Digital banking challenger N26 is expanding to Brazil February 27, 2019 German fintech challenger N26 is expanding to Brazil, making it the first of Europe's biggest retail digital banks to enter the South American market. Announcing the move on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, N26 said Eduardo Prota would head up the new region. Prota has previously worked for Santander and Cielo, as well as having [...]
Berlin banking tech startup behind N26 and Oaknorth nabs €30m from Skype-backer Bessemer February 18, 2019 Software-as-a-service startup Mambu, which provides banking rails to the likes of N26 and Oaknorth, has raised €30m (£26.3m) from the world's oldest venture capital firm. Bessemer Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of Skype, Linkedin and Pinterest, led the round with participation also coming from Acton Capital, the venture arm of Commerzbank, Point Nine Capital [...]
Starling banks £75m funding round from Merian Global Investors February 13, 2019 Starling Bank, one of fintech's Big Three digital banking stalwarts, has closed a £75m funding round led by Merian Global Investors. The challenger bank said £60m was provided by Merian, formerly known as Old Mutual, which included a £19m injection from Merian's equity investment firm Chrysalis. The round was closed out with £15m from Starling's sole existing investor [...]
The UK’s fintech sector hits record level of investment as startups turn into scale-ups February 12, 2019 Investment into the UK's blossoming fintech sector broke records last year, as the country's startups reached a new stage in their growth journey. Venture capital and private equity investment in British fintech rose to an all-time high of $3.3bn (£2.6bn), up 18 per cent compared to 2017's levels, according to data published today by Innovate Finance. [...]
Banks suffer hundreds of high street closures during 2018 January 31, 2019 Walk-in banks suffered more net closures than any other type of retailer last year, as fast-growing digital rivals lured shoppers away from traditional high street heavyweights. While beleaguered department stores have been stealing the doom-and-gloom headlines for the retail sector in recent months, Britain’s bricks-and-mortar banks saw the greatest retrenchment last year, with some 716 [...]
More customers leave TSB than any other bank, data shows January 30, 2019 More customers abandoned TSB in the third quarter of last year than any other bank, according to the latest data, while Nationwide gained the most new accounts. TSB, which suffered two major IT outages in 2018, saw net losses of 16,142, followed by Natwest which lost 12,514 accounts overall. A total of 40, 656 customers moved their [...]
RBS invests in digital banking startup to rival Monzo and Starling January 7, 2019 The Royal Bank of Scotland has invested in digital current account aimed at students and young people that has set out to rival challenger banks Monzo and Starling. The £2m investment in fintech startup Loot was made through Natwest’s digital-only retail bank Bo, which is due to launch this year, and takes its total shareholding to 25 per [...]
‘Non-sexy’ is the new cool: UK fintech predictions for 2019 December 13, 2018 Despite the continued uncertainties of Brexit, 2018 was another year for the UK’s fintech sector. Record levels of investment poured into the community, with $16bn secured in the first six months of 2018, exceeding the value of investment in US fintech by almost $2bn. In addition, progressive regulation and a thriving financial services sector attracted [...]
DEBATE: Do banks need to become fintechs in order to survive? December 10, 2018 Do banks need to become fintechs in order to survive? YES, says Lu Zurawski, consumer payments practice lead at ACI Worldwide. Big banks definitely need to find ways to become more like fintechs, which represent a new way of engaging with customers who increasingly expect modern, mobile-first and always-available services. These tech-savvy firms focus on customer-centric, informative [...]
Monzo ‘absolutely not’ the next Wonga, says founder amid high-cost loan speculation December 5, 2018 Monzo is “absolutely not” going to be the next Wonga, its founder has said, amid speculation the digital bank was planning to move into the high-cost loan space. Tom Blomfield, whose up-and-coming challenger bank this morning completed a landmark £20m crowdfunding round powered by its own customers, told City A.M. he was “categorically not working [...]