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Since you mention PayTM, India must be on your radar. ICYMI, Digital ID is a non-issue in India, thanks to Aadhaar e-KYC carried out via Mobile OTP. I recently got approved instantly, and entirely online, for Amazon Pay Later BNPL product via this Digital ID.

Matt Levine's "Everything Is A Securities Fraud" paradigm is only applicable for investors in publicly listed stocks. Investors in private markets get enough warnings about the risks of investing in unlisted companies. I strongly doubt if they have a case against Monzo.

That said, I don't know if they even made a loss that they would want to claim back. There are many examples of startups whose early stage investors were rewarded handsomely but late stage investors made losses on their investments e.g. WeWork.

As long as Fintechs Don't Stop Chanting The Disruption Mantra, what can go wrong with funding, uh?

On a side note, the disconnect between "HQ country" and "Domicile country" keeps cropping up regularly. Keen to know more about the litmus test you used to determine "HQd in UK but not domiciled in UK". 

A lowly staffer at JPMC, well below the level of CEO Jamie Damon, can instantly cut off Plaid's access to JPMC bank accounts. If a CEO is even mildly threatened by Plaid, that's exactly what he will direct that lowly staffer to do - the way PNC has already cut off Plaid access. Maybe it's only me but this "scared shitless" public confession by JPMC CEO seems like a big smokescreen. 

Most of the Internet connectivity in India is Mobile Data and that works fine enough in villages, not just metro areas. 

You can feel free to do whatever you want but it's silly to tell me that what I'm saying goes against media reports, then ask me whether you can quote me, then quote a media report that goes against what I said before, then tell me you disagree with my claims.

TY @AndreasHobbelin. Only False Positives, no False Negatives? Like, shouldn't + wouldn't have sent to "Müller" or "Mueller" but sent to "Muller". 

Given that India's Per Capita Income is $250/mo, I strongly doubt if there's anyone earning less than $22.50/mo, but, yes, you can quote me.

41% of India's population is below 18 years and can't have a bank account (on their own).

Even if we consider MINOR accounts held along with parents, as I said before, there are 3 Internet connections per household, so there's ample Internet connectivity available to everyone in the household (via tethered WiFi hotspot) to do digital payments.

So, virtually everybody in India is connected for financial transactions and I don't see any deficiency at all. 

While PSP Venmo is reputed to be the first customer of Plaid in USA 4-5 years ago, it's a P2P payment service and does not help Merchants. I reckon that Plaid gets a lot more traction in USA from non-payments use cases in in wealth management, stock trading, money management, etc. Going by that track record, Merchants in Europe may be in for disappointment if they expect Plaid to move the needle too much on non-card rail payments via Open Banking. Besides, well before Open Banking and Plaid have arrived on the scene, there have been many A2A payments services in Europe (e.g. myBank, PayM) - just that they failed to go mainstream and threaten card networks too much. For the same reason, I doubt if Open Banking / Plaid based A2A payments will fare any better in Europe. 

"fintech disrupter being purchased by the incumbent" is not a contradiction at all.

On the contrary, it's straight out of the FI Innovation Playbook, as I highlighted in Fintech Shouldn’t Stop Chanting The Disruption Mantra.