Your Daily FinTech News – April 14th, 2022

Welcome to your daily FinTech news!

FINTECH NEWS

• Neobanks have been transforming the financial landscape in many parts of the world, not least in major countries in Africa. In recent times, emerging markets such as Africa have been rapidly evolving in digital-first financial services, including digital banking and payments, despite limited economic resources. In particular, African startups offering technological innovations for the finance industry are increasingly operating solely online, with companies catering to a wide range of applications that have emerged across the continent. Link here.
• Block Afterpay Lead at Cash App Anthony Eisen joins Bloomberg LP TV at U.K. Fintech Week to discuss the buy-now, pay-later boom, navigating the cost of living crisis and the plan for the future after Jack Dorsey’s Block acquired Afterpay earlier this year. Link here.
• SOFORT, Europe’s market leader for online bank transfers, has announced a unique open banking partnership with the instant payment provider, Brite Payments. Link here.
• Gaming giant Ubisoft has backed White Star Capital’s second crypto-focused venture fund as an anchor investor. Link here.
• Square announced a new version of its Square Stand point-of-sale system that allows businesses to easily accept in-person payments. Link here.
• Plaid has appointed Ripsy Bandourian as its first head of Europe after a period of significant growth for the company across the continent. Link here.

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

• VС’s view on FinTech and B2B Payments Infrastructure startups: In the last 15 months FinTech infrastructure has become a truly hot topic, with a slew of funding rounds. First of all, let’s start with the definition: FinTech infrastructure is a combination of startups that empower banks to go digital and enable other startups to launch FinTech products. Link here.
• Contis, Europe’s leading Banking-as-a-Service provider and Ecospend, the leading UK provider of Open Banking technology has teamed up with online gaming website MrQ to deliver a full open banking, closed-loop instant account to account payment and withdrawal solution. Link here.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday mandated interoperable card-less withdrawal using the UPI platform across bank’s ATM network, to increase customer convenience and plug instances of fraud. Link here.
• Almost two years since the consumer data right (CDR) launched in Australia, we can finally say it’s a viable option for fintechs. In some – but not all – cases it’s even a better option than traditional methods like screen scraping. Link here.

This ends Your Daily Fintech News. Let me know if there are any questions or comments. Until the next!

Regards,

Marcel van Oost

marcelvanoost.com