Hello Fintech Friends,

Happy Sunday - the team at TechCrunch put together a great overview for the weekend of which fintech unicorns (of which there are many) are most likely to go public this year. Read on below.

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📖 Reads of the Week

If shadow banking looks like a duck . . .

Maybe it should be regulated like one? As private credit proliferates, we must think more seriously about its risks

The Unrelenting Ambition of Airwallex

The $5.6 billion fintech has established itself in APAC. It will not rest until it wins the rest of the world.

The GeneralistMario Gabriele

The FDIC’s First Chief Innovation Officer Made Big Claims. Many Don’t Stack Up

In 2015, fintech founder and eventual FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji was sitting in a co-working space when a loud bang clapped through the room. It startled his colleagues, a group of founders from the St. Louis startup community, according to a person who was there. Meghji turned…

The InformationMichael Roddan

Artificial intelligence in central banking

Central banks have been early adopters of machine learning techniques for statistics, macro analysis, payment systems oversight and supervision, with considerable success. Artificial intelligence brings many opportunities in support of central bank mandates, but also challenges – some general and others specific to central banks. Central bank collaboration, for instance through knowledge-sharing and pooling of expertise, holds great promise in keeping central banks at the vanguard of developments in artificial intelligence.

Douglas Kiarelly Godoy de Araujo

☯️ Exits

💻 IPOs & SPACs

• TechCrunch provided a roundup this week of the fintech startups that could go public in 2024: Apex at $4.7 billion, Stripe between $50 and $95 billion, Klarna at $6.7 billion, Lendbuzz at $2 billion, Chime at $6.7 billion, Plaid, Rippling / Gusto / Deel, and Brex / Ramp / Navan.

🤝 M&A - Fintech

• Entrust, a provider of certification and verification services for digital and card payments, will acquire digital identity verification provider Onfido for a price ranging from $400 million to $650 million.
• International payments provider Worldpay completed its sale from FIS to GTCR.
• Indian fintech giant Cred, valued at $6.4 billion, will acquire mutual fund and stock investment platform Kuvera in order to move into the wealth management market. Kuvera currently manages $1.4 billion in assets across 300,000 users.
• Meanwhile, Indian payments provider giant Jio Financial said that it is not in talks to acquire Paytm's digital wallet business, which has suffered due to new RBI regulations.
• Australian payments infrastructure provider Fat Zebra acquired local open banking technology platform Adatree.
•  Crypto custodian BitGo acquired Brassica, an alternative investing infrastructure company. BitGo last raised $100 million at a $1.75 billion valuation.
• Hiline, a bookkeeping, tax, and CFO provider, acquired Calculate, an outsourced accounting and finance firm dedicated to supporting emerging companies.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

• Barclays Bank in the UK will acquire the retail bank of grocer and supermarket Tesco for £600 million. The deal is expected to close later this year.
• Amundi, Europe's biggest fund manager, will buy Siwss private markets specialist Alpha Associates, for €350 million – part of a growing trend of investors betting on fast-growing alternative assets.

🌎 Fintech Around the World

Despite glimmers of profit, most African neobanks remain in the red

Washington is beginning to revamp the way officials review bank mergers. It’s not landing the way the industry nor the industry’s biggest critics would like.

📚 Deeper Reads & Features

Inside the Underground Site Where ‘Neural Networks’ Churn Out Fake IDs

FT Partners’ CEO Monthly FinTech Market Update & Analysis

Will Specter of Public Runs and More Regulation Blunt Stablecoins’ Use in Commerce?

Generative A.I.’s Biggest Impact Will Be in Banking and Tech, Report Says

Why Two Cores Can Be Better Than One

Mastercard on why biometrics is the future of secure payments

Why Fintech Isn’t Working

Building Better Brakes for a Faster Financial World

Does FinTech Increase Bank Risk Taking?

What Should the U.S. Banking System Look Like? Diverse, Dynamic, and Balanced

A Blueprint for Implementing a Risk Governance Program

The Federal Reserve: The Future of Banking

Plaid Says Pay by Bank Is Nearing a Tipping Point as Consumers Form New ‘Habits’

Meet the dogs and kittens you can adopt during Puppy Bowl 2024

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