Monzo has added the first batch of partnerships to their marketplace by striking deals with digital wealth investment accounts and online lenders; companies include Scalable Capital, Wealthify, Wealthsimple, WiseAlpha, Zopa, Bricklane.com and Octopus Choice; Monzo will not be making a commission from any of these agreements; the company has also opened up an interim third-party API to comply with open banking regulations. Source.
The CEO and Co-founder of Varo discusses what is wrong with traditional banks and how his startup digital bank is different. Source
Banks are beginning to see that marketing Zelle within their own apps can be a challenge; “It’s not a simple feature you can roll out and say ‘try it.’ Explaining all these things means you have to prioritize because there just isn’t enough time so you have to be very selective,” says Mark Schwanhausser, director of the digital banking practice at Javelin and author of a new report looking at this issue, to TearSheet; banks have tried a number of ways to highlight Zelle as part of their banking experience, though the task has not been easy; as the brand grows and customers get accustomed to the difference the job will become easier. Source.
The head of the UN economic agency says that central banks in Africa are failing to understand the power of banking innovation; less than a third of people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to the financial system; certain countries like Kenya have seen wide adoption of services like mobile money, but then crossing into Nigeria the same service can be used by 1 percent of people; Telcos have really taken the lead on the continent to help bring access, but central banks are still regulating banks through the lens of traditional banks; regulators are starting to learn and enthusiasm for new ideas is increasing. Source.
Surveys by finance site Smart Money People and RFI Group both point to an important time for UK based digital banks; Starling Bank and Monzo were the top two banks in customer satisfaction according to Smart Money People; RFI Group found UK customers willing to use a digital only bank dropped from 78 percent to 54 percent in the past year; while the digital only banks please customers more they are beginning to run up against incumbent competition for a similar experience; digital only banks need to begin thinking about building long term businesses as the old guard catches up. Source.
UK based Tandem Bank has acquired financial management app Pariti; the app has more than 95,000 users that will now be transferred to Tandem Bank; Pariti users will still be able to access their accounts through the Tandem app. Source.
Speaking to American Banker fintech firms Chime, Moven, Kabbage and more say the move by Amazon is a net positive; most comments showed surprise that it took the retail giant this long to make a move like this; the overall sentiment was positive, pointing out that the entrance of Amazon will increase knowledge of fintech and validating their thoughts on the need for improved consumer experience in banking; the fear that Amazon would just take over is overblown, there is room for the giant retailer and a lot of fintechs who cater to a specific market. Source.
UK based digital only bank, Atom Bank, raised more than $205mn from investors including BBVA; the new capital will help the bank further investment in technoloy and business capabilities; BBVA Chief executive Carlos Torres Vila tells the FT, “we are fully aligned with the vision of banking that Atom is pursuing, and the disruption it is already bringing to the UK financial services sector.” Source.
The continued push by Amazon into financial services could have a bigger effect on startups over banks; Nicolas Parmaksizian, global head of Capco digital, tells TearSheet, “If you combine an Amazon with a Capital One, you’re combining the amazing power of Amazon and Capital One’s data analytics, and that’s a challenging thing to compete with as a startup banking brand.”; digital only banks look to offer a better experience at a lower cost than the traditional banks, adding Amazon into the mix could drown out those startups before they ever get going. Source.
BBVA has announced their Open Talent competition which is dubbed as the world’s largest fintech competition; the competition is in its tenth year and will focus on banking, data, money management and financial decision-making; the winner will take home $186,000 and finalists will take part in an immersion week which will show them how to work with a big corporate, become a customer of the bank and more. Source.