General News

May 12, 2020 @ 11:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sindhuja Microcredit, a digital and rural-focused micro finance service provider that aims to help women entrepreneurs, is planning to secure $8.7 million in capital through a Series B investment round. The investment will be reportedly be made by Norway’s Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Carpediem… Read More

May 12, 2020 @ 10:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Standard Chartered Bank has introduced a wide range of self-service requests for customers based in India. The new services will be available via the Standard Chartered Mobile app and through the institution’s online banking portal. Standard Chartered bank’s customers in India will now be able… Read More

May 12, 2020 @ 11:48 am By JD Alois  |  

HM Treasury provided an update today on the progress of the various programs designed to backstop the UK economy. These programs include the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) targeted at sole traders and small firms, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) for small and… Read More

May 12, 2020 @ 8:34 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Former Westpac executives, Andrew Walker and Chris Lumby, has reportedly raised $33 million for their new home loan fintech startup, Verteva. Verteva is described as an ambitious financial technology start-up building a transformative digital alternative for customers in the home lending space. The Australia-based startup… Read More

May 12, 2020 @ 8:10 am By JD Alois  |  

According to a report in WSJ.com, JPMorgan is now offering banking services to two well known digital asset exchanges – Coinbase and Gemini. Typically, digital asset exchanges have been shunned by big banks as compliance officers have viewed the risk as too large fearing the… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 9:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

San Francisco has earned a bit of a bad rap the past couple of years. Questionable leadership has led long-time inhabitants to complain about the rising level of crime and the increasing squalor of the city. The high cost of living/rent and California’s reputation as… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 2:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fitch Ratings is out with a note on the impact of COVID-19 and US marketplace loan portfolios. According to Fitch, the Coronavirus and affiliated rise in unemployment will lead to “significant performance degradation in U.S. Marketplace Loan (MPL) portfolios.” Even more grim is that Fitch… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 11:18 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

FIS (NYSE: FIS), a financial services technology firm, announced on Monday that FIS Digital Issuance, a solution that allows financial institutions to provide newly approved applicants with immediate mobile access to their credit and debit accounts. According to FIS, Avidia Bank is the first financial… Read More

May 11, 2020 @ 8:34 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Primer, a UK-based fintech startup, has reportedly secured £3.2 million through its seed funding round, led by Balderton Capital with participation from Taavet Hinrikus, who co-founded and previously led TransferWise. Founded earlier this year by former PayPal employees, Primer states it consolidates your payments stack… Read More

May 10, 2020 @ 10:33 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Samsung Pay announced last week it is set to join forces with online lending platform SoFi to launch a new debit card. This news comes just days after Swipe launched Samsun Pay for Swipe Visa cardholders.  Launched in 2015, Samsung Pay describes itself as a… Read More

May 10, 2020 @ 1:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Paytm Payments Bank, a new type of bank, licensed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a payments service provider, recently revealed that it has surpassed INR 600 Crores (appr. $79.4 million) in fixed deposit (FD) accounts, which have been maintained through a partnership… Read More

May 8, 2020 @ 3:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has provided some interesting data regarding the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the CARES Act; the COVID-19 bailout legislation. While the first round of PPP saw the funding quickly run out, the second tranche is ongoing. There has been… Read More

May 8, 2020 @ 12:04 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

FinTech Australia recently announced it has formed a partnership with specialist fibre and network solutions provider, Vocus. The organization reported that Vocus has signed up as an ecosystem corporate partner of FinTech Australia, in addition to supporting its major events. The partnership will notably see… Read More

May 8, 2020 @ 9:19 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Payments platform Stripe announced on Thursday it has formed a new partnership with payment installment platform, QuadPay, to power advanced buy-now-pay-later experiences that boost conversion and allows consumers to start shopping instantly through online and in-store. According to Stripe, QuadPay enables consumers to start shopping… Read More

May 7, 2020 @ 3:37 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Abra, a U.S.-based all-in-one cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, has received $5 million from the Stellar Development Foundation, a decentralized and sustainable network for financial products and services.  Founded in 2014 by Bill Barhydt, serial entrepreneur and global mobile-banking veteran, Abra is an all-in-app where you… Read More

May 7, 2020 @ 1:36 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Visa (NYSE: V) announce on Thursday its continued support of the global Fintech community, having grown the Fast Track program to over 140 Fintechs. Visa reported that Since expanding globally in mid-2019, the Fast Track program has grown 280%. The program allows both new and… Read More

May 7, 2020 @ 12:45 pm By Therese Torris  |  

  German SME lending platform creditshelf announced that it has received €62 million in investor funds, including €30 million from the European Investment Fund (EIF) as lead investor, to set up the “Creditshelf Loan Fund”. The diversified fund will help creditshelf meet German small and medium-sized enterprises… Read More

May 7, 2020 @ 12:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Canada has decided to postpone its upcoming Open Banking review due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Canadian government-led Open Banking policy review was scheduled to consult stakeholders on applicable standards, in order to provide better consumer data protection. The review was supposed to take place… Read More

May 6, 2020 @ 10:58 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton, announced on Wednesday it has acquired AdvisorEngine, a U.S.-based digital wealth platform. According to Franklin Resources, AdvisorEngine is a provider of technology and consulting services to more than 1,200 financial advisory firms… Read More

May 6, 2020 @ 10:12 am By JD Alois  |  

  Peer to peer lender Twino has announced a new social investment instrument engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Riga based Fintech said the first social project will be in collaboration with Latvia’s Children’s Clinical University Hospital (CCUH), to facilitate convenient and safe remote consultations for… Read More