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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.
DELIVEROO SHARES RALLY ON FIRST DAY OF RETAIL TRADING
Shares in food delivery startup Deliveroo rallied on Wednesday as its first day of unconditional trading on the London Stock Exchange began.
Wednesday marked the first time that retail investors could trade shares in Deliveroo, including the 70,000 who invested in the company’s IPO. It followed a week of “conditional” trading that began last week, during which only institutional investors could trade stakes in Deliveroo.
TRUELAYER AND WOMBAT PARTNERSHIP OFFERS PAYMENT APIS
TruLayer’s SaaS platform uses a toolkit to create specialist consumer and server message block (SMB) apps in payments, personal finance management and online lending. The collaboration with Wombat Invest, a swiftly growing startup investment platform that provides a user-friendly and secure interface for both novice and experienced investors, will provide the UK-based fintech with cutting-edge payment APIs for its investment customers.
FINTECH BEHEMOTHS BACKBASE AND ZAFIN FORM NEW PARTNERSHIP
Canada’s leading relationship-based product and pricing capability solutions service provider, Zafin, has announced a strategic partnership with the Dutch banking engagement platform, Backbase. According to reports, Zafin, which is one of North America’s leading fintech companies, will join forces with Backbase to implement its spectrum of solutions onto the Backbase platform.
STOCKS MAKING THE BIGGEST MOVES IN THE PREMARKET: HILTON GRAND VACATIONS, J&J, NRG ENERGY & MORE
Hilton Grand Vacations (HGV) – The timeshare company posted a wider-than-expected loss for its latest quarter, while revenue was also below Wall Street forecasts. Hilton Grand Vacations said the pandemic has created a challenging environment but said 85% of its properties are now open and operating. Its shares fell 2.3% in premarket trading.
BITCOIN TANKS 10% AFTER ELON MUSK SAYS PRICES SEEM HIGH
Bitcoin slid Monday, pausing its stunning rally after Elon Musk said prices “seem high.” The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency sank over 10% to a price of $51,993 Monday morning, according to data from Coin Metrics. At one point, bitcoin had dipped below the $50,000 level, falling as low as $47,700.
TESLA DROPS AS MUCH AS 13%, TURNS NEGATIVE FOR THE YEAR
Tesla’s recent slide accelerated on Tuesday, as investors rotated out of high-flying tech names. Shares of the electric vehicle maker dipped as much as 13% the stock’s worst day since Sept. before recovering some of those losses. At 10 a.m. on Wall Street shares were down 7.8%.
CIRCLE LAUNCHES ‘CIRCLE IMPACT’ TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL INCLUSION, DIGITAL FINANCIAL LITERACY AND HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE VIA DIGITAL CURRENCY
Circle Internet Financial, LLC, a global internet finance firm that provides payments and financial infrastructure to businesses of all sizes today announced the launch of Circle Impact. The initiative is dedicated to measurably improving three key areas of focus: financial inclusion, responsible financial service innovation, and supporting humanitarian efforts through the faster deployment of aid and relief using corruption-resistant real-time payments.
NUULA LAUNCHES FINANCIAL METRICS TOOL, INTEGRATING ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE DATA INTO THE NUULA MOBILE APP
Nuula, a fintech company focused on providing small businesses the tools and the capital they need to succeed, today announced the launch of its Financial Health tool — a new feature that lets small business owners stay on top of key financial metrics from their cloud accounting software right within the Nuula app.
With the Financial Health tool, small businesses can get real-time insights from their QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave or other accounting software anytime and anywhere.
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.