For this week, we keep you up to date with the latest news and trends in the fintech world. Dive into this week’s topics, focused on embedded finance marketplace, fintech partnerships, online payment, retail banking, M&A, blockchain and more! Enjoy the materials!
Ziglu empts cash savers with 5% Sterling Boost account (Fintextra)
Ziglu, a cryptocurrency platform, has launched a new investment product offering an interest rate of 5% APY. Ziglu has launched Sterling Boost for people looking for a better return on their savings accounts and who are willing to invest to achieve this. It is concerned that many people are using funds from extremely low risk cash savings accounts to buy cryptocurrencies. Ziglu says Sterling Boost provides an attractive alternative to this – offering a better return than cash savings accounts, and with a risk profile that is much lower than investing directly in cryptocurrencies. Read more
ClearBooks joins new Revolut-built embedded finance marketplace (Finextra)
ClearBooks, a software provider, is to be the first third party application to join a new business marketplace built by Revolut, a smartphone payment app. Under the partnership, Clear Books has been able to embed payments creation functionality directly into its accounting and payroll software without having to be a registered payment initiator. The new functionality allows customers to manage bills and their employees’ payroll directly from Clear Books where they have linked their Revolut Business account. Read more
Wise expands in India (Altfi)
Wise, a modern banking platform, is officially launching in India, opening an office in Mumbai in the process and making its international transfers available. People in India will be able to send money to 44 countries globally. “Bringing Wise to India is a big step forward in our mission to build money without borders 一 instant, convenient, transparent and, eventually free,” Kristo Käärmann, CEO and co-founder of Wise said. Read more
Stripe and Grab partner online payments GrabPay in Southeast Asia (The Paypers)
Stripe, a fintech and SaaS company, has announced a partnership with Grab, a transportation company, to enable businesses across Southeast Asia to offer consumers online payments through the GrabPay e-wallet. GrabPay allows merchants to connect to Grab users and improve retention by providing access to GrabRewards. Stripe’s partnership with Grab will enable businesses in Singapore and Malaysia to tap into the ecommerce growth by managing GrabPay, card payments, and other local payment methods within one single integration. Read more
HSBC announced strategic withdrawal from US operations, focusses on Asia (Fintech Futures)
HSBC, a multinational banking and finser organization, has announced a “strategic withdrawal” from its US retail banking operations, selling chunks of its business as it continues to focus on Asia. The bank is to close 90 of its 148-strong branch network, and exit from all personal banking accounts with values of less than $75,000. Similarly, it is set to exit all business banking accounts for firms with a turnover of less than $5 million per year. HSBC continues to pivot towards the Asian markets, where it has historically performed well, and where it continues to experience growth. Read more
Fintech Startup Acorns to Go Public in $2 Billion SPAC Deal (The Wall Street Journal)
Acorns Grow Inc, a fintech company focusing on micro-investing and robo-investing, plans to go public through a merger with a blank-check company in a deal that values the digital savings and investing app at about $2.2 billion. Furthermore, the company said it would combine with Pioneer Merger Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company affiliated with the hedge funds Falcon Edge Capital and Patriot Global Management. Read more
Worldline to acquire Greek network services provider Cardlink (Finextra)
Worldline, a global leader in the payments industry, announced the signing of a bidding agreement for the acquisition of 92.5% of the share capital of Cardlink, the leading Network Services Provider in Greece. Gilles Grapinet, Worldline’s Chairman and CEO, said: “The acquisition of Cardlink is a significant development in our Group consolidation strategy in Europe, extending our merchant services activities towards the South of Europe”. Read more
Adyen expands its acquiring offering to the United Arab Emirates (PRnewswire)
ADYEN, the payments platform, announced the expansion of its local acquiring services to include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), illustrating its commitment to the Middle East region. In the UAE, Adyen is the first and only payment provider to offer a single-platform unified commerce solution. With direct card acquiring connections to Visa and Mastercard, transactions will be processed locally in the UAE via the Adyen platform. Read more
EU planning on launching 27 state-wide digital wallet for private and public services (Payment cards & mobile)
The EU is set to unveil detailed plans for a bloc-wide digital wallet following requests from member states to find a way for citizens to access public and private services online. The digital wallet would securely store payment details and passwords and allow citizens from all 27 countries to log into local government websites or pay utility bills using a single recognised identity, said people with direct knowledge of the plans. The EU-wide app, which can be accessed via fingerprint or retina scanning among other methods, will also serve as a vault where users can store official documents such as a driver’s licence. Read more
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