Future of Fintech | Edition #80 – July 2023
Summary of fintech news from 25th to 31st July
Hello, fintech geeks!👋
Get ready to indulge in this week’s edition of our Future of Fintech newsletter, freshly brewed and overflowing with all the latest fintech tidbits. This week, we're serving up the trendiest stories straight from the tech frontiers of Europe and the USA.
In the midst of last week's exciting fintech trends, a major story unfolded in the realm of real-time payments >>
Plaid Hops on the Real-Time Payment Bandwagon!
FedNow is sizzling hot, and that's got the fintech world all fired up! 🔥
So, what's the scoop?
Plaid, the open finance platform, is jumping on the FedNow bandwagon. This move is all about catering to the growing appetite for real-time, on-demand payments. The best part? Plaid's buddy in this venture is Cross River Bank - another fintech-focused challenger bank powering several fintechs and brands in the US. Together, they're on a mission to make payments in the US faster, safer, and smoother than ever before.
Read on for more exciting updates in Future of Fintech - Edition #80!
Here's the TL;DR
Streamlining payments across the globe - SEPAexpress and Tink partnered for seamless payments across Europe.
Fintechs are hitting their targets as Nubank became the 4th largest bank in Brazil, surpassing 80M customers. At the same time, Atom Bank reported its first annual operating profit of $4.4M.
In a bid to bring fintech magic to multiple industries - Upgrade acquired Uplift for $100M to increase travel accessibility and affordability. Also, OakNorth Credit Intelligence enhanced its ON Climate app to analyse transition risk and impact.
Unleashing the ultimate customer value quest - Fiserv added Amazon Shop with Points to its uChoose Rewards offering to enhance value for customers. Not just that, Klarna partnered with Liberty to offer flexible and interest-free payment options.
The Fintech yacht sails across the world - 10x Banking announced expansion plans to APAC. And, Polygon joined forces with the Bank of Italy to explore Tokenized Assets for DeFi development.
For the longer read, let's get going –
Welcome to the captivating world of Open Finance, where fintech titans join forces to unleash a torrent of financial possibilities.
Finastra teamed with MX Technologies to provide more seamless, personalized money experiences by integrating MX’s Personal Financial Management, Insights, and Account Aggregation solutions with Finastra’s Fusion Digital Banking solution.
Tamam Finance partnered with Lean Technologies for open banking services that simplify finance management, empowering data-driven decision-making and improving service quality.
In the thrilling domain of Digital Finance, where fintech mavens are thriving to cater to every user segment, putting finance right at their fingertips!
Nubank partnered with Hopper to launch services in the travel segment and provide a comprehensive travel portal within Nubank's shopping platform. The travel service is expected to launch next year and will offer a full range of “travel booking options” for mobile users.
Revolut introduced Accounts for US Residents without Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). It aims to address this gap by providing a straightforward solution, offering easy account sign-ups and access to everyday money management products.
The Embedded Finance realm finance giants forged daring alliances in order to spread its wings far and wide!
Tymit partnered with Visa for the adoption of instalment credit amongst financial institutions and merchants in Europe. The collaboration aims to expedite the adoption of instalment credit by enabling them to offer co-branded and white-labelled instalment credit programs powered by Tymit.
Microsoft announced its integration with PayPal's Pay Later solution in order to offer consumers more payment options and flexibility. In addition, US consumers can have the option to use PayPal’s Venmo payment tool to pay for goods and services purchased at Microsoft, extending an existing relationship limited to Xbox purchases,
Step foot into the domain of Fintech Infrastructure, where fintech trailblazers race ahead to supercharge the payment systems!
Form3, the cloud-native account-to-account platform, completed testing and certification for the FedNowSM Service, the Federal Reserve’s new instant payment offering.
Next-gen core banking provider Tuum partnered with bank orchestration platform Numeral to help financial institutions and fintechs expand across Europe. The collaboration seeks to leverage extensive and resilient pan-European payment infrastructure and the rapid speed to market new offerings and services enabled by both solutions.
Welcome to the enchanting realm of Green Finance, where the bigwigs take the front seat, fueling investments in green projects to promote a greener future.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management launched 2 new sustainable bond funds, the Goldman Sachs Global Impact Corporate Bond Fund and the Goldman Sachs USD Green Bond Fund, aimed at enabling investors to enhance their portfolios’ sustainability profiles through an allocation to green, social and sustainability bonds.
At the recent 8th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue held in London, the HM Treasury and Monetary Authority of Singapore underscored their commitment and agreed to enhance cooperation in sustainable finance and Fintech.
Get ready to enter the captivating realm of DeFi, where players unite to turbocharge Europe's Web3 ecosystem!
British Museum entered the metaverse through a partnership with The Sandbox. With this collaboration, the museum plans to create a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to showcase its vast diversity of artefacts housed within its walls.
Asset tokenization firm Securitize issued the first tokenized equities for equity in the Spanish real estate investment trust (REIT) under the European Union’s pilot regime for digital assets. The token is minted on the Avalanche public blockchain.
Some other happenings in the fintech universe 🪐
Looking for some bite-sized fintech headlines to snack on with your tea? Get ready to indulge in some yummy fintech goodness!
AngelList acquired fintech startup Nova to expand into private equity.
Mercury Financial closed a $200M debt facility to drive the growth of its credit card business for the middle class.
Filipino fintech startup, Salmon secured $20M in debt facility to drive financial inclusion.
Lithuanian fintech Spenfi raised $881.5k in a seed round, bringing its total funding to nearly $2.09M.
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 –
Adaptable Platforms, Strong Alliances: BaaS Consolidation in action
OakNorth: A blueprint for profitable growth in digital banking
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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