Аsia
Visa launches SME online toolkit in Vietnam
The Paypers, Posted 1 August , 2024
Multinational payment card services corporation Visa has announced that it introduced an online toolkit meant to support merchants in Vietnam to fully benefit from its digital payment solutions.
By launching the resources, Visa intends to allow merchants in Vietnam, more specifically small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to accept and take advantage of the company’s digital payment solutions. In addition, the move comes as part of Visa’s commitment to advance the Vietnamese SMEs’ capabilities and develop the national economy, by accelerating the adoption and acceptance of contactless payments.
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PingPong receives Indonesian payment licence
PR Newswire, Posted July 31, 2024
Global cross-border payment platform PingPong has announced that it secured a Payment System Service Provider (PJP) licence from Bank Indonesia.
Being amongst the few payment companies to obtain a PJP licence from the central bank of Indonesia, PingPong is now set to facilitate cross-border and domestic payments for businesses in the region, allowing international enterprises to expand their services into the country, and for Indonesian businesses to use the company’s global footprint.
Due to its young population, high internet penetration, and labour force, Indonesia is one of the fastest-growing regions in Southeast Asia, increasingly solidifying its position as a country in which international enterprises look to expand their global footprint. With the newly acquired licence, PingPong can support businesses focusing on cross-border trade to receive access to Indonesia’s export market.
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Philippines based Digital Bank Tonik Reports Steady Growth
Thailand Business News, Posted July 30, 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
SME neobank Ampere announces partnership with Mastercard
The Paypers, Posted 1 August , 2024
Ampere has partnered with Mastercard aiming to enhance Ampere’s service offerings, particularly in the area of transfers, as part of its goal to simplify financial solutions for SMEs.
As per the official press release, Ampere aims to lead the neobanking sector by providing customers with access to card-to-card payments that can convert over 60 currencies more quickly and affordably than traditional banks. This helps to eliminate the delays and complications typically associated with international payments.
The announcement follows Ampere’s recent expansion across the European Union. Now, businesses based in the UK and Europe can open Ampere accounts, facilitating smooth and efficient market entry within the EU.
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Bud Financial Selects Lithuania as European Hub
Crowdfund insider, Posted July 31, 2024
Fintech Bud Financial has selected Lithuania as its European hub.
According to Invest Lithuania, the financial data intelligence platform is expanding its presence in the country after the Bank of Lithuania granted Bud Financial an AIS [Account Information Service] Provider license.
Bud will now be able to provide services across all European Economic Area (EEA) countries.
Founded in London, Bud is described as an AI-powered platform that is used by banks and Fintechs to turn transactional data into customer insight.
Bud reportedly has around one hundred employees across the UK, US, and Lithuania.
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Digital Wallet Provider Sticpay Adds Mastercard, Visa
The Paypers, Posted July 31, 2024
Sticpay, a digital wallet and payments provider, says it has added Visa and Mastercard debit/credit card processing to its platform. Sticpay reports over 5000 merchants.
Sticpay is licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and reports over one million users and 5,000 corporate clients across more than 200 countries.
Sticpay enables users to transfer fiat and crypto through bank wire, credit card, and local payment and crypto methods.
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USA
MoneyLion joins American Fintech Council
American Fintech Council, Posted 1 August, 2024
US-based digital financial platform MoneyLion has joined the American Fintech Council (AFC) to promote financial inclusivity and innovation.
The American Fintech Council (AFC), the premier industry association representing responsible fintech companies and innovative banks, announced that MoneyLion has joined the AFC as its newest member. MoneyLion, a digital ecosystem for consumer finance that empowers everyone to make their best financial decisions, joins a fast growing fintech association comprising responsible innovators delivering critical access to financial services.
Officials from the AFC said that MoneyLion enables customers to take control of their financial future, unlocking countless possibilities for people long forgotten by traditional financial institutions. Responsible fintech companies like MoneyLion are building the future of finance — innovations that make financial services and education more accessible for all.
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Eltropy launches AI suite for credit unions and banks
The Paypers, Posted July 29, 2024
Eltropy, a provider of AI-powered conversation platforms for community financial institutions (CFIs), has announced a new AI suite tailored for credit unions and community banks.
This suite includes AI Agents, AI Assistants, and AI Intelligence, all designed to enhance service delivery, operational efficiency, and conversation intelligence.
Eltropy’s AI Agents operate as digital assistants on websites and voice channels, offering accurate information by analyzing and interpreting content. They can manage over 60% of common inquiries, improving self-service options. The latest update allows members to use generative AI to navigate websites and identify suitable financial products.
The AI Assistants support employees in various departments by providing quick access to internal knowledge bases, which streamlines workflows and reduces the need for staff to seek information from multiple sources. This feature aims to accelerate onboarding and lower training costs.
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Tokenization Platform OpenEden to Bring Tokenized US Treasury Bills to XRP Ledger (XRPL)
CryptoSlate, Posted August 1, 2024
The tokenization of T-bills onto the XRPL “is a demonstration of how institutional access to decentralized finance (DeFi) is being driven by the tokenization of traditional real-world assets (RWAs).”
The assets backing OpenEden’s TBILL tokens “are invested in short-dated US T-bills and reverse repurchase agreements collateralized by US Treasuries.”
Minters are subject to stringent KYC and AML screening to “ensure the highest security and regulatory compliance standards.”
Ripple, the leader in enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, “will also allocate USD$10 million into OpenEden’s TBILL tokens.”
This is part of a larger fund that Ripple will “allocate to tokenized T-bills provided by OpenEden and other issuers.”
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LatAm
Mexican fintech Aviva raises $5.5m
Finextra, Posted August 2, 2024
Aviva, a Mexican “phygital” financial platform for the underbanked and micro businesses, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding.
Krealo, the corporate VC of Credicorp, Ignia Partners, Carao Ventures, Rainforest Capital, DCG, Wollef, Newtopia, 500 Global, and Magna VC joined Mexico’s biggest seed stage round of the year.
Founded in 2022, Aviva is combining the physical with the digital (phygital) to target the more than 70 million Mexicans primarily living in cities of less than 500,000. This market is characterised by informal labour and heavy cash use and, claims the startup, represents an opportunity of over $150 billion in lending assets.
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New US-Mexico payments pathway will tap rural community banks
Payments Journal, Posted August 1, 2024
A new cross-border payments infrastructure will enable remittances between the US and Mexico via 140 community banks in rural areas.
The new corridor is being developed by the Interledger Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the creation of an open, interoperable payment network and the People’s Clearinghouse, which works with community banks and credit unions in Mexico.
The Interledger Foundation argues that for US-based Mexicans using private money transfer services often comes with high fees, high minimums, and prolonged wait times.
It also does little to empower local financial institutions or the communities they serve, helping to create cash-based ecosystems where capital never enters community banks’ ledgers. As a result, communities miss out on capital that could fuel innovation and sustainable development.
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Credicorp Capital goes live on Temenos Multifonds on SaaS
The Paypers, Posted August, 2024
Investment company Credicorp Capital has gone live on Temenos Multifonds delivered as SaaS to accelerate growth and respond to the changing needs of its business.
Following this announcement, the new platform will allow Credicorp Capital to handle large transaction volumes with optimised stability, as well as benefit from improved security and flexibility, alongside a simpler integration with its digital channels. In addition, the automation and reduced complexity of Themenos Multifonds will also allow the investment company to introduce new tool lines and expand its product channels more quickly in order to help it remain competitive in a changing landscape.
At the same time, both companies will continue to focus on meeting the needs, preferences, and demands of clients and customers in an ever-evolving market, while also prioritising the process of remaining compliant with the regulatory requirements and laws of the industry.
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Pluggy now offers batch payments within Open Finance
The Paypers, Posted July 31, 2024
Pluggy has launched a new batch payment service enabling companies to consolidate all payments to various creditors and through different means into a single Pix transaction.
Currently, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often need an entire department dedicated to managing daily bill payments, resulting in significant time spent reconciling data and a lot of time is wasted on this part of accounts payable and receivable.
Batch payments in Open Finance are managed by payment transaction initiators (ITP), a license that Pluggy secured from the Central Bank in June 2023. This means that the startup now operates on the transaction side as well. Officials from Pluggy stated that the company already has three clients about to launch the batch payment solution, with dozens more currently testing it. Pluggy has further plans beyond batch payments, with the development of additional solutions within Embedded Finance for the payments market on their agenda.
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Google Wallet to integrate Pix payments with C6 Bank and PicPay accounts
The Paypers, Posted July 31, 2024
Google has announced that Google Wallet will integrate with C6 Bank and PicPayaccounts, allowing users to initiate payments via Pix without needing to open the financial institutions’ apps.
As per the announcement, this enhancement to Google’s payments platform aims to provide users in Brazil with increased speed, convenience, and flexibility. Integrating Pix as a payment method is a natural step to fully address the country’s payment needs.
The executive says that the expansion of the digital wallet’s resources as a payment initiator is done through Open Finance, which enables the connection between the platform and banking systems. To do this, users need to connect their bank accounts to Google Wallet. After integration, the wallet’s home screen will have three buttons, the first one being for making transfers by pointing the Pix key, as happens in banking apps.
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Ripple Joins Fenasbac’s Next Accelerator to Enable Blockchain Innovation in Brazilian Finance
Coinlive, Posted July 30, 2024
Ripple, the enabler of enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions, and Fenasbac, the National Federation of Associations of Central Bank Servers, announced a partnership to advance fintech innovation in Brazil through the Next accelerator program.
Their combined effort will “support the development of scalable financial servicessolutions that best leverage blockchain technology such as the XRP Ledger, a decentralized layer 1 blockchain built for business.”
Led by Fenasbac, Next is said to be “the largest accelerator program in Brazil’s financial sector, providing mentorship, resources and investment opportunities to early-stage fintechs with strong growth potential.”
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