Tagged: banking

July 9, 2019 @ 3:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital  bank Neo has received regulatory approval from the Bank of Spain to launch a corporate multi-currency account. According to a release from the company, Neo will now create a PSD2 payment institution which will be supervised by the Bank of Spain. The Barcelona-based company, with… Read More

July 8, 2019 @ 9:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Zopa, the first peer to peer lender to launch in the UK and the only platform to have actually experienced a recession, received a provisional bank license in late 2018 as it looks to transition from an online lender and investment platform to a digital… Read More

July 1, 2019 @ 3:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital bank Revolut has announced a new feature that facilitates donations to charitable causes. Launched today, Revolut’s new in-app feature labeled “Donations”, allows customers to round up payments and donate the money to three international charities. Another option of the feature is to allow customers… Read More

July 1, 2019 @ 3:14 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will issue five new “digital bank licenses” according to the financial regulator. MAS said this was in addition to any existing Singapore banks which may also offer digital banking under existing rules. MAS said the new rules extend digital… Read More

June 27, 2019 @ 11:50 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK challenger bank Monzo has published its 2019 annual report. According to Monzo. The annual report is a detailed look at what a company’s been doing and how that’s affected its finances over the past financial year. CEO of Monzo, Tom Blomfield, has also written… Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

N26, a digital challenger bank based in Germany, expects to launch in the US in the coming weeks. A series D funding round announced in early 2019 was described as providing the war-chest necessary to launch, and compete, in the highly fragmented US banking marketplace…. Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 9:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fintech Unicorn and stealth bank Transferwise announced on Tuesday it has launched its debit Mastercard in the U.S.  It was revealed that TransferWise debit Mastercard was built specifically for people “without borders.” TransferWire further explained: “The TransferWise debit Mastercard can be up to 4x cheaper… Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 7:41 am By JD Alois  |  

Revolut has announced that Apple Pay is rolling out in 12 more countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. That makes 28 markets that Apple pay is available for Revolut customers. Revolut customers may use their iPhone, iPad,… Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 1:23 am By Cali Haan  |  

There has been much trepidatious commentary issued since Facebook announced its Libra Coin cryptocurrency venture last week. Politicians have warned that Libra, a payment system purportedly intended to help bank the unbanked and grant them access to low-cost remittances (while profiting Facebook), could run afoul of… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 2:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Varo Money, one of a handful of US-based digital challenger banks seeking to receive a bank charter from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is shutting down its consumer lending division, according to a reliable source. Multiple employees are said to be looking… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 8:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lender and digital bank Zopa is out with note highlighting the fact that consumers too frequently do not receive the interest rate they expect when applying for a loan. In fact, Zopa states that an astounding two-thirds of loan applicants are offered… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 2:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

Banking technologists Martin Walker, Keith Pritchard and Professor David L Yermack debated the promise and realities of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies on a panel that opened the most recent Mapping the Financial Frontier Conference. The conference was held at Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta,… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 9:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Last week’s announcement of “Libra,” Facebook’s move into creating a cryptocurrency payments infrastructure to underpin its social network, was met with considerable fanfare and may have induced a rally in the price of Bitcoins. But several pundits on Yahoo have noted that so far, banks… Read More

June 23, 2019 @ 12:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Online lending is the future. Everybody knows that. It is easier, faster, and more convenient for both lender and borrower. Over the past decade or so, a good number of direct lenders, be they balance sheet, marketplace or other, have cropped up to service the… Read More

June 21, 2019 @ 7:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Facebook’s push into cryptocurrency has engendered an exceptional amount of debate and discussion. Some people think it is great. Others, not so much. It doesn’t help that Facebook is a company that has a penchant for abusing their user data while claiming transparency and actually… Read More

June 17, 2019 @ 10:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Aspiring bank Mt Pelerin has announced a “one-stop shop” service to help companies tokenize and issue securities using blockchain tech. Mt Pelerin’s new tool is described as “giving companies of any size the possibility to access fundraising methods like IPOs more easily and without significant… Read More

June 14, 2019 @ 11:34 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Russian banking group Tinkoff announced on Thursday the launch of its new product, Oleg. According to Tinkoff, Oleg is a voice assistant for financial and lifestyle-related tasks. The product’s mission is to help users navigate within the Tinkoff platform and make customers’ lives simpler. “Oleg… Read More

June 13, 2019 @ 2:47 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Germany-based challenger bank N26 announced on Wednesday it is now offering its banking service to 3.5 million customers worldwide. The company also revealed that it is a global employer with more than 1300 employees across 60 nationalities. “As well as headquarters in Berlin, offices in New… Read More

June 13, 2019 @ 12:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital challenger bank Monzo has crossed the Atlantic and entered the US marketplace. On the same day competitor Revolut announced an expansion into Australia, Monzo announced banking services in the US in a release and a blog post. A signup form is available on the… Read More

June 13, 2019 @ 7:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital bank Revolut has traveled half-way around the world to set up operations in Australia with an office in Melbourne. This is the first step by Revolut to provide banking services beyond European borders. According to a release from Revolut, the digital bank is operating… Read More