Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 2 March 2023.
Partnerships
EquiLend has selected Digital Asset to provide the distributed ledger technology underpinning the EquiLend 1Source initiative. 1Source aims to resolve the central pain points and risks impacting the securities finance industry. By working with Digital Asset, EquiLend will use distributed ledger technology to provide market participants with a ‘single source of truth’ for securities finance transactions.
Taxback International has unveiled a strategic partnership with global tax practice, WTS Global (WTS). The collaboration enables WTS to utilise TBI’s revolutionary Comply platform to power its VAT compliance services globally.
Xapo Bank, a Bitcoin custodian and fully licensed private bank, has teamed up with Lightspark, a company building infrastructure for the Lightning Network. Through this partnership, Xapo Bank will integrate with the Lightning Network to enable lightning-fast Bitcoin payments for its customers.
Sustainable investment solution provider u impact has joined forces with specialised green banking software provider ecolytiq to introduce innovative sustainable investment products to a wider branch of private investors. This partnership will see two sustainability fintech specialists join forces to increase the accessibility and transparency of sustainable investing.
Getmomo, the fully digital banking solution for the real estate sector, is to expand its vertical payment platform with a new partnership with the VVBR to offer tenant underwriting. With Getmomo, tenants do not have to pay a cash deposit when moving in, and exiting tenants can swap the cash deposit they have already paid, and settle their extra payment. VVRB supports by underwriting the guarantees.
More partnerships
PayPugs and Muniy have signed an agreement to launch a global fintech as a service solution. It is designed to let businesses integrate financial services into their product offerings, providing greater convenience and
flexibility for their customers. The offering brings together PayPugs account, payment and cards
infrastructure alongside Muniy’s front-end development expertise.
Brightwell, a payments technology company, has paired with fintech solution and payments program manager Dash Solutions, formerly known as Prepaid Technologies. Dash Solutions joins other fintechs that have partnered with Brightwell to strengthen its offerings by providing remittance services and full-time fraud prevention utilising Brightwell’s ReadyRemit and Arden solutions.
Job news
Ecobank Group, a pan-African banking group, has announced Jeremy Awori as CEO. He previously served as CEO and MD of Absa Bank Kenya Plc. Prior to joining Absa, Awori also held leadership roles at Standard Chartered Bank across the Middle East and Africa.
Web3 Foundation, whose flagship project is the Polkadot blockchain protocol, announces the appointment of Thomas Fecker Boxler as chief financial officer. He is also a member of its executive management team. He will assume the oversight and the book of work of the Foundation’s finance and operational activities.
Unzer, a company providing payment and commerce solutions, has appointed Katrin Stark as its new chief financial officer. Stark has been leading Unzer’s finance department, including the teams responsible for financial planning and analytics, treasury and accounting. Her appointment strengthens Unzer’s management team as the company continues to support businesses across Europe.
King’s Business School has appointed Mark Versey, the CEO of Aviva Investors, to chair its advisory council. He takes up the role in May, succeeding Warwick Hunt, who has served as the King’s Business School Advisory Council Chair since 2019.
UK proptech platform Shojin makes three senior appointments. Dimicke Le Masson has joined as Shojin’s financial controller while Jonathan Self is named head of asset management. Finally, James Mumberson has joined as marketing manager. Its appointments reflect the company’s plans to expand its number of live projects, return on investments and customer base.
More appointments
Opencast, a digital transformation and technology consultancy focused on financial services, has appointed Ciara Conway as its head of architecture. She joins Tyneside-founded national consultancy Opencast from Aviva, where she was group chief architect. The company has also opened new city hubs, in London, Edinburgh and Leeds – with a new hub opening this spring in Glasgow, where Conway will be based.
Charity fintech startup GoodBox has appointed a new board of directors following its recent court ruling. The members include David White, CEO of GoodBox, tech executive Davoc Bradley and Markus Hoevekamp, the founder of European payments company Adson. The new board will seek to revitalising Goodbox’s role in the UK tech for good sector.
ImaliPay, a fintech-as-a-service provider, has signed a major deal with e-commerce fulfilment solution Renda. The partnership will support businesses across Africa by simplifying and streamlining the process of order fulfilment for enterprise and medium-sized businesses across Africa, starting with Nigeria.
Thunes, a cross-border payments company, hires Victor Lucena as its new head of LATAM. Based in São Paulo, Lucena will oversee all aspects of Thunes’ Latin American operations, leading team and growth strategy. Lucena has previously worked at firms including PayU, Binance, Worldpay and Rapyd.
Company updates
Fennel, the investing platform, has been named in Fast Company’s list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023. Fennel has been recognised as one of the world’s most innovative in personal finance by Fast Company. Backed by the founder of Acorns, Capital Factory, Temerity Capital Partners, Fennel has raised over $8million in capital.
Tech provider Mia-FinTech has launched Payment Integration Hub (PIH), a new application that brings together all digital payment methods in a single console. The B2B2C offering will allow all kinds of companies to integrate and handle different payment APIs in a single modular, ready-to-market solution.
Weavr has celebrated exceptional growth in the embedded finance space, one year on from its $40million Series A funding round, led by Tiger Global. Weavr has experienced transaction growth of over 340 per cent since early 2022. Total number of users on Weavr’s platform have also more than tripled.
