Аsia
Maybank Announces Investment in Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s MSME Digital Finance Platform
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 16, 2024
Maybank, a dedicated banking partner to more than 1 million small and medium enterprises across ASEAN, today announced a strategic investment in FundingSocieties | Modalku (Funding Societies), which is said to be the largest unified digital finance platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia.
In conjunction with this investment, Maybank will explore “collaborative synergies with Funding Societies to promote inclusivity and bridge funding gaps within the communities it serves.”
The transaction represents the inaugural investment “under a new initiative at Maybank to strategically invest and partner with best-in-class digitally-enabled organisations across ASEAN.”
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dtcpay and Visa partner to transform Singapore’s digital payments
The Paypers, Posted September 19, 2024 2024
dtcpay and Visa have announced a strategic partnership to upgrade digital payments in Singapore.
This collaboration will integrate dtcpay’s digital payment technologies with Visa’s global network, providing access to 130 million merchants across over 200 countries. The initial phase will introduce the dtcpay Visa Infinite card, allowing users to convert digital currencies into fiat at competitive real-time rates. The card will be available for public registration in Q4 2024.
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Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 14, 2024
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 14, 2024
Shanghai has unveiled an ambitious action plan to position itself as a global Fintech hub, with 31 measures aimed at upgrading the city’s financial technology landscape over the next three to five years.
The action plan, released by the municipal government on Friday, outlines a comprehensive strategy to enhance Shanghai’s role as an international fintech center by leveraging advanced technologies and fostering innovation.
Key to this plan is a focus on research and development in foundational technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, privacy computing, and quantum computing.
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Singapore Fintech M-DAQ Launches Wallex Payment Solution in Malaysia
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 14, 2024
Singapore-based Fintech group M-DAQ Global Pte. Ltd. has launched its Wallex cross-border foreign exchange (FX) and payment solution in Malaysia, following its acquisition of B2B payments service provider Easy Pay Transfers Sdn. Bhd.
The launch of Wallex marks the expansion of M-DAQ’s footprint in the region through its newly established MDAQ Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. subsidiary, aimed at addressing the cross-border transaction challenges faced by Malaysian businesses.
Cross-border payments for businesses in Malaysia have often been hindered by high costs, complex compliance requirements, and the volatility of FX rates.
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MoneyGram Taps dLocal to Roll Out Cross-Border Payments in APAC and EMEA
Finance Magnates, Posted September 19, 2024
dLocal, a cross-border payment platform focused on emerging markets, announced a new partnership with MoneyGram, a global financial technology company.
The partnership aims to support MoneyGram in expanding its services across the Asia-Pacific (APAC)and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions. Future expansion is planned for Latin America (LATAM). The collaboration will enhance MoneyGram’s digital payment capabilities in these regions.
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Visa and Dtcpay Partner to Facilitate Use of Digital Currencies
PYMNTS, Posted September 18, 2024
Visa and Singapore-based digital payments solutions provider dtcpay partnered to help consumers and businesses convert digital currencies into fiat and make digital payments.
By integrating dtcpay’s digital payments capabilities with Visa’s global payments network, this collaboration will enable access to 130 million merchants in more than 200 countries and territories, the companies said in a Wednesday (Sept. 18) press release.
The capability will further dtcpay’s mission to enable digital currencies to be used and accepted by mainstream financial systems, dtcpay CEO and co-founder Alice Liu said in the release.
“By bolstering this ambition with Visa’s commitment to innovation, our partnership will introduce an additional digital payment avenue for businesses and individuals, enabling dtcpay to drive greater mainstream acceptance for digital currencies,” Liu said.
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Europe
Klarna adds features to AI-powered assistant
Finextra, Posted September 19, 2024
The AI assistant now offers a chat-based shopping experience, helping users spend less time and supports them in finding the right goods at the right price. The AI assistant provides personalized product recommendations, expert advice, category and brand comparisons, and access to customer reviews—streamlining the path from inspiration to purchase.
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Revolut founder sells shares ‘worth up to $300m’ in fintech company
The Guardian, Posted September 12, 2024
The founder of Revolut, one of the most valuable technology companies in Europe, has reportedly sold shares worth up to $300m (£230m) in the company.
Nik Storonsky, chief executive of Revolut, sold 40-60% of the stock offloaded in last month’s secondary share sale. The sell-off of stock in Britain’s most valuable fintech firm was worth $200m-$300m, according to Sky News, which first reported the share sale.
Storonsky, a former Lehman Brothers trader who established Revolut in 2015, retains a stake in the company estimated to be worth $8bn.
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Lloyds Bank Group closures to hit nearly 300 in 2025
Money Week, Posted September 14, 2024
Lloyds Bank Group closures are increasing, with another 55 closures confirmed. This takes the total number of Lloyds branches shutting down throughout 2024/25 to 292. The bank joins other high-street providers in shutting shop ostensibly due to customers moving to digital banking. These include NatWest with 51 branch closures in 2024 and TSB which plans to close down 36 branches, starting this September.
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Open Banking Limited Welcomes UK Open Banking Milestone
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 19, 2024
This past week, Open Banking Limited announced that the Competition and Markets Authority has officially confirmed the full completion of the final Roadmap for Open Banking. This milestone, building on the “substantial completion” announced in 2023, means that all nine banking providers mandated by the Competition and Markets Authority under the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order have successfully completed the roadmap and associated required functionality to offer the full suite of open banking payment and account information services.
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Revolut to launch its stablecoin
The Paypers, Posted September 19, 2024
Revolut has announced is preparing to launch its stablecoin.
The stablecoin market, currently led by Tether’s USDT with a market cap of around USD 119 billion, continues to attract new entrants. Circle’s USDC is the second-largest, at approximately one-third the size of USDT. PayPal entered the stablecoin market in 2023, and blockchain firms Ripple and BitGo have recently announced their plans to follow suit.
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Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 17, 2024
R3, the infrastructure platform building digital solutions for financial markets, and Quant, the digital finance pioneer, announce the release of the results of UK Finance’s UK Regulated Liability Network.
The report which follows work with UK Finance with eleven of its members and partners on “a new experimentation phase.”
This is a new type of financial market infrastructure “that can deliver new capabilities for payments and settlement, including tokenization and programmability.”
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Open Finance: Konsentus Verify Now Accessible in Europe via Online Portal
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 18, 2024
Konsentus announced that Konsentus’ European trusted data, Konsentus Verify, can now be accessed through an online portal, via a real-time API or a downloadable cache. Financial Institutions in the European Economic Area (EEA) can choose the delivery mechanism that best works for them.
For open banking and open finance in Europe, “identifying third parties and checking their identity and regulatory status is difficult – the data is disparate and inconsistent.”
That’s why Konsentus has brought together “the latest available source data on payment service providers (i.e. PISPs, AISPs and ASPSPs acting as third parties), electronic money institutions and credit institutions (acting as either ASPSPs and/or third party providers) into a single directory easily accessible whatever a bank’s requirements.”
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Market Pay introduces point-of-sale software payment solution
The Paypers, Posted September 19, 2024
France-based fintech firm Market Pay has announced the launch of a new hybrid point-of-sale software payment solution which merges POS and SoftPOS.
By introducing the new service, Market Pay aims to deliver a single app available for both terminal and smartphone payments, thus serving as a solution suitable for all point-of-sale purchases. As a pan-European payment platform, the company delivers omnichannel digital solutions, with the firm managing the entire value chain based on its experience in the retail sector. By deploying simplified and optimised payment solutions, Market Pay serves both large retailers and small merchants, equipping them with end-to-end digital services.
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USA
JPMorgan in talks with Apple over Goldman credit card partnership, source says
Reuters, Posted September 17, 2024
JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab is in talks with Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab about replacing Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab as the tech giant’s credit-card partner, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The discussions started earlier this year and have advanced in recent weeks, but any potential deal could still be months away, said the source, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
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Walmart to offer instant bank payments
Finextra, Posted September 19, 2024
According to Bloomberg, the retail giant is tapping into Fiserv’s NOW Network, which integrates with The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow.
The feature – coming next year – provides shoppers with an alternative to the card networks, which Walmart and other retailers have long been in conflict with over interchange fees.
The company first dipped its toe into pay-by-bank earlier this year with Walmart Pay. However, with payments processed through the Automated Clearing House, transactions took around three days to finalise.
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Capchase partners with Stripe for a B2B BNPL payment
The Paypers, Posted September 18, 2024
Capchase has announced a partnership with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform, as its first B2B BNPL payment method for the US.
Through this partnership, Capchase’s (BNPL) solution is now integrated into Stripe. This collaboration will streamline B2B transactions for both buyers and sellers by allowing buyers to spread payments over time while enabling sellers to close deals faster and still receive the full annual contract value (ACV) upfront.
While BNPL has become popular in the B2C retail space, Capchase has made its use in the B2B SaaS sector, simplifying the purchasing process for over 1,000 SaaS companies. Capchase Pay helps reduce friction in pricing and payment terms, which are often barriers to finalising deals.
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LatAm
Reuters, Posted September 18, 2024
Latin American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre (MELI.O), opens new tab announced on Wednesday that it signed a $250 million financing deal with JPMorgan (JPM.N), opens new tab aimed at expanding its fintech arm Mercado Pago’s credit profile in Mexico.
MercadoLibre said the financing deal will strengthen its commitment to Mexican small and medium-sized businesses, allowing the firm to reinvest and finance more businesses and individuals in the coming years.
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Brazil’s Digital Banking Platform Nubank Ultravioleta Expands Fixed Income Shelf
Crowdfund Insider, Posted September 14, 2024
Ultravioleta, Nubank’s (NYSE: NU) high-income customer experience, launches today a series of Bank Deposit Certificates (CDBs, from the acronym in Portuguese) with more competitive yield rates than those already available in the app.
According to the website, Ultraviliot card cashback may grow at twice the value of the Interbank Deposit Certificate (CDI).
The expansion of CDB offerings for Nubank Ultravioleta customers aims “to impact investors seeking security, high returns, and a variety of maturity terms.”
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Brazilian Banks call for accelerated credit card gambling ban
Payment Expert, Posted September 17, 2024
he Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) has called on the government to enforce the planned ban on using credit cards for betting sooner than initially scheduled.
Isaac Sidney, President of Febraban, expressed concern to the Brazilian publication Folha De S.Paulo about the increasing use of credit cards for betting, emphasising the potential risks this poses.
Brazil is set to launch a nationwide regulated betting and gaming market this year, under legislation introduced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Regulations include a ban on the use of credit cards for fixed-rate betting, covering sports betting and online games.
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Former Mastercard exec invests in Argentinian payments startup Pomelo
Finextra, Posted September 17, 2024
Enrico, who spent more than 12 years at Mastercard, most recently as an executive committee member, also joins the Pomelo board.
Built by Mastercard, Mercado Pago and Naranja X veterans, Pomelo helps clients launch credit, debit or prepaid card businesses in multiple countries, in weeks, with a single technological integration.
The company operates in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru and has hundreds of corporate clients including banks, multinational companies and technology startups such as Rappi, Bitso, Stori, Lulobank, Nomad, Payjoy, Ripio, and AstroPay.
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Arajet and CellPoint Digital team up to transform payment solutions in the Americas
Fintech Global, Posted September 16, 2024
Arajet, the Dominican Republic’s burgeoning low-cost airline, recently announced a strategic partnership with CellPoint Digital, a leading provider of payment solutions in the global airline, hospitality, and travel sectors.
Arajet, launched in 2022 and based at Las Americas Airport in Santo Domingo, serves as the national flag carrier of the Dominican Republic. It operates flights to 23 destinations across 16 countries and is renowned for its direct connections from Santo Domingo to cities like Toronto and Montreal. CellPoint Digital, known for its innovative Payment Orchestration platform, has established a strong foothold in various global markets including Copenhagen, Dallas, and Dubai.
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