Spendesk Launches Payment Institution for Mid-Sized Businesses
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Spendesk has officially launched Spendesk Financial Services, its licensed payment institution regulated by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) in France.
The company has established a strategic collaboration with Visa and become a principal member of the Visa network for card issuing, enabling payment solutions across France and the European Union.
Axel Demazy, CEO of Spendesk states: "The autonomy enabled by Spendesk Financial Services allows us to continue innovating while providing clients with enhanced security and simplified management. Our goal is to become the standard for payment at work in Europe and this launch is a crucial step forward."
With the new payment institution, Spendesk now has end-to-end control over its payment services infrastructure, serving 5,000 client businesses and more than 200,000 users across Europe with its integrated spend management solution.
If you’re interested in reading a bit about what’s been happening in FinTech, keep scrolling!
Cheers,
#FINTECHREPORT
📊 Payments are eating the world…
Check out this great report by J.P. Morgan👇
FINTECH NEWS
🇰🇪 Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved Safaricom’s second money market product, Ziidi. The product will target Kenya’s expanding retail investment market driven by smartphone adoption and digital literacy. It will compete with financial institutions by investing money market deposits into low-risk investments.
🇫🇷 Spendesk officially launches its own Payment Institution: Spendesk Financial Services. With Spendesk Financial Services, Spendesk now has end-to-end control over its payment services infrastructure. This strategic initiative represents a significant milestone in the evolution of its platform.
🇪🇺 HSBC loses court challenge against $33.4 mln EU cartel fine. HSBC lost its challenge on Wednesday, as Europe's second-highest court upheld the 2021 penalty. HSBC can appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's top court. More on that here
🇵🇭 GCash launches UK/EU Bank Cash In feature for seamless remittance to the Philippines. The introduction of the new feature is aimed at addressing the challenges faced by the estimated two million Filipinos living in the UK and Europe in sending remittances back home, as per FF News.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇨🇴 Yuno enables organizations to transform online checkout experiences. The leading global payment orchestrator, has announced that Mastercard's Click to Pay at checkout is now available to all Yuno clients. It helps ensure purchases can be made securely and quickly with just a few clicks, significantly decreasing the instances of cart abandonment that plagues the e-commerce industry.
🇬🇧 Worldpay brings faster refunds to the UK. The faster refund service enables most UK shoppers using Mastercard or Visa to receive near-instant refunds for online returns at participating retailers like HMV. This will drive better rates of retention and cost efficiency through reduced queries related to refunds.
🇪🇬 Geidea to launch its SoftPos service in Egypt. This expansion aligns with Geidea’s strategy to drive digital transformation in the MENA region, offering merchants and consumers an advanced, secure, and seamless payment experience.
🇦🇪 Telr partners with Samsung to launch Samsung Pay in the UAE. This collaboration integrates Samsung Pay into Telr’s comprehensive suite of payment solutions, marking a significant leap forward in the country’s e-commerce capabilities.
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 UK investment platform rolls out Payit by NatWest to customers. Payit offers a digital alternative to card payments, eliminating one-time passcodes and reducing transaction costs. It's available to ii (interactive investor) customers with bank accounts offering online or mobile banking access.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 NatWest launches advent calendar to warn Brits about scams. The Scamvent calendar, available in limited branches, includes 12 artisan chocolates, each symbolizing a common festive purchase scam. Explore more
🇫🇷 Société Générale goes live on CLS’s cross currency swaps service. The CCS service can be used seamlessly in conjunction with post-trade processing platform MarkitWire to integrate CCS flows into CLSSettlement, allowing participants to benefit from multilateral netting against all FX transactions.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 Court overturns US sanctions against cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. The U.S. Treasury Department acted outside its authority when it sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash in 2022 and accused it of helping launder over $7 billion for North Korean hackers and other malicious cyber actors, a U.S. appeals court ruled.
🇺🇸 Total stablecoin value tops Terra-Era peak to near $200 billion. The value of the stablecoin market has risen to new heights after regaining ground lost in the aftermath of TerraUSD’s infamous collapse in 2022, reaching a record $190 billion in total market capitalization—a 46% increase this year, per DeFiLlama.
Kraken to begin shutdown of NFT marketplace. The move comes about a year and a half after the full launch of the marketplace, as the company launched it fully in June 2023 after a few months of beta testing, according to a report.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇩🇪 big xyt and Trackinsight partner to elevate analytics for global ETF markets. This collaboration brings together the complementary strengths of both companies to provide market participants with unparalleled insights into ETF trading and investment across the globe.
🇸🇬 SimCorp extends partnership with Deutsche Bank in Asia Pacific. This renewal will allow Deutsche Bank to keep providing comprehensive fund administration and accounting services to its clients in the Asia Pacific, leveraging SimCorp One, an integrated investment management platform.
🇳🇬 Yellow Card Partners With Onramper. Through Onramper’s partnership with Yellow Card, Nigerian users of all of Onramper’s clients can now easily access crypto. This extensive geographic coverage is complemented by sophisticated routing engines that recommend the best conversion for users in real-time.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Ramp seeks valuation bump to $𝟭𝟭 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 in share sale. That price would be 35% above Ramp’s highest valuation, set in 2022—near the end of the low-interest-rate funding boom—and would extend its rebound from a down round 15 months ago.
🇸🇬 Deutsche Bank invests in blockchain payment network Partior. The German lender joined Partior's Series B funding round as a strategic investor, taking the total raised by the payments firm in the round to $80 million, the Singapore-based company said.
🇺🇸 Capitolis boosts growth with multi-million investments from financial giants. The new capital will fund strategic initiatives, enabling Capitolis to accelerate technology development, expand product offerings, enhance operations, and drive innovation to redefine capital markets.
🇦🇹 SEP announces strategic growth investment in Springtime Technologies. The significant investment from SEP will accelerate Springtime’s product development and expand its market presence globally. Springtime’s Invoicetrack excels at handling complex use cases, processing millions of invoices annually.
🇸🇬 WadzPay secures SGD $50M investment commitment from GEM. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth strategy via acquisitions, partnerships and organic initiatives. Continue reading
🇺🇸 AI-powered wealthtech Range secures $28m in Series B funding. The latest infusion is set to fuel its growth through product development and expansion of its engineering teams. The company’s aim is to further enhance the capabilities of its AI-powered platform.
🇬🇧 Crypto wallet start-up Deblock reportedly raises £13.3m in fresh funding. Deblock combines traditional current accounts with a non-custodial crypto wallet, enabling users to deposit, withdraw and spend funds across virtual and physical cards.
🇬🇧 UK FinTech Plum receives strategic investment from Eurobank. With its latest investment in the firm, Eurobank has reportedly invested a total of €10 million in Plum and is becoming one of its primary financiers. Read on
M&A
🇱🇹 Request Finance expands with Pay.so Lithuania acquisition. The acquisition enhances Request Finance's Fiat-to-Crypto and Crypto-to-Fiat transaction capabilities (USD 100 to USD 100M) while adding direct payments, multi-payee billing, and employee payments to streamline financial operations for businesses.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
🇫🇷 Swan announces the appointment of Camille Tyan as Deputy CEO. Tyan’s main mission will be to work closely with all teams to ensure the execution of strategic objectives, monitor performance, strengthen internal collaboration, and implement organization-wide processes.
🇬🇧 Starling strengthens leadership with two key appointments. Adeel Hyder joins the Executive Committee as Managing Director of SME Banking, driving commercial growth and innovation. Michele Rousseau steps in as the bank's first CMO, supporting the CEO's efforts to shape Starling’s strategic direction.
🇫🇷 Anna Maj joins French FinTech Bridge as president and CEO. Maj brings over 25 years of financial services experience, including founding FinTech consultancy CreatLink in 2007. She has led open banking projects for banks and payment providers, creating collaboration models between incumbents and FinTechs.
Want your message in front of 100.000+ FinTech fanatics, founders, investors, and operators?
Shoot me a message on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.
Comments ()