Utrecht-based Rabo Frontier Ventures invests in UK fintech and banking company Tide
Rabo Frontier Ventures, Utrecht-based strategic investment venture fund, has invested in the mobile business platform Tide in a Series B investment round. This investment round was led by SBI Group and Augment. Notably, the RFV deal was structured through an SPV that is managed by Anthemis Group, a major early-stage investor in Tide and one of the most active fintech investors. Jeroen van Doornik, Partner at RFV, said: This investment in Tide will generate valuable insights regarding innovation and development in SME banking and further allows us to work together with Anthemis and alongside existing investors such as LocalGlobe. The funding will help Tide substantially increase its share of the […]
Cambodia’s Central Bank tests out digital wallet to reduce cross-border payment fees
Cambodia’s Central Bank wants to curtail the cost of cross-border payments and is examining its in-house digital wallet, the Hyperledger Iroha-powered Bakong. Last week, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) signed an agreement with Malaysia’s Maybank. The banks will work together to cut down the remittance fees of their respective digital payment platforms – Bakong and Maybank2u. H.E. Chea Serey, Cambodia’s chief central banker, told the Khmer Times that the remittance fees can range as high as 30%. Chea Serey also stated that the partnership can reduce the fees. He said: “The introduction of Bakong system will provide more possibilities in enhancing payment system at both domestic and regional level” […]
Google steps up global fight for digital wallet as China dominates mobile payments
Mobile payment transactions in China added up to more than US$12.8 trillion last year, making it the world’s largest mobile payments market. Now US tech giants are playing catch up. To get a sense of how pervasive mobile payments have become in China, consider that on the eve of this year’s Spring Festival, 668 million people on Tencent Holding’s WeChat app sent virtual hongbao – digital red packets containing money – to friends and family as part of their well wishes for the new year. Now western tech giants are accelerating efforts to tap into the market, with Google this week launching Google Pay in a move that rebrands and […]
Temenos to create financial technology powerhouse as Fidessa agrees takeover
The boards of Temenos and Fidessa have reached an agreement on the terms of an all-cash takeover of the UK-based trading technology supplier in a transformational deal for the Swiss core banking vendor. Under the terms of the transaction, Fidessa shareholders will be entitled to receive £35.67 in cash for each Fidessa share, a 36.9% premium to the firm’s closing price of £26.05 on 16 February. Shareholders will also be entitled to receive and retain a final dividend and a special dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2017 together amounting to 79.7 pence in aggregate per Fidessa share. The transaction, which is expected to close in the […]
Sydney Fintech Market Update
At Tier One People, we get to work with some amazing startups in FinTech and InsurTech. 2018 has got off to a flier, so here is the first Tier One People FinTech jobs update of 2018. There is an air of optimism that FinTechs are finally in a position to challenge banks, not just partner with them. Scott Morrison recently announced plans to legislate open banking, essentially customers will own their data and have far greater control. Great news for consumers and for FinTechs. And with the NPP (New Payments Platform) set to go live any day now, the landscape is set for more competition to enter the Australian Financial […]
The most important FinTech Innovations that will change our lives in the near future
Technology is affecting the topography of workflow and processes in the financial services industry. What was once handled with the assistance of human hands, physical currency and bulky computers has now been completely digitalized. It is an undeniable expanse of financial services globally and that has bred a fertile ground for FinTech startups. Start ups are reimagining every kind of financial activity including wealth management, banking, payments and more. And these innovations have attracted massive investment too. This financial technology or FinTech revolution has left the traditional financial industry with a poignant question – how to stay relevant in this digital age and avoid being history? The advantage lies with […]
Paris is city of Fintech love for startups seeking hookups
The fintech dating game is on in Paris. Entrepreneurs in Europe’s financial-technology sector are pushing low-cost payments solutions to steal market share from banks, hoping the challenge they pose will spur the lenders to buy them or seek partnerships with them. Many startups are eyeing deals or potential backing as they converge on Paris this week to meet with the top executives of French finance, from BNP Paribas SA’s Jean-Laurent Bonnafe to Societe Generale SA’s Frederic Oudea, at the city’s annual Fintech Forum. How fintechs defy incumbents is a prime theme of discussion there, with payments an area of focus, as banking alternatives from Alipay to M-Pesa already dominate in […]
Indonesia’s fintech lending boom exploits shortfall in bank loans
Fintech firms, offering loans of as little as a few hundred dollars, are seeing a spike in lending in Indonesia where tens of millions of people have little or no access to bank credit – helping alleviate a financing shortfall estimated at more than $73 billion. The emergence of these peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms has so far been welcomed by Indonesia’s financial regulators which see them as offering a much needed service to cash-strapped businesses and consumers at a time when Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been hobbled by sluggish bank lending. Wimboh Santoso, head of Indonesia’s financial regulator (OJK), said while the trend was still a drop in the […]
