The European Commission is being urged to use its European Social Fund (ESF) to fund loans through crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms throughout the continent. According to the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN), ESF can provide investments and initiatives to support jobs, while also maintaining fairer opportunities for EU citizens. ESF typically backs the microfinance sector, which shares features with the P2P target market.
MoneyLion, a New-York headquartered consumer digital finance platform, launched RoarMoney. The new venture is a demand deposit account powered by MetaBank. It also has an exclusive card network with Mastercard. The MoneyLion Mastercard will provide consumers with contactless payments, advanced security features including identity theft protection, price protection, and more.
Amsterdam fintech BUX becomes the largest neobroker in Europe. The BUX app makes it easy and affordable for people to engage in financial markets through mobile platforms for commission-free stock investing and CFD trading. It currently offers 3 apps that allow users to explore the financial markets including BUX Zero, the flagship platform that is making commission-free trading possible.
Finastra and Microsoft have announced a multi-year cloud agreement. “Finastra’s open developer platform, built on Microsoft Azure, is leading the way in accelerating collaboration and innovation in financial services. By helping with capabilities such as e-signatory and e-notary, Finastra is able to quickly extend those solutions for more customers,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI, Microsoft.
In India, WhatsApp has planned a strategy to offer credit, insurance and pension products to lower-income individuals and also those living in rural areas. Furthermore, WhatsApp plans on bringing their digital payments system for small and medium-sized businesses in one of its biggest markets of users, India. Working closely with banks such as ICICI, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC, WhatsApp looks at new ways for bringing financial services to the people who are not yet part of the banking system.
Tide, a UK financial technology company providing mobile-first banking services for small and medium-sized enterprises, announced a multi-year partnership with Mastercard to further enhance its SME banking services. As part of the deal, Tide has to become a principal Mastercard issuer. In addition, the partnership means Tide will now settle funds directly with Mastercard.
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Read here our other sections of this week:
- Weekly funding highlights 24 July 2020
- Weekly research highlights 24 July 2020
- Weekly analysis & opinion highlights 24 July 2020
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