Government moves to take UK fintech startups global April 29, 2019 The UK’s fintech startups are set to get a boost from the government towards expansion across borders, international trade secretary Liam Fox announced yesterday. Building on the so-called fintech bridge agreements signed by the UK and other nations in recent years, a cohort of startups have been selected for two pilot programmes that will provide [...]
Top banks inject $9m into London fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data April 29, 2019 The venture capital arm of Commerzbank and London investor Octopus Ventures have co-led a $9m (£7m) funding round into fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data. Existing backer and client JP Morgan also participated in the round, adding to its minority stake in the startup. The bank signed a multi-year deal to use Mosaic’s technology – which [...]
Softbank to invest €900m for stake in digital payments firm Wirecard April 24, 2019 Softbank has agreed to invest €900m (£781m) in German fintech firm Wirecard as part of a digital payments partnership in Asia. The Japanese investment giant has signed a deal to buy five-year convertible bonds in Wirecard, equating to roughly 5.6 per cent of the firm’s stock, at €130 per share. Read more: Wirecard shares soar [...]
Tandem Bank scales up to Russell Square HQ April 23, 2019 Fast-growing digital bank Tandem has snapped up a new Bloomsbury HQ as it looks to double in size. Moving from King’s Cross, which has welcomed in the likes of tech giants such as Facebook and Sony over the last 12 months, Tandem is relocating to a 16,000 square foot (sq ft) office in Russell Square. Read [...]
Leaving the legacy behind: Meet the tech company that could put a stop to the banks’ IT failures April 23, 2019 IT meltdowns are becoming dangerously common among the big banks. According to Which, at least one British bank suffered an IT failure every day during the last nine months of 2018. TSB’s outage last year, which left 1.9m customers locked out of their accounts and cost the bank £330m, demonstrates how catastrophic these IT issues can [...]
City Moves for 23 April 2019 – Who’s switching jobs at Onfido, Freedom Finance and Ropes & Gray? April 23, 2019 Today's City Moves includes Onfido, Freedom Finance and Ropes & Gray. Onfido Onfido has announced that Kevin Goldsmith and Thomas Ammirati have joined its growing global team as chief technology officer and chief revenue officer will lead Onfido’s 240 expert technologists as it continues its rapid international expansion. Chief revenue officer Thomas Ammirati brings over 25 [...]
City grind: Will law’s stuffy image and long hours stop it attracting top talent? April 22, 2019 Law firms are the original pyramid scheme. The model depends on a wide base of junior lawyers working long hours to generate cash for partners who sit at the top and take a share in the profits. Arguably it is a model that has had its day in an era where a younger generation increasingly prioritises [...]
It’s time to write the next chapter in the City’s story of technological innovation April 15, 2019 When I travel across the globe, there is an issue I get asked about time and time again: what is it about London that makes it such a successful global financial hub? And what is it about the UK that makes us stand out from the crowd? A key part of the answer is innovation. [...]
The Economist branches out with new Birmingham tech hub April 11, 2019 The Economist is set to launch a new technology innovation unit in Birmingham as it looks to boost in-house support for its digital services. The new hub, which will be the company’s first UK site outside London, will house roughly 45 members of staff focused on development and support for the magazine’s website, mobile apps [...]
Startups eye bigger slices of the pie as venture deals scale up April 11, 2019 Venture capital investment into UK startups in the first three months of 2019 was around the same level as last year, as investors turned their focus to later-stage deals. More than £1.2bn has been invested since the start of the year across 161 deals, according to data published today by KPMG. Comparatively Germany was hit [...]