Despite adversities, El Salvador is continuing to improve its Bitcoin program. After the first crypto became legal tender in the country, El Salvador is now thinking about new solutions to reward Bitcoin investors and increase the number of financial instruments based on the cryptocurrency.
If we have to see the upside, the pandemic forced firms to focus more on people needs, and to find easy and useful solutions to overcome the many issues that people and businesses were facing - and are facing. Some of the solutions found may continue to be improved even after pandemic, and Fintech Futures covers the main three in this article.
Among the innovative solutions found by fintech firms there is the frictionless checkout technology, which allows customers to just walk out of a store after purchasing. Zippin is becoming one of the best providers of this technology, and it could even rival Amazon.
After the findings of Steve Moser, Bloomberg asked PayPal to confirm if the company is really working on its own stablecoin. As PC Mag reported, Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal senior vice president, confirmed that the company is evaluating this option.
Fintech adoption is becoming a must for every company, no matter the industry sector. Digitalization, APIs and financial services are becoming one of the main sources of income of many firms, and also the smallest ones can now access and explore these new solutions very easily - and they should, since it seems that customers trust more those firms that also provide hassle-free payment solutions.
Qonto is a well-known fintech startup in Europe: its focus on small and medium companies and freelancers rewarded the company, so that it raised $552 million in the last funding round, reaching a valuation of $5 billion.
CBANC announced the launch of a new marketplace: the fintech platform will be free for all employees of U.S. financial institutions, as well as the CBANC community, so far used by institutions and professionals to connect and gather useful and reliable information related to the financial sector.
Alex Johnson and Jason Mikula discuss fintech topics and make predictions about what 2022 has in store for us. The focus of this episode of Fintech Takes is on new payment methods and institutions - especially for what concerns BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later).
BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) is the hottest topic now, and this requires a careful analysis: the Sifted team discusses the topic with Anthony Drury (Zip), Olga Shikhantsova (Speedinvest) and Sandrine Zhang Ferron (Vinterior), coming up with six interesting insights.
Alternative payment methods are rising and they are showing all the weaknesses of the tools we are used to. Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) represent a better alternative to direct debit - they work via API, they are easier to set up, they better fit the needs of customers and merchants, but they’re not widely adopted (not yet).
While we’re on the subject, Tesco Bank is launching its Tesco Clubcard Pay+: this Visa card is a debit card you can top up with any UK bank account. The card not only allows purchases, but it also has a “Round Up” feature that holders can use to save money and earn interest.
Xrent opened the waitlist for its new debit card. The fintech firm wants to provide users with a debit card that serves their “rent-to-mortgage” program: the fintech wants to help users to shorten their path towards homeownership, and each rent paid with the card will boost users’ credit scores and give them the chance to win a house or a year of mortgage.
The pandemic also affected people’s financial confidence: according to Finfit, the fintech firm focused on financial wellness, only 19% of Americans feel confident in their financial abilities. But Finfit has 4 useful suggestions to boost your financial confidence.
The panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph took place on January 21st: experts think that DeFi will disrupt traditional CeFi systems, but it needs to be more easy-to-use and a little more regulated.
After becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, El Salvador is now supporting Bitcoin users trying to face the main challenges brought by this revolutionary decision. For this reason, El Salvador is cooperating with AlphaPoint to relaunch the Chivo wallet and improve stability and scalability.
Jason Wenk discusses the main problems of fintech founders: even if their main goal is solving people’s financial issues, their intentions may be destroyed by the difficulties of the market. How can they handle challenges?
JPMorgan Chase continues with its strategy to stay competitive in the financial space: the last acquisition of the company is Viva Wallet, a Greek fintech. JPMorgan Chase acquired 49% of the payments firm.
This article considers an interesting point: do you exactly know what fintech-related terms mean? The Financial Brand takes into account 9 popular terms and explain them in more detail: Banking as a Service (BaaS); Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL); cryptocurrency; decentralized finance (DeFi); digital transformation; embedded finance; embedded fintech; financial health and platform banking.
Tink, the open banking platform, confirmed that it is introducing the “Income Check” in the United Kingdom. Thanks to this tool, both banks and lending institutions can simplify the verification process by having access to real-time financial data related to users.
Enigma, the data provider, in cooperation with Customers Bancorp and Capital One Financial, developed a new company, Prime, a lending platform focused on small business. The company will offer software that will help banks to complete the lending process online.
The Canadian fintech firm, Koho Financial, has raised $210 million in the last funding round. The company focused on the creation of a new financial tool that allows users to save their money and earn interest, but without fees. Moreover, a partnership with ADP allows users to access up to 50% of their paychecks whenever they wish, and no interest is charged.
Good news for fintech: F-Prime Capital announced the launch of the F-Prime Fintech Index, which will track major fintech companies and their performances, allowing investors to better choose where to put their money.
Millenials want to be homeowners: many firms noticed this generational goal, and Xrent - the New York based fintech - is helping them with rent-to-mortgage program.
According to Finextra, the fintech industry managed to double investments: the industry received an impressive $91.5 billion worth investments worldwide. As Satya Patel (co-founder of Homebrew) stated, "financial services is one of the biggest sectors on the globe".
The Egyptian fintech Kashat and Mastercars signed a five-year agreement that will allow the fintech to better provide financial services to Egyptian people - especially the unbanked. The goal? Creating a more financial inclusive country.
American Express launches Amex Rewards: US customers will be able to enjoy no-fee, no minimum balance account, and each user will be rewarded with 1 point for every $2 spent and a 0.5% yield on balance.
Warren Buffet, the “Oracle of Omaha”, decreased his exposure in Visa and Mastercard to increase exposure in Nubank, the Brazilian fintech bank appreciated by Bitcoin investors. But Nubank is not the only crypto-friendly company in the portfolio of the popular investor.
Ross Gallagher and Deepa Anikhindi are joined by Kiaan Pillay - co-founder and CEO of Stitch - and Catherine Birkett - CFO at GoCardless. Fintech Insider hosts and their guests discuss some of the most important news in the fintech space.
Portugal is becoming one of the countries that are introducing more improvements for crypto investors. One of the most interesting aspects is the fiscal system, extremely favourable to crypto holders and investors.
Fintech firms and banks are cooperating to find more innovative solutions for merchants and to enhance security: one of these collaborations is represented by the partnership between Bank of America and Banked to reduce transaction fees.
Synctera provides its platform and tools to fintech creators, communities and entrepreneurs. The platform has recently participate in the partnership between Lineage Bank - the U.S. community bank - and GoGetr - the fintech platform that helps people with their savings and health.
Ripple is cooperating with the think tank DEA (Digital Euro Association) to create CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies). This can be a further step towards regulation and the creation of different stablecoins.
Finally, Klarna announced the launch of its physical card: the card will be launched in the UK as part of Klarna's “Pay in 30” program, so consumers will be able to delay payments also for purchases in physical stores.
Matt Williamson, vice president of Global Financial Services at Mobiquity, joins the Fintech Chatter to discuss how the fintech firm is providing leading digital products to create a more inclusive economy and frictionless customer experiences.
Digital banks and lenders are becoming extremely popular in Hong Kong: higher interest rates - thanks to the lack of costs for physical branches, gaming interfaces, rewards, real-time transaction reports for their customers, more flexibility. Will this harm traditional banks in one of the most banked cities in Asia?
Another milestone for fintech: after the records of 2021, in 2022 open banking managed to acquire over 5 million users only in the UK. This happened in a few months: in September, the number of users was at around 4 million. Payment systems and innovative banks are profiting from the impressive rise.
Vyne, the frictionless payments platform, and Gr4vy, which allows merchants to manage all the operations related to payments with one platform, announced their partnership: the result will be an easier access to open banking payments for merchants.
Following sanctions, the UK fintech Wise blocked money transfers to Russia. On the other hand, and even if it’s always harder, the company is still allowing transfers to Ukraine and wants to remove the Ukraine cap as soon as possible.
Penny Crosman, host of the American Banker podcast, welcomes Yasaman Hadjibashi and Keith Armstrong to discuss their innovative fintech company: these two entrepreneurs founded a fintech firm to help people with a conviction history.
Ron Shevlin shares Cornerstone Advisors data and focuses our attention on a particular point: fintech firms are becoming the first choice when it comes to open checking accounts.
Penny Lee, CEO of the Financial Technology Association, discussed why the Fed should support fintech firms as it does with traditional banks - this will benefit customers and the entire country, allowing for lower fees and frictionless financial activity.
Lucinda Shen writes about the impact the conflict is having on the fintech space - especially because many CEOs, founders, investors and crypto executives are either Ukrainian or Russian. Many fintech firms are trying to respect sanctions and others are taking sides, but where will all this lead?
The “challenger bank” Rocker introduces a new card in partnership with two other firms: IDEX Biometrics and Idemia. Instead of needing a PIN code, this card - certified by Visa and Mastercard - allows users to confirm payments via their fingerprints.
Elon Musk said that he won’t sell his cryptos: the billionaire confirmed he owns Bitcoin, Etherer and Dogecoin. Despite the drop in prices, he said that he won’t sell because of the increasing inflation.
John Collison, co-founder of the popular fintech firm Stripe, announced on Twitter that Stripe supports crypto companies and payments, as well as NFTs, which will be used for identification purposes.
Israel registered a surge in fintech investments in 2021. Fintech startups got 17% of the tech investments of the country. The segments that are growing faster are insurtech, trading, lending and payments services.
Gretel has just raised $1 billion in a pre-seed funding round led by RLC Ventures and Insurtech Gateway. The fintech company helps financial institutions to allow their customers to recover lost financial products.
American Express wants to invest in the metaverse: the company announced that it’s working on a virtual marketplace for Non-Fungible Tokens and cryptos. The goal of the company is to make its services available also in the metaverse.
Block Earner, an Australian fintech company, allows investors to get fixed yields thanks to decentralized finance (DeFi) products. Jordan Momtazi, co-founder of the company, makes a comparison between their savings accounts and traditional saving accounts – making it clear that Block Earner offers higher returns.
PaaS (Platform as a Service) providers are improving payment systems creating modern and easy-to-use platforms. Among the services offered by these providers are real-time payments, cloud native solutions, and fraud management systems.
Request to Pay looks like an easy and flexible solution to improve payment systems and transactions between payers and billers. Despite customers and merchants are favorable to this system, there are still few companies and banks that offer Request to Pay services.
People’s Bank of China and Chinese financial regulators want to encourage “controllable risks” to improve financial technology in the region. The central banks would like banks to cooperate more with external institutions and increase the number of fintech services.
Gas prices are rising – it’s not something new. But the real news is that Klarna is allowing users to use BNPL schemes also to buy gasoline. This service will be available in the United States thanks to the partnership among Klarna, Chevron and Texaco.
Seven U.S. states – New Jersey, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Washington, Kentucky and Vermont – are checking the “Earn Program” launched by the Canadian fintech company Voyager. This company offers crypto accounts and, according to these states, these instruments may be unregistered securities.
Nordic Fintech announced a €132 million offer to acquire Instabank. Instabank was founded in 2016, and so far managed to reach over 60,000 clients with its secured and unsecured loans and savings solutions.
Santander launches new payment solutions that will allow SMEs in Spain to make immediate payments to Brazilian recipients. This solution – One Trade – makes it possible to complete these international transactions in minutes.
CarbonPay launches CarbonPay Business Ctrl: with this prepaid card – available in the U.S. and the U.K. – the green fintech company allows its users to offset 1kg of CO2 for every dollar spent.
The current economic landscape could be soon hit by some shocks that could lead to a widespread adoption of digital currencies – as well as to massive investments in crypto assets: that’s what Bank of America strategists predict, due to the increasing inflation and the slowing economy.
Gwera Kiwana and Kate Moody are joined by Misha Esipov (Nova Credit), Polly Jean Harrison (The Fintech Times) and Duke Ekezie-Joseph (Kippa) to discuss fintech news, especially Nova’s expansion into Europe and Apple’s plans to conquer the payments market.
Fintech firms in the mortgage market are allowing poeple – especially younger homebuyers – to get loans easier, but this might have downsides: the IMF analysis shows that while fintech companies offer more benefits compared to traditional financial institutions, regulators should keep an eye on their business models to avoid a new housing bubble.
Internet of Things (IoT) is being massively adopted by fintech companies and financial institutoins: IoT allows for cost-optimization, better analysis and management of data and innovative tools and payment methods.
TrueLayer, an open banking platform, wants to expand its offer to address the main issues of traditional payment methods: no more long waiting times, uncertainty and risks, but a system based on open-banking that will allow instant operations and the reduction of costs – also for merchants.
The types of services offered by banks still can’t compete with fintech companies. Even if banks started focusing more on digitalization, it’s also true that they usually offer only digital products related to the management of accounts, while users would like to have access to more complex services like loans online.
Fidelity exploits fintech opportunities not only thanks to the metaverse, but also by expanding its financial services: Fidelity Investments will allow its users to invest part of their savings in Bitcoin.
According to a Merchant Machine study, mobile wallets should have over 4 billion users by 2024. The pandemic contributed to the success of these wallets, for sure, but also enhanced security protocols and the popularity of smartphones are the reasons why mobile wallets become more and more popular.
Vic.ai, the fintech startup focused on providing enterprises with automate accounting and financial processes, launched a new tool for further cost optimization: Spend Intelligence, the new AI-based tool created by the company, will provide companies with insights and improve their existing financial processes.
Benjamin Ensor and Kate Moody are joined by Nilixa Devlukia (Payments Solved) and Karen Kerrigan (Moneybox) to discuss Stripe’s latest launches, the new crowdfunding campaign of Moneybox and more.
The fintech company Raisin and the Credit Europe Bank are partnering to offer improved savings products to their customers.
While major banks are leaving the Irish market, bunq enters the banking market of the country to offer its online services. The Dutch fintech company has launched an Irish IBAN to allow for easier transactions to and from the country.
