shuts down latest startup weeks after launch

RBC partners Visa to offer cardholders BNPL option

Royal Bank of Canada is the latest lender to tap into Visa’s BNPL technology to offer its credit cardholders the option of paying for purchases in instalments.

The deal means that eligible RBC personal credit cardholders can convert a qualifying purchase into smaller, equal payments made over a defined period of time when shopping at participating merchants across Canada – both in-store and online.

Launched in Canada last year, Installments enabled by Visa means that shoppers can use their existing credit without submitting new loan applications, completing credit checks, or downloading a new app.

#BNPL

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 14, 2022

Just over a year after the start of the vehicle financing operation, C6 Bank launches the C6 Auto Financial Protection Insurance.

Offered in partnership with Fairfax Seguros (FF Seguros) and also known as credit life, the product “guarantees that the financing assumed by the vehicle buyer is honored in the event of disability, death and loss of income.”

Fabio Basilone, head of insurance at C6 Bank, said:

“We developed a product with competitive rates and coverage so that the holder and his family can plan in case of unforeseen circumstances that interfere with the payment of installments.”

The C6 Auto Financial Protection Insurance “is optional and can be contracted at the time of vehicle financing.” The insurance “provides coverage for the death and disability of the contractor and also for loss of income due to involuntary unemployment.” The contractual conditions and details of the offer are “presented to the consumer at the time of the proposal.”

#Fintech

Brazil’s Nubank Expands Offer for Clients Under 18 Years Old