In terms of fintech news, this week brings further interesting developments. Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese version) plans on launching an e-wallet, Bitpanda eyes a multi-asset debit card deal, EC & ECB dive into the digital euro, Ant Group faces further scrutiny from Chinese regulators, Swedish banks pursue an information sharing pact, BlackRock is adding bitcoin, Goldman Sachs goes on an acquisition spree, and Checkout.com makes the latest top fintech unicorn in Europe.
Happy reading!
Chinese TikTok goes for e-wallets…
Douyin announces e-wallet
Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese version, recently added “Douyin Pay” to its list of existing payment options, which have included Alipay and WeChat Pay. Douyin parent ByteDance gained a coveted payments license by acquiring a third-party payments firm. Read more
On asset management…
Bitpanda plans to launch a multi-asset debit card
Bitpanda, a crypto-broker company, announced it is taking pre-orders for a new Visa debit card that combines all assets like cryptocurrencies, fiat and precious metals into one card in real time. With transactions processed immediately and users getting a real-time push notification every time the card is used, the product comes at no card fees nor any monthly account fees. Premium users will get 2% cashback in bitcoin every time they make a purchase. Read more
What do regulators say about the digital euro?
EC & ECB launch investigation on digital euro
The European Commission (EC) and European Central Bank (ECB) are partnering up in order to investigate the policy, legal and technical implications of the possible launch of a digital euro. However, the EC pinpoints that although a digital euro can potentially help promote the global use of the currency, there are concerns rising in terms of financial stability and inclusion, AML matters and counter-terrorism financing. Read more
Update on Ant Group…
Ant Group under the scrutiny of Chinese regulators
According to Chen Yulu, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), Ant Group has set up a working group to overcome last minute regulatory requirements which ceased the launch of its initial public offering (IPO). Regulators will determine which areas of Ant Group businesses need to be regulated as a financial institution and which services need new operating licences to continue. Read more
Swedish banks on SAMLIT…
Sweden’s five largest banks are formalizing an information sharing pact
Last June, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB and Swedbank began a pilot project of the Swedish Anti Money Laundering Initiative (Samlit), collectively sharing information on methods, suspicious transaction patterns and new types of crime that have been jointly identified. As present plans, the banks are now cooperating with the police to develop a more formal framework for collaboration and governance. Read more
BlackRock adds bitcoin…
BlackRock is adding bitcoin futures as an eligible investment to two funds
BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation, announced its plans to add bitcoin as eligible investment to two funds. The funds will invest only in cash-settled bitcoin futures traded on commodity exchanges registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Read more
Goldman Sachs eyes acquisitions…
Goldman Sachs is considering acquisitions
Goldman Sachs is going on an acquisition spree in order to bulk up its consumer banking unit Marcus, after the firm slowed loan and deposit growth due to Covid-19. Goldman management has put an “extremely high” bar for any deal to be large and transformational, with areas such as digital banking being of particular interest. Read more
Next step for Plaid: Securing Talent Pool in Europe…
Plaid strengthens its European workforce despite Visa deal falling apart
Plaid announced that they are going to more than double its European workforce from 40 to 100 employees by the end of 2021. After the fall out deal with Visa, Plaid is aiming to capitalize on a shift towards online banking services in the wake of the Covid-19. By the end of 2021, Plaid has the goal to grow the number of local European employees at the firm to 100. Read more
Who is the latest European fintech unicorn?
Checkout.com named Europe’s top unicorn
Checkout.com, a platform which integrates electronic payments, analytics and fraud monitoring into one platform, raised $450 million in an investment led by Tiger Global Management, lifting its valuation to $15 billion, and putting the company as Europe’s top unicorn and the fourth-most valuable privately-held fintech business globally. Read more
—
Do you have any news to share: please put feed@https://hollandfintech.com/ on your press list.
Curious to read and find out more from fintech? Then subscribe & read our full newsletters here: https://hollandfintech.com/featured/newsletters/. In order to see our other weekly highlights, check out the following links: research, analysis & opinion, funding.
