Denmark based Saxo Bank announced a partnership with Microsoft to host the bank’s entire technology stack on the Microsoft Azure cloud; the bank said the partnership will allow them to ensure scalability, flexibility and security in the digital infrastructure; Kim Fournais, the bank’s founder and CEO, tells Banking Technology “Saxo Bank was a fintech long before the term was created, and it is a natural step for us to also pioneer cloud-based solutions in financial services.” Source.
RBS plans to launch a next generation mobile only bank by third quarter 2018; the project is expected to launch with more than one million users from the bank; reports also point to the bank pursuing a marketplace business model which values partnerships over lending as a revenue model; while it looks like it is rumors right now the bank is clearly moving more digital. Source.
According to a new report by CB Insights global fintech funding reached $5.4bn across 323 deals in Q1 2018; deal activity was highest in the U.S. and Asia, Europe on the other hand fell to a five quarter low; early stage companies in Europe were not receiving investments, though later stage companies were still having success; regtech, wealth management and digital banking led the way, while online lenders lagged behind. Source.
Callcredit is the second largest consumer credit bureau in the UK and was founded in 2000; the company currently has 1,200 employees; TransUnion currently does business in 33 countries. Source
Watch live today at 2:30pm ET as LendIt Fintech International Innovator of the Year award winner Imad Malhas, CEO, IrisGuard talks about financial inclusion, technology, and refugees at the World Bank Group Meetings. Source.
With competition heating up for investors p2p lending platform Ratesetter is now offering £100 for opening a new Innovative Finance ISA with the platform; the company launched their IFISA in February and are advertising a 5 percent return on the highest risk product. Source.
TearSheet sat down with Megan Caywood, co-founder and chief platform officer at Starling Bank, to talk about the digital bank’s success so far; the interview covers the biggest issues with banking today, the issues Starling Bank is trying to solve, differentiating from other digital banks, customer acquisition and more. Source.
Member platforms of the UK Peer to Peer Finance Association (P2PFA) are close to crossing more than $12bn in total loan originations; P2PFA small business lending platforms have recently increased lending and helped the origination number to grow significantly. Source.
TransferWise is the first fintech to join the Bank of England’s Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system; described as game changing for the company the deal will allow them to lower costs, be on equal footing as banks and offer instant transfers to GBP. Source.
Orange Bank has already onboarded more than 100,000 customers since launch, only Revolut and Boursorama, Société Générale’s digital banking arm have made more progress in the same timeframe; this continues the wider trend across Europe as digital banking becomes a bigger part of the financial services ecosystem. Source.