Stay up to date with the latest news from fintech! This week, we bring you updates on tech launches, cybersecurity, new entries, acquisitions, and more. Enjoy reading!
Apple Wallet app can now show current account balances from UK banks (9to5 Mac)
Apple is soft launching a new iPhone Wallet app integration today that is powered by the United Kingdom’s Open Banking API. The Wallet app will now be able to show the user’s current account balance from their bank, as well as a history of deposits and payments. The balances will also be shown inline when buying something with Apple Pay, helping users be more financially aware of whether they can responsibly afford the purchase. Read more
EPI announces wero as its breakthrough digital wallet solution (Fintech Global)
The EPI, a bank-backed venture established to counter giants like Mastercard in Europe, named its digital wallet solution as ‘wero’. The primary motive behind introducing ‘wero’ is to provide a robust European alternative to the existing digital payment giants, streamlining P2P, consumer-to-business, online, mobile, and point-of-sale transactions. Originally set up to offer a strong competition to dominant payment entities Mastercard and Visa in Europe, EPI has continually strived to innovate and expand its payment solutions. Read more
Australian InsurTech Youi opts out of aggregate reinsurance as market conditions harden
(Fintech Global)
Youi, a prominent Australian insurance company under the Outsurance Group umbrella, has decided not to renew its aggregate reinsurance for the 2024 financial year, due to the current hard market conditions. This strategic move reflects a broader trend in the industry as insurers grapple with escalating natural perils losses and pandemic-related business interruptions that are causing the insurance market to harden. Read more
Chubb and SentinelOne’s collaboration promises a new era in cyber threat defense (Fintech Global)
Chubb, recognised as the world’s largest publicly traded property & casualty insurance firm, has entered into a strategic partnership with SentinelOne, an established leader in the cybersecurity sector, to enhance cyber risk management for businesses in the U.S. This alliance seeks to integrate SentinelOne’s industry-leading cybersecurity solutions with Chubb’s insurance offerings. By doing so, they aim to provide enhanced cyber defense measures, helping businesses fortify against the evolving cyber threat landscape. Read more
Deutsche Börse set to take over WealthTech firm SimCorp in €3.9bn deal (Fintech Global)
Frankfurt-based firm Deutsche Börse is inching towards closing its €3.9bn takeover of the Danish investment management software company SimCorp. The recently published final tender results for the all-cash transaction reveals that the German organisation now holds 93.97% of the share capital and voting rights of the acquired company, excluding treasury shares but including open market purchases. Read more
Mistral AI makes its first large language model free for everyone (Tech Crunch)
The most popular language models out there may be accessed via API, but open models — as far as that term can be taken seriously — are gaining ground. Mistral, a French AI startup that raised a huge seed round in June, has just taken the wraps off its first model, which it claims outperforms others of its size — and it’s totally free to use without restrictions. The Mistral 7B model is available today for download by various means, including a 13.4-gigabyte torrent (with a few hundred seeders already). The company has also started a GitHub repository and Discord channel for collaboration and troubleshooting. Read more
African VC firm Enza Capital launches founder partner program as it closes $58M across funds (Tech Crunch)
Enza Capital, a venture capital firm that backs startups “organizing the offline online” and “digitizing key African industries,” has closed $58 million across two funds. In 2019, the company launched an early-stage fund to “find, back, and help build category-defining startups” in the pre-seed and seed stages. The fund is still active and has invested in fintech, logistics, health, human capital and climate tech companies. Enza Capital, which now self-describes as a multi-stage investor due to its larger follow-on investments to Series B, is still focused on these industries in its second fund launched this year. Read more
Alipay+ integrates 10 Asian e-wallets enhancing cross-border mobile payments
(Payments, Cards and Mobile)
Ant Group has integrated 7 new leading e-wallets and payment apps from Asia to the Alipay+ Program (A+China Program). Users of mPay (Macao SAR, China), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay (Singapore), OCBC (Singapore), Naver Pay (South Korea), Toss Pay (South Korea) and TrueMoney (Thailand) will be able to use their familiar home e-wallet on their own phone to enjoy mobile payment experience in the Chinese mainland across Alipay’s merchant network. The new additions bring the total number of overseas e-wallets accepted in the Chinese mainland to 10. Read more
Coinbase Registers as Crypto Exchange With Bank of Spain as it Continues International Expansion (The Fintech Times)
Coinbase has registered as a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian wallet provider with the Bank of Spain and has obtained the necessary licenses. As a result, the crypto exchange platform can now offer its full suite of products and services to both retail and corporate clients across Spain.
Coinbase explained that its AML registration with the Bank of Spain news comes as part of the second phase of its strategy for international expansion titled ‘Go Broad, Go Deep’. Read more
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