This week we had a bit of everything. A big bank acquisition of a fintech, a fintech buying a bank, the almost obligatory weekly announcement of another fintech going public, a mega-round for a Brazilian fintech and a DeFi implosion. It was an interesting week. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week.
JPMorgan Buys Nutmeg to Bolster Digital Banking Push in U.K. from The Wall Street Journal – JPMorgan has said they are starting a digital bank in the UK and now they have made a reported £1 billion acquisition of the UK’s leading digital wealth manager.
Wise announces plans to go public via direct listing from TechCrunch – Wise, formerly TransferWise, has chosen London over New York as they look to become a public company.
Brazilian Cross-Border Unicorn Ebanx Raises $430 Million From Advent, Gears Up For US IPO from Forbes – The biggest fintech fundraising round of the week went to the Brazilian cross-border payments company Ebanx, raising $430 million as LatAm continues to the hottest fintech region on the planet.
Inside the New Cross River Bank Venture Arm from LendIt Fintech News – Cross River Bank has been at the center of fintech innovation for more than a decade and now they will be taking an even more active role as they become an equity investor.
Kabbage Adds Digital Checking to Platform from Crowdfund Insider – While Kabbage initially announced this product back in July of last year, the Amex acquisition obviously pushed back the timeline, but the feature set looks to have remained in place.
Overdraft Fees: Will Big Banks Ditch Them for Good? from The Financial Brand – Overdraft fees are a pet peeve of mine and we had more movement from large banks this week. This is a good summary of where we stand today.
On approval from OCC, payments platform Adyen lands bank charter from FinLedger – I have to admit, I had never heard of a Federal Foreign Branch License until this week but Dutch payments giant Adyen now has one to allow the company to offer banking services to their US clients.
Iron Finance’s Titan Token Falls to Near Zero in DeFi Panic Selling from CoinDesk – Without doubt this is the biggest implosion in the short history of DeFi as Iron Finance’s TITAN token went from $65 on Wednesday to less than one-thousandth of a cent on Thursday. Not a good look for an industry that is trying to gain in credibility.
Plaid, Visa, and the best fintech deal that never happened from Fortune – If you have been waiting for a deep dive into the Plaid-Visa divorce then be sure to pull up a chair this weekend and dig into this excellent in-depth piece on the saga.
Credijusto bought Finterra and makes history as the first fintech owner of a bank in Mexico from Entrepreneur – We have seen a handful of fintechs do it here but Mexican small business lender, Credijusto, is the first fintech in Mexico to buy a bank.
