The Front Page of Global Fintech

The largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

Image Description

The Front Page of Global Fintech

The the largest fintech community in the world. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest in news opinions, and all things financial technology.

Image Description

Watch out finfluencers - (24/07)

TWIF UK & Europe - The latest fintech news across the UK and Europe

Watch out finfluencers - (24/07)

Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.


Sponsored Content 

Join the ranks of forward-thinking banks and fintechs, going above and beyond regulators' requirements with a risk-based KYC approach. Many organizations are opting for a risk-based, perpetual KYC program instead of practicing periodic KYC.

Stay ahead of the game โ€“ learn how your organization can effortlessly stay compliant.



Tweet of the week ๐Ÿฆ‰๐Ÿ†


Funding ๐Ÿ’ธ

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บSME lender Silvr raised a โ‚ฌ230m in debt from Channel and Citi.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ SME lender TP24 raised a ยฃ345m debt facility from Barclays and M&G Investments.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บNeobank Pluto Bank raised a pre-seed round.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Alternative property lender Kuflink raised a ยฃ35m debt facility from European Risk Capital and Paragon Bank.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Climate fintech Sylvera raised a $57m Series B led by Balderton alongside Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Bain, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, Seedcamp, LocalGlobe, Fidelity Strategic Ventures and 9Yards.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Insurtech Tractable raised a $65m Series E round led by SoftBank Vision Fund.

๐ŸŒ Egyptian payment solution Flash raised a $6m seed round led by Addition.

๐ŸŒ Payment solution Thunes has raised a Series C extension which included Visa, EDBI and Endeavour catalyst.

๐ŸŒ Bank operating system CapStack raised $6m from investors including Cowboy Ventures, Cambrian Ventures, Fin Capital, Alloy Labs and more.

๐ŸŒ Content creator neobank Karat Financial raised $40m Series B from USV, Commerce Ventures, GGV and others and $30m in debt from TriplePoint Capital.

๐ŸŒ Financial planning fintech Runway raised a $27.5m Series A led by Initialized Capital.

Challenger Banking ๐Ÿš€

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บRaisin is expecting deposits to surpass โ‚ฌ50bn this year.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Corporate spend management solution Payhawk has secured a EMI licence in Lithuania.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Neobank N26 is looking for partners as it seeks to add stock trading and crypto into its app. It also has denied rumours it is pulling out of Brazil and putting its subsidiary up for sale. Regulator BaFin has extended its AML controls on the bank due to deficiencies in its systems still being present.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Dutch neobank Bunq reported it has reached 9m customers and โ‚ฌ4.5m in deposits.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Alternative investment platform Darksquare launched.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Wise has reported 33%+ yoy growth in customers and 66%+ increase in income yoy.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Starling Bank has signed as a customer for Napier's AML solution.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Open banking loyalty app loyalBe is shutting down its consumer offering to pivot to a B2B product.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Pension provider Smart Pension is acquiring Evolve Pensions, taking its AUM to ยฃ4bn.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง 15 of the largest UK fintechs are demanding a review of legislation on hidden bank fees for international payments.

๐ŸŒ Fintech Earnest and Nova Credit have partnered to offer private student loans to international students in the US.

๐ŸŒ US neobank Greenwood is being sued by founders of a company it acquired last year for failing to pay earn-out.

Digital Assets โ‚ฟ

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Soc Gen's crypto division SG Forge is the first company to receive a crypto licence in France.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Bitpanda has reached 20m customers.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ France's Financial Markets Authority has criticised the SEC due to its heavy handed crypto regulation.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The UK Treasury has rejected proposals to regulate crypto as gambling.

๐ŸŒ Coinbase has introduced a encrypted messaging service through its Coinbase Wallet product, in collaboration with XMTP. It is also shutting its Borrow program that allowed fiat loans of up to $1m against BTC holdings.

๐ŸŒ WSJ reports that Binance has laid off over 1,000 staff.

๐ŸŒ Canadian crypto firms WonderFi, Coinsquare and CoinSmart have merged.

๐ŸŒ The FSB has published a global regulatory framework for crypto to recommend ways to strengthen oversight and supervision.

๐ŸŒ Florida governor and potential presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has said he would ban CBDCs if elected.

๐ŸŒ Nasdaq has halted its plans for a digital asset custody service due to the "shifting business and regulatory environment".

๐ŸŒ NYDIG has claimed that spot EFTs for Bitcoin could increase the demand for BTC to $30bn.

๐ŸŒ Prime Trust has been put into receivership by a judge in Nevada.

๐ŸŒ The digital yuan has surpassed $250bn in transactions in the 1.5years since launch.

๐ŸŒ FTX is suing former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Friend for $1bn.

Traditional Banking ๐Ÿฆ

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ Deutsche Bank has been fined $186m by the US Fed for failing to remedy AML concerns with its controls.

๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บNordea is acquiring the Norwegian personal and private banking customers of Danske Bank.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง TSB experience an IT glitch that locked users out of its online banking and mobile apps.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งLloyds Bank has added a car leasing feature to its mobile app.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งHalifax Bank is integrating solar panel sourcing, installation and aftercare into its services in a trial.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Virgin Money is cutting 30% of its branches, leaving it with only 91.

๐ŸŒ Bank of America reported 83% of its customers have adopted digital channels.

๐ŸŒ Goldman's consumer unit hit 5.8% in charge offs as it continues its retreat from the retail market.

๐ŸŒ Capital One has seen the losses in its credit card portfolio pass pre-pandemic levels. Its Q2 30-day delinquency rate hit 3.7%.

Fintech Infrastructure ๐Ÿšง

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งComplyAdvantage has launched a KYB solution.

๐ŸŒ International payment messaging organisation Swift has completed a pilot between several banks to process instant payments across different currency areas.

๐ŸŒ Plaid and Nuvei are deepening their partnership to expand bank-based payments.

๐ŸŒ The Federal Reserve announce that its instant payment system FedNow is live.

Payments ๐Ÿ’ฐ

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Mastercard is rolling out the Consumer Fraud Risk system, an AI powered fraud tool, in the UK alongside nine of the largest UK banks.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งKlarna is to provide UK customers struggling with repayments access to debt advice in preparation for the new Consumer Duty rules in the UK.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งPayPoint UK, a PSP, is facing legal action for anti-competitive practices.

๐ŸŒ Vehicle payment solution Car IQ has partnered with Visa to enable cars to transact directly with merchants and banks in its network.

๐ŸŒ Block (FKA Square) has sued Mastercard and Visa over interchange fees.

๐ŸŒ Toast has reversed its decision to add a $0.99 fee to online orders after its restaurant customers were not happy.

Regulatory Corner ๐Ÿ”Ž

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งTwo brothers behind a large P2P investment fraud have been sentenced to 8 years in prison for fraud and money laundering

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The FCA are to implement a permanent digital sandbox.

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง The FCA has proposed new guidelines on marketing of financial products on social media in a clampdown on "finfluencers".


๐Ÿ’ก
Have a thought/question/comment about anything we covered?

โ€ŒStart a discussion in the comments section below!

Longer reads ๐Ÿ“œ


๐Ÿ‘ ๐Ÿ‘Ž Have feedback for us? Let us know

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more fintech content

See you next week!