The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup collates the latest fintech stories from around the world. This Tuesday 6 October, Allica Bank is delighted with the hiring of three fintech heavyweights. While Mode hits the stock market.
Fintech people moves
LawtechUK, the government-backed initiative within Tech Nation, has introduced five new members to its advisory board. Professor Katie Atkinson, Chris Grant, Professor Sarah Green, Brian Liu and Julia Salasky will provide insights from their experiences in technology, academia, entrepreneurship, law and business.
Weicheng Pan has joined blockchain e-commerce firm Future FinTech as chief strategy officer. In addition to strategic planning and financing activities, Pan will also support the company’s global development strategy.
Allica Bank has hired three senior fintech executives to support growth at the bank, ahead of a £100million funding round. Conrad Ford, founder of Funding Options, is its new chief product officer. Andy Carroll, formerly group head of product at Equals. While, Chloe Fenton, formerly of Liberis, joins Allica Bank as head of marketing.
Credit insurance specialist Xenia has appointed Simon Berry as director of client service south. Berry was previously account manager at broker Credit and Business Finance, which Xenia bought in 2019.
Meanwhile, digital investment manager Wave Financial Group has appointed Constantin Kogan as managing director. In addition, Jack Lu has joined Wave as client service analyst. While, Uyanga Batbold joins Wave as a trading analyst.
Former 11:FS Foundry CEO and industry leader, Dr Leda Glyptis, is the new chair at data analytics firm findexable. In this role, Dr Glyptis will lead findexable’s development as a ‘worldwide hub for collaboration, research and innovation.
Finally, global fintech Nium has expanded into the Middle East with Ayoub Jemail as new general manager for the region. Ayoub was most recently regional VP of sales and business development at Transpay.
Mergers and acquisitions
Global payment solutions provider Castles Technology has acquired Spire Payments, a provider of electronic funds transfer at point of sale systems. Castles Technology says it will continue to invest in Spire Payments solutions.
This acquisition represents an important strategic move for the future of our businesses, as we continue to evolve and innovate to provide merchants acquirers with future-forward payments solutions.
Hong Kong-based investment banking firm AMTD Group has acquired a controlling stake in accounting and consulting firm Nexia TS. Following the acquisition, the financial company says it will look to develop Singapore into a professional services talent hub with a local hiring plan of over 100 local staff in the next 12 months with a particular focus into women talents.
Cybersecurity company Imperva has agreed to snap up database security firm jSonar. Imperva says that combining jSonar’s ability to quickly secure data stores with its data security capabilities will spearhead a new approach to data security. The transaction is subject to regulatory clearance.
Japanese NEC Corporation has acquired 100 per cent of shares in Swiss digital banking firm Avaloq. As well as plans to create new solutions that combine their technologies, NEC says it will also promote global sales expansion of Avaloq’s software.
Partnerships and collaborations
Banking service Monese is to adopt Thought Machine’s cloud native core banking platform Vault. It says the partnership brings together two fintech companies with a shared vision for the future of financial services and a deep passion for engineering excellence in product development.
Knowledge Bank has partnered with the Financial Intermediary and Broker Association (FIBA). The partnership will provide FIBA members with access to Knowledge Bank’s criteria search system of both specialist and mainstream lenders.
Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has unveiled the DigitalSugar Trading Platform (DigitalSugar.io) in partnership with Universa Blockchain and Al Khaleej Sugar. Developed using blockchain technology, DigitalSugar is the first global exchange to offer traders and investors raw sugar on a spot basis.
Broadridge and PPI AG join forces to launch payments-as-a-service for Europe. They say the collaboration will provide a specialised payments solution that can help banks meet their current needs, as well as get ready for what’s next.”
Meanwhile, MTFX partners with Crown Agents Bank to expand access into Africa and other emerging markets. In addition to foreign exchange capabilities, MTFX will also leverage CAB’s digital payment rails to deliver payments to its clients’ beneficiaries locally.
Innovation development firm Rainmaking will roll out a virtual startup training programme after agreeing a partnership with Dubai International Financial Centre’s FinTech Hive.
Funding and investments
Digital asset fund Alpha Sigma Capital has invested in the UAE-based Emirex Exchange. As part of the partnership deal, Alpha CEO Enzo Villani has joined the Emirex advisory board.
SME lending provider B-North raises further £1million to ‘move closer’ to securing banking licence. With the latest in cloud-based technology, B-North says it aims to deliver finance up to 10 times faster than the market standard.
We are using this ‘bridge’ round to extend our cash runway and enable us to complete our Series A fundraising as efficiently as possible in the coming months, at which point we will bring the business to market.
Vantage Capital, Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, has invested $28million in Cliniques Internationales du Maroc Group (CIM). The funding will enable CIM to part-finance the extension of an existing clinic in Marrakech, as well as open new clinics in Tangier and Casablanca.
Finally, UK fintech Mode has started trading on the London Stock Exchange. The Bitcoin banking app is one of the first publicly listed financial services companies with a consumer focused digital asset offering on LSE. It raised £7.5million on its first day.
