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Global FinTech News - 22nd October 2021

Global FinTech News - 22nd October 2021
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #121 • View online
Dear reader,
Environmental campaigners have staged protests on several continents to press their demands for more government action to curb global warming ahead of the upcoming U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices have come down from the worrisome peaks recently, due to a warm autumn, but other inflation drivers are taking over, pushing prices steadily up across the board.
We on the developments in fintech for you, exploring the latest news, investments, reports and opinions on fintech, cybersecurity, crypto, banking, partnerships, payments and more! In any case be sure to check out the event section at the bottom.
From the Holland FinTech team, we wish you a sunny - or less rainy - weekend!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
This week, we bring you updates and developments on payments, banking, commerce solution, blockchain, insurtech and more:
  • The rapid growth of stablecoins like Tether is exerting an ever-greater impact on short-term securities markets such as commercial paper
  • Household banks and asset managers have invested tens of billions of pounds financing businesses involved with deforestation
  • Hindenburg Research is offering a $1-million bounty for information on Tether’s reserves, with the firm stating that Tether is yet to disclose virtually anything “about its counterparties"
  • White-label insurtech Iptiq, which is backed by Swiss Re, has launched a bundle of health protection benefits with a new UK partner
  • United States-based payments and API company Stripe said that it has acquired Recko, its first acquisition in India
  • After an extended wait for financial services firms attempting to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on Bitcoin, the very first Bitcoin ETF is expected to trade soon on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Read more about this week’s news HERE.
hollandfintech.com  •  Share
The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
This week’s prominent fundings are shared by multiple sectors, including payments, neobanks, fintech, embedded finance, infrastructure and more:
  • N26 GmbH (Berlin, Germany), a bank account and a virtual payment card provider, announced that it has closed one of the biggest funding rounds raised by a financial technology startup in recent memory: a $900 million (€773,2m)
  • Zopa (London, UK) — a neobank with some 500,000 users in the U.K. where it provides peer-to-peer lending, savings accounts, credit cards and other services — has raised $300 million (€257,6m)
  • CRED (Bengaluru, India), a fintech company, said it has raised $251 million (€215,6m) in a new financing round, its third funding this year, at a valuation of $4.01 billion
  • Tala (Santa Monica, CA, US), one of the emerging financial technology firms, recently announced that it has secured $145 million (€124,5m) in Series E funding to expand its services
  • Pismo (São Paulo, Brazil), the startup that provides the infrastructure that financial institutions — incumbents and fintechs alike — need in order to operate faster and more competitively, announced it has raised $108 million (€92,7m) in a Series B funding round
  • Alviere (New York, NYC, US), an embedded finance firm has raised $70 million (€60,1m) in a Series A and B funding round led by Viola Ventures and Viola Fintech
  • Other interesting funding rounds this week: Highnote $54 million (€46,4m), Hash $40 million (€34,4m), M2P FinTech $35 million (€30m), Plum €12 million
Read more about this week’s fundings HERE.
hollandfintech.com  •  Share
A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
For this week’s research, we dive into new insights on insurtech, mortgage, business activity, payments, neobanks, funding and SMEs:
  • “Future 50 Europe: THE 50 RISING INSURTECHS REVEALED”(Insurtech Insights) - Insurtech Insights and their partner Sønr are excited to reveal the Future50 Europe ranking. A carefully curated list of the 50 most innovative early stage insurtechs that are disrupting the insurance industry in Europe
  • “Mortgages – the final digital frontier” (Fintech Futures) - This report analyzes the fact that there are few financial products as personal as a mortgage, so providers always feel they must provide a perfectly personalised service
  • “B2B Domestic Payments Forecast To Exceed $54 Trillion by 2023”(Fintech Times) - This publication highlights a new data from Juniper Research, which predicts a growth of 10%; reflecting a slow recovery in business activity following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
  • “84% Of SMEs Suffer From the Late Payments Domino Effect, Affecting Growth and Employees’ Payments” (Fintech Times) - This publication analyzes tomato pay’s research, which has discovered that 84% of small businesses suffer from late payments
  • “UK Neobank Emerging Features Benchmark 2021” (Insider Intelligence) - This work analyzes the fact that over the past five years, neobanks have advanced on two fronts: user growth and richness of mobile functionality
  • “The Transition to Net-Zero Could Create a £160billion Opportunity for the UK Economy” (Fintech Times) - This article highlights a report published by NatWest, which sets out the potential opportunity that exists for the UK economy from the transition to net-zero, finding that SMEs could create up to 130,000 new jobs, produce around 30,000 new businesses and result in an estimated £160billion opportunity for the UK economy
Read more about this week’s research HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
And we’re finishing off the week with new details on open banking, online trading, money, digital currency and technology trends:
  • “YTS European Open Banking Outlook uncovers huge potential growth for open banking” via (FF News) - Yolt Technology Services (YTS), one of Europe’s leading open banking providers, has today launched its inaugural European Open Banking Outlook (EOBO) revealing huge growth potential for open banking, with 40% of banking customers across Europe’s biggest markets not currently using any open banking solution
  • “The importance of democratising online trading” via (Fintech Futures) - Jean-Yves Sireau, CEO and founder at Deriv, thinks that with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the online trading industry saw a steep surge of new users
  • “Sibos 2021: The future of money starts now” via (Fintech Futures) - Leda Glyptis, analyst at Fintech Futures, highlights the thought, which came up during Sibos event. Many people think that the future of money is the most iconic session at the most iconic of conferences
  • “Summers: digital yuan unlikely to threaten US dollar” via (Central Banking) - Larry Summers, a former US Treasury secretary, believes the potential introduction of a Chinese ‘digital yuan’ does not constitute “a threat” to the role of the US dollar
  • “The technologies that will shape the immediate future of fintech” via (Fintech Futures) - Alex Reddish, MD at Tribe , shares that technology moves so fast and is so embedded in our daily lives that, if you work in a technology-driven sector, it’s easy to develop blinkers
  • “Sibos 2021: “I’ve never seen the industry refreshing itself more,”” via (Fintech Futures) - SmartStream CEO Haytham Kaddoura talks about the most prevalent technology trends and opportunities as finance moves into the future
Read more about this week’s research HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
LHoFT, Holland FinTech, and FinTech Belgium have joined forces to share essential insights on ESG developments and the relevance for fintech in the Benelux. During this event, we’ll focus on the social potential of fintech and financial services. Come listen to Febelfin, We are Jane, Achmea, Luxembourg Tech School, IBISA, and Sofie. 28 October at 4 pm CEST!
Register HERE.
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October 26 - 27, 2021 | Virtual Summit - Finnovex West Africa leading summit on Financial Services Innovation and excellence 2021
Finnovex aims to bring together top professionals and C-level executives from the financial and financial services industry to examine how technology is changing the delivery of banking and financial services. Finnovex West Africa will discuss the roles of banking and non-banking institutions, financial organizations, investment firms, fintech companies, and other stakeholders in developing incentives to the paradigm shift in this sector. West Africa leading summit on Financial Services Innovation and excellence.
Register HERE.
wa.finnovex.com  •  Share
Events | Open Banking Expo
On 4 November 2021, the UK’s Open Banking and Open Finance community will reunite, and what a show it will be! Alongside four stages of must-see content, we have countless opportunities to get back networking with colleagues, industry friends and build new relationships. As we anticipate change in Open Banking governance, never has it been more important to get back together. We can’t wait to welcome you!
Register HERE.
www.openbankingexpo.com  •  Share
Ready to get involved? Click here to find out more.
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