Future of Fintech | Edition #88 – Sept 2023
Summary of fintech news from 19th to 25th Sept
Tuesday calls for some fintech tea, fintech aficionados!
Just like your morning tea, we've brewed up the hottest headlines in the world of finance and technology to kickstart your week. Grab a cuppa and let's dive into the future of fintech, one bite-sized update at a time! This week, the fintech scene lit up in both the United States and along the Australian coastlines. So, grab your preferred cuppa, and let's dive headfirst into the world of innovation and all things fintech! ☕
Before we dive into the latest fintech headlines, let's venture into the exciting realm of how digital banks are revolutionizing business banking in the UK >>
Small Business, Big Change: Tide and Starling's Impact on UK Banking
Brace yourself for a tidal wave of change in the UK business banking scene! Digital banks are revolutionizing the way small businesses manage their finances, and two frontrunners are making significant strides: Tide and Starling Bank.
Tide, the business financial platform, has achieved a remarkable milestone by capturing a 10% market share of UK SMEs. With over 550,000 members spanning various sectors, Tide is empowering small businesses without their own finance function, offering seamless finance management and a comprehensive suite of connected admin solutions.
But Tide isn't alone in this disruption. Starling Bank, another trailblazer, announced earlier this year that it has secured a 9.4% market share of UK SMEs. These digital banks are reshaping the landscape with their user-friendly platforms, time-saving features, and member-centric values.
At WhiteSight, we've just unveiled our exclusive report that peels back the layers of Starling’s fintech strategy. Our report breaks down the strategic moves and innovations that are propelling Starling towards becoming a 'grownup' bank, reshaping the business banking game. If you're curious about the secrets behind Starling's success and want to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of fintech, this is your must-read guide.
Embark on a journey through Starling's Challenger Bank Playbook, exploring its key milestones as it evolves into a formidable financial powerhouse.
Brace yourself for a fiery journey through Future of Fintech - Edition #88, where the hottest fintech breakthroughs await!
Here's the TL;DR
Prominent players created a buzz last week as Mastercard and Saxo Bank teamed up for an open banking account feature. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered’s Zodia Custody partnered with OpenEden to provide yield opportunities for institutions.
Striving to make finance effortlessly accessible - Cake by VPBank and Vietnamese electric car manufacturer VinFast partnered to offer 0% interest e-bike purchase loans. At the same time, Akoya partnered with Envestnet|Yodlee to boost API-driven consumer financial data sharing.
The UK fintech landscape was ablaze last week, with Cashplus Bank announcing a post-tax profit of $6.1M shortly after acquiring its banking license. Additionally, CRIF introduced Synesgy, a supply chain sustainability analysis tool tailored for UK businesses.
Making flexible payments available to all - IKEA partnered with Afterpay to offer flexible payments for all US customers. Not just that, Sezzle and WooCommerce expanded their partnership to provide flexible payment options.
In an effort to embrace the digital realm, SC Ventures unveiled audax Financial Technology to assist financial institutions in their digital transformation journey. Simultaneously, Judo Bank formed a partnership with Backbase to elevate the digital customer experience.
For the longer read, let's get going –
Brace for an exciting journey into the world of Open Finance, where innovators are set to redefine the open game in the Middle East!
Saudi fintech Lean Technologies and wealth management platform StashAway teamed up to enhance the investment process in UAE. Through this collaboration, StashAway clients can set up recurring deposits via the app within two minutes, using Lean’s FastTransfer payment feature.
Spire Technologies obtained Account Information Service Provider (AISP) and Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) licenses from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). This authorises the company to operate as a fully regulated open banking ancillary service provider in the kingdom.
Buckle up for an adventure into the Digital Finance universe, where tech visionaries are pulling off dazzling performances to make complex financial processes look like a breeze!
Spend management fintech Brex launched Brex Assistant, a proactive assistant that simplifies expense management for employees and improves their productivity. Brex Assistant is the flagship product of Brex AI - a suite of capabilities that transform spend management to enable unprecedented levels of efficiency, compliance, and accuracy.
Revolut extended RevTags cross-border payment solutions to businesses. This functionality will enable businesses to conduct instantaneous, fee-free cross-border transactions across more than 29 currencies within its network ー a feature already available to its retail customers.
Last week in the world of Embedded Finance, players were putting in a serious hustle to sprinkle the fintech magic not only into user experiences but also into their own operations!
B2B payments company Mondu introduced a digital trade account for merchants. The new product offering enables B2B merchants and marketplaces to provide their business customers with a trade account, allowing them to consolidate several purchases within a pre-set period into one statement.
Banking as a Service veteran Stearns Bank partnered with BaaS platform Synctera to expand its BaaS-driven line of business. Stearns Bank chose Synctera as the ideal partner to fast-track its vision and achieve its objectives, benefiting from Synctera's extensive technical proficiency in risk and compliance.
In the dynamic realm of Fintech Infrastructure, industry titans came together with unwavering intent on fortifying and propelling the financial world to new heights.
Equifax partnered with ID verification and fraud prevention provider Mitek to combat digital fraud. The agreement will add Mitek’s biometric-based identity verification and liveness detection technology to Equifax’s digital identity software, further strengthening Equifax’s ability to help companies prevent identity fraud.
Visa and API infrastructure company M2P joined forces to offer seamless end-to-end issuance via Visa Ready to Launch (VRTL) programme. The VRTL program addresses significant challenges faced by fintech and non-banking entities when launching new card programs.
Dive headfirst into the world of Green Finance, where industry heavyweights have joined forces to champion the cause of "keeping it green and clean"!
ESG reporting software provider Greenomy collaborated with Swift to provide ESG data and reporting capabilities to the Swift community. This collaboration is aimed towards helping corporates worldwide to effortlessly measure, report, and disclose ESG information to the Swift Community.
Commonwealth Bank partnered with Tesla to allow the automaker's customers to avail financing for electric vehicle (EV) purchases. The announcement comes after a study was conducted by Commonwealth Bank in August 2022, which claims 64% of its customers would consider buying an electric or hybrid vehicle if there was a financial incentive involved.
In the past week, the DeFi space heated up as prominent figures made significant moves by initiating launches and obtaining licenses, fully embracing the spirit of decentralized finance.
PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin was launched on Venmo, enabling users to buy and send PYUSD to others on PayPal, Venmo, and compatible external wallets. The company's announcement revealed that while initially limited to "select users," access will soon extend to all Venmo users in the upcoming weeks.
Citigroup debuted a token service known as Citi Token Services as a part of its broader initiative to provide digital assets to institutional clients. The product aims to transform customers’ deposits into digital tokens that can be sent instantly anywhere in the world.
UnionBank of the Philippines secured a VASP license from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to offer digital asset services. The license will give customers the functionalities of buying and selling digital assets via the bank’s mobile app.
Some other happenings in the fintech universe 🪐
Craving for some more quick fintech nibbles to savour alongside your tea? Get ready to dig into a delectable spread of tantalizing headlines!
London-based fintech Curve secured an additional $61.4M in Series C funding, raising the total to $140.8M with the aim to improve the overall customer experience.
B2B fintech company Flex raised $120M in Series A debt and equity funding. The company intends to use the funds to expand its business and accelerate growth.
Insurtech firm bolttech secured $50M in Series B extension, which now totals $246M, to fuel global growth and expand its tech-driven insurance ecosystem for emerging markets.
Payment and expense management platform Mesh raised $22M in Series A funding to focus on the broad adoption of its solutions.
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.
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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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