The latest fintech news that we bring you are Ting acquiring German open banking technology provider FinTecSystems, Stripe acquiring Bouncer, PayPal buying Happy Returns, Klarna launching a new national campaign, China banning businesses from cryptocurrencies, US big banks to issue credit cards to people with no credit scores. Dive into the updates and enjoy the selection of materials!

Tink acquires German Open Banking technology provider FinTecSystems (The Paypapers)

Tink, an open banking platform, has announced the acquisition of FinTecSystems, a German open banking infrastructure fintech, powering over 150 banks and fintechs in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The acquisition will strengthen FinTecSystems’ market position, with Tink further fuelling the company’s growth and open banking capabilities in the DACH region. Read more

European Central Bank castigates banks over instant payment fees (Finextra)

The European Central Bank has warned that the charges levied by banks for instant payments are proving a barrier to uptake and must change to be cheaper and easier to use. Providers should make instant payments available on all commonly used electronic channels and offer much-desired functionalities such as Request-to-Pay. To promote innovation and digitalisation, investigations are being conducted on the opportunities of pan-European electronic identities and electronic signatures for retail payments. Read more

Stripe acquires card verification fintech Bouncer (Fintech Futures)

Stripe, financial services and software as a service company, has acquired Bouncer, a fraud solutions provider, for an undisclosed amount. Both Bouncer’s team and its technology will join Stripe. Radar, a suite of products from Stripe, will use Bouncer’s card scanning and verification technology to confirm an end customer is using their card. Stripe hopes this extra layer of protection will reduce false positives. In other words, legitimate customers can transact without being blocked. Read more

PayPal to buy online returns start-up happy Returns (CNBC)

PayPal has agreed to buy Happy Returns, a start-up that lets shoppers return items they bought online in person. The acquisition will help solve sometimes messy logistics of returning and shipping items for merchants, and help drive foot traffic to those businesses as the economy reopen. Read more

Metromile and Hippo partner to offer auto and home insurance product (Insider Intelligence)

Metromile and Hippo, the two insurtech companies, joined forces to offer consumers a bundled auto and homeowners insurance product, which will save policyholders 15% with a multi policy discount. Consumers will be able to purchase the coverage from either company’s platform, and it will initially be offered in eight states, including California and New Jersey. Read more

Klarna launched new nationwide campaign addressing Britain’s credit model (The Fintech Times)

Klarna, a fintech company that offers direct payments, pay after delivery options and installment plans, has launched a major new nationwide campaign entitled #WhyPayInterest. The campaign, which will run across both online and in-print channels, highlights the key differences between Buy Now Pay Later products and traditional credit cards in the UK. The campaign is activated nationwide by Klarna, and includes major advertising spots as well as 400 taxis, and full-page slots in national newspapers such as The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, and The Financial Times. Read more

Venmo cites sanctions laws over blocked payments mentioning Palestinian relief funds (Finextra)

Venmo, a mobile payment service company, says that US sanctions laws are behind recent moves to block some payments that include keywords related to Palestine in the description. In the message, Venmo says: “We’re trying to understand” the reference, the “purpose of this payment, including a complete and detailed explanation of what is intended to be paid for and the establishment/location”. Read more

China bans financial, payment institutions from cryptocurrency business (Reuters)

China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions, and warned investors against speculative crypto trading. However, China has not barred individuals from holding cryptocurrencies. Read more

JPMorgan, Others Plan to Issue Credit Cards to People With No Credit Scores (The Wall Street Journal)

Some of the largest U.S. banks plan to start sharing data on customers’ deposit accounts as part of a government-backed initiative to extend credit to people who have traditionally lacked opportunities to borrow. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., U.S. Bancorp and others will factor in information from applicants’ checking or savings accounts at other financial institutions to increase their chances of being approved for credit cards. The pilot program is expected to launch this year. Read more

Dutch Court Rules Bitonic No Longer Requires Crypto Wallet Verification (Finance.yahoo)

A Dutch court has ruled in favor of Bitonic, a crypto exchange, stating it no longer needs to fulfill crypto wallet-verification requirements implemented by the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands. Read more

Deutsche Bank signs global partnership with payments technology provider Silverflow (Finextra)

Deutsche Bank and Silverflow, a payment technology provider, have announced a global partnership to support the bank’s payments strategy. The partnership will include two new payment services, which are expected to launch in Autumn 2021. Deutsche Bank will enable PSPs across Europe and the US in the first step to accept debit and credit card payments through Silverflow’s cloud-based card acquiring service. Silverflow will also provide innovative new solutions for Deutsche Bank corporate banking customers. Read more

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