City fintech Yapily scores $5.4m from Transferwise founders and Localglobe May 30, 2019 London fintech startup Yapily has closed $5.4m (£4.3m) in seed funding from King’s Cross-based venture capital firm Localglobe and HZ Holtzbrinck Ventures. Other investors included Transferwise co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Ott Kaukver, and C-suite executives from Twilio and Unicredit. Read more: Transferwise is Europe's most valuable fintech at $3.5bn Yapily will use the funding to [...]
Challenger banks struggling to compete with big five banks on cash deposits, study finds May 30, 2019 Challenger banks are struggling to break the stranglehold of the big five banks on the UK's £1.3 trillion cash deposit market, despite often paying better interest rates. The UK's big five banks – Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland – hold £827bn of the UK's household deposits, a market share of [...]
Fintech expert: London needs its own digital currency May 29, 2019 | City Talk By Ian Hall (City AM, for CFA Institute) Powerhouse cities such as London should have their own digital currencies, according to a global fintech expert. David Birch, principal at 15Mb as well as being a well-known consultant and commentator on digital financial services, told an audience at the 72nd CFA Institute Annual Conference that “it really is time [...]
Majority of UK’s tech workforce ‘prepared to leave the UK’, study finds May 29, 2019 Three-quarters of British tech workers would be willing to leave the UK to work abroad, despite London ranking as the world’s best city for tech, according to a new survey. Research by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Totaljobs found the majority of employees in the UK’s tech industry were the prepared to relocate, while just [...]
London takes second place in Schroders Global Cities 30 index despite Brexit uncertainty May 28, 2019 | City Talk London has overtaken Hong Kong to be ranked second in the latest Schroders Global Cities 30 index, despite economic and political uncertainty in the UK. The ranking reinforces London’s position as a significant contributor of the UK economy and highlights the UK capital’s attraction as a location for real asset investing. London remains the highest-positioned [...]
London slips behind New York as world’s financial capital, survey says May 28, 2019 London has fallen behind New York as the city that most represents the world's financial centre, according to a report released today. A survey of finance professionals by consultants Duff & Phelps found 52 per cent of respondents chose New York as the world's pre-eminent financial centre, up from 42 per cent a year previously, [...]
Facebook ‘finalising its own Globalcoin cryptocurrency’, which could launch in March next year May 24, 2019 Facebook is in the final stages of planning the launch of its own cryptocurrency in 2020 which has been dubbed Globalcoin, according to reports. The social media giant, which has thus far steered clear from world of crypto trading, could set up a digital payments system in around a dozen countries as soon as March next [...]
Wealthsimple grabs $100m in new funding round from Allianz May 22, 2019 Digital wealth giant Wealthsimple has raised a CA$100m (£58.8m) investment round, led by the investment unit of insurance firm and asset manager Allianz. The Canadian fintech, which operates in the UK and US alongside its home country, manages an online investing service and a commission-free stock trading app, with over $4.5bn of assets under management. Read more: [...]
RBS-backed digital banking startup Loot enters administration May 22, 2019 Loot, the digital current account for students, has called in administrators after it was unable to secure funding following the collapse of a potential sale to the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). RBS owned a 25 per cent stake in the fintech firm through Natwest’s digital bank Bo, which is currently under development and invested [...]
Banking unicorn N26 rapped by German regulator in money laundering probe May 22, 2019 Digital banking startup N26 has been ordered by the German banking regulator to step up its anti-money laundering policies, after a probe found the fintech firm was deficient in several areas. Bafin said today it has issued an order against N26 to "take appropriate internal safety measures" in order to comply with rules on customer due [...]