Finextra, Posted November 30, 2022

Trust Bank, the Standard Chartered and FairPrice-backed digital challenger that recently launched in Singapore, is running on Thought Machine’s cloud-native core platform.

Trust launched in September after securing one of a handful of new digital banking licences doled out by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Initially offering a credit card, savings account and family personal accident insurance, the bank has signed up more than 300,000 customers in its first two months.

Trust is running on Vault Core, Thought Machine’s configurable platform, which the vendor says has enabled this rapid scaling and will also help the bank build more products and features quickly.

Rajay Rai, CIO, Trust, says: “We have been working collaboratively with Thought Machine to test, deploy and deliver a transparent banking service which we are truly proud of. Vault Core is the foundational platform for us to build and grow the first of Singapore’s new wave of digital banks.”

#Digital Bank

Tech in Asia, Posted November 24, 2022

Experian has been appointed to operate Singapore’s buy now, pay later credit bureau, providing firms with creditworthiness checks on consumer BNPL debt. The appointment was made by the Singapore Fintech Association and the BNPL Working Group, formed by industry players including Atome, Grab Financial Group and ShopBack. The Working Group has created a code of conduct that sets out guidance for BNPL service providers in Singapore to protect consumers from racking up debt by taking on multiple loans.

Under the arrangement, Experian will operate a BNPL bureau in Singapore with all accredited players sharing users’ credit information – such as outstanding BNPL balances, missed payments and delinquencies – with the aim of tackling the issue of credit stacking among BNPL users.

#Fintech

Fintech Futures, Posted December 1, 2022

Indian fintech unicorn Cred is set to acquire “lending-as-a-service” start-up CreditVidya for an undisclosed sum, subject to regulatory approvals.

The acquisition will be a mix of cash and stock, Cred says, without divulging any further details. Following the acquisition, Cred and CreditVidya will continue to operate independently.

Abhishek Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of CreditVidya, says the acquisition will aid the firm in the next phase of its growth, with a focus on building its brand and scaling distribution.

Based in Hyderabad, India, CreditVidya was founded in 2012. The alternative credit scoring platform leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning via APIs to help businesses facilitate access to institutional credit for the underserved.

#SrartUp

The Paypers, Posted November 28, 2022

The UK and Singapore have agreed a new MoU “boosting fintech trade and cooperation at their 7th Financial Dialogue in Singapore.”

The UK and Singapore agree a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “on the UK–Singapore FinTech Bridge to remove barriers to fintech trade and boost cooperation.”

This will “deepen engagement between businesses, and regulators, adding to previous co-operation.”

Policy makers from both the UK and Singapore will meet regularly “with the fintech sector to work to remove regulatory barriers to trade.”

The Fintech Bridge “builds on an agreement signed in 2016 – which will remove barriers to fintech trade by opening new regular talks between regulators and businesses, in addition to previous areas of cooperation.”

#Fintech

Finextra, Posted November 30, 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.

German neo bank N26 tops the rankings for the number of fresh startups created by former alumni, while Klarna takes the crown for the most fintech startups founded by ex-staff, according to a study by Accel and Dealroom.

The figures come from an analysis of the state of startup creation from existing unicorns in Europe and Israel.

Among other insights, the data sheds light on how the ecosystem’s fintech unicorns are producing the next generation of startups from across the region, with companies like Klarna, N26 and Monzo birthing hundreds of successful founders and executives.

Of the more than 300 VC-backed unicorns in the region, 203 have produced more than 1,000 new tech startups, with former employees becoming founders.

#NeoBank

Fintech Futures, Posted November 25, 2022

Atom Bank, which claims to be the United Kingdom’s “first” app-based bank, has reportedly agreed to terms with BBVA, Toscafund and Infinity Investment Partners in order to add a further £30 million in equity to its balance sheet.

It follows the £75 million that Atom secured in February 2022 and means that the Durham-headquartered digital lender has now raised over £100 million in capital in the past 12 months. The proceeds will be channeled toward further lending and accelerating the ongoing growth and development of the banking platform.

The fundraise should enable Atom to continue to support its lending clients – homeowners, first-time buyers, and SMEs – in this challenging economic environment. It is also another key step in Atom’s plans for growth and a future public markets listing.

#Fintech

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 26, 2022

Solaris, which claims to be Europe’s “leading” embedded finance platform, published a new report on the evolution of embedded finance.

The study, conducted in cooperation with the Handelsblatt Research Institute, “analyzes the market potential for the mobility sector in the four largest European markets of Germany, France, Italy and Spain.”

Already last year, Solaris published its first report “on the emerging trend of embedded finance and the market potential exemplified by the e-commerce industry in Germany.” In addition, mobility was “identified as one of the most promising pioneering industries.”

The study results “tie in with our previous market research and confirm our experience in the field.” Interest from mobility providers for embedded finance “has risen noticeably.”

The team noted that they “have already been able to close exciting partnerships in Europe.” For many of these brands, “understanding how to best leverage their ecosystem and build a profitable business case is a challenge.” That is why this time the team also “looked at the question of whether certain brand attributes are promising and examined individual age groups.”

#Fintech

Altfi, Posted November 29, 2022

Amid crypto chaos, a cost of living crisis, covid unrest in China, sky-high inflation, and a dozen other headwinds more and more fintechs appear to be becoming profitable as the year has gone on.

Of course, there have been many other trends which point to an opposing sentiment.

These tougher times for venture-capital backed tech firms such as falling public market valuations, down rounds for established scale-ups and tens of thousands of redundancies.  

But, partly prompted by the seachange in the macroeconomy some notable names in the fintech space have announced profitable forecasts or, in some cases…even full-blown actual annual profits!

Last week it was the turn of ClearBank, the five-year-old cloud-based clearing bank based in London, led by CEO Charles McManus.

ClearBank, which counts fellow fintechs such as Coinbase, eToro, Raisin and Tide among its 200 customers, says it turned a profit in October on a monthly basis as its 2022 revenues to date reached £45.4m thanks in part to the £3bn of deposits it holds.

#Fintech

Investment in B2B fintech set to continue to outpace B2C fintech in 2023, experts say

USA

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 30, 2022

Apple Pay, the Fintech service offered by the eponymous tech firm Apple, is growing at a rapid pace, according to a report compiled by Salesforce.

Asking the question of which payment type saw the fastest adoption in 2022, Apple Pay delivered a whopping 63% increase. In comparison: Credit card use grew by 2%; Finance declined by 8%; Gift cards grew by 5%; PayPal dropped by 6%;

Of course, the caveat here is that Apple Pay is starting from a lower adoption level than more mature payment options. The most popular form of payment types is credit cards at 66%, followed by PayPal at 16%, with  Apple Pay and Finance tied at 6%. Gift Cards barely registered at 1%.

The Salesforce report surfaced after the black Friday and cyber Monday annual holiday sales rush. Bryan Keane, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, commented on the report noting that Apple Pay is Hoovering up market share at an “extremely rapid pace”. Looking at year-over-year monthly numbers for November, Keane reports that Apple Pay was up 52% globally and 59%  in the US.

#ApplePay

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 30, 2022

Sabre Corporation a software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, and Conferma Pay, a global fintech firm that specializes in payment technology, announced a new partnership with Mastercard in orrder “to accelerate the use of virtual cards for business-to-business (B2B) travel payments.”

The announcement “builds on Sabre’s August 2022 acquisition of Conferma Pay.” The collaboration with Mastercard is “the next step in advancing Sabre’s goal to create an open and independent travel payment ecosystem.”

Digitization of travel payments with virtual cards “helps address the historic challenges associated with B2B leisure and corporate travel payments.” The securely generated, single use card numbers “provide a link between booking and associated payments to third party suppliers.”

#Mastercard

Temenos invests in US Banking-as-a-Service provider Mbanq

Finextra, Posted December 1, 2022

Swiss core banking vendor Temenos has invested in US Banking-as-a-Service provider Mbanq.

Launched in 2016, Mbanq started as a technology partner to credit unions, banks and non-bank financial institutions.

Today, Mbanq targets brands across a number of sectors such as Ivy League Universities, top sports teams and celebrities offering them a comprehensive ‘as-a-service’ package such as branded deposit programmes and debit cards, credit cards, lending and payments.

The expanded agreement with Temenos deepens the companies’ collaboration after last year’s launch of a joint Credit Union as-a-Service offering.

Temenos says the partnership opens up the opportunity to target mid-sized banks in the US, as well as fintechs and consumer brands, enabling them to not only launch BaaS services such as deposits, credit cards or Buy Now Pay Later, but also future-proof their technology stacks by kicking off an incremental core banking renovation.

#Temenos

Cross-border payments startup Buckzy raises $14.5m

Finextra, Posted December 1, 2022

Canadian real-time cross-border payments fintech Buckzy has raised US$14.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Mistral Venture Partners and Uncorrelated Ventures.

Founded in 2018, Buckzy enables real-time cross-border payments to over 80 countries and Banking-as-a-Service capabilities through an embedded finance platform.

A licensed money transfer company, Buckzy works with large banks around the world to enable real-time international payments, offering multi-currency bank accounts, local settlement accounts, real-time FX quoting and booking.

Since going live in 2020, the startup has added over 140 customers to its client roster including traditional banks, neobanks and fintechs.

#StartUp

Mastercard takes stake in Conferma Pay

Finextra, Posted November 28, 2022

Mastercard is acquiring a minority stake in Conferma Pay as part of a wider partnership to push the use of virtual cards for B2B travel payments.

Conferma Pay – which was acquired by travel industry tech player Sabre earlier this year – connects issuers to more than 700 travel management companies, all the major global distribution systems and more than 100 online booking tools.

The firm is now working with Mastercard on the use of virtual cards, which it says help address the historic challenges associated with B2B leisure and corporate travel payments.

The single use card numbers provide a link between booking and associated payments to third party suppliers. Travel buyers and suppliers are therefore able to easily track and reconcile payments, as well as benefit from flexible pricing, financing options, and enhanced security through card payment guarantees.

#Mastercard

Biometric Payment Smart Card Solution to Be Developed by Infineon, Fingerprint Cards AB

Crowdfund Insider, Posted November 27, 2022

Infineon Technologies AG and Fingerprint Cards AB announced the signing of a joint development and commercialization agreement of a plug-and-play turnkey solution for “a biometric payment smart card.”

The goal of the cooperation is “to make biometric smart card production as simple and easy as producing a standard dual interface payment card.”

This comprehensive SECORA™ Pay Bio turnkey solution “will include both Fingerprints’ FPC1323 sensor with its biometric software algorithm and Infineon’s upcoming SLC39B Secure Element.”

This off-the-shelf solution “will come with a pre-certified Java Card™ operating system including Mastercard and Visa bio-applets.” With the development of the innovative Infineon Biometric Coil on Module (BCoM) package based on inductive coupling technology, the overall biometric smart card manufacturing process “will be significantly simplified and the bill of material considerably reduced.”

#PayTech

Former PayPal CEO Harris shuts down latest startup weeks after launch

The Paypers, Posted November 30, 2022

Payment service provider Clik2pay is announcing a collaboration with Inovatec, North America’s leader in lending process automation.

This collaboration will “make it possible for Inovatec’s clients to request payment from customers using Clik2pay’s direct-from-account payment platform.” This is done safely and securely “using Interac e-Transfer, one of the most trusted money transfer systems in the world.”

By integrating Clik2pay into the Inovatec platform, lenders will be “able to send emails to collect payments directly from their customers’ bank accounts and have those payments automatically reconcile on the Inovatec platform.”

#Payments

Reuters, Posted November 30, 2022

Brazil’s central bank said on Wednesday that 12.2% of borrowers from authorized financial institutions are in a “risky indebtedness” situation, with the total number of Brazilians in that category almost tripling since 2019.

The data shows that more consumers are facing difficulties settling debts amid expanding access to the financial system, on the back of a fintech boom and the digital payment welfare aid during the pandemic which increased the number of users.

#Fintech