Start-up


Top fintech stories this week – 8 July 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit: keep calm and carry on We assemble a panel of fintech and law specialists to discuss – with cool heads – the challenges and opportunities. Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up A round-up of key developments to save you […]

Holvi launches MasterCard card for SMEs

Finnish fintech start-up Holvi has launched a debit card, Holvi Business MasterCard. It is available to customers in Germany, Austria and Finland. This follows on from the launch of a mobile banking app for iOS and Android last summer. Holvi, which was founded in 2011, provides entrepreneurs and SMEs with a range of financial and […]

Atom Bank goes public on new tech addition, Phoebus lending system

As first reported by Banking Technology in early May, Phoebus Software has gained a new customer – UK challenger bank Atom. The five-year deal will see Phoebus’ lending software supporting Atom’s secured business lending and account servicing for Atom’s residential lending. The new platform will be used by the bank’s team to originate loans for […]

Three firms win Innotribe’s first Latin America start-up challenge

Bitso, Quotanda and Destacame have won the first Innotribe Start-up Challenge for Latin America – and a handy prize of $10,000 each. The event was held in Mexico City in partnership with Swift’s Latin America Regional Conference (LARC). Based in Mexico, Bitso connects the nation’s “traditional” banking infrastructure to bitcoin and blockchain for international cross-border […]

Blockchain goes Dutch

The Dutch government is to open a new campus for the development of blockchain to attract banks and financial institutions. At a media briefing by Holland Fintech and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the first official “Fintech Ambassador of the Netherlands”, Willem Vermeend (also a professor in economics and former minister of social affairs and employment), […]

JP Morgan launches In-Residence start-up programme

JP Morgan has launched In-Residence, a new programme for fintech start-ups to use its facilities, systems and expertise. The company says it is inviting start-ups to sit “side by side” with its businesses to develop innovations that could “revolutionise” the sector. Sanoke Viswanathan, chief administrative officer of JP Morgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank, says this […]

Top fintech stories this week – 1 July 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Brexit threat to UK jobs at Visa Should I stay or should I go? Swift hackers steal $10m from Ukraine bank Massive attack. New challenger bank readies for launch in UK Atten-shun! UK military personnel, veterans and their […]

New challenger bank, The Services Family, readies for launch in the UK

The Services Family bank will cater for the UK military personnel, veterans and their families. Sopra Steria’s technology will underpin its operations. The digital bank is being created by The Services Family Ltd (TSFL), a financial services firm set up two years ago by two military veterans. It is going through a process of obtaining […]

Axis Bank first in India to launch innovation lab, Thought Factory

India’s third largest private sector bank, Axis Bank, has launched a new innovation lab, becoming the first domestic bank to do so in India. Dubbed “Thought Factory”, the lab is aimed at accelerating the development of innovative technology solutions for the banking sector and is expected to work closely with the start-up community. Thought Factory […]

UK-based challenger bank Starling loses second CTO

CTO Mark Hipperson, who was also the bank’s co-founder, has recently left Starling. Prior to moving to Starling, Hipperson was a long-standing GM at a UK-based IT consultancy firm, BJSS. Earlier in his career, he was head of technology at Barclays’ corporate banking division (1992-2000). According to FT, this was his comment on his departure: […]

IBM opens New York garage for blockchain on the cloud developers

IBM has opened a new Bluemix Garage in New York, to offer the city’s developers, entrepreneurs, and fintech firms the use of blockchain on the cloud. The garage will be located at Galvanize’s (a network of campuses) newly launched New York campus. IBM says this location in “this tech learning community for students, start-ups and […]

Challenger banks battle cry with AI

Challenger banks have turned their attention to artificial intelligence (AI) as they seek to provide a more personalised approach to banking. German digital bank Number26 has launched Pulse26, a new app that uses AI to provide updates based on the customer’s personal banking history. Number26 says the more a customer uses their account, the “more […]

Novabase builds customer onboarding platform for Banco CTT

Banco CTT, a new bank recently launched by CTT Correios de Portugal, the Portuguese post office, has developed a new customer onboarding platform. The platform promises to complete the opening of a new account at Banco CTT in just 20 minutes online. It has been developed together with a local software specialist, Novabase. It is […]

Interview: Matteo Cassina, Saxo Bank

During the two-day MoneyConf event in Madrid, there was an exclusive Banking Technology interview with Matteo Cassina, member of the global executive committee at Saxo Bank. Deputy editor Antony Peyton spoke to him about his opinions on the show and the industry. In terms of MoneyConf 2016, Cassina says: “I do believe there are a […]

MoneyConf 2016: Grace Systems wins best start-up

Data science and data mining provider, Grace Systems, won MoneyConf’s best start-up in the Pitch competition in Madrid. Around 1,850 people enjoyed the two-day event at the elegant venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management, part two examined biometrics and Santander’s plans, part three was a […]

MoneyConf 2016: Love for London and bamboozled by Brexit

Love for London’s fintech and awry Brexit predictions – were two of the discussion points from MoneyConf 2016 in Madrid. More than 1,800 people attended the two-day event at the cool venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show looked at wealth management, part two perused biometrics and Santander’s plans, while […]

MoneyConf 2016: Domestic could be majestic for start-ups

Start-ups should first be focused on domestic markets over global ambitions, was one of the messages amidst the hurly-burly of Madrid-based MoneyConf 2016. More than 1,800 people were on hand for the two-day event held at the pleasant venue of La Nave. Part one of our review of the show was on wealth management, while […]

Deutsche Börse to invest in fintech start-ups via new venture capital platform

DB1 Ventures is Deutche Börse’s new dedicated corporate venture capital platform, set up as part of the group’s “Accelerate” growth strategy. The DB1 Ventures team will be primarily based in Frankfurt and will undertake new investments and also manage Deutsche Börse’s existing minority shareholdings. “DB1 Ventures will invest only in areas that are strategic to Deutsche […]

Australian wealth manager Crestone live with Avaloq Banking Suite

Crestone, a wealth management business created out of UBS Wealth Management Australia, is now open for business, underpinned by Avaloq’s flagship core banking system. Avaloq Banking Suite supports front-to-back office operations of Crestone, multi-asset and multi-currency. Peter Scott, the vendor’s GM for Asia Pacific, says that Crestone was among the first users to apply Avaloq Banking […]

Interview: Ramin Niroumand, co-founder of FinLeap

Berlin-based fintech incubator FinLeap and solarisBank have created the first global banking platform, called Solaris – a Banking-as-a-Platform (BaaP) service. What is it all about and how is it going to make its mark on the fintech industry? Devie Mohan interviews FinLeap’s co-founder, Ramin Niroumand. The solarisBank launch has been in the press quite a […]

Mambu launches fintech start-up programme

Banking software vendor Mambu has joined forces with a number of accelerators and incubators to launch a new fintech start-up programme. Partners comprise Startupbootcamp FinTech, 500 Startups, Ynext Incubator by Envestnet/Yodlee, Techstars and Citi Accelerator – and those start-ups that are part of these accelerators and incubators are invited to participate in Mambu’s new venture and […]

UniCredit and Open Bank Project launch fintech start-up competition

UniCredit and Open Bank Project, an open source API and app store for banks, invite fintech developers and start-ups to take part in its Appathon competition. The 2016 Appathon is driven by the Open Bank Project API, developed by the Berlin-based Tesobe Ltd/Open Bank Project. Ten companies will be selected to demo their products in […]

Accelerators: bridging the gap in fintech

Since 2015 the fintech market has changed dramatically but even bigger changes are yet to come in 2016 affecting financial services big time, believes Francisco Lorca, MD of a London-based fintech accelerator programme, Startupbootcamp. Tech is coming for banking as more fintech start-ups are springing up. There still huge gap between the collaboration of these two but […]

New digital bank for SMEs gearing up for launch in Germany

Penta Bank is a new digital banking player in Germany working towards a spring 2017 launch. Penta’s initial target market will be German and French SMEs. “Our target businesses are funded start-ups and SMEs that are cashless,” says Luka Ivicev, Penta’s head of product. Penta has been in the making since February this year. Usability […]

Swirlds emerges from stealth with alternative to blockchain

US-based Swirlds has launched its hashgraph distributed consensus platform, an alternative to blockchain, and free for public download and use by developers. Swirlds says it has “emerged from stealth” with the launch and says its hashgraph “goes beyond blockchain”. Dr. Leemon Baird, founder and CEO of Swirlds, says: “Current stock markets are fair in matching […]

New UK bank, CivilisedBank, submits banking licence application

A new digital bank for UK businesses and consumers, CivilisedBank, has submitted its banking licence to the regulators, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA). It expects to receive the licence later this year and to open for business in early 2017. Set-up and technology CivilisedBank will not have any branches. It will […]

Ex-Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins sets up new fintech start-up

Former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins has set up a fintech firm called 10X Future Technologies. Jenkins, who was sacked by Barclays in summer 2015 for failing to transform the bank quickly enough, has appointed himself as the sole director of 10X Future Technologies. He has refused to comment on what he plans to do with […]

NAB teams with Telstra for digital SME marketplace

National Australia Bank (NAB) and telco firm Telstra have partnered for an SME digital marketplace called Proquo. Proquo will offer more than two million Australian small businesses an online platform to network, trade or swap services with each other. Leigh O’Neill, NAB executive general manager micro and small business, says: “Small business is the backbone […]

ING Belgium teams with Finnish start-up for invoicing software sales

ING Belgium has acquired the rights to rebrand Finnish fintech start-up Zervant’s invoicing software across Europe. The software will be marketed as ING invoice solutions and will be sold via its own channels to SMEs and entrepreneurs. During the first phase, ING Belgium will have the rights to sell the tool in Belgium, with a […]

UK start-up Ormsby Street launches in Germany with Deutsche Bank

UK start-up Ormsby Street has launched its credit-checking tool CreditHQ in Germany, as part of a new partnership with Deutsche Bank. CreditHQ allows a small business to check the financial health and credit status of any customer or partner and will be available to small business customers of Deutsche Bank. Its German launch is the […]

Temenos Community Forum 2016: Kerv’s ring rules them all at Innovation Jam

UK-based start-up Kerv and its payments ring won the Innovation Jam at the Temenos Community Forum (TCF) 2016, held at the Palau De Congressos, in Barcelona from 17-19 May. About 1,200 delegates were at the event and part 1 of our review looked at Temenos’ ambitions in the US. The event enables customers, potential customers, […]

Top fintech stories this week – 20 May 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Android Pay now in the UK; Australia and Singapore are next Coming to a country near you… possibly. Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank stops attempted fraud through Swift system Stop! In the name of the law. Sydney Stock Exchange […]

Capital One UK launches fintech start-up accelerator

Capital One UK is inviting fintech start-ups to join its newly launched Capital One Growth Labs – “an accelerator programme for early-stage start-up and high-growth companies”. The initiative is supported by technology investor L Marks. The aim, states Chris Owen, programme leader, is to discover and partner with the new fintech talent and “and unlock the truly […]

UK challenger banks: who’s who

With so many new banks trying to muscle into the UK banking sector, spurred on by the reduced barriers to entry and calls for competition, Banking Technology wonders: will this boom be followed by a bust? In the meantime, make hay whilst the sun shines! Here is our guide to who’s who in the UK […]

Crowdfunding and investment round-up: 13 May 2016

With news on crowdfunding and investment appearing with relentless regularity, here’s a round-up of key events to save you time. UK challenger bank Tandem has now revealed the money it’s raised and its valuation – all in preparation for a crowdfunding campaign that starts on 20 May. Money raised comes to £22 million and it […]

Top fintech stories this week – 13 May 2016

Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Perception brings to market new core platform UK credit unions, lenders and start-up banks take note. ING adds some zing to start-up ring It’s working with 45 start-ups on banking innovation. Punjab National Bank to modernise enterprise data […]

RBS puts on Red Hat for new innovation centre

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is powering its new Open Experience centre with Red Hat technologies, including the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform and OpenShift Enterprise, Red Hat’s web-scale container application platform. Open Experience was launched by RBS in February at its HQ in Edinburgh (UK) to pursue “innovative new technologies for the bank and […]

Cloud nine for UK start-up AccessPay with £1m Barclays backing

Barclays is providing £1 million in funding to UK-based AccessPay to support its growth and further develop their relationship. Access Systems (trading as AccessPay) provides a cloud-based connectivity layer between a business’s finance systems, their banks and “all of the major” UK and international payment networks such as BACS, Swift, SEPA, Faster Payments and Direct […]

Nordea to launch crowdfunding service in Finland

Nordea says it will be the “first” bank in Finland to offer its customers an equity-based crowdfunding service. It has developed an online crowdfunding platform that will match entrepreneurs seeking financing with investors; and will be linked to a book-entry system. The service will be launched in the next few months. The bank says the […]