And we’re kicking off the week with new details on crypto, money transfer, fintech funding, payment process, debt crisis and more. Dive into the latest fintech insights and have a great start of the week!

Inside the scandal at Flutterwave, Nigeria’s fintech champion (Rest of the World)
Former employees allege bullying, mismanagement and serious administrative errors at the startup, which is valued at more than $3 billion. Clara Wanjiku Odero, a Nairobi-based former executive at the Nigerian fintech unicorn Flutterwave, posted an explosive article on Medium. Odero, who until 2018 held the title of head of implementation at the company, making her responsible for its expansion into East Africa, alleged that she had been bullied and harassed by the company’s current CEO, Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, that she’d had to fight to get paid after she left the company, and that the company’s “negligence” had led to her being investigated by the Kenyan police. Read more.

Asset management challenges of the fintech era (Law Assia)
While disrupting daily lives and consumer behaviour, the covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated innovation of investment channels and approaches. Coupled with the constant upgrading of internet technology, investors are experiencing a new fintech era and landscape for financial product and services consumption. This article reviews how participants in all aspects of asset management, product sales agencies, managers and auxiliary service providers are responding to the fintech revolution in their own way. Read more.

How fintech solutions can bridge the trade financing gap (Wamda)
Ankit Goel is the Middle East and North Africa head of MODIFI, a a global fintech company that helps small and medium-sized businesses finance and manage their international trades The pandemic’s impact on trade and supply chains was significant and in turn, also impacted economic growth and well-being. At the same time, the crisis led to an acceleration in the digitisation of business models, including cross-border business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce as a response to disruptions in supply chains. From the onset of Covid-19, fintech startups emerged to help businesses fund global partnerships and secure digital trade financing through game-changing non-recourse factoring. In this article, I will discuss how digital finance tools can work as springboards for post-pandemic businesses. Read more.

Block Is Wall Street’s Top Fintech Despite Its Price Tag (Bloomberg)
Wall Street loves Block Inc. — even with a valuation that’s frothier than tech high fliers like Tesla Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Analysts see more than 60% upside for the payments company, while shares in its bigger rival, PayPal Holdings Inc., have a return potential of 31%, according to Bloomberg data. At the same time, Block shares are by no means cheap, trading at 76 times estimated earnings and dwarfing PayPal’s valuation at 22 times. The high price tag means that the company, formerly called Square, needs to deliver when it reports first-quarter results after the close today. Analysts at Jefferies said more clarity is needed around future growth for Block’s consumer payments service, Cash App, and around the impact of its $29 billion acquisition of Afterpay. Read more.

Banks want to be venture builders too (Euromoney)
As their involvement in fintech matures, large banks are focusing on building standalone digital businesses rather than just taking stakes in third-party startups through venture capital funds and accelerators. Can these new in-house ventures disprove the thesis that incumbent banks can’t create disruptive business models? We all know the stereotype: big banks are complex and backward-looking. When it comes to setting up businesses based on digital technology and new consumer habits, they’re bureaucratic and risk averse. Read more.

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