Regional Hub Status: How the Middle East is leveraging subsea cable connectivity and reliable power to become a global data hub.

Infrastructure Obsolescence: The risks facing investors in legacy "powered shell" data centres as technology requirements leap forward.

Data Sovereignty: The growing demand for "on-soil" data centres to protect confidential government and enterprise information.

Inferencing vs Training: Why the next wave of data centres must be distributed and low-latency to support real-time AI applications.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to The FinTech Times News and Views.

00:41 - Milan Radia on his background in data centres and Taranis Capital.

01:32 - The transition from "glorified real estate" to high-complexity compute hubs.

05:15 - Subsea cables and the Middle East as a strategic information highway.

07:30 - Why the UAE and Saudi Arabia are winning the data centre race.

10:45 - The impact of Nvidia Blackwell architecture on data centre design.

13:20 - Moving from AI training to real-time inferencing and the latency challenge.

15:44 - Conclusion and closing remarks.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Key Topics Covered:

Regional Growth: Comparing the energy and investment landscapes of Web Summit events in Lisbon, Rio, and Qatar.

Scaling Success: How Started PR evolved alongside its clients from pre-seed stages through to international expansion.

Market Trends: The current industry focus on AI applications and the role of stablecoins in modern finance.

Globalisation Hurdles: Strategies for internationalising regulated fintech solutions across different jurisdictions.

Impact Measurement: Moving beyond hype to identify where AI is delivering tangible results in onboarding and credit.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction to TFT News and Views

00:41 – Kimberly Waldron on the energy of Web Summit Qatar

01:50 – Transitioning PR strategies from startups to larger brands

03:00 – Key trends: AI, stablecoins, and capital efficiency

05:10 – 2026 Outlook: Moving from talking points to case studies

06:40 – Conclusion

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

The Graph Advantage: Shifting from rigid data tables to mathematical nodes and relationships to mirror real-world systems.

Financial Crime Prevention: How the ICIJ used graph databases to untangle the complex shell company webs of the Panama Papers.

AI’s "Left Brain": Using knowledge graphs to provide deterministic logic, explainability, and access control for Large Language Models.

Data Sovereignty: Managing the balance between on-premise security for regulated banks and managed cloud services like AWS, GCP, and Azure.

The Context Revolution: Why venture capital identifies context graphs as a trillion-dollar opportunity for the next wave of AI deployment.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Introduction to The Fintech Times News and Views.

00:41 – Meet Philip Rathle, CTO at Neo4j.

01:35 – Why networks fail when shoved into traditional tables.

03:32 – Case Study: Untangling the Panama Papers.

05:32 – Market nuances and expansion in the Middle East.

06:41 – AI agents and the transition to graph-based queries.

08:19 – Solving AI hallucinations and the need for explainability.

10:11 – Data sovereignty and cloud security options for banks.

11:32 – The future: From AI buzz to the "trillion-dollar" context graph.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Leapfrogging Development: Why the Middle East and Africa are moving directly to open finance rather than following the incremental UK/Europe model.

Inclusion over Competition: How regional frameworks are designed to foster collaboration between banks and fintechs to reach underserved segments.

Infrastructure Foundations: The role of standardisation and quality APIs in building the "pipe work" necessary for market-wide connectivity.

Modernising Legacy Payments: Utilising open finance to solve regional-specific challenges, such as transitioning away from physical rent checks.

AI and Data Synergy: The potential for agentic AI to transform consented financial data into automated, high-value recommendations for users.

Measuring Future Success: Why the industry focus will shift from technical connectivity to tangible social and economic impact by next year.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to News and Views

00:27 - Guest Introduction: Nihal Abughattas

01:32 - The State of Open Finance in the Middle East

03:05 - Use Cases: Inclusion, APIs, and the SME Gap

06:14 - Beyond Banking: Insurance and Rent Payment Innovation

08:45 - The Marriage of Open Finance and Agentic AI

10:43 - Predictions for the Coming Year

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

• How family offices and portfolio managers approach risk management during high volatility, especially in gold and silver markets
• The importance of portfolio diversification amidst global political and economic upheavals
• The shifting investment landscape from passive to active assets in response to policy changes
• The rising integration of AI in portfolio management and market analysis
• The debate over AI's potential to replace human roles in finance and journalism
• Strategic insights for managing risks in the current global economic climate

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction to the importance of market analysis and risk management 00:44 - The role of Forex.com and StoneX Group in connecting global markets 01:11 - Differences in needs between family offices and other investment sectors 01:47 - The impact of recent market trends on risk strategies 02:44 - How market conditions influence diversification and risk mitigation 03:24 - Insights into assets, including digital and traditional assets, in volatile markets 04:03 - The effect of geopolitical shifts on asset classes and investment strategies 05:21 - The trending role of AI in global finance and portfolio management 05:54 - Concerns and opportunities surrounding AI's influence on jobs and markets 06:22 - The human element in finance amidst AI advancements 07:17 - Closing remarks and gratitude

Resources & Links:

• Forex.com
• StoneX Group
• AI in Finance - McKinsey Report

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

• Evolution of payment infrastructure over the last 3-4 years, driven by fintech innovations and the pandemic
• The role of stablecoins and blockchain in enabling faster, cheaper cross-border transactions
• Challenges and opportunities in regulatory frameworks for stablecoins globally
• The potential of Ripple, Circle, and other networks to create interoperable payment rails
• The impact of consumer expectations and B2B needs on adoption of innovative payment solutions
• Predictions: 30-40% stablecoin adoption in payments within the next 2 years
• How traditional legacy systems like SWIFT compare with emerging blockchain-based rails
• The importance of global standards and proactive regulation to enable widespread adoption

Timestamps: 00:00 - Welcome to the Future of Payments with stablecoins and blockchain innovation 01:08 - Overview of recent developments in cross-border payments and fintech evolution 02:15 - How pandemic accelerated demand for faster, cheaper high-value payments 03:44 - The rise of stablecoins and crypto solutions as reliable settlement tools 04:36 - Challenges caused by lack of regulation and trust issues in crypto history 05:47 - How regulation like the GENIUS Act is shaping stablecoin adoption 07:00 - Consumer expectations driving banks and fintechs towards instant transactions 08:22 - The growth of stablecoins in emerging markets during macroeconomic pressures 09:52 - Younger generations' curiosity and global access shaping demand 11:32 - How messaging infrastructure differs from traditional money movement 12:56 - Payments ecosystem’s lack of transparency and the need for better understanding 13:16 - Adoption hurdles and the need for global regulatory frameworks 14:36 - Role of major networks like Ripple and Circle; are they enough? 16:14 - Main trends: stablecoins as a primary global settlement method in next 18-24 months 17:04 - Regulatory developments in Europe and their impact on stablecoin models 18:52 - The importance of proactive, global regulation and industry standards 20:44 - Future payment rails: multiple networks and interoperability needed 22:38 - Predicting stablecoins' market share in payments by 2025 24:24 - The transformational potential of real-time settlement and cost reduction 25:00 - Final thoughts: exciting transition ahead for the payments ecosystemResources & Links:

• Ripple
• Circle - CPN Network
• GENIUS Act
• SWIFT
• USDT (Tether)
• USDC

Connect with Nkiru:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Chapters:

Introduction to FinTech Times(0:00)

Vincent Chok's Introduction and First Digital's Announcements(1:30)

The Role of Stablecoins in Agentic Payments(5:00)

Future of Digital Currency and Web3(10:00)

Multi-Network Approach and Global Adoption(15:00)

Closing Thoughts and Reflections on Abu Dhabi Finance Week(20:00)

Topics Discussed:

• Introduction to FinTech Times and Abu Dhabi Finance Week
• First Digital's public listing and new platform launch
• The significance of stablecoins in agentic payments
• Predictions for the future of digital currency and Web3
• The necessity of a multi-network approach for global adoption

Useful Timestamps:

• 1:30 - Vincent Chok introduces First Digital
• 5:00 - Discussion on agentic payments and stablecoins
• 10:00 - Insights on digital currency and Web3
• 15:00 - Multi-network approach and its importance
• 20:00 - Reflections on Abu Dhabi Finance Week

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Introduction to the FinTech Times News and Views podcast
• [02:15] Matthew Hougan on the UAE's leadership in digital assets
• [05:30] Bitwise's journey and the creation of the first crypto index fund
• [10:45] Challenges in gaining regulatory approval
• [15:00] The role of AI in the future of finance
• [20:00] Reflections on Abu Dhabi Finance Week

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Takeaways

• Bitcoin hit all-time highs, indicating explosive industry growth.
• Stablecoins are becoming essential for cross-border payments.
• FinTechs are bridging crypto and traditional finance worlds.
• UAE offers a favorable tax environment for crypto companies.
• Regulatory clarity in the UAE attracts global crypto players.
• Yap Global focuses on the evolving crypto story.
• Stablecoins offer instant payments, beneficial for service providers.
• Klarna's stablecoin launch could drive mainstream adoption.
• Multiple stablecoins for different currencies are expected.
• Amazon might soon accept stablecoin payments.

Sound bites

• Bitcoin hit all-time highs.
• Stablecoins are essential for payments.
• UAE's favorable tax for crypto.
• Regulatory clarity attracts players.
• Yap Global on crypto evolution.
• Instant payments with stablecoins.
• Klarna's stablecoin launch impact.
• Multiple stablecoins expected.
• Amazon's potential stablecoin use.
• Crypto and traditional finance merge.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction to FinTech Times
• 00:01:00 Samantha Yap on Digital Assets
• 00:03:00 Trends in Crypto and Web3
• 00:05:00 Stablecoins and Cross-Border Payments
• 00:07:00 UAE's Regulatory Environment
• 00:09:00 Yap Global's Crypto Journey
• 00:11:00 Future of Stablecoins

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Takeaways:

• Programmable Credit Protocol allows bilateral credit without moving collateral.
• The protocol solves counterparty risk and scales bilateral lending.
• Tokenization makes assets more mobile and instantly settled.
• Abu Dhabi offers a collaborative regulatory environment.
• ADGM is risk-averse but pro-innovation.
• Assets remain within regulated environments in Abu Dhabi.
• The Middle East fosters integration potential for custodians.
• ADGM stands out with a robust regulatory framework.
• Semi Liquid aims to be fully live by March next year.
• The goal is to be the new rail for institutional credit.

Sound bites:

• "Bilateral credit without moving collateral."
• "Solves counterparty risk for both parties."
• "Assets are mobile now, settled instantly."
• "Abu Dhabi offers a collaborative environment."
• "ADGM is risk-averse but pro-innovation."
• "Assets stay within regulated environments."
• "Middle East fosters integration potential."
• "ADGM stands out with robust framework."
• "Fully live by March next year."
• "New rail for institutional credit."

Chapters:

• 00:00:00 Introduction to FinTech Times
• 00:00:00 Introduction of Rico van de Veen
• 00:00:00 Launch of Programmable Credit Protocol
• 00:00:00 Advantages of Abu Dhabi's Regulatory Environment
• 00:00:00 Future Plans and Integration

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Topics Discussed:

• Introduction to stablecoins and their impact on the financial landscape
• MoneyGram's digital transformation and strategic refounding
• The role of AI and agentic AI in financial services
• The future of digital currencies and the importance of trust

Timestamps:

• [00:00] Introduction by Mark Walker
• [02:15] Anthony Soohoo on stablecoins as a "killer app"
• [10:45] MoneyGram's global network and digital transformation
• [18:30] The convergence of AI and digital assets
• [25:00] Closing thoughts on the future of financial services

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Useful Timestamps:

• Introduction to the podcast and guests [00:00]
• Linda Fitz-Alan's background and journey [02:00]
• Digital transformation of ADGM Courts [05:30]
• The role of FinTech and technology [10:00]
• Regulatory frameworks and investor confidence [15:00]
• The UAE's leadership in the GCC [20:00]
• Advice for FinTechs considering Abu Dhabi [25:00]

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

• eToro's evolution from TradFi to digital assets leader.
• The impact of DeFi and non-custodial wallets on finance.
• Tokenization of real-world assets is now possible.
• Regulatory environments are adapting to digital finance.
• The rise of Gen Y as a wealthy cohort.
• eToro's global expansion and local services.
• Trust in established brands like eToro is crucial.
• Digital assets are reshaping traditional finance.
• The importance of innovation in financial services.
• Abu Dhabi Finance Week's growth in fintech presence.

Sound Bites:

• eToro: The OG of digital finance
• Crypto is software for money
• Digital assets will eat finance
• Trust in established brands
• The rise of Gen Y wealth
• DeFi and non-custodial wallets
• Tokenization is now possible
• Innovation in financial services
• Abu Dhabi's fintech growth
• eToro's global expansion

Chapters:

• 00:00:00 Introduction to FinTech Times
• 00:01:00 Yoni Assia's Background
• 00:03:00 eToro's Evolution
• 00:05:00 The Role of DeFi
• 00:08:00 Tokenization and Real-World Assets
• 00:11:00 Regulatory Changes
• 00:14:00 Global Expansion and Local Services
• 00:17:00 Trust and Innovation
• 00:20:00 Abu Dhabi Finance Week Insights

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Quotes:

• "Embedded finance is in its relative infancy."
• "Banks evolving from balance sheet providers to data mediators."

Chapters:

1. Introduction to Embedded Finance (0:00)
2. Data as a New Revenue Stream (3:00)
3. The Role of Stable Coins (6:00)
4. Digital Transformation Challenges (9:00)
5. Future Outlook and Closing Thoughts (12:00)

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

• Mark Walker introduces the topic of stablecoins and their role in economic stimuli, focusing on the Japanese yen and government strategies.

Global Perspectives (01:04):

• Aishwary discusses the varying approaches to stablecoin integration in countries like Japan and India, highlighting the challenges posed by capital controls.

Regulatory Challenges (02:12):

• The conversation shifts to the regulatory concerns surrounding stablecoins, particularly the nervousness of central banks about losing control over monetary policies.

Future Predictions (04:40):

• Aishwary predicts a significant increase in the number of stablecoins, potentially leading to a complex financial ecosystem with thousands of digital currencies.

Consumer Behavior (06:09):

• The discussion explores how large merchants and tech companies might influence stablecoin adoption, potentially altering consumer behavior and financial transactions.

The Role of CBDCs (08:00):

• The episode concludes with insights into the challenges faced by central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) compared to stablecoins, and the potential for a dual system involving deposit tokens and stablecoins.

Key Quotes:

• "Stablecoins are reshaping the financial landscape, offering new opportunities and challenges."
• "The future might see an explosion of stablecoins, each vying for a place in the global economy."

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Sustainable finance is crucial for renewable energy projects. Emirates NBD is a leader in financing electric vehicles. Green buildings reduce emissions and energy costs. Digital transformation enhances ESG data accuracy. AI chatbots handle sustainable finance inquiries efficiently. Green bonds are integral to corporate sustainability strategies. Transition finance is key for hard-to-abate sectors. Carbon trading is essential for achieving net zero. Sustainable sukuks offer diverse funding opportunities. ESG investing aligns with long-term market trends.

Sound bites

"Sustainable finance is any finance allocated towards a sustainable project." "Green buildings are really important for us." "Digitalization is key for ESG data accuracy." "AI chatbots handle 500 inquiries a month." "Green bonds are a growing part of our portfolio." "Transition finance is key for hard-to-abate sectors." "Carbon trading is essential for achieving net zero." "Sustainable sukuks offer diverse funding opportunities." "ESG investing aligns with long-term market trends." "AI enhances our understanding of customer needs."

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

This week, the discussion revolves around open banking where the team look at its successes as tech adoption grows, as well as the recent launch of Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT).

Some discussion points include:

• Accordion to a survey, 33% of financial decision-makers in the UK expressed their inclination to use VRPs (variable recurring payments) in the coming time. Among these, an additional 23% highlighted convenience as their primary motivation for considering VRPs. In addition to this stat, last week, the OBIE (Open Banking Implementation Entity) announced that the number of active users has reached 7 million. Has open banking changed financial services? What is the next step of open finance?
• In Leeds, the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) was launched with the support of HM Treasury and the City of London Corporation. Is CFIT the start of something new? 
• One of the objectives of CFIT is to collaborate with prominent universities and enable students to gain hands-on experience by undertaking internships at the top companies operating in the financial innovation sector in the UK. How will fintech benefit from collaboration with universities?

And much more!

View the articles discussed in episode 105:
Innovation in UK Fintech: 5 Things We Learned at the CFIT Launch in Leeds
Nude Highlighted as Open Banking Success Story as Tech’s Adoption Grows

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review.
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The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Joined by Thomas Bleach, a journalist at The Fintech Times, the trio delve into the nature of investment scams and the FCA's latest findings on their obvious nature, in addition to the extent of financial inclusion in banking for those suffering from neurodiverse conditions. Tom also shares his view on how has he felt most interesting in the fintech industry since joining it.

Topics discussed include:

• It is recognised that 34% of investors said that they recognized scams just based on obvious mistakes and the material. What are some of the ways scammers are trying to trick people into falling for their investment scams or banking frauds? How are our investors spotting red flags?
• A case study from Mahalo Banking - are banks and financial organisations doing enough to be inclusive to existing customers?  

And much more!

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review.

🔗Help us improve our podcast content, take the 1-min survey here.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Topics discussed include:

• Should banks be doing more to help consumers navigate the current economic climate? What should banks provide as services and are the banks doing enough to help their customers in this time of crisis? 
• Should banks face the consequences when charging hidden fees on currency exchange? should regulators be doing more?
• Should social lending be more widely implemented in the housing market?

And much more!

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review.

🔗Help us improve our podcast content, take the 1-min survey here.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Topics discussed include:

• The deadline for phasing out the old naira banknotes and exchanging them for the redesigned N200, N500 and N1,000 has been extended to 10 February. Was the Naira Currency Exchange Deadline Extension announced by CBN Long Enough?
• Should Australian ecosystem maps be a norm for fintech hubs? How can the fintech industry benefit from fintech hubs?
• Are banking pods the future of consumer finance?

And much more!

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Topics discussed include:

• Bitcoin Suisse, a company based in Switzerland, will now provide the service of liquid staking for Ethereum within its local market. This comes as the company becomes a member of the Liquid Collective. Is liquid staking the future of crypcocurrency?  
• Are traditional banks still falling behind or are they catching up?
• Will there ever be a winner to the compete or collaborate debate in banking?

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review

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The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Technology platform Nium is to provide neobank Unifimoney with international remittance capability. Following the partnership, Unifimoney can also send funds overseas to Europe and Asia within the app ‘at a lower FX rate than banks’.

VTB Bank and the Skolkovo Foundation have signed a partnership agreement in order to to ‘solve problems of big data management in the public sector’. The pair will also develop a project strategy in products and services for the cybersecurity market.

Money transfer firm TransferGo has forged a partnership with Visa to bring international money transfers to consumers’ bank cards. The partnership is live in 32 markets, with potential to expand to 178 in the future. Customers can now send payments directly to a card without online banking or an International Banking Account Number (IBAN).

Open trade finance network Contour and IT provider Mphasis partner to accelerate the digital transformation of global trade finance. Through partnership, the companies will ‘help banks, enterprises, and ecosystem partners find new and transformative ways to transact with one another’.

Data management firm Proceed Group announces partnership agreement with data transformation company SNP Group. A key part of the agreement allows for the cross selling of SNP’s Test Data Organiser and Proceed Group’s latest decommissioning tool, Proceed Cella.

Job moves

Global financial markets software firm Genesis appoints Martin Sreba as global head of strategic accounts. In addition, to supporting Genesis extend its footprint in the investment management space, Sreba will push adoption of its low-code application platform.

Initiatives and events

Investment Association (IA) is seeking new cohorts for its fintech accelerator and innovation hub, Engine. Two years since launch, the IA has seen more than 130 fintechs join Engine’s ranks. IA says it seeks innovative new technological solutions to increase business efficiency and enhance customer experience.

An African-European online hackathon programme seeks innovative solutions to socio-economic problems that have been further escalated by the Covid-19 pandemic. EU-Africa: The Post Crisis Journey will take place on 10-13 December 2020. The aim is to engage ‘10,000 tech-savvy and socially conscious participants, 300 mentors and at least 100 community building organisations’ from Africa and Europe.

Dubai International Financial Centre hosts inaugural cohort of 50 Emirati students from the Federal Youth Authority’s Young Economist programme. Speakers included H.E. Essa Kazim, governor of DIFC. The aim is to build the capabilities of youth to become future leaders in business and economics.

Meanwhile, Dubai Economy brought together major stakeholders in the cashless economy ecosystem at its latest Future Economy Lab hack. Speakers at the session pointed out that the global acceleration in digital payments calls for the UAE to capitalise on its digital readiness to further boost its digital payments landscape.

Announcements and launches

Fintech Modulr has secured an electronic money institution (EMI) licence from the Central Bank of Ireland. Modulr says it plans to build a ‘truly digital, frictionless payments infrastructure for software platform partners to provide new payment experiences’.

Specialist mortgage lender Enra has finalised its first securitisation with a £268million portfolio. It has priced its first residential mortgage backed securities, backed by a portfolio of buy-to-let and second charge mortgages. The business  has also held back around £50million of bonds for public sale.

Liquefy has revealed it is the first company to be granted in-principle approval to operate a private financing platform for the Abu Dhabi Global Market. Once granted in full, Liquefy will be able to offer tokenised securities backed by real world assets to investors in the UAE on its Alternative Global Marketplace.

Personal authentication solution provider MYPINPAD has picked up a Visa-ready certification for its tap-to-phone mPOS solution. It means that MYPINPAD’s solution is now available to all interested Visa acquirers where PIN authentication is required. MYPINPAD’s vision is to replace dedicated payments hardware entirely with software allowing a single, unified experience.

Finally, Fintech Saudi has launched the Fintech Ecosystem Directory. It will offer a comprehensive database of the key support services and partners that fintech companies available in the Kingdom. At the end of November, Fintech Saudi will also be launching Fintech Tour 20, a series of events aimed at increasing public engagement in the fintech industry.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Moving jobs

UK challenger bank Tandem has hired Paul Noble as its new chief commercial officer. In addition to developing green mortgages and savings accounts, Noble will help grow Tandem’s green home ending portfolio that it recently acquired from Allium.

interactive investor (ii), the UK’s second-largest direct to consumer investment platform, has hired Becky O’Connor as head of pensions and savings. Becky will lead ii’s educational programme about pensions and savings, as well as its campaign on pensions and savings policy issues.

Jonathan Furse is the new chief technology officer for buy-side analytics provider Substantive Research. In addition to managing the company’s digital product strategy, Furse is tasked with growing its in-house team of developers.

Working together

Brokerage house Britannia Global Markets chooses Broadridge in order to streamline its post-trade processing. The fintech’s SaaS-based solution will smooth out the post-trade operations in Britannia’s cash equities, fixed income and repo businesses.

Yoyo will create a global loyalty brand following its merger with South Africa’s wiGroup. The UK based payments and loyalty app has also raised additional primary funding from SaltPay, supported by existing investors IP Group. The combined operations will service clients in the UK, Europe, Africa and Australasia. These include Caffe Nero, Paul, Burger King, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and Woolworths.

Revenue-based finance provider Uncapped has hooked up with Salt Edge in order to speed up verifying an applicant’s business performance. The collaboration with the open banking solutions provider will also boost Uncapped’s lending decision time ‘from days to a few hours’.

Wealth Dynamix has partnered with Chappuis Halder & Co to deliver enterprise-scale digital transformation. Under the agreement, the companies will embed client lifecycle management within digital transformation initiatives.

Meanwhile, international payments provider ECOMMPAY is integrating with Telegram for in-app purchases. The collaboration will allow Telegram users to select products from their channel bot and click a ‘pay’ button.

Investment app Trading 212 has integrated financial API provider TrueLayer’s open banking-powered technology to its trading platform. Trading 212 has hailed TrueLayer for ensuring its ‘users no longer need to do manual wire transfers and wait a day or more before funds arrive in their account’.

Funding and investments

Insurtech Cover Genius has raised A$15million as it expands its product suite and partner network globally. The funding news coincides with the launch of new product and parcel insurance products on ecommerce platform Shopee Thailand.

e-Bate, the UK rebate management platform, has raised £950,000 in a second funding round. It says the funding will be used to create five new jobs, as well as increase global sales. The latest funding is the second investment by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF).

While, passwordless authentication company Secret Double Octopus has secured a strategic investment from Standard Chartered’s venture arm, SC Ventures. The Israeli-based startup helps organisations manage their cybersecurity risks, while streamlining employee workflows with authentication technology. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Industry announcements

OakNorth Bank has dished out more than £1billion in new loans and receives additional CBILS/CLBILS allocation from the British Business Bank. From June to August, OakNorth Bank experienced twice the lending volume going to credit committee compared to last year, and in the last month, has seen four times the volume.

Mojo Mortgages, Moneybox, Plum and Wagestream have come up trumps in the Open Up 2020 Challenge. Run by Nesta Challenges, in partnership with the Open Banking Implementation Entity, the challenge aimed to inspire innovative open banking-enabled solutions to help people across the UK better manage their money. During the challenge, the four winners have tripled their open banking users and will pick up an additional £150,000 in prize money.

Global gold marketplace Goldex has adopted new best-practice trading principles from the World Gold Council. The Retail Gold Investment Principles (RGIP) were launched in order to raise the bar for product providers across the global gold market. Gold prices are soaring – increasing more than 600 per cent over the last 20 years.

A glut of renowned fintech experts have been unveiled as speakers at the upcoming Seamless: The Future of Fintech event. More than 4,000 people are expected to attend the virtual event co-hosted by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and the G20 Saudi Secretariat on 19-20 October. Speakers will include Brett King, Anna Maj, Jim Marous, Adrienne A. Harris, as well as Jo Ann Barefoot and Abdulaziz Al-Helaissi.

Pezesha is to operate its debt-based crowdfunding platform in the Kenyan capital markets, after a successful one-year testing period in a regulatory sandbox. The Capital Markets Authority has granted a ‘no objection’ to Pezesha leaving the sandbox, subject to maintenance of existing compliance requirements.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Mobile payments company Auka renames to Settle. The company says the change is in order to unify and best reflect its mobile payments product offering. In addition, its mission is to become the number one mobile payments platform in Europe.

Emirates NBD has launched a digital supply chain financing platform for its corporate and institutional clients. It says the smartSCF platform will offer businesses in the UAE a set of integrated, automated tools designed to enhance and simplify their supply chain collaborations while also optimising working capital and reducing transaction costs.

Dubai investment banking and asset management firm Shuaa Capital has unveiled three Sharia-compliant funds and already secured $75million of commitments. The three funds – Shuaa High Yield Sukuk Fund, Nujoom Aggressive Fund and Nujoom Balanced Fund – are part of Shuaa’s fund platform rolled out in Abu Dhabi’s international financial hub.

Appreciate, home of Love2shop, has launched a new digital gift card that enables businesses to reward and incentivise employees and customers instantaneously. Based on Mastercard, the Love2shop Contactless digital gift card can be used online or in-store through a mobile wallet with over 80 retailers and leisure providers. Digital gift cards instantly by email, text, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to an unlimited number of recipients. Appreciate Group has collaborated with payments technology company CleverCards to develop the new offering to coincide with the rebrand of its B2B arm to ‘Appreciate, the home of Love2shop’.

Meanwhile, fintech Galaxy and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have launched a virtual hackathon for financial inclusion and regulatory collaboration in the Arab region, the Yalla Fintech 2020 Hackathon. Winning proposals in each theme will be awarded prize money of €5,000.00 to kick start the scaling of the solution.

FintechOS, the global technology provider for banks, insurance and financial services companies, has created and implemented a digital onboarding solution for OTP Bank Romania. It includes a current account available through a Mastercard debit card, with Internet and Mobile Banking services, all with zero costs to the user if the necessary sign up conditions are met. What’s more, customers no longer have to visit the bank branch in order to open an account with access to a card and internet banking services.

Plus, Suguba reveals eight startups are joining its second investment readiness programme in French-speaking West Africa. Bio Agripol, Mousso, Dothan, Eneza, CinetPay, Carfics, Shop Me Away and Kamtar will be joining the L’Afrique Excelle accelerator programme.

Mergers and acquisitions

Nexi, an Italian PayTech leader in digital payments and SIA, the Italian and European leader in payment technology and infrastructure services, have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the integration of the two groups through the merger by incorporation of SIA into Nexi. SIA is controlled by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti through its subsidiary CDP Equity.

While, financial services network StoneX Group has completed its acquisition of online payments company Giroxx. With the name change to StoneX Financial, Giroxx is now officially integrated into StoneX’s larger global payments division.

Partnerships

Account-to-account payment solution provider Nuapay and Cybersource – Visa’s global payment management platform – have joined forces. Nuapay’s end-to-end cloud environment for collecting recurring payments has been integrated into Cybersource’s payment gateway.

Charities using the goDonate platform can soon offer GoCardless as a payment method. goDonate says it has partnered with the recurring payments fintech in order to make charity donations simpler and more convenient.

OakNorth Bank and ComplyAdvantage have joined forces to combat financial crime. Their partnership will ensure OakNorth is fully compliant with anti-money laundering regulations, as well as screen for risk at onboarding.

Emirates Islamic has forged a long-term strategic partnership with Mastercard to offer credit cards to the bank’s corporate banking clients. In addition, Emirates Islamic’s clients will also have full access to a range of Mastercard’s advisory services.

Cybersecurity solutions provider HUB Security teams with insurance broker Marsh to offer insured storage solution. Financial institutions can now store and manage digital assets, including cryptocurrency, on HUB’s platform and purchase up to $400million in ‘cold storage’ insurance through Marsh’s digital asset risk transfer team.

Meanwhile, fintech prepaid card issuer Tenpo has selected Paygilant to provide Chileans with robust digital fraud prevention. In addition, Paygilant says it supports Tenpo’s mission to ‘redefine the LATAM financial services market’.

Pan-European payment solution Lemonway, has partnered with Ripple to enable instant, more transparent and cost-effective European transactions. The payment solution company will now be able to provide instant payouts with reduced costs, which in turn allows marketplaces to offer more competitive payment services to merchants.

Saudi Arabian digital wallet, STCPay, has selected cloud-native, cloud-agnostic Temenos Payments and Temenos Transact running on a private cloud to achieve exponential growth and expand its digital payments capabilities. Temenos Payments provides Straight-Through Processing (STP) rates over 99% and will underpin STCPay’s digital customer experiences.

Finally, Tezos Gulf, the decentralised, public blockchain platform, has achieved certification recognising its features and governance is in alignment with Sharia standards.

Appointments

RGI Group, a portfolio company of private equity firm Corsair Capital, has hired Cécile André Leruste as group CEO.  Leruste succeeds interim CEO Christophe Quesne. She most recently served as managing director for Accenture Global Banking.

Payments issuer processor Global Processing Services (GPS) has bolstered its executive leadership team with a trio of appointments. Richard Hodgson is now chief financial officer, Shaun Puckrin is chief product officer and Jerome Gudgeon is chief technology officer.

First Derivatives, the capital markets experts, has tasked Nicholas Dolan with further accelerating its growth strategy. Dolan, who has considerable expertise in Calypso software, will focus on growth in North America, the UK, Australia and South Africa, as well as strengthening services in Newry, Ireland and Micassaga, Canada.

Funding raises

Genesis, the global financial markets software firm, has received a strategic investment from Citi via its Markets FinTech Investments and SPRINT groups to leverage Genesis’ “Low-Code Application Platform” (LCAP) to drive its key innovation priorities.

Spoon Guru the London-based AI-powered food search and discovery technology start-up, has announced that it has secured a Series A funding round with W23, the Venture Capital arm of Australia’s largest retailer, Woolworths Group. The multi-million dollar investment will be used to expand Spoon Guru’s footprint with retailers across APAC, North America and Europe, at a time when governments are putting a greater focus on the importance of food and health to boost national health.

Chargebee, the subscription billing and revenue operations platform powering thousands of fast-growth subscription businesses, today announced a new $55M Series F funding round led by Insight Partners. The current round of funding includes participation from existing investors, bringing the total funding raised to date to $105M. Chargebee provides the subscription platform used by thousands of businesses across the world, from startups to large businesses like Okta, Pret a Manger, and Envoy.

And Simply, the non-bank SME lender, has announced a fourth financing tranche from the British Business Bank to add to its existing ENABLE Funding facility. In total, the four rounds of financing will provide more than £230m of funding to smaller businesses across the UK. This is now the largest facility under the Bank’s ENABLE Funding programme, which aims to improve the supply of asset and lease finance to smaller UK businesses.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

European digital investment platform Bitpanda has closed a $52 million series A funding round led by Valar Ventures. The large-scale investment will drive Bitpanda’s expansion, as well as ‘position the company as a leader in transforming Europe’s financial industry’. In addition, it will be used to recruit ‘some of the world’s leading talent’. Following the investment, Valar Ventures founding partner, Andrew McCormack will join the Bitpanda board.

Regtech data company Acin says it will ‘rapidly accelerate its proposition’ after securing $12 million in series A funding with Fitch and Notion Capital. Acin was advised by independent investment bank Zelig, with further support from international law firm Withers.

PayCargo, the payments network for the global supply chain industry, is excited to announce a $35million investment led by private equity firm Insight Partners. It says it will use the capital to expand global adoption of its electronic payments network, as well as accelerate investments in its technology.

Commercial lines insurtech platform Insurwave has raised £5 million to drive continued growth. Led by existing shareholders, the funds will be invested in expanding the features of the platform.

Finally, fintech SME lending platform Capify has closed an £8 million equity round. In addition, Capify is actively seeking partnerships with companies with large SME customer bases to provide financing.

Launches

PPRO, the local payments platform-as-a-service, expands global offering with top Indonesian payment methods DOKU and OVO. According to PPRO, the development marks a significant milestone in its expansion across the Asia Pacific region. PPRO’s integrations feature a total of four payment types: e-wallet, internet banking, bank transfers, and cash.

Lender Distribution Finance Capital Holdings – the niche lender focusing on manufacturers – has secured a licence by Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). As well as proposing a new name – DF Capital Bank Ltd, the company will offer ‘competitive online savings accounts’.

German fintech Deposit Solutions will launch a savings marketplace in the US. The SaveBetter portal offers US banks national reach for distribution of their retail deposit products. While, consumers can deposit money in all products listed on SaveBetter.com without having to open a new account with every bank.

Marqeta says it is the first modern card issuing platform to open its technology to any legacy card issuer looking to instantly provision existing cards into mobile wallets. The card issuing platform has unveiled its new tokenisation-as-a-service product, which it says opens up huge new possibilities for companies who are looking to innovate quickly, but don’t have access to modern technology.

iQSTEL, the US cloud-based telco solution provider, has unveiled a new fintech division. It says the expansion will help it widen its product and digital financial services offerings for global markets.

For the first time, European customers of cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer can access the Japanese Bitcoin market. bitFlyer says it is the first cryptocurrency exchange that is licensed to operate in Japan, the EU, and the US combined. In addition, it is the first to facilitate cross-border access to ‘prized Japanese Yen liquidity’.

Partnerships

Huawei offers contactless digital payment with the launch of Mondia Pay on its Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem. The partnership will increase Huawei’s reach in countries across Africa and the Middle East. In addition, Mondia Pay will also market Huawei’s games content in Egypt.

Spanish neobank Bnext enlists global fintech as a service company Rapyd for Latin American expansion. As well as allowing Bnext customers to make cash deposits to their accounts in 30,000 locations in Mexico, the partnership will expand to interbank deposits later via Rapyd’s global payments network.

Business lender White Oak has chosen Provenir Cloud technology to support its digitisation and innovation strategy. It said the partnership will enable it to make real-time risk decisions with a fully automated lending experience.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia has forged a partnership with Sociolla, Indonesia’s leading beauty e-commerce platform through its banking-as-a-service solution nexus. The bank intends to further roll out nexus to markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Kuwait Islamic bank Boubyan Bank signs a cooperation agreement with FinFirst to offer its digital products and services. The bank says the partnership will help it cope with the latest fintech developments to enhance business environments, as well as support startups seeking digital banking services.

And, Ghanaian fintech ZEEPAY has hooked up with Visa to simplify cross border remittances. Through the partnership, ZEEPAY will integrate Visa’s real-time push payments solution with its money transfer platform

Appointments

James Wilson has joined insolvency fintech firm Red Flag Alert as its new chief technology officer. In his new role, James will be responsible for building out sales enablement and digital risk functions, as well as incorporating identity proofing and corroboration technology into Red Flag Alert products.

Six graduates and an intern have signed up to a development programme with Oxbury, the UK food and farming bank. In addition to its graduate intake, Oxbury has recruited 10 new team members across its various core business functions.

Cavendish Corporate Finance says the appointment of Karri Vuori as partner will further strengthens the firm’s mid-market M&A advisory expertise. Cavendish advised on the sale in August of legal software-as-a-service firm CaseLines to Thomson Reuters.

Finally, FintechOS, a global technology provider for financial institutions, has hired Dan Brătășanu as business analysis & solution architecture director for Central and Eastern Europe. He will be tasked with creating customised and integrated turnkey solutions for the end-to-end transformation of financial organisations.

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Former HSBC Group COO Andy Maguire joins Thought Machine as new chair. The cloud native core banking technology firm hopes Maguire will aggressively pursue its international growth plans over the coming years. In addition to Maguire’s appointment, Thought Machine says it will unveil new clients in the coming months.

Stephen Reidy will drive strategic growth at GoCardless after taking on the role of VP and general manager UK & Ireland at the fintech. Reidy will also implement GoCardless’ go-to-market strategy and cross-functional management of its high performing teams.

Regtech ComplyAdvantage has appointed Richard Orme as chief technology officer and Anna Keren as VP of technology. As well as the new hires, the company recently earned recognition from research firm Celent and Chartis as a ‘leading provider of AML risk data and financial risk management solutions’.

Partnerships & Collaborations

MoneyGram and Tesco Bank have unveiled an international online money transfer platform. It allows MoneyGram and Tesco customers to set up their transactions online and then pay by cash or card at Tesco stores. The new service also allows customers to easily send money abroad.

Everlink Payment Services has asked Financial Software and Systems (FSS) to modernise its card operations to support future growth plans. A FSS API-based solution will replace Everlink’s legacy card issuance infrastructure.

While Tribe Payments and Currencycloud partner to bring a new banking-as-a-service solution to fintechs and digital banks. As well as delivering ‘complete transparency to foreign exchange costs charged on international card transactions’, the collaboration will also give customers access to multi-currency wallets.

Flexible cashflow solutions for small businesses are on the way after Payment Systems and Priority Commercial Payments team up with fintech Behalf Inc. The companies say their collaboration will also help businesses adjust to the disruption in cash flow as a result of Covid-19.

Next, the SimplyBiz Group and Wealthify say their new partnership will provide low fee digital investment option for advisers. It will also lead to ‘improved efficiency and improved business performances’.

Payments company EBANX will offer more e-wallet solutions in Brazil after hooking up with PayPal. Last year in Brazil, digital wallets were the third most used payment method for e-commerce purchases, according to Americas Market Intelligence.

Finally, authentication expert Regula has partnered with Liechtenstein Cryptoassets Exchange (LCX).
In particular, LCX will be utilising Regula’s digital forensic technology to comply with know-your-customer requirements under the Due Diligence Act (DDA) Liechtenstein.

Funding, mergers & industry updates

Cloud-native clearing bank ClearBank, in partnership with business bank Tide, has been awarded £25million from the RBS Alternative Remedies Package. Tide says it is thankful that the BCR has granted ‘the opportunity to create a genuine alternative to the oligopoly that has dominated the UK SME market for too long’.

The Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange hopes to attract high-tech and fintech entities following the launch of a new data system. The API-based TASE Data Hub offers daily data, end-of-day data and historical data, using customised parameters.

Syfe, the Singapore-based digital wealth manager, has raised SG$25.2million in a Series A funding round led by fintech-focused investment firm Valar Ventures. With customers across 23 countries, Syfe says it will use the funding to enter new markets as well as develop new products and services.

Next, Paya, the integrated payment provider, is to acquire The Payment Group (TPG). In addition to investing in TPG’s sales efforts, Paya will integrate TPG’s online billing and software applications into its end-to-end payments platform.

While Intel Capital says it has chosen to invest in Israeli startup EasySend because of its intelligent and impactful approach to accelerating digital transformation. EasySend has built a no-code platform for insurance companies.

Uncapped, the revenue-based finance startup, has set its sights on rapid European expansion after investment. Mouro Capital, the successor fund of fintech-specialist Santander InnoVentures, has led a $26million financing round in Uncapped.

Launches

Making digital payments available to all South Africans is the aim of the ‘Ozow Revolution‘. As part of this ‘visionary effort’ Ozow has also unveiled two new online payments solutions to its platform.

Fintech TotallyMoney has unveiled a new app-only feature that uses credit report data to highlight borrowing blindspots. Credit Assistant scans a customer’s credit data and presents them with an overview of their borrowing.

About The Fintech Times

Fintech needs an authoritative voice that gives our industry exposure and integrity.

We are building that voice over the years together with the main players in finance, international thought leaders and global Fintech firms, with the support of our 75,000+ unique online readers per month and over 150,000+ copies of the print & digital newspaper circulated around the world.

Our mission is clear and simple – to make Fintech understood and celebrated.

For more information about The Fintech Times, please visit our website 

Follow us and join in the conversation.

Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.

Investment manager SEI says a new partnership with Moneyhub will turbocharge its master trust offering to help members save more for retirement. Moneyhub’s machine learning technology will be used to offer ‘easy-to-plan retirement saving functions’ to SEI’s institutional clients. Moneyhub and its powerful, insightful open finance solutions seamlessly support our vision, creating a highly personalised user experience.

Penfold, the pensions startup, is running a #PAD20 prize draw quiz for customers to win £500 for their pension pot. In addition, every new customer that signs up on Pension Awareness Day will get £25 in their pension pot.

Partnerships and collaborations

Paysend expands into US market with Central Payments partnership Azimo, the global money transfer service, has hooked up with Alipay to provide instant money transfers to China. Following the partnership, Azimo users will only need a recipient’s Alipay ID to make an instant transfer in Yuan.

Meanwhile, UK-based Paysend can offer its money transfer service to US consumers following a new partnership with Central Payments, the payments subsidiary of Central Bank of Kansas City. Paysend’s US launch has been hailed by Central Payments as ‘particularly timely’ as consumers look for flexible cashless money transfer options.

Digital payment platform Payoneer has unveiled its ‘Payoneer For Banks’ programme in collaboration with 10 international banks. The aim is to help financial institutions provide businesses of all sizes with a way to make or receive cross-border payments.

Finally, AMTD ASEAN Solidarity Fund has revealed investments in five fintech companies. Its ‘first batch’ of investments – totalling S$11.5million – goes to Funding Societies, Active.ai, Cardup, Transwap and PolicyPal. 

Crypto.com has unveiled a Spanish version of its app and exchange as part of its mission to accelerate the world’s transition to cryptocurrency. In addition to the recent release of a French version, Crypto says it will support more languages in the near future.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency banking app Abra adds 18 new cryptocurrencies for trading. Available in more than 150 countries, the Abra app enables consumers to buy, sell, hold, trade, and earn up.

Payment service provider Mollie has raised €90million in a Series B funding round led by equity investors TCV. Mollie will use the funding to further accelerate its global expansion, as well as invest in new product development.

Finally, London-based fintech company Curve is expanding Google Pay access across 14 European countries. Google Pay on Curve unlocks contactless payments for people whose traditional bank cards are not equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology.

Research and insight

Independent spend management company JAGGAER says procurement professionals need to ’embrace the latest technologies to ready themselves for autonomous procurement’. In a new white paper, it also warns that several digital procurement solutions claim to use AI when they simply mimic it using classical statistical approaches.

More people are choosing virtual methods of banking, according to research from insight firm Toluna. Furthermore, Covid-19 has accelerated an interest in sustainable investments particularly with those aged between 18 and 34.

About The Fintech Times

Fintech needs an authoritative voice that gives our industry exposure and integrity.

We are building that voice over the years together with the main players in finance, international thought leaders and global Fintech firms, with the support of our 75,000+ unique online readers per month and over 150,000+ copies of the print & digital newspaper circulated around the world.

Our mission is clear and simple – to make Fintech understood and celebrated.

For more information about The Fintech Times, please visit our website 

Follow us and join in the conversation.

Twitter | Linkedin | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

The Fintech Times News &Views Podcast delivers strategic insight into the trends redefining global financial services, with commentary from industry leaders and innovators. Discover more coverage, interviews, research, and partnership opportunities at thefintechtimes.com and follow The Fintech Times across all major social platforms.