General News

June 9, 2020 @ 8:35 am By JD Alois  |  

HM Treasury is out with its weekly update on COVID-19 lending schemes designed to support businesses impacted by the pandemic. According to the update, over 830,000 UK businesses have provided £34.9 billion through the three major government-backed lending programs. £3.6 billion has been granted to… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 9:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Financial service providers and regulators are increasingly focusing on enabling and supporting instant payments, according to Juniper Research. The researchers note that the EU’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) has “brought down settlement times significantly,” with the SEPA Instant Credit Transfer Scheme helping to reduce… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 1:42 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Celsius Network, a cryptocurrency lending and borrowing platform, recently announced it surpassed $1 billion in cryptocurrency deposits since its launch in 2018. This announcement comes just after Celsius announced it now has more than 110,000 active users using its platform.  As previously reported, Celsius claims… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 11:08 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

 Alan Lau, CEO of Tencent’s insurance platform WeSure, recently announced that research has revealed the COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly raised the sense of urgency in insurance purchase in China. Lau notably referred to the latest research Tencent WeSure conducted in partnership with Shanghai-based Fudan University, which showed a string… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Per Capita Incomes to Shrink in All Regions as COVID-19 Health Crisis Crushes Economic Output The World Bank has issued a statement that the massive shock of the COVID-19 crisis and affiliated lockdown have plunged the global economy into a severe contraction. The World Bank… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 10:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Fintech Raisin has distributed a report on European interest rates. Raisin provides a service that enables consumers to compare and select higher rate return savings accounts. Raisin notes that the savings rate has risen during the COVID-19 crisis, meanwhile inflation and interest rates are down,… Read More

June 7, 2020 @ 11:33 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based online investment service Wealthify announced last week it has become a wholly-owned, but independently run, subsidiary within insurance and pensions giant, Aviva Group. Launched in 2016, Wealthify states it is investing made simple and it is on a mission to democratize investing by making… Read More

June 7, 2020 @ 10:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noted on June 5, 2020, that it will be establishing a Payments Infrastructure Development Fund in order to promote digital payments adoptions across the nation, which is struggling to cope with the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. The RBI confirmed that… Read More

June 7, 2020 @ 5:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a paper on Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs. This is a hot sector of digital assets as CBDCs have the potential to supplant paper currency at some point in the future. Yet many questions remain… Read More

June 5, 2020 @ 2:26 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

CaixaBank, a retail banking group based in Spain, announced on Thursday it has reached an agreement with IBM Services (NYSE:IBM) to accelerate its “hybrid cloud journey” and increase the bank’s capability to develop innovative, digital-first solutions to enhance client experiences. According to CaixaBank, IBM has… Read More

June 5, 2020 @ 2:08 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

TomoChain, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange platform, is reportedly set to launch a new peer-to-peer lending feature this weekend through its newly launched TomoDEX platform. Founded in 2017, TomoChain claims to be the “most effective” platform for the token economy. The platform reported that its mission… Read More

June 5, 2020 @ 9:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The Future Fund, a UK government initiative to support startups and early-stage ventures – many of which are not profitable, reported 464 applications for the program as of May 31st. As part of a weekly update, HM Treasury quantified the number of applicants – a… Read More

June 4, 2020 @ 9:00 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) recently announced it is extending its COVID-19 commitments by Recovery Insights, a set of tools, innovation, and research. The data insight and tools will be provided to New York City, London, Madrid, the state of Arizona, and other governments. While sharing more… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 10:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jonah Schulman, head of marketing at Security Token Market, published a report last month in which he noted that the average security token return was 8.99% for the month of April 2020. Meanwhile, a fund that tracks the three largest US indices, including the Dow… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 2:37 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Lili, a U.S.-based mobile banking app specifically for freelancers, announced on Wednesday it secured $10 million through its seed funding round, which was led by Group 11 with participation from Foundation Capital, AltaIR Capital, Primary Venture Partners, and Torch Capital. Founded in 2018, Lili reported… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 2:16 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Tink, a Sweden-based fintech that provides APIs to create next-generation banking services, announced on Wednesday it has extended its open banking support for PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL). According to Tink, the expanded relationship is supported by a second strategic investment from PayPal, carried out in connection… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 12:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

FIS (NYSE: FIS), a financial services technology firm, announced on Tuesday the launch of Worldpay’s Fraud Freedom, a new chargeback indemnification service designed for cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges.  According to FIS, Fraud Freedom service helps crypto brokers and exchanges optimize payment conversion, and authorization rates… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 10:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The British Business Bank has approved new lenders for several COVID-19 support schemes. According to a release, JCB Finance will join the other 18 Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) lenders who have been accredited since the program opened last month. Last Friday, Metro Bank was… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 9:25 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Digital bank Revolut announced on Wednesday the launch of its new financial app version. According to Revolut, the new version is the latest step in the fintech’s journey to becoming a financial super app. Revolut further explained that the app’s redesign has focused on creating… Read More

June 2, 2020 @ 3:54 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Western Union (NYSE: WU) is reportedly seeking to acquire digital money transfer service MoneyGram (NASDAQ: MGI). The acquisition rumors come just a little over a month after Western Union announced the continued expansion of its Global Network for real-time money-movement and payments. MoneyGram describes itself… Read More