Finextra Research: Latest fintech news, analysis, interviews, features and opinion by industry experts

Company update/retail

FIS names InnovateIN48 competition winners

Financial technology leader FIS® (NYSE: FIS) today announced the winning innovations from InnovateIN48, its annual fintech competition that is designed to spark creativity and new technologies to continually advance the way the world pays, banks and invests.

21 December 2021

Company update/markets

Swarm Markets launches regulated decentralised OTC trading

Berlin-based Swarm Markets GmbH, the first regulated decentralised financial infrastructure provider, announces it will launch a peer-to-peer contract for high value transactions in Q1 2022.

21 December 2021

News/wholesale

JPMorgan builds blockchain payments system for Siemens

JPMorgan Chase is working with Siemens on a blockchain-based system for the German firm's payments, according to the Financial Times.

21 December 2021

News/people

Natwest Mettle chief quits to join blockchain outfit Near

Marieke Flament has quit NatWest's online business banking offshoot Mettle to join Swiss-based blockhain foundation Near.

17 December 2021

News/crypto

34% of UK finance businesses now making crypto payments - Mercuryo

According to new research by global payment network, Mercuryo, over one third of UK finance businesses are now using blockchain to facilitate payments, as demand for innovation soars.

17 December 2021

Company update/crypto

Mexican Ministry of Finance to explore cryptocurrency

(December, 2021) VIP$ Coin (VIP$), the asset backed Blockchain Cryptocurrency, has opened conversations with the Mexican Government to discuss the prospect of bolstering its economy with decentralised currency.

17 December 2021

News/crypto

Banque de France demos ledger interoperability in CBDC trials

The Banque de France has completed the last of its interbank settlement in CBDC experiments, demonstrating the possibility of direct ledger interoperability in a hybrid cloud environment across multiple technologies and asset classes.

16 December 2021

News/payments

Fnality preps go live with pledge to slash intraday liquidity costs

Backed by some of the world's largest banks, blockchain for payments consortium Fnality says it expects to reduce banks' intraday liquidity requirements by 70% when it goes live next year.

15 December 2021

News/crypto

RBA reports back on CBDC/DLT loan syndication project

A collaborative research project into the use of distributed ledger technology in CBDC loan syndication conducted by the Reserve Bank of Australia in association with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys Software has demonstrated the potential for significant efficiency gains for businerss customers and market participants.

13 December 2021

News/payments

HSBC and Wells Fargo achieve PvP settlement finality with DLT

HSBC and Wells Fargo have completed the first interbank Payment vs Payment (PvP) settlement outside of CLS using distributed ledger technology from Baton Systems.

13 December 2021

Company update/wholesale

Japan’s TIS Intec Group invests in digital trade finance network Contour

TIS INTEC Group, one of Japan’s leading IT services providers, has invested in Contour, the digital trade finance network.

13 December 2021

News/crypto

Meta extends Novi payments trial to WhatsApp

Meta (formerly Facebook) has extended the pilot for its Novi digital app to WhatsApp, using a stablecoin to enable participants to send and receive money from within chats.

09 December 2021

Company update/crypto

Mastercard names Start Path Crypto cohort

As interest in cryptocurrency and digital assets continues to rise, a new cohort will join the Mastercard Start Path Crypto startup engagement program dedicated to exploring and solving real world problems for people and businesses around the world using blockchain technology.

09 December 2021

Company update/crypto

Ledger and FTX partner for digital assets trading

Ledger, the maker of the world’s most popular hardware wallet and gateway to Web3, today announced its partnership with FTX, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange.

09 December 2021

News/startups

Tokenised fund for footballers' image rights launches

A Spanish startup has launched what it claims is the world’s first tokenised investment fund focused footballer’s image rights.

09 December 2021

News/crypto

French and Swiss central banks hail completed wholesale CBDC trial

The Banque de France, the Swiss National Bank and BIS Innovation Hub are hailing the completion of their cross-border wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) experiment.

09 December 2021

Company update/crypto

Pontoro raises $6m

Pontoro, the financial technology company creating the first institutional-grade digital asset securitization and liquidity platform to address the $15 trillion shortfall1 in infrastructure debt finance by enabling broader investor participation, today announced a $6 million preferred seed funding round led by Ulu Ventures, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Neva Sgr. the venture group of Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, Illuminate Financial, Adit Ventures, Fin Venture Capital, Viking Maccabee Ventures, Bloccelerate Ventures, Nevcaut Ventures, Quest Venture Partners, and others.

08 December 2021

Company update/wholesale

Digital Asset and SE2 plan annuity products using DLT

SE2, a leading life and annuities insurance technology and services firm, and Digital Asset, a software and services provider, today announced their strategic collaboration to create products supporting the sales and servicing of life and annuity products, leveraging distributed ledger technology.

08 December 2021

News/crypto

Citi, Visa, AmEx invest in crypto-compliance platform TRM Labs

Blockchain intelligence platform TRM Labs has raised $60 million in a Series B funding round joined by a host of big-name firms, including Visa, Amex Ventures, Citi Ventures, PayPal Ventures, and Block (formerly Square).

07 December 2021

News/cloud

SETL demonstrates 1m transactions a second on blockchain

Blockchain settlement and payment infrastructure provider SETL is claiming a "breakthrough moment" after its Regulated Liability Network (RLN) demonstrated that it can process one million transactions per second (tps).

07 December 2021