Tagged: europe

December 20, 2021 @ 11:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published an action plan to address the recommendations of an independent review “mandated by the ECB’s Governing Council in November 2020, following the five major incidents that affected TARGET2 and TARGET2 Securities in 2020.” The update from the ECB… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 11:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined HSBC Bank plc £63,946,800 for “failings in its anti-money laundering processes.” As noted in an update from the FCA, HSBC used automated processes to “monitor hundreds of millions of transactions a month to identify possible financial crime.”… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 3:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

European digital bank bunq has shared quick and safe ways to make contactless payments via their platform. According to bunq, gone are the days when you were required to carry physical payments cards with you everywhere, because now, most of the time, just your phone… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 2:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Croatian P2P lender Robo.cash has provided an update on payment dates for long-term loans issued via their platform. Starting from December 16, 2021 (inclusive), investors who have purchased long-term loans “for a period of 90 days and longer will be receiving monthly interest payments every… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 10:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Recent analysis from online pension provider, PensionBee, has revealed that if Brits diverted half of the money they’re expected to spend this Christmas to their pensions, they could be “as much as £1,442 better off by the time they reach retirement.” This amount could “increase… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 8:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Trezeo is pleased to confirm that their business has been acquired by European Fintech Monese. As mentioned in the update from Trezeo, Monese provides easily accessible, mobile money accounts to millions across Europe and is “aimed at the rapidly scaling untraditional workforce:… Read More

December 20, 2021 @ 7:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

2021 continued to be another “unprecedented year in the financial services industry,” according to an update from payments specialist Banking Circle. The team at Banking Circle points out that not only did the impact of COVID-19 “continue to accelerate change, but a number of new… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 11:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

After two months of declining, Secondary Market activity on Bondora has reportedly picked up again, albeit “with a very slight 2%.” As mentioned in an update from Bondora, a total of €257,149’s worth of transactions “took place in November, compared to €252,126 in October.” Bondora… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 10:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The British Business Bank has announced an increase to business lender Simply’s ENABLE Funding facility. In total, the facility will reportedly offer £300 million of funding to SMEs across the United Kingdom. This is notably the largest facility under the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Funding… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 10:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

HERMESNET, which aims to automate a manual legacy in private equity (PE), has acquired 96% (£145,211) of its £150,000 fundraising target from 107 investors. HERMESNET has secured capital via its crowdfunding campaign being carried out through Crowdcube (with 24 days left in the sale at… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 10:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

DeadHappy, which is the “home of the deathwish” and changing attitudes to death… “one deathwish at a time,” has secured 104% (£5,326,640 from 443 investors) of its £5,100,007 target with 24 days left in its crowdfunding campaign being carried out via Seedrs. Based in Leicester,… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 9:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Marieke Flament, the Chief Executive at NatWest’s virtual bank for businesses, is reportedly getting ready to leave her role after two and a half years. Flament will be joining Switzerland-headquartered blockchain foundation NEAR as the CEO, she confirmed in statements shared with Reuters. The non-profit… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 11:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Starting from December 17, 2021, Amazon clients in the United Kingdom will have access to a new, flexible payment method – Instalments by Barclays, helping them to “finance purchases of £100 or more on amazon.co.uk.” As mentioned in the announcement, the reusable credit account may… Read More

December 19, 2021 @ 11:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Mintos says it’s introducing a “responsible” investing requirement for all automated investments “in line with MiFID II.” The company notes that as investors will be able to invest in Notes in a regulated environment on Mintos, they are introducing “a responsible investing requirement for all… Read More

December 18, 2021 @ 3:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, Chief Strategy Officer at UK’s Blend Network, a specialist development finance lender. Blend Network‘s Roxana Mohammadian-Molina talked about some of the landmark projects that they’ve helped out this year. She also commented on what her team is doing… Read More

December 17, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Flywire Corporation (Nasdaq: FLYW), an international payments enablement and software company, has announced that it has acquired WPM, a software provider that enables secure payment experiences for universities and colleges across the UK. As mentioned in the announcement, the acquisition will build on Flywire’s education… Read More

December 17, 2021 @ 10:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Nationwide, one of the world’s largest building societies, has reportedly moved its member website to Microsoft Azure. The move, which was designed, built and released by Nationwide’s Cloud team with assistance from digital transformation consultancy Contino, aims to improve the robust security features of the… Read More

December 17, 2021 @ 7:31 am By Omar Faridi  |  

AIB, an Irish bank with key positions across various segments, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) have announced a €65 million 3-year agreement designed to help “deliver the bank’s 2023 strategy by accelerating its ongoing digital transformation, meeting its customer-first commitment and providing a clear pathway to… Read More

December 17, 2021 @ 7:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Deutsche Börse has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Crypto Finance, a FINMA-regulated provider of trading, custody, and investment services for digital assets. The agreement was “signed in June, and closing was on 15 December 2021,” the announcement confirmed. The acquisition lays the… Read More

December 16, 2021 @ 7:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Twig, the London-headquartered Fintech firm that’s bridging the gap between finance and re-sale, has shared its inaugural whitepaper which highlights “the new way in which Gen Z are consuming, based upon a total cost of ownership and a commitment to a sustainable lifestyle.” As mentioned… Read More