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

GoCardless launches open banking payments

GoCardless, the bank-to-bank payments fintech, has launched an open banking feature integrated directly into its global payment platform and functional across all payment models.

27 April 2021

News/payments

‘Massive’ potential for embedded finance in Europe - Solarisbank

Research by Solarisbank and the Handelsblatt Research Institute has found considerable conversion potential for e-commerce providers to offer financial services in Germany, confirming the significant opportunity embedded finance may hold across Europe.

26 April 2021

News/regulation

How regulators have catalysed collaborations and technological innovations

Co-founder and head of client delivery of RegTech Associates, Dr Sian Lewin has urged the financial community to stop thinking of regulators simply as “powerful organisations, here to control our behaviour, and stop us from doing certain things in the name of public interest.”

22 April 2021

News/regulation

Shearman & Sterling: 'Remove the straitjacket of statutory rules' for UK fintech

During a panel for UK Fintech Week 2021, Barnabas Reynolds, global head of financial services group, Shearman & Sterling emphasised that to build trust in the system and allow space for fintech innovation, that the focus of supervisory systems should be on risk and not unnecessary code or control.

20 April 2021

News/retail

Open Bank Project and API3 partner to unite banking and the blockchain

Open Bank Project (OBP) has formed a partnership with the API3 Foundation to deliver banking and open banking data oracles to the decentralised web.

19 April 2021

News/retail

Credit Karma taps Bud Open Banking platform to help members find better products

Credit monitoring and building platform Credit Karma has picked Bud's Open Banking stack to help its UK members find better financial products and make smart money decisions.

16 April 2021

News/startups

Fintern raises funds for UK consumer lending play

Fintern, a UK startup aiming to shake up the market for low-value consumers loans with the launch of credit technology that bypasses credit scores in making lending decisions, has raised £32 million in equity and debt funding.

15 April 2021

News/crime

How Curve got back on track after Wirecard fallout

In June 2020, the FCA acted overnight to freeze customer accounts across UK fintech firms including Curve, Pockit, Soldo, Anna Money and Holvi, after Wirecard Card Solution’s (WCS) parent company filed for insolvency in Germany.

15 April 2021

News/retail

Consumers still wary of Open Banking

Just over half of people have never heard of open banking and many who have still worry about sharing their data, according to a global survey from Mambu.

15 April 2021

News/payments

TSB launches bill management and utility switching service

TSB Bank is launching a bill management and utility switching service after a pilot found that users saved an average of £150 a year.

14 April 2021

News/payments

EBAday 2021: Finding European synergy in the transition from Open Banking to Open Finance

Pioneering a defined strategy in 2020, the European Commission outlined its intention to adopt a legislative proposal for a new Open Finance Framework by mid-2022.

09 April 2021

News/cloud

How cloud enables banking transformation towards contextual finance

Companies adapting to the new normal brought on by the pandemic have been forced to undergo a digital shift toward contactless payments and a surge in online transactions. As a result, many are looking to Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) to enable innovative financial and payments services that can be embedded into digital apps and products. Further, the deployment of BaaS enables a faster time to market for more personalised propositions.

01 April 2021

News/regulation

ClearBank: Third of fintechs face regulatory scrutiny due to agency banking partners

Based on an independent survey of 100 fintechs across the Netherlands, Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, a report by ClearBank reveals a multitude of challenges fintechs experience at the hands of their agency bank’s shortcomings.

23 March 2021

News/sustainable

Sugi portfolio temperature feature shows users how cool their investments are

Green fintech Sugi has added a feature to its app that lets users check the temperature alignment of their investment portfolios.

22 March 2021

News/payments

EBAday 2021: The road to payments transformation

After the success of EBAday 2020, the event will again run in digital format on 28-30 June 2021 for its sixteenth year, welcoming a host of board directors, chief executive officers and payments and technology heads from Europe’s leading banks.

12 March 2021

News/regulation

The Kalifa Review’s five-point plan to bolster UK Fintech

The long awaited Kalifa Review of UK Fintech has been released, outlining a comprehensive plan to support and bolster the sector’s significant presence across the globe. Led by Ron Kalifa OBE, the in-depth review was launched almost a year ago as a component of Rishi Sunak’s first budget.

26 February 2021

News/startups

Middle East Open Banking outfit Tarabut Gateway raises $13m

Middle Eastern Open Banking platform Tarabut Gateway has raised $13 million in what it claims is the largest fintech seed round in Mena history.

23 February 2021

News/startups

Dozens inks Open Banking deal with Bud

UK challenger banking app Dozens has enlisted Open Banking outfit Bud to let prospective customers access some of its services without having to fully sign up.

28 January 2021

News/sustainable

BIS Innovation Hub targets CBDCs and green finance in 2021

An investigation into the use of multiple wholesale CBDCs for cross-border payments and a DLT prototype for the distribution of tokenised green bonds to retail investors are among the projects on the agenda this year for the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub.

25 January 2021

News/devops

Open Banking year three: Insights from the CMA9

The UK banking industry had its hands full in 2020 as institutions had to respond to lockdowns and other restrictions on business activity designed to curb the spread of Covid-19. What effect did this have on the ongoing adoption of Open Banking? In Finextra’s annual review, we look at how Open Banking has grown, what still needs to improve and what will happen next.

13 January 2021

Open banking