Future of Fintech | Edition #57 – Feb 2023
Summary of news from 14th to 20th February
Hola, Fintech Lovers! 💻
Welcome to another fintech-fueled Tuesday!
It's time to buckle up and get ready for a ride through the ever-evolving landscape of fintech. We are thrilled to be your guide on this exciting journey and bring you the freshest updates and insights from this space. So, fix yourself your favourite espresso as we embark on an adventure through this dynamic realm where innovation never takes a break and possibilities are limitless.💡
The fintech world has been set ablaze by exciting developments that emerged last week from the sun-soaked shores of Australia. Major players like Paypal and Experian made waves by demonstrating a firm commitment to compliance with the region’s regulations. Not just that, the Digital Finance sector stole the show, with a myriad of digital banks making headlines.
Brace yourselves for a thrilling ride through the dazzling, daring and dynamic world of embedded finance. Gone are the days when embedded finance was limited to just payments and cards. Today, it has expanded its reach to encompass an exciting array of financial products. This transformative industry is bursting with potential for innovation and disruption, set to revolutionise the way customers access and experience financial services. Let’s uncover The State of Embedded Finance in 2022 for more insights!
#Edition 57 is filled to the brim with fresh and fruitful fintech discoveries. Get ready to explore the latest and greatest in the world of fintech >>>
Here's the TL;DR
Moves by fintech players are beginning a new wave of global fintech growth. By appointing Envestnet | Yodlee® as its official Open Data API provider in Australia, Experian flexed its fintech muscles and showed its commitment to global expansion. Meanwhile, Mozn's partnership with Mambu to empower digital banking operations in the Middle East propelled fintech adoption to new heights.
Taking the banking revolution a step further, Salt Edge and Mooncascade teamed up to deliver cutting-edge advancements in UX, security, and open banking. Adding the cherry on top, Starling Bank made banking a piece of cake for SMEs with their brand-new savings account.
Last week, fintech players met their targets: While Aspire set its sights high and hit the jackpot with its $100M Series C funding round, Nomura's Laser Digital laid the groundwork with its strategic investment in DeFi protocol Infinity Exchange.
Reimaging the way we think about payments and purchases - Visa, Froda, and Lunar unveiled an instant push-payment solution for the SME business loan market. At the same time, Zopa acquired DivideBuy to offer simple, fair solutions for large purchases.
The world of fintech served up a delightful contrast of developments the past week: In the UK, the FCA was granted regulatory power over BNPL credit, including the authorisation of operators and activities; on the other side of the globe, Banco do Brasil and Bitfy shook things up by allowing users to pay their taxes with cryptocurrency.
For the longer read, let's get going –
Open Finance is on a mission to revolutionise the financial industry with its unstoppable drive towards providing the masses with a seamless and reliable user experience!
Plaid grabbed headlines as it rolled out its Identity Verification and KYC solution Monitor in Canada to help firms verify the identities of users from over 200 countries.
Additionally, it also partnered with Okta to accelerate its open finance initiatives and deliver seamless connectivity for potentially millions of consumers.
Nordigen and GoCardless signed accounting software firm NoCFO to provide entrepreneurs and small businesses with a more intelligent way to manage their books and run their businesses.
The Digital Finance sector had leading players ignite the headlines with some dazzling and dynamic debuts, setting the stage for innovation.
Diner’s Club Ecuador went live with Temenos Core Banking, Payments and Analytics on the cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking the launch of Diner’s Club Ecuador as a digital bank in the country.
Douugh launched its money management platform in the Australian market, the first stage being its foundation micro-investing service.
The Embedded Finance arena witnessed some heavyweights advocating for regulation, while others aimed to boost customer satisfaction to unprecedented heights.
Starcart, a Finnish start-up e-commerce aggregator, selected Enfuce to offer its retailers and shoppers the convenience, speed, and security of embedded online card payments by combining Enfuce's integrated payments strengths with Starcart's business model.
PayPal dropped a hot take in the payments world, backing the regulation of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) loans in Australia under consumer protection laws and hence adding significant weight from within the industry.
Fintech Infrastructure got the hype with lit collabs as industry buddies teamed up to upgrade the customer journey with the freshest tech tools!
Soldo selected Form3, the cloud-native account-to-account platform, to provide SEPA Credit Transfer and Instant connectivity. These capabilities will enable it to update its payment technology to boost customer growth as its business expands.
Fluid Finance partnered with the global all-in-one verification platform Sumsub to enhance user onboarding and ensure bulletproof fraud protection.
The Green Finance landscape was fresh with all sorts of lively activities. From peppy partnerships illuminating the space to regulators fastening their grip on the reins – there seemed to be no shortage of insightful findings!
Cloverly and ecolytiq partnered to equip financial institutions with the ability to offer high-quality and verified carbon credits, thus defining a new standard in banking by mainstreaming climate action.
The Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT), convened by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), launched its final public consultation on a green and transition taxonomy for Singapore-based financial institutions. The consultation seeks views on the detailed thresholds and criteria for the classification of green and transition activities.
The DeFi universe was shining bright with some epic breakthroughs that took place the past week.
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced the successful offering of $101M of tokenised green bonds under the Government Green Bond Programme (GGBP).
eBay’s non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, KnownOrigin, announced the launch of a creator smart contract for artists. So far, it has deployed 84 contracts and 250 NFTs have been published. Following ahead, NFT artists will be able to diversify earnings and also earn royalties as co-creators.
Some other happenings in the FinTech universe 🪐
Spice up your fintech appetite with an extra kick of electrifying fintech toppings:
Australian fintech Limepay rebranded itself to April to sharpen the focus on embedded finance.
Celsius Network chose NovaWulf's bid for bankruptcy exit and to sponsor the company’s reorganisation plan. The proposed agreement would enable Celsius to exit the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
And that's a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
If you're hungry for more FinTech insights, check out some of our other work at WhiteSight.
Our latest publications include our annual Fintech roundups of 2022, filled with insights and trends in the industry that are sure to delight you –
If you're someone who likes to read think pieces, you will likely love our monthly blog, Fintersections, where our team members analyse the convergence of FinTech with the world.
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