UK fintech sector must not rest on its laurels and should strive to challenge China, LSE boss says April 29, 2019 The UK must not “sit on its laurels” and should have ambitions to challenge China, the London Stock Exchange chief executive told a global fintech summit this afternoon. Nikhil Rathi championed the City as a top fintech hub globally but said the UK environment needed to improve to develop skills and people and encourage innovation. [...]
Top banks inject $9m into London fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data April 29, 2019 The venture capital arm of Commerzbank and London investor Octopus Ventures have co-led a $9m (£7m) funding round into fintech startup Mosaic Smart Data. Existing backer and client JP Morgan also participated in the round, adding to its minority stake in the startup. The bank signed a multi-year deal to use Mosaic’s technology – which [...]
Leaving the legacy behind: Meet the tech company that could put a stop to the banks’ IT failures April 23, 2019 IT meltdowns are becoming dangerously common among the big banks. According to Which, at least one British bank suffered an IT failure every day during the last nine months of 2018. TSB’s outage last year, which left 1.9m customers locked out of their accounts and cost the bank £330m, demonstrates how catastrophic these IT issues can [...]
Laybuy is the payment platform from New Zealand shaking up the way we budget and shop April 18, 2019 Here in the UK, there are really only two ways for consumers to pay for a purchase. Whether buying in a store or online, people will either pay upfront, using cash or a debit card, or they’ll use a credit card, which they can settle at a later date. There are drawbacks to both methods. [...]
Peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle’s loans under management soar to record highs April 18, 2019 Peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Circle saw loans under management soar to record highs in the first three months of this year, the firm announced today. Loans under management grew 44 per cent to £3.4bn compared to £2.3bn in the first quarter of the previous year, and revenue growth soared by 40 per cent. Read more: [...]
Fintech unicorn N26 under scrutiny from German banking regulator April 11, 2019 Digital banking starlet N26 is under scrutiny from German banking regulator Bafin, after reports emerged of fraudulent transactions and problems with the bank’s communications structure. Concerns about N26 were first reported in October by German newspaper Handelsblatt, before further inquiries by Bafin were said to have revealed numerous deficiencies at the fintech startup. N26, which counts Monzo, [...]
London startups to take fintech unicorn crown from San Francisco April 9, 2019 London is on track to become home to the same number of fintech unicorns as San Francisco, the world's current leader. Out of the 29 fintech unicorns globally – companies with a valuation of more than $1bn (£765.5m) – nine are based in the Californian hub, while seven are housed in the UK capital. Over a third [...]
London remains most popular investment target for European venture capitalists April 8, 2019 London secured its reputation as a global fintech hub as it attracted almost double the amount of venture capital funding compared to its closest European rival last year. The capital received 39 per cent of European venture capital funding last year, almost double that of runner-up Berlin, which took in 21 per cent in 2018, despite [...]
Barclays plugs $6m into London financial tech startup Simudyne April 8, 2019 Financial simulation technology firm Simudyne will today announce the close of a $6m (£4.6m) series A funding round, led by Barclays. Early Snap and Lyft investor Graphene Ventures also joined the round, alongside Gauss Ventures which has previously backed digital banks Revolut and Tandem. The round raises Simudyne’s total amount of investment to date to [...]
Monzo set to overtake Revolut as fresh funding lifts valuation to £2bn April 7, 2019 Digital bank Monzo is set to double its valuation to almost £2bn after securing hefty backing in its latest fundraising round. The bank will reportedly close a £100m funding round, led by a new US investor, that will take its valuation to $2.5bn (£1.9bn) and make it the UK’s second-largest fintech startup. Read more: Oaknorth [...]