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.

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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.

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Klarna may IPO soon; Zest Money sold off (TWIF 1/28)

Klarna may IPO soon; Zest Money sold off (TWIF 1/28)
A boy and his dog

Hello Fintech Friends,

What if modern money movement layers had higher per-transaction bandwidth? What if you could pass along as much information as necessary in the messaging layer tied to transactions?

In his latest monthly writeup, Ayokunle Omojola focuses on healthcare claims and tax deductions, but you can imagine the potential benefits of rich transaction messaging for a wide variety of use-cases.

January 2024: What if ACH had attachments?
The value of a high bandwidth payment network

If you were able to pass along rich receipt data in the transaction string, you could power financial budgeting apps and make refunds and returns a breeze. If you could layer in outstanding loan principle balances, you could help people more easily pay down debt. If you could toggle business / personal transactions, you could obviate the need for separate corporate cards. If you could capture and transfer biometric information, you could create more secure transaction auth for high-value or high-risk purchases (ie: only someone over 21 can buy alcohol, only someone who clears a background check can purchase weapons...)

Entire fintech ecosystems have cropped up around better understanding transaction data – companies like Spade, Banyan, Ntropy, Pave, Heron Data, MX, Plaid... What if we could augment the txn layer rather than read the tea leaves of txn strings?

And on that note...

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We believe in transparent pricing. We sell close to cost and make between $1 and $3 total per sale, net of fulfillment costs and shipping. RTP and NACHA Average Hat inspired by Jenny Johnston. All About That BaaS inspired by JC Bahr-de Stefano.

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below. (👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know!)


📺
Sponsored Content

📖 Read of the Week
Dark software
How the SaaS and fintech models are breaking down, why food delivery and dark kitchens provide an alternative model, and what the future of software may look like as a result

☯️ Exits
💻 IPOs & SPACs
  • Perfios, an Indian financial data management software provider, is considering an IPO that could raise about $500 million in India
  • Klarna's CEO signaled that their US IPO may happen quite soon.


🤝 M&A - Fintech
  • Zest Money, the Indian personal lender and EMI paymants firm once valued at $450 million, was sold to financial services group DMI in a fire sale.
  • Objectway, an Italian software and services provider to banks and asset and wealth managers, acquired Canadian firm Nest Wealth.
  • Nordic corporate bank SEB will buy a minority stake in digital document exchange firm Kirva.
  • US software company Autodesk acquired Australian construction industry payment software company Payapps.
  • British software provider ieDigital acquired ABAKA, a purchase prediction algorithm for banking products, savings accounts and retirement solutions.
  • Girasol, a Curaçao-based provider of payment services, acquired FinZi, a Colombian digital wallet provider targeting young people with 250k+ users.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ
  • French bank Credit Agricole bought a 7% stake in beleaguered payments provider Worldline.
  • Synchrony Financial agreed to acquire consumer bank Ally Financial's point-of-sale financing business, including $2.2 billion of loan receivables.
  • Swiss stock market operator SIX Group is considering a bid for fund distribution company Allfunds.

🌎 Fintech Around the World

Argentine president to allow provinces to circulate own currencies

Brazil Startup Is Taking Payments Tech to US With Sights on Mars

Nigerian fintechs are bracing for a regulatory overhaul this year

'Very good chance' US will pass stablecoin laws in 2024

Vestwell: Reshaping the American savings landscape

📚 Deeper Reads & Features

63% of financial advice on TikTok is misleading, one study found. Users love it anyway

How Walmart’s Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet

How TrueBiz Empowers Visa Cross-Border Solutions with Speed & Scalability at Onboarding

The dark art of bank fair-value accounting needs more transparency

New Year, New Fintech Trends

A Rewiring of the World’s Biggest Bond Market Will Transform Trading

After 12 years, Ripple’s president sees its payment and enterprise businesses evolving further

Jamie Dimon tells Davos that Bitcoin is a ‘pet rock’ that does nothing—except help with fraud and money laundering

Collaboration Paves The Way For Next Big Innovation In Fintech

Here’s what Apple had to change as a result of the Epic Games legal battle

Banks are going after fintechs. Should they be worried?

AI set to dominate fintech development for next five years

Mastercard Says Virtual Cards Bring Speed and Security to B2B Healthcare Transactions

Potty-mouthed parrots teaching other birds to swear as zoo hatches plan to stop problem


Have a news item for us? Reach out to news@thisweekinfintech.com