Global

June 16, 2020 @ 10:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Illimity, the first digital bank in Italy, is now offering a “illimity Hubs,” described as an innovative collaboration model in line with open banking and an open platform approach. lllimity is a banking start-up specializing in loans to SMEs. Illimity provides a digital direct banking… Read More

June 16, 2020 @ 8:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Global money transfer service Azimo will offer a fee-free transfer to all customers on June 16, the UN’s International Day of Family Remittances. The move is following the call by the United Nations for a zero fee remittances day. The goal is to raise awareness… Read More

June 16, 2020 @ 2:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bruce Pannaman, co-founder at StorkCard, a London-based financial services firm that says it’s pioneering “life-stage finance” and transforming the “relationship that parents have with money,” revealed that lockdowns imposed due to COVID-19 have “accelerated trends” around mobile payments.  Pannaman noted: “It’s estimated that over 30%… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 11:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Many developing and developed countries across the globe are considering or already developing and testing their own central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). China might be creating an East Asia virtual currency platform, according to a report from the Nikkei Asian Review. The new currency might… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 11:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least 0.1 BTC has again hit a new all-time high. Glassnode data reveals that there are now 3,054,282 Bitcoin addresses holding 0.1 BTC, valued at around $950 at current rates. As previously reported, the last all-time high was… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 11:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech Payhawk, a corporate expense management solution provider that secured €3 million in seed funding in March 2020, has teamed up with Visa in order to issue business cards that offer 0.50% exchange rates. The Payhawk team says that by working with the payments… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 10:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The developers at Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL), an externally audited “enterprise-grade” blockchain platform that claims to be secure against a potential (future) attack from quantum computers, stated that Ethereum (ETH) could go quantum computer resistant through “a unique smart-contract.” The QRL team said that a… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 3:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

2020 Inclusive Fintech 50 is now accepting applications for Fintechs driving innovation and providing financial services for the underbanked or non-banked population. In its second year of operation, IF50 seeks to identify a cohort of 50 high-potential, early-stage, and innovative fintech startups driving financial inclusion and… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 12:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging platform is now facilitating payments in Brazil, according to a post by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) in 2014 for approximately $19.3 billion. WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging application with over 2 billion users worldwide…. Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 8:59 am By JD Alois  |  

EstateGuru, a peer to peer lending platform that offers secured loans to SMEs, has appointed Gabriella Kindert to its Supervisory Board as an independent member. The move is described as being in line with the Fintech’s expansion strategy as the company strives to become the… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 8:06 am By JD Alois  |  

Challenger bank Allica Bank has announced the appointment of Richard Cameron as Head of Asset Finance. Allica Bank seeks to support SMEs. Starting with commercial mortgages, the company’s goal is to provide a full suite of banking services for the underserved SME community. Allica received… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 8:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Joint study to provide timely data and actionable insights on how the pandemic has affected the Fintech industry globally The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School is partnering with the World Bank Group and the World Economic… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 7:18 am By JD Alois  |  

UK based digital bank Starling Bank has added three new integrations to its Marketplace: Slack, the workplace messaging platform, Bionic, the energy switching service, and Equipsme, a health insurance provider, according to a company release. Starling Bank has taken the approach of providing many forward-thinking… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 1:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Brussels-based Fintech firm iBanFirst has secured €21 million in capital through a Series C round, which was led by Elaia and Bpifrance Large Venture. The funds raised will be used to expand iBanFirst’s financial services platform for SMEs. The company mainly focuses on supporting B2B… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 10:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Henri Arslanian, the Global Crypto Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), notes that many analysts have been attempting to predict the Bitcoin (BTC) price. This, after we’ve seen record leves of quantitative easing from reserve banks across the world, increased retail adoption of digital currencies and platforms,… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 8:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Theo Turner, a blockchain and AI developer at Outlier Ventures, a VC and private equity firm that advises, invests, and supports the development of technologies for an “open data economy,” recently published an analysis covering major blockchain projects. The complete research methodology, data sources used,… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 6:00 pm By Daniel Kornitzer  |  

The U.S. payments landscape has faced several hurdles when it comes to contactless adoption. But while the growth of contactless payments in the country has been slow, it is expected to gain increased traction through 2020 due to the proliferation of contactless-capable point of sale… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 5:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted almost every business sector, globally. The world’s peer to peer (P2P) lending market has also taken a hit, as funding volumes reported in March and April have been significantly lower than previous months. However, analysts at online lender Robo.cash… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 4:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  The controversial Facebook-led Libra project is reportedly the most active project in terms of developer activity, according to CoinCodeCap data. There are 41 active developers working on Libra, meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH), the world’s largest smart contract platform, has 36 active developers, the data site… Read More

June 13, 2020 @ 4:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech firm OMG officially launched its platform on June 10, 2020. The company noted via Twitter: “We are a Fintech startup looking to provide our customers with day-to-day current accounts that will give instant cashback discounts for up to 50% of the purchase price.”… Read More