💡💡💡 Global Fintech Insights: Innovation, Investment, & Growth

Stay ahead of the curve with my weekly roundup of the most significant moves in Fintech and Payments

🤔🤔🤔 This week’s newsletter has got me thinking will we live in a world where no cash exists, and all paperwork will end up on the blockchain?

🤖Tokenised stocks are making the news! #Trust Wallet with #Ondo Finance.

🤑#Starling Bank targets £4B Valuation in secondary share sale, although Revolut target valuation was $75B, this is still quite significant as they come out of a period of turmoil in the last 2 years.

🏦More Banking in the news: Munich based #Scalable get ECB banking license, #JPMC launching in Germany, #ModernFi, #Zum Rails

🔔 Fund raising and Partnerships: Fraud and Compliance tech, Regtech and Cybersecurity in the news: #Cside with Chargebacks911, #Pactos, #EbankIt with SecuritySide, #Komplett partners with #Two in Nordics (Risk-as-a-service)

💱Payments and Blockchain: #AsiaPay Partnering with #HandsIn and #MoneyHash with #noon payments! #Stripe launches #Tempo

And some fun AI news that unmissable: 🤓🤓🤓 Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's $12B Startup Just Fixed a Major AI Bug Everyone Thought Was Unfixable

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🌍 Global

• 🔗 Trust Wallet Brings Tokenized Stocks and ETFs On-chain for 200M Users – No Broker: Trust Wallet has partnered with Ondo Finance to offer tokenized stocks and ETFs to its users. This collaboration brings traditional financial assets into the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.(Source)

  • Why is this interesting? Will $1.3T Stocks be tokenised on NASDAQ by 2030? In August, SBI Holdings, a Japanese conglomerate, collaborated with Startale Group, a crypto infrastructure provider. Their joint effort aims to introduce an extensive on-chain trading platform designed for tokenized stocks and real-world assets (RWAs).

• 🛡️ cside and Chargebacks911 Unite: Cybersecurity firm cside has joined forces with Chargebacks911, a chargeback management company, to tackle fraudulent disputes globally. The partnership aims to provide an end-to-end solution for merchants to combat chargeback fraud. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? As e-commerce continues to grow, so does chargeback fraud, which costs the global economy billions annually.

  • 😱😱😱For example: The British Airways hack is one of the most notorious client-side attacks to date, where in 2018, malicious JavaScript was injected into the airline’s website and app to capture payment details in real time. The breach exposed data from about 429,612 customers, including credit card information, and went undetected for more than two weeks. Disguised under a domain resembling "baways.com," the attack caused major financial and reputational damage and led to a fine initially set at £183.4 million ($238 million) but later during COVID reduced to £20 million ($26 million) from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.

• 📈 Stripe and Paradigm Launch Tempo Blockchain: Payments giant Stripe has partnered with investment firm Paradigm to launch "Tempo," a new blockchain built specifically for payments. The blockchain is designed to facilitate faster, more efficient transactions using stablecoins. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This is a major development in the stablecoin space, with one of the world's largest payment processors committing to its own blockchain infrastructure. Is this the emerging playbook for payment processors? (See this Newsletter on Arc vs Tempo by Sam Boboev)

• 🔗 Upwork and Wise Partner: Upwork has partnered with Wise Platform to enhance its international payment infrastructure for global freelancers. The integration will allow freelancers to receive cross-border payments directly and at lower costs. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This collaboration between a leading gig economy platform and a global payments giant underscores the growing importance of seamless and cost-effective cross-border payments for the freelance economy, which is a key driver of modern workforce trends.

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🌎 North America and South America

• 💰 ModernFi Raises $30M: ModernFi, a cash management platform for financial institutions, has announced a $30 million Series B funding round led by Canapi Ventures. The investment will be used to enhance its platform and expand its network of bank partners. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? Funding continues to flow to fintechs solving the problem of replacing old banking systems. Its platform integrates into core banking systems to replace outdated workflows with automated, transparent tools for deposit growth and protection.

• 💳 Zum Rails Launches Mastercard-powered Cards: Zum Rails, a Canadian fintech, has launched a new platform to enable businesses to issue Mastercard-powered prepaid card programs to their customers. The solution aims to simplify disbursements and create new revenue streams. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This development highlights the continued growth of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and embedded finance in North America. By leveraging Mastercard's network, Zum Rails allows any company to embed financial services directly into their product without the complexity of becoming a bank.

• ⚖️ Chile's New Payment Regulations: Chile has introduced new regulations to combat payment fraud, requiring stricter customer authentication and making banks more liable for non-compliant institutions. The new rules also criminalize the fraudulent use of payment methods. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This regulatory development is a major step in making digital payments more secure. It forces financial institutions to invest in more robust fraud prevention tools and highlights a global trend of stricter oversight to protect consumers from financial crime.

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🌍 Europe and UK

• 🏦 Starling Bank targets £4B Valuation in secondary share sale: Setting its eyes on US expansion and IPO (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? Starling’s plans arrive as investor appetite for fintech is intensifying once again. Revolut recently began a secondary share sale expected to value it at $75 billion, with Coatue leading a new round. Against this backdrop, Starling’s potential £4 billion valuation is modest in comparison but signals confidence in its resilience after a period of turbulence.

• 🏦 Scalable Capital Wins Banking License: BlackRock-backed neobroker Scalable Capital has won a European Central Bank banking license. This new license allows the company to expand its service offerings beyond its existing brokerage and wealth management products. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? Scalable, currently providing brokerage, wealth management, ETF, and crypto products, intends to broaden its services to include banking products like savings and lending throughout the EU. The company's strategy involves first offering loans of up to €100,000 in Germany, followed by a subsequent rollout across the rest of the EU. Allowing it to better compete against neobroker rivals like Trade Republic and establishment players like Fidelity.

• 📈 Pactos Secures €2.7M: Munich-based startup Pactos has raised €2.7 million to bring "agentic AI" to compliant external staff management. The platform aims to automate the complex process of managing contracts and compliance for businesses. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? AI automation attracts funding, the application of agentic AI to compliance and human resources is a key growth area for B2B fintech and RegTech.

• 🤝 JPMorgan Launches Chase in Germany: JPMorgan has officially launched its digital retail bank, Chase, in Germany. The move marks a significant expansion into the highly competitive European digital banking market. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This is a powerful signal of a major traditional bank's commitment to competing in the digital banking space. JPMorgan's entry into the German market sets the stage for a new wave of competition against established European neobanks.

• 🔄 Portugal based eBankIT Acquires SecuritySide: eBankIT, a global digital banking solutions provider, has announced the acquisition of SecuritySide, a cybersecurity company specializing in protecting financial institutions. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This strategic acquisition highlights a growing trend in the fintech industry where companies are consolidating to integrate critical security features directly into their core products, addressing the rising threat of digital fraud and cyberattacks.

• 🤝 Komplett Partners With Two: Norwegian e-commerce giant Komplett has partnered with payments platform Two to deploy a B2B "risk-as-a-service" platform. The collaboration aims to streamline payments and credit risk assessment for business customers. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This partnership shows the continued growth of embedded finance, where B2B marketplaces are integrating payments and lending directly into their platforms to improve the customer experience and reduce friction in transactions.

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🌍 Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC)

• 🤝 AsiaPay Partners with Hands In: AsiaPay has partnered with Hands In to offer "split payments" for merchants in Asia-Pacific. The new feature allows customers to split a single online transaction across multiple cards or among a group of people. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This collaboration addresses a major pain point for merchants, as it helps to reduce cart abandonment on high-value transactions. The ability to use multiple payment methods at checkout significantly improves the customer experience and boosts conversion rates.

• 🤝 MoneyHash Partners with noon Payments: MoneyHash, a payment orchestration platform, has partnered with noon Payments to simplify access to local payment methods across the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region for merchants. (Source)

  • Why is this interesting? This partnership addresses the significant fragmentation of payment methods in the MEA region. By offering a single API for merchants to access key regional payment options, the collaboration streamlines operations and improves conversion rates for businesses.

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🤖 Unmissable AI News

• 🤓🤓🤓 Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati's $12B Startup Just Fixed a Major AI Bug Everyone Thought Was Unfixable: (Source)