The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Thursday 24 December 2024.
Partnerships
Bitget, the cryptocurrency exchange, has forged a strategic partnership with Fiat24, a Swiss-regulated fintech company. The collaboration focuses on exploring PayFi solutions for major cryptos like Ethereum (ETH) and Bitget Token (BGB), as well as stablecoins such as USD Coin (USDC). The partnership combines Bitget’s crypto ecosystem with Fiat24’s infrastructure.
İşbank, one of Turkey’s largest private banks, has marked its 100th anniversary by expanding a partnership with Alipay+ to enhance the travel experience for international visitors to Turkey. Over 500,000 İşbank POS terminals will support cross-border mobile payments via Alipay+, including Unifree Duty Free at Istanbul Airport.
XTransfer, the Chinese B2B cross-border trade payment platform, and OCBC, a financial services group in Southeast Asia, have also formed a partnership. OCBC China will leverage its regional network and resources in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia to collaborate with XTransfer to provide SMEs with cross-border financial solutions, including payment, FX, risk control and wealth management.
Funding and investments
Leap Financial has bagged a $3.5million seed raise led by Fuel Venture Capital, with investment in the Miami-based fintech startup coming from Ascendo Venture Capital. Leap specialises in embedded remittances and payments, offering AI-enhanced engagement, cross-border transactions and integrated end-to-end payment solutions. It will use the new resources to acquire talent to boost its AI component.
Justt, an AI-based chargeback management firm, has closed a $30million Series C funding round, led by Zeev Ventures with participation from existing investors Oak HC/FT and F2 Venture Capital. This funding will drive Justt’s strategic expansion into high-growth regions, while advancing its path to profitability by 2027. The company will also enhance its proprietary AI-driven platform.
TBC Bank Uzbekistan (TBC UZ), the country’s largest digital bank, has enjoyed a $37million equity investment from its majority shareholder London-listed TBC Bank Group PLC (TBC Group). This capital brings the total new equity funding secured in 2024 to $75million, setting a new annual record for TBC UZ. This capital will be leveraged for further development of the TBC Uzbekistan ecosystem.
Appointments
Delio, a provider of white-label private market operating systems for financial institutions, has appointed Felicia Meyerowitz Singh as its new chair. The new role will help drive partner-led growth, evolution of the proposition and broader strategic initiatives for unlocking new market opportunities. She currently serves as a non-executive director at Platform One, as well as on the board for Engage Smarter AI.
First International Bank & Trust (FIBT), a full-service, independent community bank, has unveiled a leadership transition. From 1 January 2025, S. Peter Stenehjem will succeed his father, Stephen L. Stenehjem, as CEO, becoming the fourth generation of the Stenehjem family to lead the institution. Meanwhile, Stenehjem Sr, who has served as CEO for 34 years, will continue as chairman of the board.
ING has appointed Debbie Janeczek as chief information security officer. She joins from Swift, the messaging network used for international transactions between banks, where she was the chief security officer. She succeeds Henrik van Bruggen, who also acted as global CISO ad interim next to his role as global head of tech strategy and enterprise architecture.
Shardeum, the autoscaling layer-1 blockchain, appoints Srinivasan ‘Srini’ Parthasarathy as chief technology officer. In this new role, Parthasarathy will help Shardeum accelerate its technical roadmap, driving the development of the Shardeum ecosystem. Immediately before his new role, Srini served as CTO of Game of Silks, Inc.
Delta Capital Partners Management, a US-based, global asset management firm specialising in litigation and legal finance, has welcomed Jason Searfoss as chief financial officer, Elinoar Sofer as chief operations officer a well as Michael Ouliel as chief intelligence officer. They join as Delta embarks on its latest set of growth initiatives and new product offerings.
More appointments
Thredd, a next-generation global payments processor, announces four strategic senior appointments to its leadership team. Patricia Haynes is the new senior VP of platform, Hazel Oh as VP of account management, APAC, Faran Taher as VP of credit as well as Diwakar Patwal as VP of data and AI. Thredd is focused on expanding its global issuer payments industry leadership and operations.
Mambu, a cloud banking platform appoints Ivneet Kaur as chief product and technology officer. Kaur joins Mambu from SterlingCheck, where she served as executive vice president, chief information and technology officer, leading the product engineering, corporate tech, data/AI and cybersecurity teams.
Company updates
Devexperts, a global software developer for the capital markets, has unveiled plans to open an office in Dubai in mid-2025. The move comes as the company looks to expand its presence in the MENA region, where it sees growing demand for software products, including its trading platforms. Earlier in 2024, Devexperts also increased its manpower in Singapore and Australia.
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