Peer-to-Peer lender Zopa back in the black July 2, 2018 Peer-to-peer lender Zopa is back in the black as the firm's profit after tax for 2017 hit £1.5m. The financial firm, which matches borrowers with people looking to invest, reported a revenue increase of 40 per cent to £46.5m in its annual report for last year. The amount of money paid out by the lender [...]
Monzo losses deepen in 2018, as operational costs increase faster than growth July 2, 2018 Digital challenger bank Monzo has seen its losses increase fourfold over the last year, logging pre-tax losses of £33.1m in the year ending February 2018. Up from just £7.9m the year before, Monzo said this was the result of its operating costs ballooning from £8m to £34.9m as it invested heavily into becoming "a fully [...]
City veteran Michael Spencer invests millions into a biometric fintech startup June 29, 2018 Founder of NEX Group and serial entrepreneur Michael Spencer has led a $16.5m series B fundraising round into a biometric fintech startup called Veridium. A leader in user authentication through biometric technology like fingerprint and face scanning, Veridium's round was accompanied by additional investment from Citrix Systems and financial services investor Michael Powell. "In today’s [...]
Trading places: Monzo co-founder takes a back seat to make way for a new CTO as international expansion plans get put on the backburner June 28, 2018 Monzo co-founder and soon-to-be former chief technology officer Jonas Huckestein is making way for a new kid on the block, as business printing house Moo’s CTO Meri Williams joins the team. Speaking to Morning Wire ahead of the announcement, Williams explained that while there’s nothing at Monzo she wants to change or do differently, she’s [...]
Transferwise announces partnership with UK challenger bank Monzo on international money transfer June 25, 2018 Challenger bank Monzo has announced a partnership with fintech unicorn Transferwise on international payments. It marks the second big tie-up for Transferwise in recent weeks, after confirming it was working with France's second largest bank BPCE Groupe. Today, the companies said the partnership will mean Monzo customers can make international payments after the challenger bank [...]
Worldpay founder welcomes Fox’s fintech investment drive June 17, 2018 The founder of Worldpay has welcomed the government's drive to increase investment in the UK's fintech sector. International trade secretary Liam Fox launched the initiative towards the end of London Tech Week, saying it will put technology "at the heart" of the UK's future growth. Nick Ogden, founder of Worldpay and ClearBank, told Morning Wire: [...]
Revolut wants to be the next Robinhood, promising commission-free stock trading as it hits 2m users June 7, 2018 Challenger banking app Revolut has reached 2m registered users, as it prepares to launch a commission-free stock trading feature and pushes back its journey across the pond. The new feature will allow users to explore and invest in UK and US listed companies, as well as other instruments such as exchange traded funds and options. [...]
Fintech unicorn Transferwise partners with first major European bank BPCE, gaining 15.1m new customers June 4, 2018 Out with the old and in with the new: digital money transfer service Transferwise has partnered with Banques Populaires’ and Caisses d’Espargne (BPCE), France’s second largest bank, to integrate its API directly into BPCE’s banking apps. Set to go live at the beginning of 2019, the partnership between Groupe BPCE, its international banking arm Natixis [...]
Rakuten-backed digital money transfer service Azimo raises £15m Series C May 29, 2018 Azimo, a digital money transfer service based in London and Krakow, has raised a $20m (£15m) Series C financing round, led by Rakuten Capital, the investment arm of Japanese innovation giant Rakuten Inc. Other investors participating in the round included e.ventures, Frog Capital, GR Capital Partners, Greycroft Partners, MCI, Quona Capital and Silicon Valley Bank, [...]
Tandem Bank hits 100,000 user milestone, after troubled year comes to an end May 29, 2018 It seems another digital bank is on the rise, as Tandem has today announced hitting 100,000 customers just three months after launching its first product. Though the number represents just registered users and not active customers of the banking app, Tandem has said that it sees approximately 82 per cent of that number using their [...]