The rise of fintech in Latin America (LatAm) over the past decade has shaken up the region’s financial landscape, driving innovation in the banking sector, boosting competition and helping increase inclusion, a new paper by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says. In a Fintech Note released on March 29, IMF analysts look the state of fintech in LatAm, exploring how the development of the industry has impacted the region’s financial landscape and sharing the trends that are arising in the sector. According to the paper, LatAm’s fintech industry has experienced strong growth over the past years, owing to favorable demographic…

Airwallex has announced the launch of its global payments services in Canada, enabling local businesses to access its key offerings. This includes local currency accounts in over 12 currencies, a multi currency wallet in 44 currencies and payouts to 150 countries with its proprietary local payment network. The full suite of Airwallex’s global products, including multi-currency cards, spend management and online payments will be progressively rolled out in the market. The cross border payments firm is licensed as a Money Services Business with Revenu Québec, and is registered as a Money Services Business with FINTRAC, the national financial intelligence agency…

Apple has announced that its card users in the U.S. can now set up a savings account from Goldman Sachs which offers an APY of 4.15 percent. This is more than 10 times the national average according to the FDIC. In a press statement, Apple said that there are no fees, minimum deposits or minimum balance requirements for the savings account. Users will be able to manage their savings account directly from the Apple Card in the wallet. Once a savings account is set up, all future Daily Cash earned by the user will be automatically deposited into the account.…

Multi-asset investment company eToro has partnered with Twitter to enable the social media platform’s users to instantly see real-time prices for a wider range of stocks, crypto and other assets when using the new $Cashtags feature. Twitter added pricing data for $Cashtags in December 2022 and the feature has seen widespread adoption with more than 420 million searches for $Cashtags since the start of the year. Currently, Twitter users searching using a $Cashtag symbol will see live price charts for a select few financial assets. Following the launch of the eToro partnership, the list of $Cashtags that produce live price…

ID.me, an USA-based digital identity network announced on April 11, the appointment of Samantha Greenberg as Chief Financial Officer. Greenberg brings to ID.me over 20 years of experience leading financial operations, analyzing private and public technology and consumer companies, and scaling high-growth businesses. ID.me empowers consumers to easily access online services and benefits while controlling their personal data, also announced that it has raised $132 million in Series D funding, led by Viking Global Investors with participation from CapitalG, Morgan Stanley Counterpoint, FTV Capital, PSP Growth, Auctus Investment Group, Moonshots Capital, and Scout Ventures. The latest round brings the total…

Altruist, a modern custodian built exclusively for RIAs, announced a new $112 million series D round of funding led by Insight Partners, new investor Adams Street Partners, and continued support from existing investors. Notable industry leaders Bill McNabb, Ron Carson, and Marty Bicknell also participated in the round. This comes just weeks after the acquisition of SSG, an advisory services firm, and the launch of a new brokerage offering that cemented Altruist as the third largest custodian as measured by number of firms served. Altruist’s new funding adds to a previously undisclosed $110 million series C raised in November of…

Apple has rolled out its Buy Now, Pay Later offering in the U.S., allowing users to split purchases into four payments, spread over six weeks with no interest and no fees. Users can apply for Apple Pay Later loans of US$50 to US$1,000, which can be used for online and in-app purchases made on iPhone and iPad with merchants that accept Apple Pay. A soft credit pull will be done during the application process to help ensure that the user is in a good financial position before taking on the loan. Users will be able to easily track, manage, and…

With over 2,600 fintech clients, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is more than just bank and venture debt lender. Beyond banking and financing, SVB is also a technology partner to many fintech companies, serving as a gateway for commercial payments and online payments acceptance, a new analysis by tech market intelligence platform CB Insights shows. Overall, SVB has been a key stakeholder in the local fintech startup ecosystem, serving more than 2,690 fintech clients, the report says. These companies account for 71% of all fintech initial public offerings (IPOs) since 2020. According to the report, the bank’s sudden collapse on March 10, 2023 has affected 45…

Members of Generation Z (Gen Z), or those born between 1997 and 2012, are avid investors, participating in stock and cryptocurrency investing at a higher rate and from a younger age than their predecessors, a new report by the Oliver Wyman Forum and social-first media company The News Movement says. Compared with millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, Gen Zers were found to be 45% more likely to start investing by age 21, according to a research from Oliver Wyman and Zeldis Research Associates. This result continues a pattern in which each generation is found to be investing more…

J.P. Morgan has inked a deal to acquire Aumni, a U.S.-based investment analytics software provider for the venture capital industry. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed and closing is expected in the first half of 2023. Aumni will continue to be headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah once the acquisition has been completed. Founded in 2018, Aumni’s proprietary data analytics engine structures, tracks and analyses essential legal and economic terms underpinning growth-stage private market transactions, placing critical portfolio investment terms within users’ easy reach. With a diverse client base of over 300 institutions ranging from venture managers to…

Qik Banco Digital Dominicano, a subsidiary of Grupo Popular, has launched on the Temenos Banking Cloud to become a digital-only bank. Qik claims to be Dominican Republic’s first digital-only bank. The neobank said that its launch on the Temenos Banking Cloud will enable it to quickly establish a presence in the Dominican Republic as it plans to onboard up to thousands of people in the first year. The open and flexible platform will empower Qik to quickly design and deliver innovative products and services. The bank will leverage Temenos’ core banking and payments services as it launches products from debit…

Stripe, which builds economic infrastructure for the internet, has signed agreements for a Series I fundraise of more than $6.5 billion at a $50B valuation. Primary investors include existing Stripe shareholders—Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, and Thrive Capital—as well as new investors including GIC, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and Temasek. The funds raised will be used to provide liquidity to current and former employees and address employee withholding tax obligations related to equity awards, resulting in the retirement of Stripe shares that will offset the issuance of new shares to Series I investors.…

American cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike has partnered with Dell Technologies to help organisations prevent, detect and respond to cyber threats with frictionless and cost-effective offerings. The alliance entails targeted offerings for businesses of all sizes to enable them to manage cyber threats and protect their endpoints, cloud workloads, identity and data. The CrowdStrike Falcon platform is already available to purchase now. Additionally, CrowdStrike will also be available across a broad set of Dell offerings, including with the purchase of Dell commercial PCs in the coming months. “The CrowdStrike and Dell collaboration provides significant market access, expediting consolidation from legacy and point…

Droit, a New York based technology firm at the forefront of computational law and regulation, announced it has closed a $23 million Series B investment in its latest funding round. The round was led by Pivot Investment Partners and UBS through its venture and innovation unit UBS Next. Goldman Sachs, an existing investor, is also participating in the financing round. Since its founding in late 2012, Droit has established itself as a technology provider advancing global regulatory compliance in the capital markets space, with its patented Adept platform now used by the world’s largest financial institutions for pre- and post-trade…

New research has revealed that the USA is leading the Fintech innovation field when it comes to the quality and quantity of patent applications. The findings come as a new index has been created to help companies measure the quality of FinTech patents when making decisions on investments in acquisitions, collaborative partnerships, and licensing agreements which involve intellectual property (IP). Research led by the new Centre for Finance, Technology and Society at Nottingham Business School (NBS), part of Nottingham Trent University in the UK, used key indicators to assess more than 16,000 patents in the FinTech field registered over 20 years. Through an…

eToro, the social investing platform, announced that the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved its subsidiary, eToro NY LLC’s, application for its money transmitter and virtual currency licenses, the latter also known as the BitLicense. Once eToro NY LLC is operational, users in New York State will have access to eToro’s virtual portfolio, integrated social investing tools and be able to trade stocks, crypto and options. Yoni Assia, Co-founder and CEO of eToro, commented: “Securing our BitLicense and Money Transmitter License in New York is a key milestone in the continued expansion of our US business…

Apple is running an internal test of its buy now, pay later (BNPL) product, gearing up for the public release of the new service in the US. The feature, which was announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2022, is currently being trialed by Apple employees and will be “launching soon,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in an interview. Announced in June 2022, Apple Pay Later is a new BNPL product that aims to let users split up the cost of a purchase made with Apple Pay into four equal installments over six weeks without charging any fee or interest.…

Canadian payments company Nuvei has entered into a multi-year sponsorship agreement with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team ahead of the 2023 F1 season. From the 2023 Formula One™ season onwards, the Nuvei logo will appear on the helmet and overalls of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team drivers as well as pit crew overalls and team clothing. Nuvei will also be able to utilise team members, including drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and Team Principal and CEO Toto Wolff for its wider marketing activities for customers, clients, and beyond. The Nuvei branding will be unveiled at the Team’s…

Cybersecurity technology company OneSpan has inked a deal to acquire Australia-based blockchain technology provider ProvenDB for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is anticipated to close during the first quarter of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Through this acquisition, OneSpan said that it plans to combine ProvenDB’s technology with its Transaction Cloud Platform. This will provide an integrated end-to-end assurance model which includes a secure repository for documents and artifacts. This complementary acquisition aims to expand OneSpan’s addressable market, solves customers’ secure vaulting needs, and secure digital agreements throughout the customer transaction lifecycle. “We have an ambitious plan…

FIS announced plans to pursue a tax-free spin-off of its Merchant Solutions business to strengthen its strategic and operational focus, capitalize on growth opportunities and unlock shareholder value. The two companies expect to maintain a strong commercial relationship, preserving a key value proposition for clients of both businesses. FIS expects the spin-off to be completed within the next 12 months. FIS’ Board and management determined as part of their previously announced and ongoing strategic review that a spin-off of Merchant Solutions, to be named Worldpay, offers the best path to enhance shareholder value, including by: Increasing strategic and operational focus…