Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Friday 1 March 2024 bringing you the latest updates from across the world.
Partnerships
Payments provider allpay has forged a partnership with Voicescape, an engagement automation expert within the social housing sector. This collaboration is set to deliver solutions for social landlords, offering a management software that utilises digital technology, behavioural insights and data science combined with a payments solutions.
Woli, the money management platform that provides children and teenagers with the tools to manage their finances, is partnering with Paynetics, a European provider of embedded finance, to power their payment accounts and Visa cards. Woli has been registered as Paynetics’s agent in the Bulgarian National Bank’s register of licensed electronic money institutions.
ID verification leader Socure and open banking payments provider Trustly have partnered to significantly improve their onboarding open banking payments process. This integration enables merchants in industries that require robust KYC such as investing, gaming, trading and financial services, to simplify their customer onboarding process while guaranteeing fast payments.
Eazy Financial Services ‘EazyPay’, a Bahraini financial institute specialised in point-of-sale (POS) and online payment gateway acquiring services, has joined forces with Visa to enable Visa Direct, a funds transfer solution for EazyPay’s customer base. This first-of-its-kind collaboration in Bahrain marks the initial deployment of Visa Direct Account Funding Transaction (AFT) solution within the nation.
Appointments
Trading and investing platform eToro appoints Inès de Dinechin as special adviser to the business in France. She joins a global roster of advisers that also includes Lord Stanley Fink, Chris Giancarlo and Salomon Sredni. de Dinechin will advise eToro as the company looks to reinforce its position in the French market.
Insurwave, the insurtech platform helping global businesses manage complex insurance needs, appoints Ken MacDonald to enhance its marine and specialty capabilities. Most recently, MacDonald served as executive chairman of three of Miller’ Insurance’s business units: marine and energy, special risks, and reinsurance, together with leading its corporate development team.
Airwallex has expanded its US presence with offices in New York/Austin, as well as the appointment of three senior hires. Joining Airwallex’s North America HQ in San Francisco are Jason Gottlieb as new VP and global head of financial partnerships (former Stripe and Amazon), Hugo Buret, new head of strategic partnerships (former Stripe) and Ankur Goel as global head of revenue operations.
ClearBank, an enabler of secure accounts, real-time clearing and embedded banking for financial institutions, has named Emma Hagan as the CEO of ClearBank UK. Hagan currently holds the role of chief risk and compliance officer at ClearBank. Prior to this, she held the position of chief risk officer for EMEA at Silicon Valley Bank and has served in diverse capacities at Lloyds Bank and HBOS.
Company and industry updates
DKK Partners, a fintech company specialising in emerging markets and foreign exchange liquidity, has unveiled expansion plans to build on its growth, eyeing new offices in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda with obtaining new licences to further boost compliance and scale ahead of a Series B fundraising round.
Volt, the global real-time payments platform, has secured an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the UK’s FCA. This major business milestone marks the next step in Volt’s growth journey, after the company raised $60million in its Series B in 2023, and announced Australia expansion plans last November.
Confide has unveiled plans to broaden its influence by establishing its European operational base in The Hague, and to continue refining its features, including the integration of AI-driven risk assessments and improved compatibility with corporate systems. Its recently launched platform offers a safe, confidential space for employees and stakeholders to voice concerns without fear of retaliation or exposure.
Starling Bank founder Anne Boden has released her third book: Female Founders’ Playbook – Insights from the superwomen who made it. In her latest work, Boden weaves together the experiences of leading women entrepreneurs and VC investors, offering insights on every aspect of launching a high-growth business.
M&A
Oliver Wyman, a global management consulting company, has completed its acquisition of Innopay. Innopay complements Oliver Wyman’s existing payments consulting capabilities. It has joined Oliver Wyman as a specialist consulting business within the group’s European region. It continues to operate in the Netherlands and Germany, maintaining its presence in Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Funding and investments
ether.fi, the liquid restaking protocol, announces a $23million funding round, led by Bullish Capital and CoinFund. ether.fi has established itself as the leader in liquid restaking with over $1.6billion in total value locked (TVL) – up 15 times since the beginning of 2024 – and approximately 71,000 unique wallets holding its restaking token, eETH.
