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Global FinTech News - 16th April

Global FinTech News - 16th April
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #94 • View online
Dear Fintech reader,
With increased tension on Europe’s eastern borders, Europe is mostly focussed on vaccination and puzzling to solve the troubles with another vaccin. For further economic recovery, the IMF urges Europe to invest at least 3% of GDP, way more than the current plans including the European NextGenerationEU program of 750 billion euro.
For other latest insights and updates on fintech, we dive into this week’s analysis & opinion, research, funding, and news! The news has been dominated by the world of cryptocurrencies, with the IPO of Coinbase, but there is much more. Read it all below.
This morning in our Flash Friday Event, our Founder & CEO, Don Ginsel, discussed the latest innovations and developments with Rhett Oudkerk Pool, CEO at EuropeanChain. In case you missed the session, tune in on our YouTube channel here.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a sunny weekend!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
IPO’s, partnerships, cryptocurrencies, joint ventures, payments, regulations and much more. Dive into this week’s recap from fintech news:
  • Afterpay, a fintech company, has teamed up with payments platform Adyen to offer its installment payments to retailers around the world
  • Robinhood, an online brokerage service, announced earlier this week that 9.5 million (€7.9M) of its customers traded cryptocurrency on its platform in Q1 of 2021
  • Prosus, a global internet group and also one of Tencent Holdings’s largest shareholders, sold $14.7 billion (€12.2Bn) worth of stock in the Chinese internet and video gaming giant, cashing in on one of the most lucrative technology bets in history
  • Signal, an encrypted messaging service, is now testing a new P2P payments system in the beta version of its app, called Signal Payments
  • New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financials to disclose the impact of climate change on their business
  • German legislators are trying to strengthen financial market integrity by combatting the practice of evasing domestic regulatory requirements through outsourcing.
  • SAP, a software corporation, is setting up a financial services unit in a joint venture with Dediq, an investment firm to develop a new suite of products covering the full spectrum of commercial banking and insurance operations
  • Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, was fined $2.8bn by Chinese regulators, who said it had abused its market position for years. On Monday, Chinese digital payments firm Ant Group announced a drastic restructuring plan with regulators and intends to act more like a bank than a tech firm.
Read more about this news HERE.
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The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
Neobanks, more crypto, taxes, neo brokers and more. Curious to explore the latest transactions and deals from the fintech sector? Read through the selection of fundings, selected from 7 April to 14 April, and check out March Funding Infographic for more details:
  • Better.com (New York, USA), a direct lender providing online mortgage financing, has raised a $500M (€418M) round from Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank that values the company at $6 billion
  • Plaid (San Francisco, California, USA), a digitally-enabled financial system and data network provider, has raised $425m (€355M) in a Series D round and is now reportedly valued at more than $13bn (€11Bn)
  • Auxmoney (Düsseldorf, Germany), a digital-lending platform for consumer credit, secured a €250m investment for its marketplace loans
  • Ramp (New York, USA), a corporate cards provider and spend management software, announced that it has closed $115 million (€96M)
  • Groww (Karnataka, India), an investment app, has raised $83 million (€69M) in Series D funding round led by Tiger Global, earning Fintech unicorn status.
  • Other funding rounds which caught our attention this week: TrueLayer (€58M), ConsenSys (€54M), Alpian (€15.1M), Abacum (€5.8M), Vybe (€2.m)
Read more about the funding news HERE.
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A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
Take a closer look at the latest additions from the fintech research market - crypto assets, central banks, loan provision, AML, public fintech sector:
  • “Supervising crypto assets for anti-money laundering” (BIS) - This paper assesses AML/CFT(Combating the Finance of Terrorism) supervisory practices relating to CSPs (Crypto Service Providers) and pays particular attention to emerging practices and common challenges faced by financial institutions in light of the recent supervisory frameworks for crypto assets
  • “How do central banks use big data and machine learning?” (Suerf.org) - This policy brief examines how data are defined and used by central banks and what opportunities and challenges are for them
  • “CEO monthly market update & analysis” (FT Partners) - This report provides an overview of the universe public fintech sector regarding price/earnings multiples and common stock comparison
  • “NFTs: Is the spotlight-stealing blockchain tech - A cash grab or the next big thing?” (CBInsights) - The findings reveal that by the end of March 2021, more than $500M in USD had been exchanged over sales of NFTs (Non-fungible tokens)
  • “The General Counsel Imperative: How do you turn barriers into building blocks?” (EY) - The General Counsel continues the journey to optimize parts of the law department in 2021 with measures such as broadening business growth in the next 18-24 months and transforming risk management
  • “Comparing G20’s cash canon in 2020” (Rabobank.com) - This report shows that governments of G20 countries have spent almost $8 trillion to support their economies during the pandemic. The US ranks first with the largest expenditure
  • “European banks’ loan loss provisions set to decline in 2021 after 2020 peak” (S&P Global) - This paper observes 25 largest European banks (excluding Russian banks) by assets as of December 2020
Read more about the research papers HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
Hear from fintech experts how they judge developments, get concrete insights, find out about fierce debates, and explore the landscapes of lending, blockchain, insider trading, machine learning, and banking:
  • “Fintech Lenders Will Come Roaring Back As Economy Re-Opens” via The Financial Brand - Steve Cocheom, Executive Editor at the Financial Brand, expects that after a rough three quarters in 2020 due to the pandemic, the fintech lending industry began a broad comeback in the final quarter and could jump by 20% or more over the new few years
  • “What is blockchain and what can it do?” via World Economic Forum - Sean Fleming, Senior Writer of Formative Content, explains the concept of blockchain and how it can be used in the financial world
  • “Concerns over insider trading mount” via Bobsguide.com - Mohammed Rharrabti, Senior Business Analyst at Natixis, emphasizes that insider trading must be tackled by regulators to provide a fairer market for small shareholders, particularly since the pandemic caused record levels of retail trading accounts.
  • “Lenders: Do you trust your data sources?” via Finextra - Nick Green, Director at Purple Patch Broking, explores how to gain high-quality data for credit risk programs, like AML, without it taking an abundance of your time to achieve a reliable data set
  • “Data-driven design thinking helps banks drive revenue” via Fintech Futures - Mario Ciabarra, CEO at Quantum Metric, suggests that banks and other financial institutions can engage in data-driven product design thinking to understand how different client segments interact with each digital channel
  • “How To Handle Bias In Machine Learning?” via DataFloq - Vatsal Ghiya, writer at DataFloq, presents two major types of biases that people have for machine learning: cognitive biases and biases that rise due to lack of data
  • “Why Empathetic Banking Will Define Success In The Post-COVID World” via Forbes - Alan Mclntyre, writer at Forbes, highlights the need for bankers to put themselves in their customers’ shoes and create empathetic relationships
Read more about these analyses and opinions HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
Flash Friday: Staying ahead of the news with Holland Fintech - 23rd April
Don, CEO and Founder at Holland Fintech will be joined by Jelle Pol, Co-founder at Dusk Network. The hosts will discuss what is happening in the world of fintech and answering questions from Holland FinTech members.
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What’s Next: The path to Europe’s digital future - 21st April
Join The Economist Events for The path to Europe’s digital future, a virtual dialogue featuring frank and forward-looking debates about the trajectory of European digital sovereignty, the practical implications for businesses, and the strategies they can use to quickly adapt to an evolving digital economy.
Register HERE.
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Fintech Week Tel Aviv - 19th-22nd April
Now in its 5th year, Fintech Week Tel Aviv brings together key players from a host of global fintech and financial services hotspots to engage with the Israeli ecosystem, and see Israeli innovation first-hand.
Register HERE.
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eMerge Americas | The Premier Tech Event in Miami - 26th-27th April
In light of safety precautions imposed in Miami-Dade County to continue curbing the spread of COVID-19, the global eMerge Americas tech conference will not be hosted this April 26-27, as previously rescheduled, but will return to the Miami Beach Convention Center in March 2022.
Register HERE.
www.innovatefinance.com  •  Share
Showcase the positive impact of Tech to drive East Africa's digital economy - 11-12th May
East Africa Com will look at challenges and opportunities across the region’s diverse tech ecosystems, with a focus on shaping the future of enterprise.
Register HERE.
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