Each fortnight, we bring you a collection of the major events in the fintech industry.
PayPal backs Swedish financial tech startup Tink
“PayPal Holdings Inc has invested 10 million euros ($11.2 million) in Tink, a Swedish company that enables banks and financial technology startups to access financial data more easily.”
MasterCard rolls out Open Banking suite
Mastercard has unveiled a suite of open banking applications and services designed to help financial institutions and third-party providers make the most of the PSD2 era.
Revolut launches in Australia as a beta release
The digital-banking app has 20,000 users on their waitlist in Australia and are currently beta testing by offering basic services that come with an account such as a card and money transfers.
Amazon is launching a new credit card as it battles Walmart for low income customers
The Amazon Store Card Credit Builder is a secured card that customers trying to (re)build their credit score can use on Amazon.com.
Facebook gets big backers for GlobalCoin project
Facebook has reportedly landed Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and Uber as founder members of its forthcoming stablecoin ecosystem.
Stripe leads $22.5 million funding round for teen banking startup Step
Payments processor Stripe led a $22.5 million Series A funding round for Step, a teenager-focused US mobile banking startup that has built up a half million-strong waitlist in a matter of months.
Google is ending Pay Send in the UK
The peer-to-peer (P2P) component of Google Pay will no longer exist in the U.K. after September 6th, 2019. Users will still be able to use Google Pay but will not be able to send and request money through Google Pay’s P2P service in Gmail or on pay.google.com.
Ripple launches in Brazil
Ripple is looking to expand its footprint in Latin America, launching operations in Brazil and bringing in former American Express and Banco Bradesco executive Luiz Antonio Sacco as managing director.
Our article explores how Ripple and Swift are changing the way banks transfer money.
N26 and Monzo prep US launches
German mobile bank N26 says it intends to enter the US market within ‘the next few weeks’. UK challenger Monzo has also confirmed that it will open its first accounts to US consumers in summer 2019.
Melbourne payments startup Verrency raises A$10M
Verrency’s API platform provides an overlay to legacy infrastructure enabling banks to upgrade their customer offerings with digital services such as auto-rounding, real-time budgeting notifications and instant loyalty rewards.
For a primer on the neo-banks Revolut, N26 and Monzo, check out our article on the Four Key Players in the UK in the digital banking sector.