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

VersaBank plans deposit-based digital currency

VersaBank says it will launch its own deposit-based digital currency pegged to the Canadian dollar.

24 February 2021

DTCC puts DLT at front and centre of shift to T+1

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation is close to completing work on a prototytpe settlement system based on distributed ledger technology, which could act as the precursor to a US move to a T+1 settlement cycle.

24 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Standard Bank Group establishes Africa’s first Hedera network node

Standard Bank Group, the largest African bank by assets, has partnered with Hedera Hashgraph, an enterprise-grade distributed public ledger, and joined the Hedera Governing Council.

24 February 2021

Company update/regulation

Modulus introduces Blockchain-as-a-Service offering

This morning, Modulus, a US-based developer of ultra-high-performance trading and surveillance technology that powers global equities, derivatives, and digital asset exchanges, announced that it has released its groundbreaking Blockchain-as-a-Service offering, an enterprise blockchain for decentralized verification and tracking, featuring cutting-edge AI-based capabilities.

24 February 2021

News/crypto

China and UAE central banks explore CBDC for cross-border payments

The central banks of China and the United Arab Emirates are joining their counterparts in Thailand and Hong Kong on a CBDC project investigating cross-border foreign currency payments.

23 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Ledgermatic to use Algorand blockchain for digital asset treasury offering

Ledgermatic, which recently announced it is developing treasury tools to allow enterprise and financial institutions to operate with digital assets and associated payments and workflows, has chosen Algorand as its blockchain protocol partner.

23 February 2021

Company update/cloud

Banks to up spending on next generation technologies

Over half of financial services firms worldwide plan to increase their spending over the next two years on next-generation technologies such as AI, blockchain, the Cloud and digital, according to a new study surveying 1,000 global C-suite executives and their direct reports, released today by Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader.

23 February 2021

News/crypto

MoneyGram suspends Ripple pact over SEC suit

MoneyGram has suspended trading on Ripple's platform over concerns about the latter's litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

22 February 2021

News/crypto

SBI takes stake in digital asset bank Sygnum

Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum has scored an eight-figure dollar investment from a unit of Japanese financial behemoth SBI Holdings.

18 February 2021

Company update/markets

Spotex to provide clients with credit management tools via Cobalt integration

Cobalt, a multi-award-winning provider of FX and Digital Asset risk and settlement infrastructure, has partnered with Spotex, the developer of FX technology solutions, to provide clients with dynamic credit management tools.

18 February 2021

News/wholesale

SEB trials secure data sharing tech for Letters of Credit

Nordic bank SEB has teamed up with Finnish industrial group Wärtsilä on a secure data sharing experiment involving the exchange of digital Letters of Credit.

18 February 2021

News/crypto

Blockchain.com raises $120m

Cryptocurrency wallet provider Blockchain.com has raised $120 million in funding from a host of macro investors, including Google Ventures.

18 February 2021

News/crypto

Riksbank extends e-krona testing

Sweden's central bank has extended its e-krona pilot project by another year but says it has still not decided whether it will eventually issue the digital currency.

17 February 2021

News/retail

Worldline to lead EU blockchain project

The European Commission has appointed Worldline to lead the 'TruBlo' project, aimed at using blockchain technology to ensure the exchange of reliable content on social networks and in the media.

16 February 2021

News/payments

JCB and Keychain develop blockchain-based micropayment infrastructure for IoT

Japanese credit card scheme JCB is collaborating with Singapore's Keychain to develop a a secure infrastructure for processing credit-based micropayments between IoT devices.

12 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Crypto mining outfit Compute North raises $25m

Compute North, an industry leader in economical, large-scale computing infrastructure and cryptocurrency mining, announced this week that it has closed its next growth capital round of $25 million in debt financing and equity to expand capacity and enable further growth.

11 February 2021

News/people

Ex-HSBC innovation exec Diana Biggs joins digital assets startup Valour

Swiss digital asset startup Valour has appointed the former global head of innovation at HSBC Private Banking, Diana Biggs, as its CEO.

11 February 2021

News/crypto

BNY Mellon sets up digital assets unit

The world's biggest custodian, BNY Mellon, has formed a new enterprise-wide digital asset division to help clients invest in crypto markets.

11 February 2021

Company update/crypto

Exberry and Digital Asset team up with Baymarkets to add clearing to digital asset exchange

Exberry (the exchange technology pioneer), Digital Asset (the creators of the open source Daml shared ledger development framework) and Baymarkets (the developer of the Clara clearing system) today announced the availability of cutting edge exchange infrastructure with central counterparty clearing functionality.

11 February 2021

Company update/security

R3 releases confidential computing platform ‘Conclave’

Global enterprise software firm R3 has launched Conclave, a confidential computing platform that secures sensitive business data while it’s being used.

11 February 2021