Facebook has partnered with TransferWise for international money transfers as the firm continues to increase its financial services activity on the platform; TransferWise has internally developed a Facebook Messenger chatbot that will facilitate the international money transfer service; the service will expand on Facebook's current domestic money transfer capabilities. Source
Uber has announced it will partner with Moneyfarm to provide financial advice services for its employees in the UK; Moneyfarm and Uber will offer the robo advice to approximately 40,000 UK drivers; speculators believe the UK market will see more robo advisory partnerships as the services have yet to gain significant market traction in comparison to other countries. Source
Errol Damelin has been steadily growing his presence in London's fintech sector; founder of Wonga, Damelin's expertise and mentorship has helped over 200 employees currently working in London's fintech scene; his company Wonga is a case study for online payday lending in Europe and despite his exit from the company in 2014, Damelin has gone on to successfully invest and mentor a wide range of startup businesses in London. Source
Most well-known for his music career, Jay Z has also been investing in startups since 2012; the rapper has now reported he will launch a venture capital firm with partner Jay Brown of Roc Nation; Sherpa Capital will also help to launch the fund which will focus on seed-stage companies. Source
LendIt has announced eight finalists from a pool of approximately 300 applicants for this year's PitchIt @ LendIt USA; finalists will be connected with mentors for competition preparation and ongoing business support; LendIt has partnered with 500 Startups and sponsor Marqeta to host the event; the finalists will present to a panel of judges at LendIt USA 2017 on March 7. Source
Ant Financial has formed a strategic partnership with Kakao Pay which includes a $200 million investment and partnership to offer enhanced digital financial services in South Korea; services will include enhanced bill payment, remittance and payment transactions; according to Young-Joon Ryu, Kakao Pay's CEO-elect, "The combination of Ant Financial's global payment platform Alipay and numerous financial and commerce service networks and Kakao's platform capabilities will result in more effective and convenient financial solutions for both businesses and consumers." Source
Haven Life was the first insurance company to offer a life insurance product to its clients completely online; Liz Langlois from Haven Life provides insight on the industry and firm's evolution in a blog post; also discusses factors for consideration in choosing a life insurance partner. Sponsored Blog Post
Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (GAFA) have significant market share and a massive influence; given the needs and demands of consumers it seems likely their services will more broadly integrate fintech offerings in the near future; all four companies have taken some steps to offer financial services and industry analysts are watching them closely for new announcements. Source
Humaniq is developing new banking options for emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia in efforts to help eliminate poverty; the firm is a next generation bank based on Ethereum with open APIs for connecting to services from other companies; platform plans to launch with biometric authentication, simple account set up and money transfers; Humaniq Founder Alex Fork talks with CoinTelegraph about the firm's ambitions. Source
Business Insider shares data on total funds raised by UK-based digital only banks; Atom Bank leads in total funding and is reportedly in process of closing another 100 million British pounds ($124 million) in equity which would bring their total raised to 235 million British pounds ($294.6 million); other players include Tandem Bank, Starling Bank, Monzo, N26 and Monese; Monzo is also in the process of raising money with a Series C funding round. Source