Centana Growth Partners closes $375m fintech fund
Centana Growth Partners, a New York and Palo Alto, Calif.-based growth equity firm, closed its second fintech fund valued at $375 million this week. The firm, which closed a $250 million fund in 2015,...
View ArticleWith $200m debt capital raise, Brex seeks to grow e-commerce client base
On the heels of a $200 million debt capital raise confirmed this week, corporate card and financial product startup Brex plans to ramp up its product offerings for e-commerce entrepreneurs. The company...
View ArticleUK startup Curve adds wearable payments as it plans US expansion
U.K.-based card startup Curve is launching payments through wearables, including on Garmin, Fitbit and Sony Wena devices. Th company offers a physical and digital card that consolidates multiple bank...
View ArticleMoneyGram takes aim at startups with peer-to-peer international payments
MoneyGram is branching out beyond international cash pickup services to digital account-to-account transfers across borders. The international peer-to-peer payments capability reminiscent of Venmo or...
View ArticleData shows smaller FIs are far behind because of weaker mobile technology
Smaller banks and credit unions are under increasing pressure from larger banks and tech-centric financial services companies. New data shows why significant gaps in mobile banking capabilities are...
View ArticleWeekly Wrap: Brex ramps up brand strategy, while Chase focuses on data security
Welcome to the latest episode of our weekly wrap video series, for the week ending Friday, December 13, 2019. In this episode, Suman Bhattacharyya, senior editor, and Angely Mercado, associate editor,...
View ArticleFintech lenders tighten standards, become more like banks
Lara Briehl had a desperate client who was itching to accept an offer. The man was struggling to pay his bills, and an online lender had offered him a personal loan to pay off some 10 credit cards....
View ArticleRemitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer to speak at Bank Innovation Ignite
Matt Oppenheimer, CEO and co-founder of Remitly, will speak at Bank Innovation Ignite on March 2-3 in Seattle on a panel titled “Embedded finance: The automation of everything financial.” It will focus...
View ArticleCheatsheet: Why PayPal is suing the CFPB regarding its Prepaid Rule
PayPal this month filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding fee disclosure requirements, arguing that the requirements of the CFPB’s Prepaid Rule would hurt its...
View ArticleThe future of banking is about data-driven experiences and not products: HSBC
The bank of the future will cease to be about specific products and services. Instead, it will offer embedded “experiences” based on data the institution has on its customers, according to a report...
View ArticleFed Governor Brainard highlights Facebook Libra’s risks
As large tech and payments companies bail on Facebook’s Libra digital currency project, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard Wednesday highlighted key risks that have yet to be mitigated, including...
View ArticleVital Fed payment system experiences second delay of 2019
The Federal Reserve is investigating the second significant disruption in 2019 of a payments service administered by the U.S. central bank. Certain bank transactions were delayed after ACH — which...
View ArticleWeekly Wrap: Ongoing ‘platformification’ to continue in 2020
Welcome to the latest episode of our Weekly Wrap video series, for the week ending Friday, December 20, 2019. In this episode, Suman Bhattacharyya, senior editor, and Angely Mercado, associate editor,...
View ArticleBig tech Is coming for banking: Experts predict fintech’s 2020
Financial technology startups will enter the next decade with a little more street cred than the last time around. Nearly 60 upstarts focusing on financial services — from Stripe Inc. to Chime Inc. to...
View ArticleMarqeta to focus on growing product suite in 2020
If 2019 was the year of the challenger bank, 2020 will be the year payments companies move closer to bank territory. Marqeta, the card issuing and processing startup supporting the capabilities of...
View ArticleAs ‘super apps’ gain ground, banks navigate user experience hurdles
With the rise of Alipay and WeChat in Asia, and the growth of e-commerce and banking capabilities within platforms like Uber and Grab, banks and bank-type platforms are following suit by adding new...
View Article‘If we can’t automate it, we don’t build it’: Wealthfront’s Andy Rachleff on...
In 2019, a chorus of digital investment platforms branched out into checking and savings accounts. Throughout the year, Wealthfront continued on its trajectory of becoming ta central hub for all of its...
View ArticleGrab, Singtel team up on Singapore digital bank license bid
Grab Holdings Inc. is partnering with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to apply for a full digital banking license, jumping aboard a Singapore government initiative to attract technology firms into...
View ArticleWith cross-border payments, Curve seeks to challenge legacy providers
U.K.-based payments startup Curve launched a cross-border in-app money transfer feature, with hopes of making a dent in the lucrative remittance market. The cross-border payments sphere, currently...
View ArticleBetterment to appeal to a wider customer base in 2020
For Betterment, the upcoming year will see the continuation of its trajectory from an investment platform to a place where customers can carry out all of their financial activities in one place. Dan...
View Article