Fintech calls for anti-fraud tax to tackle scamming epidemicStay up to date with the latest news from fintech! This week, we bring you updates on regulations, legislation, partnerships, and more. Enjoy reading!

European Parliament paper pours cold water on digital euro (Finextra)
The risks of rolling out a digital euro currently outweigh the benefits and a CBDC should not be introduced unless “new elements ” emerge, says a paper prepared for the European Parliament. While a final decision on issuing a digital euro has yet to be made, the European Central Bank has been busy investigating options ahead of a potential launch, which would come in 2026 at the earliest. Read more

Germany’s Unstoppable Finance to build Europe’s first DeFi bank (Fintech Futures)
German fintech start-up Unstoppable Finance, which operates a self-custodial crypto wallet, says it is planning to build Europe’s first fully regulated decentralised finance (DeFi) bank. The fintech firm plans to issue a fiat-backed euro stablecoin and become a full bank “unlike other stablecoin issuers” by offering a suite of banking and financial services – both on traditional and DeFi rails. The fiat-backed stablecoin will be issued following the guidance of the EU’s new Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, which was voted into effect by the European parliament last month. Read more

Rapid Finance partners with Mambu to provide Lending-as-a-Service (The Paypers)
US-based financial service company Rapid Finance has integrated with Mambu’s cloud-based lending platform to offer Lending-as-a-Servive to financial institutions in the US. Decisioneer, Rapid Finance’s cloud-native digital end-to-end loan origination system (LOS), provides borrowers and lenders alike with a seamless, customised user experience that significantly accelerates the loan decisioning and underwriting process. The platform helps borrowers gain access to needed capital through their lending partners quickly and efficiently. Read more

Fintech calls for anti-fraud tax to tackle scamming epidemic (City A.M.)
Tide has argued the government should introduce an anti-fraud tax to fund the battle against fraud as the fintech firm criticised the lack of ambition in the recently released fraud strategy. Although Tide – which provides mobile banking services for SME businesses – welcomed the creation of a National Fraud Squad, it argued it was “nowhere near enough” to tackle “Britain’s fraud epidemic.” “The target to cut fraud by only 10 per cent by the end of 2024 with another 400 police officers is nowhere near enough to combat the sheer scale of the problem and the damage done,” Tide’s chief executive Oliver Prill said.  Read more

Gradient AI launches AI-enabled underwriting solution (Global Fintech)
Gradient AI, an enterprise software provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the insurance industry, has launched a turnkey solution WriteSpeed to allow workers’ compensation insurers to deploy AI-enabled underwriting. Gradient AI is an enterprise software provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the insurance industry. The new AI-enabled underwriting solution, WriteSpeed, will leverage Gradient AI’s vast industry data lake to deliver a pre-trained AI model that workers’ compensation underwriters can put to work immediately. Read more

Experian Introduces New Fintech Data Network to Help Businesses Fight Fraud (Finovate)
Experian is launching a fintech-focused version of its fraud prevention data network, Hunter, in the U.S. The technology is currently being used by more than 450 organizations in 24 different countries. Experian reports that Hunter has saved its clients more than $6.5 billion a year in fraud losses. Hunter works by providing participants with a “line of sight” into borrower activity across the fintech industry. A collaborative data network, Hunter enables participants to share data on fraudulent activity in real-time. That data is then securely linked across the network. Participants can use the network to identify potential fraud when onboarding new customers or when verifying current customers. Experian noted that its clients have seen a 35% increase in fraud detection when participating in a Hunter network. Read more

Insurtech Funding Up 38% Over Q4 2022: Gallagher Re (Insurance Journal)
Insurtech funding increased nearly 38% from Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, from about $1 billion to about $1.4 billion, according to a new analysis released by Gallagher Re. The U.S. leads France and the UK as the nation funding the most insurtechs. India and Germany round out the top five countries. The definition of insurtech is important, according to Dr. Andrew Johnston, global head of insurtech and the author of Gallagher Re’s Q1 2023 Global InsurTech Report. Because the overall use of the term tends to be vague and overarching, the numbers captured will vary. Read more

Crypto technology could bolster capital markets, BoE’s Cunliffe says (Financial News London) 
The deputy governor noted both the opportunities and risks of using the technology that underpins crypto in existing capital markets. The technology that underpins crypto could help bolster traditional capital markets, according to the Bank of England. “The greater impact on the financial system may well come from the transfer of technologies developed in the crypto world to the ‘real’ world,” deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe told an Association for Financial Markets in Europe conference on 28 September. Post-trade services, such as clearing and settlement, could be transformed by so-called distributed ledger technologies, known as DLT, he said. “It takes nanoseconds to strike a trade. Depending on the market, [post-trade] processes take at least a day and often more,” he said. Read more

TD Asset Management Inc Acquires Sizeable Stake in Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd, Signaling Promising Growth Prospects (Best Stocks) 
In recent news, TD Asset Management Inc has made a noteworthy addition to its portfolio by purchasing a sizeable stake in Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:CRDO). As per the company’s 13F filing with the SEC, TD Asset Management Inc has acquired 64,200 shares of Credo Technology Group’s stock, valued at an impressive $855,000. This new development is sure to rouse curiosity among the investment community and raise eyebrows about what this decision signals for the future performance of Credo Technology Group. Read more

Changing continent: The EU’s population is declining, new figures reveal (Euro News)
Eurostat’s Demography of Europe report documents various factors affecting the lives of tens of millions of people. The European Union population decreased by more than half a million compared to 2020, according to the latest demographic statistics published by Eurostat. The report revealed the adverse effect of COVID-19 casualties on the EU population, interrupting the annual growth observed until 2020. Despite 17 EU member nations showing an absolute increase in population, seven countries followed the opposite trend, including significant decreases in Italy, Poland, Greece, and Croatia. Read more

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