General News

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

May 18, 2021 @ 7:57 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

    Global fintech infrastructure platform, Nium, announced on Monday the launch of its maritime payments solution. According to Nium, the solution was created to digitize the payments experience for shipping companies, their management, seafarers, and their families.  “The Nium maritime payment solution leverages the company’s… Read More

May 18, 2021 @ 6:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Sweden’s Open Banking Fintech Tink has reportedly acquired German equivalent FinTecSystems. The latest acquisition by Tink should help the firm further expand its business operations across Europe. FinTecSystems aims to offer advanced data analytics, digital or online account checks, account aggregation and also supports Open… Read More

May 17, 2021 @ 2:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Land Bank of the Philippines has introduced its digital onboarding platform for its clients so they can easily open up a savings account without being required to visit a physical bank location. The State-managed banking institution unveiled its digital onboarding system, called DOBS Mobile,… Read More

May 16, 2021 @ 4:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

High-performance, high-throughput blockchain developer Ontology (ONT) has published its Weekly Report, ending May 11, 2021. Ontology, which develops digital ID solutions and various other distributed ledger tech (DLT) applications, notes that ONTO and bloXroute announced a partnership to offer ETH “front-running” protection for wallet users… Read More

May 15, 2021 @ 6:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech Unicorn and stealth bank Wise (previously doing business as Transferwise) is reportedly working on a Cloud-enabled educational project in order to assist with addressing the IT skills shortage in Estonia. Estonia, which is currently home to more than 1,100 startups and 7 unicorns, has… Read More

May 14, 2021 @ 8:58 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Airwallex, an Australia-based fintech company, announced earlier this week it received its Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB). Airwallex reported that the license, which was obtained on April 30th, gives it access to the European single market…. Read More

May 14, 2021 @ 1:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK Finance, a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector (representing around 300 local companies offering credit, banking, markets and payment-related services), has shared an analysis of almost 7,000 authorized push payment (APP) scam incidents. The analysis reveals that around 70% of… Read More

May 14, 2021 @ 11:24 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

    Sharegain, a UK-based fintech, announced earlier this week it has launched BetterLend. According to Sharegain, BetterLend allows clients to deliver social and environmental change through their securities lending actives. “Through BetterLend, Sharegain clients are using their lending activity to create positive change across four… Read More

May 14, 2021 @ 10:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has shared plans for a new Consumer Duty, which will aim to provide a greater level of consumer protection for retail financial markets for companies to follow. UK companies are currently required to adhere to FCA guidelines and various… Read More

May 14, 2021 @ 2:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

ilumoni, a Fintech app that aims to assist consumers with borrowing, has secured £1.2 million in an over-subscribed seed funding round. ilumoni has finalized its round after introducing the Beta version of its app earlier this year. ilumoni is a “purpose-led,” AI-enhanced Fintech solution provider… Read More

May 13, 2021 @ 10:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thousands of UK supermarkets and other retail outlets have reportedly committed to a “cash-friendly” pledge from Which?, an expert testing, reviewing, and advice service. According to the terms of the pledge, retailers are guaranteeing that they will keep taking physical currency notes and coins as… Read More