Stay up to date with the latest news from fintech! This week, we bring you updates and developments on partnerships, lending, banking, crypto, NFT and more. Enjoy reading!
Fable Fintech inks strategic partnership with XeOPAR (IBS Intelligence)
Fable Fintech, a global banking infrastructure company enabling SaaS-powered platforms for cross-border, corporate, trade, and FX transactions, announced its strategic partnership with XeOPAR, a one-touch cross-border payments and remittances startup for all. Fable Growth Suite (Retail) platform chosen by XeOPAR serves both inward and outward remittances. In addition, it helps payments providers grow revenue from existing and new customers, and improve profitability. Read more.
Banking giant Truist acquires fintech startup Long Game in effort to reach younger demographic (Techcrunch)
Truist — one of the nation’s largest financial institutions — has acquired Long Game, a 12-person fintech startup that has raised over $20 million in venture capital, executives told TechCrunch exclusively. As of January, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Truist was the sixth largest bank in the U.S., with $488 billion in assets. It was formed in 2019 as a merger between BB&T and SunTrust banks. Founded in 2015, Long Game has built a gamified finance mobile app that aims to help people “save, learn and engage” with their finances. Specifically, the San Francisco-based startup wants to drive bank customer engagement using prize-linked savings and casual gaming to motivate smart financial behaviors. Read more.
Neobank Bunq Acquires Belgian FinTech TriCount and vies for Ulster Bank and KBC account holders (PYMNTS & Irishtimes)
- Neobank Bunq, by acquiring Belgian FinTech TriCount, will add 5.4 million new users, a company press release said, and become Europe’s second-largest neobank, behind Revolut. It will also be updating its app to add features. The bank will also introduce features like Bunq Jackpot, which gives Dutch, German and French users three chances to win €10,000 every month by using the app. Read more.
- Dutch fintech Bunq is making a play for Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland current account holders by launching in the Irish market on Wednesday with a banking service that uses Irish international bank account numbers (Ibans). The Amsterdam-based company, which was founded a decade ago, will be first so-called neobank in the market to offer accounts with Irish Ibans. Read more.
FIFA Announces Partnership With Blockchain Company Algorand (Fintech News)
FIFA has teamed up with Zug based blockchain technology company Algorand to agree a sponsorship and technical partnership deal. The agreement means Algorand will become the official blockchain platform of FIFA and provide the official blockchain-supported wallet solution. As per the sponsorship agreement, Algorand will be a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Regional Supporter in North America and Europe, and a FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ Official Sponsor. Blockchains allow non-editable data to be permanently recorded and distributed on digital networks, while also facilitating innovations and ensuring safe, untampered exchange of value and assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and through blockchain-enabled wallets holding digital assets. Read more.
Stripe flexes its fintech muscle with Financial Connections to pull banking data automatically (Techcrunch)
Stripe, the payments behemoth valued at $95 billion a year ago and now reportedly inching closer to an IPO, today announced a new product that fills in some significant gaps in its play to be the financial services layer for merchants and other businesses whose models are based on enabling transactions. It’s taking the wraps off Financial Connections, which will let Stripe’s customers connect directly to their customer’s bank accounts, to access financial data to speed up or run certain kinds of transactions. Read more.
Singapore start-up Nium seeks up to $400 million in deals to take on Europe’s crowded fintech market (CNBC)
Singaporean fintech company Nium is in talks to make an acquisition worth up to $400 million to drive an expansion in Europe, CEO and co-founder Prajit Nanu told CNBC. Nium currently has about 150 employees based in Europe, and plans to hire an additional 100 over the next 12 months, Nanu said. The $2 billion start-up is on track to generate around $150 million in annual global revenues this year, with between $80 million and $90 million of sales coming from Europe. Read more.
Apple deploys $25 million to entrepreneurs via social good fintech CNote (Finxetra)
As part of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, Apple has committed $25 million to eradicate systemic racism in the US and empower entrepreneurs of colour. California-based fintech CNote has already funnelled a round of insured deposits to mission-driven financial institutions such as Education Credit Union in Texas, First Southwest Bank in Colorado, and Kaua‘i Federal Credit Union in Hawai‘I, to name a few. With the CNote platform providing deposits across a network of vetted financial institutions, it aims to plug a gap for corporate and other institutional investors that want to support financially underserved communities, while generating returns on cash allocations. Read more.
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