Europe is leading the global market in challenger banks and also providing examples for the future of banking; as digital banks increasingly gain market share a number of Europe's large banks have announced branch closings including Lloyds, RBS and NatWest; AltFi discusses the ideal bank of the future reporting on the growth of challenger banks and their potential to open physical branch locations. Source
Curve allows consumers to combine their credit and debit cards into one card and a smart app; the company has...
UK digital bank startup Monzo has listed a new crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube and is seeking to raise 2.5 million British pounds ($3.09 million) as part of a broader fundraising for a total of 22 million British pounds ($27.18 million); Business Insider provides details on growth plans outlined in the crowdfunding campaign; Monzo is currently showing a seven year plan to an initial public offering which will include an estimated 75 million British pounds ($92.67 million) in new capital in the next five years; Monzo says it will raise capital again in May 2018 and it expects to report a profit after 2020; the firm has been granted a banking license and will begin offering deposit accounts as well as overdraft lending which it expects to help improve profitability. Source
Starling is a challenger bank based in the UK; Boden speaks about Starling, open banking and how she came to discover fintech which in turn led her to founding Starling; Boden previously worked in executive positions at UBS, ABN Amro, RBS and AIB; Starling was founded in 2014 as an app-only bank; in an interview Boden stated: "…and in 2014, I started the journey to build a bank. And it's been a long process because you don't just build a bank overnight. We've done things the hard way in that I'm a big believer that things that are worth doing are things that tend to be quite hard – because easy things anybody can do." Source
World Fintech Day just passed and it allowed for reflection on how much fintech has disrupted traditional finance to date;...
Europe provides some interesting examples for fintech bank chartering and licensing as companies SoFi and Varo lead the way in the United States; two top companies to watch include Tandem and Klarna; fintech company Tandem recently acquired a bank, Harrods Bank, which will provide it with GBP80 million ($103 million) of capital and a banking license if the transaction is approved; Klarna has also been a fintech banking leader in Europe; the Swedish payments company recently received a banking license and has reported deals with Permira, Visa and Brightfolk. Source
Fintech Investments: BNP Paribas has reportedly made its first investment in a Fintech venture capital fund managed by Anthemis.
Loot was a startup that offered a current account for millennials; last month it went into administration after they ran...
UK based p2p lender RateSetter has decided to no longer accept unsecured small business lending applications; the company said it will limit commercial lending to property and asset backed loans; “we have a clear framework around which to grow our commercial finance volumes and continue to deliver access to healthy returns to investors,” said Rhydian Lewis, founder and CEO of RateSetter, to AltFi. Source.
ABN AMRO launched New10 to offer an initiative for SMEs looking to take out a loan entirely online; Mark Schröder, co-founder and Commercial Director of New10, "New10 responds to the desire of SMEs to finance their growth ambitions online, quickly, easily and clearly."; New10 provides loans ranging between EUR 20,000 and EUR 1 million. Source.