Аsia
SBI General Insurance, HSBC seal bancassurance partnership
Insurance Asia, Posted 7 August , 2024
SBI General Insurance announced its bancassurance partnership with HSBC India to offer non-life insurance plans.
“We are pleased to announce a strategic bancassurance partnership between SBI General Insurance and HSBC India,” the insurer said in a LinkedIn post. “By leveraging HSBC’s extensive branch and digital network, this partnership represents a significant step towards providing accessible and comprehensive insurance solutions, helping increase insurance penetration in the country,”
The bank will offer SBI General Insurance’s whole non-life offerings which range from health, property, motor, and travel.
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Revolut launches a B2B offering in Singapore
The Paypers, Posted August 6, 2024
Global fintech Revolut has launched the Revolut Business B2B offering in Singapore, marking the company’s foray into Asia.
This platform aims to offer companies in Singapore efficient and cost-effective financial management tools to support their global business operations. Revolut Business, which is operational in over 40 countries, facilitates payments, spending control, and team management. It currently serves hundreds of thousands of active businesses worldwide.
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Pine Labs-owned Setu partners Axis Bank for UPI-focused payments platform
The Economic Times, Posted August 7, 2024
Tonik, the Philippines’ digital-only neobank, recently announced that it has achieved steady growth in its consolidated loan portfolio and revenue in the first half of 2024.
In 2023, Tonik claims that it “became the first non-captive digital bank in the Philippines to achieve a major milestone of reaching positive lending unit profitability across its three lending product lines – Salary Loans, Shop Installment Loans and Cash Loans.”
This has reportedly enabled Tonik to accelerate “the scaling of its new loan production, which as of June 2024 jumped by +133% year-on-year.”
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Europe
BNP Paribas in talks to buy AXA Investment Managers for 5.1 bln euros
Reuters, Posted 1 August, 2024
BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), opens new tab is in exclusive talks with French insurer AXA (AXAF.PA), opens new tab to buy 100% of its AXA Investment Managers arm at an agreed price of 5.1 billion euros ($5.50 billion), the euro zone’s biggest bank said on Thursday.
For BNP, such an acquisition would significantly boost its asset management arm as the industry is in a race for size to achieve economies of scale and lower costs.
This represents a major strategic move for AXA, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, as it aims to focus on its core businesses: life insurance, savings, property and casualty policies as well as health insurance.
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tbi bank partners with Mi-home.ro
The Paypers, Posted August 2, 2024
tbi bank, a challenger bank in Southeast Europe, has formed a partnership with Mi-home.ro, the official online store of Xiaomi Romania.
This collaboration introduces a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) financing option for a broad selection of smart devices.
Customers now have the option to purchase smart devices through Mi-home.ro with a BNPL plan, choosing between interest-free payments in four instalments or extended payments in six to 60 instalments with interest. For transactions up to EUR 400, customers can opt for 4 fixed, interest-free instalments. For amounts exceeding EUR 400, the instalment terms remain fixed throughout the contract duration, with options ranging from 6 to 60 months.
Mi-home.ro, which launched in 2021, is an authorised online retailer offering a diverse array of Xiaomi products in Romania. The retailer’s sales reached over EUR 1.8 million in 2023. The partnership with tbi bank aims to improve access to smart devices amid challenging economic conditions, facilitating easier financing solutions for consumers.
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ClearBank secures Dutch banking license
Finextra, Posted August 9, 2024
British bank ClearBank has secured its European banking license from the European Central Bank, under supervision of De Nederlandsche Bank.
ClearBank specialises in real-time clearing and embedded banking, based on a scalable cloud-native platform which allows for real-time agility unlike legacy system banks.
Newly appointed CEO of ClearBank Europe, Rintse Zijlstra, commented: “With changing regulations impacting banks and payment providers across Europe – many of which will require major overhauls of technology infrastructure – we are best-placed to help our clients deliver compliant, next-generation banking and payments services. ClearBank was purpose-built to enable the banking services of tomorrow and our expansion will see us support new and existing clients in their European growth.”
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UK Fintech Investment Triples in First Half of 2024, the Rest of the World Declines
Crowdfund Insider, Posted August 6, 2024
The UK has long been a hot center of innovation in financial services. The noted Fintech hub has boosted the UK economy while helping the country maintain its status as a top global financial center. The sagging global economy, commencing with the COVID health crisis, has harmed all nations, but in regard to Fintech investment, it appears the UK is bouncing back from lows.
A report shared by KPMG says that UK Fintech investment almost tripled during the first half of 2024 when compared to the first 6 months of 2023. For H1 2024, there has been $7.3 billion invested in Fintechs, up from $2.5 billion in the same period in 2023.
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USA
Fintech Payoneer is buying 5-year-old global payroll startup Skuad for $61M in cash
TechCrunch, Posted 7 August, 2024
New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skuad, a Singapore-based global HR and payroll startup, for $61 million in cash, the company exclusively told TechCrunch.
Payoneer said it could also pay up to another $10 million, contingent on if Skuad meets various performance goals within the first 18 months of the acquisition. Payoneer also committed to grant $10 million in restricted stock units which are subject to vesting contingent on continued employment of key personnel. So all told, Payoneer could pay as much as around $81 million.
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Google integrates Greenlight card into smartwatch for kids
Finextra, Posted August 8, 2024
Atlanta-based fintech unicorn Greenlight claims 6.5 million users for its combined “smart” debit card and app that helps kids improve their financial literacy while giving parents controls on spending.
By connecting Greenlight to the Google Fitbit Ace LTE, kids can make payments without a phone or physical card. Meanwhile, parents can send money instantly, automate allowance payments, manage chores, set flexible spending controls and get real-time notifications via the app.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Greenlight to bring tap to pay capabilities to the Fitbit Ace LTE, giving parents a valuable tool to instill responsible spending habits and help kids gain confidence while they learn important money skills,” says Ben Greenwood, Fitbit Ace LTE product lead.
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X working on ‘payments’ button
Finextra, Posted August 7, 2024
As reported by TechCrunch, app researcher Nima Owji has spotted a “Payments” button in the navigation bar on X under the bookmarks tab. Owji has also dug up references for new payment features, such as “transactions, balance, and transfer.”
The payments push comes as X has been struggling to attract advertising revenue since Musk bought the company formerly known as Twitter. This week, the firm filed an antitrust lawsuit against advertising groups over a “boycott”.
Last week, X Payments was granted a money transmitter license in its 33rd state, North Dakota.
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Finextra, Posted August 7, 2024
Valar Ventures led the round, which brings Octane’s total funding to $242 million, with participation from Upper90.
Founded in 2014, Octane promises to smooth the financing experience in the nearly $30 billion powersports market, which includes motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs, and personal watercraft. The company’s digital tools, including a dealer platform and suite of soft-pull prequalification tools, is used by over 4000 dealer partners.
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JP Morgan preps more biometric payment pilots
Finextra, Posted August 7, 2024
Global biometric payments are expected to reach $5.8 trillion and three billion users by 2026, according to Goode Intelligence.
Last year, JP Morgan signalled its intention to bring the technology to its huge merchant client base, partnering biometrics specialist PopID to conduct a series of pilots. Now, the banking giant and PopID are carrying out more testing, removing the need for shoppers to pull out their phones or credit cards.
PopID research shows the platform decreases ordering and check out times by up to 90 seconds per transaction and can increase ticket size by four per cent.
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Big Tech in Fintech Report Reveals How Amazon and Google are Battling to Own Digital Transactions
Crowdfund Insider, Posted August 9, 2024
CBInsights has released an extensive update focused on the role of “Big Tech in Fintech: How Amazon and Google are battling to own transactions.”
The comprehensive research report from CBInsights pointed out that while Amazonand Google have reeled in their efforts to offer their own financial services, they “continue to embed themselves in the digital financial ecosystem.”
According to the CBInsights research report, Big tech won’t “be your next bank — but they’ll play a part in many of your transactions.”
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LatAm
Stori Secures US$212 Million for Latin America Expansion
Mexico Business, Posted August 8, 2024
Mexican fintech startup Stori has secured US$212 million (M$4 billion) in a new round of equity and debt financing to advance its goal of expanding access to financial services across Latin America. The funding consists of US$105 million in equity and US$107 million in debt, led by Notable Capital and BAI, with participation from investors such as ACE Redpoint Ventures, GIC, General Catalyst, Goodwater, Lightspeed Ventures, and Tresalia. The debt financing was provided by Goldman Sachs and Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP.
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IFC and Citi launch $500 million sustainable supply chain finance facility in Mexico
Trade Finance Global, Posted August 5, 2024
International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Citi have signed an agreement to implement a $500 million facility in Mexico. This is the first project under the umbrella of a $2 billion sustainable supply chain finance program focused on emerging markets.
The project is the largest to date to be funded by IFC’s Global Supply Chain Finance Program (GSCF), which was launched in 2022 to respond to global supply chain disruptions. The GSCF is designed to help address the supply chain finance gaps for SMEs and expand access to sustainable supply chain finance.
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Nuvei to acquire licensed Payment Institution in Brazil
The Paypers, Posted August 5, 2024
Nuvei has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Pay2All a payment institution licensed by the Central Bank of Brazil.
According to the official press release, this acquisition is a significant step for Nuvei in the Brazilian market and underscores its dedication to the Latin American (LATAM) region.
With the Payment Institution license, Nuvei will be able to provide a wide range of payment services in Brazil, including issuing electronic currency, processing payments, managing e-wallets and betting accounts, and participating in all local payment systems, including the PIX transaction system.
The press release continues to state that this license is essential for offering transaction services to authorised operators in Brazil’s newly regulated sports betting and online gaming market, as per Law No. 14.790/23.
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People’s Clearinghouse partners with Interledger Foundation
The Paypers, Posted August 2, 2024
People’s Clearinghouse has announced its partnership with the Interledger Foundation in order to launch a digital cross-border payment infrastructure project.
Following this announcement, the financial institutions are set to implement a new cross-border payment infrastructure, aiming to facilitate remittances between the US and Mexican residents via community banks in rural areas. The initial work is expected to provide streamlined cross-border transaction capabilities to the 140 community banks that belong to the Mexican Association of Social Sector Credit Unions (AMUCSS) — a network of community banks in rural regions in Mexico.
The new payment infrastructure aims to also serve as a project that can be deployed around the world in order to serve other under-banked and rural populations. In addition, both People’s Clearinghouse and the Interledger Foundation will continue to focus on meeting the needs, preferences, and demands of clients and customers in an ever-evolving market, while prioritising the process of remaining compliant with the regulatory requirements and laws of the industry as well.
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Mexican fintech Stori raises $212 million
Finextra, Posted August 7, 2024
The round includes US$105 million in equity led by Notable Capital and BAI with participation from new and existing investors ACE Redpoint Ventures, GIC, General Catalyst, Goodwater, Lightspeed Ventures, and Tresalia, and US$107 million in new debt financing provided by Goldman Sachs and Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP.
Stori is trageting Mexico’s underserved population offering credit cards and deposit accounts to its three million customer base.
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