The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup of international fintech stories on Tuesday 24 November. Netcetera heads to Paris, Raiffeisen and CoCoNet team up, while Wiesel takes to The Floor.
Fintech appointments
Russell Foley has joined legal tech startup Thirdfort from Simplify, the conveyancing and property services group. Foley will develop and optimise Thirdfort’s offering to the conveyancing and broader legal services markets, while overseeing its longer-term roadmap.
African micro-insurance fintech aYo Holdings has appointed Marius Botha as its new group CEO. The former CEO of life insurer Stangen, also held executive positions at African Bank and Munich Re.
Rachael Lord (pictured right) joins banking-as-a-service platform fintech Omnio as chief product officer. In addition to managing the strategy and development of Omnio’s products and services, Lord is part of the company’s European growth plans.
Former Goldman CIO Elisha Wiesel joins fintech startup The Floor as chairman. Wiesel will ‘further lead The Floor toward its product vision roadmap of becoming an industry standard’, expand the firm’s US presence, help steer strategic growth efforts, as well as drive partnership relations with banks and investors.
Mergers and acquisitions
Exchange operator Nasdaq is acquiring cloud-based fraud detection firm Verafin for $2.75billion. The aim is to build Nasdaq into a global leader in anti-financial crime management solutions. In addition, Nasdaq plans to create a tech hub for Nasdaq in Canada, while working with the local university to recruit talent who want to build technology to fight financial crime.
“Verafin’s innovative fraud and AML detection platform, combined with Nasdaq’s leading trade and market surveillance solution, will empower Nasdaq to play an increasingly important role in building stronger economies around the world.”
Global payments service provider SumUp has acquired POS software provider Goodtill for an undisclosed amount in order to expand services to restaurant and hospitality sectors. The acquisition will see SumUp invest further into Goodtill’s team and products.
Partnerships and collaborations
UK-based phos is working with Dutch neobank bunq. phos enables users to receive payments directly on an NFC-enabled Android device. bunq will deploy the phos solution so that customers can replace physical POS terminals or cash with a software-based POS via their Android devices.
Trading platform Aqua Rising is joining forces with Stockpulse to provide big data-based alternative assets analytics. Stockpulse offers trading signals, strategies and emotional sentiment data on securities, indices, commodities and forex.
Windward, the predictive intelligence firm, has partnered with Danske Bank in order to digitalise and automate parts of the Danish bank’s crime compliance controls. Windward is providing Danske Bank with an AI solution for optimising sanctions compliance and maritime trade finance.
SteelBridge Consulting has unveiled a strategic partnership with LemonTree Software, the development platform for complex data and accounting. They say the collaboration will accelerate the delivery of custom, institutional-quality solutions for the private capital industry.
Atom, the UK’s first app-based bank, has enlisted Codat to simplify its business lending process. According to Atom, utilising Codat’s API for small business data will result in a streamlined onboarding process and enable the bank to make faster and informed funding decisions.
The business registration and licensing sector of Dubai Economy has partnered with MyFatoorah to facilitate e-payments for DED trader licence holder transactions. They describe the partnership as a unique opportunity to support the growth of all businesses across the UAE.
Abu Dhabi Global Market signs fintech agreement with Israel Securities Authority. The agreement provides a framework for information sharing and will also facilitate the movement of startups and transfer of knowledge and talent.
Meanwhile, Spotii and Mastercard have partnered to facilitate a ‘buy now pay later’ payment plan in the UAE. Spotii and Mastercard will also collaborate to introduce several new and innovative digital payment products.
Funding and investments
Italian fintech Satispay announces €93million series C round to further accelerate growth and internationalisation. The round consists of €68million of newly issued primary shares and €25million secondary shares purchased from existing investors. The round was led by international investors, including Square Inc, Tencent, LGT Lightstone and TIM Ventures.
Announcements and launches
Swiss payment software expert Netcetera is opening a new office in Paris in order to ‘drive the great surge of digitalisation’ witnessed in the last months. In addition, its new home will help Netcetera better ‘react to regional market trends’.
Fintech Sokin has signed an agreement with Mastercard to be a principal member and card issuer for Singapore. The deal follows a partnership in Europe and the UK. Sokin will offer international money transfers and payments with no mark-up on transactions from early next year.
German identity verification provider IDnow is toasting the first AI-solution ready for high security transactions. Described as a ‘game-changing development’, AutoIdent Substantial is the first product approved for certification to meet EU eIDAS regulation.
Scottish fintech Miconex has launched a Great Town and City Christmas Quiz to encourage people to shop local. The Christmas quiz offers players the chance to win a £1500 gift card. Miconex’s Town and City Gift Cards are are prepaid Mastercards branded to a particular town, city or region.
Swiss banking group Raiffeisen and software provider CoCoNet are introducing a new service offering for the corporate customers of Raiffeisen banks. Initially, it will offer standardised data exchange, secure payment release, multibanking, cash pooling and creation of payment orders. The new service goes live in spring 2021.
Finally, Lohko and Mattereum are bringing numbered gold bars onto blockchain to make owning physical gold easy and secure for smartphone owners in December. Lohko wallet users can securely purchase, hold, sell or transfer ownership of physical numbered gold bars, stored in a secure vault. For gold and silver assets, Lohko has partnered with Singapore based Bullionstar.
