The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Tuesday 13 August 2024.
On the move
INSTANDA, the no-code insurance platform technology company, has appointed Professor Andy Pardoe to the position of interim chief AI officer. As the first to hold the position, he will help define INSTANDA’s future AI strategy, identifying strategic opportunities to enhance the client experience through data driven insights and intelligent automation.
Reward, a customer engagement and commerce media company, has welcomed Yekaterina (Kate) Gusin as chief financial officer to enhance business governance and bolster operational leadership as Reward grows its global footprint. She has previously held roles at data and fintech brands including American Express, Finastra, Thomson Reuters and Planet.
Broadridge Financial Solutions appoints Simon Robertshaw as chief technology officer for front office trading capabilities. Robertshaw joins Broadridge from his previous role as chief operating officer at The Bank of London. Over the course of his career, he has held several leadership roles at UBS, Wachovia Bank, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Regulatory alignment platform Fund Recs has appointed Shane Flatman as its strategy and business development director, APAC to expand its footprint in the region. He has specialised in operational and product/sales strategy roles over the past 15 years with a background at Broadridge and Confluence Technologies.
The MENA Fintech Association, the not-for-profit organisation dedicated to serving fintech startups and established players across the Middle East and Africa, is growing its policy and regulations working group. Tony Petrov (chief legal officer at Sumsub) and Samir Safar-Aly (regulatory counsel and MENA fintech and AI lead at Baker & McKenzie LLP) have been appointed as the co-chairs of this working group.
Partnerships
Ticombo, the international ticket marketplace, has teamed up with Mangopay, the payment infrastructure provider for platforms. Mangopay will manage Ticombo’s end-to-end payment flow from pay-in to payout. Using Mangopay’s wallet-based payment infrastructure, Ticombo plans to launch a new payment service where users can store funds they receive from ticket sales and re-spend the money on other tickets.
FullCircl, a UK-based regtech, has announced a new partnership with LSEG Risk Intelligence. The partnership provides instant access to a broad global collection of information providers supporting document verification, biometric checks and third-party data validation, helping regulated businesses reduce identity fraud whilst delivering a superior customer experience.
Yuno, the global payments orchestration platform, unveils a strategic partnership with Nequi, a digital financial platform with more than 20 million users from diverse backgrounds in Colombia. This partnership empowers Nequi’s users to purchase products and services from a range of merchants, while ensuring their payments are protected by Yuno’s encryption technology and security protocols.
Phoebus, a mortgage and savings technology provider, has secured a five-year mortgage servicing contract with second charge lender Selina Finance Selina Finance chose Phoebus for what it called “best-of-breed digital capability, advanced technology and proven track record in providing excellent servicing”.
More partnerships
Bybit, the cryptocurrency exchange, has extended its strategic partnership with Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC). After a year of collaboration, Bybit has unveiled a new role from a key ecosystem partner to an advisory role. This elevated partnership marks a new chapter in Bybit and DMCC’s joint commitment to fostering the growth and development of the region’s crypto ecosystem.
Fintech Unlimit has teamed its banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform with financial services provider Unicâmbio, a foreign exchange bureau in Portugal and the foreign exchange agent of Western Union. By leveraging Unlimit’s BaaS API solution, Unicâmbio elevates the functionality, security and user experience of its wallet product, Unimoney.
Company milestones
Thunes has surpassed $100million run-rate revenue while remaining on the road towards reaching EBITDA break-even by year-end. It credit its growth journey on accelerating demand for its proprietary Direct Global Network for money movement, which enables members to make payments in real-time in over 130 countries and more than 80 currencies.
Wise has expanded its holding and spending limits for the Wise Account in Singapore as it celebrates a 30 per cent year-over-year growth in its local customer base, driven by “increased demand for faster, low-cost and more transparent international payments”. Personal customers can now hold up to S$20,000 in their Wise Account by the end of the day, quadrupling the previous limit of S$5,000.
Follows recent news of £120million backing from the Bank of America, Simply Asset Finance, the business lending provider, has surpassed a £0.5billion loan book milestone as “demand for its bespoke SME lending and technology sees significant growth”. The milestone achievement follows the business reporting its H1 results which saw £14million added to its loan book and revenues of £29.1million.
M&As
HPS/PayMedix has acquired TempoPay, an payments solution created at Redesign Health that helps employees access medical, dental, pharmacy and other expenses not paid by their insurance. Together, HPS/PayMedix and TempoPay now offer a healthcare financing and payments solution, “addressing the issues of health equity, affordability and the need to simplify the healthcare payments experience”.
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