The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest international fintech stories. FinTech Wales unveils its first CEO, while Snoop raises more than £10million in crowdfund. Plus, British Business Bank delivers £30million into Funding Circle‘s UK SME Direct Lending Fund.
Partnerships and collaborations
Payment service provider Paynetics AD has acquired tokenisation capabilities through Visa’s Token Service to offer new payment options, including mobile wallet solutions. Paynetics says it will use Visa’s technological capabilities to offer a competitive proposition to both large enterprises and smaller businesses across Europe.
MoneySuperMarket has extended its partnership with Optimus, the conveyancing panel management specialist. In addition to providing panel management services for MoneySuperMarket’s conveyancing channel, Optimus will now deliver and manage a new home survey service for the price comparison website.
Alternative payments provider DOCOMO Digital and Razer, the gamers lifestyle brand, have announced a strategic payments partnership. DOCOMO Digital will integrate payment methods, such as carrier billing and e-wallets, so that Razer Gold customers can make in-game purchases.
Bahrain fintech Payment International Enterprise (PIE) has partnered with telco Bahrain Telecommunications Company (BATELCO) in order to launch digital kiosks with SIM dispensing capability. BATELCO describes the partnership as perfect for supporting its delivery of self-service solutions.
Used car marketplace DubiCars is joining forces with Emerging Classified Venture (ECV) in order to provide UAE car dealers with a platform to export cars. They say the partnership will make exporting a car from the UAE to Africa easier and more cost effective.
Launches and announcements
British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has committed £30million to support UK small businesses through Funding Circle’s UK SME Direct Lending Fund. The Fund gives institutional investors the opportunity to lend directly to a portfolio of SMEs originated by the small business loans platform.
The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has issued new regulation on stored value facilities. The CBUAE aims to help fintech firms and other non-bank payment service providers get easier access to the UAE market while continuing to safeguard customers’ funds.
ValueSetters has changed its name to Netcapital following their merger earlier this year. According to the company, while its commitment to customers and partners remains the same, the name change ‘reflects its differentiated position as a fintech leader’.
Avaloq, a Swiss company that develops and provides software for core banking, wins ‘best transaction processing solution’ at the WealthBriefing European Awards. The judges commended Avaloq for the industrial strength of its transaction processing solutions and its straight-through processing rates.
Trading broker INFINOX Capital is expanding into Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana. It follows its recent launch of operations in Nigeria. In addition, the company plans to launch an African hub in South Africa in the coming months.
Feeling active? Fitze, the UAE’s fitness rewards app that converts steps into coins, is taking part in the annual Dubai Fitness Challenge. It will give out rewards to people taking part in its new ’30 days 200k’ steps challenge.
And, the 2020 Africa Investment Forum has been postponed to 2021, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The annual three-day investment marketplace was initially scheduled for November 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Job moves
FinTech Wales appoints Starling Bank founding member Sarah Williams-Gardener as its first CEO. Since leaving Starling in June 2019, Sarah held an interim CEO role at charity Hope for Children, as well as being market, consumer insights and product design consultant at Fair 4 All Finance.
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand has created a specialist role focused on deepening the regulator’s expertise in fintech. Fintech entrepreneur Binu Paul has been appointed as specialist lead for fintech at the FMA.
Banking software company Temenos has announced Phillip Finnegan as managing director for the Pacific region. As well as leading growth in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Finnegan will look to ‘take advantage of the new opportunities in this digital-first era’.
Drew Foster is the new senior vice president of investor relations at tax credit firm Alliant Capital. Foster will assist in the development of equity placement strategies and will also focus on local and regional investors. He was most recently director of acquisitions at Red Stone Equity Partners.
While, independent Lloyd’s broker AFL Insurance Brokers Ltd (AFL) has hired Stuart Edwards as senior casualty broker. As well as describing Edwards as a ‘rising star in our sector’, AFL says Edwards will contribute to its forward-looking culture and ongoing growth.
Investments and fundraising
Fintech Snoop has closed its latest funding round, raising £10,008,270 from 1,725 investors. Led by Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the money-saving service saw former financier, Pierre Lagrange, joined existing investors Lord Brown’s Havisham Group, Travelex founder Sir Lloyd Dorfman and Salesforce Ventures in the latest fundraising round.
We’ve made great strides since we launched in April and we’re thrilled with the support from customers in the crowdfund. We will now accelerate development of the platform, broaden our smart money-saving services and continue to scale the business.
Graphic design platform DesignBro has raised nearly €400,000. The seed round was raised partly via private investors and partly via Dutch angel investor platform Leapfunder. The new funding is for further growth and a first step in becoming a global leader in design services.
Union Bancaire Privée has unveiled a new global equity strategy investing in a wide range of areas of the fintech industry. The UBAM – Global Fintech Equity fund will invest in 20 to 40 stocks offering global exposure across fintech-related themes.
Finally, BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto has reached $90million assets under management since listing on Deutche Boerse’s Xetra in June 2020. The exchange traded cryptocurrency tracks the price of Bitcoin and is 100 per cent physically backed.
