Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Tuesday 9 July 2024 bringing you the latest updates from across the world.
Appointments
Curve, the digital wallet, has appointed Darren Hackett as its new chief financial officer. With a career spanning over three decades, Hackett has previously held roles at Deutsche Bank, RBS, ABN Amro, Barclays, Credit Suisse, and also worked at JP Morgan and KPMG. The hire also follows Curve’s pre-launch of its alternative mobile payment solution to Apple Pay, scheduled to launch on iOS in Europe later this year.
Safe Development Studio, developer of the smart wallet infrastructure Safe, has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of Rahul Rumalla to VP of engineering. Rumalla previously founded two Web3 companies, Paperchain and Otterspace, and also worked with SoundCloud. Safe is an onchain asset custody protocol, securing around $100billion in assets.
UK fintech Ripe appoints Jamie Richards as head of M&A. Richards will lead Ripe’s acquisitions strategy as it further expands the business through targeted acquisitions across commercial and specialist personal lines. Richards previously had a 10-year career at Deloitte.
Acrisure announces Aaron Miller as chief financial officer. Miller joins Acrisure from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). At ADIA, Miller served as head of financial services in the private equities department. Miller will play a critical role in helping the company deploy and allocate capital effectively to accelerate growth and prepare Acrisure to meet the future needs of its clients.
TransUnion, a global information and insights company, appoints Sam Welch as its new chief revenue officer, and Celso Nogueira as its new chief strategy officer. Both leaders will serve the business across the UK and Europe. Welch has held senior leadership roles within the business since joining in 2019. Nogueira joined TransUnion’s Brazilian business eight years ago and transitioned to working in the UK during 2022.
Additional appointments
The European FinTech Association (EFA) appoints its new board: Linda Strazdina, EU policy and government relations lead at Wise, Marc Roberts, general counsel at Raisin, Sandrell Sultana, head of EU public policy government relations at Stripe, Josy Soussan, European policy and government relations lead at Klarna, Crystal Goh, global head of communications at N26, Paul Mortby, head of policy in the EU, the Middle East, and Africa for Block, Inc, as well as Oleksandra Maksymenko, EU government affairs manager at Revolut.
Davies, the specialist professional services and technology company, has named Amber Wilkinson as group chief financial officer. Wilkinson will join Davies later this year, reporting directly to Group CEO, Dan Saulter, as well as joining the firm’s group executive committee. She succeeds Davies’ senior executive, Tony Debiase, who steps down following a successful 12 years in the CFO seat.
Baker Hill, a financial technology provider, has appointed Amy Drake as the company’s senior vice president of account management while promoting Bryan Peckinpaugh to senior vice president of national sales. Peckinpaugh joined the Baker Hill team in 2020 as SVP of key accounts. Drake previously served as vice president, chief of staff and sales enablement at Fiserv.
Gregor Mowat, co-CEO and co-founder of UK financial wellbeing business Loqbox has joined the Cost-of-Living Taskforce under the auspices of Business in the Community (BITC), the UK’s largest and most influential responsible business network. As part of the Taskforce, Mowat joins a cohort of several influential and passionate senior executives.
Partnerships
Zodia Custody, the institution-first digital asset custodian, has partnered with Maple Finance, a digital asset lending and borrowing company. Maple Finance utilises Zodia Custody as a preferred custodian for global lending arrangements. Zodia Custody securely holds collateral pledged to Maple Finance, enabling customers to unlock value from their digital assets while remaining within the Zodia Custody ecosystem.
NOW Money, a digital payroll and banking platform for migrant workers, has unveiled a new strategic partnership with Mastercard. As part of this collaboration, NOW Money will issue Mastercard payment cards to its customers, aligning with its mission to offer inclusive financial solutions to underserved communities and improve the financial wellbeing of its users across the GCC.
Clara, a digital legal and admin software provider, and RemotePass, a remote team management and global payroll platform, have formed a strategic partnership. This partnership combines Clara’s company operating system with RemotePass’s expertise in remote workforce management. Clara and RemotePass offers an integrated solution that addresses the challenges of legal documentation, compliance, payroll and remote team management.
The Open Identity Exchange and the Canadian non-profit Digital ID Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) have committed to working together to advance global digital interoperability. The two organisations will explore how different country-based policies related to identity management, verification, security, data privacy innovation and approaches to digital identity assurance can be compared and analysed so that more rapid progress can be made towards global digital ID interoperability.
More partnerships
Azqore, a business and technology partner for wealth managers, has selected Volante’s payments as a service (PaaS) to deliver SEPA instant payments and ISO 20022 messaging services to its customer base. Azqore and Volante started working together when Azqore selected Volante’s low-code ISO 20022 service to accelerate its multi-country, multi-bank, ISO 20022 adoption programme.
iDenfy, a Lithuanian regtech company, has announced a strategic partnership with SIMPal, a telecommunication service provider. This collaboration aims to enhance digital security, ensuring a safer and more reliable user identification solution for SIMPal’s customers. Following the partnership, the automated verification process has reduced onboarding times.
Ajman Bank PJSC, an Islamic financial services institution in the UAE, announces a new contract with Positive Zero, that will enable huge cost and carbon footprint savings. By implementing Positive Zero’s fully financed energy efficiency solutions at their headquarters, Ajman Bank expects to save 28 per cent on energy costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 752 tons annually, equivalent to planting 11,300 trees.
Experian has welcomed Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) as the newest partner of its Support Hub service. As part of Experian Support Hub, LBG, home of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, will be able to offer its customers the opportunity to share their access and support needs with the company in a simple, standardised way.
Company updates
End-to-end payments platform Ecommpay has added a new feature that lets merchants collect recurring PayPal payments from customers alongside subscription card payments and direct debits which they have been using to date. The new feature serves merchants with subscription-based business models, which are selling a product or a service on a recurring basis, such as meal kit delivery services as well as pay TV.
EdfaPay is expanding into the Moroccan market after receiving an official licence to operate in the country. With this new licence, EdfaPay is set to bring its financial solutions, including Soft POS and Payment Gateway, to merchants and customers across Morocco, with a commitment to leveraging expertise and sustainable technology.
Fairlo, a consumer credit fintech, has received B Corp certification. The certification marks a new milestone in Fairlo’s quest for introducing accountability and transparency to credit services, following features like the Fairness Receipt, a detailed breakdown of a deal. Fairlo launched in Sweden in 2018 and received its FCA licence in the UK last year.
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