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Global FinTech News - 30th of April 2021

Global FinTech News - 30th of April 2021
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #96 • View online
Hello reader,
This week, Europe has been occupied with Covid travel passports and seems to work towards a more travel friendly period in summer. We also saw that the German high court ruled that Germany’s climate change laws are insufficient and violate fundamental freedoms by putting the burden of climate change on the younger generations.
In the meantime, we offer you the latest updates in the fintech world with coverage this week of blockchain, digital banks, IPOs, regtech, data protection, and buy-now-pay-later services.
This morning, our CEO, Don Ginsel, explored SME accounting in a new Flash Friday edition fintech insights with Peter Potters, Co-Owner & Chief Commercial Officer at Informer Online Nederland BV. Check out the video recording here.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a happy weekend!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
Find out the latest fintech news for this week and dive into topics regarding blockchain-based global payments, digital banks, stock market, IPOs, trading, cross-border payments, cryptocurrency, instant payment systems, and more!
  • DBS, J.P. Morgan and Temasek announced on earlier this week their plans to develop an open industry platform for payments, trade and foreign exchange settlement through a newly-established technology firm
  • Nubank, a Brazilian neobank and the largest fintech in Latin America, is in talks to go public on the US stock market
  • Deutsche Boerse announced it will delist Coinbase Global Inc’s shares from its Xetra trading system and the Frankfurt stock exchange for regulatory reasons, a wrong reference code, so-called LEI code, which was used by mistake.
  • PayPal plans to set up a local wallet in China focused on cross-border payments
  • Geico, an auto insurer in the US, managed to fix a security bug that let fraudsters steal customers’ driver’s license numbers from its website.
  • Singapore and Thailand have linked their respective real-time payment systems, enabling instant transfer of consumer funds across borders
  • The Turkish government is reportedly creating a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies after two crypto exchanges in the country abruptly halted trading and are now being investigated for fraud. The government plans to establish a central custodian bank among other initiatives
  • Chinese financial regulators have summoned 13 companies engaged in online finance services, including Tencent and Bytedance, and told them to strengthen anti-monopoly measures
  • Facial recognition should be banned in Europe because of its “deep and non-democratic intrusion” into people’s private lives, EU privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) said
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 data intelligence, APIs, AI, digital banking, insurtech, asset management, payroll, to compliance and regtech, that were published between 21 April and 28 April:
  • Brex (San Francisco, CA, US), a financial service and technology company that offers business credit cards and cash management accounts to technology companies, has announced securing $425m (€352,14m) in Series D investment, bringing the company at a valuation of over $7.4 bn
  • Scale AI (San Francisco, CA, US), a provider of a data platform for AI, raised $325m (€269,28m) in Series E funding
  • Greenlight (Atlanta, GA, US), a fintech company that pitches parents on kid-friendly bank accounts, has raised $260 million (€215,42m) in a Series D funding round that nearly doubles its valuation to $2.3 billion (€1,91bn)
  • Current (New York, US), a mobile banking app, has raised $220 million (€182,28m) in a funding round
  • Deel (San Francisco, CA, US), a startup that provides payroll, compliance tools and other services to help businesses hire remotely, has raised $156 million (€129,25m) in Series C funding
  • Tamara (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), a buy now pay later company, active in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has raised $110 million (€91,14m) in a Series A round
  • Deep Instinct (New York, US), a company using deep learning, for cybersecurity, has raised $100 million (€82,86m) in Series D funding,
  • Other funding rounds are: Empyrean Solutions (€61,31m), Mantl (€33,14m), Archipelago (€28,17m), BigID (€24,86M), Qover(€20.7M), ClueIn (€12.43M) and Rapyd (€4,14bn)
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 global CBDC, fintech in the UK, American banks and bitcoins, AI, digital buy now pay later & ePOS finance, financial crime and fraud, e-commerce fraud, and customer-driven data in financial services.
  • “PwC CBDC global index 1st Edition” (PwC.com) - This report presents that more than 60 Central Banks have been exploring CBDCs since 2014, and more than 88% of CBDC projects, at pilot or production phase, use blockchain as the underlying technology
  • “More than one-fifth of fintechs in the UK regulator’s sandbox have collapsed” (Insider Intelligence) - The findings highlight that 22% of fintechs that participated in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulatory sandbox in the UK have since shut down, including nine out of the 24 fintechs in the second cohort and five out of the 29 in the fourth cohort
  • “The Coming Bank-Bitcoin Boom: Americans Want Cryptocurrency From Their Banks” (Forbes) - A Cornerstone Advisors survey of senior bank and credit union executives in the US found that 8 out of 10 financial institutions have no interest in offering cryptocurrency services to their customers, and just 2% said they were “very” interested
  • “80% of Financial Institutions believe AI is the key competitive driver” (Payment Cards & Mobile) - This paper reports that technology implementation (55%), creating new business startup culture in an established business (51%), and organisational skill changes (43%) are all top AI challenges to implementing personalised proactive services.
  • “E-commerce fraud losses to exceed $20 billion (€16,5Bn) annually” (Payment Cards & Mobile) - The research found that the value of losses due to e-commerce fraud will rise this year, from $17.5 billion (€14.5Bn) in 2020 to over $20 billion (€16,5Bn) by 2021; a growth of 18% over a single year
  • “Digital Buy Now Pay Later & ePOS Finance: Market Outlook 2021” (Fintech.Kaleido Intelligence) - This report predicts that the mobile BNPL sector will dramatically outstrip the online channel, registering 16% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) between 2018 and 2025, versus 1% CAGR for online.
  • “Innovation or bust: Why financial services must embrace customer-driven data challenges” (FsTech.co.uk) - This report examines the challenges and opportunities facing the financial services industry and how businesses can address them via the power of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.
  • “AI 100: The Artificial Intelligence Startups Redefining Industries” (CBInsights) - This report has unveiled the winners of the fifth annual AI 100, who are working on solutions including AI transparency, climate risk, virus modeling.
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 exchanges, female fintech market, QR codes in payment, risk controls, AML, banking & payment, lending and more!
  • “Regulated cryptocurrency exchanges: sign of a maturing market or oxymoron?” via LSE - Martin C.W Walker and Winnie Mosioma, writers at LSE, emphasized that the existing regulatory framework is highly concerning, because cryptocurrencies lack (legal) persons that are accountable for core processes such as transfers of ownership, trade validation and creation of cryptocurrencies
  • “How Can We Tap Into the Female Financial Market?” viaFinovate - Anette Broløs of Broløs Consult and Dr. Erin B. Taylor of Finthropology found that women value traditional services embedded in other services such as advice, impact solutions, education, mentorship, and networks more than men because they provide a more personal and social approach to finances
  • “QR codes: What the West can learn from the East when it comes to payments” via Altfi - Justin Xiao, Chief Operating Officer Southeast Asia & Australia for Railsbank, explored a case for QR code adoption in payments and highlighted that QR codes, when decoded by smartphones, instantly capture the payment details to facilitate payment
  • “5 Best Risk Controls To Prevent Third-Party Data Breaches” via Finextra - Breana Patel, CEO & Thought leader in Bank Risk and Regulations at Bonova, identified the central problem for third-party data breaches and proposed solutions to tackle this challenge
  • “The sham and shame of AML” via The Finanser - Chris Skinner, an independent commentator at The Finanser.com, identified the main issue in AML that it is impossible to know whether the person opening an account is the person using the account, which is not attributed to identity management, but stems from behavioural analytics when it comes to tracking relationships
  • “Banking & payment certification bodies. What, why and how?” via paymentscardsandmobile.com - players must first ensure the security and interoperability of new products and technologies to realize the value from innovation and optimisation of global digital payments
  • “Implementation of regulatory changes in lending” via Fintech Futures - Radosław Bekanowski, product manager at Comarch, revealed that new EBA guidelines will come into force on 30 June 2021 and will tackle how to improve internal governance for credit granting and monitoring
Read more about these analyses and opinions HERE.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
Our Holland FinTech Online Meetups allow the international Fintech ecosystem to gather together and allows for the companies of our Network to stay at the Forefront of Innovation. If you are looking for exposure, new customers, investors, team members or cool startups, you will surely meet them here!
Register HERE.
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Digital Payments - Materialization & Beyond - 5th May 2021
Expleo Solutions Limited (Expleo), in collaboration with IBS Intelligence, will be hosting leaders from Emirates NBD, Transact and Kotak Mahindra Bank to confer on “Digital Payments – Materialization & Beyond”.
Register HERE.
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LEGALTECH Innovation Conference 2021 - 13th May
The LEGALTECH Innovation Conference follows the launch of the The LEGALTECH Book and will feature many of the Book’s expert authors as speakers and guests. The LEGALTECH Book, published by Wiley in 2020, is the first crowdsourced book on legal technologies and innovations focused on the financial services sector.
Register HERE.
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CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND CRYPTOCRIME - Managing Risks, Harnessing Innovation - 20th-21st May
As the number of crypto-related businesses multiply and a growing number of individuals hold cryptocurrencies, how should a financial institution respond? Simply saying “we don’t bank crypto” is no longer a viable option, especially as regulators have made crypto risk a priority and most institutions have crypto exposure – whether they know it or not.
Register HERE.
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Holland Fintech - Finnovex Europe - 24th May
Finnovex as a series of Summits creates thought leadership on cutting-edge issues with long-term implications to the industry and lays foundation for multi-stakeholder dialogues that explore the potential of these innovations to transform the financial ecosystem as well as the risks and opportunities that could emerge from shifts in the way financial services are designed, delivered and consumed in the future.
Register HERE.
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