Global

September 25, 2024 @ 12:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intends to launch a market study into how pure protection insurance products are sold following concerns that competition is not working well in the market. The study will be launched later in 2024/25. Pure protection products are designed “to… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 10:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Darren Westlake, co-founder and former CEO of Crowdcube, has topped £150,000 in a funding round listed on the platform he launched. Westlake is steering clear of financial services, though, as his new startup is music-based. Crowdcube is one of the largest investment crowdfunding platforms in… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:44 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Viva.com, a European payments Fintech, has expanded its strategic partnership with Alipay+, a suite of cross-border mobile payments and digitalization technology solutions, to enable European merchants to accept direct payments from 15 e-wallets. Alipay+ and Viva.com partnership allows global tourists, mostly from Asia, to pay in… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Kaspersky‘s latest analysis of the 25 most prevalent web tracking services, including Google services, New Relic, Microsoft, revealed over 38 billion instances of web trackers collecting user behavior data in 2024, with an average of one million detections per each day. Web tracking involves collecting,… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mambu, a cloud banking platform, and newly launched mortgage lender, Interbridge Mortgages, have announced a strategic partnership helping Interbridge Mortgages launch a second-charge product in just nine months and facilitating their entry to the UK mortgage market. Interbridge Mortgages’ launch in early 2024 is set… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cowbell, a provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and middle-market businesses, is expanding its capacity to underwrite businesses with an annual revenue of up to $1 billion, it was announced recently. With capacity from of global specialty (re)insurance provider Chaucer Group,… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:20 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lithuanian national development institution ILTE started investing in agricultural loans on HeavyFinance. It is planned to reach 2 million Eur of investments by the end of the year. Investments in loans are being “made under the Aviete Crowdfunding Loans facility.” ILTE will invest up to… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Newton Property Management has expanded its existing relationship with bank payment company GoCardless by adding Instant Bank Pay, its open banking-powered payment feature, to the Direct Debit functionality it uses already. Through GoCardless’ unique combination of Direct Debit and open banking payments, Newton can now… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 7:14 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Klarna, the AI-powered global payments network and shopping assistant, is working with global small business platform Xero, to help small businesses accept payments from consumers wanting a ‘buy now, pay later’ option. For Xero’s customers, offering Klarna’s alternatives to traditional credit “means they can get… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 6:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

One year after launch, after growing faster than the founders initially expected, Jet HR – the startup founded by Marco Ogliengo and Francesco Scalambrino to eliminate the bureaucracy surrounding payroll, HR and generally running a company in Italy – attracts a seed round of €12… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 6:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Robinhood Markets (Nasdaq: HOOD) has been promoting “rock-bottom” or highly competitive fees for options trading. but then come the hidden costs, according to a report from the WSJ. Clients using the Robinhood platform are reportedly dealing with considerably higher transaction costs than those of other… Read More

September 25, 2024 @ 6:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle has recently announced the initial availability of a completely new suite of product, which is being referred to as Compliance Engine, and it is described by the stablecoin issuer as a new service that aims to “help companies build onchain while meeting rigorous demands… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 5:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital bank bunq has launched stock trading. Based in the Netherlands, bunq holds a full banking license and regulated by the Dutch Central Bank. While announcing trading, bunq is now reporting over 14.5 million users. According to a company statement, bunq is currently providing a curated… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 1:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Polytrade, which claims to be a leader in RWA tokenization, announces its strategic partnership with Anotherblock, a platform focused on facilitating the buying and selling of fractionalized music rights through NFTs. This partnership sees Polytrade assume responsibility “for royalty distribution, further positions the business at… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 1:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Melio, an accounts payable and receivable platform, today announced multiple new features for small and medium-sized businesses and accountants to automate processes, boost control of payments, and improve cash flow management. These features enable accountants, bookkeepers, and financial advisors “to improve clients’ cash flow with… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 1:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, today revealed how its global financial technology has improved McLaren Racing’s financial operations throughout the 2024 Formula 1 season. Prior to this partnership, McLaren’s international payments run “consisted of 30 payments made one at a… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 11:49 am By JD Alois  |  

UK startups received $10.1 billion in venture capital (VC) funding from January through August 2024 according to a report. The funding was committed to 673 individual deals. GlobalData reports that this is an improvement by 14.8% in funding year over year. At the same time,… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 11:38 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In response to growing institutional demand, Fireblocks has launched an integration with Lido to provide easy and secure in-platform access to Lido’s liquid staking protocol and stETH token. Users can now stake their ETH, receive rewards, and “use stETH for on-chain activities, including Fireblocks Off… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 11:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Liberty Leasing will receive £15 million from the British Business Investments. Liberty Leasing received a £15 million facility in 2021 so this brings the total committed to £30 million. Liberty Leasing is a specialist financing firm that caters to smaller businesses in the construction, engineering,… Read More

September 24, 2024 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

The Payments Association in the UK is calling for a national payments plan. The Payments Manifesto 2025 seeks to create conditions to support growth and innovation in payments. The Payments Association says it has urged UK authorities to “undertake a swift and well-defined review which… Read More