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Global FinTech News - 8th of January

Global FinTech News - 8th of January
By Holland FinTech  • Issue #80 • View online
Hello fintech enthusiast,
2021 is a year with a strong start, with much news already happening just in a few days. The predominant piece of information circulating the multiple news channels is the Pro-Trump Riot at the US Capitol, this week. Besides the violent demonstrations turn-out, the consequences seem to be limited for the financial sector, especially considering the new record stock and crypto markets.
In the meantime, we invite you to dive into your four favorite categories of fintech news that keep you up to speed with the latest developments - news, funding rounds, research reports, to analysis and opinion. Still trying to catch up with last year, check out our December news overview!
And don’t forget to sign up for our event on Tokenization, on the 20th of January.
From the Holland FinTech Team, we wish you a great start of the year!

Highlights from last weeks news related to fintech
New regulations, partnerships and technology developments. There is just so much going on in Fintech. Here is our selection of news, relevant for the industry.
  • President Trump has signed an order that aims to place a ban on US transactions with eight major Chinese apps, including names such as Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings’ online wallets
  • SwiftPass, a mobile service provider, and Wallyt, an international mobile payments platform, have partnered with Findora, a blockchain network
  • Orange Bank, a bank launched by French telecom company Orange, has announced the acquisition of Anytime, a French neobank
  • XTM, a Canada-based fintech that provides mobile banking and payment card solutions, announced that it has teamed up with KABN Systems North America, a fintech company specializing in online identity verification
  • AirPay Financial Technologies, an Australian marketing and payment service provider, partnered up with UnionPay, an international payment network, in order to offer its customers in Australia UnionPay Online Payment services
  • Standard Chartered, a British multinational banking and financial services company, announced it went live on Cobalt’s foreign exchange market infrastructure platform for its prime brokerage and executing broking business
  • Affirm, a fintech services company that offers installment loans to consumers at the point of sale, plans on achieving a $9bn valuation in its forthcoming IPO
Read more about this news HERE.
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The largest funding rounds we found from across the world
Where does the money flow? It is usually a good indicator for what is hot and what is not. To give you a view on global fintech investments, we have selected the largest and most relevant investment deals. Remember, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what we found, in the week going from 31 December until 6 January.
  • Paycor (Cincinnati, OH, US), a provider of SaaS payroll and human capital management (HCM) software, has received commitments for $270 million (€219.04m) in new investment
  • Divvy (Draper, Utah, US), a payment and expense management platform for businesses, announced it raised $165 million (€133.86m) through its Series D investment round
  • Mambu (Berlin, Germany), a fintech that offers a Banking-as-a-Service service, has raised €110 million funding round led by TCV
  • Brighte (Sydney, Australia), a green energy fintech, recently announced it secured $100 million (€81.13m) – through its latest investment round
  • CRED (Bengaluru, India), a credit card payment and management platform, raised $81 million (€65.71m) in a new financing round
  • Bibit (Jakarta, Indonesia), a robo-advisor app that wants to make investing more accessible in Indonesia, has raised $30 million (€24.34m) from Sequoia Capital India
  • Getsafe (Heidelberg, Germany), an InsurTech company, raised $30m (€24.34m) in Series B funding earlier in December 2020
  • CoinDCX (Mumbai, India), a cryptocurrency exchange company, raised $13.9 million (€11.28m) through its Series B investment round
  • Betterfly (Las Condes, Chile), an InsurTech startup, extended its Series A funding round adding $9 million to a total of $17.5 million (€14.2m)
  • Other funding rounds which caught our eye this week: Oxygen (€13.79m), Zeepay ($940k)
Read more about these funding rounds HERE.
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A selection of recent research reports and papers worth reading
Much research is conducted across the world, providing data and insights about market developments at large. Below you can find the research reports and white papers we discovered and selected for you this week.
  • “Embedded insurance: a $3tn market opportunity, that could also help close the protection gap” (FinTech Futures) - this overview shows how with embedded insurance, third-party organisations and developers can seamlessly incorporate attractive risk mitigation solutions into their customer journeys
  • “Digital Assets Primer” (CFTC & LabCFTC) - this report presents a complete guide and overview on how to define and approach the digital asset market
  • “$1B+ Market Map: The World’s 500+ Unicorn Companies In One Infographic” (CB Insights) - in this overview, 500+ private companies with billion-dollar valuations are shown, across sectors such as AI, e-commerce, fintech, and more
  • “European InsurTech investors from 2020” (astorya.io) - in this overview, astoryia.io presents a comprehensive mapping of the most prominent European InsurTech investors from 2020, classified on the basis of funding rounds (seed, early, and growth)
  • “North American wealth management: Money in motion, but not always to the bottom line” (McKinsey) - in this report, an overview on the wealth management industry in North America is given, with a complete market update
  • “Twelve highlights from our 2020 research” (McKinsey) - this overview dives into the most prominent and significant developments from 2020, which changed the global economy and impacted our lives and livelihoods
  • “Global Policy Responses to Capital Flow Volatility” (IMFblog) - in this research, conducted by Annamaria De Crescenzio, Annamaria Kokenyne, Dennis Reinhart, and Julia Schmidt, the economic and health impact of Covid-19 are emphasized
  • “The Best Life Insurance Companies 2021” (Forbes) - in this review, Forbes highlights the criteria and arguments valid for consumers in order to choose the right life insurance company
Read more about the research papers and download the pdf’s HERE.
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Background information and insights from opinion leaders and experts
We are keeping track of what opinion leaders across the world have to say about everything that is happening in and around financial services and technology. Below, you can find the views that stood out this week.
  • “COVID-19, cryptocurrencies and fraud” via ICA - James Thomas, freelance journalist and editor, inCOMPLIANCE, analyzes fraud risks associated with cryptocurrencies in the context of COVID-19
  • “Post-Covid Digital Strategy: Banking Customer Experience Trends of 2021” via Finextra - according to Alex Kreger, CEO at UX Design Agency, the set-up established by Covid-19 has further implications for the banks in the new year as well
  • “Framing 2021: Six Trendlines That Will Define Payments And The Connected Economy” via PYMNTS - Karen Webster, CEO of Market Platform Dynamics, shows in this analysis a framework for how innovation in payments, commerce and the broader connected economy will play out in 2021
  • “Fintech industry accelerates financial inclusion, to push faster digital adoption” via Daily Excelsior - in this opinion piece, Indian industry leaders from the fintech ecosystem provide input into the new trend of financial inclusion and high speed adoption rates of technologies such as AI and ML
  • “2020: The year that shook fintech” via Sifted.eu - according to a late analysis by Isabel Woodford, fintech journalist at Sifted.eu, fintech has dealt with two major bottlenecks in 2020, namely, Covid-19 and the Wirecard fraud case
  • “Why Financial Organisations Are a Prime Target for Cyber-Attacks” via The Fintech Times - Gina Clarke, fintech writer, presents in this analysis the importance of cybersecurity solutions for the financial services industry
  • “FinTechs urge the FCA to pull the plug on big banks’ data dominance” via FinTech Global - The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) has urged the UK’s top financial regulator to make open banking truly open in 2021 and to “break” banks’ dominance
  • “AI and Digital Tech Adoption Trends in India” via Crowdfund Insider - The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology has revealed that the digital economy sector in India is expected to double its output as early as 2025, due to the rapid pace of technological advancements
Read more about these analyses & opinion pieces HERE.
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Survey of the Week - Supervision and Financial Regulation
De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB - Dutch Central Bank) wants to investigate how supervision and financial regulation can be made more future-proof, looking at national policies or European regulation. Dutch market participants are invited to contribute. Also advisors and technical service providers are invited to contribute. Takes around 40 minutes and will be processed anonymously - unless you indicate you want to elaborate with DNB.
Fill in the survey HERE: English or Dutch.
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Connect with the fintech ecosystem at some of the upcoming events
Holland FinTech and 2Tokens invite you to join for an online interactive event on January 20 from 16:30 – 18:00 PM CET. In this event, we bring together experts of some of the best-in-class Finance Specialists in The Netherlands to discuss market update on Tokenization, Banking, Expectations & Predictions for 2021 and much more!
Register HERE.
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Holland FinTech Flash Friday: Staying Ahead of the FinTech News - 15th January
Holland FinTech’s Founder & CEO, Don Ginsel, presents Flash Friday – a weekly live show that brings you the latest fintech news and developments! For this edition, we will be joined by a special guest speaker.
Register HERE.
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Open Banking MENA Digi-Conference - 25th January
The banking sector has been impacted in its earnings due to the global pandemic. Coupled with increased competition from financial technology companies who are increasingly expanding products and financial services to banking customers in ways traditional banks are not able to due to regulations.
Register HERE.
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Fintech Europe Expo 2021 - 27th-28th January
Join us for our Fintech Europe Expo 2021. We will present 35+ startups and 40+ speakers during 8+ hours of live streaming focused on innovation in the fintech industry.
Register HERE.
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5th Annual Conference on FinTech and Regulation: New Challenges and New Solutions - 2nd-4th February
We are delighted to invite you to the Fifth Annual Afore Consulting Conference on FinTech and Regulation that will take place this time as an online event between 2 and 4 February 2021.
Register HERE.
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Ready to get involved? Click here to find out more.
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