Tagged: europe

July 27, 2020 @ 8:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Investment in the United Kingdom’s Fintech industry reportedly slowed down by over a third during H1 2020, as many investors appear to be holding on to cash due to the economic uncertainty created by COVID-19. Despite the slowdown, investment levels still managed to gain 22%… Read More

July 26, 2020 @ 8:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  We recently caught up with Sky Guo, a founding member at the OMFIF Digital Monetary Institute, the global central banking think tank that assists policymakers with understanding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Guo, who’s also the founder of Cypherium, which focuses on enabling interoperability… Read More

July 25, 2020 @ 6:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  One in five or 20% of startups in Latvia are part of the nation’s Fintech sector, according to a report released on July 24, 2020. Swedbank Latvia, a large retail bank, teamed up with the Latvian Startup Association in order to publish a Fintech… Read More

July 25, 2020 @ 5:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Estonia-based Fintech firm Montonio has secured €500,000 in capital through a new pre-seed funding round. Charlie Songhurst from Katana Capital and (previously) Google, and Triin Hertmann (former COO at TransferWise) and Martin Sokk (first head of product at TransferWise) took part in the round. Other… Read More

July 24, 2020 @ 12:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

BNP Paribas, a French international banking group that’s ranked as the 8th largest bank in the world in terms of total assets (appr. €2 trillion), will reportedly become an anchor client in the European Union for tech giant IBM’s Cloud for Financial Services framework. The… Read More

July 23, 2020 @ 7:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Munich-based Scalable Capital, a company that has developed a platform to monitor and manage investment portfolios, has secured €50 million in capital through a Series D investment round led by Barclays Bank. Scalable Capital, which offers a digital wealth management platform, also received investments from… Read More

July 23, 2020 @ 1:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland’s Smart Valor, a company that operates a European crypto-asset trading platform, has revealed that it plans to add support for Kyber Network Crystal (KNC) staking, which will give Kyber Network members the chance to stake their KNC tokens on KyberDAO. Kyber Network is an… Read More

July 22, 2020 @ 11:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

VTB Bank, a leading Russian universal bank with over $6 billion in annual revenue, has introduced a “robot factory.” The bank, which has more than 77,000 workers, says it’s planning to introduce 250 “digital employees” off the production line in the coming years. VTB Bank’s… Read More

July 21, 2020 @ 10:30 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Plum, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced smart savings mobile app, has raised $10 million through its latest investment round, which was led by Japan’s Global Brain, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The latest investment comes less than a year after Plum raised $3 million through… Read More

July 21, 2020 @ 8:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME), a Spanish company that addresses the organizational aspects of Spain’s stock exchanges and financial markets (including stock exchanges in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia), has reportedly teamed up with Barcelona Tech City in order to establish a new Fintech hub…. Read More

July 21, 2020 @ 7:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The European Commission (EC), the executive branch of the European Union that recommends legislation, implements various policies and decisions, among other duties, is being asked to use its European Social Fund (ESF) to issue loans via crowdfunding and peer to peer (P2P) lending platforms across… Read More

July 20, 2020 @ 7:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Banking professionals, asset managers, insurance providers and Big Four auditing firms need access to reliable information about businesses. Fintech firm Galytix has introduced an economic intelligence platform that allows users to gain access to important information about companies. Galytix is reportedly planning to establish operations… Read More

July 19, 2020 @ 3:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A.), a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Bilbao, Spain with nearly €700 billion in assets, has introduced the results of six proof of concept (PoC) trials that leverage quantum computing for several different potential business use… Read More

July 19, 2020 @ 1:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zürich-based Swiss Infrastructure and Exchange (SIX) Group AG, the operator of Switzerland’s stock exchange, revealed that it has invested in the operations of Vestr, a Swiss company that offers a software engine to the issuers of Actively Managed Certificates (AMCs). The amount invested, through a… Read More

July 19, 2020 @ 1:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Lucinity, an AML software developer established by a compliance professional who previously worked at Citigroup, has acquired $6.1 million in capital. Meanwhile, Regtech company Hummingbird, which is also an anti-money laundering software developer, has finalized an $8.2 million Series A investment round. Lucinity’s recent round… Read More

July 18, 2020 @ 11:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Wolfpack Digital from Transylvania notes that we’re halfway through 2020 and the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has been felt and observed across different businesses and industries. The pandemic has also led to significant changes in consumer behavior, as more people are using digital… Read More

July 17, 2020 @ 8:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization that develops policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, recently concluded its year long review of its Travel Rule standards for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The FATF confirmed that it will be extending its… Read More

July 16, 2020 @ 10:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Robo.cash has revealed that peer-to-peer (P2P) investors on its platform have increased the size of their initial investments despite the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting economic challenges. The European P2P lending platform has reported that the first investment made by investors increased from £822 to €909… Read More

July 16, 2020 @ 8:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Banco Santander, a Madrid-based multinational commercial that generates around 50 billion Euros in annual revenue, and Banco Sabadell, the fifth-largest Spanish banking group with over 26,000 employees, have finalized a proof-of-concept (PoC) test that supports the execution of digital payments via blockchain-based smart contracts. BBVA,… Read More

July 15, 2020 @ 12:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Telefónica, S.A., a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with over 48 billion EUR in annual revenue, will be piloting a blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT)-based platform for settling roaming discount agreements. Telefónica will be joined by Deutsche Telekom, a major German telecommunications company, and British… Read More