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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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The great consolidation continues (TWIF 3/31)

The great consolidation continues (TWIF 3/31)
When Jimi Hendrix Got Kicked Out Of The Beatles’ Apartment

Hello Fintech Friends,

AmEx, Deserve, Lightspeed, Railsr, and ChowNow all joined the fintech game of musical chairs this week with proposed and announced sales and acquisitions.

Also, sharing a few more great community resources on BaaS and sponsor banks:

U.S. Sponsor Bank Tracking (from Totavi)
Readme This document is maintained by Totavi, LLC at <a href=“http://totavi.com/”>totavi.com</a> Totavi is GSD Product Consulting - we help companies to build better products, with a focus on fintech issuing No warranties or representations are made as to data accuracy. Learn more at <a href=“ht…
Adam Atlas US BAAS Neobank Openbanking Market Survey Public 2024
Market Survey Banks <a href=“https://adamatlas.com/”>Adam Atlas Attorneys at Law US neobank market survey. Bank / Trust / MSB →</a>,<a href=“https://www.getevolved.com/”>Evolve Bank and Trust</a>,<a href=“https://www.mcbankny.com/about/”>Metropolitain Commercial Bank</a>,<a href=“https://www.su…

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


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📖 Read of the Week

Thank you to Sheel Mohnot and Tilman Ehrbeck for resurrecting this great 2020 article on the US and LatAm vs. EU neobank models, and how market environment, business model, industry structure, and economics and regulatory context drove diverging outcomes.

The tale of 2 challenger bank models | TechCrunch
Emerging market challenger banks will have to look carefully at market conditions, possible target segments, sustainable revenue sources and the regulatory structure that best supports their desired business model.

☯️ Exits
💻 IPOs & SPACs
  • Ibotta, which helps brands deliver digital promotions and offers cash-back rewards to consumers on their everyday purchases, plans to go public. Revenue grew 52% year-over-year to $320 million in 2023 while net income margin grew 12%.
  • British commodities broker Marex Group filed for IPO in the US, and said revenue for 2023 rose to $1.24 billion from $711 million in 2022, while profit after tax for the same period jumped to $141 million from $98.2 million.
  • US neobank Chime, last valued at $25 billion in 2021, is targeting a 2025 IPO.

🤝 M&A - Fintech
  • American Express Global Business Travel acquired rival CWT, a business travel and meetings manager, for $570 million. The acquisition would grow its customer count from 20,000 to 24,000.
  • Deserve, the credit card and co-brand issuing platform, is considering different strategic options including a sale, after the company's biggest customer, crypto firm BlockFi, went into bankruptcy. The company was last valued at $500 million in 2021.
  • Restaurant point of sale provider Lightspeed is considering options including going private so that it can focus more. The company is valued at $2.1 billion.
  • Embedded Finance, the parent company of formerly bankrupt European banking-as-a-service provider Railsr, proposed a merger with money management solutions provider Equals Group.
  • ChowNow, an online ordering platform and marketing service for local restaurants, acquired Cuboh, a Y Combinator-backed point-of-sale platform that consolidates all orders from delivery apps into one place.
  • Private equity firm BharCap acquired Oak Inventory Finance, a commercial lender dedicated to delivering floorplan finance solutions to manufacturers.
  • Abrigo, a provider of compliance, credit risk, and lending solutions for financial institutions, acquired TPG Software, a specialist in investment accounting and management solutions.
  • Private equity firm Bregal Milestone sold its stake in CUBE, an automated regulatory intelligence provider.
  • Alight sold off its Professional Services Segment and Payroll & Human Capital Management Outsourcing businesses to an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital for $1.2 billion.
  • Treasury Intelligence Solutions a provider of cloud-native cash management, liquidity and payment solutions, secured a majority growth investment from Marlin Equity Partners.
  • Media conglomerate Axel Springer is exploring a sale of popular German finance site and trading platform finanzen.net.
  • Able, a document AI and client engagement provider, was acquired by risk software and analytics company Moody's.
  • Private equity firm Advent is looking to sell the European identity authentication business of Idemia as part of a breakup plan that will see each of the French biometrics company’s three units being sold separately.


🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ
  • Nigeria's Access Bank plans to acquire National Bank of Kenya from private equity firm KCB Group.
  • Nationwide Building Society in the UK confirmed its offer to acquire Virgin Money UK for £2.9 billion.
  • HSBC completed the sale of its C$13.5 billion Canadian unit, HSBC Bank Canada, to Royal Bank of Canada.

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🌎 Fintech Around the World

Blocks for Building and Expanding Fintechs in Tanzania

📚 Deeper Reads & Features

"Direct" vs "Indirect" BaaS - Misreading the regulatory message

Nala set out to offer remittance services, it’s building a B2B payment platform too

‘Finfluencers’ Come Under Fire Amid New Social Media Controversy

BaaS Banks Need a New Take on Risk and Compliance

Generative AI Is Coming for Your Bank. Maybe.

Fintech chiefs debate AI skills crisis in Parliament

Blockchain tokenization is on the horizon for much of traditional finance:

Ramp CEO says the fintech startup is just scratching the surface

CardsFTW #98: The Economics of Points

Portfolio Company Spotlight Series | March 2024 MESH

The Era of No-Brainer 5% Returns on Cash Is Ending

What Visa and Mastercard’s big $30 billion settlement means for you

Worldpay’s 2024 Global Payments Report

TIFIN CEO Vinay Nair on new era of AI-driven investing

Larry Fink Says World Leaders Must Address Growing Retirement Crisis

Inside Mercury's Stumble From Fintech Hero to Target of the Feds

What Regulators Want From Banks Partnering With Third Parties, Fintechs

Ostrich captured after escaping Korean zoo, dodging traffic for an hour


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