This Week in Fintech: TFT’s bi-weekly news roundup 06/13

Welcome to The times of fintech Bi-weekly news roundup Thursday 13 June 2024, with the latest updates from around the world.

Company updates

Fintech Verto has launched the Verto Marketplace for brokers and corporates to trade in illiquid and exotic African currencies, including NGN, ZAR, XAF, XOF and KES. The market is designed to overcome challenges related to limited control of tariffs, high costs, lack of transparency and inefficiency. It is available to traders, brokers and treasurers in the US, UK and EU markets.

Revolution will move its global headquarters to the YY London building in central Canary Wharf, committing to a 10-year lease. The global fintech is increasing its office space by 40% to 113,000 square feet, across four floors, and plans to feature two Revolut logos on the side of the building. The move “strengthens the company’s commitment” to the UK and comes as Revolut reaches nine million customers in the market.

BVNKthe stablecoin payments provider, has enabled Fast payments on its platform, so businesses can easily move between US dollars, euros, and stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and PYUSD. With these new features, BVNK customers can enjoy more efficient global deals and do business with global partners more easily.

Partnerships

Dubai Investment PJSC, a diversified investment group, named fintech xCube as a liquidity provider for its shares listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM). xCube will independently trade Dubai Investment’s shares, placing daily two-way quotes into the market within the parameters defined by the mandate and in accordance with the regulations established by the DFM and SCA.

Moldindconbanka Moldovan financial institution, has joined forces with Salt border, a provider of open banking solutions, to comply with Moldova’s law on PSD2 legislation. Salt Edge’s open and comprehensive banking compliance solution enables Moldindconbank to meet NBM requirements and allow its customers to access a complete overview of their financial transactions through any regulated app.

Muse Finance, a financial technology company, launched musePay, its buy now, pay later integration with the global small business platform, Xero. This integration is also supported by Allianz Trade, the trade credit insurance company. The integration between musePay and Xero ensures that businesses can manage their finances easily and seamlessly.

1fs Wealth has strengthened the capabilities of its global AI-powered asset intelligence platform by partnering with Albourne Partners Limited, an independently owned, non-discretionary global investment advisor. Users of the 1fs Wealth platform can now access Albourne hedge fund indices: HedgeRS to evaluate their investments.

Acquired.comthe next generation payments business focused on enhancing recurring commerce and Flexy, a UK-based collection management technology provider, have joined forces. Flexys and Acquired.com are working together to provide Google Pay, Apple Pay and open banking payments to the Flexys platform. Acquired.com also supported Flexys in implementing a multi-acquisition strategy.

Appointments

First Bank of Abu Dhabi (FAB) has added two new global banking industry veterans to its executive committee (ExCo) – naming them Simone Spina as Group Compliance Officer e Neil Barrable as Group Chief Credit Officer. Thorn will oversee FAB’s regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering and financial crime policies and procedures. He joined FAB in 2023 from Barclays Bank. Meanwhile, Barrable will lead FAB’s credit function, joining from HSBC.

KPMG in the UK he named Hannah Dobson as the new head of fintech. Previously you were co-head of fintech John Hallsworth, who will retire from the firm in July 2024. Dobson joined the firm in 2015 and in addition to leading the fintech team is a partner in KPMG’s indirect tax team.

Broadridge Financial Solutions appointment Roz Smith as chief operating officer of Broadridge International. Smith will focus on expanding and streamlining Broadridge International’s business to drive transformational levels of operational efficiency and productivity. Prior to joining Broadridge, Smith spent 18 years in leadership roles at HSBC.

MerQubethe investment in index-linked indices, welcomed Dave Mueller as financial director. Mueller has 17 years of corporate and strategic finance experience at companies serving the financial services industry. He has spent the last seven years at a VC technology firm Intel Capital where he was responsible for evaluating potential investments in companies.

S64the global partner for fintech solutions and alternatives to the wealth management industry, has appointed Marco Glover as head of technology. Glover has previously provided customer-facing digital platforms for financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, UBS, Deutsche Bankand the Bank of Singapore.

News on financing

Based in Dubai Qstay, a hospitality and rental real estate investment management platform, has successfully raised $4.6 million in a pre-Series A funding round. This latest round brings the total amount raised by the company to $11.1 million of dollars. The financing was secured through a combination of conventional and convertible debt.

company, a wealth management platform, has raised £4.5m in a seed round and £4m via a debt facility. The total of £8.5 million will allow the startup to continue to scale its team and expand its product range, whilst securing a European licence. The seed round was co-led by VC Pact AND TheVentureCity, with the participation also of 1818, MS&AD, Blackwood, Octopus Ventures, Seedcamp AND Semantic adventures.

Level3 announced a $15 million Series A funding round co-led by ParaFi AND Green capital. The round saw the participation of Electric Capital, King River, Immutable, Lattice, Tioga, LeadBlock Bitpanda Ventures, Amber, Stateless AND GD1. The Layer3 Foundation will launch the L3 token, along with a new AI-enabled protocol to optimize distribution strategies, later this year.

AccountIQ, the cloud-based accounting platform has secured a Series C investment of €60 million Equity Axiom, a specialized B2B growth SaaS equity fund. The investment will be focused on the continued development of the AccountsIQ product to shape the finance function of the future, leveraging advances in artificial intelligence across all aspects of the solution.

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