General News

May 29, 2021 @ 8:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Baloise, a Swiss insurance holding firm, has introduced its mobility accelerator with the goal of supporting innovative projects launched by early-stage startups under the new tagline Mobility@Baloise. This latest initiative from Baloise (in Switzerland) has come as the company launches its information platform, which has… Read More

May 28, 2021 @ 5:12 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Funding Circle (LSE: FCH), an SME lender that facilitates loans in both the U.S. and parts of Europe, announced on Friday it has teamed up with Atom Bank to provide £300 million of new funding to small businesses. Through the collaboration, Atom will use… Read More

May 27, 2021 @ 6:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Blend Network, an online P2P lender, reveals that April 2021 saw the largest monthly rise in United Kingdom’s house prices since February 2004. According to the Nationwide House Price Index, average UK house prices increased by 2.1% in April compared to March after the… Read More

May 26, 2021 @ 10:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Early- and late-stage venture capital experienced “sharp expansions” in pre-money valuations as the “rapid cadence” of VC deal-making from 2020 spilled over into Q1 2021, according to the latest US VC Valuations Report 2021 from Pitchbook. The report notes that for the early stage, both… Read More

May 25, 2021 @ 9:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Monday, May 24, the House Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, part of the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing entitled “Going Public: SPACs, Direct Listings, Public Offerings, and the Need for Investor Protections.”  While the title of the hearing addressed… Read More

May 25, 2021 @ 1:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

NatWest, a major retail and commercial bank in the UK, will reportedly be letting clients set up their own daily digital bank transfer limits – which should help reduce the potential damage done by authorized payment push (APP) scams. NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and… Read More

May 23, 2021 @ 10:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital life insurance provider Blue has introduced the #WeSupport initiative to offer its clients with free post-vaccination protection from April 8, 2021 to  July 31, 2021. As noted by Blue’s management: “Blue is Hong Kong’s first digital life insurer – in fact we are more… Read More

May 23, 2021 @ 8:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 800,000 residents in the Philippines have reportedly signed up with the nation’s Identification System (PhilSys) through digital or online registration. This, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). As reported by Fintech News Philippines, the nation’s government has been asking locals to… Read More

May 23, 2021 @ 11:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Representative Mark Green, R-Tenn., recently became one of the first congressmen to profit on Dogecoin’s (DOGE) meteoric rise. Green reportedly made two purchases of DOGE of $1,000 and $15,000 each (as revealed in public disclosure forms). These digital asset investments added to Green’s extensive cryptocurrency… Read More

May 22, 2021 @ 6:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

x15ventures (x15), which is Commonwealth Bank of Australia‘s venture-scaling division, has introduced a stand-alone or independent platform for helping new digital initiatives and business owners with fulfilling regulatory, risk and compliance requirements – which are part of scaling operations. The “xStack” platform is based on… Read More

May 22, 2021 @ 1:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Wholesale banking has been undervalued, however, it has provided consistent results during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a recent report from Oliver Wyman and Morgan Stanley. The wholesale and transaction banking report, titled “Striving to Sustain Returns,” reveals that markets and investment banking were significantly… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 10:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be postponing the implementation of strong customer authentication (SCA) rules by another 6 months in order to minimize disruption for individual consumers and merchants. First scheduled for release in September 2019, the SCA guidelines – which require a… Read More

May 21, 2021 @ 7:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Revolut Business revealed on Friday (May 21, 2021) that it’s introducing currency forward contracts (FX Forwards) in the United Kingdom. Revolut Business’ FX Forwards will allow firms of any size – from large corporates to single-person businesses – to set future exchange rates via an… Read More

May 20, 2021 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), a provider of critical information, analytics and solutions, has partnered with CloudAttribution in order to integrate their performance attribution capabilities into the thinkFolio investment management platform. This latest partnership aims to complement thinkFolio’s business strategy of enhancing flexibility, interoperability and offering… Read More

May 20, 2021 @ 10:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregator PlasmaFinance has introduced what it claims to be an “industry-first” Limit Order functionality for its native DeFi (decentralized or non-custodial) (DEX), PlasmaSwap, which lets users make swaps at “precise” price points, thus enabling “safer, stress-free DeFi trading.” As mentioned in a… Read More

May 20, 2021 @ 1:34 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

    Lithic, formerly Privacy.com, a U.S.-based card issuing platform, announced on Thursday it raised $43 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from Index Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Rainfall Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures, and Walkabout Ventures…. Read More

May 20, 2021 @ 2:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Rabobank, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services group, has reportedly decided to spin off its TreasurUp initiative via a Series A round with assistance from Australia’s cross-border payments Fintech OFX. Rabobank will still be a shareholder in TreasurUp, while management and TreasurUp’s engineering partner… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 11:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 25% of UK-based charities have seen their income levels decline in 2020 as the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and related lockdown measures have negatively affected the nation’s businesses and individual consumers. Almost a third of UK organizations are now concerned regarding their future… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 10:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based consumer group Which? has asked local banking institutions and building societies to release figures on the number or percentage of clients they refund for authorized push payment (APP) fraud. APP scams have been increasing during the Coronavirus crisis, with losses reaching almost half a… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 9:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Japanese technology giant Toshiba is reportedly working with Dharma Capital to test out the use of quasi-quantum tech in financial trading. The trial, carried out by Toshiba and Dharma Capital, will look into the effectiveness of high-frequency trading (HFT) strategies for listed stocks in Japanese… Read More