Stay up to date with the latest news from fintech! This week, we bring you updates and developments on partnerships, regulations, investments, crypto and more. Enjoy reading!
Fintech players get cozy in Luxembourg (Computer Weekly)
Luxembourg has long been a major financial centre in Europe, with nearly 130 authorised banks. It is also the second biggest market in the world – behind the US – for investment funds, with more than €5.6bn in net assets being managed in the country. It isn’t surprising that an increasing number of fintech companies are choosing Luxembourg for their European headquarters. The small European country is unique because of the language skills not only among the people working for the different companies, but also among the regulators. Read more.
Meet Bankaya, a Mexican fintech that is going offline for customer acquisition (TechCrunch)
Most fintechs pride themselves on digital everything, including customer acquisition strategy. But Bankaya, a Mexico City-based financial services startup, is attributing its early traction on the opposite model — going after target customers in person. Founded in 2019 by CEO Mauricio Cordero, Ramón Chedraui and Diego Vargas, Bankaya launched one year ago and boasted 450,000 customers as of year’s end. Impressively, and perhaps counterintuitively, most of that customer acquisition was via offline channels. Bankaya’s target customers are the 50 million unbanked in Mexico. And the startup has made it its mission to drastically lower that number with what it believes is a unique approach. Read more.
UK fintech investment surges after regulation refresh (CityAM)
Investment into UK fintech firms surged last year as investors looked to capitalise on new regulation in the sector, research has revealed. Total investment into British fintechs jumped more than 217% to $11.6bn in 2021, second only to US firms globally which saw $46bn of investment, according to figures from Innovate Finance, the UK fintech industry body. The UK’s fintech sector outpaced the rest of Europe and dominated the continent in terms of capital invested. Overall, $24.3bn was invested across Europe with the UK attracting nearly half of total investment. Read more.
Fintech Launches Crypto Bank Account for Hispanics (Labusinessjournal)
A West Hollywood-based fintech announced the launch of a banking program Dec. 20 aimed at building Hispanic wealth through stakes in the crypto sector. Assembled Financial Technology’s new Anda bank account is a “digital bank solution” that offers the benefits of a low-cost digital bank account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a loyalty program with a cryptocurrency component. Anda is structured to help the Hispanic community move into the digital and crypto economy, according to a company statement on the program’s rollout. Read more.
Dvara E-Registry and Monexo Fintech announce new partnership (IBSinteligence)
Dvara E-Registry has announced a new partnership with RBI licensed peer to peer digital lending marketplace Monexo Fintech Pvt Ltd. Through this partnership, Monexo and Dvara E-Registry will provide loans to farmers in Jajpur, Dasarthpur and Korai Blocks of Odisha. As part of this partnership, Dvara E-Registry will lend its services as a Business Correspondent to Monexo, including identifying creditworthy farmers and covering the sanction, disbursal, and collection of short-term agricultural loans to smallholders in the identified regions of Odisha. This partnership will especially benefit New to Credit Farmers in the region who have been relying on informal sources of credit. These farmers will be identified through the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) that Dvara E-Registry engages through Doordrishti. Read more.
B4B Payments joins Mastercard Fintech Express Programme (Businesswire)
B4B Payments, a leading global payments provider, is pleased to announce it will join the Mastercard Fintech Express Programme. As part of the Mastercard Developers initiative, it is set up to provide support in obtaining licensing for issuing Mastercard prepaid, debit and credit cards either directly with Mastercard or through its qualified ‘Express Issuance’ partners. Read more.
Apex Fintech Solutions acquires PDQ Enterprises, parent company of Coda Markets (Finextra)
Apex Fintech Solutions (Apex), the “fintech for fintechs” powering innovation and the future of digital wealth management, announced today that it has acquired PDQ Enterprises (PDQ), the parent company of CODA Markets, Inc. (CODA), operator of an innovative auction-based alternative trading system (“ATS”) and smart order router that aims to optimize liquidity aggregation for all market participants. The acquisition of PDQ will enable Apex to expand and evolve its trading and execution capabilities, creating opportunities to deliver increased liquidity, improved execution quality and new products to clients. Read more.
SG-based ASEAN Fintech Group acquires PH payments startup JazzyPay (Backendnews)
Singapore’s ASEAN Fintech Group (AFG), a venture firm that specializes in fintech, announced its acquisition of Philippines digital payments provider JazzyPay valued at $1.8 million. A registered digital payments provider, JazzyPay is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. JazzyPay allows businesses to accept cashless payments by integrating its payments gateway into the merchant’s business processes. Read more.
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