Author: Fintech News America

R2, a Latin America’s embedded finance platform, announced that it has secured an investment round of US$9 million from Hi Ventures and Cometa in addition to a debt facility for up to US$50 million with Community Investment Management (“CIM”). Endeavor Catalyst, Y Combinator, and Gradient Ventures also participated in the equity round. The round is an extension of R2’s Series A completed in 2022. The debt facility will be used to fund R2’s growth in Chile and complements the US$100 million debt facility raised last year for its Mexican operation. R2 enables platforms such as payment processors, marketplaces, ride-hailing apps, and vertical SaaS with embedded financial services for…

NatWest Group, one of the UK’s largest banking organisations, has partnered with NCR Atleos to upgrade its self-service banking network, encompassing both owned and partner-operated ATMs. This initiative, impacting brands such as NatWest Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Ulster Bank, will see over 5,500 ATMs and multi-function devices replaced with NCR Atleos technology. The new machines will feature a modern 19-inch touchscreen interface with an enhanced customer interface, aiming to provide NatWest Group’s 19 million customers with more reliable and convenient access to cash and essential financial services. Beyond enhancing the customer experience, the project seeks to improve operational…

Neo Financial, a Canadian financial technology company, announced their CAD $360 million Series D fundraising round, consisting of CAD $110M of equity and CAD $250M of debt. This round of funding includes investments from renowned Canadian founders and entrepreneurs bringing in their wealth of experience in scaling global tech brands, including Tobi Lütke (CEO and founder of Shopify), Stewart Butterfield (founder and former CEO of Slack), David Baszucki (investor and CEO of Roblox), and Mike Wessinger (co-founder and Executive Chair of PointClickCare). Existing investors, including Valar Ventures, Golden Ventures, Afore Capital, and Thomvest Ventures, also participated in this round. “Neo…

Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP) has partnered with Microsoft and Kyndryl to modernize BCP’s IT systems with hybrid cloud and help Peruvians gain greater access to digital banking services. This agreement represents BCP’s investment of more than $650M over five years, making it one of the largest technology investments in Latin America’s financial services sector. “Our purpose is to serve as allies to our customers to help them transform their plans into reality, understanding that financial inclusion provides opportunities for growth. Digitalization can help close the gap, and so BCP, together with Microsoft and Kyndryl, will modernize our technological…

Melio, a leading accounts payable and receivable platform for small and medium businesses, announced it has raised an additional $150 million in a strategic funding round led by Fiserv. Shopify Ventures and Capital One Ventures also participated in the funding round, which will help fuel the company’s growth through partnerships. The Series E round, which valued Melio at $2 billion, follows a ten-fold increase in revenue since the last funding round three years ago, driven by an expansion of Melio’s customer base to include medium-sized businesses and the launch of new partnerships. Accel, Bessemer, Coatue, Frontline Ventures, General Catalyst, Latitude…

Socure, an US based provider of artificial intelligence for digital identity verification, fraud prevention and sanction screening, has signed an agreement to acquire Effectiv, a real-time risk decisioning company, for $136M. Effectiv’s open platform integrates any risk solution, including identity and payment fraud controls, credit underwriting, Know Your Business (KYB) and anti-money laundering (AML), to drive real-time decisions that solve the toughest risk challenges of our time – identity theft, account takeover, scams, and real-time payment fraud. With this acquisition, Socure – which serves more than 2,700 customers and has verified more than 2.26B identities over the past 12 months…

OpenWay has introduced a new payment software solution for North and Latin America, aimed at assisting banks, credit unions, processors, and fintechs in upgrading their payment systems. The Way4 platform, recognized by Aite and Juniper Research, provides functions for issuing, acquiring, payment switching, and digital wallets. It is designed to help financial institutions move away from legacy payment processing systems. The platform’s flexible architecture allows institutions to launch personalized payment services efficiently. It supports a range of payment technologies, including real-time payments, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), embedded finance, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) cards. The Way4 platform features…

Tompkins Community Bank, with US$7.8 billion in assets and nearly 190 years of operation, has expanded its partnership with NCR Atleos. The bank has chosen to modernize its ATM network with NCR Atleos’ ‘ATM as a Service’ (ATMaaS) solution. This move allows the New York-based bank to focus on customer service by handing over ATM management to Atleos. This includes hardware and software maintenance, security, cash handling, installation, processing, and logical security, to Atleos. By simplifying these operations, Tompkins aims to improve ATM reliability, uptime, and functionality, offering customers a better banking experience. “Tompkins has a rich history and an…

Citi announced that its Citi Token Services for Cash has moved from a pilot program to a live commercial solution, facilitating multimillion-dollar transactions for institutional clients. This marks a major step in Citi’s journey to deliver real-time, always-on transaction banking services. The service provides 24/7 cross-border liquidity and payments between participating Citi branches using a private, permissioned blockchain owned and managed by Citi. Clients are not required to hold or manage any tokens to use the service. Initially piloted between Singapore and New York, Citi plans to expand the service to additional branches. In a separate development, Citi also announced…

In the world of financial technology (fintech), customer service and back-office operations are undergoing massive changes, driven by advancements in technology and a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. While many fintech companies have looked offshore to countries like India and the Philippines for cost-effective outsourcing solutions, the United States remains a critical player in the outsourcing market. Cynergy BPO, an industry-leading outsourcing advisory firm, argues that onshore customer and back-office support in the U.S. still holds a unique and irreplaceable advantage for certain processes and engagement with specific customer segments—particularly those in the highly regulated and customer-centric fintech sector. The Case…

KOHO announced that it has secured $190M in additional capital, $40M of which is equity and $150M in debt. The new capital injection will fund growth, the expansion of KOHO’s lending book and new products, and continued progress towards a Schedule 1 bank license. The round was led by returning investor, PROPELR Growth, joined by new investor Rockefeller Capital and included existing investors Drive Capital, TTV, and BDC. The credit extension is in partnership with new and existing partners. “We’re more excited than ever at KOHO. We had the choice of profitability with our existing capital but this injection allows…

CoreFirst Bank & Trust, a US$1.2 billion asset bank based in Kansas, has partnered with NCR Atleos Corporation’s Allpoint Network to expand its ATM services. This move aims to provide CoreFirst customers with greater access to surcharge-free ATMs and cash deposit options across the U.S. By joining the Allpoint Network, CoreFirst customers will have access to over 40,000 ATMs at various retail locations nationwide, including more than 3,000 cash deposit points. These locations will make it easier for customers to conduct everyday banking transactions at familiar retail spots, including those in Kansas. “At CoreFirst Bank & Trust, we have a…

In today’s fast-paced financial technology (fintech) landscape, customer support is no longer confined to traditional, reactive approaches. As fintech companies strive to offer seamless experiences in a competitive market, both front and back-office operations have become key battlegrounds for innovation. At the forefront of this transformation is Cynergy BPO, a leading outsourcing advisory firm that connects fintech companies with award-winning contact centers and BPO firms to optimize their Canada operations through the adoption of cutting-edge technology and industry-leading best practices. With the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and advanced data analytics, Cynergy BPO is empowering fintech…

PayPal  announced it is enabling its U.S. merchants to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal business account. At launch, this functionality for Business Accounts will not be available in New York State. The announcement is PayPal’s latest step to increase cryptocurrency’s utility by making increased functionality available to millions of merchants in the U.S. “Since we launched the ability for PayPal and Venmo consumers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency in their wallets, we have learned a lot about how they want to use their cryptocurrency,” said Jose Fernandez da Ponte, Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency,…

In the ever-evolving world of financial technology, disruption is the norm. Fintechs are rewriting the playbook for how we access, manage, and move money, fundamentally transforming traditional banking and financial services. As these companies scale rapidly, they face the significant challenge of balancing cutting-edge innovation with operational efficiency. For many fintech game-changers, the solution to this challenge lies in outsourcing. In this arena, India has emerged as a key player, providing world-class expertise in both technology and customer service. At the forefront of this shift is Cynergy BPO, an advisory firm specializing in connecting fintech companies with leading business process…

Between 2015 and 2023, more than US$350 billion of venture capital (VC) funding was invested in the fintech sector globally, with the US and Canada alone accounting for 39% of total fintech funding. North America also has much higher funding per capita than other regions, highlighting the concentration of fintech funding activity. But in recent years, fintech funding in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has experienced significant growth on the back of booming fintech innovation and soaring adoption of digital financial services. Despite this growth, there is still a mismatch between…

In 2023, cryptocurrency fraud continued to surge globally as rising adoption of digital currencies attracted scammers seeking to exploit the hype and target credulous users. Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a record of 69,468 crypto-related complaints, a 33.6% increase from 2022’s ~52,000, new data released by the division show. Losses soared by a whopping 45% year-over-year (YoY) to an all-time high of US$5.6 billion. Though crypto fraud represented only 10% of total financial fraud complains in 2023, it accounted for nearly 50% of total fraud losses, highlighting the disproportionately severe financial…

Ualá, Brubank and Naranja X dominate the Argentinian digital banking sector, collectively serving 16.44 million customers and holding an 88% share of the market, a new analysis by C-Innovation, a French fintech-focused research firm, reveals. These digital banks have managed to establish themselves as key pillars of the digital banking ecosystem, carving out substantial user bases by focusing on innovation, financial inclusion, and customer-centric services, the report says. Their growth has been driven by strategic product offerings, user-friendly platforms, and the ability to meet the evolving needs of Argentine consumers. Ualá, one of Argentina’s leading fintech players, offers a comprehensive…

Real-time payments software provider ACI Worldwide and American software company Red Hat have partnered to make cloud-native payment solutions more accessible. This collaboration will allow ACI’s Enterprise Payments Platform to be deployed across various cloud infrastructures, offering flexibility to banks, merchants, and billers. As part of the partnership, ACI will help customers migrate to the cloud and power the next generation of payment services. The platform can be utilized on-premises, in the cloud, or as a managed service. By leveraging Red Hat OpenShift, ACI customers will gain enhanced scalability, resilience, and reduced operational costs. Additionally, ACI will have access to…

Ant International announced its strategic initiative to provide AI-driven credit technology solutions designed to empower local partners and advance financial inclusions in Brazil. Ant International has formed a strategic partnership with Dock, a payments and banking technology provider in Latin America. This collaboration aims to enhance the credit management capability and infrastructure efficiency for Dock’s clients, which include financial institutions, retailers, fintech start-ups, etc. The shared vision is to make credit services more inclusive for market segments that are currently insufficiently served, such as micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). In recent years, Brazil has made significant progress in financial inclusion.…