August 4, 2023 @ 9:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Pockit – the financial super app for low-income and underserved communities – has raised $10 million in a growth round “led by Puma Private Equity, with participation from The North East Development Capital Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners and supported by the European Regional… Read More

August 4, 2023 @ 8:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A married and aspiring rapper couple from New York City recently pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracies arising from the hack and theft of approximately 120,000 Bitcoin from Bitfinex, a global cryptocurrency exchange. Ilya Lichtenstein, 35, and Heather Morgan, 33, were arrested in February 2022… Read More

August 4, 2023 @ 7:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Orbital, the London, Tallinn and Gibraltar-based traditional finance and crypto payments platform for global enterprises, has raised £5M ($6.4M) in “an oversubscribed growth round led by Golden Record Ventures, at an attractive valuation in which the founders are maintaining a large majority.” Participants in the… Read More

August 4, 2023 @ 6:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Bank of England increased its benchmark rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.25%. The decision was anticipated by markets and follows the recent decision of the US Federal Reserve to increase rates as well. The Banks’ Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 6… Read More

August 4, 2023 @ 6:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO), the financial technology company empowering the world’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to transact, do business, and grow globally, announced the asset acquisition of Israel-based Spott, a real-time data platform that uses AI to accurately surface, assess, and quantify data for more… Read More

August 4, 2023 @ 5:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

iCapital, the global fintech platform driving access to alternative investments for the wealth management industry, unveiled iCapital Architect, an innovative portfolio construction tool that empowers financial advisors “to build robust, personalized client portfolios incorporating alternatives and structured investments.” Advisors can use Architect – which “combines… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HSBC (NYSE: HSBC) and B2B fintech Tradeshift have announced an agreement to launch a new, jointly-owned business focused on the development of embedded finance solutions and financial services apps. As part of this agreement, HSBC will reportedly “make a $35 million investment into Tradeshift in… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Brex, which claims to be the first fully unified global spend platform, launched Brex payables — an AI-enabled Accounts Payable (AP) solution, “combining enhanced bill pay capabilities and purchase cards.” Brex payables offers the controls “required by an AP team to manage procurement spend seamlessly… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Klarna, the AI powered global payments network and shopping destination, announced its continued momentum in Canada. Since launching in the market in February 2022 less than 18 months ago, Klarna claims it has achieved “a rapidly expanding network of over 640,000 active consumers; processed over… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Nium, which claims to be the leader in real-time global payments, has published its 2022 audit, “showing US$82M in net revenue which grew 2.7x YoY and ended at more than $100M net revenue run rate.” Nium says it is Singapore’s first global Fintech “focused on… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance, which is being sued by US regulators for a wide range of issues and appears to be operating in jurisdictions where crypto services are banned, is pleased to announce the launch of Binance Japan, their new platform “designed for the Japanese market.” Binance says… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 7:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HeavyFinance, a climate tech investment marketplace, has financed €40 million in agricultural loans across Europe. The achievement marks a major step forward “in promoting sustainable practices and the company’s aim of generating 250,000 carbon credits from 100,000 hectares of agricultural land by the end of… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 4:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global electronic broker, announced the launch of fractional shares trading for Canadian stocks and ETFs. Clients of Interactive Brokers can now buy and sell fractional shares of “all stocks and ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 3:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) posted Q2 2023 earnings yesterday reporting its first quarterly profit. Yet, shares declined on the news as investors wondered about other metrics, including a decline in users. Robinhood said that total net revenues increased 10% sequentially during the quarter to $486 million, primarily… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 3:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CaixaBank Group posted an attributable net profit of €2.14 billion during “the first half of 2023, up 35.8% compared to the same period of the previous year (€1.57 billion).” CaixaBank CEO, Gonzalo Gortazar, emphasized the strong performance of CaixaBank during the first half of the… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 3:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kenya’s interior ministry revealed on Wednesday (August 2, 2023) that it would be suspending the local activities of the crypto-related initiative Worldcoin as the nation’s authorities assess various risks to the public’s general safety. The initiative established by OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman was… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 11:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Petal, a Fintech in the credit card sector, has received a $200 million debt facility from Victory Park Capital (VPC). At the same time, Petal states that it has agreed to an extension of an existing term loan as well as a new loan of… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 11:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lockton Re, the reinsurance business of the world’s largest privately held independent insurance broker is expanding its partnership with cyber risk analytics firm CyberCube by licensing CyberCube’s Industry Exposure Databases. CyberCube’s Industry Exposure Databases were “launched in October 2022 to enable (re)insurers and brokers to… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 11:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In the evolving landscape of European financial regulations, it is crucial for businesses and stakeholders “to stay informed about the latest developments,” according to a report by the law firm of Bird & Bird. The EU proposals, or the Financial data access and payments package,… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 11:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Emtech, a provider of central banking infrastructure, has launched its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Innovation kit. According to the firm, the kit aims to support Fintech platforms and various other financial service providers that are looking to experiment with solutions based on virtual currencies… Read More