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!

Raisin Bank Expands Into Payments Space With Bankhaus August Lenz Acquisition (PYMNTS)
Frankfurt-based Raisin Bank AG is acquiring the payment services division of Bankhaus August Lenz & Co AG, per a Thursday (June 23) press release. The move will allow Raisin Bank to expand its product range to payment services and cash solutions. As a result of the acquisition, the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider will play a part in the operation of over 4,500 ATMs in Germany. Cooperation partners on this front include all major bank-independent ATM operators as well as various retailers, restaurants, and gas station chains. Read more.

UK payments regulator eyes Visa’s and Mastercard’s fees (The Paypers)
The UK-based Payment Systems Regulator has set to launch two separate market reviews of the fees charged by Visa and Mastercard. The watchdog alleged that the fees paid by acquirers increased significantly over the period 2014 to 2018, but that ‘a substantial proportion of these increases are not explained by changes in the volume, value or mix of transactions’. Read more.

British fintech Revolut enters crowded BNPL market (UKTN)
Revolut has announced it is entering into the buy now, pay later (BNPL) space with the rollout of what it calls a “responsible” pay later product. The British fintech will let customers spread the cost of purchases up to €499 across three instalments, with a fee of 1.65% per purchase being repaid in the first two. The rollout will initially take place in Ireland from this week. The company will look to offer the service in additional markets later this year. Merchants will not have to sign up to be eligible for the service and will not be charged for customers using it to purchase their products. Read more.

Saudi Arabia to raise FinTech companies by threefold under new strategic plan (ArabNews)
Saudi Arabia plans to increase the number of fintech companies in the Kingdom by threefold under a new national strategy. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that under the new fintech strategy the number of firms is expected to increase from 82 to 230 by 2025. It also seeks to increase fintech sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to SR4.5 billion and create nearly 6,000 jobs by 2025. Read more.

Card-based fintech in dire straits with PPI lending ban (ET)
Fintech firms such as Jupiter, EarlySalary and KreditBee have temporarily stopped customers from making any transactions on their prepaid cards, multiple sources told ET, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently banned the industry from loading credit lines on prepaid payment instruments (PPIs). Some partner banks of these card-based fintech firms may also stop supporting their bank PPIs to these platforms after seeking a clarification from the RBI, the people said. Read more.

Fintechs face reckoning as easy money dries up (FT)
As a wave of fintechs rode successive funding rounds to ever-higher valuations over the past five years, Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna declared its ambition to become the Ryanair, Tesla and Amazon of the sector. But now as central banks raise rates in a fight against surging inflation, Klarna is trying to raise fresh cash at less than half its peak $46bn valuation and fintechs are having to come to terms with a world where expansion can no longer be fuelled by cheap money and business models must be demonstrated by profits. Read more.

China Approves Plan for ‘Healthy’ Development of Fintech Sector (Bloomberg)
Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired a meeting Wednesday that approved promoting the “healthy” development of the payment and fintech sectors, a sign that a broad crackdown on tech companies like Ant Group Co. may be easing. The meeting of the central commission for deepening overall reform also backed enhancing regulation of major payment platforms, state broadcaster China Central Television reported, adding that companies would be encouraged to return to their roots while the authorities will improve regulation. Read more.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance Team Up for NFT Partnership (Fintech News)
Binance announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with Portuguese football legend Cristiano Ronaldo. The five-time Ballon D’or winner is joining forces with Binance to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for football fans worldwide, with a series of NFT collections that will launch exclusively on Binance’s official NFT platform. Registered Binance users in select countries will also be able to purchase the collections using Binance Pay. The first collection, slated to launch later this year, will feature designs created in collaboration with Ronaldo. Read more.

Klarna’s Valuation Set to Slip, Bringing Fintech Star Down to Earth (TWSJ)
Few private companies benefited more during the pandemic than Klarna Bank AB. Consumers flocked to the specialty lender, which lets shoppers break up payments for things they order online. Klarna’s valuation soared to $46 billion from $5.5 billion in just two years. Times have changed. The loss-making startup has burned through a chunk of the money it raised in recent years and is now seeking fresh funds. Part of the reason it needs more capital is to keep up with more stringent Swedish bank capital requirements, according to people familiar with the company. Read more.

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