Cartoon: Pivot
A new cartoon illustrating how consumer fintechs are having to constantly pivot to find product market fit.
Challenger Bank
State of play: European fintech
The recent FinovateEurope conference featured a number of key discussions on the European financial services sector.
US challenger Varo Bank names Sachin Shetty as new CTO
Shetty will be responsible for developing Varo’s technology stack as the bank looks to scale.
Mizuho and Line call off plans to launch mobile bank in Japan
Both firms say dissolution and liquidation proceedings of the mobile bank project will now go ahead.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Toku, Finverity, Lumiant and more
Our weekly fintech round-up for you to get the latest funding news from around the world.
Vemanti taps Finastra to power new SME neobank in Southeast Asia
Vemanti will deploy Finastra’s Fusion Essence solution, with plans to launch initially in Vietnam.
Zenus Bank acquires FUEX Payments for undisclosed sum
Founded last year and based in Puerto Rico, FUEX Payments operates in the Caribbean and Latin American markets.
Visa and Mastercard reportedly in talks to acquire Pismo
Visa has reportedly submitted a bid of $1.4bn after an initial offer of $1bn was rejected by Pismo.
Bank ABC taps Temenos and NdcTech for core banking overhaul
Temenos’ core banking tech will also be used to power Bank ABC’s ila Bank, a digital mobile-only challenger.
Is Southeast Europe fertile ground for digital banking challengers?
While the popularity of neobanks has surged in Western Europe, the Southeast remains relatively free of competition.
ICYMI fintech funding round-up: Synctera, Natech, Basiq, Payabli
Our weekly fintech round-up for you to get the latest funding news from around the world.
Dominican Republic’s first neobank launches on Temenos Banking Cloud
Qik’s CEO says they chose Temenos owing to its “successful track record” across Latin America.
UK Spring Budget 2023: the fintech sector reacts
FinTech Futures hears from UK business leaders on how the Spring Budget impacts the fintech sector.
Hong Kong’s Livi Bank launches Livi Business for SMEs
Livi Business offers SMEs and entrepreneurs access to “fast, simple and personalised” financial services.
Nigerian fintech FairMoney acquires PayForce for undisclosed sum
FairMoney is looking to expand its offering to include features for merchants as well as retail customers.
Scottish challenger for SMEs Alba lands banking licence
The bank has been granted an Authorised with Restrictions (AwR) licence by the UK’s PRA and FCA.
US neobank HMBradley picks Thought Machine for core banking tech
HMBradley will utilise the vendor’s cloud-native core banking platform Vault Core to power its services.
Allica Bank taps SurePay for Confirmation of Payee solution
With Confirmation of Payee, Allica customers will be protected from fraud and misdirected payments.
Nubank appoints former Meta crypto head David Marcus to board
Marcus previously spent seven years at Meta and co-created the firm’s cryptocurrency Diem (formerly Libra).
US challenger Varo Bank reportedly raising funds at reduced valuation
Fintech Business Weekly reports the firm is raising $50m at a $1.8bn valuation, a 28% decline in value.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 3 March 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
German challenger N26 loses its chief risk officer
Thomas Grosse has quit the firm citing personal reasons. A successor has yet to be named.
Revolut records first full year of profitability, plots global expansion
In its long-awaited annual report, Revolut says it recorded £26.3 million in profit for 2021.
Power to the people: How Zenus Bank aims to democratise access to banking
FinTech Futures sits down for a chat with Mushegh Tovmasyan, founder of Zenus Bank.
Should digital banking platforms be fraud prevention solutions by design?
Banks should look to use technology to not only curb financial crime but to gain a competitive advantage.
Banking Technology Magazine March 2023 issue out now
Cover story: FACE OFF – Confrontation can be a good thing.
Remitly to wind down digital banking app Passbook
All Passbook accounts will be closed on 1 May 2023.
Varo Bank appoints Wook Chung as chief product officer
Chung most recently served as vice president of product, design and engineering at SoFi.
FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 24 February 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
Chetwood’s SmartSave Bank partners cash deposit platform Flagstone
Under the new partnership, SmartSave’s fixed rate accounts will be made available to Flagstone clients.
Dutch challenger Bunq becomes first EU neobank to report a quarterly profit
Bunq reported a pre-tax profit of €2.3 million over Q4 2022.
Icelandic neobank Indó taps Lucinity for AML protection
With the partnership, Indó will have access to Lucinity’s transaction monitoring and case manager solutions.
State of play: neobanks
Neobanks as a sector are now approaching their teenage years and quickly maturing.
North America fintech funding round-up: Vexi, Comun, ModernFi & more
A round-up of the latest funding endeavours of fintech start-ups from across North America.
Ecuador’s first digital bank goes live with Temenos core
Diners Club Ecuador has gone live on Temenos’ cloud-native banking platform with AWS.
Unity Small Finance Bank taps M2P for core banking upgrade
The Indian bank will deploy M2P’s Turing CBS offering.
What the FinTech? | S.4 Episode 2 | Space Bank and financial inclusion
In this episode, we’re joined by Nika Kurdiani, deputy CEO at TBC Bank and CEO of Space International.
Ghana’s Fortek partners Codebase for Digibanc platform
It is hoped the partnership will “accelerate digitisation” and boost entrepreneurship in Africa.
Cartoon: À la carte
A new cartoon illustrating how the drop in VC money may result in new fintech start-ups being acquired.
Lunar lands €35m in fresh funding to boost Nordic expansion
Most of Lunar’s existing investors took part in the funding round, the neobank says.
