The Paypers, Posted May 8, 2023

Global neobank Revolut has announced a new feature that will enable Singapore customers to link with 6 different bank accounts for in-application top-ups.
The feature was enabled by the electronic General Interbank Recurring Order (e-Giro). Its technology was set to authorise top-ups from the customer’s bank account, only after they linked their bank account to the Revolut application.
The service will enable clients to link the wallet to multiple institutions, such as DBS, OCBC, Standard Chartered, and UOB accounts, as well as Maybank and Bank of China.
By allowing the use of e-Giro and adding the new feature to its suite of digital banking services, Revolut aims to enhance the user experience by meeting their needs, preferences, and demands.

#Revolut

Tech Wire Asia, Posted May 10, 2023

Data and services in the global financial industry continue to face numerous challenges, especially in cybersecurity and credit risk. The need to digitally transform products and services in the financial industry also requires constant support.
For Mastercard, there is a growing need to ensure they can deliver and meet the requirements of their customers, wherever they may be. Currently, Mastercard’s data and services experts globally work with nearly 4,000 clients in over 120 countries, drawing on the company’s extensive expertise, data, and technology.
To ensure this, Mastercard has set up data and services hubs around the world as knowledge centers dedicated to ensuring customers can get access to resources for solutions needed to cover everything from hyper-personalized loyalty programs to product prototyping, to end-to-end marketing solutions that span the customer journey.

#Mastercard

The Edge Markets, Posted May 8, 2023

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have announced the commercial launch of the Indonesia-Malaysia cross-border quick response (QR) code payment linkage.
The linkage enables Indonesians and Malaysians to make instant retail payments in both countries by scanning the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) or DuitNow.
The launch follows the successful completion of the pilot phase of the linkage announced on Jan 27, 2022, the central banks said in a joint statement on Monday (May 8).
BNM governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the linkage offers significant potential to boost economic activities, including tourism spending in the two countries.
“The payment linkage will also help expand markets for some businesses, and facilitate increased settlements in local currency, thereby improving financial outcomes.

#Fintech

The Paypers, Posted May 8, 2023

Multinational universal bank Barclays has announced its partnership with TransferMate to offer an international receivables payment solution for UK businesses.
Following this collaboration, UK companies will be provided with the possibility to reduce transaction and payment costs, while saving time and resources. It will also offer customers the opportunity to keep an eye on the amount of money that is billed and the amount of money that is received, in order to make sure that the process of payment is seamless and secure.
TransferMate will be available for UK-based banking clients, and the trading procedure will be in GBP. Users of Barclays will be able to invoice their customers in their local currency, having the capability to make the process in more than 60 currencies and 67 countries. The payment will be received back into their GBP account at the exact requested amount. Furthermore, as all payments are automatically matched to the invoiced amount, the process of manual reconciliation will be eliminated.
The solution was set to adopt a simple registration and set-up process. It leverages the proprietary global payments infrastructure of TransferMate. This will offer the capability of cross-border payments to travel through a single integrated network, as well as for transfers to be processed securely like a domestic payment.

#Barclays

The Paypers, Posted May 4, 2023

Deutsche Bank has partnered with Moss in order to provide instant transfers, new products, and German IBANs for all customers in Europe.
The Deutsche Bank is also taking over the payment transaction processing between the Moss platform and its customers. Moss offers a software solution for holistic expense management. This includes the digital recording and approval of invoices, the settlement of employee expenses, and budget and liquidity management. Another important pillar of Moss’ offers is the issuance of virtual and physical company credit cards. Since mid-2022, Moss has had its own EMI (E-Money Institution) license from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), meaning that Moss could issue cards or loans on its own.
So far, these services had been handled by partners. Now, with Deutsche Bank, a new cooperation partner is being added. According to a Moss representative, the company decided on this partnership to advance its European business following an extensive examination. The Deutsche Bank will handle the receipt, custody, and shipping of all funds for Moss. An additional change that will be implemented as a result of the cooperation is that Moss’ European customers will now receive German IBANs, as requested.

#Deutsche Bank

The Paypers, Posted May 9, 2023

UK card-to-card payments platform Paysend is targeting America’s 60 million-strong Hispanic population after securing a partnership deal with Spanish-language content and media company, TelevisaUnivision.
The two firms have inked a media-for-equity deal that sees Televisa become a significant shareholder in Paysend in exchange for a media and advertising commitment valued at $30 million over three years.

Paysend is hoping the deal will help it win over the millions of Hispanic Americans that send money to family members in Latin America.

The firm says that for unbanked people, its card-to-card offering provides an affordable alterative to more expensive, time-consuming, and unsafe methods to send and receive remittances.

#Payments

Altfi, Posted May 11, 2023

Aspiring financial ‘super app’ Revolut has launched a major product update for its trading business.
Revolut has launched Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for its trading offering via a partnership with German fintech Upvest.
The new update to its profitable wealth and trading business will allow its European customers to invest directly in c.150 fractional ETFs, whereby retail investors are the legal owners of the underlying shares and securities.
This means they are entitled to dividends and other shareholder voting rights.
Upvest provides the brokerage, settlement and custody infrastructure as well as regulatory permissions through its German licenses.
“Upvest is able to offer fractional trading with real securities by making use of its brokerage and proprietary trading licences, granted by the German financial authority. By allowing customers to invest as little as €1m, Revolut will be able to attract a wide range of investors who might not have otherwise considered investing,” Upvest said in a statement.

#Revolut

Revolut’s UK banking license decision set for summer showdown

USA

Visa partners with Tarabut Gateway

The Paypers, Posted May 10, 2023

Tarabut Gateway, an Open Banking platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), has announced a strategic partnership with Visa, the global digital payment provider.
The collaboration aims to accelerate growth and redefine Open Banking in the MENA region by developing new products and solutions that leverage Open Banking capabilities. The initial focus of the partnership will be on creating data-driven offerings, including credit risk assessments, advanced analytics, and insights. Additionally, the two companies plan to explore solutions related to cross-border payments and lending. Through their collaboration, Tarabut Gateway and Visa aim to improve customer experiences, streamline cross-border transactions, and foster innovation and cooperation within the financial ecosystem.
This partnership comes after Tarabut Gateway recently raised USD 32 million in funding, with Visa participating as an investor. Visa’s investment in Tarabut Gateway marks its first venture into the MENA Open Banking sector, solidifying their commitment to financial and operational collaboration in the region. It aligns with Visa’s Open Banking strategy of partnering and investing in well-performing companies to co-develop innovative products and solutions.

#Visa

Mastercard taps open banking for digital account opening

Finextra, Posted May 10, 2023

Mastercard has unveiled a digital account opening tool that uses open banking to integrate customer verification with identity insights into a single API.
Open Banking for Account Opening verifies a consumer’s account ownership and their identity in real-time. It also prefills account and routing data to minimise errors.

The result, says Mastercard, is a simpler, faster, and safer way to open a new account for the 93% of consumers likely to use digital payments this year.

The system draws on the safe exchange of consumer-permissioned data from open banking and identity data network using industry standards, machine learning, and fraud prevention programs.

This helps fintechs and banks know who their customers are and that they own their linked accounts, promoting secure digital account opening for digital wallets, bank and investment accounts, distributions, and account-based payments.

#Mastercard

Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy

Finextra, Posted May 3, 2023

Crypto exchange Bittrex has filed for bankruptcy in the US, weeks after being hit with charges by the SEC and months after saying that it would leave the country.
In March Bittrex said that it would shut up shop in the US by the end of April, citing the “current US regulatory and economic environment”.

Despite this, last month the SEC charged the firm, and co-founder and former CEO William Shihara, for operating an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

Now the company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Delaware, saying it believes it has more than 100,000 creditors, with estimated liabilities and assets both within the $500 million to $1 billion range.

“For those customers who did not withdraw their funds from the platform prior to the end of April, your funds remain safe and secure, and our main priority is to ensure that our customers are made whole,” says a statement.

#Crypto

Banking licenses are the new operational headache for fintechs amid US bank collapses

Altfi, Posted May 10, 2023

Early-stage fintechs rely on banks for their licence access while US banks rely on fintech as high-growth customers, but a regulatory wrinkle could sour plans.
While the opportunity for fintechs to steal market share in the wake of US bank collapses appeared hopeful, companies in the lending space could soon be in for a licensing headache without traditional bank support.
It’s been 8 weeks since the collapse of SVB. One and a half since First Republic was sold to JP Morgan. To say the globally linked American finance community is experiencing a banking hangover, induced by major meltdowns, is an understatement.
On the fintech event circuit, meetings on the topic have popped up left and right. A panel with fintech experts sharing projections could be found a few weeks ago at NY Fintech Week. They can also be found this week at Fintech Nexus with an opening day keynote titled “Fintechs Shouldn’t Become Banks, and Other Lessons and Opportunities in a Post-SVB World.”
But what problems could really be at hand for fintechs? At a high level, securing partnerships and potential customers in banks could be harder to come by, Philip Kelvin, CEO and co-founder of Tranch previously told AltFi.
Yet unlike the 2008 banking crisis, this isn’t fintech’s first rodeo—Paypal has been around since 1998, Square since 2009, and Stripe since 2011. Perhaps banks aren’t as vital for the tech-infused finance sector as the doomsayers believe, and maybe new opportunities could be found.

#US banks

Visa staffs up for ‘ambitious’ crypto plans

Crowdfund Insider, Posted May 10, 2023

Goldman Sachs provides much of the magic behind Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Fintech ventures. Not too long ago, Apple announced its anticipated saving plan, offering consumers an APY of 4.15% – higher than many banking firms. While few details are available on the success of Apple Savings, it was reported that Apple saw $400 million dedicated to its Savings feature on the first day – nearing one billion dollars within days of its launch.
Goldman Sachs, during its most recent earnings call, commented on its relationship with Apple and reflected on how Apple’s saving APY was better than Marcus – Goldman Sachs’ digital bank. At that time, Marcus was offering savers 3.90% APY. Goldman said during the call they were aware of the discrepancy between the two options and would adjust if there was attrition. As Goldman has just matched Apple’s interest rate – perhaps this has happed – or, alternatively, Goldman is just adjusting to the recent 25 bps rate increase by the US Federal Reserve.

#Goldman Sachs

The Paypers, Posted May 10, 2023

By combining Rapyd’s global payments network with Belvo’s expertise in Open Banking, the partnership will enable businesses across Latin America to deliver Open Finance experiences to their customers. This collaboration aims to empower businesses and developers with access to data, payment networks and technologies, streamlining the way they access and interpret data, send, receive, and manage funds in the LATAM market.
The rise of Open Banking has presented a significant opportunity for fintech companies like Rapyd and Belvo to create innovative solutions that cater to the diverse needs of the region. Belvo, already serving over 150 clients in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, including large financial institutions, neobanks, lenders, and ERP companies, is dedicated to helping companies leverage Open Finance data and payments to create more secure, efficient, and inclusive products in Latin America.
Combining both companies’ capabilities will unlock significant synergies in terms of go-to-market motions as well as product development and solutions for our customers.

#Payments

Banco Sofisa partners with Finastra

The Paypers, Posted May 9, 2023

Banco Sofisa, a Brazil-based financial institution, has partnered with Finastra to implement Vector Risk, a market and credit risk solution.
Banco Sofisa has partnered with Finastra to streamline its risk management strategy for new products using the cloud-based Vector Risk solution. The tool, delivered via Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud and hosted on Microsoft Azure, enables the bank to deploy the solution quickly and efficiently without impacting its IT resources.
After establishing a derivatives desk in 2022, Banco Sofisa required a risk management solution to support its new product strategy. The bank consulted Finastra and chose Vector Risk due to its ability to go live within just 30 days. Vector Risk’s modules automate manual processes and offer connectivity with internal data sources, freeing up time and resources for the bank.
Banco Sofisa will leverage Vector Risk’s SaaS solution to automate Value at Risk (VaR), Potential Future Exposure (PFE), and Credit Valuation Adjustment (CVA) modules, with the flexibility to launch additional modules within a day. By testing the solution in production, the bank could select the right modules for its business and ensure operational readiness. This partnership underscores Banco Sofisa’s commitment to digital transformation and its adoption of cutting-edge solutions to drive business growth.

#Fintech

Revolut launches in Brazil

The Paypers, Posted May 3, 2023

Revolut has launched in Brazil, marking the fintech firm’s first foray into Latin America.
Revolut will provide consumers with a multi-currency account with remittance capabilities for 27 countries, as well as a card accepted in over 150 countries. Customers can also convert foreign currencies at any time of day or night, seven days a week.
With over 10 million individual investors in Brazil, the fintech is also providing Bitcoin investments to consumers, citing a ‘growing demand’ for access to cryptocurrencies in the area. Customers on the queue will be encouraged to sign up for the app in a gradual deployment beginning on May 2.
Brazil is Latin America’s largest financial services market, as well as a major corridor for the enormous remittances industry and an increasingly digital populace. In 2021, study found that it ranked first among those who used an app-only bank, with little more than 32%. The firm will begin operations with a worldwide account and cryptocurrency investments.The debut comes only a week after stakeholder Schroders reduced Revolut’s worth by nearly half.

#Revolut