NEWS
Featured News
Trending News
COINBASE HITS $100 BILLION VALUATION IN NASDAQ DEBUT
Coinbase, the US’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, reached a valuation of over $100 billion on its first day of public trading on Wednesday.
The company was valued at $99.6 billion when trading opened, with stocks priced at $381 apiece. This price would later fall to $328.28, but not before reaching the $100 billion milestone.
GOLDMAN SACHS AND JPMORGAN INVESTMENT BANKING PROFITS SOAR
US stock indexes were set to rise on Wednesday following positive earnings reports from investment banks.
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc both beat analysts’ expectations for first-quarter profit.
Goldman saw its overall investment banking revenue jump 73% to $3.77 billion, the highest amount seen since 2010. The bank managed to effectively capitalise on record global investment banking activity, which Refinitiv data showed as reaching an all-time high of $39.4 billion in the March quarter.
BANKS NEED TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM RISING LEVELS OF PAYMENTS FRAUD
Contactless and digital payments have without doubt grown in popularity during the last year, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and consumers trying to avoid using cash to reduce the spread of the virus. As a consequence, the contactless limit in the UK has recently been increased to £100. While a welcome move for both consumers and the payments ecosystem, this increase comes with the inherent risk of more fraud.
POUND REMAINS STABLE AS UK ECONOMY REOPENS
Non-essential shops and services have reopened across England and Wales as lockdown rules are eased across the UK.
Gyms, hairdressers and zoos can now reopen, while pubs and restaurants are able to host customers in outdoor areas. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged people taking advantage of the eased restrictions to “behave responsibly” and continue to exercise advised steps to reduce the likelihood of contracting or spreading coronavirus.
MANAGING MONEY WITH AN ONGOING SICKNESS OR INJURY
Being faced with long-term illness or disability is incredibly stressful, and can cause serious implications for your finances. For those who have become financially vulnerable due to ongoing illness, or are looking for ways to plan for unexpected circumstances, business growth consultant Daniel Groves has compiled some the resources that can help.
PROSUS MAKES $14.6 BILLION FROM SALE OF 2% TENCENT STAKE
Amsterdam-based tech investor Prosus NV netted $14.6 billion overnight from the sale of a 2% stake in Tencent, the company announced on Thursday.
A filing from Tencent at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange revealed that Prosus had sold 191.89 million shares at HK$595.00 per share.
“Our belief in Tencent and its management team is steadfast, but we also need to fund continued growth in our core business lines and emerging sectors,” Prosus Chairman Koos Bekker said in a statement on Thursday, hours after the completion of the deal.
UNIFYING FINANCE FOR A COMMON CAUSE
In the world of finance, the convergence of two institutions – outside of an M&A – is uncommon. Beyond this, we rarely see two financial brands come together for a common cause. However, when it does happen, it’s critical that they present a clear and unified proposition if they are to achieve success. And the value of that should not be underestimated; the Marketing Accountability Standards Board, whose research from 2018 found that brands contribute an average of 19.5% enterprise value.
CYBER THREATS TO FINANCIAL ORGANISATIONS IN THE POST-COVID ERA
Unsurprisingly, financial services firms and their troves of sensitive data were a big target for threat actors in 2020. The rapid shift to remote work, coupled with insufficient budgets and a lack of training and awareness to mitigate attacks, led to an increased risk for many sectors. Despite the need for cybersecurity and the cost savings it can bring over the long haul (breaches are expensive, especially for financial organisations), businesses prioritised other functions and operations which more directly affected their bottom lines this past year.
SOGOTRADE OFFERS CASH-BACK TO FINANCIAL PORTFOLIOS WITH EVOSHARE
SogoTrade, a digital brokerage subsidiary of Sogo Financial Group, Inc. (“Sogo”), has partnered with EvoShare, a microsavings-oriented FinTech startup based in Berkeley, CA, to bring cash-back savings opportunities to its customers.
“Cash-back offers are popular and incentivize people who spend money at retailers, restaurants, hotels, and more,” said Jonathan Yao, CEO of SogoTrade. “SogoTrade is excited to partner with EvoShare, bringing a robust cash-back savings infrastructure to everyday people, enabling them to earn on everyday spending and invest in their future.”
WHALE CLOUD AND ANT GROUP JOIN FORCE WITH TOKA FINTECH TO EXPAND INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Whale Cloud, a leading technology company providing software solutions and services for telecommunications and multiple other industries, today reached a partnership with Toka Fintech, a Mexican-leading financial group, to help it develop its own digital payment app with Alipay+ Digital Wallet Solution, providing Mexicans with better access to inclusive financial services.
Toka Fintech is a company belonging to Grupo Toka, which is one of the most important groups in the prepaid card market and has more than 4.5 million customers in Mexico. Grupo Toka is increasingly embracing digital payment services because of the fast adoption of smartphones in the country and the COVID-19 pandemic.
VOLT LAUNCHES IN BRAZIL TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL OPEN BANKING PAYMENTS REVOLUTION
Volt, the leading open payments gateway, today announced its expansion to Brazil following a period of rapid growth for the FinTech company. Volt has now integrated Brazil’s domestic instant payments network Pix – and established its physical presence in São Paulo – as it builds upon its proposition as the global leader in real-time payments everywhere.
Already strongly established in Europe with over 5,000 bank connections on the PSD2 Open Banking network, the expansion sees Volt bring its real-time payments offering to the Brazilian market. Volt customers can now access Latin America’s largest and fastest growing markets, whilst cutting out the region’s lengthy settlement times (from 28 days to two seconds) and costly card infrastructure, whilst boosting payment conversion rates. For those without a domestic presence, Volt acts as the merchant of record in-country and manages currency export, FX, and declarations to the Central Bank of Brazil.
FINASTRA PARTNERS WITH HEXAWARE TO ACCELERATE DIGITAL PAYMENTS FOR SELECTED EUROPEAN BANKS
Finastra today announced its partnership with Hexaware Technologies (Hexaware) to provide managed services for Finastra’s payments solutions deployed in the cloud. The move helps Hexaware customers in Germany, Belgium, the UK and Ireland take ownership of their payment infrastructure. The partnership brings together the companies’ industry leading payments and integration experience, to provide mid-sized banks with an end-to-end Payments as a Service (PaaS) offering which helps them remain competitive while mitigating operational costs.
VOYAGER TOKEN INTEGRATED INTO COINIFY’S GLOBAL CRYPTO PAYMENT PLATFORM
Voyager Digital Ltd. , one of the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platforms in the United States, today announced the integration of the Voyager token (VGX) into Coinify’s cryptocurrency payment platform, a wholly-owned Voyager subsidiary that provides merchant payment services in over 150 countries.
ENTERPRAI LAUNCHES NEW WAY FOR GLOBAL MACRO PLAYERS TO STAY ON TOP OF FINANCIAL MARKETS
Enterprai – the AI-powered SaaS workstation for global macro professionals, pioneering predictive analytics for FX and fixed income markets – today launched a set of products offering global macro portfolio managers, traders, and analysts a new way to stay on top of financial markets. Off the back of strong demand for its product the Company is now embarking on its next funding round, seeking to raise a further $10M of growth capital to invest in tech and talent to further fuel client expansion.
CETERA LAUNCHES GROWTH360 PROGRAM
Cetera Financial Group, one of the industry’s largest networks of financial professionals, today announced the launch of Growth360, a strategic, peer-based methodology to help its affiliates grow the value of their businesses. The Growth360 methodology enables Cetera financial professionals to learn from – and incorporate – the successes of their fastest-growing peers. Growth360 provides a framework for advisors to benchmark their own practices against those of their fastest-growing colleagues. This will empower Cetera financial professionals to identify high-impact growth levers and implement an action plan that is aligned with their broader business goals.
RAILSBANK SHAPES THE FUTURE OF FINANCE WITH LAUNCH OF NEW CATEGORY AND VISION AT WEB SUMMIT
Railsbank, the leading global Embedded Finance platform, has today launched a new industry category that is set to drive the next wave of innovation within financial services. Known as Embedded Finance Experiences, the new category and vision represents the next phase of growth for embedded finance, moving away from basic banking, card or financial products to deeper and richer financial experiences that are seamlessly part of a brand’s customer journey.
Gone are the days where the consumer needs to visit a finance provider; embedded finance experiences deliver a financial product at a highly relevant moment to the consumer.