General News

February 23, 2020 @ 7:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Al Rayan, a Sharia-compliant bank, has decided to close down its online banking service by February 26, 2020. The move will now force its clients to switch over to the bank’s app-only financial services with only a short six days notice period. Al Rayan’s… Read More

February 22, 2020 @ 3:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Morocco has adopted a bill to create a legal framework for crowdfunding according to a report on Media24. The legislation is designed to: “… contribute to the mobilization of new sources of funding for the benefit of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises and young people… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 11:10 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

CapTable, a crowdfunding platform registered with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), recently reported that equity crowdfunding in Brazil has jumped from BRL 8.4 million in contributions in 2016 to BRL 79 million ($18.6 million) in 2019. According to Latin America Business Stories (LABS),… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 4:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

JPMorgan, the largest bank in the US, and UK Aid confirmed last month that they would invest $15 million into the business operations of Catalyst Fund, a Boston-headquartered project accelerator which funds Fintech firms in order to support financial inclusion efforts in India,  Mexico, and… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 4:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Centre of Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) has announced that three courses—AI in Finance, Fintech Foundation and “Extrapreneurship” are now accredited by the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT). AI in Finance and Fintech Foundations’ syllabuses will jointly focus on current developments in Artificial Intelligence… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 3:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Traditional banks may be at risk of losing their leading position when it comes to developing national digital identity solutions. Big tech firms and various other multinational networked companies might be able to offer better digital identity schemes and take the lead, industry association Mobey… Read More

February 21, 2020 @ 11:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

SoftBank, a Japan-based global conglomerate holding firm with more than $283 billion in assets, is reportedly planning to invest $100 million, through its second Vision Fund, into Behavox, a UK-based company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor workers’ behavior at financial services firms. SoftBank’s management… Read More

February 20, 2020 @ 7:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), one of the most storied investment banks on Wall Street, will purchase retail online brokerage ETrade (NASDAQ:ETFC) for $13 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, ETrade shareholders will receive 1.0432 Morgan Stanley shares for each ETrade share, which represents per share… Read More

February 20, 2020 @ 2:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

OTB Ventures (OTB), a VC fund focused on making strategic investments in technology firms based in central and eastern Europe, has introduced an early-stage tech fund, which is notably the biggest venture capital fund in the region. The fund has reportedly received $100 million in… Read More

February 19, 2020 @ 9:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bank of Singapore, the private banking arm of OCBC Bank (Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited) (SGX: O39), has appointed Celine Le Cotonnec to the institution’s newly created role of chief data and innovation officer. Le Cotonnec will be reporting directly to Bahren Shaari, the CEO at… Read More

February 19, 2020 @ 8:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ASEAN Exchanges, a group which consists of six major exchanges based in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, have reportedly chosen to integrate Refinitiv’s digital solutions onto their online platform. The solution offers critical data and insights to institutional and retail clients, and assists… Read More

February 19, 2020 @ 8:20 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Major bank-to-bank messaging system Swift processed $40 trillion in messaging transactions back in 2018. Significantly, Swift handled $77 trillion in international payments messages via the gpi platform last year, which indicates that the demand for the program is becoming even more firmly established in the… Read More

February 19, 2020 @ 7:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lition, the developer of a commercial blockchain network, confirmed on February 18 that tech giant Microsoft has integrated its distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based solution to its Azure cloud marketplace.   The integration with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform notably makes Lition one of the few public (permissionless)… Read More

February 18, 2020 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, Deloitte published an update on investment activity in the Fintech sector. In brief, the good news is that Fintech investments were at an all time high in 2019. The bad news shared by the report that the number of new Fintechs founded experienced… Read More

February 18, 2020 @ 10:14 am By JD Alois  |  

MaxDecisions, a Fintech A.I. and machine learning analytics company, has hired Bernard Guerrero as Vice President of Decision Sciences to further expand analytical products and offerings. MaxDecisions is an analytical company utilizing the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence software to assist specialty financing… Read More

February 18, 2020 @ 8:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Laura Bygrave, the innovation and ventures lead at Deloitte Legal, confirmed on February 17 that the Big Four auditing firm’s legal division became the “exclusive” legal and professional services partner of “deep tech” Ph.D. entrepreneurship program Conception X. Bygrave, a former assistant director at Ernst… Read More

February 17, 2020 @ 10:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

TALL Group of Companies, an established provider of secure digital and paper payment solutions and services, is working with several major banks in order to protect users from cheque-related frauds. The UK-headquartered company is teaming up with several large and small lending firms that will… Read More

February 16, 2020 @ 10:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

JPMorgan Chase, the world’s sixth-largest bank in terms of total assets, has reportedly sent a letter to several Fintech firms in which it cautioned that they will no longer be allowed to access customer data unless they accept the terms of a new data access… Read More

February 14, 2020 @ 8:03 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Flywire, a U.S.-based fintech firm that provides global payment and receivables solutions for education, healthcare, and commercial enterprises, announced on Thursday it has acquired healthcare technology platform Simplee. The acquisition comes just after the company raised $120 million through its Series E funding round, which… Read More

February 14, 2020 @ 7:50 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Standard Chartered, a UK-based multinational banking and financial services company with $688 billion in assets, announced on Thursday it has joined forces with the Imperial College Business School for a new climate risk management partnership.   According to Standard Chartered, the collaboration aims to discover new… Read More