Tagged: europe

June 26, 2020 @ 7:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In February 2020, Sweden began piloting an electronic version of its national currency, the e-krona. The European nation’s government had confirmed at that time that the e-krona was a step closer to its official launch as a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Riksbank, the central… Read More

June 25, 2020 @ 8:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland-based Credit Suisse, a multinational wealth manager, investment bank and financial services firm, has made a deal with modalmais, a Brazilian digital bank. According to the terms of the agreement, the Swiss bank will purchase preferred shares that will be “equivalent to up to 35%”… Read More

June 22, 2020 @ 10:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mambu, a Berlin-based SaaS cloud banking platform provider, has teamed up with Google Cloud. Through the partnership, Mambu clients will be able to use a cloud-agnostic platform to launch and expand existing banking and lending operations into other countries. Mambu will aso be able to… Read More

June 21, 2020 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

VC firm MiddleGame Ventures (MGV) has reportedly received a €10 million grant from Enterprise Ireland, in order to establish a pool of funding of up to €20m for Fintech businesses operating on the island. As noted on MGV’s official website: “Middlegame Ventures is a venture… Read More

June 21, 2020 @ 3:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Andréa Toucinho, the Director of Studies, Prospective and Training of Partelya Consulting and Country Ambassador for France of European Women Payments Network (EWPN), notes that it’s necessary to develop a European vision or roadmap for adopting Open Banking and Open Finance platforms. She suggests that… Read More

June 20, 2020 @ 9:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland listed Fintech firm Achiko is reportedly planning to offer payment services to European businesses. Based in Indonesia, the company is now moving to Switzerland after its shareholders supported the decision during a recent meeting. Established in 2018, the Jakarta-headquartered company currently offers payment services… Read More

June 19, 2020 @ 11:13 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firms in Bulgaria are in need of a clear set of regulatory guidelines on the national and EU level in order to effectively compete in the evolving European market, according to the nation’s government officials. As first reported by See News, Bulgarian Fintech industry… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 11:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech Payhawk, a corporate expense management solution provider that secured €3 million in seed funding in March 2020, has teamed up with Visa in order to issue business cards that offer 0.50% exchange rates. The Payhawk team says that by working with the payments… Read More

June 15, 2020 @ 1:06 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Brussels-based Fintech firm iBanFirst has secured €21 million in capital through a Series C round, which was led by Elaia and Bpifrance Large Venture. The funds raised will be used to expand iBanFirst’s financial services platform for SMEs. The company mainly focuses on supporting B2B… Read More

June 14, 2020 @ 5:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted almost every business sector, globally. The world’s peer to peer (P2P) lending market has also taken a hit, as funding volumes reported in March and April have been significantly lower than previous months. However, analysts at online lender Robo.cash… Read More

June 13, 2020 @ 4:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Fintech firm OMG officially launched its platform on June 10, 2020. The company noted via Twitter: “We are a Fintech startup looking to provide our customers with day-to-day current accounts that will give instant cashback discounts for up to 50% of the purchase price.”… Read More

June 12, 2020 @ 11:47 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Danish Fintech firm Likvido has reportedly secured €2.5 million in seed funding from BlackFin Tech in order to assist SMEs that might be struggling to maintain their operations. The company’s founders say they want to help business owners avoid bankruptcy after going bankrupt themselves only… Read More

June 12, 2020 @ 10:04 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Mastercard announced on Thursday it has joined forces with Octet Europe to launch of a new trade solution across the European Economic Area (EEA). According to Mastercard, the Mastercard Trade Solution powered by Octet Europe with a goal to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow… Read More

June 12, 2020 @ 7:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Estonia, one of the world’s most developed nations with an advanced, high-income economy that’s among the fastest-growing in the EU, is reportedly caught up in one of Europe’s largest-ever dirty-money scandals. Estonia has been quite active when it comes to encouraging the adoption of digital… Read More

June 10, 2020 @ 8:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Caixabank, a retail banking group in Spain, will be introducing facial recognition technology at 100 ATM locations across the country. The bank’s customers will be able to make withdrawals without having to enter their PIN codes. Facial recognition tech is also being used at the… Read More

June 10, 2020 @ 6:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Switzerland will be introducing QR-bill payments by the end of this month. They will reportedly have a digitally readable code that will hold all payment data. QR-bill payments will be offered along with seven other existing paper-based payment slips that are used to process transactions…. Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 10:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Fintech Raisin has distributed a report on European interest rates. Raisin provides a service that enables consumers to compare and select higher rate return savings accounts. Raisin notes that the savings rate has risen during the COVID-19 crisis, meanwhile inflation and interest rates are down,… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 9:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Amsterdam based Fintech BUX, a retail brokerage company that announced a “soft launch” version of its digital asset exchange earlier this year, will be expanding its stock trading services into Austria and Germany. The commission-free trading app provider is introducing its investment platform, Bux Zero,… Read More

June 8, 2020 @ 7:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Berlin-headquartered Vivid Money, a digital banking service provider that’s supported by Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, launched on June 8, 2020 through a partnership with solarisBank and payments giant Visa. Vivid Money says it’s the first mobile-based, full-service banking solution, providing cashback incentives, sub-accounts in major foreign… Read More

June 7, 2020 @ 10:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Pan-European marketplace for short-term SME property-backed loans EstateGuru is set to close its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs with more than €880,000 raised from nearly 1,100 Seedrs investors. Founded in 2013, EstateGuru claims to be the leading European marketplace for short-term, property-backed loans. The… Read More