Klarna’s losses widen following first year of negative profit
Profits have been slowly declining for the company.
Consumer/Personal Finance
Video: Top fintech stories this week – 28 August 2020
FinTech Futures’ weekly news round-up.
Fronted lands seed investment from Monzo-backer Passion Capital
Fronted wants to help renters finance their rental deposits.
N26 “nearly” hits half a million US customer mark
“Over the past 12 months, we have learned a lot about our US customer base.”
R8 relaunches as Mode, appoints ex-Alipay CEO Rita Liu as CCO
Mode is one of R8’s two entities.
Standard Chartered Korea brings banking to consumers’ keyboards
“Banks must weave their services into customers’ digital lives”.
US challenger for teens Copper lands $4.3m
The start-up has built an advisory board of teens.
Zopa launches its first fixed-rate savings accounts
The range of accounts pay 1.05%, all the way up to 1.3%.
JP Morgan to launch digital lender in UK early next year
The new cloud-based venture will sit under the Chase brand.
2020 PayTech Awards hosted online by Zoe Lyons
Join our celebrity host Zoe Lyons for PayTech Awards 2020! Free broadcast on 10 September – everyone is welcome.
Goldman Sachs & Barclays among bidders for GM’s credit card business
GM’s credit card business has about $3 billion in outstanding balances.
Banks need a single brain
Every bank needs a single brain to anticipate the needs, wants and quirks of every customer.
The social-savvy wave of entrepreneurs
They will push traditional banks to pivot their offerings once again.
NatWest creates new COO role for its personal bank division
The appointment comes as the bank makes around 550 employees redundant.
ABN Amro winds down savings arm of Moneyou
Moneyou has around 500,000 clients spread across the Netherlands and Germany.
Mortgage fintech Habito lands £35m Series C, becomes B Corp
The round attracted new investors Augmentum Fintech, SBI Group and mojo.capital.
India’s BaaS Nuclei brings train tickets to banking apps
Nuclei currently has 16 bank customers across India and the Middle East.
Aussie BNPL Splitit lands $71.5m for US and UK expansion
Woodson Capital has become a substantial shareholder.
Russian neobank Tinkoff launches charity cashback tool
Users could already make donations manually via the app.
US challenger Purple to tap America’s disabled community
The fintech allows users to receive disability benefits up to two days early.
N26 outed for 2019 data breach, employees ask for works council
Around 300 of N26’s 1,500 employees should have access to unencrypted data.
UK challenger sync. reveals £5.5m seed round
The fintech was forced to delay launch due to COVID-19.
Fintech funding rebounds in Q2 but deal numbers continue to fall
VC-backed fintech deals dived from 452 in Q1 to 397 in Q2.
Financial comparison marketplace Crediverso to launch in US for Latinos
Currently in beta, the 2019-founded start-up is yet to go live.
Greek fintech Viva Wallet officially becomes a bank
The Attica-based start-up acquired Praxia Bank’s banking licence on 3 August.
Google Pay to launch bank accounts in 2021 with flurry of partners
The US Big Tech announces another six of its banking partners.
Spanish challenger Bnext lands another €11m
The new capital adds to its already closed €22.5 million last October.
EPA critiques FCA approach to Wirecard suspension
The EPA says the FCA should have reached out to it.
Singapore’s robo-advisor StashAway lands $16m led by Square Peg
The fintech last raised funding in July 2019.
Varo receives US national bank charter
Varo Bank will serve as the firm’s new banking arm, with Varo Money becoming its holding company.
Why intelligent reporting is crucial to client retention
Good digital reporting is intuitive and comprehensive.
US remittance start-up Remitly lands $85m
The remittance market is set to suffer from the pandemic.
OpenWrks lands government deal as digital affordability provider
The government wants to digitise more of its debt advice service.
UK fintech Beanstalk launches JISAs for parents with just £5 to invest
The start-up was co-founded by former Capital One employees.
Curve lands first CFO from PayPal, announces Onfido partnership
Scott Weller previously spent a six-year stint at PayPal.
Law firm owner co-founds challenger Frost rivalling Snoop
It is currently applying for a banking licence with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Emirates NBD’s challenger Liv moves to ‘super app’ status
The challenger said it had acquired more than 300,000 users.
Applications for FCA’s sixth regulatory sandbox drop more than 30%
Last year, the sandbox recieved a record 99 applications.
Xinja Bank to launch US trading platform for Aussie investors
Dabble will also offer users fractional shares.
Plum lands $10m for European expansion
To date, Plum has raised $19.3 million.
