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Global FinTech News - 23rd April

Global FinTech News - 23rd April
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #95 • View online
This week, in a digital climate conference initiated by President Biden, the USA has taken a big step to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in 2030, and is pushing others to follow. Europe is very ambitious, by aiming at 55% reductions by 2030, and is even proposing to tax companies that pollute, and even laggards like Brazil and China are stepping up their climate efforts.
In the meantime, we invite you to dive into the latest fintech developments, focused on M&A, payments, Brexit, banking, crypto, IPOs and more!
This morning, our CEO, Don Ginsel, explored in a new Flash Friday edition fintech insights with Jelle Pol, Co-founder at Dusk Network. Check out the video recording here.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a lovely weekend!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
Find out the latest fintech news for this week and dive into topics regarding M&A, payment, the UK’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), bank alliance, bank assets, consumer debit cards, crypto currencies and more:
  • Mastercard acquired Ekata, a company that provides global identity verification, to advance digital identity efforts
  • Gojek and Tokopedia, two of Indonesia’s biggest internet companies, are finalizing their US$18 billion (€15bn) merger to create a giant in ride-hailing, food delivery, and e-commerce called Goto
  • Amazon is unveiling a new way to pay at selected Whole Foods stores: a biometric technology called Amazon One that allows shoppers to pay by placing their palm over a scanning device when they check out
  • HSBC UK has launched a human live chat feature to its online investment service
  • The Bank of England and HM Treasury have announced the joint creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to explore a potential UK CBDC
  • More than 40 of the world’s biggest banks have joined a UN-convened alliance to align their lending and investment portfolios with net-zero emissions by 2050
  • In response to Brexit, several banking and financial organisations have moved or are moving part of their business, staff, assets, or legal entities from the UK to the EU
  • Citi is tapping Mastercard Send to enable its corporate and public sector clients in the US to send funds directly to a consumer debit or prepaid card account
  • Minna Bank, Japan’s first app-only bank, is set to open for business in May after acquiring a banking licence from the country’s Financial Services Agency
  • Venmo will start offering to its 70 million users the opportunity to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly within its app
Read more about this week’s news HERE
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The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
We explore the most prominent rounds and transactions of the week including various sectors such as computer software, cloud computing, blockchain, payment, banking, insurance, selected from 14 April to 21 April:
  • SambaNova Systems (Palo Alto, CA, US), a company building software, hardware and services to run AI applications, raised $676m (€562M) in Series D funding
  • Chargebee (Walnut, CA, US), a recurring billing and subscription management tool provider, has raised $125 million (€101M) in its Series G
  • Druva Inc (Sunnyvale, California, US), a cloud data protection and management company, raised $147m (€122M) in funding
  • Bux (Amsterdam, Netherlands), a startup that lets people invest in shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) without paying commissions, has picked up some investment of its own, an $80 million (€67M) round that it will be using to grow its business
  • Zilch (London, UK), a fintech company which builds buy-now-pay-later products, has raised $80 million (€66M) in a Series B round
  • ConsenSys (Brooklyn, NY, US), an Ethereum software company, announced the final close of its $65M (€54M) formation round
  • FintechOS (London, UK), a computer software company that builds a low-code platform for banking and insurance companies, has raised €51 million in a Series B round of funding
  • Mantl (New York, New York, US), a software provider for banks and credit unions, announced that it has raised $40 million (€33M) in a Series B round of funding
  • Wire (Zug, Switzerland), an end-to-end encrypted messaging app and service, has raised a $21 million (€17M) Series B funding
  • Payhawk (Georgia, US), a fintech platform that unifies all company payments and expense management, secured $20 million (€17M) in a Series A funding round
  • Other fundings that caught our eye this week: Cardlay (€8M), insureQ (€4.16M), Intrigue.io (€1.67M)
Read more about this week’s funding news HERE.
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A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
Dive into the latest research pieces on the payment sector, banking, the UK’s financial industry, mobile finance, payment authentication, insurtech and more:
  • “Who stands to gain from real-time payment adoption?” (Insider Intelligence) - This research looks at B2B, C2C, and B2C payments to analyze the transaction’s speed
  • “Banks Fell Short of Meeting Customers’ Expectations in 2021” (Fintech News) - This report discusses the disruption caused by the global pandemic, the growth of neo- and challenger banks, and the need for retail banks to embrace cloud-based BaaS platform models
  • “Report: Brexit & the City: some initial reflections” (NewFinancial) - This report summarizes the situation of the UK’s financial industry as a result of Brexit
  • “Mobile Finance App Report 2021” (Liftoff) - This research highlights that the number of financial app installs has flourished in 2020, increasing by 15% compared to 2019
  • “Facial recognition for payments authentication to hit 1.4 billion users” (PCM) - A study has found that the number of users of software-based facial recognition to secure payments will exceed 1.4 billion globally by 2025, from just 671 million in 2020
  • “Property/Casualty Insurers’ Technology Goals for 2021” (Carrier Management) - This paper takes a detailed look at how drivers such as remote work, artificial intelligence and the growth of customization, are influencing technology priorities within the insurance field
Read more about the research news HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
Explore the latest voices from the industry on topics such as cryptocurrency, banking interest, buy-now-pay-later services, startups, chatbot’s role in the insurance industry, and the role of technology in reducing AML:
  • “Free Markets And ESG Investing Won’t Fix The Climate Crisis, Says Former Blackrock Sustainability Chief” via Forbes - Jason Bisoff, writer at Forbes, explores in an interview with Tariq Fancy, Global Chief Investment Office for Sustainable Investing at BlackRock, recent views of ESG investing, climate change, financial regulation
  • “'Je ne regrette rien,‘ says France’s defiant digital minister, but a multilateral Digital Services Tax solution is the only way forward” via Diginomica - Stuart Lauchlan, writer at Diginomica, underlines that having an agreement on a global Digital Services Tax model is going to be a big ask, but outbreaks of unilateral policy will not be helpful
  • “Low Interest Rates Threaten Banks — But Not the Way You Think” via BankDirector.com - Emily McCormick, vice president of research for Bank Director, emphasized that banks which introduced ultra-low rates have failed to stimulate growth because they made most Americans even worse off because trillions of dollars in savings were sacrificed in favor of ever higher stock markets
  • “Buy Now Pay Later - how to select the right technology” via Finextra - Tim Simon, CEO at Madiston, revealed that there will be a requirement to monitor and measure the business coming through from each retailer or sponsor
  • “How impact-driven startups are using data to drive change” via Sifted - The authors at Sifted advised startups to spot problems, like school drop-outs or falsified articles, when it comes to global social issues like improving access to education or stopping fake news
  • “Why Chatbot for Insurance Agents are Imperative in This Day and Age” via DataFloq - Aakrit Vaish, writer at DataFloq, points out that AI-automation will play an important role in the insurance sector for the benefit of cost savings and practical assistance
  • “How can technology be used to Reduce AML, anti-bribery and corruption incidents within financial institutions?” via Fintech Global - Gordon MacKeown, Head of Product at Ideagen, shared his insights on the matter of money laundering, bribery and corruption within financial institutions and suggested that if a firm wants to ensure they are well safeguarded, it should leverage technology to implement an operational risk management process
Read more about these analyses and opinions HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
Join us for a deep dive into the exploration and experimentation of Wholesale and Retail Central Bank Digital Currencies 28 April, 2021. CBDC is growing in hype – but will projects move out of the exploration phase?
Register HERE
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Don, CEO and Founder at Holland Fintech will be joined by Peter Potters, Co-Owner & Chief Commercial Officer at Informer. The hosts will discuss what is happening in the world of fintech and answering questions from Holland FinTech members.
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Global PayTech Summit – Virtual – The Most Senior-Level Gathering of Payments Leaders - 27 - 28th April
Amid growing demand for digital payments services by businesses and consumers post Covid-19 and high demand from our network of financial institutions, we are hosting the Global PayTech Summit to address how executives can effectively implement the latest payment technologies.
Register HERE
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