Hello Fintech Friends,

It's almost Money2020 week in the US, and that means the tap is open and the fintech fundraises, product launches, mergers, acquisitions, milestones, hires, thought pieces, and interviews, and press releases are flowing.

Grab a coffee and enjoy a lot of fintech news below, starting with a great guest piece from Matthew Goldman on wealthtech:

Is WealthTech the New FinTech?

Matthew Goldman is a regular contributor to TWIF Signals, the Founder of Totavi, a boutique fintech product & marketing consulting firm, and the publisher of CardsFTW. Over the past two decades, fintech has transformed the way we access financial services. The early 2000s saw a major shift in consumer finance, particularly

This Week in FintechMatthew Goldman

I also sat down with YNAB founder Jesse Mecham a couple weeks ago to talk about his viral money management platform:

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

(👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!)

Fintech’s next chapter: New report explores the future

Under the backdrop of regulatory scrutiny and security concerns, SVB’s 2024 Future of Fintech report finds that while fintech companies are facing headwinds, they’re also finding immense opportunity. Get insight into the health of the fintech sector in this new report leveraging SVB’s unmatched proprietary data and deep sector knowledge. Read the report.

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💼 Fintech Job of the Week

Enterprise Sales - Navro

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and driven Enterprise Sales to join our dynamic and growing team, At Navro, we value diversity and are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels supported and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives.

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💬 Quote of the Week

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🚀 Product Launches

Card network Visa combined their B2B Connect, Currencycloud, YellowPepper and Visa Direct products and relaunched them as a single portfolio.

Mastercard launched a command center to manage open banking financial data-sharing, and launched Move Commercial Payments to enable banks to facilitate near real-time, predictable and transparent commercial cross-border payments.

HSBC launched virtual euro and pound accounts for overseas merchants.

Singapore's DBS launched blockchain-powered banking for institutions.

Santander launched its Openbank neobank brand in the US.

📰 Other News

To much fanfare, commentary, and criticism, the CFPBb rolled out new open baking rules in the US that govern data sharing between fintech firms and traditional banks.

The FTC is rolling out new rules to make it easier for consumers to cancel subscriptions with its click-to-cancel rule, after many companies have made it intentionally difficult to get out of recurring subscription billing.

Eurex Clearing successfully tested the settlement of cash over a distributed ledger operated by the Banque de France.

The US Treasury said that AI tools prevented $1 billion in fraud in 2024 and facilitated the recovery of $4 billion in fraudulent payments.

Regulators are increasingly asking banks how they manage climate risks.

Goldman Sachs and Apple were fined $89 million by the CFPB over their customer service and statements for the Apple Card program.

💻 Fintech

🚀 Product Launches

Open banking platform Plaid launched a new suite of features to make it easier for investors to move their holdings from one brokerage to another.

Corporate spend platform Brex launched its Accounting Partnership Program, a suite of products, services, and dedicated programs for accountants, while rival Ramp launched its own app store, which will let third-party developers build specialized apps that integrate directly into Ramp’s platform.

Open banking-based cashflow underwriting provider Prism Data* launched its CashScore v4 underwriting score.

Pan-African payments platform Flutterwave launched a hospitality-focused point of sale payments system for hotels.

Digital bank Green Dot launched an embedded finance brand and platform of BaaS services. 

Digital payments provider MeaWallet partnered with embedded finance provider Toqio to launch digital card services.

Mortgage lending platform Better launched Betsy, a voice-based AI loan assistant.

Fintech’s next chapter: New report explores the future

Under the backdrop of regulatory scrutiny and security concerns, SVB’s 2024 Future of Fintech report finds that while fintech companies are facing headwinds, they’re also finding immense opportunity. Get insight into the health of the fintech sector in this new report leveraging SVB’s unmatched proprietary data and deep sector knowledge. Read the report.

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

📰 Other News

European payments platform Trustly is on track to process $100 billion in 2024 via open banking payments

Apple Pay celebrated 10 years and promised future features including redeeming rewards and expanding installment loan options. 

Payments and remittances app MoneyGram is weighing buying bitcoin for its treasury, while its rival Wise received approval for direct access to Japan’s bank payment clearing network Zengin.

Klarna posted a job ad indicating that it plans to debut a Robinhood-like stock trading app.

Indian stock trading and mutual fund app Groww paid $160 million in taxes to relocate from the US back to India.

🤝 Partnership Corner

Venmo partnered with crypto on/off-ramp provider MoonPay to enable its users to buy crypto.

Business-focused neobank Mercury partnered with digitally-native partner bank Column on its products. 

Credit data reporting API provider Bloom Credit partnered with risk decision platform Taktile. 

Payments, account funding, and disbursement provider Ingo Payments partnered with anti-fraud platform Sardine to launch risk-managed account funding via card and ACH. 

Payments infrastructure provider BVNK partnered with Circle to enable stablecoin business payments.

Uzbek neobank TBC partnered with Visa on payments and money transfers.

👎 The Bad News 

Merchant-branded payment product Tandym shut down.

The Financial Technology Association filed a lawsuit challenging the CFPB's new buy now, pay later rules. The CFPB meanwhile sued Climb Credit for misleading statements.

Failed banking-as-a-service platform Synapse requested court approval to sell off its assets.

Fintech partner bank Axiom is in hot water for potential retaliation against whistleblowers – leading to an OCC enforcement action – while underbanked card provider TomoCredit defaulted on SVB debt, isn't paying its bills, and faces a class action lawsuit. (More details here from Jason Mikula.)

India's central bank ordered non-bank lender Navi to halt its loans due to excessive interest rates and regulatory breaches.

Fintech App Trap: Enraged Customers Struggle To Cancel Their Subscriptions

Startups like TomoCredit and Albert, last valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, are the target of hundreds of consumer complaints.

ForbesJeff Kauflin

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