Cash is king no more. Today’s society is all about mobility and the digitization of all forms of finance. How consumers spend and manage their money has changed dramatically in recent years and that pace of change is accelerating. Revolut is a new breed of banks that has replaced the corner branch with a robust smartphone app that reduces cost while providing superior services. Revolut has grown rapidly, jumping from zero to 1.5 million users in less than three years. A cashless (or at least less cash focused) is near and according to Revolut co-founder and COO Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut is going to lead the way. (more…)
Mobile-first banks
Category
Monzo introduces overdrafts
By Monzo
Digital challenger bank today launched overdrafts as part of the Monzo current account. This is the latest in a number of recent milestones for the UK bank. (more…)
Alibaba’s Ant Financial is Preparing to Raise $9 Billion in Upcoming Private Funding Round
Chinese fintech and Alibaba-affiliated Ant Financial is preparing to launch a private funding round in order to secure up to $9 billion. According to various reports, the company is increasing the funding target from previous funding rounds that sought up to $5 billion. Ant Financial’s previous fundraising round was announced in April 2016 and secured $4.5 billion from Chinese investors. (more…)
Starling Bank moves into business banking
By Starling Bank,
Starling Bank, after recently being voted the Best British Bank, has today become the first fully licensed mobile-only bank to launch business accounts for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK. (more…)
Nubank Challenges Brazil’s Big Banks in Wake of $150 Million Funding Round
The startup that made headlines recently for its antitrust complaint against some of its country’s largest banks is the same fintech that raked in a major investment from a group of investors earlier this month. (more…)
CreditLadder recruits Monzo and Starling
Monzo and Starling Bank have joined a raft of incumbents to integrate with rent recognition platform CreditLadder to help tenants to improve their credit history with rating agencies.
Yolt pairs up with Monzo
Yolt, the smart thinking money app owned by ING, has integrated with the UK’s biggest challenger bank, Monzo. (more…)
Standard Chartered unveils group’s first-ever digital bank in Africa
Standard Chartered has launched the group’s first digital bank in Africa – opening virtual doors in Côte d’Ivoire. The bank is the first of its kind in the country. (more…)
Challenger Fiinu goes to Seedrs for £500,000 crowdfund
Fiinu, the new UK fintech bank, has announced its plans to raise £500,000 on Seedrs, part of a £30 million fundraising initiative, with funds released against key milestones including regulatory approval from the Bank of England. (more…)
Tandem to buy personal finance app Pariti
UK digital challenger bank Tandem has stepped up its aggregation game by agreeing to acquire personal finance app Pariti. Financial terms have not been disclosed. (more…)
Fintech Alternative Banking Options (Infografic)
The traditional banking landscape has been dominated by the same banks for a considerable amount of time. The “Big Four”, combined with a few others, have created an oligopoly that remained unchallenged for years. The emergence of fintech and fintech companies represents a new threat to traditional banking and an increase in consumer choice. In fact 2017 saw more money invested in the UK fintech market than anywhere else in Europe, despite the concerns over Brexit. (more…)
Millennial bank Liv. adds bill-splitting and expense management to mobile app
Liv. the millennial-focused digital-only bank from Emirates NBD, has rolled out bill-splitting and budgeting applications to its mobile banking app. (more…)
Monzo begins beta testing of marketplace model
By Monzo,
Our goal is to build Monzo into a central hub where you can manage all of your money, and everything it touches. (more…)
Virgin Money Set to Launch New Digital Bank
By Samantha Hurst for Crowdfund Insider,
Virgin Money, a financial firm under Virgin that offers savings, mortgages, credit cards, current accounts, currency services, pension, investments, and protection products to customers across the UK, has reportedly spent a total of £38.3 million over the last year to develop its brand new digital bank to attract more customers to its services. According to the company, the new digital bank will offer customers a Universal Account that can be personalized to create a unique proposition tailored to individual needs. (more…)
Greenlight raises $16m for kids’ debit card
Greenlight Financial Technology, the startup behind an app and debit card for kids and college students, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round joined by SunTrust Bank, Ally Financial and the Amazon Alexa Fund. (more…)
Danish piggy bank app Ernit integrates with Spar Nord
Ernit, a Danish piggy bank app that hopes to make digital money more tangible to kids, is ready for a national roll out after striking a deal with local bank Spar Nord.
Starling Bank moves into merchant acquiring
By Starling
Starling Bank is to expand its payment services business and will become the first UK challenger bank to offer Merchant Acquiring services. (more…)
Monzo opens API to spare change app Moneybox
Monzo has opened its API to Moneybox, enabling users to round up and invest the spare change from their everyday purchases. (more…)
Tandem issues cash-back credit card as first product
Tandem, the Good Bank, has released a credit card that offers cashback and travel benefits for users. (more…)
Tandem turns to the crowd for £4 million fund raise
Digital banking startup Tandem is going back to the crowd in a bid to raise a further £4 million from the 2000 members of its Seedrs community. (more…)
Starling’s marketplace banking rollout adds pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgages
By Steve O’Hear for TechCrunch
Starling, the U.K. challenger bank that offers a mobile-only current account, continues to execute on its marketplace banking strategy. Following the required regulatory approval, the Starling Marketplace is adding a number of financial services integrations, spanning pensions, savings, travel insurance and mortgage brokerage. (more…)
Flux brings its digital loyalty stamps to U.K. challenger bank Starling
Flux, the London fintech startup founded by former early employees at Revolut, has deepened its partnership with U.K. challenger bank Starling to add Flux-powered loyalty points to Starling’s mobile banking app. (more…)
Tandem partners Personetics for ‘worry free banking’
By Tandem
Tandem, The Good Bank, is partnering with Personetics, the leading provider of Cognitive Banking applications, to harness the power of artificial intelligence for the benefit of their customers. (more…)
Unicredit launches iPhone-only buddybank
Italy’s Unicredit is trying to give banking’s staid image a makeover and make it “cool” through the launch of a mobile-only subsidiary called buddybank. (more…)
British banks simplify SME account opening process
A group of British banks have come together to simplify the account opening process for small businesses, working with trade body UK Finance on a checklist of details and documents firms will need for their applications. (more…)
Moven signs MoU with Japan’s SBI Holdings
Japanese financial service giant SBI Holdings is to invest in PFM provider Moven and establish a joint venture to sell the company’s technology in Asia. (more…)